I'm leaving in a few minutes to head up to LA. From there, we fly out to Seattle tomorrow and then drive to Portland for the Hood to Coast on Friday. I don't know what to say really. I can't believe it's finally time. After my training was torpedoed the last week by a strange cold, I don't know whether I'm ready to go or set back enough to suck as bad as last year. I'm still getting over whatever has been bugging me for the past week, but I felt I had to run today. It's been over a week and to run the Hood to Coast after not running for 2 weeks seemed like a recipe for suicide. So I headed out and ran the shorter loop around my house.
Yikes. I'm still optimistic going into the race, but this final run was bad. I was definitely feeling the effects of taking a week off. Still, I think it was better to get a bad run over with today and feel like I still have some good ones left in me before race time.
It's now time to go. My next post will be about the race itself. It's finally here. Ready or not.
Tuesday, August 24, 2010
Russian River Brewing Company - Damnation
Russian River Brewing Company makes some of the best beers you will ever try (if you can find them). The names of their beers range from Sanctification to Beatification and from Pliny the Elder to Little White Lie and the styles this brewery tackles are just as interesting. Having tried Pliny the Elder (a Double IPA) and Supplication (a Sour), I decided to go for another one of their beers.
Damnation is labeled a Belgian Strong Pale Ale. I don't know that I've ever tried one of these before, so here goes.
The head swells up in the glass as soon as the beer touches it. I haven't seen one like this since the Saison Dupont. The color is a pale golden hue with a nice foamy head that had good retention.
The smell of the beer is really different. I definitely got a bunch of the yeast, but it doesn't smell as full and in your face as a lot of beers that use Belgian yeast. It also doesn't have that sort of bready smell that some yeast-strong beers tend to have.
The taste is a lot like the smell- full of yeast, but not in a way that's overpowering. To me, it almost felt like I was drinking a cider. This beer is no slouch at over 7%, but you wouldn't know it from the taste. It does a remarkable job of feeling light while not tasting light. The only thing I wasn't sure about was the almost total lack of carbonation. I could see bubbles rising from the bottom of the glass, but there was almost no carbonation in the taste. I don't know, maybe there was just something wrong with my bottle. Still, I enjoyed this beer a lot. Can't wait to try more from Russian River.
Final Grade: A-
Damnation is labeled a Belgian Strong Pale Ale. I don't know that I've ever tried one of these before, so here goes.
The head swells up in the glass as soon as the beer touches it. I haven't seen one like this since the Saison Dupont. The color is a pale golden hue with a nice foamy head that had good retention.
The smell of the beer is really different. I definitely got a bunch of the yeast, but it doesn't smell as full and in your face as a lot of beers that use Belgian yeast. It also doesn't have that sort of bready smell that some yeast-strong beers tend to have.
The taste is a lot like the smell- full of yeast, but not in a way that's overpowering. To me, it almost felt like I was drinking a cider. This beer is no slouch at over 7%, but you wouldn't know it from the taste. It does a remarkable job of feeling light while not tasting light. The only thing I wasn't sure about was the almost total lack of carbonation. I could see bubbles rising from the bottom of the glass, but there was almost no carbonation in the taste. I don't know, maybe there was just something wrong with my bottle. Still, I enjoyed this beer a lot. Can't wait to try more from Russian River.
Final Grade: A-
Monday, August 23, 2010
Coronado Brewing Company - Mermaid's Red Ale
When I first moved to San Diego four years ago, I wasn't exactly crazy about it. I knew San Diego had Sea World. I knew it had a nice zoo. I knew the water at the beach felt warmer than it had in Santa Barbara. But that was about it. After 4 years down here, I've discovered that San Diego has a lot more to offer than I had originally thought. And if I had only known about the beer... As I learn more and more about the beer culture in San Diego, I want to leave this place less and less. There are so many amazing breweries down here and the best part about it is that they're some of the most innovative breweries in the world. Ballast is probably the best example for me, but there are a lot of other breweries down here that are never happy to settle with making a few "safe" beers. Despite trying a lot of beers down here, there are still a few breweries that I haven't tried yet. Green Flash, Lightning, Alpine, and a bunch more. Soon that will all change. On Saturday, I took one off the list- Coronado Brewing Company.
