T Minus 9 1/2 Days

A quick mid-day update.

I woke up a few times last night extremely thirsty -- I think I have had too much salt in my diet recently (miso, edamame with salt on them), and I have not drank enough water in the last 24 hours even though water is what I basically only drink. I'll have a coffee a day, and some green tea, but that is it. I also woke up hungry, and I surmise that it comes from two days of intense working-out. I tried a soy yogurt for the first time - pretty good.

This morning at work I had a giant - 2 lbs - plate of melon, watermelon, pineapple, and strawberries. I was still hungry, so I ventured over to Green Symphony and got an oatmeal with walnuts and blueberries. I ate it there to watch the symphony of both theatre people and construction workers coming in and out - always entertaining.

At lunch time I went to the gym. I am not allowing myself to think about anything - the mind is very manipulative! The same section of your brain that will make you flee a charging rhino without thought can just as strongly convince you that arranging paper clips by order of silver patina brightness is a better use of your time than going to the gym.

For these last 10 days I am just ignoring all my urges - if I want to go to the gym tomorrow, I go today. If I want four dark (vegan) chocolate covered almonds as a snack, I suppress it, or have an apple or banana. If I feel like quitting the treadmill at 15 minutes, I go 30.

Feeling a little sore in the legs from my multiple cardio workout yesterday I grabbed my gym bag and walked to the door at lunch time. My brain was screaming for me to sit down and scroll through photos online of all the golf courses I will play in Ireland. I went to the gym.

I only had 40 minutes to work-out. Did abdominal work -- getting too used to it, I need to try different exercises. Then I rode the bike hard for 5 minutes, then the elliptical for 10, then the treadmill on a steep include (14) for another 10 minutes. Then I did bench presses.

25 minutes of cardio is not ideal, but I got to the gym for the third day in a row and sweated profusely. My thought is that even though I can't do a complete work-out because of time, I will still go to the gym and sweat as much as I can.

For lunch I went to Chopt and got the Vegetarian Powerhouse salad (lettuce, broccoli, chickpeas, edamame, craisins, sunflower seeds, carrots). I am drinking plenty of water - 3 liters thus far.  As I write this hours after the gym, and lunch I am pretty exhausted and sore in a good way. I'm also pretty hungry.  I'll go get a banana and apple now.

Finally, a quick hello to the All Blacks and Puma readers! I can see that some from New Zealand and from Argentina have recently begun reading the blog. Hello!