new beginnings - 30r20 70% HRR - energie gym

So looking at joining Energie Gym which is just round the corner from my office and basically the only realistic way i can possibly get to a erg during lunch - which is when I do the bulk of my training - went down today to test it out. Two ergs - one had a drag of 197 and broken foot strap :o( the other had a max drag of 118 :o( so I used that one and did 30r20 (ish) at 70% HRR - went OK - although I'm looking forward to me knee stop hurting - guess that's going to be a while after the running marathon Saturday .. oops. I was quite surprised that during my 30 minutes - 3 separate people came over to use the erg that was spare - although they couldn't as the foot strap was knackered - then I looked at the monitor after to check what people where doing ... seems likely they are used for warm ups of 5 minutes :o(

Sweaty ... 20r20 HRR 70%

So up again this morning - dogs walked and then out to the shed on the model B upping it to 20 minutes and try to control the HR - all went well apart from the sweat - wow - it was bad - quite humid here at the moment though 

Hello darkness my old friend - C2CTC - 10r20 HRR 70%

Well hello darkness - returning to the abyss of the erg training - where nothing but pain awaits - oh I'm looking forward to it! Not sure exactly how I am going to get the level of training done I want to but we need to make a start somewhere.

As you may be aware in May of this year our son (who was at 25 weeks gestation) was diagnosed with Edwards Syndrome which basically meant he would not survive - the likelihood was he would pass in the week or so after diagnosis (which was 13th May - a Friday) but he fought on up to July where he chose the most perfect time for the worst possible outcome (that sounds strange but the timing of him passing really couldn't have been a better time due to a lot of reasons including the holiday plans of our consultant) alongside that my work has moved location which meant access to a gym onsite (where I had my own erg) has gone, I have showers I can use - but no gym or space for my erg (so it got sold) I do have a model B in my shed though ;o) and although it's not great it's going to have to do for now - so early morning training it is - today was the start.

Ten minutes - r20 - HRR 70% and boy was the sweat flowing - no warm up just set up and went - after about three or four minutes and I saw the split start to drop I got the old HD demon make it's appearance - not today though not at the start.

East Coast Harbour Marathon - #runnin

Reasons

At the end of 2015 my wife and I were delighted to learn that we would be blessed to have a baby due on the 17th August 2016. We were aware at an early stage that the pregnancy wasn't going to be "easy" but then we found that our baby wasn't growing as much as it could be. At this point we started having move regular scans and tried to identify the reason. Friday the 13th of May we had results back that identified the baby had what's known as "Edwards Syndrome"

"The conditions are associated with severe mental handicap and several physical defects. Most affected individuals die before or soon after birth and they rarely survive beyond the first year of life."

Our beautiful angel fought on though and got to a point in time that meant the best possible timing for the worst possible outcome - we've all said that Louis Joseph looked after his mummy and he did so till the end. His little heart stopped beating and on July the 13th 2016 he was "delivered to the angels".

So in honour of his fighting spirit and memory I took on the East Cork Harbour Marathon  - the full marathon - I had a few people doubt I'd make it weighing in at over 17 stone and being 6'4" I'm not exactly built for distance running. I finished in 5 hours 7 minutes and to boot I really enjoyed the experience - having a few difficulties with calluses on my feet - especially the left - but other than that all good. I even had the pleasure of meeting two lovely ladies who guided my round Eimear and Ann - and even stopped for a coffee in Inch at about 20 miles lol.

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Corkbeg 4 mile road race (running!)

So the running continues with my first ever "race" - my first on the road and in memory of a local lad Robbie Steele.

Well I made it round without stopping and learned some valuable lessons
1) if you start the race in last place (ie last to cross the line) no one can overtake you - unless you overtook them first - so doesn't really count lol
2) if you start last it can be awkward....
3) old people and young children are faster than me
4) if your calf muscle hurts before the start it gonna throb like a mutha after
5) VERY IMPORTANT # know where the finish line is so you don't try and sprint 600m out trying to overtake the young ones... I would have had them if that extra few hundred meters hadn't appeared.
6) apparently my heart rate does go over 200.... (see photos)
7) get out there and take part - it's actually enjoyable even for an old fart like me

the start

 

the finish