Friday, December 31, 2010

Tough Break

I was supposed to join the slalom kayak team for their XC ski training camp in Lake Placid this week. I woke up Tuesday morning with a sore throat, but ignored it. I lifted weights, packed my truck full of skis, and made a playlist for the 5-hour drive. I made it about 30 minutes from home before I realized I was really sick and I wasn't going to make it.

So I sadly turned around and drove home, got into bed, and slept for 18 hours straight. The past few days I've been alternating between sleeping, reading, eating soup, and taking dayquil/nyquil. I'm finally starting to feel better but not in time to make the drive to training camp. Super bummer. The moral of the story is I that I did not sleep or recover nearly enough during the end-of-the-semester craziness this year. Staying up til 2am writing papers and getting up at 5:30 to work out does not mesh well with my need for 10.5 hours of shut-eye per 24 hours. That's why I'm putting Get Even More Sleep second on my list of Themes for 2011.

At any rate, I'm currently typing at my desk bundled in warm blankets even though it's a balmy 40 degrees outside and the snow is disappearing. To quell my desire to work out and be healthy, I'm watching crossfit videos.

"I don't want any training to be easy... I want it to hurt really, really really bad. I want to start too fast and just try to always maintain that speed until I break totally down. I want to push myself just.... so hard. I really want it. I really do. Every time that I do training, I am telling myself, 'you know that the other girl won't stop.' so I am pushing and pushing." -Camille Leblanc-Bazinet

Saturday, December 25, 2010

Happy Christmas!

Also happy belated winter solstice, first day of winter, lunar eclipse, full moon, and birthday to me.

I celebrated my birthday on Wednesday at crossfit with a special birthday WOD (workout of the day). For those who can't read workout speak, it's 12 minutes of as many rounds as possible of 22 kettlebell swings and 23 knees-to-elbows. This, of course, because my 23rd birthday is on 12-22.... and I wanted a strictly abs and arms workout. In the end it turned out to be a strictly forearms workout, but whatever.

I celebrated with my family with sushi!


My little brother Paul was less-than-enthusiastic about the sushi, but he did try a California roll before making himself a salami-and-mustard sandwich.


Our annual Christmas photo: me, Anna, and Paul

Monday, December 20, 2010

Update

Hey everyone, sorry I've been delinquent in posts. I've been slammed with end-of-the-semester work and finals. In fact, I have to get back to studying for my penultimate final, which is tomorrow at 10am. So here are some pictures of the latest and greatest in my life.

My cousins at Thanksgiving, arranged in age order: Emily, Justin, Emma, Anna, Evan, Paul, Tyler, Amory, Nicole, Melissa, Kyra


Creative workouts during Thanksgiving in Massachusetts: Push-ups With Cousins!

I got to hang out with my dear friend Heather a couple weeks ago!



Me with Ewa and Julie, some of the girls with whom I lift at Crossfit!


My fortune from last week


Studying for finals with a HUGE cup of coffee


This weekend Isabel and Laura and I decorated some cookies


The colorful ones are mine


Annnnd Isabel made snowmen characters. hehe


Yesterday my mom and I went for a lovely snowshoe!

Thursday, December 9, 2010

2010 in snippets

Exactly a year ago, I was in the hospital in San Diego, very sick and very scared. 2010 was completely improvised: taking time off of kayaking to recover, moving home, starting to train again, and going back to school. With all the challenges and setbacks, it's hard not to think of the past year in terms of all the things that went wrong.

But- as cheesy as this sounds- check out the snippets I wrote during the year.

It's pretty obvious that 2010 was phenomenal. There was nothing easy about it, but there was nothing unfortunate about it, either. It's clear to me that I'm the luckiest girl in the world.

Thanks, 2010, for kicking my as$ but leaving me undeniably happy, healthy, and smiling from ear to ear.

Sunday, December 5, 2010

Snow abounds!!!!!

We're getting quite an amazing snowstorm right now... in fact, for the past 12 hours. I've been stuck inside all day doing lots of of end-of-the semester homework, but tomorrow's theme= ski ski ski ski! And tonight's theme= wax wax wax wax!! I have about 12 pairs of Wright Family skis to get through during the next week.

