Jelly Donut Pancakes - The Breakfast of Champions

I know, I know, I haven't written in a couple of days. A lot has happen since we last spoke. My hubby and I were in the city a couple of weeks ago and decided to take advantage of being in the city early and having all day to blow. Blowing a whole day in downtown Chicago takes energy and for that I needed food. The hubby had been researching some funky eateries online for just this occasion and suggested a place called Orange. They are known for their frushi, fresh fruit sushi. This sounded good to me, so off to Orange we go. The place is funky with waitresses that act like they don't care but are actually pretty good at their job. While perusing the menu I notice the famed jelly donut pancakes. Anyone who knows me knows I'd much rather eat junk food than anything healthy for me. So jelly donut pancakes it is. They did not disappoint. It was a stack on pancakes with blueberry filling in the middle and orange marmalade butter. The whole thing was sprinkled with real sugar, and to top it off real maple syrup. I ate the whole thing, which is amazing for me, I never finish a stack of pancakes at home. I should mention the hubby had the frushi and it was excellent. Then off to the Museum of Surgical Science. The museum is in an old house right on the lakefront. Had all kinds of old school amputation kits, fake limbs and my favorite, a vaginal speculum the size of hedge trimmers. Anyways, that was our day in the city.

I have also been volunteering at some local clinics affiliated with my school, a way to keep my head in the game so to speak. Well last week at one of the clinics I got to do an EKG on my patient. I didn't do it by myself, a fourth year student helped me, but it was cool none the less.

The training program I am following is based on minutes per week. My goal for this past week was 250 minutes. I had a bit of a head cold last week and almost died so I missed two of my workouts and ended up being 55 minutes short last week. It is okay because I was able to pick up the pace on my run. This past weekend I went to watch some of my friends compete in The Subaru Womens Triathlon in Naperville. These girls are the LunaChix tri team. I rode with them last summer and just started riding with them again this summer. It is not a big deal, the rides are open to everyone. They have been giving me alot of advise about tri training and race day tips. I had never been to watch a triathlon and I must admit it was pretty inspiring. Women of all shapes and sizes, young and old. Hell, there was a women there doing the bike leg on a single speed cruiser bike with all her stuff in a basket attached to the handlebars. It was great to see all those women looking like they were having the time of their lives. My first tri is July 8. It is a 400 meter swim, 15 mile bike and 5k run. I did some swimming drills today and will run tomorrow. As part of my training I have started using a new supplement called Powerthrist. Check out their ad below.

Oh, I forgot to mention I helped my hubby's cousin buy a road bike last weekend. He ended up getting a pretty good deal on a used bike that had barely been ridden. Kind of fun to get someone else involved in biking.

That's all for now.

I'm No Longer a Virgin

This past Saturday was my first 5K. I had set out to complete the event in 30 to 36 minutes. I had no idea if this was reasonable, but my husband assured me it was. So Saturday morning rolled around and I was up by 6:15 am. Had some breakfast, my usual oatmeal with peanut butter and honey and a little iced coffee to get me going, and we were out the door by 6:45. The race was about 15 minutes away but I had not pre-registered so I needed to get there early and get my racin' bib. After signing up and getting all my goodies there was still 35 minutes left to the start time so the hubby and I found a spot on the church steps and hung out. I am told there are always people at these races that are super competitive and take these small local races quite seriously. No joke. There were people doing warm up laps around the block, wind sprints and all kinds of what could only be viewed as warm up routines. After a good chuckle I decided I should maybe stretch a little. I opted out of the wind sprints but struck gold when I found a secret bathroom. So secret I was the only one in it 10 minutes before the race. At 7:50 a.m. the announcer called for everyone to line up at the start. It was at this moment that I realized how annoyed I get with inane conversation. All these people standing around trying to make conversation. I say just stand there and shut up. At 8:00 a.m. the only wheelchair guy gets the go ahead and at 8:02 we are off.

I have never run with anyone other than my husband so I have one idea what starting in a pack of hundreds felt like. Here is what it feels like.....like I am going to fast. My first mile took 8:54, I have never run less than a 10:24 mile. I decided I needed to slow down. My next mile was at 10:51. Did I mention I have a hard time pacing myself? I get past mile 2 and I am thinking "okay, no problem, one more mile." It was a hilly course with an uphill finish. So I am coming into the finish, uphill. I can see the finish line. I can see my husband standing there waiting to take my picture. My lungs where burning and I needed to walk, but the finish was right there. This internal struggle goes on for about 10 seconds and I decide, I'll walk for about 30 seconds to catch my breath. My 30 seconds are up. I am running, trying to sprint to the finish. I cross the line, 30:58. My husband says "good job" and I say "water."

