TOC and other fun things.

I got lucky enough to travel with ORCA and Orbea recently for Wildflower and 5 stages of the Tour of California! What a blast that was. Made plenty of new fun friends, lots of hard work, and gobs of miles logged in the car sight seeing on our way to the fabulous destinations we were setting up the expos in.

Few pics from my first time at wildflower!

Stage 1 was down in Encinitas, start and finish right on the main street! WOW! I had never been to a bike race before! I cannot describe the feeling you get when crowds are banging on the boards and cheering so loudly for the pro racers. AMAZING.

Stage 2 brought us out to Palm Springs, where we set up expo on the side of the mountain in the desert!   It truly felt like the surface of the sun, the cyclists said it was like racing into a hairdryer. Poor guys, it was at least 115 out there. Ugh.

Stage 3 took us out to Santa Clarita, or where Magic Mountain is!!!! Cute town, and finally back to normal temperatures! Phew! Another day of packing and unpacking the expo booth...which was quickly turning into our crossfit workout 2x per day! Tati and I got super strong! As the weather got more bearable, the large packs of riders started staying closer together with less break-a-ways! incredible having 50 guys sprinting to the finish line all together, holding at least 30+ mph. Jeezus. It was impressive.

We then raced all the way up to Santa Barbara for Stage 4! Swam in a 50 meter outdoor pool for our am workout, before the days crossfit began. Definitely my favorite finish by far!!! We set up right on the ocean, looked at the beach all day, had tons more spectators, ate the best food of the trip (Vegan food is actually amazing!)

Ever in a crazy hurry to beat the race to the next destination, we sped up to Pismo Beach for the Stage 6 end in Avila Beach. Again, I am logging all these little cities as places I need to come back to and stay a while. Yet another great day, we hated to see end, with incredible experiences to pro cyclists left us with from a tight race.

Coming home is tough. I totally miss my normal routine, I'm completely beat from all the insanity, but I hated to see the super fun experience end!!!!

Finally the hubbs gets some creativity back in his food when I'm feeling up to it!
Feeling sassy, I threw some ground chicken, quinoa, and a bunch of other yummy veggies in the rice cooker while I finished spinning out my legs on the trainer.
Stuffed yellow peppers sound soooo good right now. Yum.
Since the filling is all pre-cooked, the peppers steam up pretty quick in the oven when stuffed with the yummy hot filling.
Recipe is easy peasy.

Set up rice cooker, turn on steam cook option.
Throw in 1lb of ground chicken
3/4 c dry quinoa
1 1/4c chicken broth
Proceed to chop and toss in veggies you like! I used:
1/2 med yellow onion
1/2 zucchini
1 med jalapeno
3/4c chopped fresh mushrooms
1/2c frozen kale

When fully cooked (30 minutes) stuff into cleaned and halved yellow peppers, I topped them with a teeny bit of feta cheese. yum. Bake in oven on 375, for 20 minutes or till soft.

Terrible photography! I was soo starving I couldn't wait to take pretty pics!

On a soooper bomb note, got this enormous box from ORCA this week.....

Their new tri bag is loaded with kick a$$ features! I think I'm in heaven....

New Alpha 1.5 wetsuit is just begging me to go out and swim Naples Island before I head to Seattle next week....omg...I'm going to geek out for a sec....its 44 cell yamamoto rubber...holy hell it's flexible!!!! I'm like a kid in a candy store!!!!

Super coolness. My ankle is all healed! I already have like 4 runs on it, number five is today!!! yay!!!

 Hit up El Moro canyon with the Freeman family the other day, I missed it soo much! They showed me some fun new single tracks to run on! what a blast!

San Juan Puerto Rico!!!!!!!!!!!

March has been the busiest month yet!!!

Flew to Seattle for hair trip, then 5 days later Kev raced Bayshore 70.4, and our friend Kathryn flew up from Hawaii to race it too. She flew home, and 2 days later we flew out to PR!

Kenz and I have been working my butt off all winter to be ready for San Juan 70.3! It was the same day at St. Patricks day, so i had high hopes that the luck of the irish on my side. Checking in, number 411. yeah, superstitous....dont judge! ha! 

 Sooo worth the 15 hours of travel time to San Juan. ouch. We arrived thursday am passed out (highly recommend the Conrad) and woke up to beautiful, scenic, hot, and humid San Juan!

We fell asleep that first afternoon in the hammock on the ocean, a definite must do for everyone! So peaceful...waves crashing, breeze blowing the palm trees, sunshine burning my face to a crisp. oops.

Super humid weather on day two was my first shake out run...left me pouring sweat, out of breath and pretty nervous for race day.

Spent the next couple days doing the usual race tuneup stuff, eating delish puerto rican food, touring awesome forts from the 1600s on electric bikes. pretty damn awesome race-cation.

Check-in to the race on friday went sooo smoothly! Very organized race!! I was super stoked too, but crazy nervous..all I wanted was to get my slot to vegas! 

