TransRockies Run Day One – Buena Vista

Posted on August 14, 2013 by UrbanMountainGoat

So today was day one of the TransRockies…a six day stage race across the Colorado Rockies (hence the name)! (If you’re wondering about the madness leading up to the race – including taper insanity… well, I have posts about those, but they are for later, when I have the energy to finish them…one day soon…)

The course wasn’t very trail-ish to me – lots of hard packed dirt and sand double track. A few steep climbs but lots of nice small rollers…and breathtaking (literally due to the altitude) scenery. It was amazing.

My piss poor photography does not do it justice!

I had been completely fretting about the altitude and the effect it would have on me during the run. I hadn’t felt too bad since arriving in Colorado ….but was feeling a little wooziness here and there. And well the lungs … you know… I was hypoxic! Panting like a dog…

Our team name: Hypoxic Mountain Goats… get it?!

The first two nights we were here, I slept like a rock. However, come Monday night…I woke up every hour and tossed and turned. Eh. So I got up a lot earlier than planned, made me and Pooky some oatmeal, bananas, and tea, and set about going to the bathroom about eight hundred times (not an exaggeration).

Found some great gluten free oatmeal packs and topped them with almond milk, banana and blueberries!!! Side of Vanilla Hazelnut tea and electrolyte drink…

…And I also made my sherpa breakfast in bed!

I wore my Swim Bike Mom tri top to channel my inner SBM strength. (Spoiler alert – it totally worked!)

I got ready and Pooky dropped me off at the start, where I had a mini-clothing crisis, then went to pee and got some water.

The start!

I then saw my partner, Heather, and her two friends, Seth & Dan, and we took some photos. One more trip to pee and then…we were off!!!

Ready to roll!

I felt good going out. My legs were fresh but the lungs were burning. Me and Heather fell into an even pace as we headed out on pavement. After not too long we got to the trail and it bottle necked up hill. It was a good forced slow down early on. There was really no need to try to waste energy jockeying around people on this pass so we just power hiked it and enjoyed the views.

My photos aren’t great, but the views were – I swear!

Eventually it evened out and widened to double track and we were trotting along. We kept a good consistent pace together and the miles ticked by quickly.

Heather took an “action” shot of me!!! Can you spot the tiny goat in the picture?

I know this day was the easiest and luckily it felt that way. It was a nice “ease in” to the race.

Heather and I got along great for being strangers until that point, as she seemed pretty similar to me. She’s a super Iron-woman triathlete type so I was a bit nervous about the match up with granola trail hippie me…but we got along good.

Mid course!

We made sure to keep up on our hydration and nutrition and were good about reminding each other. Heather was also very good at reigning us in and making us walk and take it easy. Something I am not typically very good at, so I’m sure this will pay off in the later phases of this when this thing really cranks up (wait until you see the elevation charts for stages 5 and 6…meh.

Today was 2,550 feet of climbing topping off at 9,339 feet. 20.9 miles total. All and all it was gorgeous weather – super sunny and cool humidity free air (which coming from the most humid summer of all time in Atlanta, this felt SO good. SO good).

Coming down the home stretch there was an end on a paved road of like 3-4 miles of “false flat.” This was pretty awful. The sun beat down and it was boring and hard pavement. We used a little game where we ran from landmark to landmark and then walked a bit. The highlight was Pooky drove down to see us!!! I was nervous he’d hit a runner, but he snapped some photos of us and was on his way back to the finish.

Besides Pooky, there were also some amazing rock caves!

On the last mile or so, it started to rain and get colder. By the time we finished it was raining pretty good. And pretty cold. Dan and Seth had finished a bit ahead of us and were waiting with Pooky. We snapped a quick pic and then Pooky loaded us up and drove the crew to camp.

Now full disclosure … as part of this race, you camp out. The race transfers your luggage, sets up your tent, and provides catered food and a shower truck, massage tent, etc. That being said, I’m copping out. I’ve sold out. I’m staying in hotels. There, I said it. I admitted it.

