Calling me out

Final preparations for the start of the PCT 50


















Okay, I have been officially called out. No activity on my blog in nearly 2 months and then 2 anonymous commentors ask me about my recent 50 mile trail race on the same day. Hmmm...seems kinda fishy, but I am way overdue for posting this race report, so thanks for taking me to task.

How did it go? Great question. I guess I have viewed this from several different perspectives and come to different conclusions. On the surface, if you just look at my results, I guess it went pretty well. I finished the race in a time of 10:08, which put me in 21st place out of 89 total finishers (111 started the race). When you consider that the total amount of time I spent training was significantly less than most others who toed the line with me that day, I'd say that's a pretty darn good result. My longest training run was a 12.5 mile time trial that included a 2 1/4 mile climp up San Onofre Peak on Camp Pendleton. My peak training week was no greater than 20 miles. I ran 2-3 times per week and did CrossFit at Oceanside Crossfit 4-5 times per week, so total training time for the week probably averaged 7 hours or so.


Mile 19, before the wheels fell off

















While I do consider this a successful result for my first ever ultramarathon, I would be less than honest if I said that I was satisfied with this result. To be quite honest, I was a bit disappointed with how the day went. The first 19 miles were rock solid, maybe too good even. I came into the 19 mile aid station feeling great and on pace for an 8 hour day. I was running with two very season ultramarathoners and felt really good about where I was. Almost immediately after leaving that aid station the wheels started to come off of the wagon. I started developing cramps in my left quad and left calf. These cramps would then hop around from quads, to calves, to hamstrings. I did an incredible amount of walking in the last 30 miles. Anything that remotely resembled an incline, I was forced to walk. Toward the end I wasn't even able to run down the declines. Everything hurt! There were several times that I just wanted to quit. Had Amy ever even hinted that she didn't want me to go on, I would have easily removed my race number and hobbled to the car. She didn't, and I pressed on. I managed to shuffle across the finish line and even managed to squeak out a Burpee at the finish line as a tip of the hat to my CrossFit training.

In the days following the event some good things happened and some bad things happened. I of course was pretty much wrecked the rest of that day, and Sunday wasn't a great day either. Tuesday, however, was pretty good. Just 3 days after running my first 50 miler, I was walking down the stairs normally and I went to OCF and hit a WOD that included full cleans, push jerks and front squats, and posted a respectable score. The down side came on Wednesday when the pain in the front of my ankle since the race turned into a gnarly case of anterior tibialis tenosynovitis. So, I ended up in a cam walker, for the next several days. That didn't stop me from hitting the WODs at OCF though...check it out
So, while I am happy to have finished with a respectable time, I'm not happy that at times I felt completely demoralized. I was not happy that at the end of the race the thought of running another one of these things made me nauseous, nevermind the thought of doing a 100 miler. I was not happy that, in my mind, I did not run a race that would allow me to write a glowing review of the CrossFit Endurance program. Having said that, I still can't imagine training any other way. Even though this didn't go exactly as planned, I can't imagine ever going back to the old way of training. The thought of spending 12-15 hours per week slogging away just does not appeal to me at all. If that means that I will never be able to be competitive at ultra events, so be it. I got my damn priorities straight now. I'd rather go fast and go hard and spend the rest of the day recovering with my family.

It's been a few weeks now and I have since recovered from my injuries and I'm feeling better about how the day went. I have regained my interest in tackling another one of these beasts. Just this morning we went back to the scene of the crime to see the finish of the San Diego 100 (sorry we missed you at the finish Steve, but way to go on your debut 100 in a time of 22:54!)and now my goal of running a 100 miler has been renewed. How quickly we forget.

Big shout out to my race crew! Amy, you were awesome, thank you for keeping me going and for being such a great sport. Love you! Gonzo, was great to see you out there and the video is awesome!



The aftermath

Measure of Success

How do you measure the success of a training program? That question was hotly debated on the Slowtwitch triathlon forum last week as well as on the CrossFit Endurance blog. The thread was a response to the interview of Brian McKenzie, developer of CrossFit Endurance, on the TriMax Fitness blog.

In that debate, many of the Slowtwitchers disregarded CrossFit Endurance as an efficacious training method because it has yet to produce a World Champion, or even solid age group champions for that matter, despite the fact that the program has only been available to the public for about a year and has been under development by Brian McKenzie for only about 4-5 years.

