I took the recipe from this article and decided to make wraps.

I made a few changes to the recipe.

Recipe for the Filling:

• 1 cup black rice 
• 1 Avocado
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
•  4 scallions, green and white parts, thinly sliced
• 2 cups thawed frozen corn kernels
• ¼ cup lemon 
•  ½ cup chopped cilantro leaves
• 2 teaspoons ground cumin
• ½ teaspoon dried oregano
• ¼ teaspoon dried thyme
• • ½ cup dried cranberries
  •  Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
  • ¼ cup toasted pumpkin seeds for topping
• For the Wraps:
  
• • 8 Leaves of Collard Greens
  • 8 teaspoon of Hummus

•  Puruple cabbage
•  cucumbers

Follow the recipe on the NYTimes site.

Not sure I should use this since it's "forbidden"...

  

After cooking the rice.  I got the other ingredients together.

Sauteed these for a very short period.

Added the cooked rice to a large saucepan.

The end result.

Vegan Black Rice, Corn and Cranberries Wraps.

I took the recipe from this article and decided to make wraps.

I made a few changes to the recipe.

Recipe for the Filling:

• 1 cup black rice 
• 1 Avocado
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
•  4 scallions, green and white parts, thinly sliced
• 2 cups thawed frozen corn kernels
• ¼ cup lemon 
•  ½ cup chopped cilantro leaves
• 2 teaspoons ground cumin
• ½ teaspoon dried oregano
• ¼ teaspoon dried thyme
• • ½ cup dried cranberries
  •  Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
  • ¼ cup toasted pumpkin seeds for topping
• For the Wraps:
  
• • 8 Leaves of Collard Greens
  • 8 teaspoon of Hummus

•  Puruple cabbage
•  cucumbers

Follow the recipe on the NYTimes site.

Not sure I should use this since it's "forbidden"...

  

After cooking the rice.  I got the other ingredients together.

Sauteed these for a very short period.

Added the cooked rice to a large saucepan.

The end result.

Majora Carter: Greening the Ghetto

This is perhaps the most inspiring thing I've heard this week. As the nation debates spending priorities, the deficit and whether or not to raise the debt ceiling; it was refreshing to hear exactly how the private sector and government institutions can work together with grass-roots community organizations to improve the lives of citizens. Thank you, Majora.

Amplify’d from www.ted.com

Majora Carter: Greening the ghetto

See more at www.ted.com

 

See this Amp at http://bit.ly/nRDTYJ

Still Running...

After a very busy week and a work schedule that has been unbelievably busy, it was great to get out and do some easy mileage tonight.  I really enjoy the fact that I'm no longer running with my ipod and that I'm focusing on my form and my breathing.  There is something very calming about that.  Still taking it easy.  It's been four years since I ran regularly and I can feel every one of those years out there.  But the journey has been much more pleasant since I'm not pushing myself to the point of exhaustion (yet).  Just concentrating on building my base and getting fit. 

Back to Reality...

It seems like it was a million years ago. but it was only 3 and a half years ago when I ran the NYC Marathon.  It was a bitter-sweet experience.  I committed to run the marathon in my 40th year and was able to accomplish it.

However, my initial goal of hitting a specific time goal (less than 4 hours) fell by the wayside.  My finishing time was about 6 hours and (to be honest) there were times when I was pretty sure I was going to drop out of the race and call it a day.  But I did finish.  I'm happy about that.

My other disappointment with the NYC Marathon in 2006 was the fact that although I had intended to lose weight and become fit, I actually gained weight during my training period.  Especially during the last 2-3 months before the race.  I had heard that that could happen but I would have never guessed that it would happen to me!

Looking back, it was pretty easy to see why that happened.  Toward the end of my training when I started doing regular long runs of more than 13 miles on Sundays I would return home wiped out and exhausted.  I looked upon the fact that I had done so much work as a license to eat whatever I wanted. (bad idea).  I was also so worn out that in addition to eating everything in sight I would regularly be unable to even do a recovery workout for the next 4-5 days.  So clearly 1-2 workouts per week plus a caloric excess for 7 out of 7 days per week is *not* a reasonable formula for achieving success in a marathon...

I also pledged that I would *never* run another marathon again.
Well, I was wrong.  Over the last 3 years I have tried to stay fit with resistance training.  I've attempted to convince myself that I liked lifting weights although I clearly don't.
Fast forward to last year.  Surgery in May.  No exercise throughout the summer,fall and winter and 30 pounds to show for it.  Yipes.

In January, I decided to change my diet and to become a vegan.  Principally for health reasons, but after doing extensive reading (see future blog posts) I also became convinced that it was the right thing to do from the standpoint of ecology and animal welfare.

