Championship

Our first round match against Arva was played last Saturday evening in Belturbet. The pitch could have been better but we're probably spoiled with the great facilities that we have in Páirc Gaeil na Sionainne. We've been hit by alot of injuries this year and we had a kind of makeshift team out. I was picked at midfield with Enda McHugh. The warm up went well and we were all up for the match.
There was a minutes silence for John Mc's uncle who died earlier and then the game was off. We got the first point and then I went to tackle my marker and something went wrong. One more kick out to test it and then off with my glove. Yup. My finger was definitely not looking right. The physio refused to put it back in an I wasn't able to either so off to the hospital with me.
I was there for about an hour and a half in all and got some xrays and then they numbed my finger and spent 5 minutes trying to put it back into place.
Off home after that to be told we drew the match and had Gerry sent off. We have to beat Maghera now in two weeks to get into the next round.
I'm writing this in the hospital in Drogheda where I was sent to the fracture clinic. A 9:30 appointment and I didn't get seen until 11:30. Strapped up again and told not to play football for 6 weeks! Ha, as if!

Here's a link to my xray
http://twitpic.com/bt5rv 

Football, tag rugby, a duathlon, a wedding and a birthday

We won our last league match for a while against Mountnugent. They had beaten us twice last year so it was nice to beat them for a change. I was playing at corner back and despite us leaking two goals early on, we never really felt like we would lose.

That's a different situation to the tag rugby team on Thursday nights. We finished second last in the league with only one win out of 7 matches. But then last week we managed a win against the team that beat us the week before that. So we have one last match this week.

There was also the third Phoenix Park duathlon last Wednesday. I hadn't pre registered so it meant that I was to set off in the second wave with the women and the other non pre registered guys. It was a good race for me, I was second after the first run, second to someone else after the bike and then ran away from everyone and managed to finish first in the wave, a couple of hundred metres ahead of the fastest woman. I didn't quite get my goal of under 40 minutes but I was happy with the race.

Last Saturday was Andy and Aileen's wedding in Celbridge and they got a lovely day for it all after we got out of the church. It had been raining up to the start of the ceremony but we had lovely weather for the evening. Congratulations to them both and best wishes for the future!

It was also my birthday on Saturday and I got a birthday cake at the wedding dinner. It was probably the best cake ever! A giant chocolate Rice Krispie cake with jellies in it and covered in icing! Thanks Pauline and Greg for that :)

It's back to work today, and I am shattered. I think it'll be a week of resting and recovering.

Wicklow 200 - The aftermath

Well, it's a bit of an anti climax really. I was tired today, but not sore or anything like that. I had expected to feel some tightness in my back or my legs, but no, I was alright.

It was a long day yesterday. It didn't start out too well with Greg sleeping in after his alarm went off. We got to UCD and on to the road by about 8:30 though so it didn't delay us too long. The first bit was fine, chilly but dry. We met some other groups on the road and said hi to them. I noticed that my HRM wasn't working properly and stopped to fix it, then TT'd my way back to the lads, nice to go fast, even if it was a little early.

I don't remember much of the order of how things went, but we climbed Sally Gap, Glenmalure, Slieve na Mann and Djouce over the day. The uphills were a struggle for Waggers who just didn't have it in his legs to push on the hills in any way. I found the descents the worst because I wasn't entirely comfortable on the tri bike at such speeds without knowing the roads.

Overall it took us about 8 hours of riding and 10 hours in total to get around. I reckon we could have done it about an hour and a half quicker if Waggers wasn't so weak on the hills and had actually done some training for it. The funny thing is that he was the one that talked me into doing it :)

I really enjoyed the day in a weird way, the uphills were long and hard, and the weather stayed dry all day long. The marshalls and the volunteers were brilliant and even in the wind at the top of Slieve na Mann were in great spirits. That was the longest I had ever ridden and now that I know I can do it, it's another step on the road to putting that back to back with a 3.9km swim and a marathon.

I have no other races or anything planned for the summer, I might try and get an entry into some longish race at some stage, or else do some long days on my own. But for now it'll be back to football next weekend with a challenge match on Friday evening in preparation for the Championship.

Phoenix Park Duathlon

I raced in the second Phoenix Park duathlon organised by Belpark last night. Beautiful weather, a light breeze on the final straight and a good crowd. I entered on the night as the pre entries were closed when I finally got around to trying to enter on line. I got there early, straight from work, because I wasn't sure how many people would try and enter on the night. Because of that I had plenty of time to warm up and get ready before the race.

