Your Wine Tasting Guide to Paso Robles

Grand Total: 16.5 miles

* 13 easy
* 3.5 speed / intervals

The month has been off to a slow start, but it's still more than I managed last week, so....win? Psuedo-win? At least not losing too badly?

Monday: Karate + strength. I'd also planned to go to a yoga class on my lunch break, but then I ended up having to spend the day at an off-site meeting in San Jose. Curses.

Tuesday: 4 easy. I spent most of Tuesday frantically preparing for a work trip & then driving to said work trip. I finished my prep around ten, and as much as I wanted to go to bed, I knew I'd be a happier person if I jumped on the hotel treadmill for at least a few miles. Lo & behold, I was right.

Wednesday: 3 easy / 3.5 speed work -- 1.5 warm up + 1600m @ HM pace / 1:30 jog + 2 x (800m @ 10K pace + 2:00 jog) + 1600m @ HM pace + 1.5 cool down. Another evening on the hotel treadmill (which I've become pretty adept at doing speed work on). This was my first speed session of the new year, and although it was not particularly speedy (a few months ago I was doing this workout at 10K / 5K pace rather than HM / 10K), it ended up not killing me, so hey! Progress.

It is totally easy to beat people when they don't know you're racing.
Can I use this to my advantage in future races?

As long as I was trapped in a hotel room without much to do, I also did ~45 minutes of internet yoga on Wednesday evening post-run. OH MY GOD, I can't even tell you how good it felt. I am more excited than ever to FINALLY actually go to a real class at my new gym (someday...).

Thursday: 6 miles easy. Two miles into this run, I felt a familiar pain in the outside edge of my left foot which only got worse. By four miles I'd reached eye watering levels of pain & spent most of Thursday evening & Friday morning half-limping. Grumblegrumblegrumble.

Friday: 1.5 wu+ 2(1600m @ HMP / 2:00 jog) + 1.5 cd. Rest. I think there is a training rule that says if you're still limping halfway through the day from the previous day's run, another run is a bad idea.

Instead I packed up to spend the weekend with Don & his folks in Paso Robles drinking wine. Although Don & I are usually down there a few times a year, this was the first time for his parents, so we took them to all our favorite spots. If you ever make the trip, here are our "can't miss" places:

• Tablas Creek - Kind of a drive and also not terribly cheap, but well worth a stop if you've never been. VERY very very very French, several fun & unusual varieties, & just about everything *spectacular*.
• Lone Madrone - Super conveniently located, LM is the secondary project of Tablas Creek's winemaker. Their stuff tends to be a little more affordable & a little less French, but still very very nice. We've gotten some great deals here.
• Kenneth Volk - In the same building as Lone Madrone & run by the wine maker who used to run Wild Horse. Tons of unusual / cool varietals & interesting blends, impeccable wine making, & reasonable prices for the quality.
• L'Aventure - Big French wines made to age. Drinking them in the tasting room is only the faintest shadow of what they're actually intended to taste like, but even super-young, their stuff is hard to beat. It's pretty rare that I think a wine with a $60-80 price tag is worth it, but these are. Lay a few bottles down & in ten years or so you'll marvel at what a great bargain you got.
• Terry Hoage - I went through a period of being kind of down on Terry Hoage, but we stopped by again this weekend and everything was fantastic. Big, rich Rhone varietals & blends. Not cheap, but a lovely tasting spot (with a great view). Their whites are my favorite.

The view from Terry Hoage

• Turley - Big, bold California zin, mostly, though they occasionally do other varietals. I would say that 90% of the wine I've had done in this style ends up tasting like high-alcohol fruit bombs, but Turley pulls it off. Not necessarily great with food all the time, but well-balanced & delicious.
• Fratelli Perata - Now this is where you go for restrained yet delicious, high-acidity, food-friendly wine. They mostly do Italian varietals but also have a few French-style offerings done in an Italian style. And so reasonably priced!!
• Alta Colina - Tiny tiny little family operation tasting out of a tiny tiny little upstairs room on the north side. Really lovely Rhone blends for quite reasonable prices.
• Caperone - One of the oldest wineries in Paso by far, Caperone is worth a stop just for the fun of it. Which is not to say that the wine isn't good -- mostly Italian varieties, very acidic / food friendly, nothing for sale less than ~5 years old, & everything $14 per bottles (before half-case / case discounts). No fancy castles or manicured lawns, but some damn tasty (CHEAP) wine.

That's where we took them off the top of my head, but if you're ever down there & need recommendations, I will totally hook you up!