Alec + The Age of Enlightenment

Beach Workout

2008-07-28T16:27:00.011-04:00

When I was on vacation in NC a few weeks ago I wanted to still exercise (partly to burn off all the beer I knew I would be drinking!) Of course there are gyms on the beach there, but why pay to exercise in some air conditioned stuffy gym when you can get a free workout just on the beach that is more fun and interesting (and low entropy of course)?

I wanted to do both cardio and weight bearing exercises using only the beach and what stuff was available. I believe in the Gym Jones and Crossfit philosophy that mixing up different weight bearing exercises in different combinations is good for your body (although Crossfit's unofficial obsession with meat and hatred of carbs is off the mark along with their mostly dismissal of the benefits of long distance cardio training. However, I am very happy to see that their July 30 WOD was a 15K run. Nice!).

Some of the exercises I did while on the beach are:

Running on sand: Running on sand works a lot more secondary support muscles around the ankles, calves and feet. It also burns a lot of energy as you have to work more to push off the ever shifting sand under your feet.

Running backwards on sand: Running backwards not only uses different muscles than regular running forward but it burns extra calories as well. And how often do you get to run backwards on the sand? In fact, I will admit right here that I love barefeet and think it is sad that more people aren't obsessed with barefeet like I am.

Regular pullups: Pullups is probably my favorite exercise of all time. Very little equipment needed other than some sort of bar or board. The house we were staying in had an elevated boardwalk to the beach with boards that were utilized for pullups. Def. good for grip muscles too as half the work in these pullups was from trying to figure out how to hold onto the board.

Towel pullups: Throw a towel around something and you're ready to go. Again a great wrist and forearm workout from trying to hold onto the towel.

Pushups: My second favorite exercise only to pullups. The pushup is so ingenious because you can do it anywhere, don't need any special equipment (you don't need these fancy doo-hickeys), it works a whole bunch of muscles efficiently, and there are a number of fun ways to mix it up.

Sumo deadlift high pulls: This is an exercise I picked up from the Crossfit website. You basically do a deadlift and then pull weights up to your shoulders and down again in a controlled motion. I used random heavy blocks of wood.

Dips: No dip bars available but steps were available. Place hands on 2nd from bottom steps and rest feet on ground in front of steps. Dip down until arms make 90 degree angle and lift body up. The load is lower than using a traditional dip bar but that's what more reps. are for.

Overhead Press: Cinderblocks are great for building and construction apparently and also great for lifting over your head and working out the shoulders.

Digging in the sand with a shovel: I seem to be obsessed with digging fortresses in the sand to fight the incoming tide even though I am an no longer a child. Great workout and it's really cool to dig until you hit water.

Tabata Squat: This one's simple. Just squat down while keeping your back arched until your upper legs are parallel to the ground. Sound easy? Do multiple sets of 50 with good form and the legs are screaming for you to stop.

Shoulder Side Lifts: While standing up lift bricks in a controlled circular movement from hips to straight overhead. Burns in the shoulders big time after a bit.

Lunges: Great workout for the legs and hips. Body weight is all that is required.

Front Shoulder Lifts: Bricks used again. Like side lifts but start in front of body and lift until overhead.

Horseshoes: OK, this isn't really a workout, but an example of just a simple game that is good exercise. Tossing that horseshoe the 30 or 40 feet works the shoulder and arms pretty well.

Wind Powered Brewery in North Carolina

2008-07-27T10:16:00.006-04:00

On my 4th of July trip to the Outerbanks of North Carolina a few weeks ago we heard about a local brewpub, Outerbanks Brewing Station. As I love beer and tasting beer at its brewery source, I was excited to try the place out. I was even more excited when I found out the place has a big ass wind turbine! For those that don't know it is super windy down on the OuterBanks so it is really a great fit to have a wind turbine there. Of course, homeowners who try to apply to have them installed aren't allowed as at least one local town council considers them an eyesore...

A few facts about their wind turbine: They claim to be the only "wind powered brewery in the country". The max output of the turbine is 10kW at 31mph. That's pretty good! The turbine cost $45,000 and the brewery estimates it saves them $200-$300 per month. As the cost of energy goes up in the future this will only increase. The turbine has a 30+ year operating life. I as I am really tuned into saving energy lately just looking around the brewpub it is obvious there are many other minor things they could do to save lots of energy...

Not only does the brewery have a sweet wind turbine they have pretty decent beer too. We heard from a local that there was a cool 80's night on one of the nights (not for old people, but 80's music.) As I freakin' love (cheesey) 80's music, this was a great chance to rock out while wearing my sunglasses at night and try a couple good beers at the same time.

I tried two beers while at 80's night:

Stout: Only had a couple tastes of my cousin-in-law's beer but from what I remember it was amazing. Everything I like in a stout without any nasty coffee taste (I hate coffee!)

Tripel: Don't remember much about this other than the fact that I don't remember much. Boring and didn't taste like the Tripels I'm used to. This has nothing on one of my favorite Tripels of all time, Victory Golden Monkey Triple.

I went back a few days later with my lovely wife and was able to get a 4 sampler at lunch:

Olsch: This is a Kolsch style beer and claims to be 'The Thirst Quencher!'. It is pale and has a 'Budweiser' color. Not much smell. It is light and pretty refreshing if you're thirsty. Not much flavor. Better than some macrobrew, but not very good. Def. a lawnmower beer.

Hugh Hefeweizen: Named after the Playboy founder? Pretty decent hef. Lemony taste, light and refreshing, decent. Usually not a huge hef. fan but this one is pretty tasty.

LemonGrass Wheat Ale: Another hef. with more oomph than the Hugh version with a nice slightly bitter taste. Def. better than the previously tasted beer with same cloudy and light orange/yellow appearance. Well balanced with more complex mouth feel.

Hop Candy ESB: Very Niice! Nice bitter maltiness. Light amber color, not cloudy. Not 'bitter beer face' bitter but just a bit to smack you in the face and say YES! Best of the four beers I tried that day.

The funny thing about the brewery was that they served the regular cheap American beers too and most people were drinking them! Most people had a Bud Light in their hands! Nothing against Bud Light, but I at least feel that when given a chance to try something local whether its food or drink or music or whatever, you try it. I guess some people just like their Bud Light which is fine. More actual tasty beer for me.

Peak Oil- It's Happening!

2008-06-25T11:59:00.013-04:00

Peak Oil- It's Happening! It's not just a bunch of environmentalists or geologists anymore, this story appeared on CNBC yesterday basically talking about how the EIA is cutting its oil output forecast for 2010.

The fact that the world is running out of oil is pretty scary. Add to the fact that world demand for oil and energy is growing and it's really scary. Oil is used in everything. It has been responsible for the ridiculous population boom over the past century. Without oil there would a much lower world population. It is used extensively in food production (~10 calories of energy are used for every calorie of food produced on average), transportation, chemicals, heating, lubrications, energy, pharmaceuticals, everywhere. If the world ran out of oil today, or even in 20 years, we would all be f*cked big time. I am pessimistic that there will be any type of technology fix that will save the day or be able to match the energy output of oil. What about renewable clean energy? You need oil (or other hydrocarbons) to manufacture wind turbines. You need oil to manufacture solar panels. Hydrogen economy? Don't think so. Hydrogen is actually not a form of energy, it is merely an energy storage method, and an efficient one. Most hydrogen produced now is from natural gas, which is also running out big time. There are some crazy alternative energy ideas out there but a lot of them sound a bit unbelievable and the energy inputs to them often don't match the energy you get back.

Why is this on this blog? Why am I being so negative? That's not the theme of this blog! Well, there are many ways the common person can conserve energy and deal with this coming energy shortage that are related to this blog. Some easy ways to conserve energy and at least delay us running out of gas and oil are to lose weight, exercise in low energy ways (why drive to a gym to walk on a treadmill when you can just walk outside, or even better, walk to the store?), skip the elevator and take the stairs, eat more seasonally and locally and less meat (especially red meat). Buy organic food when possible. Not only are those healthier ways to eat, but they are less reliant on cheap energy. As energy gets more expensive and rarer in the future, more people will eat local seasonal food as transporting food that relied on lots of chemical fertilizers that was shipped from far away out of season will become prohibitively expensive.

For an interesting example of this, read about what happened to Cuba after the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. This period of Cuba's history is called the Special Period. Basically, imports of gas and oil to Cuba essentially stopped after the USSR collapse. As Wikipedia states, "the period radically transformed Cuban society and the economy, as it necessitated the successful introduction of sustainable agriculture, decreased use of automobiles, and overhauled industry, health, and diet countrywide." People actually became healthier there as they had to walk or bike a lot more than before.
They lost weight and got in shape. People started eating mostly organic vegetarian diets and eating locally produced food free of chemical fertilizers. Preventative medicine was stressed as there was little money for treating illnesses and buying expensive equipment. There is a documentary movie about this I'd like to see that is called The Power of Community: How Cuba Survived Peak Oil.

It's a brave new world out there. Although it often seems (to me at least) like one person, or a bunch of people, cannot do anything about the coming scary future, we can make small steps now that not only will make us healthier but will save energy and ease the transition in the future to less consumption, more human powered transport and work, and local organic food systems.

New Hampshire Big Lake Half Marathon

2008-05-20T16:29:00.008-04:00

On Saturday May 10 I ran the New Hampshire Big Lake Half Marathon. This was the 2nd race in the Tri-state half marathon series which I'm running in.

Official Time 1:38:46, chip time 1:38:23. Finished 137 out of 1200. A bit slower than last race of 1:37:10, but not too shabby considering this one was pretty hilly and I got a pretty bad cramp at mile 5, which flared up again around mile 10. Also, I've been a lazy ass lately about running training, so considering these factors I think I did pretty well.

This was definitely the most fun half marathon I have ever run, and probably the most fun race as well. Despite having to fight a cramp for some of the race, the entertainment and sites were definitely worth it.

The scenery was really beautiful including views of Lake Wininnipesaukee and the surrounding woods, including some streams and ponds. There were locals playing great music at various points along the course including a Barbershop Quartet, a banjoe playing family, a fiddler, crazy 'party women', guitars and singing. Despite this race being in relatively rural New Hampshire with banjoes playing, it wasn't creepy at all like something out of Deliverance, it was just really neat. There were also amusing signs posted along the route that were meant to elitic a smile I guess- "Why is the word 'abbreviation' so long", "Should vegetarians eat animal crackers?", "When you lose weight- where does it go?", "Did Adam and Eve have bellybuttons?", and some other amusing signs.

There were a lot of people running for charity, the Leukemia and Lymphoma folks really had a strong presence. I should really do a race for charity one of these days.

I wore my 'Powered by Veggies' shirt again, this time without the cape though. I only got one comment on my shirt, by a volunteer as I was getting some post race food. She didn't seem to get it. She just commented that it was an amusing shirt.

One little personal thing I have been doing the past couple of months is avoiding all bottled water, as I think bottle water is wasteful. I kept that up for this race and didn't take any bottles of water at any point during the race including afterwards when they were handing them out like crazy. I did take some paper cups of water and gatorade, but not as wasteful as plastic bottles in my opinion.

This race was a lot of fun and I'm looking forward to doing it next year!

Next long race is Portland, ME Half Marathon in October. That is a pretty easy, relatively flat race so my goal right now for that race will be to break 1:35. That would be a PR for me, one that I believe is reachable if I keep up training. Time to hit the bricks! (I'm actually not sure what the expression means, I think it means better get to work?!)

Beer Review: Ommegang Three Philosphers

2008-05-17T15:32:00.007-04:00

I first drank this on draft at the Publick House a few months back and thought it was delicious. When I saw a big bottle at Trader Joe's, I had to purchase it for home consumption to see how it compared to on draft.

This beer is 98% Ale and 2% Ale with cherries added (couldn't they just say 100% ale with minimal cherries added?). 9.8% ABV. 25.4 oz. bottle with champagne top purchased at Trader Joe's for $6.99. Pours a dark brown-orange-red color with dark foam. There is a wonderful sweet malty aroma. Upon drinking a malty delicious taste with fruit backbone of cherries, raisins, and a hint of orange. Despite the high ABV there is no excessive alcohol taste. Incredible.

Despite being from Ommengang Brewery and therefore brewed in upstate New York, this beer transports the consumer to Belgium. You can almost hear the flemish arguments and laughs in the air while drinking this (I'm being a bit cheesy, but this beer really is awesome). I say flemish instead of french or dutch (the two other main languages spoken in Belgium) as the beverage I associate with french is wine and I don't know what I think of when I hear dutch, but flemish is undeniably beer. (Walloon is also spoken in Belgium by a minority, but I don't know anything about that language).

As an extra plus my wife really likes this beer too! Hiiigh Fiive! She hardly likes any beer!

I poured this beer into my 'Het Kapittel Watou' chalis glass I picked up in Belgium in 2002 and it was awesome. Highly recommended. The only flaw/complaint I could possibly give about this beer is the bottle has a champagne top so cannot be reused for home beer brewing (although now that I think about it, maybe there is a way...) Very minor complaint indeed, this beer is still fantastic.
3.5 beer bottles out of 4

Alec bikes to work!

2008-05-16T09:10:00.009-04:00

Happy Bike to Work Week! This past Thursday, May 15, I finally biked to work from home. Normally it is a 20 mile drive each way for me (mainly highway), but thanks to 'the Google' I was able to map out a 16 mile route that would avoid major roads. Google Maps is great, in that it allows one to drag the route and it snaps to another road. My one complaint about the program is there is no 'shortest route' option. They do have a 'avoid highways' option but it still includes local highways. When I map out the route from my house to work and select 'avoid highways' it directs me onto the death trap of Route 1. That road is dangerous to drive a car on, there is absolutely no way I would ride a bike along it. I drove the route to work three times last week to familiarize myself with it. Driving it took between 50 minutes to an hour.

I left at 6AM with my packback sitting in the milk crate on the back of my Trek bike and arrived at work at 7:15AM. I think that's pretty good time considering it is a pretty hill 16 miles and I was actually following all traffic signals unlike some bikers. I also have a 'hybrid' bike which isn't as bad as a mountain bike for street riding but is still more work than a true street bike. The only tough part was right at the very end as my work is at the top of a big ass hill. My legs were really screaming at me at that point, but the rest was pretty easy. What's nice is my work has a shower, so after arriving I showered up, changed, and was at my desk before I normally am anyway.

The ride home was a bit tougher as it was rush hour and I had to deal with more cars (and people after a tough day of work ready to get home), but it still was pretty easy. I left at 5:15 and arrived home at 6:35. The extra five minutes were from a wrong turn near the end which I stupidly made. Not to be smug, but it is pretty satisfying when there is a huuuge line of cars waiting and you can fly by on your bike.

How much gasoline and money did I save? I avoided driving 40 miles. Assuming 30mpg for my car, that's 1.33 gallons of gas. At $3.72 for a gallon (around average price now), that's $4.96 direct savings. Not a lot, but that also does not add in the 'hidden costs' of driving like maintenance, oil changes, depreciation, etc. If I can start biking once a week for 30 weeks per year, that would be $149 per year savings gasoline alone (assuming same gasoline price). With the price of gasoline only going up, the direct savings will be more. Accounting for the indirect costs, the savings will be even higher. This will also save 1200 miles from my car per year.

I can't see myself biking to work every day. But for now one day a week should be good. Maybe I can increase that to two days a week. It really was fun, and great exercise. I don't have to go to the gym or go running before/after work when I have ridden 32 miles that day! One thing I need to work out though is putting less weight up high on my bike. Maybe some of those paneer bags that ride low on the back of the bike would be a good purchase, along with carrying less extra weight. Despite the load I carrided not being a lot of weight, I could still feel it when I was going to go over a big bump in the road and stood up on the pedals. The bike really moved differently with an extra load up high than with just the bike weight. Calculating how the bike would behave going over a bump with that extra load up high would be a good system dynamics problem to solve!

Why did I do this? Well the exercise is a plus, I love being outdoors as much as possible, and the money savings is nice too. But another big reason is trying to reduce my negative environmental impact. Despite my various actions to reduce my impact, I really could do a whole lot more. If everyone in the world lived my lifestyle, there would still have to be a number of Earths to support us all. Knowing I'm doing one more thing is great. Plus, I'm sending less of my money to big oil companies and overseas to other countries whose politics and policies don't always jive with me well (I saw a woman on a bike last year who had a sign mounted on it that said something to the effect of "Biking- one small way to protest oil wars" That's a great political statement right there). Unlike that old Boston Area car dealership ad that prices are going "Down, Down, Down, Doo-oown", the price of gasoline and fuel is going up up up. Oil is around $125/barrel and gasoline is near $4/gallon. What can we do? Our genius president wants Saudi Arabia to produce more oil and to open up more of Alaska to oil drilling. Is that really the solution? Why not reduce oil and energy consumption? Isn't that much smarter solution in terms of pollution, long term sustainability, keeping more money in America instead of sending it to the Middle East, etc.?

Another great thing about me biking to work is related to my having been talking it up a lot to coworkers about how excited I was to do it, how I'd be getting exercise and saving money, etc. It is probably not all because of me, but one coworker who lives 5 miles away biked to work the other day for the first time and says he will keep it up! Two other coworkers have at least mapped out the route and are considering it also. Fantastic! Now if only more of America could be convinced to bike more often, that could really make a difference.

