Always the skeptic

March 1, 2013 kc Uncategorized 3 comments


I recently received this huge jar of Tropical Traditions Gold label virgin coconut oil:


Prior to receiving this, I was using some regular run of the mill coconut oil that I found at Walmart. I’d like to think that when I bought that first batch of coconut oil, I was not yet a well informed consumer. Anyways, I began using the coconut oil a few months ago because of the benefits that I had read and heard about on a few podcasts. Never having bought such oil before, I was surprised when I opened it because it is solid at room temperature. Who knew? So I started using it to cook with and to mix in with my BulletProof coffee (future post on this coffee), and also in the morning before a long training session – 1 tsp coco oil and 1 tsp of cream cheese down the hatch – much to my surprise, I didn’t need to supplement with much of anything like gels or chomps after that little magical concoction. 

Q: So what is a medium chain triglyceride (MCT’s from here on out) and why is it essential for fat adaptation, which happens to be my main goal? 

A: Compared to other fats, the fatty acids in MCT’s are more rapidly metabolized – giving fast energy release before the body can store them as fat. They are also slightly lower in calories.



As I mentioned before, I am still learning, reading and delving into all of this stuff, so to explain it in an easy to understand context, I found this article from the September issue of O, The Oprah Magazine, that I thought did a good job of explaining the benefits of using coconut oil because of it’s high content of medium chain triglycerides. Here it is:

The Background
Nutritionists have historically lumped coconut oil into the same category as cream, butter, and lard—namely, “off-limits”—because it consists largely of saturated fat, the kind linked to a higher risk of heart disease.

The Claim
Current science indicates that not every type of saturated fat is evil: The crucial question is whether it consists of “medium-chain” or “long-chain” fatty acids, says Marie-Pierre St-Onge, PhD, a scientist at the New York Obesity Research Center. Medium-chain fatty acids—such as lauric acid, which makes up about 50 percent of coconut oil—can be metabolized faster than the long-chain variety. They’re also readily absorbed in the small intestine along with other nutrients, meaning they don’t enter the lymphatic system and are less likely to get deposited in the stomach as fat.

A study published in the journal Lipids found that a small group of obese women who consumed two tablespoons of coconut oil a day for 12 weeks saw their waistlines shrink, while women who consumed the same amount of soybean oil experienced no such change. And one of St-Onge’s studies, published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, revealed that overweight subjects who consumed medium-chain triglycerides as part of a diet program lost more weight and more abdominal fat than subjects who consumed olive oil.

The Bottom Line
Coconut oil is the richest naturally occurring source of medium-chain triglycerides, but these fatty acids represent only part of the oil’s total composition. “We have hints that coconut oil may be beneficial for weight management, but we don’t really know enough to make blanket statements,” says St-Onge. And no research shows conclusively that coconut oil’s health perks are as strong as those from canola oil and olive oil—both of which promote cardiovascular function.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

KC’s bottom line:

As the title of my post suggests, I am a skeptic by nature and I didn’t think there would be a difference in taste between brand X coconut oil that I bought at Walmart and the Tropical Traditions. But guess what? It was! The Tropical Traditions actually has a mild coconut flavor whereas the brand X did not have any flavor at all. I happen to like the taste of coconut, especially in the bulletproof coffee, so Tropical Traditions has won me over and I will be purchasing more as soon as I get through this huge, 32 ounce sample they sent me. It may take awhile …

If you visit their website HERE, not only will you find some great deals and lots of sales on coconut oil for humans and pets, but you will also find great organic products, skin care products, recipes, books and other healthy oils. 

Much love and peace out!

It’s official …

February 28, 2013 kc Uncategorized 3 comments

I’ve turned into a podcast junkie! I don’t know how it happened because I was always the one who never listened to anything but music when I trained (FYI: I never ride my bike outside with headphones on). I couldn’t imagine listening to talk radio or anything talk while training. BORING! Or so I thought. Seriously, I think I was abducted by aliens. First I changed my eating, then I changed up my training, now no music? WTH?

I especially enjoy running while I listen to podcasts. Some of my favorites to listen to are:

  • America’s Angriest Trainer
  • Fit Fat Fast
  • Fat Burning Man
  • 10 Minute Marathon Training
  • Relentless Roger and the Caveman Doctor
  • PRS Fit Nation
  • RunnersConnect
  • Smarter Science of Slim
  • Rock Star Triathlete Academy
  • Endurance Planet
  • Nutrition Diva’s Quick & Dirty Tips
  • Get Fit Guy’s Quick & Dirty Tips

You can find all of them on iTunes.

Now I have a question for some of you audiobook nerds out there. I’m thinking I’d like to listen to audiobooks while I run but I’m somewhat confused with all the different apps. I have Amazon, Kindle, Audible, iBook, and a few others already on my ipad/ipods but I’m not sure which one is the best. Can I buy an audiobook and then put it on my shuffle? Will it fit? When you buy an audiobook, can you put it on multiple devices? I have so many questions. I think I’m making it harder than it really is.

And since I’m all about changing things up, the blog is not spared either. I added a neat little feature that I heard about on a podcast (see how much I’m learning listening to podcasts?) on this here blog and it
s called SpeakPipe. Take a look over to the ride hand side, middle of the page. If you are like me, with very limited amount of time to read other bloggers blogs and then leave a comment, you can now leave a voice message and it will be sent to my email. You have to have a microphone on whatever device you are using and that’s it. Easy peasy!

