Posts Tagged ‘recipe

25
Jan
12

Are you at 110%?

By Feerlessfood 10 Comments
Categories: Uncategorized
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Life has many components—the main ones being family, friends, health, career, God, and your passions.  To me, the goal of life to be actively giving all of these the attention and time they need.  If you do that, then you are living your life to the fullest, at 100% percent of your potential.

I’ll be honest, I’m not.  I’d give myself 80%, at best. Whose fault is that?  Mine.  This post is not meant to be negative be any means, but rather a kick in the butt to me and anyone else who needs a little inspiration to get out and do more—to feel more alive!  Here’s where I’m struggling: Balance. Here was last week in numbers:

Swim: 10,050 yards

Bike: 8+ hours

Run: About 33 miles (missed one run)

Fun with friends: 0

Church: 0

Work: Plenty

Sleep: Not nearly enough!

Here’s an example of my lame weekend—go to bed way too late, wake up, train, eat, go back to bed for a nap, train, eat, go to bed way too late.  Repeat on Sunday.  Let’s see, were friends mentioned in there? Was going out and doing something fun mentioned?  (And no, my trip to Whole Foods doesn’t count).

Granted, I’ve had a hard time making a lot of new friends here in Tampa and that has been frustrating (if you live here, get at me!), but in the same vein, my attempts at making friends haven’t been overly abundant.  This is probably because I prioritize working out on my weekends, which is FINE to do, but only if I don’t go back to bed after!  As for family, I had a great time when they visited last week, but I definitely bailed out of a lunch my mom had planned so that I could go eat food I was comfortable with and then take a nap before I worked out in the afternoon.

This grinch was seriously a punk ass, no lie

Sob story right?  Na, this is my pledge, my vow to get my life to 110%!  Why not 100%?  Because that’s where I could be, but I want to reach above that, go beyond that—I want to find a way to not only improve my life, but improve the environment I am in.  To make other people happier, more successful, and help them reach their goals.  The best part about this is the reward it brings me and motivation to stay committed to my goals.  This also means volunteering and going to church—I spend a lot of time praying, but that’s not the same as taking the time to give God the time he deserves.

 

So what’s my plan to make this happen?

Action plan for 1/23 – 1/30:

  • Go to bed earlier.  Seriously, by 1 every night for this week
  • No wasting time drawing dinner out
  • Workout in the morning both days this weekend
    • Thus, due to going to bed earlier and working out in the morning…
  • Do at least 1 fun thing this weekend during the afternoon or night
    • There is a huge Gaspirilla Festival this weekend… which has something to with pirates—apparently it’s a big deal
  • Dominate my workouts
    • This includes eating right and including recovery after the workouts.

 

So Keep me honest!  We’ll review next week!

Last thing is that I’m going to be starting a podcast with a friend of mine, Max.  This is going to legit—we will be discussing health, nutrition, training, and interviewing some really cool (and famous) people.  We’ll also be answering any questions you have, so if you start to develop some, let me know and we’ll answer them each week!  Look for the first show to come out later this week where Max and I introduce ourselves a bit and discuss the purpose of the show!

Oh, and check out these awesome meatloaves I made- let me know if you want the recipe.

Peppers, onions, grass-fed beef and more!

And check out this article! Does the guy in the picture look familiar?

  1. What is one thing you will change for a better this week?
  2. How much do you sleep every night?
03
Jan
12

When Life Gives You…

By Feerlessfood 12 Comments
Categories: Uncategorized
Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

…Milk jugs?  You find a way to get it done! (read further below..)

Me, my brother (in the awesome Footsie his girlfriend gave him for Christmas), and my little sister

Merry belated Christmas and happy new year everyone.  I’m flying back from DC now, back to Tampa, where I spent the past week celebrating the holiday with my family.  It was awesome and my family were way to generous.  But it also felt great to give them their presents and know that they really appreciated them.

Check out the sweet Ninja Turtles hat I got! (Raphael, of course)

My dad got my brother and I tickets to the Capitals game on Wednesday night and it was great to see them crush the Rangers (even though any other night, I would root for the Rangers).  We got there early enough to get some sweet shots of boys warming up!

