A long time away

I've neglected this here blog for a while, so it's about time I put down what I have been doing recently.

Football.
We were knocked out of the championship by Cavan Gaels who were then beaten in the semi finals by Butlersbridge who went on to win it. We played Butlersbridge a week after the championship final and to my disappointment/embarassment and lots of other emotions I was sent off with a straight red card for lashing out and kicknig someone after getting rid of the ball. We were a point down at the time and ended up losing the match badly in the end. On the plus side, we are still in with a shout of getting to the semi final playoffs of the league. We have one match left this weekend against Ballymachugh and the winner of that match gets fourth place.

Training.
I've started doing some long runs to prepare me for the Dublin City Marathon on October 26th. Last night I ran home from work. A 20km run in 1 hour and 27 minutes. I felt pretty good after it, but I think I need to do it a few more times before Monday week. I ran in from Ballyfermot this morning too to loosen out my legs after last night. 5km in 21 minutes. I thought I was going faster, but the stopwatch doesn't lie.
I entered an off road marathon in Gower in Wales too. Pauline talked me into it and then told me she was doing the half! Greg and Waggers have entered the half as well and I hear tell that Ronan has entered the 10K race. Should be a good weekend even if the race will probably take the best part of 5 hours.
I've also done some paddling recently. For the last two weeks I have been on the canal in Ashtown for one evening and I was in the pool last Wednesday as well. It's nice to be able to go out still and pass the ball around outside before it gets too cold. Munster League is starting this weekend but I can't make it as I have a wedding to go to in Waterford.

Life in general.
I moved into a new house with Louise. Just the two of us. It's different from living with other people, a lot quieter and a bit easier on us too as we don't have to rush around and try to orgnise meeting up. I suppose it's about time we did it and we're both enjoying it!
Work has been pretty mental lately with a lot of external problems that were out of our control. We still had to co-ordinate all the vendors and consultants to fix things though. Fingers crossed, it seems to be okay at the moment.

That's a quick overview of the last few weeks. I'll be updating here with info on how my long runs are going for the next few weeks and up to the Gower marathon in December. Stay tuned folks!

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.

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!

Gah, I don't like being sick

I've had a cold since last Wednesday or so and I am finally shaking off the last of it, or coughing it up and spitting it out at least. I decided to run in to work this morning because I left my bike over at Louise's house and I need to pick it up later. I felt slow and tired through the whole run but still managed to make it in in 50 minutes.

I am on day 27 of the burpee challenge now, I forgot about them yesterday and because of that I did yesterday's this morning before I left on the run. I'll do the others later on when I get home.

I played a match on Saturday afternoon against Killygarry. I was playing at corner back again, the third time I've played there in a row. I think that's the longest run I have had in one position for about 2 years. We won in the end but made harder work of it than we should have. We played against a gale force wind in the first half and were up at half time. Then in the second half we just didn't build as much as we should have.

We have now played 7 matches in the league and won 4 of them. It's going pretty well and we have a weekend off next week. Because of this I'm heding to Charleroi to watch Louise play and to play division 2 with Kamikaze. It should be a good weekend, I hope the weather is as good as it has been the last few times I was there.

A win

We beat Templeport at the weekend, though we let it get a little close after letting in a goal in the last couple of minutes again. We won the match by 1 point, 2-8 to 1-10.

Now we have a couple of weeks off from matches, I'm going to be using the time to play in the Munster League next Saturday and to do the Connemarathon on the 22nd.

The league starts again

And boy did we have a bad day!



We were playing against Munterconnaght at home and were doing alright in the first half until we let in three sucker goals. That left us 3-3 to 0-6 down at half time, not too bad, only 6 points in it. I had started at half back, but was moved to wing back after the guy I was marking scored a goal. Then the wing forward I was on scored the third one. I wasn't with the pace of the game at all. I felt lousy.
The second half was a complete transformation. I was moved to corner back and the team as a whole started to play. We levelled eventually and then went 2 points up coming near the end. Then another sloppy goal. That put them one point up and we weren't able to claw it back.



It was a frustrating and annoying afternoon. Some good play and some bad misses but it all comes down to once again letting in goals. We had a few good chances to score goals ourselves and even hit the cross bar near the end.

Next week we are away to Templeport, let's hope for a better result

Hard football training and a cycle

Football training is in full swing now, we had two more sessions over the weekend. I'm using these as interval and speed sessions as we are doing lots of running to get everyone fitter. We spent 20 minutes running in circles on Friday night on the track around the pitch. I really enjoyed it, but I don't think that was the general concensus from everyone :)

On Saturday I went for a cycle into Enniskillen to see the new boat quay place that is being built by the Round O. It looks like it's the perfect size to fit in polo pitches and with walkways on both sides to let the referee walk along. Now all we need to do is to get the Fermanagh District Council and Waterways Ireland to let us use it for a competition. There is loads of parking, and even a coffee shop as well. Perfect.

