First thing in the AM -- I woke, dressed, had my coffee and headed out for the last hard run before the race.
The scheduled track workout looked, to me, like way too much to be attempting during the same week as a marathon. But, my coaches are the professionals. So, I stopped questioning their knowledge and solicited friends. They were nice enough to agree to join me and we headed to a local Junior College to do what was on schedule.
Wow! This workout was *just* what the doctor ordered in terms of confidence building.
Wake and have coffee. 15-20 minutes warm-up easy run to the track (uphill).
4X1000 -- splits: 5:22; 5:17; 5:20; 5:14 (walked recovery of 200m per interval)
4X200 -- splits: 45; 45; 44; 43 (walked recovery of 200m per interval)
15 minutes easy run back (downhill). Then another few minutes walking.
Why is this such a great workout?
Well, for starters, I could *talk* through the 1000's. That's right. Talking. Easily. Not breathing hard at all. At paces that are 30-45 seconds/mile faster than target race pace. Brilliant. All of a sudden, the marathon pace looks and feels like a cakewalk. I'll weigh in after the fact, of course, but much to my surprise, the workout that I was worried may be too tiring actually was quite easy and raised my confidence to a level that's never happened before a marathon.
And the 200m pick-ups? Nothing like running at a sub 6 minute mile pace (even if only for 1/8 of a mile) to convince you that you are in better shape than you've been in quite some time. In other news, I *sincerely* enjoyed telling F to hit 40s on her 200m intervals. Sweet, fast F. Yup. She did it, no problem. 5:40 mile pace on all 4 intervals -- lady is *FAST*. Should be interesting to see how training for a half while she's training for a full at SFM treats me. I expect my fitness will be challenged and pushed. And I look forward to it.
The great AM track workout alone would be enough for a great day. But I also get to add that I made it home in time for a good yogurt, blackberry, milk, banana smoothie. Oh, and I had several productive work calls, a great on-site visit with a client, and, E had agreed that I should have a steak dinner to get my iron stores up before the race. (I assure you, I had to twist his arm heavily to get him to go to Dittmer's while I toiled away on legal issues related to his Company. Okay, not really.)
Upon arrival at home after the long work day, I followed the awesomely perfect recipe we've concocted over the years and made glorious filet mignons for me, E and D (425F, garlic clove embedded, butter layered, salt and pepper), plus a side salad and boiled miniature artichokes (6/$1 at the local farmer's market on Sunday! Deal of the century!).
At first bite of the perfectly cooked filets, the boys declared me a genius. I, of course, politely agreed.
To prove the point, I took the steak/butter/garlic/salt/pepper drippings, added onions, and made millet with the leftover artichoke water. We now have at least 2 pounds of delicious beefy-artichoky millet for side dishes. Like the title says, it was a great day. And the millet will prove this going forward...
March 12, 2013
March 11, 2013
LA Marathon Week -1
I accomplished my number 1 goal from last week. My cold finally left me. I can sleep through the night and I'm not really coughing much at all. I'm probably at about 90%.
I feel like another one might be coming on, which would be a serious bummer, but there's nothing I can do except be sure I get tons of liquids this week, rest, and hope for the best.
This week's workouts were just okay.
M: Rest. Walk 1.24 miles. Final recovery day from the cold.
T: 3.85 miles in 37:41 for an average pace of 9:48/mile. Additional 2.2 miles walking and talking on the phone.
W: Speedwork on the treadmill at 1%. 15 minutes w/u, 2 miles @ 8:34 pace; 6 minutes jog; 1 attempt at a 400 at 7:30 pace -- bailed after 0.15 miles, walked 2 minutes to recover and restarted the intervals at a slower pace. Take 2: 4X400 @ 7:47 with 0.20 walking recovery; 3 minutes jogging cooldown. Very difficult effort. My gluteos maximus was *very* sore for 2 days.
Th: 3 miles recovery @ 10:28 pace.
F: Easy Cross -- 20 minutes rowing; 20 minutes recumbant bike.
Sa: Last long run before the race. The schedule called for 10-12 with the last 4-6 at race pace. F agreed to do this run with me and pull me through the fast miles. My AM went according to plan, which was a good comfort for following the same approach on race day. We drove to the local trailhead and started with a nice easy 6 miles at a 9:48 pace. After a quick gu stop, we *almost* hit the target splits of 9:09 on the last 5 miles: 9:08; 9:19; 9:04; 9:13; 9:14. On the last mile, I could feel myself really starting to struggle so I let F know I'd need to stop at 11 instead of 12. Even with the dropped mile, this run is the most I've ever run in a long run the weekend before a race.
Su: Easy 3.03 mile recovery run (2.5 with E). 30 minutes.
Total mileage for the week: 31.54.
Unfortunately, I don't feel like I tapered at all this week. Which is weird, since the mileage is low compared to the weekly average I'd been keeping this training cycle. Last week's unintended taper week with 4 straight days off running hard meant I'd already dropped my mileage below this week's scheduled level. The antsy energetic feeling that I associate with taper week has yet to hit me. Perhaps it'll come this week?
I've got 3 short runs this week, plus a speed session. This will be more mileage the week of the race than I've ever done before. But, perhaps I've over-tapered in the past? Only one way to find out.
Essentially, I'm in a blah state. I'm definitely more fit than I've been in a long time, but I'm also not quite as fit as I'd hoped to be. I reached out to McMillan Running and they confirmed my suspicions. While the training plan was written for me to shoot for a 4 hour marathon, I didn't hit all the workouts, and last week's sickness was a fairly decent setback at an important time in the buildup.
They recommended that I shoot for something more conservative like 4:05 or 4:10. I know they know their stuff. This is why I paid them. Even so, I was disappointed to read their email. In particular, I'm bummed because there isn't a pace group at 4:05 or 4:10 for the LA Marathon. So, if I take their advice (which I probably should do), I'll have go out alone and just keep myself on pace the whole time. Man, I was really looking forward to hanging with the 4h pace group as long as I could.
Also, after I sent the email to McMillan, I realized that the fast miles in my last long run were on gravel and dirt. I'm guessing I could have hit all of the target splits if we'd been on the road.
Part of me is on the fence. Obviously, getting to the half with the 4h pace group is totally doable. I could just go out with them and do my best to hang on as long as I can. This will, of course, result in one of two scenarios: a) I totally blow up and the last part of the race is sucky and slow and painful; or b) I surprise myself (and the folks at McMillan). I'm guessing option a) is much more likely.
I definitely have a few options to puzzle through. No matter what, I will have a race plan on Saturday night and will do my best to execute it Sunday.
I feel like another one might be coming on, which would be a serious bummer, but there's nothing I can do except be sure I get tons of liquids this week, rest, and hope for the best.
This week's workouts were just okay.
M: Rest. Walk 1.24 miles. Final recovery day from the cold.
T: 3.85 miles in 37:41 for an average pace of 9:48/mile. Additional 2.2 miles walking and talking on the phone.
W: Speedwork on the treadmill at 1%. 15 minutes w/u, 2 miles @ 8:34 pace; 6 minutes jog; 1 attempt at a 400 at 7:30 pace -- bailed after 0.15 miles, walked 2 minutes to recover and restarted the intervals at a slower pace. Take 2: 4X400 @ 7:47 with 0.20 walking recovery; 3 minutes jogging cooldown. Very difficult effort. My gluteos maximus was *very* sore for 2 days.
Th: 3 miles recovery @ 10:28 pace.
F: Easy Cross -- 20 minutes rowing; 20 minutes recumbant bike.
Sa: Last long run before the race. The schedule called for 10-12 with the last 4-6 at race pace. F agreed to do this run with me and pull me through the fast miles. My AM went according to plan, which was a good comfort for following the same approach on race day. We drove to the local trailhead and started with a nice easy 6 miles at a 9:48 pace. After a quick gu stop, we *almost* hit the target splits of 9:09 on the last 5 miles: 9:08; 9:19; 9:04; 9:13; 9:14. On the last mile, I could feel myself really starting to struggle so I let F know I'd need to stop at 11 instead of 12. Even with the dropped mile, this run is the most I've ever run in a long run the weekend before a race.
Su: Easy 3.03 mile recovery run (2.5 with E). 30 minutes.
Total mileage for the week: 31.54.
Unfortunately, I don't feel like I tapered at all this week. Which is weird, since the mileage is low compared to the weekly average I'd been keeping this training cycle. Last week's unintended taper week with 4 straight days off running hard meant I'd already dropped my mileage below this week's scheduled level. The antsy energetic feeling that I associate with taper week has yet to hit me. Perhaps it'll come this week?
I've got 3 short runs this week, plus a speed session. This will be more mileage the week of the race than I've ever done before. But, perhaps I've over-tapered in the past? Only one way to find out.
Essentially, I'm in a blah state. I'm definitely more fit than I've been in a long time, but I'm also not quite as fit as I'd hoped to be. I reached out to McMillan Running and they confirmed my suspicions. While the training plan was written for me to shoot for a 4 hour marathon, I didn't hit all the workouts, and last week's sickness was a fairly decent setback at an important time in the buildup.
They recommended that I shoot for something more conservative like 4:05 or 4:10. I know they know their stuff. This is why I paid them. Even so, I was disappointed to read their email. In particular, I'm bummed because there isn't a pace group at 4:05 or 4:10 for the LA Marathon. So, if I take their advice (which I probably should do), I'll have go out alone and just keep myself on pace the whole time. Man, I was really looking forward to hanging with the 4h pace group as long as I could.
Also, after I sent the email to McMillan, I realized that the fast miles in my last long run were on gravel and dirt. I'm guessing I could have hit all of the target splits if we'd been on the road.
Part of me is on the fence. Obviously, getting to the half with the 4h pace group is totally doable. I could just go out with them and do my best to hang on as long as I can. This will, of course, result in one of two scenarios: a) I totally blow up and the last part of the race is sucky and slow and painful; or b) I surprise myself (and the folks at McMillan). I'm guessing option a) is much more likely.
I definitely have a few options to puzzle through. No matter what, I will have a race plan on Saturday night and will do my best to execute it Sunday.
March 6, 2013
Mandarin Studies and China Trip
Well, Yikes. It's happening. For reals. China for the first time since 1994 for me, and ever, for E.
My high-end goal of 100 Mandarin lessons before we left? Well, I'm at 11 + a 2-day viewing of a Mandarin movie set in the mainland. Only 68 days left. So, basically, 1.5 lessons a day and I'll be easily in the clear. Right. I hope I can make that happen.
In other news, baring external oddities, I have all the details solidified. Flights, hotels, everything.
Enough to print out everything and fill out the visa applications and try to schedule time to do the rush drop off myself, personally (fail #1 due to too late arrival at the consulate, really hoping #2 will work without trouble).
Oh, except, wait a minute -- today, I got a call from a frantic woman from Delta. It is worth noting that the call came only after E got multiple calls and assured them that I was authorized to make all decisions for both of us. This is particularly impressive given that the trip was booked through my account, on my card. [[Insert standard feminist rant here -- seriously -- I'm annoyed, but too tired to draft anything useful. Eventually, due to E's protestations, they believed him and I was granted phone privileges to modify the entirety of the trip I'd originally booked without his additional consent. How Modern! Once he'd told them to fuck off and deal with me, of course, they started calling me every 15 minutes. Let it not be said that the privileges of power do not come with strings...]].
So, China Eastern had canceled one of the important connecting flights of our trip and they wanted to rebook us. Only the lay-over we were to have went from 2+ hours in Shanghai to 6+ hours. Ummm.....have I mentioned that E is not a good flyer? I can sleep anywhere. E, not so much. So, I exercised my wife-given powers and made an executive decision. We are now staying the night in Shanghai after landing (to get some non-plane-sleep) before the 2 hour last flight leg to Beijing. (I would like to weigh in here and say that booking China Eastern through Delta was a stroke of brilliance because my Gold status on Delta is, no doubt, the only reason we got the call and I suspect we otherwise would have either (i) gotten an email I likely wouldn't have noticed, because all commercial emails (even travel, sadly) go to my spam account; or (ii) more likely, just had to deal with it at check-in. Yuck!)
Anyways. With 68 days left, I'm still gallantly trying to beat the 100 lesson challenge. I'm at 11/100 today. So with 68 days, it's really not even 1.5 each day. And, as a matter of pride, I think I'm going to do my best to do this one!
My high-end goal of 100 Mandarin lessons before we left? Well, I'm at 11 + a 2-day viewing of a Mandarin movie set in the mainland. Only 68 days left. So, basically, 1.5 lessons a day and I'll be easily in the clear. Right. I hope I can make that happen.
In other news, baring external oddities, I have all the details solidified. Flights, hotels, everything.
Enough to print out everything and fill out the visa applications and try to schedule time to do the rush drop off myself, personally (fail #1 due to too late arrival at the consulate, really hoping #2 will work without trouble).
Oh, except, wait a minute -- today, I got a call from a frantic woman from Delta. It is worth noting that the call came only after E got multiple calls and assured them that I was authorized to make all decisions for both of us. This is particularly impressive given that the trip was booked through my account, on my card. [[Insert standard feminist rant here -- seriously -- I'm annoyed, but too tired to draft anything useful. Eventually, due to E's protestations, they believed him and I was granted phone privileges to modify the entirety of the trip I'd originally booked without his additional consent. How Modern! Once he'd told them to fuck off and deal with me, of course, they started calling me every 15 minutes. Let it not be said that the privileges of power do not come with strings...]].
So, China Eastern had canceled one of the important connecting flights of our trip and they wanted to rebook us. Only the lay-over we were to have went from 2+ hours in Shanghai to 6+ hours. Ummm.....have I mentioned that E is not a good flyer? I can sleep anywhere. E, not so much. So, I exercised my wife-given powers and made an executive decision. We are now staying the night in Shanghai after landing (to get some non-plane-sleep) before the 2 hour last flight leg to Beijing. (I would like to weigh in here and say that booking China Eastern through Delta was a stroke of brilliance because my Gold status on Delta is, no doubt, the only reason we got the call and I suspect we otherwise would have either (i) gotten an email I likely wouldn't have noticed, because all commercial emails (even travel, sadly) go to my spam account; or (ii) more likely, just had to deal with it at check-in. Yuck!)
Anyways. With 68 days left, I'm still gallantly trying to beat the 100 lesson challenge. I'm at 11/100 today. So with 68 days, it's really not even 1.5 each day. And, as a matter of pride, I think I'm going to do my best to do this one!
