Fridays are Awesome

Good evening!

I was spirited today. I hopped out of bed and into the surprise of the sun. We have been expecting lots of rain and it didn't come today. Apparently, the rain is arriving with violence tomorrow for our 5K in Somerville. This event was the firs that B-May and I ever did and our debut to the world of running with others. It was awesome and I'm confident that tomorrow will be better. We're shooting for well under 30 minutes.

To get me going today, I scarfed down some oatmeal with maple syrup and brown sugar. Not the finest of choices but it was sweet and a good boost of energy for a busy day at work. I forgot to take a picture.

During my ride to work, it became obvious to me that I needed more food and some caffeine or something. So I went to Dunkin Donuts nearby for a blueberry muffin and a chocolate frosted donut with a small black coffee. Again, not the best but it was good in the moment.

Looks good though, doesn't it?

Around 2pm I took my lunch and enjoyed another tuna melt on an Arnold's Thin with some reduced fat Wheat Thins I boosted from my parents when we were in Massachusetts. Sitting out on the lawn with the cool wind whipping at my backside, I finished lunch with a Chex Mix Turtle flavored granola bar. All in all, not that bad.

Rode my bike to and from work today to count for some exercise and am currently sipping a Samuel Adams Irish Red waiting for a huge plate of macaroni and cheese with all sorts of veggies. Like a true blogger, I'll post again after supper.

Funny note, I thought that this beer tasted like blood in college. Now that I have it again, I wonder if I was actually bleeding at the moment in school because this does not taste like blood at all. Rather, it's quite good!

Almost Forgot!

Last night, as I lay in bed, unable to sleep I sifted through B-May's collection of older Self magazines. There's not much story here so I'll just cut to the important part:

Check it out. plus3network.com

You run, bike, swim, hike, play an hour of baseball and depending on the level of activity a donation is made to a charity of your choice by the site's sponsors. I just signed up and my run from this morning made .19 cents for Project Rwanda. And, it's totally free. At least so far, my experience has been free of charge.

Awesome!

Two Days off of Work

When I last posted, I was hungry.

So I went to Me and Ollies for a sandwich. Seeing the special of the day matched the number of dollars in my pocket, I ordered the turkey club panini. (Not pictured.) I was proud of myself for eating it! Considering the mix of alfalfa shoots spread over lean turkey meat, lettuce, tomatoes and a couple strips of bacon, it was not my usual fare. I did have a soda with it - can't seem to break that habit. I'll get on it.

More work to do: home from a day of reading and tired from cleaning and packing for the night back in Massachusetts (the excuse), I nuked another sizable slice of lemon pound cake (the crime) sprinkled with far too many chocolate chips...doused with too much chocolate syrup. (Not pictured). But whatever man, I ran ten miles the other day...I know; it's a poor excuse.

Which brings me to the debut of my newest segment: What I Learned Today. Such an addition to this blog was so predictable. So here's What I Learned Today. Just because I run a lot and bike to work every day and am rocking a crazy high metabolism I can't eat cake with the simple idea of replacing calories as energy. B-May let me in on the fact that the cake and all the Hostess Cakes I've been likewise justifying are loaded with refined sugars which pass right through me (and you!) and serve no good. Rather, I should be ingesting natural sugars from fruits and stuff. Okay, I clearly have a new subject to research. Still, despite my ignorance this was an important reckoning for me as I strive to embrace a healthy lifestyle.

For yesterday's dinner, B-May's mom served up two calzones - one with broccoli and cheese, another with ground turkey and tomato sauce. Both were exquisite and filling. I should note that I did not, as B-May says "drink my calories." It seems there is a milk shortage in my life -none in my fridge and none in her parent's fridge. Seriously, I'm close to with withdrawals. I had water. That was the point of that.

THEN, B-May and her mother brought out a mixture for pumpkin whoopie pies from the Stonewall Kitchen. These things were deadly. Thankfully there were only 12, entitling every one in the room to three pies but even I had to stop at two. Then I waited 20 minutes and had my third. Totally stuffed.

