Heart Don't fail me now

Dory Dory wrote: »

Enjoy your first race of the season. Can't wait to read your post-mortem!!!

A bank holiday over here so more than likely the usual drunken rambling race report

Abhainn wrote: »

I might play the violin for you. Thankfully they were bushes and not God forbid tree branches:D

They were high bushes and a lot of them so the arms were hanging off of me by the end of it with that heavy strimmer

pgibbo wrote: »

BTW, I'll take that 2 piece off you if you don't want it

I was thinking if hawking it on to someone that has a more deserving physique alright, will give it one more try closer to swinford. Back down to Salads for me again, was down to 78 but climbed up to 80 again after barbecue and beers weather

A long ramble of a race report

Arch Nemesis Watch

The Rabbit
The Man with the Van
The gym Bunny
Hillman

Mrs C: "Ok so we will see you at 3 in the reception as I was getting my good luck kiss from Mrs C and Pudsey."
Catweazle: "No I will be finished at 3, should be over to Westport not long after 4."

This didnt go down well at all and I made it worse with a slightly hesitant comment about as long as I dont get a puncture. So the "suggestion" was made to me that I should "consider" trying to change entry to the Sprint as it would "suit" our timescales much better (censored version)

On the way up to Louisburgh, I had mixed feelings about doing a sprint, I havent done any real speedwork and I was dreading the pain about to come my way. 20 minutes later with AC/DC pumping from the car, I was rearing to go. I knew the field would be weak and most of the better guys will be doing the Olympic, the target was set - at worst top ten but ideally a top 5 finish.

I finally got around to popping into Marrey Bikes on the way to get a C02 pump and some cartridges, The Pussywagon has no pump holder and I have been poxed lucky that I have beeen heading off on long rides all year without a pump. So CO2 purchased and as per usual Eamon throws in something with the purchase some type of salt sachets and a gel.

Major mistake of the day - running slightly late I decide I wont bother going to Tescos to buy the Tonic water with Quinnan to stop the cramps and will try this stuff instead. Got up to Louisburgh, even though I lived in Mayo for 10+ years I was only ever there once on the lash so I was enjoying the scenery and the beach where the race was on was magnificent. My first thoughts was that swim looks way long, my 2nd was that good luck to me seeing those crappy little marker bouys they were tiny.

Pulled up in the car park and was surprised that their was a bit of a wind that I hadnt noticed earlier and was heading down to the transition area very proudly with the bike in full view. Saw Mayoroadrunner who immediately nailed my already nervous misgivings about the deep section wheels with a comment wishing me luck with those wheels in this wind. Shag him I thought, his are almost as deep and I am twice the weight of him :rolleyes:

Managed to change to the sprint race easily and was delighted as at that stage I was prepared mentally for the pain, had a quick chat to Tom O Dowd about Ironman Lanzarote who loved it but mentioned his downfall was being too ambitious on the run and then packed up the bike. At this stage I met the gym bunny from my old gym in Mayo, I had drafted off her in the Humbert last year and was shocked coming out of the water when I realaized it was her as I didnt know she could swim, I then met "The man with the van" who runs deliveries beside our office, I knew he did adventure races but he was starting some Triathlon races this year - he was fascinated with the Pussywagon and grilled me with questions as he was thinking of going down that route himself. Finally I spotted "The Rabbit", she knows Mrs C and I hadnt raced against her since Tri 3 a few years back which she won I think. A super swimmer so that was my targets set out, I don't really race to time goals as such, I thinks it a bit pointless in Triathlons but I do target my fellow entrants. So the plan was I knew the Gyum bunny was swimming well as I was impressed with her time in a previous pool race earlier in the year, so beat her out of the water would ensure a good swim and then the bike and run would be based on trying to reel in the big lead that the rabbit would have over me from the swim. I really set my marker down by going over and introducing myself to "The Rabbit" just before the swim start - a bonus being she is a good looking girl to boot.

So off we went to the start, I was delighted to hear it was a waist deep start as I hadnt managed to dip the feet beforehand and I didnt like the beach start that the Galway Cope race does. I lined myself just above the midpackers and then decided to hell with this swimming is usually my best position I am going out front with the fish - so I lined up just behind the rabbit and Stephen Donnelly the eventual winner. Off we went and I was swimming well, not much chop which suits me and clear water ahead, I picked it up a little and got a decent draft for a while, I hadnt a clue where we were going, the blue markers for the Olympic were slighlty bigger and I knew the Yellow ones were to the left of them but I tended to just follow the people. I could see ahead and hoped they knew where they were going. I got a guy in front of me who was very quick but stopped to breaststoke every 30 seconds or so (probably trying to sight) which got frustrating so I left him as it was a bit balls out to catch him and then bang into his feet every minute or so.

