Day 12 : Perchance to Dream

In his email today, Patrick told us to get enough sleep "If you don't rest enough, you will actually become weaker, as your torn, messed up muscles try to do the work intended for healthy tissue. You will look stringy and thin. So, no late nights. This is important."

Of all my procrastinating behavior, going to bed is the worst - I bumble around finding things to do until amazingly it is well past a sensible bedtime. Mind you, my lifestyle doesn't help. I have an hour or more's commute each way every day and frequently have activities, both social and work related, in the evening. 21.00 seems early to be saying "Time to go home" but if I'm out in Tokyo, that probably means I don't get home in Yokohama until 22.30. For now, PCP has made this a touch worse - I've been getting up earlier to do the exercises and not necessarily getting to bed any earlier. Even last night when I made an effort to be home early (I left the office at 6.30pm which counts as early), I made it by just after 19.30, did my exercises and had promised myself an early night. I then spent some time on the computer (including the blog) and then an hour or more in the kitchen so somehow didn't get to bed until 23.15. I'm going to have to learn to multitask - steaming vegetables and doing my laundry while I skip.

Mind you, I did sleep like the proverbial log last night.

And I'm feeling there may be a glimmer of progress. Despite all my grumbles, I did manage two sets of exercise within the space of ten hours.

This morning was OK - I was expecting my muscles to complain more. The clouds were still there but no rain and I managed 1,007. I envy Nate's ability to ace the skips and take picture of bees at the same time. My insect onlookers seem to have been washed away. The LCD screen on my skipping rope has made a recovery though and amazingly this morning was correct within a jump or two. I'm taking this as a sign that I'm getting more consistent. Amy's tips of skipping style are helpful, although believe me, I was already trying to jump as low as possible. This accounts for my No1 cause of breaking a skipping sequence. No lift-off or jumping to soon resulting in nowhere for the rope to go - jumping too soon usually means that I step on the rope which is why it gets dropped and broken. The No2 cause of breaking a sequence is getting the arc of the rope wrong and hitting myself in the back of the head. And the No3 cause, kind-of frustrating, is when I'm in a groove and start noticing other things - a beetle crawling across the patio or a bus passing the garden and my rhythm starts to get a bit ragged, resulting in No1 or No2.

But I'm getting there.

Then the exercises. I was on Workout 2 today. For the lunges, I alternated the legs (why didn't I think of that before); I discovered the door anchor works best with my front door and once again, only hit "trouble" with the leg-ups. I only managed 2x10 again. Because of my arthritis, I actually can't lie flat of the floor and I think this is causing the problem as my back keeps trying to "help out", usually with painful consequences. I will consult the Boss offline on this one and see if there is a work-around.

So what kept me so long in the kitchen last night? Steaming pumpkin, potato, celery and spinach. The spinach shrunk down to virtually nothing. And "dry" sauteing (i.e. using the frying pan but relying on the oils to come out of the food) some mackerel and salmon.

I mentioned getting my acidity down and Amy asked what foods are good for making the body more alkaline. Nate mentioned one website and I quite like this one http://www.rense.com/1.mpicons/acidalka.htm.

On my way home tonight I finally succumbed to the Thai massage place at the bottom of the hill. It has been tempting me for a while. Legs only this time. I'll report tomorrow on whether it helped. Feels good at the moment and I wish I had some on my back ..... next time!