Meyrick Jones Racing: Training and a quick Seattle getaway

"wise guys" quote:

It is not the critic who counts, not the man who points out how the strong man stumbled, or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs and comes short again and again, who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, and spends himself in a worthy cause; who at best, knows the triumph of high achievement; and who, at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat.

- Theodore Roosevelt, speech titled "Citizen in a Republic" delivered at the Sorbonne, Paris, April 23, 1910

Everything you need is already inside.

- Bill Bowerman, co-founder of Nike, legendary coach, and father of the running movement.

Thursday, October 2, 2008

Training and a quick Seattle getaway

It has been a hectic few days - Sacha and I (and Viggo) decided to get out of town for a night in Seattle. Mattias and Aia stayed with Sacha's parents which allowed us to sneak away.

These getaways are very hard to fit in nowadays with the kids' schedules, our schedules etc.... but we knew it was important since October and November are looking pretty bleak as far as time together goes.

I am basically planning to bury myself with training in October and especially in November in preparation for the Nor-Am races. This will mean time away from Sacha and the kids up at Silver Star (where the snow falls early). It is critical to get a lot of time on snow or else I will have a hard time at those races... but the time on snow comes at a cost. SO this is the time to make as many deposits in the family account as possible.

I still managed to get in a couple of decent workouts down in Seattle....

I rocked the elliptical machine at the hotel for an hour - going all out during my intervals and concentrating on working the arms HARD to simulate x-c racing. People must have thought I was somewhat insane as they flipped through their US magazines while walking on the treadmill. I'm not sure much sweat has been created in the gym at the Hotel Andra but I fixed that by spraying sweat in a 6ft radius around the machine while watching the financial world implode on the TV.

Today I hit the pool for a quick 3km workout - took it pretty easy as I have fitness testing tonight.

400 w-u
10 x 100 free (15 seconds rest)
10 x 25 free sprints
6 x 50 IM (Fly, Back / Back, Breast / Breast, Free) x2
12 x 50 drills
400 w-d

Tonight's Cross Country Fitness Test looks like this:

- Beep Test (20m shuttle sprints accelerating with timed beeps until failure)
- Timed Sit-Ups (as many as possible keeping to the cadence until failure)
- Timed Push-Ups (as many as possible keeping to the cadence until failure)
- Timed Burpees (as many as possible keeping to the cadence until failure)

I enjoy testing... with the exception of the burpees which I tend to suck at compared to the other events.

I'll let you know how I did tomorrow.

This is the Hotel Andra - we thought it was great. Right in the centre of town, small, cool and not too expensive. Here are the contact details if you feel like getting away: