Cooking: Black beans w/ spinach, tomatoes, and pecorino romano cheese

Because I got home super late Sunday night, I had to go grocery shopping Monday night to make sure I had food. That meant when I got home I wanted to make something super quick. I went to my FAVORITE go-to dish: Black Beans w/ Spinach, Tomatoes, and Pecorino Romano cheese. This may not look/sound like much, but the pecorino romano cheese gives it the most amazing flavor!

 This recipe is super simple and is ready in less than 15 minutes. The only thing I have to chop/dice/grate is the cheese. This dish was inspired by my trip to Puerto Rico in May. I spent a week eating great meals. I took the opportunity to test out different seafood,  and did not have a single meal I didn't enjoy. My hands down favorite dish inspired this one. I ordered yucca gnocchi w/ black beans. Honestly, I don't even remember what the yucca gnocchi was like because I fell in love with the beans upon first bite. For the first time in my life, I asked the waiter what was in them and recreated it my first night home (with a tilapia filet of course!). I have made it several times at home, and I am never disappointed. I could probably eat this every day and not get sick of it.

Alright, enough talking, let's get cooking!

Non-cooking: El Paso

This weekend I went to El Paso to celebrate my wonderful friend Valerie's wedding. Sadly, she will be leaving the area to move to Indiana so this was our last hurrah until Christmas. Valerie is actually a huge inspiration for me - my goal is to be like her where whenever I bring anything food-related to an event people get excited, regardless of what it is. These last few months, we have had a few cooking dates. I am pretty sure I am going to face time with her in my kitchen for more lessons although she may not know it yet.

 I am happy to report the wedding was a wonderful success and I enjoyed dancing the night away!

Cooking: Simple Pesto with Whole Wheat Pasta and Hot Italian Sausage

 So I came home intending to write up a dessert post and then I had the leftovers from a meal I made earlier this week. I was hit by how awesome it was and decided to switch it up & do this dish instead! Don't worry, the dessert post will come very soon.

Simple Pesto w/ Whole Wheat Pasta and Hot Italian Sausage
 (note the picture does not do the flavor justice)

I like pesto but I haven't really made it before. Usually when I go for pasta I go for tomato sauce - it's the Italian wannabe in me. I just love it. But lately I have been in the mood to mix it up. I found a recipe in this super informative cookbook, "how to cook everything: the basics" that made me realize how easy pesto is. The recipe in the book is meatless, but I decided to add some hot Italian sausage. When doesn't sausage make something taste better?! However, you could go meatless or add pretty much any meat you want (meatballs, tofu, chicken). Once you learn the basic recipe, the possibilities are endless as you can keep experimenting and mixing it up. For example, you could add a different type of nut, switch up the proportions of basil/nuts, add in more seasoning (i.e. red pepper), or switch up the cheese. 

Start to finish (including pasta cooking time), this dish took me less than 30 minutes, and that was with taking a million and 5 pictures.

Cooking: Simple Roasted Garlic Asparagus Fries

Since this will be my first cooking post (and it's a school night!), I will make this one short and sweet.

One of the things I have discovered this year is that most vegetables get about 10 to 1 million times better when you roast them. The roasting process really brings out the natural sweetness of the vegetable and softens it. For a sweet tooth like me, that is key. I even discovered I actually like brussel sprouts! The teenage me is rolling in her grave at that statement.

Generally, I try to roast some vegetables on nights I have leftovers from previous meals because I have the extra time and it's really easy. Once you learn the technique, you can substitute a variety of vegetables. The key is olive oil, salt, and pepper! All other seasonings/variations are optional and worth the experiment.

Ages ago, before I discovered this new found love of most vegetables (except beets, I still don't like beets), I ordered the Grilled Asparagus fries at the BGR joint and loved them. With this as an inspiration, I decided to see asparagus took to roasting, and realized I had a huge hit! It's by far my favorite thing I have tried. The roasting process makes them softer than in their natural state, but they also have this wonderful crisp to them which I crave. With the right seasonings (*cough*salt*cough), they really are a pretty good healthy alternative to french fries. Plus, it gives you your daily serving of essential fatty acids via the olive oil!

It's been awhile!

Hello there!

As you may have noticed, I haven't posted anything since my race report as my journey from Hilary to Ironman was finished. It's been almost a year since the race (?!) and I can let you know my pride hasn't diminished and life is busier than ever. I haven't done a single race this year and am not signed up for one until the New York Marathon in November. Don't worry though - I still have been getting to the gym/working out pretty much a similar amount. I just have been focusing on doing what I want to do on any given day versus following a training program. After four years of constantly training for something, I am loving the break!