The cycle took me around an hour and a half for 46km in nice cold and dry conditions, not much wind to speak of either.

Later on that evening, I had the second training session, this time in Loughan House. Yes, the prison! Training on the astroturf pitch is different to grass and it tends to burn more if you try to slide on it! More running after some short passing games and it was all over. Everyone was glad to get out of the heavy rain and the cold.

I took yesterday off as a rest day and today I plan to get back into the pool for a session.

Football has started again

Like the subject says, training for the new football season started last weekend. We had 2 sessions, one on Friday night and one on Saturday evening. Nothing too strenuous, I thought, but then again I have more of a base to work off than most of the others. I only really have to work on my football specific skills. Oh, and maybe some speed work! :)

I came back up to Dublin on Saturday night to go to the Punchestown Duathlon on Sunday but when I got to Dublin it had been snowing and the forecast was for more snow, some ice and 100km/h gusts. Not ideal racing conditions so I decided not to go out. In the end the race was turned into a 3 lap running race, so I'm glad I didn't go.

I have also been back in the pool in the last couple of weeks, just some light sessions with an emphasis on technique and long slow distance. I think I'll keep at this for another couple of weeks and then start bringing in some more pace.

We've been in the middle of a strange non-Irish cold snap recently with snow, ice and cold winds every day. I'm looking forward to getting out in it tomorrow for a run.

Long time, lots happened

The last time I updated this I was struggling with blisters and finding it hard to walk. So what did I do? I went and completed a 22 mile hike on the Saturday afterwards! It was the Togher Padraig which is a pilgrimmage from Ballintubber Abbey to Croagh Patrick. It was a great day, the weather held off for most of it and we made it all the way to the top. My feet were in good condition after it but I was quite tired.

The week after we played the Quarter Final of the Championship against Mountnugent. We were beaten by 5 points in the end, but we were never really in the match. It was a huge disappointment as we thought we had put in enough work to get through that stage. It had been six weeks since our first match in the championship but that's no excuse really. I was playing wing back and thought I did alright. My man didn't score as far as I can remember and I set up a few scoring moves during the match.

Since then, I've been at the physio getting acupuncture on my shins. After 5 sessions the swelling has finally gone down enough that i am looking at sets of insoles to try out. I've been doing loads of stretching to try and get my calves and feet loosened out. That seems to be the problem, my legs are too tight. I have to remember to stretch at every opportunity and eventually they will start to loosen out. That will be hard to do, I have tended in the past to stretch, start to see some improvement and then stop, thinking I had done enough. Now is the time to go farther than that and keep the stretching going.

I've also been doing some running, light training runs with Louise, Junior, Waggers and Grainne. I am going to go out and do a long run on Saturday in Achill. Louise is doing the run part of a triathlon over there. I'm going to take some photos and then head off for a nice long slow run.

Looking forward to heading to Amsterdam next month, my aim is probably quite ambitious with a 3 hour marathon. But if you don't make goals, you can't beat them :)

Insoles are great for most things

I got me some insoles last week to try out over the weekend to see if they would alleviate some of the pain I've been having in my legs recently. (Don't you just love it when people self diagnose themselves on the interwebs) The ones I got were supposed to help with flat feet. Now I don't think I suffer from flat feet, but the internet never lies!

I had two matches over the weekend and managed to get through both of them with next to no shin pain. The only problem was that the arch support was a little too high. So now I have blisters under the arches on my feet. Nice open ones now after the second match. I'm some idiot!

Ah well, not much I can do about it now. I have some exercises that I am trying out that everyone seems to recommend for shin splints. Walking on my heels and then standing with my toes on a step and lifting myself up.

So in conclusion, insoles good, blisters on the arch of your foot, bad. If anyone knows of any way to heal blisters quickly, or stop them from happening again, please do leave me a comment.

Oh, and one final thing. The championship quarter final is in two weekends time.

Injured, bah!

I hate being injured. I've been trying to ignore the pain in my legs for the last few weeks, but it's finally gotten the best of me. After resting last week, and then testing it out over the weekend, I have decided that I need to go and see the physio. I have what I think are shin splints, so it might just be a case of resting and icing and resting some more :(

First ever triathlon win

Heh heh heh.

