Bliain Faoi Thrí

ronanmac · 29-05-2018 9:43pm

BTH wrote: »

ronanmac wrote: »

By 'the other half', do you mean people with cushy government jobs and children over the age of three?!

The use of inaccurate adjectives twice in the one sentence... Tut tut!

ronanmac · 03-09-2018 5:06pm

Glin Triathlon Race Report, 01 September 2018
One of my resolutions for 2018 was to do 5 different races: duathlon, triathlon, adventure, cycling, running.
It dawned on me recently that I was running out of time regarding the triathlon season and so, in a slight panic, I signed up for the Glin Triathlon and pulled out a wetsuit that hadn’t seen the light of day since my last race, the Loughrea Triathlon in September 2011!
The suit seemed in fine condition, as were the goggles (once I had wiped the mold off!), but a collection of latex swimcaps saw the bin. I did a few swims over the past few weeks in the bays around where I live, with a 750m swim off Trá an Dóilín reassuring me that I could actually complete the distance (this is the level that I am now at...).
I didn’t realise how much this race was bothering me until I received the race brief email and opened with a deep feeling of stomach queasiness. I think it was down to it all feeling like stepping into the unknown given how long it had been since I last did a tri.
SWIM
Race day quickly cleared from a misty dampness to a very warm morning on the north Limerick banks of the Shannon. My only ambition for the swim was to get through it. Treading water beforehand, I noticed the strength of the ebbing tide as I was being dragged downriver. The course was an out and back 750m, and once the race started, I didn’t notice the current. It took a long time to get to the turnaround mark, however, and I was glad to be heading downriver once again.
Swim Time: 18:47, 49th, 35%
I’m not sure if it’s encouraging or disheartening that there was little difference in my finishing position in the swim in my last triathlon seven years ago, after a solid year’s training, and the Glin Tri, after a few open water swims...
T1
Slightly dazed getting out of the water, long enough run to the bike. Fairly straightforward given the lack of practise.
T1: 1:14, 14th, 10%
BIKE
Other than a clumsy effort getting into the shoes, and getting off the bike at the end, the bike went well. It was a lovely bike course, good surface on the main Tarbert-Limerick road, lots of undulations to build up speed, with no major climbs. It was an out and back course, so the lack of wind was a definite help.
Having gotten a shorter stem last week, and sticking another spacer under it, I felt more comfortable on the bike. Probably less aero a position, but having been able to stay on the bars for considerably longer than the duathlons at the start of the year, it was a positive gain.
Bike Time: 37:47 (38.1kph), 4th, 3%
Delighted with the bike. Definitely stronger than the old me, and my fastest TT average to date.
T2
Slightly dramatic dismount, carrying too much speed up to the dismount line and having to pick the bike up to regain control of it as I ran into T2.
T2: 1:24, 8th, 6%
RUN
The run was not great. I used to have a strongish run, that is no more. I suffered the first 1.5k, uphill, with a stitch down my right side by the time I reached the top. After a downhill, it was up again for the second km. By this stage, I had shortened up my run stride to deal with the stitch, trying to compensate with a higher cadence. I passed one person, and was passed twice.
The day after the race, the stitch seems to have been some sort of abdominal strain, with a tightness continuing down my right hamstring (I recall this having happened before years ago, not sure what causes it).
Run Time: 27:39 ( 4:27/km), 18th, 13%
If there was a downside to the day, it was the run. It needs work!

Overall: 1:26:53, 3rd AG 40, 10th overall (7%)
Complaining about the run being a downside is disingenuous, really. I hadn’t put in the work to expect anything else, and overall, my seven-years-later-comeback was much better than I had any right to expect.
The resolution around five different types of races had a mixed purpose: force myself back to racing; try new racing; see what I liked or didn’t like. I had honestly thought that I would do this race, decide to leave triathlons behind and focus on events that had less of a focus on swimming (and running

).
I loved it, however. The weather was great. My wife and kids were with me, the two of them that existed last time out all grown up now and helping me with the bike etc! Having a competitive finish was just the icing on the cake. I might look at using that wetsuit more than every seven years!

