gaelforce west 4th attempt!!

centre back

phew last soccer training out of the way with out any injury! needed the blow out, just 5k left tomorrow and should be sorted!!

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have done this every month since i started this log for gaelforce and my own reference as i come back from knee op;

bike; 285.26k's / 177.25miles
run; 71k's / 44.11 miles

as can be seen really put an effort into my cycling in the last month, and am hoping the early running will stick with me and that i haven't neglected it too much, think i have done as much as i could with trying to balance fitness with avoiding injury, and have learned that if your'e body says rest, then your'e better of listening to it! fingers crossed will be crossing the finish line in around the 11 o' clock mark which will mean i hit my target of 4.5 hours!!

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no run, had to collect bike from shop after its service so went for a short cycle afterwards;
time; 25mins
distance; 13k

just waiting for last details about race number and stuff and we are ready to go!!

KoemansCC

Best of luck centreback, you'll be enjoying a steak and a pint when I'll be approaching the reek...

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KoemansCC wrote: »

Best of luck centreback, you'll be enjoying a steak and a pint when I'll be approaching the reek...

cheers pal, same to you! don't be surprised if you pass me out!!

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well got the gear packed, bike strapped in just need to collect the better half tomorrow and we are off!! no.210 lets hope i can finish higher than that!!:)

nerraw1111

Best of luck centre back, have a good one.

centre back

nerraw1111 wrote: »

Best of luck centre back, have a good one.

cheers nerraw, and everyone who's log i have been borrowing helpful tips from, some might say stole:)!! never know, might bump into each other over a pint sat night!!

LaHaine

Thats it, im man enough to admit it. I'm sh*tting myself with nerves!!

Best of luck man. Enjoyed following your log. You're on for a great time, no doubt about it.

snailsong

Good luck, thanks for the log, keep her lit.

former

centre back wrote: »

well got the gear packed, bike strapped in just need to collect the better half tomorrow and we are off!! no.210 lets hope i can finish higher than that!!:)

You've put in the work training so your in great shape for the race. Best of luck!!

hardCopy

Centre Back, Koeman, LaHaine and any other boardies, best of luck to you all!

I think I'm more excited than nervous at the moment, will see how long that lasts!

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got here, phew!! got out of delphi at 2.50, avoided all the que's, first cycle isn't as bad as i taught, but that descent after the big hill is fairly scary!! alarm set now for 4 am start, good to luck to everyone 1, and hope i helped a few a long the way!!

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alarm goes off at 4am! try and be quiet as my two friends are in the 5.30 wave and didn't want to wake them, ha they were waiting for me in the kitchen!
got on the 5 o'clock bus and off we went!

at the start and my plan was to get out early to avoid the que's up the first narrow path and the famine trail, was 3rd/4th at the corner where you run past the next wave and all i could hear was my friends roaring at me, great feeling rubbing shoulders wit the elites for a little bit, padraic marry past me going up the big hill, and peter x just as we turned off for the famine trail, that fella is so graceful on the boggie bits, he's like a swan:)! fought the temptation to push on when i was being passed as it was very slippy and didn't want my race to end there by fecking the knee again! now for the amusing part! bout marker no 3 on the run my stomach started to crumble, and started to cramp a small bit, couldn't understand this did the same eating as always before a race, it got so bad i had to dash in behind the abandoned house at marker 4 to relieve the pressure:D, between the upset tummy and my little time out cost me 3 mins but afterwards i was perfect! got to the kayaks at 1:06:05
into the kayak with first person i met and paddled across in 8:17
found the new route for the second run way easier than last year and a good choice by gaelforce to change it! at the bike finish 18:22
now the bike, never look forward to cycling as i'm very poor at it, but for the last month have tried to work at improving it, got off to a bad start speedo wasn't working, a marshal came over to me and said to cop on and just race, he was right, but i wasted a min or so trying to fix it! cycled away and a guy came up behind me and drafted me all the way up to the big hill, i don't mind drafting but he never once took a turn in the front and stayed up my ass till the hill then he took off fresh as a daisy up the hill while i was panting and cursing!:mad: made it to cp in 1:23:41, 10 mins of last year's time!
went straight up cp, and met farrell coming down the mountain bout half ways, closely followed by bruce duncan! got to the top in 34:30
descent in 17:04
last cycle was great , i new i was in for a good time so took no chances with the bike and ran with it for every dodgy part of the skelp as i was not getting a puncture now!! last leg was 32:42
for an overall time of...............4:20:41............... chuffed does not describe how good it felt, 25mins faster than last year and felt like a proper racer!! people at the finsh line were brilliant and hearing your'e name being called out over the tannoy is fantastic! big thanks to the physio's after the race fantastic service by them! they were there all day and very helpful!
my 2 mates came in at 5.16, 40 mins quicker than last year so everyone had a great night celabrating afterwards!!

