NorCal CF/Winery Tour Day #4

Day of Gluttony

We tried to book a winery tour for today, but were unsuccessful. What we wanted was to join a small mixed group tour, not one of the expensive private tours nor a big bus tour. At any rate, it didn't work out, so we were left to our own devices.

We started out with a breakfast recommendation from the hotel staff. The Omelette Express in downtown Santa Rosa was very good. When they say express, they mean express. They have omelette making down to a science. Watching the cooks in the kitchen was an impressive display, almost like an egg flinging ballet.

While we were unable to book a tour, one friendly tour organizer suggested that we head to Healdsburg. The town square is filled with shops, restaurants and wine tasting rooms, all within walking distance. That's what we were looking for, wine tasting without the DUI. On the way Amy mapped out a couple of wineries for us to check out. Our first stop was at the Hanna Winery. It was small and we were the first ones there. Perfect situation for a couple of wine tasting novices like us. We got our wine tasting instructions and we were ready to rock. I think the most surprising wine at Hanna was their Rose. I'm no connoisseure for sure, but I always considered Rose to be on par with white zinfandel in the box. This Rose was quite surprising, very crisp and fruity. This will be a great summer BBQ wine. Amy loved the 2001 Bismarck Noir, of course at $50 a bottle. So, we dropped a nice little chunk of change there and then headed off to our next winery. Our second stop was at Dutton Estate in Sebastopol. Again, another small, uncrowded winery. Here we went with the wine and cheese tasting. The host paired several nice cheeses with 4 or 5 different varietals. We had some nice wines here and again spent more money than either of us would have expected to. I thought the idea of going to the winery was to get the wine at a good price, so much for that.

At this point, I definitely needed a break from wine, since I was still driving. We saw an interesting grocery store advertisement, so we headed off to the town of Windsor to check it out. The Windsor Green Grocer was an amazing little grocery store. They stock almost exclusively local grass-fed meats, local produce and dairy. Their goal is for 95% of their products to travel less than 150 miles to get to their store. The store owner was a rather young looking gent who was clearly passionate about delicious sustainable food. If you are in the town of Windsor, definitely check out this grocery store.

Finally, we made our way to Healdsburg. What a quaint little town, definitely reminded me of small town Wisconsin in many ways. We parked on the street right outside of the Selby Winery Tasting Room. Apparently their Chardonnay is often served at White House State Dinners. We weren't that crazy about their Chardonnay but we did pick up a bottle of their '06 Pinot Noir and '06 Old Vines Zinfandel.

Time for lunch. The hostess at Dutton Estates highly recommended we eat at Bovolo. Don't let the fact that this tiny little restaurant is located in the back of a bookstore fool you, this is quality eats. This place is known for their house made salumi. Everything is made in-house, to include the gelato. We split the coo-coo frites, fried dough loaded with FRESH mozzarella and salumi, heavenly, and we also split the Bovolo Burger. This ain't your typical backyard BBQ burger, italian sausage, stoneground mustard aioli topped with an apple and onion marmelata. Finish that off with a scoop of gelato and you can't go wrong.

Now that we were well fed it was time for a little shopping to let the food settle before we hit some more wine. Next up on the wine tasting tour was La Crema. To be honest, I was a bit turned off from the moment we walked in to this place. It has a very modern design and the hosts were very loud and in my opinion a bit obnoxious. It was not the relaxing, comforting exerpience that we had at the other wineries. The wine was okay, but not good enough for us to buy anything. As it was getting late in the afternoon we asked the host if she had any recommendation for other tasting rooms that were still open. She steered us toward the Rosenblum and Williamson tasting rooms.

In an attempt to wrap up this post, let me just say that Rosenblum was nice. They were close to closing, but were still very cordial and friendly. I enjoyed their Chardonnay and Amy and I were both pleasantly surprised by their Desiree Chocolate Port. On the nose there is an amazing chocolate and coffee aroma. The flavor is rich but not overwhelming. This will definitely satisfy your chocolate/sweet tooth.

