Baltimore 10 Miler Race Report

It was an excessively long and hot day for me but I am pleased with my results.

The Lead Up

Friday evening started with an ~2 hour drive to Artemas, PA for Wicker Man a burgeoning Burning Man Regional Burn and ended around 2am when I went to the tent to try and get a couple hours of sleep. C- came to bed about an hour later and my alarm was set for 3:55.

Around 4:10 I climbed out of the tent, made my way to the coffee dragon for a shot of joe, talked to a couple of guys who were sitting around and got in the car for the 2+ hour drive to Druid Hill Park in Baltimore. I needed to get there early for packet pickup and allow time for parking and warming up.

On the way to the race I talked to Karina and she confirmed that she would be able to pick up my race packet which was fortunate as I needed to make an emergency stop at a McDonald's to use the restroom, with that out of the way I was just about ready to race.

ProTip: Sheetz MTO with jalapenos (late lunch), high fat summer sausage, cheese, pickles and beer (late dinner) are all very tasty but they might leave you with a bit of gas and the fear that you will need to change your shorts.

Upon arrival at the park I called Karina again and just so happened to find a prime parking space right next to the group and fairly near the start, score! I strapped on the Nathan Triangle I had purchased for C- on Friday hoped it wouldn't be a problem on the run and headed down the hill to the start. At the start with ~35 minutes to go I realized I didn't have my Hat, HRM strap and I hadn't put on body glide. Went up the hill back to the car fixed my problems and headed back (Woo, Warmup!).

The Plan

I had various thoughts about the race. I know the course from last year and you could call at best 1.3 miles in the middle flat, knowing that I had debated going out for a PR thinking about trying to hit 1:30:00 knowing that I probably shouldn't put in that kind of effort. With the sleep the night before and heat I really wasn't feeling it and decided that a relatively easy run was the plan and I would revisit on the course.

Karina indicated that she did something around 10:15/mi at Survivor Harbor 7 the previous weekend and that she may try to do something similar here.

The Race

Karina and I started off just behind the 10 minute pace marker but on the first hill I found myself closer to 9:45 and feeling easy. Karina indicated that she was OK for now and led the pace a bit faster until almost mile 2 when she decided to back off on the hills and told me to go on.

Shortly after mile 2 the course was slightly different going around the south side of Wyman Park instead of Up Art Museum Dr. although my watch (and many around me beeping every mile) seemed to indicate that the early miles were about .1 mile off everything seemed to line up in the end. This year also removed the lollipop near mile 9 which was much appreciated!

Between miles 2 and 5 I found some nice people to chat with (and sweat on, I had sweat dripping off my elbows, sorry), I was trying to maintain a nice HR in the mid 140s to low 150s this worked early on but the hills and heat had me in the mid to high 150s instead.

I was feeling good at mile 5 and decided to pick up the effort a little and then maybe again at 7 miles with the plan of not walking any of the hills but feeling perfectly fine with slowing down on 33rd and East Dr. and making time on the downhills. On the return I also did my best to continue sticking to the shaded parts of the course so long as that didn't have me weaving about.

I picked up again at mile 7. The push kicked my average HR to 171 and shaved ~10s/mi on the back half of the course and the no walking plan resulted in passing a large number of people in the last two miles on the hills.

The final kick to the end over the last downhill .25 and in particular the last 10th of a mile to the finish pegged my HR at an anaerobic 182bpm with a spike after crossing the line to 185. Presumably this is why I was wondering if I might vomit, fortunately I recovered quickly.

My Finish: 1:34:41 is a new PR, Last year on this course was a 1:44:24 taking almost a minute a mile off my pace

After Care

The finish corral was well manned and stocked as I have come to expect from this race. The ReGen sports recovery drink was cold and a good rich chocolate, the watermelon was cool and refreshing, the iced towels were wonderful and the mist blowing fan was both misty and fan like.

Outside the corral the beer selection improved this year to include Yuengling a welcome addition to the standard light beer selection from last year. For the more calorie conscious I also noticed MGD 64.