Gas Tax Holiday = Wasted Opportunity

2008-05-06T16:03:00.013-04:00

I sometimes wonder if politicians actually have any brain cells in their heads. Then I realize that most of them are probably very smart people but they say what they say and do what they do because they pander to that which helps them earn money and get re-elected; corporations and the general masses.

One of the latest ideas that certain politicians (Hillary Clinton, John McCain, and probably others) are pushing for is so stupid it got me again wondering if these politicians have any brain cells in their noggins (like the Family Guy episode where Peter has one brain cell left in his brain which has just broken its glasses, which is actually a reference to an old Twilight Zone episode). This idea is for a federal gas tax holiday this summer (gas is currently taxed by the government at 18 cents a gallon). I haven't done out the math myself, but the number being thrown around is that the average family will save $30 from the government not charging this tax over the summer.

This is one of those ideas that may sound attractive at first, but is really just dumb. It does absolutely nothing to address the fundamental problem of our addiction to gasoline and other fossil fuels. Most economists think this will do nothing to lower gas prices, as the cut in price will slightly increase demand, driving prices even higher! It's Econ 101, supply, demand, and pricing. Historically, when there have been gas tax breaks, the price did not drop the same amount as the tax break. For example, quoting the New York Times here,

When Illinois and Indiana suspended about 7 cents of their state gas taxes in the summer of 2000, prices fell by an average of only 4 cents, according to a study by the American Road and Transportation Builders Association, which opposed the plans. Drivers saved no more than $2.50 a month, while each state lost tens of millions of dollars in tax revenue

At least Barack O'Bama has the balls to say that he does not support this gas tax break, and that it is stupid and does nothing to address the root of the problem. In addition to this, not charging this tax will take away something like $9 billion in tax income from the federal government, increasing further the national debt. At least not all politicians are proposing stupid measures like this one. Again, quoting the same NYT article,

And Georgia, which briefly shelved its gas tax after Hurricane Katrina, has no plans for a sequel. Instead, Gov. Sonny Perdue, a Republican, has pushed to expand state bus service and is relying on new tax incentives for telecommuting that give people “the option not to buy gas,” said Bert Brantley, his spokesman.

This is a great opportunity for politicians to tell Americans to get out and walk more, take the bus, ride a bike, get exercise, stop driving so much, change their wasteful habits. Instead, some of these politicians want a temporary tax break that will do nothing to curb demand. Americans are addicted to gasoline and fuel (I'm no exception, I still drive my Honda Civic almost 20 miles each way to work each day, but I'm planning to start biking 1 - 2 days per week). Urging people to get outside out of their cars will also encourage people to exercise, which judging by the fact that 30% of Americans are obese, collectively as a country we could use it! Why not promote Bike to Work Week? If 10% of those who drive to work regularly switched to walking/bicycling/taking public transportation, it would have a ginormous effect on national fuel consumption and pricing. If Americans did get some transportation exercise, this would in turn save a lot of fuel as well. As I described in this post, if every American lost one pound, 39 million gallons of fuel would be saved per year.

What happens when the gas tax holiday ends? The price goes up again and demand has not fallen! I personally think the gas tax needs to increase! The extra money can go to programs to promote alternative energy and energy efficiency increases, promoting public transportation and bicycling, etc. For really poor Americans who cannot afford increased pricing there can be gas vouchers, etc. like food stamps to help them out, or slightly lowered taxes for low income Americnas.

The politicians could be talking about how this is a great opportunity for America to save energy by increasing fuel economy standards for cars + trucks, promoting local and organic food, buying less crap from China and more high quality stuff from USA, promoting walking/biking/taking more public transportation instead of driving everywhere, promoting renewable energy alternatives and increased efficieny requirements for everything. Instead, because of their corporate interests and pandering, this stupid ass idea is being promoted to solve our problems. And no, using corn to make ethanol is not a solution to our gasoline addiction/problem. It has only exacerbated already high food and fuel prices in the US and around the world (and actually increased global pollution instead of reducing it). People are starving so Americans can fill up their SUV's with ethanol (I have read that the amount of corn used to make enough ethanol to fill up an SUV can feed a person for a year. That's really sad).

I really do worry what the energy and food situation will be like in American in the future. Without politicians to step up to the plate to promote real solutions that will solve the real problems, there won't be much real progress. At least there's grass roots people, like the Dervaes at the Path to Freedom, who really are getting people to change their lives. Individual people and grassroots organizations can make a difference, but federal mandates can be the real kick that is needed to get everyone moving.

Organic Beer Goes Mainstream

2008-04-27T12:28:00.002-04:00

Organic food and 'natural' products are all the rage now a days. As mentioned on this blog before, organic is almost always better than 'conventional' for a whole number of reasons. One of the original selling points about organic was that it was only being produced by small, local, independent people and businesses. Recently however, big business has gotten onto the organic bandwagon as they realize their is money to be made.

The same thing applies to beer. Until recently, organic beer was only available from small, local breweries across the US. Not anymore however. Budweiser now sells organic beer. As discussed in this article, organic beer has now gone mainstream (thanks to my friend P for sending this to me a couple months ago.)

Of course, 'Organic Bud' is not sold under such a name, it is sold under the Green Valley Brewing company label, with the beer name of Wild Hop Organic.

Is this a bad thing? Well, yes and no. It is a good thing in that organic ingredients are vastly superior for the environement, people's health, soil quality, etc. over conventionally grown crops. Having a beer giant like Anheuser Busch push the product into the mainstream may force more crops to be grown organically, which is a good thing.

However, like a lot of things that have started locally with a good cause by people actually dedicated to the movement, having big business jump on the organic bandwagon will probably water the cause down and change it for the negative. One of the original positive aspects of organic farming was the fact that only small, local farmers would grow food organically. By buying organic food you therefore would almost always be supporting small, local farmers and/or independent businesses. Is it likely that the organic food that Wal-mart now sells is from local, small farmers and businesses? Not likely. Like almost all big business they will look to buy from the cheapest sources possible. The same thing will most likely happen with organic beer. Instead of trying to buy locally like most of the small independent breweries try to do, 'Organic Bud' will most likely be made with the cheapest organic ingredients possible, whether that's local or from farmers halfway around the world.

Because big business exerts so much political power, they can change national food policy pretty easily. This has happened with organic food labelling. Food no longer has to be 100% organic to be labelled organic. If food is 100% organic it can be labelled '100% organic'. If it is 95% organic it can be labelled 'organic'. If it is 70% organic it can be labelled 'Made with organic ingredients'. Personally, I think that is a bit deceptive. Because big companies like Walmart or Anheuser Busch are so powerful, they can lobby to drop these percentages even lower, exempt certain ingredients, or change what the definition of organic is (maybe they'll push GMO food to be labelled organic? That would be scary).

I actually bought Wild Hop Beer a few months ago before learning it was 'Organic Bud'. I actually noticed when I bought the beer that the design on the six-pack bottles and packaging were pretty cheesy looking. When I drank it I was wholly unimpressed to say the least. At the time I'm not sure I thought it tasted like Budweiser, but I at least definitely remember it not having much taste. Now that I know it is by AB, I can taste the similarities. The website at least mentions it is part of AB. If it didn't say that, there are hints otherwise that it is not a small independent brewer. The biggest hint is they rather prominently advertise the beer as only having 150 calories, which most craft breweries do not mention, or if they do, not prominently. Most craft brewers brew their beer for taste, not calories which AB obviously focused on for this beer. After finding out this crappy organic beer I bought was 'Organic Bud' I had a Seinfeld moment. To quote Estelle Costanza on Seinfeld, "I was duped!"

To sum up, is organic beer going big time a good thing? As discussed, yes and no. If the big companies can keep organic pure and with its roots sourcing locally with fair prices, not trying to squeeze out small farmers who actually care about the product, and not just caring about profits then it is probably a great thing. If history is any lesson however, this will probably not happen.

Crossfit: Forging Elite Fitness

2008-04-17T10:18:00.026-04:00

Thanks to my friend B for telling me about Crossfit. In one word, Crossfit is badass. From what I can tell, the whole concept is similar to '300' old school workout mentatility. Use simple exercises with very few, if any, machines to get in an awesome workout, vary the workout a lot, keep pounding the body and don't get into constant workout that is always repeated.

The whole thing seems a bit like a cult, but a good cult, not a Jim Jones sort of cult. Incidentally, the name of the gym where the '300' actors worked out is called Gym Jones. Coincidence? Maybe. My guess however is that the gym's founder, Mark Twight, has a slightly twisted sense of humor and named it after the cult leader because his favorite drink, Flavr-Aid, is what the Jim Jones followers drank to commit suicide (or were poisoned against their will) (laced with poison of course).

Anyhoo, to get back to Crossfit, a workout is listed for each day (the WOD, workout of the day). As stated before, most of the workouts are very simple, with little equipment or fancy machines needed. Most are designed to use multiple muscle groups and emphasize movements and function. Some power lifting is specified, and there never seems to be any single muscle training (no sets of arm curls). Like the Gym Jones folks, the goal is not to 'get big' like some weight lifters want to achieve. The goal is to gain functional strength and overall fitness. Some of these exercises are pretty advanced powerlifting, which despite my having knowlege of some proper power lifting techniques from high school football, still make me a bit nervous to perform.

Many of the exercise sets are named after women, such as 'Elizabeth' which consists of: 21-15-9 reps of Clean 135 pounds, Ring dips. (Having the exercises named after women reminds me of all the cars being named after women in the movie 'Gone in 60 seconds'). There are also a bunch of exercise sets called the 'Hero Workouts', named after some brave folks who have died in Iraq, Afghanistan, or serving the public elsewhere.

One of the workouts is called 'Fight Gone Bad'. This exercise supposedly originated as a training exercise for ultimate fighters. They fight for 3 rounds of 5 minutes each, one minute rest in between rounds. When one of the Ultimate Fighting guys tried out the workout he was asked if it mimicked the physical demands of a fight. The response was that it was like a 'fight gone bad'.

The workout consists of 3 rounds of exercises that last one minute each. After each set the next set begins immediately. There is a one minute set in between each round. I have done this at home twice but had to modify it with what I had handy.

A Power Hour Mix comes in handy when doing this...
Original: Wall-ball: 20 pound ball, 10 ft target. (Reps)
Sumo deadlift high-pull: 75 pounds (Reps)
Box Jump: 20" box (Reps)
Push-press: 75 pounds (Reps)
Row: calories (Calories)
Note: For women the weight used for the high pull and push-press is 55 lbs

Modified Home Version:
Pushups
Sumo Deadlift High Pulls (28lbs dumbells)
Modified Mountain Climbers
Push Press (28lbs. dumbells)
Weighted Squat Jumps (28lbs dumbell held at chest)

This workout is only 17 minutes long but pretty, pretty, pretty tough. The three times I've tried it at home I was pretty damn tired by the end of it. I also used the 'women's weights' when doing it, and not the men's weight.

One thing I really like about the Crossfit website is that women are often featured in the pictures and videos performing the workouts. The women that are featured on the site are really fit and strong, and they get just as much credit for their strength, agility, and athleticism as the men do.

One thing I don't like is there seems to be some negative feelings towards vegetarians and vegans on the website. It does not seem to be anything directly posted by those who run Crossfit, but if you delve into the nutrition section of the discussion board on the website, there seems to be some bad mouthing (and incorrect/ignorant information) about the benefits of a plant based diet. That's OK though, I'm not there to read about nutrition, plus people can have their own opinions (I did however read some pretty nasty comments about vegans though that don't need to be repeated here).

Overall the site is pretty cool. They have tons of video demonstrations and other information available for no cost. I don't do the workout of the day every day like some followers must do, but the exercises are good inspirations for workouts. As mentioned, I have tried the Fight Gone Bad, but none of the other ones to a T. I now often do things like 3 rounds of sets of deadlifts + then box jumps, which was inspired by one of the WOD's. For anyone who has never power lifted before however, I would still urge lots of caution in performing some of the exercises, even after watching the video demos. Without proper instruction on proper technique or supervision some of the exercises can be dangerous.

There is a CrossFit Boston, which I also separately read about in The Improper Bostonian magazine. I don't see myself ever signing up for that gym as a regular member unless I get a job right in the city, but it would be cool to go to a few single session workouts to learn some more powerlifting techniques. Giddyup.

Men Who Cook

2008-03-30T18:11:00.008-04:00

I like to cook vegan food. I like to eat vegan food. Eat Air Blog has noticed that the vegan cooking world/ blogs are dominated by women. They put out a challenge for men who like to cook to post their recipes on their blog. As I have only posted about cooking once on this blog as that is not really what this blog is about, I figured this would be a perfect excuse to post one of my favorite vegan recipes.

Those familiar with vegan cooking know that Veganomicon kicks major ass and is in my opinion one of the best vegan cookbooks out there. One of my favorite, and luckily for me, easiest, recipes in that cookbook is Pineapple Cashew Quinoa Stir Fry. To not give away the whole recipe, it is a simple dish with the main ingredients being quinoa, cashews, pineapple juice, soy sauce, peas/edamame, green pepper.

The basic recipe is cooking the quinoa, stir fry the pepper, garlic and ginger, add soy sauce and stock and combine with the quinoa. Very simple but delicious. Like most recipes, I modified the recipe a bit for the ingredients we had available. I'm not sure if the average person has peanut oil, but we don't; olive oil substituted fine. Instead of green peas we used lima beans. White rice vinegar substituted fine for mirin. Crushed red peppers were used in place of a red chile, and the scallions were skipped (am I the only person who isn't a fan of scallions, onions, all other onion type things? I actually feel sick if I eat too many of them. Could this be a weird food allergy?)

I try to eat locally as much as possible. This meal was certainly not local. Quinoa is typically from South America, our quinoa was bought bulk, not sure of the origin. The pineapple is certainly not local. In face, probably not a single ingredient in this meal was local, except for the added water. Ah well. It was delicious at least. The beer I consumed while cooking was brewed locally at least by moi.

While this is a very simple dish and probably doesn't merit a blog post, it is incredibly delicious and healthy. Those looking to make a simple delicious healthy vegan meal should opt for this guy. The recipe claimed that it serves 4. My wife and I both ate it with no leftovers, and we ate a side salad too. I guess we just have big appetites. Happy cooking. And eating.

'Green' exercise

2008-03-29T18:37:00.002-04:00

Putting aside everything else such as personal health, athletic competition, having fun, happiness, etc., is exercising 'green'? Isn't burning extra calories actually a waste of energy and therefore not environmentally friendly (where do those calories that you are burning off originally come from?)

A few months ago I read a short, rather unimpressive article on the G-Living website about 'green' exercise. The article, while not a total waste, did not go into many useful details. What was good about the article was it got me thinking about exercise in terms of 'greenness' and the environment.

The bottom line is overweight people are not environmentally friendly for many reasons as compared to lighter people on average. They consume more food than they need to. They weigh more so whenever they drive their cars, ride an escalator, fly in a plane, etc. it requires more energy. They are bigger so require bigger clothing, using more energy and resources. According to The Live Earth Global Warming Survival Handbook, if every American lost one pound, 39 million gallons of fuel would be saved per year (not sure how they arrive at these savings, but I can believe it).

So does that mean to be environmentally friendly everyone should whip themselves into shape and drop those extra pounds? Well, yes and no. As outlined below, it depends how you are fueling yourself for the exercise, and how you are exercising.

There are many ways to exercise and get into shape. Driving your big ass SUV to an air conditioned gym to run on a treadmill is not the most eco friendly way to get in shape. According to this blog, typical power output for a treadmill motor is around 2HP. In addition to the motor, treadmills have a a motor controller, digital display, electronic PC boards running the show, many now have a TV. To be conservative, assume the total power consumed for the whole treadmill is 2HP. This is the equivalent of 1491 watts. If using it for 30 minutes every day, this equals 272KWH per year! Factor in driving to the gym, the electricity used to power the lights and other stuff at the gym, the energy used to heat/cool the gym, and you end up with a lot of energy used for your exercise. Running outside instead of the gym treadmill takes zero energy! If you are inclined to running or walking, why not kill two birds with one stone and walk to the store or work instead of driving. I always find it ironic how people drive to the gym to walk on the treadmill, and then take another car trip to the grocery store. Just walk to the grocery store! (I am somewhat of a hypocrite here, I actually do drive to the gym sometimes in winter or when it's raining out, but only do this in crap weather and am trying to minimize it. At least I drive a 5-speed Civic instead of a behemoth SUV).

If incline to biking, why ride a stationary bike at the gym when you can bike outside? Get your shopping done or errands while on the bike (in addition to enjoying fresh air, scenery, people-watching instead of staring at a wall or a TV). Inspired by the cool green energy conference I attended today, one green way to exercise would be to ride a stationary bike at home which has been converted to generate electricity a la Lance Armstrong in the ESPN commercial. Environmental activist and actor Ed Begley already does this.