Coronado Brewing Company is located right on Coronado Island- a beautiful island across from downtown San Diego that is part naval base and part residential area and beach town. I hadn't heard much about their beers, but I saw one of them, Mermaid's Red Ale, at a restaurant in North Park and decided to try it.
The beer pours a deep ruby and chestnut brown color. The head quickly fades to a slight off white cap. Hops and malts definitely dominate the smell. So far so good.
Usually, I'm not a huge fan of red ales. I've had a few good ones, but for the most part, I've been pretty disappointed. This one didn't blow me away, but it was much better than most. It had decent complexity with notes of chocolate at the beginning and some smooth caramelized malts and then faded into a bitter hoppy finish. The mouthfeel was a little weak, but not bad. I think if nothing else, this beer opened my eyes to reds again. I'm definitely going to have to try a few more after this.
Final Grade: B
Coronado Brewing Company is located right on Coronado Island- a beautiful island across from downtown San Diego that is part naval base and part residential area and beach town. I hadn't heard much about their beers, but I saw one of them, Mermaid's Red Ale, at a restaurant in North Park and decided to try it.
The beer pours a deep ruby and chestnut brown color. The head quickly fades to a slight off white cap. Hops and malts definitely dominate the smell. So far so good.
Usually, I'm not a huge fan of red ales. I've had a few good ones, but for the most part, I've been pretty disappointed. This one didn't blow me away, but it was much better than most. It had decent complexity with notes of chocolate at the beginning and some smooth caramelized malts and then faded into a bitter hoppy finish. The mouthfeel was a little weak, but not bad. I think if nothing else, this beer opened my eyes to reds again. I'm definitely going to have to try a few more after this.
Final Grade: B
Thursday, August 19, 2010
Brasserie d'Achouffe - Houblon Chouffe Dobbelen IPA Tripel
About a week ago, I saw a new beer at Bristol Farms. I'm a sucker for good looking labels and this one had it- a gnome picking hops out of a field. Being a fan of hops (and a fan of gnomes), I knew I was going to have to try it. Today, I went to The Yardhouse for the first time and saw it on the menu. Sold!
Alright, first a little about this beer. I didn't know any of this until I read up on it later, but still, I think it's good to know. First of all, the beer is made by a Belgian brewery- Brasserie d'Achouffe. They make a few specialty beers that they export to the states and a few find their way to Southern California. This beer in particular is a mix between a Belgian Tripel and an American IPA. Strange, but definitely intriguing. Until today I had never tried a Belgian IPA. On to the tasting...
The beer pours a very pale straw color that seemed to have pale green tinges to it. It is obviously unfiltered and very hazy and capped by a thin head. The smell is full of bright citrus notes: apple, pear and lemon. As the beer warmed, the smell was all pear and delicious.
The taste was well represented by the smell. It's full of light fruit flavors and a lot of malty smoothness. The finish has a bit of pepper and a decent hit of hops. The hit isn't quite as hard as it probably should be for a double IPA. Still, this was a pretty solid beer.
Final Grade: B+
Wednesday, August 18, 2010
The Lost Abbey - Avant Garde
For a few months now, I've been wanting to try some of The Lost Abbey's beer. Lost Abbey was started by two of the head brewers from Pizza Port (a really awesome pizza and beer place down here in San Diego) who wanted to start a brewery that specialized in Belgian style beers. Most of their beers have pretty amazing names (Duck Duck Gooze, Judgment Day, 10 Commandments, etc.) and I had heard nothing but good things about all of their beer, so it was time. On Sunday, I found one of their beers, Avant Garde, at Bristol Farms and it was go time.
There are some beers that you have to drink fast. Usually, these are beers that taste terrible once they get warm (A.K.A.- Anything with "Lite" in the name, almost any beer that would be good with sushi, PBR). Avant Garde is not one of these beers. As soon as you pour it, you just know that it's a beer that you'd like to spend a little time with before it's gone. The beer pours a hazy gold with a fairly large head that recedes lazily to a light foam cap. The aromas coming from the beer are wonderful. Light malts and freshly baked bread make up the majority of the smell, but there are other things present and it takes a while for them to come out.