Turned around the second marker and now heading for home - this felt like I was swimming for ages but I was swimming well, I didnt miss one stroke right through the course and there was a bit of a pick up from me on the way in. Eventually hit shallow waters and in a foolish homage to ITU San Diego I tried a few diving jumps to gain time - this caused a ripper of a cramp in my right calve and I was hobbling into the water, not the first time this has happened got this in Kilkee last year as well so its something I need to look at. I got a shock then, it was a great swim comment from the guy from the guy running up the beach beside me, who I realised was the AR racer "The man with the van", now this set off alarm bells, what was he doing here beside me, did I just have a terrible swim, was I too casual, I didnt think he would be would be with me out of the water? My fears eased a little when I got into transition, "The Gym Bunnys" bike was racked still beside mine and there was hardly anyone around, the course must have been long. My immediate reaction to this was good, that will suit my strengths but then I thought my chase to the Rabbit was going to be a lot longer than I expected

The next cramp came inevitably when I tried to get my wetsuit off and I lost a few seconds here trying to stretch it, no improvement so I said to hell and hopefully it wont effect the bike. The bike course wasnt bad I was expecting worse roads but I have ridden poorer, rolling but it was uneventful enough, my first reaction when I got to the turn around was that I was out of the water in the front ranks and I had yet to be passed out while I passed a few, I was now in 8th position, the first two were miles ahead and then "The Rabbit", a couple more from Liquid Motion and a few more heads. Coming behind me I saw two guys on TT bikes that were motoring so I knew I would be seeing them at some stage. I flew the out section, there was a tailwind down on the bars and thats when I am at my best, coming back was the headwind and the drags were killing me. AHR was high 150's - low 160's all the way.

Got passed by the two TT bikes, the first guy blew me away but the second guy I was starting to hold, coming into the final strectch I started to push as he was coming back, I stood to hit put the power down taking a sharp bend just coming near transition and I got reefed with cramps on both legs. I was in bother now and couldnt shake them, tried a few streches and just 100m before transition I got repassed by two I went by on the outward stretch.

On my way in I notice "The Rabbit" was out of transition already, I thought I would have been closer by this stage and "the Man with the Van" was rolling out as well, I had forgotten about him, he must have killed me on the bike. I tried to get on the right Zoot without bending down but had to give in and use the hands and was rewarded with a massive cramp again.

Finally got going and I was fuming, my minimum top 10 was now in trouble, what was I thinking of not taking the tonic water for the cramps. I dont wear the Garmin for the sprint races and it might have saved me here, the start of the 5k is a long straight and I shot out after them at a pace I couldnt hold.

Went by the first guy straight away so I was back in 10th place and was gradually wheeling in the two ahead of me. I turned the corner and a big hill was their to welcome me, I absolutely blew a gasket here, normally I like hills but with the mild winter I havent gone up knockma once this year, 10th place repassed me here and while I was still gaining on the other two I finally saw "The rabbit" in the distance. I was trying to hold him but he was killing me on the hill but as soon as we got up it I started to gain ground and then repassed him again, he couldnt seem to run downhill at all. This run course was a complete bollox, up and down hills all the way and I was trading places with "The Hillman" all the way, nice guy we were encouraging each other as we could see we were reeling in 7th, 8th and 9th.

Passed 9th place, this was "The man with the van" I was relieved to get by him as I didnt want him beating me, went into 8th shortly after. A long downhill to the drinks station and halfway which gave me a good lead over "The Hillman" and I had "The rabbit" in my sights now. I lingered a little just before I overtook (nice view), I think she subconsciously may have relaxed a little at this stage as she must have realised she was a country mile ahead of the next girl and I went by.

At this stage I think I eased off mentally a little, only 2k to go and 5th was out of reach. After another minute or two I heard someone come alongside moving well and I let him have a few metres, there was a guy flying towards the turnaround and I had assumed it was him, I was surprised to see it was the Hillman and I tried to respond, AHR is in the high 170's now and the demons have come calling. I kept him to a respectable distance and he shouted to me come on hes broken, I hadn't realized it but we were coming up hard on 5th place. The last k was all about me trying to convince myself to have a go at him, I left it too late, I eventually coaxed an effort out of myself and started to come up on his inside but he responded well and that was the end of me, 5th just got in ahead of us.

So 7th place, as per usual I am never happy, 5th was just a second or two ahead, if I avoided the cramps I would have had them but no doubt they would have had some sob stories as well, you will never have the perfect race.

