Tri related splish splash notes

05/09/10 OW

1900 escape from ireland swim

~ 31 mins

a nice swim Ive wanted to do for some time. 1st year running event and organisers did their bests with a series of buoys highlighting the suggested route across to avail of the normal tide. Unfortunately with wind coming in the other direction I lost more time following the suggested route (lead out by kayaker ) than getting across and lost a couple of places when I found myself with no view of the finish and about an additional 400 metres to swim.

Clear water, no jellyfish and a crowd of both triathletes and open water swimmers made it a fun event with some fruit, water, soup and rolls about afterwards. About 4 people did it without wetsuits from what I saw - I decided after 4 hours of soaking out on the bike and running on saturday that wearing a wetsuit was wiser in an attempt to avoid a headcold all week before kenmare.

El Director wrote: »

Sounds like a nice event interested. Well done. I did the escape from spike island last year and loved it, great fun

Yeah it was good. The event could be improved in some ways but first time out, the organisers did a good job and everyone got home safe.
For me, its just one of those swims thats nice to have done.

pgibbo wrote: »

Yes, I used them down there last year. They're a great job. It's amazing how cool it is at that hour of the morning in September. I wonder is Keane racing it this year? He p*ssed it last year. Given that Noble is trying to get some racing in he might give it a crack.

Theres an entry list on the corktri site - but they could let others in on the day given their pedigree

nomadic wrote: »

Have a good one on saturday!

Cheers - itll be an enjoyable day out either way since biking in that part of the country is always a blast.

09/09/10 LC

1000 warm up - build into it
8 * 50's IM order on 60
100 easy

1500

stretch and warm up session

11/09/10 OW

1900 f/s the hard way at kenmare HIM, ~ 36 mins

Will update when Ive more time. 2nd out of the water today behind some bloke ... whats his name, Brian Keane - and when i say behind I mean well behind

Late last night / this morning at the chipper in kenmare there was a petition to rename the event the "drowned sheep" Many congrats to all that made it out of the water and around the course in one piece yesterday.

pgibbo wrote: »

Well done. Was Keane far ahead of you out of the water? How was the bike and run?

Caught a glipse of a unofficial result sheet in a bar early Sunday morning and think he was about 5 minutes ahead. I sat in with a group for the first 800 metres into the current and then attacked them with about 400 to go before the turn towards the 3rd bouy at the shore. BK was well gone and even if he hadnt of been I doubt Id have taken him on the bike and run maybe next year ...

Bike was fine - went according to me plan for once whereby I didnt over cook it and leave myself in pieces for the run - road surface was fine all around except for sections after the caha pass ... I was personally delighted with my run since I negative split it and finished strong and I did ... what I believe ... to be a respectable time for my abilities.

Great to meet Macanri at the event. Unfortunately I only got to speak with KentuckyPete over the phone after the event but failed to meet up do to my legs seizing late into the evening and being in bars on opposite ends of the town.

catweazle wrote: »

How did the course compare in difficulty to Swinford, you are in and around the same time for both but I would guess your training was better before Kenmare.

Tis a great question - times differed by 1 second - condition I was in varied as much as the course itself on the day.

leaving the swim to one side initially ...
Bike course in swinford was bang on 90km by my comp and included one small and short climb. I pushed the bike probably fractionally too much in swinford for the condition I was in and paid heavily on the run.

Bike course in kenmare includes two long climbs and is less than 90km. It includes a 13km section at the tail end to bring you to T2 which does facilitate pre-run nutrition and a little rest before the change. The out and back run at kenmare certainly has its ups and downs but I found it infinitely more manageable than the very long drags along busy roads in swinford. That said, when you're having a bad day the nicest places can seem like hell.

The primary difference between the two races ... July 25th and Sept 11th was that Id put together some regular training that included some longish bike and run sessions. I finished the bike in Kenmare knowing I could have gone faster, and finished the first half of the run feeling in good shape ... and was still in good shape when I finished overall. Pushing for a ten or 15 minute better bike split might have looked better on paper but I can honestly say I wouldnt have had the legs to run as well as I did on the day

So ... the swim ... I suspect the swim in swinford was slightly short of 1.9km .... but the swim in kenmare played long on saturday morning. Comparing times between 2010 and 2008 (when there were alot of reports of a hard swim) tells its own interesting story with the top swimmers on that day finishing the swim under 30 minutes.

But hey ... I probably havent answered your question ... let me think / consult my magic 8-ball in the corner ... 'would catweazle have gone faster in kenmare than he did at swinford?' ... the answer ... 'it is decidedly so'
the power of positive thinking eh chief