Bliain Faoi Thrí

Micilin Muc

Very glad to hear you're OK Rónán. I'd say it was frightening for your family to hear - my OH heard it on the Raidió on Thursday morning, thought it was me and rang through to my office to make sure it wasn't.

Maybe this is my naivety showing but I always thought it was less experienced cyclists who ended up in situations like this. Obviously not. Just shows it can happen to anyone. Go dtaga biseach ort go luath.

Dory Dory

Thank god you are okay!!!!! In fact, I'm thanking your lucky stars for you right now....and I'm wishing you a smooth recovery. Definitely keep us posted on how you're doing - it's starting to look like a nursing home filled with battered and bruised athletes with their dreams on hold around this tri forum!!!

My very best to you.

catweazle

He may well have seen you if you hadn't been wearing the helmet

Glad to hear you are ok - you would have had to put this phoenix from the flames comeback on hold soon anyways - is the baby due this month?

pgibbo

Glad to hear you are alright Rónán. Scary stuff. Speedy recovery.

hf4z6sqo7vjngi

Scary stuff, lucky nothing broken.

ronanmac

catweazle wrote: »

He may well have seen you if you hadn't been wearing the helmet

Glad to hear you are ok - you would have had to put this phoenix from the flames comeback on hold soon anyways - is the baby due this month?

I never considered high-viz hair as a safety measure!

Baby due next month, middle of July. I had hoped to sneak in a decent half marathon and two sprints before that (hence my hectic swim training programme of ensuring that I could still swim 750 consecutive metres), but that's gone to the wayside now.

ronanmac

Firstly, thanks to everyone for the good wishes.
It’s been over two weeks now since the accident, and I’m still struggling with the effects of concussion. Any movement has me either dizzy or light-headed, which means I’m slowly going insane, not working, not leaving the house, struggling to watch TV or read due to a shortened attention span, basically lying in a reclined position on the couch so as not to provoke the symptoms.
As for the rest of the injuries, it turns out I damaged my left lung (can’t remember what the medical term is!) and although it leaves me slightly short of breath, it’s something that will apparently fix itself. I also have a broken rib, which makes for uncomfortable coughing/laughing/sneezing. The left shoulder still isn’t working and I haven’t had it checked out yet due to the concussion. Hopefully, by the end of next week, I’ll get it seen to.
I had a look at the bike the other day. As well as the fork being sheared off, the non-drivetrain chainstay is cracked in two. I haven’t examined it much more than that, but it doesn't look good:(.
As for training and goal-setting, all I can do for the time being is hope that the concussion clears up and wait for the other physical symptoms clear up before even thinking of that.
That’s it. The weather isn’t helping!
Rónán

pgmcpq

Just caught up on this So sorry to hear about the accident ... take care.. while the tri/running plans might be out the window you are going to need to be in condition for a domestic endurance event !

BTH

Hey Rónán, hope you're recovering well. Any updates on that front?

And what do you make of your new junior minister?

ronanmac

BTH wrote: »

Hey Rónán, hope you're recovering well. Any updates on that front?

And what do you make of your new junior minister?

Still a bit messed up but improving! Balance and dizziness is still off, especially after driving. The shoulders are still off, along with the lower back, and I keep seeing things in my peripheral vision that aren't there :eek:. My typing is off (I think due to numbness in two fingers in my left hand). Certain things are improving, however, and it'll all get there eventually.

Fortunately, I'm well distracted by all of this by the arrival of a fantastic little girl! Róisín was born last Thursday week, and so far, she's a keeper

I've attached photos of the crashed bike below. I found it interesting that both chain stays are broken, despite the fact that the right hand side of the bike didn't receive any direct impact (bike was hit on the left and stuck in the car radiator grille).

As for the junior minister, I've given up being surprised by surprising decisions!

catweazle

Congrats Ronan, is that your first girl?

Nice view from the house and good to see you are keeping on top of the grass!

ronanmac

catweazle wrote: »

Congrats Ronan, is that your first girl?

Nice view from the house and good to see you are keeping on top of the grass!

Yes, first (and final!) girl to add to the two boys. The only reason the grass is being kept in shape is because the brother in law cuts it with his ride on, seeing as I can't push a lawnmower at the moment!

Solobally8

Wow you and your bike got some doing. Hope you feel better soon. Congrats on the new arrival. I hope the car driver is paying for a new bike and hospital bills?

