In fact I think part of the problem with the US v UK competition is when they look at your weekly mileage, look at their own and then think F*** this I'm being made to look like a right dildo here. I wondered if they look at your success as almost unacheivable from where they currently are, even though we both know what can be done through dedication.

I've had a lot of requests for the recipe today, and i'm sorry to say I don't use recipes when cooking! But, i'll do my best w/ some guidelines... I was kind of lazy on this batch, but it's always pretty much the same.

one large onion
some peppers (whatever, i used a green bell and some long, light green ones)
5-10 cloves garlic
5 jalapenos
1 scotch bonnet (seeded or else it gets really spicy)

chop those, toss in heated pan w/ olive oil (add some butter if you want too, smells great and adds some flavor)... generally speaking, you might want to reserve the garlic for a few minutes as it will have a tendency to brown if you have a very hot pan and are not watching closely, which makes the garlic bitter.

add chili powder, cumin, salt, pepper, oregano, hot pepper flakes

sweat for a few minutes until onions get translucent.

I added a couple packages of 90% lean ground sirloin (2+lbs?). This is pretty high quality for chili, and you will consequently lose some flavor if you go this route. consider a cheaper cut, as well as perhaps using a 'meatloaf/meatball' mix that includes pork and veal.

when beef is mostly cooked, add 2 big cans crushed tomato, and 1 big can stewed tomato - but crush those w/ ur hand. I also added 2 cans black beans at this point. Use whatever beans you want, but I like black b/c they hold up well and the skin isn't as thick as a kidney bean.

cook for an hour and taste for spices, adjust as necessary. Also, now is the time to adjust for consistency... if you want a thicker chili, add tomato paste. Also, add some wine or beer; there are 'flavors' that are alcohol soluble that you won't taste w/out this addition (and of course, the alcohol cooks off)....

simmer for a couple hours. fin.

Nice, this is making my mouth water!

positive for the day:

my rat tail is BLOSSOMING. clearly past my shoulders now, and very distinguishable from your everyday mullet.

*phew*

Positive: I made 3 weeks in a row working out 5 days.

Thanks, Dean. Thanks for your advise. I agree with you. I think I should slow down the pace and show them that it is not very difficult to run.


I have never thought of such.....let me talk to them. Thanks for your insight.

I know I have not been around much.... been very very busy..... but today's positive is I ran the 5k today that was my first 5k last year. Last year I came in dead last place with a 36:xx time. This morning I got up and looked at my logs, and I have lost 50 lbs since last years race.... total over 90 lbs since the start in Jan 07.

Today..... are you ready for this? Today...... I came in 2nd place overall in the race. It was a small race, with a very hard hilly course, with about 50+ runners (compared to 26 last year) and my time.... get this.... my time was 23:23!

Whooooooo Hoooooooo!!!!!

If I can run 23:23 on that course I should be able to do my goal 21 in the next few months.

You can check out more at my blog here >> blog.262quest.com/2008/05/wow-2nd-overall-and-new- pr.html

and.... to top it all off, I got honorable mention on the races website front page >> www.saratoga5kfunrun.com

Today I hopped on the scale and saw that I'd lost another 1.5 pounds; that makes 20 pounds total that I've lost and I only have 47 to go! I'm so proud of myself

congrats tim!!! awesome job!!! you earned it!!!!


congrats ivy-keep it up!!

i am training for a walking marathon and this was week 2 that i met with my group. i walked 13 miles today. it felt easier than last week and i feel like i wont be as sore as last week. i have to remember not to compare myself to the other women and to go at the pace im comfortable with. i am at my own fitness level and i also dont want to get injured. im glad i did it 2 weeks in a row.

Did a boot camp today (as opposed to my regular workout) with a bunch of friends. I usually workout solo due to my hectic work schedule but the company was great. Working out with friends is fun!

Tim...congrats on your time that is amazing! In only one year you cut 13 min of your time..Amazing!

nice boot camp kathy!

i was very tempted by food in penn staion tonight. i mean, extremely tempted. i havent felt this ravenous in ages. i am happy to say i got a small frozen yogurt(havent had that in ages too!) and that was it. i made it home safe and sound and without doing any damage. phew!!! i did alot of self-talking to get me through it and im happy i made it.

