Don't Be Jealous

You know that post Christmas warm fuzzy feeling that you have as you drive home from seeing all your family, eating lots of food, and opening gifts or sharing memories, then BAM back to reality you have to go back to work?   Well I still have 6 more days to recover from that! Hence, the "Don't Be Jealous" Title!!!  Yes, that is one of the wonderful things about my job we usually get more than a week off at Christmas time this year it's a week and 2 days and with any luck it looks like a snow storm will be coming in the day we're supposed to go back to work and we'll have a snow day.  Ok Ok I know don't push my luck.  But I have to say the most wonderful part about having this time off is that EVERYONE has it off at the same time so you don't come back to a completely ridiculous number of emails and urgent phone messages!

We spent the last 5 days at my parents house in the mountains and it was awesome!  I usually relax the whole time I'm up there.  We went for some hikes and I went for a little run but what I found out is that although it is easy and enjoyable to run in snow it's not so much fun to run in that weird mush/ice/snow mix that you get in between storms so while I was up there I didn't do any long runs.  On one of the hikes my dog came across a carcass that was hideous some one had obviously not done a good job of taking care of their probably illegal kill!! Grrrrrr and my dog started to lick some of the bones before I got her to come to me.  Thank goodness she didn't try to eat it!  YUCK!!!  Half of it's face was eaten off but the other bones were pretty clean!  Other than that the hikes were uneventful.  Ahh the joys of growing up in a small backwoods town. 

Ice skating was the highlight of the outdoor activities while we were there.  It was a popular place to be.  It brought back lots of memories from my childhood!

I also convinced my fam to go to an abandoned horse stables right after it snowed for some family pics.  Someones dog got out of their house and wouldn't listen to them to come back when they called for it.  So we stood their patiently waiting.  But as it kept getting closer we started getting nervous for little Lexi and my husband slowly went near it and it started to back off but the owner yelled "It will bite your ass" which is ridiculous, I picked Lexi up off the ground just in case but then the owner finally got his hands on his dog and said "Sorry about that Merry Christmas" which unfortunately didn't quite make up for the first comment but at least nothing happened!  But by then everyone was getting cold including the dog and we packed it up.  Which if not I might have kept on trying until we got a pic where my dog actually looked happy, check out her face in all our pics...

Now we're back home, going to volunteer for a couple of hours at a food bank, and get back to the gym.  Yesterday's spin class is just what I needed after a long car ride home.  But as for the format of the spin class I'll have a whole nother post about that!!  Have you ever taken a Les Mills RPM Spin class? 

Merry Post Christmas!   Do any of you hit the after Christmas sales or do you avoid it as much as I avoid Black Friday Sales?

Merry Christmas, Ironman Style!

We woke up to some white snow which made my husband very happy, he says he's never had a white Christmas (he grew up in California).  For me it was like most of my Christmases growing up!  It was good to spend the Holidays up in the mountains!  The only thing missing was the rest of the family!  But for my dad and I my brother made us this video of our Ironman Race and we loved it!!!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Watch out for the ELF!!!!

Santa checks his list to see who’s been naughty or nice, but while he’s checking it twice…. the elf on the shelf is already there….. so for goodness sakes be NICE!!

   MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

Happy Holidays from the Arnold Family!

I'm getting so excited for the Holidays and even more for the 7 days I have off from work!!!!!!  I couldn't contain myself any longer.... Happy Holidays blogger family!!!   

A Case of the Mondays...... SIKE!

Am I dating my self by using old slang?  I don't care, you know you're a child of the 80s if...

So interesting fact I have a post that talks about a Case of the Mondays and has a picture of the lady from the movie Office Space that says that.  Turns out that is one of the most searched phrases that sends people to my blog.  I often like to post a "Happy Friday" post and that one never gets searched!!  So I thought I'd surprise them.  Someone have a crappy monday will now find one of my Happy Friday posts!!! :-)  Only interesting to me?  Ok well at lease it's still Friday!

December to Remember FITspiration #14: Change gears every once in a while!  "Life is like a ten-speed bicycle. Most of us have gears we never use."
- Charles Schulz

It appears I am on gym bag overload.  I got a surprise package in the mail yesterday and it was, guess.... another gym bag!!!  So I gave my mom one that I had been using since it's still cute and fairly new and switched to my now favorite one.  Hubs needs a new one so I told him he could have one of my extras.  Boom Christmas shopping half way done! :-)

Happy Friday!!  I'm hoping this rain turns into snow!!!

