Gear Head

I'm doing Ironman Canada...I need new gear.  I think that's pretty much how it went down.  In my head, out loud, to anyone that would listen.  Maybe not in those words but let's face it, that's what it comes down to.  I can't look like the amateur that I AM when I race Ironman Canada not to mention everyone else is getting new stuff, why not me?  Yeah.  All good justifications but I'm frugal and practical so here is the 'how to' on getting new gear on the cheap - Craigslist.  Okay, that's it, my work is done here.  In all seriousness, I love Craigslist.  I found my first road bike on there for a smoking deal and now I have my gorgeous tri bike, also for a smoking deal.

So the run down of the new gear - 2008 Scott Contessa Plasma tri bike (Craigslist), Shimano 2011 Women's tri shoes (gift certificate), Speedplay Zero pedals (sale), bike seat yet to be purchased (potentially the only full price/non-gift certificate item), and other minor things like windproof gloves and compression riding tights.

Now a lot of research went into these purchases.  I was lucky with my bike.  It was exactly my size and the price was awesome.  I tried out several brands at Speedy Reedy and was tempted to go for the Cervelo P2 but they didn't have my size in the 2010 and I wasn't willing to pay full price for the 2011, not to mention I didn't need a brand new bike.

The shoes, again more research.  I wanted something stiff, breathable, one strap, a big loop in the back, and comfortable.  It came down to the Shimano shoes or a pair of Mavic shoes.  The Shimano shoes matched my bike...how could I pass those up?  Besides, they were the same price.

With new shoes comes new pedals.  I've been rocking the SPD mountain bike pedals for the past 3 years, it was time to get road pedals.  I read a lot about the Speedplay brand and settled in on that.  And behold, a sale!  Sure, the pedals are blue and had I paid full price I would have gotten pedals that matched my bike but no one sees them anyway and I got them half off!

Lastly, the seat.  Speedy Reedy has been a godsend with saddles.  They allow folks to borrow their test saddles and since I don't live in Seattle they've been very lenient with me (Thank you, thank you, thank you).  I've tried the Cobb VFlow, a Selle SMP (maybe I didn't have it in the right position), a Fizik (I prefer the cutouts), and the ISM breakaway (too wide).  My favorite - the Cobb.  I plan on buying one it's just a matter of timing.  Which...now that I think about it I have a race in a week and the current saddle on my bike is the ISM (which I did not like)...hmmm...

Fun with the Fuzz 5k Race Report...and Post Race Ride

Stats that I can be super proud of - 22:02, 7:06 pace, 16th female overall (out of 499), 5th in my age group.

I know, it's not very modest of me to just put up stats like that and THEN start the blog post but I'm pretty darn happy so deal with it.  The plan for this race - there was no plan.  I woke up early Saturday  morning and layered on the clothes to go volunteer at the race set up.  The day was already gorgeous (clear blue skies) and I was just thankful that there would be no repeat of last year's stormy pre-race.  I had been feeling tired all week.  Simply run down from my training (more to come on that in another post) and so I wasn't super excited about racing that morning and was almost resigned to not doing it...or just doing it as a warm up to my 3 hour bike ride I had planned later that morning.

Gabe and I headed to the start and proceeded to hang banners, set up tables, and prep the registration area.  Things went smoothly this year.  There was chip timing, online registration, etc.  It was like the race had been going for years and not just the second annual.  Kudos to the race director for making this year leaps and bounds more efficient/organized/enjoyable.

About 15 minutes before the race started I bailed on my volunteering duties and did a pseudo warm-up.  I actually just circled around the start line trying to find the several folks I knew who were doing the race that morning.  I finally found Laura, Gina, Cami, and Jen and we all huddled in at the front ready to start.  Laura and I agreed to work together and aim for a 7:15 pace.  That seemed reasonable and not a total stretch.  We both had our watches ready and were adamant about sticking to that pace - not going out too hard.

