It's been a poor year in CT for gardens, with too much rain and too little sun, but my produce has been coming along pretty steadily regardless.
I just pulled a titan of a tomato out of my garden and it was ridiculously delicious along with some fresh lettuce, some celery, a bit of avocado, and a whole bunch of other tomato varieties in my giant salad last night.
Some people scoff at my assertion that organic, freshly-picked produce tastes incredibly better than the 1000 miles away, pesticide-ridden, waxed-covered greenhouse produce you find in the stores. I inevitably find that these people 1) Don't eat much raw produce, 2) Rarely bother to taste what premium quality produce tastes like.
One thing I noticed after I went raw and my taste buds adjusted to the lack of salt and spices in my diet was that I could taste whole new levels of complexity in my food.
I'm unabashedly obsessed with tomatoes because all of the varieties have such complex tastes. I've got a dozen cherry, plum, and full-sized tomato varieties in my garden alone. I'll often bite into one and just enjoy the subtle tastes that unveil themselves.
One of the greatest parts of having a garden is that you'll be hard find the equal of your organic garden in any store, and you can have so much for so little cost. Even in this poor growing year, I have a huge bounty.
Unfortunately, the fate of my three watermelon varieties and my cantelope is up in the air, with some of the vines not looking too hot, but we'll see. I think all the rain is effecting them, and some of the larger watermelons have rotted.
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Today's Run:
Today I did some marathon pace training. I ran 9.13 miles in 1 hour and 23 minutes. That was an average of 9:08 min miles, and an average heart rate of 158 bpm. I burned 1186 calories, or roughly 11 bananas.
What I'm finding is that I have more than enough cardiovasular stamina to to keep up this higher pace, but my muscles don't like it. I'm going to have to keep training at this speed till they do.
It's actually really annoying because my heart rate keeps dropping whenever there's a hill to go down. Sure I can sprint down it, but this is exhausting for the muscles on the long hauls.
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5 comments:
Hey Andrew,
I really enjoyed reading this post! We've had too much rain up here in Massachusetts as well.
I'd love to know what some of the varieties of veggies are that you are growing. If you have the inclination to e-mail them to me, I'd be much obliged, because I'm a huge "variety nerd" of a farmer ;).
Bethany
I wish my tomatoes looked as good as yours; but it's my first year owning dirt to garden in so this is a trial year. Ran 5 miles last night up and down the Q River Trail and feeling pretty good today!
What advice would you give someone who is just starting. I am not looking to run a marathan at this time put have been walk/running a a good pace and want to take it to the next level but do not know where to begin.
Bethany-
Off the top of my head,I don't recall all of them, but...
Beefsteak,
Arkansas traveler
Burpees Longkeeper
Golden Girl
Early girl
Zorba
Currant red
Some of these were for warmer climates and suffered from the water and lack of sun. But still did ok.
Lea,
Great for you. Enjoy the running and the garden. Growing your own food is pretty satisfying.
Gigi,
Frankly, it's really really simple. If you have good shoes, just start running. Up your mileage every week or two. Take it as fast or as slow as you'd like.
There are tons of books out there that will tell you about good form, but the basic idea is to land on your heel and roll forward to the big toe. It takes a little work, but it's worth developing as a habit.
Best of luck
-Andrew
enjoy you blog. Good luck and I feel the same way about nucking our food. It's plan crazy.
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