Lightweight Eats

If you're reading this, we've hit the road! After spending over a month in Oregon, visiting family and enjoying some downtime, Dan and I are en route to I-40.

Over the last month, we drove to both Portland and Eugene, celebrated Thanksgiving and Christmas, and spent countless hours at the gym and in front of the fireplace. After a long and stressful year, it was what we both needed. We're leaving the northwest ready for adventure.

I've done some great training here in Oregon. I'm finally starting to see improvements on my erg scores—seconds are dropping here and there which is super encouraging. I'd like to maintain those improvements on the road, which is helping shape our travel plans.

I could certainly use a week of primarily cross-training to help keep me fresh, so finding rowing machines will be a low priority. We are bringing our bikes and I will also have running shoes, so I'm looking forward to doing some training in the nation's many state and national parks.

My primary concern is weight lifting. In recent months, I've really found my lifting groove. The gym here in Oregon has fantastic equipment, and a great (if male-dominated) lifting culture. It's been a blast squatting alongside guys doing 500+ lb deadlifts—it makes me want to continue lifting. I would like to continue to build on the strength gains I've achieved here.

We're planning to drive for 5-6 hours a day, which will give me enough time to get in double training days most days. I'm hoping to stop in at some gyms at take advantage of their New Year's special—I know a lot of gyms offer free passes in January to try to get people hooked. It will be a great way to keep expenses low while traveling. The weight equipment might not be exactly what I want and need, but it's more about doing something. The goal is to lifting something heavy every other day.

Because I expect it will be difficult to follow a strict training plan on the road, I've planned a general outline instead. Every other day, I'm planning to do some sort of long, slow, steady work and a lifting session. The alternate days, I will do a harder workout with some additional cross-training if I have time. This is similar to what we've been doing the past month, but without a strict schedule to follow.

Have any tips for working out on a road trip? Know any places we should stop along I-40? Row someplace in the southern half of the U.S. and want to host us? Let me know in the comments.

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I love spending time outdoors. But when I'm training, that often requires too much energy. But training twice a day, I need something to pass the time between practices. These are ways I stay entertained without expending physical energy.

Although our lives seem intent on preventing tradition right now, both Dan and I grew up celebrating Christmas on its Eve. Therefore, it seems appropriate to wish you all a Merry Christmas today.

Some fun and interesting reads to keep you entertained this holiday season:
The Introvert's Christmas from Northwest Edible Life
16 Winter Running Surfaces Explained from {never} homemaker
Live Like a Clock: How Routine Aids Performance from Competitor
Tree by Paulo Coelho via Medium
10 Ways to Train Like a Legend from Men's Fitness

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Have you ever cooked mushrooms for an hour? It's highly advisable. In fact, I fed them to two highly unenthusiastic mushroom eaters and got nothing back but praise.

Dan got me a Garmin for my birthday last year. It's one of the best presents I've ever gotten: it's been strapped to my wrist almost nonstop ever since. It's been incredibly useful with the heart rate based training plans I've been following. I've also had tons of fun learning my speeds both on land and on the water, and spent hours analyzing post-race heart rate data to see where I could gain seconds.



But there is something refreshing about leaving it behind and enjoying nature.




Every week, our training plan has time that is labeled as nothing more than cross-training, following by some number of minutes. Right now, we're doing two 60-90 minute cross-training sessions a week. I've gone on some great hikes in the rain, taken spinning classes, and explored the trails by Dan's childhood home. It's a great opportunity to reconnect with the joy of movement.


And in that spirit, I'm also taking the opportunity to disconnect from all the technology. Spinning bikes have nothing but your intuition telling you how hard you're working. And the only thing that makes you stop in the mountains is the end of a trail—no halfway timer or mileage alarm.

Testing out my raincoat in the most appropriate place: the Oregon coast.

During a winter season filled with erg splits and heart rate data, cross-training is a great place to leave numbers behind. I don't worry about calories burned, heart rate zones or minutes elapsed. Instead, I aim to enjoy the experience of moving my body. Usually, I don't test my limits or even push above 'comfortable'. But when I come back to the ergs and the numbers and the data, I'm ready for them. I remember why I'm moving in the first place—I love it.

There is definitely a lifestyle associated with training double days. Serious athletes know the routine: lots of showers, stinky laundry, 8PM bedtime and more.

We've had a cold couple of weeks up in Oregon! It doesn't usually snow (or freeze) this close to the coast. We got a good taste of what's to come.




Icy roads kept me at home instead of headed to the gym at least one day last week. I made up for it by heading out for a run, thoroughly bundled.

Three layers on top, two on bottom. Wool compression socks kept my toes quite warm!

When we visited last year, I was running in shorts.

Turns out, wool socks make great gloves—and they double as a tissue.

I headed out on my favorite trail, which starts a little over a mile from my in-laws house. The trail starts on the beach dunes, weaving in and out of evergreen trees and meandering past (frozen) ponds. After a few miles, you end up in the middle of cow fields.

Cows are huge.

The trail crosses under the highway and heads up into bigger hills and deeper forest. By the time I got there, the snow was obscuring the trail. I turned around early and finished my run on the snowy beach.


The run was beautiful and just tons of fun. My entire core was sore the next day from all the side-to-side jumping on the trail—great cross training!

How do you deal with training in cold weather? Any tips?

A few weeks ago, I was dragging my feet about heading to the gym for a 10K on the erg. All I wanted to do was anything but a 10K. So I looked at our workout schedule and found another workout in the same category: 4 x 2K, same speed, same stroke rate.

My first spring season, I dropped 36 seconds off of my 2000m erg time. My freshman year of college, I dropped 14 seconds from my 2km time, and almost 2 minutes from my 4km time. This season? I'll be happy if I drop 12 seconds from my 6km time.

What's changed?


Well, first of all, each second means more the faster you go. The erg, short for ergometer, doesn't actually measure how far you've got—it measures how much work you've done. (An erg is a unit of work.) The erg looks at how much work you've done in a given time period and tells you how much power you produce—your watts.

