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140.6 deep breaths...
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TriAthy Double Olympic report.
Pre Race - not so smooth
Alarm off at 0430, woke up, blinked and it was 0500 crap! Wolfed down some porridge and coffee which woke me up. I hadn't had any caffeine in 2 days. made haste to Athy and registered efficiently apart from the usual volunteer confusion with my surname. Forgot to pick up the eggs on the way out. Down to transiton and had everything racked shooting the breeze with Jackback and bennymul. I suddenly reaslised I had left my chip back in the car. 1km sprint, borrow a mates bike en route, 1km TT, find chip, 1km TT, hand bike back, owe a favour, 1km sprint back to transition panting. Found that my running gels had been swiped WTF?! Clubmates came to the rescue and donated spares. Excellent. Chip on, suit on, head for the river. Sensed nerves from the boardsies.
The Swim - Super start
Countdown got to 3,2,1. Some shot off on 3. The start was nothing short of a maul. We were climbing over each other until we emerged from under the bridge and the melee settled a little. About 20 shot off ahead. I eased into it finding a feel for the water. After an elbow to the face I had enough and sprinted 50m clear of the pack. Chased feet aimlessly for the next 500m. They were zig zagging all ovr the place so I resigned to doing my own thing and hugged the rope. A group of 5-6 pushed on ahead to my left. The lead fish were already far up the river. By the turnaround buoy it was clear my line was better as I overtook the group to my left. I had clear water now and spotted a group of 3 about 30m ahead. I reeled them in slowly dragging a few more with me and jumped on the train. Again zig zagging all over the place so I just did my own thing and matched the pace of the trio. The downstream section was awash with reeds that wrapped around your face fopr several straokes at a time. I even saw swimmers stop to take them off.
I was having a good swim and dropped the small group. There was lots of clear water now heading back upstream. I had no idea how many were in the lead group but there were a few stragglers between and we collected each other to form a group of 4 for the rest of the swim. I lead it until the last 200m when they all surged for the slip. My shoulders felt the effort but I knew I had to be close to my 50 minute target. The 4 of us hopped out one after another and I glanced at the watch as I crossed the mat. 47:21
chuffed with that. Turned out to be the 8th quickest swim and my best split of the day. The lead group had just been 4 and were well gone. Eric Wolfe bombed through transition and I left the other 2 from our group behind to leave T1 in good shape. Overall I didn't like the swim much. Good that it was straight up and down the river but the river was murky and shallow and I didn't enjoy the reeds. The garmin clocked 3.16km for me too showing how much zig zagging I was doing chasing feet 
The Bike - 3 stages
Stage 1 0-20km
I hit a groove immediately and got stuck in. My plan was to bike about 2:15 as long as it involved a steady effort and no incidents. Eric Wolfe pulled away and passed someone to leave me with a target. I was over 2km from the 15km turnaround when the leader Kevin Thornton passed eating the road up. I sizeable gap back to the next 2 and a further 2 individual chasers meant I was in 6th and surprised as hell by that. I took on some fuel after the turnaround and passed the next guy within a few minutes to move to 5th. The top 4 were out of sight at this stage. I also had some serious heat on my tail in the form of Joe Lynch and Mariusz Olenjnizac (sp?) working together legally. Another km back from the was a group of 3 working together illegally. Typical Athy I thought.
Stage 2 20-55km
I bike this 35km alone with noone in sight up the road. At each turn around I could see the leaders pulling away and the chaser closing in. I felt like the young wilderbeast separate from its parents with a pride of lions in coordinated hot persuit. On this stage I felt I became a bit complacent, bored, cycling on my own on fairly poor road surfaces at times. I was sensible with the output, spinning up hills and hammering down them. Steady on flat. I used gears well and kept a comfortable distance from the red zone. I just plugged away feeding and drinking. Drifting in and out of the zone. After teh 15km turnaround on the second lap Joe and Mariusz came passed me and I snapped back into focus.
Stage 3 55-80km
This section flew by. I just drifted 15-20m back from the 2 lads at sat there matching their pace. Mariusz especially looked very comfortable but I also felt comfortable with the output required to hold them. I was working hard but steady. The pace did climb a little 5km from Athy but I just spun the pedals quicker rather than push a bigger gear. It was here that I sensed my legs felt a bit unsettled and hinted at cramp. I rolled into T2 in 7th knowing the 2 boys were going to leave me in a cloud of dust but I was happy with the progress thus far. A 2:12:27 split was 14th fastest on the day, not great for me but not bad either and on target. I faffed a bit getting my bike racked and shoes on but was well out of T2 by the time the next lot rolled in. Overall I wasn't too enamoured by the bike course. Yes it was good to have closed roads but I found the route boring and the road surface slow.
