Bliain Faoi Thrí

ronanmac

As crappy a run as I've had in a long time. The day was fine, I felt good heading out the door, ran too quickly in the opening mile or two but reined myself back in. It never felt comfortable though, and I found myself looking at the Garmin a lot, trying to stay at pace. I felt like had completely run out of any speed in the legs for the last two mile, mile 12 was 8:00 pace, and mile 13 just shy of 9:eek:.

I don't know what's up, but I definitely am feeling a bit rundown, as a short cycle on Wednesday had my quads in a state of exhaustion all day yesterday. It does not bode well for Gaelforce next weekend. I will never have embraced a taper with such vigour! I'm puzzled by how sh*t I feel though, as I have just taken a week off running to let a knee niggle disappear. Confused, annoyed, and slightly anxious about next Saturday week.

Route: Home to Doire Choill and back
Distance: 13 miles
Time: 01:40:18
Target Pace / Achieved Pace: 7:30 / 7:43
Perceived Exertion (out of 10): 8
Personal Satisfaction: 3 (a token 3 for finishing the bloody run!)
Weather: Overcast initially, but very warm by the end

ronanmac

Training opportunities this past week have been fairly limited, my wife being away and I being on childminding duties. I wanted to knock off one more run pre-Gaelforce, though, especially as I had bought a new pair of Inov-8's and wanted not to be running in them for the first time on Saturday morning!

The shoes were lovely to run in, much lighter than the Salomons I had previously been using for trail running. I kitted out in race-day gear, a trisuit, a short sleeve base layer and a backpack. The malaise I had been feeling for the past two weeks was gone, thankfully, and I felt strong.

Later that day, though, while getting down on my knees to play with the eldest of the two lads, I felt a horribly sharp pain under my knee cap. It reoccured later in the day, and I felt it again this morning. Dreading some bad, bad news, I headed in to BJohnson to save the day, his diagnosis being tight muscles bearing down over the knee cap. He loosened them out, and hopefully following another treatment tomorrow, I'll be all set.

Last year, I was very nervous pre-Gaelforce. This year, I am really looking forward to it. I hope it stays dry though!

Route: Minna, up An Bóthar Nua, around Loch na mBreac Chaoch, and back to Minna
Distance: 4.7 miles
Time: 33:57
Target Pace / Achieved Pace: No target / 7:13
Perceived Exertion (out of 10): 8
Personal Satisfaction: 7 (lungs a bit tight after the layoff but nice run)
Weather: Warm

littlebug

Best of luck tomorrow Rónan

catweazle

You seem to always have injury drama before your A races. Weather looks ok for tomorrow too. Have a good day!

ronanmac

catweazle wrote: »

You seem to always have injury drama before your A races. Weather looks ok for tomorrow too. Have a good day!

I know. Either (a) I'm a drama queen, (b) I'm psychologically frail, (c) I'm physically frail or (d) I'm a drama queen!

ronanmac

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/45788554

The alarm went off at 5:15. Four of us were registered for the 5:30 wave, but being booked in at the B and B at start of the course gave us a little bit extra sleep time.

Pitch dark initally, the morning revealed itself to be, for the second Gaelforce year in a row, an island of tranquility in a summer in inclemency. For breakfast, it was a banana, porridge with chia seeds, a bottle of water with chia seeds, half a Mule bar (50 per cent off for being out of date!) and a strong coffee. At the start line, I met Yop and a cameraman from work, and then, following an emergency dash back to the B and B for a final toilet break, it was time to head to Westport.

The cheering from the next wave near the start was great, and I settled nicely into the run. I almost missed the turn for the Famine Trail section, but it was a lovely run, bouncing off rocks and trying to find the harder ground. That didn’t go entirely to plan, though, as my shoe disappered into a bog hole and I had to hobble back to fish it out. I guess I have to tighten my laces more when offroad running, as opposed to road running.

Last year, I got straight into the queue for the kayaks but had planned this year to take a little break, take on some water and a gel, and take a toilet break. My plan was scuppered by my only annoyance at the day’s organisation. We had been informed that every wave bar the elite wave would be taken off the clock once we came to the first transition area and I had planned accordingly. While I was taking gel and water, however, I was told that there was no time out as there were plenty of kayaks available. It threw me a little, but I got into the kayak with a Westport man called Francie and we headed across the fjord, away from my home county and into his.

The second run was heavy on the legs but not quite as boggy as last year. Two weeks of incessant rain before Gaelforce 2009 had left the ground considerably softer and more cut up, and things were a bit firmer underfoot this year. At the bike transition, I changed out of the trail shoes and threw the bike shoes on. The bike felt good, a break from the running, and half way through, I started chatting with Cathal from Cong. We stayed together for the rest of the bike leg but he was definitely stronger than me in the saddle as, while I was suffering, he was chatting away with me and everyone he passed! I guess if you’re a cyclist from Cong, you’d have to be good! The new bike section was bone-shaking, I was glad to have done it beforehand so as to see what was ahead of me. I felt guilty for doing such awful things to my bike, though, and I’d say that there isn’t a bolt on it that doesn’t need tightening!

