Vegan Wedding!

Trimazing! is excited to announce that we've updated our website and the Trimazing! blog is now integrated into that site!

The post you're looking for is now located at: https://trimazing.com/vegan-wedding

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And while you're at it, check out the new site. It has more information and even a free downloadable e-cookbook, What's for Breakfast? full of my favorite breakfast items.

Thank you for all of your support over the years and I look forward to seeing you at trimazing.com!

Vegas Post-Race Recovery!

A little post-race recovery!

 
So I'm settling in to post-race season recovery better than I thought I would! I've been having a blast!

Knee Update
I've been to physical therapy twice now, and this seems to be helping a lot. The physical therapist seems to think that my knee issue is probably a flareup of my IT band due to systemic inflammation. She believes that my post-Vineman immune system just wasn't able to deal with the inflammation from my sinus infection and   strep throat and allowed my little "tweak" of an injury to my IT band to become inflamed during my convalescence. The knee is not unstable at all, but the area around the distal end of the IT band had fluid in it. She's been using ultrasound and Graston® (just like the treatment I had for my ulnar neuropathy last year, see post), and it's getting much better. I'm also using the foam roller and doing some exercises to work the IT band. The swelling is down, pain has decreased and sometimes disappeared, and I've not had the "squeaky rub" condition for several days now. I do have a referral to a sports-medicine orthopedist in October, and I'm going to keep that appointment to see what things I can do to prevent future injuries to this area as I start up my full Ironman training this fall.

I'm slowly adding workouts in. I did a 1.5 mile swim last week and my knee was great for the first half; it got a little achy, not painful, so I just pulled the last half. I did a five minute stationary bike warmup at PT this morning with no pain at all, which is the first cycling I've had pain-free for a month. Tomorrow I'll do a 2-3 mile treadmill run and see how that feels. I'm really looking forward to getting back into training.

Vegan Vegas!
I went to Vegas last week for the first time in years. Believe it or not, it was soooo relaxing! I've never gone anywhere and just vegged at the pool...but that's exactly what I did and turns out, exactly what I needed! We spent four days at the pool, lounging, swimming, relaxing, enjoying drinks with little umbrellas in them, of course...ahhhhhh!

We stayed at the Wynn, which was beautiful, and, turns out, has outstanding vegan food at all of their restaurants and room service! The Wynn brought in vegan chef, Tal Ronnen, to develop wonderful vegan fare, and he hit it out of the park! Check out their menus.

The first night we ate at La Cave outside on the patio overlooking the pools. It was a beautiful setting. La Cave is a wine bar/restaurant that serves small plates in tapas style, although it's not Spanish cuisine. There was a whole section of vegan selections...and we ordered them all! Our favorite, which we ordered a total of three plates worth, was the Creamy Mushroom Tortellini, made with cashew cream. OMG! So fantastic! I'm going to have to figure out how to recreate that dish!

Room and poolside service was terrific too. Over the four days, for breakfast, we had the fruit plate with vegan soy vanilla yogurt, granola and soy yogurt parfait, and tofu scramble. It was all excellent! At the pool we had salads and a terrific roasted red pepper and avocado hummus.

The second night we ventured to the Bellagio to Sensi. While not a vegan restaurant nor one with a vegan menu, I had read in the Vegas Vegan blog about the amazing food they had there, and as it was one of my friend's favorite restaurants in Vegas, we were very intrigued to see what they had along the vegan lines. We had the BEST waiter--he was English and so much fun! We asked about a vegan menu and he got all excited and said he was go talk to the chefs to see what they would come up with, because "they really do love to create new exciting things!" He came back with a list of wonderful menu items...and we ordered them all! We had a fantastic Veggie Sushi Platter with a Ponzu Yuzu dipping sauce and a wonderful risotto for appetizers, followed by Tofu Scallops with stir-fried vegetables that were outstanding and a dish of seasonal vegetables that included a variety of summer squashes, carrots, green beans, etc. And a bowl of fresh berries with the most amazing lemoncello sorbet I've ever had in my entire life!