The countdown came and went and we were off.  Jen and Gina passed us within the first 200 yards and we stuck close to their heels.  A few joking words were made, a reminder to stick to our pace, and then our little pack of four turned silent - working and breathing hard.  The first mile - 7:06.  A little fast but not too far off of where we wanted to be.  We were still running comfortably behind Gina and Jen.  After that first mile Cara caught up to us.  It was wonderful.  A little pack of 5 running friends all pushing each other.  You can't beat that in a race.

The second mile was more of the same.  The group of us all going the same pace.  7:11 for my split.  At this point it was time to pick it up a bit.  Cara pulled out up front and Jen and I followed.  Around one corner I pulled in behind Jen and just focused on her stride and tried to keep my breathing under control.  We had definitely picked up the pace slightly.  At about a half mile left Jen started to pull away.  I let her go and just tried to give it all I had.  When the finish line was in sight I let it all out.  I caught two folks right as I passed the finish line and then doubled over and had a brief moment of...'oh crap, am I going to throw up?'  As mentioned in a previous post (maybe last year) - push until you puke, then you know you're racing with everything you've got.  

And that's it!  A whole minute PR over my last year's results and a short story to fill you in on all of the details.  Post race I felt great only a few minutes later - gotta love short races.  Elated by my time and the spectacular day I was ready to rush home, change clothes, and hop on my bike for my 3 hour ride.  Ha!  Yeah, about that...  I started the ride okay but once we hit the hill climbing out of Fairhaven and up Chuckanut I knew my legs were dead.  I tried to draft off of Gabe but on every hill he dropped me.  So, once we hit Lake Samish we parted ways (him and Michael went longer) and I looped around the lake and headed home at whatever speed I could maintain.  All in all a decent 2 hour ride but it was pretty hard on tired legs.

Irish Car Bomb and Almond Fig Cupcakes

Cupcakes #2 and #3...check.  It was a weekend of cupcakes.  Friday was Michele's kitchen remodel party and so I thought it was a great opportunity to make Irish Car Bomb cupcakes.  Then we have Easter, and my contribution to brunch would be...oh you guessed it, cupcakes.  Almond Fig cupcakes to be exact.  Let's start with Friday.

If you're not familiar with the Irish Car Bomb drink here is your reference.  Now that you're acquainted with this excellent St. Patty's Day drink let's proceed.  The cake, a chocolate stout cake.  Carve out a little of the center, drop in an Irish Whiskey Chocolate Ganache (fanciness for melted chocolate and cream), and top it all off with a Bailey's Irish Cream Buttercream Frosting.

Outcome...yummy.  Granted I think a warning should come before consuming these cupcakes only because they aren't what people would normally expect when devouring a chocolate cupcake.  The stout is definitely noticeable along with the Bailey's.  If you weren't expecting those flavors you might think it tasted odd at first.

Recipe:

Chocolate Stout Cupcakes - 

1 cup Guinness

2 sticks unsalted butter

3/4 cup cocoa powder

2 cups flour

2 cups sugar

1 1/2 tsps baking soda

3/4 tsp salt

2 large eggs

2/3 cup sour cream

Ganache Filling - 

4 ozs semi-sweet chocolate

1/3 cup heavy cream

1 tblsp butter

1 to 2 tsps Irish Whiskey

Baileys Irish Cream Frosting - 

3 cups powdered sugar

1 stick unsalted butter

3 to 4 tblsps Baileys (or heavy cream, or a combination)

Prep:

Bring stout and butter to simmer, add cocoa powder and whisk until smooth.  

Combine dry ingredients in a bowl, sift.

Beat eggs and sour cream to blend.  Add chocolate stout mixture and beat to combine.  Add flour and beat briefly.  Pour into cupcake liners and bake for 20 minutes.

When cupcakes have cooled cut out middle.

Chop chocolate for filling and put in heatproof bowl.  Heat cream until simmering and pour over chocolate.  Stir until sufficiently melted (pop in microwave for 20 seconds if chocolate doesn't melt fully).  Add butter and whiskey.  Let cool until thick but soft enough to pipe in.

