Fuel for the Running Machine

A few months ago I decided to stop eating meat - cold turkey. This wasn’t the first attempt, but definitely the last. My decision came about after reading a particular book that discusses many of the environmental, economical and ethical consequences related to the current meat industry. As someone who majored in nutrition in college and grad school, and is generally interested in the subject, I have heard all of these arguments before, but something about the way the author presented them finally clicked for me.

Making the switch to a vegetarian diet didn’t change my daily routine all too much – I prepare most of my meals at home, and I rarely, if ever, buy meat. However, once I made the conscious decision to cut it out of my life, I realized that I needed to consider my diet carefully in order to make sure that I’m getting all of the requisite nutrients for health and of course, to fuel running.

One of the biggest misconceptions in sports nutrition is that you can’t possibly be a competitive athlete and not eat meat. Meat does contain a lot of essential nutrients –complete protein, iron, B12 – but it is by no means the only way to a balanced diet. The trick is to add more variety: fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds, beans and soy products.

I have been enjoying trying lots of new foods (farro, wheatberries, millet, soba noodles, etc) and recipes, and have found that my diet has been a lot healthier, in general, than it was before. If you are feeling ambitious and looking to cook up something new, here is a recipe that I tried a few weeks ago, and loved. It has everything I look for in a recipe: good flavors, veggies, a good ratio of carbohydrate and protein—great for a post-run meal.


Ottolenghi Soba Noodles

1/2 cup brown rice vinegar

1/3 cup fine-grain natural cane sugar or brown sugar

1/2 teaspoon fine grain sea salt
2 garlic cloves, peeled and crushed

1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes

1 teaspoon toasted sesame oil
grated zest and juice of one lime
1/3 cup olive oil

1 medium eggplant 3/4 lb cut into 1/2-inch chunks

8 ounces dried soba noodles

1 large ripe mango, cut into small chunks
8 ounces grilled or pan-fried tofu, cut into tiny cubes
1/2 medium red onion, very thinly sliced
a handful of basil leaves, slivered
a handful of fresh cilantro, chopped


While you are prepping the rest of the ingredients bring a large pot of water to a boil.

In the meantime, make the dressing by combining the vinegar, sugar, and salt in a small saucepan over medium heat. Cook, stirring, for up to 1 minute, or until the sugar dissolves. Remove from heat and add the garlic, red pepper flakes, and sesame oil. Allow to cool, then add the lime zest and juice.

Heat the olive oil in a large skillet and shallow fry the eggplant in three batches, until deeply golden. Transfer to a large plate lined with paper towels and sprinkle with a generous pinch of salt.

Cook the soba noodles in a large pot of boiling salted water, per package instructions, or until just tender. Drain and rinse under cold running water.

In a large mixing bowl toss the noodles the dressing, mango, tofu, eggplant, onions, and most of the herbs. You can now set this aside for an hour or two before serving topped with the remaining herbs.

Serves 4-6.

Slightly adapted from Yotam Ottolenghi's Soba Noodles with Aubergine and Mango from Plenty.
Prep time: 15 min - Cook time: 30 min

ING New York City Marathon "Opening Day"

For runners hoping to race the ING New York City Marathon, today is the big day - opening day.  Luckily for the thousands of marathon hopefuls whose entries are not accepted in the drawing, there is still another way to claim a spot in the race.

By raising money for the NYRR Champion's Circle, a charity that helps fund post-collegiate training groups including ITA NH, runners can gain guaranteed entry to the marathon while simultaneously helping a fantastic cause.

If you or someone you know may be interested in the Champion's Circle program, please CLICK HERE to learn more.

Happy Easter everyone

I apologize for the delayed blog. I got caught up yesterday with all the Easter festivities that it totally slipped my mind.Speaking of festivities the team got together yesterday and did an Easter egg hunt up at the barn followed by a nice Ham dinner and ended the night off with a game of monopoly. If ya cant be with family for Easter then friends are a very good substitute. I hope that all my family, friends, and blog readers had just as good of an Easter as we did hear at team ITANH.

Okay now on to some track talk! Training has been going great since we've gotten back from California. My achilles is still sore an achy at times but I am able to train and race through it without it getting any worse so that's a plus! I hope its one of those things that feels like its never going to go away and then one day I will notice that my achilles doesnt hurt anymore. Kind of like a sore throat that finally goes away but you don't really remember when it actually stopped hurting. Well I can only hope that is the case.

