Run Fat Boy Run - The lazy mans guide to Ironman and Marathon training.

shotgunmcos

Go neiri an bothair leat

RedB

griffin100 wrote: »

I think i can say with some certainty sunburn and dehydration ain't going to be an issue tomorrow if it's a repeat of today's weather.

How's the sunburn?

Oryx

Howditgo?

griffin100

What a day. Some rain and a lot of wind (and I mean a lot) on the bike, and hot and sunny on the run - I actually do have sunburn

Finished in 12.36hrs. 1.19 swim, 6.32 bike, 4.28 run. 24the overall out of 59 starters which I'm very happy with considering my lack of training

Blew up completely on the run walking the last 6 miles. Hardest IM to date and my last one for a long time me thinks.

Izoard

Cracking time - very well done.

I think you should do one of the downhill IMs as a final effort to nail your PB!

shotgunmcos

Report report! Well done solid result man

griffin100

shotgunmcos wrote: »

Report report! Well done solid result man

Report to come when I'm back in work tomorrow.

Final results place me 16th out of 44 individual male finishers, very happy with that

griffin100

Hardman Triathlon Race Report

Let's be honest here, I'd no business lining up on the start line for this race on Saturday. To recap:

• I haven't done a triathlon since I did this race in 2011
• I took 8 months off the bike after Hardman 2011 and only got back into the saddle in April of this year
• I only started swimming properly this year in mid June
• My longest bike this year was under 5 hrs and I had only done 3 x 4hr plus rides
• My total cycling mileage for the year was approx. 1,500kms
• My total swim mileage for the year was circa. 60kms

There were however some good points:

• I had run around 1,800kms this year and had gotten my run times down a lot
• I was feeling good on the bike, maybe as a result of being lighter this year
• I had lost another 3-4kgs on last years race weight
• My swim stroke seemed to be better than it's ever been and I was faster in the pool than ever before

I entered this race quite late in the day, more to have something to aim for as otherwise my training would go to pot and I'd start getting fat(ter) again. Training was difficult this year. Having a 50m pool close by in work really helped with the swimming, the running was easy enough but the bike was a real problem. Getting the time to get out for long rides at the weekend kept getting harder and harder and in the end I only got 3 rides of more than 4hrs in. I agreed with the wife that this would be the last IM for a while as it's not fair on her and the kids having to organise the weekend's activities around my long training (I know others manage admirably well, but not me).

Ok so predictions.......last year I did this race in 13.00.12hrs. Despite the lack of training my aim was to go faster this year. Being realistic best case scenario on the swim was around 1.20 (1.25 last year); on the bike I felt that I could match last year’s time or be a bit quicker as it was a slightly shorter route this year so I reckoned around 6.40 might be on (6.48 last year); and on the run I hoped in and around 4.10 might be possible (4.30 last year). I had harboured thoughts of a sub 4 run for a lot of the year but I knew my run training had lacked some quality in the last couple of moths so this was not really on. So allowing 16 mins for transition that gave me a best case scenario of around 12.26hrs.

So heading to Kerry on Friday I was alone, last year there was a convoy of two cars with two adults, 4 kids, a bike and assorted gear - this year it was just me and my kit. Race briefing was on Friday night, no surprises on the night. The bike route was the ring of Kerry in reverse with the marathon in the National Park. The swim route would be confirmed next morning subject to wind conditions. I'd spent all week watching the changing forecasts and one thing was for sure, we would have some rain and wind on the bike....oh well it's the same for everyone.

I had a nice Italian on the Friday night - it really is sacrilegious to eat good Italian food without at least one glass of a good red but I resisted temptation. I also avoided anything that began its life in the sea - I didn't want a repeat of the JackyBack incident.

Off back to my B&B where I fell asleep by 10pm and slept like a baby all night- nerves? What nerves?

Race Morning
I woke at 4.30am feeling wide awake and ready for the big day but wondering what the funny noises I could hear were - ah yes, that would be the sound of torrential rain pounding off my window. My usual IM breakfast of cornflakes and bananas and I headed off and was at T1 for 5.30am. Sign in, rack bike, eat some wine gums, chat to some people, look for portaloos. No sign of portaloos, then a trailer arrives with two loos on the back, loos are untied from each other, pushed to opposite ends of the trailer and then a shout goes up - toilets ready. Climb up onto the trailer to get to the loo's, that's what I love about this race, no frills. Thankfully the rain stops before the start.

