Welcome to the Fleet Blog

This Blog is written for the Fleet, by the Fleet. The 2011 Fleet is made up of thirteen able-bodied seamen and this blog tracks their adventures, home and abroad. Feel free to leave comments, have a laugh and enjoy the debauchery.

Forthcoming Fleet Events

  • 20/08/2011 - Summer Xtravaganza
  • 07/10/2011 - Leichtenstein Trip (Via Zurich)

Saturday, 19 March 2011

Marathon Training Update - Week 7


What a week! At the start i was aware just how much work was still required to get me to 26.2 mile endurance. At the end, i'm thinking there's even more than i thought. I mean, i am able to run 10 miles at 7m30s/mile pace. Trouble is, that's too fast. I need to start running slower :(

Week 7 (w/c 13/03/2011) schedule:

Sunday - 8 miles
Tuesday - 6 miles - speed work
Thursday - 9 miles
Saturday - 5 miles

So, in my last post i mentioned that Week 7 had already got off to a flyer, because i posted on Sunday after i'd already run my Sunday run ;)


I was supposed to run 8 miles, but i screwed up my route a little bit on the way back and ended up running 7.63m at a good 7m25s/mile pace. TOO FAST! I need to aim for somewhere in the region of 8m/mile to achieve 3.5hrs at the Marathon - although i'd settle for anything under 4 hrs. Cardo's record is defo not in danger (3h 19m, if you are interested, and i know you are not, cause he's a chopper). Anyway, i had a tight groin afterwards and my calf was a little bit sore as well, but on the whole, i'm over most of te injury problems i had during Feb, so that's a good sign :)

On to the Tuesday 6 miler, which i did on Wednesday, cause of other commitments (i was shattered on Tuesday after the mighty Gogol Bordello gig on the Monday!!) also i had a cold that was cured by the sweaty factor of the Gogol gig too :D TOP WORK COCKBURN!!


I needed to do some work at home, so i ran home at lunch at a decent pace, again 7m23s.mile. It's TOO FAST! :D sorry. Anyway, felt good after that, which included some speed work which i got into later in the run after i'd stopped hitting the fastbit on an uphill seciton!!


Again a busy time as Wed evening was c9cks birthday, a quiet pint, followed by Premier League Darts on Thursday which was an early start and a late finish. The only drawback to that night was that i walked home from Haymarket Station and aggrivated my calf a bit :( So, on Friday i had to protect it a bit, which i did. I decided on Saturday that it would be beneficial to go for a longer run and Thursday scheduled run of 9 miles looked like a possibility, so i devised an extended route and set out with good intentions....wow it was hard today!!


7m49s/mile average for the 9 mile run, well it was a little shorter than 9 miles, for some reason, but that's GPS for you! Anyway, i started out pretty quick, as you can see from the following Mile Splits:


From mile 5 to 8 you can see that it was pretty much uphill, which is a killer when its blowing a gale, which it was. I've come off the back of this with a very tight groin and that calf is still not really right, but, BUT, i'm going to take a couple of days off now, run on Tuesday next week and then see if i can do a Thursday and Saturday to keep the miles up. Maybe a 10 miler next weekend.

The Edinburgh Half Marathon is in 2 weeks time, and Mo-arch madness is calming down at the moment, so that's good too. Haddowfest will take care of itself and i'm off to run the route that i'll be running on the Marathon day itself next weekend, so i need to be right for that :)

Top work - feeling good. 1000 calories burnt this morning - not that i need to watch my intake, but it feels good as i'll be pigging out later no doubt :)

Until next week :)

PS, Cardo, i love you man.

Thursday, 17 March 2011

Darts roxor!!!!!

Yeeeeeessssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss!!!!!!!

Monday, 14 March 2011

Haggis burger

Awesome. :):). Plus a pint of jobber. Lol jobber

Sunday, 13 March 2011

Marathon Training Update - Weeks 2-6







Has it really been 5 weeks since i posted an update on my training?  Yes it has.  Anyway, seeing as i'm being badgered from foreign lands to post an update, i felt that i should use the time my PC is taking to author some videos to post an update.  And quite an update it is.

Week 2 (w/c 06/02/1011) schedule:
Sunday - 8 miles
Tuesday - 5 miles
Thursday - 6 miles
Saturday 4 miles

Sunday is always the worst day, it's the one after Saturday, really?, meaning that you have to run two days in a row.  Sunday is also the longest run of the week on 90% of the schedule.  I approached this run with much to fear, but i was confident that i could pull off two runs in two days even if my body was sore.  I devised a new route that i had never taken before in order to hit the 8 mile mark.  It was much downhill to begin with and much uphill to end with, something that i would have to contend with on race day.

