Busy weekend...

It was a busy weekend, without much training:

Friday - Run (including one sub-9 minute mile, but I was too tired to crank out another one. The rest was just running and walkng). Some pull-up practice at the playground. I can pull myself up an inch or two or three! Before, I couldn't pull myself up at all!

Sunday - a bit of "casual" ashtanga yoga...

Monday - Needed sleep....got some sleep...

Back to training on Tuesday...

Ate tons and tons of veggies this weekend, it seems...
Still had no desire for overt fats...

The rest of yesterday...

Yesterday I ate some bananas around 12:00 noon...not so much out of hunger, but to abate the detox symtoms while at work. Had some more bananas. Also ate 1 bunch celery, 1 pound grape tomatoes.

For dinner, had 1 bag grapes, 2 pounds grape tomatoes, and a few dates.

Downtime needed?

Last night I woke up in the middle of the night feeling like vomiting. I didn't, and the wave of nausea passed, and I went back to bed.

This morning my stomach feels a little funny, so I didn't train or eat. Just drinking water. I figure I'll wait until I feel better to eat.

Still exuberant...

Wow, the week just keeps getting better and better!

Slept until just before 7 a.m. this morning, so no morning training.

Breakfast - large maridol papaya
Lunch - 22 small fresh figs
Mid afternoon - apple bananas
Dinner - romaine lettuce, green leaf lettuce, persimmons

Got some sunshine this afternoon! Went to a sunny park bench and read at lunchtime. Lovely!

Probably should have skipped dinner... I was really sleepy, and not hungry, and would have fallen asleep more easily on an empty stomach.

Exuberance!

I've been following this program for 5 and a half months now - and I've noticed that more and more of the time, I feel what can only be described as exuberant! Yes, exuberant, just like a healthy child. =)

Funny that children are exuberant, but exuberance is not normally associated with adults! I guess most adults don't get enough sleep, sunshine, biologically appropriate food, physical activity, etc, etc, etc to feel anything close to exuberant.

I feel so lucky to be able to feel exuberant. =)

Germs - from Bob Farrell

Germs, per se, in and of and by themselves, don't "cause" dis-ease - they just take advantage of environments they find to their likings.
Just as flies don't cause garbage, germs don't cause colds. A cold is nothing more than the body moving some "substances" out of the body.

Life is sweet!

Morning training -
Walked the stairs a couple times, since I forgot things on the way to the gym. Walked/jogged to gym.
Strength training: assisted pull-ups, assisted chin-ups, assisted dips, walking lunges, donkey calf raises, step-ups, dead lifts, biceps curls, lateral raises, rear delt flies on bench, alphabet abs (didn't get very far!), roll-out on ball, crunches, roman chair extensions, roman chair oblique extensions.
Walked home. Took stairs.

I feel phenomenal!

Food - bananas all day. Figs and persimmons in the evening.

Yesterday I ate:
Apple bananas
Figs

I went to sleep by 6:30 p.m. Got up this morning at 5:52, and felt excellent.

Morning training:
Jog to gym
A treadmill 8K (5 miles), continuous running (no walking!). Took about 49 minutes, so averaged just under 10 minutes per mile. It was challenging, but I feel great!
Walked/jogged home.
Stretched a bit.

Food today:
40 some-odd fluid ounces banana smoothie.
9 or 10 small apple bananas
Friend over for dinner - persimmons, figs, tangerines, celery

Everything feels so good today! Fruit is high-octane, high-energy, feel-good fuel! Fat slows us down...

Look what's in my kitchen!

Yesterday I went to a potluck. It was great to see friends! But I definitely overate on things I hadn't planned on eating.

So I'm taking it easy today, as far as food goes. Also, I'm starting to be honest with myself and see that I'm starting to gain weight back. Everyone does this in the winter, I know. But I need to be honest with myself about things I'm doing that are not in my best interests.

I have tons of ripe fruit though...so I'm planning on making this week a no-overt-fat week, to get back on track! Should be absolutely delicious!