Unbeknownst to us we saved the very best for last. Our experience at Williamson Wines was easily the best of the day. From the moment we walked in the door were heartily greeted by none other than the winemaker Bill Williamson himself. Bill makes the wine making experience! The wine tasting is complimentary and Bill goes to great lengths to explain what his motivation is for each varietal. He paired up cheese, salumi and a little chunk of brownie with their respective appropriate varietal and gave a detailed explanation of what to expect with each pairing. This was all done with characteristicly sharp Australian wit and humor. We were so inspired and had such a great time that we joined the Williamson Wine Club. Our first wine club, so exciting. If you get to Healdsburg, the Williamson Wines Tasting Room is an absolute must!

Well, after that, how do you wrap up the evening? We decided to walk over to Willi's Seafood & Raw Bar. Since the day had been so indulgent we thought we would "take it easy" and just have a few light appetizers. Well, I think you can tell where this is going to go. If you take a peek at their appetizers and small plates you can see why making a decision is so difficult. We started off with the spinach salad and the bacon wrapped scallop skewers. Oh my God! Those little scallops were amazing!!! We followed that with the pan roasted spicy shrimp and then took it to the top rope with the chorizo fondue. Oh mommy, that was decadent! I can only imagine how good the dinner entrees are.

Well, that was quite a full day. We were both stuffed and exhausted and ready to get back to our hotel to rest up for our travel day to San Francisco.

Sorry for the long rambling post, but there was a lot of stuff to talk about.


Our new winemaker friend Bill Williamson

NorCal CF/Winery Tour Day #3

Our final day in Chico started off with another fantastic breakfast recommendation. Cafe Coda is a great little artsy, music-themed joint. Amy had the Red House and I had the Applewood Sausage Hash. The hash was tasty, but a little heavy on the potatoes, could have used more sausage which was very tasty. The Red House was phenomenal. We also split an apple oatmeal pancake, uhh...yeah...that was good!

After brekkie we stopped at Barnes & Noble and then zipped over to NorCal Stength & Conditioning. We helped Robb, Nicki, Natalie and some other gym regulars haul flooring back over to the old gym. A bit of a SNAFU is delaying the opening of the new facility, so time to put the old place back together.

While we were in the new place we couldn't help but to jump on the new pull-up bars and play around for a while. They are just so damn sexy they scream to be utilzed. Don't take my word for it, check them out for yourself:


They had these beauties crafted by some guys who usually make custom choppers, brilliant. After the work was done there was a little time left over to play. Robb cooked up a spicy little WOD for Amy and I to make sure our send off was a good one: 10 minutes AMRAP - 4 plyo push-ups, 6 broadjumps, 10 wall ball sit-ups. I finished 12 2/3 rounds and Amy hit 9. That was a really tough 10 minutes. Afterward we had just enough time to catch our breath, snap a quick photo, thank Robb and Nicki profusely for all their hospitality and for sharing their knowledge, and then zip back to the hotel to pack-up the car and head off to wine country. It was a couple of great days in Chico. Wish we had more time to stick around, but we saw just enough to leave us hungry for more.

Next stop on the Hollingsworth Traveling Road Show - the Flamingo Resort & Spa in Santa Rosa. This is a funny little place, straight out of the 60's complete with spinning, neon flamingo sign. The rooms are nice and updated, but it's the exterior that could use a bit of renovating, but I guess that what give this place its "charm".

By the time we hit Santa Rosa we were starving. We had just enough time to get into our room, hit the shower, we were still stinky from our 10 minutes of pain, and then head over to Johnny Garlic's for dinner. This place is co-owned by the Food Network's Guy Fieri. Honestly, when we first got there I was a bit disappointed. It has a very corporate, chain restaurant feel. The staff wasn't very impressive, but the food was quite good. Amy had the Mojito Chicken, which was very moist, and I had the Hunter's Creation special which was BBQ'd Boar Chops, mmm-mmmm. After dinner it was back to the hotel so we could rest up for a long day of wine tasting and exploring. This trip has been chock-full of excitement and it doesn't appear to be slowing down at all. Good thing we are getting home on a Friday and will have a couple of days to recover from our vacation.