It's my favorite time of the year!!!!!

Friday, December 3, 2010

Book Report!

Time for my bimonthly book report! It's been a good few months of reading, despite the volume of schoolwork... or maybe due to the schoolwork, given I'm a champion procrastinator.

Moby Dick- Melville
Anna Karenina- Tolstoy
Open- Andre Agassi
Memoirs of a Geisha- Arthur Golden
The Primal Blueprint- Mark Sisson
Gone With the Wind- Margaret Mitchell
The Key-Cheri Huber
On the Road- Jack Kerouac
The Paelo Solution- Robb Wolf
Wuthering Heights- Emily Brönte
Complaint-Free World- Will Bowen
Walden- Thoreau

I can't pick a favorite because they were mostly incredible. But I will say that Open, by Andre Agassi, is the best sports autobiography I've ever read. But then again, I did harbor girlhood fantasies of being the next Serena Williams.

Fem's Dream World: Part V

Last night I dreamt that Anna (my little sister) had SARS.

Thursday, December 2, 2010

Fem's Dream World: Part IV

Last night, I dreamt that my friend Colin brought me an armful of purple unicorn toys and explained that they would protect me from harm. I started laughing so hard that I woke myself up by laughing.

Tuesday, November 30, 2010

Some tuesday AM pain

I would like to share the Crossfit Rochester workout I did this morning..... because it kicked my a$s. In fact, as I write this, I'm sprawled out on the floor at school with 10 minutes until my next class. I just took a Spanish test that was difficult not because of the content but because there was no way to sit in a chair without muscles cramping.

So the listed weight was 95 pounds for guys and 65 pounds for girls. I tried it with 55 pounds-- and was still slower than several of the more-badass girls at the gym. Fastest girl time on the board was 20 minutes and change. My time was 27:22. (As always with the CF workouts, the goal is to finish as fast as possible while maintaining proper technique.)

25 overhead squats
25 front squats
25 back-squats
50 double-unders (again, this is jump roping in double-time. If you can't do these, the substitution is 250 single jump-ropes)
25 shoulder presses
25 push-presses
25 push-jerks
50 double unders
25 power snatches
25 hang squat cleans
25 deadlifts
50 double-unders

Join the suffer fest and try it!

Monday, November 29, 2010

Weather report

The canal was iced almost completely this morning, I noticed as I rode my bike to the grocery store for zucchinis and fish oil. Now for some snow, please!

Wednesday, November 24, 2010

Amazing Archeological Finds

One of of today's projects was "erase all your old stuff from the family computer." I figured there wouldn't be anything interesting left over on there from high school. Boy was I wrong! I will now share with you some of my favorite finds.

This cell-phone snapshot is circa 2005, taken after a minor disaster during ski practice at Mendon Ponds Park. I was rollerskiing with Dylan and we ran into Warren McDermott and stopped to talk for a minute. While standing completely still and talking to them, I fell down hard. Thankfully (and oddly!) neither Dylan nor Warren noticed me crash right next to them (or the blood dripping down my leg) because they were so engrossed in their conversation.

From document I kept entitled "Westonisms" (quotes from our iconic high school ski coach Roger Weston):
"Back in the old days, they didn't use gloves, they just drank whiskey and stopped complaining"

"This shouldn't be too hard. The Norwegians used to ski on smooth logs and used one 20 foot long pole"



2005 World Canoe/Kayak Marathon Championship team, in Perth Australia

From the document entitled "Excuses for a Bad Race" which I compiled with Matt Deady in the back of the ski team bus as a satirical piece for those individuals just looking for excuses. The original list includes over 100-- here are a few of my favorites. * means that this was an actual excuse used-- sometimes they were even valid!:
My poles are too heavy
There were wild animals blocking the course
There were wild spectators blocking the course
There was bad cheering
I didn't wear enough clothes*
I wore too many clothes*
My roomate was snoring last night
My sunglasses were foggy*
I missed the start*
I missed the finish
I got stuck in a snow fence*
I got lost*
Fallen trees were blocking the course
There was an avalanche on Little White face
I had a non-motivational song stuck in my head
I tripped over my beard
I'm taking the Per Elofseson approach
Nobody told me there were uphills in cross-country skiing
Nobody told me there were downhills in cross country skiing
Our bus got stuck in a ditch and tipped over*
I was attacked by a _____ (fill in animal here)
I forgot my windbriefs*
Small animals became embedded in my kickwax
I stopped for a snowball fight
I was pushed into a thorn bush*
My leg was run over by a wagon
I put my skis on backwards
My wax iron was set 1 degree off*
I was too busy looking at ____(guys/girls) in spandex suits
The pitch of the cowbells was slightly too high
I gave this race as a sacrifice to the snow gods
I was trying to look good for the pictures

