After a month of hard work and clean eating, the final votes for our Spring LEANing Paleo challenge are in, and we have winners!  Before revealing the winners, I want to tell everyone how proud of you I am.  Outside of the winners, we had multiple who lost 10 or more lbs, including Niki Vasquez, losing over 16lbs. and Martin Armstrong losing over 20lbs!  Great job everyone, I hope to see you all keeping up with your new Paleo lifestyle.  If I can be of any help in keeping you on track, let me know how to help you.

On to the big announcement:  In the Men’s category, Brian Becker has won by a landslide, and on the women’s side it came down to a tie between Lori Barolo, and Mia Buehler.  The three winners will split the grand prize money, as well as receive a free month of training here at Wine Country CrossFit.  Congratulations!

Schedule Announcement:  No Classes On Monday May 31

In celebration of Memorial day, there will be no classes held at Wine Country CrossFit on Monday, May 31.  I hope everyone has a fun filled long weekend!

-Ryan

We had so much fun at the Bay to Breakers, that we need to get to another event ASAP!  Kris Keetch sent me a link to something that looks pretty fun, and supports a good cause.  Coming up on June 26th is the Napa Valley Salmon Run.  (Please click the link for more info and to register)  At this event, you have your choice of a 5K or 10K, which winds its way through Yountville.  Not to deter anyone, but sadly I don’t think we will see as many naked people at this event.  If you are interested, please shoot me an email, respond to this blog, or send me a Facebook message (are you following us on Facebook yet?).  We’ll set up a fun group day for everyone.  What a great way to get to know some of your CrossFit friends than to go and sweat a little more with them.  Think about it this way: the cool thing about running is that you can actually talk to your friends while participating!

Have you participated in this event before?  Have any ideas of how to make this a great event for your fellow CrossFitters?  Post me a comment, or send me an email: ryan@wccrossfit.com.

Thank you to Stephen from the 6pm class for sending me this great Paleo chip recipe!

Need something to put your guacamole on?  Hankering for the tortilla chips you haven’t had for a few weeks?  Give these a try, I think they’re a pretty darn good replacement.

Note: when I made these this afternoon, I didn’t roll them thin enough.  The edges came out great, but the center was a bit soft.  Be sure to roll them out really thin.

Caveman Almond Crackers

Grand Opening!

Don’t forget we have our official Grand Opening this weekend.  Come on by the gym from 3-6pm for a workout, food and fun.  This grand opening is open to the general public, so please bring along any of your friends or family that might be interested in CrossFit.  Schedule of events:

• 3:15 – Ribbon Cutting Ceremony by City of Napa
• 3:30 – CrossFit Kids Workout
• 4:00 CrossFit Workout for Teens and Adults

Food and drink will be provided.  Hope to see everyone there!

-Ryan

The Bay to Breakers is almost here!  This year will mark the 99th annual running of a race widely considered the most fun and outrageous running events of the year, and guess what… It’s right in our back yard!

I have often thought about going down to run this event, but never pulled the trigger.  Have you had the same feelings?  Have you run it before?  Are you interested to see what all of this high intensity training has done for your ability to run a long distance?  Now is your chance to test it all out.

This year’s Bay to Breakers takes place on May 16th, 2010.  I propose getting together the biggest group of Wine Country CrossFitters that we can to go down for a day of running and fun.  If you are interested, please post a reply to this blog, or shoot me an email.  If we can get a total of 10 people together, we can get a group rate on registration bringing the entry fee down to $42.  I will need to know by the end of this week if you plan to compete, as the race will need names for pre-registration.  To sweeten the deal, Wine Country CrossFit will throw in a WCCF T-shirt and water bottle to any member who goes along.

What do you have to lose?  Let’s go have some fun together.

More Information can be found at the race’s website: http://www.baytobreakers.com/

Beth, no monkey suit this year

-Ryan

If you have ever attended a 6am class, you undoubtedly have trained with one of our favorite CrossFitters, Judy Naimo. Judy has been one of our biggest supporters right from the start, even giving Wine Country CrossFit a temporary home in her parking lot this fall as we were making the move to our new building. Along the way Judy has made some great leaps in her fitness that anyone could be proud of.

