www.paulhession.co ‘Your girlfriend works where?’
… ‘Sligo’
… ‘Where?’
… ‘Sligo’
… ‘Oh Right. God, what brings her up those parts?’
This is a familiar conversation that has become run-of-the-mill at this stage. Sligo just doesn’t seem to be on people’s radar for some reason. As a result it is one of those rare undiscovered parts of the Irish coast that hasn’t been overrun by the tour buses and the holiday homes. But that’s not to say that there is nothing to see there…far from it.
Anyway, the second week in Portugal went well. Got some good sessions in, and worked hard as well. I’m trying hard to look at the bigger picture, which is important. The season is really long this year so I need to make sure I’m not running too fast, too early. That means the training camp was a nice mix of hard sessions and quicker running. All in all, I think we got the balance right. Two weeks is a nice length for a training camp like that one. I could go longer but the place in Portugal where we stay with the Irish squad is not self-catering. This makes it a bit harder to control diet, which gets a bit annoying long term. The only problem leaving Portugal was the obvious one – ‘bye bye 27 degrees, hello cold, wind, rain’. When I left for the training camp 3 weeks ago there was a heat wave in Ireland. It’s fair to say it didn’t last!
I had an easy week after Portugal so it was an opportunity to get back to Ireland for a few days. I spend most of my time in Sligo now when I’m home, and I’ve gotten to know the place much better over the last year or so. A few easy days of training was nice, especially after 5 weeks of uninterrupted quality training. Had a good week as ever. Can’t beat the west of Ireland for good scenery, good food and great people….although I am biased of course! Each time I get back I like to treat myself to a nice meal. To be fair there is a great concentration of great restaurants in Sligo town and the surroundings. However, I always find it hard to stay away from Coach Lane at Donaghy’s. I’m a sucker for good seafood. Throw in some great beaches and scenery and you have a great spot. It’s fair to say I have love/hate with most of the west of Ireland – hate the crap weather, love most other things!
So…when people ask me what brings my girlfriend to the northwest I usually have no problem thinking of reasons!
Anyway, one of the hot topics of the last week or so was my race schedule for the summer. As I explained earlier, it’s a long year and I wasn’t planning on opening my season till early June. However, I got a call for a lane in the Rome Diamond League this Thursday. I had a good chat with Stuart and we decided to go for it. I’m quite rusty speed-wise and haven’t done any proper work from the blocks. However, this is a good race to be in and is a tester for what kind of shape I’m in. The really important thing is for me to go into this race with the right attitude. I need to keep my expectations lower than normal, and treat it as a practice run before the season starts in earnest. A real test before I up the speed properly. This is often hard in a big race like a Diamond League but that is just a tag. I cannot wait to get back into the racing scene. It’s been so long since I last raced, especially because I missed the indoors this year due to that slight injury, so it will be nice to brush off some of that rust!
This is a familiar conversation that has become run-of-the-mill at this stage. Sligo just doesn’t seem to be on people’s radar for some reason. As a result it is one of those rare undiscovered parts of the Irish coast that hasn’t been overrun by the tour buses and the holiday homes. But that’s not to say that there is nothing to see there…far from it.
Anyway, the second week in Portugal went well. Got some good sessions in, and worked hard as well. I’m trying hard to look at the bigger picture, which is important. The season is really long this year so I need to make sure I’m not running too fast, too early. That means the training camp was a nice mix of hard sessions and quicker running. All in all, I think we got the balance right. Two weeks is a nice length for a training camp like that one. I could go longer but the place in Portugal where we stay with the Irish squad is not self-catering. This makes it a bit harder to control diet, which gets a bit annoying long term. The only problem leaving Portugal was the obvious one – ‘bye bye 27 degrees, hello cold, wind, rain’. When I left for the training camp 3 weeks ago there was a heat wave in Ireland. It’s fair to say it didn’t last!
I had an easy week after Portugal so it was an opportunity to get back to Ireland for a few days. I spend most of my time in Sligo now when I’m home, and I’ve gotten to know the place much better over the last year or so. A few easy days of training was nice, especially after 5 weeks of uninterrupted quality training. Had a good week as ever. Can’t beat the west of Ireland for good scenery, good food and great people….although I am biased of course! Each time I get back I like to treat myself to a nice meal. To be fair there is a great concentration of great restaurants in Sligo town and the surroundings. However, I always find it hard to stay away from Coach Lane at Donaghy’s. I’m a sucker for good seafood. Throw in some great beaches and scenery and you have a great spot. It’s fair to say I have love/hate with most of the west of Ireland – hate the crap weather, love most other things!
So…when people ask me what brings my girlfriend to the northwest I usually have no problem thinking of reasons!
Anyway, one of the hot topics of the last week or so was my race schedule for the summer. As I explained earlier, it’s a long year and I wasn’t planning on opening my season till early June. However, I got a call for a lane in the Rome Diamond League this Thursday. I had a good chat with Stuart and we decided to go for it. I’m quite rusty speed-wise and haven’t done any proper work from the blocks. However, this is a good race to be in and is a tester for what kind of shape I’m in. The really important thing is for me to go into this race with the right attitude. I need to keep my expectations lower than normal, and treat it as a practice run before the season starts in earnest. A real test before I up the speed properly. This is often hard in a big race like a Diamond League but that is just a tag. I cannot wait to get back into the racing scene. It’s been so long since I last raced, especially because I missed the indoors this year due to that slight injury, so it will be nice to brush off some of that rust!
