Happy Monkey Hummus

I usually don't post very much about food. I'd really like to, but I don't cook alot. I usually buy frozen meals and eat those because I don't have time to sit down and cook something healthy.

Well, here is a healthy food post! Yay!

As I posted in my last post, I rode my bike in to the farmer's market on Saturday to visit my friends who own Happy Monkey Hummus and to buy some of their divine hummus! (FYI - They aren't paying me to advertise for them, this is just one of my favorite local foods.)



Hummus is an awesome, healthy snack. It provides great protein and isn't too high in calories either. I believe for 3 oz. it's only 140-150 calories.

They have some awesome flavors. They have Original, Fire Roasted Bell Pepper, Roasted Garlic & Tomato, Margarita (limes, tequila, anaheim peppers, garlic, cilantro, cumin), Suesabi (soy sauce, garlic, ginger, wasabi radish, sesami seeds), XXX (chipotle peppers w/liquid, red peppers, cocoa powder, cumin, cinnamon, nutmeg), Buttnut (butternut squash), Beet My Monkey (beets), Spun Monkey (spicey) & a couple of others, just to name a few. All of their flavors but 2 are vegan friendly. The other 2 have cheese in them and are DIVINE!!!

One of my favorite ways to use their hummus is as a sandwich spread. It is SO good to put on a cucumber sandwich. Ooooh I'm craving one right now. I honestly don't have a favorite.

You can buy their product at the farmer's market until Oct 18th, Harmon's (statewide), Jade Market, The Store, Snowbird Ski & Summer Resort - Aerie Restaurant, and Whole Foods.

If you buy it, you'll have to comment on here & let me know how you like it.

Recap of the Week

This last week has been a major challenge for me. I got my workout in on Monday & Tuesday; however I woke up Wednesday morning with a hell of a cold. :( Not happy. I felt like 10 lbs of crap in a 5 lb bag.

So, like a good athlete should, I didn't workout Wednesday, Thursday or Friday. I woke up Saturday morning and felt pretty good, so I rode my bike in to Salt Lake in to the Farmer's Market. It was a 24 mile round trip. It was a little harder of a ride than normal just because I still have the lingerings of a cold, but I was able to do it.

After I got home from my ride, I weighed myself. I expected to gain a little bit of weight, but I gained over 2 lbs this week! Usually when I can't workout my self control goes to pot and I just eat anything and everything. Well, I tried REALLY hard this week and I might have splurged a little here and there, but I thought I was really good. I'm very disappointed.

Lately also on Saturday's, which are my cheat day, I've been really good and instead of just binge eating I might have a little bit of something, but I'm not near as bad as I used to be. Well, after I weighed myself and saw that I gained 2 lbs, the binge eating started...and it carried over in to Sunday. :( I'm quite disappointed in myself.

I told myself that I would wake up Sunday morning and go swimming and running. I woke up Sunday morning and I didn't feel any worse than I did on Saturday, but I just couldn't bring myself to go to the pool. Honestly, because I'm still a little sick, it scares me to go swimming and that it's gonna be hard to breathe while swimming.

I've got to lose weight this next week. I've got to start running and swimming and biking this week. I've got a 1/2 marathon in 13 days. I've got to be ready for it. So...no matter how I feel in the morning, I HAVE to get up and swim. Right now my personal trainer has me only swimming 2 days a week, but because of how crappy I ate this weekend, I'm going to have to go swimming a third day as well. I have been really good about not straying from my trainer's plan, but I feel like I have to this week.

The Dirty Dash 2011

The Dirty Dash 2011 was SO much fun! I did the 10k version & I had a couple of tricks up my sleeve to have fun this year.

I got all prepared & dressed in my swim suit so that when I hit the FREEzing showers at the end, I could just strip down to my swim suit & get clean.

First off, I was SUPER excited for this race because I found out the night before my friends Jen & Brandon would be there to cheer on some of Jen's students. I haven't seen Jen in a loooong time! I love her!