The erg then has a formula to predict, if there were 8 of you with perfect technique rowing an eight-man boat, how fast you'd be going. In fact, you can calculate your split for any given wattage: http://www.concept2.com/indoor-rowers/training/calculators/watts-calculator

So let's do that. My freshman year of college, I went from 1:56 to a 1:52.5 split, or 224 watts to 245 (9% improvement). Let's say I want to improve 9% on the watts again—that's 245 watts x 1.09 = 267 watts. That's a 1:49.4 split.

The first 9% improvement, I dropped 3.5 seconds on the split, or 14 seconds overall. The second 9% improvement, I only dropped 3.1 seconds on the split, or 12.4 seconds overall. The faster you're going, the more each second counts. And as I've gotten faster, my improvements seem smaller.


But that's not everything. In high school and college, summer was the off season and boy did I take it off. I was still getting back in shape at the first 2k of the season. Now, we train year-round. And while I may not be in peak 2k shape at the first erg test of the season, I'm not far off. In that regard, I would take a massive improvement in my time over the course of a season as a sign of failure—a sign that something had been sub-optimal in my prior training.

The same goes for weight-lifting. Although I might see some initial improvements when I switch from one lift to another, and there is some variance due to weekly training loads, I'm mostly just lifting the same amount of weight, over and over again.


So if you're not seeing the same massive improvements you saw your first season (or five) as a rower, don't beat yourself up. It's probably a sign you're doing something right!

Passionate about food, eating, exercise and health, I have been a casual observer of the obesity epidemic. From watching the HBO series The Weight of the Nation to devouring article after article discussing new research, I am learning, experimenting and watching.

Recently, I read this really great article called Fat City, basically a collection of thoughts on eating, dieting, obesity and health. The author, Karen Hitchcock, works as a physician in an obesity clinic. She talks quite frankly—touching on the feeling of moral superiority from being thin to the shame of overeating. Most striking to me, though, was a brief section on a man who claimed to be addicted to eating.

That's not possible, says Hitchcock. In fact, the man was poor and had no other sources of pleasure in his life. Food was the only pleasure he could afford, and so he indulged himself.

And isn't that what many of us do? We eat to infuse pleasure in the boring work day, or to curb the discomfort of exhaustion. It's no wonder sleep deprivation is linked to weight gain. The more I considered it, the more I saw this same pattern in my own life. In fact, as the first few days of the Live Below the Line challenge took much of the pleasure from eating, I found myself struggling to consume enough rather than overconsuming.

The Weight of the Nation seemed ever-ready to pin the obesity epidemic on junk food. And while I don't doubt its role, their arguments didn't seem to hold up in my mind. The documentary seemed to imply that the low prices of junk food were what drew Americans to over consume.

But that didn't make sense. First, junk food is more expensive than more nutritious options like rice, beans and other grains. Second, if finances were an issue, overconsumption would appear to be the last issue: how could one afford to over consume without financial resources to do so?

Instead, I'd argue that the real issue is the relationship between pleasure provided, calories and cost. Cheap, old carrots taste awful and provide absolutely no pleasure. Cheap french fries are delicious and pleasurable—their salt and fat comforting. Plain, cheap oatmeal versus plain, cheap pizza? It's hardly worth comparing.

Rather than eliminating fast food—a reliable source of calories—we ought to focus on infusing pleasure into more healthful fare. Fresh, market carrots are sweet, full of flavor and a rich experience. Heirloom tomatoes and tree-ripened peaches fill the aware eater with tingles and gasps. Garlicky, salty eggplant drenched in rich olive oil can give the unsuspecting tastebuds a moment's pause in delight. By focusing our efforts on the positive—rediscovering the joy of eating real, fresh foods—we stand to gain a lot.


Another viable solution is providing an alternative source of pleasure. Computers, television and the internet provide a wealth of pleasurable entertainment, but all of it is sedentary. Why not kill two birds with one stone and replace eating with activity?

Places to play, walk and bike could be the simple solution we are looking for. Is it really any wonder that Colorado is one of the nation's thinnest states? If a hamburger and a day hike provide the same amount of pleasure, and we can convince more people to fulfill their daily pleasure quota with the latter, we could make some real progress.

And this is why it's not enough to simply tell people to exercise for 30 minutes a day. Exercising, for most, is inherently un-pleasurable. Instead, we need to provide the resources to draw pleasure from activity—from bike-friendly shopping centers to walking paths showcasing natural beauty, from community gardens to recreation bowling leagues. Rather than encourage formal exercise, let's make informal exercise a part of our lives.

And who knows, along the way, we might make our cities and our country, a better place to live.

Like most families, we have some go-to meals. For example, we try to always keep black beans, tortillas and red cabbage on hand so we can whip up tacos with cabbage slaw. (Thanks to my sister for the slaw recipe!) Smoothies are another great option: we keep veggie scraps and bargain bin fruit in the freezer to blend with protein powder for a fast, easy, healthy dinner.

Another favorite is the stirfry. Every week, we buy two blocks of tofu and it almost always gets used in a stirfry.

When we first started making this, we usually ended up with soggy veggies and tofu crumbles. After much trial and error (and equal amounts of simplification), we now consistently produce crisp veggies, tasty sauce, and chewy tofu. Learn from our mistakes.

If you're super new to making stirfry, I recommend using one piece of advice per attempt.

1. Start your rice first. It takes about 30 minutes to make white rice, so this needs to get going right away. By the time everything else is ready, your rice will be ready. If it's done early, it can wait. Rice stays hot.

2. Use two pans—a flattish pan for tofu (non-stick is ok) and a higher sided, thin pan (one that gets really hot and tends to burn things) for veggies.

3. Once the rice is going, cut the tofu into bite-size pieces and pat it dry. Heat up your flat pan with a bit of oil; once it's hot, add the tofu—it should sizzle. Cook it until it's brown (2-3 minutes) and stir. Get at least two sides browned. Feel free to chop veggies during this process (or use pre-chopped). Set the tofu aside (or leave it on low heat, stirring every 4-5 minutes).

4. Use no more than 2 types of veggie. We love broccoli and carrots—easy to cut, easy to cook. Some other ideas: baby greens, shiitake mushrooms, canned bamboo shoots, green onion, celery. Any other suggestions?

5. Cook the veggies lightly over very high heat. Start with the veggie you'd least like to eat raw—in our example, broccoli goes in first. Then add the second when the first is almost ready to eat. When your veggies are crisp but cooked—don't try to brown them—add half of your sauce (see below) and toss together.

