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By BrianFlash, on July 30th, 2009
Tonight I carried the Team Flash banner by myself to the Fleet Feet interval session. Jason has a balky knee and Kathy has posterior tibial tendonitis, or, as I refer to it, a sore ankle. They both decided that discretion was the better part of valor and decided to skip the workout. Which, at our level of ability, the most important feature to bring to any race is a working body, and the rest will help both of them get better.
I thought we were supposed to do 5 x 1000 tonight, but upon arrival, it turns out the workout was changed to 4 x 1200. This is starting to stretch my definition of intervals! I like them nice and short, 800 meters at the most, and was dreading the 1000s, even though we had done them before. But 1200s?! What will be next Fleet Feet? 3 x 1600? 2 x 2400? What the heck, might as well just make us run the 4800 all at once!
Anyway, I was there and I was wearing my neat-o-cool Team Flash shirt, so I couldn’t wimp out. I manned up and did my intervals in 6:37, 6:37, 6:46, and 6:37 per mile pace. Well, I was a man in three of them and a little piece of doody in the other. I just let that 3rd interval psychologically defeat me. No competitive fire and no interest in challenging myself to perform. Other then that 1200 though, I was machine-like in my execution.
After the workout, I brought some blueberries home to Kathy to help her ankle heal up (anti-oxidant properties and all that). Tomorrow for breakfast, my regionally famous peach and blueberry smoothie is on the menu.
By BrianFlash, on July 28th, 2009
In literally a five minute period at work today, I heard all of these statements:
“Your ears are ringing.” Said to someone who showed up at a cubicle just after they were being discussed.
“That hit you like a lead balloon!” Seemed to me that a couple sayings were mixed together, to impressive effect!
“I know I’m talking to the choir.” Mostly correct usage but saying ‘talking’ instead of ‘preaching’ seemed to take some steam out of the saying.
I just thought it was funny that all three quotes were so close together. I was busy as a rhino when this was going on, or I probably would have chimed in at the third one.
Finally, not in the malapropism category, but good all the same. “We’re airing these!” used in reference to shipping some components by next day air instead of by ground.
By BrianFlash, on July 26th, 2009
The Katy Trail is a 225 mile trail running from St. Charles to Clinton, Missouri. The trail follows a railroad route of the Missouri – Kansas – Texas (MKT) railroad. This trail came into being as part of the ‘Rail to Trails’ project, a nationwide effort to convert unused railway routes into recreational trails.
What makes the Katy so nice as a recreational trail is that it is relatively flat and straight. Trains just can’t make sharp turns or climb steep hills, so their routes were graded down (or bridges were built) so that the trail is very even. It also travels thru many towns, so it has easy access from multiple places and services are available up and down the trail.
Team Flash has conquered 15 miles of the 225 mile route. While this is a low percentage of the overall trail, it is a pretty representative section. Jason and I ran the seven miles from the Weldon Spring trailhead to the east, and I ran eight miles from Weldon Spring to the west. The blue dots on the map above are the approximate locations of the trailhead and our turnaround points.
The seven miles from to the east don’t run in to any other trailheads. In fact, the most interesting part of that route is that you get to travel under Highway 40 (or Interstate 64 if you are checking your highway maps). The scenary along the route is mostly trees, but in sections, the trail runs right next to the Missouri River and you get some views of the River and river wetlands (think Louisiana swamp without the alligaters). Jason and I spotted a couple deer, even with the fairly heavy cycling traffic that travels on the trail. But this is shady and flat and it made for a nice run. There is also a short side trail that goes to Weldon Spring, but we didn’t head up there.