It started off well with a mass start before stringing out onto the bike path around the 15 acres. I felt good running along and managed to pass a few people in the second half of the run. I was expecting around 12 minutes for the first run but got in in 9. Then it was on to the bike. I was a little nervous about that especially as it was straight into the Kyber pass downhill. I braked too early for the turn at the bottom but got around it alright and powered up the hill. I managed to catch some people and got some clear road for two tightish hairpins that had my heart in my mouth when I realised I had to lean more than I thought. I caught a group on the final drag of the lap and felt good. Met Peter starting his first lap when I was starting my second and within a few seconds he was blasting past me. Following him were 4 others quite close and not worrying about any draft busting marchalls. I caught them all again on the uphill but once again it seemed that their chain gang was working well and they all passed me on the drag to the end of the lap.

On the third lap, I decided to go hell for leather. Blasting down the Kyber pass and up the hill after it, I had finally dropped the chain gang. Passed some back markers on the last drag before taking my feet out of my shoes waaay too early. Got some more power back on and had a good second transition. I was right behind 2 others going into the forest and got some good encouragement from some runners that were out.

I was slowly losing ground on the 2 in front of me when I heard heavy breathing and gasping coming from behind. That kept me going and pushing and I caught up with one in front of me at around half way. On the last corner I was passed by someone and kept on his shoulder for a little bit. I tried to up the pace and pass out one more but he had a better kick and I let him be, just holding my position so that I wasn't passed in the last straight.

I finished in 40 minutes and 19 seconds beating my pre race estimate of 45 minutes. First run was around 9 minutes, just under 7 minutes per lap and 10 minutes for the last leg of the run. The race gave me more confidence on the PlanetX Stealth and it felt nice and responsive under me. I reckon with some real training I could get some nice fast times out of her.

Peter, Yvonne, Clare and Gerry all did the race as well. I think they were happy enough with it, even if Peter was empty after the bike.

Toe ripping

I've had to admit that I can't continue with my burpees. On Friday night I played polo in the pool in Cabra and in the first sprint (about 30 seconds after I got on the water) I ripped a slice of skin off my little toe. I have done this regularly enough to know that I should wear booties, but this time was the worst yet. I bandaged it up and left it to rest for the night, but the next day it was still oozing blood and hadnt scabbed over at all. Then I had a match on Saturday night. We won it by one point, we are now the self proclaimed West Cavan Quadruple Crown Champions.

I'm still hobbling around on it today, it's all cleaned up and bandaged but still very sore. I enjoyed the challenge and am glad that I managed to get through half of it. The burpees themselves aren't that difficult, but trying to fit them in around other activities every day is the hard bit. If I do it again, I'll be doing it in a quieter time and not when everything is go go go.

A busy weekend

I had to get the bus home on Friday evening after work because I am still searching for a part for the van. Got home just in time to turn around and find my football gear to go training. An hour and half of training and then back to say hi to Mum and eat some food. Saturday was spent coding and then in the evening we had a match against Kildallon. We were playing against the wind in the first half and went in at half time 3 points down due to a flukey goal just on half time.
Second half went the way of the first for the first ten minutes and then we somehow managed to start winning everything at midfield. From then on we were almost unstoppable. Only our shooting let us down but we still managed to score 17 points. Final score, Shannon Gaels 17 points, Kildallon 1-9.

The pitch was very slippy and wet on top but at least the rain held off for the match. The wind, however, didn't and played a large part in the goalkeeper's kickouts.

Today I went for a cycle on my Planet-X Stealth. Only the third time I have been out on it, I think. I went up as far as Glenfarne and back and then to the Cladagh Glen and back home. 28km in 57 minutes with a pit stop to fix up my handlebars. Got caught in a heavy rain shower and the wind wanted to be in my face in both directions, but it was enjoyable. I'll have to do another couple of rides before the Wicklow 200 in June though!

Falling down

I'm falling behind again. Just when I was getting back to near parity, I got a bad back spasm which has now kept me from completing Tuesday's and even starting yesterday's load of burpees. This has now put me back to more than 100 behind again :(

It's really disheartening, and the more days I miss now, the harder it will be to get back. I don't want to rush back to it and risk doing more damage to myself. I still have some pain and tightness in my back today. I could try and stretch it out a bit this evening when I get home from work and see will that help in any way.

To top it off, I volunteered for a tag rugby game tonight as well. I suppose that will either kill me or cure me!