El Director · 03-09-2018 8:55pm

Brilliant and inspirational report Rónán. I know how you feel regarding leaving tri but that feeling after is what keeps me wanting to get back.

That bike split was awesome! The swim is a funny one alright, I found the same, just a few decent weeks gets you back into shape and give you a decent swim time. I put it down to experience, muscle memory and all those hours spent working on technique back in the day - it really stands to you.

Well done on getting back into a tri and the bonus top 10!!

ronanmac · 04-09-2018 11:00am

El Director wrote: »

Brilliant and inspirational report Rónán. I know how you feel regarding leaving tri but that feeling after is what keeps me wanting to get back.

That bike split was awesome! The swim is a funny one alright, I found the same, just a few decent weeks gets you back into shape and give you a decent swim time. I put it down to experience, muscle memory and all those hours spent working on technique back in the day - it really stands to you.

Well done on getting back into a tri and the bonus top 10!!

Cheers El D! Funnily enough, you came up in conversation on the way home from the race. I was telling my wife that every triathlon I did in 2011 seemed to have been held in awful weather (the bonus for me was that the swim was being shortened at every event!), and that Saturdays’s race was held on a day worthy of sun cream. My wife mentioned a beautiful day in Boyle for a race in Lough Key Forest Park in 2011. That was a duathlon, I reminded her, and where I met you for the first time, putting manners on me with your bike split!

El Director · 04-09-2018 11:13am

ronanmac wrote: »

Cheers El D! Funnily enough, you came up in conversation on the way home from the race. I was telling my wife that every triathlon I did in 2011 seemed to have been held in awful weather (the bonus for me was that the swim was being shortened at every event!), and that Saturdays’s race was held on a day worthy of sun cream. My wife mentioned a beautiful day in Boyle for a race in Lough Key Forest Park in 2011. That was a duathlon, I reminded her, and where I met you for the first time, putting manners on me with your bike split!

That’s gas! I remember it too, you had a dropped chain if I remember correctly?

ronanmac · 04-09-2018 11:15am

El Director wrote: »

ronanmac wrote: »

Cheers El D! Funnily enough, you came up in conversation on the way home from the race. I was telling my wife that every triathlon I did in 2011 seemed to have been held in awful weather (the bonus for me was that the swim was being shortened at every event!), and that Saturdays’s race was held on a day worthy of sun cream. My wife mentioned a beautiful day in Boyle for a race in Lough Key Forest Park in 2011. That was a duathlon, I reminded her, and where I met you for the first time, putting manners on me with your bike split!

That’s gas! I remember it too, you had a dropped chain if I remember correctly?

Yup... Dumb-ass error of starting bike leg on the small ring and dropping the chain with the sudden shift up. I don’t do that anymore! Indeed, I’d almost go as far as advocating a 1x on a tri bike!

hf4z6sqo7vjngi · 04-09-2018 12:10pm

Well done R

ronanmac · 09-09-2018 3:26pm

Achill Quest (Sport Distance) Race Report, 08/09/2018

This was the third of the five different race types to be done for 2018 (duathlon, triathlon, adventure… cycle, run left). I had originally signed up for the longer Expert length, but it didn’t take much reflection on the little running I have done so far this year that a 15k mountain run would leave me messed up and be counter-productive. So a quick email last week saw me ‘downgrade’ to the Sport distance, and given how sore I feel afterwards, it was the right decision!

The last adventure race I had done was Gaelforce West in 2010. It was interesting comparing the start of this race with last week’s Glin Triathlon, with things notably more relaxed in Achill. Perhaps the swim brings its own tension to an event?

