Spa Life

My newest project is www.thewholewheat.com.  Check it out!  :)  

I've been feeling a little "ehhh" about the upcoming Nike Women's Half Marathon I'm running. I *want* to do it, I'm  just not really pumped up or inspired. Anyhoo - I got an email today from Nike with the subject "Race Day Details" which I opened up thinking, "I hope this really inpires me."  I have to say, after reading the following, I'm feeling a lot more excited!  :p

Race Day Details To Look Forward To:

Thursday we went to a fantastic wine dinner at Plumpjack for Copain Wines. We've been huge Copain fans for several years so being invited to this dinner was a fantastic treat!  It began at 5p with a tasting flight (2 flights actually) of recently bottled wines and a few barrel samples. This was such a treat to taste these young wines well before they will be released. Wells Guthrie also walked us thru the different vineyards and explained what attracts him to each location (the rocks ;). It was fascinating. There was a break for a few hors d'hoeurves then dinner was served - each course paired with a different wine. Dinner was fantastic!

Pre-Dinner Tasting Flights - all wines 2005 Vintage. These wines all show their promise but my personal favorites are bolded. I have quite a few notes as well I need to find a way to post. Also the ones Wells is most excited about have an * in front.:

• Flight 1:
• Madder Lake Syrah
• McDowell Valley Syrah
• Eagle Point Syrah
• Hawk Butte Syrah
• Flight 2:
• *Harison Clarke Syrah
• Thompson Syrah
• Gary's Syrah
• *Brousseau Syrah - Barrel Sample
• James Berry Syrah - Barrel Sample

We had a rose with the passed hors d'houerves (costini with herbed goat chesse topped with tapenade, mini crab cakes, ahi tuna in a tiny parchment cone (looked a bit like a hand roll)). Dinner followed:

• Seared Day Boat Scallops: wrapped with applewood bacon, served with late summer succotash and watercress beurre blanc --> this dish was FANTASTIC!
• Roussane 'James Berry Vineyard' 2004 Paso Robles
• Wild Mushroom & Duck Confit Tart: grueyere cheese, micro herb salad, truffled vinagrette --> YUM.
• Pinot Noir 'Hein Vineyard' 2004 Anderson Valley --> absolutely lovely - nice CA style pinot with good round berry balanced with acidity
• Red Wine Braised Short Ribs of Beef: polenta & glazed carrots --> my least favorite dish. Brad had to send his back b/c it was all fat and though the first part of mine was OK the second half was all fat.
• Syrah 'James Berry Vineyard' 2004 Paso Rolbles --> my notes "big, huge, nice easy tannin w/ acid - good balance - not too fruity but full flavoried with deep rich berry at front of tongue" Wine is 50% whole bunch and in '05 it is 75% whole bunch
• Artisan Cheese: Pt. Reyes Blue, Manchego, Pennsylvania Noble Cheddar
• Zinfandel 'Arrowhead Mtn' 2004 Sonoma --> always an amazing wine. Sadly this was the last vintage he will make. Though he's truly talented at making zin - apparently he just doesn't love doing it. His words: "this would be a fantastic vineyard with syrah planted on it. it needs syrah." Wells was a funny guy.
• Cookies

Kevin McQuown was at our table and we *really* enjoyed talking with him. He was a blast and in addition we learned a lot about the wine business and just got a lot of food for thought. The story of how Copain came to be was a lot of fun to hear also.

Yikes - I keep reading on LJ how "no one important is posting on Vox." Hmph - quite frankly though, that is one of the reasons I switched.  I hate that attitude and the awful clique mentality on LJ now. I just want to have fun posting and post b/c I enjoy it and not feel pressure.  Plus I wanted a fresh start.  And I LIKE vox!  So there.

And BTW - if I'm not worth reading then please - don't!

• dumbbell bench press: 12×20, 10×25, 8×30, 6×35, 12×30
• dumbbell incline press: 12×20
• lat pull down: 12×60, 10×70, 10×80, 8×80, 6×80, 8×75, 4x70
  
• low row machine: 12x70
  
• seated dumbbell press: 12×15, 10×17.5, 8×20, 6×22.5, 7x20, 3x17.5
  
• side raises: 2x10, 10x8
  
• barbell curls (angled handle bar, weight per side): 12×bar, 10×2.5, 8×5, 6×7.5, 12×5
• hammer curls: 12×12
• tri pushdown: 12×17.5, 10×20, 8×22.5, 6×25, 7x22.5, 5x20
  
• dips: 12×bw feet up
  

• squats: 12xb15, 10xb20, 8xb25, 6×b30, 12×b25
• leg extension: 12×60
• deadlift: 12×20d, 10×25d, 8×30d, 6×35d, 12×30d
• seated leg curl: 12×60
• seated calf raises: 12×100norm, outer, inner, 10×120N, 8×140N, 6×160N, 12×140N (I went up here and prob could have gone up more)
  
• btwn all calf sets did abs (hanging straight leg lifts, swiss ball, medicine ball)
  
• single leg standing calf raises: 12xbw+10 dmb
• floor crunches (regular, obliques, reverse, etc.) ~ 6x15

Need to inc weights all around I think though leg extensions are pretty good. Did a bunch of BOSU sqauts and lunges btwn sets - kept heart rate high.

HIIT Cardio session:

Treadmill @ 1% incline:

• 4min @ 6.2
• 30/30 @ 7.0, 7.1, 7.2, 7.3, 7.4, 7.5, 7.4, 7.6, 7.3, 7.7, 7.2, 7.8, 7.1, 7.9, 7.0, 8.0/6.2 = 16min
• 5min @ 6.2
• Total = 25min
• +10 min walk cool down = 35min cardio
  

1 hour yoga class

If you could write a book about anything, what would it be about?

Puh-lease. I've been trying to answer this question for years. If I knew then I would be writing it which is something I've always wanted to do.

• dumbbell bench press: 12×17.5, 10×20, 8×25, 6×30, 12×25
• dumbbell incline press: 12×20
• seated cable row: 12×50, 10×60, 10×70, 8×80, 8×100, 6×110, 12×100 (go up)
  
• pull-ups: 12×60 assist
  
• upright cable rows: 12×20, 10×40, 8×50, 6×70, 12×60
• seated dumbbell press: 12x15
• barbell curls (angled handle bar, weight per side): 12×5, 10×5, 8×5, 6x7.5, 12×5
• hammer curls: 12×12
• lying tricep presses: 12×8, 10×10, 8×12, 6×15, 12×12
• tri pushdown: 12×30

I wanted to do at least 10miles today but really to be "on schedule" needed more like 12 I think. I did a fun route that was basically backwards from what I did 2 weeks ago and little longer. About 2/3 of the way thru Golden Gate park my Forerunner bombed - I might have pushed stop somehow (but I doubt it!). I had to restart it (to capture the time-of-day) so I have one run clocking 7.19 that I think is more like 8.2-8.5 and another run that is 3miles. If I just take the Forerunner times (not the distance I think I went) I have 10.2 miles avg. about 9:30/mi. I think I actually went 11-11.5 which is great b/c that really keeps me on schedule and I felt awesome in my run so I'm happy.

I've been feeling really down on running recently - really ever since the half-marathon and feeling like I'm just not a good runner and will never really be great at races or distance runs, but today when I hit about 6 or 7 miles I felt that zone again and I remembered that I really do just enjoy it. And that is why I do the long runs. I'm never going to be an outstanding distance runner, but at least I can enjoy it and enjoy being healthy from it. Frankly I'm looking very forward to this next half-marathon being over though so I can down in mileage and just focus on speed which is much more fun for me.

Summary: 11miles ~ 9.30 pace.