Spinach Kugel and Potatoes pancake recipes

Spinach Kugel Recipe

3 cups uncooked pasta
3 (10 oz) packages of frozen chopped spinach
    (leave it out to thaw way early, open them up and put in colander!)
1 1/4 cup matzo meal
1 small onion finely chopped
12 oz of silken tofu (the vacuum packed kind)
1 cup veggi broth
2 TB olive oil
1/4 cup lightly packed, chopped fresh dill
2 TB lemon juice
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp black pepper
Non stick cooking spray

Cook pasta, drain and let it chillax in a mixing bowl.
Preheat oven to 350, not 351, 350!
Make sure spinach is in colander and draining.
Put matzo meal in the chillaxin bowl.
Place tofu, oil and veggie broth in a food processor (or blender and puree until smooth). Add to bowl with matzo and pasta.
Press the spinach in the colander to be sure most of moisture is out of it and then into the bowl with it.
Add rest of ingredients to bowl and use hands to mixer her good!
Spray a 9 x 13 casserole dish with cooking spray, press chillaxin mixture into bowl. Cook for 30 minutes. Remove form oven and let it sit for 10 min before slicing and serving!



Potato Pancakes Recipe

2.5 lbs russet potatoes peeled (use Idaho if you feel you need to!)
1 small onion peeled
1/4 cup potato (or corn) starch
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
2 cups matzo meal
veggie oil for frying

Cut potatoes in  1/2 or 1/4's and use the grating blade on your food processor to shred them up.  If you don't have a food processor come over and borrow mine, grating them by hand is a pain! Grate up the onion while you are at it.

Place all this grated up stuff in a large mixing bowl and add the potato starch. Use your hands to mix up the three things until the starch is dissolved and the potatoes release their moisture.Then add the salt and pepper, mix a little more, then add the matzo meal and mix really well. Now just let it sit for ten minutes and grab a glass of Manischewitz.

Preheat a large cast iron skillet with a 1/4 inch layer of oil in it. The oil is hot enough when you throw a bit of batter in it and bubbles rapidly form around it, its too hot if it starts to smoke! Wet your hands and roll mixture into golf balls sized portions. Flatten the balls out and then fry in pan. 4 minutes on one side (until golden brown) and 3 minutes on the other side. Place cooked pancakes on paper towel to drain and then into a 200 degree oven to stay warm until the rest are done, you should be able to cook 4 at a time.

Recipes!!!

Had a couple of request for recipes so here is one, potato pancakes coming soon!! I always try and rename my recipes so they have no animal names in them like my meatloaf recipe is called Mighty Mighty loaf! Not so sure about the name on this one, any help??

Vegan Wild Nuggets:

Sauce: 
 1 1/2 cups Smart Balance
1/2 cup + 2 tablespoons Tabasco sauce
3 tablespoons brown sugar
3/4 teaspoon paprika
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
3/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper
2 tablespoons chili sauce

Wings

12 mini bamboo skewers

1 1/4 cup vital wheat gluten

1/3 cup chicken powder broth**

1/2 tsp onion powder

1/2 tsp garlic powder

1 tsp paprika

freshly ground white pepper

2 tbsp oil

1 to 1 1/4 cup water

Gluten Free Wings

2 lbs Temph 

Breading

1 cup plain soy milk

2 tbsp oil

1 tbsp ground flax seed

1 tsp lemon juice

1/2 tsp onion powder

1/2 tsp garlic powder

1/2 tsp paprika

1/2 tsp salt

1 1/3 cup panko bread crumbs

and ACTION!

Preheat oven to 400 degrees

1. Line a dark baking sheet with aluminum foil. Spray with oil.

2. Mix flour, stock powder, and spices together. Add oil and enough water to make a dough. The dough should be somewhat stiff, but able to be kneaded. Knead for a few mins then shape into a log and slice into 12 to 16 pieces. Stick a bamboo skewer into each piece of dough and shape around the stick. Wet your hands if you need to.

3. Whisk together soy milk, oil, lemon juice, and flax seed in a shallow dish. In a separate shallow dish, mix together bread crumbs and spices.

4. Roll seitan in soy milk mixture, then in bread crumbs. Place on prepared baking sheet.

5. Bake for 20 - 25 mins, until crumbs are golden and seitan has plumped up. While these are cooking mix your sauce ingredients together in a pot over med/low heat. Add more cayenne if your dare!! Remove cooked seitan from oven and spoon sauce over each wing. Return to oven and cook for 5 mins

Gluten Free method:
1. Cut temph in quarters then each quarter in thirds 
2. Place in a large skillet, filled with one half inch of boiling water.
3. Steam temph for 20 min, adding water if necessary.
4. Drain temph and let it cool a bit then bread, cook and sauce as above.

**If you can't find chicken powder broth in your local market here is a recipe!
Mix ingredients together with a fork.

1 and 1/3 c. good-tasting nutritional yeast flakes
3 T. onion powder
2 and 1/2 T. sea salt
2 and 1/2 tsp. garlic granules or powder
1 T.  sugar
1 tsp. dried thyme
1 tsp. finely crumbled dried sage (NOT powdered)
1 tsp. paprika
1/2 tsp. tumeric

HITS Triathlon Race report as well as Tribute to our National Parks!