Swim
Quick pre swim brief, two laps of a triangular course, keep the buoys to your left, it'll be a bit choppy in the middle given the wind. Quick safety brief from Kerry Sub Aqua Club - if you're from Kerry and get into trouble lie back and raise your hand, if you're not from Kerry then you can fcuk off.

Into the water for a quick warm up. I did some balance and kick drills (yes drills) out to the first buoy and was swimming back to the start line when I heard a countdown, sh1t, I'm in the front row of swimmers in an IM. Luckily I was slightly off to the side and managed not to get run over by the fast guys. I settled into a nice rhythm when I suddenly had a massive panic attack....wtf am I doing here......I'll never swim 2.4 miles......and I have to cycle the ROK......and I've done fcuk all training. The only really dark moment in the whole day and it took me a minute or two to calm down and get on with it. I was stroking well and keeping the stroke long as advised by Dory and Tango. Better still I was swimming dead straight (a first for me) and had to sight a lot less than normal. I think I may have taken the straightest possible line between every buoy. Conditions were ideal, a small bit of chop with only one or two bits where the chop was large enough to make breathing difficult. As I began to tire a bit midway through the second lap I concentrated on keeping the stroke long and could really feel how my left arm reach in particular shortens when I get tired. I realised as well that when concentrating on my stroke I can’t concentrate on peeing at the same time and the former deteriorated whilst the latter was in progress.

As I approached the finish I got a small cramp in both calf's but nothing major and as I climbed out was delighted to see 1.18.xx on my watch. This ended up being 1.19.02 by the time I crossed the timing mat. This was 6.30 minutes quicker than last year and put me 18th out of the water and 13th individual competitor. In fact it was actually one place better but another swimmer passed me between the water exit and the timing mat. I was delighted with this. I’ll give some of the credit to Mr. Tango.

T1
Wetsuit off and full cycling gear on over tri shorts. Seemed to take an age in here but was out in 8.13 as compared to 7.13 last year so not too bad.

Bike
Nutrition wise the same as last year - two bidons on the bike, one with water and one with 10 x Hi5 isogels. Have a swig of gel every 20mins, supplemented by a piece of solid food every hr (bananna, rideshots, wine gums) - refill bottles at special needs station at 90kms. The plan for the bike was to take it easy for the first 15kms or so when we would reach Molls Gap and then spin up here in a big gear. This is exactly what I did. We had a tailwind for the first few kms which helped keep the effort down and then up Molls Gap. I had been dreading this climb as I'd done so little climbing in training but it was fine. I spun up it easily. BennyMul passed me half way up and we had a quick chat and then he headed off looking very strong (and ending up with a brilliant 5th place overall in the end). As I hit the top of Molls Gap I started to get excited about the descent awaiting me on the far side which I knew was fast and sweeping. Alas the road on the descent was wet, had some running water and a lot of loose gravel. I had to take it easy here but still managed to overshoot one corner and nearly ended up in a bog. At the bottom of the descent I caught another rider and then hit the Kenmare to Sneem road. This wasn't too bad, some sections were into the wind, some with the wind at my back, but it was fine. Then after Sneem it began to get tough. Between Sneem and Waterville the wind alternated between headwind and tailwind but mostly headwind. It was tough enough but I was feeling ok. On this section I caught another rider decked out in full Sky gear including the pointy helmet. The next big climb was the one before Waterville and again I spun up this in a big gear easily enough catching the last rider I would pass and being passed myself for the second and last time that day (it's a lonely bike course). At the top of Coomiciste I was getting ready for the 60kph+ descent I knew awaited me into Waterville but again the weather intervened and despite being tucked in on the tri bars, being on a smooth surface, pushing a big gear and not touching the brakes I struggled to hit 40kph on the descent - the headwind was horrible. At just over 90kms I stopped in Waterville to collect my special needs bag which I had stocked with two coke bottles filled with a premixed nuun solution and 10 x Hi5 isogels - these were decanted into my bidons and on I continued. This was when it began to get really tough. The headwind was just unreal, on the flat in the granny gear at times struggling to hit 20kph. I had a 40-50km section in the middle of the bike where my average speed was low 20's kph and this was topped off with a heavy rain shower. Still I was feeling good and I knew it was a matter of just getting down to it and keeping the legs moving - having done a couple of IM's before really helped mentally. At 120kms I had a quick stop for a wee and to remove my rain coat as it had began to get very warm. At around the 130kms mark the wind began to die down and for the last part of the bike we had a decent tailwind or a neutral side wind. I only really began to feel tired at around 160kms which surprised me given how few long rides I'd done in training. The finish line was crossed in 6.31hrs, 23rd overall and 15th individual competitor. The bike was short at 176kms but I had expected this based on last year’s route and this year’s changes.