6. Make a simple sauce. Sweet soy sauce is a good stand alone. You can also buy bottled teriyaki sauce. Or, mix peanut butter, minced ginger and soy sauce.

7. To serve, assemble bowls with rice, browned tofu, veggies and a spoonful of sauce. Top with sesame seeds and chopped green onions if you're feeling fancy.

One of our requirements when we moved last year was finding a place with a washer and dryer. If I weren't training, and we produced just one mildly dirty outfit per day per person, a washer and dryer would be a convenience.

But the thought of lugging three or four outfits a day of often soggy and always smelly clothing to the laundromat was just soul crushing. Did I mention that we'd have been doing the lugging on our bicycles?

But we found that we were running the dryer through its full cycle two, even three times just to get a load dry. It hardly seemed efficient. With all of my spandex workout clothing—which really shouldn't be dried—and the inconvenience of checking and restarting the dryer, we decided to do what any Bay Area hippie would do: got a drying rack!

We still use our dryer. Cotton t-shirts, towels and jeans all go through the dryer. Sometimes, a load donates just two or three pieces of clothing to the dryer, meaning we can combine dryer loads.

We aren't keeping track of our savings. I'm sure we're saving some money here and there from running the dryer less. More importantly, my favorite pair of spandex will last much, much, much longer.

Of course, a load can easily fill up a drying rack; a crowded rack doesn't dry as quickly. What if things don't dry in time? Well, then I throw what I need in the dryer for 10 minutes to finish it up. There's nothing better than climbing into a warm pair of long spandex on your way to a cold, wet, windy row.

(Note: This post is re-published from Piquant Prose.)

I don't enjoy watching people come close to injuring themselves when they try to use one of these:

A rowing machine, aka an 'erg'

4. Fast on the drive, slow on the recovery
Rowers are pretty smart. We named a part of our stroke 'the recovery' for a reason—you're actually supposed to spend some time recovering from your incredible exertion on the drive. With a good rhythm, you'll spend about twice as much time on the recovery as on the drive.

5. Learn what the monitor means
The big number in the middle of the monitor can be changed between various settings, including watts, calories/hr and split. The split tells you how long it would take you to go 500m if you kept rowing the same pace; the lower it is, the harder you're working. I like this value because it has relatively small changes in value for a change in exertion, so it's pretty easy to try to maintain a consistent pace. If you're just starting on the erg, try for under a 2:30.

The other important number is in the upper right hand corner. This little number is your number of strokes per minute. Try to keep this number between 20 and 30—20 for long, slow workouts and 30 for short, fast interval work. This range will give you the best control over what you're doing and help prevent injury. During a give workout, try to stay in a pretty narrow range. For example, our steady state workouts are usually at a 20-22, and our faster workouts are usually at 26-28 or 28-30, and we try to stay in this range for the whole workout.
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I have a 100 more tips, but most of them you'll figure out just by trying it a few times!! If you're interested in using it, let me know and I can give you tips and workouts. If you use it right, you're really unlikely to get injured and you'll get in really great shape.

Have you ever read an article about all the foods athletes shouldn't eat? Sure, there are the obvious reasons: nobody should be eating chemicals and food dyes, especially not in large quantities. But what about sugar? juice? fatty foods? Should athletes really be eating whole grains, lean proteins and a heaping pile of veggies at every meal?

If you think so, I challenge you to eat as much as a heavyweight male rower for a day. You will either give up at lunch or put on a pound in a day. And do you know how much fiber is in 5-6000 calories or whole grains, lean proteins and veggies? More than most Americans eat in a week. Seriously, you're talking about 150-200 grams of fiber.

Even at a mere 3500 calories a day, I'm looking at 100 grams of fiber daily—even when I'm choosing a number of lower fiber options. What's the problem with that? Well, the short turnaround between meals and workouts doesn't jive with slow digestion. And there are no bathroom breaks in the middle of a 2-hour row.

It can also be challenging to keep up with calorie intake for a lot of athletes. Depending on the training load, I can have trouble finding the appropriate time to eat enough calories—this is even more problematic if I'm still full from my previous meal when I get an opportunity to eat.

So what's my solution?

1. Eat a basis of whole grains, lean protein and veggies.
Imagine what a non-athlete would eat in a day. I try to eat about that much in whole foods. After that, I give myself some leeway to eat white rice, snack on sugary crackers and jams, sip juice, or fried potatoes.

2. Pick high-calorie, low-fiber produce for heavy training days.
Bananas, mangoes, squash, pineapple, melons, peas, and beets are all good options on days when I'm burning through fuel faster than a Hummer. I use my 'off' days to eat the fibrous options: berries, pears, apples, leafy greens, etc.

3. Use a 'bad', 'medium' and 'good' system.
Oreos? Definitely bad. Kale? Definitely good. White rice? The jury is out, so I put it in the medium category. Soda? Definitely bad. Green tea? Definitely good. Juice? Unknown—medium. I eat less than one item a week from the "definitely bad" category, and more than one item a day from the "definitely good" category. Other than that, I don't worry about it.

The best thing I ever did for my diet was to trust it. Instead of avoiding this or eating that, and wondering whether it made any difference, I decided to just eat.

The ergs have moved and TVs have been added since this photo was taken. Now I can erg and watch football!

I joined a gym. It was $50 for a month, with unlimited 24-hour access and free fitness classes. I've been going twice a day most days, or sometimes once for 3+ hours, with a quick snack break between workouts. It's a nice change of pace.

The gym has a dry sauna, which is nice for post-workout meditation. There may be other benefits, but I just enjoy it because it feels good.

It's also been fun using a wide range of weight equipment. Our equipment at CRC was limited and generally oversized for a lightweight woman. The leg press was too heavy and I couldn't reach the sled. The bench for bench pulls was too wide and too high. We didn't have any dumbbells, so the lightest weight was a 45-pound bar: too heavy for 6x20 bench press. The selection of weight machines has also let me really push the weight for very specific target muscles.

All of that makes lifting weights a lot more enjoyable—which is great, since that is generally a huge focus of the winter season.

And, of course, there's the always amusing rotation of gym-goers attempting to use the rowing machine. Ten amusing minutes breaks up a 90-minute sweat session nicely.

