DFL beats DNF beats DNS.

This past weekend was the CrossFit Games South West Regional. I was lucky enough to be a competitor. I say lucky in the sense of how I got there.

About a month ago I entered in the SD/AZ games sectionals, which was one of several sectionals that then fed into the regional. In order to qualify for the regionals you needed to place 20th or better to continue... I took 24th place. I was happy with my standing for the most part and chalked it up to experience.

Then about 2.5 weeks ago I got an email from CrossFit HQ informing me that enough people had dropped out of the individual competition and if I chose to, I could compete at the regional. My nutrition had been spotty to say the least. My training had taken a little bit of a break, but i decided to enter.

As far as I know, this may be the closest I get to the actual games. Since every year the field of athletes gets bigger, faster and stronger. I dialed my eating back in and starting hitting the gym as hard as possible.

Was I at the top of my game? No. Was I planning on going in and beating anybody? I hope so. We have something written up at the gym...DFL (dead f*ing last) beats DNF (did not finish) beats DNS (did not start). This was my mantra for the event. I registered for the event and showed up, so the DNS was out the window. The next battle was for no DFL and especially no DNF...

Wod #1: 20 shoulder to overheads @185lbsand 40 burpee lateral jumps.
Break them up how ever you want. Get it done with a 7 min time cap. You could choose when you wanted to do this wod. I got there on the later side...so most times were taken but i opted to make it the first wod of the day. I have down "Freddy's revenge" which is 5 rounds, 5 reps 185 S2Oh & 10 burpees. So I new it was going to be able to finish. I was the only person in my time slot, this means all eyes were on me! 321 GO... I got the first 15 reps unbroken and clean! I dropped the bar for a short rest and then one of the highlights of the weekend happened. One of our awesome students Danielle yelled "quite being a b*tch and pick up the bar!" Most of the crowd didn't know what to make of it....but I got the bar back to the shoulders and knocked out the reps. Then went at the burpees as best as I could. I was able to finish the wod in 5 min flat! I had finished the wod, and faster then some others I watched and there was several men who DNF'd on that wod already. GOAL ACCOMPLISHED!

WOD 2: For time- flip a 250lb tire 75 meters, run back 75m, carry an 80lb log 75m 2 rounds for time.

I have never carried a log before nor have I flipped a tire...this should be fun. Out of the gate I was a bit slow. Trying to figure out the move and how to be efficient and not waste energy. About half way through I started to figure out the tire flip and how to get it to move faster, I sprinted the log back to the finish line and I was done! I beat out two guys in my heat! No DNF and no DFL! GOAL ACCOMPLISHED!


WOD 3: 5 muscle-ups, 10-135lb power cleans, run 200... for time. 15min time cap.

This was going to be interesting. Muscle-ups aren't my best move, but they aren't my worst move either, cleans aren't a big deal and 200m is 200m. The time cap is what I was worried about. If there was good chance of DNF for the weekend...it was this wod. I really feel I lucked out on this one. The rings they used were the new Rogue wood rings, the grip on those things was better then any plastic ring I have ever used. I never used chalk and never had my hands slip drastically. I got the first set of 5 unbroken, then 4 & 1, then 3 & 2, then 3 1 & 1 the last 2 rounds. The cleans got broken into 5 and 5 on most rounds. The run was a jog becuase My heart was racing so fast. When I finished my last set of cleans the judge says, "if you want to finish this you better run, you have 1 minute left." I went into a decent run then finished with a good sprint. Got 14:40!!!! No DNF and DFl! GOAL ACCOMPLISHED!!!

I rounded out saturday in 39th place!!!! I wanted to beat one person and I had beat 24 so far!!! Now I had to wait and see what the workout would be for sunday... my friend Trish filled me in saturday night and I was a little happy and said at the same time.

Sunday final WOD #4: Row 1000m, OHS 135lb, run 1200m. for time
As soon as I heard the workout I started planning the attack. I got there early to look at the set-up and how other athletes were fairing through the workout. The first thing I noticed was the the ground for the OHS was slanted slightly... if you faced away from the crowd your feet would be uphill ( awkward to begin with, extra awkward if you are use the oly shoes). If you faced the crowd your feet would be slightly downhill (similar to using oly shoes!) Also when athletes finished the row you needed to get the barbells that could be anywhere from 15 meters to 100 meters away...for me I new I wanted the closest bar possible so I could get some lead built since the heavy OHS is a strength of mine. So the plan of attack went like this.

