Day 85 : No Late Spurt

I had been hoping that things were going to clear up so that I could have a good final week, but final weak is more like it. Today was a re-run of yesterday. I can skip without too much aggravation and did this on the front porch, now with all the foliage on the trees cut back, so nothing to get in the way of the rope, but have limped through the rest of the day and an evening meeting has got me home late again. Interestingly, the guy I met knows one of Corry's PCPers.

I've decided to go back to the doctor and get an x-ray or scan done although if it is a lymphatic problem, as Patrick suggests and he could be right, it won't show on a scan. Unfortunately my doctor was out of town today so I booked to see him on Monday so I won't have the results until PCP is finished, even if we can get it done quickly.

So I'll see what tomorrow brings and hope I can get some workout done.

I was so tired last night that I forgot to put on a new batch of rice so today was a foretaste (pun intended) on how to eat the PCP way on what is available in the shops. There is a convenience store chain here called Lawson and they have a sub-brand called Natural Lawson that sells higher quality items, at appropriately higher prices, of course. The is a branch near the new office. For example, they sell cut fresh fruit in conveniently sized 100g portions as well as small tubs of unsweetened yogurt so the mid-morning and mid-afternoon snacks were easy to fix. They had a great salad, but no weight listed on the container and the next door chicken restaurant was selling lunch boxes of grilled chicken on rice. I think I got the quantities more or less right. The down side - the chicken was grilled in something (teriyaki sauce?) and there must have been some salt thrown in as well. In the evening, we ended up in a family restaurant. A salad (non-oil dressing 9 cal), a portion of rice and some more grilled chicken with a few vegetables also seemed about the right quantity. But the chicken was covered with a rather tasty looking tomato/garlic sauce (which I didn't eat) and I think some oil must have been used somewhere.

So I can see that the biggest challenge to continued healthy eating is the oil and salt that are used in even the most simple of meals (plus soy sauce in Japanese food)and the use of sauces with possibly artificial ingredients (MSG etc). Not to mention the almost universal (in Japan) use of white not brown rice.

Day 84 : Seven Days to Go

OK, showing my age again, this one dates from the year I returned to Japan.


As PCP days go, this one fizzled out. Up and skipping as usual but I paid Charlie a visit to see if we can loosen what ever it is that has my neck so stiff. Well, he did his best but has left it very sore and a very late return home means I guess this is a rest day.

We've been talking about what it might be. Another friend pointed out that if the body can't get rid of toxins, then it hides them in fat so if the fat is being disbursed, then the toxins get released again. And the theory we are working on is they've chosen to make a "last stand" in my neck. It is really weird. Charlie can be manipulating the neck which I can easily tolerate and then come across a point so sensitive that I can't stand to have even the lightest touch.

So, team, once in peak condition, stay there and avoid the side-effects of getting in shape again later!!

Day 83 : What a Day

As a Brit, I have no direct say in the internal politics of the United States but as a not quite impartial onlooker, I think that the Republican Party was hijacked some years ago by some extremely powerful but hidden forces that have had a huge influence on world events in recent years. So for this reason and also the wonderful historic precedent of a bi cultural candidate breaking through the prejudice barrier, I think that the election result has generated an immense sigh of relief everywhere in the world outside of the southern and mid western states of the US (oh, and the new frontier of Alaska).

On a much lower key, I had a very long day waking before six and then skipping in order to get to an 8am meeting in Tokyo and an evening meeting which didn't get me home until nearly 10pm for a truncated workout before crashing.

The weather turned much colder today so my early morning skip had me wrapped up in a sweatshirt that did not get removed. The cold weather has put paid to my Snow White-style visitors that came to watch in the summer. And in any case, the annual visit from a gardener paid for by my landlord has laid waste the local habitat - they seem to believe in the scorched earth school of gardening. Nothing much remains until the weeds start poking through next spring. Although I have forgotten to mention that the shrubs surrounding the garden are actually bearing a crop of nuts, although I don't intend to see if they are edible.

Day 82 : Hungry

I felt hungry all day. Maybe the amount of senna tea I drank on Monday created a bit of space (only half joking). I didn't have a PCP lunch because I took out some visitors from our Shanghai office who have been installing all the IT equipment in the new office. But I looked at my very healthy Japanese lunch (tuna sashimi, red rice, miso soup) and felt it was much less in quantity than I get under the PCP diet.

The new office feels a bit strange. My room (yes, I've got my own office) is much grander than I am used to and I feel a bit cut off from the rest of my staff. I dare say I will get used to it!!

I skipped this morning and worked out this evening so I felt that I'm still there or there abouts on the programme.

Day 81 : Strange Day

A public holiday but I had to get up very early and meet the firm's founder, show him the new office and have a series of meetings so by lunchtime when I put him into a cab for his hotel and from there back to the airport, I was pretty tired.

So I came home, did my skipping and went to sleep.

That must have done me some good because, and now for the good news, I got up after two or three hours rest and managed nearly a full workout, only wimping out on the abs exercises, made (even more) painful by my stiff neck.

Maybe there is life in the old coyote yet!!

Day 80 : Feeling a bit lost

I'm feeling that I'm only doing 2/3 of PCP. Diet, fine, and the skipping but my condition really isn't up to most of the workout so that while I thought Day 80 would be a great milestone, what I am realising is that I haven't reached that level that I could have and there isn't much (enough) time to catch up. And my thought of continuing past Day 90 will be relatively short-lived because I'm going to England to celebrate my father's 90 birthday at the beginning of December and that will throw out any remaining discipline. So it it beginning to sound like a New Year Resolution. Hmm.

Day 79 : Dehydration?

As I said, my company is moving office this weekend and after declaring myself much better yesterday, I went and overdid it, carrying a couple of heavy bags of personal things home causing some of my recently improved muscles to go into spasm. Ah well!

The move actually went well and I dropped by the new office today to check on progress and it looks really good.

I also went to see Charlie, back from his recent trip. He came up with an interesting analysis. I've mentioned before that a number of people have suggested that becoming sick was as a result of the exercise and weight loss. This is not something I agree with. I mentioned to Charlie that I have been feeling very thirsty recently and also (something we haven't mentioned) constipated in the past two or three weeks. Charlie suggested that PCP is pretty tough on the system and that it could trigger the system to try to get rid of toxins, something Nate mentioned a few weeks back. To get rid of the toxins, the system needs water and has basically taken it, causing the thirst, constipation and dry skin, something that Amy and Emiko have both mentioned too.

So I've decided to drink a lot more tea and water to see if I can rehydrate myself and hopefully get back on track.