"Why are you reading a book about traffic?!" my mom asked in disbelief. Assuming nerdiness isn't a valid explanation, I'd also like to point out that driving is the most dangerous thing most of us will do on any given day. Why did I think about that? Because I read Traffic by Tom Vanderbilt.

Since we got our first car (!) last month, I thought it would be wise to read about the wild world of roads. Tom Vanderbilt has changed me into a 10 and 2, cell-phone free, 55mph driver, and I'm totally ok with it. His book talks about how traffic works, what the most dangerous conditions are, urban design for safer streets, and you'll just have to read the book to find out the rest.

It's definitely an easy read, more like an extended magazine article than an extended essay with points and counterarguments. For those of you that like microhistories (history books about a very specific topic) or who have an interest in urban planning, I'd recommend checking it out from your local library.

Plus, this is a great book to read before the holidays: everybody has been stuck in traffic, so it's a wonderful conversation starter.

Last week, I drove from California up to Oregon to start our long cross-country journey.


Before we decided to move, we had Thanksgiving weekend plans in Eugene, Oregon, and we weren't going to miss them.

But first things first.

Thanksgiving Thursday, I trudged down to join the other dedicated gym-goers for a morning workout. I'd pushed pretty hard Monday through Wednesday so I could enjoy Thursday and Friday without 3 hours of gym time.

We left the coast by 10AM to drive to Portland-area, where we picked up Dan's Grandma Kate before heading to his Aunt Karen's for a Thanksgiving feast. Dan's family is incredibly welcoming, and had prepared more delicious vegan dinner options than I could possibly eat. As Dan's dad puts it:
"This isn't vegan food. This is delicious food that happens to also be vegan."

Post-dinner, we drove a few more hours south to Eugene, home of the University of Oregon.

Friday morning, I woke up so excited that I completely forgot it was my birthday until I watched the morning news over breakfast. What got me so excited? We had front row tickets to watch the Oregon Ducks football team face off against the Oregon State Beavers!



Of course, since it was my birthday, the Ducks managed to pull of a 1-point victory with the winning touchdown not 30 yards from our seats. Who cares if they go to a national championship? That game was a blast.



We also got a chance to explore downtown Eugene a bit, including vegan donuts at Voodoo. Yum!

Nomnom. Donut.

Saturday morning, we hit the road again, heading into Portland for some exploration, before returning to the coast.


Saturday evening, I was back at the gym with the post-Thanksgiving repenters and dedicated weight lifters. The rest of the weekend was spent working out, watching football/movies and grocery shopping—some of my favorite things. And although weekends are rather meaningless at the moment since neither of us is working, it still feels like we're back to the daily grind this Monday morning.

First off, happy belated birthday to my big sister! Her birthday was yesterday, but thankfully not on Thanksgiving yet again. And happy Thanksgiving to everybody else.

This week, I am thankful for...

Rowers: Just in time for your Christmas wishlist, this is a list of my favorite places to go find great rowing gear. There are very few rowing specific brands, so I've had to cobble together pieces from different sources. Save yourself some time and check these place out! I've tried to give the lowest cost option without losing quality.

In high school, I never got cold, so I survived with a few pairs of spandex shorts and cotton t-shirts. I had a few technical long sleeves for the coldest winter days, and suffered a few winter mornings.

In college, Princeton provided Nike gear for student athletes. We got a lot of great stuff: long tights, long sleeve tops, short sleeves tops, unisuits, sports bras and more. That gear has been the basis of my wardrobe ever since. But it's getting to the point where that is no longer enough, especially as the older items start to wear out.

The Nike gear we were given was of high quality, especially the cold weather gear. I wear each pair of the long tights at least once a week for 6 months of the year, and the only visible wear is from rips and snaps I've created. I've owned some of them since 2008. So when it was time to restock gear, I definitely went to Nike.

There's a Nike Outlet in the east bay that has some great deals, especially on non-basics. Black tights and plain sports bras rarely make it there, but I picked up an awesome collection of long sleeve technical shirts that were apparently so-last-season. Since I'm hoping these will last me for 5 more years, I'm not too worried. I love the Nike Outlet because you pay super low prices for great, long-lasting gear.

Their labeling system is also really helpful. Most gear is labeled as either "hyperwarm" or "hypercool". It turns out, some long sleeve shirts are meant to cool you down, not warm you up. It's good to know which is which before you wear a thick wicking shirt out into the winter rain.

Since the outlet isn't great for basics, I have to look elsewhere for those.

Sports bras are one of the least important basics for rowing, so I usually go relatively cheap on these. I have a few dedicated running bras, but the super low impact of rowing means I don't need much support. I strongly prefer a racer back and thinner straps help prevent bad tan lines. (Pro tip: so does sunscreen.) I've had success purchasing these at Forever 21, although the quality varies. Nothing beats their prices. Target's Champion brand also has some decent (and cheap) sports bras. I've also purchased some sports bras, running shorts and racerback tanks from Old Navy with success.

So far, only one company has produced an acceptable spandex short for rowing: JL Racing. They seem to wear out after about 2.5-3 years of weekly (or twice weekly) usage, which is a lot better than other brands (especially since they take a lot of abuse from the seat). They're the only company that has nailed the fit: long enough but not too long, enough room in the seat, and double thickness where the seat hits the fabric.  The waist doesn't pinch, the compression is just enough to prevent chafe, and they're generally comfortable. (Note: if you're a woman, get the women's cut trou!!! They're very different.)

I've been uninspired by JL's other products. Their long tights don't come in a women's cut and don't have enough room for serious rower thighs.  I bought some of their super warm tights about three years ago and found that they aren't very warm. And the low back on their tech shirts means I have a bare belly when I'm standing around on land—not very flattering.

Tights have been very difficult to find. I tried products from Lululemon, Nike, Patagonia, SmartWool, R.E.I., GAP and more. They were all unflattering, not stretchy enough, poorly fitted or poorly constructed.

Finally, I went into Athleta and found what I was looking for. Their products are on the lower end of the price bracket for similar quality items. The feel is similar to Lululemon, but I find the material they use to be a lot more pleasant to wear. (I'm not a fan of Luon.)

