Ryzzie Gets Down

Last weekend Kiefer took me out to Potato Canyon for a ride. There were plenty of water crossings, short climbs and rock gardens for me to practice my skills. We were only out for about an hour, but for me it was more than enough.

I ended up with a gnarly sinus infection though, and I've been really out of sorts since then. They put me on prednisone and some decongestants to help relieve the pressure, but I've been really exhausted since my ride.

Looking forward to another ride tomorrow with Kitty!

Ryzzie Gets Back on The Trail

New Bike Day for Flexi

On Tuesday, Kiefer, miss Boo and I escorted our friend Flexi all the way down to the beautiful city of Hermosa Beach to check out a 2003 Giant NRS which she ended up getting. That bike might not be new, but the previous owner took excellent care of it so it was in great condition. A perfect bike to help Flexi get a feel for the trail.

Jimmy and Cygnas Get Dusty!

The excitement of new bike day had hardly died down by Wednesday. I was starting to think I might like to go out for a mountain bike ride (no time like the present right???) and invited Flexi to join. She jumped at the chance to go so soon after getting her bike, so we coordinated with Kiefer to meet up at Kenneth Hahn State Recreation Area to get our feet dirty. Kiefer directed us to the trail that he considers to be his "warm-up" trail, which proved to be exactly right for Me and Flexi. Light was fading fast when we arrived at the park about 15 minutes before the official sunset (light lingers for about half an hour after sunset). Normally we would have our MagicShine headlights, but due to the spontaneity of our adventure, they weren't charged. I guess we'll be doing things a little different in future!

Get out! - Reboot

Hello internet! It's been a while (three years and a bit to be more accurate), and boy have I been busy! Since I last posted here I've done a lot of traveling and produced a tiny human. Mini Ryzzie is now of an age where I can actually sit down and record some of the goings on here now and again.

Cross Training

I've also been working on getting more fit in general by doing the Kayla Itsines BBG workout. This is a HIIT workout that is 30 minutes long and you do it 3 times per week. Kayla includes plenty of photos and descriptions of her workouts in her guides, and encourages users to track their progress with selfies.  I find that the selfies are really good motivation because you don't feel like you look different after only a few weeks, but you really do!

Running

For my run workout I'm doing the Jeff Galloway Run-Walk method.  I have to be really careful because of my Tibialis posterior tendinitis, and this really enables me to do that. I also went to my local Road Runner Sports and had the full assessment done on my stride so I could get shoes that suit my needs. The video capture enabled us to determine what was triggering my tendinitis, so now I'm able to compensate with my stride while running to prevent further aggravation. I ended up with some custom insoles (which I do like) and some Women's ASICS GEL-DS Trainer 20. I call them my safety shoes, as they are highlighter yellow. Mini Ryzzie really enjoys our Saturday morning runs along the sand, and I do too.

Upcoming Foot Races

The latest get out fad that's going on is training for a half marathon....or three actually:

1. Disneyland Half Marathon
2. Big Sur Half Marathon
3. Star Wars Half Marathon

Biking

I'll be honest, I'm not getting in the saddle as much as I was before Mini Ryzzie came along. She's big enough to ride in the trailer now at nearly 2 years old, but it's not the same. I like to ride on designated paths with her in the trailer, so I can't just hop on my bike with Kitty and ride wherever we like, but we're getting there. Mini Ryzzie is VERY excited about "Bie"(her word for bike) and can't wait to hop on her Novara Zipper. Her legs just aren't quite long enough to touch the floor! I have a work trip to Georgia later this year, and I'm looking to brush up on my mountain biking skills so I can make good use of their large bike park!

Upcoming Triathlons

I've had my eye on these races for a while:

1. Bonelli Olympic Distance Triathlon (Not registered yet)
2. Tinsel Triathlon (This is a great first timer race, I'm hoping to get my mom to do it!)

I think that's all the updates for now, Just wanted to bring the internet back up to speed, then I can really get going!