What have I been up to since the race?  A month after the race, I was sent to London for two months for work. I spent the time traveling (Dublin, Barcelona, Bath, Munich, and Paris) & learning about different cultures. My office is full of people from all over who have either grown up in the UK or were visiting for a few years. It was great! And yes, I was closely following the arrival of my future king ;)

Cliffs of Moher! I am absolutely in love with Ireland.

However, I came home ABSOLUTELY exhausted. After the holidays, I had traveled (via car, plane, or train) 11 of 12 weekends in a row. I also just felt pretty awful/run down from all the eating out/holiday food.

I used to love to cook but I had fallen out of the habit, particularly as the Ironman training went into full swing. With a long bike ride and run every weekend, the grocery store was an afterthought, usually Monday nights on my way home.

Starting in January, I made a conscious effort to cook almost all my meals and to focus on making them as healthy/fresh as possible. For the first month or so, I was pretty strict with myself & only ate out once or twice a week. As I learned from when I made the conscious effort to start going to the gym, it takes about three weeks to get into a routine/habit and I was focused to turn this into one.

Since then, I have been pretty dang successful! After the first month, I loosened my "I have to cook all but one or two meals a week" rule, but I  have found for the most part I have stuck with it. Also, anyone who trains for something like an Ironman is by nature slightly (at least) obsessive. Since I have not been focused on a racing this year (until now - why do you have to start training for a fall marathon during the hottest part of the summer?!), I have been diving deep into cooking. In the last 7 months I have taken an amazing beginner and intermediate cooking boot camp series (www.cookology.com) and various other classes. I even took one in London when I went back in June for a few weeks! I also bought a kitchen aid stand mixer and have been enjoying learning how to make a variety of delicious baked goods in order to get my money's worth. Yes, it breaks my "healthy" focus, but moderation is key and my coworkers make good testers!

Cooking class in London

Macaroons!

Now, as the calendar prepares to turn to August, it has hit me that I will be signing up for another Ironman next month (Mt. Tremblant in Quebec!). I said after Wisconsin that I planned to do it, and now the time is actually here to turn that broad thought into an actual plan. It will definitely be hard to get back into the swing of hard training again. However, I loved the process, including getting to make so many new friends. Also, while I am happy to have finished, especially given my struggles race day, I feel like I could really improve my performance and I have some unfinished business.

With that thought, I have decided to start up my blog again. However, giving due appreciation to my love of cooking and all the "training" I have done this year, I want to turn it into a dual purpose cooking/training blog. This will help me make sure I focus on nutrition in addition to getting the workouts in. It will also help me share all of the knowledge I have learned and will hopefully prove to people that it's super easy to make a meal that is healthy/delicious and will impress your friends. Fear not! My new love of baking will also steal the show on occasion. After all, what's the point of all the training if you can't indulge every once in a while?

I can't promise how successful I will be at turning this dream into a reality, or how often I will post, but I hope you enjoy following along!


(P.S. Spell check does not recognize Ironman. For shame!)

Ironman Wisconsin 2012 Race Report

(race photos from Finisherpix)

Night Before

The night before the race I was feeling really great. After hearing Ryan’s (the coach) soothing words “You can do this, the hard part was all of the training, this is a celebration, we are here for you, you are never alone” and Mike Reilly’s (the Iconic Ironman announcer) soothing words “this is just a well-supported training day, you WILL be an Ironman,” I felt a sense of confidence. They were right - this IS just a well-supported training day, the hard work IS behind me, this IS the celebration, and the team IS here for me.

I headed to bed at 8pm and that is when trouble hit. I could not fall asleep! No matter how I turned I started to feel sick. I think that I had overhydrated during the week and was paying the price the night before the race. I will admit, there were probably some nerves, but I actually wasn’t feeling all that nervous. I finally fell asleep around midnight – only 3 hours, 45 minutes before I had set my alarm. Luckily, I had completed my 120 training ride on less than four hours of sleep (thanks Reetika!) so I knew it wasn’t the end of the world.

Pre-Race

I woke up at 3:45am and got ready to head out. My hotel had breakfast at 4am! Despite not having much of an appetite, I forced myself to eat oatmeal, a banana, and yogurt. I thought my lack of appetite was nerves and didn’t think to take any medicine. I would regret this decision later.

I headed over to the race. Luckily, my parents found a great parking space so they could walk to the transition with me. Despite making a list of things to do/bring, I realized I left my fuel belt bottles for the run back at the hotel (8 miles out of town). My dad came to the rescue by bringing me some G2 from the car so I would at least have something in my run transition bag.

