Green Smoothies - A step by step guide

Sigh...it's come down to this. Here is a step by step description of how to make my perfect green smoothie...or at least the one I'm digging at the moment. It's a little ass-backwards so forgive me. The first picture is of the finished product whereas the last picture is what goes into all that goodness. Let's get started...class is in session!

Ingredients:

1. 3 freckled bananas [freckled = ripe]

2. 4 kale leaves

3. frozen blueberries

4. frozen mango chunks

5. raw cacao nibs

6. Laughing Giraffe Dessert r"aw-nola"

Picture 1 shows the ingredients.

Moving on to picture 2, we see 3 bananas in 3/4 cup of water. Easy peasy.

Picture 3 has blueberries and mango chunks added to the mixture.

Picture 4 shows the kale leaf being pulled from the stem. You need to do this because it will taste too bitter and like a blended salad [gross].

Picture 5 AKA 'the magic' is the end result of 20 seconds using the Vitamix. All done. Notice the blueberry color...looks nothing like a green elixir huh?

Taste is super sweet with some bitterness from the cacao. Promise you'll like this...it's so easy, even a caveman can do it. [thank you, Geico]

Ran 7 miles today. Oooooh man that was punishing. Hadn't run hard in 2 days and I'm feeling it. Gracious...nothing that some brown rice pasta and chocolate stout beer can't solve.

Recovery Process: 95%

Today marks the 10th and last day of my 'taper up' period before I start a 3 week all out effort in anticipation for the Honolulu Marathon. I think part of the reason why I'm feeling so well is I've been going around riding my bike a lot which has temporarily stopped the incessant pounding of my quads that running involves.

One thing: riding in Hawaii at night as some scary shit. No, like, really. All that surf and sun must get to them causing their vision and their cognitive reasoning to become clouded to the point of near-blindness and hence no respect or awareness of cyclist - or pedestrian's for that matter! One would think that wearing bright colors [reflective yellow] would do something. Nope. Wearing bright yellow is the same thing as wearing gunmetal black.

Lesson: Get lights and illuminate yourself like an xmas tree.

Recovery Process: 85%

It's been about 8+ days since I raced and was back in the bay area so things are getting better. I'm healthy and not injured which is great. My last race as some of you may recall, I was injured and was sidelined from running for about 2 weeks. However, my coach and I are tapering up so in the next 2 days, I'll be at 95% or thereabouts, ready for my final race of the season, the Honolulu Marathon, all 26.2 miles of her.

Today was a crappy day at work...but made better by consuming my chocolate stout beer. It's interesting but if I said it was bitter you all would go "no shit sherlock, it's beer". Yes, I get it. Oh! Before I forget! I tried my brown rice 'yogurt' and it was wonderful! I had it in peach flavor and it was marvelous. Topped off with some raw granola and you've got yourself my pre-snack-snack.

Speaking of raw granola...I got a goody pack from my sponsors at Laughing Giraffe desserts! They sent me some raw granola in two flavors:

1) Pineapple-Macadamia nut crunch

2) Orange-walnut-cacao granola

Incredible stuff. When you try it, you'll wonder why the hell you ate anything else...at least, that's what I felt like.

Running feels okay, put in a solid 6 miles at a slow pace and no post-run soreness [yet]. Recovery ride on the bike in the AM. Here's the diet log...lot's of cooked food for some reason.

Breakfast - green smoothie with blueberries, dates, kale and bananas

Lunch - Tofu with brown rice and spicy cabbage salad

Dinner - Brown rice pasta and tofu 'chikin' strips.

Snacks - Water, brown rice pasta, Clif protein bars, beer. Sweeeet.

Drinkin' a beer on a Monday...what says corporate america more than that!

Grocery Shopping with Alex

A few of you have wanted to know what's in Alex's grocery cart so I decided to dedicate a blog post to this topic. Before I get into what all that goodness is, please note that on Saturday, I bought 2 bags of steel cut oats [NOT instant oatmeal, you have to slow cook this one], a shitload of bananas, papayas and bananas. Now that we've established this, I'll get right into the selection of goodies.

5 Brown Rice 'yogurt' cups in blueberry, peach, strawberry and vanilla flavor. Soy-free, dairy-free, gluten-free...pretty much free from all sins except goodness. I miss yogurt and I'm so happy there's a vegan-friendly alternative that is free from a lot of 'normal' vegan stuff [gluten, soy, nuts, etc..]

6-pack of Bison Organic Chocolate Stout beer - I'm working on my bitter tastebuds and figured I'd try with this beer. Drinking it as I type this blog in fact. Not bad...but bitter [no shit sherlock]

Bananas - because what trip to the store isn't complete without a ton of bananas

Brown rice pasta in fettuccini form

Arrabiatta sauce for the pasta

Grapes

2 bags of frozen blueberries for smoothies

1 bag of frozen mango chunks

Kale...lot's of Kale.

Clif protein bars which are ALSO vegan.

So far, the best one people have liked about my Jens Voigt ode was the one about hair not growing on titanium, steel and brass.

An ode to Jens Voigt

Probably one of my favorite 'big guys' on tour. Here are some awesome 'facts' about Jens you probably never knew as I flipped open an old issue of ROAD magazine [bold indicates hearty laughter on my part]:

Jens doesn't read book. He simply attacks until the books relent and tell him everything he wants to know.

Jens doesn't spin or mash the pedals. He kicks them into submission.

Jens puts the 'laughter' in 'manslaughter'

Jens climbs so well for a big guy because he doesn't actually climb hills; the hills slink into the earth in fear as they see him approach.

Jens' testicles are bald because hair doesn't grow on titanium, brass and steel.

Jens once had a heart attack on the Tourmalet. Jens counterattacked repeatedly until he kicked its ass.

If Jens Voigt was a country, his principle exports would be pain, suffering and agony.

Jens Voigt believes it's not butter.

Jens Voigt doesn't complain about what suffering does to him. However, suffering complains about getting picked on constantly by Jens.

You are what you eat. Jens Voigt eats steel for breakfast, fire for lunch, and a mixture of titanium and carbon fiber for dinner. He washes it down with a tall glass of the tears of men he dropped, affectionately known as 'The Milk of Human Suffering'.

MY PERSONAL FAVORITE: Jens challenged Lance Armstrong to a "Who has more testicles" contest. Jens won with five.

You & me plus the devil makes 3

Sigh...this is going to be a rough post. I anticipate a loooong ass night. One of those nights where we all have had at one point in our lives...one of reflection and thought - mainly of the past and where I've been and what's to come. Obviously, I'm not in the mood to talk about it and I won't bore you all with the details.

However, you'll all be pleased to know that someone near and dear is slowly adopting the green smoothie revolution and so are her parents! Slowly but surely, the green smoothie revolution is at hand. Ryan and Bethany, you're clearly next. Do take note of her special blog post and pay attention when she talks about proportions. Couldn't have said it better myself Amelia!

Link: http://nature.berkeley.edu/blogs/freshfaces/featured_bloggers/amelia/

She advocates a 3:1 ratio, sometimes even 5:1 [go on with your fruit self!] when it comes to fruit to vegetables. What does that look like? 5 bananas for every cup of spinach. Water and soymilk if you need it. Try, read what she has to say let me know what you think.

Myself...well, let's just try and make it to tomorrow morning shall we. Cheers.

Green Smoothie Anyone

I'm taking this post to talk about green smoothies. A few of you have been hankering for more recipes and more 'user-friendly' ones for those that don't / aren't willing to make the full sacrifice to raw-vegan smoothies. No fear, I've thought of you and I have a smoothie that will go against ANY smoothie at Jamba Juice. Matter of fact, I'm thinking of blending one, serving it to them and then making the workers slap themselves for drinking anything different. Thoughts?

So as a rule of thumb, remember: when in doubt, add another banana. This is pretty much my life motto when it comes to food...eh, just have another banana. What's the worst that will happen? More fiber, more sugar [the good kind] and more energy. 70% fruit, 30% greens and you'll be fine. It may look revolting [see above] but you'll be alright. Promise.

This smoothie is called Chocolate-Green-Monster. It's ridonculously good. You read that correctly. RIDONCULOUSLY good. Simple, stupid and delicious. Perfect for the athlete and packs more food than Oprah Whinfrey stuffing herself silly with cheethos.

Ingredients:

1) 3/4 cup water

2) 3/4 cup UNSWEETENED soymilk

3) 4 ice cubes

4) 2 bananas

5) Some kale [pull leaves off stem]

6) 3 Mejdool dates

7) Raw cacao nibs

8) Raw cacao powder

9) Raw-eos to crush and put inside smoothie

Proportions? Who needs em. Just combine them and mix it in a blender to your taste and it'll be good enough. Above are pictures of the ingredients, me devouring them and then my new 'got-smoothie' ad which has me sporting a green-smoothie 'stache. Hot huh? Notice the other picture where my mom snapped the photo too soon? Thanks mom!

Can't even run 5 miles to save my life

You heard it here first, I struggled so hard to run 5 miles today. Breaking a 10 minute pace seemed impossible. My coach has me running super easy for the next week and I have to. Only good thing is cycling seems alright. Can't get up hills for a few more days...still draining lactic acid.

Good news is, I can sit down pain-free. Whew. Have to say I've been watching Russell Peters on youtube...hilarious stuff. A canadian indian guy doing standup, can't go wrong with that. Check him out. Haven't been on iTunes yet. Will give an update when I know what's out there.

AM - Easy cycle

PM - Super easy run. And I STILL hurt.

Breakfast - Pineapple,banana,kale,date green smoothie

Lunch - Banana, kale, dates and cacao nib green smoothie. This was so good, I'm going to post photos of it tomorrow. Seriously, try and make this one, it's dirt easy and super tasty.

Dinner - Brown rice pasta, tofu and gluten-free, vegan pizza.

iTunes update, Tuesday Download:

50 Cent feat Ne-Yo, Baby By Me

Tiesto - Kaleidoscope

One word describes it all: OUCH!

One day after the race, I can safely say my legs are shot to holy hell. It hurts to stand, to sit and to lie down. Thus, rendering me useless and unfit for human life. Normally, this is no different from how I am most of the time with the slight exception to my athletic feats. However, given this soreness, it hurts to do anything and nothing which begs the question, what doesn't hurt? Answer: FLOATING in a pool. That's okay. Everything else - which is a lot of shit - hurts.

And of course, my mom is in town so we went grocery shopping, ate yummy vegan food and had great Thai for dinner. It's good to see her as always. However, I'm sad to be back on the island. I miss home and those that I connected with. And so, the flight back home was riddled with the following tracks:

Let me tell you something - T.I. ['when the attraction is apparent, it's hard to stop starin' - classy line from a classy rapper, no doubt]

Sakura - Ketsumeishi

Sunspot - Armin Van Buuren

Vanilla Twilight - Owl City. when I'm 'moody'.

But seriously, step your game up with that T.I. song

And now, the long week of recovery runs and easy bike outings begins as we prep for the Honolulu Marathon in a few weeks [awful being a racer I tell ya!]. I WILL however pop some bubbly this week and drink a few beers to celebrate my first win of my age group.

-Keep it pimpin', pimpin.

Wham, Bam, Thank you ma'am

Done. 1:18.35 seconds, good enough for 6th overall, 1st in age group and some hardware on the return trip. That was BRUTAL. Not long hills like the SF half but short and sweet ones that came hard and fast [that's what she said].

Ugh, that sucked a big one. Seriously, the hills here were not that steep but constant. Ahhh...my legs are totally f$%&$d. On to the buffet of vegan goodies now!

1 Day Left - All that's left is to race

Here we are at t-minus 1 day before race day. Already nervous about it and the conditions. Race day will be foggy around 50 degrees [brrrr], guntime at 7am.

You can follow me at www.ushalf.com that gives live results of the race and you can see how I do mile after mile. Here's my information:

1) Alex Tellez

2) Bib Number: 2135 [thank you! =0]

Backpack is all set to race. Larabar, 2 bananas, protein shakes, compression tights, warm socks, and some positive thoughts. Not sure how I'll do, I don't feel as good as I did for the SF marathon but a top 10 would be huge in my opinion. That would be awesome. Big runners coming too, last year, winner put up a 1:02...that's BLAZING fast. I'm hoping to bust 1:15 although it's a hilly course but not quite as hellacious as the SF marathon.

This is the first race I was given elite status. Now all I have to do is earn it. Let's show em what vegans can do tomorrow.

I'll see you in 13.1...

2 days left - What a day

Busy running around getting stuff done and meeting with folks. Actually, I'm really tired and looking forward to getting some decent sleep tonite. As such, this blog post won't be that long but make no mistake...I had a massive dinner. This is the BIGGEST meal I've had in a long time...I'm talking like 2,000 calories of bananas, bananas, blueberries, oatmeal, larabar, vegan granola. Basically, an ass-load of food.

Yesterday was too special to write something about.

Instead, I leave you all with this quote from Jens Voight, Saxo Bank Pro Tour rider:

"When I win races, I have to put everybody including myself, of course, through a meat grinder. Everybody has to suffer, suffer, suffer until they’ve all had enough."

Let me repeat his last words one more time:

Everybody has to suffer, suffer, suffer until they’ve all had enough.

4 Days Left - Aloha

Whew, good 7 mile run AND a clean condo! Man, all that was well deserving of the two slices of gluten-free, vegan pizza =) In roughly 3 hours, I'll be in the air, flying towards the Bay Area AKA 'home'. I can't wait too!

Also got some goodies from my sponsors today. One of which is my favorite raw vegan protein shake...SunWarrior. They make raw vegan protein shakes using stevia [leaf that is 300x sweeter than sugar] with 35 grams of protein. Awesome flavor too, doesn't taste like chalk like a lot of whey shakes do. [p.s. whey isn't vegan either].

Alrighty everyone, it's Aloha time for me. Compression tights, vegan electrolyte drink, oatmeal, boarding pass. Check. See you all in a few hours.

Aloha,

Alex

Exercise log

AM - walking fat-ass to jamba juice

PM - 7 mile easy run

Diet Log -

Breakfast: Mango-banana smoothie

Lunch: 2 slices of vegan pizza

Dinner: oatmeal with bananas

5 days left - The ugly side of cycling: Tan Lines

Just look at those tan lines. The first one is of my arm WITHOUT my watch on. You can CLEARLY see the sleeve and watch tan lines [photo taken in broad daylight] I guess that's what happens when you are a cyclist in Hawaii. The sun is intense and we're out there for hours at a time. Same goes for my legs. I mean, there's an obvious line on each thigh where my cycling bibs go to. Then tan, then a slight tan where the sock-line is at. Ahhh, such are the aesthetic sacrifices we make for the sports I love. I think it's safe to say that I'm not winning over hearts with my tan-lines and most likely, turning heads for all the wrong reasons =(

But I figured I should share this with you in defense of cycling. Truth is, I'm somewhat proud of these tan lines. In other news, I'm about 80% done with cleaning my condo, just one more section to go and then everything will be kosher for mom. Chances are, she'll take the white-glove to the condo and I'll have to clean it over again but at least, she won't know until she does this test. Hey, gotta fake it 'till you make it right?

On a plane trip to Cali in less than 24 hours. Definitely getting excited about that! Oh crap, I should probably pack too huh. Tomorrow morning will be busy packing, out for a quick bike ride [probably won't be able to do this actually], prepping the house and getting in a quick run outside if I can get out of work early. We'll see.

