by Sam Tackeff | Nov 4, 2012 | Challenge
Seven weeks. It’s been seven weeks since I started the gym challenge, and today was the day I headed back in for the re-test of our power benchmark. I can’t express how proud I feel at how much I’ve progressed in nearly two months. But it’s significant. It feels really good. I was excited to get back in the gym today even though I’m still feeling a little sick and weak from this long cold. It’s good to be there, accomplishing things. If you had told me last year that I’d be doing handstand pushups, dead-lifting more than my body weight, or running races, I’d have laughed in your face. But here I am. And it feels great.
Strength: Back Squats –we’ve been working nearly every week on back squats. At the beginning of the challenge, I got to 95# for two lifts. Today, I hit a brand new max weight of #125. I attempted #135, but it was a little bit too much for this tired body of mine. That’s 30 pounds heavier than six weeks ago, not too shabby!
Benchmark WOD 1: “Fran”
21-15-9 reps for time:
Thrusters 95/65
Pull-ups
The prescribed weight for Fran for women is 65, but because I had to re-test with the same as six weeks ago, I loaded up to 45 pounds, and subbed jumps for pull ups. I eeked things out at the initial test in 9:40, and wanted to die. This time I improved my time by 10 seconds. Which… was a little disappointing. But 10 seconds is 10 seconds, and I’m looking forward to seeing how much I can improve in the next few months.
When I got home, Devon had picked me up a Barbacoa Bowl from Chipotle – meat, vegetables, pico de gallo, hot tomato salsa, lettuce and guacamole.
I then set to work doing a massive amount of cooking for the week.
I roasted parsnips in coconut oil with salt and pepper, I did the same to a delicata squash, sliced into rings. And while I was at it, I roasted a whole spaghetti squash. I also roasted a piece of lamb liver, but forgot to take a photo of it – a little too much juggling in the kitchen!
And then I made a big pot of Mel’s Chocolate Chili. The whole batch this time instead of being stupid like last time and making a half of a batch. Next time, I’ll double it.
Then, I took a dozen eggs and I baked ’em! I popped them in the oven at 325F for 30 minutes, sitting in one of my madeleine tins. You can place them right on the rack, but this makes it a lot easier!
When they were done, I put them in ice water for 10 minutes to cool, dried them off, and popped them back into their carton.
Then, I put together another braise – Maple Cider Vinegar Braised Beef.
I seared some beef shank meat in coconut oil, removed it from the pan, and then added onion, garlic, and shallot. I let it cook for a few minutes, de-glazed the pan with a quarter cup of maple syrup, a quarter cup of cider vinegar, and a cup of homemade beef stock. Nestled in a few bay leaves, and the shanks, covered the pot, and braised the meat for 2.5 hours, turning the beef every half hour or so.
After two and a half hours, the meat was tender and falling apart, and the liquid had reduced to a sticky sweet and sour sauce.
I took out the meat, reduced the sauce for another 15 minutes or so on the stove top, and put it away for a meal later in the week so the flavors would continue to meld.
Last but not least, dinner!
I pan fried some chicken thighs with salt and pepper in my cast iron, and made salads with avocado. Light and fresh! We devoured it in front of the TV watching old episodes of Dexter.
What are you cooking up this week?
by Sam Tackeff | Oct 10, 2012 | Challenge, Races, Running
I’m not sure I can explain how I got here. A month ago, I was up at midnight and signed up for a 5k race on a deranged whim. My first 5k race. Having not actually run more than 200-800 meters at a time over the previous several months, my training consisted of five 3.1 mile “runs”.
And then, two weeks ago I ran that very first race, the Charles River Center 5k. It was terrifying, exciting and a whole lot of fun. It would end there, I had assumed. I’d run the race, and that was it. Maybe I’d run another 5k at the end of my gym challenge to see if I could improve. But then I did better than I thought I would. And then I got that nagging feeling that racing could be a thing that I do. What if I could do more? Before even racing my first 5k, my aunt had suggested the Tufts 10k, and I thought that she was nuts. But in my head I could hear invisible people cheering “10k, 10k, 10k”, and it started getting annoying. And then a week after the race, I began to think seriously, what about a 10k? Could I do a 10k? So I tested out my theory. And I missed my goal time by five minutes. And then I signed up for the race anyway.