If the measure of a program's success is that it must produce champions, well then, really only a handful of programs throughout the world can be considered successful. To me that seems like a ludicrous yard stick. There are tons and tons of great coaches out there who have done great things for their athletes but have yet to produce an overall local race champion, let alone a world championship. That doesn't mean that their programming sucks, they can only take their athletes to the limits of each athlete's potential. Beyond that, no program in the world is going to squeeze out any better results.

There are countless people who are following the CrossFit Endurance method and significantly improving their performance, all the while reducing their overall training volume. To me that's success. I don't care if an athlete finishes DFL (Dead F*cking Last) in every race he/she does. If he/she is now finishing those races faster than before, but is still DFL, well, in my book that's a success. How about this...what if your time doesn't improve, but the required training hours to stay at the same level are cut by 40%? I think you can call that success. If I can run the same distance in the same amount of time but now I do it on 6 hours of training per week versus 10, that's great. That's 4 more hours I can spend with my family or getting things done around the house or hell maybe even I could sleep in on a Sunday.

Suggesting that a program is worthless because no current world champions follow the method is ignorant. I'm not necessarily saying that CrossFit Endurance IS the future of endurance training, but it seems to be working for a lot of people. I'm currently putting it to my own personal test and am eagerly awaiting my first go at running 50 miles on May 9th. If I don't win the race does that mean that CrossFit Endurance is a failure? Come on, use your head.

Devil Dog Duathlon

Today my wife, Amy, and I competed in the Devil Dog Duathlon at Camp Pendleton, CA. Let me just say, I love this race! This is the 3rd time I have competed in it, last time was in 2005. It's very well run, the transition area is huge (no fighting for space), the course is decent, and the price can't be beat (especially for me, since I am Active Duty stationed at Camp P, it was free for me). The race is a 5K run, 30K bike and 5K run. The run has a slight 1/2 mi uphill grade to the turnaround. The bike course is mostly flat with a couple of short rollers.

The weather was perfect today. It was a bit cool when we rolled out of the house at 7am, pays to live close to the venue. By the time we got to the race, got our registration packets and set-up our transition areas, it had warmed up nicely. Also helped that the mild Santa Ana winds we had been experiencing had died down. I was a bit disappointed that we ran out of time to get a good warm-up in. By the time we set up transition and made one last pre-race potty visit it was already 8am and the race started at 8:30. Just enough time to roll out on the bike to make sure my gears were set and then get in a quick 1/2 mi jog in with about 3-4 strides thrown in.

First 5K was solid. I stayed toward the front of the pack, about 10-12 deep from the leaders. I forgot my Garmin, so I was running bare-wristed, which was a bit unsettling. When we hit the turnaround I asked the young kid running next to me the time. He never gave me a split, but said that we were currently running a 5:31 pace, we were going slightly downhill. I rolled into transition at about 18 minutes on the nuts.

Quick transition and then off onto the bike. This was my first time on the bike since November or December of last year. I had been riding 1-2 times per week, following the CrossFit Endurance WODs. Now that I had shifted focus to the 50-miler in May, I dropped the bike. I had been meaning to get back on it, just never got around to it. Anyway, I took off really well and felt great for the first half. I only got passed by one guy and he was part of a relay, but he was flying. I could hear his disc wheel coming up on my 6, I love that sound, gotta get me one of those some day. After the turn around, I could feel my legs starting to load up. I hit an Accel Gel (yummy!) and dug in. On the return trip, I wasn't able to continue to fend people off. About 5 1/2 miles from the bike finish I was passed by Julie Ertel, 2008 US Olympic Trials Champion. I kept her in my sights for the rest of the ride, but was also passed by a few other men and finally another female with about 1/4 mile to go. I don't know my exact bike split, but it was close to 46:00.

I zipped into transition and got out onto the final 5K run as fast as I could. My legs were a bit heavy, but considering I haven't done a brick workout since April of last year, I was pleasantly surprised at how fast I came out of transition. I picked off 3 or 4 of the faster cyclists within the first 1/2 mile and then set my sights on Ms. Ertel. At the turnaround she was about 25m ahead of me. She gave an encouraging "Lookin' strong" (or something like that) as we went by each other. I passed two other guys with 1/2 mi to go and was closing in on the Olympian. I had planned to catch up to her and say "Let me see your kick." but apparently she had already decided she was going to show it to me. She picked up the pace and I did all I could to hang on and not get totally dropped. I think she ended up besting me by about 4 seconds. Final 5K time was right aroud 18:30.