NorCal CF/Winery Tour Day #2

Day 2 of our trip started off with a great breakfast recommendation by Robb and Nicki over at NorCal CrossFit. Sin of Cortez is a great little place, with "Breakfast, Lunch, Caffeine" as their tag line. Sounds good to me. The owner is a CrossFitter and trains with Robb and Nicki. Unfortunately we didn't get to meet her, but we certainly did enjoy the grub at Sin of Cortez.

Our next stop was Bidwell Park, one of the largest municipal parks in the country. We hardly even scratched the surface on exploring this massive park. We checked out the swimming area, which is a very unique freshwater swimming pool. Then we walked over to see the children's play area which had some of the most unique play structures we have seen. This is a very well designed park. If we had more time to spend here in Chico we would definitely be exploring a lot more of Bidwell Park.

We hit a quick zone lunch of deli turkey, string cheese, blueberries, frozen baby carrots (damn hotel fridge) and macadamia nuts and then even snuck in a quick little power nap. The nap was key as it helped recharge our batteries so we could give a good effort at the NorCal CrossFit 5:15 class. Robb and Nicki dropped the hammer on us with a nice little 21-15-9 single-arm dumbbell thruster and snatch WOD with 200m sprints thrown in between sets. That'll get your blood pumping. Once we recovered enough to formulate cohesive thoughts we sat around and chatted with some of the gym regulars. Great group of people, too bad we didn't hook up with them later in the evening for the Dark Knight.

After the workout, Amy and I cleaned up and met Robb and Nick at Cocodine a local Thai restaurant. Amy and I have been searching high and low all over San Diego county to find good Thai food. Ever since we left Guam we have really struggled to find Thai food that we liked. Never would have guessed that some of the best Thai we have had in California would be in Chico. Dinner was great, but really the best part was gleaning as much info as we could from Robb and Nicki. They were both very accommodating and answered all of our questions openly and earnestly. I know we kept them up way past their bedtime, sorry about that. We learned tons, had good laughs and really enjoyed the food. It is not hard to see why they are enjoying such great success. Simply put, they are class acts.

So far this trip is everything I envisioned when I was planning it. Hope the tide continues to roll in our favor. Next stop: wine country!

NorCal CF/Winery Tour Day #1

We departed Oceanside yesterday morning just before 6am. Was hoping to get on the road between 0500-0530, but par for the course we were running a bit behind. Didn't help that we didn't get to bed until after 11pm on Wednesday night, again, par for the course. Thursday was mostly uneventful, 11 hours on the road including breaks and lunch. Got into Chico right around 5pm.

After we got settled into our hotel we went over to NorCal CrossFit to say hello to Robb Wolf and his crew. That's the whole reason we came to Chico. We got a tour of the new facility that they are moving into. It's an amazing space and their custom pull-up bars are spectacular. Will definitely get a picture of those posted. We were too pooped from the drive for a workout, so we headed over to the Sierra Nevada Brewery for dinner. Didn't exactly stay in the Zone, but did pretty well considering. We both left huge piles of garlic mashed potatoes on our plates, but their fresh baked bread is worth the small cheat.

Itinerary for the rest of the trip:
2 days here in Chico
2 days in the Sonoma Valley for winery tours
1 day in San Francisco (San Francisco CrossFit and then Lalanne Fitness)
3 days in Solvang for more wine and a spa day

Should be a great trip. Hoping to learn a lot, get some good workouts in and enjoy some fine California wine.

More to follow.

Testimonial Time

I was digging around and found a picture of me with my shirt off from almost exactly one year ago. The difference between now and then is pretty startling, especially when you consider that by most people's standards I was in pretty good shape then. Anyhoo, here's the photo from then and the story that follows...




