Playtime's over

And I don’t just mean vacation. I was telling Peter the other night that I set out some strength goals for myself for the first quarter, hit two of them on day 2 and came pretty damn close to a third on day 6. This is how 2012 is going for me so far, and I have a strong suspicion work is going to be similar. I’ve never been more ready to back to work in my life. Then again, I’m not sure I’ve ever taken a three week stay-cation in my life either!

Wrapped up the second half of the week similar to the first: a morning CrossFit session where I had another mental fail in a heavy back squat, after which we played around with handstand walks and forward flips (I still can’t do either!), then taped movement standards for Fittest in Cape Town, an experiment in kinesiology, a morning session at Virgin Active (quote of the morning: “Do you lift for a team?” … that place is hilarious), brunch with Roland at Sandbar, a meeting that was supposed to be about a social enterprise startup and wound up being about Anglo American’s community empowerment strategy then gardening. This then inspired me to go to the garden shop and plant some seeds, so my patio now has way more on it than my apartment does in it.

A movie (no dinner); Moneyball (well, ok I did eat dinner which almost caused me to be late but a girl’s gotta have priorities right?), a sleep in, more steamed veggies, an afternoon CrossFit session that included the easiest strict pullup I’d ever done and a couple rounds of Cindy, then a sleepover at Mona’s.

I’d say we are officially in the dog days of summer now when by 9am it’s already hot (over 30, aka about 86F). But yet I’m more active than ever. This weekend was particularly so: woke up, went to the Biscuit Mill to buy fish and veggies, went to Transfit to do some squat snatch technique work (my receiving position sucks, so I need to practice this a lot), to Cape CrossFit to do a metcon, to acupuncture (which was bliss … fell asleep on the table completely still within 10 minutes), home for shower and food, to De Waal Park for a brief check-in on a friend’s birthday, to my physio, to a fish braai, and finally home to bed.

Sunday: back to yoga for the first time in ages. It felt easier than before, physically, probably both due to my being in better shape and my daily mobility work. Then to the Sunbird Bistro for brunch with Keith, talking training with Chris from 360, beach (the water was particularly cold!), home to shower, eat, off to The Twelve Apostles to read in the hammocks, home via Hout Bay due to traffic, dinner, and off to Big Bay to watch American football playoffs with Jon Jon.

A couple of interesting things. Firstly, I enjoyed Moneyball because it took place in Oakland, and I know the Oakland Coliseum relatively well, so that was quite cool. But there was also a scene where Billy Beane goes to Boston because the Red Sox try and recruit him. It was interesting to observe my emotions when seeing these images: pangs of nostalgia, almost homesickness, combined with a very strong feeling that I did not want to live there again, although I was very glad I did. Also, seeing Fenway Park like that; I’m not sure if it’s the Bostonian in me or the American in me but that place has a strong emotional pull. There’s some serious history there, and to baseball (even though I don’t much care for baseball, to be honest).

Also it contained this great sequence:

Billy Beane: “Would you rather get one shot in the head or five in the chest and bleed to death?”

Peter Brand: “Are those my only two options?”

How’s that for thinking different, right?

Second, on Saturday I did something that I am not sure I have ever done before which is stop in the middle (well not quite the middle) of a CrossFit workout. I was doing a long metcon that I’d done a year prior, just for fun, and I was already concerned that it was too long to make a lot of sense as conditioning but I wanted to do it, as I said, for fun. But after about 25 minutes I just literally bonked … hadn’t had anything to eat yet that day and it got to a certain point and I realised that continuing would do me more harm than benefit, so I finished the round I was on and called it a day. Sometimes you have to do that. Lesson learned.

Aside from that, the detox diet (which is shockingly similar to a vegetarian diet with fish ….) is going really well. I still have some cravings but my mind is way tougher than my cravings and I’m feeling absolutely fantastic. Strong, and full of energy. I will need those high-starch veggies back sooner than later but I’m amazed that it’s been 8 days of pretty solid training and I haven’t yet felt like my body has NEEDED meat. But, as with anything, I take it day by day …. My intention is to go three weeks without meat but as above, rules are meant to be broken if your body tells you so.

So it feels good not to be messing around.  

• “Making dreams come true … that’s what it’s all about.” – Anton
• “What, so the workout doesn’t start until we all take our shirts off?” – Ellie (my first 7am class in a while…)
• “…no artificial sugars of any kind…” “Are avos allowed?” – J.P. & Richie
• “He says that he can see that I’m not the kind of person who’s gonna f*ck around.” – Mona
• “I think you can be really good. And I know this because I’m your friend.” – Mona
• “Playtime’s over.” – Peter
• “The important thing is that you’re training, and I can tell that you love it.” – Chris
• “When was the last time you saw that on Clifton beach?” “Yesterday. Oh, I see …” – Ellie & Keith