Benjamin Palmer

Instead, I’m refocusing and aiming for Frankenthon  - a low-key marathon in Cedar Park on flat-ish pavement/crushed granite, with optional soft grass path. It consists of 3 loops, 8.75 miles each. 

The race is actually capped at 150 runners and since I will be shooting for ~ 3:00 marathon, if the caliber of racers is similar to last year I should be fighting in the front pack!

The race is on October 22nd, so I’m currently 12 weeks out which is a solid chunk to get in some solid training. I took the last 5 days “off” focusing on mobility/yoga. Feeling super fresh now and ready to get at it. 

As my schedule each week changes a little each week, my weekly training flow may change but in general a week will look like: 

• 4 CrossFit WODs 
• 3 CrossFit Endurance run WODs 
• 1 Yoga class
• 1 total off day 

Post 3-month of Frankethon prep? - 2 month mass gain phase so I can ask for new clothes for X-MASS? ha. 

Most of my readers live in Austin and know how…warm..it is this time of year. In case you are not from the ATX - then please check the graphic below 

Now, compound that spicy weather with a solar-powered house without air conditioning, and my summer survival strategy looks like a combination of cold showers, jhorts and constant hydration. I try to cook enough for leftovers as eating piping hot off the stove meals at 6PM usually results in sweat dripping off my nose and into my freshly prepared meals : / 

Part of my hydration strategy involves a daily bottle of Topo Chico, the ubiquitous mexican sparkling mineral water - which with a squeeze of lemon or lime rings very close to a Sprite and is just oh-so refreshing on a soul melting summer afternoon. 

Hot coffee doesn’t have to much appeal to me past 8am either but luckily enough about the time when Austin started adopting 4th layer of hell-esque heat levels I discovered a new local company producing a primo cold-brewed coffee, Chameleon Cold Brew. This makes the most insanely good coffee drinks ever and outshines and cold-brew coffee I’ve had at other shops or made at home. They also get bonus points for the glass container and good branding. 

Careful thou they aern’t messing around when they say its 3x concentrated…have totally gotten the hand jitters while making Sunday brunch and slamming down three one to many cups of raw cream/chameleon/cinnamon delisciousness. 

So anyway thought I’d combine two of my favorite summer liquids and the results is, as expected - the combination is a great healthy treat that totally tastes like a soda, but with only a touch of sweetness added from maple syrup. 

Chameleon Chico 

• 1 glass bottle Topo Chico 
• 4 oz Chamelon Cold Brew 
• 1.5 tsp maple syrup 

1. Pour together in your most pretentious beverage holder
2. Cheers

Aern’t you refreshed just from this photo?

When I first began preparing food for myself meal time was a messy and complicated experience - encompassing many different bowls, plates and utensils. Years later I’ve titrated down to a rather minimalist kitchen game. 

80% of my meals are prepared using these tools: 

• stainless steel skillet
• good chef knife
• steel spatula 
• cutting board

and these spices etc. 

• curry
• berbere
• raw butter
• sea salt
• coconut aminos

Once a week I’ll also pull out the crock pot and/or dutch oven for some stew or braised meat type of action. 

How simple or complex is your kitchen game?

While traveling and visiting my relatives in the Northeast (and relishing in the cooler weather!) I still kept up on my training to the extent that I could. 

I was lucky to have literally backyard access to a series of trails on a ski slope in Vermont for some great rugged hill repeats and trail tempo runs BUT the real fun came in getting creative with equipment with what I could rummage up from my grandparents garages - so my WOD’s incorporated such movements as

• turkish get-ups with paint cans
• farmers walks with large buckets of water
• thrusters/lunges/bent-over rows with cinder blocks
• pushing/pulling a full wheelbarrows
• parallettes made of cinder block/bricks (see pic) 

I’m sure my grandparents thought I was crazy but I had fun : )