Missed a couple of days of updates.
Last week Friday got nearly another hour in, from the house headed West to Nose Hill Park and got on the bike path, followed the bike path North to the Sun building and then across Deerfoot trail and then on the bike path again south past the deerfoot side of Fox Hollow Golf course, across the train tracks and then North again to the Fox Hollow Club House at 32nd Ave. and then back. Wasn't really feeling all that great but managed to do 10R, 1W, 10R, 1W, 5R, 5W, 10R, 1W, 5R, 5W, 10R (R=Run, W=Walk) to finish up back at the house. No idea about distance but heart rate was manageable. The trip out was not too bad all downhill but the trip back of course in all uphill. Arrrghhh.
On Sunday met with Chad again for a work out. I am really loving the new gym and the new work outs. Keeps Chad on his toes coming up with new ways to beat the *(&(*^ V out of me without machines and keeping the heart rate up as well. The travelling planks were a bitch but the variety and pace are exciting. Funny that I arrived early and Chad arrived on time, saw the car but couldn't find me as I decided to spare a few minutes and get warmed up by running West from the gym to about 22nd or 24th street and back, about 10 minutes and 1 K.
Last night was very late before I got out (around 7:30PM which is late for me) and although the run felt good I just wasn't into it that late at night. Managed two trips around the neighborhood (again, I have no idea of distance but I will drive it tonight and report) in about 35 minutes. Felt really good on the run and managed 10R, 1W, 10R, 1W, 13R to finish off.
Wednesday, November 4, 2009
Thursday, October 29, 2009
In Training
Time to get back at the blog. I have set a couple of new goals for myself for the new year. With my brother Brent I plan on running the 1/2 BMO Vancouver Marathon on the Sunday May 2, 2010 followed by the Vulcan Tinman Triathlon on the 6th of June 2010.
Training starts in earnest first thing in the new year following one or more of the training programs set out by the Running Room and the conditioning experts associated with the BMO Vancouver. For now, my guides want me out running a couple of times each week.
The program for right now is 1 hour of training with 10/1 intervals. 10 minutes of running and 1 of resting (to clear out the lactic acid etc. etc. ???). I have been able to get three runs in over the last couple of weeks with the latest yesterday.
Yesterday I followed a path West from the house over to Deerfoot trail and got onto the bike / running path heading North which was a bit of a mess but anyways I ended up at McKnight Blvd which I then followed East to Barlow trail and then South to nearly 16th Ave and then cut over back to the house. No idea of how far this is but it took just a few minutes short of an hour.
I am finding that the first two intervals are troublesome (maybe not warmed up, maybe not in the groove, who knows), followed by the middle two intervals which don't feel all that bad and then the last two which seem to continue to be very hard work.
I find that my heart rates climbs a bit each interval to the point where the last two or three intervals are little more than a brisk walk to keep the heart rate down. It seems like each time I go out it is a wee bit easier which I guess is what it is all about.
The run was OK but there were too many cars and too many intersections. I think from our place heading West to the bike path and then straight south to the zoo will be a whole lot easier.
Till next time.
Training starts in earnest first thing in the new year following one or more of the training programs set out by the Running Room and the conditioning experts associated with the BMO Vancouver. For now, my guides want me out running a couple of times each week.
The program for right now is 1 hour of training with 10/1 intervals. 10 minutes of running and 1 of resting (to clear out the lactic acid etc. etc. ???). I have been able to get three runs in over the last couple of weeks with the latest yesterday.
Yesterday I followed a path West from the house over to Deerfoot trail and got onto the bike / running path heading North which was a bit of a mess but anyways I ended up at McKnight Blvd which I then followed East to Barlow trail and then South to nearly 16th Ave and then cut over back to the house. No idea of how far this is but it took just a few minutes short of an hour.
I am finding that the first two intervals are troublesome (maybe not warmed up, maybe not in the groove, who knows), followed by the middle two intervals which don't feel all that bad and then the last two which seem to continue to be very hard work.
I find that my heart rates climbs a bit each interval to the point where the last two or three intervals are little more than a brisk walk to keep the heart rate down. It seems like each time I go out it is a wee bit easier which I guess is what it is all about.
