Cigars

Here's a scary picture, self portrait, Old Man at sunrise

Big cigar fan. Doesn't help my running. Actually can tell the effects of the cigar on my speed workouts. Yet, I can't resist a good cigar. Most training cycles I abstain from smoking. Smoked 2 cigars on the cruise vacation. One in each of the ports of call. Supposedly they were "Cubans", no big deal, smoked the same as any other good cigar. One great thing about smoking a cigar is the buffer zone it creates. Most people are offended by the cigar smoke, thus the buffer.

Didn't get any pictures of myself or the cigars, but my sister law did. Sure looked liked I was enjoying myself. Must have been the rum. As an ex-smoker, cigarette smoke really bothers me. Really was bothersome in the on board casino of the cruise ship. Seems like everyone was smoking.

Can't blame the cigars on my pitiful speed workout this morning. Think it was more likely due to no speed work last week and the lack of miles and only 4 runs. Ran a total of 8 miles, all before sun up. Speed workout was the usual 12 x 200 meters with 200 meters of rest. Times were 2-3 seconds off of my last effort.

Incident in our neighborhood(Man injured when dragged by truck), got me thinking about early morning runs. I use to always wear a reflective vest when I ran before sun up. It hasn't been but the last couple of years that I stopped and only because the vest had become so threadbare. So, this morning I carried my red blinky light from the bike. Seen another runner the last few weeks with one on the back of his hand, with some kind of strap. I've also seen someone else wear one on the back of their shorts.

cruise food

No food pictures, Dylan and the "walrus" towel creation in our cabin
Food and lots of it. If you're hungry on a cruise, you must be a real picky eater. Granted its not gourmet food, but it is good. I ate omelets every morning, compared to my normal breakfast of yogurt and granola. Lunch and dinner were experiments in whatever looked good and if it wasn't, going back to try something else. I really counted on gaining a couple of pounds, but didn't. Not because I'd be pigging out, but because of less runs and less volume. Only ran 3 times on the ship for 5 miles each time and once before we left for a whopping 21 miles for the week. Did weights twice. Would have run on the treadmill on the ship, but they require a shirt in the workout room. Geez, I sweated like a pig for the short time lifting weights, no way I was going to do 40-45 minutes on the dreadmill.

Ate lots of fish, broiled, fried and baked. Dylan and I had lobster on one of the nights we ate in the main dining room. Lots of different desserts. That's one item where I overindulged. Each night, they would have at least 3 different desserts. I tried them all, each night. We never made it to the midnight buffet, that probably would have packed on some pounds, eating that late and then going to bed. We did stay up each night way past my usual bed time. No montezuma revenge issues with the cruise food. We didn't eat at any of the ports of call. Only one meal went through me and drained my entire digestive tract, but only before tying it up in knots. That was a mexican dinner the day before we left in Tampa.

The kids pretty much ate the same thing every meal. Pizza or hamburger, plus, ice cream or frozen yogurt. Ryan was eating ice cream before every meal, and the little boys were trying to keep up with him. Dylan did try some sushi. I thought it was pretty good. I had a few of the octopus, mahi mahi and spicy mackerel. Dylan tried the octopus and spicy mackerel and didn't like it at all.

The cruise line makes up for all of the food you eat, by charging you for cokes/sodas and all alcohol. Every day is a new "fun" drink with a souvenir glass for $6.75. I didn't drink on the ship, just the ports of call. The servers were everywhere, no excuse for not having a drink if you wanted one. Dylan caught on real quick with getting the servers to bring him another coke. Thought he was big stuff.

The 3 runs on the ship were on the upper deck "track". Eleven laps equaled one mile. It was the kind of track that is rubberized. The first day I gave up counting after 5 laps and just ran for 43 minutes. The turns were tight and the straights couldn't have been more than 50 meters long. I ran after the sun was up and it was probably already 70-80 degrees. I would have actually preferred the treadmill, only because the wind was so brisk and the turns were so tight. The next 2 times I counted the laps, 5 x 11. Good thing for the Ipod. The open ocean doesn't change much and dodging the walkers isn't much entertainment. Most of the walkers would walk the outer perimeter, except for a few who wouldn't budge from the inside lane.

This morning I ran 5 miles easy on the road and gravel, plus lifted some weights. Sure is different from the 5 miles on the ship. Even though the sun didn't come up until I'd already finished 3 miles, the time went by a lot quicker. Didn't even have my Ipod, it ran out of juice about the same time I did on my long run on Sunday.

back

Dylan and his cousin, Ryan dock side in Cozumel
Lots to blog about the cruise. Running on the road/cruise ship, driving 10+ hours, food, ports of call, gambling, snorkeling, pictures, rum, pirates, cigars.............

