This week in training

Monday
Off

Tuesday
2.x mile warmup, drills
4x800, 3 min rec (in racing flats)
(3:07.5, 3:07.6, 3:09.3, 3:04.2)
.75 mile cooldown
Weightlifting (general)

Wednesday
4 mile recovery run

Thursday
2.x mile warmup, drills
4x100, 3 min rec (in sprint spikes)
(14.9, 14.9, 14.6, 14.2)
.75 mile cooldown

Friday
3 mile recovery run

Saturday
2.x mile warmup, drills
1x800, 3 min rec; 5x400, 1 min rec; 4x100, 3 min rec (in racing flats)
(2:59.6; 82.6, 87.5, 85.3 87.4, 89.0; 16.0, 15.2, 15.0, 14.9)
[very HUMID- legs felt good, lungs felt bad]
.75 mile cooldown
Weightlifting (general)

Sunday
5.5 mile run

Taste of Cambridge

Last night Janda and I went to the Taste of Cambridge at Technology Park in Cambridge. With a lot of beach traffic leaving Gloucester and slightly confusing roads in Cambridge, it took us a while to get there, but it was worth the wait. The event was planned for last Thursday, but was postponed due to rain. Janda and I were both happy to see sun on the forecast for yesterday and we weren't disappointed as the evening turned out to be gorgeous. The park itself was very nice, with a lot of shade-giving trees and an open common in the middle.

When we got to the park, we were amazed to see how many stations were set up. It was almost overwhelming. There was an abundance of food and drink in every variety imaginable. You could get several types of ethnic foods, as well as many desserts and appetizers. There were also local flavored waters, sodas, beer and wine available. Our ticket allowed us one stop at each vendor, but only about 1/3 of the vendors were keeping track, so we could have gone back for seconds or thirds- not that we had room for that!

The food was all very good and also very pleasing to the eye. Here are a few of the dishes that we sampled:

A taquito with nachos and guacamole from Jose's. A lemon tart with blueberries from Trader Joe's.

A chicken/vegetable nacho from Ole. Asparagus gazpacho and a mango/prosciutto bite from the Grafton Street Pub.

My favorites:

A free-range marinated chicken leg from Redline. A blueberry shortcake from Henrietta's Table.

Janda's favorites:

.

A braised scallop with a mango salad from Lingo (?). A rich chocolate mousse from Finale.

.

All in all, I thought that it was a great event. How can you go wrong with so much food? There was a live jazz band playing in the background, plus a bunch of tables set up and plenty of grass to lounge on. I was worried that with Janda's appetite, he wouldn't have enough food, but the portions were generous and there were many places that you could go back to for seconds. As a final seal of approval, Janda and I both agreed that we would go back and do it again.

Dinner at the beach

Today I ran early, at 8am, because I was meeting a teacher friend of mine in Salem at 10. Even though it was rather early, it was already hot hot hot! After a week of lackluster weather, summer is returning- and should stick around until the weekend at least.

So at the end a long, hot day (and a very long, hard day of training for Janda), Janda and I decided to pick up some dinner and bring some snacks to the beach. It was still very warm out and the beach was beautiful when we got there. There were still tons of people there enjoying the evening. We ate dinner and relaxed until the sun began to set.

Birthday presents

Here are my birthday presents:

From Janda's mom, I got a Harry Potter journal and a box of Bertie Bott's Every Flavor beans. The box contains the following flavors: Earwax, Booger, Sausage, Black Pepper, Vomit, Dirt, Soap, Rotten Egg, Pickle and Earthworm. We were all curious to taste them, so I started handing them out. I was nice and everyone got not-entirely-revolting flavors to start. Then it got serious. Earwax and Booger actually weren't that bad, more salty. Next came vomit. After a couple of tentative chews, you really get the full effect. I'm not sure that it tasted exactly like vomit, but it was pretty darn gross and we all spit them out. The last flavor was Rotten Egg. After one bite my mouth was filled with the most disgusting flavor imaginable. Again, I'm not sure that it was exactly like rotten eggs, since I have avoided tasting them until now, but it was at least 5 times more gross than the vomit jelly bean. So, if you ever buy Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans, give Rotten Egg to your least favorite friend.

Then yesterday I (finally!!) got Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. My parents held out on me until the end of the day, so I was up until 1am reading it, but it was worth it. The book was wonderful and sad; I really thought it was a very good ending to the series. I also got movie tickets to go see Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix and an Eiffel Tower statue for my desk.

