Sometimes the best runs are the wet ones.
She Lives!
01 Feb 2013 2 Comments
in cycling, Food/Nutrition, Nursing/Medicine, Running Tags: chocolate chip cookie dough cupcakes, cold weather riding, ferncliff forest, hudson valley, trail running, vegan smoothies
Nowadays, it is rare when I find myself wide awake in the early hours of the morning. Late night midnight or early two am runs have not occurred in over a year now.After tossing and turning, I decided to get up and do something productive since I could not sleep. And what better way to beat insomnia than write a blog post? Yes, I do realize it has been for-e-ver since I have written.
Mother nature has been acting rather odd as of late. From digit-freezing weather to giving us a glimpse of springtime, only to take that glimmer of reminiscing how amazing spring is away from us. I did go out on a couple road rides bundled up as a riding ninja, but not as much as I have been riding in the past due to the fact I lost one of my beloved lobster gloves. Bad circulation + riding in freezing temperatures = me unable to use my hands for a couple hours post-ride until they thaw…Which is an incredibly painful process. Spring, please come soon.
I was able to, however, capture a couple awesome shots of the frozen land.
Trail run
Frozen ride
…So was Kevin on weekend days when I had to work.
A little too close to the ridge for my comfort.
Due to the lost glove, I’ve been spending more time on the trainer (ugh), and Kevin actually purchased rollers so he could ride indoors.* Note: He once told me that he would never ride indoors. I’m pretty sure he was jealous of my indoor riding and wanted in on the fun. I even captured a moment of him trying out my set-up before he realized what he was missing.
Caught!
In between working way too much ( it IS possible for this girl to turn into a workaholic), my baking adventures continue, as evidenced by the photo below. If colleagues decide I should quit nursing and bake all the time, I guess the baked goods are noteworthy. That, or I’m just a lousy nurse–I prefer to think the former.
Chocolate chip cookie dough cupcakes
Since I do not like cupcakes/cake, Kevin has been an eager guinea pig to test my creations before they head to work. In the meantime, I’ve become a fan of making smoothies (which is a post in itself) in an attempt to consume healthy things. Below is one with almond milk, peanut butter, banana, blueberries, chia seeds, and ground flax seeds. Vegan/vegetarian friendly and ohh-so-delicious, especially post workout.* I’m looking for protein powders to perhaps add, if anyone has suggestions of a good type/brand?
Mmmmm
On the subject of nursing, nursing outside of the workplace has actually come in handy numerous times. For example, having your bag with scissors and tape allows for improptu Valentines Day gift wrapping in your car. I can also just lounge in–clean– scrub bottoms when I am too lazy to even put on sweat pants on a day off. Now that, there, is just plain LAZY lazy.
Well, I suppose I should try to get some zzz’s in before Kevin and I head to Europe later today. Yup, going back to my homeland! When I return, photos from the trip will be shared, and training for races will resume.
Happy February everyone!
Post script: Since writing this, I found my second Lobster glove!
It’s Because She’s Lazy (wink)
22 Jun 2011 2 Comments
in cycling, Running, swimming, triathlon Tags: Cycling, half iron man, heartbreak, open water swimming, overlook mountain, Tmberman 70.3, trail running, triathlon training, woodstock
The last couple nights at work have been insane. In the three years working as a nurse, I have dealt with numerous horrible situations, seen things which non-medical staff are unable to even comprehend, and with what happened to me, even medical staff were alarmed. unfortunately, I will not get into too much detail because of HIPPA, and the fact in those three nights I saw the most horrific things I have ever seen in real life. Saturday morning after I gave the report to the charge nurse coming in, she asked me, “Are you okay?”
“Yeah, I’m fine….”
“Your tearing up, Moll, it’s not okay.”
“It wasn’t a good night….”
I went home, and in the car found myself weeping from the events at work, the insanity, how I had managed to keep calm in the midst of chaos is beyond me. I think the tears also came as a result of exhaustion, lack of sleep, and the fact that June has basically been a horrible month for me. With sickness, a DNF, a defective and now broken heart, I decided to restart my training and do Timberman in August. It will be tough, but I have a good base behind me. And, a friend joked around that I was too lazy to finish my last HIM, which, I know was a joke, because most of those I know think the amount of physical activity I do is nuts. But with everything which has happened, the comment made me even more determined to finish this triathlon….Ohh, btw, I took the comment seriously.
Yesterday, as a result of the comment, and the fact that there is nothing better to help heal a broken heart than by having an awesome ride, swim, and run, I brought my road bike to lake onteora and rode from the parking lot, then rode up meads road to the parking lot at Overlook mountain where I switched into my trail running shoes and ran up and then down towards Indian Head Mountain. It ended up being a 16mile trail run, one which I needed to digest everything which has happened to me this past month. But in retrospect my legs were not prepared for it.