This past weekend, in Palm Springs, was the inaugural triathlon in the brand spanking new HITS triathlon series. It’s triathlon series that is out to appeal to triathletes of all ages and experiences. Those who want to go short and fast and those who want to go long and endure.  It really has a little of something for everyone, different distances spread throughout the weekend with plenty of categories for you to race in. This new series is going to travel around the country and then come back to Palm Springs next December for a winner take all championship event. In many ways it is very similar to our national park system, what you say? Well they both go from the desert to the ocean side and just like the series there is a park for everyone’s taste, and let me tell you the similarities don’t stop there!

My experience at the HITS triathlon (a brand new triathlon) is reminiscent of the our newest national park; Patterson Great Falls in Patterson, NJ.  Patterson is an area of the country which is credited as the birthplace of the industrial revolution.  But who would think they would find a national park in the middle of urban NJ?? Well who would think you would find an equestrian event company running a brand new series of tri’s around our country?? Well HITS is first, and foremost , a horse show company but its owner got the tri bug awhile back and wanted to bring a new vision to triathlon. He has the organizational skills, the cash and the drive to get it done. When someone’s passion is also their work good things happen. Obviously there will be glitches at the start of anything new, and this encompassing, but you could tell the vision is there. I, for one, will be sure to enter another in the series.

This race was an add on one for me this year, not really into any training plan at this point, I was just looking to do something before the end of the year and thought “hey there is a new iron distance race in Palm Springs, why not??” Well maybe not being in shape for such a long race might have been a good why not! But hey I have done stupider things before and lived.  This idea of mine ranked up there with the two worst ideas for national parks. The Proctology National Monument in Tennessee comes to mind, although the hands on exhibits are fascinating. Also there is The Valley of Cheese in Wisconsin which has suffered severe degradation since the introduction of Velveeta.

The Glacier National Park swim. OK you set up a tri in Palm Springs, historic information tells you it will be warm enough, so you think “good let’s do it!” Well the area was hit with a couple of weeks of pretty cold nights, plummeting the water temp to about 52 at the start of my race. I was prepared though! I came with two thermoses of warm water, one to put in my wetsuit before my warm-up swim, and another to dump in before just before the start of the race (both thermoses were significantly warmer than the 98.6 warm-up fluid us triathletes usually use). Second I had two hand warming pouches, you know the ones where you open the bags up and they stay warm for six hours, which I stuffed into my wetsuit. I was feeling downright toasty for most of the swim. The sighting on the way out during each lap was a bit difficult due to the sun, but manageable, coming back was a breeze. I starting to tighten up on the last length home and could feel myself slowing down. To be truthful I had been in the pool about three times in the past month and between the time off and the cold water I got a time I deserved: 1:10. Hey one thing about Glacier Park, in 1850 there where a 150 glaciers in the park, now there are only 25 bigger than 25 acres. The two biggest could disappear by 2030 with the rest to follow shortly after, better get there while it’s cool!

Now onto the Vanderbilt Mansions National Park Transition area! The transition area was the roomiest ever, we had a box with slots in them for our bike, the wheel going in the slot and holding the bike upright. Plenty of room to spread out, a chair with our race number on it, and even extra room in the box for our stuff! I was waiting for tea to be served before I rode.  Now usually I am a minimalist in transition, not a lot of moving parts, fast in and out of there. No changing into a new outfit, no accessorizing, no applying foundation so I look good for the pictures , if I am not the fastest one out I am pretty darn close to fastest. But with this setup up I took the extra few seconds to add the comfort of socks (I always ride barefoot), gloves (it was still chilly) and two new warmers inside my tri-suit! Watch out here comes a rant…. If you have spent all that money on an aero bike, a bike fit, aero wheels and an aero helmet why the hell would you then put on a parachute (ie windbreaker) in transition before your ride!?!?! Or for that matter, why have you not have ridden enough to stay in aero position on a flat course with swirling winds! OK sorry. T1 4:10 second fastest, a full minute too slow, but it was luxurious!

The Mojave National Perserve ride. It surrounds Palm Springs, its third largest national park (below Alaska) with Death Valley and Yellowstone ranking one and two (now don’t you give up Mojave, the deserts are always growing and Yellowstone is going to blow up some day!) It also contains three of the four major deserts of North America within its boundaries: Mojave, Great Basin and Sonoran. It’s all time high temp was 124 degrees with a record low of 13. The ride, like the area, was flat and somewhat rough. The chipstone rode surface started to rattle you after 80 or so miles. The wind, which was wild in the days before the race, had started out calm enough but on our second loop it began to kick up some and with no place to hide, definitely had an effect on your time. For today I was after a low cadence, moderate heart rate ride. Not having the big training days behind me for the race I wanted to save as much HR as possible, low cadence equals low HR, and hopefully have something left for a run I didn’t train for either. I averaged a cadence of 80 (when I was bored enough to count it) with an average hr of 148. My time was 5:20 for the ride but I left a little more in the tank than usual. Looking ahead to IM CdA I am thinking a ride of 5:10 to 5:15 is definitely in my wheelhouse, if my wheelhouse weighs 7 pounds less that is!

Back to the Vanderbilt Transition area, this time no tomfoolery, in and out, in about a minute. Extravagance be damned!