In the morning, we took off for a brief three-mile run. We took off on what used to be our usual route in our sleepy New England town. We talked about how difficult the course used to be for us. We talked about how something happened when we moved to Portsmouth, and all of a sudden we were running six, seven miles without batting an eye. It was my first time running in my Five Fingers in my hometown and I was quite impressed with myself on my stride. I even sprinted at the end for 100 yards. Totally awesome!

Breakfast was far from enchanting: two scrambled eggs and a bowl of corn flakes. Water for a beverage. I did however, down a SlimFast before leaving town. Apparently these things are supposed to be a meal replacement. I cannot for the life of me see how. "Controls hunger for 4 hours?" Yea, right.

Which brings me to lunch at Not Your Average Joe's. A longtime favorite, not just for its bread and olive oil preceding every meal. I must admit I ate an entire basket of bread on my own and then a little more. This was well within four hours of the SlimFast. Sometimes I forget they serve more than their bread at Joe's like just now. Before I do forget, I had a bland, forgettable, (and perhaps, regrettable) turkey burger. Some asparagus too, which was excellent but the sandwich was blase. No accent on the "e". Sorry. Oh! And then I had a beer for dessert: Roxy Rolles, a fall offering from Magic Hat Brewery. Excellent choice, Jon! Why thank you!

Back in Portsmouth, B-May headed out for a work event and left me to my own devices. I played a lot of video games and a quickly nuked some leftover penne with three slices of breaded eggplant. I'm a big boy now! So what do I do now that I'm a big boy? I enjoy the first mug of hot cocoa of the season like a child. (Free from whipped cream and chocolate chips, though they were offered to me.)

I just scrolled through the above post and it's crazy long and wordy. I really should update more often and play a little less catch up. That's the other thing I Learned Today: real bloggers update three times a day! Forgive me if I'm wrong but I gotta thing that's crazy, man. Think how much you're on your computer. Do you even have time to cook and eat? Perhaps not. I notice a lot of the girls eat raw vegetables.

Later!

Long Distances and Leftovers

It's been two full days since our run on Monday and I am still a little sore. Perhaps this is because we ran 10 miles! That is easily the farthest I've ever run, B-May too. Our course took us through the beautiful coast of Newcastle and back into town to rack up the double-digit figure. Honestly, I'm impressed with our improvement, making leaps from 5ks to 10k to 10 miles! Granted it was not easy and dare I say that part of it was not fun - hypocritical of my whole mission of running just for fun - but we did it and it was awesome. I got total bragging rights at work and to top it off, I only got a few very small blisters (which have since healed)under my toes. Because that's right - I did it in my ruby red slippers. Boo. Yah.

So for fitness accomplishment I was quite pleased. Our breakfast beforehand is typically, and in this case was, toast with water. There's so much room for improvement on that front and I think we both know it. It's worth noting that we (read: I) carried a bottle of water that we took frequent, tiny sips from. I think this hydration on the go was critical to our being able to complete the distance.

Exhausted and starving, I wolfed down the leftover apple cinnamon pancakes after a ritual
Nuun.

Nuun's are an electrolyte replacement tablet - very similar in composition to alka-seltzers - and accordingly dissolve into a glass of water. I find nearly all the flavors, sans Kona Cola, to be wholly refreshing and sweet after a run or bike ride. I like to believe that the product is actually picking me up, doing some good in place of the suffering I put my body through though I don't exclude the possibility that it's all psychological. Perhaps the reader will just have to find out for themselves. Bonus: they come in plastic tubes - no plastic wrappers - so when the tablets have been consumed, the tube is recyclable. Excellent green product!

For lunch I dug out a can of tuna for my fish fix (and protein?) to grill up a tuna melt. Also at the top of the cupboard was a bag of chips I think from our Exeter 5K a while back which although bad for me, I welcomed the salt and the crunch, still reeling from our run. At work I dined on the leftover leftover spinach ravioli (I tried to finish it before) and leftover chili with the three remaining corn muffins.

It was all excellent. Then inspired to keep my legs moving and feeling the need to treat myself, I did just that and walked down the road a little to pick up a package of Twix! Towards the end of the day, I felt myself tightening up and asked a fellow runner and friend at work how to stretch out my calves. Proving that I've been a runner for just over a year, I was thrilled to see how a lunge stretch with both straight and bent knees on a rising surface smoothed out my aching calves. (Seriously though, nothing else was sore from the run - this barefoot thing is legit!)

Then when I got home I finished a frozen slice of cake, which, after my Twix I was not
entitled to but ate anyway.

Tuesday morning, feeling fresh from the run but still very sore, I successfully made oatmeal
with bananas. (One step towards autonomy!) A liberal dash of cinnamon and I was good to go
until lunchtime at work where I kept up my new pattern of tuna-melts. Tuna-melts were often
a typical sandwich choice of mine throughout the summer and I often forget that tuna exists, let alone is a viable option of lunchmeat for months at a time. I was quite happy with its au pair - homemade applesauce!

B-May demonstrated once again her ability to turn apples into another something delicious. Apparently I made the mistake of not heating it up as it is "best out of the pot." I shall not make that same mistake twice.

When I got home, we went for a walk around town where we played on a swing set (!) and
practiced hop-skotch at a local elementary school. Feeling the desire not to cook, we set off for the Brewery Lane Tavern in Portsmouth. We have passed this place every time we have gone grocery shopping and I ride by every day before work. Granted, it's only been two months since we moved in but we finally satisfied our curiosities. It's a simple bar with an inexpensive menu of sandwiches and pizzas and select salads. My Texas Chicken (BBQ chicken with onions, tomatoes, and melted cheddar on a slice of French Bread) was excellent. I want to go back right now.

Once home, we watched a movie I had a generous slice of lemon pound cake with chocolate syrup and still feel kind of guilty about it. Not really taming the craving lately...

Which brings me to breakfast today. Opting for something filling I fried an egg, threw some cheese on top and a put the mixture in between an Arnold's Sandwich thin. It was quite good!
I understand why B-May loves these things - and I thought I was full until just now when I'm feeling the pangs of hunger start inside. I believe that's quite enough for now so,

Later!

Weekend!

Tonight marks the end of the weekend. And boy, was it a weekend! B-May had her friend Michelle up on Friday night and I joined them after work at the Portsmouth Brewery for a couple rounds. Then we headed over to The Press Room where it was kind of boring so we split after one beer apiece and returned home where an ambitious B-May was willing to make congo bars! For the unenlightened, that's chocolate chip cookies in the shape of brownies. So...amazing. We snacked on them throughout the weekend and at present, there are only four bits remaining from the batch.

Breakfast the next morning totally deserved a couple pictures but in my continuing amateur-ness, I forgot. It's too bad though because we made delicious and filling apple cinnamon pancakes. It was a group effort - B-May whipped up the batter and I plied my trade flipping flapjacks to perfection. Thumbs up all around.

In the morning we sauntered through the city and split up so B-May could pull a quick shift at work. Michelle then watched me eat another scrumptious meal that I should have photographed: BBQ chicken panini from Me and Ollies. We of course sat outside despite the breezes which kept all the tourists inside. Maybe I already touched on that subject last post but it's still pertinent. Crap, just remembered I had a soda with that...Failure.

At work I finished off the remainder of the homemade raviolis from a while ago -thank you freezer! Toss in a couple Fig Newtons and I think it was four (!) congo bars and I had a content belly. On my ride home I picked up some beers and helped B-May and Michelle tame their cravings for more congo bars...by eating them myself. You're welcome girls! Then there was a party at a co-worker's house and when we got back to the apartment, I successfully burned the life out of two slices of bread originally destined to be toast...and went to bed.

Today - that's Sunday if one can follow this rambling - I treated myself (for no reason) to an enormous chocolate-chip pancake and a slice of anadama french toast at the aptly named Friendly Toast. It was an adventure!

Thoroughly stuffed with breakfast treats I didn't eat again until seven hours later at work when I went the veggie route with this wrap slathered with sweet potatoes and onions, caked in black beans and topped with baby spinach leaves. I wish I could take credit - it was B-May's idea. I must admit though, it was quite of bland. More variations on this theme to follow. Also had some more Fig Newtons and a bottle of Coke to get me through my shift.

Which brings me to now. B-May cooked up an original chili of veggies and some pumpkin pie filling. And some corn muffins! Honestly, it was amazing. I can't wait to eat the rest for lunch (or dinner) tomorrow.

Excellent dinner and now reclining with a bowl of pumpkin ice cream and chocolate chips and chocolate syrup. I'm too embarrassed to photograph it.

BIG run tomorrow. Leg feels better, time to get off my butt and keep training.

Later!

Omelets are Hard

Last night before bed, I resolved to make an omelet.

This morning when I gave up on making an omelet.

It's really hard! I ended up with scrambled eggs. So, to (literally) spice things up, I added some pepper, crushed red peppers, miniature tomatoes and a slice of cheese with a splash of milk for a balance on the pH scale. All in all, not my favorite breakfast but certainly filling considering I added three eggs. Perhaps that was my greatest error in this mishap of a meal but it's been just over four hours and I'm starting to get a little hungry. For a guy like me, that's saying something.

So it looks more like porridge even Papa Bear would pass on. Lesson (somewhat) learned.

Just finished a slew of morning chores - prepping the apartment for the arrival of a friend this weekend - and managed to find an hour to sit at my favorite curbside coffee-spot, Popovers for a quickly cooling Vermont Maple Nut Coffee. Afterwards I enjoyed a nice ramble on my bike back to the apartment and now I'm contemplating the leftover spaghetti with turkey and onion meatballs.

Work soon, so later!

Doldrums of the Week

Bummer.

Nothing terribly exciting has happened since our hike on Monday. We were so beat after our hike that I couldn't muster the energy to see our buddy play jazz at the Press Room in town. A weak moment...but we did make some vegetarian pizza! We made a quick stop for whole wheat pizza dough and some generic four-cheese Pizza cheese. Wow, redundancy. But with a generous helping of zucchini, onions, and peppers, we managed to put together two wholesome pies. I, of course finished off the remainder of the slices for lunch the next day with the addition of my greatest success to cooking since I started this project: steamed broccoli! I took some stalks from the fridge, raw, and just splashed some water in the Tupperware before zapping it for a minute or so. They came out great!

Unfortunately at the 11 o'clock position of this photo, I had two brownies with caramel and coconut on top. Oh, and a cookie made entirely of fatty, sugary cookie ingredients and Reese's Peanut Butter cups! Needless to say, it was amazing.

Oh! But before that, B-May and I headed into town and sipped a cup of coffee (for me) and a chai latte (for her) at the Works. The point of our lingering, is much more exciting. We're going to Chicago in October to see my brother! We jotted down attractions and sights from a couple guidebooks while enjoying the beautiful noontime sun.

So then Wednesday I finished some more leftovers - this time shepherd's pie - with more broccoli and more brownies. It was a mostly uneventful day except that B-May's friend, Christin came up and we set off for a filling dinner at Poco's on the water (soft tacos with pork and a helping of spinach con queso dip for an appetizer). Then we started drinking. The girls sold me (very successfully) on a mix of apricot juice and a bottle of Magners in a pint. So had a couple of those, some micro-brews, watched a little Man vs. Wild (!!!) and headed out to the Coat of Arms for another pumpkin beer and a horrible mixture of Guiness, Strongbow and a shot of Jameson's called the "Celtic Warrior." Terrible.

