RED BUTTON

What a Pain in The Arse!

How's it going everyone. As its the last day of September I thought I would give you a bet of an update about how things are going with the training since my last post.

Well its been a bit of an up and down couple of weeks with good and bad in equal measure to be honest. As you know the focus is really on preparation for the Dublin City Marathon. I've been attempting to follow a sub 4 hour training plan which I found on the Athlone 3/4 marathon site and it was going OK, no landspeed records or anything, but I was upping the distances and increasing the pace pretty steadily. However that all came a cropper when I set off to do a 24km training run and managed only about 16km before I had to start thinking about pulling up suffering lots of pain in my lower limbs...especially the extremities ...ankles, soles and toes. That deflated me a little but there were a couple of things different about my set up for that run compared to the other long ones I'd done e.g. it was in the afternoon not early am and I hadn't eaten very well in the hours previous. So I chalked it down as a learning experience and headed off to Devon next day for a lovely, training free, family filled weekend. 

My Wonderful Family.....some of them!

I had been experiencing a few problems with pain in the back of my heel for some time and was getting concerned it might be Achilles related so I had made an appointment with a Physio, Avril Dunney, to get it all checked out and to see if she would help to keep me in one piece throughout the challenge. I have had a couple of sessions with Avril now and there are definite signs of improvement and amazingly enough she hasn't even looked at the ankle....the problem it seems is related to some severe muscle tightness in above all places the left cheek of my ass...if that's to much info my apologies! Now Avril has all the appropriate letters after her name but I am definitely adding a new one.....T....for torturer...she surely knows how to inflict pain and if she doesn't get the desired response with her thumbs...she uses her elbows...I'm just waiting for the day she starts flexing her knees!!! what she loves best is the fact that PEOPLE ALWAYS COME BACK FOR MORE!

Avril has also introduced me to some new implements so that I can carry on the torture at home when she's done with me ! My niece Katherine had been going on at me for ages about the benefits of foam rollers too so I went and got this 3 in one job in Argos....did my first proper session today and boy can it find those hotspots and work them out. Its actually a good work out just trying to use it. The Swiss Ball......what a laugh I had trying to do the stuff that yer man in the video on this page is doing in his workout...I just landed in a heap on the floor..ha ha ha....OK you had to be there! 

Truncheon Like One !...I'll Use It To Beat Beat The Nut Who Invented Foam Rollers!

So what else has been going on....

- Well I managed a 25KM + run last Saturday so that was a really big confidence boost for me especially as the pain levels were manageable and the time was OK

- I've signed up for the Turbo class with Wheelworx which I'm really excited about

- I changed the trainers again and will be trying to break them in before the big day on the 28th

-....and I've been catching up on loads of Ironman TV on Youtube....great inspiration if you have the time....going to KONA is MY NEW DREAM

I'm in a race prep week this week getting ready for the 3/4 Marathon in Athlone on the 6th of October when they say you 'Eyeball The Wall' so I'm really looking forward to that...and the pain continues!! 

The 11th of October, when my next main monthly post is due, also happens to be my Wedding Anniversary so I will be putting up a very special post indeed which you won't want to miss.

So until the 11th of October ...Take Care

RED BUTTON LAUNCH

Well as promised in my last '11th Blog' here is my new Page

The 'Red Button' 

I will be using this page to bring you additional features, stories, announcements or indeed pieces of information that you might find useful e.g. see below the little video that I have included about 'Core Workouts'. Anyone following me on Facebook or Twitter will here about anything new that's added to the RED BUTTON PAGE...so if your not yet hooked up get to it! I hope you enjoy this new page on my blog and as always I would welcome your comments

John - 25th Aug 2013

A WORTHY CAUSE

As you know it has always been my intention to take this journey in partnership with a cause for whom I would try to raise some well deserved funds. So today I'm not just launching one new page to my blog - I'm launching my Fund Raising page also.

I am delighted to let you know that the charity for whom I will attempt to raise a bit of money is LAURALYNN HOUSE have agreed to allow me to fund raise on their behalf - I feel very honored.

Being a father and now a grandfather of children who are living and hopefully will continue to live healthy lives, I can only imagine how horrific it must be to see your child fall ill and in the case of those who use LauraLynn services, have to face the inevitability that they may not recover. 

It costs € 780.00 Euro per night to provide a child and their family with one nights respite service. I have set my self the target of trying to raise enough to provide one child with one weekends respite - €1560.00.

I have set up my Fundraising page and here you will find an IDONATE link and any ongoing news about my efforts - If you can help by donating a few bob it would of course be very much appreciated. 

I will be visiting LauraLynn house on the 5th of September to find out more about their work and will tell you all about it in my next 11th Blog.
John - 25th August 2013

CORE TRAINING

Have a look at this exercise program video -  it came through to me on twitter from a guy called James Dunne at Kinetic Revolution @kineticRev http://www.kinetic-revolution.com/ I'll be trying to introduce it into my training routine - Thanks James

Good Luck with it !

John - 25th August 2013

IRONMAN REGISTRATION DID HE ??

Well Of Course I Did.........But For Which One? 

You'll have to read my next '11th'  blog (Sep) to hear about all the to's ,fro's and machinations that I went through before finally settling on one. Thanks to Ken Kearney for sending me the link on Facebook to an article that really helped me decide:   Top 25 Triathlons.......and to Mary for listening to me go on and on and on.....!!!

John - 25th Aug 2013