Advertisement
If you have a new account but are having problems posting or verifying your account, please email us on hello@boards.ie for help. Thanks :)
Hello all! Please ensure that you are posting a new thread or question in the appropriate forum. The Feedback forum is overwhelmed with questions that are having to be moved elsewhere. If you need help to verify your account contact hello@boards.ie
The Continuing Adventures of Catweazle
Options
Comments
-
-
-
-
A good week so far this week, the easy week I had last week has me running very well this week.
Monday Lunch: 8k - This was supposed to be a recovery run after the race yesterday but before the battery went on the Garmin I had the first 2ks run at 4.40 pace. I felt great and tried to slow down for the rest of it. Most enjoyable run I have had for a while.
Monday Evening: With the day being nice, a little bit of disappointment at my swim in The Galway Cope the previous day and my new Zoggs Phantom Elite goggles arriving I decided to go for a quick swim down in Annaghdown Pier. Although I wasnt happy with the goggles - leaked a bit
The swim went ok, when I got down there the lake was as calm as I have seen it this year so I decided I would try and cane a lap out to the rock and back. My record from last year is 10 minutes but its hard to compare with OW swims. The rock isnt great to sight off so its basically go hard in the general direction and when you get to about 50 metres away you will see it somewhere. Went out to far right of it so had to cut back in - I should know when I am going wrong as the right angle brings you over two discarded car tyres. Did the swim in 9.10 and decided to do another one and came in on 9.46. The garmin is useless for the swimming it gave me 1.24k for the first one and 1.16k for the 2nd, I am fairly sure it is close to 500 metres. Total 1000m
Tuesday Evening: With Mrs c out to dinner with the girls, I had a brick run planned. Cycled out to Monivea where there is a decent hill, did three climbs of it and then back home. 40k at 26.6kph. Out on the run then i felt strong so turned it into a half assed tempo session 8k at 4.48 pace
Wednesday Lunch: 8k Easy run at 5.17 pace
Wednesday Evening: Pool session, session one of the plan. Found this tough - too little swimming last week. Main set was 5 x 100 off 1.55/5 x 100 off 2.05/5 x 100 off 2.15/5 x 100 off 2.25/6 x 50 off 1.10 and I binned the 4 x 100 off 2.25 due to time and general laziness. Its hard to get back to the pool after all the open water swimming. Total 3000m
Thursday Lunch: 8k run at 5.03 pace around the local loop, started off very quick for no real reason for the first 3k and then slowed it right down - I had my eye on a small brick again this evening where i would run a few sub 5ks
Thursday Evening: I went the same route out to Monivea tonight but skipped the hills. Flew out with what I thought was a crosswind but realised very quickly on the way back it was a tailwind as I had a right tough headwind into me. Struggled home. 30k at 27.7kph. Did a 5k brick with the new runners in the roatation, Saucony Ignition bought for 35 euros in TK Maxx I like the shoe so far, certainly more than the Lunarglides. Flew down the road but struggled on the way back into the wind 5k at 4.50 pace
The weekends plans are in jeopardy, I am hoping to do the Tour De Burren (100k) on saturday but I have got the call for the turf cutting tomorrow night from the brother in law. For a change I am hoping Saturday lives up to its promise and is wet, that will be the only way I will get to go to Clare. That and a long run on sunday and it will be a good weeks training for me0 -
Had a good laugh when I saw this - AC/DC and Triathlons go hand in hand
0 -
Advertisement
-
-
-
-
-
-
Advertisement
-
-
-
Monday: Nothing - when I have to travel for work I tend to do it all at once so a 16 hour day up the North. I had a load of crappy sterling to get rid, the only cut price runners I could see in Newry were Lunarglides and I didnt want another pair of them so I popped into a Tesco in Enniskillen to stock up on Erdinger, 1.39 a bottle if I remember correctly, its over 2.50 here. As I was browsing around I came across some SIS Recovery and some Whey protein and a Triathlon magazine with an open water tips cd. A big fat guy comes over to me as I was holding the SIS and tells me to go with that it worked wonders for him.
It nearly made me put it back.
As I only wanted to use my sterling, back to the checkout girl and swapped 10 bottles of Erdinger for the recovery gel and triathlon magazine. It must have seemed like some type of Damascene conversion to her (although I still left with 4 bottles)
Tuesday: Busy at work again and couldn't get the lunchtime run in. Had a meeting in Loughrea that night so I left early to get a swim and run in. Forgot the runners so a swim it was. First time in that lake since the Loughrea Triathlon. Its a great lake to swim in, nice sandy bottom and the water is very clear. The plan was to do an endurance swim of 4 x 750, I was feeling strong after the first two sets but I tired quickly on the last one and left it at three. I felt the pace was decent though.
