My plan, before leaving for Europe, was to spend a week in Manila upon my return, and then head to Siargao where I would remain indefinitely. Unfortunately for me, the consequences of some of my recent and not-so-recent actions require my presence in Manila so it seems I am Manila bound for another month.

And so I am back at CrossFit. I would have started yesterday but I was jet-lagging so bad that I didn’t think I could pull it off without dying.

Bear in mind that prior to my flight out of Stockholm, I had gone to bed completely smashed at 4 AM, woke up to pee at six, and then tried to go back to sleep, unsuccessfully, till around 9 AM. On the plane, I must have dozed off – on and off – for a total of two hours, and that’s a generous estimate. Which would explain why I’ve been like the walking dead since I arrived back in Manila last Friday night.

Yesterday, I was still wide awake at 4 AM, playing Scrabble with my fellow Scrabble-addicts online. I’m not sure when I finally drifted off to sleep but, by the time I woke up, it was past 11 and I couldn’t clear the fog that had settled in my head.

Today was better. I quit Scrabble at around 2 AM and set the alarm for 10:30 AM. Because my sleep was fitful, I still didn’t feel rested but I didn’t feel like I wanted to die either.

But, boy, am I out of shape. The warm-up alone nearly killed me. After we did some jumps, I felt a tingling in my legs – and not in a good way. For a while, I thought I would faint. It’s a good thing the WOD was relatively easy, but the tingling kept coming back and, to be honest, it was a little bit disturbing. Mostly because I had never felt it before and it left me in a cold sweat.

Part 1.

3 cleans on every minute for 10 minutes. I lifted 50 lbs. which, even to me, felt light, but I didn’t want to push it on my first day back.

Part 2.

Run one lap inside the gym, then do 15 kettlebell swings on every minute for seven minutes. Rx for women was 16 kilos but I used the 12-kilo bell. Again, while it didn’t feel heavy to me, the effort of doing the swings still left me winded.

Oh, I’m also back on Paleo. It goes hand in hand with CrossFit. (Which is my way of explaining why I didn’t start yesterday when I was meaning to.)

FYI, I’m one kilo down. And this was before I went to CrossFit. I’m not sure why, especially since I’ve been gorging on fried chicken and cake, but yay! We are on our way!