From our seats

Alex Ovechkin

It was also pretty simple to stick to my paleo diet style.  Not that this was hard, but Christmas dinner had amazing smoked turkey, roasted potatoes, and I made some amazing mashed butternut squash!  The whole week, I really tried to focus on following my meal plan and sticking to real foods- not protein powders etc.  However, I of course had a couple Christmas cookies, and my mom made homemade pizza one night… yes!

Sweet potatoes fried in all natural bacon fat...? Me?? Yes! Surprising, bacon fat is lower in fat and calories than Olive Oil. Wasn't as amazing as I would have hoped... and I didn't actually have any of the bacon- my bro did though

Of course, this was the same night they decided to take ever set of car keys to go off on various errands, leaving me with no transportation to get to the gym.  No worries- I’ll just set up the weights in the basement and do a hard metabolic circuit workout, right?  No- Apparently we sold all the weights.. great, what now?  Well milk jugs weight about 8.35 pounds… So I taped those securely shut and made a baller workout!  So this is a workout you can do if you’re ever in a pinch!

I started with a 7 mile run around the neighborhood and then did 11 rounds of the following circuit:

  • 5 x Squat, clean, and press
  • 10 x Squats
  • 10 x Rear back flys
  • 10 x bicep curls
  • 10 x shoulder press
  • 10 x Chest press to fly
  • 15 x push ups
  • 2 burpees
  • 15 jumping jacks
Here are some of the exercises:

Squat to clean...

...and press

Bicep curls

Overhead press

Back flys

Awesome workout!  Took a while to crank it out too!  Here are what the exercises look like- sorry for some of the blurry pictures and outfit… it was cold outside and the milk was cold!

Finally, I did a lot of the goals I wanted this week.  I ran outside and untimed a lot!  No idea any of the paces, but I didn’t care.  I also swam a number of times- granted, I never left myself enough time to do a full length workout after running and biking, but I did get 3-4 good sessions in this week.  And I tried out some new recipes!  I made a bunch of variations of pumpkin/ butternut squash pancakes (made with eggs, bananas, protein powder, and almonds!) Talk about healthy!

Pumpkin/butternut squash, banana, vanilla, almond pancakes!

So if you’re in a pinch this week, give that workout a try!  And you don’t need to do 11 rounds… that’s kind of unnecessary lol.

Hope y’all had an amazing Christmas and New Years and I’ll write again soon!

  1. What was the best gift you received/ gave?
  2. What was the best thing you ate?
04
Dec
11

‘Tis the season for giving

By Feerlessfood 14 Comments
Categories: Uncategorized
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Christmas is almost here!  Can you believe that… Actually, I can, it’s been a pretty busy, long, good year. It’s that time of year when there’s at least one radio station that only plays Christmas music and you go to the mall to get pictures with Santa

Not me (either of them lol.) Cute girl at the mall

I gotta mention, one radio station here started playing Christmas music, like, the week BEFORE Thanksgiving.  Seriously? I love Christmas time, but that’s a little ridiculous.

So as the year comes towards an end, I’m determined to make 2012 the best year ever… but that means starting now! Don’t wait till January 1st to act on your “resolutions” and “goals”–do it now! I have gotten a lot of information about my healthy back lately, it’s not all too hot. But I have an amazing new nutritionist and she totally gets me… which is such a relief and inspiration. A huge point for me is being able to respect the nutritionist, and basically, look up to her, and know that, for once, she knows more than I do about nutrition and exercise.  She and I had a great meeting today, but I’ll wait for a later post to go into all the details about that and my health… Feel free to leave any questions.

But not, I realized I haven’t posted any good eats or recipes in a while! So I give you Slow Cooker beef stew! I made this last weekend and it’s so easy but so good!

Start by buying the highest quality ingredients:

Huge slab of grass-fed London Broil Steak

Chop it into “stew size” pieces:

Cubed and sliced

Then toss with flour (to make the gravy once you put it in the slow cooker) and brown in a skillet

Browned, but don't overcook

Add all this to slow cooker and add enough water to cover.  I also added some tomato puree to add a little more flavor. Allow to cook on low for about 8 hours. At hour 7, add in whatever vegetables you want, like carrots, potatoes, and onions.  I had a bunch  carrots!

Yummmm

Recipe:

  • 2 lbs grass fed cubed steak
  • 2-3 tablespoons flour (I used coconut flour)
  • 3/4 cup tomato puree
  • Lots of fresh carrots (and vegetables as you’d like)

This was one of my better slow cooker creations, and the best part is that it freezes really well so that I have it for weeks.

Speaking of Alton Brown good eats, here’s a delicious avocado mash chicken breast I made:

Butterflied breast stuffed with my famous avocado sauce

Topped with some bbq sauce and mustard before baking

Now, lastly, I mentioned the fact that it’s the season to give, right?  My friends at PowerBar were kind enough to send me some of their products to use in my training.  I love their gels, as I try to keep my diet as clean as possible at all time–in and out of training–and their gels are really good to compliment my nutrition.  They use a dual-carbohydrate source, so that way your body isn’t just relying on one source to replenish glycogen for energy and keep you going longer.

And who doesn’t love some free Peanut Butter PowerBars? But since it’s the Christmas season, I want to share some of this with y’all!  I’m giving away a box of Peanut Butter PowerBars each to TWO winners! Here’s how to enter:

  • Leave me a comment on here and tell me your favorite gel flavor, or what you think would be a good idea for a new flavor
  • Follow me on Twitter (if you have it) @Chuckfeerick and tell me that you want to win–and mention @PowerBar too!
  • Spread some Christmas spirit to those who are less fortunate than us.

PowerBars

Entries will close this Friday, December 9th.

Thanks for reading guys, and I’ll have an update again soon!

  1. What’s you favorite Christmas tradition…and cookie?
  2. What fitness/nutrition/racing questions do have for me?
19
Sep
11

The Nations Triathlon: Dry-land in DC

By Feerlessfood 11 Comments
Categories: Chicken, Eggs, fitness, Nutrition, Races, Recipe, Side dishes and sweet potato
Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

My first mug shot

No really—I wanted to swim!  As shocking as that sounds coming from me, I was incredibly bummed when I found out the swim portion of the Nations Tri this past Sunday would be cancelled.  Due to the hurricane, the second hurricane that kept the aforementioned hurricane stuck on land pounding DC, and the earthquake, the Potomac River was a mess of debris and runoff.  I have been working weekly with my swim coach though, and wanted to see what kind of changes this may have on my stroke.

I was so bummed, I almost backed out of this race and thought about heading down to Williamsburg to race the Patriots Half Ironman.  However, I would have had to figure out how to get my bike there, how to get it back, all the other travel arrangements, but the biggest reason I didn’t was that the Half Ironman was on Saturday not Sunday and I just didn’t have time to work everything out.

Race Morning

Transition overlooking the Mall... Pretty moving

But I’m really glad I stuck with the Nations Tri, and Olympic distance race—it was a blast.  Over 3,900 people were in the race and the entire event was huge.  The format was done in the same way as the swim waves would start—every 15 seconds letting about 15 people run into transition based on your age group.  It was a mess of corrals, but when my group went off, we sprinted into transition, grabbed our bikes and gear, and headed out.  My new tri shoes and pedals from Exustar are awesome and made a huge difference in my transition time!

The bike was pretty fast with some rolling hills and was very crowded due to the starting format.  It made the course much like an Ironman race where there are just so many people.  I wouldn’t say that there was any drafting, but definitely a lot passing and riding near people.  I felt like the entire “out” portion of the course was downhill and was nervous that the entire return would be uphill… but I guess I was mistaken since coming back was just as fast if not better!  My overall bike split for the 40k was 1:06:17, which was over 22 mph.  I was really pleased with this—love that Felt!

**Scary side note—proceed reading with discretion: On the way back on the bike, there was an ambulance on the side of the road.  I look over and saw the EMTs performing CPR on a guy laying on the ground.  I’ve never felt so sick as I did then and it was all I could think about for the rest of the bike.  Most of the time spent riding after that was praying for this guy hoping he would be ok.  Unfortunately, I found out the next day that man actually died.  So please say a prayer for him.