The run was OK but there were too many cars and too many intersections. I think from our place heading West to the bike path and then straight south to the zoo will be a whole lot easier.
Till next time.
Friday, April 24, 2009
Vigo Spain and Urban Mountaineering
Wow, here we are now in Vigo Spain. Another amazing port town. We took a walk / climb to the old castle / enforcement located at the highest point in the port (wow, pictures to follow) about 2 miles away on flat land and i am guessing here about 1000 feet higher in altitude.
We could see the enforcement from the ship but on the climb up what we thought was the highest point wasn't and there was always another set of stairs or another steep path to walk up. Once we reached the highest point we were about another 25% or 30% higher than we thought we were.
Once we did reach the top the enforcement was amazing with examples of the old jails, cannon placements and churches all within the walls of this old (17th century) port enforcement.
On our walk back down to the port we took in many of the local shopping and found some local jewellery that was very nice.
We were not about to leave without some Sangria, calamari and prawns. The calamari was OK (it was better in Funchal) but the prawns were awesome. About 4” long, pan fried in olive oil and decadant in goodness. The Sangria was awesome as well.
We came back to the ship tired and sore, calves, hams and quads all hurt.
We had a reservation at Portofinos which is the on-board exclusive italian restaurant. Our evening started off with minestrone soup, a gorgonzola cheese and pear salad which was a perfect lead in to our entree. Sherry had a skewer served with prawns, shrimp, salmon and a lobster tail with vegs and sundried tomatoe potatoes. She tells me it was awesome.
I had a filet of Halibut server with crab and shrimp risotto. Desert was a Tira Misu for me and a sampler of 4 desserts for sherry. Our dinner was accompanied by Spanish Rijoli red wine and we finished off with Royal Coffee (you know the coffee with the alcohol).
All in all it was just a fantastic day, we loved every minute of our day. Travel miles to Vigo were 700 miles for a new total of 6769 miles. Our captain told us today that we have travelled just under 5000 miles on the ship to date so I may have to update our travel distance once I check the math.
We have another day on the ship and then we arrive at our sea destination of Southamption in the UK. We will travel by train to London and then by the Eurostar train under the English Channel to Paris and then by train again to our B&B in Paris which is ½ mile from the Eiffel tower.
We will fire up an update as soon as we arrive in Paris.
We could see the enforcement from the ship but on the climb up what we thought was the highest point wasn't and there was always another set of stairs or another steep path to walk up. Once we reached the highest point we were about another 25% or 30% higher than we thought we were.
Once we did reach the top the enforcement was amazing with examples of the old jails, cannon placements and churches all within the walls of this old (17th century) port enforcement.
On our walk back down to the port we took in many of the local shopping and found some local jewellery that was very nice.
We were not about to leave without some Sangria, calamari and prawns. The calamari was OK (it was better in Funchal) but the prawns were awesome. About 4” long, pan fried in olive oil and decadant in goodness. The Sangria was awesome as well.
We came back to the ship tired and sore, calves, hams and quads all hurt.
We had a reservation at Portofinos which is the on-board exclusive italian restaurant. Our evening started off with minestrone soup, a gorgonzola cheese and pear salad which was a perfect lead in to our entree. Sherry had a skewer served with prawns, shrimp, salmon and a lobster tail with vegs and sundried tomatoe potatoes. She tells me it was awesome.
I had a filet of Halibut server with crab and shrimp risotto. Desert was a Tira Misu for me and a sampler of 4 desserts for sherry. Our dinner was accompanied by Spanish Rijoli red wine and we finished off with Royal Coffee (you know the coffee with the alcohol).
All in all it was just a fantastic day, we loved every minute of our day. Travel miles to Vigo were 700 miles for a new total of 6769 miles. Our captain told us today that we have travelled just under 5000 miles on the ship to date so I may have to update our travel distance once I check the math.
We have another day on the ship and then we arrive at our sea destination of Southamption in the UK. We will travel by train to London and then by the Eurostar train under the English Channel to Paris and then by train again to our B&B in Paris which is ½ mile from the Eiffel tower.
We will fire up an update as soon as we arrive in Paris.