These results aren't official, as I said, I forgot my watch. My finish time was 1:25:40 and I placed 2nd overall for military competitors, 2nd overall in the military 35-39 age group (the guy that beat me is also from my Battalion. Way to go 1st MSOB, represent!) and for the Overall I think I came in around 12th or so. I'll have to wait for the Official results to be posted.

Amy had a great morning also. Bear in mind, her training plan has been exclusively CrossFit 4-5 times per week. She does no additional running. She has not been on her triathlon bike in nearly 4 1/2 years! She went into this race with no serious goals, just put up a good showing, and that she did. Her first 5K was 27:00, she hit the bike in about 1:03 and finished off the 2nd 5K in 30:00 for a finish time of 2:04. This is probably right around the same finish time she would have had 5 years ago while following a traditional endurance/multisport training program. I am very proud of her. She continually proves that hard work in the CF gym will pay dividends in all facets of life. Hmmm...if I could get her to add in a little CrossFit Endurance...look out!

It was a great morning. Legs feel a little tight, but neither of us were shattered after the race. Actually we both commented that we felt great. Hopefully I will still have some pop in my legs for tomorrow night's flag football double header.

Underrecovered = Overtrained

Overtraining is defined as a physical, emotional and/or physical state that results from exercising at a volume or intensity that exceeds the body's ability to recover. The early symptoms include, but are not limited to, persistent fatigue, irritability, injury susceptibility, persistent muscle soreness, impaired performance and lack of motivation.

Typically the state of overtraining is related to significantly increasing your training volume, while not allowing your body enough time to recover. In endurance athletes, you will see then when they go from 5 or 6 training sessions per week, to all of a sudden hitting 2-a-days, or maybe they will go 3 or 4 straight weeks of training 7 days per week.

I would argue that one could also experience these same symptoms of overtraining without making any change to their training volume or intensity at all. How would you do that? Don't allow your body adequate recovery from your currently established routine. I know this is true, because I am experiencing it right now.

While it is true that I am currently training for a 50-mile ultramarathon, in all actuality, I haven't changed my training routine all that much. Now that I am following the CrossFit Endurance program, volume is not a real issue anymore. My current program has me doing CrossFit 4-5 times per week and CrossFit Endurance running 2-3 times per week. My total weekly running mileage does not exceed 15-17 miles.

I think the seeds of my underrecovery/overtrained condition were really sown last weekend. The week prior was a solid week at Oceanside CrossFit. We all hit it pretty hard and it culminated in doing Fight Gone Bad, which was the subject of my last post. I PR'd by 35 points, and I was quite happy with that. On Sunday I hit a hard CrossFit Endurance run of 3 x 5K trying to hold within 2 minutes of my 5K race pace, with 5 minutes of recovery between reps. I was able to run 19:37, 19:31, 19:47 respectively. Then Sunday night I played in a flag football double header. I actually performed pretty well considering I had just finished that run a couple hours before my first game. Monday I made a rest day to recover from all of the weekend's activities.

On Tuesday I was back in the gym and I did the WOD named "Nancy". This WOD consists of 5 rounds for time of 95# overhead squats and a 400m Run. I finished the workout in 12:08, which was a 44 second PR. Happy with the time, but I know that I could have gone under 12:00. During the OHS I just didn't feel that snap that I normally do. I could tell that I wasn't recovered from the weekend.

Wednesday I wasn't able to go to the gym because of a work conflict, but I did hit a good CrossFit Endurance run over lunch. I did a 1 minute ladder out on the trails behind my clinic. The ladder works this way: run hard x 1 min, rest 1 min, run hard x 1 min, rest 50 sec...and so on all the way down to 10 seconds rest and then right back up the ladder finishing with 50 seconds rest and run hard 1 min. I held pretty consistent distances of .15-.18 miles each rep.

Thursday at OCF was heavy deadlift and Jerk. This was where I could tell that the wheels were really starting to come off. I was only able to successfully deadlift 309# and my PR is 323#. I attempted 331# twice, but I just couldn't move that damn bar. For the jerk, I didn't even attempt to go heavy. I have been having a slight left shoulder issue for a couple of weeks and I didn't feel like pushing it, considering how I was already feeling. So I did a few reps at 135# and then one at 155# and called it a night.

