Zeke’s Festivus Roast AeroPress

lpaulriddle
  • Beans: “Festivus Roast” (Indonesia/Central America/South America)
    • Dark roast (7/8)
    • Roaster: Zeke’s Coffee (Baltimore, MD)
    • Roast date: 11/27/2023

Initial Recipe

  • JX: 2 turns (Grind setting 20)
  • 83°C brew water / 99°C bypass water
  • 20g coffee / 200g brew water + 50g bypass water (1:12.5)
  • Two paper filters, pre-moistened
  • Recipe: An AeroPress Recipe by Tim Wendelboe
  1. Set AeroPress up in standard orientation and rinse filters
  2. Add 200g water to AeroPress and return kettle to base
  3. Stir 3 times back to front
  4. Insert plunger and pull up to stop dripping
  5. Turn kettle up to 99°C
  6. Steep for 60 seconds
  7. Remove plunger and stir 3 times back to front again
  8. Insert plunger and press slowly
  9. Add 50g bypass water

Best Recipe

  • JX: Grind setting 16 (1.5 turns plus 3 clicks, or 48 total clicks)
  • 85°C brew water (no bypass)
  • 18g coffee / 225g brew water
  • Prismo with metal filter
  • Insulated mug (Hydro Flask or similar)
  1. Set AeroPress up in standard orientation and add ground coffee
  2. Start timer and add 225g water, finishing at around 0:35, and stir 4-5 times back to front
  3. Cover AeroPress to minimize heat loss (I set the plunger on top)
  4. Steep until around 2:10 (1 minute 35 seconds)
  5. Stir 4-5 times back to front again
  6. Insert plunger and press slowly (I use just enough pressure to keep the Prismo valve open)
  7. Put lid on mug immediately to retain heat

The “initial recipe” turned out really good the first time I brewed it. Compared to the pourover cups I’ve been making recently, it was smoother and had more of a chocolaty note to it. It makes me wonder if I can tweak the pourover recipe to get a similar result. I used a finer grind setting for the AeroPress, but I don’t think I’d want to go much finer with the pourover, as it already had a slight edge of bitterness. The AeroPress cup had no hint of bitterness at all. It definitely seemed stronger than the pourover (maybe a little too strong, actually 😀), so I’m wondering if the longer steep time leads to more bean extraction at the lower water temperature. I suppose that I if I wanted to reduce the caffeine hit, I could skip the bypass and brew 200g water with 16g coffee, but I liked that the hotter bypass water brought the cup up to (what I consider to be) an ideal drinking temperature. I’ll have to give this some thought.

12/6: The same recipe with 18g coffee (1:14) had similar flavor, but (predictably) less body. I think I’d be best off brewing a little bit less coffee at a stronger ratio. A few possibilities:

  1. 200g water with 16g coffee and no bypass
  2. 160g water with 16g coffee and 40g bypass (total 200g)
  3. 180g water with 18g coffee and 45g bypass (total 225g)

All 3 recipes keep a 1:12.5 ratio. #2 and #3 are identical to 12/5’s recipe, just with proportionally less water and coffee. I think I’m going to try #3 tomorrow.

12/7: I’m not sure why, but option #3 (from above) turned out really bad. It had no flavor at all, and had I not known better, I would have thought I was drinking hot water. Maybe I did something wrong, as it seems like simply reducing all of the quantities by 10% shouldn’t have that big of an effect. Whatever the case, I’m probably not going to try #2 or #3 again.

12/8: The same recipe that was great on 12/5 (20g coffee at grind setting 20, 200g brew water at 83°, 50g bypass at 99°) was not good today. It was marginally better than yesterday’s, but still watery and lacking in flavor. Not sure what the reason is for the inconsistency. I thought perhaps that yesterday I had forgotten to tighten the filter cap on the AeroPress, but that was not the issue today. I don’t think there was much variation in my brewing technique, so I’m a little bit perplexed.

12/9: Decided to shake things up today: 18g coffee at grind setting 15, 200g brew water at 83°, 25g bypass at 99°. This is a much finer grind and a lower ratio of bypass to brew water. Due to the fine grind, there was less initial drip-through, and more plunging resistance. I pressed very slowly, backing off at any hint of back-pressure. This was a much better cup than either of the previous two. I guess the finer grind was the difference-maker, but it doesn’t explain why the first two cups at grind setting 20 were good, but the next two were under-extracted.

