Day 74: Done and dusted

Skipping and exercises all done and dusted for the day, ready to go to Turtle Island where I will see what I can do for extra cardio.

I have found skipping with 2 legs to be problematic, so solved it today by hopping from one leg to the other and actually found a rhythm (for a change!). No idea how many skips as I mistakenly pressed the clear button two thirds of the way through. Doesn't matter though, I was very tired and sweat buckets at the end so must have been doing the right thing (for me).

Pistol squats should never have been invented.

I was defeated with failure before the end of most sets in all the shoulder exercises, but then my shoulders have been particularly fatigued of late.

Even V-sits were hard, but they follow on from yesterday's replacement for Kung-Fu situps.

Other than that, have my morphine fix for the day! Whohoooo. When I read Patrick's e-mail this morning I thought "Yes, I have, I have been in a funk" but then realised it centered around not exercising, not a full blown out depression funk, just feeling low because I wasn't doing what I was supposed to.

When I get back to Tokyo I will finally get to listen to the videos for the past 2 weeks and also will go back through the e-mails.

Day 73: K-n-a-c-k-e-r-e-d

I was knackered when I woke up this morning and now even more knackered having finished my workout. I think the bicycle is going to kill me. Elevated tricep dips are hurting my previously dislocated shoulder which has been giving me a dull ache for weeks now.

Back to virtual skipping too. Didn't start working out (& skipping) until 5pm yesterday and the skipping was great, as Bruce said it would be. This morning, in extreme state of tiredness, I just couldn't get my feet over the rope, so old Rocky moves back in play. Very funny to watch mind you.

One of the reasons for the tiredness is lack of sleep. My husband is back in Tokyo and the open living in Bali makes me nervous as the kids are in one room and I didn't want to lock them in in case they needed the bathroom or had a nightmare in the middle of the night. So I startled at every single noise and hardly slept. The frogs jumping around the living room must have thought "who is this mad woman?" every time I opened my door to check a noise. I think I may sleep on the floor of their room tonight for my own sanity.

Off to the Bali Safari & Marine Park today. Will take my rope to see if I can actually do any jumps and maybe get in my extra 30 min of cardio whilst the kids frolic in the pool.

Day 72: Lazy day

Lazy day so far. Exhausted after a few hours in and on the river yesterday. Worst part was the 500 odd steps down to the river. Everyone else's legs were shaking at the end of that. Mine felt like jelly, but nowhere near the jelly from creeps or floor jumps. Others in our groups could not stop shaking. So that is the further evidence of improvement in my body from PCP. The 300 odd steps walk up was also surprisingly OK.

However, this morning was another matter. Has taken me all day to think about starting my skipping and exercises and not sure how I am going to manage an additional 30 min cardio on top of all that. Very, very weak. Very tired. Very bleah. Not helped by no real schedule today as that has enabled me to take my time. Taking the kids to the Safari park tomorrow so will need to make sure that I do another very early morning. Which just makes it even harder today to get my act together. But I will, because I have to.

Day 71: Birds singing at the crack of dawn and PCP blogs to start my day

Going white water rafting in Ubud today so set the alarm for 6am so that I could do my exercises calmly before leaving. Have been feeling rushed this past week, so allowing 3 hours before departure to do everything, which includes a leisurely breakfast with a pot of Bali coffee on the veranda. 6am came too quickly as I hadn't slept well worrying about my exercises. It was still quite dark but the birds were singing and the gardens around the villa complex are so very beautiful. But,  I was soooooooo sleepy and sore and stiff. We had been to a water park yesterday so was quite stiff from climbing all the stairs. So instead of getting into it immediately I sat for a while and read PCP blogs which did the trick and motivated me. Especially just hearing the birds sing and water trickling in the pond, a man and his daughter taking their offerings to the temple, waving gaily.