Although they only carry women's clothing, they've got a lot of options for tights. I got one of their newer styles, the PowerLuxe Revelation tight, which feels like wearing technical cotton. Their labeling isn't very informative in the store, but the staff were really helpful and knowledgeable. The website is also a bit confusing because there are so many options (each individual color has a separate entry, so there is a lot to navigate). If you live nearby, go into the store and ask for help finding the best options. Some criteria to consider: breathability, warm, length, comfort and stretchiness.

The last piece of gear: headwear. A lot of people wear sunglasses. I'm a hat person. Hats are good for sun and good for rain, and hats never fog up. Hats also keep your hair and sweat out of your eyes. I have a small head, so hats can be hard to fit; my favorite so far is Headsweats. I also love that the ponytail holders on their hats don't have velcro, just a clip!

That's a summary of where I get my athletic gear. I have a few pieces from elsewhere: socks, tanks, etc. For the most part, though, I find what I like best, and I buy a lot when it's on sale.

Here's what I've got in my wardrobe:
Spandex shorts
Running shorts
Socks (incl. a few wool pairs)
Sneakers
Sports bras
Tanktops
Technical T-shirts
Technical longsleeves (warm and cool)
Tights (warm only)
Hats
A windproof vest

Note: None of these companies are sponsoring me. I just really like their stuff. Of course, if anybody wants to send me things to try and review, send me an email at lightweighteats (at) gmail (dot) com! When I find something I like, I make sure everybody knows about it.

Last Thanksgiving, we'd been vegan for about a month before Thanksgiving rolled around. We were still too new to feel comfortable at the Thanksgiving table. Despite the plethora of articles about navigating the holidays as a vegan, there are very few about welcoming vegans, or really anybody with an allergy or food intolerance. These are some of the things that would have made the vegan Thanksgiving experience a little bit more manageable.

1. Print recipe cards. We do our Thanksgiving as a potluck so it's particularly difficult to check ingredients since who knows who brought what. This one is easy to pass off as a kind gesture—if you like the food, take a recipe. Plus, it lets people decide for themselves if each food fits their dietary needs. You won't have to remember whether barley has gluten and if the chocolate chips have dairy in them. (Bonus points if you include the brand you used—many experience vegans know which brands are vegan.)

2. Make some super safe dishes. Roasted sweet potatoes and beets with olive oil (gluten free, vegan, paleo, nut/seed free). Baby spinach, walnuts, dried cranberries, lemon juice, olive oil, garlic (gluten free, vegan, raw, paleo, low carb). Fresh fruit salad for dessert (gluten free, vegan, raw, paleo, nut/seed free—seriously, who doesn't eat fresh fruit?) These dishes are also easy to prepare, making your life easier!

3. Send out a rough menu plan ahead of time. If I know my dinner options are mashed potatoes and cranberry sauce, I will come prepared with snacks. I may even volunteer to bring a small vegan-friendly dish, like I did for my family's Christmas celebrations last year.

4. Ask your guests to inform you of any allergies or dietary restrictions! That way you can avoid using the peanut butter spoon to stir the fruit salad if necessary, or switch to olive oil instead of butter where possible. A lot of people with dietary restrictions don't want to impose on their gracious hosts and choose to eat less rather than allow their hosts to provide options.

Any other tips?

This week brought the first rain of the season (not counting the weird September downpour). I'm thankful for...

Most endurance athletes have been taught to carb-load prior to racing. I tend to do the opposite before racing. Carb-loading is effective for races lasting more than two hours, similar to our long practice sessions. Our longest races don't last more than 25 minutes, so we don't need the increased glycogen storage required for endurance events.

Moreover:

"Glycogen storage is associated with a concomitant storage of water." - marathontraining.com 

 In other words, carb-loading causes weight gain due to water retention. This is important for endurance events, where consuming calories and liquids are difficult. For a lightweight rower, it spells disaster.

Instead, my pre-race dinners focus on foods higher in protein and fat and lower in carbohydrates (including fiber). This quinoa salad was perfect: filling but light and easy to digest.

The directions are simple.
Cook your quinoa (about 2 cups dry, if you want leftovers) and let it cool.
Steam some greens (I used baby chard and spinach, about 4 cups worth) and cool them.

Chop and mix in a big bowl: a few handfuls of cranberries, toasted hazelnuts, a tart apple, two celery stalks, and a cucumber. Add the quinoa and greens, and top with olive oil, lemon juice, salt, pepper and paprika.

Serve room temperature.

This would also be great with some chopped parsley and/or some julienned carrots.

Last year, I executed this race very poorly. The fall speed order is a two part race: 6000 meters on the rowing machine on Saturday followed by a 4000 meter race on the water on Sunday. My inexperience with weigh-ins along with overconfidence led to a disappointing Saturday erg test. I paid for that on Sunday—my legs were suffering way too early.

This year, I did a lot more preparation and planning. My weight management was not perfect, but it showed improvement—two weeks out I was about 3.5 pounds off of weight (rather than the 6 pounds of last year). That allowed me to train smarter and recover better in the weeks leading up to race day.

Over the past few weeks, we have done some great 6km prep workouts:
3000 meters at 6k goal pace minus 3 seconds (per 500m split)
4000 meters at 6k goal pace (or faster)
5000 meters at 6k goal pace + 2s (/500m) for 1km, + 1.5s for 1km, + 1s for 1km, + 0.5s for 1km, + 0s for 1km
6 x 250 meters practicing the start sequence, with 6 minutes rest between

The first workout gave me confidence that I could pull fast numbers, the second that I could finish the full length, the third that I could increase speed over the distance, and the fourth that I could find my rhythm.

Saturday morning was spent passing time until the weigh-in. I woke up way earlier than necessary (habit) and watched about 4 episodes of Flashpoint before getting bored. Dan and I went for a walk, I munched on some nuts (high calorie, low weight), and generally twiddled my thumbs. By the time I got to the boathouse, I was ready to go!!!

Saturday's erg went almost according to plan. Although there was a last minute change in schedule (and an added Sunday weigh-in, much to my chagrin), I managed my nerves and stress successfully. My erg malfunctioned right at the start, but I quickly fixed the problem and got started. I took advantage of the opportunity to sit between two silver medalists from the World Championships this summer and did my best to hang onto their pace. I ended up less than a second from a personal best, which is a great way to start the season! My score was 5th out of the lightweight women.

