Round 4.1

I had a cold all last week, nothing too serious, but I didn't do any workouts. I haven't done anything for a week. It's been a nice rest, but I'm keen to get going again. So Round 4 is a write-off, and round 4.1 starts tomorrow, the first of September. One thing I've learned from working out and from stopping smoking, if you don't have the right attitude from the start, you won't keep it up. If you do have your mind right though, it can last for as long as you want it to. The main thing is not to quit when you fail. For each round of P90, P90 Master, or P90X I have completed, I have started two or three that I didn't finish for one reason or another, usually a cold or an injury. That's okay. I don't have to get down on myself, think stuff like "I never finish anything" or "it's too hard, I can't do it". I know that I can do it because I've done it, but it takes a few goes to get the mind right.
This round I want to concentrate on a few things specifically, and it's going to be a little different that the previous rounds. I'm doing abbreviated P90X rounds, same as before. I do about half the workouts. P90X workouts are long, so it's still challenging. I will be able to lift heavier weights because I won't be so buggered. When it cools down I might go back to a full-length workout, but I doubt it. I think the next step will be making up my own workouts from the P90X exercises that I think work for me. But that's round 5 stuff.
I want to do more running, increasing the length from about 2.5 kilometres with breaks at the start to a full 5 kilometre run at the end of the round. This is a really modest goal, but I have never really liked running, though I appreciate the benefits of it. I was impressed with the muscle aches I got after doing it last time, which means it's working my legs like the other exercises I do don't. I might even get to liking it at the end.
Also, I want to incorporate a bit of Crossfit. I tried last time, but to be honest, I whimped out and chose the running because those WODs scare me. But I'm going to do it this time. They are timed workouts, so I'll be able to see the improvements I'm making as I go.
A typical week looks like this:
1. Chest & Back (or another P90X workout)
2. Yoga
3. Rest
4. Shoulders & Arms (or another P90X workout)
5. Killer Abs
6. Running or Crossfit WOD
7. X Stretch
So that's the workout aspect. Nothing too strenuous, but certainly not nothing.
The next is to cut down on the shit I eat. I'm going to work on the principle that with shame comes change, so I'm going to keep track of the shit I eat. Let's use yesterday as an example. I had 2 cans of coffee, 1 can of 7Up, 4 fun-size Kitkats, 1 ice-cream, a couple of biscuits, and a piece of cake. That's a heavy shit-eating day. I'm not fussed about calories or carbs and all that (not yet, anyway), but it's just common sense. Shit food is shit food, and I want to put less of it in my body.
So by December I hope to be in really good shape. And by December it will be cold! Oh, to be cold. Wearing jeans and jumpers. Sleeping under the covers. Enjoying a nice warm coffee or milo. Seems so long ago now.
Anyways, pumped up for a big AFL finals season. Go Swans! I hope we can give them all a big fright. Like in all sport, the winner is the one who wants it the most. How bad do the big boys want it? We've won it from fifth before, we can do it again.

