by ·2 Comments

So last week I bought myself a Fitbit flex. If you don’t know what one is, it is kind of like the Nike Fuel+ bands. If you don’t know what that is either, well it’s like a pedometer, however it sits on your wrist and helps monitor your movements and your activities throughout the day.

When I got it, I was a bit suprised as you can see from the box, it is a wrist band obviously

From Seattle Life 2013

What you don’t realise is that the actual “Flex” itself is tiny! Not even the size of my pinky finger.

From Seattle Life 2013

It is suprisingly small and yet does so much! One thing I really like about it is the fact that I don’t even realise I am wearing it. I could wear it all day and not even notice it was there. Maybe I was used to it from the powerband that I had on my wrist for almost 3 years. It doesn’t move about at all and thankfully it is water resistant, meaning I don’t need to take it off while I swim or shower.

Actually using the flex is pretty simple. Sadly my phone isn’t compatible with the sync software (not all android phones are) but the newer ones are and so are iphones. My laptop is also not compatible but that is not suprising, no one likes it! So at the moment till I get a new phone, it will only sync at home. I barely have to even go near my pc and it will sync itself. I just walk past it, or near it, or go to the tap, it can even sync from my bedroom.. I think.

It tracks my steps pretty well and although the calories I am burning, I am not quite sure of yet, it looks ok to me. One of the things that a lot of people said did not work was the sleep monitoring. Although it is a bit difficult to get it going (you have to tap it for 1 to 2 seconds, though sometimes it takes more) the sleep stats are one of the more suprising bits of information for me to comprehend. I have always known I don’t sleep well, what I didn’t know was just how many times during the night I got up. I am waking up on average around 6-8 times a night. I can usually only remember 2 or 3. But its consistent, it’s not as if it is one night at 6 or something. It’s every night. I am not sure how accurate it is, but seriously that can’t be a good thing!

What I will have to do is keep it up and see how it goes, I wouldn’t mind revisiting the stats in a month or so and see how it looks

by ·0 Comments

I know I said I wasn’t going to do any writing this week but figured I should at least give you all an update on how my training is going.

I started the afternoon swims a couple of weeks ago and so far have proven to myself I can’t swim to really save my life. Half the laps I do see me swimming almost zig zags across the pool.  But I do my best to get the lals done quickly and with the least amount of stops as possible. Averaging 20 minutes for 30 laps of the pool I don’t think is that bad. I just wish I knew how long it is.

Sadly though I still can’t run and if it the same way by the end of next week, I am off to the doctors no matter how much it is going to cost me (probably a lot). Till then i just try to not work it so hard.

One thing I have bought to try and motivate me a little bit to stay on track (as I have been slipping lately due to the inability to run) with everything is a Fitbit Flex. It’s like a pedometer for my wrist but has so much more. I will post a full review probably next week but it is pretty awesome.

The flex keeps track of my movements obviously, but it also tracks my sleep patterns (surprising to see how much I wake up in the night), also my eating, water consumption and more! All synced to my phone via the app and it is pretty awesome!

by ·0 Comments

Workout, eat, work, work, eat, sleep. That is my life right at the moment. Knuckle down, work hard , focus, train where I can. It seems to me that is all I do. I am not complaining or anything but it has just been hectic and full on for so long now, not sure when I will get a decent nights sleep anytime soon.

The sun burn from the weekend is peeling now so I just look dandy at times, thankfully just my arms right now. Not going to look good once my legs start (if they do). I haven’t even looked at the photos since the weekend and it is going to be forever before I do. Track the day they go live, it will tell you how far behind i am.

Pretty random post this afternoon but it is mainly so you all know I am alive and that every post is not a trip report lately (though still more to come on that front).

by ·0 Comments

This week has been the first week of my triathlon training. I have started to get in some swimming as I think (and pretty sure) that will be my weakest leg during the race. But it has not been an easy week that is for sure.

I love my running and it has only been since that morning in Hong Kong that I have really begun to miss it lately. I have managed to get myself jogging small distances (to and from the gym) and the most discomfort comes for the first few steps while I get out of a walking rythm into the run. After a little bit the pain moves on but any form of distance over about 400-500m in one hit and it comes back.

Thursday I managed to do about a 1km run but it was starting to get pretty painful towards the end of it. After the 1k run I did a 5 mile bike and then that night 30 laps of the pool. So pretty close to what I would be doing on my triathlon, just a lot more closer together and hopefully a lot quicker.