This is me

Sort of an unflattering photo, but hey, I took it myself. This is what I look like, having followed Doug Graham's program for 5 months.

That was me...

That was me in March 2006.

Friday Friday Friday!!!

Woke up around 4:30. Glad I went to bed early last night!

Morning training: Indoor cycling class at the gym. Wasn't the toughest class, but my legs weren't the freshest (still recovering from being blindsided by strength training the other day!), so it was all good. We did some sprints and some strength climbs. After class, I did a few flexed arm hangs (pull-up position - assisted, chin-up position - unassisted!!!) and sit ups (2 sets on the decline bench - didn't quite make it up), and a couple reps on the flat bench. That was all I could squeeze out.

Food today:
Breakfast - banana smoothie right after workout. then lots more bananas at the office.
Lunch - one head romaine lettuce. 5 bananas. lots of dried figs. 5 stalks celery
Dinner - lots of tangerines. 3 tbsp. cashew butter. 1 spoonful pumpkinseed butter. a few spoonfuls tahini. yeah....too much nut butter probably won't sit well tomorrow...

A recovery day!

(Overload and) recovery is a great thing! Got to bed last night around 8:30 p.m., and it sure felt good. Woke up this morning at 6:47 a.m. No morning training, just recovery. I've got sore quads, hamstrings, glutes from yesterday. Why didn't I do leg strength training sooner? My legs are going to be so hot. ;)

Food today:
Breakfast - bananas (5? 6? 7? 8? I don't know...)
Midmorning - 1 head romaine lettuce, 2 orange bell peppers
Lunch - grapes, iceberg lettuce (from a meeting), bananas
Dinner - 1 persimmon, persimmon-date ice cream, bahri dates, 1 head green leaf lettuce, a few tangerines.

Weak in the legs...

Didn't wake up in time for cycling class, so I trained at home this morning: 20 or so minutes bouncing around the living room to music, followed by push-ups, chair dips, leg raises, stair jumps, and walking lunges down the hallway, each repeated once or twice. And a couple of failed handstand attempts. Didn't feel like much...but my legs have been a bit jello-like ever since. =)

Food:

Breakfast - a third of a pineapple. about 3/4 of a papaya
Mid morning at work - some medjool and bahri dates
Lunch - 9 bananas, blended into a smoothie
Dinner - 6 lbs tomatoes, 2 orange bell peppers, 1 florida avocado

I couldn't believe how great I felt today - how energetic and happy and light and clearheaded. The program really works if you follow it ;).

Monday and Tuesday's Log

On Monday morning, I woke up before 4 a.m., still sleepy, but couldn't get back to sleep. Also felt a lot of tension in the front of my head. So, I didn't go to spin class as planned; rather, I stayed in bed until about 6:30. ("If you'd rather roll over than roll out..."). Once I realized the futility of trying to fall back asleep, I got up and started streaming some dance music on my computer, just to move a little bit. So, my morning "training" was nice and easy, but great fun! I enjoyed myself as soon as I started, just bouncing around my living room to music. I also did some ab work (crunches, oblique slides, leg raises). Total workout time: about 42 minutes. And all that fun from skipping spinning.

Still felt tired all day at work. And my hamstrings were still sore from Saturday's ashtanga class, but I did take a walk over lunch.

Food on Monday:
Breakfast - 1 pineapple
Lunch - 6 small-medium bananas.
Late Lunch - 48 oz. tomatoes. 2 oranges. a few stalks celery. 1 florida avocado.
That's it. Didn't want to eat after I got home. Went to bed early instead.

On Tuesday, I woke up just before 5 a.m., feeling excellent and well rested! I haven't woken up feeling that good in at least a week! I was thrilled. =) I walked to the gym to train (too cold for outdoors):

Treadmill workout:
12 minutes warm-up jog/walk (10-12 minute miles), followed by 2.6ish FAST miles, with walking in between (the first was around 9 minutes per mile. for the second mile, I got a little ambitious and started at least that fast, and couldn't make myself finish, hence the ".6ish". took a few minutes walk, then talked myself into doing one more 10-minute mile. And boy, was that hard!) Total was probably around 4.2 miles? It was HARD today. Just getting back into it, I guess.

