Since my marathon recap post was kind of long, I decided to separate out the actual weekend part of marathon weekend. We decided to stay in Carmel because of the locations of the bus pickups to take us to the marathon start. Right in the heart of downtown Carmel was one of the pickup spots. Luckily there are a ton of small hotels, inns, and B&Bs in Carmel. Rather than leaving the dog in a boarding place in Sac, I found a place that allows pets (Carmel is historically and well-known as an extremely dog friendly place).
We made a pit stop in Fairfield to get some lunch on our way down on Friday. The wife found a sandwich spot called Joe’s Buffet . They made a tasty sandwich – I had a combo of pastrami and corned beef.
Pastrami/Corned Beef
Once we reached Monterey and stopped to do my packet pickup, we swung by PeterB’s brewpub (right behind the expo area at Portola Hotel). I had the Belly Up Blonde since I wanted to keep it light.
Prior to our trip, I had done some research on dog-friendly restaurants in Carmel. A ton of places have outdoor sitting and allow dogs in their patio areas since so many people have dogs (either visiting or living there). The Inn that we stayed at also provided us with a list of some of the nearby dog friendly restaurants. Our living quarters for the weekend was the Svendsgaard’s Inn. This place ended up being only about 4-5 blocks from the bus pickup. The accomodations were nice and it was a small quaint little place. They had a small grassy area in a courtyard with poop bags available.
That first night in Carmel (I still don’t understand how the official city name is Carmel-By-The-Sea…such a mouthful), we walked over to Bistro Beaujolais for dinner.
Billed as a French restaurant, we ordered with this in mind. I had the French Onion soup, escargots, and sand dabs. My wife had a lemon chicken soup and the Steak Frites. The last time I was in the Monterey area is when I learned about Sand Dabs. I guess they’re a local fish that is wildly popular and served at pretty much every restaurant (doesn’t even matter if it is American, European, Mediterranean, etc). I was surprised and pleased to see that they had a Michigan beer and ordered the Founders Porter.
After a restful sleep, we awoke and ordered some room service and then decided to head over to the Imperial Palace area along with Tokyo Station and the many things around that area. The weather was still fairly overcast and rainy, my wife was very smart and brought an umbrella.
Tokyo Station
We walked around the outer perimeter of the Imperial Palace but didn’t try to go inside. We started to get hungry and went looking for a snack.
Imperial Palace
Near Tokyo Station is the KITTE building, which houses a lot of stores as well as restaurants.
KITTE Building
I had read about it on a web site and since we were right there, we stopped in. It was still fairly early in the day so they weren’t letting people go up onto higher floors. So we headed to the basement and walked around where they had little shops of various food items and small trinket type things. We got some Chicken Karaage from the convenience store. This is essentially their version of chicken nuggets. I also had an Onigiri (which became a theme of the trip). Onigiri are triangles of rice wrapped in seaweed and filled with various items (I ended up trying some that had tuna salad, smoked salmon, fish roe, egg, etc). Continue reading “Tokyo Day 3 & 4 (Japan 2017)”→
Another week down, another 100+ mile month. This is the first time I’ve ever done this much mileage two months in a row. I’ve never had more than one 100+ mile month in a year prior to this year. I’m happy to report that I’ve managed to do this high mileage while avoiding any major injuries. I’ve had a few days of some soreness in my right knee and also left calf, but overall nothing that doesn’t go away after a day of rest. So I’m pretty happy with how my training is going thus far.
Now for the not so great news. My longest run (20 miles) was set for this past Friday. Of course Friday was the one day we were supposed to get rain for most of the day. I also altered my plan during the early part of the week and ran Tues-Wed instead of Mon-Wed. Seemed to work out okay.
Here’s a summary of last week’s running.
( ) = # of miles on my plan
Tuesday – 2.5 (3)
Wednesday – 4.5 (9)
Friday – 16.07 (20)
Saturday – 3.2 (4)
Sunday – 3.0 (3) – treadmill, walking.
Weekly Total – 29.27 miles (39)
I woke up on Friday and wasn’t really feeling all that motivated. The weather wasn’t helping matters that much. Normally I’ve been starting my long runs around 9 am so that takes me anywhere to 12 or 1 pm usually for anything over 16 miles. The morning started kinda hazy with a very fine mist sprinkles while I was having breakfast and coffee. I continued to kinda of mozy around and get myself psyched up to go on my long run. I stepped out of the door around 9:30 into some light rain but with some decent winds that were quite chilling.
Luckily for me I have a loop in my neighborhood that is almost exactly 1 mile (slightly over 1 mile) from my house. With the way the weather was, I decided I’d just run this 1 mile loop for as long as I could so that I had somewhere to take shelter if the rain got really bad. I also like it because that means I have bathroom access (not just at my house but there’s a park about 1/2 mile into the loop as well). The only downside with loop running is that it can get boring and you want a new view of things. I made it to 3 miles and then took off on another path to do 2.5 additional miles. My tummy had not been feeling the greatest before I started running and I ended up having to make a pit stop at the house. Soon I started to bargain with myself. I told myself I could stay out in the cold rain for 10 miles and then do the last 10 miles on the treadmill. I also didn’t want to spend too much time on the dreadmill because it too can also be boring for too long.