The Kobuk Valley National Park run. Kobuk Valley is located in Alaska and within the Arctic circle. It is the least visited of our national parks with a scant total of 1250 visitors for its expanse 1,669,813 acres in 2010, or about 1 visitor for every 133,000 acres. At any point in time you could be totally alone in a an area the size Delaware, haunting really. Now this being the first of the HITS tri’s and it being pretty late in the season to add an iron distance race to one’s schedule, there weren’t many of us 140.3ers at the start. Now, with the ½ iron distance runners mostly done for the day and off the course by the time we fullers got started, we had 26 miles of desert road to ourselves. Add in the fact that its winter, and an early sunset, well it was a dark and, at times, a lonely run.

My run started out great, nice turnover, feeling loose and like I a decent amount of run in me. Unfortunately I came down with an upset stomach around mile 6. This is a little unusual for me but, when it does happen, I try and grab some Coke at an aid station to settle things down. Unfortunately there was no coke at any of the aid stations. Physically and, maybe even more, psychologically I suffered for the next 8 miles. You see I had some coke in my special needs bag but it was far, far away…. sparing you the details I heaved my way to mile 14 and the coke. During the bike I had moved into second overall, somewhere around mile 15 or so, and had built up quite a cushion on third place, a cushion that totaled 30 minutes by the start of the run.  But now I proceeded to throw (up) that lead away. In fact the second place dude was only about 2 minutes behind me by mile 14 and my desperately needed coke. Luckily the soda had the desired affect and soon I was back to running at a pace just under 8 minutes a mile. Now, ladies and gentlemen, the race was on. Over the next 9 miles he slowly inched closer. 

The darkness, which was now fully engulfing us, hid him most of the time but the lights from oncoming cars would reveal his shadow to me, stalking me like some super sized runner. I began to seriously fade at mile 23 and, with slightly younger legs and the momentum at mile 24, after holding onto second place for almost 130 total miles, I was passed. L  For some reason I feel if you have raced for over 10 hours no passing should be allowed in the last 2 miles. But there was no one around to listen to my protests. After a long iron day, and for those who have done a few of these know, I was totally spent, finished, done. My problem: I was 2 miles from the end. As he passed I held on for as long as I could but soon he disappeared into the night and all I could see was a blinking light at an intersection far down the road. My legs were shot, my spirit was lying next to mile marker 24 and those damn lights just kept blinking, seemingly getting no closer. There was no further challenge from behind and I was too prideful to walk, but I assure you no one would confuse what I was doing with running. A race I just wanted to do for fun had turned into an event for me and now the party was going to start without me. My run total was 4:12, 2:04 ½ way out and feeling ill, 1:33 over the next 10 and then it took me 35 minutes to cover the last 3 miles.

Now I have never done it but finishing an ironman has to be like childbirth. Once you see that pink, mucousy, squished up ball of flesh and realize it’s your kid (most) of the pain and torture you have experienced over the past nine months melts away. Well it’s the same here, as I got closer I could hear the celebration as the second place guy crossed the line and I started to get a little more energy, Good for him! He preserved and deserved it. As I came down the chute and the cheering starting the pain and fatigue began to melt away and I basked in the enjoyment of finishing a grand task I had set my mind to doing. Not unlike finishing this report!

What Every Vegetarian Needs to Know About Iron

This is a guest post by Matt Ruscigno, who writes the blog True Love Health.

True or False: The iron that our bodies require is the same element found in a cast-iron skillet.
This is a real true or false question on my college exam, and it fools a surprising number of my students. Iron is greatly misunderstood as a nutrient, especially when it comes to vegetarian and vegan diets.
The mineral is found all over the earth and is essential to red blood cells transporting oxygen and nutrients to every cell in our body, connecting us directly to the land we live on. Pretty amazing, right?
But iron deficiency is the most common nutrient deficiency in North America, with symptoms including fatigue, pale skin, weakness and inability to maintain body temperature. And as vegetarians and vegans, it's worth paying special attention to make sure we're getting enough.

So how much iron do we actually need?

Recently in the U.S., the Dietary Reference Intakes (DRI) gave new recommendations for iron, specifically for vegetarians, that are 1.8 times higher than the general population. As my colleagueJack Norris points out, this increase is not based on actual research on vegetarians, but simply because the iron in plant foods is not as easily absorbed as the iron in animal products (more on this in just a minute).
As a result, many experts in vegetarian nutrition believe that these recommendations are much higher than needed.
My take on it: if you eat a varied, healthy plant-based diet that includes a balance of grains, legumes, nuts and seeds, and fruits and vegetables — and follow the recommendations below — I don’t believe it is necessary to keep close track of iron intake.

Iron from plants vs. iron from animals

To better understand what we need to do to ensure our bodies are getting enough iron, we first have to accept two facts about iron — painful as they are for vegetarians and vegans to hear:

1. There are two types of iron — heme, which is found in animal foods, and non-heme, which is from plants. It is true that heme iron (the kind from animals) is better absorbed than non-heme iron.
2. Vegetarians and vegans may have lower iron stores than omnivores.

