CALORIE CONTEST WINNER

(I thought a picture of Annabelle in her Halloween costume was appropriate for the announcement of the CALORIE CONTEST WINNER)

Due to an unfair competitive advantage by being Mark's former roommate, in college and during the 2004 Olympic games, Bryce (who guessed 3,600 calories) has been disqualified.

So, without further adieu...

Congratulations...
Anna Calhoun

You guessed that Mark would eat 3,500 calories in a normal training day. Mark actually consumed....

3,740.5 calories

Here is the breakdown:

3/4 cup plain oatmeal	225
1 package brown sugar oatmeal	160
3/8 cup raisins	200
4 eggs	400
3/4 cup plain oatmeal	225
1 package brown sugar oatmeal	160
3/8 cup raisins	200
10oz cup of coffee with cream and sugar	70
1 apple	65
1 cup of black beans and rice	190
1/2 cup Lima beans	88
1 grilled chicken breast	120
2 tbsp ketchup	30
Turkey, roast beef, ham and provolone sandwich (lettuce, tomato, onion, spicy mustard and mayo)	673
pickle spear	5
16oz Gatorade	100
1.5 cups General Tso's chicken	439.5
1/2 cup fried rice	160
Chicken lo mien	230
Total	3740.5

Though there can only be one winning guess... we were overwhelmed with the amount of participation. So, Mark decided that next 5 closest guesses should receive an autographed USA swim cap. The additional 5 winners are:

Rob Butcher (Executive Director of U.S. Masters Swimming)
Renae Mitchell
Fiona Lee
Jenni
Pamela (Sorry... no last name, but you left a comment on the blog!)

Please email us your shipping address to receive your autographed swim cap at everydayolympian@gmail.com.

We also just got word that Mark's book: S.W.I.M. Setting Goals with Mark Gangloff will be shipped in the coming weeks. I think this would make an excellent prize for another contest, but what contest? Have any ideas?

CALORIE CONTEST

It is sooooooooo on.

I talked to Mark a couple of days ago about my CALORIE CONTEST idea. He agreed to humor me and participate.

Here is the deal:

Everyone ALWAYS asks how much Mark eats (Thanks to a 2008 Michael Phelps interview during which he claimed to eat 10,000 calories a day)

I don't really even know how many calories Mark eats a day

We have a closet full of cool stuff (gear, apparel, and awesome souvenirs from our crazy travels) just begging to be loved by someone

So....

Friday (October 22, 2010) Mark will be keeping a food diary. He will write down everything he eats. He will be training three times that day (a morning pool workout, a weight workout mid morning, and an afternoon pool workout).

How many calories do you think Mark will eat on this typical training day?

Email your guess to everydayolympian@gmail.com. We will select a winner the following Monday (October 25, 2010).

Prize? Well, after quick cleaning of the closet, Mark and I put together a little goodie bag that includes:

• An Olympic drawstring backpack
• A speedo ball cap
• An authentic Olympic plastic bracelet from Beijing (I bought it right outside of the Bird's Nest! Ahhhhh.... memories)
  
• A Samsung "official sponsor of the 2008 Olympics" polo shirt
• An autographed swim cap (Mark Gangloff... duh!)

Ready? Set? Guess!

French toast

I haven't posted in about a week for a couple of reasons: (1) we are now in the 'pete and repeat were sitting on a boat' phase of our year--you know, eat, sleep, swim, travel, work, feed baby, eat, sleep, swim, etc. so I'm not sure what merits mention on the blog, and (2) I am crazy busy with all of the abovementioned activites.

But, whether or not this is impressive to anyone else, I must share how many pieces of French toast (homemade by Mark himself) Mark ate on Saturday morning.

Want to guess?

8-10! He stacked them up like pancakes. We finished off the entire loaf.

After Michael Phelps told Anderson Cooper that he eats 10,000 calories a day, people have been utterly interested in Mark's caloric intake (and they ask me... as if I count how many calories my husband eats throughout the day).

The truth is that I, too, wonder how many calories Mark eats in a single day.

Ohhhhh.... I am sensing a little experiment coupled with a contest. Stay tuned for details...

Enchiladas and Cheerios

It's that time of year. You know, the time of year when your husband is training so hard that he is eating a million-ga-zillion times a day and can't hardly wait long enough for you to give him a fork before he tears through last night's leftovers.

Last night, Mark came home from pracitce. I think the clock said 6:02pm. I was already home with the baby. I was taking my time. Playing, thinking about what to cook for dinner, blah, blah, blah. When Mark stumbled in the door he asked what we were having for dinner as he opened the fridge. Before I could complete my answer he had leftovers from the night before in his hand (half of a 9x13 dish of enchiladas). At that moment I realized that it was an every-man-for-himself type of night.

Mark hardly warmed the leftovers before he ate them (all of them). I had a bowl of cheerios. Dinner was 'made' and eaten by 6:13.

Mark is training hard now-really hard. He is training with the college kids, which is great, but I think it makes him feel old (physically, mentally, emotionally). They do things that he doesn't do anymore like 5,000+ yards 2.5 hours in the water. Well, I guess I should say, used to not do anymore. Now that he is training with them... he does.

