My Blog is Moving!

Hello Readers,


I have moved my blog to a new site, and will continue to be blogging here instead.  The good news, all of the posts that are here, have been moved over to the new space so you can still find everything you're looking for and see any comments as well.


Looking forward to seeing you in my new space!


Thanks,
Laura

Mark Your Calendar

I have lots of stuff going on in November, so get out your planner, phone calendar, iPad or whatever you use to track your schedule and pencil me in for one or many of the following events - starting next Monday on November 7th.

Paleo for Peformance


Monday November 7th, 8pm
Crossfit Delware Valley


Join me and Larry Palazzolo at Crossfit Del Val for a workshop on how eating Paleo benefits your health and your perforamance. If you can't make this session, look for one in December at Crossfit KoP - we'd love to see you there!


Cost: $15 for Crossfit King of Prussia or Crossfit Del Val members -- Free for Crossfit Del Val Elements participants


Cost: $25 for Guests








How to eat like our ancestors -- Learn about the Paleo diet and its benefits


Sunday November 13th 4:45pm

StillPoint Yoga Studio - King of Prussia, PA

Join me and Larry Palazzolo at StillPoint Yoga studio (inside of SWEAT Fitness) and Lululemon for a trunk show and learn about the Paleo diet and it's benefits.


Cost: FREE!

Eating for Performance


Tuesday November 15th 7:30pm
Lululemon Athletica in Wayne PA


Join me and Larry Palazzolo at Lululemon in Wayne for a workshop on how eating Paleo benefits your health and your perforamance. Bonus: you have a chance to win some cool lululemon grear or a health coaching session with Laura or Larry. Also enjoy some Paleo friendly refreshments and snacks. We hope to see you there.


Cost: FREE!







The Supplement Mystery

Monday November 14th, 7:30 - 8:30pm
Crossfit King of Prussia 


Learn what supplements you should consider taking a Crossfitter, What supplements are beneficial to everyone, How and why to use things like whey protein, and get some of your supplement Questions Answered. If you have something specific (especially if it's obscure) please submit questions to Laura in advance.



Cost: Crossfit Kop Members $10 / Non-Members $15


To sign up, email me, show up the night of, or purchase through Crossfit KoP Mind Body.

Officially 70.3 Finisher

Even with threats from Tropical Storm Rina, I am now an official Ironman 70.3 finisher! The race was like the rest of the races this year, expo in the rain the day before and we were worried about the weather up through the start of the race.
Saturday had patches of sun and then patches of rain and it was really hot and humid - I was worried about it being that hot on race day because I was sweating just standing around.

Check In on Saturday - It's sunny now

Getting my packet: number, chip, etc

The best part about Saturday was the food truck that was at the expo, I was bummed they weren't there on race day too because that would definately have been my preferred post race fuel to the food that the race offered.  They did have real food here though,  better than the subway sandwhich at the Pocono race.  They offered arroz con pollo (which was mostly rice), pork, cooked plaintains, fresh fruit, bagels with cream cheese, and water, soda, and ironman perform drink.  I had some pork and fruit, and tried the plaintains but they were coated in sugar and were way too sweet for me.

Food Truck (it was raining)



Menu - Lots of great choices

70.3 or Bust!

This weekend I'm heading to Miami for the Miami 70.3 Half Ironman race - I signed up the day BEFORE the Pocono Mountains 70.3 race after learning that the swim was cancelled.  I set 70.3 as my goal this year and 69.1 is not the same thing, maybe I'm too goal oriented but you can't say I'm not driven.

The race is now 100% full - when we signed up it was at 99% and was one of two races left in the US for the 2011 race season - so if I wanted to get my Ironman 70.3 in 2011 it was either Miami or Austin Texas.  Austin was a possibility but turned out to be a bit more expensive to get to - and I have an aunt that is graciously letting us stay with her that lives less than an hour from Miami, so Miami seemed like the right place to go.  It was staying pretty warm on the east coast through the beginning of October, we even had a weekend where we hit 80 and instead of doing training in the morning, we waited until 1pm to go so that we could train at the hottest part of the day here.  Now it's a bit colder than Miami so I'm a little worried about adjusting to the heat since I'll be getting to Miami the day before the race, which doesn't leave much time for acclimating to the hotter weather.  For training I kept up what I was doing for the Pocono Mountains 70.3 and have been doing Crossfit WODs two times a week, a longer run, an interval or tempo workout, and one long bike or brick workout per week.  I've been trying to add some yoga in, with the goal of once per week and that has been helping too.  That leaves me with 5 or 6 days "on" if you count doing yoga as a workout day and one rest day.  I have to admit that I'm starting to get a little burned out.  I haven't done much swimming, so my swim time will be interesting.  I got in the pool last week and did 2400 meters and am confident in my ability to do and finish the swim, but I have no idea how fast I'll be!