Diet Log -

Breakfast - Mango smoothie, LaraBar

Lunch - Brown rice pasta and tofu

Dinner - Oatmeal [not tired of it yet!]

Snacks - Apple with peanut butter, water

Exercise Log -

AM - recovery ride...from what really?

PM - 7 mile run, 107 bpm.

I'm going going back back to Cali Cali. Got some goodies in the mail from sponsors that I'll post photos of and my check + award for the SF Marathon where I placed third. Taking orders for people who want stuff from Cali. Mike, I got you on the chocolates...you clearly aren't messing around with Trader Joe's ;-)

6 Days Left - ALEJANDRO!!!!!!

Can you believe it! Lady GaGa finally did a song named after yours truly! It is crazy good too...certainly one to run to...cycling..hmm, jury is still out but for the time being I'm enjoying this. Nothing quite like a belly full of oatmeal, nodding your head to Lady GaGa saying "Alejandro" in that sexy electronic voice she has. You can hear the song on YouTube..just type in "Lady GaGa Alejandro" and you'll get it.

Little did I know she writes her own music and plays the piano at shows. Now that's pretty impressive. Not since Alicia Keys did that have I had any respect for a performing artist in the pop genre. Jazz well...Diana Krall, Norah Jones...you name 'em and they back their shit up.

Starting to get excited about going back home and I can already feel my mid and body start to get ready for the race. Legs and energy are low as I'm gathering right now and starting to narrow my focus. Hence, my 8 mile run felt sooooo long. My legs seemed cemented to the ground. Pretty decent Monday...can't complain. Starting to do laundry in anticipation of returning home. But seriously...the highlight is CLEARLY the song called "Alejandro". Holy shit. I haven't been this excited about a song since the Clipse came out with 'I'm good'.

Favorite Lyric: "You know that I love you boy, hot like Mexico, rejoice, at this point I have to choose..." I mean, c'mon, how often do you come across a club-banger named after you?!?!

Exercise Log;

AM - Recovery Ride

PM - 8 mile slooooooooooooooow run. At 108 bpm, my pace is 8:39/mile.

Diet Log:

Breakfast - Banana-Mango-LaraBar smoothie

Lunch - Tofu and Eggplant over brown rice, cabbage salad

Dinner - Super good oatmeal, 1 apple, 3 bananas, almond butter, Clif protein bar

Snacks: Electrolyte drink, LaraBar [banana bread flavor]

7 Days Left - What a view

**NOTE: click on image to enlarge***

When you climb Tantalus enough, you sometimes get lucky every and are able to capture a really awesome picture. This was around 7am HNL time right as the sun was peeking over the clouds. That's downtown Honolulu, Ala Moana, and Waikiki. Gorgeous.

Finished cycling around 11am and decided to not watch the raiders game. Turn's out, it was probably a good thing. We got spanked 38-0 by the NY Jets. Sigh...Please Al Davis, sign me as the franchise quarterback. I've got everything it takes to be the raiders QB: 10 fingers, a pulse, working lungs, and I'm not overweight [see Jamarcus Russell]!

Bought only a few groceries at whole foods due to the short week I have. Here's what was in Alex's [eco-friendly] bag:

Steel cut oats

Brown rice pasta

3 lara bars

3 clif protein bars

bananas

mangoes

apples

peaches

Kale

Vegan electrolyte drink

Super excited to return home and be with friends and family. There's someone I'm dying to meet as well =)

Legs feel okay and I didn't run today. All this week will be pretty light with not much effort. Most of my attention will be on getting my condo to look presentable...it's ALMOST there. Tomorrow I vacuum and get the living room in order. Then, Tuesday and Wednesday it's all kitchen. What a pain in the ass.

Hope you all had an enjoyable weekend and were able to get out!

And guess what?!?!?!?! Basketball starts this week! Oh thank heaven! Hoops!

8 Days Left - Stacy's Mom

That was indeed on the iPod as I charged up Tantalus a few times. Stacy's mom. Why is that? Well for the past few weekends, I've noticed an older woman who runs up that hill almost as often as I consume bananas [often]. As such, I felt Fountains of Wayne - Stacy's Mom would be appropriate for this bog post. And she did have it going on.

Okay, enough of that! I was going to ride out to Hanauma Bay when I had an explosive flat tire. Air went out in like 1 second and I saved it before Evelyn got into any more trouble. I waited and some guys from Mike's team, Team Pac Velo, helped me back to their shop, www.itbhawaii.com. Really good guys that took care of me and Evelyn. Met the owner and they have a nice shop. Mike Z., you got me as a teammate [although I think I told you that already =)].

Pretty good day today. Met a woman at Barnes and Nobles and she is trying to go Vegan. I told her about my story [the abridged version] and those that inspired me along the way. I hope she goes ahead and pushes through. And as a gesture of appreciation, I offered her a -you guessed it - banana.

AM: 45 miles on the bike

PM: 8.5 miles easy run

Diet Log:

Breakfast - Banana

Post-ride: electrolyte drink, bananas, clif protein bar, oatcake

Lunch: vegan 'tuna' sandwich with agave soda. This is just sinful.

Dinner: Brown rice pasta with tofu.

"I know it might be wrong but I'm in love with Stacy's mom."

9 Days left...So long tasty food

Full taper mode now in anticipation of my upcoming race. As such, I went out with a bang tonite and had some great vegan thai food and lots of raw papaya salad. This was an awesome meal and I'm sure I overate a bit. No worries, it'll be all gone tomorrow in a matter of hours...trust me on this =)

As I said in an earlier post, it's the anti-atkins diet [carb crazy] where I'll be taking a lot of liquid meals and lots of oatmeal and brown rice pasta. It'll be an in moderation of course as gorging is not allowed [shucks!]. Got that all out of my system today, rest assured.

Hopefully, I'll have some goodies this week sent in from sponsors that I can post to you. I'm expecting 4 packages so we'll see what we get! Can't wait to get back home and be with family, friends and among familiar faces. The Bay Area is a wonderful place and I'm looking forward to relocating soon [hint hint].

No diet log today as I was a shameful vegan, getting every last ounce of goodness today before I get so sick of oatmeal =)

Good night you all...if you wake up with the munchies, turn on some Chappelle's show and nosh on a banana.

10 days left - Final Hard Workout

As you guessed, I messed up with the last posts as the 'days left' tab was a bit inflated. But I've solved that problem now! Guess that Brown-LSE-education paid off for something =) Today was my final hard workout with respect to running and man, it couldn't come at a better time.

Too late for adaptation, I was looking to get some good leg turnover and I did just that. Starting tomorrow, it's full taper down mode and thank heaven for that. Again, not excited about the race yet, just getting used to not having big workouts anymore. I'll hop on the bike for a bit tomorrow and then a nice recovery run in the P. And man, that can't come soon enough. My body is a wreck.

Too tired to say anything insightful except...good fight, good night.

DietLog -

Breakfast: Green smoothie

Lunch: JamabaJuice smoothie

Dinner: Oatmeal

Snacks: banana, more oatmeal, oatcake

Exercise Log -

AM: Recovery ride

PM: Final hard running workout 800s, 3 sets of 2 x 800s @ 165 bpm.

Man am I tired. These 'Skins' compression tights are getting their money's worth.

Talk to you all tomorrow.

12 days left

Running through Waikiki this afternoon I noticed 2 things:

1) Winter is clearly coming. God forbid it get below 70 this time around and dark at 6:30pm.

2) My cycling tan lines are even more prominent. This is a true statement for most cyclists that spend +4 hours on any given day in the saddle. And let me say...it looked REAL BAD. I guess as a skinny filipino kid it makes it all the more prominent but man, people in SF will be SHOCKED!

