Saturday Run and Gardening

After taking three days off and then running for 53 minutes, my legs are so sore today. It felt incredible having a few days off because I had begun feeling a little burnt out on training. But now that I felt the time off I am even more dedicated to staying on track so that my body continues its maximization of efficiency. The 53 minute run was kind of hard, I didn't go as fast as the 8 miles we ran at the Baylands last week.

Tomorrow will be a spinning and yoga day, which I am looking forward to. A new part of my training regimen will be going to sleep earlier and waking up and doing my workouts in the morning. I’ve always been really efficient in the mornings and then I begin to tail off as the day progresses. It’s been bothering me going to sleep at 12 and then waking up at 8. Even though I’m getting my allotted hours of sleep, I do not feel rested. Tonight will be the beginning, going to sleep at 9.

My diet has been about 90% of optimal. Eating some brownies and other small snacks, but I’m still sticking to my oatmeal and salad diet. Another change to the diet is consuming small amounts of meat. It really is a great source of complete proteins, and as long as it’s not ground beef, hot dogs, or other meats that are accumulations of various parts, and for the most part grass fed organic I’m good. Tonight I had a Chinese Chicken salad, and then a small bowl of oatmeal. I really like grinding up various seeds and then adding them to the oatmeal. I’m almost out of my first batch which consists of: Flax seeds, pumpkin seeds, black sesame seeds, and sunflower seeds.

I’m really excited for our spring harvest. We planted about 100 Fava beans (for nitrogen in the soil) in the winter and they are just starting to produce pods. I also built a raised bed yesterday while it was still sunny, and my brother and I double dug the soil for optimal root growth. I’m going to build a couple more when the weather clears up a bit. They are really cheap to build if you follow some simple steps: Find used redwood on craigslist or other free sites. If you own a drill, awesome, if not, use nails. It also helps to have a power saw, but I used a handheld saw for portions of construction. The screws or nails are cheap, and old redwood is really durable, so I’m expecting it to last for 10-20 years. Not a big hit in time or financially because it took about an hour to build and cost about 2 dollars. We’ll recoup those expenses when the lettuce, onions, and other things are ready in a few months.

Growing your own food has some major benefits:
• You know how it’s grown
• You see the entire process
• It’s very satisfying
• Tastes a lot better
• Really cheap
• Most things grow well in the Bay Area’s Mediterranean climate
• It takes us back to our roots (unintentional play on words)

That’s all for today.

Have a great week,
Ryan