What are some of you favorite podcasts or audiobooks to listen to when you run or ride the trainer inside? I’m always open to recommendations.

Much love and peace out!

Headphones that rock even in the rain

February 27, 2013 kc Uncategorized 5 comments
I have always had a love hate relationship with the apple ipod shuffle. I’ve had the pleasure of owning all the generations and the frustration with some of them. 

From left to right: Gen 1,2,3,4. 
Yes, all of those pictured above are mine. I’m not sure why I am saving the first 2 because they died a sad death many moons ago. Generation 1 shuffle was cool back in the day because of its compact size. It doesn’t look so compact next to the later one’s anymore. The one thing I didn’t like about it was the string that it came with, so you could put it around your neck. Nope, there was no clip to clip it on to your shorts, belt, or hat. Design fail if you ask me. Anyway, that one ended up biting the dust after awhile but thankfully gen 2 came out, so I quickly snapped that one up. It ended up lasting about a year, then died. 
Generation 3 ipod shuffle = big fail!

Then I bought the gen 3 model. The smallest one yet and the biggest piece of ipod shuffle crap ever made! Some genius over on the west coast thought it would be a great idea to put the controls on the headset as you can see in the picture above. Sounded like a great idea but it never quite ended up working very well, especially in humid climates. I even went to so far as to google about the problem and read up on a few possible solutions like wrapping the control thing-a-ma-jig with some plumbing tape. That didn’t work. Then I took it back to the apple store and they had no clue, so they gave me a new one. Within 7 minutes into a run, the new shuffle crapped out because the controls didn’t function. Not having those apple specific earphones rendered this shuffle useless. I threw it in a drawer and used my ipod classic instead, which kinda sucked because I had to run with a waist belt specifically made for the ipod classic. I got used to it but still preferred the smallness of the shuffle for running.

Just recently, I was introduced to these beauties made by a company called X-1 Audio and if you go here, you can check em’ out.
Remember the company that made the H20 audio for swimming? They changed their name to X-1 Audio. 

X-1 was kind enough to send me a pair of their women’s specific headphones to test out. Not only are they waterproof, but I was able to raise my 3rd gen ipod shuffle from the dead. There are many colors and styles to chose from. I was so happy to get these especially with about 90% of my running being done in very humid and super sweaty conditions. Apple should look into this design because X-1 nailed it. Just by looking at the controls, you can see where it is encased much better to protect from the elements. I’ve done about 2 weeks of running with them and they have been flawless unlike the apple one’s that lasted 7 minutes. 
If you are in need of some very well made headphones, or any kind of waterproof casing for various sports and many devices like iphones and cameras, I would recommend checking out X-1 audio.
Much love and peace out!

Experimenting in the kitchen

February 26, 2013 kc Uncategorized 5 comments

I mentioned recently that I quit eating anything with sugar and anything grain related, which has forced me to become less lazy in the kitchen. Not a bad thing at all. There have been many firsts like eating avocados, eating full fat Greek yogurt, using heavy whipping cream in my organic coffee, and using grass fed butter, just to name a few. Hard to believe it only took me 42 years to finally eat an avocado!

Let me tell you, I’m shocked on a daily basis at how almost EVERYTHING has some form of sugar as an ingredient. Why? Does tomato sauce really need sugar? Do flavored coffee beans need sugar? Does salad dressing need sugar? Probably not, yet, I challenge you to find a food on your grocers shelf that doesn’t contain some form of sugar …if it ends in OSE, be aware, that’s sugar by a different name.  FructOSE, GlucOSE, DextrOSE, etc …if you’d like to see even more aliases for sugar, check out this document here that I saved on my google drive.

Now this is the part where I get to show off my chef like ninja skills. My first attempt at making a pizza with the a crust made out of cauliflower was a success. I’m not going to post the recipe because there are so many if you google. Some are easier than others.

The basics

I kept this one simple by topping it with some chopped up veggies and shredded Parmesan cheese just in case it came out like crap, I wouldn’t feel so bad if I dumped it in the garbage.

Beautiful cauliflower pizza crust with Italian seasonings sprinkled in

But, as you can see, we gobbled it up! Even Joel liked it. I have some minor changes to make the next time I make it, like cooking time needs to be longer, more protein based toppings, and add some almond flour to the crust to firm it up a bit more.

Speaking of almond flour and cauliflower, I got this little, handy dandy gadget to help me whip up the almonds into flour and the cauliflower into a grain like consistency. It’s also awesome for making one of my favorite go to breakfasts …bullet proof coffee. I’ll save the bullet proof coffee for a blog post all of its own because it deserves it.

My sweetheart gave me this for Valentine’s Day

If you are interested in making meals without sugars and grains, there are tons of excellent recipes on Pinterest. I use the search function and BAM, tons of great ideas. I don’t label the way I eat as Paleo or Primal, but if you search by those key words on Pinterest or Google, there is a plethora of info and recipes to die for that fall into a no sugars, no grain criteria.

There’s one more thing I’d like to share that I recently learned while listening to a Ben Greenfield podcast with Dr. Jayson and Mira Calton, the authors of the book, Rich Food, Poor Food. Did you know those little stickers you see on loose fruits and vegetables have a secret code on them? The code, also known as the PLU number, which stands for Price Look Up can tell you something important about what you are buying. PLU codes are also universal.