KoemansCC

Excellent time CB, a top 50 finish is savage...you made the cut-off time for Croagh Patrick by a whisker

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KoemansCC wrote: »

Excellent time CB, a top 50 finish is savage...you made the cut-off time for Croagh Patrick by a whisker

cheers koeman, have to say all us boardies did very well!! cheers to your'e self lahaine nerraw111 and every 1 else for the constant pushing during those training sessions!!

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weds 28th sept!

went for my first run since gaelforce!! over a month since that sunny day in mayo i dusted off the runners, and set off for an 11k! thing is i have been training and playing soccer since, and have been happy just doing that. got a call on tues to run the cork - cobh 15mile race this sunday so said i'd better try a practice run to see if i was able! went with 1 of the lads who also did gaelforce and has been training since and did the fermoy triathlon last month so he would be a good guide as to where i'm at! anyway ran it in 50 mins at a comfy pace could of gone faster but said i'd keep some in the tank for sunday!

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ya did the race today with the buddy, 2hr's 6 mins! think thats 8.5 min miles! very slow, stayed with my mate the whole race who was sticking to his garmin pacing, and have to say its a great tool! he felt himself going a bit quick and slowed down with the help of the garmin, i was trying to coax him to go quicker but in fairness for the last 4 miles he was feeling it and was right to pace it the way he did. Felt myself that i could of knocked 15-20 mins off, but since i had no training done for this race prob best that i treated it like a long slow run!! great run race with excellent goodie bag at the end

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right, so have started a new routine -p90x, its a mix of workouts for 90 days including plyometrics and weight training! hope to use this to build my core and improve racing times next year! my plan is to try and compete in as many adventure/multi-sport races next year that i can! with gaelforce being the main aim and would love to get under 4 hours next year, that means losing 20 mins from last years time, but if i can stay injury free + actually race more races like war and some of the other great races out their it should hopefully get me the results i want, i hope its a realistic target!
anyway started the p90x on fri and have 3 weeks of this phase to follow before the first rest week! am not looking for any silly, unrealistic results just hope it can help me in my quest to get fitter and faster!

here is the first phase of 3 week training which is supposed to be followed;

day1; chest,back + ab-ripper x ( which is a killer and shows i have a terrible core)
day2; plyometrics
day3; shoulders&arms + ab-ripper x
day4; yoga
day5;legs, back+ ab-ripper x
day6; kempo (don't know what to make of this yet)
day7;rest or stretching!

so on day 4 today and in a bit of discomfort, by god i have little weedy muscles !:D

KathleenMcCabe

Fair play to you. The P90x is a tough programme. The KempoX routine is a great cardio workout. The AbRipperX maybe short but it is tough. Keep up the good work.
Friends of mine who did the P90X enjoyed their results but however, they moved onto the insanity programme (comments that i've heard on insanity workout are that it's great but the warmup routine isn't adaquate).

