No pool this time in China. Chlorine withdrawal is bad
fishgutzy
Posts: 2,807 Member
I was only home 5 weeks when the CEO dragged me back to China. Another damn month. But this time in a differrent cityy with no pool access.
Jonsing for Chlorine bad. In reality it is probably the endorphin hit that I'm withdrawing from.
Though I am not supposed to, based on doctor's recommendations, I am walking from the corporate apartment to the office every day at 6:30 am. 3.6 miles. Walking back too. When I get to the building I walk up to the 20th floor. Lunch time walk down to the 2nd floor and back up. Thee shower feels good when I get back to the apartment which usually isn't until 7:30 or later.
Blisters no matter what I do. But PhD socks definitely are better than cotton socks. And Oboze hiking boots are far better than sneakers for this. And I use a heavy duty anti-inflammatory ointment.
Two months total this year in China is really putting a dent in my goal of 900 swim miles for the year. I'm going to have to some double days when I get back this time.
Jonsing for Chlorine bad. In reality it is probably the endorphin hit that I'm withdrawing from.
Though I am not supposed to, based on doctor's recommendations, I am walking from the corporate apartment to the office every day at 6:30 am. 3.6 miles. Walking back too. When I get to the building I walk up to the 20th floor. Lunch time walk down to the 2nd floor and back up. Thee shower feels good when I get back to the apartment which usually isn't until 7:30 or later.
Blisters no matter what I do. But PhD socks definitely are better than cotton socks. And Oboze hiking boots are far better than sneakers for this. And I use a heavy duty anti-inflammatory ointment.
Two months total this year in China is really putting a dent in my goal of 900 swim miles for the year. I'm going to have to some double days when I get back this time.
0
Replies
-
No pool, huh? Anywhere you can swim outside?
Do you have a yard? You could get a small plastic pool and rig up a tether like this:
http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=c33LdUfvzU8 0 -
No yard. It can be rather like I Am Legend. One weekend I was the only person in the 11 story 22 unit apartment building.
Maybe later ill post pictures of my blisters
0 -
No yard. It can be rather like I Am Legend. One weekend I was the only person in the 11 story 22 unit apartment building.
Maybe later ill post pictures of my blisters
What? Is that one of those ghost cities I read about?0 -
No ghost city. Supposedly a new apartment complex but hard to tell from the looks of things. The interior of the corporate apartment is clean but the hallways, stairs and elevator look unfinished and old.
But then, there are a lot of partially built construction projects around.
If you have any friends telling you they'd like to live and work in China for a while slap them really hard and knock some sense into them.
Since July 15 I have been here two months with a 5 weeks at home between the two trips. Second trip different city. And my impression is only worse. I could never live here.
I like the outdoors and freedom to carry appropriate means of self defense. I like not paying an arm and a leg to go to my archery club. I like not paying an arm and a leg for a "fitness" club that limits you to a single visit per day.
And I like having a plush pillow top mattress to sleep on. They only sell bricks that they call a mattress here.
And I can't get MIO or protein bars here. And Whey protein? Ridiculously expensive here. I brought 6 pound bag with me this time.
Less than 2 weeks left now. Taking time out at OBX with my wife when I get back.0 -
Okay. So just when I thought it couldn't get any worse being here in China, it did.
Just took a group photo with the team here.
One of the junior engineers (who thinks China isn't socialist anymore), while looking at one picture says "Mark is huge." Granted I'm the tallest in the picture at only 6'. But I know what he meant. Moments before he patted my "belly."
The lack of swimming and high salt in the food had cause some growth. But not what I would ever consider huge.
Apparently walking over 7 miles a day in the absence of swimming, isn't enough. I can't wait to get back home and have home cooked food again. And swim again. This really sucks. And it is worse when I'm walking back at the end of the work day. I guess I'm sundowning.0 -
We love OBX....I wish you a lovely time when you get there.
Many well wishes to you while you are in China. It sounds very hard. Sometimes we are faced with situations we can't control. It sounds as if you are doing your best.
Take care of those blisters!0 -
Sorry fishgutzy!
Yep that was a pretty insensitive comment by your workmate!
And a cap on gym visits per day on a solo expat must be difficult!
Well I encourage you to take the positives and persevere through the negatives! You always miss home, but having lived in a couple of cultures, there's always stuff to pick up and carry with you back home!
I don't know what other exercises it's safe for you to do (you once spoke of doctor's orders)! I'm sure there are some interesting options online though,0 -
Degenerative osteoarthritis in the big toe joint of both feet. Had surgery on my left in 2008. This gave the joint more range but also raise the pad of my toe such that all of the force while walking that is normally shared between the ball of the foot and the pad of the big toe is all on the ball of the foot.
I wear hiking boots while walking. This reduces the amount of flex. But all the walking is not good in the long term. And walking is the only thing available right now.
I like Shanghai better only because there is a pool a half mile from the office and I can swim 5km there between 1 and 3 without getting clobbered.
Fitness clubs with pools cost nearly $500 per month here, for one person. Quite insane given the average income here is a tiny fraction of the US. I only pay $56 a month for family membership at my Y.
Yet another thing to add to my list of reasons I could never live in China. The list of quite long.
Only food is a bit less expensive than in the US excluding coffee.
I'm hoping the water at OBX won't be too cold for me to try swimming at least 1km at lower tide. Haven't done any sort of open water swim.
Only 10 days left here.
MFP gives me a place to rant so I don't send a regrettable rant email to my boss 0