Among the vendors was Plow Gum (with a picture of a bull). This energy gum starts off tasting bad and gets worse, it was impressively horrid tasting to the point that I wondered if the bull in the logo contributed to the formulation. Maybe it just shouldn't follow beer but I don't think I will give it another shot.

Post Race

Before I got back on the road for PA Karina, John and I went to the City Cafe for brunch where I had a wonderful blackened catfish with andouille sausage and crawfish gravy and cheesy corn meal grits. The food and out waiter were both excellent.

In the end do to poor planning, scheduling changes and inattention I missed the Potomac River Running Twilight 4 Miler. I did however wear the shirt which was noticed before, during and after the race with questions and comment like. Wait, isn't that today? Are you running that race tonight? and I'll see you there!

A Personal Note

This weekend I also did not attend the funeral of Peter Theune, a good friend and father figure. We had not talked in quite a while, I am very bad at keeping in touch, but I have many fond memories of my younger adult hood hanging out at his house with him, his son Travis and our friends talking and shooting the shit into the wee hours of the morning. He was on my mind all weekend and I would like to believe that he would have appreciated my decision to spend quality time with my family doing things that I enjoy but I do feel some regrets for choosing not to attend the funeral.

Bib

FName

LName

City

State

Div

Age

Sex

ChipTime

ClockTime

Overall

SexPl

DivPl

AgeGrade

Pace

1157

KARINA

FERRY

BALTIMORE

MD

F3034

32

F

1:49:24

1:51:03

2150

1052

244

45.5%

10:57

1158

SHAWN

FERRY

LEESBURG

VA

M3034

34

M

1:34:41

1:36:21

1123

695

134

47.2%

Timed Mile, I'm an analytics guy

I am always interested to see the speed and HR tracks post race and workout. This will be my third year participating in the AARC (Ashburn Area Running Club) DTP (Distance Training Program/Fall Marathon Training) and while I do listen to the coaches I know that I am commonly running too fast on slower days.

The premise of the timed mile, in the beginning of the year for the DTP, is to establish a baseline tempo/threshold (T) pace and a feeling for what that T effort should generally feel like. On the track last night Cathy Pugsley said "this is a comfortably hard run for some of you this will be 10k pace for some closer to 10 mile pace [if you have questions ask]" the pacing guidelines of 'comfortably hard' and 10K pace didn't mean much to me the last two years, this year I have a much better grasp on both.

• Year 1: Started running about 6 months prior not only did I have no idea, I didn't even have a good guess. Ran ~7:38/mi
• Year 2: I had only raced 5k, 4mi and Marathon and felt a bit more confident, eventually declaring that my T pace was ~8:30/mi. Ran ~7:37/mi
• Year 3: Added 8k, 10k, 1/2 Marathon and Ultra (50k). 8:30 feels a bit easy so far this year. Ran ~7:38/mi

What does any of this have to do with numbers?

What we can see here is that even though I had no idea on pace at first and then when I did I ran relatively consistent times, the difference is in the numbers I get from using high tech running gadgets and how I feel during the run.

2008 - 2010, Bigger Image

All the miles are run on the same track and with the theory that each lap could be a little harder than the one before. What isn't shown as clearly is that I always start too fast and back off generally in the first 200m.

• 2008 pacing is all over the place but most notably almost half the last lap is in Zone 5 effectively sprinting.
  • Better than 1/2 in Zone 3 seems good but I know this turned into a maximal effort and I was spent at the end.
  • 9/24/58% Zone 5/4/3
  • Max HR 185
• 2009 pacing is a bit more consistent but still variable
  • I was OK at the end but comfortably hard would be a generous description
  • 0/54/37% in Zone 5/4/3
  • Max HR 179
• 2010 Still started too fast. However, the remaining laps are within a few seconds.
  • Could I keep it up for an hour...maybe on a good day. However, for a mile I would call it comfortably hard.
  • 0/41/49% Zone 5/4/3
  • Max HR 174

Great, what do those numbers mean?

Really I don't know, I'm not an exercise physiologist. I haven't actually done a lab or field Lactate Threshold test. There is probably some heart rate reserve analysis that could be done based on my maximal heart rate (observed at 195bpm at mile 17 of the '09 Frederick Marathon) and resting HR 54bpm (I should recheck). Instead I think I will do a LT lab test and let someone who knows what they are doing figure that out more specifically for me.

