Bliain Faoi Thrí

Thursday

I find swimming difficult! I felt the hip flexor again at the end of the kicking set so I might ease off kicking only for a while (handy excuse!)

Done:
300m warmup.
8 x 25m mixed drills
8x100m (25m build, 25m descend)
6x25m kicking only
300m cooldown
Total: 1750m

Met up with two club mates for a run a short while later. First time doing this loop and it was pretty tough with a mixture of short and steep inclines, plus long drags. Felt like a great workout though, really pushed it on for the second half of the run.

Route: Baile na mBrabhach/Bóthar Buí, Indreabhán
Distance: 17.5km (10.88 miles)
Time: 50:28
Average Pace: 4:38
Personal Satisfaction: 8 (tough but good, nice running in company)
Weather: Very warm

YESTERDAY:
Definitely feeling the hip flexor again, not bad but a slight presence. I've a race on Sunday, a duathlon in Boyle on El D's prompting (!), so took it handy enough on the bike. I moved the saddle forward a bit which had an upside (felt like I was getting more power through the pedals) and a downside (sore arse!).

Route: Ros a Mhíl
Distance: 28.14km
Time: 54.26
Average/Max Speed: 31/51.1kph
Average/Max HR: 150/165
Personal Exertion: 6
Personal Satisfaction: 7 (hip didn't feel like it was getting any worse)
Weather: Warm, and into a b*tch of a breeze for the first half

Bike session this morning.

Route: Screebe cross road
Distance: 35.21km
Time: 1:09:51
Average/Max Speed: 30.2/48.2kph
Average Cadence: 82
Weather: Cold, blustery, feels like the summer window has been rolled back up

Tuesday
Spin on the bike around Ros a’Mhíl. Getting used to the tri-bike on cross winds, but it does take getting used to.

Wednesday
I reckon intervals are the cause of my missing 50 per cent of all the running sessions I miss. I get up, dress, go downstairs, think of the pain, come up with a spurious excuse, make breakfast, too late now… Anyway, it took a bit of effort to get out the door and a heavy rain shower didn’t help early into the run, but the intervals weren’t actually all that bad. 10 x 400m down by Trá an Dóilín, the flattest piece of road in the area!

PM
Working in Castlebar for the day, so I stopped into the pool on the way home. I’m very aware of any technique I have falling to pieces once I’m tired, but it’s something that will improve.
Done:
300m wu
8 x 25m drills
5 x 100m
300m cd

Thursday
Pool
300m wu
8 x 25m drills
8 x 100 (25m ascend, 25m descend)
300 cd

First club run this evening, looking forward to it.

backspacer wrote: »

Rónán,

An bhfuil Rás an Spidéal déanta agat cheana? Meastú an bhfuil sé in aghaidh ard ag an tús?

No, seo an chéad bhliain den rás. Bhí sé le tosnú in aghaidh ard, ach tá an cúrsa athruithe acu ó shin. Dá réir, beidh sé (ceapaim) cothrom don chéad 1/3ú, cnocach don dara 1/3ú, agus ag dul le fána don chuid deireannach.
Tá mé dhá rith anocht leis an gclub, cuirfidh mé suas nasc ón Garmin a thabharfaidh léiriú duit ar an gcúrsa.

Battery gone in the Garmin and I can't find the charging cable... beginning to suspect it's left behind a little mirror cabinet in room 2330 on the Navigator of the Seas

Thursday
Club run along the Spiddal 8k course, a tough run with a long 4.5km uphill section against the wind.
Done: 8.95km in 41 minutes approx

Friday
Early cycle back to an Trá Bháin and back. Was resigned to heading into the shed and onto the trainer but delighted to get up and find that the wind had eased.
1:05 time, 39.5 km

Today
Was on the way into the pool when a friend called and asked if I fancied an open-water swim. Had the wetsuit in the car and had just passed the beach he had mentioned, so game on! Felt cold on the head as usual, and a bit of a chop. Not sure of the distance, I'd guess 800 metres. It felt like I had lost a lot of swim endurance/ability, but Tri Burgh next weekend will be a truer reflection. Looking forward to it and nervous of it at the same time.

Spiddal 8k tomorrow. Nice to have a local run, and my hyper-dependence on my Forerunner could lead to cold turkey tomorrow, running blind for only the second race ever!