Now on to Friday. At lunch I did a Tabata run on my Alter-G treadmill at work. That thing is just damn sweet. I put it down to 90% bodyweight and cranked out the Tabata at 11.6mph. It was challenging, but I know that's not the upper limit of my Tabata on that treadmill. Friday afternoon I got over to the gym and did the WOD of 800m run,10,9,8,7,6,5,4,3,2,1 of 95# power cleans and Broad Jump Push-ups then another 800m run. This was the final straw for me. Typically this is my kind of workout. I can usually really push the pace on the run, go hard on the cleans and then really crank out the BJPU's. Not on Friday, right from the first set of 10 BJPU's I knew this wasn't going to be a stellar performance. I just had no pop in my legs and my lungs did not want to play. I pushed through and finished in just over 16 1/2 minutes.

Now, this condition is also compounded by the fact that I have not been getting enough sleep. Typically I go to bed around 10pm and during the week I get up at 5:30, so to start off that's only 7 1/2 hours of sleep, if I were to sleep that entire time. Factor in staying up too late to watch American Idol on Tuesday and Wednesday and goofing around on the computer Thursday night. Also consider that I'm a tosser and turner and I get up a couple times per night to go to the bathroom and we're looking at something closer to 6 1/2 - 6 hours per night. On top of all that training, I can definitely tell that I am suffering because of it.

So for the weekend, I am laying low, sort of. I am helping out as an assistant trainer at the CrossFit Level 1 certification down at CrossFit San Diego. It has been fun. I was worried that my underrecovered condition would affect my "performance" as a trainer, but I think I was able to step it up when I needed to. I also skipped the trainer WOD during lunch and just sat back and enjoyed my Mmmm...Good Meal. I think I will skip the WOD again today and look forward to trying to hit a good run at lunch tomorrow. Also, I'm going to bed early tonight!

Fight Gone Bad Gone Good

Wow, so much for keeping up with my blog during the Zone/Paleo challenge. Guess maybe my next challenge should be a 60-Day, blog everyday challenge. Ahhh...why set myself up for failure.

At any rate, the 60-Day Zone/Paleo challenge for Oceanside CrossFit has come and gone. There were some phenomenal results that came out of the challenge. Many members lost weight, dropped pants sizes and improved performance. I think the best thing to come out of it was hearing everyone say that they were satisfied and planned to stick with the Zone as a lifestyle. Several of these people went into this rather begrudgingly and to see them come out of it on the other side with a much more positive attitude is a great thing.

The Challenge wrapped up in true CrossFit as well as Oceanside CrossFit style. The first part of the wrap-up was the post-challenge party. That got a bit out of hand, as expected. Don't believe me, check out the pics on the Oceanside CrossFit Facebook page. On second thought, don't, there are some not so flattering pics of me in those albums. The second part of the celebration came yesterday with a rehashing of Fight Gone Bad! When we kicked off the challenge, we started by doing the CrossFit WOD known as Fight Gone Bad. The workout is 3, five minute rounds. You complete as many reps in one minute of each of the 5 following exercises: Wall Balls, Sumo Deadlift High Pull, Box Jumps, Push Press and Rowing for calories. The clock runs continuously and you get 1 minute rest between rounds. The total of all your reps and calories is your total score.

Everybody hit the WOD with extreme intensity yesterday. Personal Records were falling left and right. It was awesome to see everyone giving it all and to see how proud they were with their results. I was pretty fired up to hit a 35 point PR with a total score of 370. Amy also had a great day with a score of 278, which was 34 points better than her pre-challenge score of 244. It's still a ways off, but I look forward to the day when the first number of my score is a 4 and when Amy hits the magical 300. That day is coming!

The 700 Club

Tonight was a big night at the gym. Today's WOD was CrossFit Total. It consists of 3 lifts, the shoulder press (aka press), back squat and deadlift. You get 3 attempts to max out on each lift. Your final score is the total weight for all 3 lifts combined.

The first time I did CF Total was a few months ago and I lifted 666.5. About a month ago I tackled CF Total again, immediately after doing a Tabata Run and I hit 685. Tonight I was shooting for 700lbs.

The press wasn't fantastic. Form was poor and I was not able to maintain good stable midline position. Lucky I didn't hurt my back, but I did manage to PR with a 136# lift. It's only a 1# PR, but a PR none the less. Back squat went a little better. Last time I did CF Total I was working out by myself and really didn't want to push it on the squat. Tonight I had spotters, so I felt safe going for it. I nailed 246, which was a 10# PR. I attempted 261, but when I hit the bottom, I just sank further into the hole and could not get out of it. Finally on the deadlift I just went for it. It was not comfortable gripping the bar with a splint on my middle finger, but I just sucked it up and let her rip. I lifted 323# which is an 8#PR.

I think I'm finally starting to figure out heavy deadlifting. That weight just does not come up quickly, but as long as you hold form and continue to fight for it, the weight will come up. It's when you can no longer hold form that you have to forget about it.