12/12: I’ve been brewing the 12/9 recipe for a few days now, and the main issue is that the coffee cools too fast after brewing, even when I brew it into an insulated Hydro Flask mug. I may try nudging the water temperature up closer to 90 to see what happens. If it ends up tasting bitter, I can make the grind slightly coarser.

12/13 and 12/14: I picked up a Fellow Prismo this week, mainly because I wanted to be able to brew “drip free” without having to invert the AeroPress. Yesterday, I brewed with 18g coffee at grind setting 20, 200g brew water at 85°, and 25g bypass water at boiling. It definitely had a different flavor from the same recipe brewed with the standard cap and filter. It had more of a smooth mouthfeel, but maybe not quite as strong. No hint of bitterness. Today, I tried 17g coffee at grind setting 20, 200g brew water at 90°, and no bypass. The cup stayed hot longer, but the taste had a little bit of bitterness to it. I am going to continue playing around with the Prismo over the next several days, and see if I can get something dialed in. (Note– did I actually use setting 20? Had been using 15 since 12/9).

12/15: 200g brew water at 85°, 20g coffee at grind setting 15 (confirmed), 25g bypass water at boiling. I meant to brew this at 1:12.5, but mistakenly used 250g as the divisor, and thus ended up at 1:11.25. Regardless, for whatever reason, this cup was watery and flavorless. The common thread among the bad cups I’ve gotten seems to be the 1:10 brew ratio. I found a really good article that discusses the relationship between water and coffee volume and how it affects strength vs extraction. It’s the best, most succinct write-up on the subject that I’ve found. In a nutshell, (more coffee with the same water volume) == (more strength but less extraction [flavor]). This would seem to explain why the coffee tastes better when I brew 18g coffee to 200g water, vs 20g to 200g. The article recommends dialing in the strength first, then adjusting extraction by varying grind size, temperature, and/or immersion time.

12/16: 200g brew water at 85° (overshot slightly, so probably more like 205g), 18g coffee at grind setting 16. I also added a (dry) paper filter in front of the metal Prismo filter. I steeped from 0:35 until around 2:05 (including the initial stir), which is about 30 seconds longer than I had previously been steeping. I stirred in a back-and-forth motion and pressed slowly. This was much, much better than yesterday’s cup. I tried it with no bypass water initially, but it was too strong, so I added around 20g which brought it to probably about 1:12.5. I think that the combination of lower ratio of coffee to brew water, plus longer steep time, led to better extraction. I’m not sure if the paper filter made any difference — I added it mainly to see if it would help with cleanup, but it was kind of a push. It saved me having to rinse off the metal filter, but I still had to shake the two out of the Prismo cap and pry them apart, which isn’t really any less messy.

12/17: Brewed the same recipe as yesterday, and got another very good cup. For the record, the exact steep time after finishing the pour was 1 minute 35 seconds (0:35 until 2:10). I left out the paper filter this time, and did not notice much difference. The longer steep time seems to be the big difference-maker with this recipe.

12/19: Decided to try brewing with the full amount of 225g water (at 85°) and no bypass. I kept everything else the same (18g coffee at grind setting 16, 1 minute 35 second steep time, slow press). I think this turned out a little better than brewing with 200g water + 25g bypass. However, it’s definitely important to use an insulated mug to keep the coffee from cooling too quickly.

12/22: Used up the last of the beans. I’ll likely use “best recipe” (above) as a starting point for the next dark roast I buy, and see how it turns out.

Rise Up Winter Warmer Pourover

lpaulriddle
  • Beans: “Winter Warmer” medium roast (Indonesia)
    • Roaster: Rise Up Coffee Roasters (Easton, MD)
    • Roast date: 11/23/2023
  • Initial:
    • 18g coffee / 250g water (1:13.8) (A little too strong)
    • JX: 20 (60 clicks) (Occasionally bitter)
  • Best:
    • 16g coffee / 250g water (1:15.6)
    • Also works well with 20g coffee / 300g water (1:15)
    • JX: 21 (63 clicks)
  • Water at 95°C
  • Recipe: A Better 1 Cup V60 Technique (see below)
  1. Preheat V60, pre-moisten filter, add coffee, and tare scale
  2. Make small indentation in center of coffee grounds
  3. 0:00: Pour 50g of water to bloom, then return kettle to base
  4. 0:10 – 0:15: Gently Swirl
  5. 0:45 – 1:00: Pour up to 100g total (40% total weight)
    • Hold kettle for the remainder of the brewing process
  6. 1:10 – 1:20: Pour up to 150g total (60% total weight)
  7. 1:30 – 1:40: Pour up to 200g total (80% total weight)
  8. 1:50 – 2:00: Pour up to 250g total (100% total weight)
  9. 2:00 – 2:05: Gently swirl
  10. Drawdown should finish somewhere around 2:30-2:40