So after congratulating the Hillman he mentioned he is doing Kilkee next so there's target number 1, and looking at the entry list for "The humbert" I see "The man with the Van" signed up as soon as he got home that night and I will be surprised if he doesn't have a big fat TT bike with him on the day as he is well able to push the pedals

Swim I was happy with until I saw my swim ranking compared to my other rankings 15th out of 79 and 17.12, I am not sure about whether it was a distance or swim error or more probably a combination of both, allegedly the lead swimmers all went out wrong and went towards a canoeist wearing a yellow high viz was I was following them, fastest swim was 14.10 from a guy who swam 9.16 750m pool triathlon, and "The rabbit" was over 15 minutes so being only two minutes behind her I will take. I am still a little bit one paced in a way I always seem to have plenty in the tank coming out of the water

Bike was a pleasant surprise 11th overall and not my worst split - it as always needs improvement but I think its better then last year, sub 2.50 in My Humbert hopes will be a big ask though based on this. I did 34.27 for the bike, it wasn't 20k they mentioned at the briefing either 18.7 or 18.9 I think

Run wasn't great in my opinion, there was blue smoke coming out my arse on those hills - some trips to Knockma will be needed before Kilkee this year. I am convinced I should be breaking 21 minutes on the runs these days. So just looking at results now and 21.30 and I then see my run was 5th fastest overall and my best split - it must have been a hard course for everyone

No chip timed transition times so I now realise the 17.12 and 34.27 is including transitions as well, I should have worn the garmin!

As regards the race I would do it again, nice tough course, my only gripe was the marker bouys. Organisers should use common sense, most of Swinfords Tri club was competing why couldnt they have been asked to bring their oversized bouys with them for the day

Sunday: Nothing

Monday: Monday was a planned long run but a text from gibbo for a cycle on a nice morning was too much to resist. So 73k with much of it at a nice leisurely pace with plenty of gossiping and then a short section of bulging eyes, screaming legs and looking daggers at Gibbos backside for the obligatory steady section (his steady is my balls out). Clung onto his wheel for as long as I could but let a car get in my way at the lights at Threadneedle and that was that - he was gone! Enjoyable spin all the same

Tuesday: Mrs C pulled rank in the morning and headed off to the gym, I didnt mind, I was wrecked after some late night tv and was considering dropping the session anyways but I knew this would give me the green light to go in the evening instead so it worked out well for me.

Lunchtime I went for a Z2 10k run, wasnt looking forward to this as it started to rain heavily, the earphones were driving me nuts as they kept falling out and was going to cut it back, decided after 5k I was running well - low 4.40 pace so decided to stay at it. I have pressed something in my polar that was giving me a different display so was clueless to heart rate but it felt comfortably hard. I picked it up to put myself into Z3 for the last 2k and finished it overall in 4.37 pace. Felt very strong AHR = 155

Evening Swim: A tough session tomorrow so 2k worth of drills

Wednesday AM: One of my worst swims in a long time, felt my arms were very tired straight away and struggled. Main set was 2 x 396 off 7.45 and 6 x 216 off 4. Got through the 396's in about 7.30 pace but I knew I was going to struggle on the 216's. Held the first two and then started to drift out, took a long break after the 4th rep and decided not to bin it but just get through it and struggled in just on time for the last two.

Cant decide did the evening swim the night before or the plank I did before bed effect it - ah it was probably just a bad day :rolleyes:

Wednesday Lunch: Short brick session - I am getting better with the time management, race wheels off till Kilkee and I had set the bike up on the turbo the night before. With dinner not being till after the training session I donned the K-Swiss Tri suit again and was a little bit happier with it - with some careful belly sucking in and no food for 2 days beforehand I may well get away with it, weight is back down to 78 kilos - would love to be 75 for Humbert but I could live with 78 for the day which would be 2kgs better than last year - no doubt I will put on weight with the taper like I always do. 40 Minutes on the turbo, I did the warm up and first TT set on Hell hath no fury and then off I went on the run. No Garmin but just stuck the heart rate at around the 150 mark.

