Sorry, roommate--I used all the ice

Nothing out of the ordinary to report today. Oh, wait: I ran on a Wednesday. That's different. Packed in 4 miles: 2.33 at the park and 1.72 doing an out and back to the main street. Thankfully it wasn't too hot, as a well-meaning woman decided to dump out my water and throw the plastic bottle away while cleaning up the park after the children's soccer practice. I saw her pick it up and pour the water out before I was close enough to shout, "Oi! That's mine!" Oh, well.

I also mixed it up a bit during stretches, by doing push-ups in between stretching my major muscle groups. From my knees, I did three sets: 8, 7, and 6, with a minute's rest in between.

Silly me--I was so focused on icing my ankles after the run that I forgot to listen to my victory song. So I've got "Fanfare for the Common Man" playing in the background right now.

I felt just fine after today's 4 miles, so I think I will be in good shape for my 10K, what with four more weeks to keep training and all.

Tonight's dinner was yesterday's leftover potato salad, plus a serving of garbanzo beans for good luck! Nah, they were for extra protein. Add to that a few nuts for dessert and I'm sitting pretty on my protein for the day, what with having 1/2 C of yogurt, 1 C of garbanzos, 1/2 C of edamame, plus about 3/4 C of millet. Add this to other various minimal sources of protein in today's variety-filled eating--it all adds up!

Italian Flair Potato Salad

I played the "whatchagot" game in putting together tonight's supper. It turned out to be delicious! Of course, how could it not be, considering the ingredients. :)

Potato Salad with an Italian Flair

3 red potatoes, scrubbed

3 zucchini, sliced (I used green and yellow)

about 1/3 C julienne sun-dried tomatoes, packed in olive oil

1/4 diced red bell pepper

3 oz feta cheese, crumbled

Boil the potatoes until tender. Let cool, then cut into bite-sized pieces. Roast the zucchini until tender and browned, or if it's unbearably hot out, just saute them. Mix all ingredients together in a large bowl and season to taste (salt, pepper, garlic spice blend, etc.) Serves 3 as mini-meals or 2 as main course.

I'm interested to see how well the flavors blend overnight in the fridge.

I've noticed something interesting over the past couple of days: I'm filled with a great deal of positivity as I eat my morning salad. (Baby greens w/ a half cup of beans dressed with oil & vinegar or salsa, depending on the beans.) Just munching on the tasty tupperware of nutrition makes me feel good. Apparently, it's a comfort food, and a plenty healthy one at that.

I can definitely use all the comfort and nutrition I can get, as northern faire is kicking my butt! This past weekend my sleep was very interrupted (Who know that crickets could be so loud?) so Friday through Sunday nights I think I got about 5-6 hours of actual sleep per night, which is so not good for me. However, I was very geared up for my run on Sunday morning, and did my 9 laps around the faire site. I'm adding one lap per weekend, so that final Sunday will be 12, over highly variable terrain, which I think will be adequate training for the 10K I'm running on Oct 30th. I postponed today's run to tomorrow, as the heat wave will have finished breaking by then.

Bloggus Interruptus

Look at the archives. Notice that huge, gaping hole during April and May? That's because all my energy was sucked away by this thing called the "Renaissance Faire." Even though it only takes place on the weekends, it's like having a second full-time job.

Well, it's happening again, this time not even locally, so imagine how much more exhausted I might end up being after driving 6 hours Friday evening, sleeping on the ground, performing all weekend, then driving back home Sunday night and getting up for work the next day. Despite the fact that I really enjoy playing my violin and I love many of the people, I am really not looking forward to this season.

Can we say, "burnout"?

In any case, I'm trying to be as healthy as I can. I've packed some fairly healthy instant soups (split pea and black bean), along with nuts, dried fruits, Lara bars, and Annie's Naturals cheese crackers. (They're in the shape of little birds. I love birds. The second faire dress I made is in a color that can only be described as "baby duck yellow". Contrast that with my third dress, colloquially known as "emergency traffic sign yellow".) I've also got a gallon of water and some nice ginger lemongrass green tea. I'm hoping to minimize as much as possible the fast food that I'll be eating; we'll see how well that works out.

Sunday mornings will be devoted to running around the site. A good 3-4 miles, out under the trees, on reasonably natural dirt, with hills. Really looking forward to it, even though I know the hills are going to kick my butt.

So, just a warning that there may not be any updates for a while. We'll just have to see how it goes.

Animal Instinct

That run was exhausting! 1 mile to the track, 3 miles of added speed laps, 1 extra lap plain ol' jogging to make sure that I ran for at least 30 mins, then 1 mile back home. Instead of running for endurance, I was trying to add some speed by running one straight leg of the quarter mile just about as fast as I could run. Run, that is; not sprint. Lap 10 I let myself just run at my normal pace, I was so tired, telling myself that I could have a little rest as long as I pushed myself on the last two laps. After each mile I took a short pause for a swallow or two of water.

I was definitely working harder than usual. Normally my breathing is just barely elevated--this evening I was panting during and after each fast-paced straight leg. I employed a technique I've used since the first time I ran for exercise, way back in high school. Visualizing animals running, and pretending to be one. Tonight I invoked horses, cheetahs, ostriches, and, naturally, dinosaurs.

There was an interesting comment to a recent posting on Marion Nestle's blog, Food Politics. "It has always mystified me that many of the same people who don’t want to pay $3 or $4 for eggs that are produced under much better (but still fairly large concentrations) conditions are fine with $4 coffee or $3 to rent a movie and other such elective spending." It's so true: a person has no problem going out for a $9 omelette for breakfast, but would balk at spending $4 (instead of around $1.50 - $2.00, which is what eggs are going for in my area) for a dozen eggs. Certainly conditions in the egg industry are appalling across the board--of course, I'm thinking more about the chickens than possible diseases present in the eggs. I'm now expanding my imaginary dream house to include a chicken coop.