It's all over .. or is it?

According to iCal, I'm done with Module 5, 2010. I'm done my double duty for King and country. But the the fact of the matter is, looking after my health (and YOUR health) never ends.

I'm back to almost a regular schedule today. Friday was a day off, concerned with marks and recruiting for my rugby team. Saturday, as the song goes, is a rugby day.

Sunday was a recovery day; KB workouts on the beach, warm weather and lots of sunshine did a great job getting rid of the tail ends of the winter blahs.

This morning, though, was pretty cool, man.

Day 21, Wednesday May 5

This is the last day of this culminating activity.

Breakfast was a sausage breakfast belt on a plain bagel with an XL coffee. I jsut had to finish this way. To make my point to myself. I need time in the morning to make myself a better human being.

Lunch was a tuna salad with extra vegetables. It was good.

Wednesday's dinner was a BBQ with the end of the left over meat; there was some ham, but I stuck with roast beef as it tasted better with the little corns, potatoes and peas.

I didn't get many pictures of my meals ... well actually no pictures of my meals.

I think the next time I do this Culminating Activity, that is something I might require of myself. It's just that next level stuff.

I'm not really looking forward to rugby in the next few weeks, especially over the next few days. The blisters are coming along, but they are still not healed. I know that they stand a good chance of getting infected and going really grossly septic. I'm still cleaning them nightly at the YMCA, but who knows if this is the right idea. They still hurt.

I've dealt with infections before in my life, and no amount of bravado will help here. As a matter of fact, I can't attest to the fact that bravado is the last thing you need when dealing with skin infections.

At least I am done with this assignment, though. On with the APA style report!

Day 20, Tuesday May 4

Ok, I can see the light at the end of the tunnel.

It's almost happening. It is almost over.

As yesterday was, today did not start off well. Stiff and ragged, feeling somewhat depressed about a buddy of mine who has to move out of his house. I'm trying to help, but I'm not sure how much help I can be.

Breakfast, too, made me feel a little beneath my own standards. Tim Horton's again, despite the fact that I had left over meat, ready to go in the fridge. At this point, I just can't spare the effort, although I know I should be making myself look good. I'm too exhausted to contemplate.

The book I am reading, too, is reminding me that in tough times, when you are "in hell, you have to keep going.". I will continue to eat something for breakfast, even if it does not comply with my stated needs of gluten-free. I'm firm in my belief that I am a better person, let alone teacher, if I eat something before work.

My lunch was also the same this day: tuna and chili and vegetables. It's also just so much more simple to get someone else to prepare food for me. I learned today, though, that the cafeteria lady makes some menu changes for staff when requested politely. I'd like to eat the tuna, just not the bread. Perhaps a tuna salad, with extra veggies for tomorrow. All I can do is ask.

Dinner was a gluten free meal, though. I checked with Pizza Pizza and got a delivered meal with no gluten in it. Cool. At least the dinner part of this assignment is going well. Yummy, perhaps not the most fat-free meal I'll eat this week, but at least it went down well.

Later, in doing some extra looking around, I read an article from Vic Magery on gymjunkies, com. It outlined a few ways to speed up some fat loss. It's something that I can fully endorse, except for the eating nuts thing. Some have a lot of gluten in them - you just have to be careful what you ingest. Other than that, it's a good article.

After doing that reading and getting the kids in bed, I went again to the YMCA and cleaned my wounds again. Lots of gross stuff going on there, but after they are cleaned up, the wounds look better and better. I'm not posting any pics of them up on this blog (well, not any MORE pics then, he he he he he)

Man, I'm tired.

Day 19 Monday May 3

I'm just at that point. Just off the deep end, just ready to spill onto the floor of the empty pool. Uggh. Mondays. Is there any reason why we can't outlaw them?

Anyway, this was a poor start to a long week. For real.

Breakfast was another of the Timmy Ho's bagel and sausage dealios and an XL cup of coffee. It's just too quick and easy.

Instead of a trip to the whirlpool, I just went straight to work. A real downer, something I should at least take note of. I'm not going to go into what I might catch in the whirlpool, but let's let it go at the fact that I'm not going to expose the wounds on the backs of my feet to whatever it is in the water at the Oakville Y.

Lunch, too was a mad dash to suck back calories from the cafeteria in the school: a tuna sandwich, some veggies and some really good chili. Tasty, but a lot of calories.

The dinner meal was a good one, prepared yesterday. Good pieces of roast beef with a bowl of veggies (corn, potatoes and mushrooms) with water and a gluten free cookie to finish off the meal. I felt much better after sharing that with my family.

After the kids were in bed, I went to the Oakville Y. I said I would not expose the wounds to the water, but the sauna should be fine. I cranked up the heat, took off the bandages and sweat for a while. The wounds cleaned themselves up rather nicely.

I got back to my house more than ready to sleep. All in all a good day; not much to get done, and lots of time to sit and feel miserable about my feet.

Day 18 Sunday May 2- Ow, but a good ow.

