Saturday was my first brick session this year.  In one aspect, I was looking forward to it because it signaled that training is well under way and the racing season is just around the corner.  On the other hand, I was dreading the fact that it is still winter and I would have to do my brick session indoors.  I wanted to at least do the run portion outside, but after having biked on the trainer, I was way too sweaty to just head outside.

I started the session with 1:15 on the bike at a consistent, steady pace. I watched part of Modern Marvels: Walt Disney World to kill the time.  Absolutely fascinating.  It made the time fly by.  I am going to have to schedule more from the series for future rides.

After the ride, I hopped on the treadmill for 20 minutes.  I hate running on the treadmill.  The only reason we actually have a treadmill is because the previous owners left it behind when they moved.  I can count on one hand the number of times I have actually used it.  However, Jennie does get a bit of use out of it.  Nevertheless, it was easier to just go from the trainer to the treadmill rather than get showered up and dried off before trying to go out into the cold and run outside.

Overall, it was a good first brick of the season.  Hopefully it warms up soon so that I can move the training outdoors.

After training and lunch, Jennie and I headed to the West Michigan Brewers Guild Festival at Fifth Third Ballpark.  We got free tickets from a friend’s husband who works in the industry.  The tickets included 15 beer tokens, each redeemable for 3 ounce samples of beers.  They had over 50 microbrewers and 300 varieties of beer available for sampling.  It was a blast.

 
Friends Chris and Noelle – our ticket connection.  Thanks guys!

At first, it was very overwhelming.  Tons of people (around 5,000 tickets sold), beer everywhere, and not knowing where to start.  Chris had lots of good advice on what to try and what to avoid because of his work – such a horrible job working in the beer industry.

We started off at the Mount Pleasant Brewing Co. with a Train Wreck Amber and Coal Stoker’s Blackberry.  The Train Wreck was aptly named; a couple of those and you would be a train wreck.  It was a strong (8% ABV) beer brewed with honey and maple syrup.  The Coal Stoker’s Blackberry was much smoother and just as good.

Throughout the area, they had fire pits setup to warm up by and dry your feet.

After that, we headed to Old Hat Brewery and Grill.

 
Jennifer sampling the Peche Lager from Old Hat Brewery.  It was her favorite of the day. 
I sampled their Dirty Red Milf, which was good as well. 

We continued on to the Old Boys’ Brewhouse for Old Boys’ Brown Ale and then to the Corner Brewery for Michael Faricy’s Irish Stout.  If you know me, you know I’ll never turn down an Irish-style beer.

We made sure to stop by a couple of the breweries that we recognized – namely Hopcot and Rochester Mills Beer Co.  Both are restaurants we have eaten at before (and plan to again), so it was nice to be able to try some of their beers ahead of time to know what we’ll like.  The beer from Rochester Mills was an organic beer, which gave it a unique taste, but that also might have been due to the fact that it was served from the right breast of a bikini clad mannequin.

 
Rochester Mills unique beer delivery system.
I sampled from the right.

After about two hours in the cold, Chris and Noelle shared their VIP passes with us, which allowed us to go inside, sit down, and warm up for a bit.  Once we warmed back up, we made the rounds again and hit a few more breweries.  I had to try Schmohz Brewing Co’s Kiss My Scottish Arse Scotch Ale based on the name alone.  I also tried a beer from The Livery in Benton Harbor.  Benton Harbor is where one of my half Ironman races is going to be this year, so maybe we can visit the restaurant this summer for a post race refueling session.

Jennie isn’t much of a beer drinker (she’ll take a Cosmo over an Ale any day), so I ended up drinking sampling for two at some of the breweries.  As you can see, I was very disappointed about this.

Even if you know nothing about beer (and I know very little), it can be a lot of fun.  If you don’t know what kind of beer you want, just pick it based on name.  Some of the best named beers of the day were: Kiss My Scottish Arse Scotch Ale, “Hands Off My Goat!” Stout, Sage Against the Machine American Pale, Ghettoblaster, Pooh Beer, Kilt Tilter, More Cow Bell IPA, Motha Pucker Dark Sour Ale, and Bees Knees Honey Ale.

Overall, it was a ton of fun and many great beers were had.

This week was a rest week as part of my two on, one off training schedule.  So, my long for the week was only 8 miles.  I decided that because it was a shorter distance than I am used to for my long run, I would use it as a tempo run.    After starting off with a 4 mile warm up, I hit the halfway point and kicked it into gear. I dug deep and was able to knock out 3 miles at 7:29, 7:34, 7:32.  While not my greatest 1 mile splits, I am happy with them because the snow/slush made it harder than normal to keep a steady pace without losing my footing. 

The fast 3 miles allowed me to negative split the run with a 31:45 (7:54 pace) on the out and a 30:35 (7:37 pace) on the back.

On top of my great run, I took a step this week to keep myself safe on my long runs and bike rides – I bought a RoadID.  Steve in a Speedo recently posted a 20% coupon code (good until March 15th).  Head on over there if you are interested and give him some love.  The code saved me $6 off the final price.

I ended up going with the WristID Sport model in black.  The website was very easy to use and had a nice customization area to see exactly how your choices would print.  It should arrive on Monday or Tuesday.  I am excited to get it, but I am hoping that I never actually have to use it!

