Hello. My name is Ian and I'm an addict. Ok, I admit it. Fitness training is addictive, and I am addicted. You'd have to know me to know how ridiculous a concept this is. I'm one of three children, two boys and a girl. My brother and I were useless when it came to sport. We couldn't kick a ball out of our way and had less interest in doing so. This was not a source of pride for my father. Over the course of his life he played every type of sport imaginable. He was a footballer, a show jumper, a handball player, a golfer. The list goes on. When my sister turned out to be a handy tennis player, there were tears in his eyes as he told her, "You're the only son I have". So you get why me admitting I'm addicted to this fitness buzz is a bit out of character. It is, but I'm delighted it has come to pass.
So what constitutes addicted? Well, I have begun to crave the endorphine rush that a good workout gives me. We spent the weekend in Dublin where drinks were drank and gorgeous food was eaten and less than adequate sleep was had. But because I had done no exercise over the weekend I was bursting to get going yesterday. Tiredness was not a consideration. So I ran out to Clonea from Tournore, did a good hard work out with Martin and ran a good distance of the way back in again. Twenty four hours later I am looking forward to going out running again tonight ahead of another work out with Martin tomorrow. That is addicted.
My kayak awaits. Peter Burke of Union Chandlery in Cork who are lending it to me until after the race rang me last night to tell me it's hear in Dungarvan and he's taking me out for a spin on Sunday. For those of you who care, it's a Necky Rip Ten Six, whatever that is. He's going to teach me how to get out of the kayak when I inevitably capsize. That is an essential skill if I want to complete the race. Apparently the kayak is all singing and all dancing so I won't be able to blame the equipment for my shortcomings come May 21st.
Last week I said I was going to tackle the last cycle of the race before this week. That's the section from just outside Cappoquin to Mellary along the uphill hairpinned boreen. The gears on my bike have been giving me trouble particularly on climbs so I had to get those sorted before attempting it. They are now fit for purpose again, so I hope to have a go at the hill this weekend, all going to plan.
Finally some credit where credit is due. Waterford County Council have had their roads division drive the route of the race to assess the state of the roads. They have already been working hard to do what they can to make the surface as race friendly as possible, in particular addressing the pot holes which are so dangerous for road bikes with their skinny wheels and giddy handling. Thanks for that. We appreciate your help. Lord knows I need whatever help I can get to run nine miles, cycle twenty five and kayak 4 miles. I'll need to get more addicted to have any hope of finishing it.
(Ian Noctor presents Noctor 'til 6 weekdays on WLRfm)
Tuesday, 29 March 2011
Hills, Mountains and Steep Inclines
The last leg of the Waterford Adventure race is a steep cycle from Cappoquin to Mount Mellary, but not by a direct route. Of course not. That would be too easy. The route is up a narrow pot-holed hair-pinned hill accessed from a turn off on the Lismore side of Cappoquin. As the family and I were coming back in from a lovely afternoon in Lismore on Sunday I thought would be a good opportunity to have a look. Know thine enemy, and all that. What I saw left me speechless. The condition of the road has to be seen to be believed. The surface hasn't been touched since the winter freezes. It couldn't be more uneven if they tried. There must be seven or eight hair pins but when they finish, the hill doesn't. It stretches on for another couple of miles. Here's the terrifying thing for me. I doubt if I could cycle up that hill at the beginning of the race, let alone at the end. I have a lot of work to do, and I intend by next week to have attempted that hill at least once. Tune in this time next week to see how I got on.
I had a great breakthrough this week to do with my running. Last night I did my longest run yet and I did it comfortably which is a good sign of progress I guess. I ran a four mile loop from Tournore to Barnawee back in the track, through Seapark down Friar's Walk around by the Church, up Strandside South and back via Crotty's Corner to Tournore. So, four miles and I ran it in just over 40 minutes. For the first time I "get" running. There were periods in the middle of the run where I was completely in the zone. My blood was pumping, my legs were pumping, my lungs were pumping. I could have run all day. It was my Forrest Gump moment and I hope to have many more. I'm happy with my 10 minute mile pace too. I have no desire to run it any faster than that. This race for me is not about time, its about finishing it.
This morning I went out of for another training session with Martin Lacey in Clonea. He is upping the intensity and I must say I am feeling stronger already. Martin knows how muscles work. He knows how to use a combination of exercise and rest to build them up. I'm promising my wife Jenny that she'll have Brad Pitt circa the Fight Club era to look forward to in 8 weeks time. She thinks I'm hilarious. I have yet to get into a kayak, but two months to go I think I can spend a bit of time concentrating on building up the muscles used to push myself along the water before I dip my kayak in the water for real. The biking is going well too. I'm doing a couple of spins a week the longest of which is between 30 and 50k depending on who I'm with and how I'm feeling.