The last night we went to the Mix Lounge at the top of The Hotel at Mandalay Bay. Stunning! We ended up having drinks and dinner outside on the veranda on the 64th floor; it was a beautiful night with an orange harvest moon. The lounge is dark, sleek, and sexy...the restaurant is etheral and light, making for an amazing evening. Note...if you ever go here, you HAVE to check out the bathoom! Sexiest bathrooms on earth!

Mix is not a vegan restaurant, but they were more than happy to come up with a list of items they would make for us. We'd had so much food the other nights that we simply kept ourselves to two entrees this night! We shared a Vegetable Hot Pot with Wild Mushrooms and Potato Gnocchi with Morels and Asparagus. We did enjoy fresh breads for starter, which included four varieties of bread accompanied by fresh chunky peanut butter they make on site--I thought this was very original!

For dessert, we had a variety of sorbets which were amazing, and a warm madeleine, all served up on a beautiful platter scripted with "Happy Birthday" in chocolate and a candle!










My next blog will cover the adventure that followed Vegas...a Vegan Wedding (no, not me!!)! Stay tuned!

You Like to Think that you're Immune to the Stuff...

Me and Chrissie Wellington...WOW!

Oh yeah!

I was driving home this morning from work and Robert Palmer's "Addicted to Love" came on Pandora and it seems so fitting right now, in the context of triathlon for me.

And believe it or not, the line that caught my attention was "You like to think that you're immune to the stuff" not the addicted to love [tri]...

Let me explain...

Sadly, race season 2012 is done for me...and I'm having a really hard time about it! Mostly because I wasn't mentally ready to be done, but my body has different plans. I'm actually registered for a long course tri at Black Diamond in Enumclaw, Washington, the Portland Olympic Tri, and the Portland Marathon, and been registered for them for months, but I'm not going to be able to compete.

First it's been a full frontal attack by strep... The day after the Wahine relay I did as part of "The Afters" team I developed a sinus infection. Miserable. I really didn't think it was going to be a big deal, figured it was a little swamp water effect from Blue Lake, but it really knocked me on my butt. I couldn't sleep, worked my firefighter shifts and I know my crew made voodoo dolls in my likeness and tore them to pieces for keeping THEM up all night tossing and turning and coughing. But I took one shift off, got back on my feet and figured I was fine. Then...full on strep throat. The nurse told me, "No one gets strep in summer, after this test comes back negative I'll tell you how to deal with a sore throat." Well, I proved her wrong! I was in bed for a whole week, penicillin and the works. This was all four weeks post-Vineman.

Finally, when strep was clearing up, my left knee decided it really didn't like what I did during Vineman, riding on a flat for all that distance. Now I have developed pain in that knee with walking and especially up and down stairs or when carrying heavy objects. It comes and goes, sometimes feels so sharp that the knee feels unstable. I can feel a rub through the skin when holding my hand over the lateral knee and out of curiosity, auscultated it with a stethoscope and I have a pleuritic-like rub sound when I articulate that knee. It's like I'm the Tin Man from the Wizard of Oz and I need an oil port in my knee.

I saw my primary care who was certain I had a lateral epicondyle stress fracture, but this did not show up on x-ray. He gave me a knee sleeve to wear, but that increases the pain significantly, more than without a brace, so I’m not wearing it. I have a PT appointment tomorrow. He does not think it is from my IT band, does not think it’s meniscal, but doesn’t know what it is. So now I'm in an email debate with him over whether or not he will refer me to an orthopedic physician who specializes in endurance athletes.

I'm pretty devastated about having to quit my season. I realized it when I got the strep throat diagnosis. And I started GRIEVING! Seriously, that day was awful. I felt miserable, I got into a hot bubble bath and cried my eyes out. Friends and family helped a lot, but I'm still sad about it, although I've accepted it now. But, as I told a tri friend the other night at a reception for Chrissie Wellington, it's taking a lot to keep my spirits up at the moment, especially with this fight with my health provider over my knee. And really, I just want to be ready to start training for Ironman Tahoe. I know it's over a year away, but my mind is ready to start.