March 3, 2013
LA Marathon Week -2
I may have been a bit too celebratory about last week's training.
By Sunday evening, I had a full-fledged sore throat and the beginnings of a cold. Monday, I started coughing. It was enough to convince me to skip Bikram in an attempt to rest and (hopefully) recover.
Tuesday, I hopefully headed out for a run only to find that 11:00 mile pace was a struggle. I ran only 1.55 miles and walked another full mile to call it for the day. I told myself I'd do the hard speedwork on Wednesday or Thursday based on how I felt.
I took Wednesday off completely (and coughed through the night, waking poor E on multiple occasions).
Thursday, I had obligations in SF, so I walked in the city and then back home from Caltrain. I also fell asleep on Caltrain. At 3 PM. After at least 9 hours of interrupted cough-heavy sleep. Then I hacked and coughed my way through the night.
So, yeah, the speedwork for the week was officially written off.
Friday, finally, I felt like I might be on the mend. I headed out for a test run of 3 miles. It was okay. Average pace 10:34, but I didn't feel like I was getting worse.
Saturday, I'd scheduled a half marathon race with Brazen Racing as part of my long run. The training scheduled called for 14-18 with the last 6-8 miles at target race pace. After Friday's test run, I decided I could do 15 (an easy 2ish warm-up and the half marathon), but that I'd take it easy and only try to do the last 5 at race pace, and, then, only if I felt okay. L drove me to the race (thanks, L! Your 1:51 first half-marathon is *crazy* impressive).
After we arrived, I headed out at an easy clip for the warm-up and I made it back to the start with 1.88 miles w/u done at an average pace of 10:48. After the start, I ran by effort and was shocked to see 9:10 as the pace for my first easy mile. Interesting. The rest of the race went well -- I confirmed that I'm in better shape than I thought, particularly given the cold, and also, I confirmed that my target race pace is *very* difficult to maintain when I am tired. My target was to execute the run plan and finish between 2:05 and 2:10. I came in at 2:07, so that made me happy. Even with the cold, I'm doing all right, it would appear.
Of course, yet again, the importance of making certain I do not have any gastrointestinal issues on race day became apparent. Because of the cold, I hadn't really paid much attention to my food the night before. I half-suspected the run would be a write-off. Instead, as scheduled, after 8 reasonably paced miles (all 10:00/mile or below), I picked up the pace to my target race pace and started passing people. I did so easily and consistently until mile 10, at which point my gastro discomfort started. Finally, at mile 11, I took a 2m56s much-needed bathroom break. This meant that the rest of the run I ran at race pace and passed many of the people I'd passed earlier.
At the finish chute, a woman I'd passed around mile 12.6 (and also around mile 9.5 or so) and to whom I'd said, "good job" in the final passing decided to try to sprint past me. First, please -- I had tons more energy in the tank -- I hadn't wanted to go hard because I was sick and, also, because I wanted the training run to be a training run that helped build me up, not a race that depleted me. But when she started to come near (I heard her footsteps) I bounded away quickly. Then, I heard her slip and fall. I turned to look just as the announcer announced her fall to the crowd and everyone gasped. Poor thing. I waited at the finish to high-five her and confirm she was okay. Ordinarily, I'm annoyed at people who try to kick to pass in the chute at a pace that's 2 minutes faster than their race pace (talk about asking for a pulled hamstring!), but not this woman -- I felt bad for her. This exchange must have been very embarrassing for her, and I felt nothing but empathy.
Today, I closed out the week with a nice easy 5 mile recovery run (2.5 with E) at a 10:21 average pace with a 0.68 mile walking cool down.
And there you have it: thanks to the cold it was an unintentional early taper week totaling 30.06 miles (including the walking), and just one long training run left before the race.
My number one goal for next week is to stay healthy and get rid of this cold. Wish me luck.
By Sunday evening, I had a full-fledged sore throat and the beginnings of a cold. Monday, I started coughing. It was enough to convince me to skip Bikram in an attempt to rest and (hopefully) recover.
Tuesday, I hopefully headed out for a run only to find that 11:00 mile pace was a struggle. I ran only 1.55 miles and walked another full mile to call it for the day. I told myself I'd do the hard speedwork on Wednesday or Thursday based on how I felt.
I took Wednesday off completely (and coughed through the night, waking poor E on multiple occasions).
Thursday, I had obligations in SF, so I walked in the city and then back home from Caltrain. I also fell asleep on Caltrain. At 3 PM. After at least 9 hours of interrupted cough-heavy sleep. Then I hacked and coughed my way through the night.
So, yeah, the speedwork for the week was officially written off.
Friday, finally, I felt like I might be on the mend. I headed out for a test run of 3 miles. It was okay. Average pace 10:34, but I didn't feel like I was getting worse.
Saturday, I'd scheduled a half marathon race with Brazen Racing as part of my long run. The training scheduled called for 14-18 with the last 6-8 miles at target race pace. After Friday's test run, I decided I could do 15 (an easy 2ish warm-up and the half marathon), but that I'd take it easy and only try to do the last 5 at race pace, and, then, only if I felt okay. L drove me to the race (thanks, L! Your 1:51 first half-marathon is *crazy* impressive).
After we arrived, I headed out at an easy clip for the warm-up and I made it back to the start with 1.88 miles w/u done at an average pace of 10:48. After the start, I ran by effort and was shocked to see 9:10 as the pace for my first easy mile. Interesting. The rest of the race went well -- I confirmed that I'm in better shape than I thought, particularly given the cold, and also, I confirmed that my target race pace is *very* difficult to maintain when I am tired. My target was to execute the run plan and finish between 2:05 and 2:10. I came in at 2:07, so that made me happy. Even with the cold, I'm doing all right, it would appear.
Of course, yet again, the importance of making certain I do not have any gastrointestinal issues on race day became apparent. Because of the cold, I hadn't really paid much attention to my food the night before. I half-suspected the run would be a write-off. Instead, as scheduled, after 8 reasonably paced miles (all 10:00/mile or below), I picked up the pace to my target race pace and started passing people. I did so easily and consistently until mile 10, at which point my gastro discomfort started. Finally, at mile 11, I took a 2m56s much-needed bathroom break. This meant that the rest of the run I ran at race pace and passed many of the people I'd passed earlier.
At the finish chute, a woman I'd passed around mile 12.6 (and also around mile 9.5 or so) and to whom I'd said, "good job" in the final passing decided to try to sprint past me. First, please -- I had tons more energy in the tank -- I hadn't wanted to go hard because I was sick and, also, because I wanted the training run to be a training run that helped build me up, not a race that depleted me. But when she started to come near (I heard her footsteps) I bounded away quickly. Then, I heard her slip and fall. I turned to look just as the announcer announced her fall to the crowd and everyone gasped. Poor thing. I waited at the finish to high-five her and confirm she was okay. Ordinarily, I'm annoyed at people who try to kick to pass in the chute at a pace that's 2 minutes faster than their race pace (talk about asking for a pulled hamstring!), but not this woman -- I felt bad for her. This exchange must have been very embarrassing for her, and I felt nothing but empathy.
Today, I closed out the week with a nice easy 5 mile recovery run (2.5 with E) at a 10:21 average pace with a 0.68 mile walking cool down.
And there you have it: thanks to the cold it was an unintentional early taper week totaling 30.06 miles (including the walking), and just one long training run left before the race.
My number one goal for next week is to stay healthy and get rid of this cold. Wish me luck.
February 26, 2013
Commas -- they matter
As the 2nd amendment debate seems rage around me, I am reminded that, yes, comma placement matters.
My father was a hunter. His father was a hunter. I'm guessing this is true all the way up the lineage. My brother is a hunter. My mother's father was a gunsmith. As is befitting my pedigree, I have actually gone hunting and shot both handguns and shotguns. When my father died, I, as his executor, inherited his mail, including the NRA stuff.
So, unlike many of my bay area friends and acquaintances, I know many people on both sides of the gun violence debate, and I regularly see both sides.
Today, I saw yet another fervent reference to the 2nd amendment and I had to look to the actual text of the amendment to get my bearings -- it made me cringe:
"A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed."
Clearly, the strong proponents of the 2nd amendment "Right to Bear Arms" believe that the last comma is not there.
The folks in favor of gun control seem to believe that either (i) the last two commas function to place the right to bear arms clause in an "ergo, in this limited situation" qualifier, or (ii) both comma delimited clauses between the subject and the verb predicate are descriptive, but not limiting.
Unfortunately, all interpretations are reasonable.
The Drafters were some worldly gentlemen. There is no doubt the majority of them thought a local well-ordered and organized militia was important and should be protected.
But given the ambiguous language, I'm guessing there wasn't complete and utter majority on the "everyone should have a right to a gun" interpretation that is favored as the original intent today.
I say this easily, even though I'm not a scholar, because I know they definitely didn't come to a majority consensus to mean women should have a right to guns, and they certainly didn't think black people or Indians should have a right to guns.
I'm fairly certain that a subset of the Founders felt that Militias were important but that individual gun rights (even for property-owning white dudes) were not. I doubt it was a majority of the signers, but I think it's why we have the comma wackiness and vagueness that leads to all the confusion we have today.
In the lens of the modern world, all I can think is that "kicking the can down the road" is obviously a time-honored tradition in the US government's legal history.
My father was a hunter. His father was a hunter. I'm guessing this is true all the way up the lineage. My brother is a hunter. My mother's father was a gunsmith. As is befitting my pedigree, I have actually gone hunting and shot both handguns and shotguns. When my father died, I, as his executor, inherited his mail, including the NRA stuff.
So, unlike many of my bay area friends and acquaintances, I know many people on both sides of the gun violence debate, and I regularly see both sides.
Today, I saw yet another fervent reference to the 2nd amendment and I had to look to the actual text of the amendment to get my bearings -- it made me cringe:
"A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed."
Clearly, the strong proponents of the 2nd amendment "Right to Bear Arms" believe that the last comma is not there.
The folks in favor of gun control seem to believe that either (i) the last two commas function to place the right to bear arms clause in an "ergo, in this limited situation" qualifier, or (ii) both comma delimited clauses between the subject and the verb predicate are descriptive, but not limiting.
Unfortunately, all interpretations are reasonable.
The Drafters were some worldly gentlemen. There is no doubt the majority of them thought a local well-ordered and organized militia was important and should be protected.
But given the ambiguous language, I'm guessing there wasn't complete and utter majority on the "everyone should have a right to a gun" interpretation that is favored as the original intent today.
I say this easily, even though I'm not a scholar, because I know they definitely didn't come to a majority consensus to mean women should have a right to guns, and they certainly didn't think black people or Indians should have a right to guns.
I'm fairly certain that a subset of the Founders felt that Militias were important but that individual gun rights (even for property-owning white dudes) were not. I doubt it was a majority of the signers, but I think it's why we have the comma wackiness and vagueness that leads to all the confusion we have today.
In the lens of the modern world, all I can think is that "kicking the can down the road" is obviously a time-honored tradition in the US government's legal history.
February 25, 2013
LA Marathon Week -3
Finally! I feel comfortable that I am good to go for running a marathon in LA 3 weeks from now. I may or may not meet my original goals, but, barring ridiculous life intervention, I will be able to finish in a manner of which I am quite proud.
This week, I didn't execute my training schedule perfectly, but I did a pretty good job. Rather than stress about trying to figure out what makes sense for the race, I think I'm going to wait 'til after next weekend's fast finish long run (set with a warm-up and final miles to be picked up to race pace in a local low-key half-marathon), to send an email to my training program authors and ask for a predicted best race pace for the marathon. Essentially, I've decided that it's out of my hands and I'll let my training speak for itself.
And this week was not bad at all.
M: Afternoon Bikram. Kick-ass class. Did all the poses, didn't struggle too much with the heat, and left in that awesome Bikram euphoria, which, sadly, does not occur for me at every class. But when it does...Oh Man. Hoping for more of this tomorrow.
T: Treadmill. 41:14 minutes for 4.26 miles @ ~9:41 w/ 1% incline. Started at 10:00/mile and just stepped it down every mile by 0.1 mph 'til the last wee bit at 9:22/mile. Easy, pleasant. Gross weather outside, but a simple and fun workout inside with some of the final chapters of my Rolling Stones AudioBook (Wow -- that's some pop/crazy/extreme culture right there)
W: Super easy watch free recovery run. 33 minutes. 3.2 miles or so. Still pushing through the last of the audiobook, enjoying it fiercely.
Th: Attempt the scheduled 12 mile run of 3 miles w/u; 6 @ race pace; 3 miles c/d. Actual: 3 miles w/u; 2 @ 9:08; 1:08 walk; 2 @ 9:18; 1:04 walk; 2:00 jog; 1 @ 9:38; 3 c/d; 0.73 compensatory finish @ 9:27. Total: 12 miles @ 1:59:54 (okay 12.13 with the walking c/d). Not bad for a workout with 6 scheduled easy miles and some unscheduled walking recovery. Of course, it wasn't anything close to the 6 straight at race pace, either. I did this entire bit to the last bits of the aforementioned audiobook. I found most of the words inspirational.
F: I claimed 1.5 miles of walking as this was a scheduled down/cross/easy day. I took a 1.4 mile walk and talked on the phone. E and I also had a date night and I probably walked another mile there, but I'm not claiming it. See that? Restraint where I could have mapped the walk and collected additional data and recorded it. Wonders never cease.
Sa: Easy/Recovery Run. 4.34 miles in 42:53 ~9:53/mile. First 1+ with E, last few with my new audiobook (Do you think I have a problem?)
Su: The Long Long Run. 21 miles. 3:43:35. Not a single walk break (but some pauses at water fountains, a bathroom, and a couple of stoplights). ~10:39/mile. Solo. Okay, not solo at all -- I totally relied upon my latest audiobook (thanks, Rachel!). But still, it was a nice, believable, confidence building improvement from 2 weeks ago (where I averaged 10:56 over 19.5 miles).
Also, thankfully, there was time leftover, so I finished the audiobook over lunch, (which I was eating alone, because E stayed longer than expected at the launch of rocket gliders with his friends and I could not wait). Yup. Rachel didn't just ease the run. She also eased the solo meal. E owes her a thank you.
And that, my friends, is 46.58 miles for the week (including some walking).
High water mark for the year.
And encouraging.