Me posing with my nalgene collection in 2006. (It's bigger now.) I think the purple and the yellow ones are having a fight.

haha. High school prom with Brian!

I also found a bunch of old itunes songs, the funniest of which is this song, which was a favorite in like, 6th grade. I used to sing along but I didn't really pay attention to the lyrics. Whoops.

Tuesday, November 23, 2010

Fem's Dream World: Part III

Last night, I dreamt that all members of the US kayak team were paddling on a beautiful freshwater mountain river, led by Coach Guy. Suddenly, a flood of barracudas surrounded us; Guy caught one with his bare hands (without flipping his kayak) and held it up for us to see. Then he told us to paddle like hell downriver. Our race to safety attracted several great white sharks. The river became full of barracudas and sharks and the sky went black. As we paddled blindly downriver, my only thought were "Who put all these damn barracudas in this river!!!!?"

Sunday, November 21, 2010

Fem's Dream World: Part II

Last night, I dreamt that I was a nutella-eating geisha.

Saturday, November 20, 2010

Um


I saw Harry Potter. *swoon*

Fem's Dream World: Part I

Last night I dreamt that I got married. I don't remember who the guy was, just what the ring looked like (haha!) After the wedding, the Australian men's kayak team taught me how to do tricks on a trapeze.

Thursday, November 18, 2010

Pizza pizza pizza

Pizza is:
A. Heavenly and delicious
B. Something I want to eat every day
C. Kicking and screaming in protest to its being lately listed as a sometimes-food
D. What my family had for dinner tonight.

Evil Fem wanted a slice, or four. But Focused Fem decided, for the sake of her 4 remaining workouts this week, to eat something nutritious that will power her through deadlifts and a hard paddle tomorrow. Aka not pizza..... Pizza salad!! While no substitute for real pizza, it was tasty and filling.

Ingredients:
3c shredded lettuce in a large bowl
1c finely chopped myriad of green, red, yellow, and orange bell peppers
1/4c (or less) finely chopped onion
basil
oregano
garlic
2t olive oil
1/2 serving 50% reduced fat pepperoni slices, finely chopped
1/4c mozarella cheese
1/2 can of diced italian tomatoes
3oz cooked shredded chicken


Toss the peppers, onion, pepperoni, basil, and oregano in a pan with 2t olive oil. Sautee them and then put them over the 3c lettuce. Next, put the diced tomatoes, garlic, and chicken in the pan and sautee for awhile. Add that to the bowl of goodness and top with cheese.

For those who are zoning I've rudimentarily calculated this meal to be 4 protein, 2.5 Carb, and 2.5 Fat

Saturday, November 6, 2010

Epic introduces new "Fall Wing" for Northern paddlers



Brian-who prefers paddling on top of water instead of on a carpet of leaves- is the mastermind behind this one.

Thursday, November 4, 2010

Joshua Tree

As I turned my calendar to November, I sadly realized that this is the first November that I won't be visiting Joshua Tree since 2007. I miss it. I guarantee it will be my first stop when I return to California in January. In the meantime, this is beautiful.... and exactly what it's like there. At night, I hate to blink, much less sleep, because the stars are too wonderful.

Friday, October 29, 2010

Holly is running Boston 2011 for Camp Erin!

This is Holly, my good friend and training partner in Rochester.



Several months after running the Boston marathon this year (where the above picture was taken), she began toying with the idea of running not just for herself but also for others. Shortly thereafter, she found out about Camp Erin, which is a bereavement camp for children and teenagers. The camp is a safe place where children can go to learn how to grieve, and to feel some relief from the weight of overwhelming sadness that comes with the loss of a loved one. The idea really hit home for Holly because her father passed away three years ago when she was 26 and her little sister was just 12.

