Me Against The World...

Thursday Lunchtime

Plan was 30min easy run. After last night I wasn't expecting much. Put on the concrete blocks as they are quite soft due to their size, and with the run being easy I didn't expect any problems. Started off a little sluggish, and feeling tight through my right calf, probably as a result of hobbling home awkwardly last night. What I didn't expect was to average 4:29 pace for 7k very very comfortably. I could feel last nights blister but I don't think it affected my stride. Actually felt like I was plodding a little so the pace surprised me. Cadence was up at 92/93. Definitely easy effort though. Warm and muggy out but wasn't working hard.

Thursday Eve

Easy run with some strides. Did these in the park after swapping my blister causing shoes for a pair of the new Kinvaras. Legs felt heavy. Loosened out a little, but not great. Should be on on Saturday though.


Friday Morn

Easy 40min on the turbo with 4*200m @85% just to loosen out a little. TV is so sh1t at that hour!!! Would have liked to do it outside, but with the amount of rain we've had each of the previous two nights I pussyed out!!


Roll on triathlon number 6 of 10 for 2012. Only 6 weeks of my tri season remaining. Hard to believe, but I want to give marathon preparations a proper go of it.

pgibbo wrote: »

Enjoy and good luck this weekend.

What races have you left in the 6 weeks?

Cheers.


Going to give the local Two Provinces sprint tri a bash, then Beast of the East, Brian Boru and CK all olys. Heading to a stag directly after CK so a proper end of season!!!

Triathlone was the scene of my introduction to triathlon in 2009 as a last minute call up to a relay team. We managed a 1:26 that year and I vowed to come back and beat that time on my own the following year. So 2010, Triathlone was my third solo tri and the first time I’d done the entire swim front-crawl. I got round in 1:15 despite their being a partial up-stream swim and a longer run course than the previous year. I didn’t go back last year as I wanted to avoid all the hanging around, but in my new roll as a NS points ho I had to go race the sprint again.

Looking at the start list I knew I could go well. Top ten was a realistic target. I also noted the main danger man in my wave was El Directors new’s nemesis from Invictus Tri club. I got down to Athlone early, collected the new bike :cool:, registered before the queues gathered, and headed off for lunch with Michelle. Back in then to set up (while Michelle went off trying on wedding dresses :rolleyes: and no, she didn't buy) and lots of chatting, Peter Kerns, Fazz, ElD, Needs Training, Haggis McCloud, and various other clubmates. Also spent some time sussing out the ins and outs of transition as these had changed slightly from 2010. With a long wait until my wave start I was taking my time, then a few of us strolled up to baggage drop, and hung around there for a while, more chatting!!


Finally time to roll, suited up and headed down towards the swim start, passing Fazz as he was dismounting. Didn’t see which leg he leg with this time!! Quite a few people made a bit of a mess of their dismount from what I saw.


Up to the swim start and I made sure to get into the water early (dying for a leak!). We were directed towards a canoe about 100m upstream, but seconds after reaching it we were 100m away again. This was going to be a quick swim. Hooter goes, and a fairly tame start. Got going well, and I could see there wasn’t many getting ahead of me. Got what ever draft I could, but not sure how much benefit there is in an entirely down stream swim. Swam fairly well, but I think I meandered a little more than I would have liked. Aimed for the right of the pontoon for the shortest run into T1 and picked off about 6 places on the run in. Swim was 8:46 and 49th fastest. Out of 600+ that’s not too bad. 25sec off Ms Fenton who is always a good marker for me in a swim. She's starting to get nervous :cool:!! Got to my bike and I could see Mr Invictus Tri just leaving with his. This race is on!!


Clean transition, DNS's either side of me so I had loads of room. 6th fastest 2:20 (it was a long run in).