T2
T2 was like something from Flanders circa. 1917. It was a sea of deep, wet and soft mud. The surface was destroyed due to all of the recent rain. I racked the bike, ran into the changing tent, realised I'd taken the wrong bag, ran back outside and racked my bike in the correct location and took the right bag this time. I went back into the changing tent where I ended up getting covered in mud and almost losing my bike shoes in the mud - it was unreal - I like to sit down when putting on my runners after an IM bike to help prevent cramp but not here. Complete change into a tri suit and a cycling top over same. Managed to get out in 10.22 which was a lot quicker than it could have been (it was 8.29 last year) but Jesus the mud was unreal.

Run
As I came out of T2 the thought that a sub 4hr run would see me go close to a sub 12hr time briefly flashed through my mind.....but I quickly let it pass. I was feeling ok apart from the heavy legs but I knew that there was no way I could hold sub 4 pace for the entire race. The first part of the run was down a track to get into the National Park and here I had to run through a lot of water with the result that both feet got soaked. I entered the National Park and the course was 4 x 10km laps of the park plus the run back up the track to the finish. At the start of the lap was an aid station with my feed bag that had some gels and a couple of bottles of coke. At the start of the first lap I took of the cycling jersey and did the run in a tri suit only as at this stage it was starting to get very warm.

I set off at a nice gentle pace, walking the aid stations and any inclines. There was a long winding incline at the end of each lap which I walked. I completed the first lap without any problems averaging around 8.30 min / mile pace. One of the TI technical delegates cycled up to me, looked at me and said ‘it aint pretty but its effective’ – cheeky fecker. On the second lap I started to tire and slow up a bit but again had no big problems and I hit the halfway mark in just under 2hrs. At the end of the second lap I realised that running the remaining 13 miles at 10 min / mile pace would give me a 4.10 finish time so I adopted a walk for 1 minute / run the rest of the mile for the third lap and this got me to mile 18 in roughly 9.30 min / mile pace. However coming to the end of lap 3 I started to suffer. My whole body seemed to shut down. I could feel all of the water I had drank sitting in my stomach and I started to feel nauseous. At the start of lap 4 I began dry retching. I was dizzy and could only manage a slow walk at best. Another of the TI technical guys came up to me looking worried and asked if I was ok – I must have looked sh1t. The last 6 miles were hellish, my lack of training I think had finally come back to haunt me (and perhaps the hard middle section of the bike?). I didn’t hit the wall in the way I have in the past, like I said my body just said enough and shut down. The last 8 miles took around 1.30, averaging over 11 min / mile. I wasn’t the only one suffering though, there was a group of 4-5 of us in the same boat – all engaged in a strange walk, shuffle, run dance......and some of these guys were only on their second lap. Each mile was a mixture of walking with some very slow running. Eventually I finished the 4th lap, put my cycling jersey back on, and ran the last few hundred metres to the finish but even when within sight of the finish line I had to stop to retch when I upped the pace too much. I managed to catch 1 guy in the last mile who was in an even worse state than me and one lad within 50m of the finish line. Crossed the line for a 4.28hr run (4.30 last year) of exactly 26 miles. Run time was 25th overall and 18th male finisher.

My overall finish time was 12.37 dead and I was 24th overall finisher and 16th male home out of 44 male finishers. To be honest I’m pretty happy with that, it’s only 11 minutes slower than my best case scenario. I was happy with my swim in particular, happy with my bike given how little bike training I’ve done but I was a little disappointed with my run – in three IM’s my run times have all been circa. 4.30hrs. It was a bit weird to cross an IM finish line and not have anyone waiting to meet you. I got sorted, cycled back to T1 to get my car and headed back to the B&B. An enormous dinner of pizza and ice cream followed before I went to bed and slept soundly. Legs have pretty much recovered now although I did give my swim session with Mr Tango a miss last night.