This week, I didn't execute my training schedule perfectly, but I did a pretty good job. Rather than stress about trying to figure out what makes sense for the race, I think I'm going to wait 'til after next weekend's fast finish long run (set with a warm-up and final miles to be picked up to race pace in a local low-key half-marathon), to send an email to my training program authors and ask for a predicted best race pace for the marathon. Essentially, I've decided that it's out of my hands and I'll let my training speak for itself.
And this week was not bad at all.
M: Afternoon Bikram. Kick-ass class. Did all the poses, didn't struggle too much with the heat, and left in that awesome Bikram euphoria, which, sadly, does not occur for me at every class. But when it does...Oh Man. Hoping for more of this tomorrow.
T: Treadmill. 41:14 minutes for 4.26 miles @ ~9:41 w/ 1% incline. Started at 10:00/mile and just stepped it down every mile by 0.1 mph 'til the last wee bit at 9:22/mile. Easy, pleasant. Gross weather outside, but a simple and fun workout inside with some of the final chapters of my Rolling Stones AudioBook (Wow -- that's some pop/crazy/extreme culture right there)
W: Super easy watch free recovery run. 33 minutes. 3.2 miles or so. Still pushing through the last of the audiobook, enjoying it fiercely.
Th: Attempt the scheduled 12 mile run of 3 miles w/u; 6 @ race pace; 3 miles c/d. Actual: 3 miles w/u; 2 @ 9:08; 1:08 walk; 2 @ 9:18; 1:04 walk; 2:00 jog; 1 @ 9:38; 3 c/d; 0.73 compensatory finish @ 9:27. Total: 12 miles @ 1:59:54 (okay 12.13 with the walking c/d). Not bad for a workout with 6 scheduled easy miles and some unscheduled walking recovery. Of course, it wasn't anything close to the 6 straight at race pace, either. I did this entire bit to the last bits of the aforementioned audiobook. I found most of the words inspirational.
F: I claimed 1.5 miles of walking as this was a scheduled down/cross/easy day. I took a 1.4 mile walk and talked on the phone. E and I also had a date night and I probably walked another mile there, but I'm not claiming it. See that? Restraint where I could have mapped the walk and collected additional data and recorded it. Wonders never cease.
Sa: Easy/Recovery Run. 4.34 miles in 42:53 ~9:53/mile. First 1+ with E, last few with my new audiobook (Do you think I have a problem?)
Su: The Long Long Run. 21 miles. 3:43:35. Not a single walk break (but some pauses at water fountains, a bathroom, and a couple of stoplights). ~10:39/mile. Solo. Okay, not solo at all -- I totally relied upon my latest audiobook (thanks, Rachel!). But still, it was a nice, believable, confidence building improvement from 2 weeks ago (where I averaged 10:56 over 19.5 miles).
Also, thankfully, there was time leftover, so I finished the audiobook over lunch, (which I was eating alone, because E stayed longer than expected at the launch of rocket gliders with his friends and I could not wait). Yup. Rachel didn't just ease the run. She also eased the solo meal. E owes her a thank you.
And that, my friends, is 46.58 miles for the week (including some walking).
High water mark for the year.
And encouraging.
February 23, 2013
2013 Goals Update
I never really got around to solidifying any of my goals for this year for some reason.
I recorded my running goals at the beginning of the year, but that's kind of cheating, as races and training take enough time to plan that most of that work and commitment was done long before the new year.
Last year, I hit 3 out of 5 of my resolutions, and along the way, I ran some great races (including the Fairbanks Equinox Marathon with Arvay -- such fun!), learned quite a bit of Mandarin, made new friends around Mandarin language and Chinese culture, and read some great books. I feel that my goals treated me quite well last year.
This year, for the first month-plus, I checked out of any and all potential goals except running (and work, of course, constant work, the place where I always meet the goals/deadlines).
Things slowed down a bit this week and I realized, oh, crap, I need to formally record some goals for 2013.
So, in a very late gesture, I'm recording my 2013 goals/resolutions:
1. Running: I'm reaffirming my commitment to this year's running goals -- so long as I am healthy enough to run, I hope I set and keep at least one running goal each year.
2. Health: I've been eating quite healthy, taking vitamins every day, and paying more attention to my stress levels . I've also been doing *very* well on the sleep side of things, which I think is more important than I've realized. So, I'd like to continue in this trend during the year, keep my red meat consumption relatively low, have lots of vegetarian meals, and do what I can to have low glycemic index meals. I want to be sure to actually use all the classes on my current Bikram yoga card (8 to go by the first week in May). And, oh, yes, of course I want to be sure to make time to have a great garden year -- all the effort required is good for my stress levels and health and all of the harvests result in good food!
3. Books: Given my current consumption, 12 audiobooks should be easy, so I'm just throwing it out there as something that I'll enjoy if I execute on it. On the actual silent reading side of things, I'll set the goal at a pedestrian 24. 2 per month seems like something I should be able to manage even though I appear to prefer audiobooks over reading these days.
4. Language: Starting today, I'm committing to 1 mandarin lesson per day (Chinesepod, Pimsleur through Audible, whatever) 'til we depart. This is the type of goal-setting that causes results. I can control this one. Actually, I've decided to try to complete 100 lessons between now and when we leave. Yeah. That's the A goal. (Of course, Settling for the B goal of just one per day, would be totally consistent with my style. And while we're at it, let's admit that I'll most likely miss days in a row and then cram 5 lessons into one day once or twice a month to hit that B goal -- so it's not like I've got balance. Moving on...)
5. Travel: Planning and executing on the China Trip. Historically, I wouldn't have considered this as a goal/resolution for which I deserved credit if it was actually accomplished. My time is at a premium now (if anything ever functioned to remind you of your mortality it is this -- I used to think my time was free, valueless, without limit, and all of the economic logical requirements for a truly free resource. And now, at the ripe old age of almost 40, I'm viscerally aware that this is not true.) Something has changed, and I now want to give myself credit for taking all the time I need to plan this complex international travel and learning all I can about the culture and language. I feel I should point to my travels as a goal I strive towards achieving, because, well, because I do.
6. Stay at home weekends: As I've mentioned, I have a goal of 26 weekends at home for 2013. I'm on the fence about whether we count weekends where we stay in hotels in the bay area as travel or home. So far we're at 4/8 completely at home and 1/8 with an overnight an hour away.
I recorded my running goals at the beginning of the year, but that's kind of cheating, as races and training take enough time to plan that most of that work and commitment was done long before the new year.
Last year, I hit 3 out of 5 of my resolutions, and along the way, I ran some great races (including the Fairbanks Equinox Marathon with Arvay -- such fun!), learned quite a bit of Mandarin, made new friends around Mandarin language and Chinese culture, and read some great books. I feel that my goals treated me quite well last year.
This year, for the first month-plus, I checked out of any and all potential goals except running (and work, of course, constant work, the place where I always meet the goals/deadlines).
Things slowed down a bit this week and I realized, oh, crap, I need to formally record some goals for 2013.
So, in a very late gesture, I'm recording my 2013 goals/resolutions:
1. Running: I'm reaffirming my commitment to this year's running goals -- so long as I am healthy enough to run, I hope I set and keep at least one running goal each year.
2. Health: I've been eating quite healthy, taking vitamins every day, and paying more attention to my stress levels . I've also been doing *very* well on the sleep side of things, which I think is more important than I've realized. So, I'd like to continue in this trend during the year, keep my red meat consumption relatively low, have lots of vegetarian meals, and do what I can to have low glycemic index meals. I want to be sure to actually use all the classes on my current Bikram yoga card (8 to go by the first week in May). And, oh, yes, of course I want to be sure to make time to have a great garden year -- all the effort required is good for my stress levels and health and all of the harvests result in good food!
3. Books: Given my current consumption, 12 audiobooks should be easy, so I'm just throwing it out there as something that I'll enjoy if I execute on it. On the actual silent reading side of things, I'll set the goal at a pedestrian 24. 2 per month seems like something I should be able to manage even though I appear to prefer audiobooks over reading these days.
4. Language: Starting today, I'm committing to 1 mandarin lesson per day (Chinesepod, Pimsleur through Audible, whatever) 'til we depart. This is the type of goal-setting that causes results. I can control this one. Actually, I've decided to try to complete 100 lessons between now and when we leave. Yeah. That's the A goal. (Of course, Settling for the B goal of just one per day, would be totally consistent with my style. And while we're at it, let's admit that I'll most likely miss days in a row and then cram 5 lessons into one day once or twice a month to hit that B goal -- so it's not like I've got balance. Moving on...)
5. Travel: Planning and executing on the China Trip. Historically, I wouldn't have considered this as a goal/resolution for which I deserved credit if it was actually accomplished. My time is at a premium now (if anything ever functioned to remind you of your mortality it is this -- I used to think my time was free, valueless, without limit, and all of the economic logical requirements for a truly free resource. And now, at the ripe old age of almost 40, I'm viscerally aware that this is not true.) Something has changed, and I now want to give myself credit for taking all the time I need to plan this complex international travel and learning all I can about the culture and language. I feel I should point to my travels as a goal I strive towards achieving, because, well, because I do.
6. Stay at home weekends: As I've mentioned, I have a goal of 26 weekends at home for 2013. I'm on the fence about whether we count weekends where we stay in hotels in the bay area as travel or home. So far we're at 4/8 completely at home and 1/8 with an overnight an hour away.
February 20, 2013
Sparkling Water
In an effort to control as much market share as possible, Coke extended its aggressive marketing to especially poor or vulnerable areas of the U.S., like New Orleans — where people were drinking wice as much Coke as the national average — or Rome, Ga., where the per capita intake was nearly three Cokes a day. In Coke’s headquarters in Atlanta, the biggest consumers were referred to as “heavy sers.” “The other model we use was called ‘drinks and drinkers,’ ” Dunn said. “How many drinkers do I have? And how many drinks do they drink? If you lost one of those heavy users, if somebody just decided to stop drinking Coke, how many drinkers would you have to get, at low velocity, to make up for that heavy user? The answer is a lot. It’s more efficient to get my existing users to drink more.” (http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/24/magazine/the-extraordinary-science-of-junk-food.html?pagewanted=all)
That was me.
I easily drank 6-8 diet cokes a day while studying for the bar exam.
This was not that far off my normal consumption from age 13 - 30. Maybe only 2 cans a day less than average.
Scary.
And, oddly, I have the country of Argentina and their commitment to sparkling water to thank for my easy replacement of diet coke with water and sparkling water. It was there I learned I really only cared about the bubbles and the liquid.
Gracias!
That was me.
I easily drank 6-8 diet cokes a day while studying for the bar exam.
This was not that far off my normal consumption from age 13 - 30. Maybe only 2 cans a day less than average.
Scary.
And, oddly, I have the country of Argentina and their commitment to sparkling water to thank for my easy replacement of diet coke with water and sparkling water. It was there I learned I really only cared about the bubbles and the liquid.
Gracias!
February 18, 2013
LA Marathon Week -4
Oh wow. 3 long runs left in training 'til the race. I'm not gonna lie. I don't feel ready to run a marathon just yet.
But. I also know I'm in better shape than I've been in for a long, long time. This week's workouts were so great for my confidence.
Now that I see the mileage total, I can see that this was a high intensity but low mileage week. So, it's not surprising that I was able to execute better than I had in a long time on certain workouts. Even so, it's a good feeling.
Monday: day after the long run over the Dumbarton bridge and back and then some. Super easy cross training. 16 minutes of rowing and 20 minutes of recumbent bike. Did I mention easy?
Tuesday: 30 minute Recovery Run (3.13 in 30:09; @ 9:38 avg; decreasing splits of 10:06; 9:32; 9:19) 0.27 walk c/d.
Wednesday: Yassos. They were as hard as I'd recalled. I haven't done this workout in a very long time. H and I tried the local high school track at 4:30 PM, but February is a bad month to share the track with high school athletes -- all the lanes were taken. So we loaded up and drove to the local middle school and cut the warm up and cool down short but finished as the sun set. The workout was 7.25 miles total. First, 10 min w/u jog @ 10:03. Then 8 X 800 at Yasso pace w/ 400 jogging recovery (perhaps with a wee bit of immediate walking post rep if needed): Splits: 4:00; 4:01; 4:00; 3:59; 3:57; 4:00; 4:02; 4:00. Finally, 7 min c/d jog. Hardest workout I've completed in recent memory.
Thursday: 2.14 @ 10:17; 1.57 walk and talk on the phone to R, who's had a child and can't get away to chat very often. It was the first time we've caught up in weeks and I was more than willing to sacrifice the remainder of the recovery run when I realized who had called.
Friday: OFF. Just straight lazy. Bikram thoughts faded away and E and I opted into a sushi date night.
Saturday: The original plan had been the scheduled 14 miler with a fast finish, but after 2 miles, I decided to reschedule. I was struggling to keep a good pace, and I had shopping and laundry and packing and all sorts of tasks to fit in after the run before heading out of town for a friend's birthday. The next day I had more than enough time to fit in a run along the east bay trail before our afternoon social engagement. So, I bailed. Instead, I bought a great outfit (for which I received many compliments), got my hair done, removed chipped nail polish and just generally tended to stuff I never normally take the time to do. I felt good about it, in a very weird way (I ordinarily eschew these pleasures as the type of things that extract more than they reward). 4 easy in 39:51; Avg: 9:57. 0.36 miles walking c/d.
Sunday: Oh my, goodness. Brilliant procrastination. 13.99 @ 2:26:25 (aka, 7+ minutes faster than this same workout 2 weeks ago! Avg = 10:28/mile, including 11:26 minutes of walking in the calculation -- serious improvement)
We went to a G's birthday party Saturday night. I was the designated driver. So, while I did have a margarita and some light beer, I also had much water and a coffee. I also had late night leftover garlic fries and a cupcake around 11:45 PM. I think the late night carbs are a training secret as the first mile was a ridiculously easy 9:28 - this was after I saw 8:55 pace at 0.5 miles and realized I was feeling entirely too energetic. The goal is to do the first 10 at a reasonably easy pace and the last 4-6 miles at target race pace.
I did my version of the run: First 10 miles at a decent clip (a few in the mid nines, and then slowing for an average pace of 10:30 including 2m45 walking to deal with a hair disaster). Then I met up with E at Ceasar Chavez park, and we did the fast bit in mile intervals while enjoying the gorgeous views of the bay and the bridges. Splits: 8:53; 0.15 walk recovery; 9:09; 0.15 walk recovery; 9:10; 0.10 walk recovery; 0.60 jog to the car.