Expecting some goodies this week from my sponsors. Mainly, some SunWarrior Raw Vegan protein, Laughing Giraffe Granola and Navitas Naturals Raw Cacao [Chocolate] and Flaxseed. These are pretty good and I'll be sure to take some good photos for you guys when they come in. Of course, HealthForce is always on point sending me Vitamineralgreen.

This morning I was dying up Tantalus which probably had a lot to do with last night's run workout. I've got my final day of intensity tomorrow and then it's full taper down mode. Not really excited about the race just yet, that'll probably happen on Saturday afternoon and well into next week. I've got a busy schedule when I get back but busy in the good way =) It'll be good to see friends, family and my nephew William [who I have affectionately named 'Bill']. For now though, it's continuing to stay healthy and out of harm's way. Today I kind of went back and fourth on raw and cooked stuff...mainly I was craving salad but the kind people at Umeke were constantly throwing in vegan goodies for me...I know, I'm spoiled.

Breakfast - Green smoothie, clif bar

Lunch - Vegan chili, brown rice and cabbage salad

Dinner - Chopped Veggie salad, brown rice pasta with tofu

Snacks: All fruit jamba juice, banana, LaraBar

AM - Tantalus climb

PM - 7 mile recovery run @ 130 bpm

Currently listening to: Norah Jones - The Nearness of You [masculine, I know]

13 days left - Final hard Tuesday

Glad that nonsense is all over with. I have to admit, looking at myself now I cannot help but smile at the person I have become. The time now is 8:52 HNL time and I'm sitting on my couch, watching Iron Chef [the original one no less] in compression tights, downing an electrolyte drink. Now if that doesn't scream 'recovery' I don't know what would...well, that's not true. Perhaps a massage at the club would be good. Cue Rush Hour 2 scene with Chris Tucker going into 'Heaven on Earth' massage parlor.

You know, I've been getting into Drake, Lil Wayne's new prodigy / project and he has an outstanding song [besides 'Best I ever had'] called "Houstatlantavegas". Pretty good song and the beat is not bad either. Favorite lyric: "Tonite is about to happen all over again". Wonder what he means....hmmmm

Had a guiness beer and I still love this one. Although it will be good to get some Fat Tire and Chimay back in the mix after the race. No doubt, this will be high on the priority list with my dad for dinner. What's in Alex's post race meal? Thought you'd never ask!

2 bananas = 200 calories

1 ClifBar Protein Bar= 270 calories

1 Raw Vegan Protein Shake = 110 calories

1 vegan electrolyte drink = 10 calories

GRAND TOTAL = 590 calories post race.

For those that will come and watch, you'll be amazed how fast I can wolf this 'mini-meal' down.

Here's the diet log. Liiiiiiiitle too much Oatmeal today!

Breakfast: green smoothie

Lunch: Oatmeal [x2], Jamba Juice all fruit smoothie

Dinner: MORE oatmeal.

Snacks: You guessed it! Oatmeal. Ugh, I'm done with oatmeal for a cool minute.

Exercise Log -

AM: Openers on the bike in preparation for what's to come in a few hours

PM: 1 mile warm up, 4 x 2 mile negative repeats. How stupid were the times?

Rep 1 - 5:49 average

Rep 2 - 5:39 average

Rep 3 - 5:32 average

Rep 4 - 5:23 average

Currently on the iPod: Drake, Dirty Vegas, The Dream, Mariah, Joe, Jenny Jones

14 days left: 1 more week of intensity

Today [Monday] marks the final two weeks of training before my next race, the US half marathon in San Francisco. And what better way to start off the week than with an easy 8 mile effort at 130 bpm. Chances are good I'll be doing this in the gym watching Raiders's division rivals go at eachother [broncos v chargers]. Best part of that game is someone will lose which looks better for the raiders! Thank goodness for that!

Ahhh, once Thursday hits, I'll be done with intense workouts and I'm pretty happy about that. No doubt, cycling continues but at sloooooooooow cadence. And then comes the ultimate anti-atkins diet. Nothing but fruits, veggies and whole grains for me 2 weeks out. So as a response to your questions about what was in Alex's grocery bag at whole foods?

4 hands of bananas
frozen mango chunks
blueberries
pineapples
kale..lots of kale
Steel cut oats
Brown rice pasta [gluten and soy free]
Brown rice raw vegan protein shake
Freshly ground raw almond butter
LaraBars...the Chocolate coconut flavor. If you aren't aware of how good LaraBars are, you are really missing out on life. Really. It's that serious. They won't make the bar if it has more than 5 ingredients! Some are just 2 ingredients [i.e. cashew + dates]. Before you go rambling on about how boring that must sound, go buy one yourself and try...I recommend Cashew Cookie and Banana-Walnut Bread. You'll be amazed at how simple yet filling these bars.
Check out more flavors @: www.LaraBar.com

Try one and let me know what you think. If you don't like it, I'll pay you the $1.89 for the burden so you can get a deep-fried-fat-soaked-greasy-sticky-refined-sugar candy bar of your choice. =)

Capitalism: A Love Story

My take: Totally outrageous! If you've seen Michael Moore's past films, you'll be pleased to know he is at the height of his tomfoolery in this one. As a banker, I have to agree with some of his claims such as making a citizen's arrest of AIG...classic. Naturally I fixed myself a shmorgesboard of salads and other vegan fixins' to munch on whilst watching this film.

Prior to that, I did my usual hill climb progression with my semi-busted SRM. Sigh. This time, I tried something new with respect to my running. Usually, I cycle in the AM but then run in the PM. By the time this rolls around, my legs are sore and it takes a good 7 miles to finally warm up. Today, I tried going straight through. After cycling, I showered, pounded some water, threw on the Oakley's and ran 12 miles at 145 bpm. It was super HOT. 88 degrees with like no breeze. This, AFTER an intense bike session = serious caloric loss. And you know what this means don't you?!!?! Fruit, fruit, fruit! Plus I had some awesome brown rice pasta with tofu that went really well with Sicilian Hot Tomato sauce. Yum.

Having really good meals is one way to take away 'the sting' of prolonged exercise bouts. In truth, I don't know what I like more, my oatmeal or my pasta. Tough, tough call. I guess I'll have to just live with them both!

Here's today's log. Full of stuff really!

AM: Cycle; hill climbs followed by 12 mile run. Ugh. Breakfast? nope. Hydrated? You betcha

PM: NOTHING!

Diet log

Snack 1: 2 oatcakes 2 bananas, clif protein bar

Snack 2: salad with vegan fixins' courtesy of Whole Foods.

Snack 3: Jamba Juice 'Alex' style - Blueberries, strawberries, bananas, water.

Dinner: Brown rice pasta with tofu and tomato sauce. Lip-smackin' good!

Stupid SRM broke =(

Not more than 1 week with my Evelyn the power-meter I have attached to my computer crapped out. Check that...a part in the back fell off making it impossible to download any data from this morning's workouts. Damn. Of course, this thing is covered under waranty but the SRM company quoted me 3 weeks time delay from when I mail it to when I get it back. Yikes! 3 weeks!

Because of this, I decided to spoil myself and had Thai food for dinner with a friend. Same meal as it's waay too good as is! Tofu red curry with brown rice, green papaya salad. Awesome. I'm really quote pleased with this small thai place and it's been a great find.

Tomorrow I'm going to try running 16 miles AFTER my bike workout. By then, my legs are pretty much blasted to shit and I'll still have some energy to go on. I'll fuel quickly with some bananas of course but we'll see. Saturday's are special as you all know.

Good night y'all.

yhp

Hot Habanero!