You see, it started I was going this alone with my partner. In such case, I was going to stay in said tent city. Then at some point Pooky decided he wanted to come. And he refused to camp. So I had to book him hotels in each locale and a rental car. It was somewhat expensive…and the more I thought of it, if I was shelling out all this cash, might as well make it a vacation and stay in the hotels with Pooky. Plus, who am I kidding? I don’t camp. I mean I could, but why would I when I have Pooky and a warm bed back at the hotel.

I’m staying in a Best Western right now, that’s roughing it, right?! (just kidding, just kidding!)

I felt super guilty and like a fraud, but as Pooky pointed out, who am I trying to impress? What am I trying to prove? He was right. No one. Nothing. I’m here to have fun, and having the husband and a hotel infinitely improve that. So there. I said it. I admitted it. Go ahead and hate on me for being a pampered running diva.

We finished it out better than expected – especially considering we really took it easy and walked plenty. 4:21. Turns out we were 5th of 15 teams in the women’s open division! SO that was a pretty cool surprise. Even if it only lasts through today 😉

After dropping off the teammates at camp, I went home and filled the tub with ice …. and suffered it out while enjoying a recovery drink and some Facebook on the phone…

Brrrrr….

I then followed up with a shower and some grub. And most importantly, a chai espresso gluten free hipster macaroon. It was amazing.

This is for you E!

Got a 15 minute massage at camp, and Pooky found a basketball hoop where we shot hoops for a while. Wasn’t much else to do around, and the friends were napping so we headed back to the hotel.

I made so many baskets too…but didn’t get a picture 😦

I decided against going to the dinner and ceremonies at night. I’m super picky on food, and would rather do my own thing. I felt bad like I should go socialize and enjoy the camaraderie, but oh well, I never have before, so why start now. I went back to the hotel and packed up all my stuff for the hotel change tomorrow. I prepped breakfast and my hydration and fuel, set out my outfit and charged everything up.

We found this fancy-ish Asian restaurant in town and had a huge feast. I was way more hungry than I realized. This feast also involved a flourless chocolate cake to end it. Mmmmm mmmm.

Then I came home and conjured up the energy to blog. Hard as it may be.

Thats why I powered through to write this for you 😉

Feel bad I don’t have better pictures for you all but me, Heather, Seth and Dan all took pics and decided we would share them later and all the ones Pooky took were on the real camera which I don’t have the cord for right now…so photo album later.

Tomorrow is Vicksburg to Twin Lakes and contains Hope’s Pass…Eeeeek…

Until tomorrow…Happy Trails all!

Zucchini, Potato, Tomato Frittata

Posted on August 6, 2013 by UrbanMountainGoat

I ran a race on Saturday…during taper time…real smart goat! Oh well, it was fun and I got 2nd place! Yay! Saw some fun friends too.

But it tired me out. Apparently I haven’t been running fast for quite some time. And all this LSD (long slow distance – not psychotropic drugs) has made me slow. So running fast was tiring on the old body. And I slept like a rock Saturday night. So much so that we didn’t get up until 9AM on Sunday!!! By the time we made it out of the bed and up and around it was 9:30AM and by the time I was messing around to make us food it was after 10. So brunch was in Order.

It consisted of a new experimental green smoothie, and I asked Pooky what else he wanted. He opened the fridge and said, use up what is left in here. And use eggs.

I looked at what I had. Eggs, check. An old zucchini, a part of a yellow squash, some cute little San Marzano tomatoes, and some frozen cubed fried multicolor potatoes left over from last week’s long run.

So I decided a veggie frittata would be yummy!

Further proof of my horrible picture taking ability. And I forgot to take pics along the way!

Ingredients:

2 whole eggs; about 4 egg whites (essentially I just used what was left in the carton. Can’t remember, might have been 6 or 7 eggs)
A small zucchini – I sliced it into fourths and then into small match stick shapes. You could cut it however you want.
A good handful of small tomatoes – I used these San Marzano that I found at the store recently. I am addicted to them. They are awesome in everything. I just sliced them lengthwise and took out the extra seeds.
A few baby potatoes – preferably a mix of red, white and blue! Chop into small fourths so that they cook fast. Mine were already cooked ahead of time, so you could also do that too (I usually steam them until almost done, and then fry them the rest of the way in a pan of coconut oil to crisp them)
A red onion would be great in here too. I had one, but I was too lazy to chop it up. I would advise you do so if you have one!
Sea salt, fresh ground pepper, and garlic or garlic powder to taste. Some fresh chopped basil would be amazing with this too, but I didn’t have any.

Directions:

Take a deep pan over medium heat. Spray with cooking oil. Add a little oil of your choice. I used olive oil today because that was what was laying around.

If you are using the onions and if your potatoes are not pre-cooked, put them in the pan and put a lid on it and let them get cooked half to three fourths of the way.

In the meantime, chop your veggies. Put you eggs into a bowl or cup and wisk them until completely combined.

After the onions and potatoes have been cooking for a while, then add in your zucchini and/or squash, and tomatoes. Cook until everything is tender and a bit browned (or however you like it. That’s the cool thing with veggies. You can cook them a little – or a lot, and they’re always safe to eat and yummy!

Once you have your veggies to the desired consistency, add in a little more oil to coat the bottom of the pan and add in the eggs. I then gave everything a good stir to combine and even out the veggies. Then I put the lid on and let it cook for a while.

I checked the bottom of the eggs and it looks browned on the bottom. You can either then put the skillet under the broiler to finish out the top OR what I did was loosen the edges, take a big plate on top of the skillet, give it a good flip and then turn it over in the pan to finish up the other side. Alternatively, I’m sure if I would’ve let it keep cooking the top would’ve gotten done eventually but I preferred it a little more even.

I topped with sea salt, freshly ground pepper, and a touch of garlic powder (not salt!). If you have some fresh basil, it’d be great on top!

Cut into four wedges and brunch (or brinner!) is served!

I eat it with a green smoothie for the win!

Refresh Smoothie

Posted on August 5, 2013 by UrbanMountainGoat

Hey all! So I have discovered this super amazing place in Atlanta – the Rawesome Juicery. It’s awesome. And delicious. I am completely addicted to it. It’s in the Sweet Auburn Curb Market downtown. It’s really only about 6 or 7 minutes from my house by car, but it’s kind of out of the way and they are doing street car construction down there…so I can’t go all the time.

I have a juicer of my own, but I can’t seem to get the proportions right when making juice and I also hate cleaning it up. So I thought, let me try to make something juice like in my Vitamix.

Well this is what resulted. Not at all what I was going for, but equally delicious! Hope you enjoy!

Ingredients:

2 small organic apples peeled and cored
1 large (or two small – mine was humongous) organic cucumber peeled and cut into a few large chunks (doesn’t have to be seedless, they get pulverized in the blender, you won’t notice)
2 or 3 large handfuls of spinach
A couple handfuls of frozen pineapple (I just used what was left in the bag so I have no idea)
A small handful of fresh mint leaves (optional…I put in for mine, left out for Pooky. He is not a fan

I didn’t get all the ingredients up front…so you’ll just have to be ok with this post-shot of some extra produce left in the fridge!

Directions:

Put your cucumber chunks and apple chunks into the blender. Blend them until liquified. I had to use my stopper thing to push them around to get them going, but then they blended just fine without added liquid.

Next add in your spinach, frozen pineapple and optional mint and blend until smoothie and frothy!

My hand looks creepy. Disregard. The smoothie is still good!

Mine made 2 pint glass sized servings.

I enjoyed mine with a veggie frittata!

Enjoy!

Red Top Roaster 2013 – August 3, 2013

Posted on August 4, 2013 by UrbanMountainGoat

Well it’s taper time. And of course I’m going nuts. One week from today I will be leaving on an airplane headed to Colorado to start a journey that has been over a year in the making. But we’ll get to that. Now on to today.

