The Racing Culinary Grognard: 2 Runs

It's a new year. The semester break allowed me to get some good miles in during some weeks, and not so good for others. While on vacation I only managed two runs on a tread mill, and returning from vacation I picked up a cold that limited my running this last week.

Yesterday was the first day that I really felt well enough to put it all out there. I didn't start out thinking I would run hard. I was planning on an easy 6 miles to prepare myself for today's long run. However, I went out hard and ran 6.41 miles in 57 minutes and 18 second, which is a sub-9 minute mile. Well, that's what my Garmin FR70 told me.

I know this route and Rundistance calculator tells me that it is only 6.21 miles, which puts me at a 9 minute and 13 second mile. This is still an improvement, but not enough for a sub-2 hour half-marathon. I'm thinking I didn't tighten the laces of my shoe with the footpod enough. If it is loose at all, then it can throw out spurious results.

For solstice, Santa brought me a Garmin 210. It has GPS and gets around the reliance on my quirky footpod. One of my first runs with this watch told me I ran 12.88 miles at 9 minute 39 seconds average.

Rundistance calculator gives me 13.02 miles for this route putting me at a 9 minute 30 second pace. I found a couple of sources that say GPS watches will put you at a slower pace than chip time at a race. I guess it looses signal under the trees? Now, I'm not sure which watch I prefer. I like that the FR70 gives me foot speed changes instantly, where the 210 takes a while to register any changes. But I like that the 210 doesn't rely on the footpod or a wireless connection to my computer (the direct connection via a USB port is less quirky).

The bottom line for this post is that I am getting closer to a pace that will allow me to run a sub-2 half-marathon. I've been focusing on stride, as usual. My most recent revelation had to do with momentum. When I get my feet in sync with my speed, add a little elastic recoil to extend my stride, I can really pick up pace. My feet are getting better and better at forming a wheel, and not a brake as they hit the ground. Energy is more efficiently used to maintain pace, and not to regain it at each push off. Under these conditions the effort to hold pace in terms of endurance is less, although the stress on leg muscles is greater. If I lose momentum, then it takes real effort to get back up to speed.

In the first run above I managed to hold a sub-8 minute per mile pace for more than a nano-second. Even with corrections for footpod error, I managed two sub-9 minute miles. I found myself thinking that if I could average just a 1 second improvement per week, for 3 years, I would be running 7 minute 30 second miles. So far, I have exceeded that pace of improvement. Is the final goal too much to hope for?

I recently discovered some articles on Pose running:

I think, I'm already doing this, but I tried to increase my lean and it did cause me to increase my pace, but not my endurance. Still, it may be an "arrow in my quiver" of techniques to play with and use as I continue to try and improve pace in my quest for better racing times.

Culinary

Bacon!

This is just after the cure. I then did a hot smoke, bringing the internal temperature up to 145 degrees Fahrenheit.

Here it is after the smoke. I made two large slabs from the Old Gloucester pig. The side was large, and I have enough for a third piece. I also have a side of belly from a Berkshire pig. I think I might make smoked Pancetta with and compare Old Gloucester to Berkshire. If you are looking at all that fat and thinking how unhealthy...boy do I have a surprise for you, a Big Fat Surprise! - but that his a topic for another post.

While in Seattle, I did some beer tasting: