Lightweight Eats

After a 14-hour flight, most of which was spent sleeping, I arrived in Australia well rested and in a chipper mood. I had to wait for my teammates to arrive in the Sydney airport, followed by some struggles with lost luggage. (Their bags were sent to Sydney, Canada. Oops.)

Friday was spent getting to our super budget hotel and situating ourselves, as well as heading over to the race course for a short run.

Our hotel is bare bones: we are using a communal fridge and microwave as our only kitchen, and the bathroom in the room is about 1 square meter: a toilet and shower with no curtain. I imagine it like showering in a futuristic boat; except in a futuristic boat, I would expect some sort of drying feature so the floor isn't always wet. The furniture is from Ikea, and we have barely enough room to walk. Good thing we're spending most of our time outdoors and away from the hotel.

The race course is the exact opposite: absolutely spectacular. We are racing on the course from the 2000 Olympics in Sydney. It's perfectly designed for a regatta: ample warm-up space, great viewing, running paths, plenty of spaces for boats and launching docks, and great amenities.



Saturday through Tuesday, we rowed twice a day, getting up early most days to get a few loops on the course before racing for the day started. We have also had some fun adventures around town. Although I've had to work while here, and missed the trip to downtown Sydney over the weekend, I did get to enjoy a nice sunburn from a day at Bondi Beach. Oops.

We also spent a day lounging in a cafe in Paramatta, a small town near where we are staying, using their internet to do work. And I've visited countless grocery stores and produce markets already, trying to stock up on food as cheaply as possible. (Things costs about twice as much here as they do in the U.S.)

Our first race and first weigh-in was Wednesday. The weigh-in was uneventful--the best kind. I weighed in at 56.5kg, the lightest I've ever been. Our race was an optional race for lanes, and a great chance to get out and see how we handled racing. We did some things well, and need to improve in other areas. Friday, our final, will be the true test of our speed as a boat.




Eating vegan in a foreign country has been both challenging and easy. Like in the UK, foods are incredibly well labeled as suitable for vegans. That's great, since they have all sorts of different names for the myriad of chemicals that go into foods and I don't know which ones are vegan.

At the same time, I'm not in California anymore. At a breakfast cafe, I asked whether their bread contained eggs or dairy and they told me that yes, they had gluten-free bread. They didn't seem to understand that those weren't the same thing.

We are also doing all of our cooking in a microwave, while trying to maintain weight. Oatmeal has been a staple of my diet, as well as some other easily microwaved foods: potatoes, frozen spinach and canned beans. I have also made a few tasty dishes with tofu, but it's quite expensive here. Sample dinners have included:
- Sweet potatoes with spinach, chickpeas, peanut butter and garlic
- Tofu, chickpeas, canned tomatoes and spinach
- Veggie patties on pitas with hummus, spring mix and cucumber
- Canned chili with avocado, spinach and pre-cooked rice packages

I know—I'm suffering.

I also splurged and found some vegan dark chocolate covered marzipan that I'm going to thoroughly enjoy post-Friday racing.

One more practice. One more weigh-in. One more race. So excited for this crazy adventure!

Plants are watered and mulched. Bags are packed. At the airport, ready for a 14.5 hour flight to Australia!

There are an abundance of reasons to mulch your plants. In California, where summers are hot and dry, moisture retention tops my list. Weed suppression is another big one.

Some plants don't do well with mulching, like radishes and beets. But other, like peas, trees and bushes, do. I knew it would help me out a lot to mulch as many plants as possible--I hate watering and I'm pretty inconsistent about it.

If you go to your local garden center and ask for mulch, they'll show you big bags of bark chips. That's a great permanent weed prevention solution for walkways and around trees. Less great for annuals, where you'll want to turn up the soil and amend between plantings.

Since I'm working with relatively uninspired soil, I wanted my mulch to also improve the soil conditions. Partially decomposed compost was definitely an option, but my supply is super limited, and I'd like to keep it for direct soil amendments. If we had a car, I might have considered picking up bags of finished compost as mulch.

Instead, I went with a free solution: shredded paper. Between recycled newspapers and foraged ahredder byproduct, I'm slowly working on mulching my most precious plants. To keep the paper from blowing away in the wind, just wet it thoroughly.