Now some good news! I ran the 800m this past friday down at Princeton and finished third running a 1:49.05. I was very happy with the result of the race. The leaders took off and went through the 400m in 50.x. I came through in 53.0 and i thought to my self  "That felt fast". I was in last place going into 600m at around 1.20.8 but i felt pretty good considering and the pack in front of me slowly started to come back to me and I made a hard move to the outside coming around the turn an was able to past a majority of the field as if they were walking and started closing on the leaders! Unfortunately I just ran out of room and they crossed the finish line in 1:48.6 and 1:48.71. But I was able to close strong and run a 27.x last 200. So I was very happy about that and on the same weekend last year I had run my first 800m of the year in 1:49.03 so its a good sign considering all the training I missed this winter due to my achilles injury.

My next race is this Sunday at Stanford. I will be running at the Payton Jordan Invite and I will be racing the 800m. Stay tuned for results!

Again I hope everyone had a wonderful Easter

Brian

Time to go Fast

Good Evening, 

Starting to rock and roll again!! Achilles has been in the best shape it has been in the last 4 months. Completed a nice track workout this Tuesday pain free. I am also fortunate enough to be competing back on my college track this Friday in a 5K. Im not expecting much from the 5K but it will be nice to race and get the wheels rolling again. 

This past weekend in Boston was great motivation to get back into race shape. If you have never been to Boston for the marathon weekend I highly recommend going. It is a fantastic experience and will more than motivate you to accomplish your running goals. 

Another highlight of mine in the past few weeks was Brian and I had the pleasure of watching a childhood favorite movie. I think the older you get the funnier and more interesting this movie becomes. I highly recommend watching it if it is in your closet with a few cobwebs on it. 

Below is my favorite seen from the movie!!!!

I would also like to wish my teammates who are competing at Princeton this weekend the best of luck!!!!! 

Well, that is all I have for today. I am going to go eat some food. 

Have a great weekend!!!

David 

Reporting from Boston:

Hello Ita followers,

I am reporting from Boston after spectating the races attached to the marathon. It is crazy in Boston right now - the streets were full of distance runners today! We had some great performances by the team leaving everyone even more hungry for our next race... Including me! I am slowly but surely getting back into shape and can't wait to open up on he roads in June. 

Broe and I figured out my race schedule for the summer and just being around a road racing atmosphere has me really excited for summer. I am actually getting back to racing next weekend at Princeton where I'll open with a 5000m on the track.! I can't wait to jump into some competition but am a bit nervous as it's my first race since surgery. It will be good to bust some rust off on the track before hittin up the roads in June. 

In other news, we have reunited back in Hanover and are all settled in. We have been helping out with a middle school track club and the Hanover high school track team. According to the coach, the kids think it's 'totally sick' that we come to their practices. I think we enjoy it as much as they do. It gives us some great perspective and is pretty enjoyable to see the passion that the kids have for track and field. Welp, hats all for this time...

Have a great day!

Lex

Health and Wellness...

So as I sit here sniffling and coughing, throbbing headache and sore throated, I begin to prepare and review my materials for tomorrow.  For tomorrow I will stand up in front of the Freeport High School in Maine to give a speech on health and wellness.  Seems a little odd, speaking of health as I suffer through the sniffs and hacks of my ongoing cold, but I hope to be able to convey in my valetudinarian inducted haze the importance of health and wellness in the lives of the Freeport youth.

The importance of one’s health, especially that of an athlete, is paramount.  For instance, it is not how hard one can train that is important (although one must train hard to succeed), the real importance is how well you and your body can recover between training sessions- and this recovery process steams with one’s health.  Now I’m not talking about whether or not you are feeling ill, health.  Health in the terms of recovery is all encompassing.  The food you eat, the quality and quantity of sleep, mental stresses, every aspect of your life plays a roll in how well and how quickly you are able to recover and respond to various stressors in life, most importantly (for an athlete) the physical stress of training.  Unfortunately, not everything can be controlled (as noted by my ongoing cold), so it is the athlete’s job to manage those aspects in their life that they can  to give themselves the best chances for success.  

An athlete is not made on the field, but off the field in how they are able to better prepare themselves for the next workout.  Everyone can go out and run eight miles, but what do you do when you finish?  The difference between good and greatness lies behind the scenes in the choices one makes throughout their lives.  What foods to fuel their bodies, the amount of quality sleep, cultivating their bodies so that they are able to recover and train again, slowly and methodically improving towards greatness.

So what is health and wellness to me?  Everything.  And tomorrow I hope to be able to share my feelings to the students of Freeport, and help them understand the ‘true’ importance of one’s health and wellness.