The pool swims have been good. I am way out of practice with my swimming so I have a long way to improve on that side. The water isn’t heated in the pool so the first lap or two is fairly “spirited” while I try and get some warmth into my body. But after that it is all fine and dandy and I don’t notice the cold until I hop out. Tuesday was my first time swimming the laps and I did 30 of them. I “think” the pool is about 15-20m long (I have no idea really) so 30 laps takes me about 20 minutes and should run me about 450m or so. Considering my swim is going to be 400m that should be about right I think. The more I work on it the closer it will get.

For next week I want to try and get another two swims in (maybe 3) and try and get some distance in my runs. If I can get a 1k run in at least 2-3 times during the week I will at least be happier than I have been lately but till the time comes that I can cover a full 5k distance, I won’t be happy at all.

by ·0 Comments

It has beem a crazu couple of weeks of travelling. With time in New York, Vancouver, San Jose, Narita, Hong Kong & Los Angeles, at times I am wondering just where I am.

The time away traveling has brem fun and I have loved every minute of it, but it’s time to get stuck into some work! The Hong Kong trip report should be all finished today, ready for posting still tossing up if I should write a trip report or not for the LAX trip. Then the focus is two things:

1. AirlineReporter.com articles
2. Training

The articles i really need to get stuck into and work out just what I need to write first. I’ve got at least 6 or 7 pieces out of the ANA trip plus a few pitches I need to make to line up some future stories.

Training wise it’s time to start looking forward to the triathlon in September and start getting in some extra sessions. Since I can’t run yet (even walking isn’t comfortable some days) this is prime time to work on my bike and swimming skills.  So as I try to lose the 6 pounds I put on over the laat few weeks, I am going to add at least 3 sessions a week of swimming (not sure how many laps yet) and try to get on a real bike at least once a week.

This should help me not only burn off that weight but also get my skills up ready for the tri. It is not going to be easy but I am ready for the challenges ahead of me.

Photos are taking a back role now till i get some decent free time to power through everything but rest assured the basic photos are up already from all three trips.

ANA Ambassador
LAX Avgeek Run

by ·0 Comments

It’s nice to be back in Hong Kong but I haven’t even been here 12 hours yet and I am already not in a good mood. Nothing wrong with the city itself, the hotel or the service (which I will post about later) but I went for my morning run this morning along the Avenue of Stars along the promenade and I have restrained my old groin injury..

SON OF A BITCH!

It means I am going to have to behave a bit more this weekend and try and adjust a bit more but I can do it. The flight down from Tokyo was good, I got a good amount of work done, enjoyed the Japanese meal (my theory is working so far) and now I am going to go have some breakfast, walk a bit and then I have a spa treatment. Hopefully they can try and focus on my upper legs/thighs/groin and work out this problem.

Current Location: Peninsula Hotel Hong Kong

by ·0 Comments

This morning was the Fly Day 5k, the 2nd time I have run this race. It would probably have to be my favourite run as not only do you get to run (something I actually love doing now) but you get to run on an airport! With planes landing around you! But going into this morning I had a few goals:

1. Beat Last years time
2. Run my fastest ever 5k time

Last year when I ran the Fly Day 5K for the first time I did manage to set a new record 5k pace. That and I beat my time by a solid 2 minutes. But incrementally I have been dropping my time since then. So much so that my previous best 5k time was 25:40. That’s tough to beat. Well… maybe

That is this mornings run. Yes that time is 25:10 but thats a couple of seconds under that time as I was a bit slow in stopping it after I started the run. I am absolutely stoked at what I acheived. Hell during the run I thought I was going to slow. I was pretty cold the head wind was INSANE! I guess that’s the thing when you running at an airport, especially parallel to the runway for most of it, you are either with the wind or against it. Sadly I was against it this morning. Had I gotten a bit of a tail wind helping to push me along, I might of gotten there faster 😉

The rest of the day was pretty epic. Even before the race the #avgeek in me was ecstatic. I couldn’t sleep much last night I was full of excitement and anticipation as I had put a lot into the race today. Well that was probably a good thing as before the race was due to start an Antonov AN124 & an Atlas 747-8F was due to be moving about the field. Add onto that an unexpected Dreamlifter as well, totally crazy day! Afterwards there was so many Boeing movements it was crazy. Add onto that the Warbirds and GA stuff all over the place, it was totally the best day since Aviation Geek Fest.

