At least it not a cold winter morning ergo LSD...

Saturday: TriAthy Olympic Triathlon 1.5k/40k/10k
Very well organised for such a big event in a small town.

The Swim
I was off in Wave one, an all male start. Entering the water wasn't as bad as the head freeze in Valentia and you could feel the flow of the river straight away. It was very murky and visibility was only achieved by swimming a few strokes with your head up. We spent a few minutes swimming about before the start went quite unexpectadly. It was a melee! The first few hundred meters felt more like wrestling in a mud bath than swimming. It was impossible to put 2 strokes together without some sort of physical contact. I was aware of the fact it was an all male wave so I gave as good as I got this time. I need to practice drafting but my attempts just frustrated me so after 500m I drifted left into the middle of the river away from the pack for a clearer swim. A few people drafted off me but I didn't care. My problem with drafting in the swim is finding the feet that are just faster than me. Many moaned afterwards about the 400m back up stream. Yes it felt long and was harder than the easier downstream swim, however I didn't mind. Upper body strength was my asset here. The last 50m to the pontoon did seem like forever though! The guys at on the pontoon must have been wrecked after dragging hundreds of slippy swimmers up out of the water all day. Fair play to them! My guy struggled with me (82kg after eating my way through a chest infection last week!) and I twisted a bit so that I was dragged onto the pontoon on my backside... swim time 22'57" and happy enough with it.

Transitions
Both TI and T2 were fine. In T1 I found my Bike and got the wetsuit off quickly and was out in just over a minute. On exiting T1 however I hopped on my bike with more ease than the guys wobbling in front of me and managed to crash into them. T2 was good also but I took a few extra seconds to gulp down about a pint of water.

The Bike.
The course was out and back twice and undulating (not as flat as they make it out to be). On a normal day in training I'd have eaten this course but today I just didn't have it. I must have been overtaken 50 times in the first 10km alone. I will say that I cycled an 'honest' race and pulled back the required distance each time. Without taking too much away from the event I have to say the drafting on the bike was a disgrace and probably unavoidable given how short and narrow the road was. At one point on the second lap I saw a motorbike leading a group of 20-30 bikes and actually wondered if this was a draft legal race!! On the second lap the other waves had joined and the were bikes all over the place. I had gone through the first 20km in 35min and change, slow for me. At 26km I attempted to press the pace a bit but I didn't have it. The Doc did say I would be probably at 80-90% and thats exactly how I felt. I was really feeling it and my mind was playing games after that 26k mark. I was tempted to call it a day. I passed one of our own club guys (a brilliant cyclist) on the side of the road pumping his wheel furiously and thought to myself that I wasn't having as bad a time of it as some! He roared past me a few minutes later. I rationalised that my targets were out the window so I'd just finish it out... bike time 1'10'39" .... poor attempt

The Run
Leaving T2 I was still stuck in that mind of 'finishing'. I wasn't sure of what I had done in the swim but the maths told me it was better than I had planned but I would have had to go close to my 10k flat pb to hit my target. The way I was shuffling my feet was a solid indication that this was going to be a slog to the finish. I had barely run a hundred meters when I got a shout of encouragement from one of my own club guys as he passed me. I was usually a few minutes ahead of him at this stage. He seemed to look fresh as he pulled away fom me. I dug deep. The run was a 5km loop. The first km was mostly along the road against oncoming bikes and the 2nd km involved a few hundred meters of a zig zag over a very uneven surface. Hardly, the beautiful run its made out to be! The first water station was at 3km and far too late. I'm sure everyone was gasping by the time they got to it. I took a sip from the bottle and dumped the rest over my head. It woke me up. I glanced at my watch and although I felt awful I wasn't doing such a bad pace and that club guy was only 200m or so in front of me. I began to pump the arms to encourage the legs to follow and found a response. On the 2nd 5k I was closing the gap and passing people. I was found out on the second passing of the zig zag madness and the pace went up. I pushed too and although I covered the gap I had no sprint left to get him by the end. It was this mind game I played with myself to get around the second loop for my legs were still somewhere back on the bike course on about the 26km mark. I was spent at the line... run time 40'30" on target. Overall 2'16'32" 127th

Overall
It was a beautiful day. Fantastic organisation. I was a bit disappointed that the 'goodie' bag was just a yellow bag with a load of flyers and a box of cheerios! Also, not so much as a banana or a piece of chocolate at the finish. Perhaps it was the expanse of everything, transition area, multiple waves etc.. that gave this a slight impersonal feeling. I hung around to watch some of the sprint waves and the temperature increased in the afternoon. Perhaps a water bottle should have been included in the 'lack of goodies' bag when you registered. Perhaps also putting a draft marshall every 500m on the bike course! I would not be in a hurry to come back to this event. It was a lovely day but I'd do it again to chase a pb only, not for the experience. Great to see Aileen Morrisson winning in such style. Dave_K approached me afterwards (well done on your race mate) and I hung around wondering if I'd bump into Abhainn (well done on yours too, sorry ate all the fig rolls!).

Sunday: Swim and Bike in Kilkee
Swim, 2,000m around the Bay. Tide was in, got out before the crouds... lovely swim altogether. Cycled the HOW course afterwards and took about 90 mins. Its 45k and is going to hurt on the day! Nice little climb in the middle of it to test the legs and a sharp steep hill at about 42k just to knock the stuffing out of you before the run... should be fun!