Wednesday: 8k at lunch, I had forgotten to charge the garmin so no stats, felt like around 5 min pace. That evening I wanted to do a brick session, a fairly uninspiring bike out the back roads where I failed to hold above 30k an hour pace and a better 3k brick after where I loped along at 4.25 pace. My running seems to be coming along better than my cycling has. Tried my recovery drink........strawberry..........very nice. 25k @ 29.3kph
Thursday: Lunchtime 7k - started to rain and I was feeling tired so binned this before I got to the exposed windy area and looped back to the house. 7k at 5.29 pace.I had hoped to go to an OW swim session in salthill but had to be back to the house for a work call at 8.30, after 30 minutes in the car and only stuck in traffic at Eyre square I turned around and went to Annaghdown pier. 2 laps of the rock 1000m.
Might not do too much tomorrow with Kilkee on saturday If I can I will try and get a small sea swim in - it was supposed to be another hard week but with being busy workwise I didnt get near as much as I had hoped. I will hopefully do a decent session on sunday legs permitting. I don't have huge expectations for Kilkee - everyone tells me it is tough and the extra 4k on the bike wont suit me. The first outing for the year for "The school friend", he will be licking his chops at this one with the extra distance on the bike to put the hammer down on me0 -
-
-
-
shotgunmcos wrote: »Good luck tomorrow CW, just how many nemesi do you have?!
Does it matter just so long as I don't make it onto that list! I don't want to be on the end of a smackdown
Best of luck tomorrow CW, hope you're bringing your A-game to town
. Watch out for that first hill on the run, its a toughie
p.s. what wave are you in?0 -
Does it matter just so long as I don't make it onto that list! I don't want to be on the end of a smackdown
Best of luck tomorrow CW, hope you're bringing your A-game to town. Watch out for that first hill on the run, its a toughie
p.s. what wave are you in?
He's in wave 1 and I'm hoping for a good draft off him in the swim! 0 -
-
-
Advertisement
-
-
-
-
Arch Nemesis Watch
The School Friend
The ex
A nice 10.15 am start time so no red eye drive this morning, left at 7.15 am and got down there for 8.30 for registration. Registration didn't go well as I had a trouble with my TI card so I had to wait until registration closed before I got sorted. I had realised that I forgot my Garmin as well as I left it charging last night
I got down to transition in plenty of time so there was no real panic anyways, loads of club members were at this and a few lads I didn't recognize which was no surprise with how little I am able to make it down there for training sessions. The school friend came over but he wasnt really training much and it was the only triathlon he was doing this year, I met the ex as well which made me think I could be in trouble here with the longer bike and run of the Olympic distance
Not a great day by any means, windy and wet but at least it was warm and the sea looked pretty calm as well.
Swim: I tend to swim better at the longer distances, I tend to go out too fast and be too tense for the sprints. I was in wave 1 and my plan was to take it easy out to the first buoy as it was against the tide and try and hammer the swim back to shore. This was going to plan, I was swimming very relaxed and was thinking am I going too slow here, as it was feeling too easy. Sighting was going well after picking up a few tips last week and the large buoys were easy to spot. The first problem came when I was cutting across to the 2nd bouy, I got my goggles knocked off. Tried to get them back on while cursing at him..... leaking, stopped and tried again and leaking again, on the third attempt the right eye sealed. Seeing as I was breathing to the right I decided to close the other eye and just keep going. I was mad now as I had a great stroke going, got around the corner......... heading for home. This went fantastic, I increased the stroke rate while keeping the stroke long and every few seconds a wave would come over you pulling you along. Full bore all the way in, I got caught in a battle with two other lads where I was drafting and then decided they were too slow, tried to overtake them and then decided they weren't that slow at all so back in behind them..... I did this three times Got to the shore where there is a decent run to tranistion, spectators line along both sides. I got a rotten cramp - so I was shuffling up quasimodo like through the funnel while trying to get the swimsuit off as well.
Transition 1: Without a Garmin and with the field well spread out I had no idea what the swim was like, did I go out too slow?. Got into transition then one of my clubmates arrived in who I didn't think I would be near in the water and finally the PA says congrats to all the swimmers coming in as they were well under 30 minutes for the swim...........ohhhhhh baby.............I was stoked. I had never got near sub 30 before let alone under it. Time 28.23 Position 174
Bike: Another half baked plan here - I was told the wind would be with us for the 1st half of the race so I might as well gun it as that's the only decent area for me on the bike - I would suffer later but that would be the same regardless if I went out hard or not. Another one of the club mates came through me on the hill at the start but he started to idle at that stage, eating and drinking so I went by him again. After going over a pothole at the start my cycle computer kicked into life - the speed was great, I hardly saw it go under 40k and I was going by a few people. After a while a load of people on the TT bikes started to pass me, I was wondering where they were coming from until I realized this would be the top guys from wave 2 who I had a 10 minute lead on. Went past a few guys marshalling...was that shotgunmcos in his Limerick Tri I just saw. Still going pretty well and pgibbo goes by me.....much later than usual so I must have had a good swim I was thinking. His chain came off so I took him again and put the hammer down again just to make him work .
