Real race reports, training stories, and honest confessions from a late-blooming triathlete chasing IRONMAN dreams. Follow Tracy Pengilly through marathons, triathlons, injuries, and comebacks. Nutrition, gear, and the pursuit of finish lines — one mile at a time. Author of the upcoming novel Transitions: Through Hardship to the Stars.
After HS and I finished Les Mills "Pump and Shred", I got to cooking. For dinner I fixed baked chicken with cauliflower "not rice". Since I didn't have any dried mustard, I improvised on the recipe... I marinated the chicken breasts in lemon juice, turmeric, curry, and jalapeno powder. While the chicken baked, I prepped the cauliflower "not rice".
Simple ingredients
This is the second time in four days that I have fixed "not rice". It is much easier to make than mashed cauliflower and much tastier. I used a cheese grater to get the cauliflower into rice like bits. Next, saute the cauliflower in grass-fed butter until lightly cooked (do not over cook).
Saute cauliflower in grass-fed butter
When the cauliflower is cooked, toss in the cilantro, MCT oil and lime juice and serve. Simple, simple.
Finished product
Tomorrow's Lunch
For tomorrow's lunch I fixed BP taco salad's for me and HS. While the meat cooked, I did my best to make a bigger mess of the kitchen.
Messy Marvin ;-)
Don't worry...I cleaned up my mess LOL
Salad without the meat
So pretty!
Dressing on the side
The only thing missing from the picture above is the meat, which is in a separate container so it can be heated tomorrow at work.
First Fail
Since I was on a roll, I decided to try the "ice cream" recipe. Unfortunately, I didn't read the instructions completely and missed the step that said to mix the ingredients until creamy AND THEN add the water & ice. Ugh.
While the ice cream had a good flavor, the bits of congealed butter and or MCT oil was too much for me. I had a small serving but was really disappointed. I should have stopped after two meals tonight ;-)
2026 Update: Cauliflower rice has become mainstream since I wrote this in 2014 — you can even buy it pre-riced at Trader Joe's now. Still a staple in my kitchen before a big training block.
This is a fairly simple recipe (complete recipe at the end of this post)...provided you have already made some bone broth.
Unofficial step 1... make plenty of bone broth ahead of time
First, brown the stew meat in ghee (good thing I've properly stocked my pantry), toss in some ginger and turmeric and simmer for about an hour.
Veggies
Next, get your veggies ready. I was almost going to toss in some mushrooms but I decided to check the Bulletproof Diet book first. According to the book, mushrooms are "kryptonite" (for various reasons)...so I left them out, even though I am doubtful of the claim. I also like to add an onion occasionally.
Veggies go in at different stages so they don't get over cooked.
Final step...coconut milk
Yeah, I know the book says not to count calories, but I used light coconut milk instead of regular.
Nom nom nom
I have never been a big fan of stew, but this one is unlike any heavy, gravy-coated stew you've had. The coconut milk is creamy and adds a unique flavor that works with the ginger, turmeric and cilantro.
The actual Bulletproof recipe can be found on page 265 of "The Bulletproof Diet" by Dave Asprey. The recipe below is how I tweak it for my family:
1-2 lbs. stew meat (Beef or lamb)
3 tablespoons ghee (I don't always use this, sometimes I'll brown the meat in avocado oil)
1/2 inch fresh ginger (or a tad more if you are like me)
1 tablespoon ground turmeric (I use about 2 fingers of fresh turmeric)
3 cups bone broth
2-3 carrots
2-3 sweet potatoes
1 large zucchini or 2-3 smaller ones
1 large onion (if you aren't following a strict "Bulletproof" diet)
1 can of unsweetened coconut milk (I get the light coconut milk from Trader Joe's)
Fresh cilantro
I was loath to try another diet after last January's utter failure. January 2014 started off with me feeling like crap...sort of like I feel right now... I decided that I was going to an "experiment" based on some of the things I had been reading. The experiment guidelines were fairly simple:
Eliminate grains and sugars from my diet whenever possible
Exercise at least 3 times a weeks for a minimum of one hour
While weighing my self every day can be problematic, not weighing myself was even worse!
Not counting calories can be a noble endeavor, however, I was eating nuts like they were entirely calorie free...not going to do that again.
Not a Diet
Ok, the book says "diet" but a lot of what the author preaches is very similar to how I normally eat...just with a lot of grass-fed butter and MCT oil added. The one thing I learned from the 2014 experiment is that no matter what an "expert" says, I still need to listen to my own body.
