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lifeofpalace · 5 years

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Journey to the East

I had my entire study schedule mapped out for the next six weeks and none of those days included being on this damn plane.

Ding!

New iMessage from Simi one minute ago:

Should I include Korea University in my education for our job application?

Five years.

It took me five years to get my Bachelor's in Nursing and the sense of relief I've been experiencing since I graduated has been unprecedented.

I suppose the feeling of dread for the future should have started overwhelming me as soon as I threw my cap onto the air, but it has not. Laziness took over instead; and I've been persuading myself to accept the fact that it's perfectly acceptable to do nothing; to be nothing for now.

Blame it on self-care or mental break but I have not accomplished anything since then.

I just wanted to lay in bed and feel nothing. Be stressless. Be empty.

I am a college graduate and I'm finally free.

Ding!

That was an Instagram notification to remind me that it has been one year since Hong Kong.

I swipe left to clear it from view.

I enjoyed my routine days of getting back pains and a stiff neck from binge-watching Netflix all day with no complaints - I would not have imagined a better way to spend my final days before the residency program.

Ding!

New Facebook notification - Peter mentioned you on a comment in Subtle Asian Traits:

Us in Korea!

Oh, how lucky I was to meet my friends in Korea University that we're still constantly pestering each other even as our first year anniversary is approaching. Returning from studying abroad last year gave me some worries - would our relationship with each other start dying as more months pass by?

"I stopped talking to my friends by the fifth month" one of my friends would say.

January marked five months since we boarded the plane leaving Seoul.

Ding!

New Kakao message from Florence ten seconds ago:

I MISS YOU GUYS!

Perhaps not? Perhaps we'd stick by together for as long as we could?

Ding!

New Snapchat from Peter twenty seconds ago:

Look who I'm having lunch with! It's Thai! He's visiting from Pennsylvania!

Waikiki. Palm Springs. Dallas. Jinan. Cancun.

My instagram feed and snapchat stories started filling up with graduation and end-of-the-year trips. Status posts that exclaim "treat yourself" in big bold font - a gift for finishing college, a treat before studying for the board exams and starting the New Graduate Residency programs.

I clicked on one of the stories - Natsumi's. I met her the Fall semester following my study abroad in Seoul. She was an exchange student from Japan for a whole year and I realized that I had the chance to contribute to making someone's study abroad experience worthwhile, just as how everyone did with mine.

How fast the school year went because Natsumi posted a story of her waving goodbye to our friends in LAX as she was on her way back to Japan.

I remember that feeling. The feeling of never wanting to leave Seoul; and I only stayed for six weeks - imagine leaving after whole school year?

Natsumi must be emotionally suffering - I would be.

Her next story was an image of a black screen. "I never eat al pastor taco but I am craving some right now".

Right. Mexican food - you can't be in LA without falling in love with it.

Ding!

That was Facebook memories showing me that I was biking across Zhujiang in Guangzhou after downing half a bottle of Hennessey this day last year.

I swipe left to clear it from view.

It was on a Thursday, May 30, 2019 when I decided I was watching one episode of Grey's Anatomy too many that day and went on Expedia to check flight prices on trips I won't be having.

Israel would be a fun idea! Click!

Nevermind. $2000 for a round trip ticket.

What about Abu Dhabi and Dubai? Click.

Nope.

Singapore and Shanghai? Click.

Less than $1000 round trip? Maybe?

What about Singapore, Taipei, and Shanghai? Click.

Oh, damn. I better continue watching Grey's Anatomy before I become impulsive with booking this flig- actually, let's test out the waters and ask my mom if she'd let me go.

Ding!

New Kakao message from Minki five seconds ago:

I'm drunk ㅋㅋ

"You graduated Magna Cum Laude. Consider this as reward for your hardwork!"

What? But, my brother has summer school, he can't go with me alone and you can't request any more vacation days off work! If I book this flight, that means I would be going back to Asia, alone.

Ding!

New Yahoo! email:

Airline and booking confirmation number for Monday, June 3, 2018.

I guess I have four days to prepare for this trip.

Ding!

New Yahoo! email:

Thanks! Your hotel booking is confirmed!

Was that an impulse? I had no reason to visit Asia at all - I was supposed to start studying for my board exam on Monday; but instead, I found myself headed across the world, all because of a whim.

I texted Florence that I would be seeing her in a bit, and she managed to secure me a whole itinerary of activities to do and places to go to right when I land in Singapore.

I would never step foot into that country without my friends there - Florence, Joyce, Lina, Jonathan, Wendelyn.

But I missed them - oh, so much.

So here I am, currently lodged between two guys on a plane for a long layover in Tokyo Narita Airport before heading towards the esteemed Singapore Changi International Airport. But, hey! It's all about spontaneity right?

This is the story of how an impulsion turned into an international butt sore.

I'm tired of sitting already.

Ding!