My bf, his sister's family and some other friends finished the 10K with me. We were so happy and we all agreed would do it again next year.

wow-thats awesome glovia!!!
did they do any preparation or they just ran it cold turkey?how many miles is a 10 k?

That is fantastic Tim!!! Great job!!! Man, I need lessons from you or Troy. I am so slow compared to you guys.



Nice job Jenn!!!!! That's great. I know how hard it is to fight those temptations.



That's awesome Glovia!! I'm glad that you all had such a good time!



10 km = 6.2 miles

My positive: I had my swim evaluation on Friday and it went great. The guy was really knowledgeable and helped Wendy and me out a lot. I have a lot of new things to work on and some swim exercises to do. He's also doing another session for us next week for no extra charge.

rachael, have you looked at photos or videos of yourself swimming? it's something i'm working out this week, and i think it will help.

rachael-glad the swim eval went well! great that you get a free session too!!!! thanks for the 10k info!!

Cool on the swim eval Rachel. My Positive is that I got up and did my 25 minute run this morning and did a 10 minute walk at 10% incline after that!!!

stephanie - how cool. i love incorporating the incline! congrats on stepping it up big time.

I am getting up to 60 minutes now on the Elliptical machine. The machine stated that I burned 1176 calories after the 5 minute cooldown. It is a machine where you put in your weight but not if you are male or female. I could not imagine doing that 2 months ago.

2 positives for today:
1) My blood pressure is down. Gotta track my sodium diligently to keep it low.
2) Eating habits are SLOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOWLY getting healthier as a general trend.

HUZZAH!

The guy who did the swim eval actually did video tape us. Once at the beginning and once at the end after showing us some things that we needed to improve on. I'm hoping that this will help me out a lot.

how do you plan to keep practicing form when you're not being evaluated or watched by this trainer? so far i think 50y-100y sprints work for me when i'm trying to practice form, and things get kind of shaggy after 200y in one go. but you've been swimming since you were a kid, so i was wondering.

Well mainly I just plan on working on the stuff he told me to work on. Keep my head down, don't be "timid" with my strokes (he said I was placing my hand in the water instead of digging down into it or something along those lines). Also he gave me some drills and stuff to do. Also I have breathing drills - 3, 5, 7, 5, 3. The 3 is 1 lap down and back breathing every 3 stroke, the 5 is 1 lap down and back breathing every 5 strokes, ect. Then I'm supposed to do 10 by 50's with 60 seconds for each 50. In other words swim down and back (50 yards) and whatever time I have left in the minute, I can rest. Do that 10 times.

I may go back to him like once a month or so but he's really expensive so maybe not.

i need to read more on swimming form. i'm probably costing myself a lot of valuable practice time breathing every second stroke. that 10x50 exercise sounds pretty intense.

"cold turkey"?.. you meant they just went out there ran the race without any training?

They did not do any training at all. I don't want to scare them with any training program. I only told them them that if they could do after-thanksgiving shopping for 5 hrs (Yes, my bf's sister spent the whole day in a factory outnet last yr for this.), 10k was an relatively easy job. But, I did tell them the pre-race carbs load. They did follow it and ate so much cookies and bagels before and after the race. LOL.

Well, they did not exactly run. They were more like jog and most of the time walk. But, at least they finished it and got a metal. They were so proud. Now, they are talking about get some training to prepare for next year. (That is to eat more carbs the night before. :lol

Well, I am trying to talk my bf to do a 5K race in August now. He has not said no yet.

glovia-yes by cold turkey i meant just race w/o any training. thats great that they were able to even walk/run w/o preparing at all and that they didnt get injured!! were they sore the next day?? im glad that you were an inspiration to them and that they want to do it again next year.

Glovia, that's so great that they are so excited about it! I know how awesome it is to have other people join in on the stuff that you love!

My positive: I've started doing "sprint kilometers." And they are torture. Basically I run a km as fast as I can - which isn't very fast, but you have to start somewhere. Then I rest then I do another km, rest, another km, collapse. (So 3 km running total.) I started doing this last week and my average time was 5:30. This week my average time was 5:09. Yea for improvements! I know it's not very fast, but I'm working on it.