Yes, the long run schedule called for a minimum of 4 miles consistently run at target race pace at the end of the run. I did my best, but I felt I could only manage 3 mile intervals with some walking recovery. Not quite the target, but so much better than the last time I attempted this workout. Most importantly, I got the time on my tired legs at race pace and I *know* I can dig deep to run that fast even when I'm tired.
Overall? 32.71 miles and a Great Running Week!
But. I also know I'm in better shape than I've been in for a long, long time. This week's workouts were so great for my confidence.
Now that I see the mileage total, I can see that this was a high intensity but low mileage week. So, it's not surprising that I was able to execute better than I had in a long time on certain workouts. Even so, it's a good feeling.
Monday: day after the long run over the Dumbarton bridge and back and then some. Super easy cross training. 16 minutes of rowing and 20 minutes of recumbent bike. Did I mention easy?
Tuesday: 30 minute Recovery Run (3.13 in 30:09; @ 9:38 avg; decreasing splits of 10:06; 9:32; 9:19) 0.27 walk c/d.
Wednesday: Yassos. They were as hard as I'd recalled. I haven't done this workout in a very long time. H and I tried the local high school track at 4:30 PM, but February is a bad month to share the track with high school athletes -- all the lanes were taken. So we loaded up and drove to the local middle school and cut the warm up and cool down short but finished as the sun set. The workout was 7.25 miles total. First, 10 min w/u jog @ 10:03. Then 8 X 800 at Yasso pace w/ 400 jogging recovery (perhaps with a wee bit of immediate walking post rep if needed): Splits: 4:00; 4:01; 4:00; 3:59; 3:57; 4:00; 4:02; 4:00. Finally, 7 min c/d jog. Hardest workout I've completed in recent memory.
Thursday: 2.14 @ 10:17; 1.57 walk and talk on the phone to R, who's had a child and can't get away to chat very often. It was the first time we've caught up in weeks and I was more than willing to sacrifice the remainder of the recovery run when I realized who had called.
Friday: OFF. Just straight lazy. Bikram thoughts faded away and E and I opted into a sushi date night.
Saturday: The original plan had been the scheduled 14 miler with a fast finish, but after 2 miles, I decided to reschedule. I was struggling to keep a good pace, and I had shopping and laundry and packing and all sorts of tasks to fit in after the run before heading out of town for a friend's birthday. The next day I had more than enough time to fit in a run along the east bay trail before our afternoon social engagement. So, I bailed. Instead, I bought a great outfit (for which I received many compliments), got my hair done, removed chipped nail polish and just generally tended to stuff I never normally take the time to do. I felt good about it, in a very weird way (I ordinarily eschew these pleasures as the type of things that extract more than they reward). 4 easy in 39:51; Avg: 9:57. 0.36 miles walking c/d.
Sunday: Oh my, goodness. Brilliant procrastination. 13.99 @ 2:26:25 (aka, 7+ minutes faster than this same workout 2 weeks ago! Avg = 10:28/mile, including 11:26 minutes of walking in the calculation -- serious improvement)
We went to a G's birthday party Saturday night. I was the designated driver. So, while I did have a margarita and some light beer, I also had much water and a coffee. I also had late night leftover garlic fries and a cupcake around 11:45 PM. I think the late night carbs are a training secret as the first mile was a ridiculously easy 9:28 - this was after I saw 8:55 pace at 0.5 miles and realized I was feeling entirely too energetic. The goal is to do the first 10 at a reasonably easy pace and the last 4-6 miles at target race pace.
I did my version of the run: First 10 miles at a decent clip (a few in the mid nines, and then slowing for an average pace of 10:30 including 2m45 walking to deal with a hair disaster). Then I met up with E at Ceasar Chavez park, and we did the fast bit in mile intervals while enjoying the gorgeous views of the bay and the bridges. Splits: 8:53; 0.15 walk recovery; 9:09; 0.15 walk recovery; 9:10; 0.10 walk recovery; 0.60 jog to the car.
Yes, the long run schedule called for a minimum of 4 miles consistently run at target race pace at the end of the run. I did my best, but I felt I could only manage 3 mile intervals with some walking recovery. Not quite the target, but so much better than the last time I attempted this workout. Most importantly, I got the time on my tired legs at race pace and I *know* I can dig deep to run that fast even when I'm tired.
Overall? 32.71 miles and a Great Running Week!
February 13, 2013
Sausage: The Gift That Keeps On Giving
My aunt and uncle gave us a gift certificate to (a small, local-to-my-dad's-childhood, purveyor of preserved meat products) Cattaneo Brothers as a Christmas present.
We opted into the Sausage Variety Pack.
And, it has been the holiday gift that has continued to give the most enjoyment of all the gifts we received.
We don't regularly cook with non-cheese animal protein other than what's in the fridge due to recent gifts or recipe purchases. So, since the start of 2013, we haven't bought any eggs or animal/fish meat of any kind. Instead, every time we've been craving protein in a home-cooked meal, we've dug into the sausage stash that showed up after we placed our order and composed a solution:
So far, this year we've had (and served guests):
1. Leftover cheesy tomato millet risotto, revived by quickly tossing with sauteed, steamed and sliced Cattaneo Brothers Italian Sausage (no guests, but wife of the week award on turning a "not my favorite vegetarian meal" into "you are the best", right here!)
2. Baked brussels sprouts, topped with slices of steamed/sauteed Cattaneo Brothers swiss sausage (plus all the goodness from deglazing the sausage cooking pan with white wine), and broiled to perfection. (Hit with the guest!)
3. Baked broccoli, onions, garlic, and 3 links of caballero sausage slices. Regularly tossed during the cooking process, and eventually broiled prior to serving.
4. One link of caballero sausage, sliced and wok-sauteed with onions and garlic 'til cooked through, then tossed with sliced red swiss chard, leftovers of #3, and covered to steam for tonight's dinner. Delicious!
And we still have one link of Caballero plus an entire package of Linguica to go.
In short -- small, local, artisanal preserved meat product producers can bring much joy when their products are given as gifts.
That is all.
We opted into the Sausage Variety Pack.
And, it has been the holiday gift that has continued to give the most enjoyment of all the gifts we received.
We don't regularly cook with non-cheese animal protein other than what's in the fridge due to recent gifts or recipe purchases. So, since the start of 2013, we haven't bought any eggs or animal/fish meat of any kind. Instead, every time we've been craving protein in a home-cooked meal, we've dug into the sausage stash that showed up after we placed our order and composed a solution:
So far, this year we've had (and served guests):
1. Leftover cheesy tomato millet risotto, revived by quickly tossing with sauteed, steamed and sliced Cattaneo Brothers Italian Sausage (no guests, but wife of the week award on turning a "not my favorite vegetarian meal" into "you are the best", right here!)
2. Baked brussels sprouts, topped with slices of steamed/sauteed Cattaneo Brothers swiss sausage (plus all the goodness from deglazing the sausage cooking pan with white wine), and broiled to perfection. (Hit with the guest!)
3. Baked broccoli, onions, garlic, and 3 links of caballero sausage slices. Regularly tossed during the cooking process, and eventually broiled prior to serving.
4. One link of caballero sausage, sliced and wok-sauteed with onions and garlic 'til cooked through, then tossed with sliced red swiss chard, leftovers of #3, and covered to steam for tonight's dinner. Delicious!
And we still have one link of Caballero plus an entire package of Linguica to go.
In short -- small, local, artisanal preserved meat product producers can bring much joy when their products are given as gifts.
That is all.
February 12, 2013
Random
I regularly have very vivid, complex dreams. Often, I'm able to wake and recall them with quite a bit of clarity.
When I'm too stressed, unfortunately, these dreams are usually nightmares. But last night, it would seem that I wasn't very stressed.
I had a long dream about seeing Willie Nelson at a party and going over to chat with him. He was very nice and we became friends.
Hi Brain -- Thanks for mixing it up. Just when I think I can predict exactly how precise and annoying my work-stress nightmares will be, you up and give me a Willie Nelson Monday Night.
Thanks.
When I'm too stressed, unfortunately, these dreams are usually nightmares. But last night, it would seem that I wasn't very stressed.
I had a long dream about seeing Willie Nelson at a party and going over to chat with him. He was very nice and we became friends.
Hi Brain -- Thanks for mixing it up. Just when I think I can predict exactly how precise and annoying my work-stress nightmares will be, you up and give me a Willie Nelson Monday Night.
Thanks.
February 10, 2013
LA Marathon Week -5
Time is FLYING! 6 weeks into 2013 already. 3/6 weekends at home, which is on track for my new year's resolution to spend at least 26 weekends at home this year.
Here I am 5 weeks 'til the LA Marathon and I really don't recall much of what happened since last week's summary.
Let's see, what sticks in my head from this speedy week:
1. The Superbowl, with *many* more hyper-sexualized ads than I remember from the last time I watched it (at least 10 years ago). We went to a party. We had stereotypical American fun.
2. A reasonable week of running, more below.
3. As is my usual refrain, more work than I'd like, but that's better than the alternative.
4. Friday night, we went to the o'S family's new home and enjoyed a dinner party with the L's. I like showing up and weighing in with a little help here and there while we hang out with our friends and their kids. It makes me feel like I'm part of the important cycle of life without having to do the heavy lifting. Also, who knew you could inflate a bouncy-house indoors to entertain the children? Irish uncle for the win!
5. Saturday night, we joined a party of 10 for a Chinese New Year's banquet at a local restaurant. I was thrilled when my Mandarin was sufficient to help me understand the questions being asked of the Chinese family about their son's "Zhong(1)wen(3) Ming(2)zi" and various other polite interchanges. Time to return to lessons!
As for running, this week's training schedule was aggressive, but, happily, somewhat doable. Monday, I finally returned to my local Bikram studio after an absence since 12/14 (technically, the last Bikram class I'd taken was on 12/24 in Atlanta).
Yup. Bikram is still hard for me. After this much time off, I confirmed that I have a love-hate relationship with it. It loosens all the parts that running makes tight. I love how great I feel afterwards and how well I sleep the nights I do it. I hate (HATE HATE) the struggle against the heat the last 45 minutes of class. But, I stayed in the room. I won. Success. (Barely.)
Tuesday was an easy recovery run, and Wednesday's easy run was 52 minutes on the treadmill at a pace of 10 min/mile or faster (I allowed myself to choose anything in that range) for an average pace of 9:35/mile (with a quick bathroom break at minute 26).
Thursday, I had tempo intervals on the schedule. Frankly, I was a bit suspicious they were entirely too ambitions. 15 minutes w/u, 2 X 2 miles @ tempo with 3 minutes recovery and 15 minutes c/d was the minimum I could get away with if I was to meet the training schedule's goals. I met with my TNT group running friend after my warm-up and given the pace of the group, decided to bail on the tempo. But then, the group decided to bail on us. So, she and I did one 2 mile segment with mile 1 @ 8:36 into the wind and mile 2 @ 8:39 with our backs to the wind. Weird. The assigned tempo was actually achieveable. In fact, it felt like I might have been able to do the second one if I hadn't already wasted too much distance with the group at an easier pace. Oh well. Distance-wise, I did the whole 7 miles, and the easier miles (including the w/u and c/d) were all sub 10. Overall, despite being very far from what was prescribed, this ended up being a great work-out that very much helped my confidence.
Friday -- Off. Work. Work. Work. I had a bike to lunch with a friend plan. It was sacrificed for work -- I drove. I also had a bike to dinner plan. It was also sacrificed for work and E picked me up. C'est la vie.
Saturday, 41.57 minute recovery run @ 10:30 (4.0 miles on the dot). Easy and fun. First 2.0 with E. Last 2, slightly slower, by myself, with an audiobook. Additional 0.7 walk home with audiobook entertaining me -- if I was worried about time, I could have picked a shorter route. But I wasn't.
And today, Sunday? The Doozy. The schedule called for 18 - 22 miles Long Run. I set my sights on 20 as a reasonable, but ambitious goal.
H and I met at Bayfront Park and set out for 16 out and back across the Dumbarton Bridge. This time of year, this run is amazing. You would think that the Dumbarton Bridge would be busy and full of traffic and stressful, but it's actually quite a peaceful run. Yes, there are two miles on the bridge with traffic (in each direction) where you are separated by a waist-high concrete barrier and you have to deal with other pedestrians and bikers (of which there are very few), but the rest is on frontage roads or trails.
We left the park at 8:15 AM or so and encountered runners only on the surface trails in Menlo Park. Once we headed to the actual bridge, we only saw a few slow mountain bikers and no runners for the entire time - none on the trails leading to the bridge, none on the bridge, and none on the Fremont side of the bridge until we reached Coyote Hills Park.
The golden hills of California are gorgeously green during this brief period of spring. The AM temperatures start at 32F and raise to 60+ in the clear sun by 1 PM. The bay is a calm mirror in any direction you look and the wind is non-existent. I hadn't done this run since E's birthday weekend in 2007 just before my CIM PR. Overall, I was thrilled to enjoy such a beautiful bad-ass run with H. If possible, it was better this time -- slower, no doubt, as I'm older. But the weather was better, the views were better, and I had company. Life is good.
We slowed for miles 14-16 at H's request, 'til she was done, hips tight (mine too!).
So, I had the last few miles on my own. I turned on my audiobook and just tried to relax. I continued to slow. And, finally, close to my car, I realized, I'd hit a 12:15/mile pace at mile 19.5. No need to struggle through the last 0.5 miles at that pace. I wasn't going to receive any benefit. I called it a day and headed home for a shower and late lunch of mediterranean food.
Average pace for the 19.5 mile long run: 10:56. I'm actually quite pleased. There are no walk breaks built into this trail and we didn't take any. Very few stop lights and quite a bit of climbing over the bridges and at the parks on either end (if you are willing to go up to their summits).
Overall, I feel great about this week. Total mileage: 40.49.
Onward!
Here I am 5 weeks 'til the LA Marathon and I really don't recall much of what happened since last week's summary.
Let's see, what sticks in my head from this speedy week:
1. The Superbowl, with *many* more hyper-sexualized ads than I remember from the last time I watched it (at least 10 years ago). We went to a party. We had stereotypical American fun.
2. A reasonable week of running, more below.
3. As is my usual refrain, more work than I'd like, but that's better than the alternative.
4. Friday night, we went to the o'S family's new home and enjoyed a dinner party with the L's. I like showing up and weighing in with a little help here and there while we hang out with our friends and their kids. It makes me feel like I'm part of the important cycle of life without having to do the heavy lifting. Also, who knew you could inflate a bouncy-house indoors to entertain the children? Irish uncle for the win!