Anyways, woke up today with zero appetite and managed some toast with a glass of water for breakfast. Yes, that kind of breakfast. Then at work, while putting down a massive Gatorade, B-May brought me a cup of coffee and a bag of donuts (chocolate frosted, pumpkin spice, and a chocolate crueller (sp?). So had those and then indulged in a simple lunch just outside of work, soaking up the afternoon sun. In spite of my aching body, it was wonderful.

As I write this, B-May is popping some popcorn as dessert after our spaghetti with turkey meatballs and mushroom-tomato sauce. Considering the girl ran a total of 11 miles!!! today, she needed the starch or something. I'll research that more definitively as the training gets more serious.

On that note, I have done next to no exercise aside from my daily bike ride to work. I'm pretty sure I strained my calf muscle (more pointedly, my gastroc nemius (again, sp?) and have been taking it easy to prevent further injury. So that's my excuse but it's not a good combination with drinking and crappy foods.

Oh well. Later!

Dayhike!

Today (so far) went like this: Wake up at 7am. Mix oatmeal with apples and cinnamon. Pack up daybag and jump into car bound for the White Mountains!

B-May took off for the North and hiked to the top of Mount Chocorua in the western edge of the Sandwich Mountain Range in the White Mountain National Forest. I know, there's a lot of mountains in there, but check out the views below to realize that it was not without reason!







In the morning, our spirits are lifted and the day was perfect. Not a cloud in the sky and the temperature hovered at "room" farenheit. We shed the sweaters well before this beautiful outlook, which was actually a mile from the top:

And after about two hours of hiking, we had lunch here:

And I had this for lunch: Hiking food if there ever was hiking food! Pumpernickel When Pigs Fly Bread with peanut butter and sliced apples...and then repeat with pumpkin and six-seed bread. Some of the trail was really steep. This iron stake was driven into the rock to prevent this situation from happening. This was obviously not on the mountain. This was obviously our treat for finishing however: a childhood favorite of B-May's, the Dam Ice Cream Shop. (There's a dam nearby.) Behold two scoops with jimmies! Oreo and mint chip! In a styrofoam bowl...haven't felt this wasteful in a while...

And then we got back after a very tiring drive and I enjoyed another snack. But - not just another snack. This was a Golden Snack!

Then we made a couple of vegetable pizzas from leftover veggies and now I am in my first vegetarian food coma. Remarkable.

Bit By the Bug: Triathlons

Been a while since my last update but that's not to say I've been a slouch...

Though it would be unfair to say I've been eating entirely healthy and honestly have seriously come up short in my efforts to tame the craving (read: late-night Mama Celeste microwave pizza, double helpings of apple crisp after a cup of ice cream from Annabelle's, etc.) Really none of it is warrants a photo (had I remembered to do so...) because it's quite a trainwreck of poor eating decisions. In the midst of all this chocolate, sugar and unnecessary carbs, I was left to my own devices and revisited some simpler foods. Check out this chicken soup (with stars!!!) for comfort food on Friday afternoon after spending two hours outside of a cafe reading in the cold wind:


And here's a personal creation of rice, black beans, mushrooms and what I thought was guacamole (it turned out I ingested way too much pesto - B-May told me three days later...)

But, regarding the exercise portion of the equation...it's been alright! B-May and I have taken off as the average mileage of our runs is comfortably capping around 6 or 7 miles. A 5K is no problem and it's becoming easier and easier to do 5 miles. Sweet! And I got my bike tuned up for a reasonable fee and have sweet new handlebar tape in addition to responsive brakes and tighter shifting. It's like an entirely different bicycle and I love it. Must remember that big mile days are also for the bike - not just running! '

So there's a reasonable account of my eating and exercise during my weekend off from blogging. But I must mention in some detail the coolest part of the weekend: I went to a triathlon! The Lobsterman Olympic Triathlon in Freeport, Maine. My coach, Brad, was competing in his third race of the year and with 32 miles of forward motion behind him in under 3 hours! he totally crushed it. This dude is 53 years old and he can move.