Sunday morning, I was up early and off to the boathouse for another weigh-in. My priority for the morning was getting a long enough warm-up, so after the weigh-in, I ate breakfast and got ready to go. I shoved off the dock about 40 minutes before the start and got in a really productive warm-up.

I had bow #1 and a fast competitor starting right behind me. (The race is a time trial, so boats start at 30 second intervals and race the clock.) I knew it would be tough to beat her time, so my goal was to stay in front. She steered a great course, which made it even more difficult, but my cheering section at 1250m to go helped me pull off a great time in the last 1000m. I placed 4th on the water—a great result.

Ultimately, this race was a well-executed, successful experience. My results were fast and encouraging, and I'm looking forward to gaining more speed over the next few months. The next racing opportunity will be at the first National Selection Regatta in April and I'm hoping to improve from this year's 10th place finish. This also marks my last race as a member of the California Rowing Club. Although I'll miss proudly wearing the California flag, I'm really excited to transition to GMS for the next season.

If you follow me on Goodreads (which you should! send me recommendations!) you'll see that I've been reading a lot. Consider The Shallows a book about why you should read a lot, too. More than that, it's a book about technology and your brain. It asks you to question the technologies we've welcomed into our lives and gives you the tools and knowledge to do just that.

And on top of all that, it's an incredibly well-written book. I'm not sure I can recommend it more highly.

The book ties into a recent theme in my training, as well: sports psychology. Over the summer, we met with a psychologist as a group which I found very helpful. Since then, I've begun to take my brain a bit more seriously.

In The Shallows, Nicholas Carr argues that the internet has decreased our ability to focus for long periods of time. And while it has given us other abilities, like parsing large volumes of information for specific keywords, mental endurance is a key component for rowing. A productive row can require intense mental focus for upwards of two hours. And while not every row requires that kind of focus, more focus means faster improvement, especially on technical issues.

This Runner's World article talks about building mental endurance for PR's in marathons. We row a marathon most weekends, and half marathons almost every day. Shouldn't the same apply?

I don't want to underestimate the value of rapid data processing. During a race, I have to be able to interpret a variety of inputs: heart rate, stroke rate, wind conditions, 500m splits, other boats locations, time elapsed, distance remaining, audio and visual cues from my teammates, audio and visual cues from referees and more. Certainly tools like Twitter and link-heavy online articles help me process those with minimal brain power (important during a race).

But if 95% of the work happens before you arrive at the starting line, I suspect that closer to 95% of my mental training should be focused on improving my mental endurance. And, as Carr argues, the best place to do that is between the covers of a book.

This week I am thankful for...

Dan is visiting his parents while I stay in California to train through the Fall Speed Order. That means I'm eating all of the foods Dan doesn't really like: artichokes, mushrooms, vinegar, tomatoes... the list goes on.

Tonight's dinner also helped clean out my parents' collection of condiments and use up odds and ends of leftovers.. and it ended up quite tasty.

I bought mushrooms on sale from the Berkeley Bowl, and threw them in a pan with a bunch of veggies (kale, bell pepper, pre-cooked squash). When they were nearly cooked, I added about a quarter cup of artichoke tapenade and some green onions. After a few more minutes on high heat, I served the veggies over white rice. Tasty tasty!

I just finished reading "How to Fail at Almost Everything and Still Win Big" by Scott Adams. For those that don't know, Scott Adams created Dilbert, that Sunday comic strip I never understood at age 10. His book is equally witty, entertaining and poignant.

Adams' life values are closely aligned with my own, and part of my enjoyment was certainly due to the pats on the back I gave myself every time my habits mirrored those of somebody so successful. Still, most of the books I read are doomed to be returned to the library and perhaps contemplated but not purchased. I think this book might have earned itself a coveted place on our bookshelf.

Of all the stories and advice, one overarching theme sang to me most marvelously: personal energy. Adams' talks about your personal energy levels as the key to being successful at just about everything. The book was filled with his tips for maximizing personal energy.

The conceptualization also helped me identify my own strategies for increasing personal energy, particularly before particularly tough workouts. And it has helped me identify some of the things that drain my energy unnecessarily. For example, an inconsistent workout schedule (i.e. mixing things up) exhausts me. For others, constant repetition (i.e. consistency) may be equally exhausting. Being in pajamas and cold weather also drain my energy terrifyingly fast.

But that's not all the book talks about. You can learn how to win the lottery (hint: it involves living a very, very, very long life), how to eat anything you want and not be fat, and how to cure the incurable. Sound hokey? Well, it really, really isn't. It's well researched, well-written and embarrassingly funny (if you're reading it on a crowded BART train).

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17859574-how-to-fail-at-almost-everything-and-still-win-big

One of the things I learned during our Live Below the Line challenge was realistic budgeting. I've read about a lot of families chasing the elusive $50 grocery budget. Let's break that down:

$50/week for two people. That's roughly $3.50 per person, per day. Let's assume you need to provide each person with 2000 calories a day. That means each nickel needs to buy you around 30 calories, assuming you don't waste any food at all.

What can you afford?

Rice, oats, and dried beans definitely fit into this kind of a budget. Peanut butter, at $3 for a 3000 calorie jar, also fits the budget nicely.

What about meat? A pound of pork tenderloin has about 550 calories. The most you could spend on it and stay on budget? 90 cents. (5 cents times 550 calories / 30 calories = about 90.) Our local Safeway currently has boneless pork on sale for $2/pound. And let's not even talk about sustainably produced, high quality, organic meat.

Fruits and veggies are also questionable. Onions have around 175 calories per pound, so if you can find them for less than 30 cents a pound, you're in the clear. Bananas might fit as well, but you'd have to be looking at 15 cents for a large banana. Of course, going under budget with rice, beans, oats and peanut butter will provide you some leeway, but don't expect to be eating haricot vert, organic apples or hearts of romaine—unless, of course, you grow it yourself.

And packaged foods? Unlikely. If you can get a 2-liter bottle of soda for a dollar, you'd be within budget. But even candy, at 75 cents for a 250 calorie bar, is way out of budget. Crackers and chips are similar.