I woke up Sunday morning with two big pains: my heels. O. M. G.

My back was a close third. Just lots of getting my back worked on Saturday without much sympathy from the rather odd group I play rugby amongst. Heck, one offered to take the twoonie sized chunk of skin from my heel and get it stuff for posterity, like a moose head up on the wall.

Yup, those are the guys.

Anyway, I was in a fair amount of physical discomfort on Sunday morning. I wanted to stretch and get my body moving; I did a walk to Tim Hortons for the Sunday morning coffee ritual. That was a good start to the day. Read the paper and found a few ideas for my next research project, but more or less stayed low key for the morning.

11am saw me at the Fitness Depot in Burlington for a kettlebell class. That was 75 minutes of intensity. I'm used to working out at a certain level, but the instructor took the class a but higher than I have been used to on my own. At the end, I was pretty sweaty and the humidity didn't help very much. Neither did the DOMS from rugby, nor the gaping wounds on my heels.

I got home and took my kids to do the week's grocery shopping. I was somewhat mindless, and tried to stay with a list. However, since I had two extra sets of grabby hands, I ended up with a lot more gluten-laden food than I expected.

Dinner was a combination of stir fry and noodles. It was good, but kind of bland. It filled me up and I let one child do piano and took my other child out to do some gardening. The expected rain that was supposed to fall all day never happened, and my top seeded lawn needed some watering. We "supervised" the lawn being watered and had a great conversation.

I went to bed too late, after trying to get my wireless network back up to snuff, following a rather harrowing weekend. Seems nothing but my laptop is logging in. Not my desktop, not my wife's laptop, not the Apple tv. Drag.

Day 17 Saturday May 1

Thank goodness April 2010 is over. This is what happened to me on the first day of May. Basically this is how I felt about April.

I didn't want to curse myself by wishing it to be over sooner, but that was a tough month. Check out the number of times I went for a run in March - a sharp contrast in April is plain to see.

That is the level of stress I have been going through as of late. I wanted to go north to a cottage, but was soundly outvoted by my wife, 1-1. Just kidding, I needed to get some gardening done - my lawn doesn't top seed itself, much to my disappointment.

Saturday is a "coffee time" session at my house in the morning. I got the Toronto Star read, commented on this article to my wife and then got on with the gardening around my house and then left to get to Brantford for a 1:30 rugby game. Food was a little light, but that's ok. Less to puke up during the game ... just kidding.

Lots and lots of water, though. Got some of my book read on the way there and back.

Snack after rugby was a veggie wrap; red peppers, salad stuff and onion with some ranch dressing. Wolfed that down then went to church.

Then, as a reward for good behavior, took the kids and my wife to Boston Pizza. Which I should not have done. Pizza was good, at least my pizza was good, but the service and the ability to get my wife's order correct was brutal to say the least.

Meh, we all made it home in one piece... well, except for me. My heels are just killing me.

Too much eating out, man. Not enough healthy choices being made there. And they are all expensive, too. Need to mention that in my final report - which I'll begin in class this week on Thursday, May 6.

Oh, that sounds so good to write/read/hear me say out loud.

Day 16 Friday April 30

Oh, this was a cool day.

I had breakfast - a very quick 500 calories of Timmy Ho's goodness. It seems that when I am rushed, I go to Tim Hortons and rely on them far too much.

Lunch was an awesome prime rib with my wife. Yes, ya heard me! She had a Dr's apptment, picked me up and took me to meet the sawbones. After, as a reward, I got steak.

And there were some veggies, too. Cauliflower and Broccoli. Good.

Not surprisingly, I wasn't hungry when I got home for dinner and got ready for skating lessons. My kids ate bagels and I just chilled with water and conversation.

Snacks later were almonds and a stretching session for Saturday. As we all know "Saturday is a rugby day" - which is a line from a famous song.

The rest of the day was filled with getting marking done, prepping for the last few days of the course and meeting with my bosses about various things and just plain "stuff I don't have time to deal with during the double."

Day 15 Thursday April 29

This was an ok day.

Breakfast, I am sorry to say, was a fast food Tim Horton's sausage BELT. This comes in at about 500 calories, which is to say, 'a lot"

With a fair amount of Gluten, too. Bagels at Timmy's are made with wheat and will upset the stomach of a person who has Celiac's disease.

Lunch was better, almost finishing off my lunches for the week.

Dinner was better than the other two meals, as Thursdays are Gymnastics night; we made omelettes when we got home. Eggs and veggies ... together!

I have to admit, I have not been doing as much research into the subject of Gluten as I should have. However, in my defense, I have not been able to solve the network issues in my house. Seems the electricity went down and up a few times Wednesday and affected my router... and the electronic attached to it. At least I got my marking done and showed the students in my class an updated mark.

I will be preparing a report to share with my fellow teachers at the end of this module, replete with some basic recommendations to them and to myself about teaching like this in the future.

Of course, all feedback from the guinea pigs ... I mean students in my class are greatly welcomed.