Yeah I know, it’s been a looong time since I posted here but I guess sometimes life just gets in the way!

There are a number of reasons for my absence but most of them relate to being too damn busy…

First off I’ve been extremely busy with my business, especially with Flash games development where I’ve been working on a number of projects for some big clients (inclduing Hasbro and Lucasarts!) but I can’t complain about that – I’ve rather be busy working on cool games than struggling to get work.

Secondly, I’ve made the decision to train as a yoga teacher.  I’ve been practicing yoga for around 8 years now, and for the past 6 months have been doing a British Wheel of Yoga foundation course.  I’m now registered for a 3 year yoga teacher training diploma with the BWY which is due to start at the end of the year.  Although it’s a three year course, it’s very much hands on and I’m expecting to start teaching classes next spring.

That lead me on to another project which has been keeping me busy – Yogaly.  With all the research I’ve been doing I found that there is a real lack of solid online yoga resources.  I found several large yoga teacher directories online but they were almost all out of date and full of dead links, or else so badly designed as to be virtually unusable.  So, I’ve been compiling what I expect to be the largest and best human edited yoga teacher directory online.  As you can imagine it’s taken up a huge amount of my time, but the data is now all finally compiled and I’m slowly adding the listings to the site day by day.

The full directory won’t be online until mid-summer (there are over 5000 entries to list and I’m manually checking each one!) but there is useful content on the site already and I expect it to grow pretty fast.

So, that’s what the Action Geek has been up to (well, a little bit of it anyway) for the past few months, but you can expect more regular updates from now on.

Well it’s been a rollercoaster of a few weeks, and unfortunately that has meant this blog has been sadly neglected. I’ve been ill, but after seeing the doctor I now know it’s nothing serious, have been given something for the pain and told to rest and that I should make a full recover in another 3 – 4 week… so much for running my first triathlon at the end of the summer then!

But I guess whatever plans and goals we make, life is going to get in the way and we just have to deal with it. Hopefully I’ll be well enough to start my swim coaching later this month, and I’ll just have to change my goals a little and run my first tri as early as possible next year. I still have the Eden Half Marathon in October to train for, and it means I’ll have a lot longer to get my swimming sorted before my first race.

Other than that, I was at the Glastonbury Festival last week which was awesome apart from missing quite a few bands I wanted to see due to being ill, and having to just rest in the tent while everyone else was out having fun! I still managed to have a great day on the Saturday though, and still some some amazing acts including Muse, The Lightning Seeds, Willie Nelson, Rolf Harris and Vampire Weekend to name a few. I’ll write a proper post about the festival over the weekend, and next week I’ll need to sit down and really re-evaluate my goals and training to see where I’m headed…

The more I’ve been looking at effective training for triathlons, and specifically iron distance, the more I’ve learned that using a heart rate monitor (HRM) is generally considered the best way to train.  The 30 week training schedules from Be Iron Fit which I’m planning on using as the basis for my training are totally reliant on using an HRM so I’ve been looking at the various models on the market this week, and it’s not an easy choice…

HRMs seem to come in all shapes and sizes, with a wide range of features, from very basic models to units with more processing power than the average netbook!  While most of them have the basic features like wireless chest straps, training zones, zone alarms and workout memories, some of the more expensive models have so much more – GPS with map and waypoint features, foot pods, bike speed/cadence sensors, usb or wireless connections allowing upload of training workouts to a PC or online training apps and more.

I’ve been reading reviews, comparing specs, and asking questions on Twitter and seem to have narrowed the choice down to a few options from 3 of the top brands – Polar, Garmin and Timex.

Polar have been making heart rate monitors for years, in fact I remember seeing adverts for them in the cycling magazines when I was a kid.  They offer a huge range for all budgets, but the RS300X has caught my eye as a mid-priced unit with basic but sold features and good reviews.

