Heading to America.

I've been a bit slack lately updating the blog and getting around to all yours. The reason for the slackness is that much of my computer time lately has been taken up by surfing the travel pages and hotel guides planning for our family holiday to the States and Canada which is happening next April.

This will be the first major trip my wife Michelle and I have done overseas, apart from crossing the Tasman to Aussie or up to Fiji. It's also of course the first major trip for the boys. All up we will be away for a month so it will be pretty big for us.

Part of the trip is to visit Michelle's parents who are in the States currently travelling in their RV. They left six weeks ago will be away for about 16 months all up. We will be meeting them in Vancouver at the start of the trip and spending five days with them there, before Michelle and I head down to the Las Vegas region for five days on our own. From there is back up to Vancouver for a few more days before saying farewell to M's parents and heading across to the Rocky Mountains and down to Calgary. We then jump on a flight to San Francisco for three days and then head down to LA via Yosemite. It's a pretty jam packed itinerary and only hope we can hack the pace. Here's my Yahoo Travel Planner if you're interested in the detail.

We've have got all the major stuff sorted like airfares and accommodation in the major cities. A few weeks ago I booked us a rim side cabin at the Grand Canyon but what was harder still was trying to find some accommodation at Yosemite National Park, and we're not even travelling in peak season. Finally we have decided on a motel about an hour out of the park in Oakhurst. It will make for a long day travelling from SF that morning but at least we will already be out of the National Park and ready for the next leg of the trip the next morning.

Recently I thought I would look into what the April temperatures are in places like the Grand Canyon and Utah. I was thinking like yeah it's spring time it should be quite mild. Then I find out the lows are still in the minuses (C) at that time of the year! I'll be making sure we pack heaps of warm cloths thats for sure.

Next on the list of things to organise are some B&B's in places like Jasper and Banff. We're not sure about booking anywhere in Utah and California and may just wing it and see what we find depending on where we end up.

How's the running going?

I had my check up with the physio last week after successfully completing my scheduled 50 minute run. She's happy with the progress and as said to keep slowly building up and to maintain my strengthening and stretching. She's got me doing these calf raises on the edge of a step, one legged. I have hold a weight (7kg) in one hand, rise quickly onto ball of my foot and then drop slowly and controlled to a count of ten. I do two sets to failure. As a variation of the stretching she also said to stretch on the step again by standing on the edge one foot at a time lowering my heel both with a straight leg and then bent.

I raised the numb foot/pins & needles thing and she thought this could be a case of Compartment Syndrome. On the 50 minute run I somehow managed to stave off the numbness for 40-45 minutes before stopping to stretch. I was taking smaller strides so I will work on that and hopefully that will help. Will just have to keep an eye on tha one. With the continued strengthening and stretching hopefully this will pass. I've also booked a sports massage with a massage therapist at the Millennium Sports Institute to work on loosening up the calfs /legs some more. I've never had a deep tissue massage before so this should be an experience!

Last weeks numbers;

Monday - 44 minutes
Tuesday - Rest
Wednesday - 50 Minutes
Thursday - Bikram Yoga
Friday - Rest
Saturday - Rest
Sunday - 35 Minutes

This week is a cut back with three runs of 25, 30 and 35 minutes planned. Still taking walking break for one minute after every ten of running this week.

I know I've still got a long way to go but I have already had a look at a race calender and can see a Half Marathon in Auckland on March 2 and the Rotorua Half on March 16. Rotorua would fit perfectly before we head off for our trip wouldn't it?

Have a great week.



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