So the appropriate thing to do when in the midst of a taper, only ten days away from a six day stage race that is 120 miles long and has nearly 25,000 feet of elevation gain … is … run a hot, hilly race!

I told Tim the race director I would volunteer for this race a long time ago. And I really enjoyed the race last time I ran it. Plus, Swim Bike Mom friend Elizabeth was going and running her first trail race. And Isabel from the Running Teacher was volunteering…and it’s rare for the goat to be at a race where I know not one – but two people – so off I went!

I hasn’t been a very hot summer by Atlanta standards, but it has been helluva humid. I am SO over the humidity. So over it. Saturday it was forecasted to be hot, so the Red Top Roaster would live up to its name.

I got up at 5AM and packed my essentials – a couple Naked Coconut waters (pineapple for before and mango/peach for after!) along with a Huma gel and some Muesli for breakfast.

This stuff is super good soaked in some homemade almond/cashew milk – I tried it the traditional way with OJ and didn’t like it…Best part of this pic is Pooky’s Chips a Hoy in the background!

I got there about 6:30 AM and after an emergency port-a-potty break, started to work check-in.

Elizabeth showed up and took some action shots of me at check-in!

Working hard, or hardly working?

I wasn’t feeling hungry, so I just had my pineapple coconut water and one Huma gel. I figured I didn’t really need much fuel for a measly 15k after all the long running I had been doing.

I was relieved of my check-in duties with a little less than 30 minutes to go time. I stood in a really long port-a-potty line, jogged around a bit, ate my gel and got ready to go.

I stood towards the front and looked for some of the girls I usually chase. I saw one, who I usually finish about the same time with. And I saw a girl I met the week before at our group run. So I decided I’d chase after them as long as I could.

And next thing you know, we were off! I chased after the first couple girls for a while. My legs felt great but my lungs felt wretched and I was huffing and puffing. Hmmmm this is a bad sign seeing as I’ll be at altitude in ten days. Yikes. And I was soon regretting that my interval and speed work had dropped off in the last month or so. Awesome. More panic to add to the crazy taper time.

I kept moving and passed two of the girls I had been chasing, one of which is usually finishing right around me. I thought she was on my tail for some time. Eventually I looked back and realized I was alone save for a couple of dudes.

I remembered this course a lot less tough. Perhaps I was in better shape (or different shape) and I guess we ran different trails on Red Top the week before, and this is why this felt so different.

But there was a guy next to me who usually works check-in too and encouraged me telling me to just relax but keep pushing. So I did just that. Every time my lungs screamed and I couldn’t stand the huffing and puffing, I just focused on the fact that my legs felt fresh and awesome and didn’t mind the hills.

Through the first three miles, I could see signs for miles 7, 8 and 9. So I unfortunately knew that I would have to face those same hills in the last 5k. Blasted.

At the first aid station, about 3 miles in or so, I was pretty tired and thought I might just take it easy on the way in. However, some of the volunteers told me I was the third place girl. Blasted again. Why did they have to go and tell me that??? I’m too competitive to give up then. So I trucked on and tried to keep my current pace as to not lose my third place spot.

The next three miles came and went and I saw the Running Teacher volunteering. She snapped a pic too! Thanks and thanks for the much needed encouragement!

I pushed on despite my lungs hating me. It was starting to get hot, so aid stations became places to dump water on the head. Ahhhhh. The weight I’ve gained in the last year was not making the heat any more comortable.

I know I’m not fat! But my thighs are rubbing together and it super sucks in the heat. Super sucks.

About a mile and a half from the finish, I spotted a girl! Hey, another girl! She must be number 2. I was pretty far off, and I said, I’m not going to catch her. And I just kept trucking on.

