It's been a while...

I know, I know, it's been far too long, but hey, moving country is a bit demanding, alright! Alright.

On the bright side, I'm close to getting paid, and hence to getting my bike :) Also, I have found a club within about 5km of here. If for some reason I don't join that, I'll just have to choose one of the other hundred odd clubs around Munich...

Stay tuned for updates on training plans. I've been given some guidelines, which are excellent. I'll throw up my take on it, along with my plans when I get them sorted (read, when I actually get a bike and join a club :P). There will be some long posts in the near future.

I have started back with the running, but let's not talk about that for the moment. Suffice to say that I have a good 2 kg of tummy to lose before any real work will get done :-/ Christmas is so yummy, yet so punishing...

Irrational Proposals

Looks like I might have to hold off on that jacket review...

I won't go into it in detail, but essentially, an ISSF committee are considering banning all composite materials from shooting clothing, among other pointless things, such as removing the padded bits on shooting pants and also the shooting boots.

Why? Well, that's a very good question. I'll get back to you on that one...

New Years Resolutions

It appears to be around the time of year to declare those New Years resolutions that everybody will try, and subsequently fail, to complete. Me, I'm gonna make them nice and broad and simple.

First, buy a road bike. This one has been on the list for over six months at this stage and it's about time that I followed through on it. No more of this, "I need to save money" crap. I have a paying job, there are no excuses! I have a pretty good idea of what I'm gonna get; the Planet-X Ultegra build, possibly in white, though there will be much washing of it... It seems to be the best value bike around at the moment, and there have been many excellent testimonials for it on Boards.ie, so who am I to contradict them!

Second, develop training plans for shooting. All three disciplines. Sort out my current level, decide on matches to go to, that I'll have a good three to four months minimum to train for a qualification, and plan it. Sort out a range in Germany, most likely buy a rifle or two, and train.

Third, try to up the fitness. The long term goal is an IRONMAN, so we'll have to see how some shorter term stuff goes. It's not something that I'll be focussing on at all; just there in the back of my mind. Fitness for target shooting is more important.

I'm looking forwards to this year. It's going to be a tough year: in my personal life, due to moving to Germany for nine months; in my academic career, as it's starting off; and also in my sporting life as this is going to be a sort of springboard from which everything is going to stem. It will be challenging, but also exciting. There are a lot of opportunities coming up right now, and I intend to make the most of them. I'll let you know how it goes :)

(Not) Running On Thin Ice

Well, there go the Christmas plans, along with the feeling in my hands, after scraping a half-inch thick layer of ice from the driveway :(

Today was my last chance to get out for a run over Christmas. It just didn't happen with the ice, getting out of the estate would possibly have been the end of me, or, at the very least, a bone or two. For reference, the reflection and glare in the pic is just from the ice; no lens glare came into that one, it was taken as seen.

Also, because I couldn't get out yesterday with the same ice, I missed the Aldi bargains on merino base layers, meaning I'll have to fork out more monies for them at some point. Damn weather.

I also learned today that the UCC student gym was ruined in the floods, which pushes the city running plans back a while. I'll eventually run out of excuses I'm sure...

No Training :(

You know about my good intentions for running at home? You know how I got some Winter gear lately? Yeah... I didn't quite get enough...

So yes, I need to HTFU, but I really don't want to damage my knees, and I really don't want cold shock again. I'll start after Christmas...

Mental Training

I've discovered how useful a tool mental training can be over the past while. Since the rifles have been handed back, and, in at least one case, redistributed, this is the only way I can get anything done. I mean, I don't want to get rusty before Germany, like.

I haven't yet set aside any specific times or plans for it, but that's owing a lot to the whole moving thing. However, at various points during the day it just strikes me that I'm not balanced correctly, that my leg muscles are tensing to keep me upright. This can happen anywhere: standing around the house; at a bus stop; and so on. I have even started to notice it while walking. Changing my centre of gravity to be over between my feet relaxes my back totally, something I wasn't even aware of tensing before.

The relaxing is a very simple thing too; I close my eyes and feel whether I'm pulling myself in one direction or another. In most cases I'm falling forwards, and in almost all these cases it's because my head isn't sitting upright; it's tilted forwards, or slumped down. Simply righting my head makes a lot of difference. This all starts to feed into my mental training again. Some balance work, which is then followed by shifting into a standing position, followed by relaxation.

The second part of this is the shot routine. I have usually done this on a bus or train. Closing my eyes while I sit there I try to imagine myself in the situation, mostly in UCDRC as it's where I do most competitions. I run through the entire shot routine from charging to checking the shot, paying particular attention to the final sight picture and shot release and making sure I'm relaxed all over. The next step is to do this standing up and see how it goes.

I'll move on a little more with doing this for prone and kneeling as well. I mean, I have to keep myself in shape. Speaking of which, I've brought my running kit all the way from Dublin to Cork and now to Roscommon, so I've never had a better incentive to do some than now. I've also got some new kit coming in the post this week, which will leave me with no excuse, funny looks be damned :D

Moving

Who the hell needs cycling or running to keep fit? I've just discovered my new sport and calling in life; extreme moving.

Extreme moving involves taking the life and possessions of two grown people and packing it all into as many lift-able bags, boxes, and whatever else will pass for a container, as possible. Believe me, it is a sight to behold.

See, we made the mistake of thinking that we were there to stay. Which meant that we moved everything that was of any importance or use into our little flat in Dublin. It was lovely: cosy and secure; contained all of what we needed for comfort. However, this became problematic. You never really realise how much stuff you have until it comes time to pack it all up and move to the other end of the country.

I mean, it's not like we had all that much around the place; some clothes, a pile of books (hey, who doesn't!!), little bits and pieces, bags. Lots of bags actually, they are so nice and useful :D. However, it all adds up at the end of the day. I should have taken a pic of the whole thing, before and after, but I was in no form for it at the time. I'll see what I can do once it arrives in Cork.

So, after the stress of the packing thing came the extreme part of extreme packing; carrying it down the stairs and out the door to a waiting van. This was one of the toughest moves I've done, it took ages and involved more speedy stair climbs than I've done in my life to date, some of them with things that weighed in at a good proportion of what I do...

But it's now all done. All gone. Life moved. I have my kit bag and peli cases left in DURC, I'll grab them at a later date; the bag when I'm going to Germany, the peli when I need it. Oh, and in case I dropped in the Germany thing too subtly, you guessed it, I have to do it all over again then :( This time it'll be a different kind of moving, much more...selective. One bag. Including shooting jacket and other kit. That will be fun though :D

EDIT------------

A pic of most of our stuff...