TRIce Cream Sunday

I had an incredible weekend. I got to support my girl Deede during her first sprint triathlon – The ICE Breaker Triathlon at Granite Beach, Folsom Lake, CA. 1/2 mile swim, 13 mile road bike, 4 mile trail run.

Deede set a goal for herself in July 2010 to become more active. She went from occasional yoga, swim classes and casual bike riding to training with a running group and a tri group. We ran the Urban Cow 5K (her first 5K) back in October and she has not stopped since. She’s completed a few other races, including the Warrior Dash, a 10k and now her first sprint tri. To say that I am proud of her would be an understatement. She gives me so much inspiration and proves that if you set goals and work hard towards them, you can achieve anything. She has 2 more triathlons scheduled for June and July.

I know this is a food blog, but I had a weight loss/healthy living blog for 7 years and I miss having space to share amazing things like this – but I promise, thanks to Deede, there is food at the end of this post. 🙂

The Swim…

We spotted Deede getting ready for her swim – she was in the 5th (pink) wave. Her husband Josh shared the paparazzi detail with me. He had a much better lens – total lens envy.

The water was about 60 degrees, so she brought some warm water to prime her wetsuit – then she put body glide on her wrists and ankles to help speed up her transition time to get out of the thing for the bike leg of the race. Our buddy Aaron assisted with the warm water step. Deede helped her tri group friend Jen with her warm water and then the girls posed for a quick photo.

Deede started laughing when she looked through the photos – her comment: “It would have been o.k. for you to tell me to take my goggles off.” – LOL. They walked down to the lake to get acclimated before their heat.

And they’re off ( 1/2 mile swim) –  it was at this point that I decided – there is NO WAY I could ever do an open water swim competitively –  feet and arms flailing everywhere – bodies on top of bodies – especially in the men’s heats. My girlfriend Britt does triathlons that include ocean swimming – crazy town USA – she is a rock star too!

Josh caught the sea of pink – she’s somewhere out there – probably towards the front – she freakin’ killed the swim – was easily in the top 10 pink out of the water – even one of her tri group coaches mentioned how awesome she did on the swim leg of the race. She said it took a while, but she got down the rhythm to breathe when her body reached the top of the choppy waves. She did say she gulped down water a few times before getting in her groove… and did I mention that she was also getting over a bad cold and still had a cough?

She came flying out of the lake and was ready for her first transition…

I got distracted by an adorable brown mini schnauzer – so cute…

The Bike…

LOVE this action shot… go Deede go!

And she’s off… 13 miles on the bike.

Still smiling as she came in to get ready for the run portion.

The Run…

Running shoes, red hat, gear is set – and off she goes – 4 mile trail run…

After the race she said the run portion was the hardest – she wasn’t prepared for the terrain and felt like her shoes were sliding around on the sand and dirt… she was most worried about the bike portion and it turned out that the run was the beast.

Thanks to Caitlin over at Healthy Tipping Point and her “Best Race Signs” post – I got to work the night before on race signs to help cheer Deede on.

Deede sent out a pre-race text to everyone with race details. In the text she stated that she had to arrive at 7:00 a.m. to set up and warm up –  to gain general zen like focus. She then said, “Mind of a Dragon” you know… so I took her text and turned it into a race sign… A special thank you to my girlfriend Michelle,  for letting me borrow her dining room table, daughter’s crayons and pens.

We also created a sign for Dan…

As soon as I saw the saying tweeted by Caitlin, I knew it would fit Dan perfectly. This one definitely got the most laughs. We had so much fun cheering during the run portion of the race. Being a spectator was FUN! Aaron broke out Jack’s giant cowbell, Dan and I had our signs, Josh continued with paparazzi detail and we yelled and screamed as loud as we could as Deede ran by.

She finished STRONG! and most importantly… she was still smiling!

We helped her gather up her gear, got her bike mounted back on her car and then she broke out her yoga mat in the parking lot for stretching. Her plan was to hit a yoga class later in the evening to help really stretch her out.

We then crammed into the car and headed towards the spectator parking lot where the other car was parked.  That is where we enjoyed a treat – prepared by Deede the night before. I told you there would be food.

Yes my friends… my foodie girlfriend made Guinness – Milk Chocolate Ice Cream the day before her race and Josh brought the cooler packed with dry ice so we could enjoy a post race celebration and picnic.

We sat around the car in our chairs. Dan and I dined on peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and then followed them with cones…

Such an amazing finish to an awesome day! Another triathlete from the race yelled over to us – ICE CREAM – ARE YOU KIDDING ME? That’s brilliant! She asked if she could buy a cone from Deede – she laughed and said, you can have one – as she happily scooped up another cone for a fellow racemate.

Like I said above… the perfect ending.

Guinness – Milk Chocolate Ice Cream –from David Lebovitz’s the Perfect Scoop
7 oz. milk chocolate, finely chopped – Deede used Trader Joe’s milk chocolate
1 cup whole milk
1/2 cup sugar
Pinch of salt
4 large egg yolks
1 cup heavy cream
3/4 cup Guinness Stout
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Deede got an ice cream maker last year and I have had the pleasure of tasting some of her creations – yum!

Deede and I had a very cool conversation on the way home.  I said, “Deede… you are a triathlete!” Her answer, “Crazy huh?, I’ve been wondering when I could actually start referring to myself as an athlete…”  – I said, “You are already there!”

If you have any questions for Deede about her race/training or her ice cream… or you just want to leave her a shout out,  comment away.