I was pretty slow up the hills, but ran the downhills fast and as fast can be. There was one guy who we kept going back and forth passing each other who noted my speediness on the downhills. This is a rarity for me, but these trails were less technical so I just went for it. Plus, one of the best ways to gain an advantage in races is that as soon as you get to the top of a hill you just keep going as fast as you can. Most people get to the top of the hill and take a minute. And that’s where you can get them. Don’t take a minute, just push on as hard as you can. If it’s a level or downhill, you’ll naturally recover even pushing it down the hill.

Before I knew it, the girl in green was right in my sights. It was maybe a mile out. I thought maybe I should hang back and wait until closer to the end to surge and pass. But that’s not really my style, so I thought, let me pass her now and if she catches up with me – fine. Let the best woman (or goat) win! (don’t you love the fake drama I’m injecting into this race for 2nd place in a totally random small local trail race)!

I don’t really. It was really this exciting. Really.

Well I passed her and just kept going as fast as I could and tried not to look back. I heard someone coming up on me and kept pushing. Turns out it was a dude, so I was ok. About a third of a mile out, it turned to pavement. I looked back. Not a lady runner anywhere in sight. And I have to admit, at this point I was tired, and over it, so I just trotted it in. Let me tell you, that last .3 miles was SO long. It never seemed to end!

I finally rounded the corner and was done. 2nd place female. 22nd overall. 1:22:44. Yay! I didn’t even have a chance of getting the first place woman. 1:14:42. Zoom! But I saw her before the race. And she is fit. And there is just no other way to put it. I mean when you see me, you’re probably like, oh, she looks pretty fit, but she also likes a pizza and a candy bar every now and again. But this lady, you’re just like wow. She’s fit. And she has never even heard of a pizza or a candy bar. Sigh. One day I will have that kind of discipline. One day. But today’s not that day. But I digress.

Afterwards I went for a little run a round and did an extra mile or so. I forgot to hit the Garmin, but it’s ok. I went inside afterwards and got myself a new State Parks Pass and changed my clothes (that blasted disgusting humidity, I was literally pouring sweat on the floor of the visitor’s center…I had to stand off to the side where they had a little carpet so I wouldn’t sully the floor completely).

I meandered over where I saw the awards had started. Opps. I missed my award. But Tim stopped things and gave me my award. I got all sorts of stuff!! Including a case of beer and a case of Cliff bars and an Inov8 shoe certificate! Wowzers!

The office will be happy about this one.

I then out of the side of my eye saw Elizabeth coming in to finish her first trail race! And under 2 hours! I ran down and snapped a finish photo!

Yay!!! And…another trail runner is officially indoctrinated in…bahahaha!

Afterwards we B.S.ed for a while. I also saw that Matt from Zulu Racing was there. He was first in his age group and 4th overall with a speedy 1:12:19. Yay Matt! Too bad we both didn’t get the number one spots like Troop Trot!

This post would be no good without the jazz hands.

We then chit chatted with Matt, his wife and their ridiculously cute new puppy. Oh, and also discussed the awesome race Matt puts on – Hill Country Trail Race at Serenbe. It’s November 23rd. I’ll be there, Jamaican Sensation will be there, and so should you! (See last year’s race report here).

Zulu racing rocks!

OK so I need to work on a pre-TransRockies post…so yeah, time to go. Happy trails til we meet again!

Second place. First one to lose. But exciting none-the-less to this goat.

Cocoa Cherry Berry Smoothie

Posted on August 4, 2013 by UrbanMountainGoat

Pooky must have read somewhere that it is good to eat purple things. He is always asking me to give him purple things to eat so he can get his antioxidants. So I’ve been making a lot of berry smoothies…like the Very Berry Detox Smoothie…

So when he asked for purple again today, I thought I needed to mix up the berry smoothie a bit.

Makes 2 Smoothies:

Chocolatey goodness!