Dory Dory

Those are some pics of that bike! Really gives me pause to realize how lucky you are. (And really nice view!) Super congrats on your bundle of joy. Love the name - Roisin - the first time I ever heard that name was in the hilarious book by Tony Hawks, Round Ireland With a Fridge.

pgibbo

You're a lucky buachaill!!!! :eek: Is the P2M still working?

Congrats on baby Roisin. :cool:

ronanmac

Solobally8 wrote: »

Wow you and your bike got some doing. Hope you feel better soon. Congrats on the new arrival. I hope the car driver is paying for a new bike and hospital bills?

Thanks, Solobally8. I haven't crossed that bridge regarding the bike and bills etc but plan to...

pgibbo wrote: »

You're a lucky buachaill!!!! :eek: Is the P2M still working?

Congrats on baby Roisin. :cool:

Cheers, pgibbo. I'm definitely a lucky buachaill. The Garda who came to the crash showed me a photo of the car that hit me, with a hole through the windscreen where my head hit. I'm all for mandatory helmets now! No idea regarding the P2M, haven't mustered the courage yet to have a look at it!

Dory Dory wrote: »

Those are some pics of that bike! Really gives me pause to realize how lucky you are. (And really nice view!) Super congrats on your bundle of joy. Love the name - Roisin - the first time I ever heard that name was in the hilarious book by Tony Hawks, Round Ireland With a Fridge.

Thanks Dory Dory. We didn't have a particularly long list of names for a girl, but the two boys wanted to name her Róisín, so we went along with that! (actually, the youngest wanted to call her Róisín Ní Chualáin after a girl in his nursery class to whom he's taken a shining ). Not sure if we'd be as accepting of their suggestions if it was a boy. They included Johnson, Neymar and Alexi...

ronanmac

After some dormancy, I’m reawakening this log (kind of). I don’t have any structured training plan or aims, and so there is little purpose to beginning a training log again. However, after almost eight years since my last duathlon, I decided recently to try a few of them this winter and found great value in being able to read back on old race reports. For that purpose, I’ll post race reports here (without knowing if I’ll actually be doing many!)

A quick recap since 2011, when I did my last race that could qualify for this forum:
• A period of illness, brought on by various kidney infections and exarcerbated by stress, had me out of action from early 2012
• Prepared to get back to racing in 2014, but was hit by a car while out training, resulting in brain and upper body injuries, and a totalled TT bike
• Bike ‘comeback’ cut short during 2015 Tour de Connemara when some bloke fell on me in a pile-up, resulting in two broken arms

Since then, I’ve been cycling (vigilantly!), and this autumn, more than three years after being hit by the car, I felt that I could return to running without my body feeling completely compressed afterwards. There is still a fair bit of body management involved, in order to keep mobility around the neck, shoulders and back, and to minimise pain.

Recently, I picked up a second-hand Cervelo P2 frame (2012 I think) in London for £300, threw up the surviving components from the Felt destroyed in the accident, and had my first outdoor spin on it a few weeks ago, as I had signed up for the Land of Giants Duathlon in Claremorris, Mayo.

In November, I did a Parkrun to find a benchmark 5k time (19:09), but have slacked on the running since.

I’m going back to racing, not as someone who can threaten podiums, but in order to get back something I had enjoyed so much. Coming late to racing in the first place, I really enjoyed the camaraderie, both online and at races, and I enjoyed the focus also. Like most people, I don’t have an abundance of time due to work, family and personal commitments, and the approach that I plan to take to training will be slightly ad-hoc, informal and mostly enjoyable.

Rónán

Shell to Run

ronanmac wrote: »

I’m going back to racing, not as someone who can threaten podiums, but in order to get back something I had enjoyed so much.

Welcome back Rónán. Life is too short not to be doing the things we enjoy.

ronanmac

Land of the Giants Duathlon Race Report (28 December 2018)

Mayo beckoned again. The last time I did a duathlon was in March 2011 in Ballinrobe. The only thing I remember of that day was being overtaken by a train of Mayo club cyclists on the second half of the bike leg. That year, I went on to do the inaugural Galway 70.3 and did my final triathlon shortly afterwards in Loughrea. I haven’t done a multi-sport race since.

That was probably why my brain was trying to cop out of this one on the night beforehand. I hadn’t done any training in ten days, I had a clogged-up chest, there was Christmas and a tragic funeral in the same mix. Having noticed that the organisers had announced that the cold weather might lead to an unspecified Plan B, not driving to Claremorris the following morning seemed entirely justifiable.