New Kakao message from Joyce:

CHRIS I AM SO EXCITED TO SEE YOU AGAIN

#journey to the east #asia

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jacks-tracks · 4 years

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Cebu/Malalpasqua

There are no scheduled boats from Palawan to Cebu island, so I had to overnight and fly from Puerto Princessa to Cebu city. Still dorming for economy, and the cheapy in PP was a loser, not on the main street as advertised,but down a gravel alley. Even the tourist police couldn’t find it for me. My driver was wild over losing an hour searching and when he finally phoned the place tore a strip off them. Sold online as the Commune hotel, the tiny sign said C hotel. My email and a cell phone patch got us there, but it was a 6 bed dorm not 4, filled with mosquitoes, down a dingy twisting hallway. Just an overnight crash and I was away at 6 am to the airport. Security was a joke, the scanner operator was on his phone, and the metal detector missed my wallet chain and coins. Must say that Cebu Pacific Air is good, on time , newish planes, and their tiny office sold me my Cebu/ Manila flight for April 1. I had dreamed of taking another overnight ferry to Manila, but it arrived at midnight in the very unsafe part of town, 16 hours before my flight. Any screwups and I would miss my flight, and endure another airport layover before a cross Pacific flight. So , it’s fly to Manila and get on the China Air flight for the long ride home. In Cebu the taxis all wanted a scalpers price, and yes the yellow cabs were 100 pesos more than the white. Assured they had meters, the cabbie wanted 200, as he’d been in a 100 cab que for 2 hours. Sometimes you just pay, and he proved to be an interesting character who got me right to my hotel. Nice 6 bed dorm, ac, cheap, and right down the street from the immigration office where I needed to extend my visa the next day. The young girl in the next bunk was on a year trip, with 7 months gone in SE Asia, and she told me of places I’d never heard of, islands way off the beaten track. I later researched them and they had no tourist infrastructures like hotels and restaurants, just bring your own food and sleep with the dogs on the beach. I don’t do that anymore... She went to the street stalls next door to eat and was satisfied: I went and saw the usual BBQ chicken, all of it. You could get BBQ feet, and grosser, BBQ guts neatly skewered, or if that was too much, a very thin chicken broth presumably made from the leftovers. I ate at Chow King, a chinese fast food outlet in the mall, across the street from the”Chicky-Oink” cafe. Breakfast was at McD’s, the only place open. A blogger had reported that the visa renewal was quick at Guisano mall and sure enough with minimal delay(first in line) I paid my 3000pesos and in 20 minutes had a clean police record and a 30 day extension. This takes a week in Manila. Celebrated with doughnuts and a Mcflurry ( the mall opened), the last junk food for a while.

Cebu to Malapasqua island was easy, a Grab car, an AC bus, and a pokey bangka. We were an hour getting out of the suburbs, onto a seaside road up a string of beaches. More sand and palms, some possible resorts(if you had transport) then inland through endless coconut palm plantations on flat plains. Finally into Daanbayantayan, then Maya Port, for more paperwork and 2 cold coconut water drinks. I do hav e the right attitude, leaving my big bag in the office and going to the shady palalpa where the boatmen loafed, for that delicious cold drink, in the breeze off the open sea. Some upright German tourists stood in the heat wearing their full packs , as if that would make the boat happen. When it did come in they rushed to the dock, only to wait while the locals disembarked, and the boatmen went to B.S. with their buddys. Only when the crew wandered to the boat did I retrieve my bag and walk the plank. Literally a 6 inch plank 10 feet long from the stone pier down onto the heaving narrow pointed foredeck. At last we cast off, poled the bow around( no reverse?) and puttered very slowly out. The steersman and the mate kept throwing anxious glances into the open backed engine compartment. No wonder. The steering was the wheel and shaft from a car, connected to the rudder by a complicated network of bamboo pipes, the throttle was a string hand held by the steersman, and the shift lever was a wonderous blend of rusty welded rebar and bamboo. Nothing fell apart ,and we disembarked at Malapasqua dock up the same floppy plank.

Malapasqua is a tiny island, 1 k across and 5 long, nowhere more than 10 meters above the sea, mostly just flat. A premier dive site it is crammed with dive shops and hotels, the beaches packed with bangkas, and the “streets” the original goat paths through the buildings. Also the usual fleet of bandits who overcharged me, but i got my moneys worth with my bulky pack forward, and me with my half ton daypack piled on a Honda 50. Glad I ignored the advice to”just walk it. It’s not far” as it was a 5 minute motorcycle trip on paths that would have had me lost in a moment. Up (on foot) the cement stairs and down to Thresher Cove dive resort, a 3 star operation with a private beach, excellent restaurant, ac dorm, hot showers, and a huge salt water pool, just off the beach. the cabins were pricey, the dorm just 240pesos ( $6), and main meals 250, tasty and well made . Front staff were friendly and professional, the restaurant wait staff attentive and fast, and the ambience was pleasant. Came for 3 days, stayed for 6.

I’d been watching the weather and saw a front coming, so I booked a snorkle trip the very next day. 14 divers, one snorkeler(me). A 2 hour run in a fast Bangka to a pinnacle island with a hurricane ravaged lighthouse where the fringing reef had good coral, and lots of colourful small fish. i saw crown of thorn starfish for the first time, and a new fish with barbels like a catfish, red side stripe on silver, and a big black dot by the tail. The usual cleaning stations where parrot fish indicated their willingness by floating snouts upward and hovering while wrass nibbled off parasites. The bouyant water was the warmest since Indonesia, and I drifted along happily. A yellow blob caught my eye and when i dove down 5 meters i found a “diver down” marker. No diver attached. Treasure! I sold it to a diver for 1000 pesos and paid for my snorkle trip. No sharks, but the drift out over the dropoff was spooky as it was not just sheer but undercut. Who knew what lurked below, or out in the endless depths? I stayed in the 5 meter zone. A poor lunch, then another dive, for more exploration. A hundred snorkle dives, and I’ve seen something new every time. True to forecast, the wind jumped up and we bashed back in flying spray, arriving just at sunset. Any day spent on a

boat is a good day, and this one was very good.

Yesterday was pouring rain, and for the first time I pulled out my little folding umbrella, put on my swimsuit, and trekked to the trailhead where a local woman serves philippino food. Breakfast is small and expensive here at the resort, so I go native. Fried eggs, noodles or rice, passed on the overcooked fried fish, and had the chicken in soup( a leg with a bit of carrot and potatoe) and enjoyed the soup made of tiny beans, (Mongo beans) like lentils. A full meal for $1 or $2, the price of a cup of coffee at the resort. When the rain guit, i explored the next cove village and found where all the rooster calling was coming from, dozens of fighting cocks staked out. Rained again so I retired to a palapa to blog.

Today is sunny again, very humid, and my first stop was the pool for a refreshing dip. Water is air temp(35 degrees) but somehow it cools. After breakfast I walked the nearby beach where new boats are being built, full sized Bangkas, framed and planked with plywood. Smaller ones still use an adzed out log for a keel, with 2 by 4 frames. There are no more good trees, so bow and stern, gunnels and,strakes are scarfed and glued. Pretty poor wood, using outside cuts with the bark knocked off. There are several boats sideways up the beach, tossed there by the last typhoon. A framed 30 footer lies abandoned in the weeds, just needing plywood, and an engine(Mitsubishi diesel truck engines are the favorite). Perhaps someone went broke and abandoned the project. There were a couple of ships with minor damage also left, and I wondered why they built new ones rather than repair. i found shade under an old tree, loafed in the welcome sea breeze, walked up a tiny hill to see a strangler fig fallen in a tangled mass of live limbs, and finally hoofed home in the rising heat to the pool. One more day here, then off to Bantayan Island Monday. I’ll explore there then go south to Bohol island(the chocolate hills) and Camuguin(dormant, i hope, volcanoes) island. I’d like to get to Siargo island further out but it’s a four day return trip for a 4 day vist, so I might just come back and end my trip here. Whatever looks good, i’ll try it. Feeling the end of these travels approaching, and the trip has been good, both in places seen and experiences I needed. Travel really is broadening, and the challenges make me more flexible. Of course it will be good to get home,a nd I feel happy to return to Lasqueti.

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cristinajourdanqp · 6 years

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All Of That Struggle, and Such a Simple Solution

It’s Friday, everyone! And that means another Primal Blueprint Real Life Story from a Mark’s Daily Apple reader. If you have your own success story and would like to share it with me and the Mark’s Daily Apple community please contact me here. I’ll continue to publish these each Friday as long as they keep coming in. Thank you for reading!

I found Mark’s Daily Apple through a fortuitous and random conversation one morning with the guy I was seeing sometime around 2010. We were lying in bed, dreaming up delicious Sunday breakfast ideas and started talking about bacon, which then led to a heated argument about bacon, cardiovascular disease, dietary fat… oh boy! He name-dropped yours and MDA, and it made me step down from my high horse (I was a recent doctor of physical therapy graduate) and take a whole new look at nutrition that has- no exaggeration- completely changed my life.

Here is my story:

I had been swimming competitively since age 10, so I knew my body. I had always been tall, thin, and full of enthusiasm for whatever I pursued. Back in 2002, as a senior in high school, I started to feel something quite different. If I approached my physical limits, I would feel sluggish and weak and there was no way to push through. Each week, I swam slower. A few months later, I started noticing more and more of my hair falling in the shower drain and in my hair brush. As someone who had always been a night owl, I found it strange that even during matinee movies the second I sat down I would feel tired and fall asleep, like turning a switch. I could sleep ten to twelve hours and still would wake up exhausted. I even passed out a few times for no apparent reason. At this point I felt fatigued constantly, was having trouble finding enough energy to pay attention in class, and I knew something was wrong. I told my mom (a nurse), and we decided to wait out the end of the school semester. After graduation, I took a solid week off and basically slept and rested all day, after which I felt completely normal. I shrugged it off, and headed off to college a few months feeling healthy.

As a frame of reference, my diet at this time was atrocious. I didn’t like most meat, so I would eat processed meat approximately once a week. I hated eggs. I didn’t have much of a taste for any vegetables, so again, maybe once a week one would make it to my plate. I liked bananas, kiwis, and a few fruits. I loved processed food and would primarily eat cereal, bread, crackers, cookies, and pasta. I also struggled with having very little musculature on my body despite being active. At 5’10” my calves were so narrow that speciality narrow boots looked like fishermen’s boots on me! My abdomen fluctuated between being completely concave and sunken or distended to the extent that people would ask me if I was pregnant. My face had a constant red rash and break outs of both acne and rosacea. All of these things made me self-conscious.

When I went off to college, unexplained symptoms struck again. Except this time once I got to the point where I was passing out and fatigued, I kept going. My immune system went nuts. I acquired very bad strep throat, pink eye in both eyes, an ear infection, and a bad UTI all at once. Every week for the rest of the semester I felt worse despite several courses of antibiotics. Fast forward to end of semester: I finished finals, I rested for our 2 week holiday—100% better.

This became the pattern. Three more semesters exactly like this. It started to take a toll on my endurance, and I could not even walk up the stairs to get to my classes without stopping and resting for several minutes. I was embarrassed to be in social situations because I couldn’t focus and didn’t feel like myself physically and mentally. I was struggling in my classes for the first time in my life. I decided that fall semester my junior year would be different: no matter how sick I felt, I would push even harder.

That didn’t go well. I crossed into the next threshold of bodily rebellion. I started feeling sharp abdominal pains as if I were being poisoned followed by bouts of vomiting after taking my birth control, drinking milk, eating anything fatty, taking even a sip of alcohol, and sometimes after indecipherable aggravations. I stopped getting my period. One morning I woke up and could barely open my eyes. I felt confused to the point where I was staring at people talking and pretending to understand what was going on. Morning classes were a blur, and as I sat in my French class, I somehow fell asleep in the front row. My professor woke me up—not too happy—and sent me to the school doctor. Even though there was an entire waiting room full of students, she took me right away. I didn’t question it, but the second she sat me down she explained why: I had yellow skin, yellow eyes, and that awful, unmistakable death-like look of jaundice. She diagnosed me with mono (many of the other times I had been to the health center they suspected mono but the test was always negative). I was put on immediate bed rest until my liver started to cooperate. I could barely stomach eating, so I would munch on saltine crackers and eat unseasoned ramen but little else. My liver enzymes actually tested worse and worse, despite the rest. I got to the point where I could barely eat anything, but then slowly, I started feeling better. Hallelujah.