I knew it was also good for me to be out in the rain because it is a possibility for my race in about 6 weeks. I need to learn to run in different types of temperature and weather. This year has been especially wet in California so who knows if it may be raining on race day.
I ended up making it to 8.75 miles out in the rain when I called it quits (had to make another pit stop) and switched over to the treadmill. I started my run there and soon realized I’d rather be out in the rain. I made it about 3.25 miles on the treadmill and then decided to go out into the rain again (the rain was heavier than it was during my first 8 miles). I pushed and persevered and hit 4 miles (I had told myself that 4 miles was my minimum up to the 8 miles to complete the 20 miles). I had recently read that one theory for marathon long run training is not to exceed 3 hours because beyond that the benefits do not outweigh the risks (i.e. injury). So that’s where I came up with 4 miles minimum on my 3rd leg to have a final of 16 miles.
So the end result was just a tad over 16 miles. I’m happy with it, especially given my lack of motivation and the rain.
No pictures on my runs this week with the rains.
Sunday morning I woke up with a lot of sneezing and a constantly dripping right nose. I do have pretty bad allergies in the springtime but this felt more like maybe I was getting sick. Even though I thought maybe I was getting sick I still wanted to get some miles in. So I compromised with myself and did 3 miles of walking on the treadmill (~3.5 mph so I still broke a sweat).
Overall I’m still happy with my training thus far and hope to keep it up and be ready for the race in Big Sur.
We also went to a pizza joint we used to go to a lot (Hot Italian). Since I’ve been making pizza myself we haven’t gone in awhile. I do like their cocktails though, and Saturday was decently warm so I had a Negroni.
I got back on track with my running in week 10. I also changed up my training schedule to try to make it better with my new work schedule. Rather than running Tuesday/Thursday, I switched it up to Monday/Wednesday. This also allows me to have a rest day before my long run day (Friday). This week was a drop-back week for my long run. I again did a mixed effort run where I did the middle 4 miles of the 10 miler at a quicker pace. Sadly my “quicker” pace these days is actually not all that fast. I’m not sure if it is due to the high mileage I’ve been putting in causing me to be more fatigued and slower or if it is age-related (diet-related, weight-related, etc). I definitely feel okay though know that with the increased days and miles, I’m putting a lot more stress on my body than I have before. I certainly am quite cognizant of how my body is feeling because I have much experience with injuries in the past. I definitely do NOT want to hurt myself before this marathon like I did with the last one (that was not a fun experience). Wednesday’s treadmill run happened after I had dinner and surprisingly wasn’t too bad – considering I did it about 30 minutes after finishing my dinner. Saturday’s 7 miler also was on the treadmill and I did some long incline walks/runs to try to build some hill mileage into my training. I probably should be doing more hill type stuff but we’ll see what happens.
Here’s a summary of last week’s running.
( ) = # of miles on my plan
Monday – 4.5 (3)
Wednesday – 4.1 (6)
Friday – 10.03 (10)
Saturday – 7 (8)
Sunday – 4.25 (5)
Weekly Total – 29.88 miles (32)
We’ve not had any rain for a while so things have dried out a bit and all the previous wet weather has caused a lot of plants to blossom early. It is quite pretty out although my allergies have been driving me nuts as of late.
My long run also took me through some interesting neighborhoods along with a small park that I like because they have an actual restroom (yes I do plan many runs around where I can make pit stops).
Other fun things that happened this week included making some bread for a work potluck. One of my coworkers has some health issues so we were all trying to come up with low-fat recipes to bring. I figured I could just make some bread since I already had some dough sitting in the fridge just waiting for me. I had made the dough for sandwiches but decided to switch it up and use it for dinner rolls.
I really find it fascinating how yeast works. I just love watching how bread rises and gets so big!
For this recipe, I did an egg wash on the dough and baked it for ~23 minutes (internal temp hit around 205F). The small cast iron was a tester for my wife to make sure it tasted okay.
I got her approval and took it to work and it was a big hit.
This past week we also hit up one of the local Korean BBQ places, Blue House Restaurant. We had been once not too long after they opened last year. They have an “All-You-Can-Eat” option. I noticed they added a lot more cuts of meat to their selection and as they started bringing meat out I realized they changed up how they were serving it. When we first came, each meat order came as a large plate of meat. This time they only brought out essentially a one to two person portion. This is smart because it allows us as patrons to try more types of meats rather than getting full on just one type. I definitely went to town and had the Kalbi, Bulgogi, octopus, pork bulgogi, shrimp, chicken. It was all very good and we cooked it up right at the table. I’m always a fan of Korean BBQ. The banchan (“side dishes”) were only okay at this place and not as plentiful as it is at other Korean establishments we’ve visited.