The Run - train wreck
I knew my legs felt off and sure enough after a 4:08 opening km both quads cramped up. I had tp stop and massage them out and got going again at a more relaxed 4:15-4:20 pace. It felt steady and manageable and I held it for the the next 3km but the cramps wouldn't go away. I had to stop and massage them out again. The soft thick uneven grassy bank didn't help either and the cramps persisted depite dropping to a manageable 4:30 pace. I held the pace with the cramps on board for the first lap but it was pretty painful. It was warm and I gulped water at each aid station. I lost 2 places on the first lap dropping me to 9th. I still had a gap back to the next few chasers and figured if the cramps would just go I might be able to up the pace and defend. No chance, they just got worse, progressively so.
We were joined by the Olympic Distance gang on lap 2 and the bank suddenly became a very busy place. I hit 11km and had to stop again to massage the lower smaller quads just above the knee. It provided little respite I just had to dig in and run with the cramps. I t was unpleasant and slow. I was passed by the world and its mother over the next 5km and had no idea how many places I had lost. I didn't care either I just wanted to finish. I had to stop so many times to prevent the cramps developing into full blown seizures. It was demoralising
I recieved plenty of encouragement along the way and passed Brian Campbell walking looking like he was having an even worse day than I. The last I saw of him he was 2nd! I didn't care who caught me but I was wary of Tunney running well not too far back and a part of me just wanted to finish before he did. Jackyback must have dropped out as I didn't see him at all so my race within a race became good ole Tunney 
Every time I stopped in the last 3km I cursed myself and expected him to pat me on the back as he passed
19km running with cramp is not fun and it doesn't just take the wind out your sail, it sucks the energy from you if you fight it. My energy had left me since km 11. I fought it and hobbled across the line after a miserable 1:39:27, 57th run split. I don't remember much of the next few minutes as I collapsed and was carried to an ambulance. They kept me there for a half hour, taking blood twice checking and monitoring everything and hooking me up to an ECG. I must have been in a sorry state but I was very dizzy and slurring my words so they took all necessary precautions. They wouldn't let me go either until Tunney came to my rescue and 'discharged' me. He was sound enough to sit me down and get me some curried rice too, thanks mate
Overall I wasn't far off target with a 4:41:30, 17th overall and 8th AG. Not a catastrope but I've had enough of cramps wrecking my races now. Its time to sort this issue out once and for all as it cost me the sub10 and sub3 last year and has toyed with me on so many races. Caz was not too impressed that I pushed through them to that point and has set down the rule. No more triathlon until I get myeslf checked out properly
Its easy to assume magnesium or calcium deficiency but I'd rather not shoot at this blind. I'm not putting another sub10 attempt to chance. I've ruled out pushing too hard on the bike as my bike today was a sensible effort and more or less at IM pace. Its something else...
I'm done with Athy now. Its well organised and there is a good buzz about it but its still my least favourite race course of the ones I've done.0 -
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Trust me Id rather not have had to do that. I probably should have pulled out after lap 1 of the run. I wanted to. I practically walked lap 2. Paying for it todayI should never read your reports after doing a race - from being relatively happy with my effort I always think maybe I haven't tried hard enough until I have some type of ambulance incident
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Shotgun, really hope you get to the bottom of this cramping issue. It affecting me too but as I have only done sprint racing thus far this year it hasn't had a detrimental effect yet, Kilkee looms large so I too am working on this issue. Anyway, you are one tough mo of and you'll always have that in your locker, the cramps? You'll figure that out and they will be a thing of the past
and when you do, mail me-very interested in what you find out 0 -
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Geez...all this talk about cramping, I feel like I'm in a ladies forum and we should be chatting about Midol- fast relief for cramps, bloating, fatigue, backache and headaches.
It could be lost in translation but ... I think ... yeah, she did ... DD just called you a p!ssy Mike. I suppose it came from someone that 'Swims with the Rabbits'.
re: mineral issues on Sat.
a) glad to her Mother Tunney looked after you despite his efforts during the race. You'd have thought JB might have stepped in but ... alas
b) and Im sure you've already been mulling this over ... whats missing from normal nutrition during a normal week when you're training away and doing big bricks and NOT experiencing these issues and when you race ? the heat ? the amount of water before the event you're taking on (are you flushing salts/minerals etc) ???
Lots of time between now and October, but based on my experiences and those from last October you definitely DONT want to be getting issues in the first couple of km on that run route in Callela.0 -
@El D - You doing Kilkee? I certainly will share any developments
@BTH - Who is your HIM nemesis?