Spoiler alert, that’s not the end of my story. The very next semester it started happening. Again. Despite being told that you could only get mono once. I was emotionally devastated, scared, and yet determined. I gathered all of my medical records and went to see a doctor off-campus. He was dismissive and cold and told me that I was a woman, and women get depressed. That was his medical advice. End stop.

I was embarrassed to the point I didn’t seek further medical attention and tried to make some changes on my own, this time being a bit kinder to my body. I cut my work hours to almost zero, my class schedule in half, my workouts out altogether, and I just tried to get by. I was able to finish my last few semesters of college with fatigue, constant infections, and poor mental clarity, but I finished! I started working as a physical therapy aid full-time and teaching swim lessons to make money before grad school, and suddenly I was thrown off balance again. I could feel my body crashing as it had before, and I ended up making the radical decision to take 3 months off before physical therapy school to convalesce. This seemed to work, because I made it through 3 years of graduate school with only occasional and much less dramatic periods of illness.

That brings me to 2010, lying in bed, chatting about bacon. This little argument inspired me to read from the amazing Michael Pollen and delve into the wonders of the MDA blog. Mark’s words hit home as I had already begun to understand the importance of rest and recovery, listening to my body instead of overriding its messages (a work in progress), and the way food could make me feel. I drank the kool aid. I was inspired by the large body of evidence in the primal diet and primal lifestyle. Little by little, I started learning how to love vegetables and to prepare them well, to embrace fats, to eliminate grains, and to enjoy delicious meat and eggs. I started eating real food. Relationships don’t change over-night, so neither did mine with food. I had a long way to go, but I could feel a difference in my digestion and my energy. My acne and rosacea disappeared completely, and I felt like I had at least some control in my health.

Unfortunately though, my health continued to decline. It was not exactly the same as it had been before. I was constantly fatigued, but rarely did I have the ear/eye/throat/bladder infection extravaganzas as I had in the past, nor would the symptoms go away anymore with a little extra rest for a week or two. Instead, I started having random, scary symptoms. Over the course of the next four years, several times I would develop excessive water retention, followed by coughing up liquid deep in my chest, followed by pneumonia, followed by waking up in the middle of the night barely able to breathe. I would prop myself up on four pillows so that I was almost sitting up so that I could breathe. I would have fevers in excess of 104 degrees sometimes every Friday after a long week of work and would lie in bed until Monday morning. One time I felt desperately thirsty and was drinking water by the liter until I collapsed with squeezing in my chest. My left arm would randomly swell up. I had strange ulcers in my mouth. Other times my right eye would randomly start dilating, once to the point where I could not see anything out of it for hours. I would have sharp abdominal pain every time I was on my period that caused me to double over. I could keep listing crazy symptoms all day. I lived in fear. In addition, the years of being ill had led to metabolic damage. I could barely eat 1000 calories a day without gaining weight, so I slowly started gaining more and more weight. I had prided myself on being fit, so this crushed my self-confidence.

Doctors led me down many rabbit holes. Some were dismissive, cold, and made me feel embarrassed or crazy for telling them what was happening. Others were compassionate and did what they could to help, but they could only put small pieces of the puzzle together. I tested positive for several antibodies that suggested autoimmune disease and was told it was likely lupus, and steroids seemed to help my “infections” better than antibiotics which was quite telling, but my symptoms never stopped recurring and every day was a struggle.

I also attempted to conquer my body by running marathons, hiking mountains, and portraying a life of a “healthy woman.” These outward goals always led to me being very sick, sometimes for months, but for some reason I continued to fight my body every step of the way. I climbed Mount Whitney, the highest peak in the contiguous United States (with a broken tailbone no-less). Two weeks later I came down with a kidney infection that wouldn’t respond to antibiotics or steroids and kept me in bed for 2 months with fever, fatigue, and brain fog as well a complete loss of appetite. I kept frozen salmon, avocado, fresh orange juice, and almond butter in my kitchen and if I ate ONE of those things each day, I felt accomplished. I became scared that I was losing too much weight, but surprisingly, I felt stronger each day. Slowly, my appetite returned.

Finally, two months later I felt completely healthy, and I decided to go out to celebrate my birthday. My first day out. My first day with food outside of my kitchen. I ate fried chicken, drank beer, and polished it off with a birthday cupcake. The next morning I woke up with 104 fever, vomiting, the works. It started all over again, and I had an emotional break down.

All of these years I had tried to be patient and to trust my doctors, my body, God, and the universe to somehow fix this, but I could no longer handle living my life in constant fear and confusion, and I had reached a breaking point. The merry-go-round of looking for outside help, finding no clear solution, giving up, and then starting all over again was getting old. I truly believed I needed to accept that I would never have the health and energy of a “healthy” person, so I should start adapting my life to live with my limitations as best as possible. I started tracking every symptom each day, I started dialing back my work hours, my social time, and my exercise, and this seemed to help. I started eating much cleaner according to the Primal Blueprint, maybe 90/10. I slept 10 hours every day. I felt ��ok,” but I was depressed at the outlook of my future.

