The Three Coconuts

We are usually very particular about what we eat the last 2 nights before a big race. We start carb loading and really try to cut back on the amount of fiber, for obvious reasons. But food is a passion for the Three Coconuts and when we are out of town we do the research, talk to people, and look for the absolute best places to dine. For us, it is about the culinary experience, the quality of the food, service, and atmosphere. At times, conversation at the table sounds more like an episode of "The Next Iron Chef". So needless to say when we heard that the best restaurant in Austin, especially for sushi, was Uchi ( www.uchiaustin.com ), we could not pass up the chance to try it.



We arrived early Friday evening to beat the crowds. It was obvious when we walked in that this was upscale Japanese and the service and staff were 5 star. Our server went over the menu as well as the specials and as you can imagine there were WAY to many choices and they all sounded excellent. I asked for a recommendation and she said there was a "Chef's Choice" 10 course meal that sampled most of the menu and would be a nice choice for the 3 of us............but!...........we would need an "adventurous" palate for some of the dishes. We looked at one another and decided to go for it.


To make a long story (and I do mean long, we sat there being served for about 2 hours) short, we had stuff you would never, ever consider ordering off a menu. From the sea we had Monk fish liver, sea urchin, scallops, mussels, and many, many different types of fish. From the farm there was foie gras, beef tongue, and rabbit. Most everything was suprisingly very good with the exception of a couple dishes. The foie gras, french for goose liver, was probably the most disgusting thing I have ever put in my mouth. Here are some pics and they do not do the plating justice everything was beautiful. Enjoy!



Tuna roll.........and a wood plate of Nigiri ( 3 different types of fish). Best thing we ate...................MORE PLEASE!!!!!

Sea Bass..flash fried I think....love Sea Bass, but not this preparation.

Mussels wrapped in a potato crepe...those are my chop sticks!

On the right, beef tongue (taste like BBQ), far left is rabbit, and the thing mid left and looks like a testicle is the foie gras..........testicle taste better than this $**T!

Braised scallops..........excellent!

Sea Urchin.....tasted like a seafood porridge.

Don't remember the name of this fish....light smokey flavor.

Monkfish liver.........not too bad. If you don't mind the texture of liver.

This was a potato with a fish sauce on top................YUM!!!!!!!! Don't know what made up the "fish sauce" but it was (and I didn't think this was possible) better than butter.

Well that is some of the highlights.....I might add we washed all of this down with a nice pinot from New Zealand........for the antioxidants pre-race of course :)

As I mentioned before this was not an ordinary pre-race meal. Our hopes were that our GI systems would not rebel and we wind up staring at the inside of one of these on race day.

Aloha and stay tuned for the race reports!

The Three Coconuts.

We had booked a great hotel in Austin. Love those long term stay places with little kitchens and full breakfasts. Got in on Thursday and hit the YMCA to stretch out the kinks, then sprinted through Whole Foods (not just any Whole Foods, but the original mother of all Whole Food stores) before a mad



dash to the movie theater to see "Race Across the Sky", a documentary on Lance Armstrong and 1400 other competitors doing the Leadville 100 mountain bike race. Watching it with the Austin crew was very cool. The Livestrong Challenge was going on in town and everyone was wearing their Livestrong and Mellow Johnny's (Lances bike shop) gear. The movie was a one time showing and really inspiring. An inside look at something we had all heard of but really had no visual images or grasp of the magnitude and diversity of the course. The characters were interesting (racers, management and locals) and the message motivating. All weekend long I kept hearing:

... you can do more than you believe you can... and .... you're better than you think you are.

This stuck. I've read alot of sports psychology and have tried to get a mantra to stay in my head during a race. I haven't had much success, sometimes something sticks... but that doesn't mean it's helpful for racing, and it usually isn't what I had planned. This one wasn't planned, but it was a good one, and I heard it in the gravelly voice of the founder of the Leadville race.