~ organic produce has a 5 digit PLU code that begins with the number 9.
~ conventional produce (those grown with pesticides and fertilizer) have a 4 digit number that begins with the number 4.
~ genetically modified produce (GMO = bad!) has a 5 digit PLU code that begins with the number 8.

My non-organic (starts with the number 4) avocado and J-Man’s #4 bananas.

As a side note, I found this great link that tells you what fruits and vegetables you should buy organic and which one’s don’t really matter. The produce pictured above can be bought conventionally grown because supposedly, the pesticide and fertilizer cannot penetrate the inside.

Much love and peace out!

2013 Gasparilla Half Marathon (not really) Race Report

February 25, 2013 kc Uncategorized 13 comments
Gasparilla has the coolest bling of any race I’ve ever done

I use the words “race” and “report” very loosely this time around. It was my best and worst half marathon. Worst marathon if you use time as an indicator and best if you consider discipline as the indicator. I fully intended to NOT race this race. Having done an ironman in November and then a marathon in mid January, I pretty much knew that I was going into this race with a have fun and just run mentality. I used it as a training run and ran strictly sticking to a pre-determined heart rate zone. I promised myself and a good friend that I would stick to my guns and not let the speedy race craziness get the best of me. I also told said good friend, that I would send her my Garmin stats after all was said and done. I find it really does help to tell someone your good intentions so that you stick to them. Unfortunately, best laid plans don’t always work out so I had to adjust on the fly. My heart rate monitor was going berserk with all kinds of crazy high heart rate readings. Possibly picking up others around me?? I knew my heart rate wasn’t 243 and resorted to go by my perceived rate of exertion, which is usually spot on. I hope whoever had a 243 heart rate goes to see a cardiologist soon. But I digress …I also knew that if I kept my pace at around 9:15 per mile, that I would be within where I had planned on running.

I’m proud to say, I did exactly what I said I was going to do. The only time I turned up the speed a couple of gears was at the very end, with about 200 yards to go. Normally, I can’t run for about 3-4 days after this race because the roads are all concrete and beat your legs to a pulp. But this time, no soreness at all. Yay for small victories.

Me and the Murf showing off out bling and race shirts at work! It was her first half marathon. Go girl!

For the first time in a very, very long time, I have been looking forward to running again. Yesterday’s half marathon reinforced that for me. Somewhere in the midst of training for ironman races, I lost sight of the pleasure that running used to give me and it became more of a chore. I blame myself for that. Even just recently running the Disney marathon, I was not enjoying the journey. The best way to describe my mindset with the running these last few years has been a hurry up and get it done mindset. In other words, I went out and ran the long distances as fast as I could and completely ignored building a solid aerobic foundation. What I began to notice was my times and speed weren’t improving the way I would expect. If not just stagnant, they were getting slower. NOT ACCEPTABLE! Which leads me to this old saying:

I love Einstein! Not only because he was so damn smart and witty but because he too LOVED and appreciated bicycles.

Anywho, long story short, and without boring you with the details, I am revamping, reconstructing, rethinking, my training. I’m not going to make it difficult or complicated, but as I mentioned in yesterday’s post, I’m going to focus on training smarter, not harder and to not get caught in thinking that I have to go balls to the wall every workout, which I have been guilty of many, many times. There is a time and place for that training too and I need to still do it but not nearly as much. See? I understand this, now I just need to apply it to myself and build from there. Upward and Onward!

Much love and peace out!

KC: The Extreme Makeover and Update Edition

February 24, 2013 kc Uncategorized 21 comments

As many of you know from reading my blog for a few years, I have been in the health, wellness, and fitness field for about 20 years to some degree. In the 1990’s until around 2005, I was working full-time in the field.

Back in the day at the old st. Anthony’s wellness center …yes, that would be as in St. Anthony’s Triathlon too.

These days, I just dabble in it here and there by choice. I may have removed myself from the fitness industry but my heart and soul are always in it. I still love reading and studying about nutrition, exercise, training techniques and the list goes on. Last year, I came down with a severe respiratory infection that kicked my butt. That was in February 2012. I found myself recovering for almost a full month, with lots of residual issues for another 2 months after that. I felt like I was starting all of my training from scratch again. One of the main residuals I noticed was that my taste buds got all whacked out. The liquid antibiotic I was taking, left a weird taste in my mouth. Add to that, my appetite was next to nothing. I soon found myself eating gummy bears and oranges all day (no joke!) to get that antibiotic taste out of my mouth. I was basically shoveling sugar down my throat and you know what? It was good! Something I had been so disciplined about avoiding for several years, quickly grabbed hold of me. Even though I started to feel better and better each month, I didn’t lose that taste for the sugar and allowed myself to continue this unusual (unusual for me) pattern of eating. As I continued to allow the sugar to creep back into my life, not just with sweets but with grains too, my body started to gradually change in a way that did not make me happy and I felt out of sorts. Despite training less and planning rest days more than i ever had in the past, I was still tired. Even though I worked my ass off training for Ironman Florida 2012 – working my ass off is in my DNA - I still wasn’t nearly as lean as I was in 2010 and 2011 and I felt more tired than ever before.

