Off the Wagon

This weekend was a bit rough... I started the weekend off with a meeting of the original Sweat Shop Crew at our favorite eatery in greater downtown Indy, Buca di Beppo. It's our favorite mainly because in my former life, the Tanqueray & Tonics flowed like wine. That, and the food is pretty damned good, especially their Macaroni Rosa.
So we started out with a celebratory cocktail. It was celebratory because anymore, we only get together about twice a year, so why not have a cocktail with one's friends?? Being four men with very much non-girlie appetites, we started off with a Spicy Arrabbiata Pizza. It's got a super thin crust with spicy sausage and it was pretty slim on the cheese near the edges. I stuck with only one piece, so I wasn't that bad off. Yet.
Next came the Macaroni Rosa, which is actually rather guilt free unless consumed in volume; corkscrew pasta, baked chicken breast, peas, broccoli, whole mushrooms and a tasty marinara. Yummy. The others wanted some veal Parmesan, so that came last. I wasn't quite down with it but I did eat one bite to not be chastised the rest of the night.
At some point the manager came out and apologized for the slow service that we did not notice. He offered us a few desserts for our trouble. Uh, sure. Cheesecake and some Sambuca drizzled brownie please. Ugh. I had about two bites of cheesecake and the same for the brownie. I felt like even though I fell off the wagon, it was only about 2 ft off the ground. I wasn't stuffed, either, so things were not that bad.
That is, until TK busted out the recently imported Montecristo #2 cigars. We headed to Nicky Blane's cigar bar to find a safe haven.
A quick side on smoking. I pretty much can't stand cigarettes, and cigars aren't far behind but if you've never smoked a cuban, you should. Never inhale (you shouldn't anyway), and Cubans are about as harsh as 1500 grit sandpaper. You don't wake up thinking you tried to eat a bag of cotton balls soaked in molasses.
Back to the story... once lit, the Torpedo burned long and smooth. TK being the aficionado he is, he understands you don't need to burn one to the end to appreciate it. This was nice since the rest of the stogies in the joint had started to take their toll on me, and I was ready to leave.
I was staying with Jeff on the North side of Indy since I was driving up to Fort Fun the next morning to throw down some dubbyas with Don. Since I hadn't seen Jeff for about 4 months, we caught up a bit before turning in for the night, a hefty (for an old guy such as me) 1a. 7a was going to come quite early.
A quick bowl of Cheerios and a bagel with some coffee and I was off. I got to Don's on time an got set up, then got warmed up on the trainer. When I started getting into the meat of the exercise, it was obvious to both Don and me that I was not putting out what my heart rate should have been putting out. Chalk that one up to Friday night. Bad Andy.

I headed in to the shop so I could pick up a few more bits for the bike, then headed up to my old Auburn stomping grounds for my dad's birthday party. While waiting for the time to arrive (surprise party and all) I ended up having a fatty Stout at Mad Anthony's Tap room. If I'm going, I'm going big... The pint was smooth, but I capped it at one. Good Andy.
The rest of the night wasn't super on the intake front but I did single handedly take care of about 3/4 of the broccoli and cauliflower on the veggie tray. Unfortunately there were chips and salsa plus some cheese and crackers, too.
I ended the evening around 11 then woke up around 7. I got some coffee and my interweb surfing done, then headed to breakfast with my mom. A final cup of coffee with Don on the way out of town turned into another 1:30 on the trainer. After that it was time to make the trek home in 7'F temps with 20/25 mph crosswinds the entire 3 hour drive. Sweet.
All in all, it was good to see friends/family I don't see often, but all that was at the expense of the wrong inequality... cal in >= cal out. The benefit to the entire weekend is that now I am officially 100% all-in with no excuses. I'm still on track weight-wise, just need to focus rather than maintain. Training volume is ramping up so that won't be a problem.
Game on.