How about those questionable in-betweens? Like cheese and yogurt? Eggs? Wild rice? OLIVE OIL?!?!

It's easy to calculate yourself.

Want to know the maximum price for something to stay on budget? Take the calorie per unit of the food item and divide by the calorie per penny you have to achieve in your food budget (in this example, 6 calories per penny). There are 248 calories per ounce of olive oil. 248 / 6 = 41.3 cents per ounce. A 1-liter bottle (34 ounces) of olive oil would have to cost less than $14.

Have a price and calorie count? Divide the total calories by the price in cents; if it's more calories per penny, you're in the clear.


What's the practical application of all of this? Well, let's say I'm trying to stick to the budget above. I have a list of items that fall within that budget. Rice, oats, beans, peanut butter, onions, cheap bananas, oil, inexpensive nuts and seeds, etc. These items will have to be the bulk of my food, providing well over 50% of my daily calories.

If your grocery list includes organic kale, an abundance of seasonal fresh fruit, packaged snacks or anything but the most boring of ingredients, you're probably not going to make a $50/week budget. I don't think that's a bad thing.

For our family, good food is a priority. It's a choice we make. BUT, we also choose to buy oats instead of cold cereal so we can put money towards purchasing organic apples and cucumbers. My tips for shopping for quality food on a budget:
- Eat simpler, cheaper, higher quality foods: buy organic peanut butter instead of almond butter, or cabbage instead of kale. eat toast instead of a Clif bar, or use canned/frozen fruit in place of jam
- Shop around and do the math: do you know the best price for organic rolled oats in your neighborhood? we get ours for $1.29/lb. which is cheaper, dried or canned beans? are you sure?
- Know the dirty dozen and the clean fifteen: organic sweet potatoes are expensive, but conventionals show up in the bargain bin regularly; should I buy them? same goes for apples; same answer? we posted the list on our fridge, next to our shopping list, which also helped us make smart swaps on our menu plans.
- Don't waste food: let's not even start on letting things mold because you're too picky to eat leftovers. I'm talking broccoli stems, carrot tops and orange peels. they can go into smoothies, be made into cleaning products, candied, juiced, boiled into veggie stock and so much more.


What's your budget? How did you set it? How do you stick to it?

This is the start of a new series. I read that successful people regularly think about things for which they are grateful. This might be a gross generalization, but it's free and it can't hurt my chances. It only seems appropriate to begin in the month of the Thanksgiving holiday.

This week, I am thankful for...

When I rowed in high school, I had no idea that anybody rowed after college. Clearly, it happens. Rowing has four main categories of athlete: junior, collegiate, open and masters, in approximate age order. Each of these categories has different competitions and seasons.


The junior athletes row for their high school or a local club team. Rules vary, but these athletes are almost exclusively in high school, with a few programs accepting 7th and 8th graders for learn-to-row type programs. Many junior athletes start their fall season in August and September, training for longer head races typical of September, October and November (where weather allows). Others will start rowing in the early spring months.

Junior athletes see the culmination of their season in May or June with regional and national championships, respectively. The best athletes are often invited to Junior National Team camps in the summer to compete for Team USA on the international racing circuit. All of these major races are overseen by USRowing. Many juniors also continue to row for club programs during the summer months.


Although collegiate athletes also start in September, they compete in a different arena. Collegiate programs fall into a wide variety of categories, from club to varsity teams, and with different combinations of genders and weight classes practicing together.

For collegiate programs, there are three major year-end regattas: NCAAs, IRAs and Dad Vails. Only openweight women's programs fall under the NCAA, and the top school from each conference, plus a number of at-large bids, are invited to compete. The NCAA championships have categories for DI, DII and DIII schools.

The IRA championship regatta is the equivalent of NCAA for the remaining three weight and gender classes: lightweight women, lightweight men, and heavyweight men. The event is invitation only, and based on season performance.

For many small and young programs, the Dad Vail regatta marks the season's end, with competitors from all over the country competing. Regular attendance at NCAAs and IRAs precludes crews from competing at the Dad Vail regatta.


Post-collegiate athletes divide themselves into two categories: open and masters athletes. Unlike scholastic athletes, these rowers compete primarily in the summer season.

Although open competition is just that—open to anyone—it has de facto become the racing venue for elite athletes. A number of events key to elite athletes span the seasons, from the October Head of the Charles, to the late spring National Selection Regattas and speed orders. For the top level athletes, the summer is spent on the international racing circuit, competing at World Cup and World Championship Regattas.

The open rowers can be found throughout the country, racing for clubs like CRC, Riverside, Penn A.C, Seattle RC and more. The best of these athletes often also have the choice of training at an official USRowing training center.


Masters athletes also compete year round, with long fall head races and shorter summer sprint races. In fact, the masters racing calendar is the most sensible of all. The year begins in the fall with regional head races and the major Head of the Charles regatta, all long races. Winter is spent preparing for the San Diego Crew Classic, a 2000 meter race. This is followed by a summer of 1000 meter racing, culminating in regional and national championships in mid-summer.

Masters athletes are divided into age brackets. Within each bracket, the oldest boats are given the biggest headstart. For example, a boat with an average age of 64 might race a boat with average age 62, and simply start a few seconds earlier.


Individual regattas choose to include certain classes of athletes. The Head of the Charles is all-inclusive, whereas many local regattas cater to only high school or collegiate athletes. And oftentimes, the "open" category at regattas is populated by master, junior and collegiate athletes looking for better competition. But, for better or worse, that is the lay of the land (water?).

As we've worked meats and cheeses out of our diets—flavors that often stand alone—Dan and I have developed our flavor palates significantly. Creating tasty vegan sauces is the key to creating tasty vegan meals.

In our trials we've noticed two things that consistently improve meals.

If it's savory, add sweet. If it's sweet, add acid.

For example, we use sweet soy sauce (similar to a molasses and soy sauce combo) instead of regular soy sauce to season our tofu. Salt + sugar + fat is delicious, and your taste buds will make sure you know it.

Maybe you're trying to cut down on sugar; we decided to do that by not eating brownies and cake and ice cream instead of trying to eliminate a teaspoon of sugar from our stirfries. It's up to you, but your taste buds might thank you.