One fateful day, June 21, 2014, I decided to try keto, which I had recently read about on Mark’s blog. It was actually easy for me to get into ketosis for the first time, because my diet had been consistently clean for the six months preceding it. I woke up on day 3, and it was crazy. I could see clearly. I felt well-rested in a way that I didn’t remember existed. I felt boundless energy. I was strong. I could breathe better. I still remember that feeling so clearly. I actually feel healthy! Even when I felt “ok,” I didn’t realize I was never actually feeling well. It had been so long. I peed on the stick, and it was purple: ketosis was achieved. After a week of eating keto, which I had never intended to maintain permanently, I decided that I would add one half piece of whole wheat pita bread to my diet (I know not primal at all but I feel lucky I made that random exception to my diet) every other week and to attempt to cycle into and out of ketosis. The next morning I woke up with mouth ulcers, a fever, brain fog, and the beginnings of a UTI.

It hit me. The writing had always been on the wall but I hadn’t I seen it. This was clear, objective measures I couldn’t ignore: Do I have celiac disease? I got back into ketosis over the next few days, and all of the symptoms cleared. Like magic. I grabbed a beer, walked down to my hot tub, and cracked it open. This would be my test (and with bittersweet sadness my final beer). As I enjoyed the crisp, cool refreshing beverage, all of the things I had been through over the past 12 years ran through my mind. Even if you reread my story, it seems so obvious once you know. All of that struggle and such a simple solution. Yes, the ulcers and the fever came back the next day. I did a week of completely primal, gluten free, but not keto to test out my theory. I remained healthy. (I have the genetic marker and antibody for celiac but am unable/unwilling to do a 12 week challenge).

Over the next four years, I gained muscle I never knew I could gain. I can wear narrow boots quite well now, and I have muscle in my core and arms. I live a completely normal life. I can run, jump, and play, so I do! I have slowly forgotten the feeling of that daily struggle and fear. I have continued to change my relationship with food. While I am always gluten-free, I am 90/10 with primal eating and cycle in and out of keto. I can finally say that when my body tells me something, I listen. Whether it’s to fully recover between workouts, to limit chronic cardio, to sleep, to get fresh air and daylight, to eat more, or to reach out and connect socially, I no longer try to fight those impulses for my own ego’s sake. I preach this to all of my patients and all of my friends.

Here is a picture of me on Halloween dressed as the iconic Leia finally with some lean muscle!

Most importantly, I have learned to open the discussion of this diet and lifestyle to people around me. Not everyone has celiac disease, but 1% of the population does and most are not diagnosed. Many people have autoimmune conditions, and we have connected deeply on how similar food journeys have changed their lives. Many people simply have weight to lose and insulin resistance. My next goals in my personal journey are to gain a six pack (something that symbolizes both inner and physical strength to me) and to share this lifestyle with as many people as I can. Keep spreading the light Mark!

– Maureen

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fishermariawo · 6 years

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All Of That Struggle, and Such a Simple Solution

Here is my story:

All of these years I had tried to be patient and to trust my doctors, my body, God, and the universe to somehow fix this, but I could no longer handle living my life in constant fear and confusion, and I had reached a breaking point. The merry-go-round of looking for outside help, finding no clear solution, giving up, and then starting all over again was getting old. I truly believed I needed to accept that I would never have the health and energy of a “healthy” person, so I should start adapting my life to live with my limitations as best as possible. I started tracking every symptom each day, I started dialing back my work hours, my social time, and my exercise, and this seemed to help. I started eating much cleaner according to the Primal Blueprint, maybe 90/10. I slept 10 hours every day. I felt “ok,” but I was depressed at the outlook of my future.

Here is a picture of me on Halloween dressed as the iconic Leia finally with some lean muscle!

– Maureen

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watsonrodriquezie · 6 years

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All Of That Struggle, and Such a Simple Solution

Here is my story:

All of these years I had tried to be patient and to trust my doctors, my body, God, and the universe to somehow fix this, but I could no longer handle living my life in constant fear and confusion, and I had reached a breaking point. The merry-go-round of looking for outside help, finding no clear solution, giving up, and then starting all over again was getting old. I truly believed I needed to accept that I would never have the health and energy of a “healthy” person, so I should start adapting my life to live with my limitations as best as possible. I started tracking every symptom each day, I started dialing back my work hours, my social time, and my exercise, and this seemed to help. I started eating much cleaner according to the Primal Blueprint, maybe 90/10. I slept 10 hours every day. I felt “ok,” but I was depressed at the outlook of my future.

Here is a picture of me on Halloween dressed as the iconic Leia finally with some lean muscle!

– Maureen

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milenasanchezmk · 6 years

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All Of That Struggle, and Such a Simple Solution

Here is my story:

All of these years I had tried to be patient and to trust my doctors, my body, God, and the universe to somehow fix this, but I could no longer handle living my life in constant fear and confusion, and I had reached a breaking point. The merry-go-round of looking for outside help, finding no clear solution, giving up, and then starting all over again was getting old. I truly believed I needed to accept that I would never have the health and energy of a “healthy” person, so I should start adapting my life to live with my limitations as best as possible. I started tracking every symptom each day, I started dialing back my work hours, my social time, and my exercise, and this seemed to help. I started eating much cleaner according to the Primal Blueprint, maybe 90/10. I slept 10 hours every day. I felt “ok,” but I was depressed at the outlook of my future.

Here is a picture of me on Halloween dressed as the iconic Leia finally with some lean muscle!

– Maureen

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cynthiamwashington · 6 years

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All Of That Struggle, and Such a Simple Solution

Here is my story:

All of these years I had tried to be patient and to trust my doctors, my body, God, and the universe to somehow fix this, but I could no longer handle living my life in constant fear and confusion, and I had reached a breaking point. The merry-go-round of looking for outside help, finding no clear solution, giving up, and then starting all over again was getting old. I truly believed I needed to accept that I would never have the health and energy of a “healthy” person, so I should start adapting my life to live with my limitations as best as possible. I started tracking every symptom each day, I started dialing back my work hours, my social time, and my exercise, and this seemed to help. I started eating much cleaner according to the Primal Blueprint, maybe 90/10. I slept 10 hours every day. I felt “ok,” but I was depressed at the outlook of my future.