Now let’s fast forward to December 2012. I happened to be reading this cool chic’s blog and stumbled upon this podcast that opened my eyes and mind to a whole new way of eating, training and living. I don’t mean to sound so dramatic, but I truly believe this has completely changed my life forever. I have basically done a 180. Most everything I thought I was doing right really wasn’t. Everything that I had learned about in all of my nutrition courses has been turned upside down on its head. I no longer subscribe to the conventional wisdom that I was taught in college. I’m drink the NO SUGAR-NO GRAINS (NSNG for short) kool-aid now and this subject is a welcome topic of discussion, not debate, on my blog. If you are reading this and feel the need to debate about it, you can just walk away right now. I refuse to waste my time with close minded people. Mark Twain said it best …


Mark Twain

“Do not argue with an idiot they drag you down to their level and beat you with experience.”


― Mark Twain


My original intention was to see if I could go a week without eating any sugars or grains. I thought it was going to be really tough, if not, almost impossible. I was so wrong! It was easy and I can honestly say that I don’t miss any of it and have had zero cravings. The last 2+ months have been amazing for so many reasons. I don’t have to eat every 2 hours through out the day anymore. Eating small meals every 2 hours is something I had been doing for 15 years or more, so now I’m no longer a prisoner of my dietary habits.  Since eliminating anything with sugar and/or grains, my energy level has gone through the roof. I no longer hold the title of Nap Queen. I don’t need as much sleep and wake up at 4am without having to hit the snooze button. I also don’t find myself having to go to bed by 8:30pm in order to wake up at 4am anymore …winning! I have gotten compliments on how great my skin looks and I no longer feel bloated at the end of the workday, which sounds weird but all the whole wheat crackers with cheese, fat free and lowfat yogurts, and whole wheat wraps were killing me. Sadly, it had become normal for me to feel that way. That is, until i stopped eating all things with sugars and grains, and it was like my entire GI system was brand new. Simply put, I feel so incredibly healthy, energetic, and happier than ever since eliminating  the sugars and grains that I was poisoning myself with on a daily basis. Funny thing is, I think most people would have thought the way I was eating before was super healthy, yet it was really super crappy and I didn’t even realize it.   


This blog is ready to take a new direction. I will blog about training for and racing an Ironman on a NSNG lifestyle. I know it can be done with some practice/experimenting. There are many elite and pro endurance athletes who have become “fat adaptive” and are training and racing with way less sugar, as their main source of fuel. Let me be clear though, I know you can’t do 100+ mile races without some type of carbohydrate based fuel but you can teach your body to not need as much. Where the athlete who still buys into the need for a shit ton of simple sugary carbs while training and racing, like 1 gel packet every 20-30 minutes, the NSNG athlete would maybe only use 1/4 to 1/2 of a packet of gel every 60 minutes, at the most. The NSNG athlete has taught their body to become more fat adaptive. And, the fat adapted athlete will also include some type of fat, like cream cheese or macadamia nuts as a source of fuel. In other words, the NSNG athlete’s body can easily use fat as a fuel much better than the person who eats sugar and grains on a daily basis. 

I’m taking this year, 2013, to reconstruct my mind and body from the ground up. I recently started training by heart rate and will work on training smarter, not harder. I’m going back into the deep archives of my brain where all the exercise physiology files are stored and bringing them back into daily practice. I started cooking more and learning how to adapt recipes to fit into the NSNG lifestyle. 

There is so much more detail that goes into fully understanding how all of this works and I’m still learning, so I compiled a list of wonderful resources that can be found by clicking here. 

Last but not least, my other goal this year, is to blog on a more regular basis, so there you have it. Speaking of future blog posts, stay tuned for a half marathon (sort of) race report and some reviews on a few cool things I have gotten my lucky little hands on.

Much love and peace out! 

Dizzy Marathon 2013 race report

January 16, 2013 kc Uncategorized 14 comments


If you are wondering why the name of the marathon has been changed to Dizzy instead of Disney, it’s because my cell phone auto correct, likes Dizzy better, so i left it as Dizzy. 

No lie, that 26.2 HURT! Blame it on the heat. But guess what, it was all worth the last 3 miles of ankle pain (revenge of the flip flops) and sweating like a wildebeest from mile 2 through the finish. Best part is that I BQ’d (qualified for Boston) with 43 seconds to spare according to the tracking emails or 44 seconds if you check the official Disney online results. Whatevz, a BQ is a BQ and I got the exact finishing time that I trained for. I even had a pace band printed out weeks in advance for 3:44:00 and I already had it planned as of last year, that I wasn’t going to work any harder than I needed to. After coming off an Ironman less than 2.5 months ago, I had no desire to push harder than I needed to and I for sure didn’t want an injury (ankle pain from revenge of the flip flops was threatening). So I got exactly what I trained for. Fair enough I’d say. You want to know what the best decision of the day was? I believe this was the deal maker (not breaker). I stopped to pee at mile 6 (since there was no line for the port-o-potty)and decided that taking the time to wipe was ridiculous and a waste of time. If you figure how long it would have taken to unroll the toilet paper, wipe, etc …that could have cost me the BQ right there. Smart, huh?? There were several times during the 26.2 miles that things kinda hurt …left hip around mile 11 and the  inside of right ankle intermittently from start to finish but nothing that I thought warranted stopping and walking. I, personally, DO NOT believe in walking a marathon unless I am near death, which was the case last year at the Melbourne Music Marathon and that is no exaggeration. No walking in a marathon is MY rule. I cruised in the last 3 miles because frankly, I did not want to kill myself anymore than I needed to, so I did the math in my head at mile 23 and figured all I needed to do was maintain a 10 minute pace at worst to make it in under the deadline of 3:45:00. I can run 10 minute miles in my sleep, so no prob. Did I have fun? No, I did not. I wasn’t there to have fun. I was there on business, not pleasure and for one sole purpose and that was to leave with a ticket to Boston in my pocket. I spoke to no one the entire time. It was as if I had tunnel vision the entire race.  Just me, my music, and my thoughts. Mission accomplished. That’s my race report for Disney!