Note to self: When making brown rice pasta, be sure to use a *sprinkle of the ground habanero powder. Holy F@#$!!!! Practically burned my mouth off and didn't even enjoy my food! I got some dried habanero powder from my good friend, Doctor Alex Silver [doctor at queens] and let's just say I put a bit too much on my pasta. That damn thing was hotter than anything I've put on pasta / mexican food / thai food..seriously, that was stupid hot. Hell, my head hurts because of how hot that was. No thank you.

Legs are all blasted. Today's log is as follows -

Diet Log:

Breakfast - Green smoothie, clif bar

Lunch - Green smoothie with pineapples [!], clif bar

Dinner - Unenjoyable pasta with habanero powder. Can't say enough how hot that was and how stupid I feel putting all that stuff on it. Yuck.

Snacks: apple, banana, clif bar, water.

AM: Recovery ride

PM: 7 miles. 1 mile warmup, 2 x 3 mile negative splits. 5:49 - 5:27 times for each mile for duration.

Ugh..definitely too much Clif Bar today.

I'm going to stop this one for a bit. Think I'm getting a little burned out on these suckers. Although, Cookies and Cream is an outstanding flavor for what it's worth! Clearly, I'm gaining some weight and I need to do something about this. I think I'm pushing 141 so we'll have to cut calories down significantly.

Nothing quite like eating 2 bowls of oatmeal with a ton of fruit in compression tights to get the feeling of gluttony. Had a weird dream last night too that involved me hunting down a contract killer. Something out of 'The Whole Nine Yards" except a little more dramatic and intense. To give you an idea, I woke up at 5am sweating from anxiety. No doubt, this dream is closely related to my job situation.

Diet Log:

Breakfast: Green Smoothie, Clif Bar

Lunch: Green Smoothie, Clif bar

Dinner: Oatmeal, clif bar

snacks: banana, decaf soy latte [gross], clif bar

AM: Recovery ride

PM: 7 mile recovery run through Waikiki...ahh the 'views' are nice this time around!

Terrible Tuesday's

Tuesdays can be summed up by one word: Suffering [not cycling though, I have the day off but in running]. I had to do 4 x 2 mile negative splits [5 minutes of rest between reps].

Here were the mile times:

First rep of 2 - 5:49 pace

Second rep - 5:39 pace

Third rep - 5:33 pace

4th rep - 5:34 pace

Without question, I was suffering during rep 3 and then the last mile of rep 4 was pretty harsh. I think what made it difficult was that my legs were already shot from all the cycling over the weekend and didn't have enough time to replenish itself. Recovery ride tomorrow in the AM and then a much needed recovery run in the evening. Here's the diet log

Breakfast: Green smoothie, Clif bar

Lunch: Green smoothie, clif bar

Dinner: Brown rice pasta with vegan 'chikin' salad and hot sicilian tomato sauce. Good stuff I tell ya!

Snacks: Larabar, 2 bananas, another clifbar, apple.

How I spent my Holiday

What better way to spend a holiday then to hit the pavement and put in a 65 mile solo effort on the bike. Usually during the AM in Hawaii we get hit with Mauka Showers [light rainful coming from the mountains, 'Mauka'] and today was no exception. I basically got dumped on for 12 miles or so before finally getting into nicer weather. I took some photos of me with Evelyn at some scenic pictures of Waimanalo, a beautiful area of land. Hope you all can come out to the islands and enjoy this someday.

After the ride, I cleaned Evelyn and got a haircut. Then I joined a good friend of mine, Doctor Silver, for some Thai food for lunch. I had yummy papaya salad and tofu curry with brown rice. Quality meal I say and the company made it so.

As I type this, I'm at his home in Mililani and is wonderful. Sitting outside, sipping water ad enjoying the calm Hawaiian breeze and his 2 dogs. Indeed, it'll be a real shame to give this up someday.

Hope you all had a restful Holiday and if you worked, give yourself a treat tonite and drink a smoothie for me. Keep pushing those pedals,

yhp

Meet Evelyn!

Aloha,

I'm taking this blog to post photos of the chariot that will carry me hopefully to neo-pro status. Notice the SRM computer. I'm going to post actual cycling data so you can see heart rates, times, altitude, and power [measured in watts].

Some Q+A time.

Why Evelyn?

The name of a woman who is hard pressed and determined. All the Evelyn's I knew where like this [both in a good and bad way].

Why do you like this woman?

She doesn't talk much, when I change speed she adjusts [=)], and all she does is perform.

Is it love yet?

Almost. We're at first base with eachother so we'll see how the group ride goes tomorrow.

Enjoy pictures. Good luck tomorrow Scott. Go show em what vegans can do!

Oh Shit, can you say Brand Spankin' New Cervelo Bike!!

Xmas came a bit early for me this year! I was greeted today with my Cervelo S1 that I got custom built from competitive cyclist. I took a bunch of photos that I'll post tomorrow at some point but take my word for the time being..it's a BEAST.

For the time now, here's the build:

Frame: Cervelo S1 Aluminum Frame [yes, NOT carbon fiber]

Fork: 3T Funda Carbon Fiber

Stem: FSA CSI Carbon Fiber Stem

Handlebars: FSA 40cm Alloy. A bit narrow actually, need to replace these.

Components: Campy Super Record 11s

Crankset: SRM FSA Gossamer Cranks, 172.5, 39/53

Pedals: Speedplay lollypops

Cages: Zipp Carbon Fiber cages

Wheels: Reynolds Solitutde Campy Wheelset.

This thing is pretty handsome if I say so myself. Just not tall and dark =) Okay, I apologize, I had to! Tomorrow is personal pain day. Hill climbs followed by 16 miles running.

FYI - Kona Ironman is on. Think about that workout for a moment. Yeah. Yikes.

Man that pasta is soooooooooo good!

I'm going to have to post photos and a recipe book for this pasta. It's OFF THE CHARTS good. I'll give a brief recipe and explain what it's made up of. First, throw in some brown rice pasta. You don't need the gluten and you sure as hell wont miss it...promise. To this, throw on some Amy's Vegan marinara sauce, tofu 'chikin' strips, mock tofu 'chikin' salad and then some basil. Wow. Out of this world good.

Good news...my brand spankin' new Cervelo S1 comes tomorrow. This thing will be a true beast of a bike. A workhorse like non other I think. Campy super record 11's, SRM Powermeter, Fizik Antares saddle, and FSA stem and handlebar. This thing will HAUL ASS.

On a different note, my good vegan friend Scott Spitz is running in the Chicago Marathon on Sunday. He has a top 100 spot and this is a huge honor - more so for a vegan! He is just one example of what is possible on this diet. Make no mistake about it, you CAN and WILL thrive. Please wish him well and send him good vibes. You can read about his build up at www.runvegan.wordpress.com. Super excited for him.

Tomorrow's Friday and you know what that means: Ice Cube, Today was a good day. Here's today's workout log:

AM - 16 miles, easy spinning on the bike.

PM - Punishing run, with interval efforts, 8 of them at varying distances. Yuck.

Diet Log:

Breakfast - Green smoothie with clif bar

Lunch - Green smoothie with clif bar

Dinner - stupid good pasta. yummmm

A new PR on Tantalus!

Today was my morning prologue effort up Tantalus Drive and I hit 20 mins and 49 seconds up the beast. That's a new PR for me and I'm pumped about it. Of course, my good friend Mike can do this much faster but soon enough, I'll get there [assuming I'm still here].

I think my saving grace or salvation has been my athleticism. My salvation is running and cycling. It's really a drug to me that once I do, I feel so much better about myself and my situation. Suddenly, all is not doom and gloom and after a hot shower, man, things are just way better.

I was at work and my legs were so blasted! I had to put my feet up most of the time due to the pain I felt. Each step my legs felt like rubber. Awful feeling in fact! But well worth it considering I PR'd. Hell, if I can do that 4 times like on my Saturday ride...I'll be one happy dude. Here's today's log.

