Training this week

I had a bit of a head cold all week, so I didn't get a whole pile of training done. I have been cycling into work every day though. It's been nice weather, dry and cold, perfect for cycling.

Today I met up with the DCU cycling club for a spin out to the Phoenix Park. There were four of us, Greg, Sean, Diarmuid and myself. I decided it would be a good day to finally try out Pauline's tri bars seeing as she left them here for me to try out almost a month and a half ago.

We went around the proposed route for the cycling intervarsities to test out what it was like. It's a nice fast 8km loop with long downhill stretches and no real killer climbs. We did 4 loops on that and then headed back to DCU. Myself and Greg decided to stop off for a coffee and we got chatting about general training for next year and the logistics of the Ironman itself.

I remembered that I got talking to a Niall from Cork about Ironmans at the Munster League a few weeks ago. He is training to become a coach and has finished a few Ironmans too. I have to mail him and see if I can get some tips from him.

Tomorrow I will be doing a river trip on the Liffey, bringing out some of the DCU canoe club. There probably won't be too much water, but we might be able to hone some of the basic skills that never really get worked on.

And before that, I am going to head over to Peter's house to help him lay some flooring. And get a beer for every hour worked :)

Technorati Tags: 70.3, cycle, Ironman, training

New job and back swimming

I started a new job on Tuesday so I missed the swim and gym session on Monday night. I was too tired to go and a bit sore after the weekend anyway.
I'm working in the National Museum as IT support. It seems like a good job, lots of work to keep us busy trying to get everything ship shape and find out where everything is.

I went for a swim last night to get back on track. I did a 500m warm up and then 5 100m bursts (whatever you call them!) on 2:15. I was bushed afterwards so I went to the sauna :)

I got home and got some food and then Louise called to say it was Marie Claire's birthday so we had to go out for a few drinks to that.

Last football match of the year tomorrow evening against Kill in Kill. I hope it goes well for us, it would be a shame to end it all on a downer.

Technorati Tags: football, swim, job

Munster League and a run

Last weekend we had the first round of the Munster Canoe Polo League. I am playing on Sandycows as Muppets didn't get entered. We had 4 matches and did quite well, winning 2 and drawing 2. After that we headed to Lahinch as some of the guys wanted to go surfing on Sunday. I decided to give it a miss as I still have a sore elbow.

I went for a run instead and did about 10km. I felt good during it, despite having been up until 4am playing Ibble Dibble with the others in the van :)

We went and got food when everyone got off the water and headed for home. I wanted to stop on the way and watch the rugby world cup semi final, so into a quiet local pub in Roscrea. Gerry and Yvonne decided to go home through Galway. We got home about midnight, tired and in need of a good sleep!

Today I am planning on going to the gym for a weight session and also into the pool for a light workout and loosening up swim.

Technorati Tags: canoe polo, run

First Fresher trip

Today is the first fresher trip of the college year. They are all being brought down to Wild Water Kayak Club to be thrown into the deep end. I am going to head down with them to help out with the rescue and overseeing of things. I won't be doing too much else as I managed to hurt my elbow again last night at the pool. It's gone all stiff again today. I was hoping to get to the pool for a light swim session today, but I think I might be better to leave that until tomorrow now.

Myself and Junior will also be bringing down cameras to capture the moment. I hope to learn a few things from him while we are there too :)

As promised

I put up some photos of the victorious U14 Shannon Gaels team on Picasa. You can see them by following this link

Technorati Tags: football

Now it's official

I entered the Ironman 70.3 today. Now I've no excuses left, it's time to get busy. Greg informs me it's only 240 days away now!

First off is nutrition, so as it's nearly lunchtime, it's time to make some food. :)

Technorati Tags: 70.3, Ironman

Gutted but happier now

The Junior championship final was yesterday. We were playing against Killeshandra, and we lost. We lost by 3 points in the end, but they were 8 points up after about 10 minutes of the second half. We fell asleep badly and were never able to recover.

So there it is for another year. We have 3 league matches left starting with Killeshandra again on Saturday night. I can only hope that they will have been celebrating all week...

After the match there were lots of discussions about what went wrong and what we can do to make things right next year, all accompanied by quite a large amount of alcoholic beverages. We got some answers but I'm not sure if we can remember everything now :)

I was back in Breffni park this evening to see the U14 team do what we weren't able to do yesterday. They beat Ballymachugh by 5 points in a really good match under floodlights. It was wet and slippy but that didn't stop either side from playing really attractive football. There was a big crowd from Blacklion there to see them, including a lot from the Junior team. I took a few photos and I'll stick them up online tomorrow.

When I was leaving Breffni, I thought the van wasn't handling the best. I was right, a quick check showed that I had a flat. So I set about trying to fix it. I have to say thanks to Brendan Corrigan who stopped and gave me a dig out, I don't think I could have gotten it changed without his help. But at least I now know how to change a tyre on the van.

Now the hard work of trying to define some goals and get a training program written out has to start.

Technorati Tags: championship, football