Now for the fun stuff. I may not have had fun at the marathon but I did have fun the day before. I drove from Tampa to the mouse house on Saturday, the day before the race. Karen met me at the expo and I told her that I was just going to pick up my number, race packet and get the hell out. I had no desire to buy any race merchandise. Been there done that …everything is overpriced. Plus, I know where they sell a lot of the race merchandise later at a discounted price if I really saw something I wanted. Ya’ll know I’m not paying full price for anything!

After leaving the expo, I followed Karen to our 5 star hotel. The one without Wi-Fi …pfft! And the one with a carnival set up out front. It was actually a nice hotel and Karen totally made up for the no wi-fi and carnival noise by making sure I had a video game arcade to keep me entertained before we had to go to bed at 6:45pm, which somehow turned into 8 or 8:30pm because Karen likes to chit-chat A LOT before going to sleep. I kid, I kid. It takes two and we were having quite the laugh fest. Time does fly when you’re having fun. Before we knew it, the rooster was crowing at us at 2:30am to wake the hell up. We said a few choice words and something how we’re NEVER doing this marathon again because this waking up at 2:30 is BS! See you again in 10 years for the 30th anniversary Karen!

                                               

Karen trying to whoop my butt at Ms. Pacman! Ain’t happening!
KC the pool shark in action!
No more marathons for me until April 2014. Actually, I mean no stand alone marathons, since I do have to do one in November at Ironman Florida but somehow, that doesn’t count because it doesn’t hurt nearly as bad. Go figure! I know, it makes no sense but to those who have done an Ironman and a stand alone marathon, you know what I mean, right? 
Next up, a very hilly 100 mile grand fondo in Dade City, Florida and then less than a week later, the HITS 70.3 in Ocala, Florida on March 23rd. Now those should be FUN!
Much love and peace out!

who doesn’t like a good challenge?

December 3, 2012 kc Uncategorized 15 comments
You can take the personal trainer out of the gym or training studio but that doesn’t ever stop them from being a trainer. That’s my story. By choice, I don’t personal train for a living anymore. Do I regret that decision? Not at all. That doesn’t mean I’m doing what I love for a living now, but it is what it is and if I can personal train on the side, as I please and keep my skills sharp, then I’m a happy camper. I love helping others reach their goals and enjoy sharing my training secrets and discoveries.  

As a personal trainer, you learn to keep things fresh and exciting. My creativity was at an all time high when I was in that field full time and every now and then, something will spark the flames. Before I go into explaining the December Challenge, I thought a little history was in order. For those not in the know, I have a bit of a mean streak competitive personality. This competitive beast inside likes to come out and play every once in a while, which usually involves making up crazy fun monthly challenges amongst myself and the 3 usual suspects, Karen, Summer, and Beth. Past challenges have been to swim 5 days in a row and the distance had to be no less than 1 mile.  Another one I came up with was to ride the bike, on the trainer standing for 30 minutes straight. I hadn’t made any recent challenges because of all the races we had on tap recently. I figured the training volume we had on our plates was challenging enough, so I let them girls off easy.

Fast forward to last Thursday, or was it Wednesday? I was tagged by Jennifer on Facebook asking something about a monthly challenge she remembered seeing. She was kind enough to gently throw her training partner JC under the bus because “he needed a challenge” but she happily added that she would also take part in whatever challenge I proposed. She’s a good sport!

Now that you know how my mind works, I quickly started jotting down different ideas for a challenge. It occurred to me that December was only 2 days away and what better month to start a challenge, right? After all it’s the most stressful wonderful time of the year, with lots of parties, lots of sweets, high calorie beverages, and in general,  too much of everything we probably don’t need anymore of anyway. My other thought was, wouldn’t it make more sense to start getting into a healthy habit this month versus when the rest of the world starts on January 1st? 

And this my friends is how the 1 mile a day challenge all came about. I was actually taken aback to see such a welcoming response to the challenge when I first posted in on Facebook. What I thought might be just a handful of us doing it, turned into a much larger number and I think that is so awesome and I’m proud of every single one of you for participating, even people I’ve never met! As insignificant as running or walking a mile might seem to some, it really does take some discipline to do every day for the entire month. The challenge isn’t the mileage for some of us but rather the consistency part. A good example of this is me sleeping in this morning. I was allowed to because it’s a “rest” day on my training schedule. What this means is,  I have to make sure I get that mile in when I get home, sigh. No big deal you say? Can I let you in on a little secret? I hate running after work. I’m not the late day runner type at all. BUT, a challenge is a challenge and I NEVER BACK DOWN, so be sure I will be running later, even if only 1 mile. (side note day 3 complete – 1 mile done!) 