But don’t fret your vegetarian brain over these issues. We'll see that in fact it's not all that difficult to get the iron you need on a plant-based diet.
As for #2, it's important to note that while vegetarians have lower stores of iron than omnivores, theydo not have higher rates of anemia. In the research, many vegetarians’ stores are "low-normal," but this does not mean less than ideal! Actually, there’s some evidence that says low-normal iron stores are beneficial: improved insulin function and lower rates of heart disease and cancer.

How to get enough iron on a plant-based diet

You can start by making sure that you're eating foods that contain substantial amounts of iron. Some of the best plant sources of iron include:

• Legumes: lentils, soybeans, tofu, tempeh, lima beans
• Grains: quinoa, fortified cereals, brown rice, oatmeal
• Nuts and seeds: pumpkin, squash, pine, pistacio, sunflower, cashews, unhulled sesame
• Vegetables: tomato sauce, swiss chard, collard greens,
• Other: blackstrap molasses, prune juice

But here's the key: It's not how much iron you consume, but how well you absorb it.
So paying attention to make sure you're absorbing your iron is just as important as making sure you're taking in enough. And fortunately there is a lot you can do to increase the absorption of non-heme iron!

5 ways vegetarians and vegans can absorb more iron

1. The less you eat, the better it is absorbed.
Seriously! I know people who take one 15 milligram pill a day and think they are covered, but it doesn’t work that way. When consuming higher amounts of iron at one time, the percentage that our bodies absorb is actually lower than when your meal contains only a few milligrams. Plant-based foods may contain less iron than animal foods, but eating smaller amounts throughout the day is a great way to increase absorption.
2. Eat non-heme iron foods with vitamin C foods, and absorption can increase as much as five times.
Five times! Culturally these combinations are already happening: think beans and rice with salsa,falafel with tomatoes and hummus with lemon juice. The iron in beans, grains and seeds is better absorbed when combined with the vitamin-C found in fruits and vegetables. Bonus: some iron sources, like leafy greens, broccoli, and tomato sauce already contain vitamin-C.
3. Avoid coffee and tea when eating high-iron meals.
Coffee (even decaf!) and tea contain tannins that inhibit iron absorption. I recommend avoiding them an hour before or two hours after your meal.
4. Cast-iron skillets increase iron absorption.
The answer to the true or false question is true! Cooking with an old school cast-iron skillet increases the iron in your meal — especially when you cook a vitamin-C containing food in it.
Even better, a cast-iron skillet purchase puts you in the realm of official serious cook. I bought mine almost 10 years ago for $8 and it is one of my most valued possessions. (Yes, I’m that much of a food nerd that a skillet is one of my most valued possessions!)
5. It pains me to say this, but you may want to avoid spinach as an iron source.
Spinach contains oxalates that block absorption. Sucks, right? There is some disagreement in the research about this, but with all of those other iron-containing plant foods, why not try some new ones?
And for the record, even if you take an iron supplement, you should still follow the advice above. I recommend that if my clients take one, they break it in half and take half in the morning and half at night, always with meals or juice.

Iron doesn't have to be a problem in a plant-based diet

Follow these principles, eating good sources of iron throughout the day and keeping up with the absorption principles above, and you'll find that it's not hard to get enough iron in your diet, even as a vegetarian or vegan.
All of that said, iron is one of the few nutrients where a deficiency both immediately affects your health and is detectable, so if you have any iron-deficiency symptoms I recommend getting blood work with your doctor. It is affordable, reliable and easy to interpret. And iron levels bounce back quickly when using the methods above or supplementation.
I'll leave you with a fun fact about iron in plant-based diets (well, fun to a food nerd at least):

Some research shows that vegans have higher iron levels than vegetarians.

How?
The difference between vegetarians and vegans is eggs and dairy products, and the latter contain almost no iron. When someone goes from vegetarian to vegan they are replacing dairy products with plant-based ones, all of which contain some iron, therefore increasing the total iron in the diet.
With this information and a little effort you can get all of the iron you need from plants to be a healthy and strong vegetarian!

Running Diary of an Off Road Triathlon

So by now you have gotten the idea that I am not just going to sit down and write a boring old race report. I twist them a little, make them interesting, and try and make you laugh at least a once. With this in mind I give you a running diary of my latest race In The Dirt off Road Tri

Coach Tony and I ready to Rock!

03:52 am. I wake up, bright eyed and bushy tailed. I am a type B personality during my 'regular' life, one of the most easy going, laid back dudes you could chance to meet. But my racing persona, we’ll call him Speed Racer, is type A all the way. I think it’s my bizarro way of blowing off steam. Anyways I need to be at the race, any race really even a potato sack race, as soon as they will let me in the gate and sometimes even before (I sneak around staking out my transition spot). Today registration will open at 5am and it will take me 45 min to get there. So I am up and ready to go early, I really don’t sleep much anyways. I grab some boxes of Gatorade to hand out and off I go!

04:55am Staking out my transition spot is difficult when you leave your Icon headlamp at home. On the bright side I always forget something so I am hoping that the headlamp was the thing for today! Easy to overcome my forgetfulness with my trusty Droid phone’s camera light (you think I was getting paid for all these product endorsements I am dropping)

07:10 Time to head down to the beach. Something unusual about this race, the run from the beach to the transition area is longer than the swim will be! Need to chill on the way up from the beach and not blow up before I even get to the bike. Also I am bring my flip flops down so I can run up with them on and not slice up my feet. Guess I am not the only one with that idea!