The route to the west is a bit more interesting. 1.5 miles from the Weldon Springs trailhead, the path crosses a stream on a nice old railroad bridge. It takes you back a bit reminding you why this trail is here. At mile 4, it goes thru the village of Defiance. There is a convienence store right off the trail, offering bike rentals, along with the normal goodies. Around mile 5, you see Matson, which makes Defiance look like a city! Not far past Matson, there is a farm that offers fresh produce, camp sites, goats, chickens, and a small mule. It seems like a nice little farm for a family outing if you are trying to show your kids what a farm is like. Mile 7 is a boat slip for the Missouri river and provides some excellent views of the river. Just before my turnaround point, I passed the first winery. Just a bit past where I turned around, the trail goes thru one of Missouri’s world famous wine producing regions (centered around Augusta and Herman). Maybe that explains why the cyclists are in such a good mood. Many of them bike up to the winerys for lunch and wine and then bike back home. The only real negative for this section of the trail is that it crosses Highway 94 twice. Not a huge amount of traffic, but you have to keep your attention up at the crossings to avoid being smashed into oblivian by a four wheeled motorized death machine.
The Katy is an excellent place to take a run, particularly if you are looking for a nice long run that provides some shade. You can easily spot some wildlife (I saw a box turtle on my run which made me feel like I was moving particularly fast in relation to him) and enjoy views of one of the world’s longest rivers. Katy has one little surprise though. Especially in the sections where trees are on both sides of the trail, there is an optical illusion that the trail goes up hill! So, it seems when you hit your turnaround, you’ll be heading downhill and then it looks like you are going uphill again! So, 16 miles up hill both ways! But that’s a small price to pay for this great little trail, with access at many points across Missouri.
Review
Surface – Hard packed gravel, almost as smooth as asphalt. Some minor chance of getting rocks in your shoe.
Traffic – Mostly cyclists, but not extremely heavy traffic (Saturday early to mid day runs). Cyclists are very polite generally.
Water/Services Available – Bathrooms at the trailheads, but no water. Defiance trail head has retail store.
Team Flash has a one to five feet rating scale, with five feet being the best possible running route. A five feet route would be the trail around the perimeter of Forest Park and a one feet route would be the climb up Ben Nevis in Scotland.
Overall rating for the Katy Trail: Four Feet
By BrianFlash, on July 25th, 2009
I went up to do my Saturday 16 miles on the Katy trail this morning. As per normal for my long run, my goal was to keep the heart rate below 168, or less then 90% of my max. Conditions were warm and humid, but not too bad for a St. Louis July. Thru mile 11, everything was great – my per mile average was 9:47 and heart rate average 160. Then, presumably, the humidity started to get to me. I carried my normal bottle of water and bottle of Gateraid, along with a pair of Gus, but definitely had to ration my liquid a bit so I wouldn’t run out. Mile 12 was tough, but I held on to about a 10 minute mile pace. Then serious bonk city. The last four miles were a sort of Bataan death march. My average pace for them was 11:13. And heart rate bounced upward to 170.
When I finished I was totally shattered. It definitely was a psychological battle to get those last three miles done. Last weekend the fourteen miles with Jason was easy – I had a good strong finish and felt pretty good. This week – not so much. Too bad for you Jason not running with me – you would have watched me suffer as I watched you suffer last weekend.
On the way home, I stopped for a Sonic grape slushie. Brain freeze extraordinare, but worth the headache!
The official Katy Trail review will be tomorrow. This will be the first review that Team Flash has done of a local running route. Local route reviews will become a regular blog feature – stay tuned!
By BrianFlash, on July 23rd, 2009
Here’s dinner on the kitchen cutting board, hand made by the pater familias of the Team Flash brothers. The cutting board is hand made, not the cat. OK, I’m kidding. I wouldn’t prepare my cat Myri for food unless there just wasn’t anything else to eat. I mean, I’m not Gordon Shumway! And she probably wouldn’t taste very good anyway.
Jason and I ran our Fleet Feet handicapped 400 intervals tonight. It is really difficult running intervals with one leg tied behind your back. The workout just took forever. It is amazing how many runners show up to put themselves thru that kind of abuse!
