June By the Numbers

Such is the marathoner's mindset that a 130-mile month, with only 4 days off and long runs of 10, 12, 14, and 15, feels light. If so, it's too late to do anything about it. What I lacked in running, I might have compensated for with some cross-training on the bike. I put in three honest efforts in June, 2 30-milers and one Metric Century. Perhaps the lull will do me some good, for July portends the start of an official marathon training cycle, complete with 12-week paper chain ring. It's time to focus.

• Total Miles: 130
• Road Miles: 120
• Treadmiles: 10
• Average weekly mileage: 31 +/-
• "Quality" workouts: 2
• Longest long run: 15 miles
• Races: 0
• Race miles: 0
• Bike miles: 120
• Rest days: 4

Hot Doggett 100K

Well I survived the Hot Doggett 100K and what can I tell you. The course was pitiless and I was pitiful. Well pitiful may be too harsh, but pitiless definitely describes the course. If you want to get your climb on, this is the ride for you. The climbing came early and often and late and often. It included a 3-mile or so ascent to Devil's Fork Gap, which crosses the Appalachian Trail and takes you into Tennessee. That climb was tough to be sure -- 7% most of the way with a short 15% sucker punch slipped in mid-way -- but it came early enough that I still had some juice in my legs. At about 50 miles, we had to climb to Adams Gap (once again across the AT and back into North Carolina). That last major climb had more than one moment of truth for me. The view was gorgeous, I assume, but I was looking into the eyes of my maker the entire time. I think I hallucinated that some people were walking their bikes up as I fought the urge to quit. But I made it, I kept up with my gang until the last couple of miles, and I survived the brake-riding descents (topping out at 40-45 MPH) without crashing.




The course has some stunning visuals -- fast-running mountain streams, lush meadows and valleys, and blue-ridged vistas deep into Tennessee, the elusive AT thru-hiker -- and is well supported by the volunteers. If you are a unicyclist, and there were two doing the metric century, there was a Unicyclist Sag Wagon. I don't know how those guys got down the hairpin turns of the back-side of Devil's Fork, but they did. I can highly recommend the "Devil's Fork Dates" pictured below. The BBQ, accompanied by dogs, beans, popsicles, pasta salad, and watermelon, at the finish was not bad either.



These metric century rides are no joke, and I have some near marathon-caliber pain right now. But it's almost all in the quads. I don't think I'll have trouble going up and down steps tomorrow. I can see myself doing it again next year. Maybe then I can train better and save me some suffering.

Tour de Lance

I've been riding my bicycle, nothing serious to be sure, but about 30 miles or so every weekend. Sometimes I go on the Parkway, sometimes I head out towards Marshall. The rides have all come the day after long runs of 14-16 miles, so they have been easy efforts. Truth be told, all my cycling is at an easy effort, except on the climbs, when it is race car in the red, anything not to walk the bike to the summit effort. It is probably not an ideal form of training to double-up like that, but there are only two days on the weekend, so I don't have much choice.

I broke down and replaced the brake pads for the first time in 3-4 years. I'm hoping that will give me a little more confidence on the screaming descents around here. I also invested in a new pair of bike shorts. My others went back maybe 10 years and were pretty worn. These new ones are slick, literally, and the first time I wore them I was sliding around in the saddle like Jenna Jamison.

We have another Metric Century this weekend -- the Hot Doggett. The Fletcher Flyer had 3,000 feet of elevation gain, this one has 6,000. I'm going to give it a shot.

Dessert Double-Down

Looks like pizza, tastes like cherry custard.

On the 4th of July, I had a burger, a hot dog, about a pound of Better Cheddar, some beans, apple pie, ice cream, peaches, and many bottles of beer and glasses of wine. The next morning, I was disgusted with myself. The next afternoon, I decided to bake a clafouti. My atonement for the previous day's calories lasted a few hours, but then I found myself staring at some beautiful cherries at the grocery store. Besides, as much as we hate to admit it, the French helped us secure our nation's Independence. It seemed only fitting to follow the quintessential American dessert with a French second act.

Cherry Clafouti
(Adapted from Cook's Illustrated)

1/3 cup sugar
2 tbsp. tapioca cornstarch
pinch salt
1 1/4 cups heavy cream
2 large eggs
2 large egg yolks
1 tbsp. kirsch
2 tsp. vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups fresh cherries
Powdered sugar for dusting

1. Whisk dry ingredients in a large bowl, then whisk in wet ingredients until smooth.

2. Arrange cherries in a single layer in a 9-inch pie plate and pour cream mixture over the top.

3. Bake in a pre-heated 350-degree oven for 35-40 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

4. Let cool and dust with powdered sugar before serving.

Nothing Says 4th of July . . .