This photo was taken in Hong Kong during a liberty call while depoloyed on the USS JOHN C STENNIS (CVN 74). At the time I weighed approximately 155 lbs. I was running about 45 miles per week, doing pull-ups, push-ups and sit-ups about 3-4 times per week, going to the gym to lift weights 1-2 times per week, going to the EOD workouts (1 hour of misery doing push-ups, 8-count bodybuilders, squats, sit-ups, flutterkicks...) and hitting spin classes 1-2 times per week. My diet wasn't anything special. I tried to watch what I ate, but the cookies got me and occasionally the ice cream. I didn't limit carbs, mostly just trying to avoid bad tasting food, which was difficult at times. Compared to most on the ship my diet was stellar, but compared to how I eat now my diet was crap.

So, now fast forward to July 2008. I started doing CrossFit in December on my own and officially at Oceanside CrossFit (OCF) in January. I have been pretty rabid about getting to the gym 4-5 times per week. For the first 4-5 months of the year I was also marathon training running about 30 miles per week and occasionally hitting the bike and swimming. I ran the Huntington Beach Marathon in February and Boston Marathon in April. Now I'm following the CrossFit Endurance (CFE) program and going to OCF. I hit the CFE workouts 4-6 times per week, although the last week wasn't a good one for the endurance training. I also started following the Zone diet about 10 weeks ago.

After a few months of CrossFitting I was noticing an improvement in my physique, but it was after just a few weeks of being on the Zone that I really saw dramatic improvement. Wish I would have taken pictures throughout the process. That damn hindsight, gets you every time.

Okay, without further ado...this photo was taken on Saturday 19 July 2008.



Now that I have shown off it's time to discuss my continuing battle with keeping the diet in check. Mostly during the week it's pretty easy, work, eat, workout, play with my daughter. It's the weekends that are tough. We usually have a cheat night per week, but occasionally that turns into a cheat couple of nights. This weekend was kinda rough. Neither of us felt like cooking on Friday night so we tried a mexican restaurant that came highly recommended, Marieta's in Oceanside. Not a great location but the food was really good. I had the fajitas (chicken, beef & shrimp) and Amy had enchiladas suiza (green chicken enchiladas) very good. I would have been okay, but I crumbled with the chips and salsa, I absolutely killed each basket they brought out. I was a hurting unit when we got home, ugh! Saturday wasn't much better, started out okay. I made fajita omelettes with my leftovers for breakfast. For lunch we had Subway while we were helping the OCF guys move to their new location (more on that in another post). Then for dinner it really fell apart. We had a post-gym moving party and I again went nuts with chips and guacamole. Argh! I'm so Stupid, stupid, stupid!! Sunday was better, aside from the 2 small pieces of Little Caesars Pizza Pizza for lunch while helping out at the gym. Dinner was actually really good, grilled curry pork tenderloin, grilled zucchini, roasted cauliflower and carrots and salad. Getting back on track today, but then leave for vacation on Thursday. It's a CrossFit/Winery vacation, so should be an interesting juxtaposition. Will try to be good during the CrossFit days, but we're going to enjoy wine country.

am weight 151.4

Breakfast ( 4 blocks)
1 cup Lowfat Cottage Cheese
1 cup Strawberries
Handful of macadamia nuts
1 slice Milton's Whole Grain Plus Toast
1 tbsp peanut butter
1 tsp blackberry jam

2 1/2 cups coffee throughout the morning

Morning Snack
1/2 c lowfat plain yogurt
1/2 c mandarin oranges
handful of mixed nuts
1/3 of Peanut Butter Clif Builder Bar

Lunch ( 4 blocks)
4 oz grilled meat leftovers (pork and flank steak)
approx 1 1/2 blocks of veggie leftovers (cauliflower, zucchini, carrots)
1/2 c raw green beans
1 orange
couple handfuls of mixed nuts (peanuts, almonds, pecans)

early afternon snack
2/3 peanut butter Clif Builder Bar

A little later in the afternoon snack
Mozzarella string cheese

Just before going to the gym snack
2 pretzel rods
Trader Joe's Blue Cheese Roasted Pecan spread (Mommy, that's good fat)