That was my first 5k. Sunday brought a 15 mile bike ride and hours on the internet trying to finds ways to pace my run. What I never found in all those hours my husband found in a mere seconds. www.djsteveboy.com has a list of house music with the tempo listed. So I used one with a 154 tempo to do my 3 miles this morning. I was skeptical because I have never liked house music, but to my surprise it kept me on pace and motivated. I ended up doing 3 miles in 32:24. The tempo was a little slow, so I'll speed it up a little next time, but I was pleasantly surprised at how good I felt at the end. Tomorrow is a swim day. I'll keep you posted.

Into The Deep End

So the other day I increased my run distance and surprisingly my legs didn't fall off. Then last night I did a 20-mile bike ride with one of my classmates and his wife. He was one of the first people I met at school and we were both so excited when we found out we both ride. What followed was a conversation about bikes and riding and clothing and injuries.
He and his wife are from Utah. I was riding with them last night, they found a good route, not a lot of traffic but some good rolling hills and long climbs. Holy cow, those two can climb hills like nobody's business. Now you are probably saying "Duh, they are from Utah, where they have mountains". But I foolishly thought that since we had been off our bikes for 8 months there would be no ass whoopins handed out. I stayed with them for most of the ride but every long climb we came to, I quickly fell off the back. Its good for me to ride with people stronger than I am, it motivates me. So I'll be riding with them a lot, and anyways his wife wants to train with me. She's like I don't know.... at least 12 years younger than me so that should be interesting. Today is a swim day. I live near a very nice water park that has adult-only lap time. Yeah, no kids. I haven't been swimming, well laps anyways, in a long time, but each time I go I am reminded why I love to swim. I like water.

In My Spare Time

Okay so I was talking to my sister the other day, she is the foremost authority on anything social, and she was like,
"Do you have a myspace?"
Me: "Um.. no"
Her: "Why not?"
Me: "My life is not that interesting."
Her: "Oh my god.. whatever."

Her words so moved me that I decided I should blog like the wind. I still don't think my life is that interesting. I am a second year medical student, meaning I just finished my first year and now I have 3 months to reflect on the craziness that is medical school and decide if I am going back, which I probably will since I have already accrued a ridiculous amount of debt and my hubby will sell me in to prostitution if I don't.

So what am I doing with my last summer ever you ask?

Well because I have 3 months off and nothing to do with my time I decided to train for a sprint triathlon. If you have never done one of these it is usually a 375 to 800 meter swim followed by a 12 to 15 mile bike followed by a 5K run. This may seem like no big deal to some of you but I assure you it is more difficult than it seems. Case in point, I consider myself an avid cyclist, at least I was before medical school. I used to ride anywhere from 50 to 100 miles per week between my road and mt bike. I have just recently started running, so I am not fast, but I am able to do about 2.25 miles 3-4 times per week. This past weekend I decided to get a feel for what I would be doing. I rode 14.6 miles and then got off my bike and ran 2 miles. For the first 5 minutes of my run I couldn't catch my breath and had to walk a little. My original plan was to run 2.5 miles but when I got to my 1 mile mark my legs were not happy so I had to turn back. By the time I got home I had a whole new appreciation for triathletes. Anyways, I was not discouraged. I proceeded to get up the following day for my morning run after which I felt pretty good.

Today was a weight training day and tomorrow is a run day. I am increasing my run distance this week and will do my first ever 5K this weekend. I am also planning on doing a duathlon this summer before the triathlon, a kind of "warm up" if you will.

Okay, so that is out of the way. Umm... what else.

Books that I am reading:

1) Rapid Interpretation of EKGs- Because someone is gonna have to read these EKG thingys when I am a doctor and it might as well be me.

2) BSR Physiology Review. I will admit I am a nerd. But physio was hard and I have a feeling I am gonna need some of that info to get through rotations.

I have already finished 3 non school related books so back off.

I am pretty sure my husband is trying to ship me off to South America. He keeps suggesting I take total immersion spanish....in another country. Not sure how to take that. While I agree spanish is a good skill to have in the medical profession, I am pretty darn comfy right where I am right now.

So that is my first post. Come back and see what I am up to.