Whip butter for several minutes.  Add sugar a tablespoon at a time until desired thickness.  Drizzle Baileys (milk) and whip until combined.  Add sugar if frosting is too thin.  Frost cupcakes.

Now it was time to make the Almond Fig Cupcakes.  Here's the scoop - almond flavored cupcakes (using Almond extract), filled with fig goo (that's a technical term), and topped with maple frosting.  Outcome...eh.  The almond cupcake was fantastic (I ate the carved out bits).  The maple frosting was excellent as well.  I've decided I like making this kind of frosting (see recipe below) over frosting with confectioners/powdered sugar - I get less of a headache while making it.  The fig goo - way too sweet!!!!  And it solidified in the cupcake so when you bit into it you got the entire filling in one bite.  Ick.  The filling itself tasted good but again, way too sweet. 

Recipe:

Almond Cupcake (I halved the recipe to only make 12 - tired of making full batches of cupcakes) - 

3/4 cup butter

1 1/2 cups sugar

2 eggs

1 1/2 tsps almond extract

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

2 1/2 tsps baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

2 1/2 cups flour

1 1/4 cup milk

Fig Filling - 

10 ripened black figs (I used dried because figs aren't in season.  I think it would be easier with fresh)

3/4 cup sugar

1/2 cup honey

3 tblsps cornstarch

1 tsp vanilla extract

Maple Frosting (below is the 'halved' recipe, I don't know what the full recipe was)

3/4 cup brown sugar

1 egg white

2 1/2 tblsps water

1/4 tsp maple flavoring

Prep:
Cream butter until smooth, add sugar and beat well.  Add two eggs and beat until smooth.  Dump in the rest of the ingredients (I sifted the dried ingredients beforehand).  Fill cupcake liners and bake at 375 for 20 minutes.

For the filling put all ingredients into a blender and blend for 1 minute.  Microwave until thick - 2 minutes.

Cook sugar, water, and egg white in a double boiler and beat until it forms peaks.  Add flavoring and beat.  Pipe onto cupcakes.  (My Ziploc bag burst while piping...so I just smeared really). 

Ooey Gooey S'mores Cupakes

I think I'm off to a good start.  Yesterday was my first (of 30) attempts at cupcake creating.  The flavor - Smore's.  The plan a chocolate cupcake in between two graham crackers and marshmallow frosting.

I started with the cupcake.  I wanted it to be a super moist chocolate cake and it couldn't be from a mix (just a note: none of the 30 cupcake creations will be from a mix).  So, I found a recipe online and started to lay out the ingredients.  As I thought more about Smore's I realized I need to add the 'gooey' part.  Smore's are inherently messy.  Usually it comes from the marshmallows but I figured adding a lava cake feel to the chocolate would be good enough.  So, back to Google and a recipe for making the 'lava' part of the chocolate cake.  I found some recipe that simply melted down chocolate and whipping cream.  A slight alteration of the recipe (I didn't have whipping cream but just bought milk) and I was good to go.

Next up, the marshmallow frosting.  I found the perfect recipe and halved it - it just seemed a bit over-the-top as far as ingredients went.  Now it was time to get to work.

Step 1: Bite sized graham crackers at the bottom of each cupcake liner.

Step 2: Prepare 'gooey' chocolate mixture which entailed heating up a 1/2 cup milk and melting down a cup of semi-sweet chocolate chips.  Then refrigerating to harden a bit.  It was supposed to sit for an hour in the refrigerator but I was ready to use before that.  I think it turned out just fine regardless.