I'm excited to see how far I can take this. I know that my weakness is the press. Actually all upper body heavy lifting is where I need the most work. Just got Starting Strength by Mark Rippetoe, need to give that a read and get my press up a bit.

Tabata be kidding me!

Quick post recapping tonight's WOD at Oceanside CrossFit. It was ri-donk-ulous! I would say that this was definitely the hardest Tabata workout I have ever done. Tonight's WOD consisted of:

Tabata
Push-ups
2-count Burpees
Burpees
Zero Count Burpees
GHD sit-ups
sit-ups

Because of the class size and the limited number of equipment, I started with the GHD's. That was a mistake. I was smoked when it came to the regular sit-ups after that. In retrospect, it probably didn't matter where I started, this wsa a ass-kicker regardless.

To score the Tabata, you only count the lowest number of reps achieved during your 20second intervals. For example, if on push-ups you hit 20, 17, 15, 10, 8, 8, 6, 5, your score would be 5. Then total the score for all the events.

My total score was 51 with individual scores of 11, 5, 7, 9, 9, and 10 respectively. I was dizzy after the GHD sit-ups and the zero counts. I'm sore as all get out already, can only imagine what tomorrow and Wednesday will bring.

Carnitas Salad

Wish I had taken a picture of this meal. It looks almost as good as it tastes. We had to divert a bit from our usual carnitas salad. When we looked in the veggie drawer it appears that waited a bit too long to make this salad cuz the 2 bags of shredded cabbage were not looking so good. Time to improvise.

If you haven't had carnitas before...man...you are missing out. The carnitas we used are from Del Real Foods and we get them at Costco. A quick search of their website shows that you can get their products at Von's if you don't have a Costco card. You're not going to get all those good samples at Von's though. Bit of a warning, these are fairly high fat, great if you are a 2-5x fat Zoner, not so great if you are following the blocks in a 1:1:1 ratio. This salad is so good and the carnitas are so tasty, I think it's worth the extra fat in this meal, but then again, I'm not a big fat gram counter. Anyway, here's the recipe:

Ingredients:
1 head(?) of Broccoli chopped (normally we use shredded cabbage)
2 Bell Peppers thinly sliced
3 cucumbers sliced
5 or 6 cherry tomatoes quartered
a whole mess of cilantro (you really can't overdo it with cilantro, can you?)
Avocado (if you can afford the extra fat)
3-6 oz of carnitas (3 oz = 13g fat, 10g protein)

Put a big pile of the veggies in a bowl, top with 3-6 oz of carnitas depending on how many blocks you get. I put an additional half of an avocado on mine, told you I didn't count my fat grams much. Then top with copious amounts of cilantro, really heap in on there, its damn good stuff. I also added a bit of Organicville orange cranberry viniagrette to mine.

This was clearly a super high fat meal for me, but again, I'm not that concerned. Amy doesn't get to eat quite as much fat as I do, so she skipped the avocado and she squeezed the juice of an orange on her salad and was equally as pleased with her meal.

Therapeutic Lifting

Well, I'm not doing as well keeping up with this blog during this Zone/Paleo challenge as I thought I might. Started off with a ball of fire and kind of fizzled over the last week or so. Overall, the nutrition challenge has been going well. I haven't stuck to the no-grain/no-sugar like I wanted to. I have broken down a bit and have had a piece of bread here and there and some oatmeal, also had some white rice when Amy and I went out for Middle Eastern food one night. I am still controlling portions pretty well and I'm not eating rice like I would have in the past...small victories. On the sugar front, my breakdown has come in the form of bars. Some poor planning left me with very few snack options, so I found myself resorting to the Clif Builers, Think Thins and Purefits. I'm not eating pure white table sugar, but sugar none the less. Time to refocus and get a bit more stringent on the challenge. Looking around the gym, I'm seeing some good results come out of this, people are really leaning out and performances are still moving forward.

Now, onto the title of this post. You'll recall on the 5th I posted that I had hit a PR in the CrossFit Total, but in the process I tweaked my back a bit. Wasn't mindful of my midline stabilization during my shoulder press and I felt it as soon as I leaned back a bit and pushed the weight up. Well, that's been over two weeks now and I'm still feeling it. If that isn't enough motivation to make sure you are hitting good form, then I don't know what is. Fortunately it's not a significant injury. I'm not limited in my activity at all, just notice some soreness and discomfort throughout the day.

