F Words

Two days until the race.  This has *definitely* not been according to plan for training with injuries, life, work, and the like, but I feel pretty good.  I’ve gotten a lot of outdoor training in the last few weeks.  Hell, I’ve swam the exact course twice, ran the run course and biked the area.  My legs feel good, my body seems to be holding up, and I have proper expectations as to what I will accomplish (goal is to simply beat my paces for the last one – swim in about 12 mins, bike in about 52, run in 29).  I’ve also been practicing transitions, I got my T1 (swim to bike) down to about 45 seconds from arriving at my station to departing.  With transitions, my goal is 1:40 or less.

However, I got up this morning and tried to get my last run in.  My goal was 2.5 or so around race pace (9-9:40).  First mile I got through at 9:30 (which is normal, I usually take a while to speed up on a run), but then all of a sudden MAAAAJOR tummy problems hit.  Just about the furthest point from home.  I slowed to about 11-12 min miles and figured I’d jog it in and then just had to start walking around 1.25 miles.  I wished I had my phone, I would have called Zliten and made him pick me up.  I was almost in tears by the time I got home – the trifecta of digestive issues, sudden onset of cramps, and nausea from all of the above plus the heat.  I would like to let everyone know I got home just in time thxuverymuch (although I’m not sure I would have admitted it if I didn’t…).

I went from confused (why the fuck do I have pain in my stomach) to pissed (fuck, I will have to deal with TOM stuff at my race) to actually pretty happy (thank goodness I have my worthless body day I have once a month today and not Sunday… and it explains my horrible run).  I had some chocolate this afternoon (Zliten and I split a Milky Way caramel and a few pretzel M and Ms) and it actually made me physically feel better.  Not just emotionally, not “oh it was yummy”, but my body felt better and less in pain, like it actually wanted something in the chocolate.  Score!

On another note, if you have been reading my blog lately and/or follow me on twitter, you’ll know that I’m trying to watch my salt intake, as well as stay away from artificial sweetener, and try to eat mostly real food, not diet/light/fake stuff.  I figure I might as well start sharing some of the culinary delights.  While watching sodium isn’t terribly chic, maybe it will help people with some healthy, easy, yummy meals.

Today’s Recipe, Lemon Pepper Mahi Mahi, brown rice, stir fry.

Also note I am not a food blogger/photographer.  Crappy camera pic outside at night for the win.  And as you can see I am rarely patient enough to take the picture before I inhale half of it.

Step 1: thaw 2 pieces of mahi mahi.  We typically keep gigantic bags of it around from Costco.  We thaw ours in a bucket with warm water (they are individually wrapped), takes about 20 mins.

Step 2: find big tupperware – mix equal parts olive oil and white wine vinegar, and about 1 tsp of lowery’s lemon pepper seasoning (about 3% sodium), whisk it together with a fork until it gets a little frothy.

Step 3: put fish in, put on lid, and toss it a bit so both sides gets covered.  NOTE: do not do it the other way (put fish in, then marinade), it’s hard to get it the right consistency.

Step 4: If you don’t have a rice cooker, just go to the store and buy one now.  I’ll wait.  I got us one for Christmas 2 years ago from Target for about 15 bucks and we use it at least once a week.  If you have a rice cooker, put in rice as you normally do and cook.  Brown if you need some fiber, white if you roll that way (I’m a firm believer that white rice is NOT the devil – if you eat more than enough fiber every day like I do and want some friggin white rice, by all means…).  Exception: you do not need to buy a rice cooker if you buy the little single serving packs of microwave rice, that works too.

Step 5: After the fish has done it’s thing for at least 15 mins or so, you can cook it.  Best is your outdoor bbq, next best, a foreman grill, in a pan will work.  I really detest baked fish, but if you like that consistency, you’re bonkers, but go for it.  Zliten usually does this step but it can actually be accomplished without a Zliten (at least I hear).  Fish is done when it’s got a nice crispy crust and starts to flake apart.

Step 6: While it’s all cooking, pop open a frozen bag of stir fry veggies.  Supplement with any other veggies woefully missing (my frozen veggies have water chestnuts, carrots, and broccoli, I add snow peas and canned baby corn which is a little salty, but I rinse them pretty well, guessing about 5% daily sodium).  Nuke in microwave.  Toss with sesame oil, braggs liquid aminos (6% daily sodium, tastes essentially like watered down soy sauce), and garlic chili sauce (5% sodium).

Step 7: Plate the fish, a half cup to a cup of rice (depending on the hungries), and a mess of veggies.

For a nice sized (4-5 oz) piece of fish, a cup of rice, and a few cups of veggies, you’re looking at about 450-500 calories and about 20% of your daily sodium count (which can attone for the sins of a lunch out, no problem, and still keep you under your daily).  This meal is very filling too.  If you don’t dig stir fry you can sub any other veggies (sometimes we do normandy veggies with onion, garlic, and a little smart balance – even less salt).

So there is recipe #1.  I’ll try to post them more often.

This post is brought to you by F – fucked up runs, fish, and Friiiiiiiiday.  Packet pickup tomorrow, hangin’ with the rents for Dad’s day, and then the day-bef0re-the-race scramble to pack and get to bed super early.  Transition opens at 5:30 am and we want good spots so Sunday will be ridici-early.  Wish me luck, and let’s hope that no part of ANYTHING I do Sunday is as painful as that damn run today!