Tuesday, April 21, 2009
Stairs and More Stairs and Funchal, Madeira
We spent the day today in the city of Funchal which is the capital city of Madeira, Portugal which is located about 300 miles of the west coast of Africa, the nearest city is Casablanca but more on this later.
First my rant about stairs. I am getting so tired of climbing stairs. Our cabin is in the middle of the ship and it is a walk the length of a football field to the forward stairs, a walk the length of a football field (about 100 meters) to the aft (back) stairs and there is ½ a football field forward of the forward stairs and ½ a football field aft of the aft stairs making this ship 3 football fields long.
Now our cabin is on deck 9, breakfast and lunch are usually on 11 but sometimes on 4, dinner is on 5 all at the back of the ship, the pool is on 11 midships, the gym is on 11 forward, the climbing wall is on 12 aft, the flowrider on 12 aft, mini golf is on 12 aft, the promenade with the shops etc is on 5 between the fore and aft stairs, the skating rink is on 2, the theatre on 3, the running rack on 12 but by now you get the drift.
There are 14 stairs between decks up to 11 and then 16 stairs for upper decks after that. I have lost track of the number of stairs up and down we have climbed since the start of this cruise.
Now that I am done with this it is a %%*I*( good thing that we have all these stairs or I would have gained a pile of weight by now.
Our trip from Porta Delgada to Funchal was 480 miles for a new total of 6169 miles.
Funcal was first settled in 1578 by the spanish and then like Porta Delgada went through a number of changes to English rule, back to Spanish, one more tour as Portugese and then through them all again until the mid 1990's when it was declared an independent state of Portugal.
We skipped by by the cabs at the dock (who wanted about 170 Euro or a tour) and walked our way to downtown (about 2 miles) where we picked up an hop on / hop off narrated tour bus where we can ride, get off to look around and then get back on again for 20 Euro total. This took us about 3 ½ hours after which we went for Lunch in downtown at a local restaurant.
We had an order of Calimari Fritta and I will likely never have the same again, this was the msot tender calimari we have ever had. We joined this with a Madeira fish dish (dont know what it was but it was a whole fish, split down the middle and grilled and then served in this case with french fries. We topped this with a fresh green salad, garlic bread and a small carafe (about 1 litre) of local Madeira red wine. In all, a lunch fit for a king a queen.
After lunch we walked up and down the streets doing a bunch of shopping and then a walk back to the boat for a dip in the pool before we departed for our next to last stop of Vigo, Spain where we dock early in the morning on Thursday.
After this we will be on our last leg and sadly this part of our journey will end on Saturday but the next phase of Paris and London begins.
It is hard to believe that 3 weeks have almost already gone by and the last week of our journey begins soon.
First my rant about stairs. I am getting so tired of climbing stairs. Our cabin is in the middle of the ship and it is a walk the length of a football field to the forward stairs, a walk the length of a football field (about 100 meters) to the aft (back) stairs and there is ½ a football field forward of the forward stairs and ½ a football field aft of the aft stairs making this ship 3 football fields long.
Now our cabin is on deck 9, breakfast and lunch are usually on 11 but sometimes on 4, dinner is on 5 all at the back of the ship, the pool is on 11 midships, the gym is on 11 forward, the climbing wall is on 12 aft, the flowrider on 12 aft, mini golf is on 12 aft, the promenade with the shops etc is on 5 between the fore and aft stairs, the skating rink is on 2, the theatre on 3, the running rack on 12 but by now you get the drift.
There are 14 stairs between decks up to 11 and then 16 stairs for upper decks after that. I have lost track of the number of stairs up and down we have climbed since the start of this cruise.
Now that I am done with this it is a %%*I*( good thing that we have all these stairs or I would have gained a pile of weight by now.
Our trip from Porta Delgada to Funchal was 480 miles for a new total of 6169 miles.
Funcal was first settled in 1578 by the spanish and then like Porta Delgada went through a number of changes to English rule, back to Spanish, one more tour as Portugese and then through them all again until the mid 1990's when it was declared an independent state of Portugal.
We skipped by by the cabs at the dock (who wanted about 170 Euro or a tour) and walked our way to downtown (about 2 miles) where we picked up an hop on / hop off narrated tour bus where we can ride, get off to look around and then get back on again for 20 Euro total. This took us about 3 ½ hours after which we went for Lunch in downtown at a local restaurant.