The turn around and into the wind. No surprise it ended up as a bike race of two halves, no more 40+ readings from the computer I was firmly in the teens for most of the way home. I started getting overtaken on a regular basis now, pelotons galore which was very disappointing, I was amazed looking at the results that there were only a handful of penalties, I saw plenty of bike marshals who were driving behind these pelotons and looks like no action was taken. The clubmates in wave 1 started to overtake me at this stage and towards the end some of the clubmates in wave 2 went by as well
Gave a big shout out to shotgun on the way back who was looking very confused at my greeting and came into transition 2 a broken man
1.31.31 Position 371
Run: I had no brick legs of any note, not from any diligent training more I was broken mentally on the last few k in on the bike and I coasted home. I came out of transition with Deval Devaney of Gaelforce fame who flew by me in Ballina last year but I was holding her here. Once we got to the hills though I just couldn't hang on to her she was relentless going up them. Went past a group of 3 runners who once their brick legs had gone repassed me again. It was blowing a gale at this stage so I decided to up my pace a little bit and tuck in behind them. The hills were never ending - the leaders started to come through and I could only be envious of the downhill run and wind at their backs. One of the pack changed gears and pulled away so I stayed with the other two until the turn around point.
I was shattered and was regretting not having one more gel, the breathing was fine but I had very little left in my legs. With the wind and a mostly downhill run I picked it up again and left the two running mates, I saw the ex coming up to the turnaround looking strong and I knew I wouldn't be able to hold him. I was moving well at this stage but come 7k and a small hill I knew I was in trouble. Kept it moving but I reckon my pace had slowed. At around 8.5k the ex stormed past me, I laughed as there was no way he was going at that pace behind me or he would have caught me much earlier, but I was in no shape to call his bluff. He got to about 20 metres in front of me and began to idle at that pace and kept it at that distance to the line.
The last k was downhill again thank christ and I got home in one piece. Easily the hardest course I have done
Run 47.30 Position 219
Total 2.49.59
Finish Position 271 from 608 finishers
I am pretty happy with that, as per usual my bike was abysmal, I am going to have to bite the bullet and look at joining a bike club over the winter if I want to improve my times. Not having looked at last years log I think my previous best for an Olympic distance was a 2.47 in Tri Athy last year with a 1.17 bike in perfect conditions, so with a much harder course and the extra 5 k on the bike, I look like I might have pulled off a 2.3x if I had had a crack at Athy this year.
Delighted with the swim and happy with the run, my pb from last year is 45.01 so that was a respectable time on a course as hard as that. I am a bit worried about my sub 5.30 plan in Swinford as I will have to hold that bike time for 90k to have any chance but its an easier course and its fast as well if the wind is blowing from the right direction. I will have to look at way more nutrition than I am getting, I was close to bonking towards the end of the run so I will need to up the food intake majorly. I had two gels on the bike and one at the start of the run
Met Interested who was getting the full treatment from a young blonde physio for what seemed like an hour while the rest of were standing wrapped shivering in tin foil in the rain watching, luckily Redb kept me from passing out with the cold with fine tales of Kenmare 2011 and Austria 2012
This week I am hoping to have a big weeks training - a club aquathon on wednesday which could be red hot as there are three or four of us with similar swim and run times. Mrsc has also scored the uncles Ballynahinch apartment for the weekend so I am hoping to do some major sessions over that weekend0 -
-
-
-
Greta report a s ever CW. Thanks for making me work twice to catch you!
Huge improvements so congrats on that. However, I have to agree with kennyb3. You're putting in significant hours training and getting good results compared to previous years. However, with the effort you are putting in, you should look at it a bit more technically and put some structure to your training. I'd be shocked if there weren;t a lot more significant improvements made as a result. If you;re going to put the time in, why not get the most out of it.
Anyway, I'm rambling. Well done again and Swinford will be grand. All that training will stand to you.
BTW, if you go better at longer distances you should sign up for Barcelona! 0 -
-
Advertisement
-
BTW, if you go better at longer distances you should sign up for Barcelona!
You never give up Gibbo - that comment was for the swimming and nothing else
Lets see how I get on in Swinford first - I will admit mentioning the London Marathon next year to Mrs Catweazle and I was shot down instantly by the mention of a little kitten
The noose is beginning to tighten.0
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3UppgKTHvSA
Advertisement