Well, that isn’t how they were handicapped even though it would make for an interesting exercise. What really happened is that our coach started the clock at four minutes. Each runner was then supposed to start their 400 so that they would finish at exactly four minutes. Then the clock is reset and we do it again. Twelve times. Now theoretically, all 100+ runners would finish at exactly the same time. The critical mass of sweaty bodies couldn’t be good – we may generate some kind of unholy sweat fueled nuclear reaction when everyone hit the finish line at the same time! But thankfully, no explosion really happened. There were enough people cheating on their times one way or another so that there was plenty of spread at the finish.
Jason started his intervals at 2 minutes and I took off at 2:20. My twelve intervals were mile paces of 5:57, 6:03, 6:02, 6:08, 6:05, 6:18, 6:24, 6:15, 5:59, 6:00, 6:06, and 5:37. Rocking fast times for me if I do say so myself. My slowest interval was 1:36 and fastest was 1:24. Jason cranked each of his in less then two minutes so he also had a good workout.
Katy and I have a date for Saturday. I’m going to do 16 miles on the glorious flat surface of that trail.
By BrianFlash, on July 20th, 2009
This Saturday was road trip Saturday. We spanned the great state of Missouri, going from our home city of St. Louis to Kansas City. One of my college buddies, Dan piloted Jason and I safely through the trip. The main purpose of this trip was to attend a Royals’ game, but we took in some other Kansas City sights as well.
On arrival, we headed straight for Arthur Bryant’s. This is one of the best bar-b-que joints you would ever find. They are truly the choice of presidents, having served Harry Truman and all the other presidents since Carter. I don’t think Obama has stopped by yet, but it is a matter of time. This is a true joint, in that you stand in line, order at window #1, receive food at window #2, and pay at window #3. As we were in line, we were contemplating our orders and I wasn’t really paying attention. The next thing I know, the man behind the counter is yelling at me, trying to find out what I want. I panicked and then ordered the same thing the guy in front of me ordered. But that wasn’t what I wanted! So I changed my order. The order guy just looked at me like I was crazy. I thought we were going to have a Soup Nazi incident. But he just shook his head, made me repeat my order, and then got me going thru the line. My open faced pulled pork sandwich served on white sliced bread with a heaping order of french fries was outstanding. My compadres tested the ribs and the burnt ends, along with their own pummeled pig. This was Jason’s first foray into Arthur’s and he pronounced it thumbs up. This by itself is almost worth the 3.5 hour drive across the state.
Now, even though the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum is just down the street from AB’s, Dan and I had already been. This is an outstanding museum if you are a baseball fan, but if you are like Jason, you need some other form of amusement. So instead, we decided to check out the Liberty Memorial and World War I Museum. The memorial was dedicated in 1921 and built in 1926 (backwards I know), but the museum was only opened in 2006. Dan is a major WWI enthusiast and Jason and I like history about events where people shoot at each other, so this museum was a big hit. It was very well done and makes for a great visit. And from the top of the memorial, you have a great view of Kansas City.
Then we headed over to the stadium for the game (after a stop at Hi-Boy, a burger joint that fixes your burger when you order it). You would think a team called the Royals would be one of the best teams in the league. Sadly, it isn’t true. They have been doormats of major league baseball for twenty years. This year is no exception, with them carting around an offense that is truly pathetic.
After we parked, we were immediately approached by a scalper. Now I’ve learned over the years that scalpers cannot be trusted. I asked him what he had. He said he had seats in section 202, near the field, $20 each. Now, everyone knows that baseball teams have their closest seats in sections beginning with 1. I asked Dan if he knew where these seats were. I swear that he told me they were close, but he wasn’t really paying attention. So I did something very very stupid. No negotiations, not even a close glance at the tickets, I ponied over the $60 and took our three tickets. While walking toward the stadium I started looking at the seats – $7 face value! I’m such a moron – these babies were in the front row just as the scalper told us, but the front row of the section behind the fabled fountains in Kaufman stadium. Now maybe in St. Louis, tickets like this would cost $20 each, but here in bad baseball land, we could have got all three of them for $20. My cousin has a great negotiation line, “We can get a better deal closer to the stadium” that I’ve frequently used successfully – why the brain cramp attacked then, I don’t know.