If you like to pump ze weights, it is probably more environmentally friendly to use free weights and 'old school' lifting techniques as compared to new fancy pants machines. Many of those machines are so overly complicated I laugh when I see them (lots of metal = lots of pollution created when mining that metal, casting the weights, transporting it (probably from China), etc. According to the Global Warming Survival Handbook, metal mining consumes 7-10% of global energy output!). Some weight machines have complicated air pressure setups and electronic displays. Of course all those companies that make those machines don't want the consumer to think that they can get a better workout with a few dumbells and their own bodyweight, as they are in the business of selling new machines.

What about those that don't want to join a gym or do 'exercise' but still want to be fit? As outlined before, why not walk to the store instead of driving? Walking 2 miles outside burns just as many calories as walking 2 miles on a treadmill (I think some people need to see the calories displayed on the treadmill screen to think they are actually burning calories). Why not take the stairs instead of the elevator? This burns calories and saves energy (how do you think the elevator works? Electricity!). Why not use a non motorized push mower to mow the lawn instead of a dirty ass 2 stroke mower? Why not plant and tend to a vegetable garden? This gets into the food context below.

Unless exercising at home, one probably does not exercise in the buff. I always find it curious how so many people go out and buy all new clothing and sneakers when starting a new exercise plan. Maybe they think they will keep up the plan because they have all that new stuff and don't want it to get wasted? Although new clothes and gear are tempting, one should avoid buying these as much as possible. Do you really need to wear a new Under Armour outfit to go lift weights when you can just wear that old t-shirt? (those commercials are pretty cool however, and almost convince one that if you wear that stuff you will get jacked. We must protect this house!) If you are going to buy a new cotton shirt why not buy a US made organic shirt? Are there perfectly good used workout clothes at the local Goodwill or freecylce network/ Craigs List? (I'll admit I probably wouldn't do this in most cases, but some people would).

One gets thirsty while exercising. People who keep up with environmental news know that bottled water has gotten a bad rap lately as it should. As the No Impact Man outlines, bottled water is somewhat ridiculous. The bottled water industry has somehow done a great job convincing the American public, and increasingly the rest of the world, that bottled water is better than tap water. While in some cases untreated tap water is not safe to drink, almost always it is. See No Impact Man's post for interesting bottled water info.

If you are a fan of drinking sports drinks after exercising, buy powdered and mix it into tap water instead of buying a whole sports drink. It saves lots of plastic and shipping weight. Recycle the powder container when done.

What kind of food one consumes has a huge impact as well. The greenest food and fuel for humans is local, organic vegan food. The Standard American diet which is meat heavy is incredibly environmentally unfriendly. According to the IPCC, consumption of meat is the #1 cause of man made global warming, more than all transportation combined! It is so unfriendly that according to this article, it is more eco friendly to drive than to walk if being fuelded by meat. The point of that article wasn't to encourage people to drive instead of walk, but to point out that modern industrial food production is incredibly energy intensive and inefficient. Along the same lines, elsewhere I have read that modern industrial meat production is so inefficient that a vegan driving a Hummer is more eco-friendly than a beef eater riding a bicycle. Scary, but it's probably true.

What does local food mean? It could mean different things to different people. At the extreme are the Urban Homestead folks who grow most of their own food in the middle of the city on 1/10 acre. Most people are not going to do that, so within 100 miles is typically considered local. A typical American meal travels 22,000 'food miles'. Yikes! According to the Global Warming Survival Handbook, a conventional meal produces 4 - 17 times more greenhouse gases than a locally sourced one. Organic is important too. Standard farming is very energy intensive and polluting. It uses lots of fertilizer, pesticides and herbicides. Not only do these pollute the local eco system, they require huge energy inputs to produce them. Organic farming acts as a carbon sink and rebuilds topsoil. According to Global Warming Survival Handbook, up to 3670 pounds of CO2 are captured by each acre foot of organic soil every year (what's an acre foot? I don't know. An acre?).

What is a great local, vegan, high energy organic foodsource? Potatoes. Eating potatoes is 145 times more efficient than eating beef.

To summarize, it can definitely be green to exercise and be fit, however it really depends on how one exercises and how one is fueled for the exercise. Of course what's of importance too is personal health, having fun, athletic competition, etc.

Any other green exercise tips/ideas out there?

Beer Review: Sam Smith Organic Ale

2008-03-22T15:21:00.010-04:00

As I am become more and more obsessed (obsessed in a good way) about all things organic, this fixation has been extending into the beer realm more and more as well. I reviewed Orlio Organic Common Ale back in September 2007; It was freakin' delicious. As I touched up in that review, organic is better environmentally than conventional most of the time for most things. As mentioned before, one thing often overlooked is where the organic ingredients come from however. As an example, if you eat an apple from a local farm that isn't truly organic e.g. IPM, is that more environmentally friendly than eating an organic apple from another continent? It's tricky and is an ongoing source of debate that is raging via the web and elsewhere.

I saw this organic beer at the store and immediately recognized the name Sam Smith as being organic but not local. Ah frack it I thought, I'm gonna buy it. I read somewhere that for east coast people it is actually more environmentally friendly to consume french wine vs. California wine because shipping by boat is more efficient than trucking (this actually goes into my mechanical engineering background. To get a bit geeky, the most efficient internal combustion engines in the world are on huge oceanliners and cargo ships. They are enormous diesel engines and from a lot of cool engineering such as turbo chargers, super chargers, idealized intake/exhaust manifold shape for running the engine at ideal load/engine speed for lowest brake specific fuel consumption etc., are able to get an overall efficiency of ~50%! That's incredible!) The article didn't mention what if you ship by train, which are very efficient (Northern Suffolk claims to be able to ship a ton of goods 410 miles on a gallon of diesel fuel. I'm not sure if this is really true and what the conditions for that calulation are, but I imagine it's close to that). To get geeky on transportation efficiency, see this Wikipedia article, pretty cool. Anyway, the point of all this was I didn't feel that bad buying a British organic beer despite my attempt to drink mainly local beer because it would've been shipped by boat.

Enough of this rambling, let's get to the beer review already...

This beer pours a muddy orange/brown color with minor carbonation. There is nothing special about this beer. It is certainly very average, with not much character or flavor. It is certainly 'British' tasting. There is some odor reminiscient of a Magic Hat Beer (slightly sickly sweet) like a bit of whiskey was dropped into the bottle. Blah. I love to support organic brewers, but this Sam Smith will not get my beer money again in the future. Pe-oop. I am biased to big, unique, dark, out-of-the-ordinary beers, but this beer was no good. As a friend said about another bad alcoholic drink we consumed, "So much for organic". Luckily, not all organic wines and beers are this crappy.

Overall beer rating 2/4.

Hyannis Half Marathon

2008-02-27T22:00:00.005-05:00

On February 24, Hyannis Half Marathon was run by SUPER VEGGIE GUY.
-Outfit consisted of Brooks long sleeve technical shirt which was free race shirt from 2006 Portland Maine Half Marathon, organic cotton t-shirt from Americal Apparel 'Powered by Veggies' (purchased through CafePress), old athletic pants, technical socks, home-made cape (made by wonderful crafty wife of Super Veggie Guy).
-1:37:10 official time, net (chip) time. I think my chip wasn't working, as I didn't start the race in the front row. So I probably was about 20 seconds faster than official time. Pretty happy with time, would've liked a bit faster, but not too shabby considering I was home sick from work only 5 days earlier.
-188th place out of 1824
-Got a bunch of 'Go Superman', 'Nice cape', 'Hey, a cape on the Cape!', one 'Yah Super Veggie Man', twice 'Go Captain America', 'Go Veggies', one group of giggly teenagers 'Yay Vegetables!!!!'. Around mile 10, after I passed another runner he said, "Oh man, Super Veggie Guy, that's awesome!" so I turned and gave him a smile and thumbs up. I was hoping someone would actually ask me about my costume, so I could explain to them how I was out to prove the animal protein and athletics myth to be false, and how one could be a (high end) athlete only powered by the plant kingdom. Alas, I received no such inquiries, so hopefully my good time and the outfit made the point to a few people. Maybe they just thought I was being funny (which was a part of it) and not trying to make a point about something.

-Saw the Hoyts while running. Pretty cool seeing them. Now I wish I had said something to them, something to the affect that they are inspiring to watch and I really support them. I ran past them and alas didn't say anything. Poop on me.
-Didn't see any other costumes. Most people were bundled up, saw one guy in shorts and a short sleeve t-shirt. He must've been cold.
-Before the race there was a young lady, mid twenties, standing next to me waiting for the race to start who said she was trying to qualify for Boston that day (she was running the full marathon). Just hearing her say that got me really excited for her. I saw her about halfway through the half marathon, so it looked like she was keeping up the necessary pace (Boston qualifying time for F18-35 is 3:40. If she kept up a 1:40 pace for the half marathon she should've easily made it). I hope she did!
-No free post-race beer like last year unfortunately :(
-Pretty chilly day, not much wind. I assume it is much windier off shore where the new Cape Wind Project is hopefully to go in soon, b/c hardly any wind even right by the water. I saw a couple signs in people's yards stating they were against the Cape Wind Project. I just don't get it. Why wouldn't anyone want clean energy? It will hurt the view? They like pollution? (In reality, there are certainly pros and cons related to the Cape Wind Project, and any wind power project. However in the case of the Cape Wind Project, all the positives greatly outweight the real negatives).

-Not to complain, but no free gatorade which I was hoping for. They did have free bottles of O-Water, which tasted awful. I wish now I hadn't drunk it so the plastic would not have been wasted. At least I saved the bottle for future regular water use. Bagels, potatoe chips, and free donuts from Dunkin' Donuts were offered. I ate two donuts; they were delicious. As I never eat donuts or other junk food like that, it was a real treat :)
-Fueled the night before by Thai Curry tofu from West Side Lounge and two Chimay's on tap. Morning of ate three slices of Seeded Whole Grain Piggy Bread. Piggy Bread just opened a store less than a mile from us in Davis Square, so we love to walk down there now and buy fresh bread. This time they wrapped the bread in not one but two plastic bags. I hate wasting plastic bags, so next time I'll just ask for the one bag. Maybe we can even bring these bags back to reuse next time.
-Big Thank you to all the volunteers, policia, etc. who helped put the race together. Great job as always.

BarleyCorn Beer Making Part Deux

2008-02-25T18:47:00.013-05:00

Two weeks after brewing beer at BarleyCorn's we returned for the bottling process. It was actually a mini family affair as I went with my little brother, dad and mom. I was slightly worried about the outcome as we had a couple minnie f-ups while brewing, including dumping in the hops too quickly while the wort was too hot, resulting in the whole thing boiling over, losing a significant portion of the hops. As hops are wicked expensive now-a-days, we weren't allowed to add in any extra. As the helper guy told us last time, "Oh, I wouldn't worry about that too much, you probably didn't lose too much hops, and if you did, it won't affect the taste too much". We would see...

The day before bottling the staff transfers the beer from the big plastic jug seen at the end of the brewing post to a metal keg type container which is suitable for bottling from. As I'm a big fan of the second 'R' in the reduce-reuse-recycle mantra, I brought all of our beer bottles to use instead of buying new ones. The bottles first must be sanitized in this neat little dishwasher thing and transferred to the bottle tree for use in the bottler.

The keg is hooked up to the bottler via an input and output tube. The input tube is CO2, and the output tube is, well, beer. It flows to a three bottling system. The system works by pumping nitrogen into the bottles first and then pumping the beer into the bottles. The nitrogen apparently keeps the beer from foaming up. This is a slow process. Calling it slow is actually being nice. It is really slow. Most of the time only one or two bottles actually fill. It is certainly not very automated. A funny quote from my mother while watching this all occur was, "They need to automate this more, with some new automated machines or something, this is just too slow". Well, this isn't a Budweiser plant. This is home-made craft beer. It isn't supposed to be very automated. Half the fun is being able to hang out while the slow process occurs and drink some of your new beer, chat to other people bottling and brewing, compare beers, etc.

After the bottles actually fill with beer, they are removed from the bottler and set aside. New empty bottles are put into the bottler for filling. The full bottles are then finished by manually pressing on a cap, and an optional label is added. As the Patriots were still vying for a Super Bowl win at the time we bottled, my beer was aptly named 'Albion Street Brewery Bruschi's Brewski Amber Ale'. Alas, the name did not help the Patriots the following week.

The beer is pretty tasty. I have no idea if it actually tastes like a Fat Tire Amber Ale. It certainly tastes like it is missing hops, probably from our mini brewing mishap. My father and mother both think it is awful. Too bad for them, good for me, as they are giving me all the beer they took home. I think calling it awful is overreacting. The last beer we brewed there, 24 Hour IPA, was much better (that was probably the best beer I have ever consumed my whole life). Overall pretty enjoyable beverage however, and the bottling and brewing was really fun as always. We yielded close to 6 cases of beer, meaning 2 cases are taken home each. I'm almost through my first case...

Shocking the Conscience

2008-01-31T08:50:00.002-05:00

Shocking the conscience. No, that is not the title of a 1980's pop song by the Talking Heads or Peter Gabriel (it really sounds like it though doesn't it?). Nor am I talking about what may or may not, depending on the situation, and the person(s) involved, and the legality or illegality of the "interrogation methods" used, constitute torture (don't ask CIA Director General Michael Hayden or new US AG Michael Mukasey either, their answer won't be any better than that one).

What I'm talking about is a way of looking at lifting weights and exercising to maximize results. This idea of mine came from watching the movie 300 and thinking, damn, those guys are freakin' jacked. What did they do for training to get so ripped? Despite a number of historical, factual, and cultural problems with the depiction of both the Spartans and the Persians (the movie never actually claimed to be historically accurate; it was based on a comic book), I thoroughly loved that movie. It was awesome. I especially loved the stylized action, and how the actors portraying the best, most elite army in the world thoroughly looked the part.

Doing some quick research finds that the 300 actors worked out at a Utah Gym called Gym Jones. From the description given of the gym, this sounds like one hard-core place. From their website,

Gym Jones is not a cozy place. There's no AC, no comfortable spot to sit and there are no mirrors. Stressors are intentionally designed to cause discomfort and apprehension. Effort and pain may not be avoided. Physical and psychological breakdowns occur.

Sounds badass, right up my alley. The type of training the 300 actors and stuntmen went through is outlined here. It basically sounds like they did a lot of 'old fashioned' lifting techniques, constantly changed what they did, doing no same workout twice. What is 'old fashioned'? Kettlebells, squats, clean and jerk, dirty dumbells, rings, medicine balls. No fancy pants machines with digital readouts are used in that gym. They basically kicked the crap out of themselves, certainly shocking their body, and their conscience, into submission, and into ripped Spartan warriors. (One of the workouts was apparently called 'Louder than 11', presumably named after the super louds amps in the movie SPINAL TAP.)

The day I read all this, I thought it would be good for me to do more old school lifting techniques, and vary it up more. I need to 'shock my conscience' or shock my system for better workouts. What does this mean? More varied, keep my body guessing what will happen next, etc. I've starting doing more old school lifting such as deadlifts, lunges, clean and snatch (or is it clean and jerk, I always mix up the names), explosive pushups.

Even though I love running, I would like to vary my cardio more. Partially inspired by the Veg Triathlete, I'd like to do more biking, including to work one to two days a week starting in the spring (32 miles round trip!).

Will all this make me stronger and fitter? I guess we'll see soon. It certainly worked for the '300' actors, then again, they were working out 8-10 hours a day to prepare for the movie.

"Spartans, lay down your weapons" "Persians, come and get them"

UPDATE: Just found the video of the training on Youtube. Badass. Check it here.

Beer Review: Stone Brewing Double Bastard Ale

2008-01-26T14:52:00.000-05:00

I biked down to the Davis Square packy (or packie for B) and was browsing the shelves for something cool. Something that would get my blood flowing. This baby caught my eye. I had already tried the Stone Ruination IPA and it was a big bold badass of a beer. The guy at the counter who always asks for my ID every time I'm there actually commented that this beer is really good. Up until now I had just thought he worked there and had no taste in beer or wine as he always looks so unhappy every time I'm there (I'm not sure what to make of him always asking for my ID. Should I be flattered that he thinks I'm actually under 21? Shouldn't he remember me by now? Maybe they just tell the employees to ID anyone young looking even if they recognize them?)

This beer pours an opaque murky reddish color with minor carbonation. There is a big malty, slightly hoppy floral smell. It sports a super malty, slightly sweet hop fresh taste. There was some bitterness at the front but faded as I downed the brew. A minor raisin/prune taste is present. BIG is really the word to describe it. This beer is 10%ABV and you can feel it when it's going down the hatch. The taste is similar to a 120 Minute IPA. It is quite smooth despite being super strong and slightly bitter at the start. Like other super strong beers I think it is a bit too much for everyday drinking though. I definitely enjoyed it however.

I'm still not sure what style of beer this is. I assume it is a 'double IPA' as it tastes like one and includes the 'double' in the name of the beer. This beer has an awesome bottle design like other Stone Brewing beers. At the bottom it says "Ye shall know the Bastard, and the Bastard shall set you free". Well said.

Overall beer rating 3 beer bottles out of 4

Running update

2008-01-25T09:30:00.000-05:00

My half marathon is a month away, February 24. Despite it being cold and dark out (uninspiring running weather) I've been pretty good about training. I was very happy with my 13.1 mile long run last weekend that I completed in 1:38, my fastest time ever for that distance, including previous races. I wasn't even too tired at the end, def. could've pushed it harder in a real race. As I was hoping to break 1:40 in this upcoming race, I think this should easily happen (maybe I can even hit 1:35?). That will be a good start to the half marathon series that I will be competing in this year. I have no chance of actually doing well in that series, but it is a neat thing to compete in anyway, and they give away a free jacket for all those who run the three races.