This race is different from the others I've done, where Tim (my husband is also doing the race) will be starting between 45 minutes and 1 hour AFTER me.  Usually I'm the one that starts that late behind him, so my goal in this race will be to get the 70.3 and for him NOT to pass me!  In our last race our times were about 30 mins apart but he had a SNAFU on the bike with 2 flats, and I'm just slow on the bike.  If you're interested in following us you can through ironman live.  Looks like I'll be starting 40 minutes after the official race start, in Wave 9 with a Sliver cap - I hope it's metallic and sparkly!  Tim will be all the way at the end in one of the Age Group - Male 30 - 34 waves 22, 23, or 24.

The Swim course will start and end at the same place which means turns!  There are 3 turns in this course which shouldn't be too bad.  This looks a lot like the swim in the Brigantine Triathlon, except instead of being 400 meters long it 1.2 miles - just a little bit longer :)  I'm not sure about wetsuits, the water temperature is right there at the line where we may get to wear them or maybe not.  I'll have mine regardless but am not worried about doing the swim without a wetsuit - I did both Olympic Tri's without a wetsuit and this is only an additional 300 meters of swimming compared to the .9 miles in those races.  The Bike and Run have a much larger jump in distance from an Olympic Distance Race to a Half Ironman distance.

I haven't heard much about the course for the bike or the run, but know that Florida is a LOT flatter than the Poconos so hopefully that will help me a little since I'm not an exceptional climber and am afraid to go too fast down hills.  There isn't as much activity via twitter and facebook as we had for the Poconos race, and what we have found has been in Spanish - Miami is definitely a bilingual area.  The run will be along the coast so hopefully we'll be getting a nice coastal breeze!  Both courses are out and back which means we also only have 1 transition which is great because the two transition and then finish being a mile away from transition where all of your things were was not the best situation - especially when the post race food is usually far from Paleo friendly and leaves me with not much to eat!

So watch out Miami, here I come and I'm determined to race all 70.3 miles that you have ready for me!

Shredded Mexican Chicken

This dish was inspired when I was looking for a quick and easy meal that could feed a lot of people - my current go to dish if I'm having a party or going to one is to make a crock pot of Paleo friendly pulled pork.  If you're going to a non-paleo place you can bring along some small rolls and you can eat your pork and know that it's 100% Paleo and everyone is content.  I've been on a Mexican kick lately, had just bought a family pack of chicken and decided that I would tackle creating a slow cooked shredded chicken dish.



What I put in the crock pot (other than the chicken)



 Ingredients:

• 8 chicken breasts
• 1 large onion
• 1 large red pepper
• 2 large green peppers
• 1 jar of Trader Joe's Salsa Verde
• 1 can of diced tomatoes (no sugar added!)
• 1/2 - 1 cup of chicken broth
• 2 - 3 tsp Mexican chili powder
• 2 - 3 tsp Cumin
• 2-3 tsp Paprika
• 1 tsp cayenne pepper (optional)
• Sprinkle of red pepper falkes (optional)
• Salt & Pepper

Add everything into a crockpot or slow cooker (chop the veggies please!) and then cook on low for 6 hours.  The result = some delicious shredded chicken!  It has a bit of heat, if you're not a cayenne pepper person you can sub a mild hot pepper or some red pepper flakes instead.  I'm sensitive to cayenne and felt like this packed a little heat, but others that ate it thought it was delicious!

What dinner looked like the first night

I ate it along with a plate full of sauteed kale, but you could also eat these in lettuce wraps.  If you do dairy, some cheese on top would have been delicious, also a bit of guacamole or diced avocado on top would be a nice cooling complement to the slight heat of the Mexican chicken.