The flavor of this beer was wonderful. I can't pinpoint why exactly, but this reminded me a lot of a saison but without the "funk." There was something very earthy about the taste that had "saison" written all over it. The hops were present but pretty subtle and very earthy. There was also a little sweetness from the malts and a lot of that fresh baked bread flavor that was present in the smell. There is so much going on in this beer that drinking it too fast would be a sin. It's a wonderful beer, but one you need to have some time to drink. I can't wait to try some more of their brews. This one was special.
Final Grade: A
There are some beers that you have to drink fast. Usually, these are beers that taste terrible once they get warm (A.K.A.- Anything with "Lite" in the name, almost any beer that would be good with sushi, PBR). Avant Garde is not one of these beers. As soon as you pour it, you just know that it's a beer that you'd like to spend a little time with before it's gone. The beer pours a hazy gold with a fairly large head that recedes lazily to a light foam cap. The aromas coming from the beer are wonderful. Light malts and freshly baked bread make up the majority of the smell, but there are other things present and it takes a while for them to come out.
The flavor of this beer was wonderful. I can't pinpoint why exactly, but this reminded me a lot of a saison but without the "funk." There was something very earthy about the taste that had "saison" written all over it. The hops were present but pretty subtle and very earthy. There was also a little sweetness from the malts and a lot of that fresh baked bread flavor that was present in the smell. There is so much going on in this beer that drinking it too fast would be a sin. It's a wonderful beer, but one you need to have some time to drink. I can't wait to try some more of their brews. This one was special.
Final Grade: A
Run 23
It never fails- anytime you I have a good run, I know my next one is doomed.
On Monday, I set out to run the Regents loop (3.25 miles) around my house after work. For some reason, I really felt like I was going to kill it. I had been thinking about running all day at work and I had been counting down the minutes until work was over so I could get out there. Still, when I started, something didn't feel right. I don't know if it was something I ate or the lingering effects of the long run on Thursday, but when I started running, I felt sluggish. My tank felt like it started at 10% instead of full and it dwindled quickly.
I decided that I had been waiting too long to run not to give it my all, so I charged the first mile with a full head of steam. By the time I reached the mile mark, I had set a new personal best, but also had nothing left for the final 2 miles. To make matters worse, the sun decided to up its intensity right at the moment I was feeling the worst.
The last 2 miles were a blur in slow motion. It felt like it took forever to reach my place again and by the time I did, I felt like I had run a marathon. Really bad.
I'm going to write this run off as nothing. I've had a few of these runs before and it usually just means that the next run is going to be better. Now I'm just hoping that my last run before Hood to Coast isn't a really good one.
On Monday, I set out to run the Regents loop (3.25 miles) around my house after work. For some reason, I really felt like I was going to kill it. I had been thinking about running all day at work and I had been counting down the minutes until work was over so I could get out there. Still, when I started, something didn't feel right. I don't know if it was something I ate or the lingering effects of the long run on Thursday, but when I started running, I felt sluggish. My tank felt like it started at 10% instead of full and it dwindled quickly.
I decided that I had been waiting too long to run not to give it my all, so I charged the first mile with a full head of steam. By the time I reached the mile mark, I had set a new personal best, but also had nothing left for the final 2 miles. To make matters worse, the sun decided to up its intensity right at the moment I was feeling the worst.
The last 2 miles were a blur in slow motion. It felt like it took forever to reach my place again and by the time I did, I felt like I had run a marathon. Really bad.
I'm going to write this run off as nothing. I've had a few of these runs before and it usually just means that the next run is going to be better. Now I'm just hoping that my last run before Hood to Coast isn't a really good one.
Run 22
On Thursday, I set out to try something new- run 10 miles. Up until 2 weeks ago, I had never run more than 7 miles at a time and the run that broke that record for me barely did so. With 2 weeks until race time, I decided it was now or never as far as trying a really epic run. So I called Cesar up and asked if he was up for trying to run 10 miles- he was.
