Triathlon in Debban and other things

So Benedikt is now into his triathlons. I would be too, if I didn't have a silly fear of swimming in open water surrounded by people kicking and pushing and of choking in the choppy water! But I am enjoying his training as I often join him in the pool (we use a 25m heater indoor pool at a school nearby) for 5000 lengths and he now joins me more often on my runs.
Benedikt is very funny though - he won't do ANYTHING with sub standard equipment. So he has recently bought nearly all of the equipment necessary, including a snazzy new tri bike which is just beautiful. So last weekend we drove down to Durban for the Suncoast Triathlon.
So my significantly more relaxed exercise program these days entails one (easy) hour of something every morning. At the crack of dawn. Literally. 5:30am stuff! We've got a great park and dam just 2.5kms away so its perfect. I run there with the dogs and let them run wild which is what they love best. Our landlord's daughter lives in the flat above our house and she often joins me on my runs which is cool.
Then I do my ashtanga yoga self practice once or twice a week, go swimming once a week and cycling once a week. The cycling is usually a 2.5 hour FAST ride - Benoni World Champs every Saturday! I DIE. And get dropped of course. But usually one of the guys waits for me... sometimes my lovely husband even pushes me back into the (enormous) bunch.
My yoga I'm just maintaining. There is no ashtanga studio nearby so once a week I try to get to Love and Yoga in Melville. I've made friends with a great guy there who helps me with my practice. But I miss Oriane a LOT!

Otherwise home life is ticking over nicely. We are very happy in this house, it has plenty of space and a great garden and pool. And my dad living with us is working out SO well. As soon as Nico goes down at 7pm, Benedikt and I can easily go for dinner, or in the mornings when we go off exercising, my dad keeps his ears open for Nico. And when I am slaving away in the kitchen making supper my dad often keeps an eye on the monkey for me. He is a total pain the kitchen otherwise, pulling out every utensil and pan and strewing pasta all over the floor!
Nico that is, not the father.
So on that topic I've been cooking much more these days! Benedikt is amazed! Well, actually not really cooking, quite the opposite - I am making loads of RAW food. Which means no nutrients are lost via cooking, so its much healthier all round. I even went on a dehydrating course on Saturday with Raw works. It was excellent learning about such an ideal way to eat raw foods - so much flavour and texture.
Lately I've been making my own almond milk too. And that's what Nico drinks before bed. It tastes good! I sweeten it a bit with dried figs.

I will post more goodies as I make them... I feel like I'm embarking a new adventure with this way of eating, and I'm finding out about lots of amazing foods, its exciting!
And its almost 2 years since I became a vegan now :) I'm still loving it.