Onto the reek, and Cathal and I stayed together for much of the zigzag pass, where he headed off and I struggled, cramping as I climbed. Half-way up the scree section of the Reek, the gel I had taken coming off the bike reappeared and I vomited twice. I am very grateful for the elderly pilgrim who gave me a gulp from his Ballygowan. Heading down was better, I went out on the scree and let the stone roll away underfoot. There didn’t seem to be as much loose scree though, and a mixture of that and me not being able to keep up with my body slowed my progress. I passed Cathal a quarter of the way down, but it wasn’t long before he was in pursuit!

Onto the bike again, and the Scelp. It was easier to cycle this year as opposed to last, but I was cramping up badly on the inner thigh, not sure what muscle it was but I hadn’t experienced cramps there before. Once I got onto the main road, I got down on the tri-bars and gave it leather. I had last year’s finish in my head... dispose of bike, run across a bit of gravel and onto grass, and that’s that. This year, I started swearing to myself as I cycled further and further past the finish line, knowing that the run was going to be longer than I thought it would be. I left down the bike, but was so spent at this stage that I struggled with changing shoes. A rake of people went past me, some of them I caught before the finish, others I didn’t.

Eventually, I made the finish line in 4:44:17. At the time, I felt like I couldn’t have given anymore. Thinking back, I’m not so sure. After last year’s finish of 369th place (5:04:30), I had a “secret” ambition of finishing in the top 100. When I came in at the finish and saw my provisional finish of 89th place, I was delighted but suspected that I would slide down the order pretty quickly. In the end, I finished in 116th place.

Afterwards, I wasn’t sure if I would it again, but today, I was looking at my splits and everyone elses’s splits and looking at the room for improvement. The times posted by Padraic Marry, PeterX, Enduro and company are phenomenal. I know that I will never get near those times but if I want improvement, there is no getting around the mountain. I definitely need to improve my performance on Croagh Patrick, and work on other aspects. Whether you should go for toe clips or cleats, I’m not sure. I felt that the cleats were the right decision until I was trying to change shoes at the final transition. I wonder what strategy the elite pack went with on this one?

Overall, it was a fantastic day and a fantastic event. Big-time congratulations are due to the organisers who took on board a lot of negativity last year and made Gaelforce 2010 a great event. And fair play to everyone who finished. A tough day out, but a great day!

catweazle

Well done its something I would have no interest in doing. The little bit of mountain running I did in the Clare Burren challenge I hated, I kept thinking i was going to break an ankle on the downhill and wussed out of any speed until I finally hit the tarmac.

Destroying the bike that I paid so much for wouldn't sit well with me either.

You were well inside your goal from a harder course than last year so job done.

Now its time to fish out the speedos for Loughrea

ronanmac

catweazle wrote: »

Now its time to fish out the speedos for Loughrea

Don't remind me. My wife laughed when I told her I had signed up. Her first question was "how long is the swim?" I'm going to a wedding in Sorrento the weekend beforehand so I'll get my extensive swim training in there!

catweazle

Ahhh Sorrento, good memories I spent my honeymoon there, if you havent booked your hotel yet check out the Europa Palace hotel. Finest hotel I ever stayed in.

There is a great swimming pier attached to the hotel, dive in and straight into beautiful Med deep water you will love it

pgibbo

Well done in Gael Force.

I think clips are the way to go. I used cleats in WAR and it was a big mistake. You lose so much time in transition. If you look at the podium finishers, I'd bet they all wore clips. Marrey was wearing clips in our club TTs in the build up to Gael Force to get used to them!

See you in Loughrea! :cool:

ronanmac

pgibbo wrote: »

Well done in Gael Force.

I think clips are the way to go. I used cleats in WAR and it was a big mistake. You lose so much time in transition. If you look at the podium finishers, I'd bet they all wore clips. Marrey was wearing clips in our club TTs in the build up to Gael Force to get used to them!

See you in Loughrea! :cool:

Yeah, looked at the photos today and, sure enough, no sign of cleats among leaders. Some performance by your club mate...

ronanmac

Back to marathon training again today, the body still a bit stiff after Saturday. I decided to switch the prescribed interval run for Thursday's tempo run, the two mile warm-up made more sense today!

I wore a new pair of Saucony Kinvara's for the first time, and went without my usual orthotics. The Kinvara's (I wonder are they named after the south Galway town?) are very light, and very flat, but felt extremely comfortable, more like a pair of slippers than a pair of running shoes. It seems very difficult to land on your heel with them, so a good match for the new running style.