Friday morning, bright and early, Flipper needed a chlorine fix, but first a trip to Mellow Johnny's. The name is a take off the the French maillot jaune, or yellow jersey. Pardon the spelling, it's been a very long time since high school french. The shop was awesome, and absolutely swamped with people in town for the Livestrong Challenge fundraiser. Oakley was doing promo's and all the employees were top notch as was the merchandise. There was lots of Lance's bike memorabilia, a cafe (Juan Pelota Cafe) on one end, downstairs a training center and bike fit area. We loitered awhile and spent way too much money.

We then headed to the YMCA where Flipper got his swim and I begged The Genius to go for a gentle jog. I wanted to share Town Lake with her. Town Lake (now officially called Lady Bird Lake, for the former First Lady who was a long time Austin resident) is a reservoir of the Colorado River in down town Austin. It is full of bike and jogging trails, people, pets and wonderful surprises. I fell in love with the Town Lake paths 2 years ago and wanted her to see them. She has not been running, so she was suspicious that this could result in pain, but we had the best morning.

Jogged up the helix and over the water.

Nippy weather made us playful.

Loved all the dogs running with their owners... and the "Off Leash" areas where it was a canine frenzy.

Beautiful park with nooks, trees, benches and bridges to explore.

Afterwards, lunch at Zax with a great local brew selection and awesome food.

We dropped off The Genius to do some homework while Blain and I went to drive the bike course.

Then to a sushi place for dinner that was highly recommended as a "must try" by the staff at Mellow Johnny's. You're not gonnna believe this place.... will share it with you tomorrow. And don't forget, eventually there is supposed to be a little triathlon at the end of this trip!!

Aloha,

The Three Coconuts.

Heading west for the Longhorn 70.3 triathlon in Austin, TX. This half ironman is our second in one month.... our first attempt to get two good races out of one training peak. It's also a trip we've really been looking forward to because we LOVE Austin. In 2007 this was our first ever half ironman and a great vacation where we fell in love with the town. So this year we decided to make it our "mulligan" race. That way if we had a catastrophe (physical, mental or mechanical) at the Augusta race, we would have a redo. Augusta was pretty perfect for Blain, and I made my main goal even though I bonked pretty unattractively on the run... so it was hard to take the Longhorn race too seriously (besides we were planning on having so much fun). So here goes our adventure...


Wednesday we pull out with Flossy loaded up like the Beverly Hillbillies truck and we hit I-10 in great spirits. Made it through to Mississippi before Blain and I started to get dreary and had to resort to finding a Starbucks. We are very adamant about avoiding caffeine except during races, but this was deemed an exception to the rule and we dove into some pumpkin latte's. Next thing I know, I'm discussing the amazing cycle of latte flavors and extolling the virtues of ginger spice in fast forward. I also shared all my plans for the winter and next year and made a few lists just to help Blain keep up. I tried to talk him into going on to Austin that night but, being the mature one, he refused to go past Baton Rouge without stopping for the night. We bounced out the Genius (who slept through everything) and hit the bed. Where Blain slept, while Tyler and I continued to chat until she refused to play with me anymore.

It was a long night, and an ugly morning with a caffeine hangover. I slept in the back seat until about lunch on Thursday when I awoke to find us in downtown Houston navigating our way to a Chipotle. The family was hungry, and I was still feeling icky. I naively offered to drive while they ate, and began to try to get back to I-10. Little did I know at the time, that I had just been delivered into HellTown and handed the keys. The Garmin could not find I-10. It's not "Houston we have a problem".... the correct phrase is "Houston is the problem". All systems were at work but we were still failing horribly as, in lunch hour traffic, we travelled one way multi lane streets filled with hungry, cranky Texans. Then we're at an intersection trying to go straight. On one side of the intersection is a wrecker (hooking up to a broken down vehicle) and a police car. The light turns green, I ease around the wrecker to find all traffic stopped going forward. The light turns red. I'm still in the road, in the left lane pointed North. Traffic is attempting to go behind me East, but the Beverly Bikebilly mobile is blocking the way. I can't go backward or East through 3 other lanes of stopped cars. The light turns green, still we stand. The light turns red. Blain stops eating his lunch and looks panicked behind my seat and out the window. Then the policeman taps on my window, and suggests that since I decided to block all the traffic I should pull over and have a talk with him. Shannon, who I work with, gets pulled for speeding regularly. She has beautiful blue eyes and an unholy ability to cry attractively whenever necessary. She has never gotten a ticket despite her tendency to drive as if racing Nascar. I have never mastered this, but for a brief moment I remember wishing I had that type of self control. The moment was brief though and didn't last long enough for me to get the car in park, then unfortunately I was just pissed.

I was notified that I broke the law, and that if someone hit me it would be my fault, and that I was blocking up everything. I wouldn't have been blocking anything if he would have gone up a few blocks and figured out why the people weren't moving even though the light was green. I attempted to explain that where I come from when the light is green, that means go. I did manage not to go into things like... roads are supposed to go in both directions, because he had no sense of humor.

He took my license and determined I wasn't wanted while I waited in the car. Blain and Tyler were thankfully mute at this time. Then Big Nasty Houston Cop comes back to find out what I am doing in his town. I'm now over it, if you want to give me a ticket be like the Nike ad and Just Do It, but don't lecture me anymore. I have a FL license, 3 bicycles, luggage filled back and two passengers shoving in Chipotle Mexican lunches and pretending they don't hear whats going on. Blain did choke slightly when I pointed out the obvious in a less than humble manner. The Cop wanted me to leave Houston, I explained I really wanted to leave Houston if he could do something about this traffic and point me to I-10. He directs me to Louisiana Street and our lovely visit finally ends without any official citation. You know how in the South we joke about taking people Snipe hunting, and there is no such thing as a snipe? Well in Houston I guess the game is Louisiana Street, because there is no Louisiana Street. So I guess Mr. Nasty did get the last word. We finally got onto I-45 to get back to I-10. I don't know where or what direction I-45 goes, I didn't care, it was an interstate that led away from HellTown and I was getting on it. Luckily we didn't have to go to Austin by way of Oklahoma or Mexico. By now Blain had found his voice and was in official distress mode, while The Genius was still being highly offended by Mr. Nasty's attitude and treatment. Once we reached I-10, and where actually going the correct direction, the adrenaline ebbed and the giggles started, so we put in our CD of show tunes and sang and laughed all the way to Austin.

Aloha and stay tuned!

The Three Coconuts

This blog is largely about our adventures and some of our proudest moments. But with all endeavors there are going to be some that have unsuccessful outcomes. These are a few of mine.

Yoga
You wouldn't think of yoga as a pass/fail kinda activity... but let me assure you it's not for everyone. At first things were going great. We were doing strength moves, holding positions while my muscles burned and began to quiver as sweat formed on my body. I was loving it... right at home here. Then we begin the process of contorting our bodies into indescribable and often obscene positions. Now this hurts, and all I can think about is my hamstring being ripped from its attachment on the femur. I make the mistake of looking around at the others in the class and take note of their peaceful, serene expressions... and their positions looking much more yoga like than mine. Yoga immediately became a competitive sport. I resolved to rip or tear my body as necessary to bend it further than the color coordinated women in the room, some of whom actually wore makeup to workout. This kept me entertained for a while, but then it was time to assume one pose and work on our breathing. Breathing is one of the few things I don't worry about. My brain has been taking care of breathing for 43 years (with a few exceptions during swim workouts where it was suggested I learn to breath without stopping to tread water). Now we sat and were supposed to focus on breathing. My mind checked out. It does that a lot. While they breathed I did my grocery list, planned a few key workouts for the next week and could have gone on the other plagues of the world had the class not ended. So I attempted to straighten my now permanently bent legs, dusted off the fine layer of dirt I had accumulated from the mat and hobbled from the room painfully, all the while feeling like I had really missed something here.

