Fitness Testing at SINI
April 9th, 2009 by Gavin
I woke early on wednesday morning, had some breakfast and hit the road again to the Sports Institute Northern Ireland. “Maybe if the dissidents see the new Irish Budget from yesterday they will realise they are better off where they are” was my initial banter ….. that was also the last of my attempted humour as things didnt go to plan
3 Kilos down since January, 7 magic numbers on the skinfolds, better hydrated and slightly tanned – it started out ok. But then at 193 heart rate and 21 kph I was feeling the bite . . . to compound my misery I glanced at the screen to see a Vo2 max reading of 58 ! “F&*K that cant be true Mr Voice was shouting” . . . . as the gradient went up a few minutes later I fell off, had a bit of a strop, cursed a bit and retreated to the showers.
Although I have been having some Stellenbosch withdrawl symptoms, raced the 10k 2 days earlier and have been feeling lethargic, I still expected some good scores on the SINI warrior board – but alas they didnt come. WHY ? HOW? and WHAT ARE YOU PLAYING AT GAV !? are the questions. Sometimes you have to take these things on the chin and go back to the drawing board.
A coffee and comfort muffin later and my initial race plans for the year changed. I will no longer travel to Ishigaki or Tongeyong Super World Cup. The testing isnt the main reason but is one of them. I struggled a bit with my health when I got back from South Africa (am awaiting blood test results), lost some days training etc Plus to travel to Japan not having raced yet is a gamble – not to mention the 3g’s in flights alone and a 18 hour stop in Seoul airport on my way to Tongeyong.
Sometimes you have to take a step back to move forward
One Response to “Fitness Testing at SINI”
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April 9th, 2009 at 9:33 pm
“sometimes you have to go back to go forward” – I was going to leave that as my comment to you – but great minds think alike and you beat me to it. Now all you have to do is believe it. I am sucking it up here in Tuscon at 25 degrees whilst nursing the cold. Travel, race, travel, bonk….