This was pretty good from the get-go. I used the same recipe that I have been using for Rise Up Organic Maryland Coffee (also a medium roast, but sourced from Central America) but made it a shade stronger, using 18g coffee vs 17g. I think I prefer the flavor at this strength, but definitely wouldn’t want to drink more than 250g at a time, else I’d be bouncing off the walls. 😀

12/4: 17g (1:14.7) had very good flavor without tasting overly strong, but I’m still feeling the caffeine afterward. Might be that this is the ideal strength, but I’m going to try at 16g next time to see how it turns out.

12/11: Tried 17g at grind setting 19 (slightly finer) just as an experiment, and was not crazy about it. It just tasted a little “off”. I wouldn’t expect it to taste much different from setting 20, so maybe the water temperature dropped too much during brewing, or something was off with my technique. I’ll have to decide what I want to do for the next cup. I could continue playing around with grind settings just to see what happens, or I could bump the water temperature a couple degrees higher, or I could just go back to what has been working up to today.

12/13: Went back to grind setting 20 this morning, and brewed 300g water with 20g coffee (1:15), pouring 60g at a time vs 50g. For some reason, 300g seems to taste “better” than 250g in some way I can’t quite put my finger on. I’ve noticed it with other light-to-medium roasts as well, when brewing larger quantities of coffee using the pourover method.

12/18: I seem to be getting cups that are alternately good and alternately bitter/over-extracted. Yesterday was in the former camp, but today was in the latter. Maybe it’s time to try a slightly coarser grind and/or slightly lower water temperature. I’d like to get a little better consistency out of my last few cups from this bag, so I have a starting point for the next time I buy these.

12/19: Tried grind setting 21 today for the first time, and it turned out very nicely, in spite of me having spilled the beans all over the place prior to grinding them. 😮 The cup was smooth with no hints of yesterday’s bitterness. Seems like at setting 20, it was more sensitive to very small variations in water temperature and/or brewing technique. Hoping that 21 will produce consistently good cups. I’ll find out over the next few days. It’s also worth noting that my past several cups (going back a week or so) have all been 300g water with 20g coffee.

12/24: Used up the last of the beans. I brewed several 250g and 300g cups at 1:15.6 and grind setting 21, and they all turned out good. Updated the recipe for posterity.

Zeke’s Festivus Roast Pourover

lpaulriddle
  • Beans: “Festivus Roast” (Indonesia/Central America/South America)
    • Dark roast (7/8)
    • Roaster: Zeke’s Coffee (Baltimore, MD)
    • Roast date: 11/27/2023
  • 18g coffee / 250g water (1:13.9)
  • JX: 2 rotations + 9 clicks (23 on the grind chart / 69 total clicks)
  • Bloom water at 99°C, brew water between 81°C and 85°C
  • Recipe: A Better 1 Cup V60 Technique (see below)
  1. Heat water; preheat V60 and mug
  2. Pre-moisten filter, add coffee, and tare scale
  3. Shake V60 to level coffee bed; make small indentation in center of grounds
  4. Start timer and do the following, finishing between 0:45 and 1:15:
    • Pour 50g of water to bloom
    • Return kettle to base
    • Lower kettle temperature by 20° or so by adding room temperature water
    • Bring kettle water back up to 81°-85°C
  5. Reset timer
  6. 0:00 – 0:10: Pour up to 100g total (40% total weight)
    • Hold kettle for the remainder of the brewing process
  7. 0:20 – 0:30: Pour up to 150g total (60% total weight)
  8. 0:40 – 0:50: Pour up to 200g total (80% total weight)
  9. 1:00 – 1:10: Pour up to 250g total (100% total weight)
  10. Wait for drawdown (30-60 seconds)

I’ve been buying mostly light- to medium-roasted beans for the past several months, and I decided that it was time to try something dark again. This was my first time brewing a dark roast using the pourover method, and I used the same recipe that I used with Zeke’s Market Blend (actually a medium roast, but on the darker side of medium). The result was a perfectly drinkable cup, but it could have been a little bit stronger. Tomorrow, I think I am going to try 20 grams of coffee, which will give me a ratio of 1:12.5. I may also try making the grind finer little by little, until I notice any unpleasant flavors. At some point, I’ll also likely try brewing the beans with the AeroPress and/or the French Press.