Fishing
My last fishing expedition involved my body violently proving that peristalsis can occur in both directions simultaneously. For hours I was ripped from end to end as my gastrointestinal tract attempted to reunite itself with the mother ocean. But this was an impulse trip, so I had little time to weasel out of it. And this was an inlet and canal trip only, so I was guaranteed no big bumpy waves. Not only did I get no big water... but also no big boat. This was a very little boat. The Genius and my Dad were all psyched about fishing, while Mom and I were more into enjoying the weather (hot and sunny) and scenery. Mom hopped on the boat (with Oxygen tank in tow) and as soon as we were underway, she's harassing the Guide to drive the boat faster. I love to see her do this as people think they need to take special care with her, and she proceeds to disprove their notions (while para sailing and jet skiing...). I believe that the "live with wild abandon" attitude is just her... that or she just wanted to see if I'd hurl if she got the boat ride bumpy enough. So we get to the inlet where swarms of fish go by in chase of bait fish, and being chased by sea birds. Guide throws in and hands off to The Genius, who already has a fish! This looks like fun, fishing with no patience required. Only skills needed: casting and setting the hook. Casting involved flipping one lever to let the line out and not hooking your boat mates. First time The Genius cast everyone in the boat (except the Guide only because he didn't know her) hit the deck. I was more prone to forgetting to flip the lever so that when I swung (hard, like I was trying to hit a home run) my bait and line was wrapped around the tip of my rod like a maypole. Setting the hook required a controlled pull on the rod to seat the hook in the victims mouth. My first bite I snatched that thing like I was teaching a 800 pound yearling colt how to lead. I broke the line, gave the fish a tonsillectomy and an automatic release with in 3 seconds. I also cleared the front half of the boat and could have easily capsized the thing with just a little more enthusiasm. The Guide seemed a little reluctant to put new line on, but eventually he did and assured me that he went with something a little stronger. Meanwhile, my boating companions are pulling in fish regularly. Mom was even getting some action, but I caught her getting the Guide to cast her bait in the right spot. I have no pride, he cast for me and I finally caught an infant. The Genius was barefoot and balanced while clambering all over the boat. She and Dad even hooked large Jacks at the same time and performed a choreographically worthy dance around the boat deck while attempting to land their victims. Tyler got her's in at an estimated 13 pounds!!! She also made an addendum to the boyfriend list: must have boat. I was enjoying the show while cautiously sitting on the boat casting and reeling. Watching the dolphins and thinking about swimming with them. Cast and reel. Watching the sun shine on my beautiful daughter as she played with my parents. My mind was so checked out. Cast and reel. Then a giant fish grabbed my bait, nearly pulling the rod from my hands. I squealed like a girl (who obviously had not been paying attention) and attempted to thrust the rod at anyone who would take it while I tried to get to the other end of the boat. I still managed to break the line. I can't believe I couldn't focus well enough to fish. Maybe fishing isn't the sport for me.

NutritionI admit it I am a garbage gut. I have conquered some areas of my diet like fats and meat. But large volume consumption of breads, sweets and frequent beer and wine seem to be my undoing. I only get by as well as I do because I do an insane amount of exercise. And I admit that one of my goals for my exercise program is to produce a body that I can live with. But doing hard exercise on a less than ideal diet can provide its own revenge, and entertainment. Thought I'd share some of my mistakes.

pre training nutrition

Don't go out and try to train when you haven't eaten all day because you felt guilty after polishing off a half gallon of fro yo with a bottle of wine the night before. Also, doomed to failure is the workout done on no food because you were saving up your calories for a big dinner out that night (this kind of thing will leave one stumbling and stupid). Equally uncomfortable are the runs done as penance after binge eating, or just unfortunate combinations like todays 8 mile tempo run done after eating a yoplait and a couple handfuls of macadamia nuts. Don't know what the nuts and yogurt did in my stomach but I sloshed for the first 4 miles, passed gas for the next 4 and things could have gotten really ugly had it been a 10 mile run rather than 8.

