09/12/2011 Daily Recap

I started my morning at the Borgata having breakfast at the buffet.  Bad idea, as the slop they call eggs made me ill, further when I went to get some cantaloupe, I saw them open a prepackaged tub of cantaloupe and dump it into the bowl.  I don’t mean the staff at the Borgata precut and loaded tubs; they were breaking the tabs off of the prepackaged, processed cantaloupe.  Not the best recipe for fresh and true fruit. 

After my breakfast, I went to my room to let my stomach settle down a bit before I went to the gym.  The healthier I eat, the more I get fucked up from eating at places like the Borgata buffet. 

I decided I would do a treading session on the Concept2 rowing machine.  These things are badass, and the more I use it, the more I am enjoying doing a different type of cardio, that gives me an efficient workout.   The type of burn I feel after 30 minutes is similar to an hour on the elliptical machine. 

I set the damper at level 6, and started with a 2 minute warm-up.  I then sped my rowing pace up to 35-38 strokes per minute, and was trying to keep my 500 meter time close to 2 minutes.  I stayed at this pace for five minutes, and followed it up with 5 minutes of active recovery rowing at a pace of 26-20 strokes per minute, and a 500 meter time of about 2:30.  I stuck with this pattern doing 4 minutes on and off, 3 minutes on and off, 2 minutes on and off, and 1 minute on and off. 

At the end of the treading cycle, I rowed for 5 minutes to cool down, and then did a quick set of sprints doing a tabata workout on the rower.  During the tabata portion of the workout I tried to go as fast as possible, getting my strokes up to 40 strokes per minute, and my 500 meter time was below 1:40. 

When I finished my cardio session, I had rowed for 45 minutes.

The rest of the morning, and early afternoon were spent with my mother.  I took her to the outlets and helped her pick out some luggage, and clothing for her and my father who is going to Korea next month for a few weeks.  It will by my father’s first trip back since they immigrated here in the ‘70s. 

For dinner we went to Izakaya, a “modern Japanese pub” that serves sushi, sake and robatayaki.  I’ve eaten here once before, and the food is good.  It’s a welcome change to other offerings at the Borgata.  My issue with the place is that in an attempt to be ultra modern, and sheik, the place is actually douchy.  It’s dark, with few colors, a cartoon image of itself, if I were directing a movie and my protagonist was a small town gal dealing with the adjustment of living in the big city, this would be the place I would have her meet her super douche bag blind date, that type of guy who fits the very archetype of a modern American living in a big city, tube of hair gel and all.

There is just no warmth to the place, and the type of food that they serve would taste so much better, if you weren’t sitting, and staring into a bag of charcoal.

If you can get past the physical restaurant, the food is good.  On Monday nights they have entire section of specials were they reduce the price of Japanese tapas style dishes to $7.  We went to town ordering some sushi, and sashimi, and ordering several types of ribs, fried rice, and sliders. 

I ordered a duck meatball with foie gras, it tasted ok, but I think taking foie gras and inserting it into a breaded meatball doesn’t work because you lose the savory flavor of the foie, it just ends up tasting like a breaded liver ball.  The various rib dishes were great, all the right combinations of fall off the bone tenderness packed with flavor throughout the bite.

All in all a good dinner, when at the Borgata it’s a good place to go with friends for Japanese tapas, and to get that extra special douche feeling.

After dinner I went back to the gym to get my second workout in, I followed the prescribed plan from Potomac Crossfit. 

Monday’s tend to be squat days at PCF, so I knew I would be stuck doing smith machine squats which makes me happy…no it sucks.  I did 3 sets of 5 reps at 225 lbs.  Which I hope equates to about 70% of my 1 RM doing free weight squats.

The metcon today involved doing 3 rounds of the following:

• 25 dead lifts @ 95 lbs
• 25 sit-ups
• Run 400 meters

I did my dead lifts using a roman curling bar, and 35 lbs plates on both sides, which I’m sure is 95 lbs if not more, and the running was done on a treadmill with the incline raised to 1.5 and the speed set to about 6.5 miles per hour.

It took me 16:56 to finish the metcon, I had to navigate through the gym to get to each station, and with people taking my roman bar every round I had to grab people and bark at them to give me my shit back.  During the final round I had to walk for about 20 seconds before I finished the run, my legs were just dead tired. 

I was happy to do a metcon for the first as prescribed, a victory in itself.  Now if I could only get my fat ass doing pull-ups, push-ups, and ring dips I would be in a good place.

We plan on leaving tomorrow morning; I’m excited to get back home.  When not drinking, or gambling Casinos are about as exciting as an eaters anonymous meeting at a public library.