I’d like to leave you with this awesome workout video: 


If a walrus can workout, anyone can! By the way, check out the flawless form that this behemoth has while doing crunches.  Impressive to say the least, so take a lesson. Now stop, drop and give me 20!

Much love and peace out!

ironman florida 2012 …the afterthoughts

November 14, 2012 kc Uncategorized 16 comments
i was going to do a cartwheel but thought i might kill myself so i played it safe and did a Matty-O double bicep pose instead.
after every race, especially the long one’s like an ironman, you start to immediately make mental notes of things to do the same and the things that you definitely don’t want to repeat. none on my list are do or die items but they hopefully will allow for an awesome race day and an easy, chillaxin post race experience. i also start thinking about what’s next and can’t wait to experiment with some new training modes without the fear of injuring myself before an important race such as an ironman. it’s like a new found freedom.  
first thing i will do next year before dropping off my T1/T2 bags is to write my number really big with a black sharpy. if you drop off special needs bags, which i did not do, don’t forget to put your number on those bags as well. last year was uneventful as far as retrieving my bags after the race, this year not so much. i still do not have my wetsuit, goggles, cap and other items like sunscreen, bodyglide, etc …apparently, the humidity caused a lot of the race numbers (stickers) to fall off the bags. when i went to get my bag after the race, they looked and looked but couldn’t find it so they asked me to come back in the morning because it would be much easier to find then. no big deal to me. i go back the next morning, which was much easier because by now, most bags had been picked up, but mine was still nowhere to be found. thankfully, when i first bought my wetsuit, i wrote my name and phone number on the inside flap. some wetsuits have a designated area to write in your info, some don’t. if you have a place to write your contact info, do it! the race director and i were discussing my missing bag and that was the first thing he asked, “did you write your info on your wetsuit?” he said he was surprised how many people with wetsuits that cost well over $500, don’t write in their contact information. truth be told, when we were heading back to the condo to pack up and leave, i told the J-Man, i really didn’t care if i ever got that wetsuit back because i didn’t like it anyway, so there. i couldn’t think of a better excuse to buy a new (better fitting) one. maybe they all fit like crap, i don’t know. i just know that i hate wearing a wetsuit. about an hour into our trip heading back home, i got a call from a 727 area code, which is a hop, skip and a jump away from my 813 area code. low and behold, a very nice triathlete, whom i have never met but we both have many mutual friends, called to say she recognized the name on my wetsuit as we are on several of the same email lists, and she would bring it home with her. our goal is to meet up on friday so she can unload my very smelly wetsuit.  
on that note, does anyone want to buy said wetsuit from me for a really good deal? it is a women’s small/medium full xterra vortex, used exactly 4 times. see it below …
the second thing i would do differently would be to safety pin not just my chip but my watch band as well. i lost my watch about 10 minutes into the swim and had to go watchless the entire race. did it hinder me? i would say no. in fact, after much thought, i think the way the weather played out that day, it was best for me not to have a watch. as soon as i felt the watch fall off, i told myself that, it was meant to be and to just carry on. i actually use the watch to time my eating and drinking so i had to improvise and use the computer on the bike as my guide, which worked out just fine. i found myself doing the nutrition and hydration by instinct so i probably could have winged it completely without any sort of timing device. 
the third thing i would do differently is to get a condo unit on a lower level. it makes coming and going much easier as you don’t have to wait as long for the elevator. we were on the 18th floor. goal for next year is to get a unit no higher than the 12th floor. this is specific to this condo we stayed at, called The Shores of Panama, which i would highly recommend. i would also recommend Sunbird as well. i heard that LakeTown Wharf is great too but it is not on the water like the others i mentioned, but it’s only a walk across the street to hit the beach. they are all within a half mile, so walking distance of the host hotel where the expo is and where the race starts and finishes. i would warn you to not stay at the host hotel …icky and noisy! that’s all i have to say on that. 
the fourth thing i learned was that i like eating shot blocks way more than powerbars so i am retiring the powerbars for good. gels and blocks from here on out. the only problem i see is that i really love the blocks so much so, that i have been eating them for no reason. they are addicting and i’m sure we will find out one day that they put some addictive ingredient (like the tobacco industry did with cigarettes) in those yummy shot blocks. that reminds me, i need to hit up Target today to buy more …i am training for a marathon you know!
there are many thing i will not change, such as my training. despite not beating my time from last year, my training was solid, i never slacked, and in the end, i did have a good race. after getting very ill in february, it took a good 2 months before i felt like i could train without feeling super fatigued. i never really felt like my running returned to where i left off. the biking and swimming pretty much did, so not all was lost. still trying to dig up that lost running speed because the Disney Marathon is less than 8 weeks away. 
speaking of the Disney Marathon, my pal and virtual training partner for the race, Karen, at working it out blog sent me the Hal Higdon 8 week training plan for those who have recently run a marathon (sort of the same but my marathon was not stand alone) and have to get ready to run another one soon. so far, so good. i did my long run for the week, 8.25 miles (don’t laugh) this morning and it was not easy. physically and mentally, it’s hard but i like the way the plan is laid out because it seems to me that the way Hal has it all planned out, it will ease me through this “still recovering from an IM” phase without having a meltdown.  Click HERE to see the plan i am following. what i love most about this plan is that it’s simple. i need simple. once i start seeing acronyms and 400′s, 800′s, i’m mentally checking out. give me miles and let me go about my merry way. 
as soon as ironman florida was over, i could hardly wait to get back to my weight training ways. i was able to incorporate the weights into my first 2 IM’s but as i mentioned before, with the whole getting sick and i swear i had post virus fatigue for a long time after, i couldn’t find the extra energy to fit all the swimming, biking, and running in, so the weight training went out the window and yes, it made me mad. i missed it. now with all that crazy training volume behind me, i have jumped right back into the weight training except now i have adopted a more “crossfit” way of training. i have never been one to participate in a class or group setting. it’s just not in my DNA. i do not get along well with others …kidding, maybe. anyway, so i have created my own at home crossfit workouts and i love them! i have been having so much fun creating my own workouts and kicking my own ass, it’s ridiculous. the best part of all is that i didn’t have to buy anything because i already have everything i could possibly need, just add creativity and you got a hell-a-good workout! in less than 2 weeks, i can already feel and see a difference. the neighbors that come out to get their newspapers at 5:30am look around to see where all the ruckus is coming from. good morning sleepy head neighbors! yep, that would be me jumping rope or doing walking lunges in front of my house! 
thanks for reading, much love and peace out friends!