So, soon it was time to start the race! I knew I was in trouble when I headed up the first mud hill & my shoe started to come off. Lol.


Look at how clean we are!!! The cleanliness didn't last long.

They added ALOT more obstacles this year! Yes! I LOVED it! So after you got up the first mud hill, shortly thereafter, you came to another mud hill/stream. This mud hill was harder to get up because it was smaller & more wet.

Then we got to 2 deep mud pools. You could either attempt to climb over some 2x4's to get over the mud pools or do like me, Sylvia, Betsey & Kirsten did & just jump in the water!

Side note: Every year I swear I'm going to take a water-proof disposable camera with me on the course & I forget every stinkin' year! Gah!

So then we ran for a little longer & got to the hay bails & had to go over a TON of hay bails.

My goal was to run the entire 10k this year instead of stopping to walk any where. I did it!

See this bruise:



It is from crawling through 3 metal corregated pipes! It was SO much fun!!! I'd do it again in a heart beat! After you came out of the pipes you got hit with a snow machine spewing water at you.

We soon came to the climbing walls. I only climbed over 1 of the walls 'cause I couldn't climb over the others. There was nobody there to help me. :( Lost my shoes a couple of times there too. :(

Another side note: I always use last season's running shoes so I can donate them at the end of the race. :)

After I almost lost my shoes...twice...in the mud pits by the climbing walls, as I was running downhill, I decided to ditch my shoes! Yes, I ran the last 4 miles barefoot! SO. MUCH. FUN!!!

One part of the obstacle course that I'm not good at is the tires. You have to run through a bunch of tires (like you see the military people do in basic training). Yeah, I have NO coordination, that just doesn't happen with me. Lol.

We went over by Deer Creek Reservoir and last year it was just a bunch of ooey gooey mud, but this year, besides the mud, we ended up getting in to waist deep water! It was fabulous!!!

Some of the other obstacles they had was a rope ladder/climbing wall thingy. If I was wearing shoes I would've been able to do this, but it hurt the bottom of my feet too bad.

Then, one of my favorite parts...the super duper slip-n-slide!!! So fun!!! I actually slipped & slided down it this year!

Then, the last thing, you come running down the hill to head to the big final mud pit! In this picture you can see me runnin' barefoot too!



The final mud pit was bigger too! They had 2 mud pits you had to go through! I loved it!



Here I am after the race:



They're doing a race in January 2012 called Lick the Pole and it's very similar to the Dirty Dash except it's in the snow & ice. I think I might do it! Sounds fun!!!

How Does This Happen?

I was supposed to ride up City Creek Canyon last Thursday, but plans changed very fast.

That morning as I was getting ready to pack my bike on to my car & everything, I found out I had a flat tire. I thought no worries 'cause I have all the stuff to repair it, I'll just repair it on my break at work.

Well, we ended up repairing it later in the day right before we were to ride up City Creek, that wasn't the problem.

But, when my tire went flat, for some reason, my chain fell off my bike. And somehow while Sylvia and I were changing my tire, this happened to my chain:




Needless to say...I didn't get to ride up City Creek Canyon that night. :( My dad was able to fix my chain the next day in about 2 minutes though.

What Do You Do?

I used to over train. I used to over train ALOT. Then...I got shin splints and I learned my lesson.

My question/predicament is even after I've done my daily workout I get the craving to just go running or biking. It's like I wanna go out & hit the pavement and not come home until I'm tired.

I don't do it though because I don't want to overtrain. Last time I overtrained my pace slowed down and I got shin splints. This is all kind of counter productive.

Do you ever feel like this? How do you deal with it? What do you do? Do you just take your chances & go out any ways or do you stay home?

I Dread Them

I LOVE to do cardio. Make me run on a treadmill and ride a bike & swim all day long and I can do it. But...make me do weights & my core workout for 30 minutes every other day & I dread it!