Surfing and other stuff

Today Senior Crab and I are going to try to go surfing.  Yeah...try.  See the thing about me and surfing is we've always had this tenuous relationship.  I really want to love surfing, I really really do.  I remember when my friend moved to Hawaii when we were like 8 or 9 (we'll assume that we were 9 for the sake of argument, though I'm sure she'll send me a message later correcting me LOL!).  In my 9 year old brain she was going to go there and learn to surf.  Obviously if you live near the beach, you surf, why wouldn't you?!?!  I was surprised when we went there and she didn't know how to (yet).  She eventually did learn, and now has developed that love of the sport that so many have...that I keep trying to make myself have.

Every time I hear that a friend of mine surfs I try to strike up a conversation with them so we can go together, and I've been with a few of my friends....well I've been "surfing".  Back in high school...maybe college, I kept trying to get my boyfriend at the time's friend Mike to take me...I think we even went one time, I caught a wave and it was so much fun!  Never stood up though.  Later went with my college buddy Chris...again caught waves, never stood up...not for lack of trying though! Chris (D) just got back from a sweet trip in Nicaragua where he stayed in a house on the beach for a week and surfed.  I've also gone with my other lab partner from college, Krista.

Surfing with Krista was a really funny story.  My coworkers and I had gone to a club the night before, and while waiting for our food to settle had dozed off on the sofa of one of their apartments just sitting there (it was late, I think we stayed until closing).  Krista said be at her place at 7 or 8 or something, and I was so determined to be on time, that I had packed my beach stuff. I showed up on time to a barely awake Krista, but that was OK with me!  We headed out for a lovely day of surfing (and belly surfing for me LOL).  Good times!

I've also been surfing with my coworker Todd down in San Diego.  Todd is a really fun guy actually.  As soon as I found out he rode motorcycles I knew that we would HAVE to be friends!  This guy is the epitome of determination.  He learned to surf being dragged behind a boat down a river in North Carolina (hey, they didn't have a beach close enough, and there was no wake boarding yet). He also takes us dirt biking, but that's a story for a different time (of another sport I'm determined to love, along with Rock climbing...it's like I refuse to be boring, I must do exciting things even if it's kinda scary!).  Todd is a CRAZY guy too.  He goes surfing down in SD all the time, and has been known to go at night when there is a full moon.  Once a month over the summer there is a group that gets together to surf and make breakfast in a parking lot down in the SD area, and they are so much fun!  Todd is a great instructor, and it's there that we learned to true value of a good wetsuit (especially for my husband!).

So a couple years back my mother's long time (like since my MOM was 11 years old) pen pal's daughter, Laura, came to visit us from England, and I decided it was the perfect time to have a surfing lesson!  So a bunch of us got together and took a surfing lesson with her, including Senior Crab.  We had so much fun that we bought some boards at Costco and made an appointment to go again....which turned into finding a wet suit to rent, which none of them fit me or Kiefer, or Crab.  UGH!!  We ended up spending the day searching for wetsuits, which ended successfully with some sale suits from Spyder boards...which have sat in our closets for the last 2 summers.  Yup, tags on and everything.

But today is the day!  I'm going to cut the tags off of my wet suit (and brush the cat fur off....)throw on my bikini, and we are going to go catch some waves...maybe.  It's definitely a sport that I can do with my friends...BUT I NEED TO GO DO IT!

Absentee Ryzzie?? Nah just busy Ryzzie....

Yah sorry about that...no I haven't been on any epic adventures.  Sometimes life gets in the way!  I've been extra dilligent about riding to work lately, which was totally ruined this week because I've had a stomach ache all week!  Chris and I watched a couple documentaries last night Forks Over Knives (2011) and Killer at Large (2008).

Riding my bike more has been great.  I needed to do some maintenance the other day because it started making a funny noise...this turned into a massive If You Give a Mouse a Cookie situation (one of my favorite books from childhood because it is a cute example of a real life problem of getting distracted while trying to complete a task that I am constantly falling prey to).  I ended up re-truing the wheel because it was wobbly.  Then it was still making the noise so Chris replaced the axel, cones and bearings.  Yet the noise persisted.  Turned out one of the spokes (this one has gone loose before) had gotten loose...even though I just tightened them up.

