Day 75 - Boo yah!

90 sec planks mastered! Bam! Is that all you got??? Bring it, Day 76! Ha!

I'm watching Ninja Warrior right now. I don't have cable, never seen this show! OMG, these people are AMAZING!!! I want to be a Ninja Warrior! :) Patrick, why are you not on this show?

Day 74 - Double jumps

Finally, finally, I have successfully done a double jump and continued my jumping. Well, really, finally I've done a double jump. I have been trying and trying and never been able to get my rope around in time. I suspect shortening my rope was the key to my success. Thanks, Patrick. Though, I know my coordination and confidence with the rope are much improved, too. I did 6 double jumps in a continuous set today. Life is good.

I've been super sore this week. My legs were noticeably weaker today than they were on Tuesday, and they were still a bit sore. I think this week is my sorest PCP week so far. That's good, though. Means I've been really pushing myself. Also, my abs are tight. TIGHT. I feel it when I'm standing, walking around and just in general all the time. It's a strange, strange feeling. I can't even force myself to slump nowadays, and I'm all jittery when I sit too long. I have to get up and move around my office at least every half hour or 45 minutes. My legs get tight and uncomfortable if I don't.

And, also, I just want to report how wonderful my day was yesterday. Nothing special happened other than I just sort went through my day with a calm, clear mind. I actually had this beautiful, random tingly sensation of pure joy when I was driving to my landlord's house to pay my rent. That was kinda special. :) Part of my rent requirement is that I drive over there and spend a short time visiting with them. It's a nice relationship. They are an elderly, retired couple. Fascinating folks. Built a sailboat and sailed to the Bahamas every summer when they were my age. Amazing. Anyway, point is, my day was packed full, but I went through it with a kind of acceptance of everything. No stress when I was late. No annoyance when my boss pushed me to meet a deadline, which I met. Just calm. I wish everyday were like yesterday. Maybe I'm getting a little closer to the balance I'm striving for? I don't expect everyday to be like that in the future, but I plan on working to make more days like it. Because in the end, these things don't just magically become a part of our life. We become calm and balanced through practice, lots of practice.

Day 72 - Blasted

That's what I am after these last two workouts. They kicked my rear! My legs are sore today, and I expect my poor arms will be sore tomorrow. Aye yai yai!! OUCH! I never fail at planks, but holy god, 90 seconds is a loooong time. My body just starts to droop in the middle as I'm shaking like there's an earthquake in my tummy...I yank it back, it droops, yank, droop, yank, CRASH! Fail. Cry/laugh with face in floor. Gingerly roll to back and stare at ceiling, frozen, for at least 5 minutes. Wow. I guess I can just expect every one of these last workouts to be intense and full of failure. I really don't think there's anything I didn't fail at tonight...wait, wait, legups, NO FAIL!!! Woohoo!

Also, I want to voice a concern that I haven't been all that hungry lately. It's weird. I feel like with all this work I should be starving or something. But, I only eat on my schedule b/c, well, it's in the schedule. But, if I ate on hunger, I wouldn't eat nearly as regular. So, I haven't been eating all my carbs at lunch, maybe 100 instead of 150. I've made myself eat ALL protein, even when I can't stand the thought of another friggin' egg white. Why? Why am I not hungry? Please enlighten me, oh wise one (that's you Patrick, in case you didn't get it). The last thing I want to do is to burn this hard-earned muscle.

Day 71 - The Road

First off, I'm feeling 90% better today. My stomach is still a bit sensitive, but all other symptoms have disappeared. I got a wonderful night of sleep. Also, new pics posted. Check them out. I'm super impressed with my shoulders.

So today I want to talk about the road from Gainesville, Florida to the Belize border. 2500 miles in 3.5 days. Intense, people. Instead of going through the trip step by step, which I think would be immensely boring, I'm going to touch on some highlights that are PCP related.