A 30 euro entry fee is a terrible commitment, however, and despite the apocalypse of snow and ice promised, I drove past only the one over-turned car on my way to Claremorris. Registration was a straightforward affair, and the only inconvenience of any note was trying to stay warm before the race started.

Run 1:
When I last did duathlons, my aim was to try sticking with the lead group for the first run. People have gotten faster and I’ve gotten slower, however, and sticking to a pace that didn’t leave me gasping by the time I got to T1 was target enough. The run was enjoyable, down through Claremorris and into the river walkway park with its random oversized statues of everyday objects. I picked off a few people who had set out at a pace that was too high, and contented myself with trying to stave off potential overtakers.
Overall, I was happy with the run, and hadn’t expected to be able to keep a sub 4 minute km pace going.

Distance: 5.2km
Pace/Time: 3:57 / 20:51
Avg HR: 177
Placing: 24th

T1:
My only gripe with an extremely well-organised duathlon was that the transition wasn’t neutralised. The racks were ordered by number, with my space at the back of transition. It made little difference to me and my placing, but I would be annoyed if I was at the pointy end of proceedings. I would imagine that the difference between where you were placed in transition could account for 30 seconds, between the ins and outs of T1 and T2.

Bike:
The bike course had been altered at the last minute due to the slippery condition on the back roads, and was an out and back on the main road. The same distance had been kept and the late changes had been well handled by the organisers. For me, however, the bike was a disappointment and I knew it once I slipped into the bike shoes. My power was much lower than what I would otherwise have expected. That said, I was overtaken by only one move, a group of three who seemed to be working together. I can’t deny that I wasn’t tempted to join in, but I retained the high moral ground by virtue of the fact that I lacked the power to stick with them!
It was a straight-forward cycle, out and back, the only drama being my determination for a last second time-saving dismount resulting in having forgotten to remove my left foot from my shoe and getting off the bike still clipped in. I somehow stayed upright but it was evidence that you’re once again a rookie, doing rookie mistakes, if you’ve been away from the sport for years!

Distance: 17.2km (as per late-started Garmin)
Avg/Max Speed:35kph/ 52.2kph
Avg/Max Power: 208w/ 428w
Avg HR: 175
Avg Cadence: 95
Placing: 13th

Run 2:
Run 2 was what I expected Run 1 to be. Start out with decent pace and quickly fall apart, hanging on for dear life as I got overtaken. And that’s what happened. After being overtaken for the third time, I looked over my shoulder as we exited the park onto the main street in Claremorris and settled into the relief of seeing no other potential overtakees behind me. Today was not a day for sprinting.

Distance: 1.9km
Pace/Time: 4:13/ 8:02
Avg HR: 176
Placing: 21st

Overall, I really enjoyed a return to racing. Either my cold didn’t help with my bike, or I over-egged the first run relative to what I’m currently capable of. There are a rake of duathlons in the west over the rest of winter and spring, and I have plenty of opportunities to figure that out (and also figure out how to remove my foot from my shoe!).

Overall Time: 01:00:05
Overall Placing: 17th of 297 (5.7%)

El Director

Good man Rónán! Great to see you back racing, training and logging. You are due a bit of luck too, wishing you loads dude!

PS Really enjoyed Rocky Ros Muc on TG4 during the holidays, bravo!

ronanmac

Hollymount Duathlon Race Report (14/01/2018)

I put off signing up for this race until the last minute as it seemed a bit futile. I had three bike spins and two runs in since the last race, neither with any particular focus. In the end, I justified the €30 fee and trip to Mayo on the basis that (a) it would be a nice day out with my father and eldest son, (b) I wanted to see if the bike was going to feel as weak again after the 1^st run and (c) last time out was perversely enjoyable.
First up, this was a really well-organised race, particularly given that it was the first time for the event. I couldn’t find fault with it (other than my own lack of knowledge around some of the sketchy corners on the bike route).

Run 1
The fast people sped off into infinity. I watched them disappear, and was kept honest by the presence of laboured breathing on my shoulder for almost the entire 5k. Same pace as the Claremorris duathlon, as much as I could do without total wipeout before the bike.
Distance: 4.9km
Pace/Time: 3:58 / 19:38
Avg HR: 177
Placing: 21^th

T1
Rookie mistake no. 1: I arrived in Hollymount early and racked my bike without paying that much attention. Totally confused when I came in from the run and started looking for my bike in a full transition area!
Rookie mistake no. 2: The helmet is a tight fit at the best of times. I forgot to make sure beforehand that the dial at the back was fully loosened.