After college in 2004, Mark continued to train with the college team. In 2006, however, he started training only with fellow pros (post grads and other 'old guys' like him). From Auburn, Mark moved to Charlotte for 2 years to train with David Marsh and there, too, he swam only with other pros. See, the pros get more of a say regarding what kind of training and how much training they do. Not because they are prima donnas (though some of them are-I'm not mentioning any names), but because after so many years of experience at such an elite level, these athletes know their bodies better than any coach. Coaches listen to these atheltes. Additionally, Mark has drank the sprinter/race-pace/short-bursts-of-intense-effort Kool-aid and for the last few years has really worked with his coaches to implement this type of training. From Charlotte, we moved back to Auburn and Mark began training with the pro team. The pro team, though they used the facilities and same coaching staff as the college team, trained at different times and were on a totally different program (much like the Kool-aid previously mentioned). Now, after much discussion and analysis with coaches and other trainers, Mark is back to training with the college kids.

Mark's coach is still congniscent of Mark's stage in his swimming life (especially since Mark is primarily a sprint breaststroker-and 'old' one at that), however when training with the college team, you just have to put your head down and do what your told. Why? A) To set a good example and B) because Mark has faith in his coaches' ability to guide him in the right direction--towards the fastest swims possible. He trusts that they have his best interests at heart.

So, last night after another hard, long, practice, Mark ate enough enchiladas to feed the entire wait staff at a Mexican restaraunt. I had a bowl of cheerios.

And I thought winning a gold medal was going to be easy...

This week has rough. Mark is now training at 6:30am, which means that I now have to workout at 5:30 am so that I am back from my run in time to be home (for the baby) before Mark leaves at 6:20. Needless to say that I am pooped by about 9am. On Monday when I tried to call Mark at about that time to complain about how tired I was I got no answer. I called again at 10am. Still no answer. Finally, around lunch time, Mark picked up. "Hello?!" I said only to hear, "Ugh... I feel like $&#*." I almost went directly into panic mode-car accident? Flu? Or something worse?

Nope. Weight room. Mark started back to weights this week and began a new program. Metabolic lifting. Huh? Aerobic, fast-paced, never-a-rest type of lifting. He was done (like the Thanksgiving turkey kind of done).

Monday night at dinner he looked at me and said, "That was really hard," with a pouty look on his face.

Oh... is our everyday Olympian tired?

So, I leaned forward, looked right into his eyes as if I were going to say something sweet, nurturing or encouraging and instead I said...

"... and I thought winning an individual Olympic gold medal was going to be easy..."

He smiled, picked up his fork and went back to his dinner. I, on the other hand, laughed out loud.

Perfectly packaged meals... Like Daddy like daughter

This past weekend I decided to venture into the world of homemade baby food. As I finished up and poured the pureed veggies into ice cube trays for easy freezing and storing, I realized that this is now the second person in the family to eat perfect portioned, pre-packaged, homecooked meals every day.

When Mark grills chicken... he really grills chicken. There have been times that he will grill 12-15 chicken breasts at one time. What does he do with all of this chicken? He packs them perfectly in tupperware containers for the rest of the week.

He says he doesn't like to have to think about what to eat or how to make it in time to satisfy his hunger.

Mark makes a pot full of black beans and rice, a pot full of mixed veggies and chicken breasts galore. He then portions out a serving of each of the three foods into tupper ware containers for easy lunches that get him ready for afternoon practices. He has even figured out that if he puts the chicken breast in first (upside down) then the black bean and rice and veggies in on top of the chicken that when he flips the tupperware container onto a plate that the meal will be perfectly right side up.

He believes, for him (this might not be the best meal for everyone), that this is the meal that makes him feel the best for his afternoon training sessions. This meal is his lunch. He then, most nights, eat chicken for dinner, too. There have been weeks that we consume almost 18 chicken breasts. I'm afraid that soon we will start growing feathers and laying eggs.

The funniest part about Mark's lunch is the plate that he eats it off of. I have beautiful ceramic dishes, however they do not microwave well. So, Mark uses acrylic monkey plates (plates that are in the shape and design of a monkey face-designed for toddlers) to reheat and eat his pre-practice meal off of. That poor monkey plate is filled to the brim with Mark's lunch.

So, Annabelle eats one cube of fruit and one cube of veggies at each feeding and Mark eats a monkey plate full of chicken, black beans and rice, and veggies. Simple.

Don't get anything on that shirt!

We eat spaghetti at least once, maybe twice, sometimes three times per week. Why? It is cheap. It is filling. And, when there is spaghetti there will be left overs (perfect for a family of three-, okay one of us is only 6 months old and doesn't even eat "real" food yet-who consumes a ridiculous amount of food per week).

I made spaghetti for dinner the other night.

The other night Mark had come home after practice to relax for about 45 minutes before he headed back out the door for a speaking engagement. Mark talks at the Auburn Swim Camp every summer and loves it. As he was rushing through the backdoor I noticed that he had changed out of the old raggedy t-shirt that he had worn to practice and into a crisp, clean, white polo shirt that, very obviously, showcased the Olympic rings-Ralph Lauren designed the 2008 Olympic games opening and closing ceremonies attire for the U.S. and each and every piece of clothing and accessory that Mark received as a member of the U.S. team was fabulous.

As Mark rushed out the door I yelled, "Don't get anything on that shirt..."

I cannot count how many special shirts, jackets and other "official" gear we have ruined with a fork full of spaghetti, a slippery buffalo wing or a splash of diet coke. Needless to say, I was fearful for that poor, unassuming, white shirt as I stirred the tomato sauce to a perfect simmer.

When Mark returned home from his speaking engagement-which he seemed proud of-I was waiting with a bowl full of spaghetti for him. I looked at him, then down at his shirt, then back to him. Before I said anything, Mark said, "Don't worry... I'll change before I eat."

The white Olympic polo survived and is now, once again, hung nicely at the back of our closet.