Here is a picture of me on Halloween dressed as the iconic Leia finally with some lean muscle!

– Maureen

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thejerkstorecalled · 6 years

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Race Report: Ironman 70.3 St George 2018

Every time I start a race report, I think that it’s going to be short. I think this one really might be 😊 after I get through the prologue!

The preamble is that I first raced Ironman 70.3 St George in 2015 and got completely Tyson’d (“everybody has a plan until they get punched in the face”). It’s the race performance I’m least proud of, definitely for the distance and maybe ever. I debated whether or not I would ever race there again. After completing fourteen different half-distance triathlons without repeating the same race, options were fewer, especially if you’re looking to fill a certain hole in your scheduled via a North American race. Mid-season in 2017, I repeated a super-tough Olympic in the mountains that I originally raced in 2015 and was able to bike seven minutes faster and even run the super-hilly run course slightly faster. I realized it was time to return to St George for redemption.

I took a look back at finish times – my own at various races, and others at this race – and put together a plan to take at least 20 minutes off my 2015 time. This is what that looked like.

It helps for me to write down my goals, to maintain focus and stay honest with myself. I also like to do weird things, like when it’s time to update all my many work account passwords and I’m out of options, I use race goals. For instance: CIM310 (check) or STG525 (check, check). Of course these aren’t the exact or complete passwords, it would be silly to give way my syntax publicly on the interwebs. With this sneaky and ever-present tactic, you remember your goal every damn day and think about how badly it would suck not to hit the time that you can’t get out of your head.

Okay, onto the race!

Michael and I flew into Vegas two days pre-race, and drove to St George just in time to check in and pick up our bikes before Ironman village closed on Thursday. He noticed a new issue with his head unit, so had planned to hit up bike tech early Friday before driving some loops of the course as a refresher and doing our shake-outs. No big surprises in driving the course, mostly just subbed in a new out-and-back on the bike course.

We arrived right on schedule to Sand Hollow Reservoir where the swim and T1 (swim -> transition area) were set up to do a shakeout ride on the first five miles of the bike course and splash around a bit to remember what 60* water temps feel like. At 1.27 miles, my chain got mangled. Usually I can sort it, but this was pretty bad. Michael couldn’t get it either, so he had to ride back to get our rental van so that we could take my bike to bike tech all the way back in the town of St George where Ironman Village was.

The bike mechanics had to take apart my chain rings to get my chain sorted and let me know that I needed to replace the chain rings (after the race, this was beyond their race venue scope). This was frustrating since I’d had quite a bit of bike work done a month prior, with a full tune-up and new cabling among other things. Bike te also advised me to ride conservatively the next day. Not at all what I wanted to hear!

By this time, it was approaching 4 PM. Our bikes were due for check-in by 5 PM, all the way back at the reservoir. I did a super-short ride near bike tech in case of further issues, and tested the gearing. I was able to shift into my small chain ring, a requisite for riding a course as hilly as this one! I was still super-nervous. By this time, my goal was to ride conservatively enough to finish the bike course.

We made the bike check deadline with a bit of time to spare, and I was able to squeeze in a short run on reservoir trails and a swim to the first buoy and back. A really epic four-minute shake-out swim!

It was time to get cleaned up and eat something before bed time. For simplicity, we just decided to eat at our hotel bar knowing that it likely wouldn’t be crowded and we wouldn’t need to get very fancy or drive anywhere. We ended up having tasty bites and drinks with two guys from Normatec – one of which was the guy who raced all the Ironman events wearing fireman gear on the run and the other was a former pro who still dabbles heavily in extensions of the sport. A fun way to shake off a stressful day.

BTW would highly recommend out hotel: Hyatt Place. It was nice and new and smelled of fancy lotions like the hotels in Vegas usually do. The staff was super-friendly and helpful. The breakfast was legit. The snack options were delicious. The gym was on point. No complaints. I’ll also share the hotel tip that I imparted upon Michael from my semi-frequent travel experience: always carry a water bottle and refill it with the cold, filtered water in the hotel gym/fitness center to be eco-friendly and cost-efficient.

Race Day!

Up at 3:30 to get to the hotel-provided race breakfast at 4 (the bananas usually go fast). Since that leaves four hours until getting in the water given where I’d seed for the swim, here’s what I ate:

Ezekiel toast with almond butter

Banana

Zest Tea’s High Octane Green Tea

Chocolate Clif Gel and water (~30-45 min before swim start)

We parked near Ironman Village so that we could access T2 and take the Ironman shuttles to the swim start. We had to turn in our run bags the day prior but pro tip (from a total amateur): get in on race morning and remove your run gear from your bag, set it up to support a faster transition from bike to run.

Bike set up went quickly and was great to hang out with Sherpa Courtney and Competitor Mike before we filed into the start chute.

The Swim

I optimistically started right around the 36/37-minute swimmers. To be fair, I’ve had swims in this range and my pool times have been solid the last few months.

I jumped in the water without hesitation and was feeling pretty good. I thought I might be passing people but then I also realized I was too far to the left…again…so this might be me and not my sleeved wetsuit 😊. There were a lot of waves splashing me in the face and I was taking in a ton of water, woof. The second half of the swim, I definitely felt like I was getting passed, and for the final 3 – 4 buoys I knew I’d been in the water a long time and was expecting to see 38-40 on my swim clock.