Thursday Lunch: An awful day weatherwise, another 30 minutes on the turbo at lunch as I would have the time for the 1.30 session later that evening, 5 minutes off 5 on. That evening I had hoped to try the Hell hath no fury video, but didn't have the time to do it fully so Fight Club instead for an hour. Gave it an honest effort particularly the last 2 sets, AHR = 128 max = 165

Friday Am: After Wednesdays poor swim I wasn't looking forward to this one either, struggled through the first 5 x 108 set off 2.00 but the rest were a little better. Not happy with the swimming again but happy with bike and run, it always seems to be two out of three for me seem to be going well. Total 3k

Two of the lads from the office heading to Poland - so looks like I will be commuting for the next two weeks. I suppose I have had it easy for a good while, some late night training sessions on the cards

Saturday AM: With Fathers Day, the mothers and the sisters birthday all on this weekend and with all three in the parents house tomorrow I decided on doing the bike today. Dark clouds and rain looked ominous and I contemplated the turbo for a few minutes but headed out eventually. Planned on doung the usual route of Claregalway - Oranmore - Craughwell - Athenry - Monivea - Abbeyknockmoy - Turloughmore - Lackagh - Claregalway (names that just roll off the tongue ).

Coming into Claregalway after 5kish with a crosswind I noticed I was at 31kph, feck it I will gun it to Craughwell I thought. With what I thought was no real headwind but a crosswind for most of the way I hit the just under 30kms of Craughwell at 35kph. Down on the bars the whole way, feeling good and I was delighted with the speed. Turned for Athenry and back into the hell on earth of a stiff headwind where very shortly I proceeded to buckle badly even though I had eased off.

Struggled through to Abbeyknockmoy where I was just on 30kph average for 55kms. Struggled up and down the hill 3 times and then headed for home. 83k at 28kph

AHR for the first hour or so averaged out at 137 - after a comfy start to Claregalway I was in the mid to high 140's for the rest of it. This might be an achievable average for an Olympic distance race but I don't think its sustainable for me for a 1/2 Ironman

Sunday AM: A cracker of a day and fair play to Mrs C she pulled out a new pair of shades for me as a 1st Fathers day present. I had complained about flies getting into my eyes a few times on the bike so she must actually listen to me instead of switching off like I suspect when I ramble on about Triathlon.

We have a nice little set up where she brings my clothes down to the pool and I meet up with her and pudsey for a swim. The run was supposed to be 2.15 hours but leaving it a little late and with her beeping the horn going past me outsie the gym I stopped at 21k. Happy enough, endurance is my problem, was trotting along merrily until about 18k and then I could feel the legs and arse tightening up a little. Average Pace 5.08 AHR = 147

Monday Lunch: Up in Castlebar and I stuck the Pussywagon in the back of the car for a refresher of the Windy Gap (the main hill for the Humbert Challenge). The road bike has a granny ring which is guaranteed to be on whenever I have tried to go up this hill. With no granny ring on the TT bike and presumably it being a little heavier I have been worried how I will get along on this hill. Its not long but it has some killer gradients in the middle of it.

I got up it - twice :cool:

Found out two things

• I am not able to go up it sitting down like I could on the road bike
• I am able to stay up on the saddle far longer than I thought I could

Its a bit of a drive from the office and with chatting to a fellow cyclist that was flying up and down it, twice was all I had time for but it has set my mind at ease that I can at least get up the blasted thing

pgibbo wrote: »

Good news on the Windy Gap. No stopping you now!

We had a BBQ yesterday and visitors so an evening swim was out. Might try some evening this week if it suits?

I should be able to go over any night except Wednesday at the moment, set down for Pudsy is 7.15/7.30. Dinner usually finished not long after 8. I don't mind going after that as I assume it will only be a splash about or after 5.30 if you want to go a bit harder

Thursday AM: 2200m in the pool, mostly pull bouy 5 x 216 off 5.00 and then 6 x 108 off 2.00 free style at the end. The sole of my foot seems to be hurting me the last day or two so with the bad weather it didnt take much for me to give it a miss. Another 500m OW with Pgibbo that evening - water wasn't bad and stroke felt strong. Going to do nothing friday.

Hell of the west preview:

I had hoped with better weather that I could make serious inroads in my time from last year but it looks like it is more of the same when it comes to the weather this year. From a brief perusal of the entry list I see it is stacked with arch nemesis's (its a great race for the Galway clubs with big entries from all of them).

So with the field being probably the strongest of the year and over 600 entrants the goals are

Swim: This ranking was highest from last year and besides leaking goggles it could not have gone any better for me. Got behind two lads coming back into land and I have never felt faster in the water at any stage during that last bit. Its pointless giving a time estimate depending on conditions but last year with a serious amount of people missing the start due to traffic I will take my ranking of 174/612 again.

Bike: The bike broke me last year, I got a bit excited coming out with a tailwind and caned it and had nothing left coming back against the headwind. Its a brute of a bike course. Progress here will be confirmed by hopefully not the humiliation this year of being passed by the two auld lads in the club that start 10 minutes behind me in wave two. They are down for Challenge Barcelona and they are going well so they will kill me on the bike again but hopefully not by as much. I cycled a 1.31.31 last year for 370/612 so with better course management lets get closer to 1.25 and an under 300 ranking.