• Lower Max HR at the end of each run seems to indicate progressively better aerobic fitness
• Time in HR zones moving lower seems to indicate progressively better aerobic fitness
• Lower perceived effort and faster recovery seems to indicate progressively better aerobic fitness

For now this means that for now I will be targeting ~8:00/mi as a tempo pace, which is probably to fast, ~8:30mi or maybe a bit slower is probably more accurate but we will see what we get.

What are you doing with those numbers?

Hopefully I am properly setting my expectations and getting the most out of my training. After my first marathon I was briefly despondent because I didn't hit my goal time of 4:45:00 (or maybe that and postmarathon blues). I got over it and realized that as a self-declared non-runner I had trained and finished a marathon and I missed my arbitrary time goal by 2.5 minutes. In subsequent marathons I haven't had those problems even when my performance has been much worse.

I would love to reach a sub 4-hour marathon but I think that is an overly ambitious improvement last years 00:20:53 is huge and an additional 27 minutes in a year seems quite a big year-over-year improvement. I'll keep sub-4 as a massive stretch goal for now but (hopefully) more realistically I would like to complete the 35th Marine Corps Marathon in less than 4:20 and it would be awesome to do it in less than 4:15. Time will tell and goals for the year should be adjusted as we go.

• Baltimore 2008: 04:47:30 (First Marathon)
• Frederick 2009: 04:59:50 (Weather kicked my ass, started at an optimistic pace for my level of preparation)
• Baltimore 2009: 05:21:08 (Stubbornly started with a fever ran out of gas at the half)
• Space Coast 2009: 04:26:55 (Fourth Marathon)
• Baltimore 2010: ??? (Will be an overly long training run for marathon training, maybe I need a fall ultra)
• Marine Corps Marathon 2010: ???

Tempo/Threshold Pace: A pace that you could theoretically maintain for an hour if you had to. Theoretically this can also be determined with Lactate Threshold testing.

"It's what I call 'comfortably hard, You know you're working, but you're not racing. At the same time, you'd be happy if you could slow down." -- Bill Pierce

This Year's Race Schedule

The secret to weight loss (aside from better eating habits and more exercise) is telling people that you have a goal, it helps you stick to it. Actually those are all the secrets for weight loss. I find that the secret for getting my ass out of the house to get exercise is to train for races. If I don't have a race it is easy to make excuses. I'm tired, it's raining or I'd rather just drink some beer and read a book or watch TV. Following the weight loss formula I'm publishing the races that I have selected for the year.

• April 4th -- LAWS Half Marathon Results: 2:10:37 (PR)
• May 2nd -- ToughMudder Bear Creek (~7 miles on Ski slopes with obstacles) Results: Finished
• May 23rd -- MD Half Marathon Results: 2:02:58 (PR)
• June 5th -- The North Face Endurance Challenge Mid-Atlantic (50K)* Results: 08:19:04 (PR It is always a PR the first time you finish)
• June 19th -- Baltimore 10 Miler
• June 19th -- Twilight 4 Miler
• Sept 12th -- Parks Half
• Oct 9th -- Warrior Dash (~3 miles with obstacles)
• Oct 16th -- Baltimore Marathon*
• Oct 31st -- Marine Corps Marathon*
• Nov 20th -- JFK 50 Mile**

On that note, I'm going for a run.
* Goal Race, and One of Baltimore or Marine Corps
** Maybe, We'll see how the shorter ultra goes before getting really crazy and thinking about submitting an application

Edit: I think I got the date for the 4 miler from last year, I am heavily overbooked for the 19th 

A weekend of running, a new hydration pack and the LAWS Half Marathon (PR)

It was a down week in my training schedule for the Mid-Atlantic Regional North Face Endurance Challenge 50K. On June 5th I will have 9 hours to complete the ~31 mile course.

