loughrea triathlon on Sunday week

sooty11

Hey folks

Just wondering if anyone on this forum is doing the loughrea triathlon on the 14th Sept?
I've entered the womens mini triathlon that is on earlier the sunday morning as im only a newbie to the sport.
I did the bike leg of a relay in May and thats when the bug bit! so ive been training since for loughrea (not consistently mind)
Id like to know what the course is like if any of you did it last year?
Is the bike & run route hilly etc? Also is lake water colder than sea water?? ive never swam in a lake before.....but im well used to swimming sea water.

Thanks!

ajk24

sooty11 wrote: »

Hey folks

Just wondering if anyone on this forum is doing the loughrea triathlon on the 14th Sept?
I've entered the womens mini triathlon that is on earlier the sunday morning as im only a newbie to the sport.
I did the bike leg of a relay in May and thats when the bug bit! so ive been training since for loughrea (not consistently mind)
Id like to know what the course is like if any of you did it last year?
Is the bike & run route hilly etc? Also is lake water colder than sea water?? ive never swam in a lake before.....but im well used to swimming sea water.

Thanks!

i'm heading up there myself. here is a link to the bike course on mapmyrun.
it is only my second tri so i can't comment on the course from experience but it looks like the hills are handy enough from the elevation profile

Amazotheamazing

I too, am doing it for the first time. Girlfriend did it last year and she found the hills tough, but it was her first one and her (then) bike was prehistoric so it's hard to tell.

DaDa

Loughrea 2007 was my first Triathlon.

Swim was a lot nicer than I was expecting with amazing visibility for a lake. I could have sworn I was in tropical clear water, except for the cold! The day we got was bright and sunny so I'm sure that helped.

Bike is not tough for Sprint distance... few small climbs, nothing too difficult at all.

Bit of a slow climb on the run, but again nothing too hard.

Nice fast transition as you literally exit the water into that area.

Enjoy!

sooty11

Thanks for the replies folks...

one question....
is lake swimming colder than sea swimming??

pgibbo

I am doing Loughrea this weekend too. I think the cycle route has changed from last year and I have been told it is quite hilly from friends of mine that have already cycled the course.

I am not sure what the sea is like, but local lakes in Galway are damn cold. I get an ice-cream headache each time I get in at the moment.

Best of luck on Sunday to all.

sooty11

oh dear pgibbo.....not what i wanted to hear......

im heading up there tomorrow early enough so i will go for a quick dip :eek:
and will check the bike and run course.

on the race information sheets that i downloaded from predator tri clubs
website, it says the route is the same as last year...means nothing to me obviously but maybe to you if did it last year?

pgibbo

Wearing 2 swim hats certainly helps with the cold water. It's fine once you're in and moving - just that initial shock...

I only did my 1st tri this year, Ballina, so I am not sure about this course compared to last year. If it is the same and what DaDa says is true, then all the better.

Just got confirmation from a friend and he said the 2nd time he did the cycle it wasn't as bad as he remembered. So, we could be in luck. Quote from him - "first 3-4 k - hilly enough then you get 5-6k flat - downhill, then a good 5-6 k hills ( tough part) and the rest is flat-downhill". Too late to back out now....lol

Good luck with it sooty

sooty11

righto ill be buying a second hat then!
you should see my checklist of things to bring/and things to do/not to forget etc...haha.

good luck to you too!

Bambaata

sick i'm missing this! I hear its a beautiful swim but alas i cannot get away from work as one of my work mates if out sick!!

Seres

Bambaata wrote: »

sick i'm missing this! quote]
x2

griffin100

Know how you feel Bambaata. I've had a stiff leg all week and haven't done any training, not ever a swim. When I stop moving for any period of time I get a limp:( To top that I have a cold coming on. Oh and the wife is a bit peed off as I have to do an all day work related course tomorrow and will be away at the tri all day Sunday and the prospect of having the three kids (4, 2 and 3 months) all to herself for the weekend is not making her too disposed to triathalons at the minute:D Suppose I will have to make a decision on sunday mornng about whether or not I can do it. Bit of a pain really as I've yet to get a tri with a full swim yet given this 'summers' weather.

