Day 20 - E2D

Breakfast
Nada
Redbull

10 mile trail run

2 fig newtons on the way home.
Espresso w/soy

Lunch
Vegan albondigas soup and some soy chorizo w/black beans.
Damn that was good.

Dinner
Some potatos
and a couple beers.

Day 19 - E2D

Breakfast
Oatmeal
Espresso

Lunch
Left over veggie saute
Baked chips and hummus

Dinner
Sweet potato fries (baked)
steamed bok choy

Day 18 - E2D

Breakfast
Really good Sun Harvest oatmeal with banana and hemp milk.
I needed that.
Espresso

Snack
Apple

2:30
Pretzels before my run

4:30
Rice crackers and hummus/some garlic
That rest of that killer veggie saute I made last night

Dinner
Vegan pho (with extra veggies - unreal)
And a handful of baked chips

Keep it going

Although I've mixed-in a few hills, the last week or so has been pretty flat; but today I returned to Cowles Mt. for some off road up and down. To make that worthwhile, I had to run up and over Cowles down toward Pyles Peak. That trail is nice. Cowles, on the other hand, is so rocky and up and down that I suspect too much is flat too much ;-)

The diversity was good, it beat me up, and the view of a "stormy" San Diego county was nice. Life advice (meaning this applies to everything . . . except wives): Diversify. Everything.
Tomorrow's fare? Rolling. . .

1 hr. ~1300ft.

Day 17 - E2D

Breakfast
Espresso

Lunch
Vegetarian burrito
from Chipotle
(Not stoked but it is what it is)

Snack
Cereal

Dinner
snacked on Guiltless chips.
Cooked-up some veggies (new potatos, red bell, red onion, mushrooms)
for fridge so I snacked on that too.

Killer late night workout!

Live It

A few pics of the last few ....months? I forget. I guess these are basically pics of our trip to Frisco (scored a nice deal on the ticks back in June), and then our annual camping trip in Malibu a week later. I was wiped. Too much. Fun.

Here we are on a boat to Angel Island. There was actually a trail marathon going on when we got there. The temps were around 95 - 100 degrees. Brutal. Angel island does host some trail runs via the PCT. We hiked around, about 4 miles which were sandwiched between good beers (this one on the boat and the island had Lagunitas IPA on tap). Good stuff.

The Golden Gate. . .See the fog rolling in? That was the first sign of any kind of marine layer/precipitation. The weather in SF was crazy good, a little unusual. I did two days of running early. The best run was Friday morning, running "out" and checking-out the street folk who were getting around, planning their days; and then on the way "back" seeing the upwardly mobile SF crowd heading to work, getting their shit together. My first run was out and back to the Marina District that looked out at the Golden Gate Bridge (we were staying near the financial district). Sure it was road, but the scenery was great. This pic of the bridge was on our last day, but it's basically what I saw at dawn that day. My second run was through the streets of San Francisco, a lot of hills. Between the two runs, I covered pretty much the whole city. Each early morning run was about 1:15. I followed these up with Pete's espresso and Blue Bottle grinds. What a way to start the day, on vacation. I love San Francisco. The days were filled with killer site seeing, great food, and draft micro brews. There was great draft beer EVERYWHERE. I still haven't hit the Headlands but did get down to visit my sister in Saratoga that has access to the Santa Cruz mountains. In other words, no trails on this trip but the bay area is LOADED. I'm going back SOON.
(EVERYWHERE LOADED SOON ?) I love it.

Then, Malibu.
Just some pics. It was a lot of running and climbing and a lot of "good times." Martinis, PBR and great IPA.

I call this pic "On Target." Hydrate!





Quick note on this week. I've been running shorter this week, each day about 4-5 miles, but pushing things a little. I'm still slammed at work (grading papers that clearly suggest printed text literacy is becoming a thing of the past).