My dad likes to pretend he is the one racing

Once everything was set, we headed up to meet Team Z for the team wetsuit photo. Then it was time for hugs before heading off to the swim start. I was feeling pretty pumped and enjoyed dancing to the music. When they finally started letting people into the water, I waded in and hung by the side (to the displeasure of Mike Reilly). It was great having my teammates with me to calm the nerves and the sunrise was beautiful.

This is my game face (stolen from Lisa F)

Swim (1:50.19)

At 7am the cannon sounded and we were off! Swimming is my least favorite activity by far. I tried to avoid the fray by swimming to the outside. Unfortunately, I think I avoided the buoys as well because I realized after several minutes I was all alone. A kayaker at one point pointed be back on course (thanks!). I was surprised that I was quite comfortable in the swim (thanks SOS swim clinic!) and just focused on trying to have good form and swim from one buoy to the next. I finally reached the Orange buoys that signaled the half way point and checked my watch (52 minutes! Eeek!). I realized I needed to pick it up if I wanted to have more wiggle room for the bike cutoff. Despite having what I thought was a better second half of the swim, it turned out to be slower and I came out of the water after a much slower than expected hour and 50 minutes.

Hello dazed

T1 (10:30)

I knew I had to get a move on! Since I signed up for the race, I have worried about the bike cutoff. Wisconsin is one of the hardest bike courses, and I knew even at full health I would be cutting it really close if I came out of transition any later than 9am.

I walked up the helix (cruel) and booked it to transition. I grabbed my bag and an AMAZING volunteer and together we got me ready for the bike. My one regret is I didn’t take the time to put on my own sunscreen because the volunteers who did it forgot my forehead because of my helmet! OUCH!

Bike (8:14.48)

You mean I have to bike 112 miles?!

I made it out of T1 at pretty much exactly 9am and I knew I had to GO if I wanted to make the bike cutoff at 5:30mph. To be safe, I would need to cover about 14mph which is slightly above the average I have been doing on my long training rides. I mentally had broken up the ride into the 16 mile stick, 25 miles to the Team Z cheering station, 16 more miles to the special needs bags/halfway point, 25 miles to the Team Z cheering station, and 30 miles home.

About a mile into the ride, I dropped my salt tabs, turned around to get them, and caused a crash. I felt AWFUL! I will blame the lack of sleep and disorientation from the swim. The person was able to keep going though so hopefully I didn’t ruin her day. Right after I got my salt tabs one of my water bottles fell off my bike. I just let that one go! Lesson learned.

About 30 minutes into the ride, I went to go eat the ritz crackers I brought and I realized I was in trouble. My stomach issues had NOT gone away and I really didn’t want any of the food I brought. My nutrition strategy took a big hit. As much as I could throughout the day, I forced myself to eat, but I did not eat nearly as much as I should have. It would get even worse as my focus turned from nutrition to making sure I made the cutoff.

After the (non)great start to the bike and the slow swim, I started to get pretty nervous. The Wisconsin hills will kill you if you try to take them too hard early. Prior to the race though, I had debated making my race strategy to go hard on the bike and make sure I make the cutoff, whatever the consequences on the run, rather than the customary “stay in zone 2” and take it easy to save energy for the run.  It looked like I had no choice but to go with this strategy. I knew if I could make it to the run, I could finish the marathon in the 6 ½ hours allotted before midnight. Running is my bread and butter in triathlon. While I don’t consider a marathon easy by any stretch, I typically run pretty well and have proven to myself I am capable of fighting to the finish of a marathon. For the whole ride, when I hit the hills I switched to my easiest gear and eased my way up them, but when I hit a flat or downhill, it was FULL ON GO.

I covered ~15 miles in the first hours and was happy to have a little wiggle room in the bank. I would need it! The Wisconsin course is shaped like a lollipop – 16 miles out, two 40 mile loops, and 16 miles back. About 10 miles into the loop, we turned onto a part of the course that had been under construction when I was out there in June. This part of the course was a LONG uphill into a pretty strong headwind, for about 10-15 miles. Everyone slowed down in this section, and I definitely didn’t hit my goal of 14 miles that hour. In fact, I probably did closer to 10-12mph this section.

After this pretty rough section (in which any support from the crowd/volunteers was not returned with my characteristic “Thanks!” but rather a cold blank stare ahead as I was in the pain cave), I finally reached the Team Z cheering station. It was great to see everyone and helped lift the spirits. However, at this point I was definitely behind schedule and needed to pick it up. Right after the cheer station, we hit the three big hills on the course. These were lined with spectators who helped cheer us up them like at the Tour de France but they were still tough. Luckily, the remainder of the back half of the course provides plenty of opportunity for speed and I managed to pick up some of my lost time. When I hit the 56 mile mark, it was about 4 hours into the bike, giving me a little under 4 ½ hours to do the remaining 56 miles.

