Sunday, September 28, 2014

Injurious

Running

Somewhere in the last couple of weeks I convinced myself that since I run soooo slow that I can run everyday as fast as I can.  I decided I didn't need "easy runs," that every day could be a tempo, or interval run.

This philosophy manifested it self at the end of a Wednesday recovery run last week.  I was crossing the street when I saw a truck barreling down on me and I picked up the pace.  I looked at my watch as I continued this effort down a sidewalk and saw that I had broken into a 6 minute 40 second pace.

It didn't last.  Soon I was slowing down, huffing and puffing back into recovery speed of 11 minute miles.  Still, determined to repeat this, I pushed myself again and again for the rest of the run.  The next day, only having time for a short run, I went flat out through my 5k route from home convinced I could finally crack my 30 minute barrier for 5 kilometers.  That didn't happen as it took me 30 minutes and 30 seconds to complete the run.

That was two days in a row of hard running.  On Friday I laid all out again on a 10 mile run.  Twice I broke into the 6 minute range with a best of 6 minute 29 second, ever so briefly.  I thought I might be on track to break 100 minutes for 10 miles which would be great for transforming my half-marathon time.  At the end of this run, within a couple hundred feet of my house, something in my right leg gave out.  The pain was in my lateral knee and I couldn't keep running.  I got home in 102 minutes and 43 seconds.

For the next week I tried to limit myself to recovery runs.  I was still able to run, but I foolishly pushed myself on my 9 mile runs on Wednesday and Friday.  Yesterday at mile 4, doing only recovery running, my knee gave out again. 

I'm going to take a couple days off from running.  I can't remember the last time I took any days off from running.  I hate not running, almost as much as I hate treadmill running.  Here is my plan for the next three weeks.

Dates M Tu W Th F Sa Su Total
9/29-10/5 0 2.5 4 2.5 6.35 5.35 9.22 29.92
10/6-10/12 3.1 5 6.3 5 9.2 4 13.7 46.3
10/13-10/19 4 5.9 9.2 5.9 9.2 5.3 13.7 53.2

I'm hoping my knee will not cause problems for me.  I'll stop any of these runs if I feel the slightest twinge.  It's not actually my knee.  The pain shoots up the side of my leg all the way to the gluteal region.  It doesn't really hurt to walk on it.  I think it may be the iliotibial tract, which suggests an issue with the Tensor Fascia.

I signed up for the Monterey half-marathon, so I am really hoping to get back to running my regular Sunday long runs.  I will be grateful to just run and complete the race.

Culinary

I recently decided my pizzas were tasting too smoky.  So in the latest effort I only used lump charcoal, no almond wood. 

The sauce was a mixture of our garden tomatoes puree from the freezer and a can of tomato paste  since the puree was too watery, and I started too late to cook it down to proper thickness.  For seasoning I added a 1/4 teaspoon of Turkish Oregano and French Thyme, both from Penzey's.

For the dough I used the following recipe:

1.      400 grams of bread flour

2.      8 grams of salt

3.      4 grams of sugar

4.      260 grams of water

5.      0.8 grams of active yeast
I slowly add items 2-5 to the flour in my stand mixer while mixing at slow speed.  I then mix at medium speed for 5 minutes.  Finally, I test it with "slap-and-fold" kneading to verify that the gluten is well developed.  The whole batch goes into a bowl coated with olive oil and then into my wine fridge at 65 degrees Fahrenheit overnight.  The next day at around 11am I divided the dough into two and worked it into balls.  These went back into olive oil coated bowls and into the wine fridge.

For toppings my wife helped me put together:
Mozarella
Asiago
Italian sweet peppers
Yellow onions
Garlic
Canned olives
Chopped basil



 It was seriously the best pizza I ever made - a vegetarian pizza!  The crust bottom was crisp and no smokiness.


Sunday, September 14, 2014

The Good, the bad, and the...

Running

The good

My new Rides!


The bad

The local 5k race I signed up for got cancelled!

The good

I took my Rides out for a....(wait for it)... ride!  At least I amuse myself.  Inside the Rides are these:

I'm not sure if they made a difference, but I saw Currexxoles on a blog, did some research and thought, "Hmmm."  Then I bought them.  They sure made for a comfortable...oh, nevermind.

