It has been only 3 days since we got back from Shanghai, it feels like 3 weeks. I am privileged to not have to catch up with households tasks, but I do need to catch up with work. Although I checked emails few times during my trip, I mostly marked them to deal later, which is what I’ve been doing the last two days. Those two days felt intense, and it shows in my oura ring!!! Crazy right? Stress can really affect physical well being.
- My ankle is healing well. The two runs I did this week were zero-issue. The speed workout was intimidating, and I woke up feeling tired. However, my execution was almost perfect! Go figure… 😉
- Sleep schedule got back to my usual 4ish natural wake up time immediately. I was waking up 5 or 6ish in China, because I wasn’t sleepy until after 9pm when I wasn’t using my brain. Once I got back to Jakarta and work, I am desperately needing to sleep by 8pm and naturally wake up 4am. No transition, just flipping a switch.
- Once my brain was retrieved from the shelf, I can listen to podcast and even read a bit. I couldn’t when I was in China. I was listening to music for my runs, and I did zero reading.
- People are fasting in office due to Ramadan. I’m impressed that nobody shows signs of distress, especially lack of water. Have you ever tried fasting?
- To tide me over to the end of the week, I’ve booked foot massage on Friday, full body massage on Sunday after my last 20 miler run.
Things to look forward:
- Swimming trial this Saturday. One of my favorite moments as parent.
- Cook something comforting on weekend for the family.
- Sunday 20 miler (with 3 sets of 4 miles at marathon pace, OMG!) before tapering starts
- Foot massage, full body massage.
- Get back to reading for more than 10 min
- Plan our Paris trip
- A farewell dinner I’m hosting next Monday for a colleague leaving
Our New Journey 
I remember one year my son was in grade six and Ramadan fell in June, and it was unusually hot, and the kids who were fasting (they were 12, so old enough) were not allowed outside at recess due to fears of dehydration. Ramadan here in summer I have always thought would be hard, because we are so far north and get so much sunlight – in Calgary the sun rose before 5 and set at 10.
LikeLike
I had to fast for testing once and I was a mess from about three hours on. LOL. I’m obviously used to being able to drink water continuously and have a snack when I feel the slightest lightheadedness. Props to people who regularly fast for religious or other reasons.
LikeLike
I have never had to fast before. As a catholic, you are supposed to eat lightly on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday – the sum of the calories from 2 meals should not exceed the 3rd meal and you don’t eat between meals. I don’t know that I’ve ever truly followed it exactly and I haven’t done that in years as I kind of don’t identify as catholic anymore… But I have major respect for those who fast. I used to volunteer with an ESL program and many of our students were Muslim. Like Nicole mentioned above, Ramadan fell during June when our days are so long and it was quite hot. I was impressed that our students were in class and able to pay attention despite not eating or drinking all day!
Good luck getting through your backlog of work!!
LikeLike