12/1: Grind setting 22 with 20g (1:12.5) was an improvement over yesterday. The beans don’t seem to visibly out-gas during the initial high-temperature bloom step, so I may try skipping that tomorrow and doing the entire brew at 80-82°. I’m curious if I’ll notice any difference.

12/3: Didn’t seem like much difference doing the entire brew at either 82° or 84° at grind setting 22. Might go back to blooming one more time just to confirm… otherwise, I think I’ve got a baseline recipe dialed in. Next up will be to try AeroPress or French press.

12/21: I started brewing these beans with the AeroPress a couple of weeks ago, and I feel like once I dialed it in, it’s been easier to get consistently good cups using that method. I predict that going forward, I’ll end up brewing most light to medium roasts using the pourover method, and medium to dark roasts with the AeroPress. I’m curious to check back in a year or so and see if I was correct.

Cold Commute Notes

lpaulriddle

Very cold day today for November. It felt kind of like January. I remember one year back in the late ’80s or early ’90s when we had a November cold snap and temperatures stayed below freezing for several days. Today started out in the low 20s, and looks like it’s going to max out at around 40, which pales in comparison, but is very cold by recent standards. Being a Wednesday, it’s my usual day to go in to the office. While I used to bike in cold weather all the time (and still do occasionally), and I have biked in colder temperatures than today’s and lived to tell the tale, I have to admit that nowadays, it’s no longer my first choice. I considered going to the office tomorrow (Thursday) instead, as it’s supposed to be a little bit milder (upper 20s). Ultimately, though, I opted to stay with today because it fit my schedule better.

The ride was not bad. I could tell the temperature was above 20, because the condensation from my breath was not freezing inside my nose. The wind was fairly calm when I left the house at 7:30, but it picked up during the second half of the ride. I wore three layers on top, and tried out a new REI brand PolarTec hinged balaclava. Although the fit is snug with my current helmet, I think it’s a winner. I have another fleecy balaclava that I’ve frequently worn on sub-20º mornings, but it doesn’t do the greatest job wicking perspiration, and as a result, gets quite damp over the course of a ride, which is not something you want on a frigid day. The PolarTec seems to do a better job. Although I got the sense that my head was beginning to sweat towards the end of the ride, the balaclava was mostly dry when I took it off. My feet got a little bit cold, as they always do, but warmed up as I climbed out of the Patapsco River valley. My trusty Gore-Tex winter cycling gloves, combined with Bar Mitts, kept my hands reasonably comfortable for most of the ride. I rode a shade under 14 miles, which is shorter than my usual morning commute, but not bad for a cold day. The afternoon commute home promises to be about 15º warmer, so I’ll shed at least one layer, and switch to lighter gloves and a lighter balaclava.

On an unrelated note, 7:30 seems to be a good time to leave the house when I’m commuting via road bike on school days. While there’s still occasional foot traffic for the middle school, it’s not really a problem. The biggest issue this year has been dealing with school bus traffic on Lawyers Hill Road, but by 7:30, they all seem to have finished running their routes. It’s also early enough that I don’t have to deal with a lot of traffic for the elementary school in Relay.

Climbing notes

lpaulriddle

Interesting evening of climbing last night. By the way it started, I figured I might be done after two climbs. I started out leading a 5.8 and a 5.10-, and just felt really awkward/hesitant/rusty on the wall. The “problem nerve” in my right foot wasn’t really happy after the first climb, which makes me suspect that my footwork wasn’t great, either. It had all the makings of an “off” day. However, as I warmed up, my climbing improved significantly, and after climbing my third route, I felt much more confident. I ended up leading 5 routes and top-roping 1. I even climbed on the lead wall for only the second time ever. I think the moral of the story is that I need to spend a little bit more time warming up before starting to climb. I used to be pretty good about it, but lately, I’ve been falling off, partly due to timing of when I get to the gym, when my climbing friends arrive, etc. When I’m rushed or on a tight schedule, the temptation is high to skip warm-ups and just jump right into climbing.

