Humbert Challenge

hardCopy

So who else is doing this?

How are people fixed?

I've been down to recce the bike route which is quite nice with only one nasty hill and a really nice section through the woods out towards Pontoon. The road is a bit rough in patches though. Here's the bike route: http://connect.garmin.com/activity/93989341

I haven't done the run route yet but it looks fairly flat here, although I suspect we may hit a headwind on the last stretch along the N5: http://connect.garmin.com/activity/93989341

From the HIM rollcall thread there seems to be quite a few boardsies heading down.

This will be my first time out at this distance, my longest race to date was Gaelforce last year. I feel I'm fit enough for it but possibly lacking a little in speed. Have done plenty of cycling this year, including a tour across Italy and feel stronger than ever in the hills.

My running has gone backwards a little since the Connemara Half in April but did the Clontarf Half in 1:45 a couple of weeks ago.

Swimming may be my weak point, I've only swam the full distance non-stop once last week and haven't swam in the wetsuit since 2008! (I did try it on though).

Edit: I knew there was a thread somewhere but couldn't find it in the events forum

pgibbo

Spotted catweazle out running yesterday and you'd think we were in the depths of winter. Were you getting ready for the mid 20s that are forecast for the weekend?

Race haircut sorted too I see!

Best of luck to everyone this weekend. Looks like it will be a good weekend for it. :cool:

catweazle

Good job the battery went on the iphone or you would have seen a cap on as well holding in the earplugs. Its more a case of the missus being away for a week, there is more clothes hanging on the washing line then there is left in the house.

Barber always knows when the A race is imminent as when he says the usual 3?. He gets a steel jawed reply of no 1 please today

Check this out for a race preview - am I the only boardie not being mentioned as a contender :mad:

http://www.swinfordtrisports.com/news/151513/humbert_challenge_form_guide

Seres

anyone doing the sprint on Saturday that can offer insight into the run and cycle route ?
Also i hear the swim is sheltered , is this true ?

Rawhead

Seres wrote: »

anyone doing the sprint on Saturday that can offer insight into the run and cycle route ?
Also i hear the swim is sheltered , is this true ?

The lake is like a mill pond, lovely and smooth.

The vast majority of the cycle is on A roads. There is a section that might have some center verge etc but 99% of the route is fine.

The run has a steep hill before the 1km mark but as it's an out and back you'll have a nice downhill finish.

BTH

catweazle wrote: »

Good job the battery went on the iphone or you would have seen a cap on as well holding in the earplugs. Its more a case of the missus being away for a week, there is more clothes hanging on the washing line then there is left in the house.

Barber always knows when the A race is imminent as when he says the usual 3?. He gets a steel jawed reply of no 1 please today

Check this out for a race preview - am I the only boardie not being mentioned as a contender :mad:

http://www.swinfordtrisports.com/news/151513/humbert_challenge_form_guide

No pressure on Interested then!! Swim prime or bust!!

Dowee

They've clearly never seen Interested hobble through the last leg of a race. Not sure the broken foot would make much difference!!

interested

Dowee wrote: »

They've clearly never seen Interested hobble through the last leg of a race. Not sure the broken foot would make much difference!!

It should be an entertaining weekend. Have a splash around the head on Saturday morning and then the Swinford swim and bike on Sunday. Pressure ? not a chance - theres always a great collection of swimmers in Swinford and despite facing a DNF, I'm looking forward to 'competing' in some shape or form again.

For those ^^^ that have spent almost 2 years planning and training for this race, waking up in the middle of the night sweating, screaming and being tortured by the memory of my slow (but perfectly formed) ar*e disappear over the line just in front of them, I'd guess they'd be feeling the pressure and online sniping.

does this mean my lift is now gone Dowee ?

Rawhead

Last dip in the lake this evening. It's absolutely lovely and looks like the weather is going to be perfect for the races.

Best of luck to everyone doing the races.

Dowee

interested wrote: »

does this mean my lift is now gone Dowee ?

Not at all, but while you're taking part in that Saturday morning dip, just remember I'll have free access to your bike!

It's not common for tyres to get shredded or saddles to disappear while bikes are in the back of a car, but sometimes these things just happen!!

interested

Dowee wrote: »

Not at all, but while you're taking part in that Saturday morning dip, just remember I'll have free access to your bike!

It's not common for tyres to get shredded or saddles to disappear while bikes are in the back of a car, but sometimes these things just happen!!

or mysteriously locked to the transition rack it's not like I won't have time to do that to your bike either.

hardCopy

Will there be access to the jetty/pontoon on Saturday afternoon? Would love a pre-race dip in the wetsuit.

Abhainn

Rawhead wrote: »

Last dip in the lake this evening. It's absolutely lovely and looks like the weather is going to be perfect for the races.

Best of luck to everyone doing the races.

Looking forward to the half now.
Hopefully the forecast of a fresh sw wind for Sunday won't be as bad as the met predict. They say some rain also

El Director

Good luck to all doing this one, I always look forward to reading CW's report on this! Seems to be gaining in popularity every year, definitely on my list at some stage. Weather by the looks like it will be perfect

hardCopy

Best of luck folks. Had a quick swim this afternoon, water is lovely.

BeepBeep67

Joe 7th in 4:46 [34:30-2:42-1:24] very windy

Rawhead

5:24. Inside target of 5:30. Not sure of the splits yet but the swim was 37 odd and the run was a disaster at 2 hours. Bike went well.
Should be happy as it's only my 4th triathlon and first HIM.
Upwards and onwards I suppose, if I can fix that run I'll be happy.
Well done to all.

BTH

BetterThanHoyte wrote: »

No pressure on Interested then!! Swim prime or bust!!

