Archive for January 5, 2010

The Triathlon Rx | January 5, 2010
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Can we rename them LoveMuffins?

Aright bloggies – remember when I said that sometimes life happens? Well, what is about to follow is definitely one of those cases.

A while ago (and I really do mean a while… like pre-Thanksgiving I think) a wonderful little MuffinFairy sent me a very generous assortment of goodies. These were goodies that I had been eyeing for quite some time, but never bit the bullet deliciousness and bought myself. Yes my friends, I confess: I was a Vitalicious Virgin. I can’t tell you how many times I had drooled over these ridiclicious VitaCreations I had seen popping up on other blogs. There were even NON-chocolate flavors, which definitely tugged on my I-love-dessert-but-chocolate-aint-my-thang heart strings. So you can bet your butt that when this bit-o-mail showed up on my doorstep and I opened the box, I nearly fainted:

Yes – please do drool and ooh and ahh, because you know I was. This makes me even more disappointed in my major display of slackeritis for not posting about this the second they arrived in the mail. Maybe I was just too busy eating them still in shock. Hopefully the MuffinFairy will forgive me, because its still better late than never, right? ;) So here we go folks – my official…

LoveMuffin Vitalicious Product Review:

If the title isn’t a sign of my deepest emotions towards these little individually wrapped portioned controlled packages of bliss, then I don’t know what is. I feel like a small tiny hole in my heart has been filled.  I know, I know… for a future doctor, I’m gonna have to work on being less emotional. But these bad boys are GOOD! And you wanna talk about GOOD FOR YOU? Why yes Docta T.R., I do! From Vitalicious’ website:

Vitalicious® Inc. is the market leader of innovative “vital and delicious” baked goods that promote a healthy lifestyle, without sacrificing taste. First to market with 100-calorie servings, Vitalicious® is leading the way to a holistic approach to maximize satisfaction with minimum calories, with products that are low fat and high in fiber and nutrients. Vitalicious® has created a unique triangle of need-satisfaction (All-Natural ingredients + Nutraceuticals + Weight Management), the only baked-goods company in this niche. Founded in 1999, Vitalicious® creates and sells a variety of unique, healthy, value-added baked goods under the VitaMuffin™, VitaTop™, VitaBrownie™, VitaCake™, and VitaMuffin Mix™ trademarks. Vitalicious® products are now sold at stores nationwide and at www.vitalicious.com (www.vitalicious.ca for Canadian Residents). Here at Vitalicious® our mission is simple: to make healthy and delicious baked goods that are fortified with essential vitamins and minerals.

The Vitalicious website also has a cool little page comparing the nutritional information of a Vitamuffin with an apple:

I’m not telling you to abandon your fresh produce, but hey, sometimes when I’m craving BAKERY my mind doesn’t instantly jump to APPLE. We’re all human here.

And since here at Dr.TriRunner we’re all about being real, let’s compare a VitaMuffin to, oh… let’s just say a Panera Cinnamon Roll. And I only single out this delicious cinnamon roll because I happened to eat one of these monsters in it’s entirety by myself at 10:45 pm the other night. And it was DELICIOUS and well worth every single bite. For fairness sake, lets even get crazy and compare a 4 oz. Vita Muffin (and Deep Chocolate too, because we also need equality on the decadence scale) because my cinnamon roll was definitely, um.. large. Like 7 oz. large. (click the picture to view larger)

vs.

I’m not blind. I know my cinnamon roll contained 24g of fat (vs. 3 in the VitaMuffin), 14g of which were saturated (vs. 1.5 in the VM)  and 33g of sugar (vs. 23g)… and I also know I loved it! But did I really need a 7 oz. cinnamon roll at 10:45pm? Probably not. It’s also probably true no one needs a Lumberjack Slam – two huge buttermilk pancakes drowning in butter and syrup, grilled honey ham, two slices of bacon, two sausage patties, two eggs, hashbrowns or grits, and two slices of buttery toast. Mmm I can feel my arteries closing already! Obviously not the healthiest choice, but that doesn’t stop it from being put on the menu, and if it’s on the menu, someone will order it. It’s not “new news” that America is obsessed with the bigger = better mentality, and that definitely applies to food as well. Moderation hombre… treat yourself well, with the same respect you’d give your grandma (or your two year old), and enjoy the good things in life in moderation. My VitaHomies – I give you five gold stars!