OCF workout - Power Cleans 154# (just not that good at the oly lifts yet)

Dinner (4 blocks)
1 1/2 block salad - green leaf lettuce, red cabbage, celery, tomatoes, 1/2 avocado
5 1/2 oz salmon
2 tbsp Bragg Vinaigrette
3/4 small apple
1 Stone IPA

So Proud of my Baby Mama

Just had to dedicate this post to bragging about my lovely wife, Amy. She has been busting her hump for the last 7 1/2 months and it is definitely starting to show. Amy started CrossFit at the beginning of December '07. She has been absolutely dedicated, hitting the gym 4-5 times per week. She often puts off or shows up late to Book club and her Cooking Club groups because she doesn't want to miss a workout. This is quite a step, considering even in her most committed triathlon/marathon training days it was no big deal to blow off an important swim/bike/run for (insert any lame excuse here).

Since starting CF she is down 10 pounds total, 7 since entering the Zone about 2 1/2 months ago. Her strength, power, stamina, endurance and all the other 10 aspects of fitness are continuing to improve. She's now up to 7 straight dead-hang pull-ups, 17 kipping pull-ups and continues to set PRs on the benchmark workouts at prescribed weights. On Wednesday she shocked even herself when she posted the 2nd fastest female Helen time of the day, 11:27. Hot damn! That's smokin', wish I could have been there to witness the performance.

Amy, I'm very proud of you. I always knew you were tough as nails. That's why I love and respect you so much.

Look Before You Leap

Well, I started off with a bang and then fell off the last several days. Suffice it to say, I did pretty well with my nutrition, although there was that single scoop of Mocha Almond ice cream after sushi dinner on Saturday. On the exercise front, last Saturday was a killer day. Went hard with the Oceanside CrossFit crew, that workout was killer. My triceps and shoulders were smoked. Then about 2 1/2 hours later I did my CrossFit Endurance workout - 3 x 5K HARD on the bike. I was pretty much spent after that. Good thing Sunday was a rest day for me. Then on Monday and Tuesday of this week I proceeded to get my ass handed to me at the Russian Kettlebell Challenge Certification Course, which leads me to the title of this post. (learn more about Kettlebell training by clicking here)

Let me just say this, I had no business being at that certification. My experience with Kettlebells amounts to doing some Kettebell Swings (American Style), some KB Sumo Deadlift High-Pulls and some single KB front squats. Trust me when I say that this is nowhere near enough experience to try to engage in the RKC certification course. So, why was I there? I heard through the grapevine that Pavel and his RKC crew was coming to Camp Pendleton to give a certification course to the MCCS crew. I had attended another course via the MCCS crew and was able to pull a string and was allowed to attend this course as well, for free, key part of the story.

I got the course requirement info, read it briefly, saw something about a Kettlebell Snatch test, didn't quite understand the requirements and frankly didn't do much to try to get more information. My thinking was this, I have met some of these MCCS people. There are some pretty good athletes there, but several of them, frankly aren't in that great of shape. If they can hang for this course, certainly I could. Well, we all found on on day one that this course is no f'ing joke. When they say Kettlebell Snatch Test they mean TEST. My requirement was to perform 48 consecutive Kettlebell Snatches, single-arm mind you, without putting the kettlebell down and only switching arms one time. Up until this point I had never performed a kettlebell snatch before in my life. I eaked out 20 with my right arm, then my arm gave out and I thought I caught it at the end just as it was grazing the grass, but they said I put it down and that my attempt was terminated. I knew this was not a debatable point, so I left it alone and walked away disappointed.

The rest of the day continued down a slippery slope of diappointment, aggravation, hunger, dehydration and just general hate and discontent. Oh, I forgot to mention blisters and destroyed forearms. The instructors were pissed because nobody was prepared for the course, we were pissed because we didn't realize that this was what we had gotten ourselves into. We were also pissed because the course ran from 8am until 6:30pm and the longest breaks we got were 10 minutes and they were few and far in between. We were outside the entire time, it was hot and we were working our asses off. When I finally went home on Monday I was hungry, thirsty, sweaty, stinky, sore and most notably pissed off. I strongly considered not going back on Tuesday, but I knew that despite my frustrations, I actually did learn a fair amount through the day. So, I decided to make Tuesday a good day.