We left for Tampa at 1:30 am on Sunday morning. According to Mapquest, 682 miles in 10 hours. We drove the van and Paula's sister followed in their car. Starting early in the morning is my preferred way to travel long distance with the kids. Hopefully you're able to get lots of miles and time down the road before the kids wake up and start the how "long till we get there", "I've got to pee", or "I'm hungry". We only made three stops on the way down and were able to combine them into bathroom breaks, food breaks and gas fill-ups. Trip down went very well. We arrived in Tampa around 2:00 pm. (Darrell stayed home, he had class)

Trip home seemed to take forever. We got off the ship around 8:30 am, Saturday morning (yesterday) jumped in the car and started driving. Made it home just before 8:00 pm. That was a long day on the road.

What are the odds of Paula and her sister booking the same hotel I stayed in on one of my 2 trips to Tampa, over 7+ years ago? They were remodeling some of the upper floors. We were able to see the Tampa Bay Buccaneers stadium from our room. The picture I took of Paula and Dylan on the balcony, you can't really see the stadium. Boys were able to swim in the pool after we got back from a trip to the dock to see where everything was for our departure the next day.


Bryan and Dylan in the atrium of the hotel in Tampa
Got one treadmill run in on Monday morning a week ago. I hate the treadmill. But, didn't really feel good about trying to run outside from the hotel. One good thing about the treadmill is dialing into the pace you want to run. That's about the only good thing. Time stands still on the treadmill. I did 6 miles, one mile at a incline and another mile at faster pace and the rest just plodding along. This treadmill had fans, which helped a little bit. It's still hot and the sweat just slings everywhere.

This morning was my first run on the road since last Saturday. Started at 8 am, way later than usual. Usually done with my long runs by that time, because of the heat. Scheduled for a twenty miler. It was 60 degrees when I started but right at 80 degrees when I finished. Got my 20 miles, but with a 2 mile warmdown walk home. Hell it wasn't warm, it was downright hot. I was breathing just as hard walking as the miles I slogged from 16 to 18. The early miles were great, real marathon pace to monkey pace and felt great. Guess the cut back in runs/distance from the cruise with the lack of pre run hydration kicked by butt.


Best picture of the cruise was of Paula's sister family at sunrise

Gone cruisin'

cool baby

Loving the cooler weather. Wore a long sleeve under armour shirt, short sleeve coolmax t-shirt and a long sleeve coolmax sweatshirt, plus hat and gloves for a 3 mile warm up before Speedy pulled me through 11 miles on the Spain Hill loop. Dropped the long sleeve sweatshirt before we started the 11 mile loop and the actual "work" in the work out. Speedy didn't hammer me to much. He'd slow down when he started gapping me and I was breathing like a freight train. Mostly when he pulled below about 7:00 mile pace. Slow enough for him to be an easy run and quick enough to be around marathon pace for me. Overall pace for the 14 miles was 7:44. The 3 mile warmup was pretty darn slow.

On the way out we saw a buck standing under a light beside the road and next to a barn. I thought it was fake, the kind you shoot arrows at or a yard decoration. But, Speedy said it was real, guess it's head was following us as we ran by. Pretty bizarre. Sun didn't rise until mile 10. Pretty dark this morning. Damn near rolled my ankle twice. Once, stepping off the side of the road and again after stepping on a boulder.

Last post on the blog for awhile, unless we have wireless on the cruise ship. Even then, I don't know that I want to bring the laptop. Just hope I'm able to get at least 2-3 decent runs in the next week. The saturday we get back I'm scheduled for 20 miles..................

gloves

Actually cold enough this morning, I wish I'd worn gloves. Probably would have taken them off after a mile or two. But, the hands were a little chilly this morning. Of course, lots of runners think because they get cold hands that they have Raynauds. Personally, I think runners are just predominately skinny ass people with the nerve endings right near the surface of the skin and are just more sensitive to the cold. Geez, this blubber ball I use to work with would wear short sleeve shirts year round. (Probably because he was so morbidly obese, he couldn't find a jacket to wear). He said the cold didn't bother him. 'Course not, the blubber kept him warm.

Been sick the last couple of days. I took yesterday off from running completely. Missed my second speed workout for the week. Slept from around 9:00 pm to 6:00 am on Thursday. Feel better today. Still slept in until 6 am again this morning. Went for 4 miles at real marathon pace. To short of a distance to get a real rhythm going, but good enough after a day off.