My training for this race consisted of the test run, a 4 miler, a 5k, and a “run-heavy” day at CrossFit. By run-heavy, I mean, about a mile total, sandwiched in between intervals of 500m of rowing. And then this weekend was here.
On Sunday afternoon I headed to City Sports to pick up my race packet. The line was quick, and all around me women were talking excitedly about how many decades they had been running this race. Things were starting to get real. I picked up my long sleeved tech-t, my swag bag, and my bib number (4848). Devon got himself some gym gear with my discount and we headed home so I could start getting anxious. Things were going my way though, and I slept well.
In the morning, I had to figure out breakfast. Having only attempted at 10k distance once, I was unsure of what to do. On that run, I had eaten my banana and nut butter, and suffered a stitch the first mile or so. But having not tried to run on heavier protein which is my usual breakfast (eggs), I decided to stick with what I know. Banana and almond butter, and a cup of coffee, three hours before the race start.
We left the house a little after 9:30, and got downtown hours before the race started to a very empty Boston Common. It was also really cold, and I was feeling a little bit under the weather. So I walked around in my hat and jacket, praying that it would heat up before the race started. We popped into Starbucks to pick up Devon a drink and so that I could go to the bathroom. Yes, Starbucks. I didn’t want to brave the port-o-potties multiple times in a row, and considering how often I patronize their establishment, I did not feel bad utilizing their bathroom without a personal purchase.
We then went around checking out the vendor booths. There weren’t too many sponsors that I was interested in – Luna Bars, Dole, and Powerade aren’t really my thing, but they were all giving out samples. I probably should have headed over to the Bliss Spa (at the W) table to put my name in to win something, but it looked like they were mobbed. I entered my name into a raffle at Reebok, looked wistfully at the coffee from Equal Exchange, and tried to determine whether or not Ford was raffling away free cars. D’Angelo was providing an entertaining sandwich intervention (free sandwich coupons) and giving away t-shirts – my favorite being the “Microwaves Kill Sandwiches“, although “High on Flavor” was a close second.
We then ran into Morgan and Solomon from my gym, and it was stretch time! We grabbed yoga mats and did some warming up with Tara Stiles. (I definitely need to do yoga more often. Ouch!)
By 11:30 they started calling out for people to line up. I rushed over to the line of port-o-potties for a last quick trip. The lines were long, and the port-o-potties disgusting. But I got through it. My next concern:
Where do I seed myself? I figured I could run the first several miles between a 9-10 minute pace, so I set myself at the back of the 9-minute milers. Given how long it took the crowd to get through, I could have likely moved up quite a bit.
Lining up with 8000 women was exciting!
It was here that I became a little nervous. No turning back. So I decided to take a picture of my Mizunos.
And then a picture of the folks in front of me. I was behind these tutu ladies at several different points of the race. Put a permanent smile on my face!
And then we were off!
Moving to the starting line took about 3 minutes, and then I set my Garmin and my Runkeeper. (I also had my beloved Fitbit on, you know, just to make sure that I was tracking enough data.)
Here’s my race via Runkeeper!
My goal was to take semi-regular walk breaks, and my secret goal to finish in 65 – 70 minutes.
Mile 1 – (10:34): We started out slowly because there were 8000 women running this race. I had to dodge lots of people to even get close to a quick clip. Near the end of Beacon, I started getting a bad stitch in my side, and did my best to try to stretch and breath it out. This happened on my previous week’s attempt of the same run, so I just prayed my body would figure itself out and I could keep going.
Mile 2 – (11:30): The second mile over the bridge was also rough. I managed to take the water break, and set about finding well-paced people to run behind. (I settled behind a woman wearing a shirt that said “Try to Keep Up” on the back.)
Mile 3 – (11:16): Finally, I started to hit my stride. It was at this point that I looked down at my Garmin and realized that I wasn’t running much slower than my 5k race. I got to the 5k in just over 34 minutes, about 4 minutes faster than when I ran the course on my practice run. This was good news! I was hoping to run a little faster in the second half of the race (negative splits), which meant that I might be able to actually meet my secret goal! I then ran into the tutu women again, and followed them for some time. (I was also passed by a woman with her two very fit 9 year-olds running all together like machines. Teach them young!)