With running under control, my only real thing to think about now is my costume for the race. I will be SUPER VEGGIE GUY. What does this mean? I have no idea. The costume must be running functional but cool at the same time. I will be heading over to The Garment District this weekend to see if there's any cool outfits to wear. If not, they have custom t-shirt making abilities there. There's also a custom t-shirt shop literally 50 feet from my house. An easy one to wear would be this guy from CafePress. Maybe a home made cape 'EAT YOUR VEGGIES!' will compliment a funny shirt as well. Maybe a veggie hat to boot as well? Any ideas?

BarleyCorn Beermaking Part 1

2008-01-13T17:34:00.000-05:00

Oh boy do I love making beer. As a Christmas present from my folks I got to make beer at BarleyCorn's in Natick today. This was my third time making beer there, and if the beer tastes anything like the heavenly nectar that was made the first two times, this beer should be delicious.

We chose to make an imitation New Belgium Brewing Fat Tire Amber Ale. As there has been a huge hop shortage lately, along with the increased price of wheat, corn, etc. because of all the ethanol production, there was a surcharge on the beer. That's OK though, totally understandable.

As there is a TV there, we got to watch the playoff game while brewing...

We measured out the various dried malts...

Seeped the malts in the hot water, aka teabagging it...

Measured out the malt extract...

Poured in the malt extract...

Boiled it up...

Added the hops, and the irish moss. Next stirred it up in a whirlpool to get the left over stuff into the middle of the pot. The beer then went from near boiling to much cooler by travelling through a sick heat exchanger cooler while being filtered into a big 5 gallon jug. The liquid yeast (100 billion yeast cells according to the package!) was added, and the original gravity was measured to allow calculation of the ABV. The great thing about going to Barleycorn is they take care of cleaning everything up, prepping, checking during brewing, full supervisition, etc. It's pretty tough to screw anything up.

The liquid will sit for the next 2 weeks in a cooler while those yeast cells go to town on the sugars, turning our brown liquid that currently tastes like malt and hops in water into delicious amber beer. Giddyup!

What will the name of this delicious beer be? Not sure yet, but I was inspired by another beer bottle that was sitting there that had a picture of a guy who looked just like Derek Smalls from Spinal Tap. That got me thinking about how the taste of this beer will hopefully be cranked all the way up to 11, and that might make its way into the name...

Enlightening the mind while tuning up the body

2008-01-06T09:42:00.000-05:00

When exercising, I often like to listen to music. If running outside in beautiful weather, I usually don't, but in the gym or when running out in the cold I often need something to keep me going. Over the past year or year and a half I've started listening to National Public Radio when in the car more and more. They feature informative and intelligent news stories, interesting commentary, and out of the ordinary music (while not totally unbiased, in my opinion I do think it is one of the best radio sources for intelligent news and information that isn't too slanted because of sponsors of the station, hidden agendas, etc.) But why only listen when in the car? I figure while pounding the body why not give the mind a quick tune up as well? That's why lately I've started listening to NPR podcasts in addition to music. The NPR website features mp3 podcasts for listening on one's ipod, zune, home computer, etc. They sort it by topic, title, provider. According to the website, as of today, 597 podcasts are available on the site. Best of all, they're all free without commercials! Sweet!

Of course, I'm not always in the mood for talk, sometimes I can really just use some Quiet Riot, Gang Starr, Mobb Deep, Eddie Money or Paul Van Dyk to help me bang my way through a workout. However when I'm feeling the need for learning something interesting, I download and listen.

As an example, today while running 13.1 miles outside in the cold I listened to a very interesting 35 minute long NPR environmental podcast discussing: carbon offsets, superfund waste sites being turned into a land conservation, Chinese three gorges damn, species extinction on Hawaii, carbon take up/release from forests, Florida everglades restoration.

I highly recommend these for anyone who enjoys interesting commentary, stories, opinions, etc. The topics featured include: Arts & Culture, Books, Business, Commentary, Diversions, Economy, Education, Environment, Food, Fun & Games, Gardening, Health & Science, Health Care, Holidays, Interviews, Jazz, Legal Affairs, Local, Media, Movies, Music, Nation, News, Opinion, People & Places, Poetry, Politics, Politics & Society, Pop Culture, Race, Religion, Research News, Space, Sports, Technology, Top Stories, World, Your Money.

Beer Review: Brooklyn Brewery Monster Ale

2008-01-05T10:02:00.000-05:00

I have never been disappointed in any beer from Brooklyn Brewery. Any beer of theirs I have ever imbibed has brought a smile to my face and my stomach. In addition to that, I give them props for attempting to be environmentally friendly by purchasing 100% renewable energy as I noted in my Beer Miles post. So when I saw this beer in the singles cooler at the Porter Square packy, I couldn't help but buy it.

This beer is a barleywine with a gorgeous ruby red / copper color. Very minimal carbonation with very tiny bubbles. A nice sweet malty smell. Upon drinking there is a sweet malty taste which immediately warms the body b/c of its high alcohol content at 10.1% (nice on a freezing cold NE night). Hints of fruit such as raisin, minimal hops, a bit of a sweet sherry taste coming through. This beer drinks nicely to the finish.

I have been disappointed with various barleywines lately. I tried the Magic Hat Brewing barleywine while at the brewery and thought it was disgusting. It was so bad I didn't even finish the 2oz. sampler, which I never do, even for bad beers. Even the Cambridge Brewing Company Blunderbuss barleywine I drank recently was not as tasty as I remember it, it wasn't bad, it just wasn't that fantastic as previous years. This barleywine however hits the spot.

Highly recommended for fans of barleywine. Overall beer rating 3 out of 4 bottles.

Great Wall of China Marathon

2008-01-04T14:30:00.000-05:00

Ah, China. Although I have much against China right now because of human rights abuses, pollution, stifling of democracy, adding lead to my food, etc., China is still a wonderful country with incredible history and culture. Take the Great Wall for instance. A monumental achievement of design and craftsmanship. I would love to some day see it with my own eyes. But run a marathon on it? Are these people crazy?

Yes, there is a Great Wall of China Marathon. Not only do you have to run 26.2 miles, you have to cover thousands of steps while doing it. Not a simple task by any means. Judging by last year's winner's time of 3:23:10 (a very slow time for a marathon win), it is as tough as it looks.

How does one train for an event like this? Lots of running, and lots of stair climber I guess. I read somewhere about someone's advice on how to train for it. The advice was something like this: "Run for two hours, do two hours of stair climber, run for another two hours."

Although there must be incredible views while on this race, I think my future trip to see the wall will not include this race. I tip my cap to those who attempt this calf pain inducing gargantuan monstrosity of a race. Now they need to just get Dean Karnazes, Scott Jurek, or Brendan Brazier to run the entire length of the wall, that would be sweet...

Athlete Super Fuel

2007-12-25T21:57:00.000-05:00

Happy Holidays to all. This will be my first post on a true hardcore athlete's fuel (ha, that is a joke). For dinner, we enjoyed 'Tempeh, Mushroom + Fennel Ragout', modified from Pasta For All Seasons by Robin Robertson (original recipe is over fusilli) over 'Mixed Green Pilaf' from the Millenium Cookbook. Holy crap, this dinner was so good and super nutritious. Quinoa, tomotoes, tempeh, carrots, long grain rice... Wicked good! Two lunches for work this week as well. Giddyup! Seriously though, I highly recommend this dinner. This is in my opinion as close as you can get to a super delicious and power packed meal. This dinner packs a punch in terms of fiber, whole grains, protein, and good fats. Lots of vitamins and other good for you nutrients as well. Although the pictures didn't come out that well, this was incredibly tasty.

What will this power fuel be helping me with tomorrow? 5:30-6:30AM lift weights (we'll see if this actually happens...), run 6 miles after work (50-51 min). Cha ching!

Parkour - Running while soaring

2007-12-15T15:30:00.000-05:00

Parkour - According to Webster's New Millenium Dictionary: a recreational pursuit in which participants traverse urban structures by running, jumping, vaulting, rolling, etc.

My one word description of parkour: awesomeness!!

Parkour, also known as Free Running, as described on the Halifax Parkour website is "The ultimate goal in parkour is to ‘flow' along one's path, from point A to B non-stop, like water. A principal rule of parkour is to never go backwards. Traceurs believe that there is a path through every obstacle which is achieved through forward movement."

Maybe that's a little too philosphical for me, but parkour really is simply sweet to watch (and I assume participate in). Those who practice parkour, those known as Traceurs or Parkourists, can be seen jumping all over urban environments, moving as efficiently as possible without letting obstacles get in the way.

Parkour has somewhat entered the mainstream media the last couple of years, thanks in part to a few music videos from Madonna, including her songs JUMP and HUNG UP (which features some really sweet dancing as well). Parkour was also seen in a few Nike commercials, a couple Scion car commercials, and in Casino Royale last year during the chase scene between Bond and Mollaka in Madagascar near the beginning of the film (Mollaka is played by one of the founders of Parkour, Sebastien Foucan who hails from France). Other cool videos of parkour can be found here, and here. Parkour and free running are technically separate entities, with hardcore practicioners insisting they are much different, they are closely related (at least in my book) and are interchangeable terms for me.

While Parkour is much more popular overseas, there are US and Canadien traceurs. While much more difficult looking than just regular running, I personally think it looks awesome and would love to learn? Any local readers wanna learn parkour? This might have to go on my list of things to learn and participate in for 2008...

Beer Review: Southern Tier Unearthly Imperial IPA

2007-12-12T21:52:00.000-05:00

This beer sports an awesome floral nose. Very hoppy and strong but smoooooth... no bitter taste at all. Lots of hops in this one, florally taste, but not as much as another super hoppy brew, 120 Minute IPA. There is a tasty sweetness like pumpkin pie? Not exactly pumpkin taste though. This is another great cold day warmer-upper. There is again a slight citrus taste, maybe a hint of grapefruit. Despite the super hopping of this beer, no bitter after tatse. The after taste grew a bit as drank the beer, but still very minor. 11% alcohol by volume, this baby is sold in 22 oz. bottles. Checking the Southern Tier website this concoction clocks in at 153 IBU's!!! Holy crap! That is unheard of! The biggest I had heard before this was 120 IBU's in the 120 Minute IPA from Dogfish Head. Either way, another success for Southern Tier Brewing. To quote Borat Sagdiyev, "ahhh, much success!"

Overall beer rating 3 beer bottles out of 4.

Beer Miles/ Choices for least environmental impact of beer

2007-12-08T14:17:00.001-05:00

Lately I've been thinking a lot about how I can reduce my personal negative environmental impact by the choices that I make, both big and small. This was one of my reasons for going vegetarian last January. Although there were many other reasons for my going veggie, one of the big reasons was the fact that, eating meat has a terrible effect on the environment. Lately though, I've even started thinking about my food choices beyond just being a vegetarian. I came across the concept of Food Miles recently, and although I had thought about the issue independently, really researching the idea made me think about it a lot more. Basically, all things being equal, the farther your food must travel from farm to plate, the higher the environmental impact it will have because of increased transport pollution, possibly more packaging, possibly more pesticides and preservatives, etc (along with not tasting as fresh, etc). The idea of eating local foods has even spawned the 100 Mile Diet. People who adhere to this diet, often labelled locavores, strive to eat food only made within 100 miles of their home (including all ingredients in the case of processed food). This can be a very difficult task, even in an agriculturally lush region like southern California, let alone Southwestern Canada, where the 100 Mile Diet was started.

Why am I writing about this on this blog? Isn't this blog about beer (and running)? Well, in thinking about what environmental impact my food choices have, and how I can reduce those negative impacts, I naturally thought about what environmental impact my beer drinking and beer choices have. This brings me to the concept of Beer Miles. I'm not talking about running a race while drinking beer, I'm talking about the concept of how far your beer must travel between bottling and drinking. Doing a search on 'the google', gives lots of webpages, as a search of ANYTHING will do, but only a few are about the type of beer miles that I am talking about. Specifically, I am talking about the distance that your beer, and the ingredients in it, travel between being brewed (or harvested for the ingredients), and you. This concept comes from the concept of Food Miles discussed above. Like Food Miles, with all else being equal, the farther your beer must travel from bottling/canning/kegging to drinking, the greater the environmental impact. Therefore, all else being equal, it would be less environmentaly damaging to drink beer made from local brewers. Other positives from this are supporting the local economy, and drinking beer that is most likely fresher and tastier.

As an example of BEER MILES, Ethical Consumer magazine states, "One study found that ingredients used in a traditional real ale from a local brewery could have travelled 600 miles before being consumed, whilst an imported lager produced by a multinational could have clocked up over 24,000 'beer miles'." This is a huge difference! Think of all the pollution generated by moving all those ingredients around 24,000 miles!

Of course it would be simple minded and ignorant to believe that all that matters is choosing beers that were made close to you (e.g. within 100 miles). There is so much more that matters environmentally, economically, etc. However, all else being equal, beer made locally will be better for the local economy, fresher, and more environmentally friendly. Other issues to think about include: organic vs. non-organic (and ingredients sourcing), draft vs. bottle vs. can, beer packaging methods, brewery production methods, brewery waste-water, waste-heat and waste-ingredients management, brewery energy needs, the list goes on and on.

ORGANIC VS. NON-ORGANIC
Lots of people are into organic ingredients, whether it is vegetables, grain, meat, or beer. In fact, the market for organic food and beer has been growing tremendously lately, as I talked about here. All else being equal, organic ingredients are much better environmentally for a variety of reasons. According to this site, in the UK the average farmer is estimated to spray hops up to 14 times each year with an average of 15 pesticide products. Nasty! As I hinted at in my previous post however, where the organic ingredients come from is important as well. Is it more environmentally friendly to use organic ingredients in beer that were shipped in from New Zealand (as most organic hops seem to be for some reason), or to use non-organic ingredients that were grown a couple hundred miles away? This relates directly to the Food Miles, or Beer Miles concept. Altough a beer may be made from organic ingredients, if the ingredients are sourced from very far away, this may not necessarily be a wise environmental choice. Along the same idea, if a beer is made locally, but uses ingredients sourced from very far away, it is not necessarily more environmentally friendly than a beer made farther away but using ingredients sourced closer to the brewery. Therefore a locally made beer made from local organic ingredients would really take the cake in this category.

DRAFT VS. BOTTLE VS. CAN
Almost without a doubt I can say that drinking draft beer is more environmentally friendly than drinking beer out of a can or bottle. There is much less packaging (less transportation weight and raw materials used) and the keg is reused. Despite recycling programs in place all over the US, most beer cans and bottles still end up in landfills. Also, recycling is certainly superior to throwing away and harvesting raw materials for products, but lots of energy is still expended taking recycled materials and turning them into new products. In terms of which is better: cans vs. bottles (glass and plastic) I don't know. A very in depth analysis would be needed for that answer.

BEER PACKAGING METHODS:
Related to draft vs. bottle vs. can. is overall packaging methods. Are the cans made from recycled aluminum or raw aluminum? Same question for the bottles? Are the cans made from a minimum amount of aluminum or a ridiculous amount like Sapporo cans? Does the beer come with lots of extraneous packaging materials that only creates more waste and uses more energy to create/ transport, etc.? Does the packaging use toxic inks and new cardboard instead of recycled paper and friendlier inks? Lots to think about, but often times difficult for the average consumer to realize or think about.

BREWERY PRODUCTION METHODS:
I'm no expert at beer brewing, but even someone who has no idea how to make beer must realize that different production methods have different environmental implications. I went on a tour of Magic Hat Brewery in Burlington, VT, and the tour guide told us about how they pre-heat the water that is to become beer using the heat from the waste water. This saves a lot of energy. I'm not sure if this is standard procedure for all breweries, but a good example of energy conservation (and money savings for the brewery!) Another example they gave is they take their spent grains from the brewing process and sell them to local farms. Again, this is much better environmentally than dumping it into the trash to be hauled away to a landfill somewhere. These are only two examples of how a brewery can reduce their environmental impact. As I said, I'm no expert at brewing beer, but it is obvious that there are plenty of other ways that a brewery could save energy and reduce their impact by different production methods, e.g. recycling other waste materials, water conservation, waste water treatment, CO2 recovery, etc.

BREWERY ENERGY NEEDS:
Breweries need lots of energy to function. They have to heat the water that becomes the beer, run the pumps and other machines, keep the lights turned on, etc. Most electricity in the US comes from coal plants, which are incredibly dirty and pollute like crazy. Some breweries use cleaner energy however. Brooklyn Brewery buys all of their energy from alternative sources (according to their website, windpower). Sierra Nevada advertises prominenly on their website that they use 4 250kW fuel cells (1MW!) to supply most of their electrical needs. While I am not really sold on fuel cells for clean power, they outline a number of other steps they take at the brewery on their website for being environmentally friendly as well.

