Day 2 without caffeine. Ahhhh I really wanted coffee this morning. The alarm started to go off at 7:45am and since I did not get to bed until almost 3, that is very early. I hit snooze until about 8:30 then I finally rolled out of bed to do my exercises before we said our final goodbyes to our lovely hosts then we were off to Moscow to fight traffic and run some final errands before heading to the airport at 3pm.

Russia has been a wonderful place, even in the bitter cold. I am leaving here excited to in a place where English is spoken more regularly, but I certainly will miss the sights, food and wonderful pool training.

I am off to Dahab for 10 days, hopefully for a little relaxation and some nice deep diving. I have been doing many negative pressure dives in the 6M pool working on equalization and relaxation. I will report if training the Russian Freediving programs for the past month has had any effect on my ability to dive deeper.

Today is day 1 for me without caffeine. I am here to successfully report to you all that I made it though the entire day without falling asleep while crossing the road or waiting in line. I did a hard training session, even though I felt very fatigued.

Today was another national holiday in Russia. What does that mean? Well like most cities it means suddenly roads are actually bearable to drive on and it takes much less time to get around. I had an American treat today, a Cinnabon. Lovely and they taste the same here as they do in Canada or the USA. Hmm sugar.

Okay it is time for me to finish up my laundry and get my bag packed for my journey tomorrow. Hopefully I will get to bed before 2am.

What is happening to my relationship with Caffeine? It may be coming to the bitter end. For the past four years I have had a very nice deal with Caffeine, I don’t drink it everyday, maybe every second or third day, but when I do I get a very wonderful kick from it.

Lately I have been starting to notice some things happening in my body and as much I don’t want to consider that caffeine may be the cause I have to take it into serious consideration. I have been noticing that the day after I drink caffeine that I have problem waking up in the morning, that no matter how much I sleep I feel groggy and grumpy. I am short with my reactions to other people and in general I do not feel like myself. The only solution that I can think of in order to cure myself of my suffering is to have a coffee or a tea in order to get my day started. This pattern sounds even unhealthier as I am typing.

I am also noticing that I after I drink my precious cup of coffee that I am feeling short tempered and lacking tolerance and compassion for the people I interact with. What does caffeine do, it accelerates my heart flushes blood to my skin as well as doing a number on my liver as it tries to process all of the toxins. I am a firm believer that diet has a major effect on overall health. I know that wheat and diary products are not the best things for me to eat and that I should avoid them, however when I began training hard for freediving I made a choice to allow myself to eat whatever I what, as a reward for the innate suffering accompanied with holding my breath for a long time or over large distances.

Since my time in Russia I have been indulging in all of the wonderful breads, cheeses and other diary dishes that I usually avoid in my regular diet. I have been drinking milk by the glass, I have not done this since I was a teenager, taking second helpings on delicious dishes of baked cottage cheese and devouring particular sweet bread baked with poppy seeds. I have not been drinking my regular amount of water and in the middle of the night I have been waking up and eating fruit. Ha ha my secrets are out in the open now.

I try and stay very present in my body and listen. I have been hearing a thought that maybe it is time to give up caffeine, at least in the liquid form of coffee or black tea. I certainly am not ready to give of chocolate; a lady must keep her boundaries in such a serious matter. Recently I have been noticing my lack of enjoyment while eating processed sugar and very sweet desserts, I prefer fruit, but once I start eating sweets like most people I want more.

For the past two years I have been trying to convince my mother to give up caffeine and sodas. There have been multiple studies about the negative effects that caffeine causes on women going through menopause. Just the other day I was having this discussion with her, suggesting she only have caffeine every other day like myself, and she was appalled pleading what if she just has one cup in the morning. Okay, I said, but one cup is not one travel mug.

One final argument, Caffeine is my final vise, ha ha I guess not because I have wheat and diary. Okay it has come to that time. I have given up many things in my life before and I certainly do not anticipate this being any harder then quitting cigarettes. I often use coffee as my reward for doing a static session. It seems my reward will have to simply be a nice and/or challenging training session.

Just like 2009 has flown out of our lives and launched us into a new year. Today as you are leaping into 23, trying to hit me with a snowball, know that when you land, I'll be there to ...

Contained deep inside the red walls of Kremlin, locked tightly between many layer of security lays the World’s largest collection of precious gems. a museum that does not make me tired… the Diamond Vault at Kremlin. Even though the room is quite dark the sparkle of precious jewels contained inside make me feel very alert.

Within the diamond vault there are twelve show cases containing the largest collection of precious jewels that I have ever seen. In one show case alone there is over 30 000 carats of diamonds. Another case I counted 191 cut diamonds ranging in size from 2 to 20 carats, surrounded by countless smaller diamonds.

A few of the famous pieces I had the pleasure of glancing at were:
The world's second largest "Orlov" brilliant diamond. The legendary Orloff Diamond weighs 189.62 carats. It was purchased by Catherine the Great at a cost of $400 000 rubles in 1770. At that time a person’s average salary was 3.5 rubles per month. It was made to look like one of Catherine’s lovers had purchased it for her in order to gain her attention, although I learned in the vault that Catherine herself made the purchase.

There were many pieces and matching sets from the first Emperor of Russia Peter. The prize piece was his crown that only contained 5000 diamonds, displayed along side are all of the other diamond encrusted items he wore at the same time.
Seriously you should come to Russia just to see this. Like most of Russian rulers traditional excess, this collection follows suit.