DAVE_K

jeez griffin that all sounds really bad. To be honest at this stage my best recommendation would be to pull out.




and let me enter in your place

Amazotheamazing

Well, that was wet.

Think i was wetter out of the water then when I was in it. Some hill at 15k too, or maybe I was delerious from water poisioning at that stage.

griffin100

Don't think I have ever been that wet before. It was drier in the lake than on the bike.

Some hill at 15k too, or maybe I was delerious from water poisioning at that stage.

No you were not delerious, that hill is etched in my memory as my chain came off at the bottom as I tried to get into the right gear. I had to start the hill from a standing start in completely the wrong gear

At this stage I have to say well done to the organisers (and especially the marshals who at the end of the day must have been saturated) for a really well organised and run event. I even got my results by text last night which I thought was a nice touch (don't know if this is common practice).

This was the race where I finally got to swim a full 750m after the cancellation of the Focus Ireland swim and the much shortened Tramore swim. It took me sooooo much longer than I thought it would. I had done a few sub 20 minute 750's in the pool and hoped to go a bit quicker with the wetsuit on in an actual race. It took me almost 23 minutes:(. I felt fine and relaxed durng the entire swim, took it easy and made good progress, except that I was making progress in a variety of directions except for the one I should have been heading in. I reckon I swam another 75-100m that I didn't need to. I started off well wide to the right of the main field and was keeping pace with the main bunch until I realised that I had drifted too far right and was in fact getting closer to the second buoy than the first one. It took me a while to get back inside to pass the first buoy on the right side. In fact at one stage I was so far to the right of the main field that I had my own canoe escort. This happened a few more times for the rest of the swim (always to the right - need to work on that). Best part was the fact that I was comfortable the whole time, worst part was that when I got out of the water I was absolutely shattered. My arms and legs felt like lead and I had a real difficulty in transition getting my bike gear on. This continued on the bike, for the first 5km I was out of breath, my legs felt really heavy and I actually thought I was going to throw up. After about 5km I seemed to recover and I started to speed up. I spent the next 10km catching up and overtaking most of the people who had passed me in the first 5km until my chain came off at 15km and most overtook me again. The cycle route was challenging with lots of ups and downs made more interesting by the large amount of standing water and the heavy rain. Run was a nice out and back with some easy enough hills.

Overall I took just under 1.42, which I am a bit dissapointed with as I was aiming for a 1.30-1.35. That said I am delighted at last to finally do a full sprint distance.

Amazotheamazing

yeah, it was hard to keep your bearings in the water alright. I looped all over the place. Did the same in Valentia, really have to work on it.

Fair play to the organisers for keeping it going, must have been a little tempting to pull the plug.

sooty11

well done guys! that rain was mental. it never stopped from 9.30am!

so ive now completed my first triathlon. YAY!! (i did the womens race earlier in the morning) i was delighted to finish it! i have yet to find out what my placing was. i was very dissapointed with my swim. i went into panick mode at the start...i knew to expect it to be a bit mad with arms and legs and bodies everywhere....but i certainly wasnt prepared for that shock!...so i had a bad swim as i couldnt settle into it properly. i made up for lost time on the bike though as its the strongest out of the 3. my run was slow, but i expected this as its my weakest of the 3. i know it was only a short race compared to what ye did after us, but i really enjoyed it and have learned alot for my next one, which will be a sprint distance!!...i want to join a club and will train for a few duathlons over the winter to get my running improved as i know it was my downfall yesterday.
Bring on valentia 09 where ill be competing on home turf

Tritrier

I also did Loughrea at the weekend - what can I say, terrible weather but a good event nonetheless!

Anyone know anything about results posting. I received my own by text alright on Sunday night but would just like to compare myself against the others that did it.

ajk24

Tritrier wrote: »

I also did Loughrea at the weekend - what can I say, terrible weather but a good event nonetheless!

Anyone know anything about results posting. I received my own by text alright on Sunday night but would just like to compare myself against the others that did it.

http://www.predatortriclub.com/loughrea_triathlon.html

Tritrier

No results on there I'm afriad.

ajk24

Tritrier wrote: »

No results on there I'm afriad.

http://www.predatortriclub.com/Loughrea_2008_Final.xls

Amazotheamazing

Cheers for that, so many names ahead of me on that list!