I ran 10 miles this morning at a new personal best of 10:09 pace.  I'm not sure I could have maintained it for 3.1 more miles, but I'm pretty sure I could have beat a 10:39, my previous best.  I guess all of those aerobic miles in preparation for the race paid off in their own way.  Still, I need to sign-up for a race.  All I have is the Mother's day race I did last year, and I never even got a time for that.  I want to run the San Jose Rock and Roll half marathon, but I'm not sure I am ready for something that big.

My miles for this week:
 
 9/8 to 9/14    
Day Activity Miles
Monday Aerobic 6.35
Tuesday Intervals 4
Wednesday Aerobic 5.5
Thursday Intervals 5.4
Friday Organic 6.1
Saturday Aerobic 5.45
Sunday Long Run 10
    42.8



Less then 50, but more than I thought due to the 10 mile jaunt instead of 3.1 miles.
.

The bad

My Jaybirds died!


I am very sad.  They were expensive.  I haven't had them that long.  I bought:



It turns any earbuds into a bluetooth device and it was relatively cheap.  The earbuds I bought for it died the second day I used them, so I picked up:
They are Yurbuds and I saw them on a blog where they got a good review.  I hope they last.  Mine are orange and don't feel like they are going to fall out - a real problem for me.  Most earbuds I get, even with the largest adapter start falling out.  These are guaranteed not to fall out.

The Tasty

Culatello anyone?


It is quite tasty.  I had a plate of this plus Lardo, some bread and Swiss cheese.

Time for some cured salmon:
It's under the brick with a lot of sugar, salt, tumeric, lemon zest, fennel, and white pepper.  I've decided not to smoke this one.  I will probably use it to flavor my salad lunch, slice thinly over rice and maybe even have on a bagel with cream cheese and capers.

Friday, September 12, 2014

Before and After

Running

Last week I managed to knock out another 50+ mile week:
 9/1 to 9/8    
Day Activity Miles
Monday Aerobic 6.35
Tuesday Intervals 4
Wednesday Aerobic 6.35
Thursday Intervals 4.2
Friday Organic 9.9
Saturday Aerobic 6.35
Sunday Long Run 13.7
    50.85
However a terrible thing happened to my beloved Gel Cumulus shoes:
A hole!  Here is the before picture:

See what 400 miles can do to a pair of shoes!  So "they" recommend that you replace a pair of running shoes every 300-500 miles.  I am suspicious of the source for this number.  I suspect it comes from running shoe manufacturers.  Still, I can't expect great support from shoes with a hole in them.  Most importantly, it gave me an excuse to BUY MORE RUNNING SHOES!

So I got online and started researching.  I like Runner's world for reviews, but I also compare them to reviews on Zappos and Amazon.  I settled on Saucony's Rides after reading this review from a 51 year old, something about the similarity in age.

However, I've had Saucony's before and I'm in that stage of shoe buying where I want diversity, to try different great shoes in order to find the Ultimate shoe.  I've been wanting to try Brooks Ghosts, but was turned away from a review that said they were soft but had no arch support.  Then while reading running blogs (I do a lot of that now) I found this post on So Cal Gal's blog.  What sold me was that she drank the minimalist kool-aid also and then went back to Ghosts after several injuries.  So I ordered the Ghosts too.

That's right, I will have two different shoes to break in and try side-by-side.  I just hope I can concentrate on running while wearing them.

Imposed rest week

This week in running I had to ramp down the mileage for several reasons:
  1. I had an early morning meeting at work on Wednesday.
  2. I had an exam to set up early in the morning on Thursday.
  3. Sunday (my usual long run day) I am racing a 5k.
I did intervals on Tuesday, and started feeling sore around the Gracilis muscle, or perhaps it was an adductor.  Either way it put me into recovery mode and I have been running aerobic miles the last two days at the gym.  I had to run on the treadmill because it has been too damn hot to run outside.  Today I get to run outside.  Even though my Gracilis is not bothering me this morning I'm going to keep it aerobic so as to not risk injury before the race.

Culinary

Not much to report here.  I slow cooked another pork shoulder and took about a pound to cook with a red onion and about a pound of mushrooms.  When all was well cooked (about 30 minutes) I added a cup and a half of rice followed by 2 and a half cups of preheated water from my tea kettle.   Twenty minutes later it was pork with mushroom sauce and rice.  Adding a little soy sauce was a perfect match seeing as soy sauce is made through fungal fermentations.

Also, my cured pork is ready!

68% of original weight.  I am going to refrigerate before slicing at which time I will take pictures.

Four and a half hours

 Running I was successful. I finished a 4.5 hour run.  The first four hours weren't too bad.  I actually managed my 4.5 mile loop 4 time...