So here's a brief narrative: This is Brad just before he hits the water. Notice his wetsuit - they were required by the race directors given the water temperature of 62 degrees. Some people could not unzip their own suits when they got out; their hands were too cold.
Here's all the masochists just before the race, getting a warm-up dip. I was wearing two sweaters when this photo was taken...Yeah.

With the first leg of the course complete - a mile-long swim, the triathletes hurry through the throngs of spectators and bee-line it into their first transition to the bike.

This is the transition area, a vast collection of expensive endurance equipment. There are over 700 bicycles, wetsuits, pairs of running shoes and lots of other cool stuff. It was guarded from spectators but I did manage some close-up shots, satisfying my inner gear nerd.

And here is the same zone after all swimmers got out of the water and onto their bikes - like a storm tore through.

Brad was by no means the last swimmer out of the gate onto the bike. Rather the opposite; he swam a mile in just over an hour and set off blazing on his 26 miles ride. And just before his three-hour mark, Brad spirits down the finish chute. And thus ends the race. While I did not compete myself, I had plenty of time when Brad was not whizzing by to contemplate how I wanted to get ready for next season. Being surrounded by athletes and the spirit of the race, I can say with certainty that I have been bit by the bug.

With that, I am off to hike in the White Mountains for the day with B-May as part of my cross-training, and an opportunity to enjoy a sport we haven't practiced much in a long while! Pictures to follow...

Later!

Lots of running ---> Lots of eating

Good evening!

After a delightful lunch of grilled cheese and apples, I hopped on my bike down to the city pool. Turns out I can't swim for a majorly discounted rate unless I get my license renewed which is a total bummer. Well, perhaps for now. Maybe I'll figure it out soon. Anyways,

I spent the rest of the afternoon sitting alone with a good book on the shore of Four Tree Island. It was a bit windy and the breeze was crisp so it probably kept any picnic-ers out of the area. I settled down for two hours before the wind wore me down. I biked back into town and continued to read on the curb of Popovers while sipping a warm apple cider. It hit the spot. Munched on a granola bar waiting for B-May to get out of work and then headed home to change for a big run.

So, big run. We took off for 6.5 miles of evening running! We didn't bring watches but we did map it out of mapmyrun.com - brilliant site - and just dove into cooking dinner immediately after. Totally awesome to feel that good after a long run. I'm addicted.

In our sweaty clothes we put together spinach raviolis with a homemade tomato sauce. Check it out!

Here's the sauce simmering in the pan. It's probably too small for the two can of diced tomatoes we added but it worked all right. B-May carefully double-checks the recipe from Cooking Light. You can make out the picture of the intended result, sort of. By the way, check out my celebratory Coke can from Monday. Finally finished it as my energy drink post-run. So original.

Really, check out the wontons we used to make the raviolis. Laying them on a cookie sheet with a dab of spinach and ricotta cheese (and other ingredient of course), we splashed some egg wash on the perimeter of the wontons to serve as an adhesive. That being said, they all pretty much stuck together.

We boiled them two or so at a time and generously piled on the sauce for the end result: Perfect blend of veggies with starch and dairy to complement our big run. Thankfully there are leftovers which I actually intend to share. This is worth noting because it is very rare.

AND THEN THE BEST PART:

APPLE CRISP. Here we have eight apples with a crisp topping. I added some ice cream for good measure and BAM!

Bummer - this picture does not do the dessert justice. Apologies for my complete lack of photography skills. Anyways, it was good and that's all there is to know.

So then fast forward through a regular bowl of oatmeal with a banana for breakfast and the remainder of the spaghetti pie for lunch (with fig newtons and another coke...crap!) and arrive at dinnertime. We stir-fried a handful of veggies with some rice for a low-key dinner. The "meat" of the dish was a return to tempeh.

So this was another great post-run meal because I ran to work today. And back. My bag was a little heavy in the morning and slightly lighter this afternoon and I made it back at a good clip. This racks up just over 10 miles in the past 24 hours so I'm going to take it easy tomorrow and Saturday but am still stoked for this boost in my triathlon training!

Off to indulge in more apple crisp with ice cream! Later!