Saturday was a good 12 mile run with Mandy and Cherry from Great Falls to Algonkian Park on the Potomac Heritage Trail which makes up or at least parallels a fair amount of TNFEC DC route. The weather was beautiful if slightly chilly and a little windy. We finished faster than I had previously done that section ~2:30. I didn't feel at all bad letting them head back to and around Great Falls for another 14 or so miles. This was the first time out with the Nathan vest and I have to say I like it. Sunday was the Loudoun Abused Women's Shelter (LAWS) Half Marathon. I had planned to go out easy, continue on and finish that way, a nice easy supported training run. Having reviewed my results from my first running of the event in 2009 I knew that I needed to beat a 10:15/mi pace to PR and decided to see how I felt in the morning after an early start, trip to Columbia and a Caps game in DC and late celebration at the Irish Channel for the Caps second game against the Habs the day before.

Race day, it was cold when I woke up at 6 after about 4 hours of sleep. I had pre-mixed fuel in my new Nathan HPL 020 with its HydraPak bladder to replace my older leaking CamelBak with its taped patches, pinned on my number, attached my timing chip, laid out my clothes and set the coffee maker to start brewing at 5:50. I rolled out of the house about 7:15 and arrived in the parking lot around 7:30. I mustered the will to get out of the car and into the cold wander into the hall, chat with Conan and eventually back out for a lack luster warmup only to find that my Garmin would not turn on even though I took it off the charger right before I left the house. Oh well, I have RunKeeper which works well enough if my phone can get GPS signals.

At almost exactly not quite 8:30 the race started after an abysmally down tempo rendition of the National Anthem. In the first half mile I felt horrible and thought to myself that if I hadn't crossed the starting line I could just quit. It's one thing to not start but another thing entirely to DNF and I wasn't going to start doing that now. At mile 1 I got the first and only split until after the turn around. 00:11:49 eh, I thought so much for a PR. Got to the first water at about 1.25mi skipped it but took a drink from the pack and a walk to adjust the shock cord on the Nathan, it was managing to brush me right on the funny bone every so often.

Around mile 3 I loosened up and started enjoying the race, around 4.5 the leaders on the road started passing on the return leg. Then I had to stop and urinate the second of three times during the race, I guess that is a good sign for getting re-hydrated after Saturday but it seemed ridiculous. I started passing some people who had gone by in the first three miles but still took it easy with no real idea of pace or HR. A few times I noticed that my breathing was a bit labored and backed off to easy again reducing pace on inclines and just going with the flow.

At mile 7 the second split on the course I got ~1:11:30 and realized that even with the horrible beginning, a bit of walking and running easy I was close enough that the ~10:14 I would need to make a PR was in reach if I kept it up and maybe pushed a little on the down hills (forgetting that the return really seems like it is mostly long slow climbs). I rolled on with renewed enthusiasm. From 7 - 12.1 my split was ~2:01:?? and I thought, holy crap I just flew through those miles like nothing, even with another pit stop all I needed was nice fairly easy 10:00/mi to be sure of a good PR. A short sprint up the last little hill and across the line left me with a new Half Marathon PR of 2:10:37 down from 2:14:17 in 2009.

Equipment thoughts

Nathan HPL 020

The Good:

• No bottles (as with the FuelBelt) to hit with my thighs on obstacles
• Front facing pockets are great and totally missing from my CamelBak packs primarily used for cycling.
• Hammer Perpetum in the reversible bladder (for cleaning) works well, no problems with flow.

The only OK:

• The bite valve, when the bladder is full and I am running the valve drips/squirts a little as fluid sloshes. I find myself turning the flow on and off via the push pull mechanism which I think adversely affects my ability to sip as frequently as I did with the CamelBak.
• Bite valve on/off the push pull mechanism, it works but it isn't my favorite.
• Having recently been shopping for hiking packs...I would really like the strap adjustments to pull towards the back (your front) so that I could snug the pack on the run. Again thinking that I could slightly modify the fit as content and volume change.
• I had snugged the shock cord on the back of the pack to see how it affected the fairly minimal sloshing I had noticed. It didn't seem to make a difference but the now longer end of the cord swung to gently tap me on the funny bone every so often.
• The closed zip pocket on the front has the same mesh back, if I were to store a phone/camera in the pocket I would need to continue to use a bag inside the pocket.