5. Saturday night, we joined a party of 10 for a Chinese New Year's banquet at a local restaurant. I was thrilled when my Mandarin was sufficient to help me understand the questions being asked of the Chinese family about their son's "Zhong(1)wen(3) Ming(2)zi" and various other polite interchanges. Time to return to lessons!
As for running, this week's training schedule was aggressive, but, happily, somewhat doable. Monday, I finally returned to my local Bikram studio after an absence since 12/14 (technically, the last Bikram class I'd taken was on 12/24 in Atlanta).
Yup. Bikram is still hard for me. After this much time off, I confirmed that I have a love-hate relationship with it. It loosens all the parts that running makes tight. I love how great I feel afterwards and how well I sleep the nights I do it. I hate (HATE HATE) the struggle against the heat the last 45 minutes of class. But, I stayed in the room. I won. Success. (Barely.)
Tuesday was an easy recovery run, and Wednesday's easy run was 52 minutes on the treadmill at a pace of 10 min/mile or faster (I allowed myself to choose anything in that range) for an average pace of 9:35/mile (with a quick bathroom break at minute 26).
Thursday, I had tempo intervals on the schedule. Frankly, I was a bit suspicious they were entirely too ambitions. 15 minutes w/u, 2 X 2 miles @ tempo with 3 minutes recovery and 15 minutes c/d was the minimum I could get away with if I was to meet the training schedule's goals. I met with my TNT group running friend after my warm-up and given the pace of the group, decided to bail on the tempo. But then, the group decided to bail on us. So, she and I did one 2 mile segment with mile 1 @ 8:36 into the wind and mile 2 @ 8:39 with our backs to the wind. Weird. The assigned tempo was actually achieveable. In fact, it felt like I might have been able to do the second one if I hadn't already wasted too much distance with the group at an easier pace. Oh well. Distance-wise, I did the whole 7 miles, and the easier miles (including the w/u and c/d) were all sub 10. Overall, despite being very far from what was prescribed, this ended up being a great work-out that very much helped my confidence.
Friday -- Off. Work. Work. Work. I had a bike to lunch with a friend plan. It was sacrificed for work -- I drove. I also had a bike to dinner plan. It was also sacrificed for work and E picked me up. C'est la vie.
Saturday, 41.57 minute recovery run @ 10:30 (4.0 miles on the dot). Easy and fun. First 2.0 with E. Last 2, slightly slower, by myself, with an audiobook. Additional 0.7 walk home with audiobook entertaining me -- if I was worried about time, I could have picked a shorter route. But I wasn't.
And today, Sunday? The Doozy. The schedule called for 18 - 22 miles Long Run. I set my sights on 20 as a reasonable, but ambitious goal.
H and I met at Bayfront Park and set out for 16 out and back across the Dumbarton Bridge. This time of year, this run is amazing. You would think that the Dumbarton Bridge would be busy and full of traffic and stressful, but it's actually quite a peaceful run. Yes, there are two miles on the bridge with traffic (in each direction) where you are separated by a waist-high concrete barrier and you have to deal with other pedestrians and bikers (of which there are very few), but the rest is on frontage roads or trails.
We left the park at 8:15 AM or so and encountered runners only on the surface trails in Menlo Park. Once we headed to the actual bridge, we only saw a few slow mountain bikers and no runners for the entire time - none on the trails leading to the bridge, none on the bridge, and none on the Fremont side of the bridge until we reached Coyote Hills Park.
The golden hills of California are gorgeously green during this brief period of spring. The AM temperatures start at 32F and raise to 60+ in the clear sun by 1 PM. The bay is a calm mirror in any direction you look and the wind is non-existent. I hadn't done this run since E's birthday weekend in 2007 just before my CIM PR. Overall, I was thrilled to enjoy such a beautiful bad-ass run with H. If possible, it was better this time -- slower, no doubt, as I'm older. But the weather was better, the views were better, and I had company. Life is good.
We slowed for miles 14-16 at H's request, 'til she was done, hips tight (mine too!).
So, I had the last few miles on my own. I turned on my audiobook and just tried to relax. I continued to slow. And, finally, close to my car, I realized, I'd hit a 12:15/mile pace at mile 19.5. No need to struggle through the last 0.5 miles at that pace. I wasn't going to receive any benefit. I called it a day and headed home for a shower and late lunch of mediterranean food.
Average pace for the 19.5 mile long run: 10:56. I'm actually quite pleased. There are no walk breaks built into this trail and we didn't take any. Very few stop lights and quite a bit of climbing over the bridges and at the parks on either end (if you are willing to go up to their summits).
Overall, I feel great about this week. Total mileage: 40.49.
Onward!
February 4, 2013
LA week -6
This training schedule is hard and this week was full of workouts where I failed to hit the goal workouts. Should be interesting to see where I end up at the end.
Mon - rest and a small walk.
Tue - 33 minute recovery run (was supposed to be the speed work I tried to do on Wed, but I couldn't hack it)
Wed - ran to the track as a warm-up, finished 2.5 of the assigned 1000m speed intervals at the assigned pace, felt like I was going to puke, called it early and ran home as a cooldown.
Thur - 50 minute easy run (avg 10ish). An additional 3.5 walking.
Fri - off, walk 1.5 hilly miles in SF carrying my virtual office in a bag.
Sat - 30 minutes easy -- 3.11 @ 9:39
Sun - 14 with H. This was supposed be a fast finish run, 8 miles easy followed by 6 at target race pace. We did the 8 easy, no problem. Then 1.68 at 9:10; a water stop and 2 minutes of walking; 1.05 @ 9:30 and I had to admit defeat. I could not muster up anything fast, so we just jogged the remainder at an 11:00 pace and included a short walk break.
Essentially, I fell apart on this run. Rather than inspiring me to feel like I could work hard at race pace when I was tired, it made me feel like race pace was going to be impossible to maintain.
After the fact, I did some analysis comparing last weekend's run (which had been hard, but I'd been able to maintain an even effort and push a bit at the end) with yesterday's.
Both had an easy run the day before with E. Both had a banana and coffee before the run.
Last weekend, I had a couple of glasses of wine on Saturday night and just followed up with lots of water. This weekend, I had no alcohol and hydrated like crazy. As much as I'd like to say that the wine must be the performance-enhancing variable, I think that's probably not the case.
Both Saturdays I'd eaten vegetarian. But last weekend, I had vegetable and fruit juice for lunch and made cheesy tomato millet for dinner and ate a healthy serving. This weekend I had a cheesy buttery croissant (I left the ham and turkey filling for E) for breakfast/lunch and then beet salad over cabbage with feta for dinner. Okay, so maybe I didn't carb load as well as I should have.
I took gatorade and 3 gus on the 16 miler. Somehow, yesterday, even though I brought them, I never got around to taking more than just one gu. Okay, so maybe I should have taken another gu when I felt like I had to walk before I could start running again.
And then there was the 2 hours of insomnia from midnight to 2 AM this Sunday AM. I still got 6 hours of sleep and didn't feel exhausted, but perhaps those hours really matter?
I'm not sure I am willing to chalk up my inability to hit Sunday's long run with a fast finish entirely on a weak night of sleep and lack of carbs the night before and fuel during the run. But, I guess I can comfort myself with the knowledge that I unintentionally got in a good 30 minutes of carb-depleted training in at the end.
Oh well, 37.28 blah miles total for the week. I can't really believe I'm going to run a marathon in 6 weeks, but I suspect next weekend's 20-miler will make that reality much more clear to me.
Mon - rest and a small walk.
Tue - 33 minute recovery run (was supposed to be the speed work I tried to do on Wed, but I couldn't hack it)
Wed - ran to the track as a warm-up, finished 2.5 of the assigned 1000m speed intervals at the assigned pace, felt like I was going to puke, called it early and ran home as a cooldown.
Thur - 50 minute easy run (avg 10ish). An additional 3.5 walking.
Fri - off, walk 1.5 hilly miles in SF carrying my virtual office in a bag.
Sat - 30 minutes easy -- 3.11 @ 9:39
Sun - 14 with H. This was supposed be a fast finish run, 8 miles easy followed by 6 at target race pace. We did the 8 easy, no problem. Then 1.68 at 9:10; a water stop and 2 minutes of walking; 1.05 @ 9:30 and I had to admit defeat. I could not muster up anything fast, so we just jogged the remainder at an 11:00 pace and included a short walk break.
Essentially, I fell apart on this run. Rather than inspiring me to feel like I could work hard at race pace when I was tired, it made me feel like race pace was going to be impossible to maintain.
After the fact, I did some analysis comparing last weekend's run (which had been hard, but I'd been able to maintain an even effort and push a bit at the end) with yesterday's.
Both had an easy run the day before with E. Both had a banana and coffee before the run.
Last weekend, I had a couple of glasses of wine on Saturday night and just followed up with lots of water. This weekend, I had no alcohol and hydrated like crazy. As much as I'd like to say that the wine must be the performance-enhancing variable, I think that's probably not the case.
Both Saturdays I'd eaten vegetarian. But last weekend, I had vegetable and fruit juice for lunch and made cheesy tomato millet for dinner and ate a healthy serving. This weekend I had a cheesy buttery croissant (I left the ham and turkey filling for E) for breakfast/lunch and then beet salad over cabbage with feta for dinner. Okay, so maybe I didn't carb load as well as I should have.
I took gatorade and 3 gus on the 16 miler. Somehow, yesterday, even though I brought them, I never got around to taking more than just one gu. Okay, so maybe I should have taken another gu when I felt like I had to walk before I could start running again.
And then there was the 2 hours of insomnia from midnight to 2 AM this Sunday AM. I still got 6 hours of sleep and didn't feel exhausted, but perhaps those hours really matter?
I'm not sure I am willing to chalk up my inability to hit Sunday's long run with a fast finish entirely on a weak night of sleep and lack of carbs the night before and fuel during the run. But, I guess I can comfort myself with the knowledge that I unintentionally got in a good 30 minutes of carb-depleted training in at the end.
Oh well, 37.28 blah miles total for the week. I can't really believe I'm going to run a marathon in 6 weeks, but I suspect next weekend's 20-miler will make that reality much more clear to me.
January 30, 2013
Latest Home Fun
Working from home in your work-out clothes is a good way to convince the contractors that you have nothing better to do than to chat with them about the work whenever they feel like it.
Today, one sub rang the doorbell repeatedly and when finally I answered the door with my headset on mute, I said "I'm really sorry, but I'm working right now." He appeared shocked.
Granted, I, a girl, rather, a childless stay-at-home woman, was still in what he probably thought were my pajamas (there are minute distinctions between my day-time pre-workout clothes and my pajamas, but he can be forgiven for not paying attention -- it's all stretchy and soft and comfy). But really. I actually do work. Even if I don't look like it, and even if it doesn't require nearly as many muscles or actions as yours.
Anyways, where was I?
Oh yes. In addition to the patio-madness for pavers trade, our original plan was to remove the stucco from the bottom of the house (demo is loud), add a weep screed, power wash the remaining paint and clean off the surface and add a new layer of stucco on top.
We got half-way:
Note the gorgeous re-papered (with black) sections and the cuts to allow for the pristine new weep screed. Note also the peeling paint from the stucco on the prior horrid "don't, don't, don't DIY kids!" job -- we had no fewer than 4 contractors express surprise and confusion at what was done here (before we bought) when we realized there was a problem and probably needed to fix it.
Turns out, the original stucco was cracked. Probably a long time ago. Imagine that. No rebar in the slab on clay over a chopped down orchard laid down quick fast in 1950 for post-war vets. Who could imagine any sort of swelling or contraction of the area where the footings were in contrast to dead wood roots that may cause issues for the house's structural integrity?
Painting over it with the wacky DIY solution solved it for enough time for us to buy and pretend it wasn't getting worse. But, as you can see, at some point, we had to own up to reality.
So here we are. The cracks are at every stud, vertically through the stucco. Thankfully, the make-shift paint/texture job held reasonably well and we only discovered one major area of dry-rot due to the cracking.
Other house modifications we've since done have convinced us that the majority of the settling is done, but not all. We have cracks that open and close with the seasons due to the swelling of the clay upon which our house sits and they aren't going anywhere unless we re-lay the footings.
Other fun details of this process are (i) the mounds of rocks and gravel and sand that change each day in our driveway as they await their final resting places below the pavers; and, more importantly (ii) the mounds of detritus that often sit for 1-2 weeks. No one has called to get us cited for being a nuisance, and I consider this a major life accomplishment. Because clearly, our house is an eyesore, at the moment. All I can say to the neighbors is, "Don't worry, I know it looks terrible but when all is said and done, it will be matched and gorgeous."
Just a month or so more of this madness to go...
Today, one sub rang the doorbell repeatedly and when finally I answered the door with my headset on mute, I said "I'm really sorry, but I'm working right now." He appeared shocked.
Granted, I, a girl, rather, a childless stay-at-home woman, was still in what he probably thought were my pajamas (there are minute distinctions between my day-time pre-workout clothes and my pajamas, but he can be forgiven for not paying attention -- it's all stretchy and soft and comfy). But really. I actually do work. Even if I don't look like it, and even if it doesn't require nearly as many muscles or actions as yours.
Anyways, where was I?
Oh yes. In addition to the patio-madness for pavers trade, our original plan was to remove the stucco from the bottom of the house (demo is loud), add a weep screed, power wash the remaining paint and clean off the surface and add a new layer of stucco on top.
We got half-way:
Note the gorgeous re-papered (with black) sections and the cuts to allow for the pristine new weep screed. Note also the peeling paint from the stucco on the prior horrid "don't, don't, don't DIY kids!" job -- we had no fewer than 4 contractors express surprise and confusion at what was done here (before we bought) when we realized there was a problem and probably needed to fix it.
Turns out, the original stucco was cracked. Probably a long time ago. Imagine that. No rebar in the slab on clay over a chopped down orchard laid down quick fast in 1950 for post-war vets. Who could imagine any sort of swelling or contraction of the area where the footings were in contrast to dead wood roots that may cause issues for the house's structural integrity?
Painting over it with the wacky DIY solution solved it for enough time for us to buy and pretend it wasn't getting worse. But, as you can see, at some point, we had to own up to reality.