Mile 4 – (11:17): Approaching the Mass Ave. bridge, I snapped this photo from across the Charles. It was at this point that I was getting really excited – 4 miles meant… I’m almost done!
On my trip back over the bridge, I got snapped by the paparazzi. (Photo via Jim Rhoades.)
At this point I nearly ran over a dead crow, which was an unexpected emotional tipping point. (I hate, hate, hate, dead birds.) There were very few people around me, so I managed to quickly call Devon and let him know where I was, and see if he could meet me. I had assumed that the race would make it impossible to pick people out of crowds, but I realized that it would be fairly easy to actually run by him and say hi. (He had just finished having a burger and ice cream sample from Ben & Jerry’s. Lucky!) Fortunately, he was walking up and down Newbury, and so had no trouble heading over to the race course.
Mile 5 – (11:30): Devon met me at Exeter and Comm. Ave. I was so thrilled to see him, flagged him down, gave him a high five, and kept running. Except apparently I was a little too emotional, because at that point I almost burst into tears and had to take 20 seconds of meditative breathing to avoid an asthma attack.
Mile 6 – (10:39) : Around mile 6, I noticed a very tall gentleman handing out water. (And then I realized I had met him through a mutual friend half a decade ago, and screamed something intelligible in his direction as I grabbed the water and ran by.) It felt like a happy coincidence, so I pushed a little harder.
Afraid I’d overtax my legs, I took a final walk break as I reached the public gardens in order to finish the race fresh. With point two-five left to go, I decided that I was going to sprint it. Smiling!!
Both my Garmin and Runkeeper had me at 6.3 miles for the total race course (and a 10k of 1:08:46, but alas, I’ll go by official time for my PR.)
Official Time: 1:09:55/ 11:16 pace. MADE MY GOAL! *At the time the race results first came out, I was #4000. Apparently in the past day I’ve been demoted to 4003. I’ll survive. AND DO IT AGAIN!
This is me after the race:
Sweaty, a little confused, pretty excited.
After crossing the finish line, I actually missed the banana table, but grabbed a water. On my way to the Ford tent to find Devon, I came across some kids powering through burpees and air-squats at the Reebok mini-WOD, and decided to spin the wheel. Who am I?! I was assigned an AMRAP-1 of pushups. The record was something like 57, but I won a pair of socks for my chest-touching-the-ground good form of 30.
In the car, I finally was able to eat something – my LÄRABAR Coconut Cream Pie. This might be my favorite flavor.
We got home and I took a long hot shower.
For the next couple of hours the idea of more food was just not doing it for me, but we ended up eating an early dinner of Chipotle to make up for it, which apparently is my traditional post-race celebratory meal. Carnitas, barbacoa, lettuce, a double scoop of pico de gallo, a scoop of red tomatillo salsa, and a generous portion of guacamole. Delicious!
After dinner, we relaxed watching one of my favorite movies of all time, Ratatouille! If you haven’t watched this in a while, please, please just watch it again.
(via)
So that’s it, the story of my very first 10k. I’m looking so forward to racing again!
by Sam Tackeff | Sep 24, 2012 | Challenge, Running
Three weeks ago, in the middle of the night, I had an idea. I was going to run a road race. My first road race. (Unless you count participation as getting kissed by sweaty runners several years in a row at the 13.1 mile mark of the Boston marathon, in which case, I’ve done lots of participating.) Somewhere around 12:35 a.m., I registered for the Charles River Center 5K Run/walk.
I should make a point here that at the time I signed up, I had been running little more than 200-800 meters at a time at CrossFit. So I devised a fancy training plan: run a few 5k training runs each week. That’s 5000 meters, or 3.1 miles. Because I’m obsessive, the morning after that middle of the night, I drove out to the race course and ran the course to see if I could do it without embarrassing myself totally. I had not up until that point actually run a 5k in more than a year. I then ran four more 5ks in the following two weeks, each run progressively slower. This was a little disconcerting, but I pressed on.
On Saturday morning, I picked up my race packet, there was no backing out now! My swag bag included a t-shirt, free toothbrushes, chips, lip balm, and a mini foam football. I will not lie, I was pretty elated.
