I have been here in Puerto Mogan, Gran Canaria for almost 5 weeks now & return home to Ireland Friday for the Christmas & New Year period to see family. I can’t wait! Apart from the weather of course - that could wait...
The past few weeks have been great, mixed, but great. This meaning that almost half of my time was spent nursing an injury while the last 3 weeks have been of more quality. I am still to get a proper diagnosis to what happened my knee. I was told it was tendon inflammation (mild tendinitis.. again!) by both a physiotherapist & a GP, but these were mere educated guesses as they didn’t or should I say couldn’t source the problem. Therefore I rested it, iced it, did exercises for it, took anti-inflammatory tablets & rubbed in the gel, the works. I did everything a man can do & everything the doc told me to do! Fortunately for me it worked! It started to feel stronger after a few days of care & before I knew it I was able to swim & get back on my bike again. It felt like it took forever to get into a “normal” routine again but I was so relieved when I did.
 |
| Morning Swim! |
Gran Canaria is a fantastic place for training, although I’ve learnt that it takes a bit of getting used to. This little story has to do with my love/hate relationship with climbing.
 |
| S, S, S, S.... |
Growing up in Ireland where it’s pretty lumpy I never had a problem with my climbing ability - I’d always consider myself a decent enough climber, though when I go to Belgium for a big period of time then come home to my normal training roads I can’t seem to climb out of bed! At least it feels that way. Then comes the big anti-climax. Here in Gran Canaria it is impossible to go in any direction & get a flat bit of road. On my first spin here after a few k’s I thought - “Oh this is hilly, maybe it will flatten out in a minute” - then 30 mins later I recall thinking - “fuck, this is getting annoying..” - climbing, climbing, climbing, climbing. My HR & speeds were all over the place at first but to my surprise that “annoyed” feeling faded. I am enjoying it now! It all depends on how your legs are feeling!
I feel I am now living life here without the full on distractions of my “normal” life - things have been brought back to basics. For example when I am racing & having constant access social media sites such as facebook and twitter. I now realise - theses websites are not important. I’d spend hours on my computer when at home just flicking through the web, almost an addiction but I never wanted to admit it. Shhh!
Sometimes I would spend hours on end just refreshing my news feed on facebook or scrolling through my twitter feed when that time could have been spent doing something a lot more productive. In saying this, I have only been here just over a month - but it seems like a long time! Very relaxing though...
Don’t get me wrong I can get internet access here, only in restaurants & cafe’s so therefore I wait until I really need to check my emails or similarly skype my family or coach. I am passing the hours by reading. Yes, reading. Before I came here its safe to say I hadn’t read a book, cover to cover, in roughly 10 years! Of course my reading is still cycling related. Tyler Hamilton’s book “The Secret Race” being the real stand out!
My mind is clear, my training is benefiting from this, almost, “loneliness”. I have no distractions. I train, do everything that I have to do in that respect, then I eat what I need to & just relax. I have the time now to think.
At times when at home & in Belgium you lose sight of what you need to do to get to where you want to be and what direction you need to go to get there. You can’t always get everything right due to the demands of life and racing your bicycle - it’s very easy to lose sight & track of things. Don’t get me wrong I still have to do all of these things while I am here, shopping, cleaning, & so on. The big difference is - I am in my own company. Something I enjoy! My mind is now set in my own mode.
I will be Gran Canaria bound again in the New Year for another month or so before my racing season in Belgium kicks off - I can’t wait!
Lastly, merry christmas and a happy new year. Thanks for reading!
Eoin