-Row at my pace, 21-23 spm (strokes per minute), maintain 1:45ish 500m pace.
-get the closest bar possible
- use an narrower then normal grip, so I could just pull back on the bar and not worry about it falling behind me.
-go steady on the Squats and face the crowd as to replicate the feel of oly shoes
-use good form and control the breathing on the first lap of running
-2nd lap pick up the speed a bit and use it to gauge how fast I can go on the last lap.
-final lap would be a 85% or so effort with the last 150m being every thing I had left!

Would all this extensive planning help? With all the nervousness I had, I was hoping it would. Especially since the heats had been re-arranged in accordance to point ranking. I was the lowest ranking athlete (or least likely to win) in my heat.

This is how it went down...321 GO

The row started and the nerves took over, I was rowing to hard and to fast. I then pulled myself back and slowed to the pace I was aiming for. Held my spm and the 500m split I wanted. Got of the rower at about the same time as the other guys. Went into a slight jog to the bar. Grabbed the first bar in the line up! While the others walked to the bars at the end of the line. I got my narrow grip established and went to town on the OHS. I got 15, 5 and then 4 reps... in my head I thought I would do 3 and 3 to finish the sets.... then I heard the crowd screaming for something. So I said screw it, I am going for all 6 and just fight for it. I got all 6!!!!!! I turned to start the run and....nobody else was on the track. Then someone at the end of the line turns and starts his run. In my head I was thinking, WTF did I really finish the OHS 1st? Am I really in second place? The Guy ahead of me on the track wasn't running fast at all. I stuck to my plan though. Don't try and catch up yet, just run your own race and at least keep pace with this guy. Half way through the run felt as if I was running to slow, so I closed the gap between me and the 1st place guy. Got next to him for about 10 seconds to see how he would respond. He didn't respond with speeding up so I decided to go for the lead. I proceeded to take the lead (still thinking to myself holy shit is this really happening?). On the beginning of the last lap I picked it up a bit. With about 250m left I do a shoulder check (in the streaming video you can see me look over my shoulder and see
that a new guy as over taken the previous 2nd place male... so I begin to speed up my run as to keep my lead. I actually started to sprint at 200m left...I then pulled back knowing that I couldn't sprint for a full 200 and I would burn pre-mature. With about 150m left I do one last shoulder check (also on the video) and planned it out. So I kept running and at the 100m mark I went into a 100 sprint. I crossed the finish line... in my odd way. I missed judged where it was and stumbled of the track about ten feet early, but still crossed the actual line non the less!!! I took 1st place in the heat!!!!! I also beat Pat Barber and Josh Everett on that wod, both of those guys are well known and very amazing athletes!

That workout was by far the best experience of the entire weekend! Especially becuase there was several men in the heat that had beat me at our SD/AZ sectional!

At the end of the weekend I took 34th place overall! Went in with the goal of beating 1 person and I beat 29! I also beat 9 males that had beat be at the sectionals!

Thanks to everyone that came to watch and to everyone that yelled at/for me!

A whole new world

So I picked up an issue of "Draft" magazine a bit over a month ago for my reading pleasure. In this particular issue there were several great articles. One about "Real ale" or cask beer, one on collaboration beers and another on "beer trading". The article on beer trading was very interesting.

Beer trading is something that has been going on for some time now. There are several social networking such as beeradvocate.com that serve as a place for beer drinkers to share thoughts on different brews and also as a place to seek out people who may have beers of desire but that one can't get their hands on. On your profile you can list the beers that you "got" and "want". While living in San Diego does allow for a fantastic selection of great local brews and a great assortment of west coast brews...we/I am still limited in selection.

Inspired by this article I decided to give it a go and see how it would work out!

While many traders refer to some beers as "whales" or "white whales" (think Moby Dick), I wasn't planning to go after any of those on my first go around. I set out to get my hands a bottle of Sah'Tea, a brew that a friend heard about in an article a couple of months back. It is a yearly release from DogFish Head brewery in Delaware. Easy for east coasters to get...impossible for west coasters. I proceeded to start a thread on BeerAdvocate.com in search of a bottle of this. Over the next day or so I got several "beermails" with offers for a trade for this brew! (being from San Diego) I do get a little bit of help becuase people now the beer selection out here is pretty good!