Anyway, the seats were pretty decent and we got a free statue of Dick Howser (another object that I don’t need). The weather was unbelievably pleasant for July and we saw a great pitching matchup between the Royals’ Zack Greinke and Scott Kazmir. The score was knotted at 1 thru 6 ½ innings. A good story was about to happen because KC scored their second run in the bottom of the seventh to give Greinke the narrow lead. At this point we decided to head out, aiming to get home by midnight. As soon as we get to the car, the Royal’s relievers promptly gave up three runs in the top of the eighth and they went on to lose the game 4 to 2.
Dan dropped me off at my house at 11:58 PM. Overall a successful trip!
On Sunday, I called Jason to see if he wanted to go for a run. My plan was a 14 miler on the Katy trail. He called me back after a bit and told me he was up for it. So we drove to a nearby trail head for this 100 mile trail across Missouri and we went 7 miles out and back. Neither of us died so the run was successful. This was a first time run for both of us on the Katy and I’ll keep the trail review for another time (after experiencing it a bit more), but it was nice and flat, shady, and near the Missouri river, so a good place to put in a long run. The Katy is mainly patrolled by cyclists, so we were something of a novelty, but the politeness level was high and no one attempted to run me down with their Cervelo. The unusual sights and sounds on the trail were worth the run. Nearly a 30 mile week for me – this week upcoming is planned to be 33 miles, including 16 on Saturday. I think Katy and I have a date!
By BrianFlash, on July 16th, 2009
“No pleasure, no rapture, no exquisite sin greater…than central air.” Azrael in Dogma
Thursday means intervals with the Fleet Feet team. We had a psychologically difficult interval session tonight, 2 x 400, 2 x 800, 2 x 1200. This is the ‘ladder up.’ It is amazing how tough those last two 1200s are after going hard on the four shorter intervals. The ‘ladder down’ workout where the intervals are long, medium, then short seems to be so much easier – man does the grey matter play tricks on the body or what?
My per mile pace for the intervals was 6:00, 5:44, 6:24, 6:36, 6:59, and 7:00. The last two were a little slower then I wanted to go – I would have been happier if they were 6:45 or so, but there you are. Jason and Kathy joined me for this session and they both put in good workouts. The temperature, while not as oppressive as the last couple of weeks, was still pretty hot, humid, and comparable to running thru a rain forest without the shade or the rain. And without the rotting vegetation. Plus no monkeys, indigenous humans, or parrots. So maybe not so much like running thru a rain forest but it was humid.
Afterward we cooled off and stretched. Well, Kathy stretched and Jason and I bent our legs a bit. Kathy is extremely flexible while I am not. And Jason is worse in the flexibility department then I am. While stretching, I riled up a flock of wasps from the aluminum bleachers and took a shot to the arm. Thanks insects for not striking my golden legs!
After getting home, I walked into my glorious air conditioned space and did some serious cooling off. Just recently, I replaced my air conditioner and furnace. This was an especially cool thing for me, because I work for NORDYNE, a company that manufactures residential heating and air conditioning equipment. This is the first time in my professional career that I have been able to own a product from a company that I’ve worked for. In the past, I’ve been with firms that made semiconductor equipment, fountain drink chillers and dispensers, and vending machines. None of which that I could justify owning. But now I can justifiably procure and use the products that our company cranks out everyday.
As an aside, I love manufacturing. Which is good since that is the field I work in. Making things that people need is pretty darn cool. NORDYNE’s manufacturing plants take raw copper, aluminum, steel, compressors, motors, and other components and cut, shape, braze, and assemble it into finished air conditioners, coils, air handlers, and furnaces. Real skilled people using tools and equipment make this transformation. It is actually pretty amazing. I’ve always wanted one of those cable shows about manufacturing stuff, like “How Its Made,” to visit a manufacturing plant that I’m involved with. There is nothing more satisfying for me then to show off our ability to produce products. Just give me a call and I’ll arrange a plant tour for you!