Yesterday's WOD was max effort push jerk. I knew that I had to be very mindful of my form because my back was already sore due to poor form with an overhead lift. I did pretty well, I thought. There were a couple of reps where I could have been tighter, overall my push jerk needs more work. I did hit a new PR with 170#. Later that evening though I felt my back tighten up again. It was actually more sore than it has been over the last couple of weeks. I was a bit uncomfortable throughout the night, which is unusual for me.

My plan was to get up this morning and go hit an early WOD. I knew what the workout was before I went to bed, so that probably gave me a bit of anxiety to start with, heavy deadlift and burpees (5 rounds of 5 deadlift @ 275# and 10 burpees). When I woke up at 4:55 I, of course, didn't want to get out of bed and I used my sore back as an excuse to stay in bed. I laid there for several minutes and realized that I wasn't going to fall back to sleep, so might as well get up and hit the gym. Told myself that I would take it easy.

Once I got a good warm-up in I actually was feeling okay. I started loading up the bar to warm-up my deadlift and it was feeling not too shabby. I quit loading the bar at 241#. My back felt fine, but I didn't want to push it and 241# is a good weight for me during a met-con WOD. I hit the workout pretty hard and finished in 5:30. Immediately afterward I noticed that I was no longer noticing my back pain. Actually the rest of the day I felt great.

Over lunch I went for a run, 45 min Time Trial on the road. I covered 7.15 miles and my back was still feeling good. Then for shits and giggles I headed over to the gym to perform a lift I haven't done in a very long time...the bench press. After CrossFitting for over a year, I wanted to see what I could do with that lift. No idea what my PR is for the bench press, last time I tried to max was about 19 years ago. Suffice it to say that anytime I have performed this exercise I probably have never ventured much over 155-160# and eaked out a few reps. Today I was able to press 195# without pushing myself to failure. I don't think I was too far away from my true max, probably within 5-10 lbs, but it felt good. It actually felt pretty easy, guess that's what happens when you take the stability factor out of the picture and only have to worry about pushing the weight. Who knows when I'll ever bench press again, but I do have a hankering do to the WOD named Linda (aka "The 3 Bars of Death")

My back is actually starting to stiffen up a bit this evening. Probably too much sitting around. Tomorrow is a rest day, so I think I'll try to hit some active recovery stretching and maybe go to the sauna. Long live the rest day!

Meat is murder....

...but it's damn tasty! Not to mention good for you.



Several leading nutrition/health "authorities" and pseudo-authorities (think the Skinny Bitch gals)have led an all-out assault on the consumption of meat. Posting several arguments that are intended to tug at our heart strings or make us sick to our stomachs, they ignorantly posit that continued meat consumtion will lead to a second ice age, worldwide famine, pandemic cancer and heart disease outbreaks and possibly even armageddon. On the surface they make a convinging argument, but once you begin to examine the evidence you quickly realize that their conclusions are baseless and often times laughable.

Hey, don't take my word for it. Check out this article I found the other day. It's a bit long, but it's easy to read and well worth the effort, especially if you have any inclination toward eliminating meat from your diet. Read this while gnawing on a hunk of tasty beef jerky.

The Myths of Vegetarianism
by Stephen Byrnes, ND, RNCP

THE EVOLUTION OF A MYTH

Along with the unjustified and unscientific saturated fat and cholesterol scares of the past several decades has come the notion that vegetarianism is a healthier dietary option for people. It seems as if every health expert and government health agency is urging people to eat fewer animal products and consume more vegetables, grains, fruits and legumes. Along with these exhortations have come assertions and studies supposedly proving that vegetarianism is healthier for people and that meat consumption is associated with sickness and death. Several authorities, however, have questioned these data, but their objections have been largely ignored.

(click here to read the full article)

Today's Log:
Oceanside CrossFit WOD - Made a rare morning appearance at the gym. Hard to get warmed up, but that was a good WOD. Total time was 10:05

Breakfast
1 cup Fage 2% yogurt
1/2 c Trader Joe's Chunky Apple Sauce
handful peanuts
1/3 medium banana

Snack
1 oz deli chicken
1 cheese stick
1 banana
handful of nuts (almonds, walnuts, peanuts)

Lunch
4 oz Ground Turkey
a heap of shredded brussel sprouts
some leeks
Tomato sauce
(all that combined into a yummy baked dish...full recipe to follow)
1 1/2 c sauteed broccoli
1/2 avocado
1 apple

Snack
2 hard boiled eggs
handful of baby carrots
handful of nuts

Dinner
Approx 4 blocks of that ground turkey baked dish
1/2 avocado
A couple sips of Sudwerk Marzen Premium Lager

Snack
medium apple
peanut butter
2 oz grilled chicken

Misplaced Mojo

Seems today I hit a bit of a stumbling block. Not sure if it's from a lack of quality sleep, slightly over indulgent dinner last night, a poor breakfast this morning or what, but I was definitely not firing on all cylinders today.

Last night we went out for a Korean dinner. It was my Mom's last night in town, so we celebrated a bit. The food was fantastic and for the most part it would not have been difficult to strictly follow the guidelines of my current dietary challenge. I actually held off on rice for the first half of my meal, but eventually the spice got to me, that and my deep-seeded love for rice. I think in general I kept things within a zone-friendly ratio, but I just consumed too many blocks. I was still feeling it a bit when I woke up this morning.

The real indicator that I wasn't "feeling it" today came during my lunch time workout. Today marks the first official training day in my preparation for the Pacific Crest Trail 50 mile ultramarathon. I'm going to train for this following the principles of CrossFit Endurance. I'm a bit nervous about it, but I'm going to put all I have into and see what happens. Life is an experiment. Anyway, today's workout was just supposed to be a short 35 minute Time Trial run. From the warm-up I could tell that my legs just weren't there. I did the run on the hilly trails behind the battalion and the hills just smoked me. I had to pause momentarily a couple of times to catch my breath and let my legs recover, but I made the whole run.

After lunch I was shot. I desperately wanted a cup of coffee, but the only thing available at work was the overcooked, nasty-to-begin-with Folgers. I was desperate but not that desperate. I struggled through the afternoon and then on my way home shot through McD's for a cup 'o joe. Then it was off to the gym for an evening of heavy deadlift.

Again, just couldn't get into it. My warm-up was downright worthless. Everything I tried to do hurt, I'm pretty sore from last night's WOD. So, after struggling through my warm-up I just jumped right into the deads. I ended up lifting 302#, which up until Monday would have been a new PR for me. So, I guess it wasn't a terrible performance, but I really felt kind of weak. Thinking maybe I should take tomorrow off, but Jeff just posted the WOD for tomorrow and it looks like a good one. Hmmm....what is that they say about discretion being the better part of valor?????

Breakfast
2 eggs over easy
1/2 avocado
(note light brekkie and no carbs)

Snack
1 oz deli turkey
1/2 c cottage cheese
1/2 c blueberries
handful of baby carrots
handful of mixed nuts (apricot kernels, walnuts)

CF Endurance WOD - 35 min trail TT

Lunch
4 oz roast sirloin tip
2 c broccoli (raw)
1 large red pepper
handful of baby carrots
1 c green grapes
handful of nuts
Bragg Healthy Vinaigrette

Snack
1 cheese stick
1 oz deli turkey
mixed nuts (walnuts, almonds, pecans)
strawberries and grapes

OCF WOD - Deadlift 302#

Dinner
4.5 oz Trader Joe's tilapia citronette
1.5 oz grilled chicken
sauteed broccoli
1/4 c brown rice
handful roasted peanuts

Hitting PR's

Today was a good day for me. My Mom is in town, so I decided that I would not go to the gym tonight. Instead, I decided to crunch all my workouts in over my lunch period. Gotta love being in the military and getting the luxury of 1.5 hour lunch breaks. It has been a while since I have done any running and also since I have done any significantly heavy lifting. So, I decided to hit both today.

I started off with a Tabata run. That's 8 rounds of run as fast as you can for 20 seconds followed by a 10 second rest...oh, and don't forget that the treadmill is jacked up to a 12% grade. Yeah, that changes things a bit. I did the run at 10.5mph for all 8 reps, which is my typical tabata run pace.

Immediately following the run, well, when I was able to breathe again, I went over to the gym and did CrossFit Total. CF Total is a max effort of shoulder press, back squat and deadlift. Your score is the total weight lifted for all the lifts. My previous best was 666.5, today I hit 685. I did 135# in the shoulder press. It was an admittedly ugly lift, did not maintain midline stability very well and my back is a bit sore right now because of it. My back squat was 235. I felt that I could have lifted more, but I did not have a spotter and I didn't feel like pushing my luck. I have been thanked by my wife for that moment of clarity. My deadlift was 315. Both the press and deadlift weights were single lift PR's for me. I was pretty surprised by this result, especially considering that I had just finished that very intense run. Hope to continue to see results like this throughout the rest of this challenge and beyond.

