The Journal #42
Stoic. HYROX. Together. HYROX.
Want to understand the Stoics? - Ryan Holiday is a great place to start.
01. BOOK REVIEW - Joe Gaunt
The Daily Stoic - Ryan Holiday
Like learning but can’t read for too long? Like to learn in small manageable chunks? Interested in Stoicism but don’t know where to start?
I have to recommend ‘The Daily Stoic’ by Ryan Holiday if you have not read this yet.
Featuring key quotes from famous Stoics such as Marcus Aurelius, Seneca and Epictetus, this book takes lots of concepts and subjects and allows you time to read and think about a subject vs getting into a long book with lots of detail or with a need to keep reading to learn more on a specific subject.
I bought this book for a friend who was in hospital having an operation recently and they loved being able to pick up anytime but still get you thinking.
Ryan Holiday then has a number of follow up books that look at elements of stoicism in more detail and specifically the stoic values/ virtues of wisdom, courage, temperance and justice.
Deep inside the pain cave.
02. HEALTH
HYROX
In issue #35 of The Journal I said that I’d let you all know how my first experience of HYROX went.
If you’re not yet acquainted with the fitness race taking over the planet head to issue #35 and find out more.
This weekend me and my wife Sara competed in our first mixed doubles race at the Manchester HYROX event.
We only had 5 weeks of specific preparation and so it was an opportunity to see where our general conditioning was and more importantly an opportunity to share a tough experience together.
1:10:52. 16th in our age group. Happy with that.
The event was one of the most organised and smooth operations I have ever seen and that really enabled everyone to focus on working at their maximum capacity whilst enjoying the experience.
I’ll talk more about why we did it in my personal piece below but here are my reflections from the race:
- It is 50% running and so this MUST form a large part of your fitness preparation and base conditioning if you want to get a good time.
- The average time for HYROX mixed doubles is 1:25:26. That is a long time to work hard. You must therefore fuel properly to ensure that you don’t fall off an energy cliff or hit the wall prior to making it to the end.
- The heavy workouts (sled push and sled pull) will feel heavier on the day of the race. We trained above the expected race weights but still found it harder than expected.
- Mixed doubles is done at men’s open weights and so it is even more challenging for female competitors.
- Have a plan going in. Both doubles partners must complete all 8 x 1km runs together but can split the workouts up however they want. Play to your strengths and have a loose strategy that you are ok disregarding when sh!t gets real.
- Enjoy it! Unless this is your chosen sport and you’re competing to medal or make the world champs doing your best and leaving feeling fulfilled (and still married) should be your main motivation.
- Doing HYROX with your top off won’t make you go faster!
If you’re looking for a new challenge to test your overall fitness in a fun, well organised event then I’d strongly recommend HYROX - a word of caution however - even harder than the race itself is getting a ticket for an event…good luck on both fronts!
Me & The Mrs - An Unbreakable Team
03. MINDSET - Mike Bates
Together
Train together, stay together.
Our mantra for a long and happy marriage.
What this really means of course is finding ways to share adversity, to overcome hard things as a partnership and to work collectively in the pursuit of joint growth and self-discovery.
To craft joint resilience.
Training hard together provides a safe and controllable environment to see both the ‘real’ you and your ‘real’ partner when things get tough.
How will you both cope? Individually and as a team?
Will you support each other or will you use blame or worse shame when things don’t go your way and it gets really, really hard?
Do you accept each others strengths and weaknesses and are you able to find ways to work together to harness both as a means of succeeding as a team?
These are all things that you will learn as you train hard and suffer alongside your partner.
Life is tough and you will both be tested.
Learning about your relationship through shared adversity and the challenges hard physical and mental training present might well be the thing that saves you both when you sink individually or collectively to the bottom (at some point this fate welcomes us all).
Picking yourself back up again and offering a hand to your partner when you both are struggling is the test of a true partnership and marriage.
Giving up, failing or refusing to work hard and a lack of personal and collective resilience and integrity are the cracks that will fracture any marriage over time.
Practicing overcoming hard things in training is practice for pulling together when life gets really tough.
Nothing good happens alone.
Train together, stay together.
04. QUOTE
“True love doesn't happen right away; it's an ever-growing process. It develops after you've gone through many ups and downs, when you've suffered together, cried together, laughed together.” – Ricardo Montalban
08. TIP
Ok, I’m in no way an expert but here are my top five personal tips taken from my first HYROX race for anyone thinking about giving it a go:
- Enter the ballot for tickets and don’t give in during the long waits. If unsuccessful in your attempt to get tickets keep an eye out on your email inbox as releases do happen for those tickets not claimed in the ballot. You have to be in it to win it!
- If you’re not a good runner, run. Up until a year ago I hadn’t run more than a few hill sprints in years due to my preparations for rowing the Atlantic. Build up a solid aerobic base and add in some interval work up to 1km for multiple sets. Also consider working with compromised running so your legs get used to the feeling.
- Fuel properly. I’m lucky to have a world-class coach on side to ensure I get this right and his advice leading into this weekend was critical in terms of my energy and glycogen stores. Don’t hit the wall.
- Work out your strengths and weaknesses. Prioritise your weaker movements in workouts during your preparation.
- Don’t forget to have fun. The best way to do this is to do HYROX as a doubles or relay and share it with others. Times are important but pushing your limits, overcoming fear and dealing with uncertainty is more. Smile and you’ll run faster….it’s a scientifically proven fact (it reduces muscle tension)!
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The Journal by NXT45