Holly has committed to run the 2011 Boston marathon for Camp Erin. Her goal is to raise $5,000 and to get a new PR (under 3:15) I know she'll be successful, because not only is she a great runner, but she has a real connection to this cause. Please visit Holly's page to learn more.

Wednesday, October 27, 2010

How to write a history paper that's due tomorrow that you had an entire month to write

Step 1: make coffee. the caffeinated kind.
Step 2: clean room entirely. you wouldn't want to work in a messy room, right?
3: oops, forgot the laundry in the dryer. get that and bring it upstairs. fold it and put it away.
4: put away all the amazing "new" clothes mickle sent you in the mail!
5: try on my wetsuit. it doesn't fit as well as it did when i was 14, darn.
6. lament
7. Maybe it's time to clean out my "mail and papers" box on my desk. it's getting sort of unruly.
8. Turn on christmas lights.
9. open window for a nice draft
10. light candles
11. write this list

....to be continued

Tuesday, October 26, 2010

Three years on the interwebs

Three years ago today, I started this blog! Since then, I've written 393 posts: an average of 1 post every 3.7 days.

Monday, October 25, 2010

Another adirondack weekend



This weekend, I headed for the mountains with Nicole and the Schlimmers in tow.


On Saturday morning at Jon's house, we woke up to snow on the ground.
We set out to do Algonquin, Wright, and possibly some others nearby.




The higher we climbed= the more snow there was= the happier I became! At the summit the wind was fierce, and I got so cold that I started doing push-ups to stay warm.



We summited Wright Peak, and probably would have done Algonquin as well if it weren't for the icy conditions and our lack of crampons. It was very slippery.


How sweet is it that I stood on top of a mountain that is named after me?

Friday, October 22, 2010

Wednesday, October 20, 2010

Dear People in Rochester who complain about this weekend's forecasted snow,

Stop it. Move to Florida so we can excitedly anticipate the coming winter without listening to your bitching!

Sincerely,
Fem

Monday, October 18, 2010

Autumn Chores Workout



Here's tonight's autumn chores medley:

10 minutes wood-splitting
10 minutes agressive leaf-raking
10 minutes turning over garden (with a shovel)

Repeat until chores are done.



This morning at breakfast I was flipping through the cookbook, trying to decide what to throw in the crockpot.

"Hey," I said to my little brother, "What do you want for dinner tonight?"

"Bacon," he said, without missing a beat.

Saturday, October 16, 2010

Dad's home!

After more than a year of commuting home only on the weekends, my dad's company (Orthogonal) has moved their lab from Ithaca, NY to Rochester... which means he is home to stay! My mom and I made this poster, which has been hanging on the fridge for the past month.




On the last day, she counted down the hours and texted them to me periodically while I was at school. Aw.

Monday, October 11, 2010

New lifting shoes!

These are the vibram no-fingers, which powered me to a new deadlift PR this morning.

Saturday, October 9, 2010

Think you suck at kayaking? You're not alone.

Thanks to Sam for this one!

"Do you have any advice for people who want to suck at kayaking?"
"Man, paddle less. The more you paddle the better you get, so you should definitely just stay off the water."

Wednesday, October 6, 2010

I need a computer wizard

I have a dream... and it is of the Greatest Spreadsheet/Computer Program Training Log of All Time.

Can someone help me!?

Here's my vision: The log is daily. It has different codes for exercises, and you input the codes, total time, heart rate, feelings, workout notes, etc. Anything that can be computed would be computed.

It would be organized by time of day, and synced up with a food journal. That I can say I woke up at 5:30, ate a banana and 1c of soymilk, and then at 6am lifted for 1 hr. Everything is shown on the same interface so I can see how it all ties together. The food part would have optional inputs for calories and other nutritional values. There would also be input for daily body weight, hours of sleep, morning resting heart rate, etc.

It would also have an input for my goal training hours, goal calories, goal sleep hours, etc.--- and it could tell me on a daily, weekly, and monthly basis how far off I am from my goal.

