February 26, 2008

Got a good, little, run in tonight. Easy, 2.5 miles, about 20 minutes or so. Nothing too special, just a little stress buster.

E

Weekend Recap

'Twas a big weekend for me. I got a good, 3.5 mile run in on Saturday morning. It was a bit too chilly for a ride, so I hit the pavement, and ran pretty fast (I took no electronics, so I'm not sure of my pace).

Yesterday, I took 2 bike rides. I took a 60 minute loop from my house, and rode pretty hard, not hard enough though. I ran some errands, and then settled in to watch Tiger dominate, and then watch the last of the Tour of California. I felt pretty lazy at that point, and jumped back on the bike at about 5pm for 30 minutes of hill repeats. Delicious.

I am getting a massage tonight, more for the stress relief than the soreness. Back to working out tomorrow!

E

February 16, 2008

Awesome ride with Sawyer today. 1 hr 10 minutes, 22 miles. He was working off some stress, so he just freaking hammered me into the ground. I tried to keep up, but he was on a mission, and there was no catching him today. I am glad that he made me work on a lot of the hills - it's great to have someone so much better than you to ride with, makes me a lot better.

17.4 mph avg, need to get that up a bit. Not too shabby for mid-Feb though.

My typing is a bit rough tonight, I gave it my best to chop my left index finger off cooking tonight. The fish tacos were delicious, but I really haven't been able to stop the bleeding. I put some cayenne pepper on it which has really helped (thanks to Ellie for that tip). But right now I have a bit of TP wrapped around my finger with some duct tape holding it in place - not the most convenient time to run out of band-aids, but the duct tape is holding everything in place pretty tightly. It was a nice effort.

E

February 13, 2008

Good longer run with some tempo in there. 4 miles - 33 minutes - 3x45 seconds 6 minute mile pace, plus a good, hard pace up the 'heartbreak hill' near my house.

E

February 11, 2008

4 mile run, 32 minutes. Good, easy, recovery type run. My knees were sore at the end (inside of the left knee, and outside of the right knee). Taking Tuesday off I think, except for some body weight working out, and some core stuff. Oh, and some good stretching.

Dinner tonight: Vegan Lentil Stew
1 cup green lentils
3 cups veggie broth
2 cups water
1/2 white onion, diced
1/2 green bell pepper diced
1 carrot, diced
3 cloves garlic, diced
1/2 zucchini, diced
1/2 yellow squash, diced
1 tbsp each of curry powder, chili powder, tumeric, and garam masala (if you have them)
1 glug of red wine
Salt and Pepper to taste

Saute the veggies until they are sweating. Add the lentils, water, broth, and seasonings and bring to a good, rolling boil. Reduce heat to a simmer, and cook for 30 minutes. I served this with some roasted red potatoes, but ate it for lunch today over some whole wheat pasta. It is freaking delicious, and really hit the spot after a cold, windy run. And it's a very easy recipe, we usually have all the fixins in our cabinets. Yummy.

E

February 9, 2008

First bike ride of the year. It was a good one too. Very windy, so I had to cut it a bit short. I got a new wireless computer for my bike that also records cadence. I've gotta figure out the ranges I need to be hitting for various terrain.

50 minutes, 16 miles. Good, first ride for a while.

E

February 6, 2008

Good, later night dark run.

4 miles, 31 minutes. Nothing special, just a little de-stressing.

E

February 5, 2008

Had yet another good, quick run after work. It's tough commuting for an hour and then getting a run in. It's light when I leave work, and I may just have to suck it up and run in the concrete jungle of Denver rather than the beautiful trails of Boulder. Maybe not, I can handle running in the cold and dark to get nice trails. We'll see.

3 miles, 22 minutes
4 x 30 seconds @ 6:00min/mile pace, 1 minute 'rest' at 8:00min/mile pace

Getting back to the speed work. I would love for my 5K split to be about 6:30/mile for the sprint, if not faster. That means lots of speed work and hills between now and then. Mixing the bike back into things should help too, much more active recovery.

Tonight's Dinner:
Ellie's Baked Tofu (from the book Skinny Bitch)

Marinated tofu in Bragg's Liquid Aminos (tastes like soy), Sriacha, Honey, Miso, and Peanut Butter. Bake at 400 for about 20 minutes. Top with sauteed mushrooms and green onions. Serve with brown rice.

I took a little and wrapped it in rice paper. Delicious dinner.

E

February 3, 2008

Another great Sunday run. 3.5 miles, 23 minutes, good run. Allowed me to have a little more beer during the game :-)

E

February 2, 2008

Great Saturday afternoon run. Fast, mellow, perfect.

3.5 miles, 23-ish minutes.

E

January 31, 2008

I had a great run on the 31st. It was a stress run, but I had some pretty cool revelations. There was a LOT on my mind - closing on the house, the inspection, work, money, all of it. It was dark, just me, my headlamp, and my breath. The steam from my breath was blowing by my face, feet pounding on the asphalt, jacket swooshing. The faster I run, the more my thoughts trail behind me. I can feel the house inspection creeping up behind me, and I ran faster. The budget comes up, and I run faster. The more my thoughts try to catch up to me, the faster I run. I completely zone out, I can feel those thoughts and stresses, but I just run as fast as I can, and know that they can't keep up. As long as I'm running, they are far behind me. But as is true with life, as soon as I stopped, my thoughts and stresses came flooding back in, but I could tell, they were tired of running after me.

It was a great run.

2.5 miles, 7:30/mile out, 6:10/mile back. Beautiful.

E