Insanity Day 26: Heading Home Tomorrow!

Today was Pure Cardio & Cardio Abs. Heading home from Singapore tomorrow through Hong Kong. 3h45m flight to Hong Kong, then a 15 hour flight from there. It looks like I will have the privilege of being in a middle seat in economy for that long, last leg. I was really hoping some seats would open up when I checked in this morning but no luck. Oh well, at least I'll be home before the sun goes down tomorrow.

Although I don't think Beijng got a fair shake due to the record-breaking pollution, I think even if it were warm and sunny there, Singapore would be the winner for best city on this trip. This place is incredibly beautiful. The highways are lined with flowers. There is greenery everywhere. The local roads are not on a grid system, despite the skyscrapers it has almost suburban feel to it. There are tons of great restaurants. We're heading to the Marina Bay Sands after a media interview this afternoon. It's a 55 story hotel on the water with a "sky park", restaurant, bar and infinity pool at the top.

As for the workouts, my plan is to do my Saturday workout after I get home, but I may take it as a rest day and do it on Sunday. After 19 hours of flying in coach and a 13 hour time change, I just don't know how I'll feel, other than tired! Either way, it will be my last workout of the first phase of Insanity. I'll say bye-bye to all the DVDs I've used thus far, and will have a week of recovery (which still consists of mild workouts) before phase 2 begins. I've been told phase 2 is similar to phase 1 except the circuits are longer, so the workout is closer to an hour as opposed to the 40 minutes I've been doing. Sounds like fun! I'm really glad I'll be back in my cold basement to do those. Working out in a hotel room between meetings SUCKS.

Anyway, if you're still reading this blog, THANK YOU for all the support. It has served its purpose of keeping me accountable, and I really look forward to capturing the moment each day.

Have a great weekend!

Marina Bay Sands:

Insanity Day 25: Much Needed Rest!

Yesterday was my recovery day. I completed the recovery workout but didn't have time to post a blog because we had an early breakfast meeting. My body was desperate for a day off anyway. Because of the time change coming to Asia, my Saturday and Sunday blurred together so I never really got a day off. So yesterday's workout was a real treat. I had an early morning meeting again today and am about to start Pure Cardio and Cardio Abs before lunch, so today you get two posts for the price of one, which is still free by the way!

Insanity Day 24: Nothing Like Plyo in Singapore!

I flew to Singapore last night. Singapore Airlines is now my favorite airline. I was in coach for the 6 1/2 hour flight due south, and my dinner was better than any I've had in Business First on Continental/United. Smoked salmon (I know. Fish on a plane? Dude, it was AWESOME!), roasted chicken that actually taste like a restaurant, free wine and beer. Perhaps their labor costs are much lower. I don't know. But how they can provide that quality service versus anything in the U.S. I can't fully understand.

Anyway, I'm staying at the Pan Pacific Orchard. Haven't seen much of it since I arrived at midnight. Did Plyometric Cardio Circuit, which is probably my favorite workout. I still took it easy on anything involving the back, but I feel better today. Still wish I had my heat pad. I should've packed those disposable ones. Lesson learned for next time.

It's so good to be out of all that smog in Beijing. I felt MUCH better working out today than earlier this week. The room's A/C works much better, too.

I flew right over Vietnam last night, and thought of my father-in-law who fought there. Strange to know I was only 6 miles above it. I could see the lights and wondered what it must've been like for all those men. This part of the world is so foreign to me. On the map that was zoomed out I could tell I am actually west of the west coast of Australia. It's a wash as to weather it's faster to fly home east or west. I chose east, as I'll be flying home through Hong Kong Saturday morning.

Anyway, I'm off to shower. Til tomorrow!

The picture I took from the backseat screen in front of my as we approached Vietnam:

Insanity Day 23: From Beijing to Singapore with Duck Neck!

Last morning in Beijing and just completed Cardio Power & Resistance. This getting up at 6:00am and going to bed at 10:00pm thing is so not me, but I continue to do it to get these workouts in. After more than 3 weeks, there's nothing that would prevent me from finishing this program. But I will admit I didn't look forward to my workout. Whether it's the time change, air pollution, or my hot hotel room, the workouts seem much harder here than they did at home. I've had to take a few more breaks. I also had a bit of a sore back last night so when the time came for globe jumps today, I jogged in place. I don't have my heat pad or time to get on the floor and stretch my back like a cat in the middle of a customer meeting. So best not hurt myself 8000 miles from home.