So here we are. The cracks are at every stud, vertically through the stucco. Thankfully, the make-shift paint/texture job held reasonably well and we only discovered one major area of dry-rot due to the cracking.
Other house modifications we've since done have convinced us that the majority of the settling is done, but not all. We have cracks that open and close with the seasons due to the swelling of the clay upon which our house sits and they aren't going anywhere unless we re-lay the footings.
Other fun details of this process are (i) the mounds of rocks and gravel and sand that change each day in our driveway as they await their final resting places below the pavers; and, more importantly (ii) the mounds of detritus that often sit for 1-2 weeks. No one has called to get us cited for being a nuisance, and I consider this a major life accomplishment. Because clearly, our house is an eyesore, at the moment. All I can say to the neighbors is, "Don't worry, I know it looks terrible but when all is said and done, it will be matched and gorgeous."
Just a month or so more of this madness to go...
January 28, 2013
LA week -7
This first week of my McMillan training plan for the LA marathon looked fairly reasonable. All of the workouts, on paper, appeared to be things I could do. The total mileage looked roughly in line with what I'd been doing prior to the Phoenix Rock 'n Roll. I wasn't particularly concerned.
Uh huh. Well, looks can be deceiving and this week kicked my ass.
Monday was a scheduled rest day and I did a couple of miles of light walking at elevation at the Grand Canyon.
Tuesday called for a 30-40 minute recovery run. I opted for 31:31 to close out 3.01 miles at an average pace of 10:29. For some reason, anything less than 3 miles just doesn't feel like a run to me.
Wednesday, I moved the scheduled workouts around because my life started to get in the way. For my second non-running day of the week, I opted into some super easy cross-training with a quick trip to the gym before date night: 11 minutes rowing, 10 minutes recumbant bike. Yes, you read that correctly: 21 full minutes of cross-training. All I can say is that without the schedule forcing me to do it, I wouldn't have fit anything in. So while 21 minutes is pretty lame, it's not quite as lame as zero. In hindsight, leaving the non-running cross day in its original spot on Friday might have been a good idea.
Thursday, I did my weekly afternoon run with a friend who's a mentor for TNT. She has an obligation to "host" a run each week, and I join her. Unfortunately, (or fortunately, depending on your point of view), none of the TNT folks usually show up. So it's typically just us. This week, we did 5.61 miles in 53:06, for an average pace of 9:29. My schedule originally called for 40-50 minutes, but I figured the extra 3 minutes couldn't really matter too much.
Friday, I met H at our usual spot and we busted out the scheduled fartlek. Holy crap, this workout was much harder than it looked on paper. 15-20 minute jogging w/u; 5-6 X 3 min @ 8:15/mile w/1:30 jogging recovery; 15 minute c/d. Looked difficult, but doable. In truth, I'm not sure I could have done it. We settled on 5, not 6, and added some extra recovery for a bathroom break and a longer jogging interval after one of the speed segments. Even with those modifications, one of the 3 minute segments just didn't want to go faster than 8:30. This is definitely one of the harder workouts I've done in a long time and yet it totaled 5.66 miles in 58:18 -- an average pace of 10:18. So deceiving. It was at least twice as hard as those numbers would make it seem.
Saturday, the schedule called for a 30-40 minute recovery run. I waited 'til the evening and ran with E. 3.08 in 30:00.58 @ 9:45. Yeah, I hit it, but *nothing* more. I was tired.
Sunday, the schedule called for 16-20 miles. Yikes! I hadn't done anything that long since CIM. H agreed to join me and we decided to do a very easy 16. I planned a loop that had almost no climb to speak of, just a few small rolling hills and an easy rolling 200 ft climb from miles 8 - 12.5 and then back down for the final 3.5 miles. The weather was nice and cool, and I thought I should be able to keep an average pace of 10:00/mile without too much trouble. After last weekend's race at 9:10 and the prior weekend's easy 10 miler at 9:39, I figured 10ish was a good target pace.
Hah!
Saturday's fatigue should have clued me in a bit. H and I started out by effort and were both surprised to see miles 1-3 click by on the flat bay trail in a descending pace despite even effort: 10:12, 10:28, 10:34.
Okay, fine. I reassessed. Humbling, but I guess I'd have to try pretty hard just to keep it below 10:40. So that's what I tried to do.
We managed to do so for the next 3 miles, but with a ridiculous amount of effort. How could 10:40 be so difficult when just last week I'd managed 9:10? H and I discussed that Friday's fartlek must have *really* taken it out of us. I decided that this new training schedule plus recovering from the race is no joke. I also realized that perhaps moving the workouts around and the 3 extra minutes above and beyond the high end of the scheduled range on Thursday may have been a bad plan.
On mile 8, there are a few bridges with reasonable sharp climbs and drops, and sure enough, we clocked in even slower with a 10:47. For mile 9, the steepest part of the climb, we slowed to 11:00. I was very surprised. The weather was wonderfully cool. I was hydrated, had gu, didn't have any stomach issues, and yet, despite putting in quite a bit of effort, I just couldn't seem to pick up the pace.
Finally, I made a deal with myself, I'd keep it below 11:00/mile 'til the end of the climb to the water fountain at mile 11, then I could stop and fill my bottle and recover a bit before doing my best to finish the climb and the descent as best I could. I managed, but barely.
On the descent, I picked up the pace as best I could and finished the final mile in 9:56.
In the end, I finished 16.01 in 2:49:19 for an average pace of 10:35. Nothing close to what I thought I'd be able to do, but I'm proud of it nonetheless. This effort was huge on the mental side and I kept pushing for the entire run. I didn't stop to walk once (not even when taking my gus) and only stopped to fill my water bottle at the fountains and for a couple of stoplights.
Total mileage for the week: 36.95. Highest for the year and it's only going up from here.
Here's to hoping next weekend's long run is *much* *much* easier since I won't be moving the workouts around.
Uh huh. Well, looks can be deceiving and this week kicked my ass.
Monday was a scheduled rest day and I did a couple of miles of light walking at elevation at the Grand Canyon.
Tuesday called for a 30-40 minute recovery run. I opted for 31:31 to close out 3.01 miles at an average pace of 10:29. For some reason, anything less than 3 miles just doesn't feel like a run to me.
Wednesday, I moved the scheduled workouts around because my life started to get in the way. For my second non-running day of the week, I opted into some super easy cross-training with a quick trip to the gym before date night: 11 minutes rowing, 10 minutes recumbant bike. Yes, you read that correctly: 21 full minutes of cross-training. All I can say is that without the schedule forcing me to do it, I wouldn't have fit anything in. So while 21 minutes is pretty lame, it's not quite as lame as zero. In hindsight, leaving the non-running cross day in its original spot on Friday might have been a good idea.
Thursday, I did my weekly afternoon run with a friend who's a mentor for TNT. She has an obligation to "host" a run each week, and I join her. Unfortunately, (or fortunately, depending on your point of view), none of the TNT folks usually show up. So it's typically just us. This week, we did 5.61 miles in 53:06, for an average pace of 9:29. My schedule originally called for 40-50 minutes, but I figured the extra 3 minutes couldn't really matter too much.
Friday, I met H at our usual spot and we busted out the scheduled fartlek. Holy crap, this workout was much harder than it looked on paper. 15-20 minute jogging w/u; 5-6 X 3 min @ 8:15/mile w/1:30 jogging recovery; 15 minute c/d. Looked difficult, but doable. In truth, I'm not sure I could have done it. We settled on 5, not 6, and added some extra recovery for a bathroom break and a longer jogging interval after one of the speed segments. Even with those modifications, one of the 3 minute segments just didn't want to go faster than 8:30. This is definitely one of the harder workouts I've done in a long time and yet it totaled 5.66 miles in 58:18 -- an average pace of 10:18. So deceiving. It was at least twice as hard as those numbers would make it seem.
Saturday, the schedule called for a 30-40 minute recovery run. I waited 'til the evening and ran with E. 3.08 in 30:00.58 @ 9:45. Yeah, I hit it, but *nothing* more. I was tired.
Sunday, the schedule called for 16-20 miles. Yikes! I hadn't done anything that long since CIM. H agreed to join me and we decided to do a very easy 16. I planned a loop that had almost no climb to speak of, just a few small rolling hills and an easy rolling 200 ft climb from miles 8 - 12.5 and then back down for the final 3.5 miles. The weather was nice and cool, and I thought I should be able to keep an average pace of 10:00/mile without too much trouble. After last weekend's race at 9:10 and the prior weekend's easy 10 miler at 9:39, I figured 10ish was a good target pace.
Hah!
Saturday's fatigue should have clued me in a bit. H and I started out by effort and were both surprised to see miles 1-3 click by on the flat bay trail in a descending pace despite even effort: 10:12, 10:28, 10:34.
Okay, fine. I reassessed. Humbling, but I guess I'd have to try pretty hard just to keep it below 10:40. So that's what I tried to do.
We managed to do so for the next 3 miles, but with a ridiculous amount of effort. How could 10:40 be so difficult when just last week I'd managed 9:10? H and I discussed that Friday's fartlek must have *really* taken it out of us. I decided that this new training schedule plus recovering from the race is no joke. I also realized that perhaps moving the workouts around and the 3 extra minutes above and beyond the high end of the scheduled range on Thursday may have been a bad plan.
On mile 8, there are a few bridges with reasonable sharp climbs and drops, and sure enough, we clocked in even slower with a 10:47. For mile 9, the steepest part of the climb, we slowed to 11:00. I was very surprised. The weather was wonderfully cool. I was hydrated, had gu, didn't have any stomach issues, and yet, despite putting in quite a bit of effort, I just couldn't seem to pick up the pace.
Finally, I made a deal with myself, I'd keep it below 11:00/mile 'til the end of the climb to the water fountain at mile 11, then I could stop and fill my bottle and recover a bit before doing my best to finish the climb and the descent as best I could. I managed, but barely.
On the descent, I picked up the pace as best I could and finished the final mile in 9:56.
In the end, I finished 16.01 in 2:49:19 for an average pace of 10:35. Nothing close to what I thought I'd be able to do, but I'm proud of it nonetheless. This effort was huge on the mental side and I kept pushing for the entire run. I didn't stop to walk once (not even when taking my gus) and only stopped to fill my water bottle at the fountains and for a couple of stoplights.
Total mileage for the week: 36.95. Highest for the year and it's only going up from here.
Here's to hoping next weekend's long run is *much* *much* easier since I won't be moving the workouts around.
January 23, 2013
Phoenix to the Grand Canyon
When picking up our rental car, the guy at the airport asked if we
were in town for the marathon. He didn't seem the least bit surprised
when we said we were. He tried to convince us to upgrade from our
economy car, especially when we explained we were driving the Grand
Canyon before heading home ("You'll have to cross 7,000 ft. I'm not even
sure our economy cars can handle that...").
But, in the end, all was well. We paid for economy and were given an upgrade to the mid-size of our choice as there was not an economy car to be seen in the garage. Our 2012 rental Jetta was a dream and made it from Phoenix to Grand Canyon and back without any trouble I love it when things work out like that.
Leaving Phoenix, the Saguaros are in full effect.
The Phoenix Botanical Garden educated me enough to recognize that the Saguaros are like the Californian Redwoods. Old. Ancient beings. Just hanging out and surviving and growing very slowly. There's something so majestic and impressive about an organism that does that as its basic survival.
But, at some point, on the drive to the Grand Canyon, Arizona becomes surprisingly (to me) high in altitude and decidedly non-deserty. It was almost alpine:
After processing that Arizona is apparently not just one big dessert for a couple of hours, we arrived at the junction for the Canyon with time to spare for sunset.
So we drove the rest of the way and arrived in time to get out of our car and see this amazing sight:
After laughter and pinching each other over the crazy reality of what we were seeing and how different it was from the whole drive, we checked in to the historic El Tovar Hotel and headed back out to watch the shadows climb and the light change in otherworldly ways.
Did I mention it was cold? Part of the canyon was still covered in snow.
The next morning, we woke early and went out for a walk. The Rim trail was covered in ice and snow, so it was slow going. But we were some of the only people out. It was silent and peaceful in a way that the path and the signs made us certain it would not have been during high season.
Along the Rim Trail, we saw many amazing views.
And on our way back, we encountered deer and caribou (no good pictures of them, but just understand that the ears on these deer are not interested in us -- they are very concerned about the 3-4 caribou on the other side of the trail behind us).
Overall, we were *very* pleased with how this trip worked out. 3 days of reasonably little work on both of our parts, and a great race for me plus a visit to an awe inspiring national park neither of us had ever seen. We're now inspired to try to plan a hiking trip -- to come when the North Rim is open and to hike down to the valley and back up...
But, in the end, all was well. We paid for economy and were given an upgrade to the mid-size of our choice as there was not an economy car to be seen in the garage. Our 2012 rental Jetta was a dream and made it from Phoenix to Grand Canyon and back without any trouble I love it when things work out like that.
Leaving Phoenix, the Saguaros are in full effect.
The Phoenix Botanical Garden educated me enough to recognize that the Saguaros are like the Californian Redwoods. Old. Ancient beings. Just hanging out and surviving and growing very slowly. There's something so majestic and impressive about an organism that does that as its basic survival.
But, at some point, on the drive to the Grand Canyon, Arizona becomes surprisingly (to me) high in altitude and decidedly non-deserty. It was almost alpine:
So we drove the rest of the way and arrived in time to get out of our car and see this amazing sight:
After laughter and pinching each other over the crazy reality of what we were seeing and how different it was from the whole drive, we checked in to the historic El Tovar Hotel and headed back out to watch the shadows climb and the light change in otherworldly ways.
Did I mention it was cold? Part of the canyon was still covered in snow.
The next morning, we woke early and went out for a walk. The Rim trail was covered in ice and snow, so it was slow going. But we were some of the only people out. It was silent and peaceful in a way that the path and the signs made us certain it would not have been during high season.
Along the Rim Trail, we saw many amazing views.
And on our way back, we encountered deer and caribou (no good pictures of them, but just understand that the ears on these deer are not interested in us -- they are very concerned about the 3-4 caribou on the other side of the trail behind us).
Overall, we were *very* pleased with how this trip worked out. 3 days of reasonably little work on both of our parts, and a great race for me plus a visit to an awe inspiring national park neither of us had ever seen. We're now inspired to try to plan a hiking trip -- to come when the North Rim is open and to hike down to the valley and back up...