Overall, it was a really enjoyable day with a number of minor mishaps throughout the day:
• My shoe stayed behind me in a boghole on the mountain descent, and had to go back to tug it out
• A lens fell out of the prescription sunglasses shortly afterwards, disappearing forever in the heather
• Chain strangely came off the bike on first ascent, despite being on the big ring and not shifting at the time
• Missed the dibbing station on the bike, had to turn back
• Bizarre noise from my bike shortly afterwards, as if someone was making popcorn in my downtube! Not sure what it is, it was as if there were bearings popping around the bottom bracket…

As it happens, none of the mishaps would have had an impact on my overall position, but a reminder that I could certainly have paid more attention to minor details beforehand.

The racing was interesting, a different dynamic to triathlons/duathons. There was a strong effort for the first 1k run to the kayaks, in hindsight the stronger lads looking to land together so that they would have a better chance of stronger kayaking partners. I was in the fourth kayak, a good split with an experienced kayaker saw us overtake one other kayak and come out of the boat sixth person back.

The run was through some sand dunes and then a 2k run across the beach in Keel, before heading partway up Minaun mountain (the Expert distance went to the top). Psychologically, the run was strange in that I was definitely not racing, more chugging along, getting through the run rather than attempting to compete. This was partly due to a notion in the back of my head that I’d save the legs for the bike, partly due to feeling unprepared around any trail or climbing runs.

Whatever about the beach, the slopes of Minaun were a bit of a shock to the system and I was glad to get back on the beach. Back to transition and onto the bike (road bike, no tribars allowed). The race started off with a nice climb and I was motoring up nicely until the chain unexplicably came off the bike. Fortunately, it didn’t get jammed and was easy to throw back up again.

After the descent following the first climb, the Sport bike route turned left, away from the Expert route and I was all alone, coming across only one person for the remainder of the bike. I’m not sure what happened further up the road, but I’m guessing that it would definitely be an advantage to come out of transition with a small group that could work together.

Anyway, I landed back, racked the bike and ran across the finish line on my own, finishing 9th overall. Physically, the day took a considerably bigger toll than last week’s triathlon. My hamstrings felt really tight when I got on the bike first, and I felt my calves cramping by the end of the bike, despite it only being a 20k spin. Today, I have the worst DOMs since… 2010 or 2011?!

Overall, though, it was enjoyable and intriguing. The race dynamics in something like this are interesting, but I was well out of it from a run perspective. I’d be interested in trying a shorter adventure race like this again, the kayak was enjoyable, the bike was great and the run, well, I’m just glad I wasn’t doing the longer version!

I think it might be time to develop some sort of run focus, and take up El D’s suggestion of core work to try and offset the repeated injuries…

Overall: 9th of 476 (2%), 4th in AG 40 (1:33:14)

TriFirst · 10-09-2018 7:56am

Well done great result. If your chain came off of the descent it sounds like the space between the chain links might have stretched over time and your chain needs replacing. Lack of tension in the chain would lead to bouncing of the rear derailleur creating more slack in the chain and thus facilitating its movement off the ring.

BTH · 10-09-2018 9:19am

TriFirst wrote: »

Well done great result. If your chain came off of the descent it sounds like the space between the chain links might have stretched over time and your chain needs replacing. Lack of tension in the chain would lead to bouncing of the rear derailleur creating more slack in the chain and thus facilitating its movement off the ring.

That, or a tooth on you chainring is damaged as happened on my turbo bike recently.

El Director · 10-09-2018 9:33pm

Well done Rónán again, 2 weeks in a row! Great read.

ronanmac · 11-09-2018 9:06am

TriFirst wrote: »

Well done great result. If your chain came off of the descent it sounds like the space between the chain links might have stretched over time and your chain needs replacing. Lack of tension in the chain would lead to bouncing of the rear derailleur creating more slack in the chain and thus facilitating its movement off the ring.

