I can’t believe it’s already time to pack and go back to Beijing. Seems like I just returned from my last trip to Beijing. Today, I’ve decided to plan my meals for each day of trip. The food is the only thing that I have trouble with, so, I am planning on bringing my own food. I’ve decided to try and live on EAS Myoplex protein bars along with some packaged tuna, nuts, dried fruit, and white meat chicken. I have access to bottled water, so I am going to get some Crystal Lite to add to my water. I figured I’d eat every three hours. For those of you that want to speed up your metabolism, try eating some type of protein, chicken, fish, or red meat. The more clean fuel you consume, the hotter the engine runs. It’s like shoveling coal into a freight train. You have an appestat in your brain that controls your metabolism. The more protein you consume the more fats and stored carbohydrates are burned. It takes about three hours for your body to assimilate and digest your fuel.
Off to Kroger today to buy some food for the trip. I have to be careful not to over pack my bags. The last time it cost me $200 to check oversized bags all the way to Beijing. I had met an American coach who is living and working in China on my last trip. He works with a couple of sports teams. I have been corresponding with him since I returned home from my last trip. He emailed me and asked if I could bring him some dark chocolate Milky Way candy bars along with some sharp cheddar cheese and a box of Captain Crunch cereal. I felt compelled to try and accommodate his request, knowing what I know about the food! After about an hour of shopping, I finally left the store with over a $100.00 worth of food.
Now the fun part starts, packing my bags. I have four bags to pack; one is my video camera bag. This HD camera has been loaned to me by my good friend, Bob Sharrett. Bob shoots all the training video for CES, he’s the best! He has loaned me his camera the last couple of trips and eventually we will edit the footage and make a video of this adventure. I also take my Cannon 35 mm camera and take hundreds of photos of the athletes. The last trip I had 10 to 15 photos blown up into posters size, 26x30, and had the athletes sign them for our wall of fame at CES. This time I’m bringing back about 25, 8x10’s to be signed by the weightlifting team members and a few others that will be signed by Gold medalist from different sports that I have trained. Because of the number of protein bars that I need to pack, 4 bars per day X 12 days means I need to pack 48 bars. I’ll pack 8 in my video bag to take on the plane. I’ve vowed not to eat the food on the plane this trip. We shall see!
I have to pack my backpack which will have my computer, ipod, all my cords, my kindle, (I love to read and have a bunch of books on my kindle), my reaction coach, which is the machine that I use for training reaction, and my Bose headphones my kids gave me for Christmas. They drown out the sounds on the plane and I’ll pack some more food in that bag. Both the big camera bag and my back pack are carry ons.
My training bag is the hardest to pack. Each time I’ve traveled to China I have trained different Olympic teams so it’s had to know what and how much to pack. It really depends on the number of athletes that I train and the sport. Oh, well, I’ll take a few pieces of all the training aids I use to train. I need to bring some 360 belts, 25’ cords, punch belts, shackles, Tripp release handles, black widows, edge swing harnesses, 8’ cords, anchors, and ladders. Remember, my bag can only weight 45 lbs. That’s the trick!
Lastly, I’ve got to pack my bag with my clothes. The weather in Beijing is much like Atlanta during this time of year, in the 80’s during the day and in the 60’s at night. I’ll pack shorts and t-shirts. I’ll pack the bulk of my food in this suitcase along with the gifts that I’ll bring to my Chinese friends. I think I’ll bring some UnderArmour t-shirts to the guys and girls who work at the training center. I really enjoy giving them gifts and they are all so appreciative of any thing I bring. This bag already weighs 15 pounds before I pack anything so getting all this stuff inside is quite a task!
My flight leaves Atlanta at 9:00 am for Chicago and then I leave Chicago at 12:00 pm for my direct flight to Beijing. I will get my son Zach to take me to the airport at 5:45 am so I need to get in bed early tonight. Night, night!
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