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Sunday, February 28, 2016

Canadian Chaos

Traveled to London, Ontario on Jan 30th, for the big bang at work, the culmination of a little over a year of work.  Picked up a nice letterbox hybrid geocache on my drive into town from the airport.


I ended up working about 92.5 hrs my first week there.  Only had real lunch a couple of times.  It was kind of non-stop, too, while I was at it.  After doing a couple of long, long, days, leaving 30 minutes earlier than usual felt like a vacation.  On the bright side, the food in Canada is amazing.  Fresh, visually appealing, and with well-executed flavors.  It gave me a good treat after the long day.



Another fun thing was that Tim Horton's, the Starbucks of Canada, had a promotion going on where you could potentially win prizes on each cup.  Instead of peeling off a sticker, like with McDonalds and Monopoly, you rolled up the rim of the cup.  I had been walking into the hotel at 11pm one night, holding a cup, and the receptionist asked me if I had won anything yet, and I couldn't figure out what she was talking about, and then she asked me about rolling up the rim, and I still didn't know.  Finally, I got what she was talking about.  I'm not a normal coffee drinker, so I only had the one cup, but that didn't stop me from rolling up other rims, hehe.  Didn't find anything, though... just "PLAY AGAIN".


Saturday, after a partial day at work, we went to a local basketball game, which was a nail-biter.



Sunday, Jan 7:
I finally got a chance to run on Sunday.  12 days between runs may be a record for me, since the occasional ankle sprain injuries in college.  4.0 in 34:14, 8:34 average, 2 degrees of incline.  Before breakfast, but not hungry.  

The run was hard.  Felt out of shape.  Did feel a bit better in the second half, with higher speeds.  Also, finally got about 7 hrs of sleep this night, vs. the usual 6-ish.  Did some weights afterwards.  Also grabbed some geocaches.



(This one used to be a shack covered with colorful grafitti... not sure if the owner realizes that it has been razed.  Miraculously, I still found the cache in the rubble.)


Watched the superbowl that night.  In Canada, they show normal Canadian commercials.  A different experience.  Rooting for the Panthers, but they just didn't perform that night.  Oh well, next year.


 Tuesday, Jan 9:
Did a 55 min strength session in my hotel room, at 5am before work.  550 crunches/side, 2:30 plank, 95/175 adductor/abductor leg lifts, 12 divebombers hard and form breaking down, 90s 6 inches, 65+65 clams, 20 tricep dips, 105 lower leg extension, 75+80 single-leg squats, 105 pelvic thrusts, 55 normal two-legged squats, 1:00 star side planks with 20 dips better than expected but still not perfect form, 15 press-ups, 55 Russian twists with steel-toed shoes as "weights", 25 triangle pushups.  First time doing strength in like 23 days.

Work got a bit less crazy this week, still lots, but better than the previous week.

Thursday, Jan 11:
5.0 in 41:38, 8:20 average, 2 degrees of incline.  Today's run was a bit better - still hard, but more normal-feeling.

My trip got extended, with a week in Montreal.

Over the weekend, finally, a break from work.  I went snow shoeing on Saturday.


 





Had maple syrup "taffy" - warm maple syrup, hardened on snow.
 


It was soooo cold... negative 18 F in the city of Montreal - must've been even colder on the mountain.


Sunday, Feb 14:
The next day was a bit warmer - went dog-sledding, after I got in a run at the hotel.

5.2 in 44:33, 8:26 average, 2 degreese of incline.  Before breakfast, but I had had rich food (goat cheese crepe, 2 vegan cookies) last night.  Kilometer splits> 5:26, 21, 21, 20, 19, 13, 12, 4:59.


 

 



 I did the Mountain Adventure dog sledding option.  It was Valentines' day weekend, and I was fortunate to get one of the two last spots.  The organizers were stellar, explaining how to drive the sled and interact with the dogs well.  They were passionate about their job, and caring of the dogs.  The dogs were very happy to go on a run.

The third week was a bit better, but I worked many nights in the hotel, too.

Friday, Jan 19:
6.0 in 49:24, 8:14 average, 2 degrees of incline.   Finally flew home later that day... long, too - 2 layovers to get home.  Arrived after 11:30pm.

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