Bricks

So, I've officially started my 8-week training program for my May 10th triathlon. In this specific game plan, I'm doing 10 workouts a week (3 swim, 3 bike, 4 run). Since there aren't 10 days in a week, I have to do "bricks" to squeeze it all in.

A brick is two back-to-back cross training exercises. For example, on Sunday, I did a run and then without cooling down, I immediately followed it up with a bike ride. Today, I ran 3 miles, taught a 60 minute spinning class and then ran another 3 miles.

The purpose of the brick it to build endurance. Since a triathlon is essentially a 3-sport event, you not only have to train to race in all three events, but you also have to learn to start your run with already fatigued legs.

Truth be told, I think that training for a triathlon (even a half Ironman) is going to be much less wear and tear on my body than training for the marathon was. I believe that I had 4 overuse injuries by the time the marathon training was over. They all sucked and they all set me back weeks on end. This, by comparison, is a breath of fresh air.

Do you want to know a secret? I love bricks. In fact, if I didn't have a job or any other obligations, I would just spend all my days going from the pool, to the bike trail to pounding the pavement...and then probably back to the pool to cool off. It's soothing, it's productive, it's exhausting. It's working out at its finest and I am ready to push myself to the limit over the next two months. Bring on the pasta, baby! I'm going to need it.

Parenting: The Good, The Bad and The Ugly

As I was perusing some of my older posts, I realized that I share a lot about the joys of parenting. Don't get me wrong, there are many. Parker is the single most important thing in my life. Everything else is a distant second, third, etc... But, there are definitely some things about parenting that I was not quite prepared for.

The Bad: The sleep thing. Prior to Parker's birth, I have a distinct recollection of thinking that all babies sleep through the night by 6 months old. Hahahahaha...Hohohohhoho...Heheehehehehehe. I'm laughing to keep from crying. The truth of the matter is that I have not had more than 3 consecutive nights of decent sleep in almost 3 years. I know this because I've never been away from Parker for more than 3 nights at a time, which is the only time that I get decent sleep.

In all fairness, Parker is an angel. Truly, he is such a low-maintenance kid who is such a pleasure to be around. He's easy to please, easy to get along with, doesn't throw tantrums. You get the point. So, apparently, not sleeping is his vice. If you believe Gandhi or Budda or some other sage person/diety, all of life requires balance. So, not sleeping balances his angelic nature. Or at least that's what I tell myself at 12am...and 3am...and 5am.

The Ugly: If your child has any contact with other kids, you will pick up every single germ known to man. Sometimes I think that I'm better off licking all of the pens in the doctor's office waiting room than picking my son up from school. In fact, my right nostril is clogged as I type this and I've been fighting a sore throat for days. Gross, I know, but I'm just keeping it real here. I've been sick more times in the last year than I have been in the last 10 years combined. It's true. It stinks. It's parenting.

The Bottom Line: The reality is that I can't imagine my life without the good, the bad and the ugly of parenting. Being "Parker's Mom" is so much a part of who I am now and most of the time, it's the best part. That's not to say that I don't have the ocassionally wistfulness and envy of my pre-motherhood days, but that's mainly because I didn't appreciate it when I had it. You know, the whole youth is wasted on the young thing.

Vegetatri-anniversary

So, I've been a vegetarian for around one year now. (Technically, I'm a pescetarian since I do eat fish, but I'm just trying to keep it simple here.) What's interesting is that I never set out to be a vegetarian. It just kind of happened. Which is also why I don't remember the exact last time that I ate meat. This was the process of my meatlessness that took place last March.

I was minding my own business one day washing the dishes and innocently watching Curious George with Parker. Curious George ended while my hands were all sudsy and I happened to catch the first 60 seconds of the PBS news. It showed slaughter house factory workers harassing a cow by prodding it with a forklift. I freaked out, grabbed the remote with my sudsy hands and turned off the TV. Unfortunately (or fortunately) the damage had already been done.

A little background here - I am a bleeding-heart when it comes to animals. The two things on this earth that I cannot abide are animal and child abuse. Seriously, it makes me see red. Ok, back to the story.

After that 60 second clip, I felt sick and every time I closed my eyes, all I could see was that poor cow. I was seriously distraught for days. If I was being honest with myself, I knew that I purposely avoided such things so I could enjoy my filet mignon in peace without thinking of how it made it onto my plate.