Diet Log -

Breakfast: Green smoothie, clif bar.

Lunch: Brown rice pasta, tomato sauce and tofu 'chikin' strips. Super tasty with chili flakes added for extra punch.

Dinner: Green smoothie, clif bar.

Exercise Log -

AM: Uphill prologue effort. 4.1 miles up. 4.1 miles down.

PM: Recovery run of 8 miles. Pace? Who knows. It was awesome though. A welcome break to the killer workouts I've been going through.

One more day of punishment and then I get a day off! Hooray for Fridays!

Tuesday Download -
Looks like iTunes did some things right this week. Here are my album pics:
Armin Van Buuren - Universal Religion Chapter 4
Tiesto's new CD [don't know title]
Bassmaster [again, don't know title]
These are quality pickups in my humble opinion.

I really like two songs on Van Buuren's album:
1) Ramsterdam
2) Every other way
If anything, check these two out and get back at me!
Finally some exciting news! I get my brand-spankin'-new bike tomorrow or Thursday. I'll post details tomorrow but just trust, it's stupid fast.
Here's the daily log:
Breakfast: Green smoothie with Clif Bar
Lunch: Brown rice pasta, vegan tofu salad and 'alfredo sauce'. SUUUPER good stuff.
Dinner: Oatmeal with grapes, apples, bananans and almond butter. Wow.

Exercise Log:
AM - Openers on the bike getting ready for tomorrow morning's hill-climb effort
PM - 4 x 2 miles with negative splits. 5:49, 5:39, 5:38 and 5:27 average for the 4 reps. 1 mile warmup and 1500 calories later = pure satisfaction.

Somehow, the beat goes on

In some ways, knowing that things will come to an end is nice because you learn to savor moments more that normally you take for granted. Like sitting for the bus, listening to the wind blow while the sun kisses you face. Not a bad way to start the morning right?! And so Monday came and went, nothing spectacular. Heck, even my boss is aware of my time left and I'm pretty sure he's been going easy on me. Can't complain either!

Here's today's log. It's been bittersweet really. Such good foods but no energy to run or cycle. Little depressed...

Diet Log -

Breakfast: Smoothie, Clif protein vegan bar

Lunch: Brown rice pasta with tofu chicken strips

Dinner: Green smoothie, apple, grapes, clif bar

Exercise Log -

AM: Easy spin / recovery ride

PM: 8 mile recovery run

What's happened and where I've been

Probably noticed the considerable absence from the blog. Promise it's not personal with you =) It seems, fate has brought me to an interesting intersection with respect to my professional and athletic career. I'm going to open up and share something personal with you all because it's important for you [my readers] to know what it's like.

On Tuesday, I learned that my job was being eliminated due to a company re-engineering project, for which, I was a casualty. It's tough to hear something like that especially when the work I've been doing has been getting great responses and solid approval. Without question, this was shocking to me and my family. I was rather speechless to tell you the truth.

Later on that day, my boss held a meeting with the other managers in my division and announced the news. He gave me the day off and said I didn't have to show up to the meeting. What did I do? I showed up to the meeting, head high and was stone-faced as I was dragged through the mud. It's so hard to not take personal but I think about my position, age, circumstance and it was probably the most humane thing to do. Thankfully, the bank wants to retain me in another position but which I'm fortunate because there were MANY, MANY lay-offs where people were NOT retained. Regardless it still sucks to be a casualty of war.

And what do I do that day? Drink? Never. Eat meat? Never. Run my ass off? You betcha. My salvation has been cycling and running and I've been doing both everyday not letting up. Taking out my frustration on my body and the road. Far less expensive then going to the bar right?

Here we are. A countdown to 12/31/09 where I need to find a job within the bank or else it's Aloha. But perhaps there's a silver lining here. Perhaps, this is the pivotal point in my athletic career where I endeavor to make my dream of becoming a neo-pro in cycling can come true. Here are the facts: I'm 24, no debt, degree and graduate degree.

Davis, Eugene, Seattle, B-more, Irvine, Santa Barbara, Berkeley, Palo Alto. Guess what I'm thinking?

Mariah! Where have you been all my life!

I just couldn't wait to post the Tuesday download as I just copped the new Mariah Carey album, Memoirs of an Imperfect Angel. Two Words: God. Damn.

She killed it with this album...I mean, I'm a pretty big RnB fan and this one is classic Mariah. Angelic voice, crazy stupid hot body...speechless.

I'm only a couple songs into it and here are the favorites:

1) H.A.T.E.U.

2) Candy Bling

3) Ribbon [feat. the radio killah, the dream]

4) Inseperable

5) More than just friends

What is it about her voice...

One other download to cop would be Marques Houston. Big fan of his and have been following his work since IMX. Check him out too.

Pineapple Smoothie anyone?!

I know I said in an earlier post that I don't like pineapples and I still stand by that! I've had a million and one people offer me 'sweet' pineapples only to be stunned by how sour the taste was. Having been burned a lot on this [a million and one times of course] subject, I'm EXTRMELY skeptical of pineapples in general.

But what about in a massive green smoothie? Hmmm.....Here's a smoothie I whipped up this morning. I call it 'Monday Madness'. Try it sometime:
1) Mangoes
2) Blueberries
3) Bananas
4) Flaxseed
5) Cinammon

Hell Day Thursday

Tuesday's and Thursdays are the worst days to be Alex Tellez. Especially Thursday...but oddly, this gets me kind of pumped up. To know I have a huge effort coming up is just enough to send my blood above normal. Here's yesterday's log I forgot to do [too busy being giddy about young William].
Workout Log -
AM: Hill day on the spin bike. For some reason, I was a slight bit slower as my heart rate never really jumped that high, just the usual 150-170 bpm.
PM: GORGEOUS Waikiki run. Man, I love doing this run but in particular - I love wearing my Oakley sunglasses because I can stare at pretty girls without anyone being the wiser. Problem with this is it diverts my attention from the road; and let me say this, idiots = bad, idiots holding surfboards and turning = worse.
Diet Log -
AM: Green smoothie + clif protein bar
Lunch: Umeke Market Chili with Brown Rice
Dinner: Oatmeal, peanut butter, tons of bananas, apples
Snacks: banana, raw vegan protein drink and vegan electrolyte drink.

Today will probably be disgusting. AM was a recovery ride on the spin bike. Pretty much a 40 minute session of Sarah doing her damndest to convince me that green bananas from costco are ripe. I fought this until I tried it and to my amazement, they ARE RIPE. Normally, I try to eat ripe fruit and when it comes to bananas, freckly and all yellow = just right. Too freckly = gross. Green = chalk. However, these were different and hence the admission.

Running day is tough. This workout is called the "Scott Spitz" and it basically mimics his version of the predator run. 1 mile warm-up, 6 x 1 mile negative repeats starting at 5:30 pace and then getting harder every step of the way. Nice. I'll be clockin low-teens when we're all through. One more mile to cool down and that's called 1,000 calories lost.
Note - I only do this insanity when I know the reward [dinner] will be well worth it.
Green smoothie and 2 oatcakes anyone?
Here is tonite's dinner in readable form.
1.5 cups of filtered water
2 bananas
1 peach
1/2 cup blueberries
Kale
3 Dates
Flaxseed
2 flour-less, sugar-less vegan oatcakes. Yum =)

Speak to you guys after the run. Keep those knees up! yhp

More Pictures of William!

I'm going to go apeshit on pictures of William here because my parents keep sending them into me and bombing my inbox [they forget to re-size them]. So here are 2 very happy grandparents holding the Sir William Tellez. Enjoy!