The air conditioner and furnace that was in my home were made by a rival manufacturer and were about 15 years old. Quite a lot has changed in the industry in the last 15 years – particularly the efficiency of the units. My air conditioner was a 10 SEER unit. Seasonal Energy Efficiency Ratio is a government mandated rating system designed to confuse consumers. Suffice it to say that the higher the SEER rating, the more cooling you get for your energy use. My furnace was an 80% efficient model (which means that 20% of the heat generated went out the flue pipe (pure waste). Also, the refrigerant used in the new efficient air conditioners is R410a, which is a refrigerant that doesn’t attack the ozone layer. So its got that going for it.
My new NORDYNE units, manufactured in Poplar Bluff, Missouri, are a Westinghouse 16 SEER heat pump and 95% furnace. My electric bill for June was roughly 33% cheaper (Cha-ching!) then last June, which was cooler then this June, so the benefits of unit replacement are already paying off! What I didn’t foresee was just how quiet the new unit would be. When this baby runs I don’t hear it at all inside the house and barely notice it when I’m outside on the patio. My previous unit sounded like a jet engine winding up when it would crank on.
Personal bias on, but I believe NORDYNE makes a great set of products. I’ve been involved in the design and optimization of our manufacturing processes. Our assembly lines are efficient and produce a quality product. NORDYNE recently received a ‘Consumer Digest’ award for best premium air conditioners for our 24 SEER unit, the most efficient unit on the market. We’ve just introduced a 22 SEER heat pump, the most efficient heat pump on the market. While these 20+ SEER units are ultra premium products, we also have a full range of 13, 14, and 16 SEER units. The furnace line includes everything from 80% units to 98% units.
So, finally, if your existing air conditioner and furnace are getting a little creaky, I encourage you to go out and price a new one. While it isn’t cheap, you can cut your energy costs substantially, get a government rebate (if you buy an efficient enough unit), and make me very happy (but only if you buy a Maytag, Westinghouse, Tappan, Frigidaire, Gibson, Philco, Kelvinator, or Grandaire branded unit).
By JasonFlash, on July 14th, 2009
The hottest place I have ever been is the Sahara desert in Morocco. While at Zagora on the edge of the desert it was something like 45 degrees Celsius at mid-day. I don’t know what 45 degrees Celsius is in regular temperature, but I can tell you it feels horrendous just to be sitting in the shade outside in that kind of heat. The 2nd hottest place I have ever been is in St. Louis running speed work with the Fleet Feet training team in June. That place can feel as awful as the desert.
The peak temp has only been 93 or 94 for our 7 pm start, but thanks to the oppressive Midwest humidity the heat index was north of 100 for two weeks in June. I am starting to believe that smart, right thinking people do not go running when the heat index is over 100. In an impressive commentary about the intelligence and sanity of Midwestern runners there seem to be more people showing up for speed work each week.
In an effort to beat the heat I have tried to wait until after sunset to go on my regular 6 mile tempo and recovery runs in Forest Park. Beginning around sunset has the advantage of the thermometer starting a couple of degrees lower. For the last couple of runs the disadvantage is that there has been no breeze at all – just hot, sticky air hanging heavy with humidity. It feels like running inside of a freshly baked bunt cake, and within the first half a mile you are soaked with sweat. Normally, when I finish a great race or a hard workout I am left with a feeling of inner contentment and satisfaction for a job well done. When I finish in conditions like these there is no warm contented feeling. I am just left with a feeling that I struggled through something, I don’t want to do it again and the only satisfaction is that I did not die in the process.
