A little late but finally here

Well, I'm finally getting around to the promised post-vacation posting...Sorry for the delay, things have been a little busy and a little bizarre this week and I've only worked up the energy to write this today.  First off, the obligitory "I am so great" dance!  I did it!  My goal was to continue my weight loss during the cruise, and I did it.  My weigh in showed a loss of 4lbs over the week I was cruising.

I have to say, all joking aside, I am really proud of this.  I really believe this is an accomplishment, and something to hold onto as a motivator when things get tough (as they definitely will...).  I made some really good choices when faced with the endless, and I do mean endless, barrage of food available on board and I maintained a solid workout schedule, including taking the opportunity to forgo the treadmill in favour of actually getting to do my run (uhhh...I mean walk...) outside.

I also took on a bit of a challenge by signing up for an excursion in St Thomas they listed as "strenuous activity required a good fitness level", a 7 km hike over a large ridge to get to a beautiful and isolated beach on the island of St John.

Just getting ready to start, and even then we had to walk 1/2 a kilometre to get to the trailhead.  Gorgeous walk though, plenty of plants, animals and butterflies to see, almost took the sting out of the 400 meter vertical we were also doing in order to crest the ridge!!

The picture below is what you get if you are willing to hike 4km over a ridge with the knowledge that you will have to hike the same distance back (unless you have a driver waiting at the other side of the beach, a 3km hike uphill to bring you back to the harbour).

Ah, beautiful white sand beaches and crystal clear waters with rays and tropical fish, even the occasional dolphin, though we didn't see one.  Truly a paradise, and just inconvenient enough to keep most people away from it, leaving it largely unspoiled by the crowds many of the beaches in the Caribbean are plagued by.

Our vacation definitely started on a good note.  We had decided that as there was only a $30 difference between hiring a private car from a limo service to drive us from our hotel to Port Canaveral versus using the RC shuttle we might as well go in comfort and at our own schedule.  Well, surprise, surprise, we certainly got the comfort part right!  Here's the "car" that showed up in the morning to drive us to the ship...Big shoutout to the Happy Limo Co.  Thanks for a good start!

Our landing on day 2 at Coco Cay in the Bahamas unfortunately fell victim to the vagaries of February weather, but we sailed out early, allowing us to arrive in St Thomas 6 hours ahead of schedule.  This absolutely falls into the category of a good trade. 

D and I took a cab from the harbour to Magen's Bay, ranked in the top ten most beautiful beaches in the world by National Geographic.  However, I still think the beach we visited on St John later that day was better, though that may purely be due to the huge crowds at Magen's Bay as opposed to having Honeymoon Beach essentially to ourselves.

St Maarten on day 3 was really cool too, we sailed and snorkelled in the morning, and then took a cab over to the French side (St Martin) for lunch and to explore the open air bazaar in the centre of Margiot.  Back to the dutch side in time to wander the streets of Phillipsburg before returning to the Freedom of the Seas for a couple of sailing days.

D got a nice wrap here, but I don't have a pic...

Sailing days were great for working out, and I got to put a big bite into my reading list.  For anyone who's interested, my reading list for this trip:

Julie and Julia (still working on it)

The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie (absolutely loved it!!)

Still Alice (excellent, but definitely NOT vacation material!)

The Bishop's Man (kind of having a rough time with this one, but I'll keep plodding)

When we docked, we had an entire day to ourselves prior to flying out, so we packed a rental car with our bags and headed off to Epcot.  Wow, Epcot's grown up in the 15-20 years since I was last there!  Had a great time, Soarin' may be one of the coolest things ever!  Anyway, we're likely taking a long weekend trip back to Orlando in a month or so to do the Magic Kingdom and the Harry Potter theme at Universal. 

This is inside the Mexico pavilion, terrible ride (thanks Laural...), good food!

Awesome trip, can't wait for our next one!!

Throwing down the gauntlet

I'm leaving on vacation on Saturday...Can I say that one more time just cause I love the way it sounds? I'm leaving on vacation on Saturday. My wife and I are heading to Florida to start a week long Eastern Caribbean cruise with Royal Caribbean.

Don't get me wrong, this is a great thing. It breaks the back of winter, gives me time to de-stress and forget about work for a while and maybe even convert my skin tone from its current pasty white to a somewhat less pasty off white.

There's a problem however. RC is known for the quality (and quantity) of food on board its cruise liners. Add in freely flowing cocktails in the sun and most people claim you can expect to gain 1lb a day on the cruise!

So here's where the gauntlet hits the ground. I will not! In fact, my challenge to myself is to return weighing less than I do right now. I know that the ship has a full gym and multiple swimming pools, and that the ground excursions offer plenty of opportunity to get out and walk or swim so maintaining an excercise plan should not be an issue. That just leaves the food, the glorious meals awaiting me. I can do this, there's no reason to believe that there won't be absolutely fantastic dishes that are also lower calorie/fat options.

I'm going to make sensible choices and stick to my goals, and my next entry will be the blogging version of the "I am so great" dance of victory. Anyway, I'll update you either way.

I have a new friend

OK, I think I've established that going out for a drink or two has been a bit of a stumbling point in my quest to shrink myself. Well yesterday I met what may be my new bestest friend. Molson Canadian 67! A 67 calorie beer, can you hear the angelic chorus playing in the background??