Until next time,

Ben

There's Always Money in the Banana Stand

Since returning to Hanover last week we have managed to keep ourselves fairly busy. Ben, Brian and myself are preparing to race next Sunday (April 17th) in 5k and 1 mile races hosted by the Boston Athletic Association (BAA). Ben and I will be running the 5k which travels through the Boston’s Back Bay and Beacon Hill. The race begins at Copley Square and finishes at the Boston Marathon finish line on Boylston Street. On Monday we will have the opportunity to watch the Boston Marathon, which I am very excited about. Especially since it will be more than a few years before I have the pleasure of racing 26.2 miles. I prefer to live vicariously through those people who are crazy enough to train for and race that type of insanity.

My workouts continue to go very well. I’ve done some of the toughest workouts that I have ever done the last few weeks. While we were out in California I did 13 x 400 with 50 meter jog rest. Taking into account the 10-15 meters it takes to slow down after you cross the line, the rest is only about 20 seconds, maybe. It also felt like it was 90 degrees that day, so it was just plain miserable. A few days later I did 2 x 3 miles in 16:51 and 16:49 (about 5:35 per mile). I’m feeling more fit each day, so I’m really looking forward to the races that I have coming up. After the Boston 5k next weekend, I will be racing a 1500 at a collegiate meet at Princeton. After that it’s back to Stanford for a very competitive 5k where I’m hoping to dip under the USA ‘A’ standard of 15:45, which would qualify me for the USA Track and Field Championships in June.

Aside from training, we have jumped into a few new community projects here in NH. Last Tuesday we met with the track and field teams of Hanover High School to talk about our team, preparing for races, staying warm, and nutrition, among other things. We will likely be meeting with them again to run with them, give advice on training and to help out at their home meets.

We have also begun working with a worldwide program called Junior Achievement (JA). Through JA we will be teaching elementary school students about workforce readiness, entrepreneurship and financial literacy. We will be teaching these classes at Unity Elementary School in Newport, NH. If all goes well we have plans to teach more of these classes. If you want to find out more about Junior Achievement, check out their website: http://www.ja.org/default.asp

Back in NH

Id like to give a shout out to the UConn Mens BBall team and congratulate them on winning the NCAA Championship! and with that I would also like to ask the Redsox when they plan on starting the season?!?! Really 0-5!!! I know its early but its never good to see your team get swept in the opening series of the year and now they might get swept again.... I have faith they will turn it around its just embarrassing at the moment.

Okay with all that being said Im finally back in NH. Although Im sad to leave the nice weather Im glad to be back! As good as the weather is in cali I still feel that if there long enough it will make a runner soft. No offense to any of you Californians its just my opinion. Things are still shaky with my achilles..... But I did race in Stanford two weekends ago and things went very well considering and oddly enough my Achilles felt fine after. Yet I woke up this morning and it just started aching again. So we decided to scratch the hill workout that I was suppose to do today and just did some track work instead. Ive already been in the cold tub twice since the workout and hopefully it will settle down before this Saturday when I run an 1500m down at UConn. Im excited about about going back to my old stomping grounds and hangout with my old teammates. So hopefully my Achilles will stay strong and things will go smoothly. Right now there's not much to talk about as Im just trying to get back in the swing of things here on the east coast. But hopefully after this weekend I will have some more to post about

Gags

Should I take a nap or just stay up all night?

In less than five hours our time in California will have officially come to an end. We will be loading up the van and headed to the airport at 2:45am, arriving in Boston sometime tomorrow afternoon. Our time in California has been well spent. It was rewarding to see the impact that we had on the kids the last few days we spent with them. They were especially sad to see us go and we will miss them. We will never forget our time working with the Ventura BGCA. The kids have made just as big of an impression on us as we have had on them. 

Training will hopefully resume for me on Friday! This past Friday I was fortunate enough to have an appointment with Amal Saxena of Stanford Medical Center. I received a few injections in my achilles that will hopefully solve all the pain and frustration this injury has been causing me. Lets hope for the BEST!!!!!!

Lex, Coach, and I got ambitious yesterday and accomplished a goal we had been striving to achieve before we went back to Hanover. That goal was to go fishing. Yesterday, we motored out of the Oxnard marina at o'dark-thirty and fished till nearly 4pm. At first the trip was rather frustrating. As we departed the harbor the weather was not cooperating. It was a chilly breezy morning with an annoying drizzle. As we started to fish the strong breeze was tangling lines and the captain decided to move multiple times because of this. However, by about 9am the wind had died down and the fish started biting. The trip grew more and more enjoyable as time went on. Between the three of us we probably caught upwards of 50 fish and 1 bird. Dolphins and seals also made guest appearance from time to time. It was an enjoyable trip and made for a great dinner last night.  

I now need to make a decision on whether to pull an all nighter or take a nap. At this point I am looking at about 3 hrs of sleep max in preparation for tomorrows travels.............................. eehh, I can sleep when I am dead.

Good Bye California we will miss you!!!!!

See ya all back in New England!!

David