This is wildly frustrating. I keep putting increasing effort into my swim training year over year, and I’m see gains in my pool times and enjoy swimming so much more than in the past. What used to be my all-out-and-Im-probably-drafting 100s are now my steady-race-paced-just-slower-than-Z3 100s; I was stoked when I – two or three years ago – was able to hold this pace for 200-300 yards at a time and now I’m holding it for 1000 continuous. But it’s not translating to open water swimming; my OWS times are not moving, and may even be digressing. I’ve been obsessing over if this has to do with a certain wetsuit or whether I breathe bilaterally or if I’m not swimming straight whereby adding on lots of distance and thus time. I have no idea; the results are far too mixed with no clear patterns:

The Bike

The bike went by fast. This course has a lot of different-feeling sections that are easy to mentally parse up and digest. It was fun and scenic, and the roads were good. I wish every bike course was like this!

I had to change gears pretty gingerly and less often than I wanted to in order to avoid a race-ending malfunction. This meant that I was often not in the gear I wanted to be in or in the gear that would help me ride faster for that section of the course, but I was in a safe/lower risk gear that meant I was more likely to get to T2 and the run portion.

I was proud of myself for smiling a lot, encouraging fellow competitors and riding bravely (I’ve been riding like a real pansy in training, on my tri bike, and wasn’t sure if/how I’d be able to “race” on it). And for remembering how to use my behind-the-saddle bottle holder and take bottles at the exchanges, things I haven’t practiced in about eight months! I think I put my helmet on weirdly because I had much less front-facing visibility that I usually do, and had to pick up my head more than was comfortable or optimal for aerodynamics, to ensure I wasn’t about to roll into anyone or anything. Otherwise, a smooth ride! I was elated to dismount without incident.

Bike Nutrition:

Two bottles each containing two scoops of custom Infinit and ~5 oz of Red Bull (mixed w water obvi)

Two lightly salted Yukon Gold potatoes

I took a water bottle at each of the three aid stations, chugging some and diluting/filling my bottles with some

The Run!

I took off out of T2 trying to just get relaxed and into an easy rhythm. Most of my training runs recently have been directly off the bike or weights where I needed a couple miles or a couple minutes to feel “normal” which was good precedent for this race where you come off a hilly bike course into a run that starts with 3 miles of real climbing. During this easy start, I mentally collected myself and devised a game plan: the more miles of “up” at the outset meant the less miles of effort and pain at the end. So in my mind, it was a ten mile run since the last 2.5 – 3 miles are downhill. I like to lie to myself and I always fall for it, ha!

I also planned to manage the climbs with a strong but controlled effort and then hammer the descents, pushing the cadence and high foot turnover as hard as I could. If you’ve ever run alongside me, you know what this must have sounded like because my feet literally pound the pavement. I hammered down loud and proud! I passed a lot of guys on the descents who were putting on the brakes and being timid about pounding and rolling down the hills – I know they’re carrying more lbs than I am, but guys, your quads will forgive you in a few days!

I was actually feeling good and happy and all those weird things. I was even called out by other racers for smiling stupidly on a dead-ish area of the course, just to myself! Also: science, smiling relaxes you and makes you go faster, so sometimes I force it in the name of science. Maybe it’s because I’ve done so many tough training runs/intervals on the treadmill getting serious mental training and zero air circulation. The breeze I felt from running outdoors, even in the exposed desert sun, was quite a treat.

I wasn’t watching my splits because on a run course like this, it’s just demoralizing. I mostly record for post-analysis. My watch band actually spontaneously broke in half and my watch fell off while I was running, and I almost didn’t go back for it. What a great excuse for a new watch for a girl who still uses a 6 YO Gamin 910 that’s on it’s third(?) band!

I told myself that once I was done climbing and everything left was downhill (about mile 10.5), I could check my watch to see average page and get some motivation to cut that down with some high cadence descending. The math was much better than I expected! The last 1.5 miles were tough, I was nervous that I might collapse or pass out and not make it to the finish line. I could see my pace petering a bit and kept trying to force the turnover because I knew I was staring down a run faster than I thought possible and wanted to see how low I could get it.

Run nutrition

One 25 mg caffeine Strawberry Clif gel

Water from aid stations; usually I like Coke on the run but I could tell that my body probably couldn’t handle any more caffeine without some kind of intestinal implosion or explosion

BTW – because it was hot, a lot of spectators were out with super soakers, spray bottles, etc and there was a mister on course. I know some people avoid these because they’re scared of blisters. Guys, just get better socks. The cold water is a lifesaver! I got a free pair of SmartWool socks in the swag bag for a trail race I did a few years ago and wore them in a 50k that included multiple stream crossings. Nary a blister. I’ve bought more of these socks and wear them when I know I might want to get wet 😊

Epilogue

I was happy to come well-below my goal time for the race overall and hit a time that I really didn’t think was possible even though my swim goal was off. I noticed that it was offset by faster transitions, so while I didn’t swim a lot faster, my increased swim fitness allowed me to feel super-fresh coming out of the water and “race” the transition to kick off the bike with gusto. Secretly, I did want to break 2:50 on the bike, so rode just where I wanted to despite not doing it exactly how I would have liked due to gearing issues. I would have been happy with anything <1:50 on the run, thinking that a perfect day would yield 1:45 on this course, so am pretty stoked with the run.