I woke up the next day and starting researching humane farms in the surrounding areas. (Incidentally, did you know that you could buy half a cow? You really can, just make sure that you have a large freezer.) So, I went to our local co-op and bought free-range, humanely raised beef and chicken and felt much better about everything. That night, I cooked two lovely steaks, sat down...and couldn't eat it. Seriously, I just couldn't eat it. It looked like a dead cow.

And that was how I became a vegetarian. No fanfare, no final meaty meal, nothing. It just became a non-option for me. I slept like an angel that night. Well, not really since Parker woke me up 6 times, but the point is that I would have slept like an angel if I wasn't a mom to a non-sleeper.

In all honestly, I don't really remember what meat tastes like and strangely, I don't miss it. Is it possible that I would one day add it back in? I think that I would consider maybe adding free-range turkey back in, but I don't think I could ever do cow again. Oh and I don't hold anything against meat-eaters (my husband and son still eat it), it's just something that was personal to me. Anyway, happy vegetari-anniversary to me.

Three Bean Salad

Since I don't do meat, the majority of my protein comes from beans and fish. I sometimes feel like the Bubba Gump of beans. I make bean soups, bean stews, bean dips, bean salads...

This three bean salad is by far one of the easiest things that I make on a regular basis. It has so few ingredients and it comes together in less than 5 minutes. I love making this for a quick lunch after I get back from the gym and I'm looking to pack in the protein. Did I mention that it's delicious?

Here are the ingredients: garbanzo beans, kidney beans, black beans, green pepper, onion, lemon, oil and vinegar.



First, chop about 1 cup of green peppers (about 1/2 of a large one).



We're also going to chop a 1/2 cup of onions (again, about 1/2 of a small onion).



Now put the green peppers and onions into a large bowl.



Next, we're going to drain and rinse our beans. You just want to give them a slight rinse to get rid of a little bit of sodium, but you don't want to get rid of all of the juices.







I think I might decorate my next house in those colors. They're so earthy and warm. Ok, now add your slightly rinsed beans into your bowl. Once they're in there, we're going to add 3 tablespoons of vinegar.



Now, add 2 tablespoons of olive oil.



Next, add in a little bit less than a tablespoon of lemon juice.



Finally, add in salt and pepper to your own tastes.



Give it a nice mix and viola!



If you have the time (and the patience), go ahead and refrigerate your bean salad for about 30 minutes so that the flavors have a chance to meld. This is also one of those things that is even better the next day.

Now if you'll excuse me, this salad is calling my name.

Mommy Slayer

This face slays me. Those crazy long eyelashes, the rosy cheeks, the perfectly plump little lips. I can scarcely look at this face without my heart falling out of my chest. And that's all with him not even looking at me.

When this angel raises his huge brown eyes to mine, heaven help me, there is truly nothing that I can deny him. Motherhood is both the most fulfilling and heart wrenching things that I've ever experienced. Forget the Oscars and the Superbowl, when this little guy points at me and says, "my mommy," there is no higher honor that I could ever possibly receive.

Handing Over The Keys

I'm not exactly sure why, but my husband thinks that I am the only one of us that is capable of doing certain things. One such thing has to do with shopping. I came home from the grocery store a couple of weeks ago and I had bought tomatoes. He let out a sudden whoop of enthusiasm and said that now, he can finally make BLTs. I asked what he meant by that and he said that we hadn't had tomatoes in the house in, like, forever. Mind you, he hadn't expressed a desire for tomatoes nor had he put them on the shopping list (which is not kept in a secret hiding place). As I thought more about it, I realized that this was pretty patterned behavior.

Fast forward a couple of weeks and this is the email that I received:

"Hi dear. Could you please get me some Cliff Bars if you come across them in the store. The cookie dough flavor please."

I decided that I finally needed to address the "wife only does the food related stuff" issue and sent him back the following email:

"Hi there. I have great news. I got together with the people at Publix and Target and they decided that you can have your own set of keys. To better serve you, they also posted their hours of operation on the doors and you can go buy whatever you need at that time. Happy shopping!"

Cleaning

You know, I don't understand why people think that cleaning is so hard to stay on top of.



I mean, it seems like my floors seem to somehow clean themselves.



It certainly doesn't take a lot of time out of my day to get it done.



In fact, I can't remember the last time I swept the floors. Funny, huh?



P.S. I'm certain this doesn't violate any child labor laws. I pay him a fair wage in Cheerios.

P.P.S. Yes, he's still wearing Christmas PJs in February. Please don't judge me.