Update: Krista from Commitment is Liberating let me know that the recipe is available on Rachael Ray’s website here if you are interested.  Thanks Krista!  It makes me feel less guilty for possibly violating copyright by posting a picture of the magazine.

Over the weekend, while at the in-laws, I was flipping through a Rachael Ray magazine (yes, I admit it) and came across this recipe.  It is a vegetable stir fry and it looked mighty good.  I took a picture of the recipe so that I could make it at a later day.

That day was today.  After my swim, I headed to the store to purchase the necessities.  It was an interesting recipe because it included lots of things I have never cooked with before like Tabasco sauce, fresh ginger, bok choy, and black bean sauce.  On top of that, it included lots of fresh veggies so it was guaranteed to be healthy.  I did alter the recipe a bit and sautéed a cut up chicken breast because I thought veggies alone wouldn’t be filling enough.

After I got home, I realized that I forgot to buy the requisite egg rolls.  So, when I headed out for my run later in the afternoon, I stopped by the store again and picked a up few from the deli.  On my run, I ran into Kelly, a friend and former high school XC teammate.  We ran together for a mile or so while she did her cool down.  It was nice to have someone to chat with for a change.

Getting all the ingredients in order.

I did my best to get everything in order before I started so that I wasn’t running around too much once I got started.  I still found myself hurrying to get veggies chopped before the chicken burned and the sauce made before the veggies were over cooked.  It is nice that a stir fry cooks so quickly, but it really keeps you on your toes.

The veggies stir frying.  It is always so pleasing when the food is so colorful.

I stir fried the veggies in my favorite stir fry pan.  It has one side higher than the other to make flipping the veggies easier.  I tried to take a video of myself flipping the veggies.  It didn’t turn out very well and I ended up with a handful on the floor (oops!).  So much for showing how much easier the pan makes it!

The finished product on our new Asian inspired placemats.  How appropriate.

The meal turned out fantastic.  It will definitely be making a reoccurrence in the future.  It was super spicy though.  Maybe we’ll cut back on the Tabasco sauce next time.  We ended up going through an entire 2 quart pitcher of Crystal Light just to keep our mouths from starting on fire.

Enjoying the meal – and realizing that I really need a haircut.  Yikes!

I had a bit of an interesting experience on the trainer today.  I had to remount my bike in the trainer after my ride outside last Thursday.  I tightened the resistance screw on the trainer and hopped on.  As soon as I started pedaling, I knew that I tightened the screw more than usual.  I figured that this would do me some good because I was going to have to push harder than normal.

After a couple minutes though, I noticed a funky smell.  And no, it wasn’t me.  I stopped and found that my rear tire was really hot.  I realized that I was literally burning rubber.  Whoops!

I loosened up the resistance a bit to where it normally is and finished up my ride.

I did 70 minutes with 9×1min at Z5 with 2 min active recovery between intervals.  It was a great workout and I really felt like I was pushing it hard on my intervals.

Now, it is time to continue watching The Office and hopefully doing a bit of stretching and core workout.

Friday

Friday was my long run for the week.  Only 14 miles scheduled after 21 the week before.  Despite the shorter distance, it was a really tough run.  My legs were really beat up from my bike ride on Thursday.  On top of that, I was having acid reflux problems for nearly the entire run.  Very unpleasant.

In the end, I only made it 13 miles.  Part of it was exhaustion, part of it was poor distance estimating.  I thought that my final loop would get me up to 14 miles, but alas, I looked at my watch as I turned on the road home and was only at 13 miles.  I was too tired to even consider adding on an extra mile at that point.

After the run, I was still getting that acidy burning feeling in the back of my throat.  After a quick Google search, I found a couple potential remedies.  I tried what looked like the easiest solution – chewing gum – and it worked like a charm.  Within minutes, I was better.  I couldn’t believe it.  I may have to pack some gum for my next long run.

I finished off Friday with a 1950 yard swim in the evening.  Yes, I spend my Friday nights at the pool.  Exciting, I know.  I had a record swim, but more on that later.  I am hoping to devote a whole post to swim-related activities.

Saturday

I got a quick strength session in on Saturday morning before we packed up and headed across the state to the in-laws.  We have been wanting to see one of my bro-in-law’s basketball games, but they are normally during the week, so that doesn’t work.  He had a basketball tournament this weekend though, so we were able to catch 2 games. (They won both and the tournament.)

On top of that, I helped my father-in-law mount their new 50” plasma TV above their fireplace.  We still have some more work to do to hide the wires, but that will wait until the next trip.  Always fun to do projects.

Sunday

We got home late Sunday evening, so I had a late evening run ahead of me.  I didn’t start until after 9:00, so I donned my head lamp and reflective gear and headed out.  It felt great to stretch the legs out after a couple hours in the car.

Monday

Well, we got snow again – surprise, surprise. I spent a good part of the day shoveling the heavy wet snow.  It made for a pretty good cross training workout on my day off from running.  However, it is getting to the point where I don’t have anywhere to put the snow.  The piles at the end of the driveway are over my head, so I have had to start shoveling the snow down the street before I can pile it up in the front yard.  When is spring?

So, there you have it.  My weekend in review.

This week should be a bit easier as it is a recovery week.  A much needed recovery week.  Hopefully that means I will have more time to keep this blog updated so I don’t have to keep doing extended summaries.

Stay tuned!