But last night I had a fun workout at the gym. 4 miles on the tready, but each was about 7 - sub 7 pace and between each I lifted, tried to fancy a few pull-ups, etc. It was fun little workout. The miles flew by and my ADHD was facilitated nicely in that I was always doing something different. The added speed element felt good too.

I need to do more of this. I want to get strong and fast. LSD, though an important element, can mess you up!

Day 16 - E2D

Breakfast
2 cups of espresso before my run
(killer run)
Bowl of cereal with 1/2 banana

Lunch
plate of goodies at People's
Veggie Lasagna, killer saucy cauliflower goodness
and some green salad w/kale etc.
Oatmeal cookie with raisins
VEGAN

Dinner
Veggie sushi roll from Spinz (wife had a tough day and needed some love
plus an early evening kung fu sess meant no desire to cook)
vegan cupcake (not a cup cake guy but freakin tasty and VEGAN)

Day 15 - E2D

Breakfast
Espresso

Lunch
Banana/nutter sandwich
Grapes
Apple

Dinner
Vegetarian noodle soup
and some veggie drunken noodles
(all rice noodles from a very legit thai place: Saffron)

Less is More

Feeling like a fine-tuned firetruck on my runs these days thanks to the Engine 2 Diet.

I am shedding unneeded weight, but more importantly can tell my system is just more efficient. If I never have a piece of meat again, I wouldn't care. Although I will probably eat fish and perhaps a very lean bird again, I don't miss meat at all. And that's just me speaking from the surface. I can't wait to have a physical in the next month or two to see how my blood work plays out. Cholesterol (family history), thyroid (borderline hypo), blood pressure (hasn't been a problem), etc., will almost certainly look great.

I guess a lot of this discourse is reflection of what I am reading and focusing on. To others, granted, that might just be evidence of my own little world getting projectiled into the twitterverse/blogosphere. But objectively speaking (and pay attention to the people trumpeting low fat, non-animal diet) eating a certain way will pay huge dividends for one's well-being. HUGE. Your diet can REVERSE a deadly set of circumstances. Just don't eat so much FAT! I will just continue to read and eat this way and get stronger and stronger mentally, emotionally and physically. At some point, the talking has to give way to the living. Give it a shot. That's what I would say. You have NOTHING TO LOSE.

Here's my sense about running right now. I want to get faster. I want to be able to run on flats fast, up hills fast, and even over mountains fast. I know from experience that just running up hills is not very efficient toward becoming a faster runner. You may gain strength and be able to "weather" hills fairly well, but I don't buy it. There was a great "round table" on Rick's blog about this very subject in which some very strong mountain runners shared some thoughts. I guess if you are training for mountain ultras, then yes you need to run a lot of mountains, up and down. A lot. Especially if these are 100s. But that's not me.

I have been running a lot lately, all kinds of terrain, distances, etc. Some flat, some elevation, road, trail, beach, etc. For me, best bang for your buck? 1 hour and a half with about 800 - 1000 ft. of vertical. This kind of run is in the wheel house of a trail half marathon perhaps reaching eventually for a 50k. 800 - 1000ft. means plenty of speed can be had. It also means a little vertical to keep you honest. This works form ME right now. Not for a long run, but for a good quality run that gives me a chance to run up and down pretty hard.

I have been running pretty hard. The last couple of days I checked HR and my avg. HR for AeT (~150 bpm) was around 7:45 a mile so I'm coming along; the harder efforts seem to be doing me just fine. But of course I have been running a lot and this includes months of aerobic stuff.

I don't know what I have in store other than there is some great racing and weather at the first of the year in SoCal. I want to be HEALTHY finally for that. Do I do some road racing to kick my ass? Do I get my bike in gear? I'm not sure what I'm training for, but I am loving the food and running diets as of late.

