Day 87 - Final Countdown

We had a 2 hour long Capoeira song workshop today. It was great, however I'm finding it hard to sing them in my head because every time I start a song it gets interrupted with Europe's 1986 hit, "Final Countdown."

I'll be all like...

Pula por cima do pau o piaba

Que a mare ta cheia

It's the final countdown...do do do do, dodo do do do,

or

Ai, ai, aide

O joga bonito que eu quero ver

Ai, ai, aide

It's the final countdown...do do do do, dodo do do do,

It's driving me bonkers. I think Pingo (aka Emily) had this same problem when she was in the last week of the Peak. So I'm just going to give into it.

do do do do, dodo do do do, do do do do, dodo do do do, do do do do, dodo do do do, do do do do, dodo do do do, do do do do, dodo do do do...

Day 84 - Let the count down begin

Alrighty folks, 6 more days to go.

The last couple of days have been quite exhausting with work, and teaching and capoeira, oh and of course, PCP.

Tuesday night I trained capoeira for the first time in over a week. The academy was closed for spring break. Anyway, I had such an amazing class. I felt so strong and confident and on point. I was able to take down 2 girls, who by the way are much taller than me, with a queda. (It's that leg grabbing take down I talked about before.) They both happened so quickly. Foca said my timing was perfect. I was pretty much shocked myself.

Patrick assigned us the task of checking out a gym. Well, I haven't belonged to one in years. I thought I could take a look at Equinox because it was in the same building as my PT, but turns out my shitty ass healthcare won't cover my appointments until they speak directly to my doctor even though I had a prescription, so I had to cancel all my sessions this week. God damn bastards. Crappy American healthcare system.

Anyway, I don't belong to a gym because years ago I came to the conclusion that they are a rip off. That I could get the same results at home, outdoors, etc. I also, find them dark, stuffy, smelly and covered with germs. All those people sweating all over the machines. Running, biking, climbing to nowhere. Seems a little too depressing for me. I would much rather spend my money on capoeira each month. So much more worth it. And now with everything that I have learned through my Peak experience, I know that my at home workouts are much more productive.

Patrick also asked us to share an ab exercise. Well I have always loved Gilad, ever since his Bodies in Motion days. I used to work out to this dvd a lot before the peak. It's more about toning the core. Here is a clip of it.

Also, the P90x Ab Ripper is pretty awesome too. Going to have to start throwing that back into the mix. Here is part 1 of a 16min routine.

P90X Ab Ripper X Part 1

Day 60 - Thank you Dr. Zizmor

About a month ago Patrick mentioned that after a while on the Peak we might see some breakouts on our skin. He said not to worry too much about it, that it's just our body getting rid of the last bit of toxins in our system. Well, I must be a little behind schedule because we are 2 months into this program and I'm breaking out like a hormonal 6th grader. It's been like 2 weeks now and I'm growing very tired of these zits. When will it end? I seriously do not want to have to call Dr. Zizmor!!

Day 52 - Indulgence

I had my 2nd indulgence last night. It was my friend and co-worker, Jenn's birthday and we met her out. Both her and my other friend, Ginasta were so excited when I told them that I decided to use up my indulgence and have a couple drinks. I went for my old staple, Goose and soda with a slice of lemon. So refreshing. I estimated that each drink was probably around 140 calories, since 1 ounce of vodka is around 70 calories. Club soda has 0 and a squeeze of lemon, well who cares. By my 3rd one I started to feel a pretty good buzz. I stopped at 3-3.5. ...Some stupid ass drunk girl grabbed one of my drinks thinking it was hers and when I told her to put it down she rolled her eyes, left it on a ledge and it spilt. I obviously yelled "WTFB" but she took off so quickly into the crowd, and that is where we left it. I think she might have gotten sight on my guns. Anyway...I am way too old to be fighting in a bar, so I'm glad that was the end of it.

Sorry I diverge, back to the indulgence. I expected to feel ill today, but in fact I feel great. I did however notice that my face was red and my pores were enlarged when I woke up. Another thing was that the alcohol left me starving, so when I got home last night I ate the following: 2 cups of air popped popcorn, sm banana, sm apple, and a whole wheat English muffin with sugar free jelly. I know that the drink had something to do with my voracious appetite but I also think that a huge part of it is my diet. I seriously do not think it is healthy to only eat a small banana and an egg white for dinner. And to tell you the truth, I haven't followed that or last week's version with an added small apple once. I always try to, but by 10pm or so I am extremely hungry and that makes my angry and I end up eating something else. It's always something with in the PCP diet but it's always outside my allotted grams.