And then it would compute.... BY ITSELF!! So at the end of each day, week, and macrocycle, I could see dozens of pieces of information, including:

total training time
total time spent in various heart rate zones
total calories
total grams protein
hours of sleep
etc.

Then I'd have conversations with myself like these:

"Wow, this week ended up being really heavy on zone 4 work and not much aerobic work. I'm glad my awesome self-computing training log can tell me this useful information!"

"Wow it says here that last week I only got 60 hours of sleep total. Let's go back to the daily breakdown. Oh yeah, I see that for 3 nights in a row I only got 6 hours of sleep. What a useful tool you are, training log!"

"My workouts have been totally sucking this week. Let's consult the training log program. Hmm... WOW, I see here that I've been consuming over 600 grams of fat per day! That probably has something to do with it. THANKS, TRAINING LOG!!!!"

I realize there are generic programs out there that kind of do what I want, but that is exactly why I've been using a pen and steno pad for 7 years.

It's time to go HIGH PERFORMANCE-- a program designed by Fem and for Fem, made by someone who is way smarter than Fem!!

Anyone interested?

Tuesday, October 5, 2010

Post- workout conversation today at the Forge

"Ever seen those 100-calorie packs? With like 8 tiny cookie crumbs in them? What a joke. I'd like to see a 600-calorie pack, at least." -Matt

Saturday, October 2, 2010

Speaking of out-of control seasonal joy....

Thanks to Jordan..."It's decorative gourd season, mother f*#%ers!"

Dear mom,
This contains foul language and you probably won't like it.
Love,
Em

Soups and pies and apples, oh my!

Perhaps it was the chill in the air, the thermometer reading of 40 degrees, or the fact that I could see my breath while walking to get the newspaper. But as soon as I finished the morning's training session, I was suddenly propelled by a strange primal urge to stock up the cellar for the long winter ahead... butcher the hog, hang dried herbs from the ceiling, and make vast quantities of apple and cinnamon-containing baked goods.

And my more 21st- century self wanted to make a bunch of food to freeze so I can 'nuke at night when I get home from workouts.

Problem solved. I made Margot Mickle's famous taco soup, cream cheese chicken, my grandmother's delicious apple coffee cake, a few apple pies [to further my practice at world pie-making domination], and applesauce. I did manage to make a dent in the 41 pounds of last weekend's apple orchard fun.



PS fair warning: my excessive autumnal joy is only going to grow with each passing day!

Friday, October 1, 2010

Pictures from a random training session



I brought my camera to practice today, because the semi- brightness outside seemed such a novel and welcome change from the grey rain we've been having. Thanks to Jim for taking the shots!


We arrived to practice dressed like this. Ten points to whomever can guess which feet belong to whom!


Nicole and me, dressed to the nines on a crisp fall day.


Paddling downhill

Post- training we exude nonchalance

Wednesday, September 29, 2010

My dedicated parents

My mom and dad just got home from their last meet-the-teacher night ever. (My little brother is a senior in high school.) It was a little bittersweet, but I think mostly sweet. She calcultated that she's been to 42 meet-the- teacher nights. That includes a span of 18 years, during which there were three kids who each went to preschool, kindergarden, and grades 1-12.

I said "42!? That's so many. But surely you didn't go to all of them."
"I sure did!" My mom said proudly. "I went to every single one."

Isn't she fantastic!?

Crêpes

Wednesdays are my day off. So after my best efforts to sleep in (I have about an 80% failure rate) I usually take the liberty of eating something more interesting than my usual breakfast fare. This morning I made crêpes! We used to have these all the time as kids, and they were known to us as Swedish pancakes.

The recipe is easy: 1/3c flour, 1 egg, and 1/3c milk or buttermilk. Then grease a circular frying pan and pour in a tiny amount of batter-- when you tilt the pan around, the batter should just barely cover the surface. I cook it at relatively high heat until the egdes curl up a little and the underside is crispy. Then flip and repeat. It's a pretty easy concept but there's some finesse involved in making them perfect. We (my brother and sister and I) used to eat these with maple syrup but this morning I went for nutella and bananas. YUM!

Tuesday, September 28, 2010

Life in a Northern Town

It was unseasonably warm and very windy tonight: eerily gorgeous. I couldn't resist a little run after dinner!

