Blister

Completed my run today and just as I took a step onto the cold kitchen floor, I felt a sharp sting on my foot. I lifted it up to see that the raw skin from a blister was bleeding thru.. nevermind, I rewarded myself with a piece of sherry marinated steak which I wolfed down heartily.

Checked out the Protein:Carbohydrate:Fat calculator at www.aussiebodies.com.au for advice on how to work out smarter. Spoke to the GNC nutritionist last week for advice (on the pretext of looking for protein shakes- which i am not a believer in; just a conversation starter to get free advice..) I gave a brief description of my predicament- my main goal is to reduce body fat in order to increase strength to weight ratio and enhanced running performance (simple physics: lighter you are, easier it is to run further and faster).. and it doesn't seem to be working at all despite reduced food intake and increased exercise- the only day when I didnt do any form of exercise was friday. The response that I got was logical- not eating well enough- I'm wearing my body out without providing enough nutrient- especially proteins to repair the muscle. Lesser muscle= lesser fat burning capability (since muscle burns fat.. well lean muscle..). When the body is starving, it will eat into its own source of protein for energy- that is muscle. This means I'm effectively eating myself alive. EUREKA! thanks and no thanks for the protein powder. Men's Health states that drinking Skim milk is just as good as taking such stuff- and ounce to ounce of protein, Skim milk is 20-30 times cheaper. Switching from 3 main meals to 6 small meals is really tough- though friday dinner and sunday lunch I give myself a break and allow rice for those meals. Anyway.. www.aussiebodies.com.au is really great help- planning exercise, weekly diet.. working hard is important too.. so is working smart.. exercise and healthy diet must come hand in hand.

Anyway..

Feeling a mixed feeling of disheart'nment laced with mild dissent... It sounds wierd- but I do really long to hear encouraging words spoken to me; this week has been with alot of negativity- getting told off about my flight ticket, contaminating pipettes with radiation.. etc.. it isn't a great detriment.. but sometimes when the source comes from parents, out of respect, you can't just mentally type '/ignore'. In tying times, the last thing you need is nagging. A simple "you can do it" or "you're doing a great job" would actually suffice..

Over breakfast I was reading thru an old edition of Men's Health (Sg Edition) an there was an interview with a commando officer. In a parachute jump overseas, his parachute tangled and he managed to untangle it and had almost crashed into the ground- he crashed into a tree instead. Despite suffering concussion to the head and shin injury, he carried on his mission.

"As a mission commander, my primary focus was on my mission. There will always be distractions in your life, so you got to work around them, no matter how bad they are"

It made sense.. maybe all these things are distractions. My mission is to live the love for science and ace it- its not about the H1, its about being the very best that I can be. I would have crashed into many trees.. maybe even crashed into the whole amazon forest.. but I must still carry out my mission and accomplish it. Negative things from others I have to shut out and fill my mind with the positive.. as well as surround myself with positive people. These words enlighten me to what I should do.

I hope with whatever I'm doing, my parents are at least an ounce proud of me and are consoled that their investment and funding me have reaped benfits.