Step 3: Prepare chocolate cake batter.  I found a simple recipe from a blog that claimed 'moist' so I went with it.  Combine dry ingredients - 1 cup sugar, 1 cup brown sugar, 1 3/4 cup flour, 3/4 cup cocoa powder (I used dark chocolate cocoa powder although it called for unsweetened), 1 1/2 tsp. baking soda, 1 1/2 tsp. baking powder, 1/2 tsp. salt.  Sift together.  Then combine wet ingredients - 2 eggs, 1 cup milk, 1/2 cup vegetable oil, and 2 tsps. vanilla extract.  Start with mixing the wet ingredients and slowly add the dry.  When it's all mixed add 1 cup boiling water.  It's a bit runny to start but that's okay.

Step 4: Pour and Cook.  I filled the cupcake liner about 3/4 full with cupcake batter and then put a large spoonful of the melted chocolate on top.  Bake for about 21 minutes at 350.

Step 5: Make the frosting.  Over simmering water I whisked 4 egg whites, 1 cup sugar, and a 1/4 tsp. cream of tartar for about 3 - 4 minutes.  Then I removed the bowl from the water and proceeded to whisk for what seemed like forever with a hand held mixer with a whisk attachment.  After several minutes the hand held mixer was heating up so I switched over to my Cuisinart stand mixer with whisk attachment.  I cranked that baby up and whisked until there was glossy stiff peaks.  Done.  One thing to note - the frosting turned out a bit grainy due to the kind of sugar I was using.  I would recommend a super fine sugar.  I guess another thing to note - I got sick of whisking and so my frosting isn't as stiff as it should be.  I think if I had used the Cuisinart from the get go it would have been fine.  But in the long run I like how it turned out - it looks like a melted marshmallow.

Step 6: Frost and decorate.  I think I need to invest in a real piping bag although the cut Ziploc bag worked out this time.  If the frosting had been stiffer and I had a real piping back I would have ended up with nice little decorative mounds of frosting - instead I have melted marshmallows.  I'll opt for the latter for these cupcakes.  Final touch - a bit of graham cracker to close the S'more (see the first picture).

Success!  I have to admit (all modesty aside) that these cupcakes are excellent.  Gabe will attest that I was high-fiving throughout the rest of the day - basking in my glorious baking skills.  I mean come on - the last cupcake I made was from a mix and the one before that tasted excellent but turned out to be more like muffins - super dense (both don't count towards my 30).  So let me bask.

30s Update

I'll let the list speak for itself.

1. Compete in Ironman Canada
2. Sing Karaoke
3. Meditate at least 3-4 times a week (Failing miserably at this.  I'm lucky if I get in one meditation a week.)
4. Create 30 different flavors of cupcakes (1 down, 29 to go.)
5. Go gluten free for a month
6. Join Servas and host someone
7. Read Tolstoy's War and Peace
8. Try Bikram Yoga
9. Exhibit my artwork (anywhere)
10. Work from a different state
11. Donate blood
12. Host a dinner party
13. Take sailing lessons
14. Submit a written piece to a triathlon magazine
15. Travel somewhere new by myself  
16. Enforce 'No technology night' (Successful so far - trying to keep it up.)
17. Actually 'do' stretching/core/balance work (I don't care how often, just do it) (Successful so far - trying to keep it up.)
18. Run a qualifying time for Boston (I can't believe they just changed the times!) 
19. Create a financial plan (Working on it.)
20. Learn a language 
21. Stop using plastic bags from the grocery store (Successful so far - trying to keep it up.)
22. Attend an 'Icognito Dinner' with Ciao Thyme catering 
23. Purchase a piece of original artwork 
24. Teach Zoey sign language (Trying, but now that I'm not going down to Seattle as often it's getting harder to randomly throw sign language at her.)
25. Try a week of sugar free 
26. Take a yoga class from Shiva Rae (totally cheating on this one because I just signed up for one) 
27. Give my time to a charity (doesn't matter how much or how little) 
28. Scan all of my Semester at Sea pictures into the computer and then make a scrap book (it's only been 9 years!) 
29. Since we're on the 'picture' kick - print and frame my wedding pictures. 
30. Lay the groundwork for bringing the 70.3 triathlon distance to Whatcom County.