On my ipod:

Monday, September 27, 2010

Weekend

Sweet weekend! On Saturday, I watched Jason, Marc, and Stash compete in the Full moon Vista cyclocross race at Ellison Park, though I guess in retrospect I really should have carved out some time for Fight Gone Bad, as I'm getting sh*t for not participating. (sorry!) But the bike race was so exciting! After hearing about cross racing for years from Jordan I have finally seen it for myself! If I had a million dollars- or just a couple thousand- I would definitely buy a bike and join them. Actually, let's be honest; I'd buy a new kayak first and then a cross bike.

Here I am with Coby, Jason's dog, who was my best friend while Jason was out racing.

When not watching races, I was reading Gone With the Wind. Can you believe I have never read it before? Since I just finished Moby Dick and Anna Karenina, I thought Gone With the Wind would be a nice change of pace. I'm in love. Last night I dug out my down comforter from the closet, opened my window to let in the cold air, turned on my christmas lights, and sat engulfed in blanket and engrossed in my book for 3 hours. *swoon*

The other awesome part of the weekend was my sister Anna, who came home from college for a visit! I love when my whole family is together. We went apple picking. If you can correctly guess the number of pounds of apples we picked, you win a prize. (Hint: it's well over 25lbs.)

Also, if anyone would like to buy a delicious, homemade apple pie, I am making them for $12. Proceeds benefit my Olympic journey! Email me at emily [dot] mary [dot] wright [at] gmail [dot] com!

Tuesday, September 21, 2010

Evil food



Jim calls desserts "evil food," and I think it's hilarious. Lately I've been trying to steer away from baking evil food, but today I couldn't resist autumn's calling, and whipped up a batch of pumpkin chocolate chip muffins.

I changed the recipe quite a bit to make it more healthy.

Instead of 4 eggs I used 2 eggs and 1/2c eggbeaters.
Instead of 1.5c canola oil, I used 1c applesauce and .5c canola oil.
Instead of 1.5c sugar, I used 1c sugar.
Instead of 2c chocolate chips I used 1c mini chocolate chips.

This made a significant difference in the nutritional breakdown.

147 calories vs. 254 calories
6g fat vs 16g fat
22g carbs vs 27g carbs
2g protein (same)

Monday, September 20, 2010

Becoming a psychic

Last night I dreamt that I got a new deadlift max at my morning lifting session. So when I got to the gym this morning and told Joe about it, and he said well, you're in luck, we're doing 5RM of deadlifts today.

Weird.

Long story short: I tried to make my dream true and succeeded by almost 15 kilos! Only 50 more kilos to go until I reach my goal. ha!

This strange and interesting episode of dreaming-something-into-reality has left me wondering if more dreams will come true. Two nights ago I dreamt I owned 5 talking cats.

Does this make me destined to be a cat lady?

Erie Canal Regatta

**Editor's note, 9/24/10: I've kept this blog for almost 3 years. Its purpose is to truthfully record my thoughts and opinions about my journey to the Olympics and beyond. The thoughts expressed here are my own and I get to say whatever I want.

However, my intentions are never to offend or cause resentment. Though I stand by the veracity of this post, I would like to ammend it by saying that a miscommunication was resolved and all parties involved are moving forward in the spirit of camraderie, forgiveness, and of course--- HAVING FUN KAYAKING!!


Original post:
I can't believe how many people came out for yesterday's race! The whole parking lot behind Riki's was filled with cars carrrying boats! I definitely hope this will become an annual event.

My goal for the race was to stick with Jason and Jim for a hard first kilometer, then settle into whatever cruise pace they were going and try to stick with them as long as I could. It was very difficult but I did just what I set out to do and finished the race in 2nd place overall, just behind Jason. It was a really great day, minus the witnessing of an event that poorly colored the experience.

The cool thing about races is that you're supposed to go as hard as you can-- and you get to compete against lots of other people who are also going as hard as they can. Personally, I am thankful for each opportunity to race, so I'm typically happy before, during, and after the competition. Yesterday I was extremely upset after the race, which was too bad, because it was an effort I should have been proud of.

Here are some pictures that my dad took.



from left, Nicole, Jim, me, Jason

Riding Jason's wake on the last loop

Saturday, September 18, 2010

Racing tomorrow- come out and watch!