So what’s next? I did promise the wife no more IM for a few years but I have that little niggling voice in my head telling me I could go sub 12 and a bit better if I can sort out my run and do a flat bike course. I was going to do Alpe D’Huex Tri next year but I’m not so sure now. One thing I am seriously considering is trying some long distance swim events next year (10km) and I may do the Killaloe 5km swim next month as a taster. In the short term I’d like to try and get my 5km, 10km and HM times down so will concentrate on that for the next couple of months maybe. Whatever it takes not to get fat again but with as little effort as possible.........................

hf4z6sqo7vjngi

Well done Peter, those swim sessions with Tango are paying off:) It seems a mentally tough day out especially with no large crowds or pace lines to get into on the bike, hopefully you will have a crack at the sub12 next year. For once pick an easier course, whats that now, 1 UKIM and 2 Hardman?....hardly easy options:)

BennyMul

Great report and result.
Was nice meeting you, I do be in Carlow occasionally if you ever want company for a run or bike.

Izoard

Great stuff - the less you train, the better you get...

My hero:)

Dory Dory

You mean those water polo b!tches I lined up for you didn't show up for your finish??!!

Ugly last hour and a half, but well done to you for trudging on. Super job on the swim - and you're just finding your swimming legs fins!! Loads of improvement to look forward to. Congrats on the entire event!

Kurt Godel

Brilliant report, that run of zombies towards the end sounds hellish! Always nice to pip someone just before the line, it was worthwhile speeding up your last mile.

Give me a shout if you want some company for OW distance training. There's a load of great sea spots near Arklow/Gorey.

Mr Tango

Yeah - good stuff.

I know of 4 people going to Lanza next year!!

catweazle

Nice one Griffin, I see no crack at a sub 3.30 in DCM written - might be as well off after what happened last year and a decent break will do you good

griffin100

Bria Careful Schoolteacher wrote: »

Well done Peter, those swim sessions with Tango are paying off:) It seems a mentally tough day out especially with no large crowds or pace lines to get into on the bike, hopefully you will have a crack at the sub12 next year. For once pick an easier course, whats that now, 1 UKIM and 2 Hardman?....hardly easy options:)

Yes I seem to pick the hard ones although Hardman only has 1,300m or so of climbing which I think is similar to Roth, though I expect the road surfaces in Germany are better.

BennyMul wrote: »

Great report and result.
Was nice meeting you, I do be in Carlow occasionally if you ever want company for a run or bike.

Let me know when you're next about, although I aint going near the bike for a while.

Izoard wrote: »

Great stuff - the less you train, the better you get...

My hero:)

2010 IMUK - 30 weeks of Fink training - 13.50hrs / 2011 Hardman - a lot less training - 13hrs / 2012 Hardman - feck all training - 12.37hrs.........I see a pattern........IM Austria circa 2016 off a round of golf and some 5 a side football - sub 10hrs and Kona bound

Kurt Godel wrote: »

Give me a shout if you want some company for OW distance training. There's a load of great sea spots near Arklow/Gorey.

I will do, although I doubt I will be able to keep up with you.

catweazle wrote: »

Nice one Griffin, I see no crack at a sub 3.30 in DCM written - might be as well off after what happened last year and a decent break will do you good

Definitely not doing DCM, last year after IM I bombed in the DCM big style. Running wise I think a crack at a sub 20 5km is the short term goal.

So back into the swing of it and into the pool yesterday for a 1,000m of drills and 100m repeats. No ill effects on the body and swimming well. Next goal is to make sure I'm recovered for the 400m TT with Tango on Monday night.........

griffin100

Nothing much last week. Despite little or no training and a week of some really bad eating (even for me) I've lost more weight I'm threatening 12.xx stone for the first time since I was an undergrad back in the days when colour had yet to be invented and the last ice age was just starting to recede.

Managed one swim of 1,000m and two runs of 5 and 6 miles. I've entered a 5km swim for late September so that should keep things interesting for a while.

griffin100

Monday - swim session with Tango. Some of the faster guys were along for this one (Tunney; Bambatta?). Lots of drills and some swim golf. My scores have come down since week 1, averaging low 70's for 50m which whilst pants is down by 5-6 due to faster times rather than fewer strokes. Speaking of pants JB forget his swim shorts and to avoid drafting a man in a dodgy pair of skivvies with bits hanging out the side I loaned him a pair of mine. Plenty of room for him there

About 1,000m all in.

Tuesday
Swim: 2,500m. Was feeling really tired going into this and was looking for an excuse to ditch it for the first 1,000m. Was really not feeling the water today and the times were down but I managed to get the whole set done. Was really concentrating on trying to get that extra rotation at the end of the reach and I think that was messing me up a bit. Lots of students back in UCD today today so at times had lots to look at and occupy the mind , whilst at one stage I had the entire pool to myself.