Saturday

I had been pretty anxious about this race, as although it was not my first triathlon (I had done a sprint in Loughrea last September), it was the first one that I had actually trained for triathlon as opposed to just running.
A good turnout again in terms of club members, and after racking the bikes, we had a look out at the sea. I was surprised to see the swell, with a north-easterly breeze pushing decent-sized waves into shore. I positioned myself to the right of the pack on the beach, staying out of the way, and reckoning it would be better to stay north of the buoy, if the swell was to have any impact in pushing us south.

SWIM
The race started, into the surf and the water is definitely warming up. Despite the surge, the visibility was very good. Making progress felt like tough work, though, and breathing to the left or the right seemed to make little difference in terms of avoiding mouthfuls of delicious salt water. Sighting was worse, though. Anytime I stuck my head up, all I could see was the next wave hitting me in the gob. At this stage, I was getting a bit mentally weak, and swearing to myself about triathlon, how it would be much more straightforward to stick with running/duathlon/anything that didn’t exploit the fact that I was really beginning to dislike swimming more and more by every stroke.
Anyway, we came to the buoy and things improved! The mental b*tching eased off as the waves helped push me to shore and get a smoother stroke going. Sighting wasn’t improving much, though, as my goggles were fogging up badly, bar a strip at the bottom of the lens. I began to get worried, as there seemed to be nobody around me and I was beginning to suspect a repeat of Loughrea, coming out of the water as a backmarker.
The beach finally arrived, and I got to transition, noticing a clubmate’s bike still beside mine. “He’s either drowned or the swim was better than I thought,” I said to myself, and headed off on the bike.
Swim Time: 16:34 (22/90, 24.5%)
My swim time was slow in the grand scheme of things, but at almost six minutes faster than Loughrea last year, at least there is improvement

T1: 1:00
Transition was quick and painless, a squirt of Suit Juice beforehand from a club mate made a big difference in getting the suit off quickly.

CYCLE
About 5km in, I was passed by two cyclists, a cousin of mine from the club, and a guy from Predator. I managed to keep them within sight for about 2/3s of the cycle, but the last few drags against the wind showed up the lack of cycling power in my legs, and I had nothing in front of me until I got back to transition.
Cycle Time: 34:30 (4/90, 4.5%)
Happy enough with the cycle, a technical enough course that could have done with a few more marshalls.

T2: No time for T2, chip time combines it with run.

RUN
I had tightened the elastic shoe laces in the running shoes a bit too tight for some reason, and it was a bit of a struggle getting them on. The run started with a hill, and I could see my cousin and the Predator guy up ahead, the east Galway man having passed the west Galway man during the last of the cycle it seemed. The hill was beginning to tell a bit, and the cousin passed the other guy, and with me going by him at about 2km. Half a km later, I managed to pass my clubmate, but in putting down some power while taking advantage of him taking a drink of water, I felt a bit of a stitch develop. Having no idea of his running ability, and whether he had a kick in him, the last thing I wanted was to be bent over by a stitch coming down the home stretch and being overtaken by family (!), so I eased off a little, and felt the stitch cleared up at the 4km mark, and picked up a bit again.
Run Time: 20:32 incl T2 (5/90, 5.5%)

Total Time: 1:12:36 (4/90, 4.5%)

I was surprised and delighted to be told when I passed the finishing line that I had come in 4th. I had expected the swim to leave me decidedly mid-pack in triathlon, and although I’m sure a more competitive field would see me pushed much further down (many of the faster racers seemed to have opted for the Olympic), it’s reignited my interest in swimming and sticking with triathlons for the rest of the year! I’m under no illusion as to the slowness of my swimming but coming from a 22 minute swim in my only previous triathlon, I guess that the only way is up!


Monday
Headed back to Ceantar na nOilean on the bike, a nice spin that brings you over five inter-connected islands. Something wrong with the cadence sensor on the bike that no end of fiddling has as yet to get right.
Done:
Route: Fuirnis & Muiceanach
Distance: 61.95km
Time: 02:04:15
Average/Max Speed: 29.9/56.2kph
Average/Max HR: 152/171
Weather: Breezy, overcast, a bit wet.

Today:
As miserable a run as I’ve had in a long time. Felt stiff and lifeless, and feeling dizzy at about the 5k mark, so a perfect excuse to cut a sh*t run short.

Route: Dóilín & Rinn
Distance: 7.75km
Time: 38:27
Average Pace: 4:57
Average/Max HR: 154/192