Good eats?

June 3 - June 23:   39.6 miles

Starting to get the mileage back and had my first "long" run this past week.  9 miles.  Now in a few weeks 9 miles is going to be a mid week workout but it is worth noting.  I have been working on pacing for the last few weeks as well and while I have dropped a few seconds off my normal pace, I feel that it is going to keep me from crashing towards the end of long runs.  There is nothing more frustrating than having a good pace going and having it fall off drastically with two miles to go. 

I just finished reading "Born to Run" a few days ago (I may have been the only runner never to read it) and it was phenomenal.  I understand that there are parts that may be exaggerated, but as a minimalist runner, that is starting to dabble with running on trails, I could not put it down.  I highly recommend it. 

During the book it talks about the benefits of Chia seeds (yep, the same seeds that we usually stick to the side of a terracotta pot) and a few recipes to get the ball rolling.  So far I have made Iskiate (which is essentially water, chia seeds, lemon juice and agave nectar.  As the chia seeds break down the water gets a gel like texture to it but its not all that bad) and pinole (a chia seed / corn meal mixture).  Not sure if I am feeling the effects or not, but I bet that they are better for you than an energy gel / bar.

Again, not all that much to report, just trying to keep my legs underneath me and run injury free...

Back at it...again

April 15 – June 2         Total Mileage:  76.41

Wow it has been a long time since I have checked in.  I purposefully did not do a week by week breakdown of mileage as there were multiple weeks that I missed.  Life found a way to get super hectic and between traveling for work and tendonitis in my popliteus (that would be a tendon in the back of the knee that I did not know existed until it felt like someone jammed an ice pick into it) I have missed more than my fair share of runs.  However it’s time to find a way to get serious again.  I’ve done well for the last two weeks and am starting to get locked in as the SF Giants Half will be here before I know it.  I also went ahead and signed up for the Folsom Breakout Half.  Greg signed up too, which will be fun - although if he chooses to run with me I will keep him from setting any sort of PR (that guy is a Manimal).

I am on the fence about CIM. Based on last years sign ups I have until late July before slots are filled.  I am hoping that I’ll have a 10 mile run under my belt by them to assess how my knee will hold up (I do not want to repeat last year).

Most of my workouts have just been around town. Now that the weather has gotten nice (although it is supposed to be 106 this weekend) the kids have been hopping in the stroller and going with me.  They weigh more than last year (although that can be said about me too) and I can definitely tell when I am going up or down hill on the trail. 

Greg, Justin, Chris and I were up in Tahoe for the weekend and we decided to hike the 5

Lakes Trail up near Alpine Meadows.  Since I do not own any hiking boots, and the weather was going to be in the 70’s, I hiked in the next best thing: my old trusty KSO Treks.  The initial mile or so was stabby rock, but once we hit the top the trail was not too bad.  We hiked approximately 6 miles out and back.  Plenty of people stopped me along the way asking me about my shoes, and were shocked that I would be out there in them.  I’m glad that I had them on during the descent as it was really easy to get extra grip with my toes.  I can tell in my quads and shins that there was a lot of downhill (close to a 1000 ft change in elevation) pounding though.  It was totally worth it.