Run Finish

I can’t tell you how motivating it was to see my mom and dad cheering for me as I left T2 and headed out on the run.  They don’t get to make it to a lot of races, so to get up at 4:45 to drive me to the course means so much to me.  Ha, apparently my dad wasn’t too pleased that I “couldn’t even smile at them” when I ran by, but sorry pops, I don’t smile at all on the course.  It’s business.  But my dad is such an awesome guy- He wanted “sun protection” and snagged this hat from another family.  Yes… we recycled a hat from the Dollar Store…

Too bad I wear this

The run was a fun one and was relatively flat except for a long hill at the beginning..  Or I think that was the only hill… I dunno, I just kind of get in my zone as run.  I’m always cognizant of everything and am very focused on how hard I’m pushing and I always remember how much it hurt.  However, if you asked me to recall the whole course, I wouldn’t be able to do it… although I could probably remember all the funny things I thought while running.  I spent most of time passing people and had no real issues at all.  I felt good and just get repeating my mantra to myself that I always using during races: “Speed, Strength, Fluidity”.  This helps me keep focused on the most important aspects of the run.  Coming down the home stretch, I saw my mom screaming and just turned on the afterburners and passed a few more people as I broke the finish line.

My run time was a 38:46, although I “think” the course may have been a bit short—however, as a sanctioned race, it should officially be the required 10k, so I’ll have to believe the Race Directors.  This was a pace of 6:15 minutes/mile.  But if it were a bit short, it may have been close to 6:20.  I was happy with this regardless!!

Overall, I finished 34th of 362 in my age group (top 9.4%), and 265th of 3884 overall (top 6.8%) and my final time was 1:49:38, sans the swim.  Overall this was a great race and could definitely see myself doing it again next year.  It was so incredible.

Done!

Then I went home, ate, changed, and was back on a plane for Tampa by 5:00.  Nothing like meetings  at work to cut a trip short.

Dueces DC

From here on out I’m basically racing every weekend: THIS WEEK!! 9/25 Ironman 70.3 Augusta (half Ironman), 10/1 Disney Wine and Dine Half Marathon, 10/09 Rev3 South Carolina (Half Ironman), 10/15 Men’s Health Chicago Urbanathlon!  It’s gonna be a blast!

Then ITU Worlds on 11/05 to end the triathlon year.  However, I would like to do a marathon if there is a convenient one by the end of the year.  I also want to do the Tough Mudder in Tampa!  A hella-crazy 12-mile adventure race on 12/03.

If anyone is doing any of these races, let me know and lets meet up! Or if you live between Tampa and South Carolina/Georgia and can house me for a night, lol, let me know!

Yo check out my new kicks

LunarGlide+ 3

And to do fuel this, I’ve tried out a few new spur of the moment recipes this past week!  Also, I tried to focus my nutrition very well in the days leading up to this race: check out my pre-race day lunch:

Grass-Fed buffalo steak- had this with a sweet potato chips in coconut oil

Here is what I should have had for my pre-race breakfast…

Yup, ostrich eggs. Nice work Whole Foods

Earlier his week I made Blackberry jam and goat cheese stuffed chicken breast.  I coated a breast in some coconut flour, then filled it and just baked it.  Very good!  But don’t overcook the chicken:

Pre-baked

Final Result

 

And gotta love coconut parmesan sweet potato fries

Later this week there are definitely a few topics I want to talk about mostly.  Mostly about living what I say, “racing weight”, and self-sabotage which I am becoming very guilty of.  I think I could have even better results if I treated my body and mind better.  Goals?  I think so.

I know this comes over a week after it all happened and a lot has gone in between, but I figured I would pare it down and keep it basic so this doesn’t turn into a novel.  More to come soon!

  1. What was the best part of your weekend?
  2. What do you have planned between now and the end of the year that you are excited about? (Anything!)
06
Sep
11

If you don’t know who you are…

By Feerlessfood 14 Comments
Categories: Dinners, Eating disorders/ recovery, fitness, Motivation, Nutrition, Races, Side dishes, sweet potato, Uncategorized and Workouts
Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

…How can your dreams come true?

My triathlon season is 5 days away from kicking way back up into high-gear.  On Sunday I’ll be in DC racing the Nations Tri- a pretty big and competitive Olympic distance race. I am feeling very confident about myself and firmly believe that what you believe is what you will make happen.  The opposition is going to be fierce so I will take it for what it is, however, after doing some research lately, I’m coming to believe that our minds are our only limiters and that believing in yourself, you can push through any pain that you believe limits you!  After this race, I have a week off before Ironman 70.3 Augusta, my third half ironman of the season.

