Out for a run

I went out for a run yesterday. I didn't bring a watch nor did I know where I was going to go. I just went out and ran. It was a wet day but the rain held off for the most part. I ended up doing 10k in 46 minutes and saw some nice parts of the canal towpath. There were some not so nice bits too. Parts of the canal were totally overgrown as well. Good job we don't get too much hot weather as it would stink along there.

Hoping to get out more and do some longer runs. I might take Ronan's entry to the Dublin marathon too.

Championship round one - complete

Two matches down in the 2009 Junior Championship and we are into the qurter finals.

Our second match was against Maghera last Saturday evening in Breffni Park. We started slowly but were up by 1-5 to 3 points at half time. We pulled away in the second half to win by 2-15 to 0-4.



There was a strange start to the match, with both myself and Martin (the two corner backs) being left unmarked from the throw in. I even thought they had forgotten to put a full team out. In the end, Martin picked up one of the free men and I played as a sweeper in front of the full back. This meant that I was around to pick up free balls and knock downs and start attacks from the back. There was some bad blood a couple of times and Martin was elbowed twice in the mouth without the referee doing anything about it. It threatened to boil over a few times but thankfully nothing went too far.

The draw for the next round was made on the Sunday and we drew Cavan Gaels, to be played in Breffni on Saturday 29th of August.

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.