Hey is that my leg??

07:17 The lake is a little warmer than when I got in. There are two kinds of triathletes, those that warm the lake and those that lie about it!

About to warm up the Lake

07:49 The race is starting late because a fog bank rolls in, suddenly a chill up runs up my spine thinking about that movie, The Fog! It was an early 80’s horror movie with Adrienne Barbeau and Jamie Lee Curtis in it, a dynamic duo for the teenage boy audience for sure, oh wait may wave is lining up!

08:02 I am out of the water, third fastest for my race! I never take swim distance that literally anymore; they never seem to be exact to the distance posted! They should just be listed as Not too hard (sprint), Longish (oly), A Decent Workout (1/2 IM) and See You in awhile (IM). I just go by my time relative to the other swimmers in my heat or age group these days. This was a good swim for me and I grab my flip flops and run to the bike.

Finished already?

08:04 It seems like 20 minutes later but I finally arrive at my bike, all is well except for the ton of tiny ants that are on my gel flask. They say a little protein helps you digest all those carbs faster, we’ll see…

08:36 First lap of Mountain bike done! Started out third, fell to fifth but recovered to third again. The beginning of the ride is soft from many a hoofed beast traveling over them. HR spiked to 170 and had to take a step back to catch my breath. Long climb in the middle of the course where I was able to stay on top of the bike for most of, jumping off to push the iron horse up and over a few tough boulders. A look back shows my lap time is among the leaders.

08:44 Make contact with rider in second place here is my chance…

08:45 Oh my, back tire is either tapering off steroids and becoming flabby or has just lost a bunch of air. Still about ¾ of a lap to go so I hop off, remove the wheel, rip out tube, new tube in, re-inflate, off I go. Still in third!! Stay calm.

08:53 About ½ way through lap and the tire is losing its will to live again, must have missed a thorn or something when I cleaned it out before putting the new tube in. I try adding air at an aid station; it works, for 1 minute! I must finish the second half of this lap on a flat tire. 

09:06 I have just finished pushing the bike up the big climb of the lap and I hear a spotter say “you have to be kidding me!”  Big downhill coming, never rode down a rutted, steep, suicide downhill on a flat rear tire, hey there’s a first time for everything!

09:15 I am happy to be alive!! I made it down the hill. One more uphill, then a gentle downhill grade to the finish. I can do this!!! The race course now joins up with the road, and the two road tri’s going on at the same time, and the road is crowded with other racers. Running up the hill, pushing my bike, I pass several road riders, they jokingly curse at me, I snicker silently.

09:20 Somewhere around a mile to the transition area, gentle downhill along the road, I can do this!! I hop bike on bike, put all my weight over the front tire, I am going to make it. The tire, obviously having had enough of this crap, disembowels itself, wrapping its flaccid tube around my cassette. The rear tire will now no longer move. About ¾ mile to the transition area, I can’t do this…. F it all! I throw the bike over my shoulder and start to run.

What! I can ride it?? Oh I just thought I was suppose to carry it

09:30 I arrive at T-2 with the bike on my back, everything hurts, I am sweating and cursing. Parents are diverting their children’s vision and covering their ears. 

09:31 I am too tired to keep going but, in a case of classic miscommunication, the message does not get out to all parties involved. Instinctually I grab my stuff and get out of transition in under a minute.

09:48 I am feeling it, the adrenaline from getting back is flowing and running without a ridiculously heavy mountain bike on my back seems easy, I am flying (for me), sub 7 minute miles the whole way. During my run/bike phase I had dropped from 3 to, by my best guess, 8^th. Now on the run I pass someone which moves me to 7^th overall, it’s the second time that day I hear someone say “you’ve got to be kidding me!”

09:51 It’s over, I have the second fastest run of the race and I made it home. I can’t tell you what kept me keep going, I know I have DNF’d in the past and always regretted it. I really had no pressing appointments anyways, so why stop?? 

 Final Results had me 1^st in my Age Group and 7^th Overall. It wasn’t a big race by any means but it was Epic for me!!

Awards Ceremony for Magic Mountain Man Long Course Tri

Well, the Magic Mountain Man ½ Ironman is in the books!  It was a great day for racing and a very well organized event. Kudos to Renegade Racing, if you get a chance to do one of their races, do it, you won’t be disappointed!

5th Overall, 1st Age Group. Satisfaction!

Having spent the last blog going over some pre-race planning ideas and then developing a race plan for this long coarse tri, let’s take a look back at how things went. Now we could dryly go over each item but that would be well, dry. Living in California for two + years now I have noticed a plethora of award shows I never knew existed. Of course you have the Emmy’s, the Oscars, the Grammy’s but you also have the S.A.G. awards (apparently for worst cosmetic surgery) and the Kids Choice awards and People’s Choice award (apparently kids are not people). So I a decided to stage my own the Race Plan Execution Awards!!!  Let’s call them the Kona’s. Here goes:

Thanks for coming to tonight’s show, every year we are getting a little more popular and hopefully next year we can score a TV deal and so you won’t have to read about our show in someone’s blog. Let’s go through the awards as they happened during the race.