I started off quite steady (but still too fast) at just over 7mins per mile for the first 3 miles, but mile 4 was uphill and i slowed to 7m 47 for that mile. I was tired at this point and then it happened. A pain like i've never felt in my shin. At 5.74 miles of the 8 i was intending to do, i had to stop, i couldn't put much weight on my foot. Shin splints. Ouch. I'm typing this 6 weeks later and it still hasn't fulled healed, but i'm getting through it. I had to get the bus home!! haha. And that was me out for a while, just typical :(




Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday were all sacrificed as i hobbled about at work and struggled to come to terms with the fact that i was having a mare.

---

Week 3 (w/c 13/02/2011) schedule:

Sunday 10 miles
Tuesday 5 miles
Thursday 6 miles
Saturday 5 miles

Again, this week, i had to sacrifice Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday, that was 6 scheduled runs all down the swanny due to shin splints. Having procured a calf support, ankle support and two new insoles, i thought i'd chance things on Saturday 19th Feb at the 5 miler. I still wasn't comfortable on my foot to be honest, but i decided to run 4 x Silverknowes Loop, as at least i would be local if it all went pear shaped. 5.33 miles later and i was fairly happy that i had managed to get back out there. Massive damage to my feet caused by new insoles and ankle strap though - that will take a while to heal :(


So, week two only had one run, as did week 3. Week 4 would need to be better....and it was.....a wee bit anyway.

----

Week 4 (w/c 20/02/2011) Schedule:

Sunday 11 miles
Tuesday 5 miles
Thursday 7 miles
Saturday 5 miles

I was still tender after my Saturday run so i again decided to miss the big Sunday run to heal both my cuts and blisters as well as my shin splints. Dogged by a tight calf and a dodgy groin as well.

Tuesday was my first lunchtime run in a long time and i decided to use my trusted 5 mile route, which came in at 4.91 miles, which was weird. Pace was decent at 7m 24s per mile for the entire run.


Thursday was a 7 mile attempt, but i felt that Thursday was pushing it a bit, so i delayed until Sunday when i ran the 7 miles i should have run on the Thursday (studio engineering there!). Anyway, this was slow - well, fast compared to what i should be running but ultimately slow compared to everything else lately, but it was the longest i had run in a long time also accutely aware that the Lasswade 10 mile race was coming up on the 6th of March and i hadn't really touched anything like near 10 mile yet.


I kept it local again, just in case, and the foot wasn't too bad when i finished. All was well for the following Sunday's race then ;)

---

Week 5 (w/c 27/02/2011) schedule:

Sunday 12 miles
Tuesday 5 miles
Thursday 7.5miles
Saturday 5 miles

Well, having already run last week's Thursday run on the Sunday, and bearing in mind i had a 10 mile race to go to on Sunday coming, i decided that one run was all i needed this week, a short 5 miler on Tuesday around my favourite short course at lunchtime. 7mins 22secs per mile for the 5 miles wasn't too bad. I didn't enter any notes on runkeeper so i mustn't have had a lot to say about it :)


---

Week 6 (w/c 06/03/2011) schedule:

Sunday 13 miles (although this was 10 mile race day actually)
Tuesday 5 miles
Thursday 7 miles
Saturday 5 miles

So, on the Saturday before my race I was up in Perth to see the mighty Hibees draw 1-1 with the less than mighty Saints. That night i did something strange to my back, i thought i'd pulled a muscle as i couldn't breath to the capacity of my lungs nor could i exhale properly. Well, this was not good. Then i was getting jabbing shooting pains like i'd never felt in my life near my shoulder blades slightly to the right. I spent the rest of Saturday night lying like dracula trying not to provoke it :( I also got about 2 hours sleep. No good for Sunday's race!!

Sunday was worse, i was climbing the walls in pain :( So, no race at all.

When i woke on Monday morning, it was completely gone :( That's just weird. Never will i have a go at someone with back pain again :(

Ultimately another week with no running!! :(

---

Week 7 has got off to a flyer, so i'm hoping to report some good news in my next blog post. 4 weeks till the edinburgh half. 10 weeks will the marathon!! GULP

Since i started this schedule, i have been due to run 23 times. I have completed just 8 of them. That needs to improve.

www.runkeeper.com/user/zooldafool

Wednesday, 9 February 2011

Saturday, 5 February 2011

Test blog from iPhone using Blogpress

If this works, then gibbon dreamer needs to consider this app!!