I got to the special needs point (the point at which I could pick up a bag of stuff I dropped off in the morning – i.e. coke, gels, tubes, etc) and realized I was not in good shape. I felt pretty lightheaded and out of it. Despite giving up soda over two years ago, I had put Coke in my bag because I have heard it works wonders. Thank goodness I did! I drank about 4 oz of it, grabbed the snickers and other things I thought I might be able to eat later (wrong), and got back on my bike. About 5 miles later, the Coke worked it’s magic and I started to feel better. I enjoyed the rough section of the course this time, and was even able to pass some people and thank volunteers/spectators. I also managed to eat the snickers.

Feeling much better after coke/snickers

When I got to the Team Z station around 3, I knew I could cover the last 32 miles or so in the 2 ½ hours I had until the cutoff thanks to the fact that the second half of the loop was much quicker. I knew I would have to MOVE though in order to do it. The team had been doing the math for my parents and everyone was getting pretty nervous for me. Apparently my dad and Ryan both told me I had to move it when I passed them, but I didn’t hear them because I was too busy moving it, yelling “MARATHON OR BUST” as I sped by. I told Sherri the same thing as I came across an impromptu cheering station about 5 miles later. You guys rocked!

I struggled the last little bit, especially with shifting into my big chain ring because my hand had no strength left (in fact, I still don’t have full feeling in my pinky fingertips). Somehow, I made it up the hills (which had much fewer spectators this late in the day) and to the transition area after 8 hours and 15 minutes on the bike. 15 minutes! was the difference between me continuing and ending my day.

T2 (8:18)

The relief I felt coming into T2 cannot be put into words. With the help of another awesome volunteer, I somehow managed to transition to the run. She asked about my nutrition (hahaha, what nutrition?)  and warned me to be careful on the run to avoid stomach issues (too late!).

Run (5:47:41) 

I started running immediately and felt pretty good. It was great to be surrounded by people and to see other Zers on the course. I made it to the Team Z cheer station at mile 1 (snickers in hand) and my parents were very relieved to see I made it out on the course because the tracker hadn’t updated yet.

The first half of the course was great! The course went around the capital, up state street (where all the shops/restaurants are), around the football field for the university, down by the lake, and back. There were plenty of people around as people were on both their first and second loops.

Despite thinking I might blow up early due to the energy I had to use on the bike, I ran (slowly) in between aid stations (other than a couple big hills), running off of the energy I could muster from the coke/chicken broth/bananas at the aid stations. I only ate one gel the entire run. I had several people remark to me how they were really impressed with my running consistency which felt great. Thanks Sherri and Kate for running with me to check in when I passed you! Your words of encouragement meant a lot. I finished the first half in 2 hours 45 minutes, giving me four hours to do the second half.

At this point I knew I had it in the bag. I would finish one way or the other. I really just tried to enjoy the rest of the race, thanking spectators/volunteers along the way. I started walking more at the aid stations in order to ensure I got some calories in, but still managed to run the majority of the second half of the course. As I passed people, I offered them encouragement (we have plenty of time to get there, no matter how you have to do it). I also gave away my second glow stick, and used the one that remained to help guide me and another racer through the dark portion of the course by the lake. 

With a mile and a half to go until the finish, I started to run and kept it up the entire way. The feeling of running up State Street and around the capital as people told me “You are about to be an Ironman” is indescribable. A random spectator put his arm around me (in a non-creepy way) and ran up State Street with me, telling me how awesome I was for doing this. “Is this your first one?! Yeaaaah Buudddy!”

Stolen from Lisa P

I got to the finishing chute and put my hand out for high fives as I ran all the way down it. Team Z was in the stands and lit up when I came by! I crossed the finish line and somehow missed Mike Reilly saying “Hilary Heincer, YOU ARE AN IRONMAN” but that didn’t matter. My joy was overwhelming. Two Team Z members caught me at the finish line, handed me my medal/shirt/jacket, made me pretty for my finisher’s photo, and brought me to my parents. I was too out of it to really thank you at the time, but THANKS!

The only unpleasant part about the finish was the fact they ran out of Chocolate milk!! Mark and Mary can tell you how much this devastated me, considering I had filmed an ad a mere 36 earlier to confess my love for the liquid gold in order to win the endorsement deal I have been seeking. I don’t know what disappointed me more – the lack of chocolate milk or the lack of cowprint apparel (the reason I signed up for the race in the first place).

