60k Cycle, 5 Mile Run.

There are the Maam Turk Mountains - a sight to behold as I cycled out to Peacocks of Maam Cross.

I'm a little weary today, but it's a good kind of weary - that of a man who is beginning to string some serious training together at last!  I had Monday off, so that morning I hopped up on my bike for a 60km cycle from my home in An Cheathrú Rua out the Seanamhach Road to Maam Cross and back.  I'm in high training now for my big cycle in a little over three weeks time, so I really need to start pushing the mileage.  A word about the cycle:  for anyone who has followed my blog progress this past year you may remember that nearly exactly one year ago I decided I would cycle across Ireland in three days to raise a little money for an organisation called the Jack and Jill Foundation (a group which helps parents of severly ill children in their struggle to cope with medicine and care).  I basically did about three weeks of bike training (never having cycled before), threw a rucksack on my back and went off on my merry way.  I was joined for some bits of the way by others but mostly did it on my own.  This year I'll repeat the task, except for one small difference - I'll be joined from the off by 30 other participants!  And we're all collecting money for the Jack and Jill Foundation under the name Rose's Cycle .

Back to Monday:  it was a wet and windy day but somehow it was grand on the Seanamhach Road.  In fact I really put the foot on the gas on the way out and must have averaged around 27k per hour - which is fast for me!  I got to Peacocks, the mid way point, in a little over one hour and stopped for a chocolate!  The wind was slightly more against me on the way back but I maintained a good pace until about the 50k mark, at which point I faded slightly, but I'm happy enough with the effort overall.

Yesterday I got out for a 5 mile run.  The legs were pretty tired after my cycle and so I really couldn't get any kind of pace going, but I gently trotted up and down the village to cover the distance.  I don't know if I should rest today or get out for a short cycle... we'll see!