Hobcaw Barony

Running on the Beach

The EMS guys in their buggy said the beach was 3.9 miles long from inlet to inlet and from these pictures you can see I start roughly in the middle. This is my view up the beach and down the beach. Each day I run north up the beach until I cannot go any further, turn around and run the entire length of the beach to the southern inlet and then back to our spot on the beach. Round trip is 7.8 miles in 93 degree heat running on sand. Then I do the P90X abripper routine on a towel. Then I stumble into the ocean and find relief in the cool green water.

Fourth of July

The last three Cross Fit workouts, Wednesday, Friday, and today have been really brutal. It hasn't helped that my belly is just not cooperating (due to the fact I'm eating protein shakes and forcing calories into it) or that my calf has a knot in it that I cannot get to unwind.

I am powering through the pain, and today did 3 rounds for time of: 30 Kettle Bell squats, 30 pull-ups, 800 m run. I completed in 18:02.

I have stabilized my weight at 162 pounds.

I am looking forward to sitting on my boat with my kids today, sipping cold drinks and reading a novel. I hope that everyone has a wonderful 4th of July - be safe and stay off the roads if you can. We will be grilling Porterhouse steaks on the boat and then floating in the cove here, watching all the neighbors setting off fireworks from their docks. The kids will fall asleep on the cushions and I will be drinking Toad Hollow Chardonay and being eternally grateful for my country, her independence, my family and the health and well being of all those that I love.

The Prodigal Son Returns

The Buddha Boy is home from his trip and when I first saw him he ran into my arms and gave me the longest hug ever. He wouldn't let go - I wouldn't let go. I missed him so much. The house is not the same without all the beasties running around causing havoc.

For example, right this second I just said to Dizzy and BB, 'Don't hit each other in the face.' They turn to look at me innocently, blinking. 'That's really a bad idea.' They laugh and turn to look at each other and of course test this theory by whacking each other in the face with their comic books one more time.

What is a Mola Mola?

The Mola mola has a disc-shaped body with large dorsal and ventral fins and a short, corrugated tail.

The sunfish Mola mola is an oceanic species that can grow to an enormous size - up to 3 m in diameter with a weight of 1.5 tonnes. It is found in temperate and tropical oceanic waters around the world.

It consumes jellyfish and other static or slow moving prey found in open waters. It is protected against shark attacks by it's extremely thick, tough, leathery skin.

The Mola Mola Lurks Below

Unforeseen problem with my plan to switch to liquid diet: drinking a protein shake hurts just as badly as eating a small meal.

Fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck.

Not that this is going to stop me from following through on this course of action - I certainly need the calories and nutrients, and the shakes I've made are delicious, and I'm sure my body will enjoy the surge in fuel - it's just not going to do anything about the painful reaction I get from putting something highly-caloric into my stomach.

I stopped after about the third gulp as I was driving down the highway this afternoon, thinking I could enjoy my freshly-prepared shake and have a surge of energy to tackle writing and soccer tonight. I could feel the hiatal hernia starting to ache, a knot formed in my left side, my stomach began to bloat, pain surged through my system and I felt light-headed. I pushed on through and drank half the shake. By this time I was at my Mom's house to drop off the kids so I could go to soccer.

I had to sit down on her front porch brick steps and just stare at the water sprinkler arcing back and forth, trying to breathe. The waves of ringing pain and lethargy made my ears ring and made me see stars. I tried not to move and smiled when Mom walked over, so perhaps she wouldn't notice. But her first reaction was, 'Oh, you're hurting.' 

(Funny how you think that just because you're an adult that your Mom has suddenly lost her instinctive abilities to read you. Ha!)

Right now I feel like I have the biggest knot in my left side - I want to take one of those small wooden baseball bats they used to hand out as souvenirs at KC Royals games and whack myself in the ribs on that spot over and over to make the pain go away. 

Determination

Popping up on a wave in Pawley's Island, South Carolina

Biting the Bullet

I have made the switch today from solid food to meal replacement shakes. It has not been an easy decision, but I feel that in order to keep up my caloric intake I must take this step. I will miss food, and feel very hungry, and probably very jealous of those eating around me, but hopefully I can get the nutrients I need to survive from these shakes. I must stop losing weight. And I must be able to continue training because the results have been very promising in terms of pain management, renewed vigor, and a surge in energy and spirits.

I also got the ingredients suggested by one of my trainers at Cross Fit, Matt, to make protein shakes that I will eat for breakfast in the morning and before soccer games. 

• protein powder
• frozen mixed berries 
• greek yogurt 
• flaxseed oil 
• organic chocolate milk 
• acai 
• banana

The first one I made was delicious.

Unfortunately, the first meal replacement shake I had this afternoon tasted like ground up cardboard - complete with bits of cardboard in it. I will force myself to eat this carton of 20 packets and then try a different variety. There's gotta be something better than this.

I have soccer tonight, and I'm hoping my calves have loosened up enough to play. I have been icing them for 36 hours - even here at the coffeeshop, I have them up on a chair and chilling.

Nicole

Cross Fit Workout of the Day: 'Nicole' as many rounds as possible in 20 minutes of: 400m run, pull-ups to exhaustion. Which means John starts the timer and I race out the door to run around the buildings in a 400 meter sprint, run back in the big open garage door straight to the steel pull-up bars and do as many pull-ups as I can until my arms fail and I release the bar. I call out the number I did and he marks it on the white board. That's one round, and I race back out the door and repeat the process until he says, "Time." 

I did 7 rounds, and performed 137 pull-ups total. So he marks me down for the day on the board, where my name is there permanently: Phil 7/137. You can see how everyone else did that got there before you, and gives you something to push for.

I am feeling brutally 'empty' right now. I ate something delicious last night and feel like I devoured it. I haven't eaten today and not sure what to try. I'm tipping the scales 24 pounds lighter than I was on the first of May. Sloth needs food.

The Chief

Cross Fit Workout of the Day (WOD): 'The Chief' as many rounds as possible in 15 Mins of this set: 3 20# power cleans using a medicine ball, 6 pushups, 9 air squats. Repeat this set as many times you can in three minutes. Every three minutes you get a one minute break. Five three-minute sessions. I tried to do 5 rounds in each session and ended up with 23 rounds as my total.

I'm told 'The Chief' is one of the hardest workouts in Cross Fit.

Kelly was training in the Cross Fit Kids session and Izzie was playing with the other kids but there were no other guys there, so the trainers stood around and talked and encouraged me.

Afterward John commented on how lean & ripped I was getting. I asked him for some advice on how to get some protein and good carbs in me since I am really having a problem even wanting to eat due to pain and frustration, or keeping it down when I do nibble on something, and he freaked out when I told him I'm only eating one cup of yogurt a day.

We had a nice long talk about nutrition and I'm going to follow up with him when I'm not lying on the ground in a pool of sweat trying to recover from the day's workout.