Yesterday's log looks a bit like this:

Diet Log

Post-bike: Raw Vegan protein shake

Breakfast: Green smoothie + Clif protein bar

Lunch: Green Smoothie

Dinner: Oatmeal with 3 bananas, 1 apple and 1 peach. 2 Oatckaes. Throw in a little peanut butter and wow, solid, satisfying meal.

Exercise Log

AM: V02 sets, 6 of em! I went to work and my legs felt like jello and rubber.

PM: One of the best run workouts to date. 4 x 2 mile negative splits at 155 bpm [5:50-5:39 pace]. Finished well and wasn't sore this morning.

Oh thank heaven for the ice bath and compression pants =)

Welcome to the World!!!

Today at approx. 5:45am California Time [the Left Coast], I became a grand old uncle. Yes, Uncle Tellez is now official and I'll be flying back home soon to be with the little one. Weighing in at 8 lbs and 15 inches, William Alexander Tellez, the newest installment in the Tellez Family. Welcome to the familia nephew! This post is dedicated to you! Andy [brother and new father] sent in some cool photos via iPhone and I'd thought I'd share it with you.

How awesome is this kid. He's quite the mixed breed or as we say here in Hawaii, 'Hapa'. 'Hapa' means mixed ethnicity of which, a portion is asian. 'Hapa' people are EXTREMELY beautiful but don't tell Emily or I'll get my a$$ kicked if you know what I'm saying.

Kinda sad when I think about it..

Here in Hawaii, most of our income comes from tourism with a significant share stemming from tourists from Japan. Having visited Japan and studied the language and culture, I'm always happy to help a fellow tourist looking for directions even if I'm running.

Sadly, I've all but lost how to communicate, read and write Japanese despite being surrounded by the culture. I think because I don't use it enough and don't practice it that I lost it. To me, that's really frustrating given how hard I would bust my ass in undergrad and grad school only to forget it all. Sigh...man that sucks. Hopefully, I can get this skill back on day. It's a fascinating culture full of wonderful sights and people...much like my experience of China. Wonderful place.

I'm ranting I know, I know =) Here is today's log.

Diet Log

Breakfast - Green smoothie [been making awesome ones with mango lately] and cliff protein bar

Lunch - Vegan chili with rice and a big salad

Dinner - Green smoothie, delicious red apple and another clif bar.

Snacks: Lots of vegan electrolyte drink.

Exercise Log

AM - Slow spinning. Zone 1 stuff.

PM - Nice 6.5 mile run through Waikiki. The 'sights' weren't bad either =)

Starting over again...WISER

It's been a cool minute since I last made a post and it's not because I forgot about you all...=) Truth is, going through that crash has caused me to be a little more reflective in my life and I went through a few days thanking people who mean a lot to me and just trying to be more grateful...grateful not only to be alive and walking but grateful I have my family, friends and readers who still read this blog and my ramblings!

As a male, I'll never know how moody a woman can 'feel' when it's that time of the month...but this might be like it. I was really thankful and gracious for a lot of things. I spoke to my buddhist sensei who advised me on things and the message among him and other friends has been unanimous: "You fell off the horse Alex...Now get back on the horse."

And true enough, one solid weekend and I'm back to form ready to blog daily and kick ass on all fronts. Funny thing...was running through Waikiki this weekend and someone tried to offer me meat on a stick while running [sample of the food]. Nevermind the 'Go Vegan' shirt I had on but let's think for a moment...running hard...meat on a stick...yeah, NO is the answer!

Here's today's dietlog -

Breakfast: Steel cut oats, 2 bananas, 1 apple and a vegan Clif protein bar

Lunch: brown rice and beans, vegan tamales, salad

Dinner: Steel cut oats, 2 bananas, 1 apple, 1 peach

Snacks: Banana, Raw vegan protein drink and a decaf soy latte [my palette thinks poorly of this drink]

Workout log -

AM: 2.5 hour bike

PM: 1.5 hour bike

Running again is nice. The reason it sucked to run hard lately is because the bandages were coming off and it was gross.

Quote of the day: "Winners lose more than losers because they stay in the game"

Car vs Bike, guess who won?

yes folks the unthinkable - yet inevitable - happened at 6:20pm HNL time on Diamond Head road. I was hit by a car on my bike, flew over the car's hood and landed hard on my side. Road rash [again], broken thumb, bruising and a totaled Specialized S-works Roubaix bike [$7k bike]. Nice trip to the ER too. Saw my heart in the ultrasound and got some measurements:

1) sitting heart rate - 49

2) blood pressure - 122/70

They totally overdid it as I have a hairline fracture and was given a cast and armsling. That's just overkill. Tomorrow I get it taken off and get a splint. Running begins again. Insurance has been a pain and I'm trying to get my bike fixed. Damage so far - $4k [yikes]

Will let you all know how that goes.

Oh Thank Heaven for Recovery Runs

Yesterday, I had a pretty intense morning because for my bike workout that day, I was to race up Tantalus Road which is 4.1 miles of intense uphill. I think the average grade roughly 5%, maxing out at 9% or so. Anyways, I'll quit blabbering and show you a picture:

So yeah, in short, I came to work tired, sore and happy [the feeling of a triathlete I imagine!]. I was ridiculously hungry for some reason too...I ate a moundful of fruit and other delicious carbs that I'll go into detail below.

Here's yesterday's log [I know, I know, I'm behind a bit. I'll catch up once all this soreness goes away]:

AM: cycle up to tantalus

PM: Recovery run of 7 miles at 140-145 bpm. Nothing crazy, right around a 7 minute mile. Legs feel better today too.

Diet Log:

Pre-bike: Electrolyte drink + Vitamineralgreen

Post-bike: Raw vegan protein drink

Breakfast: Green smoothie

Lunch: Green smoothie

Dinner: Steel cut oats with 3 bananas, cashew butter and an apple.

Snacks: LaraBar, Brown Rice ball

*************NEWS UPDATE***************

@ 8:28am HNL time, Vega became another sponsor!

Hooray! I love this company and the guy who wrote the book, Brendan Brazier [The Thrive Diet] is my hero!

Views of Hawaii + One Happy Camper

Living in Hawaii, you get spoiled with views like the one above. That is taken at the top of a hill known as Makapu'u. Well, it's not really a 'hill' in my sense, just a big mound of dirt that takes 2 minutes of heavy breathing in pushing pedals. Hardly enough fun in my opinion.

Pretty good workout with Sarah this morning. I think she likes my music =) I have to say that my run today was absolutely crappy in that my mind was full of energy but my quads were blasted! Even now as I type this in compression pants, it hurts to holy hell! Ouch!

Tomorrow doesn't look too good either.

On a more positive note, I've come back from my weekend binge of food to 2 green smoothies a day with the third meal being heavy on raw foods. And let me say, my digestive system is 'cleaning house'. Okay, TMI, I'll stop there. Here's what you all want to see:

Exercise Log -

AM: V02 bike work. Nice job Sarah.

PM: Tempo workout. 1 mile warm-up, 3 x 2 mile at 155 bpm which is a 5:52-5:50 pace for me, sustainable for a LONG time.

Diet Log -

Pre-bike: Electrolyte drink + Vitamineralgreen

Post-bike: Apple, Raw Vegan protein drink

Breakfast: Green smoothie [I'm going to post a video of this soon!]

Lunch: Green smoothie

Post-run: Brown rice ball with raw vegan protein drink

Dinner: Gluten-soy-dairy free pizza. Huge salad with tons of greens and electrolyte drink.

Snacks: Clif protein bar, Water.

Oh what a Saturday...