I'm excited to race tomorrow in FAIRPORT, my hometown!!!! Lovely Fairport , which exists only because of the Erie Canal, is where I've lived since I was 4 years old. The race will start here, at the historical liftbridge on Main Street. I'm so psyched that the first annual Erie Canal Regatta has been created... and it's just 2 miles away from my house!!

It's 15k and as far as I understand, consists of several loops, starting at the liftbridge and heading upstream towards Bushnell's Basin. If you're in Rochester you should come out to watch. The race starts at 10am and I will likely be wearing pink.

Wednesday, September 15, 2010

St. Crispin's Day

Remember this from 8th grade English class with Mr. Burruto? St. Crispin's Day? (Henry V! Kenneth Branaugh!) I have the most wonderful memories of that class, and I know every single person who was there with me agrees!

Monday, September 13, 2010

Sweet Treats and Rafael Nadal, mmm

Today, finding myself with 30 minutes before the Nadal/Djokovic match starts on television, and with a hankering to create something, I whipped up some culinary inventions.

First, I threw soup in the crock pot that closely resembles this.

Next, I started improvising with nuts and dried fruit. Usually my inventions don't turn out very edible... but these I'd say were a success!

1. Almond fig bites (inspired by this recipe)

1/2c almonds
8 dried figs
small slice orange rind
juice from a quarter of an orange
1/2t vanilla

Put everything in a food processor and grind it for about a minute, or until everything clumps together. Roll the "dough" into small balls and cook on a greased cookie sheet for 10 minutes at 350 degrees.

2. Chocolate-peanut-date bites

1.5 T cocoa powder
1/4c coconut
1/3c chopped dates
2t water
1/4c peanut butter

Again, just grind it all up until it sticks together, form the mixture into balls, and cook at 350 for 10 minutes.

You could also eat these raw!! They would just be a little sticky.

Saturday, September 11, 2010

Come out to Victor to support Brownstone PT!

I'll be in Victor for Hang Around Victor Days today at the Brownstone Physical Therapy booth. (10 East Main Street, Victor, NY) Stop by to say hello and meet my incredible physical therapists! Without their help through the years, I would never have made it through all my injuries and would not be competing at the level I do today.

Also, I heard a rumor there might be pull-up contests.... anyone who thinks they can beat me should definitely stop by.

Friday, September 10, 2010

You'd think I'd never worked out a day in my life!

I am sore this week. Not just a little sore... but extremely sore. The kind of sore where your face is permanently fixed in a grimace, your stomach is nauseous, you don't feel like eating anything, no amount of water satiates your thirst, you can't sleep at night, you can't walk up stairs- or walk in general, and you gained 2 pounds of weight for a few days just due to all the crap and waste hanging around in your body.

Thank you, Crossfit Rochester. I've done a lot of hard workouts in my life, but I can't recall ever feeling as awful as the morning after I did 3x (30 wall-balls and 30 full snatches). So obviously, I'm ecstatic. My weights program is working! I'm a believer! I drank the kool-aid!

I was admittedly skeptical for a long time before I tried crossfit this summer; but resistance proved futile. I became hooked after the first workout. No lifting program I've ever done compares to the full-body ass-kicking I get 4 days a week at the crossfit gym. Visit www.crossfitrochester.typepad.com and come work out with me before dawn!!

Sunday, September 5, 2010

Hurricane Earl brings us wind, and I remember for the upteenth time how much I love paddling

We enjoyed 46mph winds yesterday, lower-than-normal temps, and sunshine! It was the most beautiful day since the last time I said it was the most beautiful day. First Nicole and I hammered out some 2ks in k2 (ha ha!!) The wind was fierce but somehow Jason still managed to peg us several times with crabapples that he'd picked off a tree by the dock before practice. The annual Apple War has begun.

Afterwards, shivering, I immediately drove over to Irondiquoit Bay for war-canoe practice. Forge Racing is entering their annual war-canoe team in the 90-miler. Though I'm not part of this year's team, this weekend I helped fill in for Matt who is racing La Classique in Quebec. War canoe is great fun. Here in NY we do it marathon- style... that is to say, Native American style... that is to say, sitting down, not kneeling. The weather was strange, the waves on the lake were huge, and my spirits were high. Happy weekend everyone!