But now I am home, its 7pm and all I have eaten today is two small pancakes at breakfast this morning after the race. I am starved, I am totally shattered and right about now, I want to sleep. But I got a lot to do before I can rest tonight, and rest I will!

by ·0 Comments

As this week progresses I am just one more training run away from Saturday’s Fly Day 5k at the Paine Field Aviation Day. Last week I ramped it up so that I could be able to really push hard on the day.

I want to be able to two at least one of two things at the event this year. Fiest I want to be able to surpass last years time.  If you have a look at this:

You can see last years run where I did it in 28 minutes. Lately on bad days when I am not running at full pace I am doing sub 29 minute runs, on an average day i am sub 27m30s, so the though of not breaking that time is pretty low.

What I want to do though is a sub 26 minute run. This is getting tougher and tougher to achieve. I am averaging low to mid 26 some days on a flat course wjen pushing it hard but like Tuesday this week:

That time would of been spot on would I not of had to stop at traffic lights three times. This won’t be a factor on Saturday as there should only br other people in my way, however the run isnt flat with about the last kilometer or so up hill (well upward incline at least).

So tomorrow morning is my final training run. It will be an all out balls to the wall push on a flat route. I hope to god nothing bad happens but it will work out either way. I don’t normally run a flat route on a Thursday but i adjusted the training to compensate as I don’t want to go to harsh the day before to give my body a slight rest before the push.

Doesn’t mean I’m giving myself Friday off though, I will probably just hit the exercise bike in the gym to give my legs a day of no pounding the joints, and then come Saturday morning it is on for young and old. If I can’t get under 26, that’s ok I can deal with it, but I certainly won’t accept a time over 28.

With the run finished I can relax with a pancake breakfast (thanks to the firefighters at PAE)  and then a day full of planes flying about. Sunday will be my first rest day in almost 7 weeks. Then comes about another month or more of hard work as the next month is looking full of travel and some pretty awesome times.

But that’s for another day

by ·0 Comments

I was back on the bike this morning as evidenced here:

Now it was a good ride, I finally have some decent gear (Gloves, riding shorts) and with the bike all back together and out of the storage closet, I am looking at enjoying the summer months with some riding. I am working towards training towards the Triathlon but at the moment, I still have the mountain bike tyres on. But that’s not what this quick post is about.

I was riding around where QFC is in Canyon Park, about the half way point through my ride. It was pretty quiet on the road which was good but I had one big obstacle in my way. A Flock of Geese. Great, just what I needed was to be coming off my bike (like usual) because I hit a goose. I would never hear the end of it. Now the flock of geese was not your average flock, there was a whole heap of baby geese, so I was picturing the headlines right there and then “Cyclists kills flock of Geese on Mothers Day”. Just not what I wanted. So I ended up trying to avoid them as much as possible.

However as I got up to the last goose in the way, it must of been the mother because she was ANGRY! She was hissing at me, chasing me and I couldn’t get away fast enough! Now my brain had gone from “I hope i don’t kill them to” I hope they don’t run me down!It was crazy! I was now being chased by the geese! So I had gone from being worried about killing the geese to worried about getting bit by the geese!

The rest of the ride was uneventful other than the usual almost stack that I always seem to have. It wasn’t the best weather as it did start a slow sprinkle while I was riding but I didn’t care, I was just happy to be cycling again. But what a CRAZY morning ride.

by ·0 Comments

Today was the Registration for the Marine Corp Marathon 10K and I made it in! I was a little worried as the full marathon sold out in a matter of hours. So I wanted to make sure I got in quickly as I have always wanted to do the MCM for some reason. Not the full Marathon as I definately couldn’t run that length!

The MCM is run around the streets of Washington DC and it has been a number of years since I have been back there but the biggest drawcard of this run is it finishes at the Marine Corp Memorial:

From USA 2007

An iconic statue in DC (technically Arlington Virginia) I am looking forward at getting back there and running around a city that I do enjoy visiting.

One thing I have to mention though at the moment. Boston. What happened at the Boston marathon was shocking, it was disgusting and it is sad that people have been injured and killed. Thankfully of the people I knew who were there for it, all were uninjured and made it out actually before the bombs went off.

I know that what happened won’t change the way I run or think about running in big events like that and to be honest it wouldn’t scare me off the bigger runs, it makes me want to run them even more. So with the MCM I now have 2 runs on the drawcard for 2013 with also my triathlon in September. 1 more local one to go with… but which one…