As seen above, there are so many factors that determine how 'green' or environmentally friendly a beer or particular brewery is. Many of the factors are too difficult for the average consumer to take into account. As the Sierra Nevada and Brooklyn Brewery links above show however, some information is available to consumers. Some of that information is 'greenwashing', e.g. appearing to be environmentally friendly when it really is not, but some is really genuine. As stated before however, all else being equal, drinking locally produced beer on draft is most likely the most environmentally friendly beer option for the average beer drinker. What about drinking beer at home? Most beer consumers do not have a draft system set up at home. A great option for home beer drinking is buying growlers from local brewpubs. The growlers are recycled over and over, so there is very little packaging waste involved. Of course driving in your car to the brewery to pick up the beer creates pollution, so biking or walking to the brewpub to pick up the beer would really be the 'greenest' option.

Going even further, home beer brewing can theoretically be even more efficient. If local ingredients are sourced (local organic ingredients the best!), the 'beer miles' for that home brewed beer would be very low. Also, the bottles or keg would most likely be reused by a home brewer.

How can a homebrewer take this even further to be the most environmentally friendly possible? The absolute best would be to grow your own organic hops, malt, and yeast, brew your own beer (using pre-heated water from a solar water heater), in your own recycled beer bottles on equipment that was cleaned without a toxic cleaner (Seven Bridges Cooperative recommends cleaning with a mild iodine solution). One of the cover stories on the Oct/Nov Yankee Beer News talks about home hop growing. Apparently it's a lot of hard work but the hops make delicious beer. I don't know about growing your own yeast or malting your own grains, but I imagine it's possible if someone really wants to do it.

What about those that do not want to go all out and homebrew? Brew-It-Yourself places like BarleyCorn in Natick, MA are a great way to brew your own beer with reused beer bottles, without all the work and the chance of screwing something up. At Barleycorn, the brewing takes a couple hours, the bottling take a couple hours, and it is very difficult to make bad beer as everything is supervised. Just like buying from a local brewpub, driving to the place creates pollution, so the best way would be to walk or bike there.

This brings me back to the original concept of Beer Miles. As I try to reduce the impact of my food choices by being vegetarian and eating locally as much as possible, I thought it would be a good idea to try to do the same with my beer. For the past few weeks (starting a week or two before Thanksgiving), I've been trying to drink only locally produced beers. What is locally produced beer? Massachusetts is a good start, using the 100 mile rule, or simply New England I would consider local also. I will strive to do this until the end of the new year. If no local beer choices are available when I am drinking beer, then I won't follow this rule.

This is a partial list of the local beers I have imbibed since starting to drink only locally:

-Cambridge Brewing Company Big Man Ale (draft, at brewpub in Cambridge, Ma)
-Cambridge Brewing Company Blunderbuss Barleywine (draft, at brewpub in Cambridge, MA)
-Sam Adams draft (Boston, or somewhere else)
-Opa Opa Red Rock Ale bottle (outside of 6-pack says Southampton, MA but bottle says Saratoga Springs, NY- huh?)
-Sherwood Forest Brewers Sheriff's IPA bottle (Marlborough, MA)
-Tremont Ale draft (Boston?)
-Concord Brewery Rapscallion Creation Dark Reserve bottle (Lowell, MA)
-Shipyard Prelude draft (Portland, ME)
-Harpoon IPA bottle & draft (Boston or Windsor, VT)
-Harpoon Octoberfest draft (Boston or Windsor, VT)
-Wachusett Winter Lager (Westminster, MA)
-ACE IPA (same as Jack Bauer 24 Hour IPA but under a different name)

Non-local beers consumed:
-PBR (bottle)
-Tecate (bottle)
-Sam Adams Winter (bottle)

Can one person drinking local beer really make a difference on a large scale? Well, maybe not, but the concept of the 100 mile diet started small and has only grown in popularity. Maybe the same thing can happen with this idea. Convincing lots of people to think about the environmental impact of their beer (and food) choices really can make a big difference. Maybe more people can follow the drink locally idea. As I read on some website while researching this post, a good motto to follow is, "Think globally, drink locally".

Hyannis Half Marathon: Training Day One

2007-12-02T13:07:00.001-05:00

As I recently commented on, my next long race will be the Hyannis Half Marathon on February 24. Thanks to the nifty date countdown on the race website, the race takes place in 83 days. This also means I have 83 days to get my lazy ass back in shape for this race. It's hard to believe only 2 months ago I ran a whole marathon!

I started training yesterday with an easy 4.8 mile run out in the cold. As my body is not acclimated to being out in the cold, it felt f-ing freezing! For this race's training, I am going to run a lot, but make sure to keep up with other cross training and exercise. Included in this is: lifting (upper and lower body), biking, rock climbing, eliptical at the gym, dodgeball, breakdancing. What I believe is important to run outside as much as possible, not just inside on a treadmill. This will acclimate my body more to being in the cold, which could prove very important on race day.

Training for today will be rock climbing and biking. Running and lifting will be tomorrow, with lifting and dodgeball on Tuesday. I'll have to break out the powdered gatorade soon to keep my salt intake at appropriate levels.

I plan on wearing a funny costume for my race in February. I will put a poll up soon on this site and let all of my blog readers (all 5 of them?) decide what I will wear. This has to be functional, as I will be running 13.1 miles in the cold and hope to crack 1 hr. 40 min, but it can still be funny at the same time. Right now I am considering a number of options including: Veggie guy (Powered by Vegetables!), Superman (including cape), over-the-top runner guy, beer guy (beer can on a stick taking place of carrot on a stick?), Red Sox guy. Any other suggestions to add to this list?

Somerville Thanksgiving Day Gobble Gobble 4 Mile Race

2007-11-22T10:19:00.000-05:00

On Thanksgiving Day, Nov. 22, I ran the Somerville Road Runners' Gobble Gobble Race. This was a nice little 4 mile race that started in Davis Square, Somerville, and ended in almost the same spot in Davis Square. The race started at 9AM, which I believe was moved up a couple hours from previous years. This was a pretty cool race- there were maybe 1500 runners total. The temperature was pretty mild for Thanksgiving. C and I finished in 34:30. If I were running the race alone, I think I could've finished in 28:00 if I had really pushed it.

As this was a Thanksgiving race, I thought it would be fun to dress up. Pilgrims wore tuxes right? Well, they at least wore hats resembling this little baby I picked up from the store. At least in pictures, movies, etc. of Pilgrims and Puritans they do.

They gave out cool brown long sleeve shirts that proclaimed 'GOBBLE GOBBLE GOBBLE' on the front of the shirt. There were no vendors giving out cool free stuff at this race, but that's OK, the shirt made up for it.

The race ended right in front of Sligo's in Davis Square. If you have never been to this place, the word to sum it up is Dive. This is a real local bar with cheap ass beer, and lots of sketchy old dudes who I imagine go there all the time. What was interesting was the fact that there were a bunch of old sketchy dudes standing in the doorway of the bar as the race finished. These weren't people who had just finished the race and went to the bar because they were serving post race food like The Burren appeared to be doing. So what I'm wondering is why these dudes were in this bar at 9:35 AM on a Thursday. Is the bar always open that early during the week? Did it just open early for Thanksgiving? And if so, why were there dudes there that early? Ahh, I love Davis Square. It's really up and coming and becoming more high end, but it still has a lot of blue collar townie charm.

Next long race: Hyannis Half Marathon end of Feb. 2008

Next short race: ??? Maybe something before February, but probably not.

Beer Review: Southampton Pumpkin Ale

2007-11-06T16:41:00.000-05:00

As I love pumpkin brews, I figured it was high time I reviewed one. I actually drank this beer a few weeks ago and wrote some notes down, but am just finally getting to typing it up.

This beer pours a tasty looking orange/brown color. There is a strong smell of cinnamon and other fall spices. The first sip yields some definite pumpkin and cinnamon flavor. Unlike some other pumpkin brews out there, this beer does not taste 'fake'. In other words it tastes like they actually added pumpkin and spices, as they claim to, instead of chemicals, or as the food industry likes to call them, 'artificial and natural flavors'. There is a nice sweet taste with a bit of nutmeg. The malt undertones blend nicely with the spices. This beer has more spice flavor than pumpkin.

The only fault with this beer is the fact that it is called a pumpkin ale. The pumpkin flavor is present, but it is quite subtle. This is not necessarily a bad thing; the beer is very good. However it is called a pumpkin ale, while a more appropriate name might be 'Spice Ale' or 'Fall Spice Ale' with a note that includes 'Subtle Pumpkin Flavors'. Either way, it is quite enjoyable on a cold fall day. The beer actually becomes more pumpkin-ey as the beer is consumed.

Overall beer rating 3 beer bottles out of 4.

Beer Review: Stone Ruination IPA

2007-11-04T14:36:00.000-05:00

This beer pours a hazy orange color with a hoppy light floral smell. The smell transports the drinker to a florally spring field (without the allergies though). The taste is very hoppy, and a bit bitter. It sports a very fresh and floral taste. There is also a bittery, coppery aftertaste. Minimal malts, just a huge amount of hops in this one. As I drink this concoction it grew on me, but there was always a bitter aftertaste present. After drinking, I think it is pretty good, but can't compete with another over the top hoppy beer that whoops you in the ass with a giant hop, Dogfish Head 120 Minute IPA. This beer claims to be 100+ IBU's, which I can believe, but unlike the Dogfish Head which is a bit smoother, the bitterness really is just a bit too much. On the positive side, the bottle is totally badass looking and claims the beer is "A liquid poem to the glory of the hop!".

Overall beer rating 2.5 beer bottles out of 4

New Hampshire Marathon

2007-09-30T09:52:00.000-04:00

On Saturday morning, Sept. 29, I ran my first full marathon, the New Hampshire Marathon. I am very glad I ran it, I think it is a great accomplishment; but in all honesty it was one of the physically hardest things I have ever done in my whole life.

LEADING UP TO RACE - I had originally planned to run the Stowe Vermont Marathon in August, but it was cancelled in July (exact reasons never given, but probably a combination of not enough runners, bad organization, etc). I trained hard for the race; I was usually a bit under the weekly mileage totals but did almost all long runs, (most important). I had been doing (almost) weekly hill training to prepare for the Stowe Marathon, but I stopped hill training over summer for a few reasons- I should've kept it up- it would've helped in this race. I had a sore knee for a couple weeks leading up to race, and I also hurt my back on the Wedn. night before the race. Despite these minor setbacks I was overall in good shape and looking forward to the race.

NIGHT BEFORE, RACE MORNING- I ate lots of pasta and carbs the week leading up to the race to carbo load. The night before I ate pizza + bread at Bertucci's, and did not consume any alcoholic beverages. Got to bed nice and early at 10:15. Woke up at 5:45AM, washed up, hit road at 6:20. Got to race at 8:15, registered, stretched, tried to get psyched up mentally for the 9:00 start.

START AND FIRST FEW MILES- This was certainly a small race- the start was very small and disorganized - there wasn't even a national anthem played! I wasn't super put off by this, although it would have been nice. There were a couple guys next to me who were very disappointed in this however- ah well- what ya gonna do? It was a very small race, with my estimate at the time of 200 runners. The pack started pretty tight but spread out after a couple miles. After a few miles met a nice young guy named Tyler from Southern Connecticut, and I started running and talking to him for most of the race. Saw some '50 staters', some of whom were supposedly hitting their 50th state in that race (a 50 stater is someone who runs a marathon in every state- crazy!). I also saw a guy running barefoot- he had a bike guy next to him pacing him- again, sheer craziness. My question for him is- WHY?

FAST PACE AND SPLIT TIMING- I pushed a fast pace ~8:00/mile for first half of race- split time ~1:48- if kept up could've hit a 3:40 marathon. Tyler was training for an upcoming 50 mile race and this was just a 'training run' for him- YIKES! I should've known that I couldn't keep up with him. Lots of water stops along the way manned with very nice volunteers- many were old folks from local volunteer groups. Thank you to them! There were certainly lots of hills- more hill training would've helped me out! The scenery was really beautiful in this race. The race went around Newfound Lake with wonderful views. The weather was really perfect too- low 60s and dry with a light wind.

MILE 17 OR 18 - I started to lose energy around mile 17- told Tyler to take off at mile 18 as was slowing him down. He was being very nice and keeping with my pace, but I didn't want to slow him down, he obliged, and disapperead pretty quickly.

REST OF THE WAY- Hit 'the wall' and no energy the rest of the way. Despite very minor hills the rest of the way, it was very difficult and I walked a decent amount. When actually running, was pretty pathetic looking I'm sure. As my pace kept getting more and more pathetic, I kept recalculating in my mind if I could actually make 4 hrs. I was thinking, 'well I can walk for 3 minutes, then run a 10:00 pace for 1/2 mile, then walk for another minute, then run for another 1/2 mile, etc'. It was interesting, I wasn't tired in that I was about to collapse, I just had no energy left in my system. I kept trying to figure out in my mind how the heck I would finish the race with how little energy I had left. I think if I train for another marathon I need to try out 'GU' or another energy supplement and then use it during the race. Keeping up the mental fortitude to finish that last 8 or so miles and push myself to actually make 4 hrs. was incredibly difficult.

FINISH- Because I really wanted to break 4:00, I actually pushed myself to 'run' at a pretty decent pace for the last mile. I finished in 3:57:21, in 38th place out of 169. Tyler finished around 3:31 and apparently looked great; I did not look so great however. Tyler and his family stayed to watch my finish, which was very nice of them. I apparently looked very pale at the finish. As I had no energy at all left, I wolfed down lots of food, water, and gatorade that they served. There was this dorky guy giving out free samples of some energy drink type thing; it actually tasted pretty good, but right then my body was just craving calories and energy, so anything probably would've tasted good. This guy was such a dork- he was trying to give out free samples and interest people in getting information on his energy drink- I just nodded and drank it. There were free post race massages, but as the line was so long, and I am always weirded out by some random person I don't know rubbing me down all over my body, I skipped it. I showered at the school where the race was taking place, and it felt great. I met a guy in the locker room who was running another marathon the next day, the Keene, NH Marathon. This guy said he was running 9 marathons in about a month and a half. CRAZY!! Pasta, sprite, and beer in little restaurant (Bristol House of Pizza & Family Restaurant) across the street from the Middle School where race started, and it tasted great. Made the drive home to Somerville after lunch.

AFTERWARDS/AFTERTHOUGHTS- Glad I did it but very difficult. What I really liked about the race was how friendly and nice everyone was. During the race I talked to random people, people were giving lots of encouragement to other runners, cheering them on, etc. There were very few spectators along the race, but those that were actually cheering people on were very encouraging and enthusiastic. Of course there were those that had no idea a marathon was even taking place and gave blank stares of confusion as we ran by. The only thing that hurt after the race was my feet. I was a little bit sore the next day, but not really much at all. I am taking 2 weeks off from running (not really, as I ran a 5K race last weekend, but that's nothing compared to 26.2 miles!). My next long race will be a 1/2 marathon in February or the spring. I hope to compete in the New England Tri-State Half Marathon Series, which starts with the Hyannis Half Marathon in February, continues with the NH Big Lake Half Marathon in May, and finishes with the Portland, ME Half Marathon in October. If do another full marathon I want to train more, bring along some energy 'GU' or other energy stuff so I don't run out of energy like I did in this race! My next half marathon I want to dress funny - will put up the poll on this blog- options include Super-USA guy, Beer guy, Red Sox guy, Super Hero (Superman with cape?) over the top running guy (super tight stuff, headband, wrist bands, etc), any other ideas?

Beer Review: Blue Point Brewing Hoptical Illusion

2007-09-26T18:52:00.000-04:00

This is the second beer review of a Blue Point Brewing beer on this blog, the other review was for their Toasted Lager. This beer looks unfiltered with little 'floaties' moving about in the glass. It sports a slightly hazy orangey/brown color with moderate carbonation and no head. There is a slight orange fruit + citrusy smell, very minimal hop smell. It has a light crispy taste; despite its name it is not super hoppy. It is very light and summery tasting. This is one great summer beer. It is very refreshing and thirst quenching. The fruit taste is not overwhelming but somewhat subtle. The carbonation keeps the little 'floaties' moving around in the pint glass. This beer does not have tons of 'oomph', but that is probably preferred in a light summer beer anyway. It is just oh-so-slightly too fruity for its own good however.

Like the other beer I have reviewed from this brewery, this one does not disappoint. With slightly less fruit it would get a 3 1/2 rating.

Overall beer rating 3 beer bottles out of 4.

