Day 14, 15 & 16

Thursday March 3^rd  Day 16

Guess what? It’s Thursday again. That means another early mark to make it to group PT on time. I can’t wait to eat something other than a banana on my way to the Centre. Not long to go now. In 6 days, I’ll be able to eat a peach or a nectarine. Divine.

Just me & A today.  Still can’t quite make it through both circuits. Maybe I’ll have more endurance on my normal diet. I’ll have to compare how I feel next week when I’ve had 1 day of normal food.

It was a very long day at work. I still find it so hard to concentrate and focus after these Thursday morning workouts. I thought exercise is suppose to give me clarity and energy. I must not be doing it right if I’m ending up with fuzziness and fatigue.

G and I have a meeting near Wynyard this afternoon between 5-6pm. She has my travel pass, so catching a bus is out of the question. I’ve got to make my way there on foot! I left my workout bag at my desk, plugged in my earphones and headed out the door. Might try that new iPhone app RunKeeper to log my progress. It’s really neat. I can play tunes and every now and then, a voice over comes on and tells me how far I’ve travelled and what my average pace is.

We decided to meet in front of the Apple Store and walk the rest of the way together. I don’t understand why G isn’t tempted to go in and browse all of the new technology whilst she’s waiting for me to make my way up from Campbell St. But, for whatever reason, she isn’t and I spot her waiting by the bus shelter.

Our meeting went very well. We needed to make it back to get the car out of parking lot before 6.30pm to avoid paying more than the early bird rate. I, in my infinite wisdom, thought it might be faster to catch a cab. I was wrong! Traffic at this end of the CBD is a nightmare during peak hour.  Still, we managed to make it – even though it cost us almost $20 – which is $10 more than we would have paid for getting the car out after 6.30. Sigh…

Home for dinner and a relax in front of the TV.

Wednesday March 2^nd   Day 15

Well, this is it. My night has finally arrived. I’m feeling a bit nervous as I walk into the College Café. Before I can even turn to order a soy dandy latte, one of my classmates spots me. It’s her night too. Both of us are scheduled to be the ‘counsellors’ in tonight’s role-plays. She is much more nervous than I am, so, after ordering my drink, we settle in at one of the tables to talk.

She tells me she’d like me to go first. This actually suits me just fine. I’d rather get it over and done with so I can relax and enjoy the rest of the evening. I know that my nerves are more about anticipation than fear.

Our lecturer popped out of the faculty lounge and handed us the video camera and tripod. Time to make our way down to the classroom to get it all set up. Chairs organised. Disc formatted. Tripod up.

Lights. Camera. Action.

As soon as the camera was ‘rolling’, I found myself in ‘the zone’. My forearms rested comfortably on my thighs. I was leaning slightly forward- attentive and engaged. I touched my finger tips together in a loose triangle shape to keep myself from fidgeting.

Before I knew it, 30 mins was up and the rest of the group was clapping. Both of us sighed and relaxed into more normal positions. Time for feedback – the ‘Breakfast of Champions’.

Totally amazing experience! Now I’m definitely looking forward to our next role-play sessions. I just have to watch my dvd and critique myself on my counselling. That experience will certainly be both confronting and challenging. Lots of learning and growth this term!

Home to relax and watch the Fringe.

Tuesday March 1^st  7 days to my Birthday and my deadline

Today is ‘Legal Day 1’ the most talked about day at work for the past 3 yrs. Most of us anticipated a broadcast of some sort. But, it was a huge let down. Nothing new.  No announcement. In fact, there was not much of anything.  To top it all off, I’m feeling really down. I don’t want to continue with this detox diet. I’m not feeling energised, healthier or thinner. Perhaps it would be easier to stick with it if I was getting some positive paybacks. Instead, the kilo that I put on Sunday hasn’t gone anywhere. It’s so frustrating! Especially since I’ve been on the treadmill ALL weekend and even after yesterday’s group PT session.

I’m frustrated, disheartened and totally unmotivated. I’m going to have to talk to J about it tonight. I so don’t see any point in continuing this.

When I arrived at the Centre, I took a seat beside J at reception. She asked me how I was going and my eyes welled up with tears. I told her that I just didn’t think I could do it anymore.  I wasn’t getting any results. I’m feeling miserable. I’m hard to live with. And I’m gaining weight.

J was wonderful. We sat and talked for 30mins. She got out my charts and showed me how much progress I’d made since I embarked on the journey. We talked about me feeling awful because of all of the toxins and wastes that my body was now able to process without having to contend with all of the additional junk that I used to consume. We talked about how many years I had spent eating poorly and accumulating a build up of yuck in my body.

I thought back to the days when I was studying Naturopathy. A rule of thumb when helping someone with a chronic condition was one month to heal for every year that they’d had the illness or condition. So for me- that would mean 28 months to clear my body and restore it to peak health. And, where was I on my journey? Oh, yeah. That’s right. Just heading into my 4^th month!

I definitely felt better after talking with J. So, after taking my measurements and recording them on my chart, it was time to break into a sweat.

J has designed a new circuit for me. This one has more of an aerobic focus. She feels that I am getting enough of a focus on various large muscle groups during the group sessions on Thursdays and every 2^nd Monday.

New workout:

20 free standing squats - no ball

20 push ups on the floor from my knees

20 Hamstring curls

Running zig zag through pylons and then doing 5 star jumps at each end (10 x)

20 Triceps dips

Box & shuffle x 10. Basically, we face each other & J holds her hands up like she’s about to give me a double high 5 and I lightly ‘punch’ her opposite hand and alternate 10 times. Then we both shuffle 5 giant steps across the floor and when we stop, I start the boxing again. We do this 10 times.

I only made it through twice. And believe me, twice was enough! I was almost longing for the old ‘squat & hold’ circuit, and we all know how much I dreaded that one!!

Then, we stood around and chatted for a while. J showed me her blog – which looked fantastic!! It inspired me to change mine around (which you may have noticed).

Home for ‘Packed to the Rafters’