Cheers, TriFirst. It actually came off on the ascent, under tension. That said, it was cross-chained to the max (52-28), as the hill, while long, wasn't particularly steep and didn't warrant dropping down to the 38 (ie I was too lazy to get off the big ring)

ronanmac · 11-09-2018 9:06am

BTH wrote: »

TriFirst wrote: »

Well done great result. If your chain came off of the descent it sounds like the space between the chain links might have stretched over time and your chain needs replacing. Lack of tension in the chain would lead to bouncing of the rear derailleur creating more slack in the chain and thus facilitating its movement off the ring.

That, or a tooth on you chainring is damaged as happened on my turbo bike recently.

Will investigate that, bike is in the garage, covered in sheep ****e, I haven't gone near it since!

ronanmac · 11-09-2018 9:07am

El Director wrote: »

Well done Rónán again, 2 weeks in a row! Great read.

Now to return to another 8 years of dormancy... :)

ronanmac · 02-10-2018 1:28pm

10k Chonamara, 29 September 2018

This was an accidental race, if it’s possible to have accidental races! I set up this race back in 2011 and was race director for the first five years, before handing ‘ownership’ of the event over from TríSpórt to the local Conamara AC. Despite that (or because of that), I had never actually run the race, or indeed run the course.
I had considered a few months back that I would take it on as a race, but never got proper run training going, and so my ego decided that I wasn’t going to run a sub-optimal local race!
Race day came, and when my wife arrived back earlier than expected from her hike, I decided that I might as well head back to Carna for my scheduled run and just get through it. It had been a reasonably busy week’s training and my expectation for the race was based on my running to date, i.e. start out strong before seizing up and slowing down around the 6k mark.
The race started at 3pm and looking at my watch, I tried to temper my pace so as not to burn up later. With the Grey Lake 10k in Loughrea the following day, the number of club runners was down on previous years, and the maroon singlet of an Athenry AC member quickly disappeared into the distance. I found myself going from fourth to third about 2k in, and the familiar feeling of slowing down came much earlier than normal at around 2.5k. Speaking to people afterwards, however, pretty much everyone felt this as we went out onto Muighinis island into a headwind.
I had described this race in our early promotional text a few years back as ‘pancake flat’, words that came to mind on a climb into the wind near the turnaround point. It’s not a pancake flat course after all, it seems (flat for a course in Conamara is how I should have put it!).
I put a bit of effort into the descent after the turnaround to open a gap between me and the guy behind me, who seemed to have been closing in. Looking over my shoulder at around 6k, the gap had opened but I was getting nowhere in terms of closing the guy in second. Then, just before another pancake flat climb (!) at 8k, he pulled up briefly to stretch his leg and given what had seemed as a fantastically unlikely opportunity to finish second, I pushed on for the finishing stretch so that he wouldn’t catch me.
And that was it. I finished second overall with a relatively slow time of 40:08 (for context, the guy who won finished in 35:25). Certainly not the 39:** that I would have liked, but I had no expectation on my way to the race of doing anything under 41 min, given my training, and certainly no expectation of a podium finish.
If nothing else, it has given me the incentive to move from my ad hoc training to more structured running, and I’ve now done 4 of the 5 different types of races I had planned at the start of the year. Done are running race, adventure race, duathlon and triathlon. Still no bike race (I did a race on Zwift last Wednesday, but I'm not sure that counts, given the lack of crashing/punctures/falling off chances).