January 21, 2013
Rock 'n Roll AZ: Half Marathon Recap
Biggest plus: A huge, fun, well run race in gorgeous weather (highs of 80F!) when the rest of the US is in the middle of the winter worst.
E & I headed out for an easy exploratory run on Saturday to get our bearings before the race. That quick 2 miles running and 1.5 walking showed me that it was *dry* (duh) so I spent the rest of the day shoving as much liquid as I could fit between my lips. Thankfully, the start and finish (and Kids Run that briefly made me fear I'd miscalculated race day) were not hard to find from the hotel, just an easy 1.5 miles from the door.
After a lunch downtown, we made our way to the expo (big, well organized) and weeded our way between the jr. cheerleader competitors in all of their semi-naked sequined glory. There is nothing quite like oversexed 9 year-olds to make you feel very, very strange (and glad that you don't have children).
After a visit to the botanical gardens (pictures in the next post), we had a great pre-race dinner of *amazing* green pozole from Mucho Gusto -- highly recommended. E enjoyed his margarita as well, but I was a water drinking fool.
The Hyatt Place Tempe (near the airport) was exactly like all other Hyatt Places in the world (because that's their thing, and I'm not going to lie, it's somewhat comforting to know exactly where everything is and how it all works). They have minimal bar service, great 24-hour starbucks service, immediate service food from the deli case, free Numi tea upon request (I put away 3 "calm" tea bags and about 8 cups of tea on Saturday night), hot food on order, and free breakfast with a full coffee bar.
Sure, the hotel's promised "sign up for a shuttle departing at the time you'd like" business was was more of an "every runner for themselves" experience. But, whatever. We all got to the start on time. Who's complaining? Oh, all the other runners at the hotel. Right. I had some fun watching overly stressed runners try to force the front desk folks "enforce" the shuttle rules. It was clear that they were not paid nearly enough to even consider worrying about this issue. Sometimes runners at races take things a bit too seriously, no?
The race was awesome. Honestly. It was in the high 30s when we loaded into the shuttle van, but by the start, it was easily in the 40s. When I finished, it was high 60s and climbing. If that's not an incentive to run fast and get done as quickly as possible, I don't know what is.
I started too fast with the front-runners in my corral (the wave start was done very well -- I was in corral 5 and we started at 7:56, 6 minutes after the published start time). But, some folks in my corral wanted to close the gap with the corral before ours ASAP. I reigned it in once I realized what was going on, but even after I did so, the Mile 1 marker came quickly. At 1.5 miles my fingers started to thaw, so in I tossed my long sleeve shirt and enjoyed the cool air on my exposed arms. Miles 2-4 were right on target and flat.
1: 8:47
2: 9:04
3: 8:57
4: 9:06
Even though I was in a tank top and shorts, I started to feel hot and ready for the water stations by mile 3, so after that point, I took water or gatorade at all of them and dumped an extra cup of water over my head at each one. Unfortunately, Mile 5 started to make it clear that I was not going to be able to make it to the end of the race without a portapotty stop. I was annoyed, but the discomfort was slowing me down, so finally I stopped when I saw the opportunity.
4-4.45: 9:26 pace
1m05s Stop
4.45-5: 8:53 pace
Miles 6 and 7 made me think it was possible to make up the lost time and still finish under 2 hours (9:09/mile pace), as I knew the climb was subtle 'til mile 10 and then it was all downhill 'til the end.
6: 9:04
7: 9:03
Mile 8 was probably the hardest for me, in terms of actual effort. There was a bigger hill than most of the other parts of the course (not much of one at all), and I had to stop to tie my shoe. I tried to recover the lost time, but just as we crested the hill, I saw the gu station. I can't recall if the gu station was in mile 8 or 9, but I was definitely needing it, and slowing.
8: 9:25
After the gu and water, I started to speed up, and still thought I might be able to break 2 hours as I felt pretty good. Then, my Garmin watch band broke. Exploded really. The pin has been spontaneously working its way out on runs for the last month or so, but this time, I hadn't caught it in time. In trying to fix it, I jogged slowly, accidentally hit the stop button, the start, the lap, and then, finally realizing it was futile, I decided to just hold it in my hands for the rest of the race. My watch measured 1.02 miles over a few lap restarts and stops, but I hit a new lap at the 9 mile marker to get back on track, so we'll just call this whole section mile 9 and add up all the time in the various laps.
9: 10:01
In my watch antics, the 2 hour pace group passed me. I spent the rest of the race chasing them. I never caught up, so either their strategy was to run a negative split given the course profile, or they just planned to finish well under 2 hours, as they started far enough behind me that I couldn't find them at the start.
10: 9:06
11: 8:49
12: 9:05
13: 8:50
last 0.15 (watch): 1:11 @ 7:52 pace
Thanks to dumping water over myself every chance I got and liquid-loading the day before I never felt overheated, or deprived. Huzzah! My hair and scalp, however, were dry at the end of the race, despite at least 8 cups of water I'd dumped on it. Turns out, my observation on Saturday's run was correct -- the desert is dry, especially in the direct sun, which most of this course was.
As for my performance, I'd been hoping to break 2 hours for the first time in a long while. Unfortunately, my official chip time was 2:01:06. So, I missed my goal.
But, really, I'm quite pleased with my performance. I ran hard, but never too fast, kept pushing the whole time and never gave up. The Garmin claims it was 13.21 total at an average pace of 9:10/mile (I had to do a bit of weaving to get to side with the watch and portapotty issues and to pass folks at times). A good strong run and the fastest half marathon I've done since the first half of CIM 2011.
I'll just claim a PR for my weight. I dropped some weight over the holidays and was feeling a little too easy on myself once it felt good to eat again. Unfortunately, this resulted in at least 5 nacho meals in 2 weeks. Nachos are my downfall. So, while I now need to drop some mass, I am still the most cardiovascularly fit that I've been in the last 13 months. This is a great place to be, particularly since I start my 8 week LA marathon program tomorrow. I finally decided to enlist some professionals, so I paid McMillan Running to create a personalized training plan for me. I'm excited to commit to training and eating healthy for the race for the next 8 weeks and to see how it all works out.
Overall, this was a great first race to what I hope will be a great year of running.
E & I headed out for an easy exploratory run on Saturday to get our bearings before the race. That quick 2 miles running and 1.5 walking showed me that it was *dry* (duh) so I spent the rest of the day shoving as much liquid as I could fit between my lips. Thankfully, the start and finish (and Kids Run that briefly made me fear I'd miscalculated race day) were not hard to find from the hotel, just an easy 1.5 miles from the door.
After a lunch downtown, we made our way to the expo (big, well organized) and weeded our way between the jr. cheerleader competitors in all of their semi-naked sequined glory. There is nothing quite like oversexed 9 year-olds to make you feel very, very strange (and glad that you don't have children).
After a visit to the botanical gardens (pictures in the next post), we had a great pre-race dinner of *amazing* green pozole from Mucho Gusto -- highly recommended. E enjoyed his margarita as well, but I was a water drinking fool.
The Hyatt Place Tempe (near the airport) was exactly like all other Hyatt Places in the world (because that's their thing, and I'm not going to lie, it's somewhat comforting to know exactly where everything is and how it all works). They have minimal bar service, great 24-hour starbucks service, immediate service food from the deli case, free Numi tea upon request (I put away 3 "calm" tea bags and about 8 cups of tea on Saturday night), hot food on order, and free breakfast with a full coffee bar.
Sure, the hotel's promised "sign up for a shuttle departing at the time you'd like" business was was more of an "every runner for themselves" experience. But, whatever. We all got to the start on time. Who's complaining? Oh, all the other runners at the hotel. Right. I had some fun watching overly stressed runners try to force the front desk folks "enforce" the shuttle rules. It was clear that they were not paid nearly enough to even consider worrying about this issue. Sometimes runners at races take things a bit too seriously, no?
The race was awesome. Honestly. It was in the high 30s when we loaded into the shuttle van, but by the start, it was easily in the 40s. When I finished, it was high 60s and climbing. If that's not an incentive to run fast and get done as quickly as possible, I don't know what is.
I started too fast with the front-runners in my corral (the wave start was done very well -- I was in corral 5 and we started at 7:56, 6 minutes after the published start time). But, some folks in my corral wanted to close the gap with the corral before ours ASAP. I reigned it in once I realized what was going on, but even after I did so, the Mile 1 marker came quickly. At 1.5 miles my fingers started to thaw, so in I tossed my long sleeve shirt and enjoyed the cool air on my exposed arms. Miles 2-4 were right on target and flat.
1: 8:47
2: 9:04
3: 8:57
4: 9:06
Even though I was in a tank top and shorts, I started to feel hot and ready for the water stations by mile 3, so after that point, I took water or gatorade at all of them and dumped an extra cup of water over my head at each one. Unfortunately, Mile 5 started to make it clear that I was not going to be able to make it to the end of the race without a portapotty stop. I was annoyed, but the discomfort was slowing me down, so finally I stopped when I saw the opportunity.
4-4.45: 9:26 pace
1m05s Stop
4.45-5: 8:53 pace
Miles 6 and 7 made me think it was possible to make up the lost time and still finish under 2 hours (9:09/mile pace), as I knew the climb was subtle 'til mile 10 and then it was all downhill 'til the end.
6: 9:04
7: 9:03
Mile 8 was probably the hardest for me, in terms of actual effort. There was a bigger hill than most of the other parts of the course (not much of one at all), and I had to stop to tie my shoe. I tried to recover the lost time, but just as we crested the hill, I saw the gu station. I can't recall if the gu station was in mile 8 or 9, but I was definitely needing it, and slowing.
8: 9:25
After the gu and water, I started to speed up, and still thought I might be able to break 2 hours as I felt pretty good. Then, my Garmin watch band broke. Exploded really. The pin has been spontaneously working its way out on runs for the last month or so, but this time, I hadn't caught it in time. In trying to fix it, I jogged slowly, accidentally hit the stop button, the start, the lap, and then, finally realizing it was futile, I decided to just hold it in my hands for the rest of the race. My watch measured 1.02 miles over a few lap restarts and stops, but I hit a new lap at the 9 mile marker to get back on track, so we'll just call this whole section mile 9 and add up all the time in the various laps.
9: 10:01
In my watch antics, the 2 hour pace group passed me. I spent the rest of the race chasing them. I never caught up, so either their strategy was to run a negative split given the course profile, or they just planned to finish well under 2 hours, as they started far enough behind me that I couldn't find them at the start.
10: 9:06
11: 8:49
12: 9:05
13: 8:50
last 0.15 (watch): 1:11 @ 7:52 pace
Thanks to dumping water over myself every chance I got and liquid-loading the day before I never felt overheated, or deprived. Huzzah! My hair and scalp, however, were dry at the end of the race, despite at least 8 cups of water I'd dumped on it. Turns out, my observation on Saturday's run was correct -- the desert is dry, especially in the direct sun, which most of this course was.
As for my performance, I'd been hoping to break 2 hours for the first time in a long while. Unfortunately, my official chip time was 2:01:06. So, I missed my goal.
But, really, I'm quite pleased with my performance. I ran hard, but never too fast, kept pushing the whole time and never gave up. The Garmin claims it was 13.21 total at an average pace of 9:10/mile (I had to do a bit of weaving to get to side with the watch and portapotty issues and to pass folks at times). A good strong run and the fastest half marathon I've done since the first half of CIM 2011.
I'll just claim a PR for my weight. I dropped some weight over the holidays and was feeling a little too easy on myself once it felt good to eat again. Unfortunately, this resulted in at least 5 nacho meals in 2 weeks. Nachos are my downfall. So, while I now need to drop some mass, I am still the most cardiovascularly fit that I've been in the last 13 months. This is a great place to be, particularly since I start my 8 week LA marathon program tomorrow. I finally decided to enlist some professionals, so I paid McMillan Running to create a personalized training plan for me. I'm excited to commit to training and eating healthy for the race for the next 8 weeks and to see how it all works out.
Overall, this was a great first race to what I hope will be a great year of running.
January 14, 2013
2 weeks of 2013, down
Seriously? How did that happen already?
Since the New Year started, I've been working, running, and busy with all sorts of social and family obligations.
In addition to normal life stuff, we're renovating the outside of our house, so it's a crazy rubble zone. Turns out, in the 63 years since the house was built, no fewer than 5 different patio-like ground coverings were put in place. You know, concrete, sandstone, brick, linoleum(!), and exposed aggregate. All interlayered and poured on top of one another. The layers were so thick that I'm told we will have to add a step at each door to get into the house when the pavers are done.
Also, I'm a content fiend, lately. Reading, watching movies, and listening to audiobooks every spare minute I can find. I'm not really sure where this comes from, except that I do know that when I need to recover from life, I often hide with books. It would appear that lately, my desire to consume content written by other folks extends to audio and visual content as well.
This weekend, we made a quick trip to gorgeous San Luis Obispo and Pismo/Shell beach. E is a wonderful husband and drove both trips. On the way there, I stayed awake and regaled him with the New Yorker's piece on Kid Rock (highly recommended). But, on the way back, I just slept. The reason behind the trip was sad -- my gran's memorial. But she had a great life, which we celebrated. The opportunity to see my brother and sister and niece and nephew, not to mention most of my cousins and all of my aunts and uncles was awesome. And, of course, the run along the ocean was perfect.
Yesterday, despite going to a holiday party the night before, I had one of the best runs I've had in a while. A nice solo 10 miler at an average pace of 9:46, followed by 0.75 miles jog/walking cool down and, later, a 2 mile walk with E2. Total mileage for the week was 31.1, but more importantly, less than 10 of those miles were a 10 minute pace or slower, and 5 were faster than 9:09 (target half pace). Finally. I seem to be getting some speed back.
Since the New Year started, I've been working, running, and busy with all sorts of social and family obligations.
In addition to normal life stuff, we're renovating the outside of our house, so it's a crazy rubble zone. Turns out, in the 63 years since the house was built, no fewer than 5 different patio-like ground coverings were put in place. You know, concrete, sandstone, brick, linoleum(!), and exposed aggregate. All interlayered and poured on top of one another. The layers were so thick that I'm told we will have to add a step at each door to get into the house when the pavers are done.
Also, I'm a content fiend, lately. Reading, watching movies, and listening to audiobooks every spare minute I can find. I'm not really sure where this comes from, except that I do know that when I need to recover from life, I often hide with books. It would appear that lately, my desire to consume content written by other folks extends to audio and visual content as well.
