Cheat Meal of the Weekend

I know what you're thinking...

How can this girl be eating cheat meals when she's trying to lose weight and do a triathlon?

Ummm, I'm not sorry that I cheat.  It keeps me sane and frankly, I loooooove food.  I will scour the area, make the trek and eat whatever I've set my sights upon because I love food that much.  Now don't get me wrong people, I don't do this everyday (at least not anymore).  I know that I can't make a habit out of this but I tend to do this once during the weekend.  It has taken a lot of mental work to keep my food loving brain activity to a minimum.  I have a sister who's a chef, and another sister who bakes like nobody's business.  Essentially, they've spoiled my palate and sometimes I just want creamy polenta with a sausage ragu, instead of grilled chicken and brussels sprouts.

Without further ado, my cheat meal of this past weekend was a Nica Burger.  We went to this little spot called A&G Burger Joint and this burger was specifically why I was there.

It was awesome!!  In addition to the Angus beef patty, it had fried cheese, sweet plantains, coleslaw and jalape ño cream.  In my opinion, it could have used a bit more vinegar in the coleslaw and a bit more punch (chile) in the jalape ño cream.  I have no idea how many calories are in this monstrosity but I made sure to workout both Saturday and Sunday.  As I was walking out of the restaurant, I told the waitress I wouldn't be back because I couldn't afford the calories (LOL).  There is no way I can eat this frequently, but I was content with my cheat meal of the week.

I will soon have more info to share with you on how we're starting our training, but for now we're doing mostly running.  I need to buy a bike!!  I'll keep the posts coming...

Peace and chicken grease.

We've only just begun...

...to torture ourselves.  Seriously, three sports in one competition, back to back to back.  I'm not surprised people think this is crazy...I think it's crazy.  My days have been consumed with a lot of reading on triathlons and putting my brain in overdrive.  I'm a straight up info junkie.  People ask why I want to venture into this and it's quite simple:  I want to have a healthier lifestyle, get in shape and have fun doing it (without having to dance to Salsa or Merengue for hours...you know what I'm talking about Zumbaholics).

Here's my background...I played volleyball and basketball from middle school through high school.  Then I played two years of basketball in college but that's when everything spun out of control.  I stopped playing because I didn't love it anymore and needed to focus on my studies, but I kept eating as if I was burning tons of calories and then there was the college drinking scene.  Once I graduated, I yo-yoed for the next 10 years.  See the timeline in photos below:

So here we are.  I'm determined to get to and stay at a healthy weight and tap into that competitive spirit that's been dormant.  My partner, Michelle and my amiga, Consuelo (Chels), are going to try to tackle triathlons.  I would love to join a team or get a coach, but times are tough-ish.  We'll try to prepare ourselves mentally and physically with all the knowledge out there.  Fingers crossed we don't die, because that would be bad.  Join us on our journey!

By the way, I just started reading Joel Friel's book, Your First Triathlon.  Has anyone read this?  Have a good weekend!!

My 1st Post is for Boston

I hadn't planned to write my first post about the Boston Marathon.  The first post was supposed to be funny and show my personality and give an awesome intro into what this blog will hopefully be about.  Instead, I sit here in shock and failing to grasp the horrible outcome of today's marathon.  Today was supposed to cap off someone's achievement of 26.2 miles.  Runners or triathletes, beginners or experienced, unite for one goal on that one day.  It's unbelievable that someone would cause harm or death to innocent people.  I will never understand that, ever.  My hope is that the perished rest in peace and that the people injured find a way to heal.  My prayers and post today are dedicated to Boston.