Ingredients:

1-1.5 cups plain unsweetened pure coconut water + 1-1.5 cups water (you want to aim for about 2-2.5 cups of any combination of liquid – and go for unsweetened liquids like coconut water, coconut milk, almond milk, cashew milk, etc)
2 scoops chocolate Sunwarrior Warrior Blend Vegan protein powder (or favorite protein powder of choice. you don’t have to use protein powder, but I like to have protein first thing in the morning to kickstart my metabolism)
If you’re not using chocolate protein powder, use 1-2 tablespoons of cocoa powder. Use unsweetened and don’t use dutch processed. I use Nativas Naturals Cocoa Powder. (You will also probably need to double your stevia or preferred sweetener especially if you’re using good cocoa powder)
2 spoons stevia in the raw (or other sweetener of your choice. You may need to up this if you use the cocoa powder in lieu of protein powder)
2 spoons organic flaxseed meal or 2 scoops chia seeds pre-soaked in about 4 oz water
2 big handfuls organic spinach (don’t be shy! if using kale, just probably want to go with a few leaves)
1 small handful raw, organic almonds (optional – could use cashews or pecans too! OR a few spoons of organic, unsweetened, unsulfered dried coconut might be good too!)
1-1.5 cups frozen pitted organic sherries + .5-1 cup frozen assorted organic berries (I used about 1.5 frozen cherries and about 3/4 cup frozen mixed blueberries, raspberries, blackberries)
A few drops pure almond extract

Directions

Put all ingredients in blender in the order stated. Make sure to use frozen fruit for a nice frosty shake. Select smoothie function on blender or blend for 1-2 minutes depending on strength of blender.

Enjoy!

Breakfast for two 😉

Very Berry Detox Smoothie

Posted on August 1, 2013 by UrbanMountainGoat

Eat a little too much crap last night? Feel like you need to start a new this morning?

Well you’re in luck! Here is the perfect breakfast smoothie to help you detox while being nutritious and delicious at the same time!

Very Berry Detox Smoothie (serves 2)

Ingredients:

11 ounces plain pure coconut water + 1 cup water (or whatever amount you want depending on how watery you like it – also you could use water instead or unsweetened almond or cashew milk – essentially you want a little over 2 cups liquid)
Large handful raw organic cashews or almonds (I prefer cashews…and don’t use either if you’re using nut milk in #1)
Two scoops Vanilla Sunwarrior Warrior Blend vegan protein powder (or powder of your choice – or omit if you don’t care about protein or don’t have it. I like to start my day with something high in protein to kick start my metabolism!)
Two big spoons ground flaxseed or chia seed (if using chia, pre-soak it in a little water first to help your body absorb it)
Two spoons of stevia in the raw cup for cup (or one packet – or you can omit or replace with agave, honey, etc if you don’t mind the extra sugar/calories)
Two large handfuls of spinach (or kale/spinach mix. I used all spinach today because it’s milder and the smoothie was for Pooky. Don’t be shy about it either. You won’t even taste it in there, I swear!)
Two heaping cups of mixed frozen berries (I used blueberries, raspberries, and blackberries one day. Another day I also added cherries)
Optional: a few drops of pure vanilla extract and/or almond extract; a few spoons of unsweetened, unsulfured dried shredded coconut

Directions:

Add all ingredients to your blender in the order specified above. If you have a Vitamix or Blendtec or other “fancy” blender, choose the smoothie setting and let her rip! If you have a regular blender, then you’ll probably need to blend for a minute or two depending on the power of your blender and how smooth you like it. Also, don’t forget to use FROZEN berries, or your smoothie won’t be nice and cool. I like using frozen fruit instead of ice because it makes the smoothie richer and less watery.

Pretty in purple! Hello antioxidants!

Finished product!

Enjoy!

Urban Mountain Goat

Eat, run and live like a Mountain Goat!

Monthly Archives: August 2013

TransRockies Run Day One – Buena Vista

Zucchini, Potato, Tomato Frittata

Refresh Smoothie

Red Top Roaster 2013 – August 3, 2013

Cocoa Cherry Berry Smoothie

Very Berry Detox Smoothie

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