Meanwhile I was riding Chris's bike to work, which is slightly too big for me.  Boy did that little bit of size make the world of difference, that was a tough ride!  Well after I fixed the noise the wheel got out of true again...so I get to go back to that (plus it's not round anymore either) so I'll make it work!  It's like a giant tangle of yarn, and I can sit for hours and untangle that mess.  Tonight will be a good night, maybe Chris will BBQ for us.

Unfortunately, even though the weather has been absolutely ideal for a good ride, I have been having a tummy ache for the last few days.  I feel a lot better today, must have gotten whatever was bothering me out of my system...so to speak ha ha ha!  Originally I was hoping that Chad would be able to join us for a ride with a bike club in his area (I think he'd enjoy having fellow cyclists to enthuse with and learn from), but I think he's going to be studying this weekend (per his FB post).  We'll ask anyway...it's just the morning right (and Scouting is just one night a week....right?)?

Ultimately I'm hoping to meet up with a cycling group in my area that I can ride with regularly on something a little more trying than my 10 mile round trip commute.  I need a challenge.  I love doing triathlons, I really do, but I think my tendonitis is really going to hold me back from progressing at any reasonable pace towards doing anything other than sprint triathlons with a 5k run portion.  After 5k it starts to act up big time, and that's with Vibrams as my shoes.  If I try regular running shoes I give it a quarter of a mile before I'm in tears with pain.

I'm looking forward to a post from my favorite Yogi in training, Wednesday, and I've also passed out an invite to my former program leader (she's just graduated from work!) who is a Marathoness (Marathoner seems too masculine!) with a passion for getting her feet on the pavement.  Hopefully she'll accept the invite.  She gave me my copy of Born to Run, which I absolutely loved reading, it was completely inspiring, and the reason I'm still running!

Exciting news - Guest writer announcement!

I just wanted to announce that my beloved friend and littlest sister (ok, she's not so little anymore!) is going to be coming on as a guest blogger here on Get Out!  We will have our own Yogi to add her insight, advetures, recipes, tips, tricks, and toils to the mix.  Please give a warm welcome to Wednesday when you see her first post (soon?).

Sunday Dinner: Salad with Seared Ahi Tuna

Yes, I am aware that it is Monday, and not Sunday...Sorry it's late folks!



Tools
Frying Pan
Sharp Knife*
Spatula
Tongs


Ingredients
1 small ahi tuna steak (roughly the size of...a can of tuna!)
1 head red leaf lettuce
5 or 6 grape or cherry tomatoes (or more)
3 tbsp olive oil
1 serving miso or sesame or ginger (to taste!) dressing

Prep time: 5 min
Cook time:  5 min

Recipe

1. Rinse and chop your lettuce into nice bite sized pieces (I like 2" squares)
2. Put lettuce and tomatoes in a salad bowl and set aside
3. Heat olive oil on medium heat until water will sizzle, but not spatter.  Coat the pan thoroughly.
4. Place the tuna in the pan.  Let sear until a golden brown color is achieved (about 2 min).
5. Using a spatula release the tuna from the pan.  Using tongs gently turn the tuna and brown the other side until golden brown (about 2 min).
6. If desired sear remaining sides of tuna.  Do not overcook.
7. Remove Tuna from heat and immediately slice into 1/4" thick medalions.
8. Serve on salad with dressing as desired.

Note:  You can prepare this the night before for your lunch, or in the morning, as the tuna cooks very quickly.  I prefer to toss it in the pan after I'm done fixing my morning egg whites.


*Don't cheap out on me here folks.  Do yourself a favor, go to some place like Sur la Table or if you're feeling bourgeoisie  Williams-Sonoma and get yourself a nice santoku from Wustof or Henckle.  This is a great all purpose knife that will last you a long time if you take good care of it (that means washing it as soon as you are done with it and putting it RIGHT BACK....NO DISHWASHERS EITHER!)  (Thanks for the pro tips Chad!)