Poor Neon

For those not in the know yet I had an accident yesterday in my Neon. It was storming here and the roads were slippery and, well, when a person slides into your lane you try to do the best you can to avoid them, but unfortunatley I couldn't. I'm pretty sure it's a write off now, but I won't find out for sure until Friday.

All set now

Marla and I dropped by Asham's (http://www.asham.com/) today to see about getting either A: a full slider and gripper for our running shoes or B: a pair of proper curling shoes. We ended up going for option B as they gave us a really good discount for buying two pairs of shoes. We both bought the same type of shoe (called the Ice Walker - oooohhhh ;-) ) except mine has a teflon slider and Marla went with a "red brick" slider (not as slippery). Apparently the other choice is a stainless steel slider but that adds $100 to the shoes.That's mine in the picture with the teflon slider showing. Both pairs came with a slide on gripper (that sounds kind of funny - a slide on gripper). Both grippers are better for beginners when sweeping and the slider for when delivering a rock.

Asham's is a Manitoba company that sells curling supplies world-wide. Excellent service and the equipment is pro. We also got our brooms there a few weeks back. I can't wait until our next game this coming friday.

TGIF!

Friday is here again and I'm looking forward to the weekend. It's going to be busy with more work on the basement, cleaning the cars and doing some shopping, but that's all good.

I believe I may have overdone it this week with my walking and running. My nike+ unit has a total of 40.02 km clocked since last thursday and my legs are not happy with me. The last couple of times I've been out the muscles in my shins have started to get tired very quickly. It's not exactly shin splints, but what feels like an excess in lactic acid building up in the muscles. I'm going to take today off and possibly tomorrow to give my body some time to recover. The 5k run is definitely out this weekend and the one I did last week was most likely the culprit for my lack of recovery this week.

For the time being I'm going to follow an 8 week training schedule that will work my up to running 5k. It starts with 1.5 mile runs the first week and works up to 5 k in 1/4 mile increments. I could run further than 1.5 miles at a time but I'm determined to not injure myself.

On another topic I've been listening to some new (for me) music over the last week. For my walks and runs I've switched to some Crystal Method and Prodigy. I used to have Prodigy's first CD but have no clue where it is now. Somewhere between Newfoundland and BC I figure. Both bands have good beats for running - especially Crystal Method. I downloaded a 45 minute mix from itunes that was developed for the nike+ system. It's pretty good.

On the rock front I also downloaded some songs from Electric Six, Wolfmother, The Raconteurs and Rockstar: Supernova. Electric Six is fun. It's somewhat retro and cheesy, but cool nonetheless. I first heard them on the website www.rathergood.com.

Wolfmother is total old school rock. The singer sounds like Ozzy Osbourne mixed with Robert Plant and the rock is very late 70s/early 80s inspired. I really like it. Again, a bit cheesy, but easily likable. I think Cory would like them ;-)

The Raconteurs are four guys that are already in established bands. The most famous right now being Jack White from The White Stripes. It has a good feel and very White Stripish - if that makes sense.

Rockstar: Supernova is of course the latest band formed from the reality show Rockstar. They ended up with the name Rockstar: Supernova after a band in California - called Supernova - refused to let them have the name. So they just added the "Rockstar:" to the beginning and the judge said that was fine. The lead singer is Lukas Rossi from Ontario. I liked him from day one on the show. The two songs they have released so far ("It's All Love" and"Be Yourself and Five Othe Cliches") are somewhat generic rock, but still catchy. Lukas was definitely a good choice for them. His previous band, Rise Electric, is also a good listen although a bit depressing at times.

Tuesday update... which means I couldn't come up with something snappy as a title

Did another 2 mile walk with Cedar this morning on top of one last night. Currently I'm 14.9 km ahead of my target for 80 k in 4 weeks. I'm going to do a full 5 k run this weekend and keep doing that for a couple months (walk during the week and run on weekends).

Spent some time helping Ron put up some drywall in the barn for the new "engine and part room." Only took a few minutes and is nothing compared to the time he's devoted at our house. We'll start mudding and taping in the basement later this week or on the weekend. I'll try to get some more pictures of our progess up soon.

Oh yeah, and my belt buckle is pointing more straight ahead than down now=)

HURRY! HURRY HARD!

I actually heard that a few times last night during curling and a few times it was even directed towards me. Once I tossed the half-slider I was wearing and just went with the running shoes I had I actually started to have fun. I made some good shots... or as good a shot as leads can really do. Grant was the skip and told me that I'll probably go to third next time we play since I seemed to have some success with my delivery and "good weight" on my shots. All around it was a very fun experience and I only fell twice;-)

On the walking/running front I did my first 5km run today... well actually more like 4.25km run and a couple short walking stints. It took me a little longer than I thought it would at just over 30 minutes, but I'm still happy with that. Overall I'm 19k into my 80k challenge over the next four weeks and 1182 calories into my 10k calories challenge. I love this nike+ipod.

Oh and one final thing. The basement is pretty much completely dry walled. We just have to do the bulkheads now and install a central vac line. Other than that she's ready for mud.

Second impressions on the Nike+iPod

Cedar and I went for a 30 minute walk today using the Nike+iPod gear and I can say that I'm as impressed as I was last night. We covered 2.01 miles in 31 minutes and some change and when I ended my "workout" on the iPod I received a congratulations from Lance Armstrong. Well, not in real time, but a recorded message from him congratulating my on my new personal best in a one mile distance.

I also set a goal of 80 km in 4 weeks, which given my current pace will be more than attainable. I may have to modify the goal a bit after a week.

Tonight I will be curling for the first time in my life. Marla, Grant, Laurie (Grant's girlfriend) and I joined the "fun" league for the winter. I'm all set with my slider and broom and "curling" clothes. It should be a fun time.

