To All of You Moms and Dads...

To all of you moms and dads out there, I wanna give you some major props. I got a little taste of your world when I had my niece (7 years-old) and nephew (6 years-old) stay with me for 48 hours. During this 2-day period, I went from being 99% sure that I do not want kids, to a perfect 100% nay to kids. Though I don't doubt that I would make a great parent, I'm so glad that I can choose not to be a parent. Simply put, I don't want to be that selfless.

From the minute the kids woke up, to the time they fell asleep, my life was all about them. Physically, I felt drained as if I had a long training day, but my muscles did not get any stronger, and I did not get any fitter. Mentally, I was fatigued as if I competed in an ironman, but my body did not produce any chemical mood enhancers like endorphins. And the anxiety! When I'm walking down a street alone or with my friends, I'm not anxious about any of us being silly and running into the street and getting hit by a car (well, most of the time). I was anxious when we walked on the streets, anxious when we were taking the subway, anxious in crowds, life just seemed so much more dangerous. I had help with the kids, and I kept thinking, hell no could I do this alone. I have no doubt that I would have gotten better at parenting, but at the end of the day, my life would be significantly different than what it is now. I have a deeper appreciation for my brother and sister, who are amazingly devoted parents. But I also have a deeper appreciation for my dad, who is still alive, for not only wanting to have me, but for also happily raising me in this world. In fact, if my dad could have it his way, all the children would still be living with him in one huge house, and he would cook for us all. The man is selfless in this way. To be a parent is to be selfless in a way that I just cannot grasp. But I must admit that as exhausted as I was after the kids left, I did find myself missing them later that night...but not enough.

One Step Forward, Two Steps Back

This is just a post to post that there's not much to post. I was trying to get back into the training groove, and after making a bit of gains, I got a cold. I hadn't completely knocked out the cold, but I figured I was okay to do some low key training. Well, the low key training led to a sinus infection, and it spread to my chest. I don't train when symptoms are neck down (cough, wheezing, etc...). I've had sinus infections in the past, and boy can they linger. Here's hoping that this is not the case, and I won't have to resort to antibiotics like I've done in the past. And oh, if you ever thought it was a good idea to visit San Francisco during the summer, think again. I believe it was Mark Twain that said something like the coldest winter he ever spent was the summer he lived in San Francisco.

Off the Radar

I guess I forgot I keep a blog of sort, and when blogs go quiet, either life is really good or it's really bad. I'm happy to report life is good. I'm done with my move back into San Francisco, and I'm very happy to be a resident again. Bring on the poop on the sidewalks, the homeless people sleeping on my stoop, and the parking tickets. Still, the good by far outweighs the bad, even not having a garage for all of my bikes, and no washer and dryer (well, this is a bit of a sting). June 1st also marked the end of my 3-week break from formal training, and though I'm having a bit of a slow start getting back into the training mode, I have some plans that will help boost the motivation.

Anyone catch this article, if not, it's an interesting read: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/26/opinion/sunday/breeding-the-nutrition-out-of-our-food.html

I'm sure the increased time spent on my bike, running, and staring at a black line at the bottom of a pool will inspire me to blog more. Hope your summer is off to a good start.

Matcha Green Tea Shake

I'm not a big coffee drinker, in fact, I drink coffee so infrequently that I can recall the last three times. And all three times happened with this girl: when I took her to Philz in December, when the Starbuck's barista spelled both of our names wrong (Kite & Shereesa) during the Coast Ride in January, and when I flew down to San Diego for the ITU race in April. Drinking coffee is either a social or an athletic performance thing for me. If I need a caffeine boost, my preferred choice is a matcha green tea shake. I buy matcha green tea powder from Berkeley Bowl, a hippy co-op market. To make the shake, combine one cup of any non-dairy milk of your choice (coconut, almond, soy, or even a mixture of 2 or 3), with 1/2 tablespoon of matcha green tea powder, and 1-2 tablespoons of coconut crystals. Blend the mixture together with either a milk frother, or I use a Cuisinart SmartStick. This is a creamy, not too sweet, and mild tasting shake to start your day. I must admit the matcha green tea taste is not for everyone. Try it and let me know what you think.

New Finds

I'm taking a mid-season break, and I took six days off from any type of training/exercise, but it has felt like 3 weeks. I'm not going to do any formal training until the end of May, and until then, I will focus on weight training and building muscle mass. I will swim/bike/run as exercise. Since there isn't much to blog on the training front, I thought I would finally revisit two new finds that has helped my racing this season. I should also preface my review of the following two products, and say that I am not sponsored by either of these products.

First up is Extreme Endurance. Charisa gave me these tablets to try with the instruction not to follow the instructions on the bottle. Instead, a couple of days before a race, I should start using the tablets. My regimen is two days out from the race, I pop 3 tablets every morning, and then I take 3 tablets race morning. That's it. These tablets do exactly what they claim, they get rid of the burning feeling in your legs during hard efforts. I've read lots of race reports where the race didn't go so well, and a lot of these bad races are a result of feeling dead and/or burning legs. Extreme Endurance basically reduces your chances of getting the dead/burning leg feeling, thus increasing your chances of performing and racing well. It still hurts when you race like racing should, but the hurt is from pushing yourself rather than having legs that won't cooperate. If you want some more science behind the explanation, check out Roger Thompson's blog post on this stuff.

Next is Drip Drop. Drip Drop was formulated by a physician to combat dehydration in third world countries. It is medical-grade hydration and thus, easily absorbed by the body, and tolerable by the gut. I know better than to try something new race day, but I thought it was worth the risk to try Drip Drop at Wildflower. I'm so glad I took the risk because not only did I seem to stay more hydrated than my competitors, I didn't suffer gut issues like I have in the past racing in hot conditions. I only had enough Drip Drop to fill one water bottle, but I think having two bottles would have been ideal at Wildflower.

Give both of these a try during your training and tell me what you think.