'Recovery Smoothie' a-la Derick

I finished up my 12 mile 'long' run today around 10 am (so nice that 12 miles is 'long'!). I walked into the house, and Derick has been Mr. Motivated this week. He had done his run at 6:30 with Gilbert, which is something I cannot recall ever happening... that is, he finishing a run on a Sunday morning before I started mine. Anyhoo, I walk into the house a bit after 10 and he is cookin' up a big breakfast. He says to me, "I have a recovery smoothie in the fridge for you!" Nothing sounds better after a long time in 85-degrees with 80% humidity! I am imagining a nice big blend of blueberries, mango, yogurt, and who knows what else. So thirst quenching! I open the fridge to see a pitcher of orange drink with mangos floating in it. Smoothie? I look at him and I said, "Hmm... does this smoothie have champagne in it?" He just smiled. Ah well, it was Simply Orange OJ with extra calcium and fresh mangos. What's a little champagne going to hurt you? :) After a few very big gulps of water, I moved on to my recovery smoothie.

Oh, and breakfast included redskin potatoes, eggs scrambled with bell peppers, onion, and fresh sausage, fresh and very tasty mango and applewood smoked bacon! If that ain't a recovery meal, I don't know what is. That is after we went to the new Black Sheep Lodge, a small pub off of Lamar which is rather close to our house, upon Jack and Stacy's recommendation (Saturday night). We tried their burger, as it was ranked in the Texas Monthly's '50 Best Burgers in Texas' (#27, to be exact). So after a huge burger on Saturday night, then a breakfast with both bacon and sausage, I have to say I am at my quota of meat for a couple of days. Which is all good, Derick's birthday is tomorrow (guess how old? YOUNGER THAN ME!) and I have a veggie-based recipe in the works. Unfortunately, Sugar Mama's bakery on 1st street is closed on Mondays, so I'll have to find a good backup for his cake...

And finally, I finished the weekend off with a nice 30-min pilates class at Pure Austin gym. If you have not tried Pilates, I highly recommend it. However, it ALL depends upon the quality of the instructor. Ramsay Wall is AWESOME. She is enthusiastic, knowledgable and she keeps the class moving. It's fun to do a session whereby your HR does not rise and you are not pouring sweat; but, you come out of there just feeling stronger; I do it mostly for my scoliosis, which causes upper back pain, especially after a lot of cycling or a long run. So... try something new, do a Pilates class! But, ask recommendations on good instructors.

On that note...I hope ya'll enjoyed the weekend. Oh and by the way, here in Austin, the hot-streak continues...check it out:

The National Weather Service reports that Austin, Texas broke its all-time monthly heat record in July. Records in Austin date back to 1854. San Antonio also had its hottest month since records began there in 1885. San Antonio also broke its record for the number of 100-degree days in a month.
(reported on Monday, August 10th, 2009)

Um, when you are a big fan of cold weather, and an even bigger fan of skiing, this is not great news. This is why we are sucking it up and making the best of it; why not train for triathlon all the time, since there is sure as hell no other cold-weather outdoor activities calling your name, tempting you away from the training regimen? In all honesty, I figured that if I am going to take the insane jump of doing an Ironman, better to do it now while we live here and we are not tempted by other things to be doing (such as downhill skiing, xc skiing, mountain biking, ...essentially, playing in the mountains). And, on THAT note, I cannot imagine how Canada will not at least SEEM cool to me! But, if it is warm, I have to say bring it on, because I sure have had the heat training!

Happy Sunday evening, and Happy Birthday Derick. :)