Now the Vitamuffins and Vita brownies were amazing on their own… don’t get me wrong. I found out soon though that a little splash o’ this, dollop o’ that (just probably not Daisy… no offense but sour cream+brownie wasn’t my ideal image of YUMM) took these bites of heaven to a whole ‘nother level! Seeing as how I had TWENTY FOUR to sample, I felt like I had some wiggle room for experimenting. And speaking of “wiggle room”, yes, Jello did make it into the mix on several occasions. For lack of any creativity whatsoever at the moment a better name, I deemed that one the VitaCottageJello Mountain. If YOU feel so inclined to make a VitaMixofDeliciousness, but don’t really know where to start, well Vitalicious thought of that! There is a page dedicated to VitaRecipes for you to explore. Oddly enough, I feel like most of you readers are creative enough in the kitchen to come up with your own awesome combinations, but a little inspiration can go a long way! Some of my favorite combinations (that I’m sure have all been tried before) included greek yogurt, applesauce, frozen yogurt, TruWhip, microwaved frozen strawberries, and microwaved apple+cinnamon. Some of my more unique concoctions included blending a vitatop into a particularly delicious protein shake, and also baking a vitatop into a cake of sorts. Haha… why so secrative, and why no photos? I feel like those could have been posts on their own, which you may or may not be seeing in the near future…. :D I liked these guys so much, I felt it completely reasonable to take over our entire freezer:

My posts tend to get lengthy my friends, and that is what this is starting to do. So I will wrap with my [multiple] one word reviews of the Vitalicious products sent to me:

  • Delicious
  • Heaven
  • WarmFuzzyMuffinMemoryCreating
  • Melty
  • FlavorExplosionInYourMouth
  • MorePlease!?

And I leave you with that. I know most of you don’t need my review because you are all VitaMuffinMasters and way ahead of this chick who has been living under a rock. I am going to head over to my blender to attempt to recreate a shake from heaven….

Love,
-E

p.s. For future reference, you can find this post and all of my other product reviews under the Product Reviews tab at the top of the page!

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The Triathlon Rx | January 1, 2010
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2010: BRING IT.

I thought a lot about what I want to go into this post – 2009 has been a pretty intense year on all fronts, and I don’t want to minimize anything that happened. At the same time, we’re not supposed to dwell on the past, right? This quote is not the most optimistic or motivational of all quotes I could have pulled, but I like it. Forget the fact that I have no clue who the guy who said it is.

“Stop acting as if life is a rehearsal. Live this day as if it were your last. The past is over and gone. The future is not guaranteed.”
-Wayne Dyer

I apologize Mr. Dyer, but we are as of yet unacquainted. He does make some good points though, and I feel like it really resonates with my goals for 2010, which I will get to shortly. First though (and more so for my benefit than yours) I want to take a minute to look back to all that has happened over the last 12 months. Feel free to indulge/skim/ignore as you please. :)

January – Recovered from my percutaneous pinning, 2008. Was accepted into the Honors Health Science program. Went back to Boston for spring semester. Started contemplating “what if I transferred schools…”

February – Went to the Rebook Indoor Games. Was CLEARED to run after [what felt like years worth of] very successful rehab. Flew home for spring break and realized how much I was missing Minneapolis. Namely, family. And the Lakes.

March – Back in Boston. Was still “planning” on running the 2009 Boston Marathon. Vacillated with that decision 10 10,000 Umpteen times. Got my mileage in, albeit very slow running it was.

April – Was hit by a car on April 8th. Insurance never came through. Made it through finals. Decided at the race expo day before the marathon that I could still run. Hobbled to mile 10 on April 20th, hopped on a medical bus to the finish. Majorly. Defeated. Moved back home to Minneapolis for the summer.

May – Took a break from the blog. Back at work at the Tin Fish. Emotions running high with post-marathon-FAIL/car accident/insurance not willing to cover anything, I realized the University of Minnesota transfer deadline had not yet passed. Made my mind up that I was movin’ home for GOOD before I even got in.

June – Got in. No stress. ;) Couldn’t go to PT or have any medical appointments because of eastcoastinsuranceFAIL. Hip was feeling much better though, and xrays showed no mechanical damage. Began running with the Dashers and started Twin Cities Marathon training. Slowly.

July – Running was going well, really well. I even started to get my fast back! Ran first race back since surgery and took my age group. Despite that, I started feeling some “twinges” in my hip. Reminded me of how it felt pre-surgery in September 2008. The pain was sporadic, and I still couldn’t go see a doctor because of above insurance dilemma.

August – Got back into triathlons (and the blog!), placed in AG at Green Lake Tri. Joined the University of Minnesota Triathlon Team! Sister got MARRIED! Went out to Philadelphia to visit my dad. Knew on a 15 mile run we did out there that something was still wrong. Still bigheaded hopeful, thought I was going to go ahead with Twin Cities Marathon. Got a sick tri bike – my baby the QRoo. Ran Ragnar Relay.