I have not been on a trail run for months, and miss it so much (kind of hard to do trail running in the dark).
After maybe 5 or 7 miles I came across this area where there were just slabs or slates of rock. It was right near the mountains edge and I never even knew it existed on my other runs along the road to Indian Head Mountain.
Closer to the edge, there were chairs made out of slate and stone that overlooked the hudson valley, and from there I could see how far I had run from the fire tower at the top of the fire tower.
wow, so far away from the fire tower on overlook!
The views closer to the edge, despite being somewhat hazy, were pretty awesome.
looking out over the hudson valley
After finishing the run, and seriously dehydrated, I stopped at Bread Alone to fill up my camelback and water bottle and continue my ride back to the lake. Once I was at the lake, I was hot and drench in sweat, and exhausted. But the water was calm and cool, and I went for a 45 min swim in the late which was incredibly peaceful. I love lake Onteora! The water was cool, and still, and it was only me in the lake swimming. For the first time I felt internal peace, which I haven’t felt for a long time.
So, to those who even joke around about this girl being lazy, beware, I might take it seriously.
Below is the bike route I did
Lake Onteora to Overlook to Glasco Turnpike and back down to lake onteora
Mmmmm olives. Salty,juicy, yumm
On my way back I stopped at Adam’s Fairacre Farms for food, because I had nothing to eat before I started the ride and run and was 1) so thirsty from dehydration and 2) starving. And, I managed to eat three containers of olives (mmmmm they tasted a-m-a-z-i-n-g), although now the thought of eating any more olives makes me feel nauseous….
And now I leave you with a song that was stuck in my head on my run.
The Yellow Deli
21 Apr 2011 Leave a comment
in All Others, cycling, Food/Nutrition, Running Tags: food, mountain biking, Round Top, The Yellow Deli, trail running
“You know, I’m thinking, this place is blog worthy.”
A couple of nights ago I went to the Yellow Deli in Oak Hill, and even though it is somewhat of a trek for anyone who lives south of the Catskills, I am telling you now, it’s worthy of a trip up just for the atmosphere alone. Not only that, the food was exceptional, and I have not found too many places in the area of which I can say that.
After a very nice hike and being introduced to new trails I never knew existed and being famished, I was taken to this restaurant. On that note, if you like to trail run, there’s a new-ish network of trails that are awesome which you should check out in Greene County. A word of caution though, they are also mountain bike trails, so you need to be careful of speeding, but very friendly, mountain bikers. But I was told people are allowed to run on them and after doing my share of trail running in the past, these are perfect for that type of running.Especially this type of year–the paths are soft and forgiving for to your joints, wide enough for a couple runners to be out at the same time, and very well kept. If you need directions, want to see a possible trail loop, wish to partake in the last NYSMTB race of the season, or enjoy mountain biking (they have trails that range from beginners to expert levels) the directions to Riedlbauer’s Resort in Round Top can be found here.
The Yellow Deli is actually a chain of small restaurants started by the Twelve Communities, and used to be called the Oak Hill Kitchen. Going in, I was warned that the people there are different. I will refer to them as members, and you never feel uneasy, like you are trying to be converted, or pressured at all, so don’t worry.
You notice something is different when you first enter the restaurant, which is open all hours. Honestly, I felt like I was in Disneyland (there are many places which remind me of Disney, if you have not noticed reading other posts.) The music was composed of fiddles and guitars, and everything is made out of wood, from the stairs to the tables to the ceilings. It’s peaceful and relaxing–nothing is rushed. Everything is made fresh, is organic, and farmed by hand. They bake their own bread. And, they don’t toast the bread…They steam it.
I ordered their veggie burger and Yerba Mate tea. The meal was awesome to say the least. I’m pretty sure there was half an avocado on my burger, and it was actually ripe (some restaurants do not know what a ripe avocado is, which drives me nuts.) I usually shy away from fried foods, but their homemade chips were addicting. I’m somewhat of a tea lover, and their tea selection was quite impressive. I tried some of their Community tea as well, which had hints of Peppermint and Carob–delish–and not only to vegans. Their chunky tomato soup was “life-changing good.” It came with two, one-inch thick slices of their steamed bread. My mouth is salivating just thinking about it. Whether you are vegetarian, an omnivore, or meat-eater–there are options for everyones taste buds.
As I mentioned above, there are a few of these restaurants around, where the Twelve Communities reside (I think there’s one in VT, CA, NC, and another one further upstate). This is a place you definitely need to check out!
Song of the day.
A Rendezvous with Sneakers 