We had an order of Calimari Fritta and I will likely never have the same again, this was the msot tender calimari we have ever had. We joined this with a Madeira fish dish (dont know what it was but it was a whole fish, split down the middle and grilled and then served in this case with french fries. We topped this with a fresh green salad, garlic bread and a small carafe (about 1 litre) of local Madeira red wine. In all, a lunch fit for a king a queen.
After lunch we walked up and down the streets doing a bunch of shopping and then a walk back to the boat for a dip in the pool before we departed for our next to last stop of Vigo, Spain where we dock early in the morning on Thursday.
After this we will be on our last leg and sadly this part of our journey will end on Saturday but the next phase of Paris and London begins.
It is hard to believe that 3 weeks have almost already gone by and the last week of our journey begins soon.
Sunday, April 19, 2009
Ponta Delgada
OK, so we have been relaxing a bit too much and have not made time to update you. First, we have arrived in the city of Ponta Delgada on the Island of San Miguel in the Azores. The Azores is an independent state or territory of Portugal.
We have missed a few days of updates so our mileage in the past two days has been 862 miles for a new total of 5689 miles.
We took a city tour this AM through the city and some visits to the parks / gardens of the city. The city was founded in the 15th century by Portugese explorers and through the years has spent some time under Engligh, Spanish and again Portugese rule.
There are 9 islands that make up the Azores territory of portugal and the capital is the city of Santa Cruz de Flores on the Island of Flores.
The architectures are magnificent and the guilding and construction of the churches is out of this world.
Like all of our stops on this trip we did not get to spend near enough time to even glimpse the city but it was a taste that I am sure we see us back before too too long.
We have 500 and some miles to travel to the city of Funchal on the Island of Madeira. Madeira is also an independent territory of Portugal. We arrive on Tuesday morning for the day and tomorrow as we travel we lose yet another hour on the clock in preparation for our arrival to GMT which is now 7 hours ahead of Calgary time.
See you in a bit.
We have missed a few days of updates so our mileage in the past two days has been 862 miles for a new total of 5689 miles.
We took a city tour this AM through the city and some visits to the parks / gardens of the city. The city was founded in the 15th century by Portugese explorers and through the years has spent some time under Engligh, Spanish and again Portugese rule.
There are 9 islands that make up the Azores territory of portugal and the capital is the city of Santa Cruz de Flores on the Island of Flores.
The architectures are magnificent and the guilding and construction of the churches is out of this world.
Like all of our stops on this trip we did not get to spend near enough time to even glimpse the city but it was a taste that I am sure we see us back before too too long.
We have 500 and some miles to travel to the city of Funchal on the Island of Madeira. Madeira is also an independent territory of Portugal. We arrive on Tuesday morning for the day and tomorrow as we travel we lose yet another hour on the clock in preparation for our arrival to GMT which is now 7 hours ahead of Calgary time.
See you in a bit.
Thursday, April 16, 2009
I Think we Made a Wrong Turn Somewhere
We are into days 4 and 5 of our voyage across the Atlantic. The weather here has been fantastic the last couple of days. We have been in the middle of a large high pressure system and our temperatures have been around 85 F / 29 C and today the wind dropped off to about 10 km/h making it really seem like we made a wrong turn and headed south instead of East.
We have been adding a hour to each day so that when we hit Southampton we wont be hit with a 5 hour change right away. We are now 4 hours ahead of Calgary time and will add an hour each of Friday and Saturday so by the time we arrive at our first port of call (Ponta del Gata in the Azore) we will be 6 hours ahead of Calgary time.
Today we made our first climb on the climbing wall at the back (aft) of the ship. The climbing wall is 60 feet tall and it attached to the engine superstructure (the place where all of the exhaust from the engines comes out). Nearly made it to the top but there are still a number of days to go before the cruise is over.
Tomorrow may be flowrider day, we will have to give it a whirl.
Dinner last night was escargot, perch and crème brulet for dessert for me and tuscan white bean soup, coq-a-vin and chocolate for sherry. Tonight was a cold soup for sherry, followed by turkey and a chocolate trio for dessert. For me it was a beef and veal tortelotti, tilapia and crème brulet again (starting to really like this).