Overall: 40:08, 2nd of 53

ronanmac · 20-11-2018 12:03pm

Leenane 5 Mile, 18 November 2018

I last did this race in 2010, and remembered it as being a tough one. My memory isn’t usually great, but it was spot on for this.
I have slacked off considerably in training over the past month, partly due to work interruptions, partly due to struggling to get back broken momentum. Before this race, I hadn’t run since October 16^th, and I would have copped out but for the fact that my sister in law and her husband had travelled from London to run it as well.
The start of the run began with a flat run through the village of Leenane, into a headwind which had me tucked in behind a few runners. I had no aim other than to stay out of the wind and with these guys as long as possible.
After Leenane, the road climbs and drops before coming to the turn off to Glann valley. The other three in my group dropped me as the road rose under us in the valley, although I caught one of them on the descent. The two in front split up as one of them thundered down the hill and I eventually caught the second guy in the group. Coming out of the valley road, I passed him and he hung on my shoulder as we worked towards Leenane.
As it happens, I know the guy (he’s from the same village as me), he’s only 15 years old but is a really strong athlete and is in the national XC championships next weekend. Sure enough, as the finish approached, he threw in a kick and left me with no response other than to look over my shoulder to make sure that I had no big effort to put in before the end!
I felt absolutely shattered at the end of this race. My calves were cramping up almost immediately, and my average heart rate was 184! This is what happens when you run races without training. I’m still in pain today...
As I remember from 2010, the race was well-organised (other than one indecisive marshal on one of the turns), and the soup, cake and tea afterwards was fantastic! I won’t leave it nine years until I run it again!
Distance: 8.11 km
Ave/Max HR: 184/191
Pace: 4:07/km
Overall: 33:27, 6th of ? (no results up yet, not entirely sure if I finished 6th or 7th)

ronanmac · 23-11-2018 9:49am

ronanmac wrote: »

Overall: 33:27, 6th of ? (no results up yet, not entirely sure if I finished 6th or 7th)

Correction, 7th of 143, 33:26

El Director · 23-11-2018 10:35am

Not bad racing for a man with little training! Still in good shape which should help with the motivation. I did a very similar thing back in September, a 10k with only 3 or 4 runs all summer. It took me 59 minutes and I hurt for days! It gave me the kick start I needed though.

Any plans to do The Land of The Giant Duathlon in Claremorris on Dec 28th? Or any of those Western Duathlon Series?

ronanmac · 23-11-2018 11:10am

Still in pain (and it's Thursday!!!). Yes, planning to do Land of Giants. That was my comeback race last December after eight years out. You doing it?
In order to fulfill my resolution of doing five different types of races this year, I'm hoping to do my first cyclocross race this weekend, with my eldest son doing his first one as well. He's all about winning, I'm more about avoiding multiple face plants!

El Director · 23-11-2018 11:36am

ronanmac wrote: »

Still in pain (and it's Thursday!!!). Yes, planning to do Land of Giants. That was my comeback race last December after eight years out. You doing it?
In order to fulfill my resolution of doing five different types of races this year, I'm hoping to do my first cyclocross race this weekend, with my eldest son doing his first one as well. He's all about winning, I'm more about avoiding multiple face plants!

That sounds like great fun!! Ok I might do LoTG's too! I have done zero multisport races this year so I may as well.

ronanmac · 23-11-2018 12:09pm

Fantastic, it would be great to see you there! We could reminiscence about old times :)

El Director · 23-11-2018 12:10pm

ronanmac wrote: »

Fantastic, it would be great to see you there! We could reminiscence about old times :)

And make some new memories! P

BTH · 23-11-2018 12:27pm

Jesus lads, get a room.

ronanmac · 23-11-2018 1:19pm

BTH wrote: »

Jesus lads, get a room.

Reminiscing... it's an old man thing. Young whippersnappers like yourself wouldn't understand!

BTH · 23-11-2018 1:28pm

ronanmac wrote: »

Reminiscing... it's an old man thing. Young whippersnappers like yourself wouldn't understand!

It's the making new memories bit that's a little concerning...

And I know I still have my boyish good looks but I'm the same age as El Director.

ronanmac · 23-11-2018 1:34pm

BTH wrote: »

It's the making new memories bit that's a little concerning...

And I know I still have my boyish good looks but I'm the same age as El Director.

Really?! El D looks battered for his age so

My abiding age-related BTH memory is you raising your eyebrows in polite surprise when I described going my first Arsenal game against an Aston Villa side that had Paul McGrath, Ray Houghton and Steve Staunton in the lineup...