New Toy

With all my walking and some running lately I decided that I wanted to keep track of distances and times. What better way to do that than with the Nike+ipod set. I picked it up today at a store called Runner's Corner for $38. This is what I got (along with a manual and Apple's typically sweet packaging):

The oval portion goes in the sole of a Nike+ shoe, or in my case velcroed and under the laces of my current pair of Nike runners. It's not going anywhere with the way I have it:


That's the transmitter which has an accelerometer in it. The small rectangular part is the receiver and attaches to my iPod Nano. It's the same size as the end portion of the USB cable that I use to connect to my computer.

So first thing I had to do was update my version of iTunes and the firmware for my nano (from 1.0 to 1.3 for those curious). With that I had a new option in my nano's menu: Nike+ipod. With an easy calibration (1/4 mile walk on the treadmill) everything was set.

Voice prompts aid you on your workouts and you can set your works based on time, distance, speed or calories burned. All this information is uploaded to the nike+ website where you can track your results as well as set goals and make challenges to other people.

Here's a graph of my first "official" walk using Nike+ (click to make it larger):


I'll keep you updated as I use it more. My first impressions are good and I can see this being a useful tool in my quest for fitness and health.

Flotsam and Jetsam

Just a couple things tonight that I figured I would post here in the old blog.

Cedar and I walked 5.5 km tonight in 50 minutes. That's 6.6 km/h (or 4.1 mph for those metrically challenged) on average over the 50 minutes. While I'm not breaking any records it used to take me just over an hour to walk the same distance a few weeks back. I figure a 15 minute mile is pretty good walking speed. A couple nights back I was doing 10 minute miles on the treadmill and ran just over 3 miles in 30 minutes (had a warm up in there on the timer). I'm quite happy with my results so far.

Another thing I found out tonight is that the seamstress Marla and I use for our clothes is a Newfoundlander. She's from Trinity and has been here in Stonewall since 1988. She told me there are a dozen or more other Newfoundlanders in town here. We had quite a good chat.

Last thing has to do with my photoshopping skills. I believe I'm getting a little better manipulating pictures now. Here's an example from my Gran Turismo 4 game.

I started with this:

An ended up with this:

So far so good

The basement drywalling continues and should be done come this weekend. There's not really a lot left to do but Ron will be busy for most of the week. I could do some myself if I get time. I also have to pick up some items to install a central vac line in the basement since, you know, the hose isn't really long enough to reach from upstairs. After that it's just do the bulkheads and then mud and tape... and sand. We can see the finish line now =)

Marla and I spent part of the weekend organizing the basement as it has become quite messy and unoriganized since we started the "construction." There is actually a lot of room in the unfinished part and plenty of empty space for my workshop area. It feels good to get it cleaned up and realize we don't have as much "stuff" as I thought we did.

On the fitness front I am proud to say that I am getting closer to 240 lbs now. I weighed myself this morning and I was ~ 243. I'm very happy about that and seeing the scale drop keeps me motivated. I have postphoned running for the time being however as it was getting too hard on my knees. Once I get a little lighter I'll start it up again. The walking has been going well though and I've noticed I'm walking faster than before. From rough estimates I average around 4 mph on my walks, which is a really good pace.

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!

Yes friends, it is snowing in Winnipeg right now. Nothing like a good dump of the white stuff on October 10th.
It should be a fun drive home as everyone will be going 30 below the speed limit because, you know, we don't often get snow around here. That last scentence was heavy with sarcasm if you didn't know;-)

Mmmm... drywall

So the vapour barrier inspection was ok. The inspector said it was a very thorough job and only had one suggestion before installing the drywall: there is one window where I missed a small amount of concrete (that was left over when they were pouring the basement floor) on the sill and he was worried it might perforate the vapour barrier; so he wanted some tuck tape put over it to help strengthen the poly.

Ron came over on Saturday and today to help with the drywall. It's going pretty good so far. We have I would say half of it done as of today. I'm thinking two more days should do it. It's been a - dare I say - fun experience. Here are some pictures. Please don't mind the mess as we have a lot of stuff down in the basement.


This shot is looking at the "tv" area. The part at the left is going to be where our fish tanks will be located and most likely surrounded by book shelves.

This is the computer/office area with a shot at the entrance to the gym . The gym will have double doors so we can move equipment in or out if necessary. It would also be nice for a bedroom for any future owners should we ever sell or move.

This is looking down the hall to what will remain unfinished in the basement. You can see the doors we have leaning on the wall on the left. The hallway looks narrow, but it is 40 inches across which would be fairly standard width.

D day tomorrow

Or well, inspection day. The building inspector is coming by, quote "sometime on friday" to have a look at the insulation and vapour barrier. I'm positive everything will be fine, but you never know with these building inspectors;-)

I'll update what he says when I hear it tomorrow.

Vapour Barrier Finished

Finally.

I finished up the three remaining windows in the basement today which means I'm set for the inspector to come by. Since I have never done this before I'm a little apprehensive, but still confident that it's done correctly. I guess I'll find out soon=)

I started running every second day starting last saturday. Or trying to do it at least every second day. With me being a bit overweight... let me rephrase that... with me being a lot overweight I'm taking it a little easier so I don't injure my joints or strain myself un-necessarily. That combined with not snacking and cutting out caffeine and chocolate over the last few weeks has certainly helped on the scale. A month and a half a go I was 265, today I was at 250. I'm quite happy with that. The last time I was at 250 was when I had tried the body for life program. I should note that the days I don't run I walk twice a day for 30 minutes with Cedar (the dog). Although yesterday we ran for 40 minutes in the morning and then did a 50 minute walk in the evening. Today we did a one hour walk. It's a bit easier to fit the longer walks in on the weekends.

With the walking I guess I'm following in my mother's footsteps =)