Congratulations to Don Ryan who finished his first Ironman in Barcelona this year. Have a read of his (Ironman Barcelona 2017) story from his brother in laws running blog! Ironman – A Year in the making! Background: I started running in 2009 with the intention of getting fit, faster and maybe completing a Marathon or two…
Celtic Warrior Weekend The Celtic Warrior Weekend took place in The Lilliput Adventure Centre over the August Bank Holiday weekend. This charity event in aid of Autism research has many endurance event training options available over the three days. It is an ideal opportunity for anyone training for Half or Full Ironman distance or anyone…
Another busy month for all at Focus on Fitness.. Paracycling Road World Cup, Emmen, Netherlands, 30th June to 2nd July The next round of the Paracyaling World cup was held in Emmen in the Netherlands with Seamus Wall competing again. The format was a TT on Friday and a road race on Saturday. The competition…
TriAthy XI – 3rd June This is one of the most popular races in the Triathlon calendar, and this year was no different. With 4 different race distances and over 2,000 people taking part the atmosphere was amazing; made even better by the good weather conditions. The big race on the day and first off…
Indoor Rowing Cork This was an interesting project and something new for some of the Focus on Fitness athletes to try out. For anyone who thinks indoor rowing is easy, give a go to rowing 2 km for time and see how intense it is! This is by far one of the hardest things you will ever…
Another busy month at Focus on Fitness! April started with.. Kilkenny Triathlon Clubs VGraph KTC Duathlon 2017 The KTC duathlon held in the fabulous grounds of Kilkenny Castle, on a beautiful day sunny day making the location even better. There was another great turn out from Focus on Fitness for this local event. I was delighted to be…
This time last year I wrote a blogpost on Food called Simply Cook. In this I described how I have spent the last number of years working with people who are trying to lose weight and athletes who want that extra ‘gain’ in their performance through their diet. What both have in common is that…
Like most people into triathlon I like reading race reports and hearing about other people’s experiences so I hope you can take something from this. It’s not often you will get this much conversation from me, so grab a seat, a coffee and enjoy my story of how I got into multi-sport events and somehow…
Cambridge Half The Cambridge Half Marathon was on March 5th and as Cambridge is the adopted home for Kate Nolan it was a local race for her. Kate’s dad Ger traveled over and made a weekend of it and also took part in the race. This is a very popular half, attracting 9,000 competitors to…
The above two pictures are the result of an incredible 2016. Not only finishing my first Iron distance race but coming 8th overall and 3rd in my age category and as a result I received that little beauty up there from triathlon Ireland. A bit about where I was at before I gave Martin Kirwan…
The Race 2017 Looking back now I am not sure why I was drawn to The Race but something about running trails in the dark, mountain running and learning to kayak appealed to me and it seemed like it would be a great challenge and huge adventure. Entry opened at the end of March 2016…
A New Year at Focus On Fitness A new year and it wasn’t long before the Focus on Fitness Athletes were back on the racing scene. One of the first races of the year and always one to blow out the cobwebs is the Naas Duathlon. This is a series of 3 races which always…
SET THAT NEW PERSONAL GOAL I had been watching this event with interest since it started in 2014, having competed in 7 Ironman races over the last 7 years this looked like the challenge to change things up a little. In 2015 I decided to give The Race a go but missed the entry! So…
As 2016 draws to a close I think it is only natural to think about and reflect on the highs and lows of the year. For me 2016 was a pretty big year and sitting here now I find it hard to believe all that I achieved. To understand why 2016 was such a big…
The Waterford AC half marathon was a sell out again this year, little surprise with such a well run event and a great atmosphere, not to mind the by now famous winter hat for all finishers! This race attracts a top quality field each year and this year was no different. Sergiu Ciobanu was the…
As a personal trainer who works with athletes over many disciplines I frequently hear non-performance excuses like “My head was just not in it”, “I was on for a PB at half way, But…”, “it wasn’t happening for me”, “We’ve never beaten them before so we won’t do it today…”. Generally there is always someone…
The October bank holiday weekend is a date saved by a lot of runners who finish off their year with the 26.2 mile tour of Dublin city. The event is in it’s 36th year and was sell out for the first time in its history; this may have been helped by the move from the traditional…
When Martin asked me to write a race report, I sighed a deep sigh, I am really not a race report type of person but, could I refuse? Ironman Barcelona? What can I say, a great race, a great location, great company, a great support crew and great results. My training for Ironman Barcelona had…
As the 2016 race season comes to an end and the winter starts to close in, it is time to reflect on how your season went, could it have been better? what is the plan for 2017? Now is the time to think about the new season. Plan that big race or series of races, identify…
If you want it……Work for it! This is the philosophy at Focus on Fitness and is one of many profound pieces of advice Martin Kirwan has passed onto me. I still remember the journey home from Blarney after winning our first Invacare Paracycling Time Trial in June 2013. This was my first race with Martin…