The thing is, even though I'd heard about athletes getting really sick after long endurance races, I really "felt immune to the stuff" and that it wouldn't happen to me. And that's really ridiculous as pretty much all of my triathlon friends who have done half and full Ironman races have gotten strep, bronchitis, and other infections the weeks following their events--and we've talked about it at length. Here is an article I found about this: http://triathlete-europe.competitor.com/2011/10/06/the-physiological-impact-of-an-ironman-on-the-human-body/

Why do I have to learn so much the hard way? My friend, Wyatt, said, "I think it doesn't stick otherwise." And then I also forget I'm new at this. This is only my second season, and I don't know what to expect. So I'm taking the rest of my season off, resting, healing, recuperating, enjoying time with friends and family and doing some traveling, things I wouldn't have time for otherwise. In my lowest of lows when I lamented to one friend, "I don't have any races to look forward to now.." he reminded me that we have an upcoming trip to Vegas..."You have THAT to look forward to now."

And, somehow, people come into your life at the right time to help you through rough patches. Chrissie Wellington came to Portland this week and I had the great opportunity to see her at Athlete's Lounge. She showed up in a walking cast on her left leg due to stress fractures. She's not racing Kona this year. And she's not sure what she'll do for next season, not sure she's racing even. What is she doing? She's spending time with family and friends, traveling. I think she was sent just when I needed her.






So in tribute to my Addiction to Tri...a little celebration of where I've come in these two seasons! Sing along!

Addicted to Tri

Your lights are on, but you're not home

Your mind is not your own

Your heart sweats, your body shakes

Another kiss is what it takes

You can't sleep, you can't eat

There's no doubt, you're in deep

Your throat is tight, you can't breathe

Another kiss is all you need

Whoa, you like to think that you're immune to the stuff, oh yeah

It's closer to the truth to say you can't get enough

You know you're gonna have to face it, you're addicted to tri...

You see the signs, but you can't read

You're runnin' at a different speed

Your heart beats in double time

Another kiss and you'll be mine, a one track mind

You can't be saved

Oblivion is all you crave

If there's some left for you

You don't mind if you do

Might as well face it you're addicted to tri!

The Afters! Wahine Sprint Relay Tri Race Report

"The Afters" Pam Johnson, Cindy Thompson, and Cindi Morrow

This is a very special race report! I'm so excited to share this story!

Isn't racing great? I mean, don't you just meet the most amazing, inspiring people? I'm constantly blown away with people's stories, how they started, what they've endured, obstacles they've overcome, achievements they've made, how racing and this community has impacted their lives. My friends, Cindi and Pam, are two of those people.

The After's team was born from my friendship with these two remarkable women. Pam and I met during my first triathlon season, when we kept bumping into each other on the podium and decided we needed to get to know one another. We've become great friends and training partners, and had teased each other that we should do a relay together some day and be on the same podium step! I met Cindi, a runner, a couple of years ago and really developed a friendship after unexpectedly bumping into each other at a vegan potluck put on by NW Veg. Cindi has been a great supporter and inspiration, coming to races, sharing race reports, and I've been threatening to take her over to the "dark side" of triathlon! While getting to know these ladies, we discovered that we had each undergone transformations of fitness and weight loss, and often talked about this in the context of "before" and "after." During a dinner last winter, one of us called ourselves "The Afters" and a fantastic idea emerged...we should form a triathlon relay team and celebrate our "After" selves! We chose the Wahine all-women's triathlon as our event.

Below are our stories.

Cindi Morrow

Cindi "After"

On June 1, 2009 I weighed 312 pounds. In five months I would turn forty. I'd tried scores of times to lose weight. Some of those attempts lasted a few days some for months but none of them took. This time though instead of one more failed attempt to lose weight I succeeded in gaining my health. 

There's a big difference between not wanting to be fat and wanting to be healthy.  More than losing 141 pounds I've grown as a person and as a citizen. I've learned that my food choices impact not just myself but my community, the environment, and animals that in the past I saw not as sentient beings but as food.  I've gone from being someone who took the shortest path between to points to a recreational athlete who has run three marathons, six half marathons, and countless races of shorter distances.   