So all in all I'm on target according to Martin. I have to put my trust in him. Without that trust all that there would be is fear, and I'm not going there yet, or hopefully at all.
Talk to you again next week.
I had a great breakthrough this week to do with my running. Last night I did my longest run yet and I did it comfortably which is a good sign of progress I guess. I ran a four mile loop from Tournore to Barnawee back in the track, through Seapark down Friar's Walk around by the Church, up Strandside South and back via Crotty's Corner to Tournore. So, four miles and I ran it in just over 40 minutes. For the first time I "get" running. There were periods in the middle of the run where I was completely in the zone. My blood was pumping, my legs were pumping, my lungs were pumping. I could have run all day. It was my Forrest Gump moment and I hope to have many more. I'm happy with my 10 minute mile pace too. I have no desire to run it any faster than that. This race for me is not about time, its about finishing it.
This morning I went out of for another training session with Martin Lacey in Clonea. He is upping the intensity and I must say I am feeling stronger already. Martin knows how muscles work. He knows how to use a combination of exercise and rest to build them up. I'm promising my wife Jenny that she'll have Brad Pitt circa the Fight Club era to look forward to in 8 weeks time. She thinks I'm hilarious. I have yet to get into a kayak, but two months to go I think I can spend a bit of time concentrating on building up the muscles used to push myself along the water before I dip my kayak in the water for real. The biking is going well too. I'm doing a couple of spins a week the longest of which is between 30 and 50k depending on who I'm with and how I'm feeling.
So all in all I'm on target according to Martin. I have to put my trust in him. Without that trust all that there would be is fear, and I'm not going there yet, or hopefully at all.
Talk to you again next week.
A Personal Trainer? Yeah, I'm So Hollywood.
It does feel a bit posh having a personal trainer, but that is what I have at the moment in the form of Martin Lacey from the Clonea Strand Hotel Leisure Centre. After railroading me into doing the race on May 21st I think the organisers of the Waterford Adventure Race quickly realised that signing me up was the least of their tasks. Getting me to the finish line of a 14km run, 42km bike ride and a 6.4km kayak down the Blackwater river without my heart exploding or my legs collapsing under me would take a bit of divine intervention. As God's diary is a bit full at the moment, help from closer to this realm is being called upon.
Towards the end of my second session with Martin I asked him if he was ex army. If you've met Martin you'll appreciate that this is not an unreasonable question. It's not that he barks orders or sings silly rhyming songs while running you up and down the sand dunes. He doesn't. But, it's just not in his nature to let you away with anything either. My 13 push ups in a minute (chest touching the floor) was met with a comment about how there was "plenty room for improvement there anyway". Any incomplete leg curls, or hip thrusts or whatever the movements on those scary looking machines are called, were repeated until done correctly. And this is exactly the sort of attitude I need, because this race ain't going to run itself and without a lot of help it is questionable as to whether I will run it either. Martin has designed a programme to improve my endurance, and build up my non existent upper body strength. Hey, there's not much physical labour in presenting a radio programme.
This weeks training consisted of a couple of five km runs around Abbeyside and out to Barnawee, back in along the New Line and home. I was with Martin twice. After the first session I hurt like a Guantanamo detainee after a particularly gruelling interrogation. After the second session I felt fine. That in itself is progress I guess. I also went out for a ride on the bike on Sunday just gone. But a combination of the heavy hand of our dinner host the previous night and an unfortunate series of punctures meant the intended 50km ended up being closer to 35km. But at least I managed to secure a kayak for the event. One of my fellow cyclists manages Union Chandlery in Cork. He has kindly offered to set me up with a kayak for a few weeks before the event and on the day itself. It's good to talk.
My personal trainer (yes, I love saying that) Martin assures me that he'll have me ready to race by May 21st. I admire the man's optimism, and who am I to disagree with him. If I did it would be another 13 press ups and I don't think these biceps are ready for another session just yet.
Towards the end of my second session with Martin I asked him if he was ex army. If you've met Martin you'll appreciate that this is not an unreasonable question. It's not that he barks orders or sings silly rhyming songs while running you up and down the sand dunes. He doesn't. But, it's just not in his nature to let you away with anything either. My 13 push ups in a minute (chest touching the floor) was met with a comment about how there was "plenty room for improvement there anyway". Any incomplete leg curls, or hip thrusts or whatever the movements on those scary looking machines are called, were repeated until done correctly. And this is exactly the sort of attitude I need, because this race ain't going to run itself and without a lot of help it is questionable as to whether I will run it either. Martin has designed a programme to improve my endurance, and build up my non existent upper body strength. Hey, there's not much physical labour in presenting a radio programme.