YouTube Video

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Marathon Training Update - Week 1


Well, it's good to have a project as a learned gibbon friend of mine once said, and this is mine for H1 2011 - get into shape to run the marathon.  I will take the lead form the Gibbon Dreamer and post some bobbins so i can look back with pride and bewilderment in later years :)

You might think, "well this guy runs loads every week" (and some may also think that i am responsible for starting the parkrun (Stu and Craig!), alas no, i can run 5k in around 20 mins and 10k in around 42 mins, but i can't sustain a (decent) pace over the long haul, so i have subscribed to a 16 week class on Runkeeper.com to ensure that i can complete the Marathon is a respectable time as well as 'just complete the darn thing'. 

So, week 1 is now over :)  It's time to blog!

There will be 4 runs a week, but this means running on both Sat and Sun as well as Tues and Thurs.  Whilst the weekday runs are fine and dandy, the Sunday run is generally a longer (goes up to 22 miles at one point) one with the Saturday one varying between 4 miles and 9 miles across the 16 weeks.

This week it was nice and easy:
Day 1 (Sunday 30th Jan) - rest day - you dancer!
Day 2 - rest day - THIS IS EASY!!

 
Far too fast for my first run :(  That's almost 3hr marathon pace!!

Day 3 - 4 miler - no showers available at work, curtailing my lunchtime run, so i had to run home after work - some studio engeineering to my route meant that i covered off 4 miles just about exactly to my front gate.






This is the worst weather i have ever ran in :(


Day 4 (rest)



Day 5 - 5 miler - i swear that this was the most hurricane like weather ever.  I ran along queensferry road, it was totally rediculous weather to run in and i don't want to run in anything like that again.  Still TOO FAST!  I need to run at 8min/mile pace and slower at the moment, cant teach myself to run slower it seems :(
Parkrun route and a little extra to see me over the 4 mile line!


 Day 6 (rest)




Day 7 - argh, the Saturday Parkrun is only 3.11miles.  I needed to run 4miles and in the future i will have to run 5miles and above on a Saturday  - the race will be forced to take a backseat, but even though it was windy, i decided to run from the car to the start line, 0.4miles, and then run the parkrun (3.11miles) at sprinting speed (5k in 20m 40s, cause i'm tired!) and then  run back to the car (and a bit extra) to make up the 4 miles.  Again, i ran too fast, but this is because i was going for a good time - but i forgot about the howling wind!!

So, only three runs needed this week and the biggest of the week will always be the first one (the Sunday), tomorrow's 8 mile run is not going to be enjoyable.  I have mapped my route and it will take me to such delightful places as Granton and Craigleith as well as Muirhouse and the like.  Awesome :(

  
Tune in, in a couple of weeks or maybe just a week for more news on the training regime :)

Oh, and this was me after Day 3!!

It can only get better.  Surely!

Friday, 7 January 2011

Big comfy chair

It's just a big comfy chair!
Big comfy chaaaaiiiir.
It's just a big comfy chaaiir.

(allbeit a damned comfy chair to ve honest!!)

Tuesday, 4 January 2011

Presenting the new line in Sneakertastic Sneakers

mi adidas - Create Your own

Here you go folks, here's my 1st attempt at creating my own Adidas ZX700s.  Only £100 if you want to own them, roll up, roll up!


I predict that Lumbo will buy these.

Tuesday, 2 November 2010

Can't make your birthday Stu!

Sorry Stu, I'm out of town the weekend of your birthday. Have a great time and I'll see you at the Fleet Christmas night out!

I love the fleet - it doesn't matter what your real age is, everyone's fleet age is "juvenile" ;o)

Sunday, 31 October 2010

Tuesday, 5 October 2010

Doubly SMART

Or just foolish??

Saturday, 18 September 2010

You little beauty!

Get yer lederhosen out!

Colonel schnapps oompah band!

Breakfast

Wholesome. :)

Note to all

c9ckburn is now publishing pictures on the blog as ZooLdaFooL as well as me (kev).  Just in case you think i'm responsible for all this tripe!

Friday, 17 September 2010

Saturday, 28 August 2010

Money for Nothing via Cashback


Here's the multi-step guide to making money for nothing via cashback.

Before i start, i don't guarantee this working for everyone and you have to follow these steps exactly.  No complaints if you muck up :p

1) Register with your preferred cashback site, from those above.  I'll use www.wepromisto.co.uk in this example.  You might find that the others offer a better rate than the example here, so always check that out before you try.  I'm using wepromiseto as I find that they track your activity quicker.....  Wepromiseto is a cashback site which works by tracking your activity on various sites (via cookies) and thus if you fullfill the requirements met on the wepromiseto site, you'll benefit to the tune of £x.

