Smoked Calves

Tonight I had business colleagues from the Northeast in town, so of course they wanted good Texas BBQ, and can you blame them? For my money, there is no better dinner than a big plate of smoked beef, especially if it is completely unavailable in your home town with any sort of quality. We went downtown to the Iron Works, a BBQ joint I haven't tried yet which is extremely casual and very highly rated. It did not disappoint in any way.

I'm not exactly sure the caloric content on BBQ - the long low and slow cooking process is designed to render the fat down in not-so-lean cuts of meat to the point where it melts and lubricates the meat to deliciousness. So some of it melts away, and some of it doesn't. I'm pretty sure I exceeded my 700 calorie target even by avoiding the potato salad, but again I'm more than okay doing that on occasions. I got a nice plate of sausage, beef rib, and brisket that wasn't too much food (in the old days I would have got another plate to fully satisfy myself), and left feeling okay.

Dinner ended early and on the way home I felt like Tiger Woods alone in Las Vegas. Do I call up the boys and go to Pluckers for some wings and beer? Call up other friends and go to Z Tejas for margaritas? Hey, the Hot Doughnut sign is on at Krispy Kreme! Ooo, there's a Baskin Robbins right here I can just duck into. But bravely I resisted temptation and got home early.

Prior to dinner I went on my 5 mile run circuit. My brother in law sent me a video that showed proper running technique, which I had watched and studied, and realized that I was running in bad form as well as swimming in bad form. Who knew? So I adopted the new technique and went for a run.

It felt a little weird to start, but once I got the hang of it it felt pretty good. Going uphill especially was much better and smoother, and my times over the first 2.7 miles were really fast. I was going uphill fast, and non-laboriously, which was awesome. But I noticed around mile 1.5 that my calves were starting to stiffen up, and by the time I reached 2.7 (or the start of the time that really sucks) my calves were done. I plodded on, finished the run in 54 minutes, but I've been walking funny ever since.

There are a number of theories as to what happened. I'll list them in order of likeliness:
1) My calves are weak and out of shape, and the added work was way too much for them. This is obviously the most logical theory for reasons I don't need to explain - it would be like explaining why it gets warmer when the sun comes up.
2) I was doing it wrong. The theory behind the technique is to run more on the balls of the feet, which absorbs shock better, and keeps my stride in check so I don't overstride. If I overdid it by going too far forward on my toes, I could put undue strain on my calves. Also if I continued to overstride I would likely do the same. Being not what you would call a "natural athlete" I can easily see myself screwing it up.
3) The technique is bad and I should return to the old heel-toe. This is what my wife told me, and she's an avid runner. I'm willing to work with it for some time, because worst case is I get a great calf workout, and knowing (1) is true, who cares if it is wrong as long as I'm getting stronger. But the science makes sense, and my brother in law knows what he's talking about, so I'll give it time to make it work.

We'll see how this goes.