Update – the heat wave finally broke and I was able to put in an 8 miles long run followed by a 10 mile long run a week later. Unfortunately I had to miss my speed work last week. The issue was not weather related it was work related. I made up for it with a 6 mile tempo run at a 9:20 pace – hey, it’s tempo for me…
By BrianFlash, on July 12th, 2009
Sunday morning came early to the house, with Metro nosing Kathy out of bed at 4:30 AM. Really, there is no more satisfying way to get your day started then to rise when one of your family pets needs some attention. Kathy, to her credit, got out of bed so that Metro wouldn’t start bothering me. I shook myself out of bed at a more reasonable 5:30 and we got ready to head down to the Major League Baseball 5K for Charity. This is part of the baseball All Star game festivities that have been going on starting last Friday and culminating in the actual game on Tuesday night. Since most of the events associated with the game require handing over large quantities of money to major league baseball, I restricted myself to participating in this single item.
We got down to the starting area around 7 AM – positioning ourselves fairly near the starting line. Our race MC was local radio legend Ron Jacober who introduced our race celebrities. We had a trio of former major leaguers and a ‘surprise guest.’ Rollie Fingers, the Hall of Fame reliever waved amiably to the crowd and St. Louis Cardinal basestealer Vince Coleman was greeted enthusiastically by the Cardinal baseball fans, because that’s what Cardinal fans do – greet all their past players enthusiastically. But the highlight was St. Louis Cardinal and baseball Hall-of-Famer Lou Brock, who was designated the official starter of the race. Cheers of ‘Lou, Lou’ rang from the assembled runners (sounding like boos, but he’s used to it). But then, the surprise guest was announced. American gymnist Shawn Johnson. This seemed like strange celebrity attendee since she has literally nothing to do with baseball and isn’t a local product.
The picture above shows you exactly what we saw of Shawn. She is so short (4′ 9″) that all you could see was her head! It was absolutely a riot! All these former major league baseball players standing up there and a disembodied head belonging to a perky 17 year old peering over the safety rail. I couldn’t help myself, yelling out “Get that girl a box to stand on!” Luckily, my voice doesn’t really carry that well – only the racers around me appreciated the joke. But good for her coming out to the event. There were rumors she was going to run, but she doesn’t appear in the final list of finishers.
Lou Brock said “Ready, Set” and then leaned on his air horn and off we went. I immediately made two tactical errors. First, I started back too far, so I was hemmed in by the crowd, and secondly, right before I reached the start line, I looked down at the Garmin to start it up and the darn thing had gone out of ‘Training’ mode. Disaster! Luckily, I hadn’t officially started so I eased over to the left, got the watch up and running again, and took off. So, major league crowd dodging was in order to get up to pace – the first 1/3 of a mile or so I spent passing the inevitable joggers and walkers that insist on starting at the front of the pack. But, I was able to push the pace by running to the open spaces and got in a good groove. Kathy also did crowd dodging manuevers during the start, but she was aiming more for a 9:30 pace while I was trying to hit 7:00.
At the 1 mile mark, everything was coming together nicely. I touched the first mile at 7:05. The challenges of running a course in downtown St. Louis include nice little hills. This course was no exception. After the first .25 mile, we had a nice little half mile climb, nothing ludicrous, but enough to make you wish you were at the top. Then there was the corresponding downhill section and then a second uphill that leveled off at about the race halfway point. Then we were routed a block north and directed back. After two blocks, the return course merged with the outbound course. To my surpise, I was fast enough through the outbound course that I didn’t see the race leaders on their return (which is an unusually good sign for me). Kathy did get to see the race leaders as she was going out – and as is usual at many St. Louis races, Zac Fruendenberg had a comfortable lead.
After the turnaround, I clocked mile 2 at 14:13, but the heavy legs were starting now. Maybe that 10 miler on Saturday wasn’t such a good idea. This also corresponded with the start of the last uphill section of the course. But, I’m heading for PR land so damn the torpedos! Near 2.5 miles, my pace for the third mile was around 7:30 but I had reached the top of the last hill. So now the final effort for the last bit of the race. A tallish women running along at a pretty good clip led me up that last hill, but I dusted her off on the downhill section and pushed for the finish. My third mile was in 7:26 and the last tenth took 43 seconds, leaving me at the finish in a symmetrical 22:22, a new modern era personal PR by 69 seconds. Nice! After I successfully navigated the puke threshhold without losing anything and got my breath back, I noticed that Vince Coleman was near the finish line signing autographs and taking pictures. I don’t need any autographs and didn’t have a camera, but I went over there and thanked him for coming out to the race.