Day 14 - E2D

Breakfast
2 cups of coffee
Had a little "situation" this am that prevented me from running with Toby.
But I finally got down and had a solid run. I feel so fresh on these runs
right now it's awesome. Feel really healthy. The run was on an empty stomach
and I felt great. When I got home I had

Huge bowl of cereal. If you're into cereal you can go so healthy and yummy.
Throw some hemp, rice, or almond milk on their, with some freshly sliced
organic banana and bam.

I followed that up with a killer salad.

About an hour later I had some black beans w/homemade corn chips.

When my wife got back from yoga, she made us a ridiculous juice
(conversation has begun regarding a Vitamix. I have heard such good things).

Dinner
Steamed bok choy and a slice of non-dairy Amy's pizza.

I can't wait to run tomorrow.

Day 13 - E2D

Breakfast
Toast and nutter
2 cups of Espresso


Brunch
Split a vegan chorizo burrito at Ranchos in O.B.
and some corn tortillas warmed w/salsa.
We asked and the chips were cooked in the same oil as the fish
so no chips. Here's the thing: sounds totally psycho, but
A) you have to be to be good and
B) the corn tortillas warmed were great (better than probably stale chips)


Dinner
Left over rice and veggie chicken from Sipz
and I made some E2D sweet potato fries. Pretty good.

I'll probably nibble a little more tonight.

Day 12 - E2D

Breakfast
Espresso
(I ate a lot at dinner last night and was not hungry at
all even though that is not a good idea)

Lunch
Huge bowl of cereal and a recoverite after a solid run

slice of bread with nutter

Dinner
Went to Sipz
Had some veggie sushi and vegetarian Pho.
That was perfect.

Day 11 - E2D

Breakfast
Bowl of cereal
Espresso

Lunch
Homemade chips and hummus
Couple of carrots

Nap!

Ice coffee

Dinner
Potatoes and edamame

Desert
Toast and some sorbet

Day 10 - E2D

Breakfast
Espresso
and an Apple

Lunch
Corn chips (homemade) and beans w/cilantro, 1 serrano, soy cheese and hot sauce.
Couple of carrots and some red bell pepper . . .in the nude.

Dinner
Steamed Bok choy
Bowl of cereal

Desert
Soy ice cream with almonds and walnuts

Day 9 - E2D

Breakfast
Toast w/nutter and banana
Espresso

Lunch
A bunch of corn tortillas (2 warmed, probably 6 chopped and baked)
with Amy's Black beans, half avo, and some quinoa
and siracha!

I mowed.

Dinner
Nada

Desert
Bowl of soy ice cream

Day 8 - E2D

Breakfast
Toast and nutter w/banana
and strong coffee before my run with GZ.

Lunch
Huge green salad with vinegar (greens, salad, beets, jalapeno, kalamata, red onions, garbanzo, etc.)
A couple of pretzels.

Snack
Bowl of cereal

Dinner
People's Food
Orzo casserole and sheppard pie (totally vegan) w/green salad

Desert
Soy ice cream with handful of sliced almonds and walnuts

Day 7 - E2D

Breakfast
1/2 a banana
2 cups of coffee
(pretty unproductive morning)

Some chips and hummus before run
Banana post run and a diet coke (???)

Lunch
Kale and arugula salad with tempeh (hmmm) and some other goodies
A few chips

Another run before

Dinner
Wife whipped-up a KILLER veggie drink (beets, carrots, ginger, apple, cucumber)
Bowl of cereal

Day 6 - E2D

Breakfast
Toast w/banana and nutter
Cup of strong coffee
(then a solid 1 hr run 1/2 of which was in fairly think sand)

Lunch
Recoverite drink
Chips and salsa
Apple and grapes
(but not enough food - too much snacking)

Great U7 soccer game. The boys are starting to listen to their coach ;)

Dinner
HUUUUUUGE salad with too much killer stuff to name (lettuce: mixed greens, butter and wild arugula)
And bowl of rice noodles and sauteed mushrooms w/onions and garlic
_____________________________________________________________________

What a day following the ironman worlds. Wow. Very inspiring.
Can't wait to run tomorrow morning.