Clean mount and I passed two more guys in the first 300m of the bike. Suddenly I’m right up behind my target, and I decide to pace (legally) of him for a bit, until I see him still fiddling with his shoes. Almost 1km into the bike !! So I power past him while he’s still messing and set about passing a steady stream of people from the earlier waves. There was a strong wind on the outbound leg and it was tough going at times. I was pushing hard, and my mouth and throat were getting very very dry from the effort. I’m also sliding forward on the saddle a lot. It’s a clubmates bike that I’d borrowed and I obviously hadn’t got the position spot on. 8km in and the messer goes past me again. I up it a little to keep in touch. First 5k avg 34.6kmph (21.1mph), second 5km 36.1 (22.4mph). So I was working hard into the wind. I got a little held up in traffic at the turn and my target got away a little. I was really starting to feel the effort, and dry throat at this point too. Then I remembered I had a drink and a gel. Took these and set about making the most of the tailwind home. 10-15km went by @42.6kmph (26.5mph). Shortly after 15km I got a very bad crosswind gust which nearly sent me flying across the road. Gave me a bit of a fright! After that I started to feel a little sickly, almost like I was going to vomit. Tried to ignore it and push on. Back into town and about 1km from home I sit up and let out a massive blech (classy!!), which seemed to help. I doubt the girl I’d just passed appreciated it though!! 15-20km @ 41.4 (25.7mph) and the final 650M @29.9kmph (18.6mph) which would have been mostly unclipping and running in to T2. 4th fastest bike split of 32:35 and an average pace of 38kmph (23.6mph). I lost 25 seconds to Mr McGarry on the bike, so he must have really hammered the return leg as I’d made up 20second to be with him at the turnaround :eek:.

Into t2 hard and through in 1:20 for 10th fastest.

Straight into a good rhythm on the run. I look down and see 3:15 :eek: (5:13/mile) pace. Oh, sh1t, I’m going out too hard again, I’m going to blow up. It was a little downhill so I just kept going. On the bridge and I’m doing 3:27 (5:33/mile). Ok, just ignore the watch and run as I'll start worrying about whether I can sustain this pace. First km down in 3:32 (5:41/mile). The second, which included the two “hills” in 3:44 (6:00/mile). I’m flying passed a huge amount of people, but I know they’re all struggling towards the end of the Olympic. It does keep you alert trying to find a gap and dancing through the crowd. A flat KM3 in 3:28 (5:34/mile). This is going very very well. Km4 up one hill in 3:40 (5:54/mile), km5 up the second hill 3:37 (5:49/mile), less people on the course now. This is crazy speed :cool:!! The final 700m I was right on the limit knowing while there was no-one in front of me there would be others in later waves who I could be “virtually” sprinting against. Brought it home @3:21 (5:23/mile) pace for that 700m!! Run split was 20:23 which was only good enough for 15th in my AG (not sure about overall) but I averaged 3:34 (5:44/mile) pace which would be a 5km PB for me (current PB is 18:00) so really happy with that.


Crossed the line, and Mr. Invictus Tri is still standing there hands on knees. He beat me by 24 seconds in the end and we were first and second finishers in our wave. I finished 8th overall once all the other waves were in, and 3rd in my AG. Absolutely delighted with that, and thrilled with my run. After the debacle in Joey Hannan, and effectively blowing up in Tri an Mhi, its slowly been improving. However, I certainly wasn’t expecting to run pb pace off the bike. Off a borrowed bike. Maybe I should set a proper 5km PB soon!!

Walking back from collecting the bike with RQ (nice to finally meet you) and alls grand until she starts talking gibberish (something about furlongs or something) so I decided I've use google to help translate my log into her gibberish language!!

Dory Dory wrote: »

Congrats on the cracking job! I can hear the neon glow of pride and accomplishment from here!

El Director wrote: »

Brilliant BTH! Absolutely cracking running on a tough run course, in the sense that it is 'dragy' technical and crowded. I have lost out to Mr Invictus twice this week (in the space of 6 days ) by 17sec and 7 sec! Imagine the battle the 3 of us would have had!! Were you on a P2? Your bike split was very very close to mine despite me just doing the bike leg so well done there too! Great to see you get the result you deserve dude, you've been a little unlucky this year up to now.

Thanks guys.

This

is what I raced on on Saturday. Reckon I may have lost a little time because its a compact, while my own is a 54/42, but managed to pull out a good split anyway. I'll get photos of the new bike up once I have her race ready, not much point in putting up a pic of the training wheels.

It'll be interesting to see how I can convert that pace now on the longer Oly courses, although the Beast and Brian Boru aren't exactly fast courses. Should go well enough though, if all goes to plan.

I was chatting to McGarry briefly afterwards. He doesn't seem too keen on doing any Oly's or at least the harder ones. Reckons he's not ready for them yet!! He did alright in Joey Hannan though :rolleyes:. You're doing CK this year again?? Hopefully that turns into a right battle!!