race nutrition

My first marathon. Longest run ever, I was nervous but we prepared and trained. So what made me decide to eat sweet potato souffle at 4 am before running 26.4 miles? Yes it started its life as a sweet potato, which would have been an acceptable choice. But the simple sugar and butter and whatever other magic MiMi does to it to make it taste like dessert must have chemically changed it into the worlds most potent (albeit best tasting) laxative. Then you've seen me err on the other side at the recent Augusta race, where I just ran out of fuel by mile 6 of the run. My body still hasn't forgiven me for that. My hunger has been driving me to eat as if it could be my last meal... my body was convinced that there was no food available in the world. Since then I've been in consume and hibernate mode. I will spare you the details of eating a large Johnny Rocco Salad With No Olives the night before last years Jax Bank half marathon. I did make a personal best time, but only by doing interval runs between porta potties.

These are just a few of my recent misadventures. Hope they were good for a laugh, if TV was bad tonight. The most memorable moments sometime come from the journey itself, rather than the successful completion of your goal.

Aloha,
The 3 Coconuts :)

The last 2 weeks have been busy and haven't had time to get this done sooooo, sorry for the delay. Race morning, Alan (brother-in-law) came to the hotel room about 4:30 for bfast. There was oatmeal, strawberries, blueberries, multi grain toast, almond butter, pnut butter, jelly, bananas, REAL (caffeinated) coffee, and (no surprise here!) ramen noodles. Sounds good doesn't it? Until you have been there, you don't know how hard it is to choke down 400-600 calories that time of morning. But we ate, loaded up, checked out of our home for the past 3 days and headed to the race site. I will skip right to the race since Julie has given you all the prerace stuff.

Alan and I are in the same Age Group (45-49) so the starting time of our wave was the same, I think it was 8:56 am. We stuck together as they herded us toward the start. Wave by wave (every 4 minutes) they sent off each AG until it was our time. Julie's wave was behind us so I knew I would not be seeing her again until the race was over so I was pretty sad about that. Seeing her lay everything out there on race day always inspires me more than she knows and as long as this race is, some inspiration later on would probably be welcome.

With about 1 minute before our start we jumped in the river and everyone was to position themselves behind an imaginary start line between two buoys. I positioned myself in front and when the gun went off I tried to get out fast and find some open water to swim in. I was surprised to see only 1 other guy in my AG out in front about 15 yards to my left. I was thinking if this guy works his way over towards me I will just get on his hip and draft. That never happened. It seemed as if that guy kept drifting over towards the center of the river and was not doing a very good job of sighting, so I'm thinking this is not someone I'd trust to draft with. Swimming down current was nice and the river water was not too bad except for the occasional mass of weeds that would cover your face, goggles, arms, and hands, attempting to drag you under.....that part wasn't too much fun. I elected to just go it alone and if anyone was drafting on my feet so be it, I didn't feel anyone. I exited the 1.2 mile swim in just over 22 minutes with the lead and wanted to make quick work in transition............any time gained here is free speed!

I got out on the bike and really felt good. We did have a little tailwind so that helped and as expected the bike course was really crowded. Over 3000 competitors scattered over a 56 mile bike course.......yep, crowded. I always try and speak to a lot of the competitors while racing, offering words of encouragement. My goal was to be a little conservative on the bike, get in all my nutrition, and set myself up for a good run. I kept an eye on my heart rate as well as my power (and, more often, weakness) meter. HR was were I wanted it and I felt comfortable however I was averaging about 10 to 12 watts less than what I was hoping for on the power meter. I did not worry too much about that because I still felt like my pace was pretty fast. I would stand in the pedals to climb or stretch every 10 minutes or so and I just kept thinking how good my legs were feeling and was looking forward to the run. For the most part the bike was uneventful. As expected, there was about 10 or 12 uberbikers went by me that were in my AG. I just stuck to my plan hoping that I would be seeing some of these guys again soon. The last part of the bike is always hard and this wasn't any different. We had a pretty stiff headwind and mentally things had gotten a bit harder. I had taken a gel with about 5 or 6 miles to go and it kicked in at just the right time. I felt much more alert as we entered T2.