I have found that I really like climbing lead on overhung routes. Part of that has come out of improvements in my technique, as I’m able to do it without killing my forearms now. Also, for some reason, the fear of falling doesn’t seem quite as intense. It might be because the routes are more physically challenging, and take more concentration, which leaves fewer brain cells to think about falling. Also, I think there’s less risk of injury from falls on overhangs vs vertical/slabby routes, as you’re falling into space, and there are no holds, volumes, walls, etc. to potentially hit on the way down. Lastly, overhung routes put less stress on the feet than slabs, because the weight is distributed to different parts of the body. In fact, I occasionally find it challenging to keep my feet from falling off the wall. I think the trick there is to engage the core muscles to keep the hips close to the wall, something I probably need to improve at. Footwork (e.g. heel hooks vs toe hooks) and shoe choice also likely play a role.

Run Notes

lpaulriddle

I ran 10 miles this morning, in spite of not feeling quite 100%. My pesky (but productive) cough returned yesterday, as well as some sort of weird acid reflux that started during yesterday’s bike ride, although the latter seems to have abated. This morning, I woke up with a mild sinus headache, which went away after I got moving. I felt fine for most of the run, and managed a pace of 10:43/mile and cadence of 183 steps/minute, both of which are about normal for me for a run of this distance. I was my first 10-mile run in just over 3 weeks, and I was definitely dragging a little bit for the final 2.5 miles or so, although overall, I felt like I finished strongly. Hoping I can get back into running this distance on a weekly basis.

Ride Notes

lpaulriddle

I had originally planned to run this morning and ride tomorrow (Sunday), but a slight chance of rain tomorrow prompted me to switch things up. Looks like the weather is going to end up being a non-factor, though. I had not taken a 30+ mile biking/geocaching trek in quite a long time, mainly because I’ve been doing more kayaking on the weekends this fall. It’s finally starting to get too cold for that (for this season, at least) so in its place, I’ll be getting back to more hiking and biking, and by extension, caching. Today, I rode out to Columbia and Clarksville and back, for a round-trip of just over 33 miles. I found 3 caches along the way, and failed to find one. The temperature started out a little bit below freezing, and warmed up to the upper 30s while I was out. I wore my trusty REI convertible cycling jacket over a long-sleeve cycling jersey and 32° long-sleeve synthetic base layer, as well as Garneau cycling pants, wool socks, Altra Lone Peaks with warming insoles, lightweight balaclava, and liner gloves underneath open-finger cycling gloves. I rode my Surly Disc Trucker, and broke out the Bar Mitts handlebar pogies for the first time this season. They’re a bit of a pain to take on and off the bars, but they make cold-weather riding much more enjoyable. I’ll probably leave them on the Surly all winter and just use a different bike on warmer days. I was pretty comfortable for most of the ride, including a couple of brief excursions into the woods to look for caches. It was great to get out for a longer ride. Tomorrow morning’s weather looks very similar to today’s, and the plan is to shoot for a 10-mile run. Wish me luck…

Rise Up Maryland Pourover

lpaulriddle
  • Beans: “Organic Maryland Coffee” medium roast (Guatemala/Honduras)
    • Roaster: Rise Up Coffee Roasters (Easton, MD)
    • Bag #1 Roast date: 11/8/2023
    • Bag #2 Roast date: 5/16/2024; purchase date: 5/28/2024
  • 17g coffee / 250g water (1:14.7)
  • JX: 18 to 20 (54-60 total clicks)
  • Water at 95°C
  • Recipe: A Better 1 Cup V60 Technique (see below)
  1. Preheat V60, pre-moisten filter, add coffee, and tare scale
  2. Make small indentation in center of coffee grounds
  3. 0:00: Pour 50g of water to bloom, then return kettle to base
  4. 0:10 – 0:15: Gently Swirl
  5. 0:45 – 1:00: Pour up to 100g total (40% total weight)
    • Hold kettle for the remainder of the brewing process
  6. 1:10 – 1:20: Pour up to 150g total (60% total weight)
  7. 1:30 – 1:40: Pour up to 200g total (80% total weight)
  8. 1:50 – 2:00: Pour up to 250g total (100% total weight)
  9. 2:00 – 2:05: Gently swirl
  10. Drawdown finished around 2:45

I bought this bag at the grocery store. Initially tried grind setting 21 with 18g coffee (1:13.8) but seemed a tiny bit under-extracted, so I tried today at grind setting 20. This seems like a reasonable starting point, but I can’t guarantee that I won’t try tweaking it further. Guessing these beans are roasted on the lighter end of medium, as the cup tasted kind of like a light roast in terms of body and flavors. I may even try pushing the water temperature up closer to boiling, as today’s cup had no hints of bitterness at all.

