Day 72 - Slumming it and musing on muscles

Just to have a break from the whole Japanese thing, I ate my evening snack of couscous for carbs, cherries and grapefruit, in a yogurt pot, to get a nice mix and hit some of my post workout fats.
Today was the first day in ages I didn't get the grams bang on, again, due to eating out. Had a tuna mayonnaise and prawn subway sandwich, and substituted the fat from mayo for a bit less fat in the evening.

I'm not going to miss all these micro calculations after the PCP is done. Of course, it's much easier to just eat everything at home or in a homemade bento. This evening was rainy and cold, I was getting very tired so went for a Subway as soon as I got to my home station.

Timing meals so that my body has enough time to absorb the nutrients AKA eating EARLIER is something I never really considered pre-PCP. It affects when your metabolism starts to slow down for sleep, which is vital for muscle growth.

There is a lot to learn about muscles for sure! Our mailing list is alive with conversation about this topic and I'm finding it really fascinating. My muscle definition is starting to improve, I feel more alert and present a lot of the time. Patrick has talked about 'invisible girdles'  and 'in-built wonderbras' in his videos which makes me chuckle, but it is true. I feel supported and like I can hold myself upright rather than slouching. It's energizing and empowering.

However, when muscle work is in the 'shredding' phase, I feel sore, stingy, mildly resentful. My body has got used to this cycle of feeling tired/rebuilding over the PCP and it means that I never really feel a sense of joy or happiness about it when its going well because I know what is coming. And when I'm in a shred/breakdown phase, I just focus on 'getting through' not the result.

Surely a better approach is to anticipate the increased strength when things are tough and enjoy the increased strength when it kicks in. Maybe I'll have a better mental outlook when I do my next round of training.

Anyone remember the golf clubs Patrick talked about? The mail about big and small golf clubs hooking together? Here's a video (go to the bottom of the page) of what happens when we contract a muscle. Enjoy!

Day 66 - Capoeira, music, sushi

Here's a video from a few weeks ago - my capoeira group had an open roda in Inokashira Park. I'd committed to doing a PCP workout this day before Cacapa announced it, so I showed up briefly at the start and got in some 'upside-down-time'. I'm not in this video, but Cacapa is as well as a lot of beginners. He and his wife Cafune work really hard getting people into capoeira. You can see a lot of beginners exploring the moves in this video. As capoeira is played with traditional Brazilian music and song, you can put your soul into it. Music and movement are really hard to separate!

I'd love to know what kind of things you guys listen to while working out. I already said that I love Jango, but I forgot to mention that when you join it, you can compile your own radio stations. It's a bit like playlists, only you get music that the program predicts you will enjoy as well as the singers and songs that you specifically say you like. More random than a playlist, but more personal than radio. I'm on as Minxybrit if you want to look for me!

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Yesterday's PCP report was that I had a perfect day on the workouts and even did 8-minute abs inspired by Yeeman. Lunch was eaten at the NHK canteen after my broadcast and I got sushi.

(For those living in Japan, this is probably the most expensive of the canteen offerings! I got this as it had the maximum protein)

I guessed the amount of fish with reference to a photo of 100 g. that I'd eaten on Saturday.

To get the rice, I asked the guy serving to weigh it, but he just said each piece was 20 g. I ate the negitoro (diced tuna) rolls, which may not have had exactly 20 g., but there is a point at which you have to let it go, especially when eating out. There were no veggies in this meal though, so I ate more in the evening.

My throat is a bit better, thanks for the advice to rest!

I tend to start to overdo things as soon as I feel a bit better, so I'll be taking it slowly today as its a big night tonight.

Day 65 - I know I'm turning Japanese

The first time I ate fermented soy beans, AKA natto, and liked it, I thought I was turning
Japanese.

When I called a guy at 6.30 am each morning just to help him get up, I thought I was turning into Japanese. When I first craved things from the sea with eyes, not chocolate, as comfort food, I thought I was turning Japanese.

But yesterday, I knew for sure that I had really turned Japanese. I heeded my body's call to rest, biked to the hot spring onsen, Niwa no yu at Toshimaen, and chilled for a few hours. Finally felt good in a bikini! Yay! Got a PCP-ish meal of grilled squid, vegetable curry, and rice and then slept in front of a big window looking out onto Spring greenery. Listened in smug contentment to the rain outside. Felt less smug when I realized I didn't have rain gear for the ride home. None to be had in the shops round Toshimaen, so I bought a cheapo brolly and rode home clasping it in one hand.

Riding bikes one handed, as well as balancing side-saddle on the back of a bike, is something I often see here, but rarely saw in the UK. I don't think I could have done it pre-PCP. The body-resistance exercises we do are about integrating the different muscles, getting them talking to each other. This means we'll be able to move around gracefully and smoothly. I wonder what muscles I needed to ride home on slippery roads with only one hand...I felt proud anyway.

The low is that even though we are on a three-day national holiday, I am struggling with my body's classic sign to slow down - a bad throat. Obviously, the bike ride in the rain wasn't a good idea! Slept for close to 12 hours yesterday in preparation for reading the lunchtime news at NHK. I'll blog more about the relationship between my radio work and PCPing another time!

Good to see those on Day 65 going strong! Let's keep our eyes on the peak!

Day 41 - PCP curry.

I'm all for Zen and 'ma' and white space and all that, but surely they could have arranged this a little more intelligently! It's screaming 'Look Mum, No Nan Bread!' I went to this curry house in Kawasaki 30 minutes before meeting Japanese grandma and told them what I'd like by the gram. I wanted to get tandoori chicken, but I'm trying to do my PCP with fish as my main protein source, so I asked for tandoori prawn. This was very dry and I'm sure it was not 120 g. so I bought 20 g. of dried fish from a station platform afterwards.  Not good. 

Going back to this culinary extravaganza, the red dish is vegetable curry and was rather uninspiring. Usually I'd get a two-curry set with nan, rice, and salad. I'd usually pay 950 yen. For this, I paid 1, 500 yen because of the tandoori prawns. Meh. All this grousing is wholly unimportant compared to the pleasure of spending time with my delightful Japanese grandmother, Yoko. I missed meeting her for a month. The world is a better place after seeing her. 

After I got back to my part of Tokyo, I went to Toshimaen for a bit and had this...squid and salad. It came to 1,200 yen which is more reasonable than the curry, but in truth, I'd paid someone to chop and arrange some vegetables and then grill some squid. If I did this at home, I'd have arranged the squid properly.  It tasted good though, ordered sans salt, sans mayo, salad with vinegar.

I don't mind paying to eat this when I can look at a huge pink sakura lit up against the night sky.

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Did I mention that I did all my WO before breakfast? I think I'm over that throat thing now. Maybe I have a stronger immune system already. 

Let's finish Week 6 in style with some sexy jumps tomorrow. Go TEAM IO!