Then I get a "beermail" that makes my jaw drop... one person replies with "I will trade a bottle of Sah'Tea, I also have a bottle of Tactical Nuclear Penguin that I would be willing to part with." The TNP is on my "whale list" of beers! It is the 3rd strongest beer in the world...weighing in at 32% abv! I almost can't believe it, my first trade and I am going to get one of my "whales" and it wasn't even solicited? Now the question becomes what I am I going to be sending out in exchange for these beers? Well my trading partner was great about keeping communication flowing between beermails about what brews he wanted and what he had access to. So we decided to do a trade based on $4$. (dollar for dollar) This means I was going to be sending a pretty hefty box since the TNP cost about $65-70! In addition to multiple other bottles that were coming my way. the good thing is that the majority of the brews that I sent out I already had sitting in the cellar!


All in all I ended up sending out 11 bottles (Alpine Pure Hoppiness not shown). Now this is were it becomes fun! Since it is a federal felony to mail alcohol through the USPS, private shippers are the way to go. The thing is that UPS and FED-EX "will not knowingly ship alcohol", so you have to be careful when packaging and shipping your brew. You individually wrap each bottle in bubble-wrap and lots of packing tape. In a big box packed with shipping paper and Styrofoam and just encase there might be any "sloshing" or liquid sound coming out of the box...i added to packages of rice-a-roni to cover up the sound. Then take to a UPS store and send it off. And religiously track the package online for a week.

When my package arrived I was like a child on Christmas morning. The kid who new exactly what he got and it was exactly what he asked for!
I start cutting through the all the tape and bubble wrap that ensured the beer was safe on its journey. My trade partner was awesome, everything I wanted and then some. He included several "extras" in the package including a DogFish Head Old School Barleywine, Capsicum habanero Stout, Troegs Nugget Nectar and a terrapin Hoppy Monster! We already are setting up another trade to happen in the coming months...and you can bet he is going to get some gnarly extra's in his box next time!

The world of beer as reached a whole new world now! Not only do I have my normal stores in SD that I know get the rare stuff in but now I have a friend on the east coast forming a symbiotic relationship! I get him great beer he can't get and he does the same for me!

Can't wait for the next beer tasting event!

It's not a trend, it's a revolution!

By now many of you have seen our tag line painted on our wall..."IT'S NOT A TREND, IT'S A REVOLUTION" This is a statement that I came up with before we even had our box and we barely had figured out what we were going to call ourselves. I especially love this tagline becuase it works perfrectly for my two main passions, which are CrossFit and craft beer.

While huge globo gyms fight to stay open by cutting how much their employees get paid, lowering prices for memberships and making it "easier" to go to the gym, CrossFit is thriving and expanding on a daily basis (and you know we do just about everything but make it easy to go to the gym). Like wise huge macro-brew companies are spending millions upon millions on advertising to trick you into thinking their beer is "good" or better then the rest, and despite there advertising, there sales were down multiple percents last year. At the same time micro-brews are popping up all over and growing at astonishing rates!

Now if you were to compare the market share that globo gyms have compared to CrossFit boxes... CrossFit Boxes m probably makes up less then .25% of total gyms. And the micro-brew category makes up less then 5% of the total beer market. Yet These smaller groups (CrossFit boxes and micro-brews) are focusing on being decidedly different then the status quot. How is it CrossFit is growing so fast and gaining popularity, yet if you go to a 24 Hour Fitness or a Gold's you can get kicked out for practicing this method? Assuming you even had equipment available to perform a CrossFit workout. Like wise, micro brew is growing so fast and gaining popularity, yet you walk into any large restaurant and some bars and there isn't a local brewery to be spotted on the draft line?

I have seen video's of Greg Glassman (founder of CrossFit) saying that we (CrossFitters and CrossFit boxes) are a "full frontal assault on mainstream fitness". Also I have heard him say that we don't try to appeal to everyone, we do what we do and who ever likes it, likes it. We could care less about what main stream fitness personalities think about us. I have seen Greg Koch of Stone Brewing write something to the effect of, Most people don't care about great beer... so I don't care about most people.