Tuesday was much better. All the expectations were now out in the open. It was clear that the overwhelming majority of us would not receive our RKC certs and I think most of us were okay with that. Now, it was just about learning as much as we could about RKC training. Tuesday was still a long, hot and sweaty day. My hands were completely thrashed from Monday's work. I tried to tape them, but to no avail. I suffered through as much as I possibly could and was genuinely disappointed when my hands and poor tape job failed me and I was not able to complete some of the workouts.

Despite the frustrations of the two days, I can honestly say that I learned a lot and have already applied what I have learned in my PT clinic and in my own personal workout. I am thankful to Pavel and his RKC crew for putting on this course, free of charge, and for putting up with our utter lack of preparation and understanding of the demands and requirements of the course. I also learned a very valuable lesson when it comes to attending fitness courses...thoroughly read the pre-course requirements and if you don't understand what is required of you, ASK QUESTIONS!



am weight - 149.6

Breakfast (4 blocks)
1 cup lowfat cottage cheese
1 small banana
1 block canteloupe
48 almonds
1 slice Milton's Whole Grain Plus toast w/ light Raw honey smear

Snack (2 blocks)
2 oz roasted chicken
1 apple
handful of nuts (pecans, macadamia nuts, almonds)

Skipped CFE swim due to fatigue from RKC course

Lunch (4 blocks)
4 oz Trader Joe's Panang Curry Tuna (get this, Yum, Yum!!)
1 1/2 cups cauliflower (mixed with the tuna)
1 1/2 cups chopped green leaf lettuce
1/2 c broccoli slaw
1/2 c cherry tomatoes
2 tbsp Bragg vinaigrette
1 c strawberries
1/2 c grapes

afternoon snack (2 blocks)
1 oz sharp cheddar cheese
1 oz ham deli meat (nitrate free)
1 orange
handful of mixed nuts (peanuts, pecans, almonds, macadamia nuts)

Oceanside CF workout - Helen 8:55 (RXd)

Dinner (4 blocks)
1 1/2 block salad Green leaf lettuce, basil, tomatoes, baby mozzarella with balsamic and oil vinaigrette
2 blocks of homemade macaroni & cheese (whole wheat pasta)
1 1/2 Fresh & Easy Chicken Apple Sausage

am weight - 149.6

Breakfast (4 blocks)
2/3 c Steel Cut oatmeal
1/2 c ricotta cheese
1 c blueberries
4 tsp Laura Scudder Creamy Peanut Butter
1 tbsp maple syrup (I tried it without the syrup and it wasn't that tasty. I caved and added the syrup which made it much more palatable.)

am Snack (3 blocks)
Started with 2/3 of Vanilla Almond Clif Builder Bar then 30 min later still very hungry so I ate the rest.

CFE workout - 15 min TT swim: 850 meters

Lunch (4 blocks)
2 cups shredded green leaf lettuce
1 1/2 cups cauliflower
3 oz grilled pork chop
1 oz grilled spice rubbed flank steak
Healthy dose Bragg Healthy Vinaigrette
1 orange
5 Trader Joes Whole Wheat Honey Pretzels

Afternoon Snack ( 2 blocks)
2 apricots
1 string cheese
1 hard boiled egg

Dinner (Too many carbs to count)
Spontaneous Cheat Night - went out for Thai food
Panang Beef
Eggplant & Tofu
Lots of white rice
2 1/2 finger size egg rolls
Feeling rather bloated right now! Unfortunately this dinner really wasn't worth it. Still struggling to find a Thai restaurant that meets my expectations. Oh to be back on Guam.

