Day 85 - 86, Report for Tuesday and 'I-spy'

Sleep - just 6.5 hours. Paid extra to get a reserved seat on my tripto Kozu. This meant I arrived feeling refreshed and got the am jumps done on the station platform. Felt a minor triumph.

WO
Did I give my all? Yes. Could have worked harder to get to a faster failure, but I got there. And spent a bit of time with The Gang too. Thanks to Kristi for her encouragement!

Nutrition
Weakest part of the day. Breakfast and snacks all good. Lunch at clients, (first one out of the PCP) included some processed meat and a spring roll, which I ate. Fruit afterwards. Pleased that I took a homemade 'bento' (tinned fish, rye bread, cabbage) and I ate early before WO. Had a bit of yakitoria from a stand to 'make up' for missing protein at lunch - but it was dunked in sauce before I could stop her. And I ate it. Anyway, I'm starting to sound obsessed, so I'll say one more time I HATE EATING OUT ON PCP and shut up.

On a more relaxed note!

Here is a picture of me in my PCP-ed out home. How many PCP-related things can you see?

(Yes, I know I need to get out more.)

In celebration of the group behind at Day 40! Chariots of fire - movie, opening scene

This is for the group behind, soon to be the group ahead! And to Shirley, our running girl in Hong Kong!

Day 85, Report for yesterday and a glimpse of sumo wrestlers training

My report for Monday...

Workout - Rope jumping done in the morning and pre-breakfast. Not in the mood, checked watch twice. Not a GMA - too busy THINKING about how I'm going to get workouts done this week. I should start with concentration on the jumps at hand.

Nutrition

Forgot to take scales into the office, so lunch and morning snacks was guessy. Thoughts on how much protein is here? Anyway, I ate about 2/3 of the rice underneath (good), then got tandoori fish pieces. Probably over, and I hope that they were not doused in oil and butter. Dinner was much better, all weighed, no nasties.

Sleep

Let myself sleep in until 7.30 today. I needed it. It's now 11.30 and time for me to get to bed.

Not bad, not great either. Need to concentrate more on one thing at a time!

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For those who'd like a bit of hardcore, (Ricky?), here are sumo wrestlers in training.
One sumo wrestler about 2 minutes in can be seen using resistance bands! It's cool to see how a lot of working out is quiet, internal, the mind pushing the body to a new level.

Sumo Wrestling Practice In Tokyo - VidoEmo - Emotional Video Unity

Day 84 - Report for Sunday, ATM, smaller circles

Well well well. This time next week gang! Six more sleeps.

My day 83 again started at 5.30 despite staying up late till 1 am. I caught up a bit during the day before working out with Patrick.

Work out

It's impossible not to do your best when he's working so hard too. I always go faster and am less worried about doing it right. Also, having space does help with the bands...


Nutrition - Bubooo

Food was good for breakfast and dinner but I guessed the amounts for sushi at lunch. I think I was slightly under on protein and over on carbs, so I tried to adjust in the evening by eating fewer carbs in the form of a very small bagel on the way home. This backfired on me, and I fell into the same state of mind I did with the Winnie the Pooh incident. Had an extra piece of white pappy bread, 1/2 nana, yogurt. However, I did notice what was going on and pulled myself out of it.

Here's my temptation - not alcohol, not chocolate bars, not the delights of a meal out. It's the extra piece of bread/bowl of rice/stuff raided from cupboard eaten at home alone. Kind of sad that I'm not more bohemian actually.

Three learning points - 1. As Patrick said: the body ain't an ATM. Mine definitely isn't. I respond to patterns and cues to eat, rather than a given feeling of satiety. 2. Learning to recognize hunger for food from general meh (a common Sunday night feeling eh!) is vital. 3. Connected to the rhythm v. ATM thing, the body gets a new 'set point' for healthy eating. So last time the overeating was a pot of honey, a Japanese bean cake, and a lot of yogurt. This time 1/2 banana, one slice bread, 100 g. yog. So progress because I 'stopped' earlier. I'm visiting a familiar cycle and getting out of the funk faster.

Sleep... Enough said. Setting a timer for forty minutes in a station waiting room because you're too tired to go to a coffee shop and sleep = not classy, not exactly safe even in Japan. I am glad I got up early though, keeping the rhythm.

Re stats - I'm looking more toned this week, but the difference in stats from last week is negligible. Welcome to the flatlands? Or is my peak like Mount Fuji? A big circle.

Whatever gang! We've done well to come SO FAR.

Keep smiling, go into the last week strong, head up, proud.

No matter what nonsense life throws at us, do our best this week.

GAM-BA-REH!

Day 83 - Report for Saturday and the pink protest

Last full weekend on the PCP! Unbelievable.

Here's the reason for the pink sticker that I wrote for the 'Happy Tray'. It's a good two weeks after 'Golden Week' and the food souvenirs now and the 'souvenir' at the bottom speaks only of a journey to the Seven Eleven convenience store.

A pack of peanuts, not even half eaten. Why are they there? My guess is that the lady who bought them, who regularly treats herself to a desert each lunch time, felt that she shouldn't eat all these herself. Good for her on moderating there.

Most people feel that putting out food to share is a cosy and community spirited thing to do.  The desire to give food is instinctive to our species.

My gripe is again, this food that appears to be for sharing will not, in fact, be communally eaten. It will be snatched up, eaten on the hoof, probably individually, and almost certainly by the same individuals. I say this because I used to eat anything I saw here, just because IT WAS THERE. 

I was feeling a bit fed up with this the other day and was wondering if I could somehow change people's perception of the tray, but without being preachy. This is what I came up with.

I got this idea from Patrick's post about the 200-cal a day advice that appeared on a packet of instant matcha tea. It's a way to draw people's attention to the fact that this is FOOD, not something to put into your mouth for fun. (I am typing this with a straight face FYI). Wondered if people in the office would object, but I asked my eminent colleagues, Jonathan and Harri (a tough critic if ever there was one)...

They mulled it over.

And then Steve had a look at it. He's on the conservative side.

And they all said that it wasn't too preachy and to let it stay. So it will sit there as a helpful reminder that if you must snack, do it in moderation. Okay, it'll remind ME to snack in moderation once I'm through with all these eggs. 

Onto Saturday's report. 

Work out - Gave My All!

Up at 5.30 unbelievably. Got jumps done nicely with only one check of my watch when the alarm on the wrist watch went off. I say nicely, but I cannot jump up and down on both legs with weight evenly distributed. It's a killer. I tend to bounce my weight between the two feet. I can get to about 50 on both feet evenly. I did give my all to jumping, muscles (Planks went to one leg on the third set for about 30 sec). I also got to a 90-min beginner capoeira class in the evening. 

Keep feeling like I'm never on top of the workouts - I'm always stretched, always chasing it. The beginner's class was a good choice tonight. Not easy at all, but to use Shirley's term, 'do-able'. Cacapa commented on my need to relax my shoulders in jinga and tendency to hunch my back 'Obaaa-chan'! This may have something to do with my non-existent pullups. Something to work on. 

Nutrition - Solid

Fruit may be off as I took some of the evening fruit as a pre-second-workout snack and had the rest at home. Hit all grams elsewhere. 

Sleep - Like a Bubba

Caught up with some of the debt accumulated this week. Just as I fell into a cosy afternoon nap, neighbour starts to play eighties oldies. Stumbled round and told her I was trying to rest 'Sleepy in the middle of the day?!' Growl.  She turned it down, then off, thank god. 

More and more, I feel like an 'obaaaachan' on this project. Ten capoeira friends are going to the big gay party tonight, and I found out my fireman friend is going to wear a pink catsuit or something outrageous. And I'm at home, saving my energy for Day 84. Tokyo, stand by for two weekends! I'll be back! And I'll bring my muscles to the party!

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PCP-ers at Day 83, what are you looking forward to DOING (not eating or drinking!) when you've got your time back?