Breakfast
2 oz rotisserie chicken
85g sugar snap peas
1/2 c cottage cheese
1c blueberries
chopped almonds

Snack
2 oz deli turkey
grapes and strawberries
apricot kernels and walnuts

Lunch
4 oz grilled chicken
carrots
celery
1 small cucumber
kimchi
grapes
strawberry
mixed nuts (walnuts, pecans, almonds)

Snack
2 oz rotisserie chicken
apple
mixed nuts

Dinner
4 oz roast pork
sauteed asparagus
salad (lettuce, tomato, celery, cucumber, avocado)
Orange Cranberry vinaigrette
small handful of macadamia nuts

Snack
1 Stone Ruination IPA
handful of peanuts
1 cheese stick

2 days in, holding steady

Day 2 of the Zone/Paleo challenge...going well. Still going mostly with paleo-esque guidelines, although I have had cheese sticks and one beer. I'm not really weighing and measuring like I should with the Zone, but I can almost guarantee that I am not over eating on my blocks. Have been pretty hungry today and I'm quite sore from yesterday's Fight Gone Bad.

Breakfast
2 eggs over easy
2 oz left over sirloin roast
1/2 avocado
1/2 banana
Clementine Orange


Snack
Cheese stick

Lunch
Grilled Chicken Breast (marinated in olive oil, lime juice, garlic, thyme & rosemary)
Salad: cucumbers, carrots, tomatoes, celery
Sugar Snap Peas
2 large strawberries
Asian pear
handful of macadamia nuts

Snack
1.5 oz rotisserie chicken
apple w/ peanut butter

Dinner
Dungeness Crab
Salad: spinach, tomatoes, cucumbers, carrots, celery
sauteed napa cabbage
clementine orange
handful almonds
small handful of toasted coconut

New Year, New Challenge

Happy New Year to all, can you believe it's 2009 already. With the new year, I will embark on a new nutritional challenge. I'm not doing it alone, I'm joining a big crew from Oceanside CrossFit, and we are doing a 60-day Zone/Paleo challenge. The idea is to do either a strict Zone or a strict Paleo/Zone diet for 60 days, starting January 3rd (today) and finishing on March 3rd.

My plan is to go serious Zone and mostly paleo. I will resurrect the no-sugar/no-grain challenge that I struggled with last month. Now, I am saying this, knowing full well that at the end of the challenge I will be cheating a bit. Let me say that again, I WILL be cheating toward the end of February. In mid-February we are going to Keystone, CO for 5 days of skiing at my Mom's condo. I think I will be able to stay mostly Zone and probably even mostly Paleo there, but I'm sure there will be some mild cheating going on. The real issue is the 3 days that we will be in Solvang, CA meeting some friends who are coming in for some California Wine Country fun and to watch the Tour of California. This will not be a Zone-friendly weekend. I have resigned myself to that fact, and I actually am embracing that fact. I will enjoy this weekend in February.

So, because I know that I will not actually make it through a full 60 days of staying strict to the challenge, does that mean I shouldn't embark on the challenge? Absolutely not! The whole idea of this is to improve my diet as much as I can over the next 2 months and hopefully develop/strengthen dietary habits that will last a lifetime. I wholeheartedly believe that this will be a great challenge and that we will all learn a ton during it. I also believe that at the end of it we will be amazed by the results and encouraged to continue down this path.

Good luck to all that will be joining me. I hope to keep this blog updated as much as I can. i will also be trying to post to the OCF blog as much as I can. I encourage those of you who are also doing the challenge to post comments to the OCF blog and/or my blog. Tell us your frustrations/successes/favorite recipes/whatever comes to mind. It's going to be a good 60 days.

Today's weight: 157.4 (ugh, rough holiday season)

Breakfast
2 eggs poached
1 apple
handful of almonds
1 cheddar cheese stick

OCF WOD: Fight Gone Bad - 335 (new PR!!!)

Lunch
Spinach salad
4 oz Rotisserie chicken
Tomatoes
Feta cheese
Almonds
Kalamata Olives
Roasted Red Peppers
Bragg Healthy Vinaigrette
1/2 banana smeared with peanut butter

Snack
handful almonds
1 clementine orange
Turkey Jerky

Dinner
4 oz Sirloin Tip Roast
spinach salad (tomatoes, celery, carrots)
Sauteed Broccoli
Kimchi (homemade...mmm)

Snack
1 oz turkey jerky
handful macadamia nuts, 6 almonds
1 Firestone Walker Pale 31