4:50 am race morning wake up call...we had to run our gear bags over to transition, and then walk the mile back to swim start before the waves start going off.

My wave went off at 7:12, soo thankful it was early enough--so I wouldn't be running in the afternoon heat! Had my new fancy 226 kit on from ORCA along with my trusty ORCA Killa Swimskin, and the water was turquoise and looked clear!  The swim was pretty smooth on the way out, but after making the turns to head back to transition I realized why it was soo easy on the first third. ugh. Nasty current and swimming into waves that got more and more intense as you get closer to the exit and the open ocean. Honestly I've never been nauseous on a swim before...but the waves lifting you up and crashing you down was really rough on the tummy. swim time 32:39, 3rd in age group.

Ran a quarter mile to T1, longest yet! Then you run thru a stadium, grab your bike, and run another couple tenths of a mile to the mount line. barefoot. totally trashed the feet, since they don't carpet it. ugh ended that in just over four minutes. yuck.

Bike course was not my strength (flat), but still absolutely gorgeous and scenic. Lots of iguanas too! They're HUGE! Chilling on the side of the road watching you go by...pretty funny. Legs felt super fresh, shook off the swim nausea, and was able to hammer away till it starting raining pretty heavily. Slowed a bit, couldn't see out of my glasses...and I'm always sooo scared of wiping out now! :)  New Orbea Ordu rides like an absolute dream. I can tuck down nice n tight, and hammer away, while she handles sooo steady and smooth. Beyond excited to race her again and again, going to be a fabulous season on her!!! 1st age group off the bike, and rode a 2:36! yay! Only a couple minutes off some of the super badass pro chicks! Love it!

T2 was just a backwards version of T1, so pretty long still...threw on my Newtons and ORCA visor and ran thru the stadium begging for sunscreen! Apparently Banana Boat sponsors the event, so the set up a huge tent at T2 exit....was pretty nice to have like 5 peeps spray the heck out of you with 50-something! Rockin! No burn for me! 

The run course didnt play to my strengths either! GRR! Oh well, it was INCREDIBLE! Sooo beautiful right along the ocean, to San Juan...past the two forts built in the 1600s...then down the cobblestone hills thru to the protected paths on the backside of the forts...right ON the ocean. amazing.

My energy was great! legs were ready to go! Its too bad I felt my right ankle 'pop' at mile 3 of the course, and knew it was pretty bad. Saw Kev on the way back, about mile 5, got my placing updates from him...and let him know I was in pretty bad shape. Like any good husband and spectathlete he tells me I JUST got passed, how far behind her I was, how far in front of 3rd I was, and to STOP whining! So thats what im thinking the whole time...shoot I came this far, I'm in 2nd place...I have a huge lead on 3rd...stop whining--maintain an 8:30 pace and you'll be fine. So thats what I did. I power hobble/jogged up the massive hills. Had a super high cadence, and 'ran' on my right heel till I hit 13.1. Soooo relieved to be done! 'Ran' a 1:56. 2nd in my age group. :) 

Had medical carry me to the tent...and doc could feel the break already...casted it and then she made me promise to go to the doctor when we got home--so I could go to awards, and claim my Vegas slot too...I got super lucky and there were 2 slots for 30-34....YAY!!!!! I definitely thanked God for that little blessing, sooo wonderful! 5:12 with a broken ankle. Not bad.

My dream of hitting a sub 5 HIM will have to wait for another day...had it in my grasp! I have never felt sooo good after a race tho, so much in the tank that went un-tapped...cant wait to have my ankle all healed up!!!!

The next 2 days Kev and I celebrated at the pool, I could finally have a delicious mojito...omg. Best. Thing. Ever. Yum. (And yes, i took my cast off so I could sit in the pool!!!) :)

We found out that its annoying to have a partner on crutches, but great when going to the airport...wheelchairs and personal attendants at your disposal! (trying to be glass half-full here, cause not walking does suck. ;)) 

Anyway, Im pushing for another trip out there already. It pretty much rocks. Loved every second, next time we need to stay a little longer me thinks. :) 

Sooo I'm super thankful for my sponsors this year. They all have gifted me with soo much time, effort, and incredibly fast gear to race and train with. Check them out if you can, you cant beat truly great companies that have amazing customer service and high quality products. Thanks to Orbea, ORCA Triathlon, Pro Bike Supply, and Relax Reflect you have a very grateful chick over here! :)

2013 Planning

This should be a very fun year! I am sooo stoked about starting my season super early! After running surf city half next month, we are headed to puerto rico in march! whoop whoop!

This past october when planning the race schedule, i thought how awesome it will be to finally make it somewhere different and super warm to race! However, i forgot that training all winter for 3 sports can be challenging! (definitely not as challenging as when i lived in Seattle though)

You see, in the two years Ive lived in SoCal, i've become acclimatized! So now 40* in the morning feels like 20*! BRRRRRRR! However, wait till 11-12 in the morning (it warms up) and you still get a bit of a tan on your SBR workouts. Definitely not sad about that!