Below is a graph showing the amount or inquires going into Google for different gyms over the past years. Interesting to see how the globo gyms spike around the new year consistently? yet CrossFit has been growing and growing at a steady rate! Also looks like there is just as many people looking into CrossFit as 24Hour? How much do you think 24 spends on advertisement? How much do you think CrossFit.com spends...or lets make it more fare...how muc
h all the CrossFit Affiliates spend? 24 Hour Fitness is in blue, golds is in green, Ballys is in gold, and Crossfit is in red.

Another evening @ K&B wine cellar

Went over to one of my favorite places to relax at the end of a long day, K&B wine cellars in Del Cerro. The people are always great and they love to talk beer and all sorts of non-sense.

1st-Port Brewing-Mongo double IPA 8.5% abv. This beer pours a dark orange, like a very ripe tangerine. A very thick looking beer that is hard to see through! A little bit of head on this one, but leaves lots of lacing on the glass. The smell is citrus, lots of tangerine and orange not so much grapefruit like I am use to smelling on strong IIpa's. Has a nice bitter nose on it but a lot of sweetness is what I smell. The mouth feel is amazing, so thick with just enough carbonation. Like a perfectly ripe piece of fruit. With a strong bitter finish, very drinkable. Definitely different from other IIpa's, in the sense that the hopes aren't everything you taste. Give this on a solid 4.5! try it if you see it on draft some where!

2nd-Bear Republic- Big Bear Black Stout. 8.1% abv. This pours practically black, with a nice dark brown head on it! The initial smell is that of lightly smoked chocolate! A very interesting nose on this one. As you sip this beer you primarily taste the smoked chocolate and coffee with a nice barley finish. The mouth feel is a little more carbonated then i would prefer...but that is probably becuase all the stouts I have been drinking have been years past vintages or barrel aged brews. Over all this is a great beer to finish off the evening with. Pick up a bottle if you see one or order a pint if possible! Give this one a solid 4.5 as well!

Barrel Aged Beer Event!!!

This past weekend I hosted my first beer tasting event! Held it at the gym since it was easier for everybody to meet there. The night was a blast and lots of great beers were sampled!

1st- Allagash Curieux- Tripel aged in Bourban barrels. This beer was one that I have had the pleasure of having on draft but never out of the bottle before. Like many bottle conditioned beers, this one takes on a whole different feel from the bottle then it does on draft. Pours a nice gold, with a nice finger of head on it. The aroma is light fruit like pears and apples, with just a hint of alcohol. the mouth feel is smooth a refreshing. So much flavor packed in, yet so crisp. As it warms the fruit and belgian tang becomes very present. This is definetly on of my favorites! Give this one a 5!


2nd-Rogue Brewing- John John Dead Guy Ale. Following curieux is a hard act to follow but something has too. This is Rogue's classic Dead Guy Ale that has been aged in Rogue Whiskey barrels. Pours a deep caramel color and look a bit on the thicker side. The aroma isn't much there, maybe the beer could of been a little bit warmer then when it was served? At the initial taste it has a bit of caramel taste to it, but much less then the standard Dead Guy Ale. The whiskey flavor is much less then you would hope for. This was an easy to drink beer, but nothing all that special... like I said, going after Curieux is a tough job. give this one a 3.5


3rd-BrewDog-Storm. This is a BrewDog 8% IPA aged in Islay whiskey barrels.!? BrewDog is known for pushing the boundaries of beer styles and experimenting with new flavors...this is one of many reasons why I love this brewery. I was nervous to sample this to everyone since I had never had it before and the reviews I had read about it were either love or hate. Upon pouring the glass and giving it a swirl...the aroma was very intense. I wasn't sure if it was a good intense or bad, so I gave it a taste. There is a small moment were you taste a nice BrewDog IPA (a bit of citrus fruit, a hint of sweetness), then the whiskey barrel hits and it turns on you. The beer gets very heavy with smoked flavor, and strong whiskey. It stays with you for a while, as if you just ate a piece burnt meat. Give this one a 3? or maybe a C, because it was so different?







