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Hugh

Another week in review

Wednesday, November 14, 2007

Now with greater than a week between today and my previous post, I find myself straining my pea- brain just a little to remember what training has actually transpired since then.  Let's see...well, let's work backwards:

Today: easy half hour run - I was initially thinking of longer, but I needed to take my three paintings to the Community Arts gallery beside the Sussex Building as opening night is tomorrow.  The latest one was framed today and I have finished it more or less to my satisfaction.  It does, however, feel unfinished, and there are certainly touch-ups required, but it's at least sufficiently complete for public display.

Tuesday: after coming home to work on my painting immediately, later in the evening I managed a quick run to gym, a short ride on exercise bike, weights, calisthenics, run home - afterward I finished painting at about midnight. 

Monday: no training at all, and although I thought I might get out for some sort of easy ride, it didn't happen - the day seems to have faded in the mists of my memory, and I can't remember clearly how the day was spent, though it was generally relaxing...

Sunday:  ran for 1hr 20 minutes in and around Cobble Hill/Shawnigan Lake area, about 18km

Saturday: three hour ride - plan was to hook up with the Burnside group, but ended up missing it.  I sought to cross-paths with the group along their usual route, but it didn't happen, so I proceeded along the usual Lands-End/route alone until I ran into Clare H-P near Sydney and joined her for a while back into town

Friday: nix

Thursday: met up with Ased right after work for three loops at the top end of the Cedar Hill golf course; we did the second loop hard, while the rest of the run was fairly comfortable - total distance on the day was about 10 miles, I estimated

Wednesday: easy two loops around Beacon Hill and home (I think) - about 40minutes

Tuesday: so this brings me back to last Tuesday, and the only thing that makes sense was that I ran to the gym for my weight-training workout.

Again, the idea for me is consistency of training - I'm not worried about intensity or volume, and for the time being it can be alternately running or cycling.   Just a bit more than two weeks until I travel to Costa Rica, where the plan is to do a lot of volume for both, plus a fair amount of intensity. 

Tomorrow is opening night for the Legal Services Branch art exhibit.  Apparently, most of the pieces will be photography, or other artistic forms, with only two or three painters, myself being one of the few.  Quite a good idea to organize a Branch exhibit.  Apparently opening night two years ago was a big hit - which I missed as I was on a temporary assignment with a different ministry at the time.  I am glad to have pushed myself to prepare another piece for the exhibit, since I would not have done it otherwise.  I am, however, mildly disappointed with how the piece turned out in the end.  There is, I think, a certain richness to some of the colors I used, and my human figures are, to me, as dynamic as always, but there was some sloppiness in the end amid my urgency to complete it, and I feel the theme, both in terms of the configuration of the painting components as well as its colors, is incomplete and underdeveloped.  This is unlike my previous painting, which I feel was adequately complete thematically in terms of composition and color and attention to detail.

The big switch

Monday, November 5, 2007

With a few hundred WordPress blog page themes to choose from, I found myself clicking through them like one might watch television and flip through channels endlessly and mindlessly.  While I have effectively sworn off television, I cannot say the same for the computer, which has become nearly an equal replacement in its capacity to mire me in a quicksand of misspent time.   The choices were hypnotizing, as there were so many good ones.  I am not ordinarily prone to lingering in deciding upon selections of pretty much anything, but oddly it seems to matter more to me how the background will appear for my blog page than many things of arguably greater importance.

Wordpress is the online blog platform that we will be switching to soon.  Pano, website owner, had long ago provided the option to switch platforms from Pivot, which is this one, to WordPress.  I have been a bit tardy on that front, but with a little gentle nudging and assistance from Pano, I'm soon to finally make the switch. 

On that note, below is an update of the last week.  Owing to a lot of time spent on courses, preparing a third painting for the little Legal Services Branch exhibit upcoming on November 15, among other things, I have been finding less energy available to keep my blog updated on a daily basis.  I'll also be starting a few Spanish lessons as well to prepare me for my trip to Costa Rica.  Despite these things, it is always a priority to sustain, at the minimum, some base fitness. 

The week was largely a recovery week after the Shawnigan Lake half last weekend. So, working backwards from today:

Today - no training

Sunday - a 3 hr ride in the afternoon at a brisk, but not hard, pace - about 100km

Saturday - a one hour run at a comfortable pace, with a few gentle accelerations

Friday - easy run to gym, light weights, calisthenics/stretch, run home

Thursday - 1hr 10 ride easy

Wednesday - easy run to gym for light weights/calisthenics/stretch, 10min ride on exercise bike, run home

Tuesday - easy 1 hr ride

Monday - off

Sunday - Shawnigan Lk half