ironman florida 2012 race report

November 6, 2012 kc Uncategorized 31 comments

sunset from our balcony

i can’t bring myself to type up the usual, split into 3 days worth of swim/bike/run race report, but what i can do is present a summary of my race experience intertwined with other happenings and observations that occurred along the way.

  • rolled into PCB around 3:30pm on thursday. a little later than planned but it worked out great as it seemed most athletes had already done the mandatory check in, which had to be done by 5pm. i walked right in the check in tent, no line (unusual to not have a line at an IM event), got my wrist band, really nice gear bag, timing chip, swim cap, etc. 
  • after check in we went to our condo located a 1/2 mile from where the race starts and finishes. mental note, this condo is in a great location, will stay there again next year. by the way, it is totally worth it to rent a condo versus going the hotel route. it ended up only costing about $20 more overall and we had 3 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms, full kitchen, washer, dryer, linens, and a view of the gulf of mexico to die for.  
  • next stop, quick trip to walmart right across the street. this eliminated the need to eat restaurant food for every meal. i was able to eat like i normally would and during a race week, that is very important. walmart was also a lifesaver on 2 occasions. i don’t race with my garmin (i’ll tell you why later) but instead i just use a basic timex ironman watch and keep an eye on my overall race time. well, the dang watch decides to fall apart on my easy 2 mile run the day before. I was running with Summer and we had a good laugh when it happened. i told her, no prob, i’ll either go buy a new one at walmart or maybe just a new band will suffice. the other save my life event was for unknown reasons, i started to breakout with itchy hives on thursday night, so J-man darted over to the W-Mart and bought me some liquid benadryl; disaster averted. 
  • so i don’t race with my garmin. why? i have read on many forums about way too many people losing them in the swim. i would be so pissed if i lost a $400 watch. J-Man overheard a few people mention that they had lost their garmin’s during the swim on Saturday. i don’t mind losing a $30 timex ironman watch, which is exactly what ended up happening on Saturday. the new band made of velcro came undone and in the middle of all the chaos, i’m trying to secure it. i did that about 3 times and finally just had to say, F it, if it slips off, it won’t be the end of the world. before the first turn buoy for lap one, the watch and i bid our farewells and i wondered how many watches were down there in the watch graveyard. 
Summer B and Shorty KC
  • friday, the day before the race was very uneventful, which is exactly how i planned it. did my 2 mile shake out run with Summer as i mentioned earlier and J-Man took his parent’s around town and they did lots of walking, sight seeing type things. after the run, i walked down to the main IM tent to register for next year’s race. last year, i waited until the day after the race to register and man was i glad i didn’t wait until Sunday this time because it was the longest line ever. longer than last year. after that, i met up with a bunch of bloggers and made some new friends, then went back to the condo to grab Mandy (my bike), T1 and T2 bag so i could check them in before the 3pm deadline. 
J-Man sitting in his favorite beach chair
blogger and friend meet up
Rinny sighting!
  • i used my left over special needs bags from last year and made up my T1 and T2 bags before i left Tampa so the only thing i needed to do was transfer everything over to the official race bags. i highly recommend doing this if you are like me. i am highly organized but start to lose my mind and all common sense when it gets closer to race day. 
  • i slept really well on friday night which i never do before a race, so i was very happy about that. i planned on waking up at 4:30am but some alarm (unrelated to any of the 3 alarms i had set) kept going off around 4am. J-man went outside to check and said it was an alarm a few floors above us and lights were flashing. he said he didn’t see smoke or fire so i went about my normal race morning routine. i ate a 3 egg white omelet and 2 slices of whole wheat bread with peanut butter, then gathered all of my stuff (wetsuit, goggles, swim cap, watch, water, gel) and off we all went for our 1/2 mile walk to the start. 
  • i got over to body marking around 5:30am, then went to check on my bike, no flats thank you Jesus, stuck my cell phone in my aerobag, then met up with J-man and his parent’s again, put my wetsuit on and walked down to the shore. it was already 73 degrees. first thing that jumped into my head when i looked at the water …
“The sea was angry that day, my friends, like an old man trying to send back soup in a deli.”
- George Costanza, in “The Marine Biologist”