Of course, taking away ice cream and cake and brownies means that suddenly, even a fruit smoothie tastes cloyingly sweet. We've taken to fixing that by throwing in something acidic: a peeled lemon or lime, a hunk of ginger, orange/grapefruit sections, etc. It helps brighten the whole affair, infusing it with life and making it dance on your tongue.

The same goes for sweets: topping your pancakes with powdered sugar and lemon zest is highly recommended; adding chunks of crystallized ginger to muffins is also lightweight approved.


What are your go-to methods for making any meal tastier?

"Individual workouts will rarely be perceived as exceptionally difficult or bordering on impossible. It will be a challenge to perform day after day..." - The Wolverine Plan

At some point during my training, I crossed a threshold—the point where I was no longer limited by my fitness but by my ability to recovery between workout sessions. This never happened in college, perhaps because our coaches were clever enough to keep our training volume relatively low to account for our otherwise hectic lives. It only happened when I began to train for 3-4 hours a day, week after week, month after month.

Eventually, as the quote above explains, rowing for 20 kilometers didn't seem like a particular challenge. The challenge was then spending 90 minutes lifting weights in the afternoon, just to come back and do another 20 kilometers the next day.

And that is why, although I spend only 3-4 hours a day with my heart rate in the training zone, I spend more than 40 hours a week training. My days between workouts are filled with stretching, ice baths, extra sleep, good nutrition, meditation, education and more.

This article covers the basics of post-workout recovery, including a 10-step protocol for recovery taking 3-4 hours, including a 1-2 hour nap. I find that incorporating all 10 steps daily is not realistic for me, especially not twice daily. Instead, I try to do more of these on the days when I have particularly tough training sessions.

For example, after a 10K run and 90 minute endurance weight session, I will take an ice bath while drinking a smoothie immediately after training, followed by 30 minutes of stretching. This prepares me to perform better on an afternoon training session that I may have otherwise been too fatigued to execute well.

There is also some science that shows certain foods aid recovery, like tart cherry juice. On particularly tough weeks, when I need to get extra calories anyways, sometimes I add these types of foods to my diet.

Finally, I make sure to under-schedule myself. I've found that I can commit to no more than one additional activity per day—going grocery shopping, dentist appointment, weeding the garden, running laundry. It's frustrating at times, feeling like I should be able to go out and have lunch with friends or take advantage of all the great activities. But ultimately, those things will directly affect my training and my success, so I've learned to limit myself.

Recovery isn't only a daily task, though. Each training season and year should have recovery periods built in as well. This may be the week or two you take off after running a marathon, followed by a month of unstructured easy running. Or it might be specifically scheduled volume reduction provided by a training plan. A lot of scholastic athletes get this break during the summer season, when, even those with the best of intentions, tend to slack off on their training a bit.

Our training schedule at CRC emphasizes not only periods of decreased volume but periods with lots of cross-training—from erging to hiking and biking to beach golf, we use these months as an opportunity to refresh our brains and our bodies while maintaining and even increasing fitness. When we come back, we've had a month or so to forget our bad rowing habits, which makes for some big technical gains in the first weeks back.

For clubs where the water freezes in winter, this is almost an automatic procedure. At CRC we've had to plan the rest period into our training schedule, which allows us some flexibility. This year, I'll be taking my off-water season travelling up to Oregon and cross country to Connecticut. I'm looking forward to the opportunity to break the routine!

What are your tricks for recovering between hard workouts? What do you sacrifice for your fitness?

August 18th was all set to be a spectacular Sunday. After squeezing in an erg session in the morning, Dan and I headed out to San Francisco with our bicycles. We both meant to grab our iPads for reading in a café, but forgot in our rush to get out the door.

We spent the morning cycling over to the Fort Mason farmer's market, where we chowed on tasty hummus, bread and veggies, met up with a friend and even caught one of the sailboat races in the Louis Vuitton cup. We cycled around the city, and made our way over to the Ferry Building, where we sat for a while with our feet up and enjoyed the view.

It was brilliant.

Hungry, we hopped on BART and headed back across the bay and up the hill home. That's when things started to get weird. Our gate was unlocked and open. (It turns out, it was having trouble latching properly.) Ever the optimist, we walked around back and started to lock up our bikes.

Then I hear, "Ho-ly fuck."

I looked over towards Dan to see our back window in pieces, shards of glass everywhere. We called the police and my mom and went inside to survey the house.

They took a lot. (We know it was a pair, because our neighbors saw two random people come scout our house.) They took our computers, our iPads, Dan's camera, and more. The list is really just depressing, and frustrating, and disappointing.

And parts of it are amusing, too. They ripped the two dollar mirrors off of the walls, presumably in the hopes of finding a hidden safe or some sort of secret stash. They took a bowl that can't have been worth more than $25 brand new (and certainly was not worth the weight of carrying it.) Clearly, these guys were stealing things for a reason—it seems they may not have been clever enough to do much else.

Insurance will help us recover most of the financial loss, although dealing with insurance companies is never fun. What we definitely can't get back is the feeling of safety.

The whole break-in really made us consider our situation. We are living in this beautiful area with so many great opportunities and things to enjoy, but it's too expensive to live someplace safe and we don't make enough money to enjoy many of the opportunities. Money is definitely a source of stress. And flying across the country multiple times a year for racing is not making the situation much better. Within hours, it became clear that Oakland was no longer our home—it was time to move on.

And so, Dan and I are starting the next phase of our lives. We've called Oakland home for two years now, and made some great memories here. But, on November 1st, we are packing our bags and starting out on a great adventure. Our route hasn't been decided yet, although we have a date for the Oregon-Oregon State Civil War game in Oregon on Thanksgiving weekend. And ultimately, we will make our way out to the great state of Connecticut, out on the right coast of the good ol' US of A.

There are a lot of things we will miss: mild winters, seeing family, diving in Monterey (ok, only Dan will miss that one), bountiful organic produce, vegan options in restaurants, and much more. But there are also a lot of things we won't miss: getting cat called every time I walk outside, crowded neighborhoods and sidewalks, bone dry summers, TV spoilers on Twitter (just kidding!), to name a few.

There are a million posts out there about fueling for long runs. Most of them have great information about nutrient amounts and timing, as well as the types of fuels that tend to work best. A lot of that information is applicable to erging (and rowing).

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