I don't know the names of all of the weights I do and machines I do, but I know it takes me about 30 minutes and that includes doing my 20-25 reps of viscious v's, 1 min of the Russian twist, 1 min of the bicycle (not the machine), 1 min of the plank and 20-25 in & out's.

I suck it up & I do all of this any ways because I know in the long run (no pun intended) it will make me a faster, stronger athlete.

But...why do I hate it so much?

Emigration Canyon

Today was supposed to be a rest day, but my workouts got all screwed up today, so I did my Friday workout on Saturday and did my Saturday workout today. BJ gave me my workout of riding my bike up Emigration Canyon today.



I was SUPER nervous for this ride. I knew where it was, but I just didn't know what to expect. I've drove the canyon before and have been very intimidated by it.

I was expecting the ride to be alot like riding up City Creek Canyon. It wasn't. It was TOTALLY different.

First off, I got to use my CO2 cartridge today. I forgot to check my tires at home before I drove up to the base of the canyon (I parked at the zoo). So, I got my bike down off my car got it all set up and felt my tire and it was low. It wasn't too terribly low, but it would've made the ride harder. So...thankfully I have my little pack now (learned about not having this the hard way) that I keep a spare tube, a little pump, a CO2 cartridge and tire irons. I pulled out my pump and filled up my tire and off I went.

I started out having a head wind that made the ride seem a little difficult, but the farther I got up the canyon, the wind went away.

As I'm starting my climb up the canyon I figure out that someone has taken a can of spray paint and has painted little inspirational messages on the ground. The first one I came upon said "It was a great choice to ride today." I saw one that said "Keep pushing! GO!!!" There was another one where they'd list a bunch of names like "So&So is stoked". A few yards later you'd see another "So&So is stoked" and it would go on until it said "So&So is stoked for you!". I loved it! It made the ride more fun.

I didn't know how much farther I had to go. I didn't know how many miles up the canyon it was to the top. The only thing I knew was my boss told me that it should only take me as long to climb Emigration Canyon as it does for me to climb City Creek Canyon.

All of a sudden I was at the top of the canyon. I was SO surprised. It's 8 miles up the canyon. I didn't have to shift down in to my easiest gear until about 5 miles in to the ride. I was pretty surprised. (Pardon my stupid helmet. I want/need a new one.)



Then it was time to head back down the canyon. It took me a little less than 1 hour to climb the canyon and it took me 25 minutes to get down the canyon. I was able to pedal a little down the canyon, but most of it was just coasting.

I know this might sound silly, but I was kind of proud of myself. I caught myself going 31 mph down the canyon and I didn't slow down. Usually once I hit about 25 mph the speed scares me and I start to slow down, but it was fun going 31 mph.

After I got home and got everything taken care of & off to work I decided to research and see why this ride was easier than City Creek. Well, as far as mileage goes, Emigration is a longer ride, but it's not nearly as steep as City Creek. Emigration you do gain more altitude, but it's not so steep. I believe City Creek is at it's steepest point is a 9.4% grade and Emigration is no more than a 6% grade. I was kind of disappointed that the ride wasn't as hard as I expected. But my brother pointed out a couple of different factors. He was saying that with Emigration, you have less oxygen 'cause you're higher up and a longer ride at a consistant incline, so those all add up. That made me feel a little better.

If I would've had more time, once I got to the bottom of the canyon I would've turned around and climbed the canyon again, but I had to get to work. :(

Next time I ride the canyon, I'm gonna park down a couple of blocks at a library or I'm going to park at the near by VA hospital and get a longer ride in with a couple of more hills.

I. CAN'T. WAIT!!!

Paint Fumes

The two weeks following Labor Day, my gym does their annual cleaning. They close & drain the pool, the locker rooms and the raquetball rooms and deep clean them.

I went up to the gym tonight to do my workout on a spinning bike and as soon as I walked in the door, I knew I wouldn't be there long. I walked in the door & paint fumes hit me like a TON of bricks!