I then started my vigil for Kathy. This isn’t easy for me, because I still don’t feel good until she makes it to the end of the race. The heart thing just kind of plays with your mind a little bit. A successful race is one where she doesn’t croak during the running of it! I figured she would be in around 30 minutes on the clock, and that’s just about when I spotted her in the crowd of finishers. I didn’t actually see her finish, but she high-fived the Cardinal mascot Fredbird right before the finish line, then fist bumped another unidentified mascot. Her clock time was 29:56, so I knew that she PRed also – turns out that the official results have her at 29:17, a PR by 34 seconds!
The race was well organized, benefiting three cancer charities. Somehow I need to find some races that benefit heart research, but cancer research is nice too. Water and bananas were available at the finish, along with the largest finisher’s medal I’ll probably ever get for running a 5K race. Thanks Major League Baseball and the St. Louis volunteers for a great race!
So, even though I didn’t get 22:00, given the challenge of the course and my ugly start, my impressive showing in only my second 5K race, has caused me to re-set my personal goals. Now I’ve set my sights on the 5000 meters in the 2012 Olympic games. Before you laugh, just take a look at this graph:
That’s right – using the linear interpolation method of predicting times, I should be able to break the world record in the 5000 meters in my 11th race. So, the only difficulty I see ahead is making sure that my 10th race is the final of the Olympic trials, and then the 11th race is the Olympic final. After that, I’ll retire because there is no reason I should make a farce of the world record by running additional races.
So stay tuned to follow my march to the 5000 meter world record!
By BrianFlash, on July 9th, 2009
No, not that juiceman. That’s Jay Kordich, Mr. Juiceman, he of the infomercials in the 1990′s selling juicers. He was so enthusiastic about his juice machine that he talked me into buying one. And it really did work. Throw in raw vegetables, fruits, and greens and get out lovely fresh juice. You can drink way more carrots then you’d ever be able to choke down your gullet and the mixture of carrot and apples provides a yummy juice base that lets you put almost anything else in there.
Kathy and I used that juicer for a long time, but it had one major drawback. It was loud. I’m talking ear splitting, neighbor complaining, dog frightening LOUD. And the more we used it the noisier it became. This thing was so loud because the way it extracted juice was to grind up the inserted goodies and then fling them around a centerfudge going thousands of rpm. Kind of like those old pictures of astronauts being flung around a circle in a little capsule. I bet they put out some juice too while NASA subjected them to those tests.
Well, I’ve graduated up to the Omega juicer. This thing is quiet. It extracts juice by slowly crushing the produce using one of the world’s fundamental tools, a screw. Archimedes would be proud! Kathy and I enjoyed a carrot/apple/beet concoction before our flaming intervals of death this evening. While we don’t juice as often as we probably should, I always feel like I’ve done my body good when I knock back a glass of this stuff. All your fruits and veggies in one easy to swallow glassful of liquid!
The Fleet Feet flaming intervals of death this week consisted of six 800 meter jaunts around the local track. My per mile pace times for the six runs: 6:47, 6:39, 6:51, 6:45, 6:46, and 6:29. That’s 4.8K in a 6:43 average albeit with rests inbetween. In order to run a 22 minute 5K on Sunday, I have to maintain a 7:06 pace. It ain’t going to be easy, but maybe I can suck it up and get it done. One thing that may work against me is that I’m planning a 10 miler on Saturday. I have to put in the miles required for these fall races, so I’m going to go ahead with that, then knock out the 5K on Sunday. The nice thing about this MLB All Star Game 5K is that Hall of Famer Lou Brock is our official race starter and Rollie Fingers, Brooks Robinson, and Vince Coleman are giving out the medals! That and the fact that this will be my last 5K for a long time (man that distance sucks) will help me with mid race motivational problems.
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