The “Hey Dude” Kona for being too laid back in a discipline: Envelope please… Goes to the Swim!!!  At the outset of my plan I noted this was a Bike Heavy triathlon. A good finish was going to be determined on the strength of the bike time. So I went into the swim trying to be relaxed, saving energy for the bike and generally not losing the race by over doing the swim and being unable to bike well. Problem was I took this to the extreme! Taking my foot off the flipper, so to speak, is not my strong point. By Over-Relaxing I slowed my stroke down too much and caused myself all sorts of sighting problems. I could not go in a straight line to save my life, usually not a problem for me. About half way through I gave up and hit the gas. Things improved but the damage was done. 39:34 shooting for 33 to 34. Yuck!

The “Get down and the deck and flop like a fish” Kona goes to, wait for it…. Transition 1! Trying to cut my losses after that swim, I raced to T1 and proceeded to strip out of my wetsuit. But in my haste I pulled the suit down to fast and rolled it up on itself, making it impossible to get over my ankles. My T times are usually very fast; I waste little to no time there and often get out before people who come in before me (free time! I am always thinking). But in my second miscue of the day I forget the golden rule, don’t try to over compensate for an earlier error. Just go on with the plan and forget about it, you cannot change it now.  T1 was 3:04, a full minute slower than planned. But the struggles with my suit also settled me down in a strange way. I reminded to myself: Stay on plan, make sure you have everything you need before you leave, Make sure you drink you Gatorade, Do Not Compound Your Errors, chillax dude.

The “Blazing Saddles” Kona for Best Performance in a Single Discipline goes to the bike!!  I knew it was going to be hilly, hot and a little windy. I planned to use the road bike because of all that climbing and descending.  I also recognized the importance of a staying within myself at the start and letting the ride come to me, instead of trying to beat it right off the bat. The extra time the ride would entail meant bringing enough Gatorade at the start, two full bottles on the bike (plus some right before and right after). I moved a lot of fluid through me and that GSeries Pro really helped me stay balanced. The first climb was 7.2 miles to the top and started the second we left the transition area. I dropped her in low and spun it up the hill, trying to control the HR and leave as much as possible in the tank for the next 50 mi or so. After that hill I just continued to build on my effort, putting out a little more on each climb until the last one where I felt I was literally flying up the hill! Also warranting a mention was the factor the bike made on the descents. The road was fairly rough in spots making for a lot of jostling around. The majority of those on their Tri bikes where up and on the brakes for a great majority of the down hills. I flew by them and was very comfortable doing it. The advance scouting of the course, and the willingness to try out different ideas (road vs. tri bike) paid off. My time was 3:12:14 good for the third fastest time of the day and a full 15 minutes faster than the plan! Now I had some wiggle room.

The “Barry White” Kona for Smoothness goes to T2! After that first transition I was determined to fly in and out on the next change. Being sure not over reach, just doing everything I usually do and doing it smoothly. I was bueno and I got a time of 1:06, total t times 4:10. I had allotted a time of 5:00 for both transitions combined so I came out ahead on that plan too (barely).

The “Ease on Down, Ease on Down the Road” Kona for best pacing goes to the run. Being a mass start tri I knew where I was in the standings and I had now accumulated some extra time. I took this info and plugged into my planned run time. I was 6 overall off the bike, I wanted top 5. I felt my goal time should accomplish a top 5 finish. The important thing now was to follow the plan!!! Don’t try to go out and catch Mr # 5 in the first mile. Relax, run your run, and let him come back to you. It does not do any good to bomb out of transition, move up in the standings, and then be found lying on the side of the trail all cramped up a ½ mile from the finish. This theory was tested about 5 minutes into the run when Mr # 7 blew by me! He was moving and it made no sense to chase him, his pace would have buried me early. I stayed focused and eased into the run. This was a two loop run with an Olympic happening at the same time so for the middle part of the run it was hard to tell who was who until you came up on them and saw their number, blue numbers ½, red ones oly. This also allowed me to stay focused on the plan. Running my run, building pace. I knew the heat and the hills of the ride would prevent me from a fast time but, the run course was a lot harder than advertised! Since it was 75% trails, and I wasn’t sure exactly which trails, my pre race scouting mostly come from the director’s description of the course. It was in fact a quite challenging rolling course, and with the dirt trails slowing you down, as compared to paved road.  As I moved into the second lap the crowd started to thin with the Olys finishing off their runs. It was now mostly ½ Irons running. I was confident I had passed 3 other competitors and was now in 4^th. With about 4 miles to go a smallish runner, with a very quick turnover, came up alongside me. He was 53, or so says his calf, and moving at a good clip. I had not seen him at all during the race so I thought he was just on his first lap so I let him go (not that I could have stayed with him very long anyways!) and stuck to my pace. Come to find out he was on my lap and become the 4^th overall finisher, very impressive!!  

The finish was uneventful; the last good point about a mass start is you can see if there is anyone in front or behind you. I had no one as far as could see either in either direction with about 2 miles or so to go. The heat and the hills had started to give me some twinges of cramps so I began to cruise. I wanted a 1:45 on the run but threw that idea out after I saw how hard the first loop was. I ran the last 2 miles at 9 min each, being sure to finish and not cramp up all the while watching for anyone to come up from behind me. I finished with a 1:50.