One, sitting in a car for 12-16 hours straight is pure torture after being so active for the past 2 months. At the end of Day One, my lower back was in some serious pain. It was so bad I thought I might have trouble sleeping. The pain was partially from sitting ALL DAY, and I think partially from holding in my stinky egg farts. I mean, really, I didn't want to subject Pio to that kind of evil stench. The pain really never subsided; it was always there in the background and most acute after 3 hours of driving. As a passenger, I was able to move around a bit, readjust, take some pressure off, but as the driver, I was stuck in one position until we stopped. It sucked.

Two, there were times during the trip where my snacks and lunches were a bit delayed. This was bad news for my emotional state. Actually, it was a fascinating phenomenon. Pio could tell when I was getting hungry, because my mood swung from chipper, happy Jenny to mean, unfocused, grouchy Jenny. I found it considerably harder to control my temper when it was food time and food was not immediately forthcoming. It wasn't a gradual thing either, it was like a switch flipped. Body says, "FEED ME!!!"

Three, my newfound leg strength made squatting over dirty toilets for long pees so much easier!! I mean, I didn't get tired at all. I actually found myself prolonging my pees just to see how long I could hover over the toilet seat. Awesome new skill.

Four, Mexico has these great new convenience stores scattered all along the road now. OXXOs. OMG!! They were my savior. Ice! They had ice! My milk and yogurt lasted all the way till my last day in Belize because of this godsend. Even more exciting, they were open at 4 AM as we were getting on the road with freshly brewed coffee. Oh OXXO, how I love thee! I've considered writing a letter to the Mexican government and asking that they encourage more of these oases.

Five, I inspired my friend, Pio. As he watched me workout, he remembered his days of martial arts training in Colorado and was determined to get back into decent shape. He was most impressed that I'd done this of my own accord, without any workout buddies. I explained that I had you guys, my TEAM SEXAAAY, and that was the support network that made it possible. In many ways, that is the genius of this project. The accountability. Anyway, here's some pics he took of me working out in Aldama, Mexico. I remember distinctly during this workout the 5 60-second planks. I'm not sure how I completed the last one, but after it was over, I fell to the ground and laughed and cried all at once. I couldn't help it. I was completely overcome with emotion; it was an involuntary reaction.

And, following along this theme, I brought my halfway present, Shambhala, to read in the car. During the hardest part of the road, where we crept along at 35-40 mph because the two lane highway is so bad and there are so many tractor trailers, I pulled it out and began reading it out loud to calm Pio.

An example of the double tractor trailer, pass it or crawl.

What a perfect book for the occasion! It kept me from focusing on the road and feeling stressed by my lack of control over the car, and Pio claims it helped him focus. He also claims that it inspired him to get into public service in Belize. We shall see. :) I gave him the copy before we parted ways. Also, left a copy with Bruce. Bought a new one on Sunday.

Well, y'all, I think that's enough of the road. It's always a great bonding experience, but I was glad when we reached the border. My body was done with being in its boxy, Corolla prison.

Day 70 - Food poisoning?

I woke up this morning with horrible stomach cramps, followed by even worse diarrhea. Sorry, it's true. As the day wore on, I got feverish with muscle cramps and a headache. I forced food down because I wasn't hungry but felt I needed to be eating. I also forced myself through jumps this morning, which weren't too bad but difficult with the cramping. I'm feeling much better now, cramping pretty much gone, but very, very tired. This will be a short post and then off to bed to sleep and recover.

I'm speculating it was a raw egg. That makes me sad because the culprit would be my local eggs. Not sure. I've continued with my raw eggs and am getting better. I know at this point most people would be like forget it, boil them, but maybe it wasn't the eggs. Maybe it's something else? Meh, who knows? Here's hoping I feel 100% better tomorrow!

As an afterthought, I found myself craving a piece of dark chocolate or a bag of skittles or a coke, something sweet & indulgent. I mean, wtf? Why would I want those thing when my stomach is a disaster. Maybe a comfort thing?

UPDATE: I wonder if it was the drinkable yogurt that was in my fridge the entire time I was out of town. It didn't taste too bad, but it was a couple weeks old. Hmmmm....getting rid of it and visiting the store tomorrow.