Okay so now that I'm back from injury and can run again, this Saturday - this week for that matter - was a mixed day full of intense cycling and hard running. I have to say that getting back to running hard feels odd because I haven't run hard in like 2 weeks or so so this week was punishing. My legs and everything around me is letting me know this. Here's a great recovery tip for those of you doing intense runs:

1) Eat something immediately after your run. You have a 15-30 minute 'glycogen window' that your body is able to to re-fuel itself again. To stock glycogen you need easily digestible sugars but not the artificial kind [i.e. no colas, etc]. What you need is fruit and lots of it. Today after my run, I downed 4 bananas followed by a raw vegan protein shake. Protein to rebuild torn muscles and sugars for glycogen. Nice.

2) Ice. If you can, sit in an ice bath. Fortunately for me, my gym has a nice ice bath which I soak in soon after showering. I mean like 5 minutes after showering...this is very important. Inflammation subsides faster with ice and NOT heat. A common mistake is to take a hot shower. Wrong. Take a cool one and you'll feel much better about it.

Today's log looks a little like that with some additions. Oddly, I only got through half of Halekoa Drive..the worst half of course [the one with the 19%ers]. I felt really, really tired and dehydrated. I figured, no point in pushing into the red zone with dehydration so I turned back. When I got back home, I was so friggin thirsty and hungry it was a joke.

Here's what you all want to see, today's stupid hard log.

Exercise Log -

AM: 75 mile bike ride, of which 18 miles were grueling hill climbs. But I was certainly trucking and did a few reps of a popular hill overgeared [i.e. harder gear] and a few undergeared [spinning away]. 4 reps of this hill at those paces and trust me, your legs will feel like jello..no doubt. Only got though half of Halekoa Drive. Shit. Eh...I'll get em soon.

PM: 16 mile run at 130 bpm. Well, I was supposed to go 130 bpm but it feels ridiculously slow. So I ended up averging 140 bpm which is roughly a 7 minute mile pace for me.

Diet: Stupid Alex didn't have a sufficient enough breakfast and not enough water. 2 bananas and one glass of water before hard day.

Lunch: 2 bowls oatmeal with bananas, peaches and raw vegan protein drink. Clif Builders bar and then more water.

Dinner: 2 slices of gluten, cheese-free pizza, 1 hummus wrap on whole-wheat pita, pasta and soy 'chikin strips' with 'chikin salad'. A shit load of food but I think I'll come in weighing 135 lbs tomorrow.

Thank god I've got a 'rest' day from running and I'm doing about 75-80 miles of Zone 3 riding. Not too much and not too little. The right amount I say. No running either...my body will thank me.

Goofy Pictures

The one of my mom above is at a restaurant called 118 degrees raw. Why 118 degrees? Because that is the highest you can heat food before you start destroying the enzymes i.e. making your own science experiment. Mom and I are sharing a 'cobb salad' with avocado, spicy tomato dressing with some wonderful greens. In the picture where I look like an idiot [when do i not], I'm getting ready to kill a plate of miso-marinated zucchini pasta. Andy's dish that you can partially see is the double-crepe entree. Crazy good bike ride today with Mike...not as fast as Tuesday but I was sweating! Took the day off running because my legs felt / feel like crap from all the running hard the past 2 days. Body's in shock practically.

S-O-R-E but at least, I can make damn good oatmeal

I have this new oatmeal recipe that I want to post. It's wheat and soy-free and by default, gluten and soy-free. And it's super good and super filling. In truth, I dont think it's the oatmeal as much as it is the toppings. Here's the recipe, best consumed after a hard running session like today:

OATMEAL - Bring 3 cups of WATER to a boil, then add1.5 cups of Steel cut Oats and Buckwheat Groats, turn heat down and wait 10 minutes.

TOPPINGS: 3 bananas, tons of grapes, cinnamon to taste, GoRaw Apple Cinnamon 'Granola' and cut up one LaraBar.

HUGE meal and I'm totally full but I feel like my glycogen levels will be good to go for tomorrow mornings bike ride.

Running is getting easier though as my road rash is healing nicely. Big fan of tegaderm, quality stuff if you have roadrash. This morning was stupid because my legs felt like Jello after yesterday's punishing workout. What do we do when we're sore? Hop on the bike and do 3 minute V02 max reps on hills of course! I mean, DUH! Rep this 4 times and it adds up. But I did catch this one guy going up the hill so that was pretty cool.

Had a nice run through Waikiki which amounted to 7 miles at a 6 minute pace. Too fast really because tomorrow's run workout is truly hellacious. I'll tell you more about it tomorrow.

Exercise Log -

AM: Hill repeats, V02 max reps on hills.

PM: 7 mile 'recovery' run at 6 minute pace [whatever the hell that means]

Diet Log -

Post-bike: Raw Vegan protein powder

Breakfast: green smoothie

Lunch: Tostadas with tofu, sprouts and lettuce.

Dinner: Alex's DAMN GOOD OATMEAL

Snacks: Water, papaya, apple and Clif Builders protein bar [these babies are VEGAN!]

Quality Ride + Andy goes VEGAN! [yes!]

So I have to start this blog off with a cool update from a really close friend of mine...someone I consider family - yeah, that close. He has decided to try my crazy diet of raw vegan with some cooked vegan thrown in. This is a HUGE step in the right direction and I'm thrilled he has taken this step. And you know what...he's full. He goes "that's a lot of fruit". Yes Andy, a 5-banana smoothie is no laughing matter. So tomorrow morning when I make my green smoothie, I'll take a big gulp for my good friend who has made a great decision. Here's to you Andy, eat them greens.

Also, had a wonderful day of cycling AND running. Yes, you read that correctly, I was able to forget the pain today and ran my ass off and cycled my ass silly to be exact. I also rode outside and met for the first time Hawaii's state champ, Mike Zagorski. Really nice guy who was patient with me when my leg cramped up when we finished a big climb. It was really encouraging because I got to get a reality check with how I stacked up. Honestly, I thought this was a recovery ride and I needed it given my running workout AND my cycling workout that I completed minutes before riding with him. I'm thankful that when we started climbing big time, I wasn't dropped at all although he did out-climb me but he was going hard and I was trying to keep up. Again, never lost contact and constantly rode myself back into it. Riding with a Cat 1 racer [pro cyclist] and hanging even if on a brief 40 mile ride...encouraging. I told him that I began riding 3 months ago and that if he helps me learn, I'll be better in 6 months. He said "man, you're going to surprise a lot of people when you race. I know how much power I was putting out [he has a Watt meter] and I was going hard and you were hanging." Nice feeling to know that even after a hard run and cycle, I still have the GRRRRR to hang with Hawaii's best. I'm happy. And make no mistake, we were hauling ASS on some climbs and on straights.

Running for the first time in 2 weeks felt good and I know I'll be sore and looking forward to my 'recovery' run tomorrow along Waikiki. Serious heart-rate monitoring. "Alex, dont go above 130 you dope." Today's stupid log -

Diet:
Breakfast: Banana, soymilk, Clif Builders bar, blackberries. This was a kind of 'cereal' I'll have to show you guys.
Lunch: 4 bananas, yet ANOTHER Clif builders bar, Larabar, green smoothie.
Snack: Gluten free, veggie pizza. This was not smart as I ate it and then ran 1 hour later. Gross. worst cramps EVER.
Dinner: Buckwheat oatmeal, mom's homemade granola, grapes, bananas, GoRaw Apple Cinammon granola.
Sound good huh...tasted damn good too.

Exercise Log [this part is stupid]:
Run: 1 mile warmup at 6:18. 3 x 2 miles at 5:52, 5:52 and then 5:46. Not too shabby after 2 weeks of no running. I'm quite pleased.
Bike part 1) VO2 max reps. It certainly was intense and I used a lot of energy for this.
Bike part 2 with Mike) very intense. Compounded with bike part 1 (see above) = very, VERY intense ride.
I had to sit in the ice bath for like 8 minutes!