There was a very very short triathlon in Glenfarne on Saturday. Glenfarne is a small village down the road from Blacklion, and they were having a festival. So some people decided to organise a triathlon for it. It consisted of a a 2km cycle, 200m swim and 2.5km run, in that order.

The cycle started off with all 6 of us (yes only 6) on the start line. I got caught in some traffic, and had to wait for a few hundred metres until one guy tired out. Then I shot past Pauline and caught up closer to Greg. No more fun on the cycle until it was time to get out of the shoes. I saw Greg unshod himself and followed suit, it was a little hairy, I think the forks on my bike are loose!

Then the swim, nice out and back. I passed Greg shortly after the turn and just managed to stay in front of Pauline. On with the shoes and bam! I was away. Nice run course through the forest and up some hills. Then back down them and around to the finish. Finished in a total of 25:43.

Pauline came in second with Greg in third, coincidentally also the order of our entry numbers.

I had training then in the evening, but was a little bit tired and full of food, so it was quite hard.

Went into Enniskillen to watch some of the polo tournament and then back home before heading to Bawnboy to play a tournament match against Templeport. We were beaten by a point in the end. My legs were starting to seize up at the end after being moved from midfield to full back. I'll have to find some ice for the rest of the week and probably give the physio a ring on Monday.

Championship 2008

Shannon Gaels got off to a winning start in the championship last Saturday with a 2-14 to 07 win over Maghera. I was playing in midfield for most of the match before I was taken off "to rest me". At least I hope that's why I was taken off!

I felt really good throughout, did a good bit of covering off, but maybe wasn't totally at the races when my man had the ball.

A challenge match on Thursday evening is the next thing on the way.

Football training

Back to the grind of training :)

Last weekend I had two training sessions on the pitch. The first on Saturday was pretty intense. Lots of sprinting and hard ballwork. Then a couple of games at the end. One posession game and another with full rules, though only 9 a side.

Sunday was a bit more relaxed and skill based. Still plenty of running but not as much sprinting as Saturday.

Today I hope to head off to Three Rock and do some mountain biking with Waggers and Pauline. It looks like it'll be a wet one, the torrential rain we were promised has just started.

Post Race

In the days following the race, I was like a zombie. I had to force myself to eat as I was too tired to enjoy it. I was constantly drinking to replenish myself too. Then when we got back to Dublin, we had a tag rugby match to play! It went well, we won pretty easily, with the three new Ironmen doing enough to learn the rules and get some trys.

It took until about Saturday before I felt that I was recovered enough to go and do anything extra. I had a match on Sunday, just a challenge match so not too important. I made the mistake of not getting enough sleep on the Saturday night and that meant that I was dead again come Sunday evening.

Last night I was back in the gym, time to start bulking up now that the big race is over. I have 7 weeks to work on upper body strength before the first round of the championship. More tag rugby this evening and then there is an aquathlon tomorrow evening on Bull island.

Only a few days left now

It's time to take it easy. Ish. I'm not a good one at taking it easy. On Thursday last, I went for an outdoor swim in Malahide with Waggers and with Louise as our lookout in her newly repaired boat.

Friday was drinks out with work and then drive home on Saturday to play a league match. We were beaten by two points by Templeport in a lousy match :(

The B team were beaten today by Cornafean and after that I went on back to Dublin. Just back a short while now and going to head off for a swim shortly. It'll be Gráinne's first proper time in the open water. Luckily Malahide isn't too deep at all.

Good swimming

A good week of swimming. A session on Tuesday and then a better one on Thursday. Feeling good in the water in the run up to Wimslow. I'll have to try and get a session in a 25m pool tomorrow before next weekend, just to get the distance sorted in my head.

I'm still waiting for my tri bars from Syntace, they sent them out a couple of weeks ago, but UPS seem to have lost it. I've started a trace, but I'll have to try and source a new pair for next weekend.

Oh, and another good win on Friday night against Butlersbridge in the League. We won 0-8 to 0-5.

Poor week of training

Last week I moved house. Because of that, I didn't get much training in. I only really managed to cycle to work. I had planned to swim a few days, but what with things being moved around and having to tidy up the old house, it didn't happen.

Yesterday we had another match, we played Arva in Belcoo. The weather was horrible. It had changed from warm and sunny to cold and windy. We played with the wind in the first half and were up by a couple of goals at half time. In the second half, the wind seemed to drop and we managed to keep our noses in front. In the end we won handsomely enough by about 9 points or so.

I spent today painting my room, got two coats onto it, but the wallpaper is still showing through. Some more painting tomorrow, I think.