This is our war canoe team from 2007

Friday, September 3, 2010

Misfortune

I was driving to practice this morning at 7:30am when my seat and hardware flew out of my boat and onto the highway in rush-hour traffic. I was able to recover the seat, but not the screws. I disappointedly turned around and drove home, as I am unable to use the boat if the seat isn't secured in place.

Now I have to go to the hardware store and figure out how to make homemade hardware. Including that little gold rectangular piece that fits underneath the platform of plastex seats. Oy.

So since I missed my morning paddle session, I came up with a quick workout on the fly. If you try it, tell me what you think!

3 sets of the following, NO rest:

2 minutes fast jumproping (double-unders, if you can)
20 snatches, fast, with a fairly light weight (good technique)
20 weighted push-ups (for me, a 10kg plate on my back)
15 Right-arm turkish get-ups (for me, a 20lb dumbbell is plenty!)
3 handstand push-ups
15 Left-arm turkish get-ups

--rest---

Core
3 rounds of:
90 seconds front plank
60 seconds right-side plank
60 seconds left-side plank
90 seconds back plank

Then 50 reps each of 10 exercises (mostly weighted and rotational ones) for a total of 500 reps

Thursday, September 2, 2010

Time to bust out some ski vids

This is old news, but I don't think I ever posted it here. Since it's almost SKI SEASON I thought I'd bring it back for laughs.

Monday, August 30, 2010

Newspaper Articles

Here and here are a few short articles from the Democrat and Chronicle (Rochester's newspaper) about Nicole and me.

Sunday, August 29, 2010

Nationals report, Day 3

The third and final day of US Nationals was 200-meter day. I felt sluggish and slow during my heat in the early afternoon, but progressed on to the final. The k1 final was at 4:25, just 35 minutes after the k2 final at 3:50. Conscious of the tight crunch between races, Ariel and I ensured we had everything set up and ready to go: k1's, k2, seat pads, water, powergel, flip-flops in the right places (the pavement is too hot to walk on with bare feet!) etc.

We got in the boat together pumped to try to win the k2 200m... and we did! My dad says it was an exciting race, with Ariel and me just barely pulling ahead of Emily [Vinson] and Maggie [Hogan] to win by a margin of .02 seconds... pretty funny since they beat us on Thursday in the k2 500m by .09 seconds. The close competition between us pushed all of us and made for an exciting weekend. I'll hopefully get a video up on youtube in the next couple of weeks.

After the race was over, Ariel and I ran up the hill to get our k2 weighed. Then we took a moment for a tangerine-double-caffeine-Powergel toast. (The flavor we both eat exclusively. Nerds.) After slurping down our powergels we grabbed our k1s and immediately went out for a cool-down/ warm-up for the next race. My goal was to be as aggressive as possible and put everything I had left into this last race of the regatta. I placed 7th.

HOW AMAZING IT IS TO BE HEALTHY AGAIN.

I'm looking forward to going home, sitting down with my training log, and assesing this little 10-week season I put together. More to follow about my plans.... for now, some pictures from the banquet!

The Rochester crew... Nicole and me and our awesome dads!


Medals for the k2 200m: Mickle and Shelley in 3rd, Mags and Vinson in 2nd, and Ariel and me in 1st


The sun never sets on cool

Friday, August 27, 2010

Nationals report, Day 2

Today was a hot one! 96 degrees! I combatted the heat in my tent by being silly with Mickle.



We also named my little tent FemCKC (Fem Canoe/Kayak Club). The sole members and my dad and me, but others, like Jen, Mickle, and Timmy, come to visit sometimes! We have cold water, a blanket on which to sit, and karaoke. Just kidding about the karaoke.

Amidst all the laughter today I did have one race: the k2 1000m with Nicole. We finished 2nd behind Mags and Vinson by 2 seconds and were pleased with that result. Although Nicole was my first-ever k2 partner, we haven't raced much over the years and it's always fun to get in a boat together.


Tomorrow I race the k1 200m at 1:15 (final at 4:25) and the k2 200m final at 3:50.

Cheers!