Kudos goes to Coach Tony for his training plan and his advice on the course, both proved invaluable. I owe such a good finish too him. Also hydration and nutrition wise things worked out flawlessly. The Gatorade GSeries Pro proved to be enough electrolytes and fuel for the day, preventing the need to fuss with tabs or capsules.

Final results where:

5^th Overall,  1^st in Age Group.

Planned time 5:53, Gun Time 5:46:49, a little over 6 minutes better than planned!

Cuban Baked Beans

So great day outside, maybe a BBQ in the offing?? Well you need you some baked beans! But did you ever read the ingredients on the those vegetarian baked bean in the store? Grossness for sure. Here is a quick and easy recipe for GREAT beans, and you now what great beans mean....

Ingredients (use vegan versions): 

    1 medium onion
    1 tablespoon minced garlic
    2 - 15 ounce cans black beans, rinsed and drained
    1 - 4 ounce can chopped green chilies, drained
    1/2 cup orange juice
    1/4 cup lime juice
    1/4 cup ketchup
    1/4 cup unsulphered molasses
    1 tablespoon chili powder
    1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
    2 teaspoons soy sauce

Directions:

1) Heat oven to 350 degrees.

2) Place just enough water in skillet to cover bottom, and saute onion and minced garlic in water until tender.

3) Place onion mixture in 2 quart casserole dish. Add all other ingredients and mix well. Bake, uncovered, 50 minutes stirring occasionally. Cover dish and cook 15 to 25 more minutes, until most liquid is absorbed.

Double up this sucker and you have cold beans for breakfast yummm!

Plan the dive, Dive the plan.

There is was a saying I learning during a underwater diving class that not only stuck with me since then but served me quite well. "Plan the dive, dive the plan!" It’s a simple concept designed to keep you out of danger. Rationally design a safe dive plan ahead of time, when you have plenty of oxygen flowing to the brain, and stick with it. Most incidents in diving occur when you compound you minor slip ups together into a major problem. If the plan has been corrupted, however small it may seem at the time, it requires you to end the dive and return safely to the surface.

Well now an endurance event is not in the same category of danger as diving but does require a well thought out race strategy. By gathering information during your training, evaluating the course, analyzing your fitness level and realistically setting a goal, you can make a plan for a successful race. Let's break them out, relate them to the Magic Mountain Man 1/2 ironman I am doing tomorrow and then we can revisit them for some post race analysis. Good times!

First off is the information we have been able to gather about ourselves during training. We should honestly evaluate each hard training effort we put in, now do to time constraints we may miss a few, but the more info the better. What kind of splits have you been hitting in the pool, are they widening or narrowing? How has our HR numbers been looking over those long bike rides? What kind of avg. mph have we attained? What shape are we when we get off the bike after a long one? What are my times in my tempo runs? It is important to gather all this as it happens. Jot it down on a piece of paper; enter into your log while drinking G series 3. Memories of how much it hurt, or didn't, fade fast.

Course evaluation, athletes usually don't need much prompting to get this done, we love it! Elevation, total ascent, avg day time temps, usual wind direction, road conditions, you name it we look at it, More Good Times! But what is sometimes lacking is follow through. How does my training routes compare to my race route? Did I do any heat training? Ocean start??  Have I been swimming in the ocean? Matching your training routes to your race route is vital.

I have separated “Analyzing you fitness” to give us a snapshot, pre-race, where we are at. Training wise we maybe on target but how do we feel today. Sniffly? Something sore? Maybe we have been working a lot before the race. Let's size it up, get some extra sleep, hydrate, maybe some treatment a day or two before so we can optimize all that work we put in.

Now we get to goal setting. We could write a book on goal setting. You will make you goal if it’s too easy for sure or you will blowup trying to make an unrealistic one. Let’s be sensible, while we have free flowing oxygen to the brain, and set a goal that is OUR GOAL based on OUR DATA and definitely leaning to the optimistic side. Why do I say our goal? Too many times we look at the results of last year’s race, figure we want to win our age group, finish under 5 hours or see a name we know try and beat his/her time. All these notions have nothing to do with where we are at! We have our times; we know the course and how we feel. Let's realistically set our goal. When this is done my experience has shown a vast majority of athletes will attain their goal on race day.

 My race plan for the Mountain Man 1/2 tri looks like this:

Swimming has plateaued lately, neither widening nor narrowing. Since the triathlon is a bike heavy course (higher than normal percentage of race time will be on the bike) there is no need to expand a ton of energy to obtain a PR in the swim, the extra effort required to be a minute or two faster will be inconsequential. So based all this info and past performances, a swim of 33 to 34 minutes is reasonably optimistic. Exit water, drink G series I have opened next to bike, mount and go:

My bike has steadily progressed over the past month. I analyzed the course early and set up training routes that mirrored it. Health wise I have a slightly sore calf but other than that I am in good shape. Being a very hilly course my plan is to ease into the first climb (7.2 mi) that begins as soon as you exit the water. So I need to rack my bike in a low gear. I must be very cognizant redline it any point, being relaxed and riding within myself, due to the total 6800 feet of ascending. Hydrate and fuel on the down hills when my HR dips will be important. I also must realizing this course could take me an hour longer than my normal ½ IM time and I have to be sure I have enough fuel for the extra time. For a comparison race I have done, Showdown at Sundown, there was 800 feet less climbing. Based on that time, how I feel now, my training, not the greatest road conditions on course, but feeling close to top fitness, I am setting a time goal of 3:30 for the bike. Off the bike, more G Series, grab some more fuel and RUN:

Running has felt good lately. Times have dropped a bit, legs feel fresh, no nagging injuries. That being said all that climbing on the bike is going to take its toll. Last ½ IM run was 1:38, the run on my comparison race was 1:47 but it was filled with more hills. Tomorrow’s run is relatively flat and based on my times pushing for a sub 1:45 seems doable.