Yesterday we had a couple of excellent, if not a little strange, traditional Chinese meals. First was "hot pot", which you can get in the U.S. It's like fondue, except they use boiling spiced broths that they put different meats, veggies, noodles and even fruit into. You then pull it out of there with a spoon or chopsticks and dunk it in a sauce that you make at a sauce buffet bar. Then you shake it off and eat it. I ate something I thought was a green bean. It wasn't. It was the hottest freakin' pepper I've ever had. My arms were sweating. My head was soaked. And the locals loved it. Yeah they got me. I should've known it was coming. I also should've known that they don't really have any vegetables here that are the same as the U.S., even if they look the same. About the only things they have that look the same are onions and tomatoes. Everything else is different. Example: The best looking bean sprouts I've ever seen were actually long, skinny white mushrooms. Still, they were good.

Dinner was excellent as well. Lots of different beef, chicken and vegetable dishes. Everything is served family style here. You can't really order an entree like you can in the U.S. The only strange thing at dinner was the duck neck. Imagine a duck neck, plucked of feathers, cut into 1" pieces, then boiled in some type of really spicy broth. They serve it on a plate. Just a pile of sliced duck necks. I had one (see picture below). It was tough and spicy. You hold it with chopsticks and eat around the center, avoiding the esophagus as if it were the core of an apple. You might say "that's gross", but if I told these guys what American hot dogs were made of, I think I'd win the gross contest. Nothing but lips and....well, you know.

Finally, we got to see the Olympic facilities. The "Birds Nest" is incredible. It's HUGE. Much bigger than I imagine. Much larger than any NFL stadium I've seen. Unfortunately, they don't know what to do with it. It's still lit up, but they don't really use it for anything. The only professional sports here are basketball and soccer, and those teams already have their own arenas/stadiums.

We also drove past Tienanmen Square. The pollution is still bad so it looked foggy. It's closed at night with guards protecting it. The locals were nervous even being near it. Apparently protests still occasionally happen, if the police come to arrest protesters (protesting is forbidden here), and you're caught there, you will get arrested. So the locals avoid it completely. Of course, Americans want to see it, since we view it as a symbol of freedom. I must remember I'm in a Communist country. Strange...

Posting this blog is a pain as well. China blocks access to Google (including Blogspot.com), Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, and most other non-Chinese social media sites. So I have to go through VPN. Write the blog. Shut down VPN. Open VPN on my phone. Upload photos. Shut down VPN. Start VPN on laptop, insert uploaded photos into blog. Save blog. Blah blah blah... What a pain.

So I have another customer meeting this morning, then it's off to the airport to fly down to Singapore. Short flight. Only 6h40m. Ha! Looking forward to the warmer weather. Singapore is at 1 degree north, just above the equator. It's pretty much 90 degrees during the day, year round.

Signing off from China. See ya!

Hot pot:

Panoramic of the Birds Nest. It's so much bigger in person than it looks here. Click on photo to view in higher resolution.

Insanity Day 22: Pure Cardio next to Tiananmen Square!

Well I made it to China. I learned a few things yesterday: One, apparently I can survive 14 hours in coach. Two, I can't sleep sitting up. Three, Beijing's pollution really is as bad as they show on TV. And Four, China is really far from home.

"Yesterday" was a really long day, whatever "yesterday" means. As I type this, it's Sunday night where you are and Monday morning at 7:45am in China. So yesterday was Saturday and Sunday combined, especially since I didn't get a wink of sleep on that plane. I watched a bunch of movies, read my newspaper, worked on some PowerPoint presentations for this week, and actually enjoyed the downtime. I was met in the airport by my local colleague Chen Wei, and also Steve from my team who had arrived an hour earlier from Phoenix by way of San Fran. After an hour car ride in bad traffic, we arrived at the Grand Hotel Beijing. It's a class, traditional Chinese hotel. The room is very similar to your typical American hotel room but decorated for where I am. My only complaint is it's hot in the room and there's no air conditioning in the winter (it was 5 degrees Fahrenheit outside...COLD!), but I have an interior room with a view of the open atrium lobby. So I sweat like a fiend during the Pure Cardio and Cardio Abs workouts.

Got up at 4:45am local time, but went to bed pretty early last night, so I do feel pretty well rested. We'll see later in the day as the time change catches up to me.

Had an excellent dinner last night with Chen Wei and Steve. Couldn't tell you everything I ate, but it was all good, especially the Peking Duck.

I'm hoping to get a chance to visit Tianamen Square that is literally next door to the hotel (along with the Forbidden City), but we'll have to see if time permits it. The pollution is AWFUL. It's just as bad indoors as out, although most hotels filter the air. While I always thought the pollution was just because the Chinese pollute the air more, in fact that's not really it at all. Beijing is like Los Angeles or Salt Lake City. It gets inversions that trap the air as if in a bowl. There's no where for it to go. It only happens in the winter. Apparently in the summer it's clear blue skies and very nice weather, but of course all the cars and factories are still chugging away. (Note to self: If I ever visit Beijing on vacation with the family, come in the summer!)

