After my aborted walk in Inishowen on Sunday I was quite pissed off with the lack of fitness and tiredness I had felt. I got it into my head that my lack of exercise over the last couple of months was to blame and that the struggle was down to lack of leg strength. Somehow I managed to convince myself that starting a weekly kettlebell routine had been put off for too long and I got up half an hour early on Monday morning to complete this routine:
I manged the warmup, getting “warmer” than I expected and just about managed one rep of the actual routine. I’m pretty sure it’s listed as a beginner routine but it knocked me for six!
I’m sure the previous day’s hill was partly to blame but my legs were complaining all day and once the DOMS kicked in on Tuesday morning I was limping for the next few days! Humbling would be the most generous phrase I could use…..
Feeling sorry for myself all week and a busy week at work, with hassles I wasn’t in the mood to deal with, left me feeling pretty shit and mentally I had a tough few days trying to keep myself from sliding too far. By the time I got to the end of the week I was more than ready for a spin on the bike. It had been 3.5 weeks since my last spin and it had reached the stage where I was really missing it. We had a good group out on the Saturday morning and a good mix that were definitely leaning towards a leisure ride. We settled for a 40km loop to Raphoe via Liscooley which suited me perfectly as I didn’t want to shock the legs too much.
It turned out that this spin was exactly what I needed for both body and mind with a much needed reset for both!
With the evenings drawing in quickly now the Club Tuesday and Thursday evening spins are getting into that dodgy land where the light is poor and we’re finishing in the dark. I don’t like cycling in those conditions, even with lights and reflective gear, so I planned to get out solo at about 5:30pm each evening instead. Unfortunately, work intervened on both Tuesday and Thursday leaving me home after 6pm each evening. The weather has turned autumnal again very quickly too which definitely didn’t help.
As always, at this time of the year, my mind has turned towards the possibility of indoor training but I’ve tried that and I can’t seem to get into the groove. The boredom factor is usually too strong for me! I’m also toying with the idea of trying running again but I am definitely leaning more towards “rucking”. You can find out here exactly what it is but it’s basically walking with a weighted bag for strength building. I have a feeling that that might be more effective for me for hillwalking and cycling, maintaining strength during the week and also be less liable to create an injury like running has done for me before. We’ll see how that goes as the lure of the sofa is also strong at the minute!
On Saturday Catriona and myself did something very different and went to a local music festival called Oakfest. It’s been on for a number of years now but this year it was headlined by Bob Geldof and The Boomtown Rats with The Stunning on as the main backup. It’s astounding to think that the actual Bob Geldof was in Raphoe playing to a crowd of 2000 max especially having opened the previous week for Bon Jovi at Croke Park! I’m not in any way a Rats fan but the show was brilliant. At 74 he was full of energy and really engaging with the crowd. The finisher in particular was fab!
The Stunning were also excellent. I only knew a few of their songs but the rest were good enough to go along with and they finished with the excellent “Brewing Up a Storm” that is their biggest hit.
Ruaile Buaile were on stage and pretty good when we arrived but SuperCeili played in between The Stunning and The Bootown Rats and they were fantastic. Full of energy and really got the crowd going.
The whole night wrapped up at 11pm and with a willing son to collect us, less than 20min from home it wasn’t long before we were back home and in bed shortly after midnight like all good Cinderellas! My knees though….they were definitely protesting the 6 hours on my feet lepping around like a young one! They were throbbing so much I had a hard time getting off to sleep! Thankfully, they were much better the following morning…
niall harran 