Garmin, being a GPS manufacturer, have GPS functionality in most of their HRMs but that comes at a price of bulk, weight and short battery life.  The Forerunner 205 looks very good (if a little bulky) but it only has a 10 hour battery life, which is too short for the Ironman (well, certainly for my first attempt at the distance anyway!)  I have found an interesting blog post about building an external PSU for the ForeRunner 205 for use on the bike.  That would certainly solve the problem, making the unit a very viable option.

The third option I’m looking at are the Timex Ironman range, which are offcially “Ironman” branded.  Apparently Timex have been making Ironman watches since 1986 so they should know what they’re doing by now.  Again they have quite a range from simple watches to fully loaded kits with all the bells and whistles.  The Timex Ironman Race Trainer Kit looks like the best solution from this brand, which is a fully featured HRM with digital 2.4 transmission to prevent cross-talk, wireless computer transfer and access to online training software.  The biggest advantage is that the Timex HRMs look like regular watches so could be used day to way – while the Polar and Garmin options are too big and bulky to be worn as a watch for day to day use.

So – if you have used any of the above models, or have any other suggestions I’d love to hear from you.  I’m after a decent HRM at a reasonable price, comfortable and easy to use, GPS would be nice but not essential as would the ability to upload workout data.  If you have any insights or suggestions then please leave a comment or Tweet me and I’ll continue reading reviews and hope to make a decision over the next couple of weeks…

My name is Billy, and I am a geek.

Well OK, so there’s more to it than that, I’m not JUST a geek and that’s the point, that’s part of my reasoning for starting this blog.

The stereotypical geek is either very skinny, or rather plump, sits in front of their computer 16 hours a day, codes in C and Perl, plays roleplaying games and is obsessed with retro video games, eats pizza, drinks coffee and reads huge amounts of sci-fi…

…well, while some of those descriptions fit me pretty good, others are WAY off the mark.  I do spend an unhealthy amount of time sat in front of my computer(s), partly due to being a self employed web and games developer but also playing poker, I do code (but Actionscript, PHP and HTML/CSS not Perl!) and I do drink more than my fair share of coffee, and as for video games I have a dog called Atari, a gecko called Zelda and a tattoo of a space invader on my back!

That’s where the similarities end though – my other interests/past-times include running, cycling, travel, squash, motorcycles, extreme sports… not very geeky topics!

So at first glance this site will appear to be about expressing my 2 major interests – techie geekiness, computers, Internet, communications, science etc. and my love of action and adventure.

That’s not the reason for this blog though.  The reason for this blog is to help me focus, help me develop, and make me somewhat accountable to my goals and commitments.  You see, I used to strike a good action/geek balance in my life.  I would get up early in the morning and go for a long run, then head to the office to work on games or web development, then knock off early for a couple of hours kite boarding or mountain biking before staying up half the night playing video games with my mates… but times change, I got older, and life got in the way.

These days I spend far too much of my time in the office, working on building my business – too much geek and not enough action!

Well, I want that to change.  I’ve kept a list (The List) for many years of things I want to do and places I want to visit.  Whenever I hear or read about an interesting activity or place which grabs my attention I add it to the list, and when I’ve done/visited/accomplished that goal I scrub it off the list.  Problem is, these last few years I’ve been adding items to the list much faster than I’ve been ticking them off.

So my primary reason for starting this blog is to help me focus, help me train, push me forward and enable me to do more things on my list.  My hope is that some of my posts will give other people ideas and inspiration to try more activities, or visit more places themselves, but I’m afraid that the primary motivation for this blog is essentially selfish – I want more out of life, and I know that by making my goals, dreams and aspirations public there is more chance of me achieving them!

So stick around.  If you’re a geek who likes a little action, or an adventure seeker with a geeky side maybe you’ll find something here of interest.  I’m planning on posting as and when I feel the urge, on a range of topics related to my split action/geek personality.

As for The List – I’ve already picked one item to go for, and it’s a biggie!  In fact, it will take over 12 months of training and there’s no guarantee of success, but if I can pull it off I will truly be able to call myself an ACTION geek!  All I need to do now is pluck up the courage to publicly announce my plans here on the blog, and then there will be no turning back…