Week 4 Already

I really enjoyed watching the Swans Freo game last night. They've had the wood on us for years, and this year they've been playing great, though recently they've suffered some injuries. We played really well, much better than Freo, but it seemed every time I looked at the scores they were three points in front! We got up in the end, and the young guys did really well, and there were some inspirational attacks on the ball that were awesome except that they took themselves out of the game. Jack was sensational. He plays a lot like Gary Ablett Jr., except that he doesn't whine constantly like Ablett does.
One thing about whining. I really hate that "Why didn't you kick it to me?" thing that a lot of players do. Typically it goes like this. A midfielder evades a tackle or two and has a shot from forty and misses, and there's a team mate in the goal square with his arms up like "I'm right here!", whether he's covered by an opposition player or not. Fevola does this when he is playing like shit. Most teams have players that do it. If I was the coach, I would absolutely ban it. Any player that does it is off. There is one player at Sydney who does it all the time. Rhyce Shaw. The Human Turnover himself. He's always yelling at teammates when he thinks they did something wrong. The arrogance of this is astounding, especially considering the amount of errors (mostly unforced) that he makes every match. Ted Richards has been doing well lately, but Rhyce, I hope this is your last year at Sydney.
The Chinese guy sitting next to me at work is back from a week in Shanghai, and is as sick as a dog. That's what happens when you don't wash your hands after going to the toilet. And I'm guessing Shanghai toilets are pretty bad. Maybe it's some mad new virus, pig-chicken-human strain that hasn't made the news yet. Maybe it has already killed tens of thousands, and the Chinese government is desperately trying to keep this lethal new virus under wraps for fear of it ending the economic bubble, and this man has somehow slipped though the net. Maybe this man saw some things in Shanghai that made his blood curdle, societies being torn apart, parents dumping the bodies of their dead children, dogs tearing at the corpses on the side of the roads, and he thought he got out. But then he woke up this morning with a runny nose and bleeding rectum, the first symptoms. It's just a cold, he thought. I'll be okay. And now he's sweating up at his desk next to mine, wondering if he's going to make it until lunchtime.
I'd better go check my rectum.
Workouts are going well. I did Just Arms yesterday. Tony is in good form in this one. Funny.
I'm at work today, but tonight I'm joining the family at a hotel in Shizuoka, and spending tomorrow at a pool park. I'll take some photos. The last few days have been Obon, which is traditionally when Japanese people go home and see their parents, or go to the cemeteries and clean up grave sites and all that. I was visited by the dead in my sleep last night. I had a dream about mum that had me waking up like they do on TV, gasping and covered in sweat (actually, I'm always covered in sweat because it's so fucking humid here, but anyway, even more sweat). Mum was sitting in a chair in the blue (or green?) dressing gown she always wore the last few months, and I saw her and came at her, arms out, blubbering, mum, mum, mum, and she kind of started backing away like she was scared of me and she wouldn't let me hug her. Nice, thanks dream-mum. I liked the one I had last year better, when I was walking through the Botanical Gardens in Melbourne talking to her on the phone, saying mum! Where are you! Where are you! and she said "I'm right here" and I could hear her real voice as well as the voice on the phone and I looked up and she was picnicking with all her friends on the lawn right in front of me and we hugged and cried.
Dunno. Messed up. I've been a good boy, and I don't know why mummy is upset at me.

Round 4: No Retreat, No Surrender - Week 3

I've incorporated a little bit of running into my workout, on Saturdays. This is my Crossfit WOD day, but without the equipment there's not much to choose from, so I chose a running WOD. 6 x 400 m, with 2 minute rests in between. The first Saturday I went to the city athletics track. It opens at 9, and costs 100 yen to use. I wanted to get my run done early, so I thought I'd get there early and jump the small gate and just hop on. So I rode my bike there at about 7:30 am, but someone was already in the office. Damn. I got my 100 yen out, totally certain of what was about to happen. I walked into the office.
"Excuse me, it costs 100 yen to use the running track, right?" I held the 100 yen out for the lady to take.
"Yes, but it doesn't open until 9 o'clock."
"I just want to use it for half an hour. 100 yen, right?" Take the money.
"I'm sorry, it's closed. It will be open at 9 o'clock, you can use it then."
"There is no way I can use it now?"
"I'm sorry, it's closed."
"You fucking people and your rules." I said that last part in English. I'm sorry, was that racist? Oh my.
So I got back on my bike, and rode to the river beside the freeway, where there's a bike track. Not a bad place to run, really. I found some measurements the other day, so at least I now how far I'm running. I guessed the first week.
The first week I pulled up really sore. I was surprised, because I've been do lots of cardio and squats and plyo and all that, but my thighs were really sore the next couple of days. On Saturday I tried POSE running. I'm sure there's lots of technique and practice involved to get it down perfect, but basically I ran pretending I was running barefoot, concentrating on bringing my heels up off the ground using my hamstring. I felt like a prancing horse, but it was definitely easier on the body than smashing the heels into the ground and rolling onto the toes.
Until yesterday, when my calves hurt real bad. It's hard to walk downstairs. Just my body getting used to it. But I will continue to run, if only because it hurts so much later on, which means I'm doing something new involving new muscle groups. I'll have to buy a decent watch with a stopwatch though.
Busy weekend. On Saturday I ran, then we took the great grandmother out for sushi (some nice expensive stuff), then Will and I went to the pool (he can go underwater now!) and then we went to the fireworks festival after dinner. Then on Sunday we went to English play group, then out to lunch, then I did Back & Biceps (half of it anyway) and then dinner, and then sat down to watch the footy.
I'm glad we beat Hawthorn, because I don't like them, but then I watched Collingwood and Geelong, and the game was totally different. Geelong do what the do well, but it's getting old. Play-on, kick over the top. Kind of a waste of a good forward like Mooney, who really has nothing to do at Geelong. First time I've really watched Collingwood this year, and they look pretty good. Didak is a gun. Leon Davis - how does he get games? Anyway, if those two make it to the grand final, it'll be a beauty.