Before the run, I decided to try something new. Gatorade just came out with a "performance system" that involves three different drinks that you use while exercising. We decided to try the "before" one (a pouch of syrupy liquid you take 15 minutes before exercise) right before we ran and the "after" one (a slightly chalky drink in a smaller bottle that's full of protein) once we were done.
Whether it was mental or not, I think that the "before" stuff really helped. After the first 6 miles, I was still feeling pretty fresh. The cramp monster was strangely absent and my breathing felt way too normal for what I had just done. After a short break, we headed down the boardwalk again.
Surprisingly, the next trip up the boardwalk wasn't bad either. By the time we made it to the end, we were both definitely feeling the mileage, but it was still better than I had expected to feel. Knowing that our final mileage was going to be closer to 11 miles, something inside me wanted to head back out for an extra 2 miles once we made it back just so I could say I had run a half marathon. Sadly, I overestimated my abilities once again.
On the way back to the Pacific Beach pier, things took a turn for the worse. All of a sudden, we both hit the wall. Without Cesar there, I probably wouldn't have made it. It wasn't that anything terrible like a cramp hit me, it was just that the miles finally caught up with me. By the time we hit the 10 mile mark, we were both struggling and realized that we still had a mile to go. We could see the finish in the distance but no matter how long we ran for, it didn't seem to be getting any closer.
Finally, after the longest mile I've probably ever ran, we made it back to the pier. It was pretty bad. Everything hurt and I felt about to pass out. People walking by were giving us strange looks and I knew that I would be doing the same if I was in their place. Slowly, we walked back to my car and drank the Gatorade "after" drinks. They didn't taste so great, but I felt my senses slowly coming back. A few minutes later, I felt better and by the end of the day (besides a few sore muscles), I hardly knew I had run at all.
So what did I learn? Most of it was encouraging. I learned that my body can take 11 miles of punishment and not explode. I learned that all the training I've put in may actually be helping. I learned that it might not be a bad idea to bring a few of those Gatorades on Hood to Coast. And I learned that I would probably run the Hood to Coast a lot faster if I had Cesar running with me.
We leave in a week. This year I'm ready.
Before the run, I decided to try something new. Gatorade just came out with a "performance system" that involves three different drinks that you use while exercising. We decided to try the "before" one (a pouch of syrupy liquid you take 15 minutes before exercise) right before we ran and the "after" one (a slightly chalky drink in a smaller bottle that's full of protein) once we were done.
Whether it was mental or not, I think that the "before" stuff really helped. After the first 6 miles, I was still feeling pretty fresh. The cramp monster was strangely absent and my breathing felt way too normal for what I had just done. After a short break, we headed down the boardwalk again.
Surprisingly, the next trip up the boardwalk wasn't bad either. By the time we made it to the end, we were both definitely feeling the mileage, but it was still better than I had expected to feel. Knowing that our final mileage was going to be closer to 11 miles, something inside me wanted to head back out for an extra 2 miles once we made it back just so I could say I had run a half marathon. Sadly, I overestimated my abilities once again.
On the way back to the Pacific Beach pier, things took a turn for the worse. All of a sudden, we both hit the wall. Without Cesar there, I probably wouldn't have made it. It wasn't that anything terrible like a cramp hit me, it was just that the miles finally caught up with me. By the time we hit the 10 mile mark, we were both struggling and realized that we still had a mile to go. We could see the finish in the distance but no matter how long we ran for, it didn't seem to be getting any closer.
Finally, after the longest mile I've probably ever ran, we made it back to the pier. It was pretty bad. Everything hurt and I felt about to pass out. People walking by were giving us strange looks and I knew that I would be doing the same if I was in their place. Slowly, we walked back to my car and drank the Gatorade "after" drinks. They didn't taste so great, but I felt my senses slowly coming back. A few minutes later, I felt better and by the end of the day (besides a few sore muscles), I hardly knew I had run at all.
So what did I learn? Most of it was encouraging. I learned that my body can take 11 miles of punishment and not explode. I learned that all the training I've put in may actually be helping. I learned that it might not be a bad idea to bring a few of those Gatorades on Hood to Coast. And I learned that I would probably run the Hood to Coast a lot faster if I had Cesar running with me.
We leave in a week. This year I'm ready.
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