Almost straight away into the run, I felt my right calf still very tight after Gaelforce. After 2.5 miles, I stopped to loosen it out, and to take a little breather. My body felt tired and the legs heavy, so I leaned up against a rock by the bog road on which I was running, an Bóthar Nua as it's called, although it's probably been there for over a hundred years! To my right, bog as far as the eye could see, to my left bog and some wind turbines on the horizon, in front of me was Galway Bay, the Burren and the Aran islands, and behind me, more bog and the outline of the Maumturk mountains. Sometimes when you run in the same places all the time, you don't see how nice it is. A well-surfaced road, no traffic, an occasional horse to shoo away. It's heaven and it's a left-hand turn from the office!

After a brief rest, I went back to the running and felt much better. The last two miles of the tempo run being much stronger than the first struggle.

Route: Work to Bóthar Nua and back
Distance: 6 miles (3 miles tempo)
Time: 42:25
Target Pace / Achieved Pace: 6:34 / 6:51, 6:32, 6:33
Perceived Exertion (out of 10): 7
Personal Satisfaction: 7 (early struggle but nice finish)
Weather: Windy but deceptively warm

ronanmac

Bless me Father, for I have sinned. It has been two weeks since my last run...

Things have gone horribly wrong in my training over the past 14 days. I think that a mixture of Gaelforce exertions and an abnormally busy time, workwise, left me a bit worn down, the end result being a bacterial infection. I spent two days in bed with the bloody thing, before heading off to a wedding in Sorrento, complete with my course of antibiotics. I've just finished the antibiotics, I still feel a bit phlegmatic, and I've my first ever triathlon on Sunday! I don't mind the triathlon, the point of it was to try a triathlon rather than perform in any way. I suspect, however, that my layoff will mean re-evaluating my marathon targets. I won't know until I go out for a run again (I'll give it a try this evening) how I'm feeling, but I've missed an 18 mile and 20 mile long run, as well as a midweek 11 mile marathon pace run.

The training session below was my last run, an interval run which went very well. Oh, the memories!


Route: Bóthar Nua, Na Minna
Distance: 6.1 miles (12 x 400 m interval, as two reps of 6)
Time: 49.21
Target Interval Pace / Achieved Pace: 5:36 / 5:31, 5:10, 5:16, 5:12, 5:17, 5:08; 5:24, 5:18, 5:30, 5:13, 5:29, 4:52
Perceived Exertion (out of 10): 8
Personal Satisfaction: 9 (delighted to be able to stick with the set pace)
Weather: Warm

ronanmac

Friday 10 September

The first run, post-illness layoff, and although I felt the legs very heavy for the first 1.5 miles, I felt better after. At 3.5 miles, though, my chest felt like it was going to seize up (slight exaggeration of course ), and so I was glad to meet a friend on the road and have the excuse of a chat/break. I felt the run very tough overall, but it's definitely cleared some of the phlegm from my chest...

Loughrea Triathlon tomorrow, and I feel like laughing when I think of how underprepared I am! I'm meeting a few lads after lunchtime to try out the wetsuit and go for a swim. Nothing like thinking ahead!

Route: Bóthar Nua
Distance: 5.6 miles (4 miles tempo)
Time: 39:29 (not including the break )
Target Pace / Achieved Pace: 6:49 / 6:42, 6:44, 6:43, 6:45
Perceived Exertion (out of 10): 8.5
Personal Satisfaction: 7 (okay, I'm starting back again... no more slippages!)
Weather: Muggy

ronanmac

Went for a tryout swim today in anticipation of tomorrow's tri. Removing the wetsuit turned out to be no real problem, swimming for more than a minute proved taxing though :eek:. The difference technique makes is startling. Every now and again, it seemed easy and then, bang, gone! Torture once again. I'm looking forward to it though. It'll make for an interesting day!

catweazle

Ah you will enjoy tomorrow Ronan, you are usually at the top of the field in races. So being at the back will be a novelty after the swim. You will be picking them off on the cycle and run

pgibbo

How did you get on Ronan? You looked a bit worse for wear on the run when I saw you? Did you enjoy the experience?

ronanmac

pgibbo wrote: »

How did you get on Ronan? You looked a bit worse for wear on the run when I saw you? Did you enjoy the experience?

I really enjoyed it, pgibbo, a great experience. I managed to finish the swim with a combination of front crawl, breast stroke and backstroke (I think the doggy paddle could have made an appearance as well ), the cycle went well, but I had a horrible stitch during the run which kept me from picking up pace. At least that's what I thought it was, but today, I still have it so I guess it must be a pulled abdominal muscle?!

Anyway, I'll write up a proper report when the results are up, but overall, a really enjoyable day, and an incentive to start swimming come winter. How did you get on yourself?

pgibbo

Hope it's nothing too serious Ronan.