Run: 47.30 - I was delighted with this run last year as the first 5k is an uphill killer. Thinking about it though I had mentally and physically capitulated on the bike so the run was perhaps helped by the easy last 10k or so on the bike. If I could get in under 47 minutes after an honest bike split I will be happy.

So 2.49.59 last year (I like that time as I got 3.49.59 in DCM last year ), lets see if I can get that under 2.45 this year!

Jesus that was terrible - the first time I have come away from a triathlon being very disappointed with my time. 6 minutes slower than last year. Thinking about it on the drive home I probably got what I deserved. Kilkee is not a race to come into not prepared and I had a bit of a half assed mindset about this race. Started with being late for registration, they were still in there and they signed me up but no goody bag for me as they had ran out. Do they not count how many people had entered? Terrible year to miss out on it as it was a great bag by all accounts, would have loved the sunglasses. Rushed around like a headless chicken playing catch up with time after that. Put on my wetsuit and had forgotten the heart rate monitor and hadn't time to put it back in. No time to spot a few targets

Swim: The swim was uneventful enough, it felt much harder than last year and I got smacked about a good bit going out to the first marker. That first marker seemed to take forever to get to. I was poor with my sighting and had to correct myself a good few times throughout the swim, kept veering right.

Got out of the water and was rewarded with my usual cramp in the right hamstring this time, probably the start of a bad day as I was fuming hobbling up between the line of spectators for the 2nd year in a row while loads of people run by me. I like to finish as high as I can in the swim and I must have lost 20+ places, I really need to do something about the cramps.

I was happier when I saw the results - while my time was slower this year at 32.03 it was good enough for 20 places higher in swim ranking than last year. So 154 out of 565

Bike: Straight away I knew I wasn't going to make last years mistake of going out too fast, while I felt fine I felt the legs were weak and I was struggling to push a big gear. It was a crosswind for more or less the whole race and I was slightly over 30+ till towards the bigger drags at the end where I drifted out a bit. I hated the bike, I had not packed a gillet and after the first downpour I was frozen, after the second downpour I was being passed on all sides and I was fighting hard with the demons telling me to drop out after the bike. The toes and fingers were frozen and I was having trouble changing gears

I had left my race number in the bag and a race Marshall in a van pulled up beside me towards the end who gave me a grilling over it being missing, a glimmer of hope came in my eyes and I offered my resignation with immediate effect over this error but alas she laughed out loud and told me to stop moaning and get going. I got in on 1.29.08, while it was a nightmare bike ride it was still a few minutes faster than last year I suppose and was slightly better on the rankings again 345/565 whereas last year I was 370

RUN: I had eventually talked myself into doing the run by saying I would take it handy which I did. The two auld lads from the club went by me here early in the run - again this wasn't too bad, last year they went by me on the bike so an improvement. This is where I really started to quit, one of these is a similar pace runner to me and I just didn't bother trying to hold him. Just took my own pace up the hills with loads going by me. Coming close to the turn around I realised I was catching up to another club mate who would have been a nice scalp for me. He picked it up when he saw me coming and again I just didn't bother trying.

Worse was to come when my oldest arch nemesis goes by me The School Friend - this shocked me. While he is a better cyclist I have always been too strong for him on the run. I was talking to him beforehand hes doing Ironman Wales this year and said he was going very well. Fair play to him, I like the way he came out and said he was going good, usually I hear a litany of excuses too why someone isn't going well when they are flying so nice to hear a bit of honesty for a change. I didn't even bother trying to keep up with him, the legs were tired and I had just no motivation. I will have it all to do in the Humbert now with him but I will look forward to that.

So came in on 51.23 which may well be my worst run 10k run ever, I had predicted sub 47 today but had even thought I was sandbagging at that and the goal was sub 45. Total time was 2.55.51 which is 6 minutes down on last year

Texted my time to Mrs C on the way home and fair play she had realised it was slower than last year, a bottle of Chateneuf de pape, Ben and Jerrys and Oreo cookies waiting for me when I got home (although I still had to cook). I had a nice few glasses and stuffed my face. I have been almost monastic with my avoidance for the last month or so with beer and crap food, down to 77kgs so a bit of a pig out hopefully did me good.

Mrs C and Pudsey off to Portugal on Tuesday for the week so back on the saddle for a monster week hopefully although I have just noticed one link on my chainset is broken

Does that mean new chain?