Sunday, April 4, 2010

English Easter

easter_bunny.jpg

I am just a few days into my English residency and already I’m loving the experience. I’m currently staying in Bourne End with family friends Colin and Alison Chapman, two people whom I’ve just had the pleasure of meeting but have accepted me into their home with the utmost graciousness and hospitality nonetheless. The surrounding area here is beautiful. The Thames runs right past their town and cuts a wonderful swath through the countryside, much of which is open to the public for walking, jogging, dogs, etc. I aim to get out there tomorrow and utilize this to its fullest.

Today was a FEAST. We ate with Alison’s sister and her family around 1:30, but Colin was up early preparing pork loin, roasted potatoes, cooked leeks, carrots, onions, parsnips, broccoli, and some other vegetables I’d never heard of. There was gravy, some special English rolls, all kinds of cakes and tarts, and, of course, Cadberry eggs. This meal lasted at least 3 hours and I’m not exaggerating. It felt like Thanksgiving. I stayed away from the cakes, had only a few bits of chocolate, but crushed the rest. There’s no way I’ll be eating like this once classes start and I’m over at Oxford, but if I could, I’d be putting on good weight without question. Made me realize how little I normally eat compared to what’s possible.

Since tomorrow is a bank holiday, Colin, Alison, and I are taking advantage of the day off and heading over to Windsor Castle to see the Queen. Well, we probably won’t see the Queen but maybe we’ll see her window. I’m just excited to get out and see my first real English historical sight. Tomorrow is also my first day back training and I couldn’t feel better after this week of rest. Tons of energy and motivation to carry me through this next month.

Oh yeah. Go Butler.

5 comments:

  1. Happy Easter Blair!

    I'm curious what you did to gain muscle mass. Has it come mostly from crossfit? Or did you do some bodybuilding style workouts earlier in life? Or would you credit a lot of it to genetics?

    My buddy is just getting into crossfit wod's and is curious how his body will change. I'm curious as well, I currently am doing a 3x5 program with Olympic and the big lifts.

    Thanks for your blog too bro. I'm leading some friends in outdoor workouts inspired from yours this summer.

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  2. hey spencer, thanks for commenting. as far as muscle mass, i can't say most of it has come from crossfit. when i played football in high school and college we were doing hypertrophy programs aimed at gaining size. genetics certainly hasn't helped me get any bigger--its always been easier for me to be lean than large. despite what people say, strength and size are linked to some degree and periodizing a program to focus on one or the other will help you build a base for success in crossfit. only advice i would offer is to not reinvent the wheel with the programming in these areas. borrow strength ideas from the guys who have been doing it for decades and stand on their shoulders.

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  3. Thanks Blair. I was thinking that a hypertrophy specific program was probably done before crossfit. This correlates to other people I've met in crossfit with more muscle mass.

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  4. Happy easter - and enjoy UK!

    Thanks for linking to our blog!

    Looking forward to seeing you in Denmark soon.

    Frederik Æ and I just did the barbell complex today from Danish CrossFit Open 2010.

    Frederik: 3:43
    Sarah: 4:15

    - both faster this time :-)

    Hugs,

    Sarah

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