Beers in 5 Burroughs Race

2007-09-24T11:54:00.000-04:00

I just came across an online blog describing one of the coolest, probably craziest, running races ever. The 'Beer in 5 Burroughs Race' is a race within the NYC Marathon where you, you guessed it, drink a beer in each of the 5 burroughs. Now I love beer, and I love running, but they usually don't go together at the same time. You drink a beer after the race, not 5 during the race! This crazy bunch of people thinks otherwise. The original post on this I found here, and looks to be originally from here. A copy of the original text is here:

Beer 1- (Staten Island) You pop open beer #1 on Staten Island right before the gun goes off. If you don't get an "official race #" you will have to start with a beer on the other side of the Veranzano-Narrows bridge or just start drinking on the subway down to the bridge. Either is acceptable in accordance with the scriptures.
Beer 2- (Brooklyn) After the group has come together you will run your longest stretch between beers. The 2nd beer is taken around mile 10 at a bar in Brooklyn. In 2005 we ran into the bar to get beers and the owner almost didn't serve us because he thought we were crazy. He is now a proud sponsor and has the beers set up for us when we run in!
Beer 3- (Queens) This beer is where things start to get going!! Taken around mile 14, beer #3 usually starts the onslaught of high 5's for all race spectators within reach.
Beer 4- (Manhattan) Mile 17 is where this usually happens. This is a very packed area on the course and we have had a few spectators giving us concerned looks. I guess it's not normal for someone watching a marathon to see an entire group of runners stop and down a beer before heading back out on the course? Hydration?
Beer 5- (Bronx) This is usually a brown bag affair. A crack group of supporters usually have our beers lined up outside a local "am/pm".
After this last beer its usually every man for himself to the finish but most finish together. There are hugs all around for those observing this great spectical and sometimes there is even some free-style rapping with local bands along the course. I believe 3:26 is the course record and we may be shooting for Lance this year!.
One thing is for sure, this is a sporting event that you will be telling your kids about for years to come.

I gotta give it to these brave men and women to attempt a marathon with 5 beers slooshing around in their stomachs. I will say that my personal experience has been that finishing a long race and then grabbing a brew afterwards is a really cool experience, but these people take that idea to the next level and start the post race celebration before the post race!

Marathon Training Update

2007-09-24T11:25:00.000-04:00

I'm down to less than one week until my marathon this Saturday up in New Hampshire. My energy level has been a bit low lately while running. I'm not tired in the sense of being out of breath, tired legs, etc. I've just been tired in the sense of being low on energy. I believe part of it has been I was just ever so slightly sick with something last week (sore throat) which seems to have gone away. It may have also been caused by carb shortages in my system. I'm going to bulk up with lots of pasta and carbs this week so I will have plenty of easily usable energy and ATP in my system come Saturday morning. Lots of water this week also, and limited beer intake (one beer per night beginning of week, none at end of week). As I need to rise very early Sat. morning in order to make it 2hrs. north in NH by 8AM (to check-in) Sat. morning, very early to bed friday night!

My last 2 weeks of training are as follows:
Mon. 9/10: REST
Tues. 9/11: Dodgeball (1hr.)
Wedn. 9/12: REST
Thurs. 9/13: Run 7.9 miles (1hr. 5min)
Fri. 9/14: Run 7.9 miles (1hr. 11min)
Sat. 9/15: Run 4 miles (34 min), lift weights (30min)
Sun. 9/16: Run 14 miles (2hr. 3min)
Mon. 9/17: Lift weights (45min)
Tues. 9/18: Dodgeball (1hr)
Wedn. 9/19: Run 7.9m (1hr. 10min)
Thurs. 9/20: Run 4.8m (42min)
Fri. 9/21: Bike 5m (25min)
Sat. 9/22: Run 4m (34min), lift weights (30min)
Sun. 9/23: Run 10m (1hr. 29min)

My knees are still a bit weak and I'm a little bit worried about them, but I think I will be able to make it through the race at least.

My next marathon post will be on my first marathon experience next Saturday. I will be bringing along a digital camera to document the experience and hopefully it will be a good one! New Hampshire here I come!

Beer Review: Wells Banana Bread Beer

2007-09-17T21:04:00.000-04:00

I saw this little baby in the packy as I was in the midst of buying a six pack of Spaten Oktoberfest and looking for another single of something cool to try, preferably an Oktoberfest or pumpkin flavored beer (I love these two styles of beer, read my ramblings about them here). Alas, there weren't any of these two options available in singles, but I saw this Banana Bread Beer sitting on the shelf. Banana Bread beer? WTF? I'd seen beers flavored with many different fruits before: pumpkin, apricot, rasbperry, orange, but banana? This was a first for me. As I like to try new and unique beers, I purchased this exotic bottle of suds. Would this strange concotion hold up under the taste test or would this be another over the top excuse for a beer like Magic Hat's #9?

This beer pours an orangey brown color, with minimal carbonation. A very strong sweetly banana aroma emanates from the glass. The initial taste is of a regular ale, somewhat crisp with minimal hops/malt background. The sweet banana taste comes out after the initial ale flavor. The banana is not sweet like a candy but is still pretty strong. There is no overwhelming fruit flavor like a #9; it is more subtle, closer to a Dogfish Head Aprihop (but banana instead of apricots) and not as noticeable. The beer is overall pretty mild without a ton of character except the banana. Overall this beer is pretty anonymous aside from the banana, although it had some maltiness, with minimal hops shining through.

Contrary to the name, I do not taste banana bread in this beer. It is not spicy like a banana bread (nutmeg, cinnamon, ginger, etc.) like a good pumpkin beer. The banana flavor tastes fake; like it is simply banana flavoring and not real bananas. According to their website, Wells claims they use real fair trade bananas in the beer, but it certainly does not taste that way. Maybe they use a few bananas per batch, and the rest of the flavor is from artificial flavoring; it definitely tastes that way.

I warmed up to the beer as I drank more of it; the banana flavor got more subtle and the malty characters of the beer came out to shine more. This late showing couldn't save the beer for me. This beer was not bad, but unlike many other fruit beers, the banana did not seem to work here.

Overall rating 2 beer bottles out of 4.

Marathon Training Update

2007-09-10T13:35:00.000-04:00

Well, my training is coming down to the wire, only a few weeks until the big race on Sept. 28. Hopefully I am prepared... Here's my last 2 weeks of training:

Mon. 8/27: REST
Tues. 8/28: Run 6.3m (54 min)
Wedn. 8/29: REST
Thurs. 8/30: Run 6.4m (56 min)
Fri. 8/31: REST
Sat. 9/1: Run 4m (34 min), lift weights (25 min)
Sun. 9/2: Run 21.6m (3hr. 15 min)
Mon. 9/3: Lift weights (50 min)
Tues. 9/4: Walk 2.5m, dodgeball (1hr.)
Wedn. 9/5: Run 2.5m (17 min)
Thurs. 9/6: Run 7.9m (1hr. 7 min)
Fri. 9/7: Run 3m (27 min), lift weights (20 min)
Sat. 9/8: Hike in the mountains! (2 hr.)
Sun. 9/9: Run 12m (1hr. 45 min)

My long run of 21.6 miles went pretty well. I ran 1/2 mile farther than my last really long run in 18 minutes less time. What did not go well with it was my right knee started to hurt and it was not just a tired-crampy-hurt, this was an actual injury coming on hurt. The devil and angel appeared on my shoulders tried to convince me to keep running and stop running, and I listened to the devil and finished up the run. The next few days it was still a little painful, and I am still nervous about it as it was sore last night after my 12 mile run yesterday. We'll just have to see how it goes. After this race in a few weeks I will be taking 2 - 3 weeks off of running to let the knee heal.

Also, my feet have really started to hurt lately on my runs so I will be buying new running sneakers tonight. I think I will be fine on break-in time before the race as I plan on buying the same sneakers I have now so the break-in should be only a week or two max (cross my fingers).

Here's to September: The best month for beer!

2007-09-06T16:58:00.000-04:00

Now that we are a week into September, I thought I would comment on this month and how it relates to other months in terms of beer. In my humble opinion, September is the best month for beer. The first reason for September being the best beer month is the German tradition of Oktoberfest. Yes, Oktoberfest takes place in September primarily, not October (the reason for this being that it was traditionally held in October, but then moved up to take advantage of the better weather in September). It typically begins near the end of September and ends the first week of October (for actual dates, and more info. on Oktoberfest, read the Wikipedia article on it here). I love Oktoberfest for a number of reasons. The first being that Oktoberfest is one of my favorite styles of beer available for consumption. It is typically available to the public in the months of September - October (maybe November), but sometimes actually available at the end of August. More and more breweries are coming out with an Oktoberfest style of beer, and many of them are delicious. One of my favorites is Spaten Oktoberfest. This beer style is one of the styles served at the actual Oktoberfest in Munich. Sam Adams makes a decent Oktoberfest beer as well (although they call it Octoberfest, probably not to confuse Americans who do not know it should actually be spelled with a 'k').

What is even better than the beer is the idea of the whole event: Basically a bunch of people sitting around, drinking delicious beer, listening to traditional music, singing, being happy, and enjoying life. The fact that the festival has continued to modern day with many of the same traditions having been in place since the beginning of the festival (Oktoberfest started in 1810) shows how much emphasis Bavarians place on good food and drink, traditions, and their Bavarian roots. I love it.

Another reason for voting all of the other months off the Beer Survivor Island is pumpkin flavored beer. Those who are unfamiliar with this delicious concotion may think it sounds a bit strange, unappetizing, even disgusting. I used to as well. In fact, a badly made pumpkin beer can be rather unpleasant. However a well made pumpkin beer is something to be revered, as it is such a bizarre idea (who first thought to throw some pumpkin in beer?) that actually works so well, and is available for only a few months per year. A good pumpkin beer should not taste like liquid pumpkin; the well made pumpkin beers have a pumpkin flavoring, along with other flavors such as brown sugar or cinnamon. It has been my experience that a good pumpkin beer will warm the body and soul as the outside temperature starts to dip down. One of my favorite pumpkin beers is Cambridge Brewing Company's Pumpkin Ale. The guys at Beer Advocate claim this pumpkin beer to be their favorite as well (read here). As of last Sunday it was not available yet, however it should be coming out soon. Unfortunately there is such a high demand for this incredible beverage that they do not sell it in growlers, as they do their other beers, as they would run out of it too quickly! Another tasty pumpkin beer which I tasted recently (see this posting) is the Dogfish Head Punkin Ale.

Delicious, interesting beer is available for purchase and consumption any month of the year. However in the contest for Best Beer Month, September easily takes the cake.

Beer Review: Orlio Organic Common Ale

2007-09-03T10:51:00.000-04:00

Organic food products are a big deal these days. According to the USDA, organic food still only accounts for 1-2% of food sales in the US. However sales of organic food have been growing around 20% worldwide since the early '90s. And what's not to love about organic food? It is a known fact that organic food is much more sustainable and better for the environment than regular food grown with pesticides, chemical preservatives, and other nasty crap which is harmful to the people actually eating the food. To be fair, there certainly are a few down sides of organic food. First, it is usually more expensive for a number of reasons. Also, something to consider: Is it better for the environment to buy organic food which was grown thousands of miles away and then shipped to the grocery store (using lots of fuel to go from farm to store) or non-organic food that was grown 50 miles away?

Debate still rages on about whether organic food is actually healthier for humans, however it would be hard to argue that it is unhealthier. At the very least, there will be less nasty chemicals and toxins in the food, meaning less will end up in the person consuming the food. Early research suggests that it is in fact usually healthier, with more vitamins, minerals, enzymes, and all that other good stuff that does a body good. Organic food also almost always tastes better, if not just as good, as non-organic.

Fueled lately by scares of overseas food imports, especially from China, it should not be a surprise that Americans are more concerned about their food lately; organic food should continue to show strong growth in the years to come.

What is also growing in popularity and sales in the US is organic beer. Much less known to the common person, organic beer sales are growing at a very rapid rate. The first organic beer sold in the US was in 1982, Germany's Pinkus-Muller. The first US brewery to brew organic beer was Butte Creek Brewing, in 1996. According to Ale Street News (a cool beer publication, which can be found online here, organic beer sales were $19 million in 2005. This is still nothing compared to the multi billion in beer sales in the US, but this still represents a strong growth of 40% from sales in 2003. For more interesting info about organic beers, read this article.

Why such strong growth in organic beer sales? It can most likely be attributed to the same reasons for similar growth in the organic food industry: better for the environment, better for you, and better taste. Also, as Ale Street News puts it, "the fact that organics are cool and trendy".

With all the hype surrounding these organic beers, I wanted to see if an organic beer would taste good. There are plenty of relatively big names in organic beers right now, such as Wolavers, Peak Organic, and Butte Creek Brewing. I found this beer in the singles refrigerator at the packy and wanted to give it a try to see how it would fair. As good as it feels to know you are buying beer that is better for Mother Nature, I, and most other people, will not keep buying it if it doesn't taste good. This brings me to this beer review: Can Orlio Organic live up to the hype surrounding its organic label, or will it turn out flat and just be another common ale as its title suggests?

This beer pours an amber orange/brown color, with pretty decent carbonation. It has a very smooth nutty amber taste, almost like a brown ale. There is no biting after taste, it simply leaves the mouth tasting pure and clean afterwards. A very subtle hint of floral essence is present, allowing the beer to transcend genres of beer and just be damn tasty. This beer should appeal strongly to fans of regular 'common' ales along with devotees of brown ales.

Maybe it is the fact that I went into this tasting knowing it was organic, but this is one of the cleanest and purest tasting beers I have ever imbibed. Whether this is attributed to the organic ingredients is unknown, however this beer lived up to the hype surrounding it, and was indeed no 'common ale'.

Overall beer rating 3 1/2 beer bottles out of 4 (with extra kudos for being organic).

Beer Review: Lagunitas Brewing Company Pils

2007-09-01T12:08:00.000-04:00

This beer from Lagunitas is supposed to be a Pilsner. I suppose it is supposed to be an actual pilsner, unlike Miller Lite, which claims to be a 'true pilsner beer'. Unfortunately, this beer reminds me more of Miller Lite than an actual Pilsner...

This beer pours a pale yellow color, with lots of carbonation and head. It has a weak, limpish smell that does not inspire thoughts of great beer in Czech, as a good Pils should do. This beer has a very plain, boring taste. I would describe it as more of an average american beer, like a Miller or Bud, than a flavorful Bohemian beer with some tasty bite.

The original Pilsner, Pilsner Urquell, (which really is the original Pilsner, the claim is not just a marketing scheme from them, it is true) is much tastier than this boring, limpish, excuse for a Pilsner. If I wanted to drink beer with this little taste, I would save the money and just go out and buy a 6-pack of MGD. Not to say this beer tasted bad, it just wasn't good (like P said, "I can't give you a pound to that, but I'm not not giving you a pound".)

Overall rating 2 beer bottles out of 4.

Marathon Training Update

2007-08-31T15:56:00.000-04:00

Mon. 8/13: REST
Tues. 8/14: Run 6.1m (48 min), dodgeball (30 min)
Wedn. 8/15: Bike 15.2m (1hr. 10 min)
Thurs. 8/16: Run 6.1m (55 min)
Fri. 8/17: Run 7.8m (1hr. 5 min)
Sat. 8/18: REST* (Does dancing like a prick for 3hrs. to PVD constitute rest?)
Sun. 8/19: REST
Mon. 8/20: REST
Tues. 8/21: Run 7.8m (1hr. 2 min)
Wedn. 8/22: Run 7.8m (1hr. 2 min), yoga (1hr. 15 min)
Thurs. 8/23: Run 4.2m (34 min)
Fri. 8/24: Run 7.8m (1hr. 9 min)
Sat. 8/25: REST
Sun. 8/26: Run 9m (1hr. 16 min)

My NH marathon is coming up soon, October 29, so I am now entering the final phases of my training. One last big run of 22 miles before I begin my slow taper until the marathon. I really gotta pound some weights after my big run as I can feel myself shrinking in dieselness by the day.

My yoga on 8/22 was my first yoga experience. I found it interesting, but not terribly exciting. I guess it seemed a bit slow and boring to me, although I was sore in my hamstrings the next day, so it must've been a good stretch at least (or it could've been my 2 long fast runs of 7.8m the 2 previous days contributing to the soreness as well). My wife was convinced that it would be difficult for me as you have to stretch a lot, however I clarified her thinking that I didn't think that part would be difficult, as I am actually more flexible than she. You certainly do sweat a lot, and it is relaxing, but I'm certainly not convinced yet that it is fun, exciting, or will have positive influences on my running (this was a reason for my going). I bought a 2 pack, as it was much cheaper, so maybe my 2nd class will have different results.

Lots of pasta and low alcohol intake this weekend before my big run on Sunday morning of 22miles. Hopefully no cramps this time (knock on my fake wood veneer desk at work). Giddyup!

(More beer reviews coming soon...)

Free Beer + Wine Tastings in Arlington, MA

2007-08-20T15:21:00.000-04:00

A couple of weeks ago I was sitting outside enjoying reading a hard copy of The Yankee Brew News, (which can be found online here.) There was an article about a new Wine and Beer Store that recently opened in Arlington, Menotomy Beer and Wine. It was interesting because it talked about how the town just become non-dry, and this was the first liquor store to go in since prohibition, etc. etc. What interested me the most was that it said they have weekly wine and beer tastings. Now wine tastings are certainly neat, but they are relatively common, at least in the greater Boston area. Beer tastings on the other hand seem to be much harder to find in Boston. After a succesful wine tasting at the store on Saturday a week and a half ago, I wanted to try the beer tasting on an upcoming Friday night. This is more of a wine store than a beer store, however they do offer some great beer choices as well. After the succesful wine tasting, I checked and saw that the store would be sampling beer from one of my favorite breweries, Dogfish Head, this past Friday night.