Nothing says 4th of July like apple pie. And this Saturday I wrestled -- at times violently -- to complete the one pictured above. The recipe, from Dorie Greenspan's "Baking: From My Home to Yours," is a winner, easily the best apple pie I have ever baked. But her promise that the pie dough was easy to work with was, in my case, somewhat less than forthright. And when I say somewhat less than forthright, I mean that she's a filthy liar who, damn her, knows how to bake. I just couldn't roll out the dough without it sticking to the surface, the rolling pin, the cabinets, my son. I had to take it in and out of the fridge several times before I finally had it at the right temperature to roll. But what can you do? This is the life I've chosen and, when it comes to pie crusts, I have to roll my own. I got it right in the end, needing only one patch on my top crust. On the apples, I went with four Pink Ladies and two Granny Smiths. It was the perfect combination of sweet and tart. We had it with a scoop of Blue Bell Vanilla. It went quickly.

The recipes for the crust and the dough are below. My apologies for the formatting. I cut and pasted the recipe from the Internet because I didn't have the energy to type it for you.

GOOD FOR ALMOST EVERYTHING PIE DOUGH

FOR A 9-INCH DOUBLE CRUST

3 cups	all-purpose flour
¼ cup	sugar
1½ tsp	Salt
10 oz	very cold (frozen is fine) unsalted butter, cut into tablespoon-size pieces
⅓ cup	very cold (frozen is even better) vegetable shortening, cut into 4 pieces
	About ½ cup ice water

Put the flour, sugar and salt in a food processor fitted with a metal blade; pulse just to combine the ingredients. Drop in the butter and shortening and pulse only until the butter and shortening are cut into the flour. Until you have some pieces the size of fat green peas and others the size of barley. Pulsing the machine on and off, gradually add about 6 table spoons of the water add a little water and pulse once, add some more water, pulse again and keep going that way. Then use a few long pulses to get the water into the flour. If, after a dozen or so pulses, the dough doesn’t look evenly moistened or form soft curds, pulse in as much of the remaining water as necessary, or even a few drops more, to get the dough that will stick together when pinched. Big pieces of butter are fine. Scrape the dough out of the work bowl and onto a work surface.

Divide the dough in half. Gather each half into a ball, flatten each ball into a disk and wrap each half in plastic. Refrigerate the dough for at least 1 hour before rolling.

ALL-AMERICAN, ALL-DELICIOUS APPLE PIE

	Good for Almost Everything Pie
4 pounds (about 6 very large)	apples
¾ cup	sugar
	Grated zest of 1 lemon
2 tbsp	quick-cooking tapioca (or potato flour)
¼ tsp	Salt
½ tsp	ground cinnamon
⅛-¼ teaspoon	freshly grated nutmeg
2 tablespoons	graham cracker crumbs (or dry bread crumbs)
2 tablespoons	cold unsalted butter, cut into bits

GETTING READY: Butter a 9-inch deep-dish pie plate.

On a well-floured surface (or between wax paper, or plastic wrap), roll out one piece of the dough to a thickness of about ⅛ inch. Fit the dough into the buttered pie plate and trim the edges to a ½ -inch overhang. Roll the other piece of dough into a ⅛-inch-thick and slip it onto a baking sheet lined with parchment or a silicone mat. Cover both the circle and the crust in the pie plate with plastic wrap and refrigerate for about 20 minutes, while you preheat the oven and prepare the filling. (The crusts can be well covered and kept refrigerated overnight.)

GETTING READY TO BAKE: Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 425 degrees F. Peel, core and slice the apples into slices about ¼ inch thick. Put the apples into a large bowl and add the sugar, lemon zest, tapioca (or tapioca corn starch), cinnamon, nutmeg and salt. Toss everything together really well. Let the mix sit for about 5 minutes, until juice starts to accumulate in the bottom of the bowl.

Remove the pie plate and top crust from the refrigerator and put the pie plate on a baking sheet lined with parchment or a silicone mat. Sprinkle the crumbs evenly over the bottom of the crust and then turn the apples and their juices into the crust. The apples will heap over the top of the crust. Pat them into an even mound. Dot the apples with the bits of cold butter.

Very lightly moisten the rim of the bottom crust with water, then center the top crust over the apples. Either folds the overhang from the top crust under the bottom crust and crimps the crust attractively, or presses the top crust against the bottom crust and trim the overhang from both crusts even with the rim of the pie plate. If you’ve pressed and trimmed the crust, use the tines of a fork to press the two crusts together securely.