Cindi "Before"

Between June 2009 and early October of that year I was a dedicated walker. I walked to shed weight. One night when I was out exercising after work it began to rain. I was tired after working a twelve hour shift. It was dark. I was a mile from home. And, now it was raining. Instead of walking, I figured, I'd run home. I'd be home that much quicker. Well, my first attempt at running lasted about a minute and left me grasping for breath, my heart pounding, my legs burning, but my spirit determined. How was it that I couldn't run? How was it that I'd allowed myself to become so incapable? I tried again the next day. It was no better. Same for the day after that one, too. I stuck with it and a month later I was able to run that mile without stopping.  It was a 14 minute mile but it was running! 

I was a new person. I was becoming the person I always wanted to be. Confident instead of unapologetic. Making things happen instead of making do. Controlling my body instead of my out of control body controlling me. I'm was a runner. I am a runner! Not a gifted one but a dedicated one. I'm slow (32:22 5K PR) but I finish. Sometimes I race against the clock, sometimes I race against my personal best, sometimes I race just to cover the distance. Each day I run I'm a healthier and happier person. Each step is a joy. Even the steps that are ugly and difficult on an uphill course on tired legs. Sometimes my standard four mile run on my home course starts like a punishment and ends with me wishing I had miles still to run. Running changed somewhere along the way from exercise to a passion . . . it influences what I eat and when I sleep . . . it's earned me health, friendship, and pride . . . running makes EVERYTHING else in my life easier.

Pam Johnson

Pam "After"

I'm one of those people that should "know better." I've done active things all my life (skiing, snowboarding, swimming, triathlon, mountain biking, etc.), but I've also had issues with my weight all my life. I seemed to always go through phases of all or nothing when if came to my weight and fitness level. I was either super fit and training for an Ironman or being overrun by stress at work with no outlet of physical activity and eating totally unhealthy. As I was approaching my 40th birthday though, I knew something had to change. I realized that I needed to get healthy in both body and mind...and for good this time. After all the turmoil of the down economy, I decided that no job was worth dying for. I wouldn't let my drive to excel at work cause me to lose drive in other parts of my life. I decided that as a gift to myself for my big birthday, I would finally take responsibility for my own health and happiness. 

Pam "Before"

So I made a plan. I set a realistic goal of one year to lose 90 pounds (with a provisional 80 pound stopping point if I felt good). I started exercising daily, which was difficult at first. And I decided to use Livestrong.com's calorie tracker to keep track of all my food intake and calorie burn. I started running on my lunch break, since we have showers at work, and went to the gym near the office after work. Running at lunch was a super stress reliever. I'd come back from a run ready to tackle the world. Going to the gym near work served 2 purposes. One: I had no excuses. I had to go to the gym. None of the getting home and losing motivation stuff. Two: I avoided the rush hour traffic on the highway. By the time I headed home, there was no traffic. This also served to ease my stress levels. Bonus!

After a very tough year with lots of ups and downs, I had lost 65 of the 90 pounds I had planned on. Ironically I wasn't disappointed in myself. In the past I would have been bummed that I failed at my goal. It took another 6 months to lose the last 15 pounds for a total of 80. Finally, I realized during all that hard work how to find balance. Balance at work. Balance in my fitness. Balance in my relationship with food. Balance in my personal life. I figured out that taking some time to better myself made me better at my job. I found that I dealt better with the pressures and things followed suit at work. I figured out that you really do have time to fit exercise into your life….even when you're busy. And you notice it more when you don't make time. I found that eating healthy makes me happy. I feel good when I eat the good stuff, but also figured out that an occasional ice cream cone isn't going to kill me either. I also started to like myself again. I wasn't doubting myself anymore and I stopped putting myself down. I like who I am, which means that my heart is open. Open to limitless possibilities. Open to love?

Me, Cindy Thompson

Me "After"

You may not remember February 2010, but it really was a pivotal time for me. I was the heaviest I had ever been in my whole life (I actually didn’t even know what I weighed, was afraid of the scale!) and other than just starting to change my diet, was very complacent about my fitness. I wasn’t really happy about my situation, but was pretty resigned to it. 

