TWIW: Week of January 15

Sunday: none

Monday: teach spin (60 min.)

Tuesday: yoga (60 min.)

Wednesday: Body Pump (60 min.)

Thursday: rest (chest cold)

Friday: teach spin (45 min.)

Saturday: yoga video (60 min.)

TWIW: Week of January 8

Sunday: yoga (60 min.)

Monday: teach spin (45 min.)

Tuesday: cardio class (45 min.)

Wednesday: Body Pump (60 min.)

Thursday:spin class (60 min.)

Friday: teach spin (45 min.)

Saturday: cardio video (30 min.); yoga video (60 min.)

TWIW: Week of January 1-7

Sunday: yoga video (45 minutes)

Monday: teach spin (60 minutes)

Tuesday: none*

Wednesday: Body Pump (60 minutes)

Thursday: none

Friday: teach spin (45 minutes)

Saturday: bike ride (14 mi.); yoga video (60 minutes)

* I decided to be more honest with myself and call a no-exercise day "none," rather than "rest." If I do have to take a rest day due to fatigue or injury, I will note it as "rest."

TWIW: Week of November 27

Sunday: bike ride (26 mi.)

Monday: teach spin (45 min.)

Tuesday: rest

Wednesday: Body Pump (60 min.)

Thursday: rest

Friday: teach spin (45 min.)

Saturday: yoga (60 min.); bike ride (19 mi.)

TWIW: Week of November 20

Sunday: bike ride (14 mi.)

Monday: teach spin class (45 min.)

Tuesday: rest

Wednesday: rest

Thursday: spin class (90 min.)

Friday: cardio abs video (30 min.)

Saturday: run/walk (30 min.)

This Week in Workouts: Week of November 13

Sunday: rest

Monday: teach spin class (45 min.)

Tuesday: rest/lazy/maybe coming down with a cold?

Wednesday: yoga (60 min.)

Thursday: spin class (60 min.)

Friday: teach spin class (45 min.)

Saturday: yoga (60 min.)

Epic Mini Local Adventure: C&O/W&OD Semi-Circle (66 miles)

We have been definitely upping our cycling mileage this past summer, which has been great. With more time spent in the saddle and some minor modifications to our highly unexceptionable bikes, we've been feeling more comfortable with longer distances. And by longer distances, I mean 20-30 miles. Before the weather got too cold and nasty, I wanted to try a epic (for us) ride. I had read about the C&O and W&OD Loop, a 75 mile loop that takes you up the C&O Canal to White's Ferry, across the Potomac, and then connects back to the W&OD back into Washington. Frankly, that "75" number scared us, especially since our then-longest trip was about 35 miles. S did some serious Google-Earth planning on how to make this work,and we decided we'd bike to Arlington and take the Metro back with our bikes.

We started off on a cold Saturday morning, our pockets filled with sandwiches and Cliff bites and took the first hour on quiet suburban streets and windy country roads out to Potomac. There's a lovely multi-use path that runs alongside River Road, which we took until we reached Swains Lock. After stopping for port-a-potties and shedding some clothes, we set off on the gravel canal towpath.
North of Bethesda, this section of trail is really quite lovely and uncrowded; we saw a few cyclists and joggers, but mostly we were on our own (though we did see at least two sets of cyclists who looked like they were taking Veterans Day weekend to bike the entire towpath). A bit of wind off the river, but gorgeous views across the Potomac.
.

It turns out that 20 miles on gravel is quite taxing, and we were ready for our sandwiches and a quick break as we paid our $4 for our ferry ride across the Potomac.

By this time, we were getting a little anxious for a break, but we needed to keep riding to Leesburg. A few big, busy routes, but fortunately with wide shoulders. Once we made it into Leesburg,we had the usual shopping center choices for lunch, and we settled on California Tortilla for refueling, bathrooms and lots of water.
Just after Route 7, we found our way on to the W&OD Trail. The difference between the W&OD and the C&O cannot be overstated. The W&OD is paved, well-marked, has lovely amenities and is close to lots of towns. I'm sure it's terribly overcrowded in the summer, but in mid-November, it was far from full.

historical signs!

Amazing amenities

Despite better riding conditions, and maybe because we had stopped for lunch, our motivation and pace slowed considerably when we got on the W&OD. It took us a while for us to bring our pace back up. We decided to stop in Reston for coffee, and enjoyed being a spectator to some kind of charity Undie Run through the town center.

With the setting sun now as a motivator, and with what appeared to be a slightly downhill route, we were able to pick up the speed and carry on to East Falls Church, where we took our bikes on the metro and back home again.

Our total mileage was 66 miles, which I realize is not amazing, but it was hard work for us on our hybrids, without cliples pedals, particularly on the gravel towpath portion. My legs ached on Sunday in an unfamiliar way! I did learn that I am not quite ready for a century ride, though that is one of my goals for next season.

Here's hoping to many more happy miles out for next season!

This Week in Workouts: Week of November 6

Sunday: bike ride (13 miles)

Monday: bike ride (12 miles); teach spin class (45 min.)

Tuesday: rest

Wednesday: Body Pump (60 min.)

Thursday: rest/lazy

Friday: bike ride (7 miles); teach spin class (45 min.)

Saturday: bike ride (66 miles!)

Coffeeneuring

In a matter of minor local fame, S and I have been profiled on the Chasing Mailboxes website as finishers of the Coffeeneuring Challenge.