BTH · 23-11-2018 3:06pm

ronanmac wrote: »

Really?! El D looks battered for his age so My abiding age-related BTH memory is you raising your eyebrows in polite surprise when I described going my first Arsenal game against an Aston Villa side that had Paul McGrath, Ray Houghton and Steve Staunton in the lineup...

This was my first Arsenal game..

http://arseweb.com/95-96/reports/210296.html

El Director · 23-11-2018 3:53pm

ronanmac wrote: »

Really?! El D looks battered for his age so My abiding age-related BTH memory is you raising your eyebrows in polite surprise when I described going my first Arsenal game against an Aston Villa side that had Paul McGrath, Ray Houghton and Steve Staunton in the lineup...

ðŸ˜‚ lol

BTH get yourself to Claremorris on the 28th too and you can be part of the new memories too!

BTH · 23-11-2018 4:01pm

El Director wrote: »

&#55357;&#56834; lol BTH get yourself to Claremorris on the 28th too and you can be part of the new memories too!

"Unfortunately" I can't. I'm at a wedding on the 27th.

I'd hate to be a third wheel anyway...

ronanmac · 23-11-2018 5:18pm

BTH wrote: »

ronanmac wrote: »

Really?! El D looks battered for his age so My abiding age-related BTH memory is you raising your eyebrows in polite surprise when I described going my first Arsenal game against an Aston Villa side that had Paul McGrath, Ray Houghton and Steve Staunton in the lineup...

This was my first Arsenal game..

http://arseweb.com/95-96/reports/210296.html

Class! I think my Arse Villa game was during the 91 92 (or 92 93) season.

ronanmac · 26-11-2018 10:04pm

With my resolution of five different types of races for 2018 being one off completion, I managed to get my 2018 (and first ever) bike race in on Sunday.

My father and my eldest son came with me, the 10-year-old also having his CX racing debut in a field of young apple trees in mid-Tipperary. This was an entirely new experience for me (for all three of us), and we landed in Uppercross Drombane at around nine, having left the bowels of Conamara at 6am.

The nice atmosphere and friendliness of everyone involved lessened the intimidation factor for me, but I was definitely out of my comfort zone on this one. After the young lad’s race (he’s still looking for a CX bike from Santy, so he must have been happy with his lot!), I set off to do a few exploratory laps of the course. Essentially, there were: two sections in the orchard, zig-zagging up and down grassy hills; a section where two barriers had to be jumped; two short climbs, one of them muddy, the other gravelly/muddy; some short flat road and grass sections interconnecting these; and a horrible descent through mud-covered tree roots opening into a deep hole of mud that was so wet that no rut formed through it for the entire day.

On my third warmup lap, having successfully, if somewhat tentatively, descended the muck-fest twice, I confidently identified my racing line just before my front wheel decided otherwise and had my arse off the bike and into a mixture of brambles, nettles, mud, and temporary plastic fencing.

Sheepishly, I made my way back to the startline, third row back, chatting with my son and father on the other side of the fence when, with the race announcer having declared that there were four minutes left to the start, I noticed that I had forgotten both my race chip and number. My father’s not a natural sprinter (!) but he made it down to the car and back with my jacket, with a minute left, and we had the number and chip on with a good twenty seconds to spare…

I had seen enough YouTube videos to know the importance of a good CX start, but in my fluster with the race number, hadn’t noticed that I had left the bike in the 36 cog. It was a high-cadence, low-power dash for me!

The first lap was about getting through the mud and not being completely distanced. I remember thinking to myself at some stage that this was the hardest thing I’d ever done (it wasn’t, but my brain isn’t big on context when my heart rate is over 180). For the second lap, the nice grass turns in the orchard had magically turned to ice, and I took a side-slide off the bike on an uphill hairpin. After that, every turn in the grass seemed to have been oiled, and I began to appreciate the importance of low, low tyre pressure.

