As I mentioned in my last post, I’ve been tracking my food and calories in MyFitnessPal. I haven’t had an accurate full week (Monday through Sunday) yet of data but if last week’s six of seven days is any indication, I better continue being a runner! For each of the first five days of tracking, I was over my net calorie intake. This of course includes the calories burned from exercising and my daily walking. The only day last week I wasn’t over was on Sunday because I had my long run and burned almost 900 calories on that run. Before I started tracking calories, I found that I don’t usually over eat on the days of my long runs, and this first weekend proves that. I am however starved the following day and generally eat more than enough to replenish the lost calories. This week however, I am making an effort to eat a little less each day as to not exceed my daily goal; let’s see how well I do. I loosely set my goal to losing 0.5 pounds a week, knowing that is not fully realistic with all the running and eating I need do. However, if I am able to lose a pound here and there, I wouldn’t be terribly disappointed.

On a side note, Monday sundown was the start of Passover and I am not going to pretend that I can speak to the religious aspect of the holiday, but I did make a successful brisket on Sunday night that I am proud of. For years, Josh and I would each take turns trying to make brisket for Passover and each year, we’d fail miserably. This year, I successfully made a brisket that actually tasted good, not overcooked, and the right tenderness. I can’t say that it is the best brisket ever, but now I have something to work off of. I followed this recipe loosely. I am not very good at following instructions, so generally when I cook, I improvise off of an existing recipe. In this case, I had roughly 3.75 pounds of brisket which I cooked for around 3.5 hours in the oven at the recommended temperature of 325 degrees. I did add some sherry cooking wine, but only about half a cup and then a whole can of diced tomatoes. I also added carrots, celery, and a quarter of a sweet onion to the brisket as well. However, instead of making the gravy per the recipe, I took the juices from the meat and sauteed it with mushrooms, remaining onion, and some of the diced tomatoes. While this sauce was intended to be thinner than gravy, I think it added a nice touch to the meat. In addition to the brisket, I also baked tri-color creamer potatoes, brussels sprouts, and steamed zucchini. On Monday night, Josh and I made matzo ball soup and haroset to round off the Passover meal.

Last night, I had my first speed workout in our training plan for the NJ Marathon. I met my teammate Julio at Central Park. He crafted for us a series of intervals around a circular field in the park. We ran two loops (each loop is roughly 600 meters) at marathon pace with a two minute break followed by four more loops at 5K (85%) pace with a three minute break in between each and then finishing it off with two loops at marathon pace. I like the break in between for intervals, but I hate the intervals themselves! I find that I am much more tired after 1200 meters at 5K pace than I am after a 10-mile run, but I guess that’s the point of speed work. 

Anyway, my commute home from NYC was interesting. I had heard that there was some traffic at Port Authority and the Lincoln Tunnel but that the Path train was also down, but this was around 7PM and by the time I left practice, it was already around 8:30 so after quickly scrolling through Twitter for updates, I decided I was safe to go my normal route. I hopped on the subway and headed to Port Authority and got on a bus. As soon as I was on the bus, I was absorbed by my phone that I didn’t pay any attention to where the bus was going. It turns out that the driver took a detour after coming out of the Lincoln Tunnel and ended up in Union City, which for everyone not from the area, is about two miles West of Hoboken but on a cliff. When other passengers on the bus asked what was happening, the bus driver didn’t say a word. It turns out that there was a lot of other buses all following the same route and a ton of police all over the Union City area directing traffic (I later learned that it may have to do some emergency construction on Route 495). Some of the passengers asked to be let off the bus, which the driver happily did. I called Josh to get a sense of how far I was from home, he thought I was about two miles away, and after much internal debate I asked the driver if I can get off as well. The bus driver seemed skeptical about letting me off but after he told me that it was at least going to be 25 minutes before we’d make it down to Hoboken, I knew that running it was going to be a lot of faster. Thank goodness I am a runner and that I was on the phone with Josh the whole time so he could direct me. It ended up being 1.6 miles to get home and I made it in less than 15 minutes. I don’t know that I actually beat the bus, but I’d like to think so!

When I am stuck in traffic these days, I usually grumble about how it would be faster to run it. However, usually it is not faster, but yesterday, it truly was! Thank goodness I am a runner so I can potentially beat traffic and thank goodness I am a runner so I can eat a lot of good food!

Are there reasons you’re excited you’re a runner?

P.S. I had the best smoothie ever this past weekend when I was out at brunch with some girlfriends at Kingswood in NYC.