Kids these Days: Part 1 of 3

One of my guilty pleasures is the web site tmuscle.com. It's a body building site that focuses primarily on getting big. For some context, the more senior members of the connected forum are under six feet and over 300 pounds. I'm not prepared to go that far myself, but there are tremendously good (and free) bits of advice floating around all over the site--especially the forums.

The most guilty part of my enjoyment comes from from the fact that the whole site exudes locker room--criticism is harsh and sometimes unwarranted, insults turn into inside jokes, which turn into memes that border on pure genius, back slapping is at a minimum, but for the most part they recognize excellence.

However, something I've seen more and more in the relatively short time I've lurked on the site are a certain kind of post like one that recently appeared in the beginners forum. The appropriately christened "wannagetripped" started an equally well-named thread, "Need Help Getting Ripped" with this message:

I am sure there are posts like this one. I don't have a lot of time to sift through posts to find what I am looking for so I hope someone can help me. I just currently joined a gym and I am looking to get as close to the attached photo as possible. You can see my current photo on my homepage. I know it will obviously take a long time. Any nutrition and exercise tips and pointers will be greatly appreciated! Feel free to PM me also! Thanks in advance!!

When other members scolded "wannagetripped" for not using the search function to find answers to his question that are compiled throughout the site, he responeded:

I love people who sit in chat rooms and on forums and talk shit on people. Those people have no lives. And most of those guys are over weight losers with no g/f's, wives or friends to hang out with. I used to be cut to hell when I played football and didnt have a family to support, but with working, and keeping, 4 jobs the past 5 years it kinda takes a toll on your body when you dont have time for exercise. But now I am trying to make time. And maybe im crazy but i thought me posting on here was doing research? I figured a quick easy way to get info is to just make a post. I was just looking for info like ACTrain sent me. Which was very helpful and what I was looking for. I did go through the forums and did learn alot. I also figured I would post and see what other info people might give me looking specifically at my body and the body I want. Guess not. So I know now it was pointless.

The pattern here is so familiar it's painful. Notice the track the reaction post follows. A-he attacks the people who rightfully point out his laziness (on a workout site no less). B-He catalogs his heroic work ethic (which apparently doesn't extend to looking up the information he wants). C-He argues that what he did *was* the work those other people claimed he didn't do. D-He challenges the significance of the whole endeavor.

This, my friends, is the litany of the cheater. Every, and I mean *every* student I've ever caught copying on a paper has followed some version of this same pattern.

A typical exchange might sound like this:

Me: This section of your four page paper that extends from page two to page four is word-for-word from this website that I've called up on my computer.

Student: You've hated me from the beginning of the semester and this is just your way of getting me in trouble.

Me: No, *you* included all this outside work and failed to quote or cite it. I didn't have anything to do with that.

Student: I have two jobs and a daughter. I can't write all that stuff myself.

Me: Unfortunately school is time consuming and I'm afraid the rules are very clear on this.

Student: But you said I had to do research, now you're saying I shouldn't. You keep changing the rules.

Me: But you have to actually write your own paper. You use the outside sources to support what *you* argue.

Student: Fine, fail me. I don't even want to be in college.

Ultimately, the seeming universality of this approach to learning much be significant of some sort of Generation Z quirk that we X and Ys need to better understand. More in the second and third parts of this series . . .

Back in the Saddle

It's official--I'm confirmed for my next race--a 5K on 2/6/10. The plan for now is to run one 5K in February and another toward the end of April. I started a seven week training plan today and am aiming for a 22:00 in February. I'll adjust my expectations for April according to how I do in February.

I'd did 6X880 intervals today and came in between 3:24 and 3:32 on all of them. I know, not a spectacular showing, but these were my first intervals since my last race and I didn't want anything to fall off.

On a similar note, I'm going to try very hard over the next couple month to really focusing on getting a good stretch after running. I know the NY Times is saying not to bother, but I'm having enough low-level problems (especially on my left side) that I figure it's worth a shot.

Teaching Woes

Plagiarism:

I'm not really that concerned with intellectual property or even worried about the long-term educational value of the essays my students write for their freshman English classes. I think what gets me ultimately about cases of plagiarism is how they almost always start with students who believe they are simply too important to actually do their work.

Case in point: this is from an email a student wrote to me about a reading journal entry that was largely copied from a Publishers Weekly review, " I realize that I used the same "ugly, unwashed murdering rapist" but either way I would have had to put murdering rapist in the entry." Interestingly, the story the student was supposed to be writing about didn't include such a figure. She had copied from a review about an entirely different text (this one did have an ugly, unwashed murdering rapist) that the author published nearly a decade after the one she was assigned. That this student's defense revolves around the idea that the phrase "ugly, unwashed murdering rapist" is unavoidable because it so perfectly captures the spirit of the text, only reinforces my sense that she never read the assigned text in the first place.

The student ends her argument with, "and I really would hate to have to retake this whole course and possibly lose my scholarship for a misunderstanding on my part." Invoking the scholarship shows a good instinct and the final bit about "the misunderstanding" might have be a canny way to accept responsibility without necessarily admitting guilt, except that her earlier argument reveals too much. She seems to be asking me to agree to see her transgression as an honest failure to meet standards rather than a dishonest attempt to pass off someone else's work as her own. However, exposing that she hasn't even read the text while arguing a point of analysis reveals a strategy that wholly revolves around getting credit for work she did not do. This isn't a mistake or a misunderstanding, it is a conscious attempt to undermine the fundamental purpose of the class.

The sin here is not that she copied, it's that she acted in bad faith. She's cheating the people of the state, accepting the opportunity that their taxes provide, but squandering it in an arrogant attempt to avoid learning anything at all.


For an even better cheater story click here: Laura K. Krishna is a Plagiarist.

1:52:57

2009 Half Marathon Experience--

Lessons learned:

• Following a plan is good. It keeps me honest about how much I am and am not doing and it gets me to vary my workout.
• Arriving late is bad, especially when you're talking about a race with close to ten thousand runners. I was there an hour before the gun, which was enough time to get my number and find the start, but not enough to warm up.
• Good position in the beginning is even more important in big races (see arriving late above).

Overall I have no complaints. I missed my goal by eight minutes, but on a course that was much hillier than my usual runs. My ten-week plan was a success. I feel faster and leaner than I have in years. I have a 5k coming up in February and another in April. Running will continue to be part of the weekly rotation, but I really want to get back to my bike more this coming year—there may even be a mountaintop century in the works.

T-Zero

The race I've been working out for over the last ten weeks starts this morning at 7:50. The forecast calls for dry, but sub freezing weather the whole time I expect to be on the course. Overall, I don't feel especially optimistic. I imagine it will be fine, but I always sort of miss the low-pressure training routine when it comes time to strap on a chip and put my legs where my mouth is (or something like that).

Anyway, I'll report back in a few hours.

P.S to Libgyrl: a couple posts back something you wrote made me think of this:

Troubles in Philly

http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/12/01/troubles-in-philly-lessons-for-new-york/

BSNYC has already covered this, but I'm more interested in the familiar argument that a few readers' comments present, which, were it an Aristotelian syllogism, would run like this:

Major Premise: Things that are injurious or lethal should be banned.

Minor Premise: Many bicyclists in urban environments fail to obey the rules of traffic and this leads to injury and, in extreme cases, death.

Conclusion: Bicycles should be banned.

Granted, this is a bit on an oversimplification, but I see versions of this argument time and time again. Most often, because people know I ride a bike on the road, the version I hear is that I shouldn't be allowed to ride in traffic for my own protection. In fact, I wish I had Campagnolo Retro Wool Cycling Jersey for every time someone had shaken a head and said to me with husky-voiced concern "People are just crazy out there on the road." While I appreciate this often earnest concern for my safety, this attitude also brings me to my point. If the—sometimes very large—portion of urban cyclists who break the rules (whether through arrogance or a mistaken sense that it's "safer") are dangerous, what does that make the population of drivers who do the same in vehicles that weigh 2000 pounds and are capable of speeds five times that of the ordinary cyclist?

I would never argue that riding against traffic, or skipping red lights, or any of the other bad behaviors some cyclists practice on a regular basis is justifiable. I actually try to correct riders who seem to be doing these things out of ignorance (as opposed to arrogance) when I see them on the street. But if breaking the laws of traffic and being generally irresponsible are grounds for being removed from the streets, it seems clear to me that we would be obliged to ban most vehicles—especially cars—from our roads. Car crashes account for about 40,000 deaths in the US alone, which is about 2.5 times the number of deaths we can pin on drug abuse. Where is the outrage? Hell, cars kill almost twice as many people every year in the country as guns. Where's the outcry for better car control?

Ultimately irresponsible behavior leads to preventable accidents. It doesn't matter if the jerk is on a bike or in a car: people get hurt. Since the problem is behavioral, the solution must address the loose nut behind the steering wheel or handle bars. As long as cities continue to write off bikes as something other than vehicles with less than full rights on the road, a portion of cyclists will respond by continuing to ignore the rules of traffic. At the same time, the longer we’re distracted by the various car v. bike arguments that dominate the discourse surrounding this issue, the longer we'll take to reach a sensible solution that address the real problems with how we move from A to B in much of this country.

An Open Letter to Drivers

Dear Drivers,

First, let me thank you all for your consideration regarding my well-being. Your attention regarding my presence on the road while running or cycling really is remarkable. I've noted your concern for years, in fact, and waiting until now to recognize it is nothing short of unforgivably remiss on my part. In an attempt to redress this failing, please let me recognize as many of you as I can on an individual basis:

To the otherwise responsible-looking woman who didn't check both ways before urging her late model Honda into the intersection I was crossing—thank you both for missing me and having the character to spare me any embarrassment that said near-miss might have caused if you had done anything other than ignore the entire, ugly, incident.

To the young man in the Chevy SUV who swerved in a hilarious imitation of aiming to hit me while I was riding my bike on a county road—thank you for adding just a little excitement to what might otherwise have been an uneventful ride. I'd like to note, in particular, the remarkably animated face you made while doing this, but I'm afraid my description just wouldn't do it justice.

To the young man in the Ford sedan, the middle-aged fellow in the Ford truck, and the middle aged women in the Mustang—I am humbled by your offer to build a series of sidewalks along my fourteen-mile jogging route. Please contact me with further details regarding this "Get off the road!" Are you all serving on the committee?

Finally, to young woman who narrowly missed hitting me while passing only to come within inches of hitting me while making a right turn ten feet later—I appreciate the suggestion that my recent weight loss means I take up less room on the road.

Sincerely yours,

The runner/biker/walker you endangered this week.

Ok My!

I'm almost into peak week in my training plan so I've started looking more closely at the stuff I'll need to have together for race day. One of the things that suddenly stuck me this morning, was the profile of the race course.

Somehow I didn't quite realize how up and down this course was. Unfortunately, it's too late to back out. I'm supposed to do 14 miles this Saturday, but I guess I better put together hilly route.

Pie

So it's the time of year when having the oven heat up the house isn't a bad thing and I've been baking. Fall and winter are the best times for baking--not so good for dieting. Right now my half marathon training is helping balance things out, but I don't know what I'm going to do for December, January, and February.

Where I grew up you never admit to a good crust--it always has to be a disappointment, not because the crust you produce is bad, but because it doesn't quite match up with that Platonic crust we in the cave can only see in the form of dim, not-so-light-and-flaky shadows.

Here are a couple I did this week:


Pumpkin Pie (made with real pumpkin)


Apple Pie (with minced gala apples)

About five months ago two small cats did me the kindness of letting me share their house . In not mentioning this more often, it seems I've been remiss. So without ado: the cats



Even though we've already spent more than $1000 on vet bills we're still calling them "black cat" and "gray cat"--like we're being careful not to get too attached or invested. I'd be lying if I didn't say they've grown on me . . . even if they've also chewed and clawed on me.

In other news, the training continues. I did 12.6 today, being careful to stay at around 10 minutes/mile for the first four like the plan suggests, and still brought it in at 1:55. Tomorrow marks the end of week six of ten and I'm starting to think I won't embarrass myself too badly after all.

Sneaky Race--Now with Picture

The dualthlon up the road was just too irresistible. Forget about operating on six hours sleep a night for the last two weeks. Don't worry about the total absence of mountain bike riding for the last ten months. Instead, just pack up some sports drink, a bike pump, six layers of warm clothes (none of which you'll need more than fifteen minutes after the starting gun) and race.

The event was well-planned and well-staffed. The course, a 3k run, 14k mountain bike, and 5k run was very nice and, with only one glaring exception (more on this later) well-marked. There were lots of good snacks, decent PA with good music and a good briefing fifteen minutes before the start. The crowd was varied. I saw some two or three thousand dollar bikes, but I also saw plenty of entry-level rigs as well. I wasn't the only person without those fancy triathlon shoelace gizmoes, which made me feel good, but there were examples of this strange multi-sport technology.

One of the best parts of the morning was overhearing a conversation about somebody's boyfriend whose job, "You know, racing" had gotten much better since Floyd has gone to Rock. Get that, not even a last name. I'm not saying that Landis deserves an over-abundance of respect, but how--in a monologue that mentions "Floyd" and Rock and Republic literally in the same breath--does one decide the proper direction in which to aim one's scorn?

Anyway we got going exactly at 9:00, and by 9:12, I (and twenty of my best friends) were heading back to look for the turn we had obviously missed. We found it and by 9:18, we were back on track. Best estimates suggest that this make our initial 3k into more like a 5k. After that, however, it was relatively smooth sailing. I'd been hoping for a 1:45 or better, but finished at 1:55:05. Considering the detour, however, I can live with it. The splits are:

Run 1-24:26 / T1-1:26 / Bike-1:00:05 T/ 2-1:27 /Run 2-27:43 / Total- 1:55:05
Obviously my transitions are slow, but I'm not too worried since I really only do the multi-sport thing for giggles. I'm relatively satisfied with the run times and, for a guy who hasn't been on a mountain bike for damn near a year, I can't complain about that leg either.

Tomorrow is the beginning of week six on the ten-week training plan for the half-marathon. I'm still hoping I can do 1:45 or better, but I'll have a better sense of what to expect at the end of next week.

Added: this must have been the most photographed race in which I've ever participated. Unfortunately, even with a photo count totaling well over two thousand, nearly every picture of me looks dumb. Go figure. Here's the one that doesn't out me for the prancing runner I must be.

New Hero

How to be like David Goggins:

1. Finish your first 100 mile ultramarathon in under nineteen hours.
2. Race the Badwater 150 three times in a row, come in fifth, third, and first.
3. Take second in the Ultraman World Championships using a borrowed bike.
4. Be a Navy SEAL.
5. Use your races to raise money so the children of killed soldiers can go to college.

The list goes on, but as I overheard another fan say: This guy isn't an ultramarathoner, he's a bad-ass who chooses to run ultramarathons.

Kickin' it Olde School in the Red Stick

Business took me to Baton Rouge for the weekend. Generally, I like trips to Louisiana, but I must admit that Baton Rouge is one of my least favorite destinations in the sportsman's paradise. That said--I found a really wonderful bakery. I was a little wary of the Old-English motif at first, but it had great coffee, the four-cheese scones were excellent, and the baker-owner couldn't have been nicer. Anyone finding themselves near the capital building in Baton Rouge would do well to check it out.


It was tucked in next to a place offering full-body massages (isn't that implied? is the added emphasis on body supposed to act like air quotes? like they say "full body massage," but they mean, "illegal and not really all that satisfying sex industry stereotype"?).

Either way, I played it safe and just got "scones."

In other news:
I also managed to run close to twenty-miles over the weekend, including a deeply satisfying ten-miler along the levee. I'm at the end of week four of ten on my 13.1 training plan, and I think it's working. Week five is set to be the toughest and then I start a slow taper. I'm running/pedaling a duathlon next weekend. There are fourteen men in my (always too competitive) age group, so I'm probably going to get whooped pretty soundly, but I couldn't resist a chance to get back on my mountain bike and race. More on that next week (or later if I'm typing with one arm in a cast).

Favorite new carb

Risotto has been on the menu four out of the last five days over here. I'm absolutely in love with it. It can be savory, salty, spicy, even sweet if you're careful. I've never made anything that was so delicate, but also so easy to work. It's a perfect combination of cooking fundamentals: heat, oil, simmer, flavor. As an added bonus, if you're careful with the butter it's actually a pretty healthy dish.


Here's a recipe:

1 Tbs olive oil
1 Tbs freshly chopped garlic
1/4 cup finely chopped red onions
1/2 cup Arborio (Italian short grained rice)
1/4 cup dry white wine (warmed to room temperature)
2 or 3 cups broth (room temperature as well) (I use vegetable broth, but chicken can work too)
1 Tbs butter
salt and pepper
fresh Parmesan cheese
1 Tbs fresh flat-leaf parsley

Heat the oil in a heavy skillet. Once it's hot, caramelize the onions (three to five minuets, or until they first start to show brown). Add the rice, stirring to make sure it gets coated with the olive oil. Reduce the pan to medium heat and add room temperature wine. Stir gently, adjusting temperature as necessary to keep liquid at a gentle simmer. Once the rice has absorbed the wine, begin adding the broth half a cup at a time. Add more as the broth is absorbed, stirring gently, until the rice is soft and creamy. Lower heat and stir in the butter. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Top with Parmesan and parsley and serve warm.

Training Week Two

Week two is in the box, as they say, and I clocked twenty-three miles. Three of them were 1000 meter sprints (or as close I come to sprinting) and another seven or so were tempo or race pace, so I feel like I'm getting a pretty well-rounded bit of training right now. Unfortunately, my times aren't looking so hot. Interpolating from my nine-miler on Sunday, I'm looking at a 2:10 pace for the half marathon. The hope I'm holding out is that folding the warm up into the first few miles like I do means I'll be considerably faster on race day, when I warm up for thirty minutes before the gun goes off.

I had to rearrange a couple of workouts to fit in the veterinary emergency (more on that later), so tomorrow is another intervals day. The plan is to do a 7x880 at around 3:30 each with a two minute break in between. Football practice ends at 7:00pm, so I'll be doing these under the lights, something that always makes me feel equal parts heroic and pathetic.

Running, Teaching, Running from Teaching

The half-marathon training continues apace (ha!). I clocked twenty-three good miles in week one and am on track to get twenty-four good one's by Sunday (which is the end of training week two on my plan). Week seven will be the longest at around thirty-two miles and my race is at the end of week twelve.

If only work were going so well. Today, I asked a student to clarify a point in an essay and the email I got in response reads simply, "I was wrong about the warehouse, it actually said whorehouse and i read it wrong." I won't bore everyone with the details, but, as you might imagine, the difference is significant.

5K

I managed two unexpected experiences at my race this morning. First, even without anything I could remotely call training, I managed a sub twenty-four minute run (I'll post an official time once I have it). Second, I got totally smoked by a ten-year-old kid. When he took off at the gun I was thinking, "Yea, he'll blow up in about five hundred yards." Well, the egg sure was on my face three miles and just barely twenty-three minutes later when when he crossed the line about hundred yards in front of me.

Anyway, I have nine weeks to finish getting ready for the half-marathon in December. This was a better beginning than I expected, and maybe that kid will start smoking between now and then.

Soup

As the weather gradually turns cooler I'm craving a lot of soups. In fact, soup has been on the menu here three of the last five days. Most recently today's lunch was split pea soup. I like to keep it simple, split peas, onions, green peppers, and carrots with garlic, salt and pepper. The trick is to simmer it for about thirty minutes (maybe more) and then puree half of it. Recombine the pureed part for an especially creamy soup.

Garnish with some smoked paprika and you are good to go.

Motivation

It just hit me that a little over two years ago I scored my first (and, to date, only) win in a bike race. Here I am, twenty-four months and fifteen pounds ago, powering through a steep uphill turn on my way to a come-from-behind victory at the line.


Day one of my official half-marathon traing schedule went like gangbusters. I was a little worried when I had to wait an extra ten minutes for the local high school football team to clear the field before I could use the track, but once they were gone--cute little concussions waiting-to happen that they are-- I had as many open lanes as I could use. The plan called for five 880s in the 3:45 to 4:00 range. I know that's not exactly smoking, but it is only the first week of the plan. My watch died on me and I haven't have a chance to do anything about it yet, so I was reduced to finding songs on my MP3 player that were about four minutes long to time myself. In case anyone else out there finds themselves in similar straits, you could get a watch or listen to these:





and





I managed to bring them all in under 3:30--not too bad for the first day. In fact, after a couple months of feeling lost over my workouts it sort of feels like a come-from-behind victory.

So, the 80% effort 5K that I ran yesterday turned out an impressive 27:06, or five minutes slower than I would have liked.


My "tune up" race is Saturday morning and I hoping for something in the 25-26 minute range. From there, it's nothing but prep for the December race and getting some bike time. I finally got the rack for our new car and we have a long weekend coming up, so I'm thinking about a little mountain biking on Sunday might be just the thing.


The garden plot is now fully cleared, which means I brought about a pound of fresh basil home last night. The results so far have been a fairly nice pesto over whole wheat pasta, but I expect this will keep giving for a while. I could put in a crop for the winter, but time is fleeting and I want to spend the next few months getting some work done and putting my training back on track (ha!)

A 190 Pound Experiment

For a variety of reasons my training goals have radically changed over the last month. I've essentially been off for three weeks now, but in a lot of ways I'm in better shape than I was when I was clocking miles every day. In other ways, not so much. I have a race in exactly ten days and I've done zero pointed training for it. Instead of skipping it I'm going to use it to set a baseline for the next year or so.

It's going to be an experiment:



I'll post various stats after the 10th and we'll see where things go from there.

Fall Bike Rides

The garden season is coming to an end, two of the three big projects that have occupied me--the way Germany occupied Paris--are in the can, and the weather is breaking. That means a couple of things, but mostly bike rides are coming back.



There's still the IT band problem, most recently diagnosed as a too tight pectineus. (Don't get me started on the stretches I'm supposed to do for that.) So I'm swapping out long runs right now for longish bike rides. Fall racing is on the way, and I'm supposed to start my half-marathon training plan in about a week--we'll see how that works out.

Yes, I'll have some cheese with that

A strained muscle in my shoulder and shin splints on my left leg have made it official--I am seriously asymmetrical. Ramping up my milage slightly this week while continuing to lift (mostly an even mix of core, upper-body free weight, and body weight core/upper circuits) two or three times a week has made it really obvious that my right side above the waist and my left side below are both considerably stronger than their counterparts. I thought I was addressing this with my asymmetrical exercises like one legged squats and dead lifts and doing extra sets on traditionally one-armed exercises. This, however, doesn't seem to be the case.

I'm not as bad off as this guy, but I do think I have a couple of those symptoms. Oh yea, God save me from pube dysfunction.


I've noticed that at an 8:30 or slower pace I don't feel anything too bad, so I'm going to try to keep doing LSD, some tempo runs with long war up periods, and some short, explosive intervals while I figure out what I want to do about my lopsidedness. At some point I hope to be able to explain why the strong side flip flops at my waist. Right now I'm going to guess that it's like a cantilever where one side counterbalances the other.

Curried Tofu Dinner

The cool thing about tofu is very few people will come over to your house and eat your stash. The other cool thing about tofu is that it's an ancient food, whose migration across Asia and into the western world is deeply connected with the movement of Buddhism. It's a low-fat source of protein and iron and, if you get the right kind, you can avoid all the isoflavones that act like estrogens--try finding beef at your local supermarket that is both free of synthetic hormones AND massive amounts of antibiotics.

Anyway, my curried tofu is best served over basmati rice, but noodles (rice, glass, or wheat) will work if you prefer. If your tofu doesn't come already cubed go ahead and cube it into smallish pieces. I think about a half inch square is fine, but the size doesn't really matter as long as the pieces are relatively uniform. Next, spread them out on an oiled cookie sheet (I use a dash of spray oil, but you can use anything). Bake them at a very low temperature (say 150F) for about half an hour. This helpd to dehydrate them, so they'll absorb more of the curry flavor and give them a slightly puffed texture that I find pleasing.

While the tofu is in the over you can prepare your vegetables. I chop carrots, green or red peppers, and red or white onions. You don't want to overwhelm the curry with too many ingredients--a lot of different things will work in a curry, but I find that after about four things it gets too busy. If your knife skills cut the mustard (ha!) you should still have a few minutes to get the rice started before the tofu is ready to come out of the oven.

Remove the tofu from the over after about half an hour. Set it aside and prepare your curry spice mix (remember: terrifying crocodiles gulp careless and rash children). Warm a large skillet over medium/medium-high heat and start with the onions. Once they start to caramelize you can add the carrots and baked tofu. Once they brown, add the peppers, spice mix and a cup or cup and a half of coconut milk. Simmer for a few minutes while stirring until the sauce starts to reduce.

Your rice is probably done by now. If not, move the skillet to a burner on the lowest setting and wait for craters to form in your rice. Once ready, serve on a warmed plate with mint a splash of sesame sauce. I usually add some rooster sauce to mine, so you might want some of that handy.

Boring update

I'm running again--clocked almost forty miles last week and should get about the same this week. The plan right now is to aim for about 125 miles in September and then start a more formal training plan with an interval day and some tempo days and what not. My running partner moves out of town on Friday, but he'd been of pretty limited use in that function since he started smoking again. Anyway, I've always found that it was easier to run alone, except on those cold mornings when I needed the extra excuse to get out of bed before spring.

I'm not going to weigh myself for a long while. The weight lifting I've been doing has sort of changed my ideas about how much I should weigh anyway. I think I gained five or six pounds of lean muscle over the summer and that's suggesting a broader scale of good possibilities than I thought there were.

I'm also flexing my teacher muscles again now that school is back in session. Nothing much to say about my students yet, but go ahead and pencil me in for some complaining in a later session.

In the second chapter of Genesis, God creates Adam by forming him out of dirt and "breathing" life into him. One way to talk about this is by saying God inspired Adam.


At its root, the word inspire means to be filled with God's influence. I'm not one of the faithful, but I often find myself thinking about the story of Adam's creation while I make bread. You start with a lumpy substance not unlike dirt. You work it with your hands until it's the right shape and then you leave it alone to become inspired. It's like magic.




Discussing the eighteenth-century English disdain for the potato (and most other things Irish) Michael Pollan writes:

Like the potato, wheat begins in nature, but it is then transformed by culture. While the potato is simply thrown into a pot or fire, wheat must be harvested, threshed, milled, mixed, kneaded, shaped, baked, and then, in a final miracle of transubstantiation, the doughy lump of formless matter rises to become bread. This elaborate process, with its division of labor and suggestion of transcendence, symbolized civilization's mastery of raw nature.1

I think Pollan is right, within the context of the English imperial world view, but today bread and its amazing transformation more aptly signifies a sort of ecstatic joining with the non-human. Approaching it more along the lines of Buddhist transcendence of self than western ideas of conquest or mastery, that moment of inspiration during which dough miraculously becomes bread serves highlights our limitations--reminds us that without the aid of yeast one of our most basic foods simply wouldn't be available to us. We do not make the bread, Saccharomyces cerevisiae does and none of our base mixing and squeezing and kneading can ever replace the spark it provides.

Mint Julep

School starts tomorrow, but this is the only lesson I feel like teaching tonight.

First:
Simmer a cup of filtered water in a small pot. Add three quarters of a cup of powdered sugar. Stir it a lot to make sure the sugar is fully in suspension. Once it's completely dissolved let it cool to room temperature. This is called simple syrup (I sometimes make a three cups of this and keep it in the fridge so I'll have it on hand).

Next:
Drop a fifteen or twenty mint leaves into the bottom of a Collins glass. Add about a tablespoon of water and muddle vigorously.

Then:
Add three ounces of bourbon or rye (I prefer Maker's Mark, but almost anything will do). Pour this into a shaker using a strainer to remove the mint leaves. Pour the now leafless mixture back into the Collins glass full of ice and top with simple syrup until the glass is full. Shake or stir and serve with your choice of garnish.

Big Meat

So, I did the math yesterday and was a little shocked to see that I've only been getting about .5g of protein/kg of body weight, which means I've really only been getting about half of what I need. Having been a mildly athletic vegetarian for twenty years, I always scoffed at those folks who warned me about low protein, but I'm wondering if some of my exercise-ennui lately isn't maybe connected to a protein-related failure to recover. That said, I'm going to try to drop some carbs from my diet (if you can call something as disorganized as my eating habits a diet) and replace them with protein with a daily goal of 100 grams of protein.

According to many sources, including probably the stoutest Ph.D. I've ever seen, the standard recommended daily intake of the big P workes out to between 1.4 and 2.0 g of protein per kg of body weight. A quick trip to a metric conversion calculation on the web pegs me at 88.9kg, which would suggest that I should be eating between 124 and 178 grams of protein every day. The big guy's article goes on to say, however, that new research suggests that people of the athletic persuasion might actually make more efficient use of protein than sedentary types. So I don't really need that much, right? No. He goes on to write, "those of you who staunchly believe that you're only required to eat enough protein to meet your needs,go right ahead and reduce your protein intake from 2.0g/kg to 0.65g/kg. In the meantime, I'll be encouraging everyone else to actually increase his or her protein intake beyond the current 2.0g/kg recommendation"1. Following this advice I'd need to jack up the protein in my daily diet to almost 200g.

Ok, so how did I come up with 100g? Simple--I thought about what it would take, given my vegetarian eating, to come up with 200g of protein and one day might look like this: eleven eggs, one cup cooked pinto beans, three eight ounce protein shakes, 1 cup Qinoua , a box of tofu, and a bagel with peanut butter for a grad total of 2300 calories and 201 grams of protein. Once I stopped laughing I decided that I can just boost my protein intake a little at first, and see if I get any results. If so, maybe I'll feel motivated enough to do the sort of dietary gymnastics it would take to get it higher.

We ended up going out last night so the curry I was planning for then will probably be what hits the dinner table tonight.

If the cat's don't keep me up late again, I'm going to try to fit in a run, lift, 100g of protein, and a couple of hours at the office tomorrow. Whew, I'm already tired.


p.s. The curry turned out so well I have to boast a little:

and for the cook:

So I'm lifting weights--something I haven't really done since around 1998. For the moment it's a motivation thing. I feel like lifting more than I feel like running, so I'm lifting more and running less (I'm still managing about fifteen miles a week). My next race is a 5K in October, which I'm using as a tune-up for the half marathon in early December so I'll shift my focus back to running in the next couple weeks and probably have a decent chance at a 20-21 min 5k.

On to the food:

The garden is producing a lot of okra right now so we'll probably have some sort of okra curry over naan for dinner. I love making curry because of the way the spices combine both to the eye and the palate.
The best curries have turmeric, cumin, garlic, coriander, red chile, and curry power (of course). I remember it my reciting the phrase "terrifying crocodiles gulp careless and rash children." (My ninth-grade biology teacher taught me the mnemonic for Linnaean taxonomy and I've been making up my own ever since). The ratio of spices depends on the taste your after. I like mine kind of sweet and spicy so I add a little extra coriander and chile powder. Throw in some some tofu for the protein and a beer for the cook and you're doing ok.

So I'm Back

I didn't really do that well with the last round of posts. The problem, as best I can determine was in the software rather than the hardware. I was trying to deny myself food while what I'm really prone to do is enjoy food. So maybe the thing to do is to enjoy food differently. To whit: the new hungry month--in which I try to reorient my relationship with food, drink and exercise. This time it's blackberry tarts.

First, go find a bunch of wild blackberries. If you live south of Canada there's no excuse for buying blackberries in the summer.



Second: combine 3 c. flour, 1 tsp. salt 3/4 c. canola oil, stirring cold water one Tbs at a time until the dough begins to form. Divide the dough into twelve equal pieces and press each into an oiled muffin pan as if they were mini-pies. Pile blackberries on top of each piece of dough and bake for 35 minutes at 350 degrees.




As far as exercise goes, I'm lifting weights again for the first time in years and rebuilding my base in so I can start training for a December half marathon which I hope to finish under two hours.

Days 29 and 30

Thus ends the hungry month. Weigh in the morning said 183, which I think comes out to and even six pounds lost. This is a little less than half my goal. I'm not depressed, but neither am I thrilled. There were several unforeseens that really changed the equation mid-stride. I'm going to think about it for a few days and see where the diet (and blog) need to go in the future.

Days 26, 26, 28

Buddhists take refuge in the three jewels (often depicted by the lotus) by contemplating the balance of Buddha, Dharma, and Sanga. We have apparently reached a similarly higher plane of balance at our house as we have lost our old car to irreparable engine trouble while having gained two kittens, which--if weighed on my special emotional scale--total out to right around 2,800 pounds, or exactly the same as a late model Ford compact. We spent the day car shopping--I haggled--and came home with a new ... er less used car.

I had planned on an afternoon ride, but after six hours of car dealerships we got home twenty minutes ahead of a brutal thunderstorm and all outside activity is canceled from the evening.

I had bread and a fried egg for breakfast and eight pieces of vegi sushi for lunch. Dinner will most likely be some sort of rice and vegetable combination. Lets call it 2000 kcal today.

I'm going to weigh in tomorrow in preparation for the final entry (coming on day 30) of the hungry month portion of this blog. We'll see where things go from there.

Day 25
Breakfast was about a cup of grits with two Tbs of shredded cheese, and a scrambled egg sandwich with mustard, hot sauce, tomatoes and two pieces of Morning Star Facon. For lunch I had two mini-Clif bars during my bike ride and a Boca Chic'n sandwich with mustard and rooster sauce after.



Let me pause here for a minute to say that I really, *really* think that Boca makes some of the best stuff out there for busy vegetarians. Eleven grams of protein, six grams of fat, fifteen grams of carbohydrates wrapped up into 160 calories--yum.

Dinner was a big salad and a small bean burrito. All told, I think the damage was around 1800kcals--not bad.

My bike ride today was great. If Map My Ride is correct I covered just a whisker under 30 miles with 584 feet of climbing in one hour forty-five minutes.



I'm not ready for the Tour, but it felt good for a change. On a side note, riding by yourself affords one with a pretty much overpowering opportunity to sing. Over the course of my ride I sang both of these at least twice (and not just because I was having trouble remembering some of the words).



and



without a group, however, it's difficult to do the audience participation part in the Coulton song.

I did achieve something close to audience participation though, when--while I was out of the saddle climbing the last hill--a guy in a late-model Tercel, wearing a gigantic straw hat, hollered "Ride that thang, boy," as he passed me.

Day 24

Breakfast: grits and an egg with hot sauce and lots of pepper
Lunch: Boca sandwich and some cottage cheese
Dinner: Grilled tofu and squash over rice and *gasp* a small thing of ice cream with a couple sugar cookies (crap). Lets say 2200 kcals.

I have a feeling I'm going to finish the month with only about a five pound loss. Clearly I need to change a few things. The eating hasn't been as good as I'd like, but the exercise is coming back. I've been on my bike every one the last three days and I'm actually feeling pretty good about how I'm riding. Solo rides aren't as much fun, but I'm getting better at amusing myself. Tomorrow I'm going to try to do a slightly longer loop and see how that feel. If I'm up for it I might even add a short run afterward.

The fireflies are out in force. I stepped into the back yard for a minute last night and they were popping all around me. I guess this means it's officially summer and I better take advantage of the long days while I still can.

Days 21, 22, 23

Cats continue to define much of what's going on. Summer orientations are starting up on campus, so that's going to start eating up a bunch of time too. That said, I got out on my bike Wednesday and Thursday. I've been tuning my rear shifter--it's funny how nothing seems to knock a bike out of tune as fast and not riding it. Neither ride was long--just an hour each. I'm still sorting out some of the routes here and I'm not ready to get way out there by myself yet.

I've been mostly having grits or bagels for breakfast, sandwiches for lunch. We had Thai last night and rice with vegetables the night before. I'm not working out as much as I'd like, but hopefully I'll get that on track soon.

Day 20
Some normalcy returned today. The cats are still here, but I'm pretty convinced that the black one's funk is over so I didn't fell like I had to get up and check on it every couple hours. Feeling better rested, I actually got up and made a real breakfast: bagels with provolone, half a grapefruit, and about a half cup of cottage cheese. For lunch I made a Boca Chik'n sandwich and for dinner I grilled some vegetables and couscous for dinner (plus a very small bowl of ice cream).

I also ran four miles, put up "kittens need a good home" posters around campus and did a little work in the garden, which has so far produced a few pounds of radishes (they mature quickly) and a ton of weeds (they mature even more quickly). My plot is part of a community garden project that gives most of its food to a local food bank. We're waiting to hear next week if the grant application I wrote to Gardenburger got approved.



I hope to make it into the gym for some more swimming and a weigh in tomorrow. I'm not feeling all the optimistic, but I should be somewhere in the low 180s.

Days 18 and 19
A twofer--the cat situation has gotten more complicated. Eight days ago we found the gray one from the Day 12 post. Two days ago this one literally fell out of a tree at our feet.



I called fifteen more shelters today and none of them were willing to take cats.

I'm embarrassed at how much this consumes me and how little time I have for anything else, but I feel on the verge of panic over these cats. I can't imagine taking care of them for the next twenty years, but I can't give them to the pound (which euthanizes kittens after only twenty-four hours) either.

I haven't worked our or thought too much about my diet for the last couple days. I was hoping to reboot this week, but I don't see how I'll do it while facing the cat-aclysm.

Day 17:

Sausage sandwiches with mustard and cheese for breakfast. For lunch I had a boca sandwich and more radishes. Dinner was about half a frozen pizza. I spent most of the day trying to find something to do with this kitten. There's an adoptathon tomorrow morning and I'm hoping we can find someone there. For something that weighs 1.05 pounds the thing takes up an incredible space in my life.

I have some work-type stuff to do tomorrow afternoon, but I hope to get a bike ride in later in the afternoon.

Day 16:

Not much to report. I had eggs and toast for breakfast plus a couple oranges. Lunch was a boca sandwich and radishes from the garden. Dinner was a bowl of coconut curry with rice. Call it 2000 kcals.

I swam 500 meters and ran four miles today, but I sort of feel like the diet is stalling. I'm going to think about what I need to do to re-energize it.

Days 13, 14, and 15

I know, three days in one post (the blog à trois, I like to call it) is kind of lame, but since I was out of town and eating in someone else's kitchen there isn't a whole lot to report. Monday we drove most of the day to get to the place we were staying Monday and Tuesday nights. It's kind of a left-wing cult. . .er, resort on a private mountain so it felt sort of like the Boy Scout camps I used to go to as a kid if the scout oath had included fidelity to a higher power of your own choosing or creation and the mess tent had held a 5:30-6:30 cocktail hour.

The food was buffet style and very good (the chef studied in Tuscany) so I ate more than I should have, but there was some exertion to balance that out. To whit: exhibit A--the lookout we hiked to on Tuesday morning.



It isn't Kilimanjaro, but we dropped 35000 ft into the valley, gained another 3500 to get to that peak, then did the whole thing backwards to get home.

We drove home Wednesday afternoon and I got back in time to do some errands including a very pathetic 500 meters in the pool--no triathlon for millstone-boy anytime soon. I weighed in at 182 after my swim (I think the two lost pounds came from my self-esteem) but I can't complain. I'm not traveling again for a while and I'm set to run with G tomorrow morning so for at least the next couple weeks the word is discipline and we'll see what happens.

Day 13:

The diet continues (barely) and I'm getting in a little exercise. I did a slow jog for about four miles yesterday with no real problems. The cat is still with us. Every no-kill shelter within fifty miles is full. I've put ads on frecycle and hit up the people I know here, but it doesn't look good. We have to go out of town for a few days so a friend is going to take care of the cat temporarily. Hopefully we'll be able to sort something out when we get back.

Day 12:



This cat ran out in front of my car while I was driving home from dinner Saturday night. It was on its own and we just didn't have the heart to leave it. At the same time, we aren't set up to take care of a cat. Everything has stopped in the daunting attempt to find this little guy a home.

Day 11:
Giving away money is hard. So many things went wrong with the scholarship award that I can't list them here. Suffice it to say that my mood was semi-permanently marred. I was due for an off day anyway, so I didn't do anything today.

I had a bagel with a slice of Swiss cheese for breakfast, a Boca Chic'n for lunch (along with way to many nacho chips and a little leftover quinoa). We went out to dinner and I had a salad and half a plate of pretty good gnocchi with a decent bottle of Pinot Noir. Some diet, eh?



I'll pay for today later, I'm sure

Day 10:
Slept way in and barely got up in time for my haircut. I have to be at a high school awards ceremony tomorrow morning to give out a scholarship to a graduating senior so I have to look spiffy.

I had a couple of big pieces of bread with Swiss cheese for breakfast, a small Clif bar for lunch and a baked sweet potato with all the fixings for dinner. Good diet day, but I feel pretty tired. Rain and lightening broke up my swim plans so I ran a couple miles on the treadmill and did a bunch of push ups and pull ups. Otherwise. this was a pretty lazy day. The scale at the gym says 184, which is progress, but not as much as I'd like.

Day Nine:
I got up early and ran the standard 5.5 with G. After the run I had a salt bagel with red onion and Swiss cheese and spent a couple hours reading Donna Haraway's Modest Witness@Second Millenium. FemaleMan Meets OncoMouse: Feminism and Technoscience. It's an embarrassing title, but the book is ok and necessary for some of the research I'm doing on my current essay. Later I had a corn bread and tomato sandwich for lunch and went to a double baby shower (two monthers--not twins) where I ate entirely too many cookies. My attempts to catch the semi-local group ride at 6:00 failed so I came back home and mostly procrastinated. Dinner was fritata and I had a very small bowl of vanilla ice cream, peach bits and a angle food cake for dessert. I'm going to say today was probably 3000 kcal or more so bad me...bad me.

Day Eight:

I think the diet caught up with me bit today. I ran with G at 7:30--our usual 5.5 route--and then came home for a breakfast of an egg white, Swiss cheese, onion and jalapeno omelet with some grits, cottage cheese and half a grapefruit. Lunch was a bowl of leftover pinto bean soup, a piece of corn bread with cheddar, and a popcicle. I ran into the office for a couple hours to finish some research and answer a few emails that had been lingering and then ran a series or small errands (recycling, bank, Et al.). I got home by around 4:00 and was totally wiped. I fought it for about forty-five minutes, but gave in a little before 5:00 and took what I was thinking would be a one hour nap before I hit the pool. I was drooling and disoriented when I woke up at 7:30 and, of course, missed my swim. Dinner was quinoa with sauteed vegetables, basil and garlic. All told I must be around 2100 kcal for today. Since I missed my swim I also missed weigh in. I'll try to swing by the gym tomorrow to do the walk of shame so I can report the actual numbers.

I'm running with G again tomorrow morning and hoping to get in on my first group ride in a long time at 4:30 pm so I'll have to watch intakes more carefully to see if I'm shorting myself.

Inspiring photo of the day comes from the Velonews website:

One of the things that I love about the European peleton is that it's manly enough that they sometimes get into fights, but not so much that they hesitate to race their hearts out for a pink shirt.

Day Seven:

Two scones with dried cherries and a little butter and half grapefruit for breakfast. The holiday meant the pool was closed, so I went for a run instead. For lunch I had two sandwiches (one Boca Chik'n, one cheese and jalapeno) and a popsicle. Dinner was a small baked sweet potato with onions and sauerkraut. We watched a movie after dinner and I had some plain popcorn. All told, the damage had to be around 2500 kcal. I went to bed slightly hungry, which I take to be a good sign.

I plan on weighing in tomorrow. To be on track for my goal I'll need to be down to about 184/183. While I'm at the gym (that's the only scale) I'll try to do 1K in the pool.

Boring post, I know, but I'll try to come up with something more exciting next time.