Example before we start.  If you set up an account with wepromiseto.co.uk and navigate to the No Spend Cashback link.  You will see that there are various companies offering £x.xx in cashback.  To check that your browser is working well with tracking of cashback, you might want to choose one of the DailyClick items for £0.02.  Try Cascade Compare.  Click on the box that looks like this:

....and then you'll be taken to a new window or tab with another link which says 'Take me to Cascade Compare'.  Click that link and you are taken to a site that has insurance offers on it.  All you need to do to get your 2pence is click the banner at the BOTTOM.  At the moment that's a banner for National Friendly.  It looks like this:
It will open up a new window.  Close it down.  You've just earned 2p.  IF IT TRACKS.  Wait a few hours (or up to a day) and you'll see your Wepromiseto.co.uk account balance go up to £0.02 ;)  You can do this once a day every day to earn 2p a day, but that's boring.  If it works, you know that you are at least set up to have cashback track to your account.  It was a zero risk test.  Up to you whether you do it or not :p

--------------

Now onto business.  Make sure you are logged into your wepromiseto.co.uk account before we go for more cashback.  This time we will go for Sun Bingo.  Here's the link.  On the day of typing this article its at £15.  I quote from the terms:
  • Get an increased £15.00 cashback when you open & fund a new account with £10 or more and play a real money game. Plus, enjoy a 200% cash match bonus. With a bingo budget of just £10 you can play bingo with £20!
So if you deposit £10.  You will get £15 in cashback.  You will also get £10 bonus credit added to your account on Sun Bingo.  That reads like you are already £5 up in terms of money in your pocket before you start.  You are.  Assuming you did as you did with the 2p chat above, clicked the link in wepromiseto and then signed up with a NEW account with a credit/debit card, validated your email address and deposited £10.  

Play Bingo with the £20 (your tenner plus a bonus £10).  I'd suggest the 90 ball bingo.  If you win anything great, if you lose, so what, you are a £5 up already. DO NOT PLAY SLOTS.  Just play bingo.  NOTHING ELSE.

If you win anything, superb, but it will be small prizes if anything, i'd guess.  It's all automatic - just buy the maximum amount of tickets and sit back.  I think it's £3.60 max per game, but that might have been another site, so don't quote me ;).  Keep an eye on the My Account/My balance screen back in your main browser (as the bingo software opens in a new flash window).  See this image here:

Keep an eye on the box on the bottom right.  You need to meet some wagering requirements in order to withdraw any winnings.  If you play slots, you'll not meet your wagering requirements.  Bingo is the way.

When that reaches 100%, withdraw anything you have left in your account.  You SHOULD have £10 left, as you only need to wager a tenner to meet the requirements.  That's £3.60, £3.60 and £2.80 for those that can't count, and any junior accountants.  You should have spent 20 mins tops to bet on three bingo games and come out with the £10 you put in (just withdraw it back to your card) and £15 cashback.  You are already £15 up minimum.  You hopefully won some of the Bingo as well :D  That should also be withdrawn.  Get your balance to £0.00 and never go back to the site again.  :)

--------

You can do exactly the same with Caesar's Bingo on wepromiseto.  It's the SAME bingo software that they use, so you can do exactly the same watching your Wagering percentage.  They match 200% of your initial deposit and give you £15 in cashback.  So basically you are playing with £30 when you start playing bingo.  Good luck and do the same as the Sun Bingo.

---------

News of the World Bingo is the same as Sun Bingo and offers £15 cashback.  I'm pretty sure that you can only do either Sun Bingo OR NotW Bingo for the £15 cashback :)  Up to you if you want to try.

---------

Bigger money can be had at Joyland and 21Nova Casinos.  £50 per casino in cashback.  You need to go through wepromiseto.  Click on the links to the appropriate site USING INTERNET EXPLORER.  I preferred to download their software when it asked me to (and uninstalled it through control panel / add/ remove software after i was finished).

You need to sign up with a NEW account with your debit or credit card and deposit £20.  If they ask you if you want a Bonus added to your deposit SAY NO.  Now, i've always said yes, but there are CRAZY wagering requirements that mean that although you might have more cash to play with, you'll never be able to withdraw a massive amount anyway, so you can do what you like here, as i'll explain both ways.....