Top Gifts for Tri Chicas

Ok maybe not the top for all but I thought I'd throw my two cents in since 'tis the season for giving.  Which is kind of ironic that I'm creating this list on a year hubs and I announced to the fam that we aren't doing Christmas Gifts.  I think it's good every once in a while to do a gift free Christmas and maybe do a little extra giving of your time instead.  I've done that before where I had asked everyone in my family instead of giving me a material gift they volunteered 8 hours some where in my name.  This year we are also bracing ourselves for hubs to go back to school and to be on one salary so it serves more than one purpose.  I've been so lucky in everything I've been able to do and experience this year that I truly feel I've gotten all my gifts ahead of time any way so maybe that's cheating a lil' but I'm ok with that.

So here it goes a list if you have a hard time thinking of what to get the Tri Ladies in your life:

*  Endurance inspired jewelry

*  A race entry
Make sure you know her favorite distance or this could go wrong :-) 

* A comfy post race outfit

* A personalized medal hanger (because you know she's going to rock all her races next year)

* A bib belt

* A fun transition towel to make her laugh during the race

* A giftcard to an online tri/bike store most girls do like shopping but it's hard to get tri stuff at a store out of the mall

* A bike/wine tour through pretty scenery in case you need a break from all that training

* A personalized gym bag (you could get her name or favorite inspirational saying on it)

* Post race massage & spa day

* A tattoo (ok maybe not for all but for someone who's accomplished something like say an Ironman this might be appropriate)

* Or of course my personal favorite a great technical shirt or tri inspired greeting cards by yours truly! :-0

Bonus!  Enter coupon code: 20%off  for a great discount!!  From now until the 1st of the year!  at my shop  http://cautiouslyaudacious.blogspot.com/p/shop-cautiously-audacious.html


Happy Training & Holidays!!  What would your favorite gift be?

Nutcracker Sprint Triathlon

Happy Monday!! Just go with it, if you pretend like you're happy for Monday and smile real big eventually you can convince yourself you're having a good time! :-)  So over the weekend I did a little sprint tri called the Nutcracker and I had fun despite feeling tired!  There was no pressure and I was just doing it because I figured why not I'm trained up anyway from the IM and it will be a good way to start next season!   This counts as the 1st one towards the Southwest Challenge Series for next year.  But here's a question if I was in the 30-34 AG this triathlon but the rest of the series and season I will be in the 35-39 AG will they still give me the point for this one?!?!?!!  I hope so!

There was supposed to be a storm coming in on Sunday so people were a little nervous about this one but luckily it didn't hit until the afternoon.  It ended up being a perfect brisk morning for a triathlon and it was a reverse tri which meant the swim was last so we got to run and bike dry.  What else could you ask for?

They haven't posted the splits yet but I know my run was slower than normal somewhere around 28 versus 23-24.  Side note: my Garmin refused to work the night before so I ran naked! It will turn on and turn right back off even when it's fully recharged!!!  The run was pretty hilly and my lungs were screaming so I was still happy with this 5k time.

The bike had some hills and there was a head wind on the way back for the uphill part but it was so short of a ride that it didn't bother me.

The swim was a little out of control but I just tried to go with it.  It was in a pool and you did it one way in each lane and went under, then had to get out of the pool and get a rubber band on your wrist so that they'd know you went through once then you had to run back to the start and jump back in and do it again!  There were bottle necks to jump in and climb out on the stairs they made you do that and everyone was getting elbowed and kicked.  One poor guy got hit so hard they had to pull him out cause he had a major nose bleed.

Now I have to tell you hubs was an awesome cheerleader for me on this one and I was so happy he actually made it to watch me race even though it wasn't an important race.  He wanted to get a ride in so he left the house before me and met me at the race start.  But on the way he had a pretty bad wreck that bent some of the teeth on his chain ring, tore through 3 pairs of clothing and scraped his bum and elbow.  But he still got up and made it because he didn't want to call me and have me not start the race.  What a trooper!!  Thanks!  So of course I wanted to make sure he didn't show up for nothing. :-)

Disclaimer it was a small race especially being winter but I was still happy.



1st in AG:

  1  248  Natasha Arnold                 1:18:39
   2  233  Kateri West                   1:20:02
   3  240  sherie crupper                1:32:23
   4  236  Kate Hicks                    1:33:02
   5  197  Rebecca Stair                 1:36:33
   6  302  Crystal Begay                 1:40:39
   7  318  Anita Foutz                   1:43:44

Now one thing I noticed is Over All female I ended up in 10th but look how close we all were:

  6  350     F60-64    tove shere               1:17:25
   7  295     F45-49    Laura Powers             1:18:06
   8  182     F35-39    Marisa Snyder            1:18:15
   9  275     F25-29    McKane Sharff            1:18:27
  10  248     F30-34    Natasha Arnold           1:18:39
 
If only I hadn't stopped to pick my nose during transition!!! Just kidding but really I always kick myself for taking my time during transition or not jumping into the pool with out waiting and being nice...

