When my buddy Paul sent me a mail and asked if I'd join him and the Swiss management team to look at their business in Zurich I had no hesitation in accepting. When he then said that we'd have part of the meeting in their office but the last 2 days in the Austrian Ski resort of Ishgle it was just icing on the cake. You see although I ski like a 60 year old blind man and I snow board like his dad, there's something about being in the mountains that is just special. So I packed my bags, excused myself from boxing training for a couple of sessions and promised Zack that I'll do some altitude training in the mountains. The plan was genius. They can ski while I run and do press ups in the thin air! It almost worked too! I impressed everyone, not least the hotel owner who had to open the doors at 6.30am, when I got up early and ran on the first morning. At this stage we were still not on the piste but in the resort and so I thought running would be a doddle. About 75 meters later I was out of puff. It was incredible. I literally ran for about 10 minutes before walking back to the hotel gym where I posed in front of the mirror for about 30 minutes more. I later found out that the resort itself was at 1500m and so there was no real shame was there?!!
That day up in the mountains I decided to snow board instead of run but after a couple of falls I thought it best to step off the board and walk / run on the second day. This proved easier said than done. I did enjoy a particularly beautiful and energetic walk down the piste after taking the lift up but when I decided to run it became clear that my body wasn't really as fit as I'd hoped. I ran for less than 30 mtrs before losing all ability to breathe. The rest of the afternoon was spent in the caf with a comforting hot chocolate nursing my battered ego.
If nothing else the break gave my body some time to rest after quite an intensive 3 weeks of training daily......that's my excuse for doing very little and I'm sticking to it!
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