  • as angry as that sea was, i knew i would be fine. somehow i have tricked myself into believing, “it’s just like swimming in the pool.” laugh all you want but it has worked for me. i won’t lie, it took about 1/2 mile for me to feel settled in but i never felt panicked or scared. the swells were incredible, which made sighting a little tricky and i felt incredibly dizzy. nonetheless, i kept telling myself to just keep moving ahead and that i’d be on my bike soon. as i mentioned earlier, my watch slipped off around the 0.4 mark and instead of getting discombobulated, i told myself that maybe it was a sign from above that it was best i didn’t have a watch on today, so i just let it go and didn’t think about it again. about a minute after going all Zen with the watch incident, someone grabbed my goggles and pulled them down, so i had to quickly get them back on, which i did without any problem. my eyes stung from the salt water getting in them but i quickly forgot about it and kept on moving forward. 
  • last year i saw a million, huge jellyfish, this year, only 1 itty bitty one. the water was not as clear this year and that was fine by me as i heard several people saw sharks under them at last year’s swim. the 2nd lap was a little less crowded but i did manage to get a soft kick in the jaw on the way in. i quickly stumbled out of the water like i was drunk. normally i am always a little off balance when i get out of a swim, even at the pool, but this was a little more than usual. i made it up the long transition to the wetsuit strippers (love them) and ran through where the T1 bags were, was quickly handed my bag and then ran into the hotel where the women’s T1 area was set up. thankfully, i had a volunteer all to myself, she dumped my bag out and i put on my helmet, sunglasses and race belt as she sprayed me down with sunscreen, she put one sock on my foot as i did the other sock, slipped my shoes on, said a huge THANK YOU and out i went to get Mandy. definitely not as smooth as last year but finally got Mandy and headed out, jumped on at the mount line and we were on our way.
  • all this time i had no idea what my time was but was somewhat disappointed when i saw the clock heading out on the bike and it read 1:45:??. i thought, my god, that swim really did kill me. thankfully, my mind wasn’t that out of whack and i remembered that the time started when the pro’s started so it was about 15-20 minutes ahead, so i cut myself some slack and didn’t give it anymore thought. 
  • on the bike, i immediately washed my salty mouth out with water, drank some powerade and got settled in. as usual, i started eating about 15 minutes into the ride and thereafter eating about every 30 minutes and drinking every 10 minutes. i really made sure to not screw up on hydrating because it was hot and getting hotter and sunnier by the minute. i never had to stop on the bike, just grabbed what i needed from the volunteers as i rolled by them. the wind is always a factor at IMFL and did not disappoint. mostly the last 20 miles were the worst but i just tried to stay mindful that i had a marathon to run after so blowing up my legs on the last 20 miles to keep a 20mph average or to maybe make up about 5 minutes on time, would not be too smart. thankfully, i did not witness any crashes or near misses but as usual, did see lots of drafting and loved when they got caught, ha-ha!
heading back with 1/2 mile to go
  • i was so glad to finally get off of the bike. weird thing that happened was there were about 7 volunteers standing around waiting to grab your bike as you came in and i walked right by all of them like i was invisible. someone yelled at them, “someone get her bike!!” then they woke up and someone grabbed my bike and i hauled ass into the hotel to get my T2 bag. uneventful here, just put on visor and running shoes, a quick spray down with sunscreen and a quick pee stop at the port-o-potty.
  • i knew within the first 5 minutes of the run that it was going to be brutal because of the heat and that i would have to come up with a plan of attack to make it through without looking like the walking dead by the end. the plan was, walk through every aid station, sip some water, dump rest on head and arms, drink a few sips of Perform or coke, dump one cup of ice in tri top, and hold some ice in each hand. repeat again at next aid station. i did this the entire time and it helped tremendously. i learned the ice in the hands thing recently. studies show that holding ice in your hands is one of the best ways to keep your core temp down. who knew? the first lap was hard with the heat but the second lap was better with the sun finally starting to set. i saw lots of people i knew along the run route and want to thank all of them for the shout outs. they helped me so much and lifted my spirits. i got a lot of compliments on the Betty designs tri kit i was wearing too. 
HOT! The weather, not me.
  • the last mile was the best. as much as i wanted to do a cartwheel across the finish line, there was no way my legs would tolerate that. i would have surely ended up on my ass, so i opted for the double bicep pose instead. i also let all the racers in front of me go ahead to give me my space this year because last year, i was dwarfed by all the people around me, so it was hard to see me finish.
  • guess who never once knew what her race time was, even after she finished the race? me! i had to ask the person who was catching if she happened to see my finish time. honestly, had you asked me what i thought it was, i would have guessed 13 hours, so i was pleasantly surprised when i turned around to look at the clock and see 11:41. i knew it was a few minutes under that time and was thrilled considering how hard the day was. 
  • as much as i would have liked to have beaten last year’s time, i was not at all mad or disappointed. i proudly claim my time of 11:39:47.
here is the comparison of last year’s race and this year’s:
2011:                                                                 2012:
S – 1:20:30                                                        1:21:42
T1 – 8:26                                                               8:36
B – 5:43:16                                                        5:41:29
T2 – 4:49                                                                4:59
R – 4:08:28                                                        4:23:01
Finish: 11:25:29                                                 11:39:47
i had a great time this year and can’t wait to do it again next year but hopefully with cooler temps!

much love and peace out! 






« Older Entries

Switch to our mobile site