Baltimore Marathon Live Tracking

The Marathon will have live results including split times somewhere on the Baltimore Marathon Site or at Active.com. I don't know for sure and I won't be checking from the course.

For all of you that follow me on twitter, you are obviously waiting for updates with baited breath, I haven't had the time to work out a way to update that I am sure won't end up as spam.
Instamapper is showing you the last time I had GPS Tracker running, when I ran 20 miles of the course in baltimore, but will update as soon as I start it back up on Saturday.

Non-Embedded: http://www.instamapper.com/ext?key=7514930745553215930
Mobile Tracking: http://mobile.instamapper.com/ext?key=7514930745553215930
GPS tracking powered by InstaMapper.com (Reload page for updates)

I will be wearing bib number Shawn (1117), my sisters Emily (21796) and Karina (31683) will both be running the Baltimore Half Marathon. I also run with a Garmin 305, after the race I will have detailed track information which I view with Ascent from Montebello Software. Ascent allows me to view my pace, heart rate and supporting data with a replay function to view recorded data with a map overlay.
After the race I will upload the recorded course to mapmyrun.com

Baltimore Marathon in 10:10:10:10

10 Days, 10 Hours, 10 Minutes and 10 Seconds

I have been training for that last 20 weeks to run the Baltimore marathon. My first ever marathon and the first time I have done any real training for a running race. I have been training with the Ashburn Area Running Club and Potomac River Running as part of the AARC distance training program.

My goals for this run in order of preference:

1. Finish in 4:45
2. Finish in less than 5:00
3. Finish on my feet

I got new shoes four weeks ago (Asics Nimbus 10) they are broken in (and extremely similar to my old Asics Cumulus). As of this moment my first concern is getting sick. Cdash is currently coughing up yellow phlegm and feeling miserable. Otherwise I have yet to run the full distance but I did run most all of the hills on the course on a 20 mile training run two weeks ago.

I am working on live tracking for the event, more details as I work them out.

Hockey: We won 5-0 (and a weekend recap)

We won 5 - 0, I got the game winning goal and an assist. Now I'm not really tired it will make for a long day tomorrow.

I left for the game right after we finished watching the NHL All Stars, I enjoyed the game. All in all it was a really hockey weekend. On Saturday we drove up to Hershey, PA for a Bears game (The Caps Farm team). We got in a little late and they were down 3 - 0 against the Senators.

In the end the Bears won 5 - 3, we hung out after the game for some autographs, talked to some of the players it was a nice day even if the drive home seemed a little long.

Slept in this morning (felt great) before doing some work around the house. @cdash and I pulled out the dish washer to insulate behind it, put new casters on an ottoman and tore up some defiled carpet and molding.

Now I have a two week break and a nice early 11:15 game (the latest possible slot) on a Monday.

In the end it was a good weekend but I'll pay for it in the morning. I think there may be a bit of Wii Lego Starwars in my future.

Hockey: We won 2-1

We got a goal in the first and second periods. The Kings scored with about 1:38 in the 3rd and pulled their goalie at 1:00. It was a bit exciting there at the end.

Are You Working for the hollidays?

Except for the possible negative of driving more traffic over to Mrs. Skrocki further cementing her in the list of hot bloggers at Sun. Her Putting 1st things 1st post is apropos of the season and the prevalent view at Sun.

With the exception of lugging my laptop along incase something breaks (I am on call) I am avoiding thoughts of work as much as possible.

All my previous thoughts about poking about in CAC or changing/updating my blog theme are on hold, now back to watching last nights hockey game and working on China pictures, possibly going to see Sweeney Todd before dinner with @cdash's mother later tonight.

Hockey, Tied 3-3

Our team remains undefeated, for the first time since EVER. Our record is now 2-0-4. We knew that we were going to be down a some players and we had a substitute goalie which made for some excitement all around.

I was a bit tired and sore from the race on Saturday morning and we ended up with a lighter than expected turnout. Aside from the stamina issues I think it worked fairly well as a recovery exercise. A prophylactic dose of IB about an hour before the game and some hard skating seems to have loosened me up nicely.