Day 5 - E2D

Breakfast
Apple
Espresso

Lunch
Piece of toast w/nutterhoney before big run!
Run was a beast!

Post-run
Healthy rootbeer, some soda
and Guiltless chips and salsa. . yum.

More chips and salsa until

Dinner
Black quinoa with steamed bok choy and sliced avo
and a little Boca.

Desert
Sorbet
Bowl of cereal x2
(I'm running 1:30 tomorrow!)
______________________________________

Saw the movie Social Network last night and I usually love popcorn with my movie.
It's tradition. I had a water and felt great afterwards.

Day 4 - E2D

Breakfast
Apple
Espresso

Lunch
Chips and salsa
Cereal
Toast w/nutter

Dinner
Quinoa and greens

Day 3 - E2D

Breakfast
Apple

Lunch
Bowl of quinoa w/steamed kale and carrot, sliced avocado.
Drizzled Braggs and siracha.
A few chips and leftover hummus and salsa

Dinner
Vegetarian soup, rice noodles
Noodles and veggies - (animal free)
Chips and hummus

Desert
Hmmmm.. .Sorbet I guess.
_____________________________________

Ate too much yesterday and not enough pure whole food.

Day 2 - Engine 2 Diet

Breakfast
Bowl of Ezekiel 4:9 cereal
cup of espresso

Lunch
Sandwich of nut butter, banana slices and a teaspoon of jam w/drizzled honey
1 apple

Snack
Bowl of quinoa, tofu and kale with Braggsx2 and siracha
Piece of bread with honey and nut butter and a couple of frozen cherries (trouble!).

Dinner
Engine 2 hummus (chickpeas, lemon juice, Braggs, garlic is the basic) and homemade tortilla baked tortilla chips. . . freakin' yum.
Homemade salsa on its way and maybe some quinoa if I want.

Desert
Bowl of cereal
Sorbet
Bread with nutter and honey and more chips and hummus.
_____________________________________________________________

The one thing I verified today is the relevance of snacking. I am snacking a lot but it's on healthy things and I am not eating big meals. I love it!

The Engine 2 Diet

I have started the diet that's been getting some play around the web, bookstores and even late night television. I bought the book. Along with the book, the website is loaded with great information. I'm trying to get educated and get really healthy.

The guy who wrote the book has game, namely that he's got roots in real medical science-based nutrition. I'm fired-up to get plant-strong for 28 days. That's no animal product for a month, a huge push toward whole foods and killer meals and to certify the move, no alcohol.

Believe you me: I want this. And I'm fired-up!

I will log food on this blog.
I will update my other blog that concerns running, too.

Day 1

Breakfast
Bowl of Nature's Path Optimum w/almond and rice milk
Cup of coffee

Lunch
Two bowls of red quinoa topped w/kale and butter lettuce
with Braggs aminos/vinegar and siracha
1 bowl of cereal

Snack
6 almonds and 6 cashews (roasted) :(
Shared bowl edamame (frozen) w/sea salt :(
(No more salt)

Dinner
2 bowls of pasta (not whole wheat, but no more!)
with homemade sauce and kale.

Desert
Piece of bread (approved) with nut butter and frozen organic cherries
Freakin yum!
1 Orange
____________________________________________________________________

I love food. I need to control my appetite to really make this work.

I have been working-out steadily so I guess that adds to the appetite.
But I'm not naive. I have a lot of work to do.

I can't wait to see how my body reacts to the omission of two key ingredients, things I consume a lot of: Beer and olive oil. Alcohol is a no-brainer.
But olive oil? Rip, the author, denounces the whole oil brigade. Sure he has his argument to sell, but the bottomline is that oil is the most calorie dense food.
And it's got a lot of fat. Good fat, but fat nonetheless. And I eat a lot of extra virgin olive oil, and fish oils. Only the best, but still those will take a rest for the next month. It's all about cleaning the system and getting as smart as I can about my fuel.