Omelets are Hard

Last night before bed, I resolved to make an omelet.

This morning when I gave up on making an omelet.

It's really hard! I ended up with scrambled eggs. So, to (literally) spice things up, I added some pepper, crushed red peppers, miniature tomatoes and a slice of cheese with a splash of milk for a balance on the pH scale. All in all, not my favorite breakfast but certainly filling considering I added three eggs. Perhaps that was my greatest error in this mishap of a meal but it's been just over four hours and I'm starting to get a little hungry. For a guy like me, that's saying something.

So it looks more like porridge even Papa Bear would pass on. Lesson (somewhat) learned.

Just finished a slew of morning chores - prepping the apartment for the arrival of a friend this weekend - and managed to find an hour to sit at my favorite curbside coffee-spot, Popovers for a quickly cooling Vermont Maple Nut Coffee. Afterwards I enjoyed a nice ramble on my bike back to the apartment and now I'm contemplating the leftover spaghetti with turkey and onion meatballs.

Work soon, so later!

Doldrums of the Week

Bummer.

Nothing terribly exciting has happened since our hike on Monday. We were so beat after our hike that I couldn't muster the energy to see our buddy play jazz at the Press Room in town. A weak moment...but we did make some vegetarian pizza! We made a quick stop for whole wheat pizza dough and some generic four-cheese Pizza cheese. Wow, redundancy. But with a generous helping of zucchini, onions, and peppers, we managed to put together two wholesome pies. I, of course finished off the remainder of the slices for lunch the next day with the addition of my greatest success to cooking since I started this project: steamed broccoli! I took some stalks from the fridge, raw, and just splashed some water in the Tupperware before zapping it for a minute or so. They came out great!

Unfortunately at the 11 o'clock position of this photo, I had two brownies with caramel and coconut on top. Oh, and a cookie made entirely of fatty, sugary cookie ingredients and Reese's Peanut Butter cups! Needless to say, it was amazing.

Oh! But before that, B-May and I headed into town and sipped a cup of coffee (for me) and a chai latte (for her) at the Works. The point of our lingering, is much more exciting. We're going to Chicago in October to see my brother! We jotted down attractions and sights from a couple guidebooks while enjoying the beautiful noontime sun.

So then Wednesday I finished some more leftovers - this time shepherd's pie - with more broccoli and more brownies. It was a mostly uneventful day except that B-May's friend, Christin came up and we set off for a filling dinner at Poco's on the water (soft tacos with pork and a helping of spinach con queso dip for an appetizer). Then we started drinking. The girls sold me (very successfully) on a mix of apricot juice and a bottle of Magners in a pint. So had a couple of those, some micro-brews, watched a little Man vs. Wild (!!!) and headed out to the Coat of Arms for another pumpkin beer and a horrible mixture of Guiness, Strongbow and a shot of Jameson's called the "Celtic Warrior." Terrible.

Anyways, woke up today with zero appetite and managed some toast with a glass of water for breakfast. Yes, that kind of breakfast. Then at work, while putting down a massive Gatorade, B-May brought me a cup of coffee and a bag of donuts (chocolate frosted, pumpkin spice, and a chocolate crueller (sp?). So had those and then indulged in a simple lunch just outside of work, soaking up the afternoon sun. In spite of my aching body, it was wonderful.

As I write this, B-May is popping some popcorn as dessert after our spaghetti with turkey meatballs and mushroom-tomato sauce. Considering the girl ran a total of 11 miles!!! today, she needed the starch or something. I'll research that more definitively as the training gets more serious.

On that note, I have done next to no exercise aside from my daily bike ride to work. I'm pretty sure I strained my calf muscle (more pointedly, my gastroc nemius (again, sp?) and have been taking it easy to prevent further injury. So that's my excuse but it's not a good combination with drinking and crappy foods.

Oh well. Later!

Dayhike!

Today (so far) went like this: Wake up at 7am. Mix oatmeal with apples and cinnamon. Pack up daybag and jump into car bound for the White Mountains!

B-May took off for the North and hiked to the top of Mount Chocorua in the western edge of the Sandwich Mountain Range in the White Mountain National Forest. I know, there's a lot of mountains in there, but check out the views below to realize that it was not without reason!







