fitness update 3

So after the excitement that was the Great Limerick Run, it was time to recover and start working towards my next race - the Mungret/St Paul's 10k which is coming up this Sunday. Probably a bit nuts to try another 10k so soon but make hay while the sun shines.

So the next few days were spent recovering from Sunday's run. A bit of walking and some light stretching before heading back to circuits on Wednesday. I must say I found this week's session touch. In particular anything that involved jumping seemed like a real struggle.

This week's Mystery Friday session was.... circuits again! This was due to a school's basketball tournamenet and the national gymnastics championships. Must say I felt much more comfortable on Friday than I did on Wednesday.

I was hoping to get out onto the hills on Sunday but an orange weather warning. Monday was an other running session. This time we were covering 5k from the arena to the kilmurry roundabout up to the vistacon roundabout and back down via the Plassey park road. After doing the last run in 45minutes, I set 40 mins as my goal for the night and managed to get around in exactly that time.

Another circuit session tomorrow and a mystery session (not circuits) on Friday before the race on Sunday. I'm setting a goal of between 75 and 79 minutes to do the route. Might be a bit much to ask so soon after the GLR

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I should probably thank my sister Katie who has been a great source of encouragement and support in my bid to become fitter. Katie and I have been swapping streching techniques and discussing tips for improving our running in the lead up to the GLR. On the day of the race, I joined Katie on the starting point but she took off flying ahead and finished in an amazing time of 01.00.01. Since then the two of us have been discussing other races we could do.

Another friend who I must thank is Daan from the Netherlands. Daan is a nutrition coach and has kindly offered to give me some coaching on my nutrition. This is one aspect of my life that has always been negelected so I think its time I work on it. I had a very productive skype chat with Daan last Thursday and we discussed my standard diet and how we can improve it. It'll be interesting to see what I can achieve with Daan's help. (Might do a special blog post on this)

Great Limerick Run

So this year I took part in the Great Limerick Run for the first time. I was blown away by the sheer scale of the event. The buzz around the city was incredible.

As I've been concentrating on my general fitness instead of just running and my endurance isn't the best, I wasn't expected anything spectacular out of the day. My aims were to do better than the Plassey 10k (87 mins) and run for as much of it as I could.

I finished in 1 hour and 20 mins which is equal to my PB (Human Race 2013) and 7 minutes faster than the Plassey 10k. The big difference from the Human Race is that I was feeling fantastic both during and after. I was much more comfortable running and my calves didn't hurt anywhere near as much as previous races. I was feeling so good was actually able to go out around the town later that evening - something i've never managed to do before this.

The banter along the route was fantastic. Everyone was cheering each other on. The crowds along the route were amazing - especially the marathon runners from earlier and the kids with the arms outstretched for high fives.

Before the race my sister and I took part in a workout session led by Ireland's Mr Motivator Richie Clifford. As being the only male participant near the front I was dragged up near the stage as an example by Richie. Later on, during the race, I met three women who "remembered my arse from" earlier. These women were great craic on the final two miles and really helped me to keep going - even if they had me in stitches.

Today was a real boost for my confidence on so many levels and I can't begin to describe how ecstatic I felt as I crossed the finish line. Its amazing how much an impact a day like yesterday can have on you. For now, the attention turns to the Mungret/St Paul's 10k (May 18th) and the Irish Runner 5mile (June 28th). In the distance, loom October's Human Race and next year's GLR.

Well done to everyone who took part no matter how quick or slow you did it - you did it. You are all legends each and everyone of you. Well done to the organisers and volunteers on running a fantastic event (its no mean feat organising an event with 12,000 participants and countless number of spectators and shutting down a city for an entire day).

BarryGetsFit - update 2

So I've achieved a lot since my last post. After six weeks of track attack on a Wednesday I'm really starting to get the hang out it. I'm more comfortable doing the stations and I'm increasing my reps each week.

I started the Limerick Sports Partnership's Summer Fitness Challenge. This is an 8 week programme (lead by Derek who runs the Track Attack sessions) that runs 3 nights a week out of the UL Arena. We started with a fitness test that included a BMI test, a grip test, sit ups and a mile run. All our scores we're recorded and we'll compare them to our scores in 8 weeks time. Turns out i'm even unfitter than I thought I was but now I was a score to beat. And I will beat it!

The challenge is quiet varried. On Monday's we take part in the Camus Run. Last week we had to walk and/or run 5km from the door of the Arena up to vistacon and back. I've always found running tough but persevered and managed to run most of it.

On Wednesdays we'll be doing the Track Attack session. Having been doing it for a few weeks, I took two beginners around with me. It was interesting to watch the perspective of a beginner and it made me think how far I've come in the past seven weeks.

Fridays are the only session that changes. Each Friday we're going to try a different activity that the Arena offers such as Step Arobics, TRX, Kettlebells, Boxercise. Due to the GLR Expo being set up we were restricted to the track on the first night so we did the alternative Track Attack course (normally run on Tuesdays and Thursdays). This meant we got to try a number of different stations or variations of the stations I'm used to. For this session, I was paired with Andrew who is a lot fitter than I am but that pushed me to keep going even when I felt like given up.

So that's 4 sessions out of around 26 done. I'll post more as I go on. So that leads onto yesterday - the Great Limerick Run, but I think that deserves a post of it's own

BarryGetsFit - 2014 update

So the #BarryGetsFit campaign of 2013 started and stopped and started and stopped.... well you get the picture. So March 2014 rolled around and my fitness was edging towards a new low. I had stopped running and was walking a hell of a lot less. Add to that, I was putting on a good bit of weight, I was exhausted a lot and I was stressed out to the max.