Muscle Mags Cause Depression

So, it turns out that if you read magazines full of buff and bodacious bods while you plod away on the elliptical/bike/recumbent/insert cardio machine of your choosing, you will likely end up in a worse mood than when you started. Guess it's the realization that your low-intensity, mundane activity will never get you the beautiful body that you see in the magazine. Click here for the full story.

Funny, they let the subjects exercise at the intensity of their choosing, but they didn't state if there was a difference in exercise intensity between the 3 groups (muscle mag, generic mag, no mag). And really, if you are able to read a magazine while you exercise, are you really accomplishing much?









Didn't weigh in this morning

Breakfast (4 blocks)
1 c lowfat plain yogurt
1/2 c chunky cinnamon apple sauce
16 raw pecan halves (chopped)
1/4 c granola
1/2 c egg substitute
1 oz cheese

Snack (2 blocks)
1 c lowfat cottage cheese
1/2 c strawberries
1/2 c blueberries
24 almonds

CFE workout: 2.28 miles

Lunch (4 blocks)
1 1/2 oz grilled spice rubbed flank
2 1/2 oz grilled pork chop
3 block salad (broccoli slaw, tomatoes, sugar snap peas)
2 tbsp Bragg Healthy Vinaigrette
1 mango nectarine (time to buy more!)

afternoon snack (2 blocks)
1+oz beef jerky
1 apple

Oceanside CrossFit WOD: 15:09

Dinner (4 blocks)
2 corn tortillas
3 oz grilled pork chop thinly sliced
1 oz mix of oaxaca and cotija cheese
shredded lettuce
Tomatillo Salsa
Approx 1 block of grilled zucchini
1/4 c black beans

Evening Snack (2 blocks)
1 slice Milton's Multi Grain Plus bread
1 tbsp peanut butter
1/2 tsp raw honey
1 oz deli ham (nitrate free)
1 oz cheddar cheese

Worst Restaurant in the World

Have you seen the new Carl's Jr burger? The Prime Rib $6 Burger. Black Angus patty with slices of prime rib for a whopping 1060 calories (45g carbs, 54g protein, 70g fat). I'm convinced that the execs at Carl's Jr are hell-bent on killing as many people as they possibly can. For a while fast food restaurants tried to jump on the "we can be healthy" bandwagon. After a year of that a few chains, Carl's Jr and Burger King to name a couple said "to hell with that. We're going to just keep making them bigger, greasier and messier until people start having coronaries before they pull out of the drive-thru." Ugh, wonder why we just keep getting fatter and fatter?


a.m. weight - 149.4

Breakfast (4 blocks)
1 cup plain yogurt
1 cup canteloupe
a whole heap of roasted peanuts (crisp not soggy!)
1 hard boiled egg
1 slice Milton Multi Grain+ bread
1 1/2 oz of sliced Ham
Coffee (the usual 2 1/2 cups)

Morning Snack (2 blocks)
1/3 Chocolate Mint Clif Builder Bar (yesterday's leftover)
1/3 Peanut Butter Clif Builder Bar (can you guess what tomorrow's snack will be?)

CFE workout - none it's a rest day

Lunch (4 blocks)
4 oz grilled pork chop
200g of grilled zucchini and green pepper
1 cup of radishes, raw (those suckers were spicy!)
1 mango nectarine (seriously, if you can find them, BUY them. they are damn tasty)
1 orange

It's been a fruit heavy day. Will probably back off the fruit the rest of the day. That's what I get for not preparing my food last night. Ran out of time this morning to cut up cauliflower or make a salad.

Afternoon Snack (2 blocks)
2/3 Peanut Butter Clif Builder Bar (couldn't wait until tomorrow. Actually, I ate my snack late and I didn't want cottage cheese just before my afternoon workout.)