4th-Full Sail-Top-sail Imperial Porter aged in bourbon barrels. We parted ways with the whiskey barrel beers and continued the journey with the bourbon barrels. I had never had this one before, it was recommended to from a friend of at K&B wine cellars. It pours a very dark brown, even in a taster glass it is hard to see through. The aroma is of roasted malt with mild coffee notes hitting the nose and a trace of alcohol. the initial mouth feel is very smooth and creamy. This is very similar to the John John Ale in the sense that it isn't a very "big" beer. Not a lot of bourbon taste to speak of but just enough. Not bad in my book but nothing to get excited about.... give it a 3.5


5th-BrewDog/Mikkeller Divine Rebel-Euro Barley wine aged in whiskey barrels. I have had this one before but it was multiple months and I think my pallet has refined a good bit?! When I first tried it, the only way I could describe it was a strong sort of something with a strong alcohol taste? Now I can definitely tell from one sip...that's a strong barley wine and yep that is definitely aged in whiskey barrel. Pours a murky brown, with the aroma of malt and barly billowing out of the glass. Not much head to speak of becuase of the long barrel aging this beer went through. The feel on the mouth is that of cream, very low carbonation and finishes with a nice trail of warmth down the back of the mouth! Give it a second and a couple of lip smacks and there is there is a very present whisky bite to it! This is a great sipping beer to share with friends. Give this one a solid 4! Definitely pick up a bottle if you are lucky enough to find one!


6th-The Lost Abbey-Angels Share 09, American Barley wine aged in brandy barrels. This was one that a couple of guests and I were looking forward to cracking open! I have had it once on draft, and Lost Abbey beers a totally different experience out of a bottle. Pours super thick murky brown, with an obvious dense center. Not very sure what causes this but looks really cool. The smell of oak, barley and alcohol fill your nose from the first smell. This is a very earthy beer and drinks very slow. Even the smallest sip covers the mouth with a ton of strong dry barley flavor. Think a very dry Cabernet vs a sweeter Cab...that is the difference between a euro barley wine and an American style...this is one "BIG Beer" in every sense of the word, smell, taste, mouth feel and ABV weighing in at a solid 12%! This beer gets a solid 5. Recommend buying a bottle or 3 and having one fresh and cellaring them for later dates!


7th-Dechuttes Brewing-Once a Decade Ale 2010, American strong ale aged in pinot-noir barrels. When a brewery only makes a beer once a decade you better bet it is going to be pretty damn good! This pours a mild brown with a red tinge to it when held up to light. The smell is very sweet, that of grapes, cherries, even candy sugar. At the initial taste the mouth feel is a bit on the light side...which is kind of refreshing at this point in the evening. Great malt flavor with just enough carbonation and a great mild dry wine finish!!! This beer is meant to be aged for up to ten years and I think it will do so very well. I look forward to getting some more bottles and tasting them a couple of years from now! Give this beer a solid 4.5 at this stage in its development!


8th-Russian River-Supplication, American wild ale brewed in pinot-noir barrels. This is another one that several of us were looking forward to opening. Upon opening the bottle there was a nice POP from pulling the cork and the aroma of sour cherries and sour fruit fill your nose and make you want to pucker up a little. Pours a brilliant red with good carbonation and a mild light pink head. The initial taste is that of strong sour fruit and it lingers for a while before living the mouth. Takes you back to the days of sucking on sour worms and war heads until you tongue was sore. Liquid candy was how many people described it. This beer is a solid 5.

Quality over quantity pt.1

This will be the first posting about a topic that I find very interesting. There is a very similar story unfolding in both the beer industry and the fitness industry. Many large business models are hurting and losing their hold on the market. While simultaneously others are growing at an astounding pace. In this installment the focus is on the beer industry.

Huge macro-brew companies that spend billions on advertising are losing market share and are seeing sales fall. Obviously you would awesome that is is due to people being a bit more careful where their money is being spent, for what ever reasons. Then how is it possible that micro-brews or craft beers are exploding? it is all about quality, people are drown to products that are made well, and deliver a great experience. Even while the craft brewing niche only accounts for about 4% of the entire beer market, it is growing and it is awesome.

More to come later. For now click the title for a link to an awesome article on this topic!!

Check back soon

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