SRM WEEK 13 OF 20: Euphoric Runs + All Things Tiki

Oy. Do you ever feel like you need a long weekend to recover from your long weekend?

~*~*~SRM WEEK 13 OF 20~*~*~

Grand Total: 40 miles

* 24 easy
* 16 long

Monday: a.m. strength / p.m. karate

One of the ways you know you didn't run that hard on Sunday is feeling up to a 6am strength workout on Monday.

Tuesday: 8 easy

Another way is having magical runs where you feel like you could run forever only two days after. In fact, I had a couple of really lovely easy runs this week, which was just what I needed after that bummer of a catastroph#@% in Sunnyvale. We've had a lot of hot, sunny days lately, leaving us poor San Franciscans confused and befuddled as we scramble through our piles of hoodies and scarves for that one tank top or skirt we keep around for those rare days when it breaks 70º. On Tuesday, though, the weather was gorgeous (balmly in the Mission & pleasantly cool further west).

Wednesday: strength work

No karate this week. Which was okay because I had a bunch of work to do. In other news, Don's band played at a local music festival again this year, which I hear was a blast as usual.

Thursday: 10 easy

By Thursday the fog had rolled back in and I was treated to 10 misty, overcast miles through the San Francisco I know and love. My glutes & hamstrings were sore from lifting on Wednesday (my first deadlifts in a while...), but this run still felt amazing.

Friday: ALL THE TIKI.

Don & I both had Friday off, so we joined some karate folks in the East Bay for an exploration of all things tiki, which included some mean cocktails as well as some spectacular smoked pork butt.

Once upon a time, I shunned tiki drinks as froo-froo fruit salad girly-drink concoctions for people who want to drink alcohol but don't actually like alcohol. (Read: Have been patronizing *entirely* the wrong sort of establishments.)

That was before my education in the Lost Arts of Tiki.

~*~*~TIKI DO'S AND DON'TS:~*~*~

DO: Use fresh produce and fruit juice.

You may think you can get away with canned pineapple and bottled ReaLemon / ReaLime, but I dare you to A/B it just one time & see if you can ever choke down the industrial oxidized stuff again.

DON'T: Use a mix. Ever. EVER! Nothing shouts "I have no class" like using a store-bought drink mix. (Except maybe mixing Crystal Lite with Sauza & calling it a margarita.)

DO: Explore the liqueur aisle. Velvet Falernum, Orgeat, triple sec, and curaçao (not the blue stuff) are key; other fun additions include All Spice Dram, Cointreau, apricot liqueur, and Creole shrub.

DO: Investigate a proper Long Island Iced Tea (probably not what you think it is).

So good!

DO: Invest in a quality blender. Crushing ice really does a number on a cheap motor & I know a number of folks who were not willing to shell out until they'd burned out the motor on three or four $50 jobs making smoothies or other blended drinks. A lot of people swear by VitaMix but we have a very nice Calphalon that does a solid job as well & was maybe half the price.

DO: Freeze the fruit ahead of time if you're going to blend it. No one likes a watery cocktail.

DON'T: Overdo the ice (see above). Likewise, be sure to break up any large chunks (they don't blend well) & keep the ice in the freezer until the last possible second. (Wet ice = watery cocktails.)

DON'T: Use cheap rum.

Some of our favorite not-fancy, yet not-cheap rums

If you wouldn't enjoy sipping it neat, you shouldn't be mixing with it. Certainly there are super fancy rums that are wasted on cocktails, but that is not the mistake most people make. Again if you think it doesn't matter because you're not a cocktail/rum snob, I dare you to A/B it.

DO: Go easy on the coconut rum. It should play a supporting role, not dominate the drink. A bit of a float here & there is fine, but too much is the coward's way out.

DO: Avoid flavored vodkas like the plague. (*cringe*)

DO: Get some cool mugs. (Paper umbrellas optional.)

DON'T: Neglect the garnish.

DO: Make a point of drinking out of the coconuts every now & again.

Saturday: 6 easy

We arrived back home around midnight and crashed, so it was a good thing that we didn't have to be anywhere the next day until another karate friend's birthday party in Napa the next evening. The town fireworks are visible from his backyard, so it was pretty much a perfect spot. (I love San Francisco, but most years you are much more likely to see colorful, glowing clouds than you are actually fireworks.)

Naturally this resulted in another late night. I'd planned to get up at a reasonable hour Sunday morning to get my long run in before heading down south to join another friend's pool party, but since we both slept until nearly 11 and did not feel amazing once we did get up, we bowed out and instead I got my long run done while Don took care of some things around the house.

Sunday: 16 long

And ohhhh I did not feel like going on this long run. Mostly, I think, because of being up late two days in a row and not eating great and also having run the day before when I've normally been resting on Saturdays. I felt tired and worn out when I started, perked up around mile 5ish & got into a rhythm & actually felt pretty good until around mile 11, then got depressed that I still had 45 minutes to go, then by mile 14 felt like a normal person again (though, tired. Really much, much more tired than I think I should be at mile 14. Which is why I'm blaming the weekend.)

So it's back to actual workouts this week. And (hopefully) less drinking and more sleeping. :-/