Bike
A big difference on the bike despite the same average speed in the end. It was a slower course than Claremorris, with a strong headwind home, but I felt better and stronger. 
Rookie mistake no. 3: A home-made sports drink that might have been ok on a Sunday spin but was stomach-churningly strong for a race.
Distance: 18.9km
Avg/Max Speed:35.1kph/ 54.7kph
Avg/Max Power: 227w/ 466w
Avg HR: 173
Avg Cadence: 91
Placing: 12th

Run 2
Like the last time, hanging on for dear life. Endurance is clearly an issue, as my pace is way down in the second runs compared to the first but at least in this race, I sped up from a slow start rather than slowing down. Like the first run, kept honest by the same breath on my shoulder and forced an effort in the end to avoid being overtaken.
Distance: 3km
Pace/Time: 4:20/ 13:10
Avg HR: 174
Placing: 15^th

Overall, it was an enjoyable race and it was heartening to see improvements (if only on the bike).  I have a weird mental juxtaposition in actually being surprised and satisified that I can run a sub 20 min 5k during these races, and yet being painfully aware at the very start of the race of how slow I am when I see others bound away into the distance!

Overall Time: 01:06:03
Overall Placing: 9th of 208 (4.3%), 3^rd in age group

ronanmac

Knockma Duathlon Race Report, 27 January 2018

Dismal!

Run 1
With my tactic in the two previous duathlons being running as fast as I could without going into discomfort, and ignoring the faster group as they sped off, I decided to try something different here: hang on to the back of the fast group, regardless of how it felt and assess how that worked out by the time I got to the bike.
I didn’t have that long to wait before coming to a pretty clear assesment, however. Knockma Duathlon, which I hadn’t done before, starts with a run up Knockma hill, and whereas I once enjoyed uphill runs, I am no longer familiar with the notion. By two kilometers, I genuinely wanted to stop and just walk. By the top of the hill, I had blown up, with a fleet of runners overtaking me and opening a margin quickly. Back when I used to run up and down, as opposed to exclusively flat terrain, I always enjoyed throwing myself downhill and making up time. This didn’t work here as (a) I was too shattered to try that and (b) there was a sharp pain from my large toe anytime my foot would slide forward in the shoe.
Distance: 3.88km
Pace/Time: 4:19 / 16:48
Avg HR: 177
Placing: 20th


T1
Uneventful.

Bike
Uneventful. Tried to maintain a decent output. Caught a few people. Most people had long disappeared ahead, however. Much lower cadence than normal, I think as a result of keeping an eye on average power rather than speed (plus headwinds). Might need to look at this again.
Distance: 20.84km
Avg/Max Speed:34.1kph/ 57.2kph
Avg/Max Power: 230w/ 457w
Avg HR: 172
Avg Cadence: 79
Placing: 17th

T2
Uneventful.

Run 2
Once upon a time, my pace on the first and second runs were very close. Leaving aside that this was a fair few years ago, and that I used to do structured run training, I wondered if the big drop-off in pace in the last two duathlons was psychological. So after an intense session on the turbo recently, I hopped off the bike and onto the treadmill with speed at “18” (not sure what this equates to in the real world, but on my treadmill, it’s the equivalent of Spinal Tap’s “11” on the volume knob). I handled it fine so I decided that my drop-off during races was all psychological.
Fast forward to today. I ran out of T2, picked up pace, started closing down the guy in front of me, felt great… for less than two minutes. Turns out that the drop off was physiological! Very quickly, I was running backwards, pace falling off from 3 something to 4 something to 5 something. Passed uncermoniously by the last lad I managed to overtake on the bike, I looked behind me as we turned off the road onto the trail. With no-one in sight, I must have subconsiously settled into a gentle saunter home and when I heard someone coming up from behind. I panicked into picking up pace, only for one of my shoes to stay behind me in the muck and to be overtaken again.
Distance: 2.56km
Pace/Time: 4:31/ 11:34
Avg HR: 172
Placing: 39th

Overall assesment is trying to keep with people who I can’t keep with is a stupid idea, and I finished up in 20th on the first run, pretty much where I have been in the past two races, except this time I was shattered by the time I got to the bike. I think that I just need to do some more running.
The nice thing about today was that I began to see old faces at a race for the first time, and the new faces were beginning to become familiar! The next duathlon is Ballinrobe, which I’d like to do for no reason other than that it was the last duathlon I did eight years ago before restarting recently. Might take a break after that and try training...