Day 69 - Quiet day of reflection & my confessions

Literally. That's what I did today. If my fridge wasn't almost completely empty, I wouldn't have left the house. My fridge is now packed full of good stuff! I spent the rest of the day slowly unpacking, doing laundry and other random housework and reflecting on my week away in silence. No music, no nothing. It was good.

I'm having difficulty figuring out where to begin with my adventures. I think I'll start with the confessions, just to get them out of the way. All in all, I did a great job with sticking to the diet, but there were definitely some slip-ups, planned mini-indulgences and unintentional consequences of being on the road. I ate way too much salt. This was the biggest unintentional diet faux pas. Seriously, there is no such thing as eating out or eating at someone else's abode without too much salt. Literally impossible. Sometimes it was overwhelming, the food wasn't bad, just not as good as it would be with less salt.

I had 2 1/2 beers. The first was on the road, at the end of Day 2 driving. Crossing the border was a nightmare (took us 3 hours b/c of a slow-ass, lazy fee processing dude, ARGH!!, should've taken 1 hour or less). Also, within 15 minutes of being across the border, we were pulled over by the policia for a "random check". Psh-shaw! Random my ass! I expect they wanted money. My friend stood strong through his frisking, and I played the clueless American tourist act. They let us go without too much of a fight. It was an amazingly stressful day. Please see Exhibit A below, me enjoying said beer in a restaurant in Aldama, Mexico.

The other beer and 1/2 were Dragon Stouts with my man friend on the last night in Belize. I can only find Dragons (Jamaican beer) in Belize. I swear it is formulated to react as the perfect aphrodisiac with a couple puffs of the MJ. TMI? Ah well, tough shit. I like unadulterated honesty. Since we're on this subject let me just briefly say that sex in near peak condition is AMAZING. Strength, stamina and flexibility. I need say no more.

Let's see, other confessions. OH, I had one powder bun fresh out of the oven. These are like the Belizean version of snickerdoodles, but a little more doughy. I was visiting some Belize family and was offered one. As far as I'm concerned, I was required to eat it, period. When in a foreign country where the majority of people bust their asses for what little they have, one does not turn down offered food. Especially when it's a special treat. Eating 4 or 5, bad. Eating 1, acceptable.

I had some unlawful dinner carbs on 3 occasions. A few fresh tortilla chips, a Johnny cake and a flour tortilla. I was weak on these occasions. I didn't have to eat them. No one would have been offended. I just wanted them, home-made and so tasty. I regret them only a little, but forgave myself quickly and moved on.

And, my last confession. I skipped Day 64 workout. It was the last driving day. We woke up at 4AM, on the road by 4:45 AM, arrived at the Mexico/Belize border around noon, left the border around 4 PM and arrived in Crooked Tree around 5:30 PM. I spent the rest of the evening with my special friend (he has a name, it's Bruce), relaxing, unwinding from the road and falling asleep blissfully early. My body needed the rest. Being on the road is stressful and hard on the body. As much as I hate that I missed a workout, I know that at the time, it was the right thing to do.

And, that's that for this post. I'll move onto other aspects of my week away in subsequent posts, but I don't want to throw it all at y'all at once. And, I'm making a commitment to limiting my blogging/computer time. My day with the MacBook is through for now.

It IS good to be back and in touch with everyone again. I missed my team, a lot, and as much as part of me wishes I were still in my cabin by the waterside, it is wonderful to be home.

Day ? - I'm back!

I'm back from my time warp and trying to settle back into my normal routine. Lots of housework and whatnot to take care of today. I'll give a more detailed report of my PCP road trip experience over the next few days. To whet your appetite, I present a short clip of me jumping in the hallway of a Mexican hotel. This is the end of Day 3 of driving. The hotel is just outside of Villahermosa, Mexico. This series of criss-crosses caused some curious Mexicanos to stick their heads out of their doors and look at me as if I were insane. :)

Leaving Belize is always bitter-sweet for me, but it's good to be back home. Must go catch-up now!