In the morning, our spirits are lifted and the day was perfect. Not a cloud in the sky and the temperature hovered at "room" farenheit. We shed the sweaters well before this beautiful outlook, which was actually a mile from the top:

And after about two hours of hiking, we had lunch here:

And I had this for lunch: Hiking food if there ever was hiking food! Pumpernickel When Pigs Fly Bread with peanut butter and sliced apples...and then repeat with pumpkin and six-seed bread. Some of the trail was really steep. This iron stake was driven into the rock to prevent this situation from happening. This was obviously not on the mountain. This was obviously our treat for finishing however: a childhood favorite of B-May's, the Dam Ice Cream Shop. (There's a dam nearby.) Behold two scoops with jimmies! Oreo and mint chip! In a styrofoam bowl...haven't felt this wasteful in a while...

And then we got back after a very tiring drive and I enjoyed another snack. But - not just another snack. This was a Golden Snack!

Then we made a couple of vegetable pizzas from leftover veggies and now I am in my first vegetarian food coma. Remarkable.

Bit By the Bug: Triathlons

Been a while since my last update but that's not to say I've been a slouch...

Though it would be unfair to say I've been eating entirely healthy and honestly have seriously come up short in my efforts to tame the craving (read: late-night Mama Celeste microwave pizza, double helpings of apple crisp after a cup of ice cream from Annabelle's, etc.) Really none of it is warrants a photo (had I remembered to do so...) because it's quite a trainwreck of poor eating decisions. In the midst of all this chocolate, sugar and unnecessary carbs, I was left to my own devices and revisited some simpler foods. Check out this chicken soup (with stars!!!) for comfort food on Friday afternoon after spending two hours outside of a cafe reading in the cold wind:


And here's a personal creation of rice, black beans, mushrooms and what I thought was guacamole (it turned out I ingested way too much pesto - B-May told me three days later...)

But, regarding the exercise portion of the equation...it's been alright! B-May and I have taken off as the average mileage of our runs is comfortably capping around 6 or 7 miles. A 5K is no problem and it's becoming easier and easier to do 5 miles. Sweet! And I got my bike tuned up for a reasonable fee and have sweet new handlebar tape in addition to responsive brakes and tighter shifting. It's like an entirely different bicycle and I love it. Must remember that big mile days are also for the bike - not just running! '

So there's a reasonable account of my eating and exercise during my weekend off from blogging. But I must mention in some detail the coolest part of the weekend: I went to a triathlon! The Lobsterman Olympic Triathlon in Freeport, Maine. My coach, Brad, was competing in his third race of the year and with 32 miles of forward motion behind him in under 3 hours! he totally crushed it. This dude is 53 years old and he can move.

So here's a brief narrative: This is Brad just before he hits the water. Notice his wetsuit - they were required by the race directors given the water temperature of 62 degrees. Some people could not unzip their own suits when they got out; their hands were too cold.
Here's all the masochists just before the race, getting a warm-up dip. I was wearing two sweaters when this photo was taken...Yeah.

With the first leg of the course complete - a mile-long swim, the triathletes hurry through the throngs of spectators and bee-line it into their first transition to the bike.

This is the transition area, a vast collection of expensive endurance equipment. There are over 700 bicycles, wetsuits, pairs of running shoes and lots of other cool stuff. It was guarded from spectators but I did manage some close-up shots, satisfying my inner gear nerd.

And here is the same zone after all swimmers got out of the water and onto their bikes - like a storm tore through.

Brad was by no means the last swimmer out of the gate onto the bike. Rather the opposite; he swam a mile in just over an hour and set off blazing on his 26 miles ride. And just before his three-hour mark, Brad spirits down the finish chute. And thus ends the race. While I did not compete myself, I had plenty of time when Brad was not whizzing by to contemplate how I wanted to get ready for next season. Being surrounded by athletes and the spirit of the race, I can say with certainty that I have been bit by the bug.

With that, I am off to hike in the White Mountains for the day with B-May as part of my cross-training, and an opportunity to enjoy a sport we haven't practiced much in a long while! Pictures to follow...

Later!