Monday: Easy 5 miles

Last week totals all in kms
4 swim: 1400 (OW)/2800/1500(OW)/2000 (OW)
3 cycle: 20/40/45
2 run: 6.5/10

Best session of the week was the swim in the Bay on Sunday
Worst session of the week was the bike leg of TriAthy on Saturday

Seres wrote: »

hard luck on the bike leg but sure the fact that you were disappointed with it will help you focus on that more in training.;)

You bet it will As much as I've been looking forward to Kilkee, I'm glad its a few weeks away.

...oh how time flies... my second A goal of the year is just 24 days away!

Last night: Track interval session
It was very warm out so I was glad to do this with the running club than on my own. 2 miles on grass as I was early and then another 2 miles easy on the river bank. 5*3mins with 2 min recovery. About 880m for the first one and down to 800 for the 4th, easy for the 5th rep. Gentle cool down. On the road to recovery About 7 miles total.

This Morning: Swim session
700m easy warm up
100m*24 broken into sets of 6. Pace went up for last set.

3,100m and I managed to breathe bilaterally for the whole session

Krusty_Clown wrote: »

What's the 'A' goal tomorrow? Is the chest infection completely gone at this stage? Before you were bilateral breathing what were you doing - every two/four strokes? I'm still trying to get the hang of this breathing thing. I find every two strokes difficult (can't seem get the air out quick enough). Wondering if Ishould try bilateral breathing before I get into the habit of every two strokes (unilateral?)

Best of luck in the 'A' goal, whatever it may be!

Hey KC thanks. A goal is Kilkee Hell of the West Tri. Its on June 27 so I've a few weeks to get fresh again. The infection is gone but I felt the chest a little tight running yesterday evening. Nearly there.

When I started swimming last summer I took a breath to my left every 4. I could do this comfortably enough as I was not swimming so hard. When I started swimming with a group and doing TTs I switched to every 2 to the left when I got tired. I find every 2 wears me out though. I was also drifting across the lane onto lane ropes because I was only breathing left. When I first tried to breathe right I was drinking water but I just persisted every time I swam to do a little more breathing right and like anything else, practice improves things. I'm glad I did it because it definitely helps me swim straight in OW swims and also gives me more of a rhythm. I also start to exhale with my head under the water so I'm only expelling the last bit and taking a breath when I turn my head.

Hill Running

14km up to the top of Keeper Hill and back down, 412m ascent. This is a new dimension to running for me. The group met for the original plan to run 5km and 270m ascent and then come back. The summit was just another 2km extra and another 142m of climbing and quite steep so I went with two of the experienced hill runners. Glad I did too. It was hard work but the kind I like, grind grind. The views were magnificent and we rested for a few seconds at the top to take it all in. It was a beautiful evening to boot. I drive past the Silvermines quite often and admire them, and now I had just run up to the highest point. Pretty cool. The surface was mostly fireroads and some loose stones and moss towards the top. The descent was again, hairy! I threw caution to the mild wind and flew down. Over the loose stones you really have to concentrate and my arms were above my head for balance at times. About 70 mins up and down, lower back, calves and quads all feeling it this morning.... very enjoyable run

Seres wrote: »

hey MCOs

Does the hill running help your overall running in some way , or does you main tri have alot of hills in the run leg ?

Hi there Seres, it was only my second hill run so I couldn't say for sure. I was running with an experienced high level Triathlete and Mountain Runner though and he reckons it won't make you faster but will certainly make you stronger. Interestingly he also said it improves your downhill running loads which I hadn't considered. I always thought of hill running as running up the hill but the descent is equally if not more important.

Ask me again after Kilkee. Nice hill to run up out of T2 apparently:)

Went Hill Running again last night and loved it

12km over Forrest Trail in the Clare Glens (3* 4k laps). Only 180m climbing so that wasn't too bad. The trail was very soft and muddy in parts, as in the foot disappears into the mud. There were a couple of hairy moments for the ankles too as there were solid tree roots hidden in the mud. There was one particularly angled slippy section that the guys with the trail runners even slid sideways on. I had a near miss on the second lap but it got me on the 3rd and I have a nice graze the length of my thigh this morning as a result. The adrenaline was rushing at the time though, so I just picked myself back up and forged ahead. There were logs to be vaulted and low branches to duck under at speed, steps and bridges... cool stuff. Afterwards a few of us jumped off a bridge, about 30ft, into a cold stream.... brilliantly refreshing. Lovely evening, chilling out with the group over a pint of cider afterwards.... very very enjoyable session!

Swimming in the lake, 1,400m. 2 laps out and back to a pontoon. Getting into the wetsuit the water was flat calm and not a puff of wind. As soon as we got in the water a nice big cloud hovered and the wind kicked up. Lap 1 was rocky. The cloud disappeared for lap 2 which was much calmer. Overall a very nice swim. Good gang of us down. Really pleased with the fact that bi-lateral breathing now feels natural even in rough water and coupled with sighting every dozen strokes or so, I'm swimming in reasonably straight lines! Also, the fact that the breathing is not so much of a worry I can concentrate on things like my catch, length, rolling etc... If I look back to where I was with swimming last summer (couldn't swim a straight line in a 20m pool!) this progress is very very satisfying