Skipping was dreadful. Truly atrocious. After I had stumbled at every single swing of the rope and only done 134 skips in 2 minutes I decided that enough was enough. So for the next 16 minutes I danced waving my arms either in the air or as if I was skipping. I did Sylvester Stallone type moves, I jigged, I punched, I LOVED it as I felt I was actually achieving something. When I am tired skipping is bad anyway. When I can barely move my feet it is even worse. So I decided for a change that giving up and crying about it just wasn't worth it, so find an alternative. When I get back to Tokyo I will be able to do my running skips again. For now, I may just have to dance. It was a phenomenal 16 minutes of dancing (minus the 30 seconds when it was going so well I thought I would try the rope again.... ooops, back to virtual rope and the dance moves).

Failure, failure, failure.

Failure today was Da Vinci's, shoulder fly, V-sits and side crunches. Maybe the V-sits because I did my Day 69 exercises yesterday and substituted Kung Fu sit ups with V-sits. Couldn't move an inch on the last few of the last set. Or it is because my whole body still feels shredded from yesterday. Da Vinci's..... couldn't even do the previously prescribed sets. Got to the third set and the wheels fell off. Or maybe it was because the word "FAILURE" was glaring up at me from the screen. Tomorrow is another day to see how it all goes.

So, hoping that white water rafting counts as my 30 minutes extra cardio. If the water doesn't require paddling I could still just paddle for 30 minutes although that might get me in trouble.

Bad news on the photo update front though. Dropped my camera on Friday and suspect a car ran over it as it is dead. So no pics until next week when I can get to my other camera at home. That means I can get those abs tattooed on in the meantime.

Day 70: Skipping on the beach

Had a fabulous session skipping up and down the beach near KuDeTa yesterday. Quite a revelation. The jogging whilst skipping method really does work better for me, but not feasible on the potholed roads near where we are staying. Waves a bit of a challenge, but still very good. First time I have skipped in bare feet. Not something to be done too often though as with shoes is a lot better. But it felt good.

Workout also OK (did the workout today as we ran out of time yesterday and I didn't bring my bands to the beach). Although I feel like my whole body is leaden and my muscles feel like shredded wheat. I think that is good. Doesn't feel good though!

Day 69: Celebrating

Celebrating 13 years of marriage today to a wonderful man. We've known each other for 17 years, had two children and gone through many periods of my lack of health/fitness. I am proud to say that today I stand proud of myself after 13 years of marriage and looking at becoming 50 next year.... a huge thank you to PCP for allowing me now to go to the beach this afternoon and feel good about myself. I am not where I want to be yet, but I know that I just have to stick with it and keep on track whilst at the same time living my life.  I also want to teach my children that you are healthy only if you eat, and eat the right foods. My 9 year old yesterday told me "I am never going to try beer or wine, because if I do I might like it and then I might drink it. If I don't drink it ever I won't know so I won't drink it." So, looking forward to the next 21 days, but know it won't end there. I have a lot more work to do.

Day 68: My concept of failure is being redefined

I have been beating myself up about feeling like I am failing PCP and wanting to give up because I feel like I am failing. OK, it always takes longer for the penny to drop with me, but what I have had to force myself to understand is that I am not failing, but that I am sometimes getting to the level of muscle failure that we are striving for. It is hard mentally not to feel like you aren't doing a good job when you can't move your leg or arm an inch, but in fact that is what you are supposed to be doing. Nobody ever said that this was going to be easy. From the grunting in my workout today (lots of failure there and LOTS of sweat, I was sliding around on the marble floors) I think I did a good job today. But it is the first day that I actually realised I did a good job. Slow learner.

So I agree wholeheartedly with Patrick's e-mail today saying we are changing our whole lives. I just have to be careful not to have a hissy fit when I can't do the exercises. Also need to get back to working out in the morning as too many other factors get involved later in the day.

Everything done and dusted for the day. Am off to the W Hotel for brunch with the kids... they get cooking lessons, arts, crafts, and magic shows. I get to sit in a nice setting with my cool water and will graze PCP style for the duration of the brunch.