All in all I got some great presents and two great cakes, one from my parents and a personal sized cake from my friend Sarah at the cookout the other night. There was a definite Harry Potter theme to my birthday, but that's not surprising since a) I love Harry Potter and b) both the movie and the book came out right around my birthday. Actually the books alwyas seemed to come out around my birthday. I'm just lucky I guess.

This week in training

Monday:

4 mile easy recovery run

Tuesday:

2.x mile warmup, drills & strides
4x800m, 3 min rec (in racing flats)
3:08.3, 3:10.4, 3:11.6, 3:17.5
.75 mile cooldown
Weightlifting (General)

Wednesday:

3 mile easy recovery run

Thursday:

2.x mile warmup, drills & strides
4x100m strides (in trainers)
15.8, 15.8, 15.9, 15.8
.75 mile cooldown

Friday:

4 mile easy recovery run

Saturday:

2.x mile warmup, drills & strides
1x800m, 3 min rec, 4x400m 1 min, 4x100m walk-back (in racing flats)
2:58; 84.5, 84.7, 84.8, 84.3; 16.5, 16.0, 16.1, 15.3
.75 mile cooldown

Weightlifting (General)

.

Sunday:

5.5 mile run

***

.

Since I plan to sprint next winter, I'm trying to keep my mileage pretty low, even though I'm training for the mile. I'm going to stay below 35 miles per week this summer. I just started doing interval work the past 3 weeks, so eventually my interval workouts will be about 3 miles total rather than the 2 I'm getting in now.

It's my birthday!

Another year has gone by and I'm 28. Hard to believe, but it's true.

My birthday is pretty busy this year, mostly with things unrelated to my birthday. I have an interval session planned for the track this morning. Hopefully the football players are done with the stadium for the week, since they seem to be completely unwilling to share- even the parts that they're not using! Later this afternoon I have to do a little GPP lifting. Janda and I are attending a cookout (not in honor of me) late this afternoon, so I have to prepare a couple of quick dishes for that.

The most important thing that I am doing today, however, is this: diligently avoiding any Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows spoilers that may be lurking on the internet until I get a chance to read it myself. Of course, people have been posting their speculations over what would happen and who will die ever since the last book came out, but I have been avoiding speculating so that I won't have any hopes or pre-conceived notions when I read the book. So, if you know what happens- don't tell me! ;)

Well, I'm off to enjoy my birthday.

Good Harbor Beach

After my run this morning, I settled in to do some work around the apartment. Around 3 Janda and I headed down to the beach where he was going to do an ocean swim. He met up with several fellow swimmers (the usual suspects- Richie, Juile and Beth and also another swimmer Mari) and headed out for a long distance swim. Since I'm not a very good swimmer, I hang out at the beach and chill while they swim.

Good Harbor Beach- The Island

It wasn't a super-sunny day, but it still was nice to hang out at the beach.

Presents

Ok, so I didn't really get any presents today, but since I ordered some things online on Monday and received them today it felt like I got some presents.



I ordered some Debbie Bliss Pure Silk yarn from Loop, a yarn store in Philadelphia(Loopyarn.com). I saw the yarn in Boston last week with my mom and found it on sale at this store. I can't say enough about the service that Loop provided. I ordered my yarn on Monday and received notice that same day that they had shipped it. It came today, wrapped in blue tissue paper (inside the package) with a hand-written note. I was so pleased with the service that I'm probably going to order some more for a couple other little projects.

I also ordered a couple of pairs of shorts on Monday, from Altrec.com. They also arrived today, all the way from Oregon. The best part is that they have a free shipping deal going on right now, so I just paid for the shorts, which were both on sale. I loved them both- they actually fit, so I'm very pleased.

Now I just have to wait for the aforementioned shoes to come. I ordered the second pair, on the advice of Michelle, so I guess that I'll have to make some room in the closet!

New Shoes!

I just ordered these new sprint spikes (Nike Women's Zoom Rival S III) from Eastbay:

I haven't had new sprint spikes in about 5 years, so I'm pretty psyched. Due to a tough work schedule and grad school classes, I haven't raced many sprints in the past year and a half, but I'm full-swing in preparation for this upcoming season. With these new spikes and a slightly more manageable workload, hopefully it will be my best season yet.



I'm also contemplating a serious move up to the mid-distance races in the next couple of years, so I'm considering ordering these spikes (Adidas Women's Cosmos) also:

Even though I probably wouldn't use them much over the next year, they are a) my favorite color and b) on sale at Shoebuy.com with a coupon code. That makes them especially attractive.