Fluffy only second out of the water today, a full 1:02 behind the leader. He'll not be happy with that!!

griffin100

BetterThanHoyte wrote: »

Fluffy only second out of the water today, a full 1:02 behind the leader. He'll not be happy with that!!

Well he did win yesterday, maybe he was tired

interested

griffin100 wrote: »

Well he did win yesterday, maybe he was tired

Dublin-Clogherhead-Dublin-Swinford-registration-hunt for veggie food-awake at 5.45 for breakfast, 9am start in very blustery conditions with wind behind us, close to lead swimmer, he/she ripped it! Great job -yes I was tired, but chapeau ! they were gone ... until the return into the wind when I clawed some of the lead back.
I'm only in the door from the drive back, havent seen results, and am more than happy to have only been that far back.

1.9k felt like a sprint after 2.5k yesterday and 6k the saturday before and some polish beer during the week still hobbling but damn glad I didnt have to go out for the run today. Sitting in T2 watching the world go by was entertaining - Catweazle even had time for a chat !

All good. Back to work for a rest.

catweazle

interested wrote: »

Catweazle even had time for a chat !

Ha fair play for the encouragement I was very down and unmotivated after cracking badly on the bike and knew a pb was long gone. Just under 6 hours for me, disappointed as I was a long way behind last years time but I suppose the warning bells were ringing after Kilkee.

What can I do, I tried my best but just didn't have it on the day. Enjoyed the day though as always, Swinford finally showed its teeth on the bike after two pleasant days the years before, great race as always!

Results here

Dory Dory

interested wrote: »

Dublin-Clogherhead-Dublin-Swinford-registration-hunt for veggie food-awake at 5.45 for breakfast, 9am start in very blustery conditions with wind behind us, close to lead swimmer, he/she ripped it! Great job -yes I was tired, but chapeau ! they were gone ... until the return into the wind when I clawed some of the lead back.
I'm only in the door from the drive back, havent seen results, and am more than happy to have only been that far back.

1.9k felt like a sprint after 2.5k yesterday and 6k the saturday before and some polish beer during the week still hobbling but damn glad I didnt have to go out for the run today. Sitting in T2 watching the world go by was entertaining - Catweazle even had time for a chat !

All good. Back to work for a rest.

That would be a male in the 25-29 age group...in his swimming prime.

Well done to everyone who participated. Catweazle, you've had a few extra unplanned events as of late. Even if your time wasn't what you were hoping for, I hope you enjoyed the day. (Edit: And I guess you did enjoy they day since you already said you did. )

EC1000

5h18min for me today. Took 45 mins off my Tri an Mhi time. Happy considering the wind on the bike. Very well organised race, aid stations extremely well stocked. Not sure what the point is of having the finish line 5km from transition?? Definitely one I'd do again.

BTH

Dory Dory wrote: »

That would be a male in the 25-29 age group...in his swimming prime.

interested wrote: »

9am start in very blustery conditions with wind behind us, close to lead swimmer, he/she ripped it! Great job -yes I was tired, but chapeau ! they were gone ... until the return into the wind when I clawed some of the lead back.

It was the guy who finished third behind me in Lanesboro last week. Awesome swimmer. See the winner from that day finished second at this. Clearly in great form too.

Well done to everyone who completed this.

hardCopy

6:22 for me, my first attempt at this distance.

6:30 was my target, I knocked about 10 minutes off my best training swim time. Felt great on the bike, by the time I got to T2 it looked like <6:00 might be on but I was in bits after about 3K on the run. Had to run/walk for a while but by the time I got to 13K I had either gotten over the pain or just blocked it out and managed to run the rest of the way at about 6:30/km.

I don't think I've ever been so slow or so sore on a run.

Highlights of the day were my tri-bars falling apart from the vibrations on the rough road to Pontoon and having to stop and tighten all the bolts. Then came my spectacular failed dismount at T2 where I ended up dismounting with one bare foot and one foot in my bike shoe.

Big thanks to all the marshals, a lot of them were on their own on very quiet stretches of road and must have been bored out of their tree. The sponges at the water stops were a welcome surprise, I hadn't seen that at a race before.

Rawhead

Swim 37:08 (59)
Bike 2:43 (24)
Run 1:59 (87)

I realised that I did the whole cycle with my front break welded to the rim (i never checked the front wheel after taking it off the carrier), I knew that the wind was strong but I couldn't understand why I needed to push so hard. My HR and cadence where exactly within zones but this must have meant that I pushed much harder. I also thought the water bottle station was closer than it was and this resulted in me being without water for a half hour. This was the cause I think of my legs going on the run. I was fine for the first 4km pacing 4:30 per km, but I pretty much walked more than I ran until 13km. I picked up a bit and managed to jog the last few kms.

I'm pretty disappointed to be honest as I should have been able to do the run in 1:40/45, but I'll learn a lot from this. Watching so many people go by me in the run was heartbreaking.

Lesson 1: DO PROPER BIKE CHECK

catweazle

Good report here from out in front

Link Here

Abhainn

Fair play to Swinford Tri again. Top notch organisation.
Marshals were fantantic, aid stations stocked with sponges were well received.
This deserves the right to be a NS event sometime soon

dx22

Agreed great race, brilliantly marshaled, really community feel about it, the kids were great with the smiley faces and sponges at aid stations, only my second year in triathlon and im starting to realise that many events are poorly run and very few are as good as this one!

onimpulse

You'll go a long way to find an event that's better run than this! It really is a superbly well run race!

After a few years in the sport there are definitely some races that stand out - this is one, most definitely! There is nothing I could fault, not just that though - they exceed expectations on so many fronts!

I most certainly agree that they deserve N.S. Recognition, and I predict that when they get it, the other pretenders will have to up their game to prise it back!

This is a great race flying somewhat under the radar, but I doubt for long...