But lately I’ve been somewhat questioning myself- not questioning my ability, but questioning WHO I am racing for.  Recently, it has seemed that I am not grinding through hard workouts solely for myself, but so that I can work harder, work more, and live up to the expectations of the people who follow me.  Whether it be coworkers, friends, my family, and even all the other triathlete I interact with on Twitter… What if they are doing more that me, what if they rode their bikes 60 miles and I only rode 50? Well what F**king if?!  If I do “less” than another person, does that make me a worse athlete?  Does it mean that I then need to eat way less to make up for that?  I’ll let you decide on what you think the answer is…

Who cares?  I need to race/train/LIVE for me, not anyone else. But this being said, let me train, race, and eat because of them, not for them. It is motivation to see the success of others- people who have turned from non-athletes to Ironmen, of for people who cannot do what I do as much as they’d like to. Or even for those who have NO desire to do anything I do–I know my mom is absolutely no way wants to do a half-Ironman, but I do know that she is proud to watch me race in HEALTHY, competitive, properly nourished fashion.

So who am I? I’m someone who races for the love and passion of it all- not to be “better” than anyone else, or, God forbid, for an excuse to all myself to eat.

Go time

What really has me excited and nervous though, is my impending ITU Long Course Championships triathlon in Las Vegas in November.  This race, as I’ve mentioned, is on the world stage and is going to require a lot of hard work from me starting… well a month a go, ha. I got my registration notice in my e-mail today and have to sign up by the end of the week (gulp!)  The race is like a 3/4 ironman so it will be the longest race I’ve done to date.  But you know what?  Who knows when I will get this chance to be part of Team USA again?  It will be hot, hilly, windy, and unforgiving… But I’ll finish… and I’ll finish strong.

And check out the new Team Apex Endurance gear I’ll be repping for the rest of the season!

I missed all the rides I had planed this weekend, but was really proud of myself for getting out and putting in work on my own.  Sunday I did a 4.5 mile run, 25.5 miles bike, 3.2 mile run, 60 minutes on the spin bike (20 miles), and another 1.6 mile run. Then Monday, I used the same format, but made the outdoor ride 10 miles longer.  Dude, the wind was BRUTAL this weekend!  This was all on the old Felt too, as the my baby, my B12, is en route to DC!

So if you’re in DC this weekend, let me know and let’s meet up!

I also know its been forever since I’ve blogged!  Here’s a quick recap of my why and whats been going on:

First I was in New York with the family for a day (and got to meet up with Katelyn!)

Me and Katelyn and the legendary Dinosaur BBQ!

After that, the family and I went to a lake where I got to spend another day with them before jetting off the Virginia Beach for work

Sister, me, brother, and brother's girlfriend

After spending the week in Virginia Beach, it was back to Tampa for a weekend or so. Got some good training in and some awesome homemade grub.  I’ve basically just been using coconut oil to bake butternut or sweet potatoes fries… um like every night. So healthy, and if it tastes good, why not, right?? I have like 30 different variations now, haha, so just ask if you want to know what they are.

Paleo chicken fajitas in Virginia Beach- lettuce wraps, no vegetable oils cheese or beans, and instead extra avocado!

Butternut squash fries in coconut butter with some raw cheddar cheese!

Then, later that week, I had to fly to Atlanta for work for a couple nights.  Finally I’m home, but I’m flying to DC Friday morning for the race! And, yay, I get to fly home just hours after the race to be back at work Monday… whoop whoop!

Shredded sweet potato mixed with parmesan cheese and baked- made like some little cheese crackers... not bad!

Have some leftover coconut oil from you fries? Coat some avocado slices with it!

After baking the avocado- these actually came out really tasty

Classic almond butter sweet potato fries, but with some coconut cream (coconut butter) mixed into the "batter"

Think about something you do that your are passionate about… now ask yourself WHY you are passionate about it?  Rekindle that love for it and do it for you!

  1. What is that thing you are most passionate about and why?
  2. Best thing you had to eat this week? And how do you use coconut oil, if you don’t, any reason why?
Have an amazing week!

"To thine own self be true"

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