So we went and were able to taste a number of delicious offerings from Dogfish Head, some of which have been reviewed on this blog in the past. The offerings included 60 Minute IPA, 90 Minute IPA, Indian Brown Ale, Punkin Ale, and Raison D'Etre. They had offered the Festina Peche earlier in the tasting but ran out before we arrived. The 60 Minute and 90 Minute IPAs are alway delicious and tasty, and I was not disappointed this time either (read my reviews of these beers here and here). I enjoyed the three others as well; The Indian Brown Ale is a cross between an IPA and a brown ale, so should appeal to those who think their regular IPAs are too hoppy. The Raison D'Etre is an interesting, delicate tasting Belgian style ale. It is flavored with some unique ingredients such as beet sugar and raisins. Very tasty. The beer that really excited me the most however was the Punkin Ale. We received the last pour of it from the last bottle, which no doubt added to the allure in my mind. This beer really put me in the mood of warming up in the cool fall air by means of a delicious pumpkin and brown sugar flavored brew. Really nice pumpkin taste, this is the best pumpkin ale I have ever had next to the Cambridge Brewing Company Pumpkin Ale.

This beer tasting was really fun and the offerings were great. I'm looking forward to more tastings in the future, and hope they keep up with the great beer choices!

Marathon Training Update

2007-08-14T15:58:00.000-04:00

Mon. 7/30: Lift weights (45 min.)
Tues. 7/31: Run 2.5 miles (19 min), Dodgeball (1hr. 15 min)
Wedn. 8/1: REST
Thurs. 8/2: Hill Training 1 hr. (5.3 miles?)
Fri. 8/3: Run 8 miles (1hr. 8 min)
Sat. 8/4: Run 7 miles (1hr. 5 min)
Sun. 8/5: Run 10 miles (1hr. 26 min)
Mon. 8/6: Lift weights (50 min.)
Tues. 8/7: Elliptical machine (30 min), stationary bike (15 min), lift weights (25 min), dodgeball (1 hr.)
Wedn. 8/8: REST
Thurs. 8/9: Run 6.1 miles (49 min)
Fri. 8/10: REST
Sat. 8/11: Run 4.1 miles (35 min)
Sun. 8/12: Run 21.1 miles (3hr. 33 min)

The long run this past sunday was my longest run ever. Let's just say it did not go as well as planned. I ate a big pasta dinner the night before, got to bed pretty early, kept my alcohol intake limited the night before, etc. However when you get a cramp at mile 10 of a 21 mile run, and it just won't go away, you know you're in trouble. This happened to me and I just couldn't shake it. I ended up having to walk for a minute every few minutes, and when I wasn't walking, it wasn't a very impressive pace either. My goal had been 3hr. 15 min (which is a pretty modest time to begin with), so I was pretty off with 3hr. 33min. On the positive side I actually wasn't that tired at the end of it. It was mainly just the stupid cramp which 'cramped' my style. At least I was full of energy and my legs didn't feel like jello which has happened before on long runs that I wasn't prepared for. The next test will be to see if dancing like a prick (as Ali G once said) to Paul Van Dyk will have any positive training results this upcoming weekend.

Beer Review: Two Brothers Brewing Hop Juice Double IPA

2007-08-11T13:41:00.000-04:00

According to Wikipedia, a Double IPA is: Double India Pale Ales (also abbreviated as Double IPAs or DIPAs) are a strong, hoppy style of beer associated with the U.S. West Coast. Also known as Imperial IPAs, perhaps in reference to the Russian Imperial Stout, a much stronger version of the English Stout, these beers are essentially India Pale Ales with higher amounts of malt and hops. Double IPAs typically have alcohol content above 7% by volume. IBUs are in the very high range (60+).

The name Double IPA itself is a misnomer. The name India Pale Ale (or IPA) refers to a beer that was created with higher amounts of alcohol and hops in order to survive the trip from England to India. So, therefore, a Double IPA would be a "more of more," so to speak. As such, there are some brewers that believe the name should be San Diego Pale Ale, since the style most likely started near San Diego, CA -specifically a Double IPA brewed in 1994 by Vinnie Cilurzo of the failed Blind Pig Brewing Company of Temecula, CA. Vinnie claims he "accidentally" created the style by adding 50% too much malt to his mash tun. He then "corrected" this mistake by adding 100% more hops. This metric (50% more malt, 100% more hops) is the basic guideline behind the style.

This beer pours a pale brown color, slightly cloudy and hazy, with very little carbonation, but sports a big frothy head. There is a strong hoppy smell- like a fresh field of something green in springtime, along with pine. It actually reminds me of the smell of a good quality brewery, or a brew it yourself beer place, such as Barleycorn's.

This beer is tasty but very hoppy. There is an almost overwhelming hoppy flavor, similar to a 120 Minute IPA. It is certainly not as strong as the 120 Minute, although very aromatic and very hoppy. Despite being so strong, this beer is quite tasty. This is another beer to easily get tipsy off of. You wouldn't realize its almost 10% alcohol. This beverage is smooth, tasty, and wonderfully aromatic, but is just a wee bit too strong for my tastes, despite my being a self proclaimed 'hophead'. The beer did seem to become less strong as I downed the contents of the 22 oz. bottle.

This beer advertises itself as a Double IPA, and according to the definition above, it certainly is one. I would simply call it a strong, very hoppy IPA. On the label the beer calls itself, "extreme... unusual... a real hop blast". I would certainly agree.

Interestingly enough, on this brewery's website they do not list this beer. According to the label, "...get it now, 'cause when it's gone, it's gone". Maybe it's only a limited release that they didn't bother listing on the site.

At 9.9% ABV, 100.1 IBU, and the fact that it is only sold in 22oz. bottles, this beer packs quite a punch, but a tasty punch. I certainly enjoyed this brew, but would not want to sit around drinking it for a while like a session brew.

Overall rating 3 out of 4 beer bottles.

Beer Review: Weyerbacher Hops Infusion IPA

2007-08-05T09:30:00.001-04:00

This beer pours a light brownish, murky looking color. There is a strong hoppy smell. This beer sports a delicious hoppy, slightly bittery taste. It is not sweet but still very smooth despite the hints of bitterness. This beer is similar to one of my favorite beers ever, Dogfish Head 60 Minute IPA, and its homemade varieties. Like the Dogfish, there are very sublte citrusy undertones. This is a very tasty beer and perfect for any hophead.

The label for this beer is very glossy, and bright. It actually looks like someone designed it on their home computer with a cool graphics program.

As I drank this beer it smoothed out and was less bitter at the end. Nice job on this one Weyerbacher. I'm def. going to buy this one again.

Overall rating: 3 1/2 beer bottles out of 4.

Marathon Training Update & Cancelled Marathon

2007-07-31T11:24:00.001-04:00

Mon. 7/23: Lift weights (45 min.)
Tues. 7/24: Run 1 hr. (6.3 miles?)
Wedn. 7/25: Hike 2 hrs. (in beautiful Wisconsin!)
Thurs. 7/26: Run 8.1 miles (1hr. 6min)
Fri. 7/27: REST
Sat. 7/28: Run 5 miles (42 min)
Sun. 7/29: Run 12 miles (1hr. 52min)

So last Thursday I checked the Stowe Marathon website to see if there were any updates, and it read, "MARATHON CANCELLED". As Borat would say, "Whhaaaat?". So I'm pretty bummed at that, but I can't blame them too much. They didn't give an exact reason why it is cancelled, but I imagine it is from low numbers (not their fault), poor organization (their fault), low on money (not really their fault), and some other factors.

Anyway, I'm researching a new race to run, and I will have that decided soon. Most likely in New Hampshire at the end of September. Right after I post this, I'm taking down the link to the Stowe Marathon on my 'favorite links' list on the right side of this blog. If those douchebags can't give me a marathon, they're not going to be listed here either. That oughta show them! Booyakashah!

Marathon training Update

2007-07-24T17:42:00.000-04:00

Again, I have not written many beer reviews lately. As I am pressed for time right now, I will just write a quick marathon training update:

Mon. 7/16: Lift weights (1 hr.)
Tues. 7/17: Run 4.8 miles (44 min), dodgeball (1hr. 15min)
Wedn. 7/18: Lift weights (1/2 hr.)
Thurs. 7/19: Run 6.2 miles (54 min)
Fri. 7/20: REST
Sat. 7/21: REST
Sun. 7/22: Run 19.7 miles (3hr. 5min)

This was my longest run ever and it did not go quite as well as planned. The temperature was decent, not great (about 80 degrees). The first half went pretty well, my split time was 1hr. 26min, but then I slowed down considerably the 2nd half. Ah well, the time was not great, but not horrible either. I had hoped to run it in 3hr., which still is not a super fast time, but I was not too far off of that at least.

This week I will be doing a bunch of running and pumping ze iron as I need to put the capital 'D' back in diesel, as B once said.

More beer reviews on the way soon too, I love good beer too much not to be sharing my views on it on this blog.

About a month and a couple weeks until my marathon- as Bart Simpson says (or used to like to say at least, I haven't watched the Simpsons lately) - Aye Carumba!

Marathon Training Update

2007-07-16T11:32:00.000-04:00

Nothing too interesting to update:

Mon. 7/9: Elliptical machine (20 min), Lift weights (35 min)
Tues. 7/10: Run 6.4 miles (53 min)
Wedn. 7/11: REST
Thurs. 7/12: Hill Training 1hr. (5.1 miles?)
Fri. 7/13: Run 4.8 miles (41 min)
Sat. 7/14: Run 8.2 miles treadmill (1hr. 8 min)
Sun. 7/15: Run 10 miles (1hr. 32 min)

This will be an easy running week. Good time to pump some iron and get ready for my big 20 mile run this upcoming Sunday. Giggidy gee!

Beer Review: Dogfish Head 120 Minute IPA

2007-07-15T21:12:00.000-04:00

Just like this beer's weaker siblings, the 90 Minute IPA and 60 Minute IPA, this beer is a continually hopped (for how long? you guessed it, 120 minutes), big, over-the-top doozer of a beer.

This beer is cloudy, with lots of carbonation, and pours a pale red color. There is a very strong hoppy smell. Smelling this beer reminds me of 7th or 8th grade science class where we were taught to never just stick our noses down a test tube and smell, as the chemicals could strong enough to burn our noses or lungs. Instead, we were taught to waft the odors towards our noses. Not to make the aroma coming out of this beer sound bad, but it is just such a strong hoppy smell it made me think of that.

Basically the way to describe the taste of this beer is hoppy. It is basically a beefed up 90 minute IPA. Drinking and smelling this beer is like sticking an actual hop up your nose and inhaling deeply. It is difficult to describe this beer other than just saying the hops are a bit overwhelming. I am quite the hophead compared to the normal beer drinker, but this beer was still too intense for me. There is super huge mouthfeel and lots of flavor in this beer. Unlike the Jack Bauer variety of this beer, there is no citrusy undertones present.

Even the Dogfish Head website describes this beer as ridiculous and over-the-top. They even beg the question, "Too extreme to be called beer?". This beer is 20% alcohol, 120 IBU's, and a whopping 450 calories! I didn't taste all that alcohol while consuming this one, but I certainly tasted the 120 IBU's. This beer is released three times per year, and it is only sold by the single bottle (for $9.45 where I bought it). I enjoyed the experience of drinking this ultra hoppy beer, but I wouldn't buy it again, as it is too intense for me to really enjoy. I enjoyed its weaker siblings better (60 & 90 Minute IPAs). It would certainly be easy to get drunk off of a few of these however, it's easy to forget it's 20% alcohol!

Overall rating 3 out of 4 beer bottles.

Marathon Training Update

2007-07-09T22:03:00.000-04:00

Quick update this week:

Mon. 7/2: Elliptical machine (25 min), Lift weights (45 min)
Tues. 7/3: Run 6.4 miles (55 min)
Wedn. 7/4: Hill Training 1hr. 5min (5.7 miles?), Bike 16 miles (1.5hrs)
Thurs. 7/5: REST
Fri. 7/6: Run 7.9 miles (41 min)
Sat. 7/7: REST
Sun. 7/8: Run 10 miles (1hr. 29 min)

Marathon Training Update

2007-07-02T09:14:00.000-04:00

This past week was an easy week for me as was directed on my training guide. No long run last weekend, but a big long run that went pretty well this weekend. I've been lazy about lifting lately- need to pick that up this week.

Mon. 6/25: Run 6.4 miles (55 min)
Tues. 6/26: Dodgeball (1hr.)
Wedn. 6/27: Run 4.8 miles (45 min)
Thurs. 6/28: REST
Fri. 6/29: Run 4.8 miles (41 min)
Sat. 6/30: REST
Sun. 7/1: Run 17.6 miles (2hr. 33 min)

The long run went well- legs, ankles, and outer knees starting to get a little bit tired near the end of the run but that is to be expected. My legs feel great today and are only a bit sore, a little stretching through out the day should take care of that. My next long run will hopefully be 20 miles- Giddyup!

Beer Review: Dogfish Head 90 Minute Imperial IPA

2007-07-01T18:06:00.000-04:00

This beer is the "big brother" of the 60 minute IPA, in that it has more alcohol, more calories, and more hops! This beer pours a light 'pumpkin' color. It smells very hoppy and strong, slightly bitter.

This beer is very tasty. It is slightly bitter and is very hoppy. It smooths out in the middle of beer; the slight bitterness goes away. The overall taste is of hops and nuttyish malt. This beer is certainly not for the faint of heart. Unlike its little brother described above, there does not seem to be much citrusy taste at all. Also unlike the 60 Minute, one could not sit around drinking this beer all day- a bit too strong for that.

I drank this beer while munching on pistachios, and they went very well together. As I already said, this beer packs a lot of punch, certainly not for a Coors Light 'afficionado'. Although quite strong, this beer still manages to be pretty smooth. At 9% alcohol, 90 ibu, and 294 calories, this beer might not bring Jack Bauer to his knees, but it will certainly bring down any Michelob Ultra drinker.

Overall rating 3 1/2 beer bottles out of 4.

Dogfish Head beers have an average rating of 3 1/3 beer bottles out of 4 so far on this blog... As Adam Sandler once said, "Not too Shabby!". Stay tuned for the review of the absolutely ridiculously hoppy 120 Minute IPA...

Running: The importance of good socks & sneakers

2007-06-26T16:29:00.000-04:00

I'd like to post about something other than beer reviews and my actual marathon training (even though I love beer). Spurred by B's question about what type of sneakers to wear when running and doing lots of training, I thought I would comment on my experiences with socks and sneakers while running and training for a marathon.

Now I am no running or marathon trainer expert, and never have claimed to be. However I feel like I have some decent experience at this point in running and various running apparel. Now I'm through with the disclaimers...

So I went to buy new shoes from Marathon Sports back in May, as I had put over 1000 miles of pure running on my then current pair of sneakers. Marathon Sports is a great store in that they really know their stuff there when it comes to running, shoes, gear, etc. That's something you won't find most times at a big name sports store like a Dick's or something else, or even worse, at a big box store like Walmart or Target, that also sells shoes. At this store they check out your feet, your walking and running style, how you come down on your foot, your stride, etc. and then recommend a sneaker for you. This visit I simply updated my sneaker that I had bought before, the Brooks Addiction 7. It is a pretty wide sneaker with extra support for the inner foot because they diagnosed that I come down on the outside of the foot so I need support on the inside. The old sneakers felt great and I liked the new ones as well. I always wear the same pair of shoes if I'm running a long, slower run, or if I'm going my quick run, which is almost speedwork, as the pair feels great all the time. If I were to mix in trail running, I would buy some cool trail sneakers, but I'm not at that point yet...

I mentioned to the young lady helping me that on my long runs (10+ miles) I start to get blisters on my feet. "Do you wear cotton socks?", was her question to me. The answer was yes. I have always worn cotton socks for exercising and never looked into new socks when I got into running. She highly recommended I try synthetic socks. I am ever so glad that I did. These things are incredible. After running 15+ miles your feet will never feel like a million dollars, but they actually do feel pretty darn good after all that pounding if wearing these socks. The big difference I believe is that, unlike cotton, they repel moisture so your foot is not rubbing against the sock. The socks she recommended are Wright Running socks. These babies are a godsend and I am so glad I got them. They are a bit more expensive than a regular sock (one pair of these at the store was $6) but are well worth it for the sake of your feet. I have no idea how these compare to other socks, but she recommended these as a good starter pair for a decent price. I am sticking with these socks and have worn them on all of my long runs since their purchase.

To sum up, when running long distances (10+ miles) it has been my experience that having the right sneakers and socks really make a big difference. It isn't worth it to be a tough guy and have old crappy sneakers and socks as the pounding on your feet and ankles will catch up to you. For serious running, treat your feet right and buy some of these synthetic socks, whether it's the brand I use or another one. I also highly recommend going to an actual running store and speaking with the people who work there as they are a great resource for apparel, and other general running questions. It's been my experience that these people are actually passionate about their running and they have great recommendations. It would be much tougher to find this at a big brand store that sells everything but doesn't have any real experts on anything.

Marathon Training Update

2007-06-25T07:51:00.000-04:00

Training was decent this week. I was hoping to run both days over the weekend to get in some more miles before my easy week this week, but it didn't happen. This week will be my easy week and I will hopefully be rested and come back with a big long run on Sunday.

