Monday, January 7, 2013

Pizza fail, and week 1 (technically 2) of marathon training.

What a humbling week it's been.  It's never easy to admit your shortcomings, but this past week has been jam-packed with them.

This was my first official week of marathon training.  Luckily, the first few weeks are meant to set you up for a solid 12 weeks of training (in my opinion).  Because my race date doesn't correlate with the training schedule, i technically merged the first two weeks together.  I will also have to tack on extra mileage to my long runs all throughout the program.  I am not too concerned about this, because once i actually start running, it is pretty easy to continue.  But man, is it hard to wake up, get ready in the dark, and go run in the freezing cold.  I definitely lack motivation to do that.

I have a lot of friends running the F^3 and Polar dash half marathons in the upcoming weeks.  This makes me painfully aware of the fact that not only could i not come anywhere near a decent race time right now, i don't even know that i could finish a half marathon.  It's scary how quickly we can reach that point.  I ran a marathon two months ago and felt great!  Now 6 miles leaves me tired and wheezy.  I am in for a world of pain as i ramp back up.  

Speaking of that recent marathon, my toenail hasn't improved at all.  It's actually looking worse.  It's still black, and it now appears that base of the nail is separating from the skin.  I would post a picture, but it is straight up disgusting.  I am starting to lose hope for spring sandals.  

For Christmas, i got an amazing cookbook of complex vegetarian recipes.  This was pretty exciting, because most vegetarian recipes i have found are a little lack-luster.  I like salad and all, but i want to be challenged when i cook.  And challenged i was.

Since i started attempting recipes in this book, i have been reminded every day that i do not have the proper tools to have a functioning kitchen.  Exhibit A:
I don't own a rolling pin.  Therefore i was forced to use a wine bottle to roll out the pizza dough.  It didn't really matter anyway, because something had already gone terribly wrong in the dough-rising process.  I tried everything to make this dough rise, and it just sat there mocking me.  We carried on with the pizza anyway, and it ended up tasting ok, but crust was so dense it was like eating a brick.  Matt still put away 4 pieces though, you know, to make me feel better. 
This battle is far from over.

Despite spending me weekend failing as a runner, and failing as a pizza chef, i did succeed in cuddling.  After my 8 mile run on Saturday, i had a hard time warming up, so i curled up on the couch with a pile of blankets.  Within 20 minutes, i had been swarmed.
They all just came over and fell asleep on top of me.  It kind of sucked to be unable to move for two hours, but it was endearing at the same time.  

Here's hoping that in 16 weeks, i am running the best marathon of my life, and making a pizza that will knock you on your ass.  (and not just because it doubles as a battering ram.)

21 comments:

  1. I too find that the first couple of weeks of marathon training are difficult. Week one speed and endurance pales in comparison to those levels at week 15. Plus for the first couple of weeks I haven't built up the leg strength to mask all of my minor ankle and shin pains, so I spend too much free time wondering if I am running injured! Good luck with your training and hope the toe gets better soon. BTW, a wine bottle to roll dough? Is there anything that wine can't do?!

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    1. Ugh! at least now i feel better about all my leg aches and pains - everything hurts!

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  2. I feel your pain with feeling the decline in endurance and how quickly it comes upon us after a few weeks off. Hence why I am so reluctant to take any time off to heal my injuries. =( But I know you'll regain your endurance very quickly, and the hardest part of ramping back up (those first few runs) is already over. You are going to knock your next marathon out of the park!!!

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    1. It should take at least as long to "untrain" from the marathon as it took to train!!

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  3. Wine bottle as rolling pin. Yep, done it. More than once.

    Also, why make your own dough when the stuff that Jewel sells is AMAZING. Seriously.

    I ran 7 miles yesterday and felt pretty beat up by the end. I looked at my marathon training plan from 2011 and almost cried. Starting over sucks!

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    1. I never even thought to look for grocery store dough...the only ones i have ever bought are pilsbury!

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  4. Which marathon are you training for???

    And OMG, I love the use of the wine bottle!

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    1. I am doing jailbreak at the end of April - its really small, basically the anti-chicago marathon, haha!

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  5. I have used many strange objects to roll out pizza dough.

    Speaking of...there are many recipes that don't make you wait for the dough to rise. Sooo...find one of those, because then you won't run (hahaha, pun) into the same problem again.

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    1. Like thin crust pizza? Basically, i am trying to duplicate the fluffy but still crispy crust. Bread is so complicated.

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  6. Regarding the pizza dough ... do you know if your yeast was dead? Was it old? Did you dissolve it in warm water first? But not hot water, which could kill the yeast. (Pretty sure I've killed yeast before which lead to non-rising dough.

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    1. I brought a thermometer home from work for the next attempt - i also think the cold kitchen did not help the rising process....

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    2. Yeah, I now use a candy thermometer to make sure the water is the right temp.

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  7. Nothing wrong with a wine bottle rolling pin... or for getting your dough at TJoe's. That's how I do pizza (or just go straight to Pequod's). Here's a glass to better pizza & better long runs - yay 2013!

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    1. I was impressed with how well the wine bottle worked. I might just keep using it...

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  8. I have a no fail pizza dough recipe-would you like it?

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  9. Making my own pizza dough kind of scares me because I don't think I would be able to get the dough to rise either. I am sure that you will nail the recipe soon. Using a wine bottle as a rolling pin is funny, but actually brilliant!

    I kind of feel like you in marathon training right now. The thought of even attempting a half makes me want to throw up right now. I don't know why my coach keeps telling me I will be ready for a full in May. I can't process that right now.

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  10. You know you could always run the Lansing Marathon with me and have a few extra weeks to get ready. :o)

    Ragnar killed a couple of my toe nails. I'm screwed. Enough said.

    Yeast? Alive or dead? What the "H" are you people talking about? One word: DELIVERY

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  11. Oh my...I don't even think I could count the amount of kitchen fails I've had in my day! The pizza at least looks pretty phenomenal!

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  12. Oh I've had many pizza crust fails! I still end up eating them though :) No food goes to waste!

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