Now don't get me wrong, its not good. I mean its seriously not good. But what it is, is acceptable. I can drink it, I can even feel as though I'm having a beer. Given my size, obviously sacrifices need to be made in order to reach my goals. I need to work out hard, cut down what I eat, change what I eat, and cut down on the beers.

Well, working out seems to be going ok, I actually enjoy it. Even got up this morning at 5:30 and swam laps. Eating, also going ok, really not a big deal. And now, beer...MC67 may be the salvation, its not good, but it might be good enough. And at this point good enough sounds pretty damn great!

Signed up and everything

Well, that's it. My registration is done, I am officially registered for the Try-A-Tri on June 19th. Went to my personal trainer yesterday, told him my plans and suddenly I have a bright shiny new program.

Ugh, did the new workout last night...me so out of shape (colour me surprised there!). Feeling like a walking corpse today, no real aches, just freakin' exhausted! Ah well, if the training doesn't kill me the race probably (emphasis on probably) won't either.

Shopping for a bike this week, something I can use for at least the first year or so. Damn things aer pricey, I've bought vehicles with engines that cost less! Anyway, once I make my selection I'll post a pic so all of you (yes, all 3 of you...) can admire it.

Haven't made it to swimming in a couple of days, feeling pretty run down in the morning, gonna need to bite the bullet though. So far the swimming component seems to be the real issue, 375m isn't very much, but damn its work right now!

Oh oh, now the rubber hits the road

Well, I just checked the site, and the registration for the Guelph Lakes triathalons have now opened...

Of course I have no intention of running a triathalon in June, not only would that be crazy, but pretty close to impossible. That being said though, there is a race called the Try-a-Tri, a much shorter version of the traditional triathalon (in this case a 375m open water swim, 10 Km bike ride and a 2.5 Km run). I have committed (sometimes feeling that I should be committed...) to do this race on June 19th and I intend to meet that commitment.

As you may have read earlier, I am working out and swimming regularly, all with an eye to doing this, but now that the registration is available it really seems more real. Surprising myself though, I'm actually more excited that scared by it. I've never really done anything of this sort before, athletic endeavors (swimming aside) always being more a source of potential humiliation than anything else.

That said, in retrospect, I was probably much more focused back then on excelling and missed the point, which is to succeed. I've come to the realization over time that being great at something is so not the point, doing something is.

And so I trot off to the gym tonight, the pool tomorrow morning, and prepare myself to not win the Try-A-Tri but to finish it (ok, a good finishing time really wouldn't hurt....).

Anyway, I keep this updated.

One week later

Well, a week since my last post, and I just got weighed in yesterday. Its official, I have lost 28lbs since this started. Now don't get me wrong, I'm ecstatic about this, I can already feel the difference while moving and bending and its a great start for my June goals. That being said, before the last post I was basically in the exact same place as I am right now. My eating has been going well, the gym has rocked, I'm keeping to my workout and swim schedule (though there's some tweaking required) so everything should be shiny. Not so much...you see, I've been out drinking too often over the last couple of weeks.

Don't get me wrong, going out with my friends for drinks is vital to my well being, it de-stresses me, I love their company, its fun and relaxing. No, going out isn't the problem, drinking too much while I'm out is.

So, and those who know me are laughing right now, the word of the day is MODERATION. There's no good reason why going out for a drink after work (or on Sunday for a football game...) needs to include double digit drink counts.

I am going out tonight, milestone birthday for one of my friends, and I'm going to test this theory. I got up at 5:45AM today to go for my morning swim, does it really make sense to piss away (pun intended) that effort just to have a couple of extra beers? I'm saying no, but time will tell I suppose...

Stay tuned!

Happy New Year (decade)

Well, its a whole new year and I've decided to post those resolutions that I always make and never follow through with. Given that there's only like three people in the world who actually read this blog I know I'm not exactly putting myself out there...

Nonetheless, I think what I'm going to do is not just throw the resolutions out there, but find a way to track how well I'm sticking to them. At very least some day in the future I'll be able to look back and say "there I was, and that's what I did". Anyway, on with it.

My first and foremost resolution is regarding working out. I've promised to do a mini-triathalon and a 5Km run in June, and in case the profile photo didn't show it clearly enough, this is not doable without a great deal of hard work on my part, and some significant sacrifice. Therefore, I resolve to swim, in incrementally increasing distances, 3 times a week for the entire year. Additionally I will attend the gym 3 times a week. I figure if I stagger the days and the timing (ie swimming in the morning, gym the next evening I'll survive).

Don't get me wrong, this is probably not going to be a joyous undertaking, at least for the first while, but I really can't meet my promises without doing it, and as a friend of mine has always said, "word is bond". If you can't live up to your promises, who are you?

Well, that actually segues nicely into resolution 2...Keep my promises...
OK, I'm actually pretty good at this one for the most part, but I have a strange habit of not meeting the ones that I make to those I really should. Confusing sounding a bit, but I think its a case of taking things for granted. I know I'm going to be forgiven so I let things slide. Well no more! Its occurred to me over the last little while that the people who forgive you most easily are the ones you owe the most to, unconditional acceptance is rare and should be treasured.

So, that takes care of the serious ones and the philosophical maunderings behind them, now the fun stuff.

Learn to play bass guitar, and then play in front of someone (anyone really...)

Skydive. Yes, find it in myself to jump out of a perfectly functional aircraft for no other reason than the thrill

I think that's enough for now, the fun stuff is for much later in the year, but I'll track the exercise here and let you know how I'm doing with it, and as for the promises... I'm not promising anything.