As the season progresses, the paper will begin to decompose. When my veggie plants have finished their growing cycle, I can simply work the paper bits into the soil, where they will as organic matter, and probably improve water retention in the soil.

The peas have already received the royal treatment. Up next are the cabbages, lettuces and raspberries.

Easy to put together; full of texture and flavor. Thanks to the combo of parsley and tahini, the salad is both hearty and refreshing.

What you need:
Half onion, two carrots, three stalks celery
3 cans beans (chickpeas, white beans, red kidney)
Cooked grain
Tahini, honey, lemon, oil, paprika, garlic powder, water
Parsley

What you do:
If you still need to cook your grain, start now. Try to use a grain that works well in salads: quinoa, orzo, couscous, barley, etc.

Dice the onion, carrots and celery and sauté over low heat while you're fixing everything else. Stir every once in a while.

Drain and rinse the beans.

Make the dressing: equal parts tahini, oil and water, half as much lemon juice, half as much again honey, paprika and garlic powder. Mix well. Salt and pepper, taste and adjust.

Combine everything in a big bowl, and top with freshly chopped parsley.

As part of the LW4x camp in January, we were trying to put together a quad to race at a few upcoming regattas. Our first stop? Australia in the middle of March for the Sydney International Rowing Regatta.

Before travel and competitions details were finalized, we established weight goals.



Most lightweight rowers sit above their racing weight throughout the year. {I have some serious doubts as to whether this is the most effective way to train and race, which I'll address later.} The last weeks leading up to a regatta require weight loss, either minor or significant, in order for the crew to make weight.

In lightweight women's rowing, international regattas are generally subject to FISA weigh-in rules, which require a crew's average weight to be 57kg (125.5lbs) with no individual greater than 59kg (130lbs). {In the single, only maximum weight rules apply.}

This requires a lot of coordination. Lean muscle weight is a huge advantage in rowing; to be as fast as possible, we'd like our crew average weight to be exactly 57kg. There are a lot of ways to split this weight loss--one slightly heavier, all at weight, one slightly lighter, etc. During camp, we set our individual goal weights, and created a shared Google doc for tracking weight.

Our race-day goal weights will probably adjust depending on where we all get in the next few weeks, but for now, I am on target to have dropped 4 pounds in about 6 weeks.

After the fall speed order, where I had to drop approximately 6 pounds in 2 weeks and felt my performance suffer as a result, I decided to rethink how I managed my weight. Typically, lightweight women intend to train 5-8 pounds above their race weight; often, this ends up closer to 10-15 pounds above race weight.

I've had a lot of discussions about this strategy. I'd like to try something new. I know I feel like a totally different athlete at 155 pounds than 130 pounds. I know the same difference is there between 130 and 125 pounds, even if it's not as pronounced. I would like to train much closer to my racing weight (+/- 2 pounds, ideally).

A lot of proponents of dropping weight argue that maintaining racing weight is bad for training--increased injury and illness, decreased recovery, no sense of humor, etc. Personally, I feel these effects most when I am actively dropping weight, rather than maintaining (even at a smaller size). {See my post from yesterday--dropping weight definitely had an effect!}

I fully expect my weight to fluctuate some. Although my morning weight might average around 127 pounds, it will be higher some mornings and lower others. (Burrito night is almost a guarantee that I will be heavier for a day or two.) The goal is not to be hyper-controlling about weight, but to set myself  a new standard of normal.

This might not be the best strategy, but I will never know unless I try a few things. I've definitely tried weight-dropping enough to hope that it's not the best strategy. This year and next, I expect I will spend a lot of time establishing my own procedures for rowing lightweight. As I experiment, I hope to learn a lot about myself and my body.

The last week and a half was rough. Last Tuesday, I was up early in the morning for a 90' easy row, followed by a long day of work in San Francisco and another, harder 60' erg workout in the afternoon.

Wednesday started early again, with a hard 2x50' workout on the water that left me absolutely drained. Things went downhill quickly from there. After spending another 5 hours in San Francisco fighting to stay awake and focused, I headed back home and pushed myself through yet another workout.