September – Placed in AG at St Croix Valley triathlon. Also took AG for the Victory Memorial 10K & 5K. School at the University of Minnesota started, and I knew I honestly made the best decision of my life! Finally on new insurance was able to go see a doctor. Had the Appointment of Doom and found out I refractured my femoral neck.

October – Very reminiscent of April, was still thinking I’d run up until the day before the marathon. Didn’t run (didn’t even start. What a DA). Major tears and mommy support when we went to go Watch the Best Race Of The Year. Held Sperly’s First giveaway! Was denied medical coverage for a bone growth stimulator, but an awesome student assistance program picked up the tab. Did not run from September 22nd until November 9th, but swam and spun my ass off.

November – Moved from RunRoamRecycle to self-hosted Dr.TriRunner. Was cleared to start running… again. Started my Train On Top series. Met some very special people. Dismissed some very not. Turned 20! Will always be the grown baby of my class.

December – Rocked first semester of my Junior year back at the U of MN (with a lot of hard work)! Was accepted into a pretty cool mentorship program with the Med school. Sold my soul to 20 credits this spring. Had my very first Christmas at HOME due to the “Snowmageddon” of 2009.

Um, notice I did say you could skim! Sorry. :D I know I’ve mentioned it before, but my main thought when I started this site (back in the RRR days) was that someday I’d print out all the pages, photos and all, and turn this into a book – obviously not a book that I’d expect anyone else to read/buy, but a book that would remind me of how special life really is.

Entering into 2009, I didn’t make any real “resolutions” because I was too drugged up on Percocet and Vicodin from my hip surgery to think past the next three hours. I did notice when I was home last year at this time was my dry erase board, which happened to still have 2008′s resolutions goals written on it. (Does anyone else not like the word “resolution”? I feel like is signing yourself up to quit. Hahaha! Moving on…) Here’s what it looked like…

Kidding. But howww much do I love flickr!? These were the REAL five goals I had written for the year of 2008:

  1. Make a college decision (I was trying to decide if I’d move out to Boston or go to San Diego)
  2. More family time
  3. More home cooked meals
  4. Strengthh train damnit!
  5. GET. MORE. SLEEP.

I feel like an 80% success rate is pretty good, dontcha think? My 20% FAIL lies in #5, which you will see is well noted below. It’s easy for me to look back and say that 2009 was consumed with a whole lot of injuries, doctors appointments, and more time rehabbing than running. Its important for me to remember the really good things though too: lots of family time, moving back to Minneapolis, the triathlon team, hard work -> killer grades, meeting some amazing people and being closer to really good friends.

[EDIT: GOOD LORD. HOW. DO. I. END. UP. WRITING. SO. MUCH. ?.]

Time to get down to bidness…

GOALS FOR 2010:

  1. Continue to work on getting more sleep. Ideally 8 hours minimum per night. If that’s not possible, bet your butt that I need to make up for it later.
  2. Make sure to keep up swimming and cycling during the brief periods that you are “cleared” to run. Maybe those periods wouldn’t be so brief anymore.
  3. Allow room for grey areas. Not everything in life is all or none, needs a plan, or a set schedule. Try to incorporate the practice of “go with the flow”.

And three is what I have. Not one, because that would be a little too all or none. :) Not two, because I don’t do even numbers. Three is my balance, and I’m shooting for 100% here. (Wait.. that doesn’t sound very non-”all or none.” This will take work.) You will hopefully see a follow up post with my action plan, because we all know that saying your going to do something, and actually doing it are two different things. These goals are SMART my friends (I always knew Intro to Public Health would pay off some day…)

S – OK.. these might take a little more work to be “specific”. Noted.
M – I can definitely measure improvement towards these goals…
A – And if they’re not attainable, well then I don’t know what is. I feel like these should be within my reach.
R – Realistic? Definitely. There is no reason I need to stay up past midnight watching Scrubs.
T – I always used T as “timely”, as in this is a timely time in my life to be working on these goals. I like my version better.

There you have it my friends. If I have not bored you to tears yet with my 2009 in a nutshell novel, then my whole SMART Goals 101 might have put you over the top. Either way, I want to wrap this post up by saying I am truly thankful for all of you that stop by Dr.TriRunner, whether you’re coming for training advice, a Minneapolis buddy, or just to check it out. And I have truly enjoyed reading all of your 2010 goals too! The inspiration I draw from some of you guys… you’ll never know.

True story: this post was 87% written two days ago. How does that saying go? Something like… “life happened.” And to that I say, LIVE IT! Happy start to a wonderful new year amigos. :D

Love, Erika

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