100 wu / 300 drills (kick heavy - ouch) / 100 x 4 / 200 x 2 / 400 / 200 x 2 / 100 x 4 / 100 cd.

Plan was to hold steady pace for the entire set. The 100's all came in on 1.55; the 200's averaging 4.05 ; the 400 in 8.20 - very poor. My biceps and triceps are hanging of me now, might give the pool a miss tomorrow.

Dory Dory

Thanks for the visual of jb and his hanging bits.

hf4z6sqo7vjngi

Dory Dory wrote: »

Thanks for the visual of jb and his hanging bits.

In a good way right?;)

Dory Dory

Bria Careful Schoolteacher wrote: »

In a good way right?;)

Hey, I was worried about those hanging bits when I saw you in the trash can full of ice.....hoped you had the "full-of-ice to how-low-they-hanging" ratio figured correctly.

griffin100

Not a great week last week. After swimming Monday and Tuesday I was too busy in work to get to the pool at all for the rest of the week. Also felt very tired. Managed to get two runs in - 6 miles @ 7.30 min/mile pace - I wanted to see how body would react to some hard miles; and 8 miles @ 8.30 pace, a run on which I nearly died for some reason :rolleyes: I need to get my ass in gear or the 5km swim in three weeks aint gonna happen. This week looks metal again in work and at home :mad:

Swim session with Tango last night. Straight to the pool after 3hrs of college, - you'd think at my age I'd have enough qualifications by now Felt tired all through the session. Did some new drills including one armed ones. I normally like one armed drills and when I do them I leave one arm out front and stroke with the other, last night we were leaving the unused arm by our sides and stroking with the other arm, much more difficult and a great way to swallow half the pool. Finished with 100 x 4 off 2.45 which came in on 1.44 / 1.47 / 1.44 / 1.45 - had to push hard on the last one. I'm dropping my legs and lifting my head for some reason apparently so need to work on that.

griffin100

Managed a sneaky swim session this morning. Pushed for time so ignored Tango's sessions and did my own thing, no drills just swimming.
100 x 10 off 2.15 in on 1.50-55; 200 x 4 off 4.30 in on 3.50; 3.52; 3.55; 4.00 - had hoped to do a fifth but the arms were hanging off me at this stage. 1,800m in total. Will try and do a drill heavy session tomorrow.

I'm really starting to regret entering that 5km swim..........:rolleyes:

Dory Dory

When is the swim?

griffin100

Sept. 30th

Dory Dory

griffin100 wrote: »

Sept. 30th

Wow. That looks pretty cool! You'll be fine - just relax, pace yourself, and enjoy. I also like how they have swims for the little ones. Nice event!

griffin100

Another swim session today, the third this week so not too bad, however no running. Between work, college and home life one training session a day at the minute seems to be my limit so I'm concentrating on the swimming until after the 5km and then we'll take a look at the running.

200m wu
500 drills - 50m kick x 2 / 100m balance drills / 100m sculling drills / 100 fist drills / 50m kick / 50m fist - I was fecked before I'd started the main set
50 x 4 off 90 secs (x4) - all done flat out. All came in on circa. 50-52secs which is slower than the last time I did this but that was off 2 mins rather than 90secs so that's something I suppose.
200m cd
Total 1,700m

These shorter structured sessions seem to be a lot harder than the 3,000m faffing about sessions I used to do.

griffin100

Managed to get a 6 mile run in on Friday but nothing since, this must be the first weekend in years when I haven't done some sort of training. Instead I spent it in hospital with the 16
month old and here I still am. A few days in here puts it all into perspective and missing training sessions doesn't really seem that important after all. Hope to be out of here tomorrow or Wednesday.

hf4z6sqo7vjngi

griffin100 wrote: »

Managed to get a 6 mile run in on Friday but nothing since, this must be the first weekend in years when I haven't done some sort of training. Instead I spent it in hospital with the 16
month old and here I still am. A few days in here puts it all into perspective and missing training sessions doesn't really seem that important after all. Hope to be out of here tomorrow or Wednesday.

I hope everything is alright with the little one Peter.

griffin100

Bria Careful Schoolteacher wrote: »

I hope everything is alright with the little one Peter.

Cheers Fran, she's doing much better now. She has a viral infection in her lungs so she's on lots of drugs and oxygen - it sounds like she's drowning when she breaths - but she seems to be on the mend now so hope to get her home tomorrow. A rough few days.