We made about 3 km on the desk today and we had to make a late night trip to the hot tub that it cantilevered or hung over the side of the boat so that when you look out over the side you see water ONLY.
I havent updated the mileage for a few days so I am adding in another 1293 miles for a new total travel distance of 4827 miles.
Two more sea days to go (this Friday and Saturday) and we dock in Ponta del Gada on Sunday morning for the day departing later that evening for Funagal (Madea) in Spain.
Updates Soon
We have been adding a hour to each day so that when we hit Southampton we wont be hit with a 5 hour change right away. We are now 4 hours ahead of Calgary time and will add an hour each of Friday and Saturday so by the time we arrive at our first port of call (Ponta del Gata in the Azore) we will be 6 hours ahead of Calgary time.
Today we made our first climb on the climbing wall at the back (aft) of the ship. The climbing wall is 60 feet tall and it attached to the engine superstructure (the place where all of the exhaust from the engines comes out). Nearly made it to the top but there are still a number of days to go before the cruise is over.
Tomorrow may be flowrider day, we will have to give it a whirl.
Dinner last night was escargot, perch and crème brulet for dessert for me and tuscan white bean soup, coq-a-vin and chocolate for sherry. Tonight was a cold soup for sherry, followed by turkey and a chocolate trio for dessert. For me it was a beef and veal tortelotti, tilapia and crème brulet again (starting to really like this).
We made about 3 km on the desk today and we had to make a late night trip to the hot tub that it cantilevered or hung over the side of the boat so that when you look out over the side you see water ONLY.
I havent updated the mileage for a few days so I am adding in another 1293 miles for a new total travel distance of 4827 miles.
Two more sea days to go (this Friday and Saturday) and we dock in Ponta del Gada on Sunday morning for the day departing later that evening for Funagal (Madea) in Spain.
Updates Soon
Tuesday, April 14, 2009
We Can't Stand the Stress
There are just too many things think about. Where do we eat? What do we do next ? Today after a late breakfast we went for a 5 km walk on deck (15 laps) and then went and did some more exploring. Found the wave rider and the climbing wall at the back of the boat and made some plans to try these both out later in the week.
Make reservations on board for a reservations only Seafood and Italian Restaurant called Porchina for later next week.
After lunch it was time for the onboard ice show held on the lower decks. This was a 45 minute show called Strings which featured a real violinist and a number of skaters. It was a great show.
After this it was to the gym for about and hour and 15 and then I dont know how to say this but it was time for dinner. Dinner tonight for both of us was a spinach salad followed by crab cakes and a broiled cod filet served with green beans and rice. We followed this with cheesecake and a coconut cake for sherry.
Tonight was the midnight buffet night where the chefs show off all of their creations and artistic ability and we have some great pictures. It was also pool party night and we danced the night away at the pool with some old time rock and roll favorites.
I think tomorrow is going to be rock climbing day. We will have to see.
We may be off line for a few days as it turns out the the middle of the Atlantic is not a high enough population center for satellite coverage and will be out of range of North American satellite's and will take us up to 36 hours to come in range of the European satellites.
Briand and Sherry
Make reservations on board for a reservations only Seafood and Italian Restaurant called Porchina for later next week.
After lunch it was time for the onboard ice show held on the lower decks. This was a 45 minute show called Strings which featured a real violinist and a number of skaters. It was a great show.
After this it was to the gym for about and hour and 15 and then I dont know how to say this but it was time for dinner. Dinner tonight for both of us was a spinach salad followed by crab cakes and a broiled cod filet served with green beans and rice. We followed this with cheesecake and a coconut cake for sherry.
Tonight was the midnight buffet night where the chefs show off all of their creations and artistic ability and we have some great pictures. It was also pool party night and we danced the night away at the pool with some old time rock and roll favorites.
I think tomorrow is going to be rock climbing day. We will have to see.
We may be off line for a few days as it turns out the the middle of the Atlantic is not a high enough population center for satellite coverage and will be out of range of North American satellite's and will take us up to 36 hours to come in range of the European satellites.
Briand and Sherry
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