Dry Creek trail run

Posted on December 7, 2014 by twsobey

IMG_20141206_163028The first Sunday of each month, the Boise Area Runner’s Trail Run is in a different location. Rather than meet at Camel’s Back Park like most Sundays, we pick a new trail to try. This weekend the plan was to run Dry Creek Trail, unfortunately, it’s been raining. No one wants to run on muddy trails (it erodes the trails), but we still wanted to try it, so I offered to run it Saturday evening and check the condition.

The rain, which had stopped hours ago, decided to restart just as I reached the trail head. Rather than dash out to check the trail and get back in the car, I waited a minute. As the rain lightened, a double rainbow appeared and I took it as a sign that I should head out. The trail was mostly sand which meant that it would drain/dry quickly and running on it wouldn’t cause significant harm to the trail. Running through the gully cut by the ironically named Dry Creek, the rainbow appear to end between me and the next hill. I paused to admire the scenery, but Jamie, my Irish Terrier running buddy, would have none of it, so we kept going.

At the third stream crossing, about 3 miles into the run, I decided the trail was good enough for the morning run, so I turned around and headed back. The return had just enough downhill to allow me to pick up more speed than I needed, but it was too fun to slow down.

IMG_20141207_093749Sunday morning was a bit colder but about 20 runners showed up. Most had never run Dry Creek before. No rainbow greeted us on this run, but the trail was still in good shape. When we got to the third creek crossing, several people decided to turn back, but a few of us pushed on for another mile or so. Around that point, the surroundings change from sagebrush and grasses to evergreens. It’s the sort of place you’d sit to write haikus in the sand and then wipe them away, if you were into that. I thought about it, but decided to keep running.

Around mile 4, two of us stopped to wait for the group again and realized everyone else had turned back. It’s such a great trail, I wanted to keep going, but decided to catch up with the group. Now, to decide what trail to hit next month… Any suggestions?

IMG_20141207_093800

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Bear Island Brewing Company

Posted on December 3, 2014 by twsobey

Boise Brew Minute (episode 11) – Beth talks about getting Bear Island Brewing Company up and running from her garage. We try Fuse, her jalapeño pale ale, and find it isn’t overly spicy like many pepper beers. We also find out when we can expect to see Bear Island brews showing up around town.

  • Have you seen Bear Island beer around town yet? Where?
  • What do you think of pepper beers?
  • Seeing how to go from drinking beer to home brewer to commercial brewing, does it make you want to give it a try?
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Back to 5k

Posted on November 30, 2014 by twsobey

It’s been a few years since I ran my last 5k race. I tell myself that if I’m paying for a racing and lacing up the shoes, I should be running farther than 3 miles. That is certainly part of the reason I haven’t done one lately, but the main reason is 5k races are fast. I much prefer going longer and settling into a nice comfortable pace.

This year, we stayed in Boise for Thanksgiving and had several friends running the Turkey Trot 5k so we decided to sign up. On Tuesday, I did 3x 2 mile repeats on the track which is what the training plan called for, but the training plan didn’t include a race on Thursday. I woke up the morning of the race, still sore from the track workout. Oops. My plan was to race (rather than just jog) and I checked last year’s results to see where my estimated finishing time (~18:30) would put me. I decided that if I finished around 20th, I would hit about the pace I wanted.

Before the start, I got to the front, knowing there were probably people behind me who were faster, but I like toeing the line at races. When the gun went off, about 40 people along the line surged ahead of me. I didn’t want to go out too fast, but I also knew that if they got far enough ahead, I wouldn’t be able to catch them, so I picked up my pace. I felt like I was in trouble. I was pushing pretty hard and some of the high school cross country runners were laugh and joking. This was going to be much tougher than I thought. Then after about four blocks, I heard one say, “Well that was fun, but I think I’m done now,” and a whole group of them slowed down significantly. I should have known better.

I was able to maintain close to my starting pace and when I looked at my watch at the mile mark, I was a little disappointed. I read 6:32 which was slower than I had hoped for and it was hurting more than I expected. Then I did a double take. Turns out, it didn’t say 6:32, it said 5:32! I was flying! If I could keep this up, I might be able to beat my high school PR of 17:15. It hadn’t seemed possible an hour ago, but it was within reach, so I kept pushing. I crossed the two mile mark at 11:00. On the third mile, I started feeling the track workout from Tuesday as my calves started to tighten. I wasn’t the only one hurting at this point and I was able to pass about a dozen people over this mile.

Coming into the final stretch, I realized I’d had a good race, but not one to beat my PR. I finished at 17:30, a minute faster than I was hoping for and within sight of my all-time fastest 5k. Looking back on it, I might have been able to shave off those 15 seconds if I’d skipped the 3x2s on Tuesday, but I’ll take it. I now have a reason to sign up for another 5k and this time, I’ll put a little more thought into my training.

  • Have you been able to break any of your high school PRs?
  • Did you do a Turkey Trot this year? How’d it go?
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Edge Brewing

Posted on November 26, 2014 by twsobey

Drowned ChipmunkBoise Brew Minute (Episode 10) – Kerry from Edge Brewing talks about Black Water, her imperial stout. This is a hoppier version of the style which should appeal to people who typically prefer IPAs to stouts. We also talk about some of the beers that investors in the brewery made including an Oatmeal Stout that was good enough that Kerry is brewing it now.