I can still feel the race a bit in my legs, yesterday felt like I was riding big hills on my bike. Today feels like I rode some big hills on my bike a while ago.

Celtic Solstice Five Miler in Druid Hill Park, Race Report

The Celtic Solstice Five Miler was a good race. I was initially concerned about the projected cold weather, weather.com indicated 34F feels like 20F, late the night before the race the projected temperatures were 23F feels like 0F. Courtney and I got on the road at 6:50 (aiming for 6:30) I was concerned about getting to the race with enough time to pick up my bib, chip and warm up.

The drive took about 1:15 and Courtney dropped me off near the south west corner of Druid Lake, when I got out of the car it was DAMN cold. Even wearing two pairs of tights one thermal, insulated shell pants, cold weather top, a running top, a mesh backed vest, light running gloves, a mid weight shell jacket and some lobster claw gloves and a hat with a polar tech band; I was still cold. I ended up not using the gortex booties having located a pair of smartwool biking socks (perfect!).

I have never been to Druid Hill Park however I knew there was a shuttle bus to the start. I saw a pickup and headed over at a light jog to try and get warmed up a bit. Missed the first bus, got picked up and then we all wondered why we took the shuttle, it wasn't much of a ride. After we were dropped of I walk/jogged down the hill to the start to pick up my number plate and chip.

I got my stuff and decided after getting moving that really what I was wearing (under the shell and pants) was going to be enough. I ditched them with my bag at the bag check and headed to the scrum of people waiting for the race to get under way. On my way to the start I saw Emily and turned back with her to get her bib and chip.

At this point running a bit late the tables had been setup for food and there was a little delay on the bib and some trouble finding her chip. As we were setting out for the starting line the last of the scrum started moving and had cleared through the start when we got there. We were hurried on through at around 5min after the clock started with the back of the field about half way across the bridge and caught up just before the starting hill.

A quarter of the way up the hill Emily sent me on ahead knowing that we were on a different pace, almost immediately after that Courtney was standing on the side cheering us on.

The rest of the race: I liked the course, it was indeed rolling hills, I was keeping an eye on my HR, aiming to keep it generally below 175 (I averaged 171 for the duration). The course was well marked, as advertised there were a few potholes and puddles nothing that caused any issues that I saw, it did have its narrow moments and aside from a little squeezing and difficulty passing it also wasn't bad. Around (or possibly at) mile 1 someone was calling the time, I was at ~9.5 (my watch) and feeling good, I missed mile two. A quick sip of water at the turn around (2.65) was welcome and three came quickly after. The middle of three was a little bit of a struggle with a twinge in my side, between 3.2 - 3.6, by four I was feeling better and started accelerating to the finish. It certainly didn't hurt that the last mile is mostly down hill but the kick took me up into the red and final sprint over the bridge and across the line drove my heart rate to a gasping 191bpm.

Took a seat for a minute to take off my chip and went out to cheer Emily across the line. Emily came across the line just about seven minutes later and on my way back to meet her I ran into Courtney who had been sitting looking for us to cross the line. We went to the tent to get a drink, a bite of food and collect my bag. The results were posted quite quickly, but the page with Emily's times wasn't up by the time we left. Unfortunately it appears that putting my warm clothes back on I managed to drop my sunglasses (Rudy Project Kerosene w/prescription insert in a black Rudy case).

On the way home we stopped to pick up my sister Karina and take her to breakfast at my Aunt Jean's. Learned that my younger sister Karina has been running and caught a hard time for not telling her we were going to be running. We stopped in at Jean's to see my Mother, my Aunt Mary and Uncle Bob and chat for a bit. A few cups of coffee, a snack, some fruit and few hours later we hit the road for home. Now we are chilling on the couch watching hockey with Courtney and the cats.

Lessons Learned:

• One of these days, try to get nearer the front, say maybe near the pace you are intending to run. (It might be interesting to try a run where I didn't start out weaving around passing people, not that this tends to go too long)
• Trust your previous experience, I was worried about the cold but what I selected was just about perfect (once I got moving).
• Really do get to the race earlier, this worked but, I didn't really need the rush right before the beginning.
• I need more practice on hills. Watching HR for climbing is working but descent isn't comfortable/smooth.

