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

Hey pgibbo. I consistently underestimate what the tuesday night track+pilates session does to me. It was very evident trying to run up a hill last night :rolleyes: I was originally planning a short quick brick tomorrow eg: 20 min bike with tabata intervals + 3k run with a fast middle km. However I think I'll see how the legs feel in the morning and may just do an easy 30 min spin on bike or 30 min easy run to wake the legs up.

Thursday - Off
Friday - Short Brick 8k/2k, bike inc 1.5 sets of tabata intervals
Saturday - Connemara Carna Triathlon - 19th overall in 2'26, 2nd in AG so First Tri prize
Sunday - 8 miles very easy
Yesterday - 64km of a horrible bike. 3 punctures and it lashed while repairing. Lost my Oaklays too.. booo

Connemara 'Carna' Triathlon Report.

There was a sense of dread on the drive down as firstly we were forewarned of a tough course and secondly it was raining cats and dogs. Beautiful place to host a Tri and the atmosphere was very relaxed as the weather cleared up and the sun came out. It was a very different vibe from the organised chaos of Athy and Athlone. Mellow is a word that springs to mind. That is until you wheel your bike down the hill into transition and worry if your brakes will do their job in the race. Very nice goodie bag, an ice pack, energy drink, a gel, banana, waterbottle, crisps and a meal voucher for a bbq. Galway Tri club orgainsed this very well. Numbered spots for all the bikes and they placed club members together so there was a good buzz about transition set up. The sea water was lovely and clear. The swim was around 3 bouys or was it 4... em who knows?! The middle of the swim course was choppy and I guess it was quite easy to lose your way. I did swim off course out to sea for a moment but reeled myself back in and exited the water just over 24 mins. A bit fast for me so I guess the course was a tad short.

The hill out of T1 is a distinct feature of this course in that its about 150m long and very steep, maybe 7% gradient or thereabouts. A reasonably quick transition was followed by the slow grind up this cruel hill before turning right and sailing for 5km in front of a tail wind on nice roads. I really wanted to be on one of the TT machines here as even on my biggest compact gearing I could not stay with the 2 that passed me. The cycle course was quite tough in that there proabably wasn't a single 'flat' inch. You are either grinding up some drag or descending short twisting sharp bends. The road surface for the middle 10km was rough and undulating features a slog. Still, this is quite an enjoyable bike course in a beautiful part of Ireland. I made up a few places and was well prepared for the descent into transition. From the top of the hill you are on the brakes and are still doing 30km/h dismounting! I'm sure the Marshalls were not too harsh with those that crossed the dismount line. This has to be the most technical entry to transition I've encountered. Bike was 1'15 and my best split of the day. I need to improve climbing though. Bulky upper body really not helping me here. T2 was easy, quick run around a bollard at the end of transition and then out to face the immediate hill. Honestly, as if running off the bike was not hard enough, this is just a heartbreaker of a hill. About 2 minutes af babysteps later and the terrain evens out for a moment before climbing again. The guys who run sub 40 off the bike on this course are awe inspiring runners. I passed a clock at the top of the hill and it read 1'42. I thought that a 48 mins 10k would get me home in 2'30 and at that moment I would have taken that. Through the first km in almost 6 minutes and I was having nightmares of Kilkee all over again. The first water station was a delight to reach as the sun baked down. At about 3.5km the leaders passed on the otehr side of the road. The were working hard but boy do they cruise! Seeing one of my own club guys battling for a podium finish was the kick start I needed. I dug deep and was determined to be the next from my club home. At the 5km mark there was a bit of confusion, both myself and another guy stopped and looked around. There was nobody to be seen and we were unsure if we were to turn around here. Surely it would have been marked to turn around. We proceeded down a sharp hill to see the half way bollard at the bottom, it was actually quite difficult to get going again from a stop. It really didn't take much to sow the seed of doubt! I was around 25 minutes for the first 5km and then found another gear. Although passed twice on the way home the return leg was under 21 minutes as every time I saw someone I knew on the other side of the road I pushed again. I also figured I was close to the top 20 and targetted that. Across the line with and empty tank in 2'26' I had hit every little target I set myself that day. 19th overall and 2nd in my age group. We all headed to the sea for a cool down whereupon I was nipped by an inquisative carna crab... twice! It was hot enough to get sunburned but the lesson learned in Kilkee about hydration paid off and I had a good feeling about this race. The burger afterwards was worth the 20 minute queue and the age group prize gave me something to remember my first season of Tri. All in all a very nice event and I highly recommend to anyone. A tough one for sure but worth the visit


Its interesting to think how the different Tri legs progress over a season. Sure the times differ for events but where you rank in the field would be reasonably consistant you would think... It seems I have improved the swimming as the season has gone on and the run off the bike is the glaring area for improvement... hmmm food for thought

Strongest to weakest leg in each event

Nenagh Sprint - Bike-Run-Swim
Joey Hannon - Bike-Run-Swim
Valencia Island - Bike-Swim-Run
Athy Olympic - Swim-Run-Bike
Kilkee HOTW - Swim-Bike-Run
Athlone Sprint - Bike-Swim-Run
Galway Carna - Bike-Swim-Run

Thanks Guys,

Well out a week already, how time flies. I'm most likely out for 3-4 more weeks so Kenmare really is not looking likely right now. Luckily its just a bad wound (flesh kind of peeled off the kneecap.. not pretty) and serious bruising but no tendons or ligaments damaged. I'm going to see the physio soon just to be sure. The gash is right on the kneecap so most annoying. Antibiotics clearing it up quickly but even swimming is off limits this week. I'm hoping I can swim next week and hoping further I can run easy in the next 2 weeks all going well. I won't be rushing back though.

jlang I get what you mean about risk/reward on the hill running. I won't be doing it again until I have proper shoes!! Going full pelt downhill with runners on a wet trail is not advisable!

Yesterday: I just couldn't resist any longer. It was a lovely evening and the knee felt fine so I ventured out on the bike. I had full range of motion without the wound opening so I spun easily for the first few km, felt fine so I picked up to a decent cruising speed. Stopped at my Bro's to watch the Charity shield penalty shootout and headed home with a little tailwind at my back. 62km at 33km/h average about 1'53' altogether.

This morning: 5 miles on the treadmill. Started easy and increased the pace incrementally for the first mile to test knee. Settled at PMP (about 7'15/mile) for the rest of it. Legs felt the bike in them but seemed happy to be in motion again. I did find the treadmill incredibly boring and was trying to analyse swimmer's strokes in the pool below to keep my mind occupied! As expected the run itself had the usual signs of a 2 week lay off.. sweaty, heavy breathing, red face etc... On the scale at 80.0kg, I felt heavier than that hmmm

So, not exactly full steam ahead but at least I'm training