This weekend, we made a quick trip to gorgeous San Luis Obispo and Pismo/Shell beach. E is a wonderful husband and drove both trips. On the way there, I stayed awake and regaled him with the New Yorker's piece on Kid Rock (highly recommended). But, on the way back, I just slept. The reason behind the trip was sad -- my gran's memorial. But she had a great life, which we celebrated. The opportunity to see my brother and sister and niece and nephew, not to mention most of my cousins and all of my aunts and uncles was awesome. And, of course, the run along the ocean was perfect.
Yesterday, despite going to a holiday party the night before, I had one of the best runs I've had in a while. A nice solo 10 miler at an average pace of 9:46, followed by 0.75 miles jog/walking cool down and, later, a 2 mile walk with E2. Total mileage for the week was 31.1, but more importantly, less than 10 of those miles were a 10 minute pace or slower, and 5 were faster than 9:09 (target half pace). Finally. I seem to be getting some speed back.
January 10, 2013
Key West
E and I went to Key West for a few days after Christmas.
Our hotel had turtles. I was in heaven.
On the way there, we drove from Miami to Key West, which was as beautiful as all of the postcards make you believe. We stopped for a dinner at Lorelei on Islamorada and enjoyed a stereotypical Florida Keys sunset.
It was awesome. 80 degree days (except for the last day when it was windy and cool) and a view of the ocean from our hotel room balcony.
The vibe is *so* relaxed. There's a fairly serious party crowd, but they tend to stay near Duval Street. E and I went there for about 10 minutes, but it wasn't really our scene. Instead, we fit in a couple of easy runs, and just hung out by the ocean, by the pool, and walked around every day, fitting in lazy visits to the harbor, the turtle museum, and the Hemingway Home.
The turtle museum was really a museum about the old turtle cannery and how the sea turtles were essentially fished to extinction in Key West. As a turtle lover, it wasn't exactly what I'd hoped for, but I did learn a bit about the conservation and revival efforts that made the visit a little less depressing than it otherwise would have been.
The Hemingway home was very interesting. On the plane home I watched Hemingway and Gellhorn, which I sincerely enjoyed after seeing his Key West home and the bars he hung out in, in person. Of course, as promised, at the Hemingway Home we saw tons of 6-toed cats.
Sunsets, ocean, turtles, 6-toed cats, E and me? What more could we ask for. It was a perfect vacation.
Our hotel had turtles. I was in heaven.
On the way there, we drove from Miami to Key West, which was as beautiful as all of the postcards make you believe. We stopped for a dinner at Lorelei on Islamorada and enjoyed a stereotypical Florida Keys sunset.
It was awesome. 80 degree days (except for the last day when it was windy and cool) and a view of the ocean from our hotel room balcony.
The vibe is *so* relaxed. There's a fairly serious party crowd, but they tend to stay near Duval Street. E and I went there for about 10 minutes, but it wasn't really our scene. Instead, we fit in a couple of easy runs, and just hung out by the ocean, by the pool, and walked around every day, fitting in lazy visits to the harbor, the turtle museum, and the Hemingway Home.
The turtle museum was really a museum about the old turtle cannery and how the sea turtles were essentially fished to extinction in Key West. As a turtle lover, it wasn't exactly what I'd hoped for, but I did learn a bit about the conservation and revival efforts that made the visit a little less depressing than it otherwise would have been.
The Hemingway home was very interesting. On the plane home I watched Hemingway and Gellhorn, which I sincerely enjoyed after seeing his Key West home and the bars he hung out in, in person. Of course, as promised, at the Hemingway Home we saw tons of 6-toed cats.
Sunsets, ocean, turtles, 6-toed cats, E and me? What more could we ask for. It was a perfect vacation.
January 5, 2013
Chrystal Springs Trail Run
Today's Chrystal Springs Trail Run was great. Such a great local trail run up and down a (small) mountain. Well run. Good weather. At the finish I was greeted by a former work colleague. She'd set the women's half marathon course record. She is fast!
Overall, my AM run was perfect except for one thing.
I completely forgot how steep the uphill was on this course. At the first aid station (after about 5.5 miles and 2000 ft of incline), I spent several minutes eating, drinking, and looking at my watch, recognizing that it was possible that I'd miss my afternoon flight if I slowed down any further. So, I cut off the 2.4 miles from the top of the course (the 1.2 out and back) and started running back down.
Only a few minutes later, I realized that the downhill would be *much* faster than the uphill (duh).
So I probably wasn't actually in any danger, timewise, but at this point, I was more than happy to finish a 17K instead of a half and call it a day.
The downhill portions of this run are such a great reward -- so fun to just fly.
2:13 read the clock at the finish -- in terms of length of time running a long run while training for a flatter half marathon? Just about perfect. I explained that I'd cut the course short and they offered to bump me down to the 5 mile.
Here's to the slowest 5 mile time I've ever recorded!
Overall, my AM run was perfect except for one thing.
I completely forgot how steep the uphill was on this course. At the first aid station (after about 5.5 miles and 2000 ft of incline), I spent several minutes eating, drinking, and looking at my watch, recognizing that it was possible that I'd miss my afternoon flight if I slowed down any further. So, I cut off the 2.4 miles from the top of the course (the 1.2 out and back) and started running back down.
Only a few minutes later, I realized that the downhill would be *much* faster than the uphill (duh).
So I probably wasn't actually in any danger, timewise, but at this point, I was more than happy to finish a 17K instead of a half and call it a day.
The downhill portions of this run are such a great reward -- so fun to just fly.
2:13 read the clock at the finish -- in terms of length of time running a long run while training for a flatter half marathon? Just about perfect. I explained that I'd cut the course short and they offered to bump me down to the 5 mile.
Here's to the slowest 5 mile time I've ever recorded!
January 3, 2013
Realization
I start this year with the realization that I have a decent understanding of social media (both from a legal standpoint, for professional reasons, and just generally, because I like to think I stay on top of trends that matter).
And yet, the idea that generally public messages should be massaged or paused or delivered in a different audience is something from my past. I know this. My younger clients have no understanding of this idea. It is foreign to them. Until they get something at the absolute *wrong* time.
It's something from my ancient history. And I never really respected it. Until recently.
I'm oddly between the "old folks" that are actually my age (or older) and the next generation who embraced a different ethos that I thought made sense. The young kids (now pushing 30!) are fond of awkward as an acceptable outcome.
And now, I'm curious how this all will play out and hopeful that common human decency will become an important and respected and valued skill in the world I live in. Only time will tell.
(Also, after reading this again, I feel I should add, "Get Off My Lawn!")
And yet, the idea that generally public messages should be massaged or paused or delivered in a different audience is something from my past. I know this. My younger clients have no understanding of this idea. It is foreign to them. Until they get something at the absolute *wrong* time.
It's something from my ancient history. And I never really respected it. Until recently.
I'm oddly between the "old folks" that are actually my age (or older) and the next generation who embraced a different ethos that I thought made sense. The young kids (now pushing 30!) are fond of awkward as an acceptable outcome.
And now, I'm curious how this all will play out and hopeful that common human decency will become an important and respected and valued skill in the world I live in. Only time will tell.
(Also, after reading this again, I feel I should add, "Get Off My Lawn!")
January 2, 2013
2012 Running Recap & 2013 Running Goals
1,224.09 miles and 10,167 since I started keeping track (mid-2004). Less than 2011, more than 2009 or 2010. Average, really.
2 5Ks. One, a fun run at 27:00 flat on a nice flat course in Santa Clara. Another, a Christmas run in Atlanta, complete with Santa hat. E's first race, and he did great, running the entire thing, getting beaten by his 67 year old father, and surprising himself at how much warmer you can become in the sub-freezing weather with the help of some hills. I stayed with S, and her baby stroller, and thanks to the hills, the 29:01 we completed felt like 27, in terms of effort.
4 10Ks, but mainly for the events and not for racing. Fastest was a fairly pedestrian (for me) 57:16 at the Fast Earthquakes Challenge. Slowest was the the Los Altos Hills Pathways 10K -- this hilly race is a killer. I've done it twice now, and both days were sunny and hot -- just finishing without walking was tough. I think I'm going to try to make this one a regular in the rotation. It's great for testing and pushing fitness in that bridge between spring and summer.
5 half marathons:
-slowest? 2:50ish at The Dirt Inspires Half in Aptos.
-fastest? 2:06:25 at the San Jose Rock 'n Roll half marathon.
I was moping a bit, thinking it was the first year I hadn't run a half sub-2. Turns out, my memory was playing tricks on me. Thanks to my ridiculous data collection, I've confirmed that I've run one or more sub-2 halfs in 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, and 2011, but not 2009, 2010, or 2012 (and not for lack of trying in any of those years). So, 2012 is in good company, and, thanks to 2011, I have proof that I can improve after some time in the slower zone!
2 marathons: (The Equinox Marathon in Fairbanks and CIM in all of its crazy weather glory.)
Overall, I'd call this a good running year. Not amazingly great. But definitely good. I stayed healthy and made some new running friends. I didn't quite meet my training or performance goals, but I didn't suffer any catastrophic misses either. Overall, it was a good background theme to a great year in other areas, and for that, I'm supremely grateful.
For 2013, my running goals are not fully formed. But, at the moment, I've got the following:
1. Get over this stupid sinus infection and complete the Phoenix Rock 'n Roll Half Marathon to the best of my abilities. Shoot for a sub-2, but if it's clear that I'm just not healthy/fit enough for that to be possible, dial back and don't do anything stupid.
2. Complete my 8 week training plan from McMillan Running for the LA Marathon. (I'm *super* excited to do this bit. A little bit like a kid, actually. It's so nice to feel like someone else is in charge and I just have to follow directions).
3. Complete the LA marathon as best I can. I'm actually really excited to see what this looks like if I take 8 weeks to be dedicated to my training as recommended by an actual coach.
4. Run the SLO Half Marathon to support a) a friend of mine who is heading up her own TNT group to raise money in support of her good friend who died of Hodgkins Lymphoma; and b) (unexpectedly) to celebrate life in honor of my Gran, who died in SLO, just 4 days ago. I'd very much hoped I could have visited Gran on the SLO half marathon trip, but it was not meant to be. I will enjoy running in her honor and will smile at the fact that one of the last things she ever asked me was whether I'd "had a good run this morning -- the weather was just so gorgeous." The dementia took much of her memories, which became more and more apparent with each visit, but somehow the fact that I liked to run (and always did in the AMs and described the runs and the weather each time I visited) stuck with her and was something that made it through on my last visit with her. I'll cherish that memory of her clear request about my run, confirming that she knew who I was and cared about me and my life at the very end of her life forever.
5. Run the Great Wall Half Marathon. No time goals here. Just the experience.
6. Coerce my husband into registering with me for (and hopefully winning spots in) the Peachtree Road Race. This is probably the most ambitious of all of my running goals for the year. Wish me luck. At least I've got his dad on my side...
2 5Ks. One, a fun run at 27:00 flat on a nice flat course in Santa Clara. Another, a Christmas run in Atlanta, complete with Santa hat. E's first race, and he did great, running the entire thing, getting beaten by his 67 year old father, and surprising himself at how much warmer you can become in the sub-freezing weather with the help of some hills. I stayed with S, and her baby stroller, and thanks to the hills, the 29:01 we completed felt like 27, in terms of effort.
4 10Ks, but mainly for the events and not for racing. Fastest was a fairly pedestrian (for me) 57:16 at the Fast Earthquakes Challenge. Slowest was the the Los Altos Hills Pathways 10K -- this hilly race is a killer. I've done it twice now, and both days were sunny and hot -- just finishing without walking was tough. I think I'm going to try to make this one a regular in the rotation. It's great for testing and pushing fitness in that bridge between spring and summer.
5 half marathons:
-slowest? 2:50ish at The Dirt Inspires Half in Aptos.
-fastest? 2:06:25 at the San Jose Rock 'n Roll half marathon.
I was moping a bit, thinking it was the first year I hadn't run a half sub-2. Turns out, my memory was playing tricks on me. Thanks to my ridiculous data collection, I've confirmed that I've run one or more sub-2 halfs in 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, and 2011, but not 2009, 2010, or 2012 (and not for lack of trying in any of those years). So, 2012 is in good company, and, thanks to 2011, I have proof that I can improve after some time in the slower zone!
2 marathons: (The Equinox Marathon in Fairbanks and CIM in all of its crazy weather glory.)
Overall, I'd call this a good running year. Not amazingly great. But definitely good. I stayed healthy and made some new running friends. I didn't quite meet my training or performance goals, but I didn't suffer any catastrophic misses either. Overall, it was a good background theme to a great year in other areas, and for that, I'm supremely grateful.
For 2013, my running goals are not fully formed. But, at the moment, I've got the following:
1. Get over this stupid sinus infection and complete the Phoenix Rock 'n Roll Half Marathon to the best of my abilities. Shoot for a sub-2, but if it's clear that I'm just not healthy/fit enough for that to be possible, dial back and don't do anything stupid.
2. Complete my 8 week training plan from McMillan Running for the LA Marathon. (I'm *super* excited to do this bit. A little bit like a kid, actually. It's so nice to feel like someone else is in charge and I just have to follow directions).
3. Complete the LA marathon as best I can. I'm actually really excited to see what this looks like if I take 8 weeks to be dedicated to my training as recommended by an actual coach.
4. Run the SLO Half Marathon to support a) a friend of mine who is heading up her own TNT group to raise money in support of her good friend who died of Hodgkins Lymphoma; and b) (unexpectedly) to celebrate life in honor of my Gran, who died in SLO, just 4 days ago. I'd very much hoped I could have visited Gran on the SLO half marathon trip, but it was not meant to be. I will enjoy running in her honor and will smile at the fact that one of the last things she ever asked me was whether I'd "had a good run this morning -- the weather was just so gorgeous." The dementia took much of her memories, which became more and more apparent with each visit, but somehow the fact that I liked to run (and always did in the AMs and described the runs and the weather each time I visited) stuck with her and was something that made it through on my last visit with her. I'll cherish that memory of her clear request about my run, confirming that she knew who I was and cared about me and my life at the very end of her life forever.
5. Run the Great Wall Half Marathon. No time goals here. Just the experience.
6. Coerce my husband into registering with me for (and hopefully winning spots in) the Peachtree Road Race. This is probably the most ambitious of all of my running goals for the year. Wish me luck. At least I've got his dad on my side...
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