How to wilt kale

I love kale.  I eat it at least twice a day  - in salads or smoothies.  BUT I have to wilt it in order to eat it in a salad.  Something about it's natural texture kind of creeps me out.  So how to you wilt it?  Simple!

1.  Start with kale in a bowl along with sea salt and olive oil.  I put mine in a 'misto' so it just sprays out.

2.  Spray just a bit of olive oil (any kind) onto the kale and sprinkle some sea salt.  Then you just massage it in.  The kale will then naturally start to wilt.  It only take about a minute.

And then just add the rest of your ingredients for your super salad!  Since I just got back from the farmers market, my lunch today was full of fresh goodness:

Kale

Cut up Baby Spinach

Fresh Cucumber

Raw Sunflower seeds

Dried Cranberries

1/2 of a fresh peach

Live sprouts

and an egg.

YUM.

Just what I needed after my killer workout this morning.

Two hour ride followed by speed work with Carla, Ron, and Coach.  The ride was solo and in the dark for some of the way.  Creepy.  The speed work was a bitch - but in a good way.  I really have not done any speed work for the past few months - but we are going to start focusing on it.  My run goal for IMTX will be for under 5 hours.  Better start now!  Anyway - it was flipping hot and I puked at the end of #6 out of eight 1/2 mile repeats.  Awesome, but it felt great. 

Can't wait to do it again next Saturday.

Random:

Don't let me catch you parking like crap.

Yep, I have a whole book of these bad boys, and I'm not afraid to use them!



What.  A.  Week.  I've been traveling from work since Sunday - so my week has been full of:

This- yummy hotel dinners

This - crappy gyms that have mirrors in front of the dreadmills (that is exactly what I want to look at while I'm running - my legs - ugh)

And this - lots of good soy latte goodness

Needless to say - it's been a long ass week and I'm ready to get home.  But on the plus side - I'm racking up the Hilton Honors Points!  whoop whoop!

But let me go back to the gym.  Typically when i stay at hotels - they have a gym there, but those treadmills tend to hurt my feet.  So they usually offer a free pass to a quality gym.  Well, not this week.  The gym was one of those muscle man gyms that was full of smelly guys, crap music, and when I asked the front desk if they had towels - he looked at me like I was crazy.  He also had on shorts shorter then mine and seemed to live in a tanning bed.  Needless to day - my dreadmill workouts where lightening fast! 

So, random subject.  But does anyone watch Teen Mom?  I really can't stand Amber.  She needs to lay off the tanning and the makeup.  Kind of creeps me out.  And stop fighting with her baby's daddy.  Total anxiety. 

YES....bridezilla!  I don't have this channel at home.  Total trash tv goodness. 

Hopefully I'll have a pretty sweet give-a-way to announce soon! 



Some mid-week humor

Got to google directions

Starting destination:  China

Ending destination: Taiwan

Check out #48

Sounds like fun to me ;)

Hope everyone is having a good week!

The princess had a face lift and new nutrition!

While training for my last 70.3 - I had some left hip issues.  Every time my cat eye hit 2:30 - BAM - my left hip started to scream at me.  So super awesome Coach Scott suggest that I go and get the princess re-fit.  Judah, the best bike mechanic ever, met me over at Big Daddy's Bike Shop super early one day last week and went to work.  A drop in my seat and an extension in my aero position - I was set. 

Saturday morning we had a small group meet for a hilly 50ish mile ride.  It was hotter then hell, but I was ready with my newly adjusted bike and my NEW NUTRITION!  I've been trying to use more 'real food' and avoiding gels and chews - and so far I've been pretty successful.  Lindsay Cotter, who has an awesome nutrition/triathlon blog, also has a great product called Healthy Bites.  They are wonderful little bites of gluten free protein packed goodness.  I ordered a few dozen from her and could not wait to try them out!  And let me tell you, they are AWESOME.  Easy to eat, wonderful taste, and my tummy was so happy.  So, if you are looking for something new to try - check out Healthy Bites!  YUMMM!   

So riding along - I kept on glancing down at my clock.  Nervous to see if my hip would let me know it was there and not happy.  But sure enough, the new position worked!  My hip felt awesome and my new areo position really stretched me out.  Judah is a life saver!  So if you are having some pain on the bike and have not been re-fit for awhile, maybe it needs to be revisited.  Call up your mechanic and see what kind of magic they can do!

And the best part of the ride?  Ending it with a nice jump in the cold spring!

I hope everyone had a great weekend - and congrats to everyone who raced! 

I know I know.

It's been awhile. But I have a good excuse! Really! I do! Last week I was in St. Louis spending time with my family. All of my dad's brothers and sisters (aka - my aunts and uncles) where in town as well as all but three of my cousins. Love it. I enjoy spending quality time hanging out with the family. Drinking wine. And eating excellent food.

Pretending like we are on a roller coaster....

Cocktails at Taste.  The best drinks ever.

My sister, brother and me. 

Tom and I - a reunion 10 years in the making.  We went to school in Europe together and he now lives in St. Louis and owns one of the best restaurants in town - Franco.  If you are ever in the area - this is a must. 

So my Grandmother is 84 years old and is awesome.  She's been having calf/feet issues lately and a light went off in my head.  She needs compression socks!   So we headed over the to local running store and totally hooked her up.  And since then, she has been feeling awesome.  I think that I just opened up a whole new market!

Rock those calf sleeves grandmother!

I did get in several awesome runs with my parents and enjoyed every single moment! 

I hope everyone had a great 4th!