Saturday, March 26, 2011

Pancakes!

I think that pancakes (or waffles) may be one of the most versatile edibles evar. The beauty is that you can put whatever you like on them, and they can still turn out pretty good. I either make (or buy) a big batch of them, eat a bunch, and freeze the rest. After they've been popped in the toaster, they have this neat crunchy texture which I might like a little better than fresh made.

A little weird, but there you go. Anyway, on to the spreads...

Grade B maple syrup might be my favorite, and it's an old stand by, but it lacks some imagination. Still, with a good dose of olive oil spread, it's very hard to beat.

When it comes to energy longevity, I like to put sun nut butter on them. It's like peanut butter, but made out of sunflower seeds; different flavor, same consistency, but different feeling when I eat it. Not sure what it is. Probably all psychological.

When it comes to yummy sweetness, I like blueberry or raspberry jam. I usually go for Trader Joe's organic, because it costs a bit more than smuckers but isn't as pretentious as some of the stuff they sell at whole foods or plum market.

Finally, there's nutella. Mmmm...

Before a long run or race, I'm a big fan of eating two: one with the nut spread and the other with jam. When I feel like an actual breakfast, I go with the syrup option. But when I want a treat, I'm not sure anything I can think of beats nutella. Stuff is dangerous!


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Saturday, March 19, 2011

Came across an interesting realization today...

I like to ride on a bike trainer because it's safe, and it reminds me how much more fun it is to bike on the roads.
I like to bike on the roads because it's good crosstraining, and it reminds me how much I'd rather be running.
I like to run on the roads because it's fast, and because pretty soon I get to run on trails.
But I most of all love to run on the trails, especially through mud, especially in five fingers.

Because, for me, it doesn't get much closer to childish fun than that.  :)

Friday, March 4, 2011

Tempo Run!

I was a little worried about today's run.

Part of it was the possibility of freezing rain, sure. But mostly it was because I was supposed to run for nine miles, five of which at a 7:30 pace.

It really shouldn't have worried me all that much; a 7:30 is probably right around my half marathon pace, or maybe a little faster. But over the past couple of weeks I've been doing some tempo runs, and they haven't been easy. 7:40s and 7:30s have made me work fairly hard.

So I figured I'd tempt fate by wearing shorts, just because I can.

Weather here is a mite unpredictable, but today it was in the high 30s with rain. That can be awfully chilly, but if I dress to be warm when doing a tempo run, it gets really easy to get *too* warm.

So. Shorts.

And so after work, I went off to Indian Springs, and started my run. It started off fine, although my heart rate was kind of jacked. I was in the 170s almost immediately, even at a 9 min pace. I figured it would settle after a while, and it'd be fine.

The first two miles went by easily, just like they should. When I dropped into my tempo pace, my watch started yelling at me because I was well into the sixes for the first minute or three. I know it wasn't something I could maintain, but it felt fairly natural and good to be there. But I followed my coach's advice and slowed down till I was in the 7:20s.

The next five miles went by fairly easily, all thing considered. Keeping my cadence in the 90s, I tried to push off a little more powerfully, and that worked. I kept my breathing comfortable, and tried to relax my neck and shoulders.

When I got to the end, I was pretty amazed by my average pace for the five: 7:19. I really felt like I was running at a 7:30 odd pace. 11 seconds per mile might not seem like a lot, but that's 4:40 faster during a marathon, which may mean the difference between registering for Boston and not.

So, it was a good run. Gave me some confidence, which is never a bad thing to have...


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