Since it was St. Patrick’s Day, we had stopped by a local micro brew, Sactown Union Brewery, for a few beers before dinner. I had a Nitro Stout that they just released on that very day called Big Fella and then the Carpe Noctem (a coffee oatmeal stout). At Blue House, we shared an OB (Korean beer) and a bottle of their Pomegranate soju. The soju was a bit too sweet for our tastes.
Overall a pretty good week for both running and eating.
Week 6 of training is in the books. Overall I felt like this was a decent week. I had a few aches and pains along the way. My 7 miles on Thursday was done on the treadmill and I definitely pushed it (averaging less than a 10 min/mile pace, which is pretty quick for me). And then following that the next day with a long run was a good test for my body/legs. On Saturday morning I felt the result of the previous two days and woke up sore all over. I still managed to get out and do my 5 miles though, which was again a good test of running on tired legs. I’ve been trying to do some foam rolling after my runs since I’ve increased my mileage a fair amount compared to previously. Last year I probably averaged between 15 and 22 miles per week. So far I’ve been averaging in the mid to high 20s this training cycle.
Here’s a summary of last week’s running.
( ) = # of miles on my plan
Tuesday – 3 (3)
Thursday – 7 (7)
Friday – 10.05 (10)
Saturday – 5 (5)
Sunday – 4 (4)
Weekly Total – 29.05 miles (29)
We were hit with another round of rain this past week. More importantly or impactful, we had some strong winds. This resulted in a power outage on Friday from 2:15 pm (I know since I was in the midst of catching up on some of my shows) that lasted until 10:30 pm that night. I had received a phone call from the power company at 4 pm saying power would be out until the following day at 12 pm, so it was a nice surprise that it came on later that night. Apparently a tree fell on some power lines on the nearby train tracks, which required some specialized equipment to remove the tree, lines and then replace the lines. With the power out, it gave me no choice but to complete my chores before it got too dark. We then went out to dinner and watched a movie (luckily my wife’s laptop had a full battery charge). Then it was lights out early (we were asleep when the power came back). I had unplugged the power supply to the TV since I knew that it would turn on once power was restored and figured that might be in the middle of the night. My wife had previously purchased some candle-less candles that came in very handy.
It was raining a decent amount on Friday morning but I decided to head out and do my long run anyway. I elected to go down by the river trail to see what it looked like. We had had a few days of dry weather and I wanted to see what the river levels looked like. The river had receded and you could actually run on the bike trails (that were previously under water). The receding water had left a thin layer of dirt/mud on the trails so it felt a little strange underfoot – not like running on a smooth surface. There was a section that was really muddy and forced me to climb the berm and run on top of it. The rain wasn’t so bad but the wind was biting at times and made me question why I was doing it. As you can imagine there weren’t many people out. A few other brave souls were out running though and one guy gave me a thumbs up from afar as you and I both kept on our runs.
I rewarded myself post long run with some bad for me food. Fish and chips and fried clams to boot. There’s a small local fish and chips shop run by Koreans that I like to go to (and I like supporting local businesses). So I stopped in and picked up their daily special.
With the large amounts of rain that we’ve been getting, a lot of the area trees and plants have started blossoming early. Since Saturday’s run stayed dry (looked like looming rains), I managed to get some shots of some trees. One of the trees has these really cool looking purple-pink and white flowers. The flowers are extremely short-lived on the tree and fall off relatively quickly – especially with the strong winds.
There are a number of them in our neighborhood and I really like purple so it helps.
Another tree that has bloomed is the one that has a very distinct smell. The flowers give off the odor of a certain bodily fluid (aka semen). It’s very strange.
Callery Pear (Pyrus calleryana)Enter a caption
And there are a ton of Camelia trees in our neighborhood (including a few on our property). I like them because of the various colors that exist. These also tend to make a mess when they drop their flowers.
Camelia
And finally one of our bare Chinese Pistache trees and one of our lavenders. I’m just glad the lavenders have survived this long (we had previously tried to plant them in years past and they’ve all died).
Chinese PistacheLavender
I also broke in two new pairs of shoes in the last week or so. I haven’t run in Mizuno shoes previously and so am trying my first pair with the Mizuno Wave Catalyst. I’ve only done one run in them but so far they seem all right. I also did my first run in a shoe I’ve previously run in, the Altra Repetition. My original pair is getting towards the end of its life with close to 450 miles on it so I’ve started in on its replacement (same shoe, different color).
Altra Repetition
Altra Repetition
I think the Repetition is billed as a trail running shoe (it is a maximalist zero drop shoe), I’ve found it to be a great road shoe. I’ve done a half marathon in my previous pair as well as a decent amount of long runs. I’ve been a fan of Altra now for a few years and also run in the Altra Provision 2.0 currently as well. As I’ve said before, the diversity in shoes that I use in training I think helps to keep me from getting injured (*knocks on wood*).
I got her approval and took it to work and it was a big hit.
Since it was St. Patrick’s Day, we had stopped by a local micro brew, 
Overall a pretty good week for both running and eating.
StewsCat 