I've lost 20 pounds in 2 months with virtually no exercise; but now, I want more.
My goal is to run another marathon by the end of 2010.  I've done it before (the wrong way).  And now I intend to do it again. (The right way).

Win, lose or draw, I'm sure the process will be enjoyable.
BTW, I was helped immeasurably in my attempt to become a vegan by the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine's (PCRM) 21 day Vegan Kickstart in January, and I would recommend it highly to anyone interested in improving their nutrition. 

My Marathon Training Team

This week, I began to put my team together for the NYC marathon.

On Saturday and Sunday, I was in NewYork attending the wedding of a very good friend. As a result, I bagged my Sunday Long Run. On Monday I contacted Matt Russ and scheduled metabolic testing. Matt has got some real high-tech uber-geeky training stuff planned for me. I'll be running with my heart rate monitor and GPS satellite tracking device. After my runs I can upload my data for his staff to review, critique and suggest corrections.

This is how the numbers work out:

• My Resting metabolic rate (RMR) is 2080 calories per day.
• My Aerobic threshold is 176 BPM
• My Anaerobic threshold is 184 BPM.

After vacation in 2 weeks I will be meeting with a sports nutritionist. The plan is to lose another 15-20 pounds before the marathon. Amazing, since I've already lost about 12 pounds since I started training in March.

My Aching Ankle

Over the last week or so my right ankle has been aching ever-so-slightly.

After my long run on Sunday (13 miles) if was a little tender to touch along the inner aspect of the ankle; however I was able to ice it and place someAspercream on it in the evening and was able to run (with some discomfort) on Monday morning.

On Tuesday, my ankle was still hurting and that (plus my overall fatigue) kept me from Running on Tuesday.

I was able to run 8 miles this morning (which is a PR for distance in a pre-work AM run) and only noticed actual pain in the first 1 or 2 miles.

My plan is to take it easy next week in anticipation of a reasonable performance at the Peachtree 10K on July 4th. Part of me keeps telling me that I should completely rest my ankle now, however, I need to complete at least one more workout for this week to maintain my current 4 runs per week and > 30 miles per week trend that started in July.

What A Difference A Week Makes!

Last week, I entitled my long run post 13 miles the hard way.

This week I should name my long "13 miles the dumb way".

First of all, I was happy that I was able to get in my Sunday long run. We went to the North Georgia Mountains to pick up my 10 year old son from camp, and so I could not run in the morning. The temperature was hot so I estimated that a 3 hour run that started at 5 PM would start out hot but be cool towards the end.

I used a new circular route that I had never run before. I used mapmyrun.com to calculate how long it would be and got it to be about 12.5 to 13 miles.

Wow, was it hot. And of course, keeping my heart rate down was a challenge. I found that my heart was up above my MAF rate of 135 even when I was walking up hill. So (of course) I decided to abandon my MAF heart rate at an early stage in my run. My plan was to run at a "comfortable" pace without regard to my heartrate.

As you can see from the attached chart, my heart rate immediately jumped into the 150s although I did not feel fatigued at all.

However, the impact of the heat and the early increase in my heart rate became readily apparent at miles 10-13 when my legs felt like lead and any thoughts of picking up the pace were clearly pipe dreams.

Chalk that up as another learning experience.

SATISFACTION

I've said it before, and it's true, that preparing for a marathon is an emotional rollercoaster. A great run is often followed by a poor run, fatigue, illness, or all of the above.

But today I am struck by the fact that I have (in some way) made progress this week and I am satisfied in the fact that I was able to accomplish all of the things I set out to do this week.

• I ran for 4 days.
  
• I increased the average duration and mileage for the week.
  
• I was able to maintain my MAF pace (most of the time) and
  
• I did not injure myself or become sick.

Okay, admittedly these are small milestones. But they are milestones nevertheless. And who knows maybe someday when I hit a rut at a later stage in my training I'll be able to look back on this post and feel better about what I'm doing.

Sent from Onyeije's Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

The Ultimate Guilty Pleasure

Okay. Have you ever heard an old song on the radio and just couldn't get it out of your head?

Well it happened to me yesterday. I heard this song and just kept humming the tune without really knowing the words or the artist. So then I thought wouldn't it be nice to download the song into my ipod so I can listen to it during my runs.

Well thanks to the internet that was not a problem. A few quick searches got me the name of the song and the band. I was then able to download the song in question from itunes.

Classic 1970s electronica with strings and essentially meaningless lyrics. But then to top things off I was also able to pull up an early "video" of the performance. Priceless.

Here it is if you're interested, but I must warn you, its addictive in a weird kind of way.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z3dLR14ag3Y

Enjoy.
Sent from Onyeije's Verizon Wireless BlackBerry