This Tuesday is Judy’s 1 year anniversary at Wine Country CrossFit. We will be holding a special anniversary WOD during the 6am class to commemorate Judy’s first year of CrossFitting.

Come on out and brave the early morning with us this Tuesday while we celebrate this great occasion!

-Ryan

So you’ve heard Beth and I ramble on about this “Paleo” diet challenge coming up, and maybe even thought about giving it a try, but maybe you thought it would be too hard to make the change, or maybe you just couldn’t fit it into your hectic lifestyle.  I am here today to tell you that YOU CAN MAKE IT WORK.  With a little preparation, it is very simple to make the switch to eating foods that will better fuel you for your workouts, generally make you feel and function better through the day, and make any excess body fat melt off your body.  For the last year, while holding a full time job, and getting Wine Country CrossFit off the ground, I have consistently eaten Paleo, or Zone/Paleo (Paleo which is weighed and measured to precise proportions).  I am not some special case who has eaten well his whole life, I made a switch and saw enough gain to stick with it.  Sure, there have been stumbles along the way, and a few extra “cheat days” here and there, but I don’t beat myself up over that, I get up the next morning and make myself a good Paleo breakfast and get back on the horse.

Chicken with Mushrooms and Greens from Everyday Paleo

I have a few favorite websites that I would encourage everyone to take a look at for some great ideas of how Paleo works, and how to make it a part of your daily life.  I’ll be posting them one or two at a time here in the upcoming blogs, so keep an eye out for them.

The first one I will throw your way is Everyday Paleo .  This is a blog written by a great CrossFit trainer up in Chico (She is actually who trains me when I go there to visit my family from time to time) which details the Paleo meals that she prepares for her family on a day to day basis.  It is a great way to get ideas for the age old question “What is for dinner tonight?”.

Tuesday and Thursday 6am Where You At?

I know I have blogged about this before, but attendance is really weak in the Tuesday and Thursday 6am classes.  If you are looking for a way to get some more attention, or the other classes are feeling a bit crowded, please come check out the bleary eyed coaches at 6am.  We are considering canceling classes if things don’t pick up.  We don’t want that and we know you don’t either, so come keep us company in mornings!

Post your thoughts and musings to the comments!  I want to hear from you.  What do you think about this Paleo stuff?

Oh man, I almost forgot today is P.R. Thursday!  Let’s hear about your P.R.’s for the week!  How’d that CrossFit Total go?  How about Fran, Annie, or Fight Gone Bad?  We had a lot of benchmarks in the last week, I want to hear some P.R.s!

-Ryan

Join us tomorrow, Saturday, at 9.00AM for the weekend workout in the new gym. And, get your new Wine Country CrossFit T shirt while you are at it!

-Beth

Thanksgiving Day workout is at 8.00AM. This is an all levels class that is for those curious about CrossFit and those already experienced. So bring your visiting out of town relatives and friends, and show them what you’ve been up to. After this workout you are guaranteed to fit more PIE in your belly!

Friday we will have one workout at 9.00AM. Come to work off that extra PIE you put in your belly.

Weekend schedule is Sunday at 9.00AM.

Finally, thanks again for all the support that has landed us in our new training location!

-Beth

Come to 852 Jackson Street on Sunday morning at 9AM, and attend the FIRST workout in the new gym. Be with us to make history.

Special thanks to our hearty helpers  Kyle, Russell, Kris, Marco, Thaddeus, Alessia, Micah and Max today as we got everything moved in two easy trips. We spent the rest of the day cleaning and organizing, and can’t wait for the fun to begin.

Now we’re legit!

Thanks again to all our great helpers.

-Beth

We will move from the ranch to 852 Jackson at 9AM on Saturday morning. Join us for the warm up, which is loading everything up. The workout we’ll do at the new site. Burritos and T shirts (when we get them) provided for all the helpers!

-Beth