Sore all over

Its been a few days since I've been able to blog. Wednesday we went to the rodeo and to a concert, and last night it was poker night. Two late nights in a row, and no homemade dinners.

Wednesday and Thursday were Tabada days. It is amazing how much pain you can inflict on yourself in 16 minutes. After three days of experimenting with this I was limping around today, sore in every part of my body. Clearly, something is working, so I'll keep working on this as part of my regiment.

Wednesday I went to the gym to do pullups, rows, bicycle situps, and sprints as part of my Tabada routine, along with some chest and bicep workouts. Each was uglier than the next, and I could really feel a good burn after I was done. I started with the sprints after loosening up with a light jog on the treadmill (my quads were pretty sore after doing squats the previous day). Cranked it up to 9.0 mph and ran pretty hard for 20 seconds at a time. What's funny is that some people run entire marathons in a pace less than what I consider "sprinting". But then again, I'm not exactly Usain Bolt. Pullups were assisted to reduce my mass to about 120 pounds so I had a fighting chance of finishing.

Thursday I did Tabada boxing, pushups, and situps. I did the pushups against the counter so, again, I had a fighting chance of completing the set. It worked my back well, and I definitely felt it this morning.

Today I decided to "race" my five mile circuit. My quads were still sore from Tuesday and Wednesday, but I wanted to push myself, and it was a perfect day for a run. Walking with a cowboyesque limp all day, it probably wasn't the best idea to run that hard, but then again, I'm not known for my awesome decisionmaking. I could definitely feel my quads were tight throughout the run, and I had to baby them a little, but still I refused to quit and did the whole 5 miles.

I mentioned before how I've been working on my running technique per advice of my brother in law. Avoiding the same mistake I made last time running too far up on my toes and destroying my calves, I found a better foot landing which was quite comfortable. I also shortened my stride, especially on the uphills, per his advice, which worked great for me. Taking large strides forces my legs to do a lot of work pulling the big dumb land animal over a greater distance. Like my Tabada workouts, I can do more reps if I make the work per rep easier, and so increasing my pace and decreasing my steps made me do less arduous work.

I ran my 5 miles in 48 minutes, 2 minutes below my best time, and that on sore thighs. I had to walk a little at the beginning to work out that pesky back cramp I get, but my wind was good throughout and I was able to push myself as hard as my thighs let me. I was even able to maintain a quick and steady pace through the uphill segment of the run. I felt fast and good, right up to the point where the 50-60 year old man flew by me like I was standing still. Someone check the old dude for steroids!

Tonight for dinner I made pistachio crusted sole with yucca fries and mango-mustard greens. Yeah, I was in a funky mood at the grocery store, and it is fun to experiment with new things.

Fish:

6 filets of Dover sole, 1 lb total (500 calories total)

1/4 cup shelled pistachios (170 calories)

1 tsp cumin seed

1 tsp fennel seed

1 tsp dried jalepeno

1 tsp garlic powder

S&P

Crush pistachios in a mortar & pestle or food processer or, heck, use a hammer on a plastic bag full of it. Add the rest of the spices to it and lightly crush the seeds to release the aromatics (sounds fancy, don't it?). Put fish on a cookie sheet covered with Reynolds Release so you don't need oil to prevent it from sticking, and roast at 500 degrees for 3-4 minutes.

I also took 1/4 cup of mango (25 calories) and cooked it with some minced garlic, agave nectar, white vinegar, clove, and allspice until it was almost candied. I threw some of that on top of the fish for some sweetness and sourness and texture contrast, making the fish 370 calories or so a serving.

For the Yucca, I took one 1.5 pound root, peeled it, and chopped it into fries. I boiled it in water for 10 minutes to make it tender, and then tossed it in a teaspoon of oil, salt, pepper, and chili powder, and roasted that in the oven at 400 for about 15-20 minutes until it got a crispy exterior. Yucca is similar in caloric content to potato, so the fries were all-inclusive about 250 calories per serving. They tasted very light (no heavy oil feeling in them) and clean, and with a little Frank's Red Hot splashed over them, they were perfect.

For the greens I took 1/2 tbsp olive oil (60 calories) and cooked 1 tbsp of garlic in it. When it started to brown, I took 1 cup of mango (100 calories) and softened that, then put 2 cups of mustard greens (40 calories) in the pan to reduce down. Total of 100 calories per serving for just over 700 calories for the meal.