An Cosantóir

34 CHOOSE YOUR SUFFERING "Either way, whatever you choose, it's going to hurt. I have often suffered more during 10km races than I have suffered during Marathons, simply because my heart wasn't in it" Those were the words of Capt Gearoid O'Briain, after his latest undertaking, which was a 50km race with a 4000 meter ascent, on the 15th of August in the Derryveagh mountains in Donegal, or more commonly known as the Seven Sisters skyline. Gearoid is no stranger to suffering, having already paddled to Scotland in a kayak, he also entered the Guinness book of records for the fastest marathon ever completed with a 20lb pack. Gearoid joined the Cadets in 2006. Through the rigorous nature of Cadet training, he started to develop an interest in endurance training, both the physical and mental aspect of it. Before this his background was mostly in athletics and rugby. When I asked him what inspired him to take on his latest challenge, he replied, "I always try to pick something that scares me a little, something I think might be just beyond my limit". On training for this event, Gearoid said he trusted his own instinct. "Having just had a newborn baby I had to opt for high intensity and low frequency training. I would train twice a week. For one session, I would find a hill and run up and down it as hard as I could for a couple of hours, and then for the second session I would go out and run 40 or 50 Kilometers over 4-5 hours". On the biggest challenges he faced in preparing for this event he answered "it was figuring out how much gear to carry and trying out different foods at different stages to find out what worked best for me. Pacing was also a big challenge as there are times the hills are so steep you have to walk and also learning when to stop to eat and drink and being aware to not leave it too long" he said. I asked Gearoid what the biggest difference was between road running and mountain running and he replied "The biggest differences are the small things you wouldn't think of, such as stopping to sterilise water, as you obviously can't carry all the water that you will take into your system over the course of 9 hours. Also, in a 10km road race you have a fairly good idea of the terrain you face and how you should feel at each different stage of it, as opposed to the unpredictability of a mountain, with the terrain and weather changes at different altitudes". Gearoid placed 17th out of 200 entrants and completed the race in 9 hours. When I asked him about his next endeavour, he said he has nothing definite planned, but grinned, and said, "Who knows? Maybe a paddle to Wales." Gearoid is pictured here during the 7 Sisters Mountain Marathon Gearoid at the summit of Mt Toubkal, highest in Atlas Mountain range, north Africa Gearoid is poses for a phot not long after a rriving in Scotland having kayaked from Belfast Gearoid departing from Sligo Airport in a Pilatus PC - 9M By Cpl Martin Bennett Photos by Capt Gearoid O'Briain Following this interview Gearoid announced a plan to row across the Atlantic in 2022. Follow it on instagram @row. hard.or.go.home

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