I still went and got on the bike upstairs and I was able to do 20 minutes of cycling, but the paint fumes were just too much to handle. The only circulation they had was fans sitting on the floor going full blast, but other than that, it didn't seem like they had any circulation.

So, I cut my workout short tonight and instead of only having to run 6 miles tomorrow, I now need to incorporate 90 minutes of cycling in to my workout as well. And NO I won't be going to the gym. I won't be going to the gym until they open the pool back up in 1 1/2 weeks.

I just think that if they can't properly circulate air in the gym so that the paint fumes are so strong, they should close the entire gym down for 2 weeks. I'm thinking it's kind of dangerous to be working out in those conditions.

SDRC Labor Day Triathlon 9-5-11

Yesterday was the annual Labor Day Triathlon at the South Davis Recreation Center up the street from my house.

This was the third time I had participated in this triathlon. I had high hopes with this triathlon. I was hoping to set a new PR with this triathlon, but if I didn't set a new PR, I would've been happy with finishing in less than 1:30:00.

Well...that didn't happen. My final time was 1:30:26. I came in 4th in my age division. Alot of people think I came in 3rd because I guess before ALL of the times were in, I did come in third. My personal trainer's wife and my friend Tawni said they heard them announcing my name as 3rd place. I wish I felt like I could take credit for coming in 3rd, but I just don't feel like I can. I came in 2 minutes after the person who came in 3rd place.

I'm very disappointed with my time, but I know what I did wrong. I started out on my swim WAY too strong. I think partially my nerves got the better of me because I saw 2 of my co-workers right before I got in the pool and I think it was in my mind that I needed to impress them and show them how fast I am, so I started out WAY too strong; therefore about 1/3 of the way through the swim I had to stop & catch my breath. It took me 16 minutes to swim 14 laps. That's about double what it should have taken.

So when I finally got done with the swim I headed out on the bike. I felt pretty good on the bike...until I hit a red light. With this particular bike route, we have to bike through part of Bountiful City, in to Centerville and in to Farmington. Centerville City refuses to give us police presence and we have to go through a major intersection. So, when you hit that red light, since there is no police presence, we have to obey ALL traffic laws. I hit that red light going out & coming back. So, that slowed me down too. If I wouldn't have hit those red lights, I probably would have come in 3rd place.

I finally got back from the bike and Tawni's husband was already done with the race. He actually came in 1st overall. He is an AMAZING athlete. I have to say I find it kind of awesome that even though I'm not as good an athlete as Brice & Tawni, Brice was there cheering me on and everything.

I ran out of transition and I was surprised, I was feeling REALLY strong on this run. I felt like I was running fairly fast and keeping a good pace. There were times where I felt like I was slowing down, so I tried to dig deep & push harder. I hit two red lights on the run as well, but they weren't as long of red lights as on the bike, so I still felt pretty good about my time. When I saw my running time it was like 35:15. I was running slower than an 11 minute mile. I was, and still am SO frustrated. I just don't get it.

I've been doing triathlons now for 2 1/2 years. I feel like I should be better. I'm not over training and I'm following all of the training that BJ is giving me. When I am training, I'm running a pretty fast pace (10:00/mile), but when it comes to race day, I seem to slow down. I just don't get it.

This was my last triathlon of the season, but I've still got 3 more races to go. I've got The Dirty Dash 10k coming up, then the Layton 1/2 Marathon & then my final race of the season is the Las Vegas Ragnar.

Here are some pictures from my race yesterday.


Me trying to get in "the zone" before the race starts. It obviously didn't work.


During the swim


Heading out on the bike.


Running in to the finish.

Orange You Happy Accessories

If you'll see over to the right of my blog, I've added a little advertisement for my friend Amber. She owns a shop on Etsy called Orange You Happy Accessories. Amber makes some of the most beautiful jewelry I've seen.

If I could just say...Christmas is getting closer...Amber has awesome jewelry & she has sales once in a while too. :) I think you should go check out her Etsy shop. :)