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• maoram 6:47 pm on November 2, 2010 Permalink | Reply  

  A Busy Fall! by Melissa Schwartz 

   

  I cannot believe it is November!  Time is just flying by.

  This fall has been very busy with lots of travel and training. Our fall began with a couple of trips for the Schwartz family. Eric spent the month immersed in Arabic, while the girls and I traveled, visited family, and then attended the Lake Placid training camp with CXC.

  We began our journey traveling over the Sierra Nevada Mountains and then the Rockies aboard the California Zephyr.  We saw some really beautiful country and spent some time with Grandma and Grandpa along the way.

  

  A view from the California Zephyr

  Once we reached Denver, we hopped aboard an airplane headed for Fayetteville, NC.  While in North Carolina we had a wonderful visit with some very dear friends.  After a week in Fayetteville, we headed up to my parents farm and enjoyed a rural life style for a few weeks.  My first roller ski near my parent’s farm was awesome.  I only had to share the road with one car, two tractors, and a herd of cows.  What a contrast it was to Monterey and the constant flow of tourists.  We all really enjoyed ourselves on the farm.  My parent mowed numerous hiking/bounding trails for me to workout on and then they generously watched the girls for the week while I trained with the team up in Lake Placid.  It was great training with people and a good opportunity to get to know the team.

  The final week of my trip got really hectic visiting family and throwing a 5^th Birthday party for Evi.  So with a head cold we headed back to California.

  

  The past few weeks have been full of errand, lots of training, and spending time together as a family again.   I finally feel like I have almost caught up with everything…at least the laundry basket full of mail is gone…  So, this past weekend was spent making Halloween special for the girls.  We made sugar cookie cutouts so the girls could decorate them and then on Saturday night Eric and the girls carved their pumpkins.

  

  The girls designed their own Jack O’ lanterns on paper and Eric did the cutting!

  On Halloween We took the girls to the Pacific Grove Natural Science Museum.  There was a special exhibit on bats and spiders for Halloween and I got to hold a Tarantula.

  The girls were a little scared to hold the spider so I did!

  
   

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• maoram 3:33 pm on August 19, 2010 Permalink | Reply  

  Another Good Reason to Eat Garlic by Melissa Schwartz 

  By Melissa Schwartz

  

  The benefits of Garlic have been exploited since ancient time for varying reasons that range from warding off vampires to treating aliment such as influenza and fungal infections.  The old tale that garlic fends off vampires is questionable, but I can attest that it does keep urban deer at bay if eaten raw and in a large quantity.

  Last night I made a Middle Eastern inspired meal of lamb, flatbread, and hummus.  Since I had never made Hummus, I decide to try my hand at it.  I started by using my pestle to crush several garlic cloves in the mortar.  I intended to put some of the garlic in the goat yogurt, but forgot and just proceeded to add the chickpeas, lemon, and salt.  I had just finished a long strength routine before I began cooking, so when the flat bread came out of the oven, I immediately dipped it into the hummus and had a bite.  Wow, was I surprised! It reminded me of the first time I had eaten a whole raw garlic clove in an attempt to fend off a cold.  Two issues can be traced to the overwhelming potency of the mixture.  One, the obvious, I had not taken the extra cloves out.  And two, I remembered I had bought organic garlic, which in this case was much stronger then the garlic I usually buy.

  This morning, I immediately noticed the affects of last night’s dinner as I was preparing for my workout.  The smell of garlic on my skin and in my mouth was overwhelming.  I work out early, so there were no worries of meeting anyone on the street other than the usual urban deer. However, as I finished up my specific strength workout, I realized that the deer were also absent from the streets.  Usually, I have at least one incident of a deer darting out from behind a car in front of me.  Furthermore, last fall I had a close call with a deranged buck during the seasonal rut.  I don’t know what he thought I was, but he chased after me down the street.  I was forced to double poled as fast as I could and I finally dove behind a fence in a last ditch effort to escape him.  So this morning, I was happy the deer were keeping their distance even if I did stink of garlic.

  The lessons learned from my cooking adventure are three fold.  One, Middle Eastern food taste great and is really healthy, but does not always make you smell the nicest.  Two, when using raw garlic (especially organic) a little goes a long way.  And three, deer really don’t like garlic.
   

• maoram 4:20 pm on July 1, 2010 Permalink | Reply  

  Getting Organized 

  Diversity in training keeps each day fresh and exciting, but also requires a great deal of planning and organization. Organizing a week around speed, strength, intervals, distance is pretty straightforward and easy to map out on paper. However balancing it with a family requires a little more thought. I approach each week and each day with a set of goals both training and family oriented. For example play dates, hikes with the kids, trips to the grocery store, and time intensive meals are relegated to easy distance days. Hard days are viewed as workdays and skiing is the name of the game. However, the 7 hours between workouts is the perfect opportunity to spend quality time home schooling, playing with and reading to my children while resting my body for the next workout. By scheduling intervals and strength workout on the same day, it allows me to really focus on skiing one day and the easy day gives me time to complete the daily chores and errands.

  Organization is key to training with a family, but flexibility is also important. In the past I always ran a warm up for a strength session, but now I play soccer, field hockey, and tag with the girls in the backyard for warm up. We have a strength room in our house with a door to the backyard, so the girls can continue playing or join in as I do my exercises. When everything is planned accordingly my husband gets home from work as I am finishing up my workout and we do a 30 min run together taking turns pushing the girls in the chariot jogger. My distance runs are altered to fit into a lifestyle with a family as well. I plan them at nap time so the girls will rest for an hour: either sleeping, listening to a book on tape, or taking in the beautiful scenery as I push them along a coastal trail. After an hour they jump out and hike and climb on the rocks or just beach comb while I stretch and do Tai Chi on the beach. After 45 minutes they are usually ready to head home, so we run home in time to get dinner ready.

  One of the biggest obstacles I face as a wife/mom and skier is getting enough sleep. Getting to bed early is difficult to achieve, but crucial since the majority of my training is done in the early morning while my family is sleeping. After two months of solid training I feel stronger than I have in years! I can feel gains from my speed and weight sessions, but I need to continue to get more organized as the volume and intensity continues to increase.

  

  Our favorite running route has a long section of rolling and curvy board walk. I push the girls fast over the hills to simulate a kiddie roller coaster and the girls squeal with delight!

  

  A view on our running route!