Child's Play

I slept in on Sunday. On Saturday I had a wonderful day with David and Derek, we went to Santana Row. I had an appointment with Natalia at Atelier to have my bangs trimmed so the boys had a glass of champagne and waited. 

I said it would only take 15 minutes, but she was feeling creative or maybe it was the fact we were on display in the window, so she straightened my hair, it took a half hour but looked sleek and silky.


We then met at the bar at Left Bank and ordered a bottle of Champagne as we waited for a table outside, it was glorious weather. A waitress came up and started talking to me, asking me if I frequented another restaurant. I didn't, and she said she recognizes me. We chatted for a bit and she left all smiles. 


"Sister" says Derek, "She was flirting with you!" "Ha ha, yes I could tell!" I responded. We sat down outside, brought our champagne with us, and somehow she ended up being our waitress, and a darn good job she did too! I had a wonderfully healthy and delicious Salad Nicoise. Seared Ahi tuna, avocado, radishes, butter lettuce, anchovies, hard cooked egg, green beans, tomatoes, red peppers and a bit of tapenade and olive oil. I also enjoyed some of their wonderful truffled french fries.

Later David and I went out to dinner, so it was a long day and evening of good food and drink, so when I rolled over and looked at the alarm clock Sunday and it was 4:00 a.m. I realized I was only punishing myself by getting up so early, I switched it off and woke at 6:20, then headed to the gym for Back training.


I went up on all my weights, just as I predicted I would! I felt strong and excited. But my weights took me an hour and a half, and I wanted to get to the Farmers Market for eggs so I decided to skip my conditioning and I would do something later. Anyway, studies have proven that working out much longer than an hour is more detrimental than beneficial.


At 2:30 I decided to head across the street to run sprints on the track. I first hit the stadium stairs, running up and down several times for a warm up, then off to the track. I am a very fast sprinter, I can go like lightening, but not for long, I guess that's what sprinting is huh?


I sprinted the straight, then walked the curve. I did this four times and then at the beginning of the straight I see some kinds, they are trying to talk to me. I pull my earbuds out and say hi to them.


"Are you gonna run?" says the middle girl, she is about 9 I guess. I said yes and the little one, who appears to be about 6 jumps up and down "we wanna see you run!!!" I pop my buds back in and run the straight as fast as I can, then I walk the curve. I run the next straight and I see the girls run across to meet me at the end. I walk as they jump up and down beside me. 


At the start of the next straight is a boy now, along with the two little girls and big sister. I think the big sister is about 14 and the boy about 12. 


The 14 year old wants to talk, I pull out my earbuds. "We wanna see if my brother can run as fast as you, he wants to race you." "Oh, I am sure he can run faster, I am old." "No you aren't she exclaims." "I am 50." I say, and I hear them all gasp.


We line up. I tell them I will not be able to hear anything with my music in, so when he starts I will then start. I see her mouth the words "On your mark, get set, go!" and off he goes, I quickly take off and after 20 yards have easily passed him.  At the end of the straight I turn to look, he appears to have quit halfway through. I walk the curve and sprint the next straight.


Now there is another girl waiting with the other kids, she is older, maybe 16, so there are now five kids standing staring at me.


"You smoked my little brother." says the 14 year old. "Yeah, I did." 


"We wanna see if my older sister can run as fast as you." "OK!" Again, I tell them I cannot hear so I will start when I see her take off.


We start and it takes me 10 yards before I can pass her, then my adrenaline is surging through my body, I take off like a bullet. I end at the curve and look back, they are all jumping up and down, waving at me. I think they want to race more, but I am done, I have had enough fun.


I look at them and wave, and jog up the stairs out of the bowl, and home.


I had fun, it reminded me of what being a kid was like again. I will have to find some other kids to race again soon.

Meals after Over Indulging

Saturday I went off the diet, I was in control, I planned it. I have to be fair to David and this is our month of fun, July when he is off. Anyway, I don't need to starve myself for three months.

I do have to get back to the right foods though so on Sunday I ate wonderful, healthy, fabulous foods. I know several competitors who wouldn't dare eat this when they are prepping for a competition, but I can and I do.

I started the day with my usual meal replacement drink, then a protein-carb (1 to 4 ratio) drink after training.

Breakfast was 1 cup egg whites with low sugar ketchup and some hot sauce, then one serving of steel cut oats with splenda and cinnamon.

Lunch #1 as David refers to it (actually meal #3) was this salad. I shredded raw green cabbage, chunks of tomatoes, roasted beets, thick cucumber, raw bell pepper and 4 ounces cubed cooked chicken breast. I tossed it with homemade balsamic vinaigrette (no oil, recipe will be at the bottom).

Dinner was this salad, a modified salad nicoise (my favorite). David made it for me (with my strict direction as he loves his olive oil), he does a great job. We went to the farmers market in the morning and bought it all there.

Thick slices of heirloom tomatoes, chopped green bell pepper, sliced breakfast radishes, sliced cucumber. Then I cooked pasture raised eggs, till the yolk was almost set, and topped it with two of those.

Stacy introduced me to pasture raised eggs. I used to buy organic, these are so much better, even my son can tell the difference and he asks for these ahead of time now to make sure we cook the right ones.

Whole eggs are more calories, about 50 per egg, but I am not drastically reducing calories now, just keeping it all clean, and on an even keel, besides, if you noticed there was no starch in this meal or the other one, when I reduce starch I increase fats.

Whole eggs occasionally are very good for you, in fact, when I am not prepping I will eat them more often, these are creamy, rich and have a fantastic mouth feel. 

Then I had 4 ounces of grilled ahi tuna. Rare, really, really rare. Topped with chopped chives and again, my balsamic vinaigrette, salt and pepper and I was not only satisfied but feeling good.

Had I not been dieting I would have shared David's lunch. These are fresh Monterey sardines, wrapped in grape leaves pulled from our vines out front. He just took them off the BBQ.

Here is the actual meal, looks pretty tasty huh? He oven roasted these cherry tomatoes with olive oil, coarse sea salt, balsamic vinegar, sherry vinegar and fresh thyme. Served with bread to sop up the oils, looks great but just a little to much for me right now, I have a goal in mind.

Then I made the boys a rustic crostada, it is a dough of white flour, white sugar, butter, salt, rolled out and then sprinkled with sugar and cinnamon and a mound of fresh apricots from our backyard is piled on, the entire thing is baked till flaky and golden.

And when it comes out of the oven it is sprinkled with confectioners sugar, and served hot with vanilla ice cream. I went to bed so I didn't have to suffer through the moans and groans of pleasure! ha ha

Vinagrette: Mix to your own taste approximately 1 Tbsp grainy mustard, 1/2 cup balsamic vinegar, 1 tsp splenda, salt and pepper. Keep it on hand always, take it with you when you go out to dinner so you aren't tempted to put any of their dressings on, they are full of oil and garbage!