Pete Compete's in Door County Half Ironman

Pete competed in the Door County Half Ironman yesterday. After months and months of training and an incredible swim and first half on the bike, Pete crashed around mile 38 on the bike. He took a turn too fast, which was wet and ended up with horrible road rash on his shoulder, arm, and a badly bruised and bleeding hip. He was finally able to get up and finish the 56 miles on the bike in an incredible time. Unfortunately his hip was injured and he couldn't complete the half marathon run portion of the race. 

He was sad and I felt so incredibly bad for him. I know he is sad, angry, and really annoyed. I love supporting him by watching Sam and Maggie when he needs to train, cooking him good meals, and yelling at him to push hard along race routes. There is nothing worse than watching the man you love dearly, train so hard for something, and lose a huge goal in a matter of seconds. But, he will heal and because his body took the brunt of the damage, his bike is in pretty good condition.

He will compete in another Half Ironman (and I have no doubt, many other triathlons) and next year, I hope he will do the Madison Ironman that he's been talking about for sometime. In a few weeks on August 10 in Milwaukee, he will compete in the national races against the best of the best in the U.S. in his age group. I will be there to cheer him on and support him. Until then, everyone pray for a quick recovery!

Below is a photo of the arm road rash. 

Sticky Drumsticks

Well, I made it about 3.5 days in my experiment to remove all processed food from my diet for a week. After feeling awful for a few days, I decided to stop and just limit the amount of foods I eat that have ingredients that I cannot pronounce or I don't know what they are. I think that I felt sick because I wasn't getting enough calories and was avoiding a lot of carbs, even though my intent wasn't to skip carbs.

Next time I will cut out certain things as opposed to an entire item, like processed foods. I don't like failing at my goals, but I refuse to feel sick for several days if I don't have to feel that way!

Last week during my failed experiment, I tried several new recipes and I'm very proud of myself for that. I love to cook and over the past couple of years, I didn't cook as much because I was so busy with work. Now that I work from home, it is easier to start dinner or throw something in the crock pot on my lunch break. One VERY tasty recipe that I discovered is very easy and only takes about 10 minutes to prepare before you put everything in the crock pot. (Lorrie B. - even you can do this!)

I found this Sticky Drumsticks recipe on another blog called Farm Girl Gourmet (which she found on another blog). These drumsticks are so good that this recipe could end up on every blog that exists. I also recommend spending some time on the Farm Girl Gourmet blog - just fantastic! I am so envious of the Farm Girl Gourmet Blog; I need to take more photos of the food that I make, especially if I am going to write about it. I know that photos will improve my blog and even if no one reads this, I will have it for my future as I go back and search recipes. A new goal - take more photos!!

Sticky Drumsticks (I cut this recipe in half, so this is my variation)
Adapted from The Comfort Of Cooking., originally from Group Recipes

- One package of chicken legs (5-6 per package)
- 1/4 cup honey
- 1/4 cup brown sugar
- 1/6 cup (I just did 1/2 of the 1/3 cup) balsamic vinegar
- 1/6 cup soy sauce
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 TBS fresh grated ginger
- Dash of black pepper

Remove the skin from the chicken. Put in the bottom of a crock pot or slow cooker.

In a small saucepan, add honey, brown sugar, vinegar, soy sauce, garlic, ginger and pepper. Bring to a boil, stirring to dissolve the brown sugar. Simmer 5 minutes.

Add sauce to chicken in crock pot, coat chicken in sauce, and cook on high for 4 hours.

Pete's First Olympic Distance Triathlon

Pete did an incredible job in his first Olympic Distance Triathlon. The race was in Elkhart Lake, WI, which is about an hour south of Green Bay. This area is best known for Road America, where there are many motorcycle and car races on the weekends in the summer. We brought the girls to the race and they were pretty good, considering that they never went back to sleep after being put in the car at 4:15 a.m. I, on the other hand, was really struggling after a bad night of sleep.

Pete finished third in his age group. While he wanted to do better, I think he is too rough on himself. HE ROCKED IT!

A very tired Pete after the race.

Getting ready to bike.

Going out for the 6.2 mile run.

Pete after the swim.

Yeah for a race really figuring it out and offering fun for kids! The girls had so much fun in two different bounce houses.

His next race will be a Half Ironman in Door County on July 21st. The Half Ironman is double the distance of the Olympic Distance Triathlon. CRAZY!

Day Three of No Processed Foods

I am not going to lie, I am not feeling great. I don’t know if not having any processed foods are really impacting my body or if it is just psychosomatic. Having said that, I think that no carbs in three days is a making me feel a bit weaker than normal. I am not sure that I’m getting the daily caloric intake that I need since I really don’t feel great until after I eat dinner. Since I’m not doing a ‘no carb’ experiment, I had rice last night with a steak and mixed veggies. It was tasty! I did cheat and I had a small cup of frozen yogurt last night (I blame this on Pete as he wanted the frozen yogurt)! I was very good when he decided to have a Corona last night. I fought the urge to enjoy a tasty beer on a beautiful summer evening outside, but I did not have any beer; I just drank my water. Will power!

More than anything, I want a damn Diet Coke! I want a Diet Coke so bad that I can taste it. This surprises me because there are times that I go a couple of days without soda, so I am not sure why it is bugging me now!

For lunches, I made a roasted carrot soup, a roasted tomato soup and salads. I am (surprisingly) really enjoying almonds and sunflower seeds instead of crackers, but part of me still misses my crunchy Wheat Thins.

For dinner on Monday night, I made a very quick dinner before going to get my hair done. Dinner was a pork and ginger stir fry, which was like an inside out pot sticker. I left out the wontons and the spicy pepper since I am not a fan of spicy food. This recipe for Pork and Ginger Wonton Stir Fry comes from The Washington Post. Click this link to see the original recipe, but here is my version.

Pork and Ginger Wonton Stir-Fry

- Salt

- One-inch piece ginger root

- 2 cloves garlic, minced

- 4 scallions (will do more next time because I like cooked scallions)

- 2 TBS Olive Oil

- 1 pound lean ground pork

- 1/4 cup low-sodium soy sauce

- 2 TBS unseasoned rice vinegar

- 1/2 teaspoon sugar

- 1 tsp cornstarch

Peel and mince the ginger and garlic, which can be chopped together. Cut the white and green parts of the scallions crosswise into thin slices. 

Heat the oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat until the oil shimmers. Add the ginger and garlic; stir-fry for about 1 minute, then add the ground pork, using a spatula to break it up. Cook for about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the meat loses its raw look.

Meanwhile, whisk together the soy sauce, vinegar, sugar and cornstarch in a liquid measuring cup until well blended. Stir the sauce into the skillet and cook for 1 minute; add the scallions. Reduce the heat to medium-low. The sauce will thicken slightly.

I enjoyed this topped with shredded carrots and an avocado. Next time I think I will cook the carrots in with the mixture. I had intentions of putting this on top of rice or bean noodles to get that carb feeling and taste without having it, but I ran out of time.