Well I finally got my Suunto T6 workout watch back from London! Woohoo! It came via Great Britain’s “Royal Mail” (fancy name for the postal service). For those of you not keeping track, I inadvertently left it there during my last visit in early December.

I must say that I was very fortunate to get my watch back. I just sent the Housekeeping staff at the Club Quarters a nice “Thank You” from a local shop in London — a big basket filled with chocolates and sweets. I hope they enjoy it (although they may need to start working out after eating that thing).

I couldn’t wait to workout and collect some data (yes, EPOC levels!). I kicked up my cycling time to 30 minutes and I’m feelin’ pretty good. I’ll probably stick with 30 minutes for a while and slowly increase my resistance (I’m only at level 1). Should be fun. I’ll post some pics of my workout graphs from the Suunto Training Manager, once I start collecting a bunch of data.

While I was waiting for my watch I decided to pull the trigger on the Suunto Foot Pod for the T6. The pod allows you to collect some interesting data when running or walking. I’ll probably get more use out of that once Spring comes (or if I join a gym). Next pod on the list is the Suunto Bike Pod, although I’ll need a bike for that.. Yes, I’m addicted.

I just received a call back from the Club Quarters in London — they found my watch and will be shipping it back to me!!

I am soooo f-ing pissed… I left my Suunto T6 workout watch in my hotel room in London! It’s a long story, but I rushed out of my room to checkout and get to my ride to the airport. Must have left it on the bedside table. I left a message for the Club Quarters housekeeping manager. Hopefully they found it.

I’ve only owned this watch less than a week and have been hooked on all the data it can capture, analyze, and report. Shame on me for leaving it, but like I said, it’s a long story.

The reason for my trip…

St. Paul’s Cathedral

One of my favorite things about traveling is eating. I just love sampling different kinds of food. Whenever you speak to someone about fine cuisines of the world, the UK is typically NOT mentioned. However, every time I’ve visited London I’ve never had a bad meal. Granted, most of the UK restaurants I’ve eaten in have been non-British cuisines, but even the local places where I’ve had “fish and chips” or “bangors and mash” have been great.

My short trip to the UK this week is definitely continuing this trend. Starting with the many meals on my American Airlines flight (in Business Class), it’s been nothing but good eatin’. I don’t care what they say about airline food — the meals in First/Business class are awesome (and it better be for the prices they’re charging for tickets these days). One thing you don’t do in First Class is go hungry.

During my first full day in London this week I ate lunch at a nice Italian restaurant called Hamilton’s (seafood & pasta), a second smaller lunch at The Gaucho Grill (Argentinian empanadas), and dinner at Shanghai Blues (Chinese). Besides the food, there was some good wine sampling going on too.

Shanghai Blues was incredible… the decor, service, and food was simply top notch. We ate family style and I was able to sample some of the best dim sum, chicken, scallops, prawns, beef, and desserts I’ve ever eaten. One of the wildest things I’ve ever seen was the way they served the fried rice — the entire order was enclosed in a paper thin wrapping of fried eggs (like a giant but thin omelet)… very original (and delicious). Check out Shanghai Blues at their website (even that is very well done).

Good thing I’m on my exercise kick.

Oxford Circus

Oxford Circus

London Underground - Bank Station

Leadenhall Market

Leadenhall Place

There’s nothing like a 3:00 AM EST workout. Nice gym at the Club Quarters in London. BTW, I dropped my video iPod and it survived (my hand got caught in the earbud wire and the iPod went flying across the room)! I’ll definitely be using my Shuffle next time I’m running or walking.

Treadmill:
20 min, 2.0 miles
Max Heart Rate - 128 bpm
Avg Heart Rate - 106 bpm
Min Heart Rate - 82 bpm

Playlist:
1) Laughing Out Loud - The Wallflowers (Rock)
2) Apache - Scooter (Trance)
3) Ch-Check It Out - Beastie Boys (Hip-Hop/Rap)
4) Channel Surfing - Feature Cast (Dance)
5) Welcome to the Jungle - Guns N’ Roses (Rock)