Challenge Motivation Week 2, Part 2

Late-week check-in time on the challenge!  If you haven't done anything yet this week - this weekend is the perfect time to go for a walk, get in some treadmill stationary bike or elliptical time, or even get your food preparations done for next week.  We cannot live life looking through a rear-view mirror, so we must keep making forward progress.  This is the jump-start on developing healthy new habits, or reinforcing those which you already have. 

Let's use this weekend as the jumping off point for a very successful week 3, getting ready to feed both our bodies and our souls!  This weekend I am planning on making some homemade soups.  I have included the recipe for my potato-fennel soup below for those interested..

I am also planning on swimming Saturday morning with FAST and then Sunday evening with my friends Anne and Jaye.  I also hope to get in a ride on my bike and a 10-12 mile run although my knee is hurting after last night's run.  I may have to go shorter and see what my knee is telling me.

In addition to all of that, I hope to get some cleaning done, prep for the following week, some headway on my very last graduate research paper and my school work for the week done.  Ahhh... all in the life of Jenn!  5 weeks until the finish line!


Tale from Ironman, Part 2

Susie

When Annelise and I were heading out for the run that was not meant to be, we were seeing a lot of athletes coming in and riding their bikes around before checking them in.  We noticed that there were many road bikes and even a hybrid bike or two.  Interesting.  One of the athletes on a road bike was named Susie and she was from Canada, although living in Holland.  We discussed her race plans, why she was doing the race, and how she felt about it.  This was her first Ironman and told us that she would rather have an ocean swim than a hilly bike.  We saw her and her husband multiple times throughout the day, and come race day I saw her in the swim chute where I was a peeler and then again as she crossed the finish line.  It was so great experiencing her race day through her eyes as it was unfolding.  She stopped in the swim chute and gave me a big hug with a huge smile on her face and then again when I saw her finish I yelled to her and she ran over and gave me another big hug, telling me that she just DID THAT!

I like to take away the lesson that this is a privileged not a given, and if we work hard enough for our goals or rather even when we work hard for our goals, we need to truly enjoy the experience, the journey not just the finish line.  She never said thank goodness I am done, or I am glad that is over.  She simply marveled in what she accomplished that day - wide eyed and smiling all the way.   

If we are working towards a goal, we need to keep in mind what this goal means to us.  If it is for vanity reasons only, we are less likely to accomplish the goal because it has little real meaning to us.

When setting your goals be they short or long term based, we need to attach real meaning to them otherwise we are setting ourselves up for a failure or at best a shallow success. 

Roasted Potato-Fennel Soup

 

Roasted Potato-Fennel Soup

Ingredients (feel free to add or admit as you see fit)

• 2 medium fennel bulbs or 1 large
• 5-6 small golden potatoes or any other type you have around
• 2-3 whole shallots with skins removed OR 1/2 C vidalia/sweet onion coursely chopped
• 2-3 garlic cloves, whole, skin removed (optional - more or less as you would like)
• Salt, pepper, misc. seasoning powders and olive oil to coat
• Dried dill to taste (Optional)
• Vegetable broth or chicken broth to make soup into desired consistency

Note: You can add parsnips, carrots, turnips, sweet potatoes, or rutabaga to this if you chose.  The sky is the limit!

I cut up the potatoes into smaller pieces for even roasting, and cut the fennel bulbs into quarters or the ulb into eighths. I toss the potatoes, fennel bulbs, garlic cloves, onions or shallots and any additional vegetables in with olive oil and seasonings including some dill to coat and then lay out on a cake pan to roast.  For me, I typically use a 1/2 sheet cake pan.  I sprinkle additional dill over the vegetables and then roast in the oven @ 400* for 30-35 minutes or until they veggies are done.

Once roasted, I dump the contents of the cake pan into a large mixing bowl, and mash with a submersion blender creating a mashed potato blend.  I then add in my broth of choice and continue to mis with the submersion blender until the soup is to my preferred consistency.  I add in additional dill and then serve.

If you are using a blender, you must let the roasted veggies cool down before you can add the broth, then you must re-heat the mixture before seerving, although this soup is good cold as well.