Since it was night time when I arrived I don't have many good pictures yet. I took a quick panoramic in front of the Apple store below. If you didn't know any better, you'd think the picture was from New York or London, but this is the central part of Beijing.

We're going to eat dinner tonight up by the Olympic facilities. I'll take some pictures and post "tomorrow" (Monday night for you!).

Chen Wei got me a mask, but I never wore it. I'd say 1 in 50 people wear a mask. I'm only here for 2 days so I'll just keep it as a souvenir.

My flight path: Right over the north pole!

Sunrise over Siberia, Russia from my windows seat:

My workout setup in my hotel room: 

Apple is everywhere in Beijing. This store was HUGE:

Panoramic picture on a busy Beijing street corner in front of the Apple Store. Click picture to view larger:

Insanity Day 20: Off to China!

Got up early to say goodbye to the wife, kids and my parents before heading to the airport. My son Ryan had an 8am basketball game and as of 8:45am had scored 6 points (way to go Ryan!)

Today was Plyometric Cardio Circuit. Burned 648 calories. Weighed in this morning and I'm down 1 pound this week (down 13 from my starting weight). I had weighed myself on Thursday and was down more, so I guess that big birthday dinner had an impact. Oh well, no big deal. As I think I've said before, this isn't a diet or a once-only program. This is about lifestyle change. Slow and steady wins the race, even when it's not a race at all.

So the workout was the beginning of a very long day. After a quick shower, I'm off to China. I'll try to post some pictures if I can get online.

I won't be bringing my recovery drinks or heart monitor with me. Just too much other electronic crap to pack. I wish they would pass a law that all electronics must use a USB charger so I could pack 1 charger for everything.

Have a great rest of the weekend.

拜拜 (That's pronounced "bye bye" in Mandarin...just like here!)

 

 



 

 

 

Insanity Day 19: Lordy, Lordy, Looks Who's Forty...Two!

It's Friday. It's my 42nd Birthday. And it's day 19 of Insanity, so Shaun T's gift was Cardio Power & Resistance. I had an audience today, and no it wasn't my dog Kendall this time. No, this time it was my Mom. My parents are up to take Meghan and me out to dinner for my birthday before I leave for my trip. (More on that in a minute.) I joked to my Mom, as I was going through the warm-up, that now she knows I don't just dump a bucket of water on my head and take my picture in the mirror. As was the case with my Saturday workouts with Meghan, having someone else where resulted in me pushing myself much harder. Last time I did Cardio Power & Resistance last Friday and burned 697 calories. Today I burned 812 (115 more). Apparently I should print out pictures of Meghan and my Mom to hang in the basement so I always have an audience. I also saw my heart rate peak at 189 briefly. By far the highest I've ever hit. Too high in fact, so I paused the DVD and took a minute break to get it back down to about 130.

So this big test I've been mentioning the last few days is a trip I'm taking, leaving tomorrow (after my workout). I'm heading to Beijing, China, then down to Singapore. I was lucky enough to get to go to Asia for the first time in December, 2011, when I went to Hong Kong. Loved it (especially the food), and I've been waiting for another opportunity to go. Because of my new job at work I now run a global sales team (as opposed to one just focused on the U.S.), so I may be traveling internationally a little more. I can't really complain. I used to travel A LOT, but have only been on a plane once since last June (when I went to Denver for a sales conference in December). Anyway, the big test I've been talking about is: I'm bringing my DVDs to Asia and will need to get up early every day to workout in my hotel room. This plus 4 customer visits, 1 media interview and 3 days of sales training (which I'm delivering, not receiving). Anyone who knows me knows I love sleep. I'm a night owl, not a morning person, but I know there's no way I could workout after going out to dinner with a customer. I need to workout on an empty stomach to avoid cramping. So early mornings it will be. But first, a 14 1/2 hour direct flight in coach.

I will continue to blog and hope to post some pictures from China early next week. My only issue is I don't know if China's Internet filters block access to www.blogger.com. If they do, I'll try to post by accessing the site through my VPN connection back to my company in the U.S. If I can't post, I'll capture my blogs in Word and will post when I get to Singapore on Wednesday.

About the only other imact is I'll be doing my weigh-in tomorrow morning after my workout instead of on Sunday.

One more post from home tomorrow, then I'm off. Have a great weekend!