Lately I find myself not trusting this process. I do not want my abs to look like some sort of quilt or like Poca mentioned, "Madonna's disgusting arms." What drew me here was the idea of eating real food and feeling the healthy effects of a no sugar, no salt diet. I have a pretty positive body image and in fact, this might sound cocky, but I know I am hot just as I am. What I was looking for was just a more improved version of myself, healthier, more fit, stronger in my Capoeira game. When in fact, I feel exhausted, stiff, weak and cranky all the time. Plus, my Capoeira game is totally suffering. Because of the PCP workout I can only find the strength to train 2x a week. So when I go to class I come in far behind the rest who have already been working on a sequence or move the rest of the week.

I'm not going to quit this, if any of you had that idea enter your mind. I always finish what I start, but I will say I am not a true believer.

PS...my friend still hasn't come for a visit and I'm pretty sure that time has come and went.

Day 49

Men, I'm warning you right now this post is all about women stuff.

So the last couple of days have been really hard. One thing I have never mentioned is that about 3 years ago I was diagnosed with PMDD. One of my initial hopes was that with a healthy PCP lifestyle my symptoms would decrease. Well in fact this month it's here with a vengance. Some months are better than others, but when it's bad it's really bad. I have every single highlighted item on the list below and the ones in red are the ones that really interfere with my daily life.

These usually last about a week to two weeks a month and subside after, you know after my friend comes. But, that little bastard doesn't seem to want to come this month. This has happened the last time I trained hard and lost some weight. I didn't get it for like 6-8months.

It really sucks because I am so cranky, I just hate everything and everyone right now, I am completely EXHAUSTED all the time, my back is KILLING ME, I want to eat everything in the house. And by the way that's just what I did the other night. Unfortunately, or maybe fortunately, all I have in the house are healthy things so I ended up downing the following; 6 pitted dates, an extra apple, an extra egg white, 5 dried pineapple rings, cup of Kashi 7 whole grain cereal puffs with skim, 30 grams of a whole wheat baguette, I think there might have been some cold yams and I'm sure there is some other things I can't think of now...anyway this was after my evening snack so I already had consumed all my food for the day. Even after that I was still hungry but I made myself go to bed. I really want to eat something else tonight but right now I am just too tired to move.

I trained Capoeira tonight and my lack of coordination, focus, extreme fatigue and backache made it really freaking difficult. I had to fight hard not to just pick up and walk out of class. Then I came home and had to do my timed jumps. That sucked even more. My shins are so sore and I couldn't keep a rhythm to save my life. Ugh...I think I'm done for the night. Going to bed. Can't wait till this time next week when I can feel like myself again.

Day 47 - I got couscous on my keyboard

Today started out pretty rough. Monday's kill me. Have I said that before? Once again after working all day and teaching I didn't get home until 10:30pm or so. It was too late to jump rope and do my full PCP workout so I did the elliptical and 8 min abs. Working out that late makes it really hard to fall asleep. So after only about 4-5hrs of sleep I woke up pretty damn grumpy. My mood lightened after I had a successful design presentation with a client.

I took Patrick's advice on switching up my food more so today I made couscous, with broccoli, carrots, and all sorts of other mixed veggies and baked chicken breast for lunch. I'm shocked that I actually like the granular little carb. The last time I tried it I pretty much hated it. I did end up spilling some on my keyboard. Those little suckers are quite sticky and are really hard to get out between the keys. I advise not eating them at your desk.

Another thing that cheered me up is this video that a fellow Capoeirista posted on Facebook. It might be the best Capoeira video ever!!!

Day 41

I'm still not getting used to all this damn yogurt. My taste buds absolutely hate it and I think my body does too. I've been feeling pretty nauseous lately and I feel like I have heart burn all the time. I can't think of anything else that might be causing it because I've been eating the same stuff that I was eating before, minus the yogurt of course. I switched to the regular kind because the greek really truly tastes like puke. It's better, but still nasty. I put in like 5 blueberries today to help kill the nastiness but I'm still not feeling it. I'm hoping I won't have to eat it 3x a day for much longer.

Teaching ran late on Monday. I didn't get home until around 10:30 pm and I wasn't able to get my workout in. So, I ended up doing the exercises for both day 39 and 40 yesterday. I thought it would kill me but it actually wasn't so bad. Today my upper back and shoulders are feeling a bit sore but I guess that is to be expected.

Hmm...what else? I'm feeling super tired at the moment and wish I could take a nap. I wish my bosses would allow us 1 hour a day for nap time. Studies show that nap time not only refreshes the mind, but can make you smarter.