Both casinos offer various bonuses to your £20 deposit.  Don't forget that if the cashback has tracked you are already £30 up ;)

Anyway, deposit £20 and say YES or NO to the bonus.  You get a lot more cash to play with if you say YES.  If you are EVER going to be able to withdraw anything you need to bet 18x £20 in total bets to get back out with cash.  One of the casinos is actually 20 x £20, i can't remember which.  If you say NO, you will find it easier to withdraw your money.  Look at their terms and conditions and see what games are not included in wagering requirements.  You find that all the usually popular games that don't involve luck are excluded.  Apart from Holdem.  So you will play Holdem and hope that you get lucky.  IF you don't.  You are £30 up.  There is no handy wagering requirments percentage box on these sites though i'm afraid.  You just have to keep a manual record of what you have wagered (first bet only per hand of cards).

Okay, so I used Pontoon (which is excluded from wagering) to build up my £46 (after bonus) on 21Nova to something like £175.  As Pontoon is excluded, i couldn't withdraw any of that.

I then hit Holdem.  Play that until you've bet around £400 in total and you'll probably be able to withdraw your cash.  If you chose not to add bonus to your account you'll find it is easier and earlier to withdraw, but you'll have less money to play with :)

So, either build the pot up with Pontoon, or don't that's up to you.  You are £30 up if the cashback tracks and you might win some stuff.  45 mins on each casino was all i needed.

--------

Paddy Power Bingo has a better rate on quidco.com than on wepromiseto.  Try that one too :)  Although i won diddly squat on that, i still made £10 for 20 mins work.

There are many other as well, but most of the sites are run by one group and once you've earned cashback on one of the group's sites, you might find that you can't earn on the others.....

I'll edit this if anyone points out that there are glaring issues!!

ZdF!

Thursday, 26 August 2010

Testing the picture upload to the Facebook page for the Fleet


need to add in a photo to see if that gets published or just the random one from the banner on the homepage......

Sunday, 22 August 2010

Thursday, 19 August 2010

test

Mayday, Mayday, calling the fleet - are you reading me?

Wednesday, 18 August 2010

Test

Testing iPhone blogging. Ta.

Sent from my iPhone, baby, yea!!

Friday, 13 August 2010

The Fleet Rock



Dear Fleet,

Thank you very much for my leaving present - it is truly visionary. We should all carry one!


Long live a younger Fleet!

Sunday, 25 July 2010

Saturday, 24 July 2010

test

testing fb edinburghfleet.com blog feed

Friday, 23 July 2010

Coco, listen up

http://recombu.com/news/iphone-4-uk-tariff-deals-is-o2-three-orange-tesco-or-vodafone-right-for-you_M11886.html


You can turn off again now :)

Wednesday, 14 July 2010

Hogmanay 2006 Flashback


Hogmanay 2006
Originally uploaded by ZooLdaFooL
stumbled over this on flickr! hahaha.

Friday, 9 July 2010

Tuesday, 6 July 2010

Test



Test


Testing old phone

Testing


Testing this phone

Thursday, 10 June 2010

Tuesday, 8 June 2010

iPhone fleet team

All fleet members that have an iphone. Can you check out the App, 'Blogpress' and then sign in to your Google Account, and then select fleet blog from the list. Then try to post a blog, like this one, you can even attach a wee photo :)

Give it a whirl :)

If it doesn't work, I need to associate your google account with the blog, so tell me what your google account is :)


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Location:Pennywell Rd,Edinburgh,United Kingdom

Sunday, 6 June 2010

Fleet Photos

I've just finished (after about a week's work, on and off) organising and tagging all my photographs in Picasa (no changes to the online web albums as yet).

Tagging everyone's faces was a chore and a half.  Apparently I have photos that contain each of the following people x times:

Kevin Campbell - 947
Michael Hymers - 501
Gavin Stark - 397
Jonathan Bryce - 280
James Cockburn - 246
Robin Card - 224
Antonio Cervi - 158
Martin Urquhart - 115
Ollie Hughes - 81
Andrew Lumsden - 52
Stuart Milne - 47
Alisdair Wight - 43
Craig Paterson - 36

And you are all beautiful in ever single one of them :)

Saturday, 29 May 2010

I'm about to lose days of my life

Only Zelda beats this. I am scared to press A+B.

Friday, 28 May 2010

Devil Woman

Starky - remember this woman!!!!!!!! HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!

Thursday, 20 May 2010

Super Mario Galaxy 2

I better take some time off work :( AWESOME.

Monday, 17 May 2010

Saturday, 24 April 2010