12/3: The last couple of single-cup brews I’ve done have been on the sour/acidic side. I am going to try making the grind a little bit finer the next time I brew these beans. Also, 1:13.8 seems a tad on the strong side, so I may try 16-17g coffee instead of 18g. Not sure if I’ll adjust both at the same time. I only have enough beans for 4-5 more cups, but as these beans are readily available at the grocery store, and there’s a good chance I’ll buy them again, it’s probably worth my while to dial the recipe in as much as I can. (Followup- realized later on that I had accidentally used grind setting 22 for this cup. Still think I’m going to try a little bit finer than my starting point next time; maybe 19.)

12/5: Grind setting: 19; water: 250g at 95°; coffee: 16g (1:15.6). Pretty good cup that tasted better extracted than 12/3’s. I only have 4 or 5 cups’ worth of beans left, but might try the next couple a little bit finer, just to see how far I can go before it starts tasting bitter.

12/8: Kept everything the same as 12/5, except with a grind setting of 18. Nice, smooth cup, still with no hint of bitterness.

12/12: It seems that the ideal grind setting for this recipe is 18 or 19. I’ve tried going finer (17 on Sunday and 16 today) and the cups are starting to taste sour (not bitter, surprisingly). I have 29g of beans left, so I’ll probably brew one more pourover at 18 or 19, and then maybe try a smaller cup in the AeroPress.

6/2/24: Opened my second bag today (roast date 5/16), brewed at grind setting 18 with 21g/300g, and got a nice, rich cup.

This, that, and the other

lpaulriddle

I finally felt like I was back at 100% for this morning’s run. I covered 8.7 miles at 10:35/mile and 183 steps/minute. My energy felt good throughout the run, and unlike my past couple of times out, did not feel tired or lethargic afterwards. I believe that the lethargy may have partially been a hydration issue. I have not been carrying water with me recently, because of the cooler temperatures, but today, I’ve been making an effort to drink a bunch of water over several hours following the run. There’s a nor’easter blowing through today, but I got out ahead of the rain, and only had to deal with some sprinkles. I’ll probably take a shorter run on Thursday (Thanksgiving Day) and then, if all goes well, I’ll shoot for a 10-miler on Saturday.

As I alluded to several weeks ago, I’ve converted Monday into a telecommute day during the winter months (likely until March, when we go back on Daylight Saving Time). It works out well with my Monday evening climbing, and also gives me an opportunity to do something other than running or bike commuting one morning per week. Yesterday, I took a mountain bike ride ahead of today’s rain. I was out for a while longer than I had planned, but I did check out the new Bloede Dam Trail, which runs from Garrett’s Pass out to Ilchester Road on the Howard County side of PVSP, with a shortcut down to the River Road Trail at about the midway point. The second half, past the shortcut, has some incredible views, but some of it is well above my skill level. I’ll be happy if I can eventually get to the point where I can ride most of it, but it’ll take some practice.

Running Improvement

lpaulriddle

I felt much more like myself running today than I had in the past couple of weeks. It was my first run in 4 days, mainly due to my schedule. I still have a nagging cough, but it has kind of gotten to where it’s more of a nuisance than an impediment to activity. Today’s weather was in the upper 40s with a slight breeze, and I wore long running pants, a long sleeve light wool running shirt, a windbreaker, calf compression sleeves, crew-height wool Injinji toe socks, a fleecy headband, and Vibram V-Runs. I did not wear gloves, and did not miss them today (they’re usually the first thing I end up taking off in this kind of weather). I ran 7.5 miles at a pace of around 10:50/mile and average cadence of 182spm. I felt like I could finally take deep breaths again without tripping my cough reflex, and I had more energy and was able to get my average heart rate up a little bit higher. It’s obvious that I’ve lost some conditioning over the past two weeks, but I feel like I now have the energy to start work on building that back up. I stopped a little bit shy of the end of my route, because I was starting to tire, and felt like I had already gone far enough. In spite of that, I was really happy with this run. My plan for the week ahead is to run Tuesday, Thursday, and probably Saturday, so I’ll see if I can continue to improve.