Monday, May 25, 2015

Enjoying my run, enjoy yours !


As I am slowly starting again my training runs (next Marathon, Honolulu, in December), I decided to change strategy.
I need to get grab back the fun in running, and it starts by limiting the pain
- in short, for me, running longer but slower.
The other day I was cruising at 9:30 pace, when I got passed by a runner breathing like a bull. For fun, I tried to follow him to get his pace.
Without doubts, I bet he would not run far. And of course, he backed up after a maybe a mile or so.
Looking at his face and his struggle, I realized he might not enjoy it, but forcing his way through it. I thought, you have to keep the fun in it.
If you push it to the point each step will be a pain, how do you want to be motivated to run the day after, and the day after that one too ?
Challenging yourself goes a long way, a very long way for some, but eventually, that won't be enough.

Stretching in Kalama Park, Kihei


Then I remembered that last marathon, and the pain for the last hour.
Running too fast did not make me any good after all.
Then from now on, I am gonna run slower, but longer.
And make sure to stretch accordingly.
Ough.
Overall, that will takes me even more time than before.
But if I enjoy every minute of it, it would be certainly worth it.(*)



(*): I still do not enjoy stretching, but I know accept it as a necessary evil. I do believe I even made some progress and I am -just a bit- more flexible then before.
I am starting from quite far, obviously :)





Sunday, May 17, 2015

Running in circles, Sailing in triangles


No kidding now.
The hard part for me on the boat was the lack of space - like running around.
I really missed my daily runs around the neighborhood.
They might sound repetitive, and they are, those "tiny" one hour "run around" loops, the one I start when I don't feel like driving out of town, or don't have the time, and just need a quick fix before dinner.

Coming back from a short one hour run.
Easy peasy.
Lemon squezzy.


Actually, I really felt my fitness fall apart in those 2 months after the marathon - preparation - passage - recovery. And just now, as I am starting to rebuild some mileage, slowly, I start to feel better while running.
The first time after the passage I ran like one hour, and felt like I will starting from zero all again. So painful I could not believe it. Came back really fast, like the time to tell my body "wake up", you are back on business now.
Plus my wife found some numbers of my previous diet, for the first marathon, when I reached like -only- 145 pounds - 65 Kg.
Ouch.

That won't help,
but could not help it.

In the mean time, I did not decide just yet of how I am gonna shrink myself again to that weight, then we can enjoy some Maui Sparkling Wine - local Champagne - which our friends bought for us. 
I am not sure, I would ever thought you could find some decent sparkling wine on Maui - you would have bet on run and pineapple vodka.
In any case, today was our first family sail all together and it went beautifully.

Traces moored on Maui

A good occasion to celebrate and  thanks again my friend Gilles that made it possible by bringing the boat here.

That's work to skip that boat.
Got an excuse though. It is dying hot on the West side.
The light winds made it great for everyone to try and skip the boat. 
Barely no waves, an easy light breeze.
Another day to remember.
Another day in paradise.


Friday, May 15, 2015

Back to the iLife


There are few things that I miss while crossing an ocean.

Games of thrones is one of them.
With all the craziness of the preparation, I totally skipped the Netflix DVD release.

Unsurprisingly, I am super excited about this.

Today, I fixed that.
It is now on top of our queue.
I know, I know, this is totally uninteresting, in the big scheme of things, 
in our adventurous blogger stories.
Still ...

Surprisingly a good album, IMHO. 

Between this, and he new Faith No More album, I had to choose one ...
Like a symbol of coming back to the 'real' world.
For what it is worth (the 'real' world).
The "connected" world.

It is surprisingly easy to get hooked to the iLife again.
Like all that was just a short unreal parenthesis.
Opened. And closed.
18 days went in a blink of an eye.


Monday, May 11, 2015

Backyard Sailing


It has been quite an adventure to reach this point, but now, we have our boat close to home, almost in our backyard, from a worldwide scale perspective. We have been told that sailing Maui is a tricky, between no wind in the lee of the island and too much wind in the channels.
Well, we had a taste of the no-wind part (or very light wind).
And, honestly, for a first sail after the passage, it was more than alright.


New background ...

Of course, the whale season is way off now, and we might have to wait next year to see big mammals again.


.. And new Skipper

But this is alright as well.
Because we need our new skipper to get used to size of the wheel.
That's quite a big boat, our 37' footer, Traces.

The good news is, the family loved her.
And even if she need a deep cleaning, some tender love and care,
that is already a good first step : Love at first sight !


Saturday, May 9, 2015

More pictures please ...

Alright. 
At the risk of being boring, a passage like that is **mostly** all about skies and seas.
Seas flatten a lot in the camera, which always make me sad - as we survived swell **that** big, which looks actually tiny on screen.
Skies are more beautiful at night, when you do not have clouds, and can enjoy the stars. Which has been quite limited actually. But you cannot get easy pictures of a night sky on a always moving boat, then, we are left with those classics ones.


Just another sun set,
in the middle of nowhere.

Rainbows are not the exclusivity of Hawaii

Burning sky


A rare sunset without clouds

Artistic perspective of a quite active sea
An attempt to capture the meany meany swell

A last dedication to our hard working pilot,
which is now on the operating table
Obviously the images do not do justice to the actual trip.
I can only advise to try by ourself, this is a one life time experience.
Some stories cannot be told or shown, or at least by a poor writer like me.
But at least, I have proven this is an achievable dream.
Or at least, the first leg of an achievable dream.

Wednesday, May 6, 2015

The end of an adventure


With Gilles who just left, the crossing is officially over. It is time to relax, and reflect.
And because I cannot stop, plan.
But not too fast.
I had enough sailing for the next month or so. At the minimum.
For now, let's enjoy being back and on land.
Or should I say, an island.

Between this...

Back on my turf

And this ....


Leaving Ensenada, one month ago. Nervous ?

There was that:

Some wave action in the middle of nowhere.
Bigger than it seems. Sailors will appreciate.


Now, we have our boat here, and life will never be the same.
Who knows, we might even join a yacht club.

Now, slowly, we must to build a new routine.
And a mooring for the boat.
Who knows, we might even succeed (Hawaii inhabitants will appreciate).

Now,  this is another story.
Who knows, I might even tell this story in this blog.