In May, we are headed back out to St. George. Yeah, I know what happened to my poor hubbs there....at least they changed the bike course for this race...however, the run is back to a nasty little death march long hill repeat day. I will be logging lots and lots of hills this winter. :( Getting pretty good at them tho.

June is still up in the air. We are hoping for Honu 70.3, but may need some kind of miracle benefactor on that one. ;) Since money doesnt exactly grow on trees around here. haha.

July, headed back to our old stomping grounds for Lake Stevens! Soooo perfect that we have friends getting married in Snohomish, and the next morning I'll be racing away! FUN! *fingers crossed* for decent weather this year, its been long enough that its been crap and wet up there.

More recently, I've been playing with TRIBE-Tri Club of Long Beach, trying to get the Chicks team off the ground. Its going to be a super fun year! Working with Erin, another local rockstar, we will kick this team up a notch!

Heres the super cool Chicks kits developed with Betty Designs, looking HOT!!!

I am lucky enough to be sponsored by ORCA another year. They are soooo good to me, and I'm working my booty off to not disappoint! I'll post pics of the new super badass gear thats currently in the mail! Exciting since they've been making everything even more amazing for 2013!

...and a VERY VERY cool thing.....

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I get to ride Orbea this year!!!! Wooo hooooo!

My new dama is in the mail....speedy fast, killer carbon, and its got some pretty pink on her!!!

My gorgeous ORDU is on a boat! fingers crossed she'll be here soon! 

Sexy HUH? :)

But I get to play on this pretty color.....

Lets have a name contest.

Cool SWAG to the idea I pick for the best names for these two H.O.T ladies.

I'll post the winner in my next blog. Comment below!!! :)

Happy Saturday!!!!

Happy New Year!

So its 2013, and one of my resolutions this year (amongst other things...) is to post more. At least once a week. I experience so many great things! Whats not worthy of sharing?!
So since I am asked quite a bit about my cooking, I'll most likely be sharing LOTS of food. MMMM, the Steinbuch house always smells good if I do say so myself!
Lately I've been using my rice cooker a TON. Its kind of like cooking with your crock pot but WAY faster. Big thanks to Skratch Labs for this idea, quite a while ago from their bada$$ FeedZone cookbook.
Today was the same... chop veggies and chicken, toss in rice cooker, hit steam cook button, go spin on trainer. House filled with delicious smells. Torture spinning away, watching the Hangover 2, trying to stop my tummy from growling.

This is a low fat take on that cream of chicken casserole yo Momma made.

I chopped up a half an onion, yellow pepper, and about 2.5 cups of mushrooms. Tossed in pot that i had turned on to preheat it.

Next came about 1lb of chicken breast i chopped up, salt and peppered, and tossed in with veggies. I then added 1 can of reduced fat cream of chicken soup, with 1 cup of low sodium chicken broth, and stirred the whole mixture up, so all the lumps were gone!

Closed the lid and away I went! It self times and cooks perfectly.

When we were ready to eat, Kev made some brown ride fusilli noodles to go with his (it will be liquidy, to thicken you can add a bit of cornstarch to the mix about halfway thru cooking time), and I added 1/2 cup of quinoa to my bowl! Yummy veggies and chicken got mad props from the hubbs. I was stoked he didn't notice how many veggies I once again snuck into his dinner! YAY!

It's just too bad we ate it so fast and didn't get any 'after' photos! Next time!

Fun photo I took at pool today, hit 71 in lgb. It was awesome!

Honu 70.3 2012, the only thing that sucked was the wind!

I'm soooo late with this post, ugh slacker!!!! 

No wonder I always got Bs and Cs in English...hated to write! ...at least i could spell! (now watch, i'll totally misspell something right now!)

Hawaii doesnt suck. Seriously.

We sunbathed at the pool.

Even when its sooo windy you ride sideways, wish i had a photo like Lance.

small craft advisory on race day. seriously?!

We ate.

We had our posse in town with us.

We swam, sometimes with turtles. (where were all these dolphins everyone was chillin with?)

omg, this swim skin is sooo fast....you're missing out if your aren't in it.

We raced.

32:00 swim, 2:49 bike, and a awful 1:57 run, winds were cruel 44mph race day.

I got a cool new bowl for oatmeal. (just kidding, i think some sunglasses are in it right now)

5th AG

got some more stupid a** blisters, like usual...cant wait to try my new secret weapon...

We drank.

...ok, non-alcoholic mostly...i'm not that fun. :)

We ate some more, oh and shopped!

Life is good, Hawaii style.

Big big thankyous to our amazing old friends, and thankful to have made 

some great new ones as well! We couldn't have had more fun, or had such a

great trip without you! XOXOXOXO