My Fire Department had received an Assistance to Firefighters Grant from the Federal Emergency Management Agency to develop a fitness program along the guidelines of the Firefighter Wellness Fitness Initiative developed by the International Association of Firefighters and International Association of Fire Chiefs. This program was not mandatory. The first step involved an initial fitness assessment, including lipid panel labs, body fat composition testing, and a physical fitness evaluation, and  I was very uncomfortable about this! I knew I was not in the best shape, but it was very important that I be a role model as a Captain in my department, and step up and participate in this voluntary program.

Me "Before"

I had my fitness assessment and it really encouraged me to make some changes. I started doing P90X  (on- and off-duty) that showed up at the station and participated in a firefighter-specific health program called PHLAME (Promoting Healthy Living; Assessing More Effects) with my crew. 

Since February 2010, I dropped 60 pounds, 7 uniform pants sizes, 3 uniform shirt sizes, and dropped my cholesterol and blood pressure readings. Beyond looking better, my fitness level soared, and gave me new athletic outlets I never even dreamed of:  the Seattle to Portland bike ride, Portland Marathon in 2011, a two-day team adventure race this summer in Central Oregon called the Wild Canyon Games, 2012 Open Water Swim National Championships, and an addiction to triathlons.

In March, my department asked me to head our Wellness Fitness program! What a turn of events! I'm now a certified Peer Fitness Trainer through the American Council on Exercise and excited to share my story and experiences with others to help them succeed and be inspired myself by their success.

  
Wahine Sprint Relay Triathlon, July 28, 2012, Blue Lake Park, Fairview, Oregon

In all, "The Afters" team was 281 pounds lighter than the Befores! It was a thrilling day, celebrating our health and watching Cindi participate in her very first triathlon!

Pam and Cindi setting up transition with Race Monkey!

Me finishing the swim

Pam returning from the bike to set Cindi in motion for the run

Cindi bringing "The Afters" home!

So how'd we do? Third place! And we had such a great time doing it too!

"The Afters" after!

But, the amazing thing was sharing the story of "The Afters" when people asked us about our team name. And you know what? We heard more inspirational stories from amazing women who are Afters too! I knew Kelly from the tri club, but I didn't learn her story until after the race while we were waiting for awards, when she shared with us her "Before" picture that she was carrying with her. Here is Kelly's story!

Kelly Johnson 

Kelly "After"

I don’t know where to start my story. I got married July 31, 1988 and I was at that time very fit from running and eating good portions and making good choices.  Then I got pregnant a year later and was told to hold off on my extreme exercise.  I then at that point started eating more and more. I gained 85lbs; let’s say baby fat.  

After my daughter was born, I was a yo-yo. I couldn’t lose the weight, added running then I figured I was in the best shape in the world and I could do anything ~ without proper training. I entered in the Hagg Lake Run. It was a 10.2 mile hilly race and I didn’t even think twice. After a mile and running uphill, I saw my daughter and husband I stopped and said take me home.  It was the first race that I did that I didn’t finish. 

Kelly "Before"

This was the start to my weight gain that up me over 270 lbs. I was so depressed that I let my family and mostly myself down. I started to have the job I had and I did what every person did, right? I went to the kitchen and ate everything in my path. I was angry and very sad at the same time. I kept turning to food and what a way to live. 

 I finally decided one day to stop and make changes in my life. It took me over 18 years to make that decision.  I started to walk a short distance, then longer then started to jog/run again. Having such a great support from my husband, I closed my business and returned to College. I was getting better with my weight loss but it has taken over 2 years to totally drop the 110 pounds and I still have 30 pounds to go. I am a work in process, really. I love to eat food; good and bad but it’s really a state of mind now.  I have goals and I still have to learn about portion control. 

In 2011, I started to do triathlons and I currently am working to be an Ironman. My goal is to do the Ironman Wisconsin 2013 and finish standing upright and fit.  


Are you an "After"? 
Doing this race, sharing our stories, was just an incredible experience! I know there are others. Would you like to share your story and join "The Afters"? Please, male or female, send me your story and photos and we'll share them on our new "Afters" Team Page I'm developing on the blog and on the Trimazing.com website. Let's celebrate our success and fitness together!