For my first 70.3 of the season each of the last three years, I’ve had some specific goals I developed in the preceding off season, and always hope to race near the top of my age group. I did that at Oceanside in 2016 (dern I miss the 30-34 AG ha ha!), and had designs on doing that at Coeur d’ Alene in 2017 and now this race. In both instances, I achieved a finish time that seemed like a real stretch and one that would’ve put me on the podium the previous year. Not sure if I raced in better conditions or against stronger fields each time, but dang, can a girl get a break? Maybe next time…

#triathlete #triathlon #ironman #halfironman #halfironmantraining #ironman703

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celticnoise · 6 years

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Alas, all good things come to an end.

Such was the case on Sunday.

Though I must admit as I took my seat in front of the big telly down at the local on early Sunday afternoon it was safe to say that I didn’t see it coming.

Quite simply put, Celtic didn’t show up.

They looked lethargic and even slightly apathetic. Hearts, encouraged by recent back to back wins and energised by the presence of young players such as 19-year-old Jamie Brandon and in particular 16-year-old Harry Cochrane go right into our faces from the get-go. They pressed us high up the park and made us work to get the ball out from the back. Craig Levien stated that they followed the blueprint laid down by Anderlecht in their recent successful visit to Celtic Park in the Champions League and that’s hard to dispute.

If anything they executed it better.

It was like visiting Tynecastle a decade ago when they had a capable and combative team that usually started fast and you really knew you were in for a game. Like back then the idea would have been to ride out the storm as the young Hearts team ran themselves into the ground but they opened the scoring through the aforementioned Cochrane and then Jozo Simunovic decided to leave Kyle Lafferty in acres of space and the Ulster sensation raced clear with his picture-perfect stride to lash in a second before celebrating with a cheeky ‘Red hand’ style salute to the visiting support. Good old Kyle eh? A face you’d never tire of slapping.

In the second half, we needed to respond and we duly didn’t.

Big Jozo’s nightmare at the back continued as he let the ball bounce before laying out the red carpet for the previously unknown Manuel Milinkovic – who in fairness actually looks a player – to run through and tap into the net. Just to round things off Craig Gordon got in on the act, gifting a needless penalty late on for Milinkovic to lash in his second and their fourth.

It truly was an awful day. One that came out of nowhere considering this was against an under-strength Hearts team who have been poor for most of the season and are barely in the top six. That plus we were going for an unprecedented 70 games unbeaten and hadn’t lost to Hearts since the Scottish Cup semi-final five and a half years ago.

You had a feeling that we could have played all day and night without scoring, something that hadn’t happened domestically in 76 previous games.

Of course, the usual post-game soothsayers emerged within the support afterwards claiming ‘ it had been coming.’

How exactly I ask?

What because we dominated a game against Hibs last Sunday before letting two points slip in the last 15 minutes?

Or because Scott Sinclair scored a penalty equaliser late on in a game against Motherwell that we also completely dominated and should have been well up in before Lustig scored an unfortunate OG just before the 80th-minute mark?

The truth is nobody saw it coming and it wasn’t just the result but the performance that was pretty mystifying.

Though I guess if you’re gonna go down then go down in flames.

Though I was frustrated in the aftermath I wasn’t really angry.

How could I be?

We’d gone 69 domestic games unbeaten, won 60 of them and collected the last four domestic trophies.

I’ve never known dominance like it and it’s unlikely anyone, including ourselves, will replicate a run like that again.

Part of me is even relieved.

EVERYTHING was becoming about THE RUN.

When would it end?

How long would it go on for?

Could we remain unbeaten for another season? etc, etc.

In amongst all that the emphasis on performances had gotten lost and whilst we aren’t exactly playing badly we are still way off the bar that was set last season. Indeed going into Sunday we’d already dropped more points this season than we had in the entirety of last. Our lead at the top of the table is a rather precarious two points over Aberdeen and we’re only five points clear of our struggling neighbours over at Ibrox.

By comparison this time last year we were 11 points clear of the light blues with two games in hand and 18 points clear of the Dons having played one game fewer. On 41 points so far this term we are five points less well off than at the same point 12 months ago having played two games more. So cause for concern.

All of this stems from the centre of defence. I actually like Simunovic.

I’ve always rated him but truth be told he has been poor recently and he had one of those games yesterday where everything that could go wrong did.

As for Boyata I don’t rate him and never have.

He was thrown under the bus when he first came when his original central defensive partner, the classy Virgil Van Dijk was sold and the often calamitous Efe Ambrose was brought in to replace him. But for me even under Brendan with everyone claiming he’s ‘rejuvenated’ he’s still way off being good enough.

Against PSG over in Paris, everyone in hooped shirts was being played off the park as we crashed 7-1 but Boyata, in particular, looked like he’d been caught in a tumble dryer. I find it bizarre he’s somehow found his way to being involved in the Belgian national team squad recently when you consider the depths of talent they currently have available to them.

Our hammerings in Europe were dismissed as being purely down to the enormous gap in finances.

Any criticism was deflected with the mantra ‘look at the domestic run’.

Now that’s gone and yesterday’s humbling by an average Hearts team, albeit they were inspired on the day, exposes our defensive frailties for all to see.

Investment is required at centre back and not only just in time for the Europea League Last 32 in February or for next season’s assault on the Champions League qualifiers next season but also to reassert domestic supremacy this term.

In the meantime let’s start a new run.

On Wednesday we play a struggling Partick Thistle team rooted to the bottom of the table as their attractive passing football from last year has deserted them. They are leaking goals left, right and centre whilst their confidence is at rock bottom following a 3-0 pasting by fellow strugglers Dundee at Dens on Saturday. They should be the perfect tonic. That then takes us into a three-game schedule that could see us emerge in the New Year way ahead of the pack.

Let’s just get Wednesday out of the way first though.

Paul Cassidy is a Celtic fan and blogger from Glasgow. He’s been warning people about our defence for weeks.

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#CelticNoise #Celtic #CelticFC #TheCelticBlog #News

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