Oceanside CrossFit WOD: 6:00 (quads are killing from those hang power cleans)

Dinner (4 blocks)
2 oz left over spice rubbed flank
2 0z left over grilled pork chops
3 block salad (green leaf lettuce, broccoli slaw, cucumbers, tomatoes, dried cherries)
2 tbsp Fresh & Easy 3 Cheese Italian Dressing
1/2 ear grilled corn on the cob
a few sips Stella Artois

Late night snack
1/2 apple
1 string cheese stick

Soggy nuts

I learned a good lesson today. While peanuts make a tasty fat to add to your afternoon snack, it's best to add them to your snack just before enjoying them. My afternoon snack was yogurt, grapes and some very soggy roasted peanuts. I know that peanuts aren't the best nut choice, but these new Planters Ketle Roasted peanuts that my wife bought are really tasty. I prepared all my food needs for the day this morning before heading off to work. At about 3pm I was really looking forward to my afternoon snack, only to find that the nuts no longer had the snappy crispness that I love so much. Soggy nuts...not that appetizing.

a.m. weight - 150.6

Breakfast (4 blocks)
3/4 c Kashi Go Lean cereal
1/2 c 1% milk
1/4 c fresh blueberries
3/4 c lowfat cottage cheese
1/4 c strawberries
48 almonds
2 1/2 c coffee (black)

Morning Snack (2 blocks)
2/3 Chocolate Mint Clif Builder Bar (Yum!)

CFE workout - 5 mile bike TT 12:41

Lunch (4 blocks)
4 oz sauteed chicken breast
3 cups of sauteed swiss chard with some onions and ham mixed in (very tasty, good job Amy)
1/3 of a small, hard, disappointing avocado
1 Naval Orange

Afternoon Snack (2 blocks)
1/2 cup plain yogurt
1/2 cup red grapes
handful of soggy peanuts

CrossFit Oceanside WOD Time - 21:05

Dinner (4 blocks)
4 oz Spice rubbed flank steak
200g grilled zucchini and green peppers
1/2 grilled carrot
1 Sierra Nevada Pale Ale
1 Mango Nectarine (first experience with this fruit and it was a GOOD experience. Great find at the commissary.)




Hanging out at Oceanside CrossFit

07 July 08

Today it's about getting back in the Zone after a rough 4th of July weekend, nutritionally speaking. Cheeseburger, macaroni salad and Baskin Robbins (1 scoop Chocolate Peanut Butter) on the 4th, Pasta dinner with 1/2 of an order of dark chocolate gelato at Cappozoli's Pizzeria (that's a good cheat) on Saturday, and finally topped it off with another cheeseburger and french fries at Legoland on Sunday the 6th. Ugh, back on the wagon I go...

a.m weight: 151.6

Breakfast (4 blocks)
Coffee black 2 1/2 cups over course of 3-4 hours
1 turkey sausage link
2 eggs over easy
1 oz of havarti and gouda slices
1 wasa crisp bread w/ blue cheese spread (fat blocks, yum!)
1/3 cup steel cut oatmeal w/ 1 tsp peanut butter and 1 tsp maple syrup

CFE swim: approx distance 510 meters

Lunch (4 blocks)
3 oz pork carnitas
Salmon & Cauliflower salad (1 1/2 oz canned salmon, 1cup cauliflower, 1/4 cup tomatoes, 2 tbsp Bragg Healthy Vinaigrette) If you have never had this dressing you are seriously missing out. We buy 2-3 bottles at a time and still have to stock up on a regular basis.
1 1/3 cup watermelon
7 macadamia nuts

Got hungry at 1:45
1/4 cup low fat cottage cheese
1/2 cup canteloupe
small handful of peanuts

Afternoon snack (2blocks)
1 piece of Milton's Whole wheat bread
1 tsp Raw Honey
1 tbsp Almond butter
2 slices turkey deli meat

Evening Oceanside CrossFit workout: Back Squat 1 rep max - 220 lbs.

Dinner (4 blocks)
4 oz Chicken Breast sauteed in olive oil
3 Carb block salad composed of 2 cups green leaf lettuce, 1/4 cup fresh corn, 1/2 cup tomatoes, 1/2 red bell pepper, 1 small cucumber, 1 small avocado, 3 tbsp Bragg Healthy Vinaigrette)
1/2 cup red grapes
1/2 cup strawberries