Pull-up training:
Used the assist machine for this. Did "negative" pull-ups (assisted), followed by "hold in the up position as long as possible, then negative" (assisted), followed by assisted chin-ups, and "hold in the up position". Don't know how many of each. Then 2 sets of biceps curls. Then 2 sets of posterior delt raises on the bench.

I'm excited though!!!!! I can hold chin-ups in the "up-position" for a few seconds!!!!!! I need some help getting "up", but once I'm up, I was able to take my legs off the pad and just hold myself in that position!!!!!! Even after doing all the "pull-up" work, I was still able to hold myself at the top of a chin-up!!!!!!!! This is a milestone!!!! =)

Was in a great mood all through the day...

Food:
Breakfast - 2 hachiya persimmons. 1 HUGE papaya
Lunch - 9 bananas, blended into a smoothie. a lot of celery
Dinner - Persimmon/date ice cream! Holy cow! so good!
Snack - 1 head green leaf leffuce. about 1/2 a pineapple

Weekend of catch-up

This is a weekend of my body catching up on all the junk I gave it to deal with over the past few weeks.

Felt really tired and had achy joints and slept a lot this weekend. Fruits only to eat - no overt fats. Went to an ashtanga class on Saturday, but didn't make it all the way through.

Finally starting to feel better on Sunday morning. By the afternoon, felt fabulous. Still a little tired, but fabulous in mood and clarity.

Breakfast - 1 pineapple, a few persimmons
Lunch - lots of banana smoothie
Dinner - 1 large papaya, 1 head romaine lettuce, 4 pints grape tomatoes.

Hope to be back up and running tomorrow! =)

Friday - Start all over again...

Didn't get to bed early enough last night, so I didn't wake up early enough to train this morning, and I'm still tired.

Breakfast - persimmons, dates, celery
Lunch - bananas, dates, celery
Snack - more dates

Went to bed at 6 p.m. and slept all night!

Wednesday - pick myself up, Thursday - dust myself off...

Wednesday I felt pretty gross, understandably. I didn't train in the morning. I ate during the day anyway, even though I felt gross (oranges and persimmons). For dinner, I had grape tomatoes, 1/2 a florida avocado, cauliflower/celery/cashew blend, with too many cashews, and some brazil nuts.

Thursday morning I felt a bit better, physically and emotionally. Didn't train in the morning, but instead spent some time cleaning and listening to a CD before work. Felt really good and optimistic on the way to work. Looking forward to feeling even better tomorrow and getting back into training.

I want to do another 8K on December 10. Time to get my butt into gear. =)

Breakfast - lots of persimmons
Afternoon - more persimmons, a few bananas, lots of celery and spinach
Dinner - 1 red bell pepper. bahri dates. followed later by spinach soup (spinach, lots of celery, lemon juice, a small bit almond butter, a small bit cabbage).

Thought for the day: Take care of the QUALITY of your foods, and the QUANTITY will take care of itself. True? let's find out...

Tuesday's log

Woke up early, feeling rested. Going to bed at 8:20 p.m. is always nice! =)

Morning training:
Jog to gym.
Treadmill - 30 minutes continuous running. Started at 6 mph, increased to 6.7 mph. So, the last 18 minutes or so was done at a sub-9-minute mile pace. It was really hard.
Jogged/walked home.
Stretched a bit more thoroughly than usual. Maybe I'll go back to yoga soon.

The morning workout really took it out of me. I moved a lot slower than usual getting to work. I was beat by the time I got to the office! Then, it was a really stressful morning at work.

During the morning/afternoon I ate tons of persimmons.
Late afternoon - 46 oz. tomatoes, more persimmons.
Evening - 1 florida avo, 1 pineapple, some nuts, the last of dad's salsa that he left (I know, I know...)....

Being gentle with myself. This time last year, I was backsliding into cooked. This is progress...