Reality Check: Adding up the times I arrive at 5:48, my transitions are fast and most racers completed them around 2 min each, meaning no major distances to travel from lake to bikes or bike to run, so let’s throw 5 mins in for total transition times. Goal Time now 5:53, WOAH, that’s over an hour more than my PR but is it realistic? Based on my analysis it seems good with a healthy dose of optimism.

So why go through all this? Beside the fact is fun, it helps you stay in the moment. If you are happy with your goal you have a framework within to operate. When you get out of the water how you looking?? Did you stay within yourself and not try and over swim it? During the bike when you are being passed, or doing the passing, you have some numbers to reference. No worries if you get passed early stay on plan, realize the goal for your bike time, get off and andhappy. The single biggest mistake I see (including my own) is overriding a bike course then shuffling it in on the run. You know before you leave transition what you can reasonably do on, do it! Save any extra energy, that “I am feeling it today boy oh boy” for the run. In most cases it will disappear by the turn around and you will glad you didn’t waste it on bike. Lastly the framework gives you feedback, “wait I have finished the first loop, I already behind time and feeling it” shows your plan was overly optimistic but you may have caught it in plenty of time to adjust. Bring down effort, focus in staying within yourself and salvage a good run. Don’t forget while this is happening other racers are finding themselves in the same boat. A quick adjust now may just end up with you on the podium later!

Curried Carrot Cauliflower with Indian Roasted Tofu

OK go ahead a say that three times fast, I dare ya!

My son, vegan chef extraordinairre RAS III, sent me this Curried Carrot Cauliflower recipe. I added my Roasted Indian Tofu recipe to it and viola!!! A meal fit for the Taj Mahal. Now these recipes are ones we play with, adding here and taking away there, so feel free to experiment. Notice our amounts may not be always exact either, feel you inner chef and go with it.

"A good recipe is always in flux" Robert A. Seaman Jr.

This recipe is currently being served here!

Curried Carrot Cauliflower

Precook some brown rice (Hey we are healthy colonned vegans, brown rice is best, but if you are feeling  decadent, Fuck it, and cook you up some Jasmine rice) 


Sauce
1 Med Onion
1 Clove Garlic
1 T of Grated Ginger4-5 Small-Medium cubed Carrots (our garden grows petites)
2 T Curry Paste (the green Thai kind)
1 T Brown Sugar
3 Thai Hot Peppers (or maybe 1 Jalepeno) ((I used one Serrano)) are double (( even legal ??
1 T Diced Cilantro
Salt/White Pepper


Rice Milk to cover (note to reader, my son makes his own rice milk, its not that watery shit from the store, since I do not, I used lite coconut milk as not to obscure the taste of the carrots)


- Saute onion 2 minutes, add garlic and ginger for an addition 2 minutes
- Throw in carrots and stir for 4-5 minutes
- Stir in curry paste, sugar, peppers, salt and pepper until evenly coated
- Pour in Rice Milk to cover the carrots with an addition 1/2 inch or so
- Bring to just before a boil, then slow simmer 20 minutes or until carrots are soft
- Let cool slightly, then puree in food processor. May need to add milk to make a creamier consistency

Oven at 375
- Coat one head of cauliflower with olive oil and roast for 10 minutes or so to soften, steam may work also.
- Make a thin layer of sauce on bottom of a baking dish
- Mix cauliflower with sauce in a bowl
- Layer rice then cauliflower in dish and cook roughly 25 minutes until cauliflower is at desired consistency




Now this may be difficult but simultaneously do this




Indian Roasted Tofu




Drain one package of extra firm tofu. 
       By this I mean, open the package, drain the water, wrap tofu in a dish towel, place a few dishes on top and let sit for a bit. Now take that sassy tofu cake and cut it into 1/2 inch cubes. You should get twenty or so. Want to know exactly how to cut it? Then you are obsessive compulsive and need to go trim your eyebrows.


Get out some tupperware out and throw these things in there:

3 Tablespoons Oil

1 Tablespoon Curry Powder

2 teaspoon Red Chili Powder

1/2 teaspoon Turmeric Powder

1 Teaspoon Salt (As Per Your Taste)

Juice Of 1/2 Lemon

1. Whisk spices with a fork and add the tofu cubes. Cover tupperware and toss it well to coat all the tofu pieces with the marinade.
2. Leave it in the fridge for 30-45 minutes
3. Place the tofu pieces on a sprayed baking sheet and bake for 25-30 minutes, same as cauliflower, turning once
4. Pull the cauliflower out and then broil the tofu for another 8-10 minutes.

Namaste

RAS I, RASII, G Middy, Rebekah, Dana, Mary, RAS III