All told, I crossed the finish line in 16 hours 11 minutes. I met up with my teammates, stayed until midnight to see the final finisher (awesome energy!), and then headed back to the hotel. I was up early to stand in line for my finisher’s jacket (which I have worn daily). Paul and I chatted with three new people (to me at least) about the race/our love of triathlon. I turned to my dad (whom I had made drive me) and said “these are my people,” relishing in how I have found such a home amongst triathletes.  He replied “you should have come alone.” Poor dad!

Happy Hot Mess

Overall thoughts

If there is one thing I have learned through this Ironman process, it’s patience. My personal mantras that got me through this race were to “just keep moving” and “keep calm and carry on.” This has impacted all areas of my life, especially my job. When you sign up for an Ironman you sign up for a long journey. It can be easy to lose the big picture in the midst of the daily workouts/aches/pains. But if you commit to them, you will get the results. Our team’s 100% success rate this weekend is proof of that! Despite roadblocks you hit during training/racing, things have a tendency to work out if you just stay calm and use your head/teammates. Let’s hope this new perspective lasts!

I am now going to take some time to decide what my goals are for next season. I am so excited to have this race complete because there are several other things I want to do (hot yoga, strength training, hiking, etc). I have been signing up for one event after the other the last several years. I feel such a relief to have accomplished my goal and completed this Ironman. I feel like for the time at least, I can stop chasing the "next big thing" and just revel in whatever activity I choose to do each day. That is such a freeing feeling!

The final countdown...

In approximately 12 hours I will be beginning the Ironman, the celebration of the last 9 months of hard work I have been put in. Confession: I am horrible at planning. Several people have their race mapped out minute by minute - what they are going to eat to get the exact carb/calorie/protein combination, the turns of the course they plan to go harder and ease off, etc etc etc. I have no such plan. I have a general idea of what I am going to eat - salt tabs on the 30/00s, gels on the 15s, and solids on the 45s. However, I completely am expecting to throw that out the window at some point in the day. My "special needs" bags (the ones you get halfway through the bike and through the run) are filled with a random assortment of things I might want: pickles (snack packs!), goldfish, snickers, V8 (never had before), flat coke (despite giving soda up 2+ years ago), and then the standard gels. Despite this total lack of a real "plan" in place, I am actually feeling pretty good right now. I am not as nervous as I would expect - I am completely confident I have the right fitness level. I am just going to take the day as it comes and enjoy it (while hating it desperately at some points).

This last 72 hours has been great. Thursday started off with me arriving at work to find a BEAUTIFUL bouqet of flowers on my desk and a sweet card from all my coworkers. They have had to listen to me talk NON-STOP about this adventure so I really appreciated the gesture. I left work at 3:30ish, with my coworkers gathering around staring awkwardly as they bid me farewell. I headed to the airport and found out my flight was delayed. I passed the time by talking to a random passenger (who was a little too quick to divulge his life story) and a fellow team member who I was driving from Milwaukee to Madison.

I finally arrived at the hotel Thursday night and found out they would have breakfast out starting at 4am tomorrow! SUCH a relief. Friday morning, I met up with the team early to go register. We signed a giant liability waiver, got our chip/etc, and a kick-ass transistion bag to carry our stuff in. Then we walked around the expo, grabbed lunch, and I had a few hours to relax, which I used to watch tennis and go to the grocery store. A fun fact I learned is that stores prefer when you have your wallet to pay for things. Upon learning this I rushed to the hotel and back to prevent my frozen foods from becoming unfrozen.

As I am committed to soaking up the full Ironman experience, I went to the athlete's banquet and briefing. It was a little short on inspirational stories, but it was still a fun event to see. The pasta was delicious!

When I got back to the hotel, my parents had arrived with my gear and bike and I started organizing. This morning, I met up with the team to do one final pre-Ironman workout - a 10/10/10 swim/bike/run workout. Short and sweet. The water is awesome - perfect temperature and calm. But man, am I TIRED! After a lazy afternoon, I checked in my transition bags (after racking the bike after the workout), where I got tape a 30 second "ad" for chocolate milk (as a wonderful recovery beverage) which will hopefully result in the endorsement deal I have dreaming about. Then we went to the Team Z dinner where my parents got their first taste of what the team is all about. As soon as I finish this, I am doing some last minute prep and heading to bed. 3:45am wake up tomorrow!

Overall, I am just feeling overwhelmed by all the love and support that has come my way from friends/family/coworkers. It has been an awesome journey and I am excited for tomorrow.