Jun 12, 2007

Let's see if I can even make it a week on a diet like this:
  • 2000 calories per day
  • 30-35% protein from whole food sources (no shakes!)
  • 10-15% carbs like spinach, broccoli, green beans, asparagus, zucchini, cauliflower, different color peppers, carrots, tomatoes
  • 55-60% fat with an even mixture of saturates, polyunsaturates, and monounsaturates
  • Roughly: 200 lbs, 2000kcal, 150g protein, 50g carbs, 132g fat
  • Four meals a day, even split of macronutrients
  • Supplements:
    • 5g of BCAAs and 2.5g creatine 4x day
    • Greens+ 1x day
    • Multi-vitamin 1x day
    • ZMA 1x day
    • 3g fish oil 3x day
    • 3 Hot Rox 3x day
    • Power Drive 2x day
The biggest issue I see here is creating the proper meals four times a day. It will probably take 1.5 hours per day in prep and cooking so this is definitely a strong commitment. I should probably just go to the store once a week and have a huge veggie chopping session. I could then portion it all out then so I don't have to think before each meal.

Jun 11, 2007

Chicken satay? That worked. Chocolate-covered cherries? Also worked. Curried rice pilaf? Fine. Persian kabobs? Not so good! I cannot make a tender beef recipe to save my life. They tasted fine, especially since I marinaded them for 48 hours in yogurt, onion and mint, but they were tough again. Does anyone have tips for tenderizing meat? I know it's not just the cut of meat I used as I have tendency to do this to every cut of beef. The pieces were grilled to a medium, medium-well state, so I'm sure that hurts it. I bet if I had a grill and a good marinade, I could do it right.

Jun 5, 2007

Introducing the OMGWTFestiva.

I figured I should start discussing my impending doom at the hands of an econobox racecar. As previously announced, I'm partaking in the 24 Hours of LeMons in a little over a month. We picked up a Festiva in track form for $350. The car spent the last two season dirt track racing down in Monroe and while being a little more than beat up, the decals also had to go:



Putting a roll cage into any other car would have cost about $1,000 minimum so we saved quite a bit of cash right there. The chassis, cage, engine and transmission were solid. The suspension, brakes, wheels, tires, seat, harness.... not so much. Here is the list of what we have done and will do:
  1. Strip decals
  2. Install seat mount
  3. Install seat
  4. Install harness
  5. Replace brakes
  6. Replace radiator
  7. Install drain plug in radiator
  8. Replace suspension
  9. Install something in place of windshield
  10. Replace wheels
  11. Replace tires
  12. Remount battery
  13. Replace all fluids
  14. Paint?
The suspension is halfway done, I believe. One of the other team members is doing most of this work and I do believe he has replaced the rear beam. The fact that the car was in "working" condition from the start was a huge benefit. It was obviously trailered home when purchased, but here is a video of it firing up: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oWNj6SeC9g8. Push button start what.

Another requirement is that every team member must have a proper helmet and race suit. I have the helmet (three seasons of autocrossing, thanks) and I'm pretty sure of which suit I want: G-Force 545, in blue of course. Clare calls this the moonsuit and strikes off into endless giggles anytime it is mentioned. I'm pretty sure I'll need to clean pee off the carpet when she actually sees me in it.

We should be finishing up most of the car this weekend. I'll try to get a large number of pictures but those will wait until after paint if we decide to do that. Look back here in about six weeks for a huge trip report; I'm psyched!