This weeks training consisted of a couple of five km runs around Abbeyside and out to Barnawee, back in along the New Line and home. I was with Martin twice. After the first session I hurt like a Guantanamo detainee after a particularly gruelling interrogation. After the second session I felt fine. That in itself is progress I guess. I also went out for a ride on the bike on Sunday just gone. But a combination of the heavy hand of our dinner host the previous night and an unfortunate series of punctures meant the intended 50km ended up being closer to 35km. But at least I managed to secure a kayak for the event. One of my fellow cyclists manages Union Chandlery in Cork. He has kindly offered to set me up with a kayak for a few weeks before the event and on the day itself. It's good to talk.
My personal trainer (yes, I love saying that) Martin assures me that he'll have me ready to race by May 21st. I admire the man's optimism, and who am I to disagree with him. If I did it would be another 13 press ups and I don't think these biceps are ready for another session just yet.
How to paint yourself into a corner.
Against my better judgement I've somehow been roped into taking part in the Waterford Adventure Race on May 21st. The Dungarvan and West Waterford Chamber of Commerce President Alan Ryan has a subtle if effective sales pitch. He was in on my programme (Noctor 'til 6 on WLRfm) to tell be about the race and before I knew it I'd been signed up and agreed to write a weekly training log for this paper. How smooth is he?! So what you're going to get here each week is probably a lot of whinging, culminating in hopefully me being the fittest I've ever been in my whole life by May 21st.
Entering this race is probably an early midlife crisis, but if it is, why couldn't I have chosen something more realistic, like a 10k run? The race is aimed at former GAA lads who can't take the hard tackles anymore so they're opting instead to punish themselves in different ways. I was the guy who hoovered the school while the other lads were out hammering each other on the pitch, so how I have ended up here I don't know.
The Waterford Adventure Race consists of a couple of runs totalling 14kms, 42km on the bike and a 6km paddle in a kayak down the Blackwater from Lismore to Cappoquin. The runs and bike rides are mostly up the side of mountains. But I guess for every hill you go up, there's a hill down to compensate.
I started my training last Saturday week with a run around the Abbeyside block, i.e. Tournore to the Friary, in the New Line and back out the burgery to Tournore. I've run it four times in total in the last week. It hasn't started to get any easier yet, but I'm assured it will. Also my times are more or less exactly the same for each run, averaging a very slow 10 minutes per mile.
On Sunday just gone I went for a spin with the Dungarvan Cylcling Club's slower group. We left the Square at just after 9.30am and cycled to Lismore, then the group I was with continued on to Deerpark, back into Cappoquin and back to Dungarvan. That was approx 60km in all. I was fine until the Welcome Inn on the route back in. After that my legs gave up and I struggled up every hill. I made it home ok, but if I'm going to go anywhere near the hills of the Vee on the race day I'll need to get some serious training in.
Martin Lacey of Clonea Strand Leisure Centre has kindly offered to be my fitness mentor. I'm hoping to meet up with him this week to set a proper training programme for me to include some upper body work. That kayak won't paddle itself!
Entering this race is probably an early midlife crisis, but if it is, why couldn't I have chosen something more realistic, like a 10k run? The race is aimed at former GAA lads who can't take the hard tackles anymore so they're opting instead to punish themselves in different ways. I was the guy who hoovered the school while the other lads were out hammering each other on the pitch, so how I have ended up here I don't know.
The Waterford Adventure Race consists of a couple of runs totalling 14kms, 42km on the bike and a 6km paddle in a kayak down the Blackwater from Lismore to Cappoquin. The runs and bike rides are mostly up the side of mountains. But I guess for every hill you go up, there's a hill down to compensate.
I started my training last Saturday week with a run around the Abbeyside block, i.e. Tournore to the Friary, in the New Line and back out the burgery to Tournore. I've run it four times in total in the last week. It hasn't started to get any easier yet, but I'm assured it will. Also my times are more or less exactly the same for each run, averaging a very slow 10 minutes per mile.
On Sunday just gone I went for a spin with the Dungarvan Cylcling Club's slower group. We left the Square at just after 9.30am and cycled to Lismore, then the group I was with continued on to Deerpark, back into Cappoquin and back to Dungarvan. That was approx 60km in all. I was fine until the Welcome Inn on the route back in. After that my legs gave up and I struggled up every hill. I made it home ok, but if I'm going to go anywhere near the hills of the Vee on the race day I'll need to get some serious training in.
Martin Lacey of Clonea Strand Leisure Centre has kindly offered to be my fitness mentor. I'm hoping to meet up with him this week to set a proper training programme for me to include some upper body work. That kayak won't paddle itself!
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