Use a sharp paring knife to cut about 6 slits in the top crust. Use the wide end of a piping tip to cut a circle out of the center of the crust as a steam vent. If you’d like, brush the top crust with a little milk or cream and sprinkle it with sugar.

Bake the pie for 15 minutes. Lower the oven temperature to 375 degrees F, and bake the pie for another 50 to 60 minutes (total baking time is between 65 and 75 minutes), or until the crust is gorgeously browned and the juices bubble up through the top crust. After about 40 minutes in the oven, if the top crust looks as if it’s browning too quickly, cover the pie loosely with a foil tent.

Transfer the pie to a rack and let it rest until it is only just warm or until it reaches room temperature.

Better than Better Cheddar? Yes!

There is a small New Orleans grocery called Langenstein's. It's hidden in a residential section of Uptown. It has a remarkable deli tucked in the back where they make a variety of prepared foods. They have two popular dips that are staples of the Uptown cocktail scene -- Le Popeye and Better Cheddar. Le Popeye is their spinach dip, and if you have the recipe, please share it. Better Cheddar is their cheese spread and this recipe, from "Cooking Up a Storm," purports to be similar yet better. Debatable, to be sure, but what is not up for debate is that it tastes great. The creole mayo is also excellent on sandwiches.



Better than Better Cheddar

1 pound smoked Gouda, shredded
1 pound sharp white cheddar, shredded
3 green onions, chopped (white and green parts)
1 cup walnuts, chopped
Homemade Creole Mayonnaise

For the Mayo:

1 1/2 cups vegetable oil
1 large egg
1 tbsp. Creole mustard
1 1/2 tbsp. white vinegar
1 1/2 tbsp. lemon juice
1/4 tsp. paprika
1 tsp. yellow prepared mustard
1 tsp. salt
Dash of Tabasco

Pour 1/4 cup oil in blender. Add egg, Creole mustard, vinegar, lemon juice, paprika, yellow mustard, salt, and Tabasco, and blend. Add remaining oil in a steady stream with the blender running.

Combine Mayo with cheese mixture. Enjoy with crackers or a sliced baguette.

14 times 2

Two weekends and two long runs of between 14 and 15 miles. The second one, though on more difficult terrain, was a stronger effort. Base training and endurance building continues.

Saturday, June 20



Saturday, June 27

May By The Numbers

T.J. Hooper
(at the Asheville Drum Circle)

It's taken me 22 days to carve out the time to do my "By The Numbers" post, the one post that requires little thought beyond the basic math. But that has been the theme of 2009. I'd rather be working than not in this economy, but work / everything scale is definitely out of balance. I can't even remember May, except that it started with a long run in Atlanta. It looks like a ran a few more miles than I did in April, and I did waste a Saturday and more by doing the Sunset Stampede. Still, it's decent foundational work until I start getting serious about a Fall target race.

• Total Miles: 143
• Road Miles: 123
• Treadmiles: 20
• Average weekly mileage: 33 +/-
• "Quality" workouts: 4
• Longest long run: 12 miles
• Races: 1 (Sunset Stampede - CR)
• Race miles: 10
• Bike sessions: 1
• Rest days: 2

Bushwacked!

It broke 90 degrees here on Saturday afternoon. So on a day that started with a solid 14-plus miles, we whiled away happy hour with several Bushwackers. I was not familiar with the Bushwacker until I bought "Cooking Up a Storm: Recipes Lost and Found from the Times-Picayune of New Orleans." The cookbook was put together as essentially a public service after Hurricane Katrina -- a way to collect and codify so many old recipes that were washed away by the storm. The cookbook is another step in the rebuilding process.


If you like Caucasians, you will enjoy this frosty rum-based treat. Note the stainless-steel bendy straws, which I have been wanting ever since I slurped through one at the bar at Cyrus in Healdsburg, CA. They stay incredibly cold, are really cool, and because they're reusable, we consider them another of our green initiatives at home.

Bushwacker
(Makes 2 servings)

3 to 4 scoops vanilla ice cream
3 oz. dark rum
1 1/2 oz. light rum (or leftover cachaca)
1 tbsp. creme de cacao
1 tbsp. Kahlua
ice
Dash of 151 rum (optional)

Put ice cream, rums, creme de cacao, and Kahlua in a blender and pulse to blend. Add enough ice to come within 2 inches of top of blender (about 2 cups of ice, give or take) and blend until smooth. Add a few drops of water if the mixture freezes. Pour into tall glasses and serve with a straw.