The third lap saw me come a cropper on the mud/root descent. This time, I fell onto the only grass patch on the section, so it was easier to jump up and throw the bike onto my shoulder until I had gotten through the worst of it.

The barriers didn’t pose too much of a problem, bar one jump onto the saddle that caught me a bit more square that I had hoped. Other than that, it was fairly straightforward dismounting, lifting the bike over and jumping on again (this is possibly the only advantage that triathlon gives you in the sport of cyclocross). I had a bit of a disastrous practise session on the side of a local football pitch during the week, where I used concrete blocks as barriers, and as I got more confident, tried a last-minute dismount that saw me come down heavy on the bricks, with a sore hip and elbow still as a legacy to my stupidty.

As the race went on, I managed to overtake a few lads, and put in enough of a distance between me and the lad behind me to be able to knock off the dicey cornering. In the end, I finished 7th. Overall, it was a great adventure, a great day out with my father and son, and a new experience with no downside other than the lingering smell of cow****e on my shoes.

I’ll definitely do another one. My skills are woeful, and my fitness isn’t the greatest right now, but it doesn’t seem to matter when it’s so enjoyable!

Overall: 42:07, 7th of 37 (19%)
Distance: 9.64km
Avg/Max Speed: 13.7/34.2kph
Avg/Max HR: 177/188

ronanmac · 10-12-2018 3:14pm

Connacht CX Championship (Enniscrone, Sligo), 9 December 2018
Now as a hardened vet of the Irish cyclocross scene (one B race in deepest Tipperary!), myself and a friend from the club decided to give the Connacht Championship a lash in wind-swept Enniscrone.
After two days of hard rain and gales in the west, it was a relief to wake up on Sunday morning to see that things had died down a little. My usual entourage (my father and eldest son) and I headed up for the Ballina CC-organised race, having bought a 2019 race license the night before after finding out that one-day licenses weren't available for Championship races.
"We decided to toughen it up a bit, seeing as it's the race that's in it," said one of the course markers beforehand as we went for a walk around the place. Certainly, compared to the only other CX race I had done, there was a lot more walking and climbing, and the heavy rain over the previous days meant that the course was cutting up and changing in its nature with every lap.
It was a frantic dash to the first corner once the race started, and while I managed to make the first turn before my club mate, there were many more in front of me. The course was a mix of flat grass, spirals, mud section, climbs that you could cycle and climbs that you couldn't (or at least, that I couldn't!).
It's difficult to write a recap of the race as I only remember certain parts, so, in a nutshell:

My club mate took the diesel engine approach and overtook me a number of laps in
I overtook a few people and had a good tussle with one of the juniors
I fell twice, both due to momentary laps of concentration, one fall being a fairly heavy knock on one of the few tarmac stretches of the entire course... doh!
It felt long and tough, with lots of running

In the end, I finished eighth overall and it turns out that I will be getting a silver Connacht Championship medal by post after finishing second in the O40s! An unexpected bonus, and my first Connacht medal since my debating team took a storming victory against a school from Roscommon back in 1990! My club mate finished in seventh, and took the gold in the O40s, so it was a good day out for his first CX race and my second.

My overall assessement of things is that cyclocross is tough (like a 5k running race sensation in your chest for the first 3 laps, before turning into a 10k running race sensation... if that makes sense). Technique is key and youtube videos are no substitute for figuring it out on the fly. There was a steep descent with a turn near the base, and I think I was on the fourth or fifth lap before I had it figured out.

Nice day, well-organised by Ballina CC, I look forward to next year's season!

7th Overall, 2nd O40

BTH · 10-12-2018 4:56pm

Your posts are always very well written, have you ever thought of writing a book??

ronanmac · 10-12-2018 6:19pm

BTH wrote: »

Your posts are always very well written, have you ever thought of writing a book??