I am starting off with what he calls the "2 Week Protocol"...breakfast every day for two weeks is a cup of bulletproof coffee (will probably continue to use Starbucks beans).
The next two meals can really be whatever I choose from the back of the book. The picture below is the Bulletproof Taco Salad that Lindsey and I fixed for lunch on the first day.
Lunch
Let's Get Started
I was going to start this diet on Monday, but I figured why wait...besides, I knew there was going to be a lot of prep work to get ready.
Step 1) Toss out crap. This was a very sad moment for me as I threw away my remaining Christmas mints. Actually, I didn't have a lot of bad stuff to get rid of probably because we went to other people houses for Christmas Eve and Christmas day :-)
Step 2) Stock up. Lindsey and I hit the health food store for gelatin, ascorbic acid, xylitol and some other little goodies. We then went to Podesto's and the real shopping began. I got a pork shoulder for the "BP Pulled Anything", beef marrow bones for bone broth, stew meat, bacon, grass-fed ground beef, cauliflower, carrots, fresh herbs, celery...we looked like very healthy eaters at the checkout stand.
Future bone broth
Step 3) Start. Once we got home I started cooking the pulled pork and I also started the bone broth (which was going to need to cook for at least over night)
Starting Info Got on the scale this morning...2 days after Christmas and a few days before my favorite aunt shows up...147. Not as bad as I expected it to be. In fact, given all of the junk food and crap I have been eating over the last two weeks, I am thrilled to be only 5 pounds above my race weight from last summer. Since the Bulletproof diet claims "Lose up to a Pound a Day, Reclaim Energy and Focus, Upgrade Your Life" I will be weighing myself every day for the first two weeks instead of once a week. A pound a day is asking an awful lot...I will be happy to get to 140 by the end of the two weeks...that is 1/2 a pound a day...still a lot to ask for. Can't wait to see how this turns out :-) #dreamingseason
Vineman sounded like a good idea several weeks after completing Barb's Race for the second time.
This is not the face of someone that thinks she can finish an "Iron" distance race
Vineman sounded like a horrible idea about mile 18 of the California International Marathon (even worse above!) How was I going to run a full marathon after a 2.4 mile swim and 112 miles on the bike? I was suffering just running a straight 26.2 mile race! Honestly, last Sunday during the middle of the marathon, I wanted to cry when I thought about what I had signed up to do. What was I thinking???
Registration
I registered for Vineman on November 1st...day one. It was more symbolic than anything. I wanted to commit to the race.
I made HS push the [Enter] key with me as our joint commitment to this race. I've been doing triathlons for over two years now and I know there are going to be days when I'm done with the whole thing and there are also going to be days when my loving husband is just as sick of it as I am...this photo represents our agreement to tough out those times.
The Original Plan
Back in October, I blogged about my plans for Vineman...
I figured would just read The Triathlete's Training Bible for the fourth time and I would figure out what I needed to do to survive Vineman. In fact, I had a very rudimentary training calendar planned by the end of the month. However, everyone I talked to that had done a full "iron" distance race, told me that I needed to get a coach that had raced this distance. Ugh!
The Revised Plan
My dilemma was solved when Coach James posted this on the team's Facebook page...
A Kona finisher that was willing to coach the likes of me? Let me be frank...when I first heard about this training option I Googled Coach K...I then Googled athletes that I found that had been coached by Coach K (serious stalker status, really!). All I can say is "Wow!" I feel incredibly fortunate that he wants to spend time coaching someone at my level. I hope I don't disappoint...I hope I can keep up... I hope I am coachable!
My Blog
I will be taking a page from Meredith Atwood in her book "Triathlon for Every Woman" and I will not post my actual training calendar/schedule. Of course, I will continue to post about individual trials and tribulations, but if you want the experience and guidance of Coach K, then you need to pay him his due ;-)
Stay tuned! In the mean time, I'm enjoying a three week break before things start to get real ;-)
I heard a great line in a commercial last week..."I am not a control freak, I am a control enthusiast."
I'm sticking with "enthusiast"
One thing that racing teaches you is that you really aren't in as much control as you think or would like. You can have a pacing plan, a nutrition strategy, a goal time. You can control what you wear, what music you will listen to, what you are going to eat before the race. Unfortunately, there are certain things you have absolutely NO CONTROL over and you learn to just deal with them (which has been a very difficult lesson for me).
Needless to say, I didn't make my goal time. Not really sure what happened...it just wasn't in the cards for me on Dec. 7th.
