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PrimalCon

PrimalCon 2013

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I’m just back from a fantastic Paleo trip to America (Jetlag is most definitely not Paleo). A couple of weeks after PaleoFX in Austin, Texas, I made my way to Oxnard, California, for my third year at Mark Sisson’s PrimalCon weekend. Unlike the Ancestral Health Symposium, or PaleoFX, PrimalCon is a hands on practical weekend. As well as hearing about all things Paleo – the focus is on doing.

PrimalCon Oxnard CA 2013

With relatively small numbers of attendees – and lots of different presenters, there’s a chance to meet and speak to everyone. There are lots of regulars, who attend each year, but it was also great to meet so many new faces – as well as some others from Australia and the UK!

With Kelly Starrett and the Gokhale family, there were several session on posture, mobility – and the correct way to stand and move to avoid injury. Whilst these sessions were completely different, it was interesting that their methods and ideas are completely complimentary – hardly surprising as they’re based on how we’re supposed to move.

Another highlight of PrimalCon for me was finally meeting Sarah Fragoso of Everyday Paleo – who really is every bit as lovely and knowledgeable in real life as she is on her podcast!

Chef Rachel Albert gave another fantastic cooking demonstration. It’s amazing how many simple tips I pick up each year, despite being a regular in the kitchen myself!

I also loved William Vives Kettlebell session and as usual, learnt lots of new techniques that I can’t wait to practice at my Crossfit box. There were a few other fitness sessions too, such as barefoot running and sprinting techniques – and I especially loved the Olympic Lifting session – I can’t wait to master that!

As always, the food was absolutely fantastic. A local Paleo food truck (so jealous we don’t have those in Sydney!) provided a lot of the catering, and there was such a huge variety of grass fed meats, burgers, salads, veggies, nut butter – and an amazing coconut bark! It’s so nice to be able to dive into all of the food on offer, without even having to ask what is in the meatball sauce. You just know it’s 100% Paleo!

What would you most enjoy about an event like PrimalCon? The people, food or particular activities?

PrimalCon

7,497 Miles to PrimalCon

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One of the highlights of 2011 so far was the weekend I went to PrimalCon 2011 in California in April.  I enjoyed it so much, that I booked my ticket for the 2012 event as soon as the tickets went on sale this morning.

Sunset at PrimalCon-min

Sunset at PrimalCon

I hadn't realised quite how far America was from Australia when I booked this year.  I went at quite short notice and used my air miles, so didn't pay too much attention to minor details like flight times.  I was trying to minimise time off work, so I left Australia on the Friday and flew back on the Sunday night.  This was a big mistake!  I now know very well that Los Angeles is a very long 14 hour 7,497 mile flight from Sydney.  To make matters worse, as I used my air miles, I was assigned a very impressive route of Sydney to Brisbane, a night in Brisbane, a flight from Brisbane to Melbourne, then finally I got on my international flight at Melbourne!

It was all for the best however, as I met a wonderful new friend on the flight to LA, who was also attending PrimalCon (with just two people going from Australia, what were the chances of us being on the same flight?)

I'm planning to make PrimalCon 2012 into a much more sensible length America trip, especially as it falls the weekend after Easter.

I made some lifelong Primal friends in April, in fact, I spent a wonderful week in Texas with two of my PrimalCon friends, and met up with some others at the AHS in August.  I'm really looking forward to catching up with them and making some more Primal friends.

Over the whole weekend, the food was incredible.  So much was local Californian produce and it was great to have things like Kale and Turkey, which I find so difficult to find here in Australia (if you know of any good sources here, please let me know in the comments!)

One of my highlights from the weekend was the running workshop with Barefoot Ted.   I learnt so much from him and my running style has changed forever.  In fact, it was his workshop that inspired me to buy my Vibrams!  I'm thrilled to see Barefoot Ted is back again for next year’s event – hopefully I can refine my technique further still.
Barefoot-Ted-PrimalCon-Paleo-Network-min

Erwan Le Corre is a new presenter for the 2012 event.  I really enjoyed his talk and demonstration on MovNat at the AHS this year, and to have the opportunity to have a small group workshop with the guy who does this is incredibly exciting!

I just received my latest Amazon book order of Exuberant Animal by Frank Forencich yesterday – so couldn't believe it when I read Frank Forencich is also a presenter at PrimalCon!  I’d better get started on his book…

Hopefully we'll be able to get Mark Sisson over to Australia/ New Zealand in the near future, but in the meantime…  anyone else coming to PrimalCon with me?