By Saturday morning, I was fried. A 2000m test left me shaking and crying on the locker room floor. I was so tired I thought I might never have energy again. Scary.

Fortunately, I talked to my coach about it, and we adjusted my workout plan.

I took almost two full days off, doing an easy walk and 30' light elliptical workout at the end of the second day. (That left me exhausted.) I'm still easing back into full-length workouts; I've been sitting at one workout a day and 9+ hours of sleep.

Only yesterday did I start to feel like I might really be untired again, and the shorter workouts are still leaving me more exhausted than I would like.

The moral of the story: Don't be afraid of exhaustion--respect it.

I've read a lot of quotes about pushing through fatigue and exhaustion--that you can have your excuses or your glory, but not both. And I've taken to heart messages from numerous coaches about going when your body tells you to stop.

Specifically, I remember coming out of a 3-hour upper division math final exam--one of my hardest classes at Princeton--and heading immediately to the boathouse for a grueling 6x7' erg workout. I couldn't bear to do it, so I got on the bike for a solid sweat session. One of the national team rowers, who was leading our winter training, came up to me and told me that wasn't good enough. She told me that if I wanted to be a real athlete, I needed to do the workout, no matter how exhausted.

I took that message to heart, and it's one of the worst things I could have done. I ended up quitting rowing at the end of that year, too terrified to pull a 5k test upon returning to campus; I was too bone tired to work hard. It took a full year of healing to recover from that season.

This time, I caught it. Next time, hopefully I'll catch it sooner. And after that? Well, maybe I'll prevent it. But in the meantime, I'm going to trust my body, and you should, too. Any good coach understands that you know your body better than they do.

Dan and I are spending the week housesitting in my parent's neighborhood. It's been a fun opportunity to see how another family runs their house, what it's like to have cats and chickens, and to see how much work two teenagers are.

I have also been cooking healthy vegan meals for four this past week. I planned the menu assuming their was nothing in the pantry, and then adjusted accordingly. What we ended up with was an almost entirely self-contained menu for nine days, with enough food to feed a hungry family of four.

To scale down for two people, you can buy the same foods over the course of almost 3 weeks--just plan on repeating meals. (Have Monday's meal on Monday and Wednesday; Tuesday's meal on Tuesday and Thursday; then make Wednesday's meal for Friday and Sunday and have leftovers on Saturday.)

If your family eats a lot (more than two active teenagers and two 20-somethings), feel free to supplement with additional snacks like a box of crackers or granola bars.

Below, you can find the meal plan and shopping list. This would be a great resource if you want to try going vegan for a week! Take advantage of the bulk foods section to get the right amount of most nuts and seeds; you can also buy grains from this section.

By the end of the week, you will theoretically have used up everything on the list. Feel free to pull from your pantry for substitutions (e.g. dried cranberries instead of raisins, or mixed hot cereal instead of oats).

What you'll need:
Fruits

































*** Note: Most sliced breads are not vegan. They often either contain honey or a milk derivative like whey. We eat honey, and have some local brands that are dairy-free. If you can't find this option, grab some crusty French bread (usually vegan, but check), pre-slice and freeze it. Pop it on the toaster when you want a sandwich.
*** Note: We prefer soy and almond milks, and almost always buy them unsweetened (as opposed to plain, which is sweetened).

What you'll cook:
Monday
Breakfast -
In a big pot, prepare ~3 cups of dry oatmeal. While it's cooking, add two big glops of peanut butter, 2 apples cut into chunks and 1 cup of raisins. Optionally, sprinkle with cinnamon and organic sugar.
Lunch -
Make sandwiches with hummus, sliced raw beets, broccoli sprouts, cucumber and bell pepper. Add 1-2 pieces of fruit and a handful of cherry tomatoes.
Dinner - 
Cook 3 cups brown rice. Heat 2 cans of black beans. Shred a head of red cabbage and toss it with olive oil, the juice from 1 lime, chopped garlic or garlic powder and, if you have it, ground cumin. Salt + pepper to taste. Serve with warmed tortillas for make-your-own tacos.