What is Coffeeneuring, do you ask?

Well, the idea is simple: take a leisurely bike ride to a coffee shop and enjoy a tasty beverage. Biking for the sake of a good ride, not for time or distance. So, what was the challenge? Complete seven of these rides over the course of six weekends -- a maximum of two trips per weekend. And despite being out of town for two of the six weekends, we managed to complete the challenge set out for us!

Check out a summary of our coffee exploits
here and here.

This Week in Workouts: Week of October 30

Sunday: Rest

Monday: teach spin class -- 45 min.

Tuesday: elliptical -- 40 min.

Wednesday: Body Pump (strength training) -- 60 min.

Thursday: spin class -- 60 min.

Friday: teach spin class -- 45 min.

Saturday: bike ride (approx. 24 miles)

Crime Scene

Twenty-one Phish concert goers were arrested on drug charges at Meriwether Post Pavilion, according to the Post. Talk about low-hanging fruit.

A New Year's Wish

Be always at war with your vices, at peace with your neighbors, and let each new year find you a better man.

-- Benjamin Franklin

Happy 2010 to all of you!

A New Blog Find

A new blog find, Sarcastic Lutheran. The author is a pastor for a mission church in Denver.
Some very thoughtful reads which I am working my way through, but I appreciated her meditation on the .Magnificat.

A Cabin Fever Menu

Where were you when Snowpocalypse 2009 hit?

Me, I was still at our office holiday party festivities around 9pm on Friday. I looked outside to see the fat white flakes starting to fall. By Saturday morning, things looked very dubious and by late Saturday morning, I decided against trying to take the train to Baltimore. (Probably a wise choice, as Amtrak is severely delayed and the metro is still not running above ground as I write this on late Sunday afternoon.)

So, what to do in a blizzard? Listen to holiday music, of course. Maybe a few loads of laundry? Read my book. Ah, yes . . . and cook, cook, cook.

I didn't want to venture to the store for ingredients until today, so I had to be a little creative with the ingredients I have. So, this is what I ended up with. What did you cook? What are your favorite "cabin fever" dishes?

Saturday breakfast:
Leftover pumpkin-walnut-cranberry muffins. Defrosted and toasted, with a big cuppa joe on the side. Miraculously, my Saturday newspaper arrived, so I enjoyed the paper with my breakfast.

Saturday lunch:
Spaghetti squash, roasted, and tossed with butter, garlic, sauteed mushrooms, sage and thyme. The spaghetti squash had been sitting on my counter for over a week, so I knew it would be the perfect day to bake it.
Slice of leftover bread (our friend Greg baked it and brought it last Saturday for a potluck), with butter and apricot jam)

Tea:
Well, good black tea, of course. And banana bread. I had to alter the recipe to make it vegan, because we were out of eggs. Fortunately, banana bread veganizes very nicely using ground flaxseed.

Saturday Dinner:
Red lentil stew with basmati rice. This is a recipe from Gourmet magazine (RIP) that I had made once before. I had every ingredient I needed (red lentils, onion, frozen peas, garlic, ginger, and spices) except spinach, which I would have otherwise sliced into strips and added to the stew at the very end.

Saturday dessert:
I sliced two otherwise sad looking golden apples into an oven-proof bowl. I sprinkled a mixture of brown sugar, butter, cinnamon, and a little bit of flour over the top and baked in the oven for 25 or so minutes. Served perfectly with a bit of vanilla ice cream on top (which miraculously I did have!), while I watched some sappy Irish feel-good film on Netflix on demand.

Today, I managed to get to the grocery store. Unfortunately, nary an egg to be seen. (Given the opportunity for "southwestern-style" Eggbeaters, I demurred.) So I am experimenting right now with coconut cookies and a pecan-pie style bar cookie recipe, to see if they will work with egg whites only.
I think we'll be plowed out by tomorrow (though a plow has yet to touch our street, it has touched the more major roads in our neighborhood.) And to think...they are predicting another snow later this week!

More Pumpkin Delights

For me, fall and spring present a never-ending opportunity to bake pumpkin related foods. (Heck, only the hottest days of August truly deter me from firing up the oven to bake pumpkin muffins.)

So this past cold Sunday afternoon, I pored through cookbooks to see what I could come up with. The result? Pumpkin bars made with a pecan streusel topping. Perfect with afternoon tea, I even took some into work with me on Monday to share with coffee.

The original recipe called for a cream cheese frosting on top of the bars. I was lacking some of the ingredients for that part, so I opted to substitute a pecan streusel from a different recipe. I'm sure the cream cheese frosting is lovely, but pumpkin and pecan, to me, are like salt and pepper. I don't know if you can have them separately (though I am willing to be convinced otherwise.)

Pumpkin Bars with Pecan Streusel
(adapted from King Arthur Flour Cookie Companion)

Bar Ingredients:
1/3 c. vegetable oil
2 large eggs
1 c. sugar
1 c. canned pumpkin
1 tsp pumpkin pie spice (I use Penzey's)
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking powder
1 1/4 c. all purpose flour

Streusel Ingredients:
1/4 c. brown sugar
4 tbsp cold butter
1/2 c. chopped pecans

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350F and lightly grease a 9x9 pan
Cream together all bar ingredients except the flour. Then add flour, and blend until smooth.
Spread batter in prepared pan.
Mix together streusel ingredients and sprinkle over batter.
Bake for 30-40 minutes. Let cool completely on rack before cutting.