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have not posted here since the 17th of october, and i'm showing all the signs of it. in the last post i was just starting p90x programme and managed to stay with it for 2 weeks, but couldn't keep it up with training for soccer twice a week then the match at wknds, and now on top of that got i roped into help manage one of the younger teams as well with a friend of mine. so soccer alone consists of tues 7-9 training for myself, thurs is 5.45-7 training the young lads then 7.15-8.30 training again myself, with matches for both at the wknds. i know thats not a whole lot to some of the gang on hear but through spending time with the girlfriend and socialising(awful lot of socialising) i just couldn't keep up with it. i also have to admit that p90x is a way harder than i first imagined, i was in bits after the first couple of days! i plan to start the new year a fresh though and i should have more time on my hands as my beautiful girlfriend has gone traveling for 4 months, so that will give me alot of extra spare time to a)rest/relax after a hard session, b) to be able to be flexible with morning/afternoon sessions! so my plan is to start up p90x again on the first of january, but this time i am going to go about it more structured. instead of trying do do it in the sitting room i have moved a spare telly out to the garage and will do my workouts there, because 1, more space to jump around like a mad hatter for the plyo workouts!. 2, to seperate nice warm sitting room from the actual hard work of working out! will still play my soccer but have the days worked out so that i'm doing p90x hard sessions on the off days of soccer, really hope i can keep this up now and to help me along the way have bet all my friends that i can stay of the booze for january. though my secret goal is to go the whole 90 days away from it to get the most from the training!! well thats it really.., oh apart from the current weight situation as well, not as big as last x-mass 14 odd stone, but still a rather hefty 12st 12! so am hoping the lack of boozing will have a good effect on that also!!

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well first bit of excercise done, coopers 12 min run! use the soccer pitch for this and though its not exact i have it roughly mapped out at 335mtrs a lap.
best is 9 3/4 laps=3266.25 mtrs in 12 mins
todays effort was 8.5laps=2847-5mtrs

so i have left myself go a bit but its a start

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didnt start p90x today as its a sunday, and have it so my easy days of p90x are the days my matches are usually played, for that to happen must start on a monday! so instead did a 5k run, took 20min 25 sec, not a great time but aim to push on from here and get close to 18mins as that used to be the standard i was at! happy new year everyone!!:D

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first day down of the programme and got out for a very slow run as well., 6.6miles in 54 mins! bank holidays are great!!

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tues 3rd!!
day2 of p90x and feeling good. then 5.4 miles in the curragh woods with one of the buddies, then a friendly match with the seniors vs 2nd team, played 70mins and felt great!

thursday 5th!!
well another day of p90 done early this morning, not back to work till next monday so got out to do a bit of a run aswell. went to the curragh woods in midleton again and ran for 1 and 1/2 hours, and thanks to the new garmin my buddy got for x-mass we are able to see that we completed 8.5 miles. we should of got 1 of those things ages ago! i know 90mins for 8.5 miles doesn't seem great but its extremely hilly and a great workout! as today is thursday i had to go train the u-19's then my own senior training afterwards but all in all things are working out very well!!:D

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have kept up with the p90x, but missed a day on sun as i was very sore after my match, so took sunday off and restarted again on monday! no more running since thurs, will prob do some tomorrow. the programme is really kicking my ass at the moment, it seems to be getting harder if anything!!

centre back

just wondering if anyone knew how to change the thread name, have searched my imagination and came up with a great new name.... 4th gaelforce west attempt!!

hardCopy

centre back wrote: »

just wondering if anyone knew how to change the thread name, have searched my imagination and came up with a great new name.... 4th gaelforce west attempt!!

I think you need to PM a mod.

Great name by the way!

centre back

plyometrics today,boody hell i can barely get up off the couch.very tough but can see now that if i keep up with this programme it will help me in the long run with my main goal of under 4 hours for gaelforce..weight is down 3lbs as well since i started and have a bit to go yet! big thanks raycun for the name change, if only i came up with something more out there

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another day done with shoulders and arms.plus ab ripper x. that was 1st thing this morning and then had soccer training, thank god for yoga tomorrow as i'm fit to drop!!