Round 4: No Retreat, No Surrender - Update

I've had the Nirvana song "Dive" in my head for weeks. It's an awesome song, way better than anything around now. What is around now? No idea. Here's an interesting fact. It's sixteen years since Kurt Cobain killed himself. Holy shit. He'd be, without checking Wikipedia, forty-two now? Probably doing a Tribute to Motown album or something. Duets with Elton John. I remember in music class at high school the teacher telling us that that day was the 20th anniversary of Sargeant Peppers being released. It felt like ancient history.
So I downloaded Incesticide, which I remember buying at (the much underrated) Boronia Mall the day it came out, and put it on. Come to think of it, Boronia Shopping Center was always more interesting that Knox. It had Kmart, the Mall with the record shop, Toy World (is that what it was called?), that diner with the milkshakes, and then it had the Snoopy cinema, Max Cycles, and some cool shops in those dark alleys off Dorset Road.
Anyway, Will loved Nirvana and started jumping around. Why am I not surprised he loves Nirvana? Hah.
Speaking of Silly Willy, today is his birthday! Happy Birthday, my boy. 5 years old. Wow. I've enjoyed his fifth year, though at times he has been trying. He was diagnosed by lazy doctors as having PDD-NOS this year. This means he exhibits some symptoms of stuff like Asbergers or Autism, but not others, or that something's NQR about him but they are not sure what. Of course I read up on these things, and I read blogs of parents with kids with PDD-NOS, and I always think, he doesn't do that, he's not like that. He doesn't eat his clothes. He doesn't freak out if we don't use his cup. He doesn't stim, or spin around, or endlessly blather on about stuff. He's not troubled by noise, lights, any of that stuff. He doesn't wet his bed, attack the cat, break stuff (on purpose). He doesn't really like eye contact, he can get a little obsessed with the TV shows he likes, like Thomas or the Penguins From Madagascar and likes to act out the scenes as he watches them. He often doesn't respond to questions. He gets upset often if he doesn't get his way and sulks. He not sure what to do around other kids, and will often copy them, which pisses them off. Very mild stuff, and I'm sure every parent of every child can relate. One thing I have noticed is that in English group, he's the most outgoing, fun-loving kid there. He would be the last kid you would say has a developmental disorder. But in the Japanese world you can see his uncertainty. It may be because he has an English-speaking father. Dunno. I do worry about him, like everyone worries about their kid, I guess. But he's funny, and friendly, and very handsome, so I think he'll be okay. Two things I want him to be able to do when he's older; speak English, and fight. The other stuff will take care of itself.

Happy 5th Birthday William!

First week of Round 4: "No Retreat, No Surrender" went very well. I'm enjoying the shorter workouts, and even enjoying getting up at 5:30 to get them done and out of the way. The first workout last Monday, I did Chest & Back, and ran out of energy early. A little yogurt isn't enough to power a workout, even a short one. I felt sick, and my numbers were really low. I had to drink my protein shake while I took a shower just to stop the shakes. Lesson learnt. Since then it's been good, though I missed last Friday's workout. I forgot to set my alarm. Doesn't matter. I think it's important this round not to overdo it, especially in this heat.
Here is a comparison to where I was two years ago and where I am now. I must admit, this has motivated me to keep going, and especially to eat cleaner.

I look really sick in the first photo. Mum was really ill at this stage, on the way out. I was flying to and from Australia all the time, smoking, drinking (not a lot, 2 cans of beer a night, maybe 3 or 4 on the weekends). Eating lots of chips. I wasn't taking care of myself. When I'm stressed or busy, I don't eat. Look at my neck! And my collar bones are sticking out, too. I was having dizzy spells, and every now and then chest pains. I remember that summer two years ago I was always falling asleep in my clothes at 8 o'clock because I was just exhausted. My shoulder ached! Man that used to give me the shits. A restless, uncomfortable feeling that I couldn't get rid of.
I weigh about 8 kilos more now, and you can see it. No more aches and pains, no more exhaustion, no more dizzy spells or chest pains. The headaches continue, but that's a stress thing, something I'm working on. Feel okay today, actually.
Anyway, laters.