I decided if i was going to do something I needed routine so I decided to go for a group class in the UL Arena. If I had a scheduled session to go to, I reckoned I'd be less likely to skip it. So the following week I packed my sports gear and headed off for my first attempted at track attack.

Track Attack is a form of circuit training. After two laps of the track and some exercises, you have to complete 16 stations on the circuit (eg burpees, spinning, hurdles, press ups etc) for 20 seconds. Following a break you have to do a circuit of 20 stations for 40 seconds and then a final 16 stations for 20 seconds.

I won't lie - its not easy. Some of the activities really take it out of you. Also its impossible to do the hurdles without looking like a twat. But some of the activities are fun and there's good banter with the other people there. While you're body may be cursing you during the workout, afterwords you feel great - both physically and mentally.

After five weeks, the results are incredible. I feel stronger, more alert and my mood has definately improved. The different activities are becoming easier to do (while still challenging).

I've also started running again. At the start of April I attempted the Jacinta O'Brien Plassey 10k run around UL. I found this tough and got nowhere near my target for the day. This failure of sorts has been a motivator to do better. In May I have the Great Limerick Run 6mile and in June I'll be heading up to Dublin to a 5 mile in the Phoenix Park. I've a training plan in place

Overall things are looking up. I've a lot of work to do to get to where I need to be (both physically and mentall). Watch this space

here's to 2013.... a great bunch of months

So on the morning of January 1st 2013, I climbed out of my igloo and said "this is going to be a good year". I can't say everything has gone to plan. In fact quiet a bit has gone wrong this year. But looking back I think there are more UPs than DOWNs. And that's the way life goes. You have to take the good with the bad and no matter what still come out smiling because that's the only way you'll make it to the next year.

This year I've lost some friends and family and gained some more. Some people have drifted away and others have drifted closer. I've had successes and defeats, happiness and sadness. But each and every moment in 2013 has made me the man I am on December 31st 2013. I have much clearer idea of where I am and where I'm going (but still with a good bit of room for surprises).

So here I am, counting down the hours, minutes and seconds until 2014 knowing that 2014 will be a good year, just like 2013 was before it. So as I look back on 2013 all I have to say is "Thank You". Thank you to everyone who made 2013 the year it was. If you're still with us, I look forward to our worlds colliding in 2014 and to those who have passed on I can only hope you have found peace from suffering. All I ask of my friends is to stay in touch with each other. In a world where everyone is connected, it can easy to get isolated.

I'll finish with a nice quote by Neil Gaiman:

'May your coming year be filled with magic and dreams and good madness. I hope you read some fine books and kiss someone who thinks you're wonderful, and don't forget to make some art -- write or draw or build or sing or live as only you can. And I hope, somewhere in the next year, you surprise yourself.'

Confessions of a jobbridge intern

So last year I finished college and off I went off into the world looking for work. I applied for job after job after job. In the rare cases where the company bothered to give me feedback, I was told that I was lacking experience (the viscious cycle of working to get experience and need experience to get work). After a few months on the dole, I decided to start looking at Jobbridge - the much critized National Internship programme.

Why you might ask? Well for one I needed the experience and I wasn't going to get it while I was on the dole. Secondly I was bored sitting at home doing the odd bit of freelance work and emailing off CVs. An internship would get me out of the house, build up my experience and give me a small bit more money in my back pocket. And if something better came along in  the meantime, I could easily take up that offer.

I've finished my internship with Avvio at the end of last month and I must say it was a very positive experience. I got to work on some interesting projects that helped me develop my skills (both development and design wise), I got back in a daily routine and I got to work with some amazing people who accepted me as part of the team. They didn't look down on me for "just being an intern". At the same time, they gave me the guidance I needed to improve myself, I got to sit with coworkers in other departments to get a broader view of how the company works. They respected the fact that I didn't get paid that much (e.g. I wasn't expected to pay for things like Sports & Social nights-out) and I was given a bit flexibility in regards my work hours.

At the end of my nine months, I was offered a contract which I accepted. Before the offer I was asked if I would be disappointed if I wasn't kept on. I replied that while I would miss my coworkers, I had gained a lot from the placement and that I was in a better position to find work than I was back in January so I could be happy about that.

I'll admit, the scheme isn't perfect. In fact there are a lot of problems that need to be fixed but from my point of view it worked. I got the experience and a lot of the knowledge that was holding me back from getting work. I can now apply for jobs and feel a lot more confident about my application. 

The Poker Project [coder dojo]

I recently set the older kids in CoderDojo limerick a project to work on. I picked the poker project I did in first year of college because it covers a lot of the concepts of programming. I'd noticed a lot of the kids were coding without really understanding what they were doing so I decided to stear clear of OO for the time being and concentrate on the basics such as loops, conditions and arrays.

The challenge is create a one player, text based poker game that does the follow:

• Create a deck of 52 cards
• Deal a hand of 5 cards
• Sort and display the hand in a user friendly manner
• Allow the player to make a bet and then compare the hand to traditional poker hands (royal flush, straight flush, two pair etc) to see if the user has a good hand

Originally we were working in C++ but I told the kids they could work in what ever language they wanted. I've now got kids working in C++, java, php, javascript and phython. Mentoring simultaneously in 5 languages is an... interesting challenge to say the least

I've broken the tasks down into blocks to be covered during the weekly dojo sessions but we're moving at the pace of the group. The aim is to get the kids thinking of how to solve the problems rather than just tell them what to type. Every Tuesday I'm going to put up a review of the concepts covered and then on Friday I'm going to post the code I've put together. To get access to the code, the kids must email in their work. 

When the above steps are complete, each kid will be challenge to modify the code in a way of their choosing. Suggestions so far include adding additional (computer) players, a GUI or using ardunio to add hardware element. 

After that's complete we're going to move on to tackle Object Oriented Programming and all that goes with it.