So with that I officially end my 2012 triathlon season and what a season it was!

Happy Training!  Let it snow!
 
 
 

Happy Friday!

Are you having a December to Remember filled with FITspiration!?!??!  I made it through week one of our month of gluttony at work and didn't eat anything all week other than today I had a serving of fruit that someone brought in.  So I think it's helping me to have a daily reminder! Yay!

Today's word of the day is:  DANCE

It's fun, it burns calories, and sometimes even the people watching can burn calories laughing.  So dance away my friends!

Here is a rundown of some of the favorite one's I've found:

#1 Dog Dancing  who doesn't love that?!?

 
#2 My one and only mother loves dancing more than anyone I know and if you ever play anything by Santana she can't control herself no matter where she is!!!

#3  Ladies if you ever wander how ridiculous you might look doing your "sexy" moves on the dance floor just have a guy demonstrate for you...

Happy Friday!! 

Lasagna Rolls Recipe and Work Joke

Do you love how creative I can get with my titles?  Ok I'll work on it but at least this way you are getting exactly what it says! :-)

Lasagna Rolls

This one is quick, easy, yummy, and lo cal!!

Box Whole Wheat Lasagna Noodles (follow directions on box to cook)

Filling
Fresh or frozen spinach 1 bunch or 1 bag
1-2 tblsp Olive Oil
Garlic 2-4 cloves peeled and crushed
1/2 white Onion diced
Spices as desired salt, pepper, caraway, oregano, parsley, basil, thyme
Low Fat Ricotta Cheese

Saute garlic and onion and add spices to olive oil, slowly add spinach until cooked.  Let this cool then add to the Ricotta cheese and mix together until smooth

Spread about 2 tblsp of the filling on each noodle and roll.  Put in a glass oven container

Spread freely with marinara sauce, this can be store bought or my favorite homemade sauce I posted here.

Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese then bake at 350 for 20 minutes.

For 2 rolls it is 310 calories and about 6g fat.


Work Joke

When I walked into work this morning I found these on my desk:

At first I was a little weirded out wandering who left that there, thinking maybe I shouldn't eat them in case it was a disgruntled employee.  Then in a meeting later that day my boss asked, "Did you like the tic tacs?" and started laughing.  I said "OOOOHHH that was you? Whew!"  See we are always joking because I startle him, he can never hear me coming and there's times I'm standing all the way in his office and I think he's seen me so I just wait for him to be done with what he's working on but then he looks up surprised because he didn't know I was there. 

We are also both big Seinfeld fans and we talk about that episode with Elaine and the Sideler.  She got him tic tacs to put in his pocket so she could hear him coming.  So when he saw those he had to get them for me! 

How is your December to Remember coming along?  I'm happy to say one week down and I'm sticking to my fitness/nutrition goals.!!!

Happy Training!

December to Remember: FITspiration

Let's make this a December to Remember!    Remember being FIT that is!  I figured everyone was doing a thankful post each day in November why not do something for December.  I remember I use to always hear people talk about the "holiday" weight gain but I had never experienced it until last year.  I gained about 4 lbs last holiday season.  See where I work starting the first of December they assign 2 people for each day to bring in snacks.  There are 2 separate holiday parties where we eat and they still have 2 people bring snacks on those days too!  So I thought I'd be careful not to partake everyday but obviously I wasn't careful enough. 

It's also the beginning of "off" season for most of the endurance community and it is normal to gain a few pounds for that but if you add holiday weight + off season weight = slow runner!

So who's in?  Let's post something every day on our FB or other media pages that will help us remember to stay fit this off/holiday season.  If you want like my FB page and tell me you are going to participate then I'll make sure and link back to your page each time you post a December to Remember FITspiration or just come on over and share mine that I'll be posting each day!

Today is the 3rd so I already posted one the 1st & 2nd

December 1st was:   December to Remember FITspiration #1: It may be too warm for snow but don't fret "Frosty the snowman knew the snow was hot that day So he said lets run and have some fun before I melt away" Did you go for a run today?

I see this guy everyday now driving to work!

December 2nd was:  December to Remember FITspiration #2: with the long winter months ahead usually off season you forget what you look like under all those comfy layers. SO go try on a cute bathing suit at your local fitness store (they are really cheap right now) since you are in awesome shape from a whole season of training, and stay ready to fit into it as soon as spring is here!

... today's will be:

December to Remember FITspiration #3: December to Remember FITspiration #3: Find inspiration in unexpected places and act on it. Every time I'm going to get a new pair of tennis shoes I remember this book and my first run in my new shoes is always exciting and I may even try to jump over a few things! :-)



































My new tennis shoes, and yes, yesterdays run was a fun one!