The Race site, currently disabled probably due to bandwidth (nice).

The Washington Running Report take on the race, indicating that it has grown too big and the next year it will be capped at 2500 entries.

Preliminary results: 1902 Finishers

Pl Name HomeTown XAG Club GunTime
1. Berdan, David Baltimore, MD M26 25:28.20
1348. Ferry, Shawn Leesburg, VA M31 51:00.20
1672. Ferry, Emily Columbia, MD F24 57:44.90

ChipPl Name ChipTime

1. Berdan, David 25:28.00
1177. Ferry, Shawn 46:44.00
1611. Ferry, Emily 53:26.95

In the end the temperature was around 33F. My pace was ~09:21/mi

Edit: Fixed some typos and editing issues, should have gotten a proof reader for posting while tired.

Celtic Solstice Five Miler, tomorrow

In ~20 hours I will be racing the in Celtic Solstice Five Miler my wife will be there to cheer and my youngest sister may also be running.

Went up to the community gym last evening, I should do that more often. It isn't big or equipped with all the latest gear but it has more than enough for a good workout. Did about a mile warmup, got a good stretch, did another slow mile, stretched some more and walked home. As a dry run I tried the gortex biking booties as the ventilation in my shoes has been a little on the chilly side. The booties are OK, but they are C-'s 41/42 and I wear 45s, they didn't bother me and I noticed a decrease in chilly feet on my walk to and from the gym.


Weather.com says Baltimore will have a "Fitness Comfort Index of 2 (where 3-1: Uncomfortable)" Mostly Cloudy to Cloudy with predicted temperatures of 30F feels like 20F. It should be fun, except for the getting up early to drive up for the race.

Chicken Primavera w/garlic bread in 10min or less

Taking my cue from ThinGuy, only no one has been asking me for my recipes :)

This meal was prepared in the office kitchen, using only minimal tools and supplies.

Required Ingredients:



Lean Cuisine Chicken Primavera
Red (cayenne) pepper

Preparation:

1. Set toaster oven to Bake at ~450
2. 1. Place baking rack on the top rail
      
3. Prepare Garlic Toast
   
4. 1. Remove a roll from the bag, split and place on clean surface
   2. Lightly coat top of roll with ICBINB
   3. Apply Garlic Salt to taste
   4. Apply Italian Spice Blend to Taste
   5. Place prepared toast in toaster oven
5. Chicken Primavera
6. 1. Remove from box
   2. Place in microwave
   3. heat until hot (we used 8:30 for two)
7. Brown/Toast the Toast
   
8. 1. At ~2:00 remaining on the microwave
      
   2. Switch the toaster oven to broil
   3. Observe closely to prevent burning
      
      
9. Enjoy!
   

I add ground red (cayenne) pepper to my Chicken


Notes:
The found "I Can't Believe It's Not Butter" expired Feb 13 '07. If you can't find this vintage feel free to use whatever edible grease you can find. Butter or butter flavor recommended.

The random spices smell like an Italian blend. They have been allowed to mellow and blend on the office kitchen table for at least a month.

All times are approximate, a pre-heated toaster oven would clearly require less time.

Hockey: Tied 4-4

We ended up tied 4-4.

Went down by two in the first, picked up one in the second and three in
the third.

The tying goal was a screened slapshot from THEIR blue line.

We are doing much better as a team, but we were having issues
getting the puck out of our zone tonight.

My legs were feeling dead almost from the start, ah well. Need to get back on
the regular exercise bandwagon.

Hockey: We won

We are now officially the "Rink Rats" we couldn't get the "Farging Ice Holes", I was also partial to pylons.

We won 2-1, nearly shocking. Next game is a nice early 11:00pm.

My foot didn't bother me and thankfully the Refs were a little late so I had time to stretch out on the ice. A little short on stamina but I haven't been on the ice for at least a month and I really slacked off on the running and other generally health things in Vegas and China.

14.5 miles at 15.28mph

Not bad, not great, I need to keep riding.