Mon. 6/18: REST
Tues. 6/19: Run 6.4 miles (54 min), dodgeball (1hr.)
Wedn. 6/20: Hill Training 47min (4.5miles?)
Thurs. 6/21: 3.2 miles treadmill (28min), lift weights (20min)
Fri. 6/22: Run 7.9 miles (1hr. 9min)
Sat. 6/23: Hike 5miles? (2hr. 40min)
Sun. 6/24: REST

Beer Review: Victory Brewing St. Victoria's Doppelbock

2007-06-21T23:36:00.000-04:00

This beer pours dark red in color, with a cloudy hazy appearance. Not much head appears and minimal carbonation. It sports a strong sweet malty smell. This tasty beer is slightly roasty with a sweet malty taste layered with a slight citrusy backbone. The different elements blend well to create a unique and interesting flavor. This seems to be a quite complex brew with lots of flavors grooving together to create a unique beer experience. I drank this while snacking on pistachios, and the two went very well together. Alone I'm not sure it would do as well, as the roasty bitterness would be too much (for me at least) for just a hangin' out drinkin' beer. This was quite tasty though with a snack.

This was the second doppelbock which I have drunk recently, and this one was quite different from the other. This was much sweeter and was not overly bitter like my other recent foree with a doppelbock.

This is a pretty strong beer at 7.6% alcohol by volume. Quite nice. Overall rating 3 beer bottles out of 4.

Marathon Training Update

2007-06-18T13:22:00.000-04:00

My training went pretty well this week, except for my long run. As I was busy after work for a few days I did most of my training during the week in the morning before work.

Mon. 6/11: REST
Tues. 6/12: Run 4.2 miles treadmill (35min), lift weights (25min), dodgeball (1hr.)
Wedn. 6/13: Run 6.7 miles treadmill (1 hr.)
Thurs. 6/14: Run 4 miles treadmill (33min), lift weights (20min), run 2.5miles outside (16min)
Fri. 6/15: REST
Sat. 6/16: Run 3.6 miles treadmill (31min), lift weights (35min)
Sun. 6/17: Run 15.2 miles outside (2hr. 27min)

My long run on Sunday did not go well. I felt tired in the morning when I first woke up, and as I started the run I was still tired and realized the run would not play out well. My whole body just felt exhausted and I felt there was no way I would make it. I actually set out to run 17.5 miles but there was no way that was going to happen. I almost turned around after 5 miles but said screw it, if I wanna run with the big dogs then I gotta train like the big dogs. I always carry a portable water bottle on my long runs (see picture, that is the one I use, but mine has bright yellow over the pocket) and I usually fill it halfway with Gatorade. I usually don't even drink it all, but I went through it all by the time I reached the halfway turn around point in the run. At that spot I felt like I was going to collapse from dehydration, exhaustion, and the freakin' heat. It was freakin' hot and humid out there! I saw a Dunkin' Donuts and went in and bought a 16oz. bottle of water. Luckily I always carry money on my runs for situations like this. I poured it all in my bottle and set off on my way back, after a delay of maybe 6 or 7 minutes of buying the water and debating about whether to continue running another mile to the next checkpoint on my route. I set back and went through the whole water bottle with a couple of miles left to go. I filled up my water bottle from a fountain and still managed to go through all of that water before finally making it home.

All in all, not a very good run, but I am happy with myself for not giving up even though I felt like crap and wanted to give up from the start. It was a pretty slow time (15 minutes slower than my run last week of the same distance), but some of that was from the pit stop. I think a good lesson to learn is to make sure I'm well hydrated and maybe I should buy another water bottle? I can see myself stopping at this DD's again in the future for a fill up. I'm certainly glad I had money, that will always be an essential in the future. One more hard week of running before a rest week. Hoping to bounce back after some rest with a good hard long run of 17.5 miles. Giddyup.

Beer Review: Jack Bauer Brewery 24 Hr. IPA

2007-06-09T13:43:00.000-04:00

Don't try looking for this beer in stores, you won't find it. I brewed this beer at BarleyCorn in Natick. It is supposed to be an imitation of Dogfish Head 60 minute IPA. I made up the name myself, along with crafting the beer label seen. I haven't tasted the original, however I have inside information that the Jack Bauer version is much better...

This beer has strong carbonation and fizzes up a lot when poured. It has a great hoppy/IPA smell. This beer is freakin' delicious. It is very hoppy but very smooth at the same time. Unlike some other very hoppy beers such as Sierra Nevada Pale Ale, this beer is not bitter at all, or biting cringy taste (is cringy a word?) There is a slight sweet taste, almost a hint of a light fruit. This beer is what I remember Dogfish Head Aprihop tasting like the first time I tried it. Unfortunately my most recent foree with Aprihop was not as memorable (see beer review from May 17). A 'hophead' such as myself is in heaven with this beer.

This beer is as close to perfect as one can find in my opinion. It is one of the best beers I've ever drunk in my life- I could drink this beer all day. Unfortunately I drank my last two bottles as I was taking notes on this one. I guess I'll have to head back to Barleycorn soon to brew some more. As Jack Bauer would say, "Damn it Tony, get me some more of this delicious beer!"

Overall rating 4 beer bottles out of 4.

Beer Review: Pennichuck Brewery 2-6-0 Mogul Vienna Style Railyard Lager

2007-06-07T19:22:00.000-04:00

I bought this beer because it looked intersting from Downtown Wine & Spirits in Davis Square in Somerville, price $2 for a single beer. The beer has very low carbonation and a nice copper color. It has a tasty, slightly bitter taste and a bit malty, with slight hops showing through. It tastes like it would pair well with sharp cheddar cheese. It is quite tasty and finishes with a toasty, malty, almost coffee-ish taste.

While drinking this beer I noticed that the name, 2-6-0, is basically marathon running distance, 26.2miles. Maybe I was subconsciously drawn to it in the store because of this... maybe not.

Nice beer, first time I had seen it in the stores. I would certainly drink this one again. As Borat would say, "Verrry niice".

Overall rating 3 out of 4 beer bottles.

Beer Review: Blue Point Brewing Company Toasted Lager

2007-06-03T17:50:00.001-04:00

This beer is wicked good (or wicked pissah as some Boston people like to say). It has an amber appearance and taste and is really smooth. Like Sade said, this beer is one smooth operator. It has a pleasant amber taste, but not overwhelming at all. There is not much malt or hops present. A very slight malt after taste appears.

This beer apparently won a Gold Medal at the World Beer Cup, which they prominently advertise on the label on the neck of the bottle. Of course, they don't tell you what category, or what year it won. If they're not careful, it could become like Pabst Blue Ribbon, which is still holding onto its 1894 Best Beer in America Award. Also, Miller Lite somehow won an award at that same beer festival... However I can see where the win came from. This beer is excellent and very close to perfect. I may have to add this beer soon to my favorite beer list.

My rating for this beer is 3 1/2 beer bottles out of 4.

Beer Review: Middle Ages Brewing Syracuse Pale Ale

2007-06-02T18:01:00.000-04:00

I drank this beer one night a couple of weeks ago and it was a pretty nice pale ale. I found it difficult to take notes on this brew as it was pretty tasty but it didn't really speak to me or have a lot of taste. It's not that it was bad or had anything disagreeable about it, but it just wasn't very exciting.

There was a slight malty taste with very little hops. It was certainly smooth with very little aftertaste. It was pretty light and is decent for drinking in the summer; a pretty refreshing ale, good for hangin' out and drinking. This beer would not be good with a meal unless it was a very light meal, as the beer would certainly be overwhelmed.

I don't think I'd buy this beer again. I can't really say anything bad about it, but it just didn't grab my attention and excite me. The taste wasn't a 'slam dunk' as some like to say.

My overall rating is 2 1/2 beer bottles out of 4.

Beer is good for you!

2007-05-29T14:49:00.000-04:00

More good news about my favorite beverage, beer. According to the Spaten website, beer is good for you! Another reason to drink lots of beer as I'm training for my marathon!

Beer is healthy-sport medicine specialists have also recognized that fact and have drawn uses from it. One example is the two Italian sport doctors Antonelli and Romano who came to the conclusion that a liter of beer a day increases performance, concentration and reaction and strengthens muscles. The American cardiologist Sheehan maintains that after long distance running, jogging, cross country skiing or marathons, beer ideally replaces bodily fluids and energy. The French doctor Gulpin discovered decades ago that beer increases lung capacity and speeds the lung's ability to process oxygen. (From http://www.spatenusa.com/3_products/3_4_beer_health/index.htm)

While a beer company should not be considered a nuetral third party authority on the health effects of beer, and their health advice on consuming this nectar of the gods should be taken with a grain of salt, it still sounds good to me!

Marathon Training Update

2007-05-29T08:27:00.000-04:00

I slightly hurt my ankle while playing dodgeball this past week so I skipped running the next 2 days to heal. It feels totally fine now so back to the grind (or is it grindstone?). This week is supposed to be an easy week but I didn't run much last week so we'll see what I do.

Mon. 5/21: REST
Tues. 5/22: Run 3.75 miles (30min), Weights at gym (30min), Run 2.5miles (17minutes), Dodgeball (1 hr)
Wedn. 5/23: Weights at gym (1hr)
Thurs. 5/24: REST
Fri. 5/25: Run 6.4 miles outside (55min)
Sat. 5/26: Run 3 miles outside (30min)
Sun. 5/27: Leg workout 30 min
Mon. 5/28: Walk outside 2.5miles

More beer reviews to follow soon... and lots more running for me!

Marathon Training Update

2007-05-20T13:55:00.000-04:00

This is my first marathon training update. It's going pretty well so far. Whenever I run on the treadmill I put the elevation setting on at least 2% or set it on the 'hill' setting (level 7) which is a total bitch. I'm gonna need it for my race though. My exercising for the past week was as follows:

Mon. 5/14: Run 10 miles outside (1hr. 28min)
Tues. 5/15: Cross Train- Elliptical Machine (25 min), Weights at gym (30min), Dodgeball (1 hr)
Wedn. 5/16: Run 6.6 miles treadmill on hill setting (55 min)
Thurs. 5/17: Run 7.35 miles treadmill (1 hr)
Fri. 5/18: Run 3.5 miles treadmill (30 min)
Sat. 5/19: Cross Train - Elliptical Machine (20 min), Weights at gym (30min)
Sun. 5/20: Run 12 miles treadmill (1 hr. 44 min).

I am going to continue to run one 'long' run per week except for rest weeks and continue to build up long mileage until about 20-22 miles for my long run. I need to do more hill work outside as this Vermont marathon is basically one big hill (the biggest hill in the race makes Heartbreak hill look like an ant hill supposedly).

Beer Review: Dogfish Head Aprihop

2007-05-17T21:41:00.000-04:00

I first drank Aprihop back in early 2005 at West Side Lounge in Cambridge. As you may be able to tell by the name of this beer, it is a 'fruit beer'; an India Pale Ale infused with apricots. Now I would normally never order a fruit beer, as I think they are usually very girly, wimpy, and just not to my taste. However when I ordered the beer at West Side Lounge the tap simply said 'Dogfish Head' and so that is what I ordered it by. At the time I thought this beer was simply delicious. It did not really taste like fruit at all, and was just a delicious, flavorful beer. To make it even better I later found out that this is a seasonal beer, which added to its allure in my mind.

I bought a single Aprihop at the store as I remember it being delicious, and was very excited to drink it. When I poured it, it was a beautiful reddish brown color with not much visible carbonation. Unfortunately this time, I thought the beer was way too fruity tasting. The beer did not live up to its memory in my mind. Although being an IPA, there was not much hoppiness at all, which I usually am a big fan of. The beer was certainly smooth and easy to drink, but I couldn't get beyond the fruitiness which was too powerful. I tried it with Manchego cheese also, and it tasted a bit better, but was still not impressive. As I drank the beer the fruitiness seemed to subside, and the beer did taste a lot better near the end of it; perhaps it's like a fine red wine (a burgundy?) which should be aired before consuming.

Bottom line is this beer just didn't do it for me like it used to. The fruitiness was nothing like a Magic Hat #9, which I find horrible and which I don't even think tastes like beer, but was still not at the top of its game. On the positive side my wife loved it and said she may be able to drink a whole beer, which is great to hear as she usually does not like beer. She would rate it 3 1/2 beer bottes out of 4 (she actually told me she would give it a 4, however I don't toss around a rating of 4 lightly around here, so I had to overrule and tell her it was 3 1/2.)

My official rating on this site is 2 beer bottles out of 4.

As a sidenote, according to the Dogfish Head website, this beer has 240 calories. Now I don't really care about the calories in beer, as I burn off plenty of energy in all of my marathon training, but this does seem a bit high and may be a turn off to those who are watching their weight. If so maybe you should consider drinking the water which calls itself Michelob Ultra. However if you don't care and like fruity beers then this one should do pretty well.

Beer Review: Sam Adams Longshot Dortmunder

2007-05-14T08:30:00.000-04:00

Well this will be my first beer review on my blog here. I really love good beer, although I'm not all technical on all of the terms used when writing beer reviews. I'll give it my best shot though.

This past Saturday I had the pleasure of drinking one of the Sam Adams Longshot beers, "Dortmunder". This beer is one of the winners of the Sam Adams Longshot beer contest. Basically, people who homebrew beer could send in their beer to Sam Adams and have a chance to have it brewed by Sam Adams for the whole world to enjoy. I have never drunk a Dortmunder beer before, but according to the bottle it is an old German style pale lager influenced by the Pilsener style of beer.

I bought the beer in Ithaca, NY at a really cool beer store called Finger Lakes Beverage Center. This store has hundreds of types of specialty beers and for most of the beers you can buy a single bottle and make your own custom 6 or 12 pack of all different types of beers. I originally found this store back when I was undergrad at Cornell and was hoping they would still be in business when I visited this past weekend, as it's been 3 years since I went there (I'm getting old!). Luckily the store was still there and I was ecstatic to be able to visit and pick out 6 tasty looking beers.

The beer is a pale color with a fresh, crisp smell. As I really am into dark beers now, I will admit I was slightly taken aback when I saw how pale the beer was. I didn't judge however, as there are plenty of pale delicious beers out there. The beer was very tasty and refreshing. I am glad I enjoyed this around summer time, as it had a crisp, lighter taste, perfect for enjoying in the warm weather. There was some definite malt taste, not too much to hurt the beer though. The bottle said something about it tasting like a pilsener, or being related to a pilsner, and I will agree, there was a very pilsner like taste there. Now when I talk about pilsner, I mean real pilsener, like Pilsner Urquell, not Miller Lite, which claims to be a 'True Pilsner Beer'. I'm not sure how Miller Lite claims to be a pilsner beer, but it must be its own definition (just like Coors Lite claims to be the coldest tasting beer- what the hell does that mean?) Now, for cheap American beer Miller Lite is one of the best, however I would not call it a good beer by any scale.

To get back to the Longshot, the beer was very tasty and satisfying. It is a beer that does not pack a ton of punch, which I often enjoy, but did not leave me wanting for more punch either. I could not compare it to other Dortmunders, as this was my first, but I found it quite satisfying. I drank it very quickly, and wished I had more than one to drink. I think this is a sign of a good beer, at least a decent one.

Overall rating: 3 beer bottles (out of 4).

On an interesting sidenote, when I tried to visit the Sam Adams website this morning to get a picture of this beer, it said I was not admitted to their website. You have to enter your birthday on the page and then it gives you access. Instead it told me, 'We're Sorry. We take seriously our responsibility to limit website access to adults of legal drinking age'. Strange, as I have accessed their website before. Ah well, their beer is still damn good.

Marathon Training

2007-05-10T09:04:00.000-04:00

Well, I am new to this whole blog thing but hopefully I will do this the correct way. I am going to be talking about my running and training for a marathon. I am planning to run the Stowe Marathon in Stowe, VT on Sept. 9, 2007. I have never run a marathon before and am really looking forward to it: http://www.stowemarathon.com/

Why run a marathon you may ask? (or maybe you don't care...) I was inspired to start running and train for a marathon when watching the 2006 Boston Marathon. I had watched the Boston Marathon many times before but this time I was standing at the finish line and it was really uplifting to see all of the regular joes finishing. For some reason I was inspired to start running and run my own marathon. I originally set out to run the Boston Marathon 2007. I decided that day and was determined to train and do it. I started running that week and was running a few miles a day and a long run once a week. I originally was doing about 7 miles for my long run. Well it turns out you can't just run the Boston Marathon, you have to qualify with a ridiculously fast time. Or you can enter a charity program and raise a lot of money for charity and they'll give you an entry.

Anyway, I didn't run the 2007 Boston Marathon. I have run two half marathons which were fun and good experiences. I'm droning on here so I'll get to the point- I'm going to run the Stowe Marathon this fall and my 'official' training program starts this Sunday May 13. I'm following a training guide I found online at: http://www.marathontraining.com/marathon/m_sch_2.html It's a good guide and comparable to other training guides I have seen and read about. This guide does not include any cross training or weightlifting or hill training, which I feel are all important and I will incorporate. I am going to be writing about my training leading up to the marathon and what I learn, how it's going, blah blah blah (or yadda yadda yadda).

We'll see if I keep up with this blogging thing. I keep my official running tally on another website: www.runningahead.com This is a really neat website which allows you to map out your running routes and it uses google maps to map the distance, along with the elevation using USGS software.