The morning of the race, I woke up and googled the number 244. Not the most significant historical occurrences, although Alexander may or may not have been born this year. I took comfort in the fact that it was an even number. I opted for my typical morning pre-exercise fare of a cup of coffee and a banana with almond butter. I went for half of the banana for fear that something disastrous would happen to my stomach before the race. It did not.
We drove out to Needham where we parked at Olin and took the short walk to the race course. The Charles River Center supports children and adults with developmental disabilities, and I was thrilled at the turnout for this worthy cause – lots of families, everyone happy and smiling.
I was not at this point nervous. I took one last port-a-potty run (possibly the cleanest port-a-potty ever), and Devon snapped this photo of me.
I then took a photo of my trusty (re: old) Mizunos before lining up at the beginning of the race. Documenting your sneaker choice is apparently important to me.
Before lining up for the race, I ran into my challenge team-leader Kati! I was thrilled to see a familiar face. We lined up together and saw a few more of our gym-mates. There were tons of folks of all abilities at the race, and a good number of families running and walking together. Devon left us as we listened to the slightly inappropriate emcee, and a keyboard rendition of the national anthem. I turned on my Pandora, and my Runkeeper app, set up my Garmin, and then we were off!
My goal for the race was to finish. Seriously. My second goal was to do so in less than 34 minutes. (Keep in mind that a) I am slow, b) I take walk breaks c) I did not train for this.) Next year when I’m running a half marathon at a pace two minutes faster than this, I shall not laugh at myself.
The first mile of the race was largely down hill, which was pretty thrilling. I was surprised at how much faster I was running than normal, and surrounded in a sea of happy runners, it was actually quite easy to keep up a good clip. I started following a fit woman about my age, and took my first walk break near the end of the first mile for a minute. (I was a little emotional and choked up here.) I finished my first mile in 9:36, including the walk break.
We then ran through a little residential cul-de-sac, and there were people on the side of the road cheering! At 1.25 miles, we had our water break. I actually stopped on the side of the road and took thirty seconds to drink my water slowly. I had not practiced the “drink water while running”, and was convinced that I’d drink too quickly, choke, or give myself a stitch.
The next three quarters of a mile were largely down hill. At my halfway point, this guy came in before they had even finished setting up the finish line stuff. In 16:50. That’s a 5:25/minute per mile pace. That, my friends, is fast.
My second mile was 10:13, winding past the Babson campus, and by the Wellesley country club. I paced with what appeared to be an 9 or 10 year old girl for a few minutes, followed a mom running with her son, and a few parents pushing their disabled child in a jogging stroller. (Seeing these kids beaming made this race so worth it.) I opted not to take a walk break other than at the water station.
My third mile was 10:53, taking three short walk breaks, and by the end I was thinking that I would like to be finished with the race. We ran past Volante Farms, and around the corner to the finish line. I saw a few gym folks near the finish line, and was pretty excited.
Here I am coming up the final hill!
Here I am realizing that I’m about to be smoked by an 11 year old, and should maybe push a little harder!
In the end, I finished in 32:14, a 10:22/minute per mile pace. Not horrific for my very first race with zero real training! (I kept on feeling shocked that fit people were finishing after me!)
Here I am a happy red-faced runner!
After the race, we walked up to the after-party where there was free Sam Adams, pizza, hot dogs, and Crescent Ridge ice cream. None of which did I eat, alas – sticking my guns to the challenge. Here I am slightly incredulous at turning down the free ice cream and re-fueling with an apple! Thank you Whole Foods!
I didn’t have to feel sorry for myself, because I got to partake in the best reward of all – free post-run massage and adjustment with Dr. Adrian of Granite Family Chiropractic!
After the race, we headed home, making a pit-stop at Chipotle. I had a bowl with lettuce, carnitas, pico de gallo, hot salsa and guacamole.
When we got home, I snacked on a cashew cookie LÄRABAR (just dates and cashews), and took a long hot shower. For dinner, I put together a beef and broccoli stir fry, and ate the extra cabbage from the previous dinner.
Feeling pretty good about things, and looking forward to the next race already!
Do you run races? Want to? (You should!) Do you remember your very first race?
