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.