  • What do you think of Black Water? Is it good, too hoppy or not yet hoppy enough?
  • What other breweries allow investors to come in and brew?
  • What would you brew in a commercial brewery, if you were given the chance?
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Planes at Whole Foods

Posted on November 22, 2014 by twsobey

On Wednesday, the local Whole Foods donated 5% of their sales to the Discovery Center of Idaho. Most of the staff of the Discovery Center spent some time at Whole Foods that day talking to customers, doing science demonstrations and thanking the community for the support. Since I’m on staff, I spent several hours there and found wonderful ways to entertain myself and others. The main way was with a toy we build at the Discovery Center, a polystyrene plane. I played with this simple flying device for way too long, but the customers and even most of the produce staff at Whole Foods seemed entertained. After a bit of practice, I got the plane to fly around in a circle and boomerang back to me.

Wednesday was a cold day and relatively few people came to Whole Foods to do their shopping, but it was still a great opportunity to talk with the community about what we’re doing and share some fun science experiments they could try at home.  Below are instructions for this demo and I’ll continue to post demos here when I have a short story to tell about them, but you can find more on WikiDemos.

Supplies

  • Polystyrene Plate
  • Tape
  • Paperclips
  • Rubber band
  • Scissors
  • Plane Template (optional)

What to do

PolystyrenePlanePlateTemplate.jpg

Template for your plane.

  1. Cut off the edges of the plate, leaving a flat circle
  2. Trace the template onto your plate or draw a similar pattern
  3. Cut out your plane
  4. Fold on the dotted lines
  5. Cut flaps to adjust flight
  6. Add rubber band to paperclip
  7. Add a paperclip to the front (you may need to tape it in place)
  8. Loop rubber band over your finger and pull back plane
  9. Launch your plane

You can adjust the flaps on the back to modify how it flies, making it better at gliding or coming back to you. If you build one, send me a photo. Good luck and have fun.

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Woodland Empire

Posted on November 19, 2014 by twsobey

WoodlandBoise Brew Minute (Episode 9) – Rob talks to us about starting Woodland Empire and their new beer, Crispy Apple Turnover. This is their response to all the pumpkin beers typically released this time of year. We also discuss Autumn to Ashes, a smoky beer they’re releasing soon with flavor from malt they smoked using apple wood from the brewer’s backyard.

  • Are pumpkin ales over done and is an apple ale the best response?
  • How do you like the balance of smokiness in the Autumn to Ashes?
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Boise Coop

Posted on November 12, 2014 by twsobey

Drowned ChipmunkBoise Brew Minute (Episode 8) – Matt has been buying beer for the Coop for several years now. We sat down and talked about what beer he’s excited about arriving soon, including Deschutes Jubelale. We also discuss how he got into beer and some of the imperial stouts being release on Black Friday.

  • What’s your favorite beer at the Coop?
  • Which Black Friday release are you excited about trying?
  • Matt discovered interesting beer through Belgiums. What beer first got you interested?
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Understanding pain in running

Posted on November 10, 2014 by twsobey

Recently I’ve been thinking about pain and how it appears in running. There is always the pain of pushing hard near the end of a race, but there is also pain of eating the wrong thing (or not enough). Some pain gets better if you run through it and some gets much worse. Running along a trail and twisting your ankle a little is a perfect opportunity to assess this. Sometimes, the ankle gets better if you keep running (and ice when you get home), other times, more running continues to aggravate the injury. The only way to know which one this is, is to try one approach and see if it’s correct. With experience, you get better at determining which one it is, but self-assessment is never perfect.

This question of which injuries we should run through and which we must not has been rattling around in the back of my head a lot lately. I’ve been dealing with two injuries for a couple of months. At first, I thought I could run through them. It soon became evident that these were not that type of injury. I cut back on my miles and the number of runs I did. I increased the amount of time I spent icing and slowly they began to heal.

Then a week ago, I read an article on irunfar.com  One of the take-aways from the article is that building this knowledge of what pain you can run through, what is “normal” pain, can be extremely helpful in long races. Several of the training runs they recommend are ones I already do, but my focus has been on putting in the miles to decrease the pain I feel while racing. After reading it, I’m now starting to take mental note of the pain and discomfort I feel; I’m building a pain catalog. And, although I haven’t done it yet, I’m thinking about trying some of the other training runs they mention like the carbohydrate depleted runs. The idea of skipping a meal before a run sounds dumb, but I understand the reasoning behind it. If you’re going to be low on calories during a long race, it might be a good idea to understand that feeling before race day. We’ll see how if I actually convince myself to do it.

Hopefully, going forward, I’ll be even better at determining what pain I can run through and what pain requires attention. Most important of all, hopefully I can get back to training for some races this winter.

  • How do you deal with pain on runs? Ignore it, stop running, catalog it, etc?
  • How good are you at determining which pains mean stop? Any tips?
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Post Modern Brewery

Posted on November 5, 2014 by twsobey

Marvin showing the fermentation tanks at Post Modern BreweryBoise Brew Minute (Episode 7) – Just after opening their location in the old Tablerock building, Marvin talks to us about his Post Modern Pale Ale and future plans to release a hard root-beer and ginger beer. We also discuss the history of the building and how that is influencing his brewing.

  • Have you tried Post Modern Brewery and Grind Modern Burger yet? What did you think?
  • What’s your favorite Tablerock beer that you want to see Marvin recreate?
  • What do you think of their upcoming hard root beer?
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The Ram

Posted on October 29, 2014 by twsobey

Drowned ChipmunkBoise Brew Minute (Episode 6) – We go to the Ram and talk with Jake about his Oktoberfest beer. We discuss what makes this lager different from the standard American lager (spoiler: the difference is flavor). We also talk about the upcoming release of RyeWay 55 RPA and the current popularity of brewing with Rye.

  • What do you think about the current popularity of rye beers?
  • What other lagers have you tried with more flavor than typical American lager?
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