Overall Time: 01:06:20
Overall Placing: 16th of 152 (10.5%), 5th in age group

BTH

8k in Maree next Sunday. We could have a ginger-off. Fastest red in the West

ronanmac

BTH wrote: »

8k in Maree next Sunday. We could have a ginger-off. Fastest red in the West

I think we can safely assume your victory on that front!

ronanmac

Ballinrobe Duathlon Race Report, 10 February 2018

This was my last duathlon eight years ago, before this year’s re-awakening. This was also the race I felt best during so far this year.

Run 1
Having learnt my lesson last time out, I returned to trying to keep a ‘hard but comfortable’ pace for the opening run. If nothing else, the psychological value of overtaking, instead of being overtaken as the race went on, helped (that’s not to say that I wasn’t overtaken. This time, it just happened to not be half the field going by me!).
The first run was 5.29km, according to my Garmin, and I did the first 5k in just under 19 minutes (18:57) which is the first time I’ve managed to do that in years. Two weeks of a structured training plan helped.
Still and all, my placing on the first run was pretty much the same as all of the other first runs to date, 20th. This time, I didn’t feel so messed up getting to the bike though.

Distance: 5.29km
Pace/Time: 3:48 / 20:08
Avg HR: 174
Placing: 20th

Bike
The bike was fine other than my not being able to stay in aero position after 10 kilometers. I keep needing to come up off the extensions. Part of it is practice, part of it is discomfort due to past injuries. I didn’t keep a close eye on power this time, with the result being a more normal cadence for me. Overall, the speed was up, and so was my usual placing on the bike.

Distance: 17.14km
Avg/Max Speed: 36.3kph/ 46.4kph
Avg/Max Power: 238w/ 428w
Avg HR: 173
Avg Cadence: 88
Placing: 10th

T2
Pain in the ass putting on shoes. Usually straightforward, not for this race.

Run 2
I had pressed the wrong button on the multisport setting by the time I got to the second run, and had no reference, for better or worse, regarding what pace I was doing. It was an unusual run course, around the back of a housing estate, onto the bank of a river, up and down steps. I caught up with one guy and got passed twice near the end. There was the by-now usual drop off in pace, not quite as severe as the last race.

Distance: 3.65km
Pace/Time: 4:12/ 15:22
Avg HR: 174
Placing: 23rd

I was happier with this race, compared to the previous one. I’ve learnt my lesson in terms of pacing the run.
Unfortunately, I injured my knee the following Monday after going out a bit too hard on the bike while training. I had a run yesterday and all seems better, if not still slightly tender. Another visit to the physio tomorrow to confirm all is better.

Overall Time: 01:06:20
Overall Placing: 9th of 270 (3.3%), 3rd in age group

ronanmac

5k Staff Relay Series Race Report, Phoenix Park, 24/05/2018
This is less a report on what I’ve done, and more a report on what I haven’t done!
My Duathlon Series racing fell apart after Ballinrobe due to a combination of running injury, geography and work commitments. I’ve noticed that while the biking is fine, my body isn’t cooperating well with much additional running load.
I signed up at work to join one of the teams participating in the Staff Relay Series while I was mid-duathlon training, but have since gone close to abandoning running (certainly the speed-work element of it), and focused on cycling so as not to be too badly dropped on a group cycling trip to the Alps later this week.
My expectations for the 5k were, therefore, dismally low, and so I was pleasantly surprised by how it went, considering the lack of training. I did the opening leg for our team, and although the course measured short at 4.9k, I came in under the 19 minute mark whereas a run mid-week had me concerned about coming in under 21! Such surprises are nice.
Nothing beats context, however, and one of the teams from work won the race outright, each of the five runners posting sub-17 minute runs. 
Distance: 4.9km
Pace/Time: 3:47 / 18:33
Avg HR: 180

pgibbo

Enjoy the Alps :cool:

BTH

ronanmac wrote: »

and focused on cycling so as not to be too badly dropped on a group cycling trip to the Alps later this week.

So this is how the other half live... Enjoy.

ronanmac

BTH wrote: »

ronanmac wrote: »

and focused on cycling so as not to be too badly dropped on a group cycling trip to the Alps later this week.

So this is how the other half live... Enjoy.

By 'the other half', do you mean people with children over the age of three?!

BTH

ronanmac wrote: »

By 'the other half', do you mean people with cushy government jobs and children over the age of three?!