Tuesday
Breakfast -
Combine the leftover brown rice with chia seeds (about 1T/cup of rice), and some non-dairy milk. Microwave or heat gently on the stove top until it makes a pudding. Add 1 cup of raisins.
Lunch - 
Pack tortilla triangles, leftover cabbage slaw, black beans and rice. Add avocado slices and some jarred salsa.
Dinner -
Oven roast 4 blocks of extra firm tofu, pressed and sliced, with 4 heads of broccoli, chopped. Make 2 dry cups of brown rice. Serve with teriyaki sauce or simply a drizzle of soy sauce.

Wednesday
Breakfast - 
Finish off the leftover hot cereal from Monday. If there isn't enough leftover, add extra dried or fresh fruit like sliced bananas or apples.
Lunch - 
Leftover broccoli/tofu stirfry with rice.
Dinner -
Grill Field Roast or other veggie sausages (make 2-3 extra for lunch tomorrow!) on French bread. Slice Brussels sprouts and pan fry them with a chopped onion.

Thursday
Breakfast - 
Vegan cold cereal with non-dairy milk, frozen blueberries.
Lunch - 
Slice the extra sausages and toss them with a jar of bell pepper spread and cooked pasta. Add any leftover Brussels sprouts.
Dinner - 
Make a salad with lettuce, a few microwaved sweet potatoes in chunks, a sliced avocado, pepitas, a can of pinto beans, a can of kidney beans, bell pepper, cucumber and radishes. Mix remaining salsa with olive oil to make a dressing.
Friday
Breakfast - 
Split a bag of trail mix (make sure it's vegan!) evenly and top with non-dairy milk. For some crunch, sprinkle in any extra cold cereal.
Lunch - 
Small container of leftover salad, plus a peanut butter and banana sandwich.
Dinner - 
Blend 1 package of silken tofu with 1 can of pumpkin and 0.5 cup of tahini. Pan fry some greens (frozen spinach, kale, leftover raw sprouts, etc.). Cook 1.5 pounds of pasta. Combine.

Saturday
Breakfast - 
Make another batch of hot cereal; this time, add a bag of nuts, seeds and dried fruit trail mix as it's cooking (i.e. nothing that melts, like chocolate chips).
Lunch - 
Add a handful of raisins or other dried fruit to the leftover pasta; any leftover pepitas are also fair game.
Dinner - 
Dice and roast two large kabocha squashes, skin on. Sautee 1-2 onions over low heat until thoroughly browned. Add 0.25c curry powder, chopped garlic, 2 cans coconut milk. When the coconut milk starts to bubble, add 3 cans drained and rinsed chickpeas and the kabocha squash. (You'll need a BIG pan, or combine at the table.) Serve with naan or pita.

Sunday
Breakfast - 
Vegan cold cereal with non-dairy milk, frozen blueberries.
Lunch - 
Serve leftover flatbread with hummus, baby carrots, arugula and cucumber slices.
Dinner - 
Slow cooker chili: Open and combine 2 cans chopped tomatoes, 1 can each of black, pinto, kidney, white and garbanzo beans (rinsed and drained), 1 can corn, 1 can fire roasted green chilis. Optionally, add garlic, dehydrated onions, and relavent spices.
Monday
Breakfast - 
Spread bagels with tahini. Serve with fresh fruit.
Lunch - 
Microwave 4 large sweet potatoes. Top each one with any of the leftover chili.
Dinner - 
Make 2 cups dry of quinoa. Lightly warm green cabbage, bell peppers and chickpeas. Top with a tahini dressing, made from tahini, juice of 1 lemon, chopped garlic and water to thin. Serve warm but not hot.

Tuesday
Breakfast - 
Smoothie: This is the best way to use up leftovers from the week. Ok to add: fruits, mild veggies (carrots, beets in moderation, spinach, kale, cucumber, celery tops), peanut butter, tahini, rolled oats, non-dairy milks, silken tofu, nuts, seeds
Lunch - 
Leftovers! Finish off anything you have left from the week. Freshen it up by chopping up fresh veggies to add, or just by giving it a good stir.
Dinner -
You know that hot cereal you made on Saturday? That's dinner! Who doesn't love breakfast for dinner??