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.
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