Day Six:

Curried home fries made from three red C potatoes and an egg white omelet for breakfast started the day off pretty nicely. We opened a new can of coffee this morning and even though it's the same brand we usually have, this batch has a much stronger smokey flavor. I thought I'd mis-measured the grounds or something. I had a small cheese sandwich with fresh basil along with an apple for lunch and wrapped things up with pinto bean soup and two small pieces of cornbread. Considering that it was just the one bowl of soup, I'm going to have to guess that today fell into the 2200 kcal range.

I finally got to the pool, but almost feel like I would have been better off without it. My swim has swum, apparently, as I was hard pressed to finish my first hundred meters without falling back on the breast stroke.

I didn't think I'd look like this:


but I didn't expect to look like this either:


I'm going back on Tuesday, but I'm going to have to really think hard about the triathlon in September. I tacked on a couple of easy miles on the treadmill, mostly to take the edge off the drubbing my ego suffered in the pool, and wrapped up with some push-pulls and a couple sets of one-legged squats.


My bike is still in the shop and since they'll probably be closed tomorrow, I'll probably leave it with them until Wednesday's group ride. It's been close to a year since I've ridden with a group--I hope I remember how.

Day Five:

Slept waaaay in this morning and then broke my fast with a couple of VERY good pancakes along with some facon, scrambled egg whites with hot sauce,and a couple of navel oranges (all made by my wife). Good times...good times.

I spent the bulk of the afternoon doing boring email stuff for work and rearranging my research piles so I can hit the ground running tomorrow and hopefully put together two (that's right TWO pages tomorrow). I had about a cup of couscous with caramelized onions and sesame oil for lunch and then did a bunch more of the boring stuff.

I wasn't feeling especially creative so I ran the route G and I usually do and wrapped it up in just over forty minutes. The humidity went to eleven so I couldn't tell when I'd cooled down, but after a while I went inside and did some asymmetrical squats along with some more pull ups.

We scrounged for dinner and I made a salad with pretzel sticks. Over all I'm thinking I finished the day in the 2300 kcal range.

There's a legend that the pool is open tomorrow. I'll try to get that 1K swim in tomorrow and also pick up my bike from the shop. I'm contemplating a mountain bike ride on the way to the bike shop so there may be some injury photos for the next entry.

The cool song I listened to this run was:



God, Birmingham is really doing something right.

Day 4

I went to a retirement party tonight for a professor who had been teaching here for forty-one years. I kind of can't imagine it at all--two generations of students moving through your classroom. This is a guy who probably had the grandson of former students in his last class.

It was a catered party, but the only vegetarian parts of the dinner were the anemic rolls, the cole slaw, cake and beer. I had some of each. I'd started the day well with a fried egg sandwich and grapefruit for breakfast. For lunch I had some leftover rice with Sriracha and soy sauce and a small Clif bar. I'm less confident about the kcals with the catering and all, but I'm thinking I ended the day at around 2500 kcals.

I ran with G again--we almost always go the same route so we clocked 5.5 miles in just about one hour. I did some more pull ups (I'm hoping a little more upper body will help burn some more calories) and extra stretches for a slightly tender left knee and called it a night.

Today's inspirational photo comes from Gym Jones:


Baaaad!

Day Three:

Pretty solid, but goddamn the pool schedule. I went to the gym at 4:30 with every intention of doing a mini brick (2 mile run and 1K swim), but the pool schedule wasn't what was posted online so instead of opening up for lap swim at 5:00--like it said online--I would have waited until 6:00. Instead of cooling my heels I did push-up pull-up circuts instead and made myself crazy, slurry worn out in something like eighteen minutes.

Diet-wise things were good. I had cottage cheese, strawberries, a fried egg and grapefruit for breakfast. For lunch I had a small bowl of rice with Sriracha (there's a great article about it by John T. Edge in the NYT here: (http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/20/dining/20united.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=huy&st=cse) and soy sauce and a cheese sandwich with a Kaiser roll. Dinner was pretty nice too. I had a bowl of Thai Peanut Butter noodles and a celery and mushroom salad. I'm guessing something like 2000 or 2200 kcals.

The damage on the scale wasn't as bad as I expected. I weighed in at a whopping 186 this afternoon. Using the quick and dirty online calculator that means I'm at about 15% body fat.

We're on our way to the big city to do some shopping and hopefully get some bike tuning tomorrow. I'm going to try to get in that swim before we go and then do a run in the afternoon when we're back.

Day two seems better:

I had grits and facon (fake bacon) for breakfast, then an apple and mini Clif bar for lunch and an assorted pop for a snack. For dinner I had one bowl of couscous and tofu curry and skipped dessert--I'm thinking around 1900 kcals. Additionally, I managed to run with my friend G (who has a two-month-old baby and a fairly serious Black and Mild habit). We go slow when he's along. Still, I squeezed out close to six miles. I'd meant to follow that up with a 1K swim, but I got the pool hours wrong and will have to do my swimming tomorrow.

Speaking of miscues, I tried to take my bike into the shop (thirty minutes away) for a tune up and possibly some replacement parts for the drive train. It seems like a really cool shop, but I can only guess since they are closed on Wednesdays. I have to go to REI to pick up a Rocky Mounts tray for my bike rack tomorrow, so I guess I'll swing back by the bike shop tomorrow morning and see if they can hook me up with some new cables, a derailleur adjustment and maybe a couple of new chain rings.

Anyway, the plan for tomorrow is errands, swim, and sillyverals. Which is a workout I invented to cope with my apparently innate inability to take intervals seriously. Here's part of what I'll be listening to on my blisteringly fast quarter-mile sprints tomorrow.



I hope taking my workout feel better pill makes my workout feel better.

Additionally, tomorrow should feature the first official weigh in of my hungry month and maybe even some baseline photos.

An inauspicious beginning: I ate reasonably well--egg white omelets with lightly sauteed vegs for breakfast, a BLT with fake bacon (because I'm a vegetarian) for lunch, an apple and then some Indian cabbage with cannelline beans followed by a couple spoons of ice cream and strawberries and a small piece of angel food cake for dessert. I'm thinking the whole thing clocks out at around 2000, maybe 2200 kcal.

The thing is, I was totally worn out after work this afternoon so I skipped my workout. I'll put in a couple extra miles tomorrow, but I know the damage was done. Either way, while it wasn't the best it also wasn't the worst way to start a hungry month.