Quality not Quantity...

I told you of my main new year's resolution - staying away from the internet (at which I'm proving particularly useless but I am still working at it... 'my name is Jevon and I'm an internet addict') - but another was one I make each year and fail to follow through on with monotonous regularity.

It is this.

Every week I will go to the cinema to see a movie.

That's it... nothing special. But Jeez, is it hard to do. I didn't even manage the first week. However, I intend to make up for that soon by seeing two films in the same week and thereafter getting as close to one a week as I can so that, by the end of the year, I've seen 52 movies at the cinema.

Of course, this isn't to be confused with movies I watch in my own cinema or on TV. As you might have noticed I'm logging all the movies I see this year (if you're surprised to see certain movies logged, movies you thought I might have seen aleady, it will often be because I'm watching them for the umpteenth time) and, by means of distinguishing cinema movies from home movies, a small (c) will appear by the former.

All of which brings us to Slumdog Millionaire which Fiona and I went to see on Friday last. I was feeling particularly glum about seeing only one movie in the week ('The Kingdom' which I enjoyed far more than I'd imagined I would) but this despondency was put to bed after watching Danny Boyle's movie. It's the best British movie I've seen in years, from a truly world class British director; a high octane, emotion churning ride through another world.

I urge you to go see it at the movies rather than wait for it on dvd. (And, for those of you who have seen it and are going to accuse it of romanticising poverty - get a life... it's a fairy story.)

So, I'd only seen two movies last week but one of them is already (I know) going to be a contender for my film of the year. So it's quality not quantity that really counts, eh?

It's much like that with my training - I'm becoming ever more focussed in delivering quality in what I'm doing (although, looking at the hours in my first week back, I seem to have delivered on 'quantity' too). Coach K has me working hard on swim technique at the expense of distance and I'm already feeling more relaxed in my stroke (am managing to tumble turn too, Tom). Running is focussed on good form, especially in the light of my recent shin problem which, I'm delighted to say, seems to have abated. And what of the bike? Well, I'm doing a couple of middle distance rides per week - one with Graham when he and I can both make it and one Back2Back (with run attached directly after cycling) with the boys from Team MK. The highlight of this week was undoubtedly Saturday's back to back session. I've decided this year that I'm going to venture out of my comfort zone on the bike and am using the top cyclists at Team MK to drag me up.

Saturday saw us set of on a planned 42 mile ride to be followed by a 7 mile run. I held back for the third, fast, group to start and off we went. These guys are seriously fast and I managed 20 miles with them before dropping off and waiting for the second group to come through. I joined up with them, managed to recover and finished strong. It taught me a few things. That first twenty miles put me well into the red zone and gave me a fantastic goal to aim for (I'll never be as good as the top guys at Team MK, don't get me wrong, but if I'm going to improve I've got to factor some real pain into my training once in a while). Also, I was ludicrously over dressed with four layers and two hats for what turned out to be quite a mild morning. I was overheating from mile one and I'll be paying careful attention to what I wear on the bike from now on. Finally, my recovery took place during miles 20 to 30 which I found quite hard, but I felt fantastic from miles 30 -48 (for some reason we added on another six miles - go figure) so was pleased with that.

All in all, the week's training looked like this:


MONDAY 50 mins swim drills, 50m reps and 100m reps, 45 mins run at zone 2 of MHR
TUESDAY 50 mins swim drills, 1 hour bike in zone 2
WEDNESDAY 3 hour easy bike - 47 miles, 15 minute run off the bike
THURSDAY (day off) 30 mins very easy 1500m swim, 30 mins core and strength work in gym
FRIDAY 1 hour 1.8km endurance session swim, 45 mins zone 2 run
SATURDAY 2 hours 43 mins 48 mile bike ride, followed by back to back 5.12 mile run in 42 mins
SUNDAY 1 hour 15 mins slow run at sub 75% of MHR - 8.55 miles

overall total: 14.08 hours

Swim 6.65 km
Bike 112 miles
Run 23.75 miles

So, not a bad start to the season.

What of last week's film quote? Mark Robson correctly identified it as BRAD PITT in Terry Gilliam's fabulous but underrated TWELVE MONKEYS. From now on, each quote will have a link to the previous quote... can you get the quote and the link?

"Wanna play a game? It's a mind-reading game. Here's how it works. I read your mind. If what I say is right, you take one step towards the chair. If what I say is wrong, you take one step back... towards the doorway. If you reach the chair, you sit down. If you reach the door, you can go. Wanna play? "

Congratulations this week to a few fine folk:

To Truck in New Zealand for dipping her toe in the Ironman water by doing the run section of the relay at Challenge Wanaka. Thanks for the comment on the last post. Well done on your 3:37 mara and YOU KNOW you just wanna do the full IM, don't you :-) (And, yes... 45 mins is very fast for the swim... but I guess if he was a relay swimmer he just went for it as a 2.5 mile sprint !)

To Tom for going under 80 mins for a Half Mara. Awesome, mate. Stay in good form.

To H for completing. Sometimes that's harder than PB'ing.

To Colin and Alex for continuing to stay booze free with me over January... Well done, fellas and I look forward to a session (non training) in early February.

Catch you all later...