Pre-Race
A week before the race I got a message from my new triathlon coach (more about that in another post) asking me if I was fired up for race week. For some reason, I don't have the same level of anticipation for a marathon that I do for a triathlon...perhaps its because I know I can't drown or crash in a marathon ;-)
Instead of looking forward to the race, I found myself focusing on logistics. What if I over sleep? What if we don't get to Lindsey and Max's place on time? What if roads are closed around the convention center and we can't get to the bus? What if? What if? What if? I knew I wasn't going to relax until my butt was in a seat on the bus. (Minor control issues LOL)
I went to bed at 7pm the night before the race. Unfortunately, I was awake at 10:30 tossing and turning for the next 5 hours. I managed to doze off right before my alarm went off at 2:50am. UGH! Breakfast was a bagel with lox and cream cheese. I also had one cup of coffee and 1/2 a banana. On the bus ride to Folsom, I drank my chia fresca.
Race
Pace
This year I decided to follow the 3:55 pace group (turning over control of my pace was a scary thought!). Last year my chip time was 3:55:04, so I didn't think it was going to be a problem sticking with the pack. However, when I run, I like to start slow and speed up as I go. Last year I had my Garmin programmed for a progressively faster pace.
Last Year's Plan (me in control)...worked until mile 20
The goal of the CIM pace team is to take a more steady approach.
"A Pace Team Leader is an experienced distance runner whose primary objective is to evenly pace runners to their set time goal. They achieve this by setting an even pace (min/mile) from start to finish (with slight variations for terrain)."~ CIM Website
When the gun went off this year it took me approximately 2-1/2 minutes to get across the starting line. These 2-1/2 minutes were going to have to be made up somewhere...unfortunately, I think most of them were in the first mile! In fact, I heard one of the pacers talking to a runner in the group telling him that we were a second over in the first mile and a second under in the 2nd mile.
Even HS, who ran with my group for a bit, commented that it seemed pretty fast in the beginning. It may have just been the long down hill, but it did seem quicker than I would have liked to have started. I should have listened to myself then, but I didn't want to give up on the group that quick.
First 12 miles
Actually, when I look at my splits, they don't seem as bad (fast) as I thought they were. However, mile 3 at 8:46 is much too quick for me that early in the race. In last year's plan, I wouldn't hit an 8:46 pace until about 1/2 way through the race.
Last Half
Around mile 22-23, both of my calf muscles started to cramp a bit (no way to control this). The pain/injury I inflicted on myself at Avenue of the Vines flashed through my mind. The last thing I wanted to do was mess up my pending Vineman training which starts in 3 weeks. I made the difficult choice and walked out the cramps (three times!!!)
Fueling
During the first six miles I nibbled on watermelon Chomps and drank my Nuun electrolyte drink. This year I opted to carry a water bottle instead of having to make frequent stops at the aid stations. I carried the bottle on all of my long training runs, and knew it wasn't going to be an issue. Every 5-6 miles I ate a GU (I don't want to see another GU for a while).
When I eventually drained my bottle, I stopped at and aid station and refilled it with 3 cups of electrolyte drink, I repeated this exercise again about an hour later but this time filled the bottle with water. The weather was much warmer than last year and I was sweating much more than usual. I felt like I was drinking enough, but maybe a little more would have prevented the cramping at the end of the race.
Heart Rate and Other Stuff
This year I decided to wear all of my tracking gear. This was going to be a data collection mission. Not only was I wearing my heart rate monitor, but I also clipped on my cadence sensor just for giggles.
More data than I know what to do with
Actually, I look at this stuff and really don't know what it means. LOL Was my heart rate too high? Too low? Should I be taking longer strides? Less strides? Actually, I do know that my running form needs some work. If you can have your stroke corrected in swimming, why can't someone do that for running? There has to be something I can do to improve my running form.
Post Race
After the race, HS remarked that I was walking much better than I did last year after the race. Well, there's one positive.
This is me two days after the race ;-)
Another positive was a message I got from my coach telling me that if I pulled everything out of myself then that is all I can expect. When I look back on the race, I have no regrets about my level of effort. I feel like a ran a good race and did what I needed to do to finish and not injure myself (one of the few things I could control).
Post race photo op
It was great getting together with the team! Can't wait until our next event!!!
Goals for 2015
Learn to listen to myself
Enjoy the marathon during Vineman
Convince HS, Lindsey, Max, and Ashley to run CIM with me!
Happy B-day (early) to me!
Since I know that I'm going to give this another shot, I went ahead and took advantage of the $89 re-run special. 2015 CIM here I come!!!
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