@Hoochiedoubledee - you calling me a p&ssy punk?!
@interested - speaking from experience? Yes got to consider this from all angles... Intend to find someone that can give me proper insight to avoid this train wreck again...
Bike - as I feel
Coach's instructions. A short bike as I felt. So, I chose to take the mountain bike out to Cratloe Woods for my first go at off road biking. Caz and I had hiked a little route at the weekend that I stored in the memory banks. I had even watched 2 mtb'ers negotiate a tricky open section that we had to be careful traversing on foot. I had it in mind to give it a go. I rocked up at the carpark and warmed up on some easy inclines and easy terrain. It was steady slow stuff spinning the legs. I headed off the path into the trees but the heavy rainfall since the weekend had soaked the woods and the tree stumps were lethal. I didn't last long in there. I found the open section that I'd earmarked and climbed up the side of it on a soft wet and muddy incline.
The terrain was now just a a hectare or so of chopped down trees and rocks. It was hardly a 40-50m descent but it took me a minute just to pick out the trail. My heart was in my mouth as I set off. I didn't have to pedal but it was slow going on a twisting singletrack with dips, tree roots, rocks etc... My nerves were on end and I just about stayed on the bike until I hit the muddy incline again. I was relieved. I wandered back up and headed off around some easier fireroads and dirt roads again getting a feel for the mountain, and a little lost too. After 20 minutes of this I returned to the technical bit again and completed it twice more growing in confidence slightly and getting used to my feet clipping in and out of the pedals as I hit obstacles.
After this I got a bit too brave at wandered off the beaten path only to run out of trail and end up on some steps leading up to someones back garden. The owner was not impressed with me emerging on his private mountain oasis and shooed me off to the main road. I descended quickly and found the carpark again, taking in the technical section one more time for kicks. It was an enjoyable spin that required a lot more concentration than an hour on the road. My mtb got its baptism I learned something too, contact with foxglove and posion ivy is unpleasant afterwards.
Total 17.4km in 70mins, avg 14.9kmh 0 -
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Yep will being doing HoTW, against the better judgement of my coach but Linda loves when I do that race, we both actually love it down there plus a really good mate of mine is coming home from Oz especially for this race and he insists I do it. He was the guy that got me to do my first tri and I owe him a lot 0
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El Director wrote: »Yep will being doing HoTW, against the better judgement of my coach but Linda loves when I do that race, we both actually love it down there plus a really good mate of mine is coming home from Oz especially for this race and he insists I do it. He was the guy that got me to do my first tri and I owe him a lot
You know you have a problem when you're make excuses to do a race! 0 -
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Swim Squad
There was a big group down this morning, Kilkee is around the corner
600 various warm up
21*100 off 1:45 in on 1:27/1:26/1:29/1:29/1:29/1:24/1:26/1:26/1:26/1:26/1:25/1:26/1:27/1:27/1:23/1:26/1:25/1:26/1:28/1:27/1:28
6*50 choice easy
600 cool dowm
Total 3,600m
I went off 4th in the group and moved up one after 4 100s as the pace was hot. I basically spent the rest of the main set chasing DaveR1 and the tecnician. I never got within 5m but threw the kitchen sink at it in the attempt. Suffering is a word, I was shattered afterwards. I got through the easy bit but there was no way I was doing max effort 50s after that. I hopped into a quiet lane and swam for 10 minutes really easy. I want to make a habit of swimming well at the end of a session, not fighting the water.
Hey pgibbo,forearms not too bad but my soulders were on fire in the pool this morning! Body is better but not firing on all cylinders yet. I have an easy run later to suss the legs out.How are the shoulders and forearms after the MTB? Mine were in bits after my first MTB outing. The living sh1t was shaken out of them. MTB is great craic but the problem I find is there are no trails close enough to warrant doing it on a regular basis. Time is precious enough as it is.
How's the body after Saturday?0 -
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I got it into my head that 36 hours of the move for the Beast is not something to just expect I can do anytime. Some Silly O'Clock activity practice is necessary (I can hear the jokers already making suggesions!). I set a plan of a late run and early turbo.
Late Run
Out at midnight for 50 minutes in the wind and rain. It felt good to be able to run down the midde of the road albeit with raindrops rolling down my face. I felt ok initially despite not running for 5 days and rather enjoyed the eerie setting. However right hamstring gave out on hills and my quads began to tighten after a half hour. I could feel the residue of the cramps last weekend. I kept the effort bottled. I showered, stretched, drank some water and hit the hay with the intention to get up after 4 hours.
Total 10.5km
Early Turbo
Not done. Didn't even hear the alarm
The need for practice validated! 0
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