If you bring your phone along to Charlie Byrne’s on Wednesday evening and open it on this page, I’ll sign it for you

woody1 · 10-12-2018 6:57pm

Well done. I was there yesterday and it was tough going. We did that course a few weeks ago when it was dry and it was sooo much easier.. wasn't able for it yesterday . I was cooked by the third lap just held on after that. . Good craic though.

pgibbo · 12-12-2018 11:33am

ronanmac wrote: »

If you bring your phone along to Charlie Byrne’s on Wednesday evening and open it on this page, I’ll sign it for you

Hope tonight goes well. I was hoping to make it but the boss lady is traveling with work so can't get in.

ronanmac · 02-01-2019 8:38pm

Land of the Giants Duathlon, 28 December 2018

Expectations blunt enjoyment.
I did this race the year previous, my first race in eight years with no expectation other than getting through. Last week, I did it with the worst kind of expectation of all... the expectation based on nothing.
A mixture of cyclocross and late season lethargy had seen me ease off the bike mileage, and the running had been all but abandoned, other than a few panic runs coming up to the race. The duathlon itself was organised extremely well, great marshalling including a motorbike on the cycle leg.
Run 1:
I'm not sure how others are at the start of races, but I always set off too fast. Worse still, I do it knowingly, glancing at the Garmin knowing that my pace is nowhere near sustainable. And yet, the pace always seems so easy when you're surrounded by other eager racers, and with the downhill start through the town of Claremorris releasing any mental handbrake that might have been. With over 360 participants, it was a crowded, fast start and even as we got off the main road onto the Land of the Giants park, 500 metres into the race, all 360 still seemed to be ahead of me and it felt wrong to take the foot off the pedal.
Physiology eventually intervened and my first 3:39 km tumbled into 4 minute + kms as the run went on. "Settle into it," said someone as they passed me 4k in, "you're doing grand." It's a measure of how I felt that I didn't tell him to f*ck off but rather appreciate the reassurance!
Distance: 5:22km
Time/Pace: 20:57 / 4:01km
Bike Leg:
The bike course for last year's race was changed due to ice on the backroads, but with the weather so warm this time around that I was debating whether or not I would wear gloves, it was back to the regular looped course. My brother in law brought over an LG P-09 helmet for me from Canada at Christmas. LG had it on sale for about 90 euro in Canada, so it seemed silly not to buy it seeing as I had a purchaser in Montreal (one Rudy Project Wingspan now for sale, by the way!).
The bike leg was going well until a small climb halfway through the course became much tougher than it should. The front tyre was rubbing against the side of the fork, and I had to get off and reset the QR. Basically, the 25 front tyre is too wide for that fork and leaves too little wiggle room, so I'll have to throw on a 23 for the next race.
The readjustment didn't take long, it was frustrating, more than anything else, that it had to be done.
Distance: 16.99km
Time / Speed: 28:05 / 36.3kph
Run 2:
This leg was the real cause of annoyance for me arising from the race, and not because I ran out of T2 like an eejit with helmet still on (before throwing it into a field and hoping that it would be still there after the race!). There was nothing in my legs for this final 2km, being overtaken by four people and little mental or physical ability to react. In hindsight, my annoyance has no foundation in reality given the lack of running done, but as I said, expectation is a dangerous thing.
Distance: 1.87km
Time / Pace: 8:06 / 4:19

Final Placing: 13th, 5th O40
Hollymount Duathlon next, perhaps with some running done in the interim.
Bliain nua faoi shona agus faoi mhaise!

pgibbo · 21-01-2019 11:48am

How'd Hollymount go?

ronanmac · 22-01-2019 8:30pm

pgibbo wrote: »

How'd Hollymount go?

It didn’t! I went to sign up on Saturday, thinking it was next Sunday... I was a week off and registration was closed. Maybe just as well, given my running at the moment!

Bliain Faoi Thrí

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