I flew into T2, racked my bike, went to put my socks on and realized that ANTS were touring my socks and shoes...........didn't panic........dealt with it.....visor, #, and fuel belt and I'm out of there....more free speed. Once out of the transition area, I ran down a long drive and out of the rowing club entrance and into streets of Augusta getting bitten by ants the entire way. The crowds were amazing. Family and friends of competitors as well as locals out just to see was this triathlon thing was all about were lining the streets cheering for everyone. I was not a mile into the 13.1 mile run before I passed one of the fore mentioned uberbikers. I saw Tyler at about mile 3 and asked her if she knew how far back I was but she wasn't sure. That was ok, I just needed to keep running, concentrating on form and relaxing. My cadence felt quick and was unexpectedly passing lots of AGers that had started in earlier waves. Tyler, Leah, Chris, and Julie's mom and dad were scattered throughout the run and seeing all of them was awesome. We also had a large contingent of Hammerhead Tri Club members up from Jacksonville doing the race so seeing all the familiar faces and encouraging one another was nice. By the time I started the second and final loop I had passed 5 or 6 in my AG and one of my goals for the race was to negative split the run, so I tried to really push the pace the last 5-6 miles. I had to stay focused and stay on top of my nutrition or I would not be able to maintain this intensity. The aid stations came in handy for cold sponges, ice and water, and I obliged I think all but 1. With our late starting time, I knew the heat would be a factor on the run and it was. The last 3 miles were tough. My body was telling me it was ready to be done but I was able to mentally push through and finish strong. I just kept telling myself there was somebody else up ahead in my AG that I needed to go catch. I ran with one guy with compression socks on so I could not see his age on the back of his calf, but he looked about my age. After a few miles of pushing one another to a level neither of us would be able to sustain, I asked him how old he was.......he said 43.........I said, "Thank God!"....... I backed off a little and let him go.

A party was in full swing at the finish by the time I got there. The pros and most of the earlier waves had already finished and were enjoying the festivities. My goal for the race was to go under 5 hours.......I went 4:38:58. I found out later that I was 14th off the bike and ran myself all the way back to 4th. I never, ever expected to have that kind of day. Although only top 3 got awards, my placing was good enough to earn me a qualifying spot to the Ironman 70.3 World Championships in Clearwater in November.........REALLY didn't expect that. I took the spot and so for the next 7 weeks it's Longhorn 70.3 in Austin, Tx the end of Oct., and 3 weeks later....Clearwater.



I returned to the run course after grabbing some fluids........not to run but to find Alan and Julie and cheer them in. Alan looked GREAT!......man he is right on track to have great day at Ironman Florida, November 7th. Congrats brother-in-law, another PR after suffering with a broken pelvis most of the year. As Julie approached I felt unexpectedly like running with her. I thought she looked great as well and it was obvious she had pushed to her limits. I fell in stride with her with words of encouragement........she was not aware just how close she was to the finish, but there was a little work left to do. Triathlon has a way of exposing yourself to your biggest critic....yourself. You can find out things about yourself that would just rather not know, but being brave enough to go there is your biggest challenge. Julie is fearless and is willing to go deeper than anyone can physically or mentally. Having missed her the entire race and seeing how vulnerable she was at that moment was inspirational. She did not let up, she just kept pushing her limits all the way to the finish. What I did expect was that she would have a great race..........she did..........a BIG PR 5:23:35.

After collecting bikes out of transition, gassing up, a big plate of "trashy Mexican", and Krispy Kreme for desert, we left Augusta for the 5 1/2 hours home. What a day.

Aloha,
3 Coconuts