Day 82 - Report, pink protest, wail of disappointment

Happy it's Saturday! Oh yes.

Can you guess what the pink post-it note on our 'treats tray' says? I wrote it in a moment of beatitude. Or insufferable prigg-iness. Don't spoil tomorrow's post, I'll explain all then.

We bring you Friday's report...

1. Work out

I took my phone to the park and it bleated out the old wake up alarm a couple of times because I forget to turn it off. As I stopped, I instinctively turned my hand to check the time remaining! This happened a couple of times and on the third time I stopped myself. I know it's ridiculous, but blogging does make me more aware.

The best was my V-sits, the first set executed perfectly and a shabby second and ok third.

I was giving my all especially in the creeps - nasty, nasty, nasty, wrong and evil, creeps.

2. Food

Salt in the form of lunchtime fish eaten in the restaurant downstairs and then the shredded nori that I was stuffing into my face like a hamster using just as a condiment for rice. The grams were all on. I discovered a new and ugly way to eat egg whites - blast them in microwave with milk. Boss saw me separating egg yolk from white in the shell: "Is this some kind of voodoo?"

3. Sleep

This was great - lights out at 10.15-ish and up at 5.30 am no problem. About 7 hours. I'm going to sleep at the normal time tonight and try to catch up a bit for tomorrow. I don't want to lose this rhythm because I have three late nights next week - Monday teaching until late, Tuesday teaching in Odawara, Wednesday a voice gig in Chiba!

Compared to other times of year (like June/July when I go to Hokkaido once a week!), work has been relatively friendly to PCP-ing. Not that much travelling around and only a couple or one late night a week. So why, in Week 13, do I get a hard schedule? I'm going to attack it by making sure whatever happens, rope jumping is done early, then ab work, then try to get the rest done at other times. If there is just a band exercise, that can happen in my lunch hour. No sweat. Except, there will be sweat as we are getting into summer now.

Disappointment


I'm feeling quite sad that I am going to miss a huge party (Kike-sensei's 40th, a gay extravaganza with gogo dancers, fancy dress, music till 3 am). Telling myself 'there will be other parties' doesn't quite cut it, but I know what I need to do to finish the PCP strong. This Saturday is going to involve some other fun things that allow me to keep the rhythm.


Keep it jammin everyone!

Day 81 - Swords (and rope) drawn at dawn

Can you spot the would-be samurai? He is often in the park at 6 am
practising his kendo swashes when I'm jumping rope! One of these days
I'll challenge him to a fight...

Okay, here's my report for Thursday, Day 80.

Workout - GMA?

Yes, I gave my all in the morning, but not in the evening when I did 8-min abs and pull-ups/KF sits ups - time constraints of finding a bar. Abs are always a pleasure with Mike and the gang. My pull up still consists of me jerking around and lifting my legs rather than my body. Disappointed with that, but you can't have everything.

Mental progress!  I am very pleased to report that I did not check watch ONCE during entire jumping session. Imagined a piston of a steam powered ship and this seemed to help me keep my movement solid. I did of course trip up about 7 times!

Hearing the alarm as a suprise, not a second countdown, is very sweet! When you just give up and go into it, go into the movement, it's altogether more enjoyable. The body wants to excel.

Nutrition

Good. Only glitch was 5 grams under on evening carbs as I ran out of the supply in the fridge. Cooked up a pile of sweet potatoes for tomorrow and restrained myself from eating a big plate of them, Irish peasant style. Added some rosemary from the garden - that's very worth getting up for and working out for...Call me simple!

Sleep

Light was out at 11.15. Very deep sleep, but still dozy in the afternoon. I've got to catch up that elusive hour or two on the weekend. I've said it before, and I'll say it again, kudos to PCP-ers with young kids or super heavy workloads. Next week I have three late nights with work and I'm not sure how to handle it.

Day 81 for our group and Day 35 for those behind. The midway point of Day 40 is tantalizingly close and a bit of a blur for me now!

Let's have a strong day!