I was happy enough with yesterday. A very enjoyable day out. :cool: Well done on getting through your first tri! :cool:

ronanmac

I headed off to Loughrea on Sunday morning with the bike, the pushchair, my wife and two boys crammed into the car for the debut triathlon. I had been feeling very anxious about it, due to my lack of swimming, and my fears weren’t exactly allayed when I saw the chop on the lake when I got to the transition area.

Before that, I got through a very smooth registration process, where I met Catweazle, who answered some dumb-ass newbie questions I had, and I was on my way to the start. A bloke I met down by the lake must have seen the worried look on my face and told me to basically get through the swim by whatever means possible, including the backstroke, and I took his advice to heart!

Setting up in transition, I met Catweazle again, was introduced to Pgibbo over a rack of bike (nice to make your brief acquaintance Pgibbo!), met a guy I knew from Kiltormer and bumped into a friend of mine who came along as a spectator.

SWIM
I was not looking forward to the swim. I’m not sure what the furthest distance I have ever swum is, but I would imagine (not including scuba diving) that it would be no more than 100 metres. I stayed off to the right hand side of the start, anxious to stay out of everyone’s way, and I had a nice, smooth, hassle-free start. I began with the front crawl, until I got tired very, very quickly, and moved to the breast stroke. Back again to the front crawl, followed by breast stroke, and then the back stroke! So it continued and I couldn’t wait to get around that first buoy. After getting past the second buoy, I knew that I would at least be able to finish the swim, and to do so without stopping (albeit very slowly).
Time: 22:10, 351st

TRANSITION 1

I was worried about getting the wetsuit off. I had bought the suit on ebay three years ago, and was able to close the zip on it this year for the first time! The triathlon was my third time wearing it, but it came off quickly, and so it was off on the bike
Time: 1:26

BIKE
I was worried on the bike early on as I felt I couldn’t get any power going at all, and the quads felt very tired. After about 3km, it clicked finally and I got going. Cycle was as expected, slightly better than average time but not much more than that. The usual day-dreaming, and copping on and racing when passed by someone. I really need to sort out the concentration on the bike!
Time: 39:34, 127th

TRANSITION 2

I came out of the pedals easily enough, hit the ground with a bit of a bang though. The bike fell twice on me while trying to rack it, but the shoes came on quickly enough and overall, I was fairly happy. It was a bit of a shock seeing the winner come in as I was starting on the last leg though. You don’t see the winner come in in running races usually (thank god!)
Time: 1:06

RUN
I felt great at the start of the run, no real brick effect but within a few hundred metres, I felt what was a really sharp stitch just below my rib cage. I couldn’t get any pace going as the pain got much sharper when I did so. After about 2 kilometres, I passed my mate from Kiltormer and was beginning to feel good. Met Catweazle heading home and laughed at his suggestion that I could catch him! The Half Ironman plays down his abilities, methinks! When I got to the turnaround, I felt really good and started putting down the power, but almost straight away, the stitch returned. I was passed by a guy who I should have been able to keep with, and the best I could do was keep him in my sights. Coming near the end of any road race, I’m usually shattered but I felt like I had a good bit in the tank at the end of this, and put in a big (and unnecessary!) sprint, overtaking the guy who had overtaken me, and a few others before passing the finish line. The guy (turned out to be a Belgian) came over at the finish to chat, but unfortunately, I was too busy puking over the side of the railing… I think the stitch was actually a pulled muscle, as I still have the strain below the rib cage today. I was disappointed with my run time, but there was no getting around it.

Time: 21:09, 50th

OVERALL

Overall, I really enjoyed the day. I thought the whole thing was extremely well-organised, bar some confusion about the start of the swim. I’m definitely aiming to do more tris, and will start swimming this winter. Good stuff!

Final Time: 1:25:25, 151st

catweazle

Well when I saw you coming behind me I was expecting somewhere around 18.xx from you which would have had you going by me coming into the last 100/200.

I bet you would have enjoyed that

So I can be thankful you had muscle problems but I am guessing i am living on borrowed time with you. Well done on getting around the swim, that mustnt have been easy as it was as difficult a swim as I have had this year.

Great time all the same you beat my time by over two minutes last year.

ronanmac

pgibbo wrote: »

I was happy enough with yesterday. A very enjoyable day out. :cool:

Looking at your results, pgibbo, a great performance. Strong running as always!

ronanmac

catweazle wrote: »

Well when I saw you coming behind me I was expecting somewhere around 18.xx from you which would have had you going by me coming into the last 100/200.

I bet you would have enjoyed that

So I can be thankful you had muscle problems but I am guessing i am living on borrowed time with you. Well done on getting around the swim, that mustnt have been easy as it was as difficult a swim as I have had this year.

Great time all the same you beat my time by over two minutes last year.

Muscle problems or no muscle problems, I wouldn't have caught you. You had a five minute start on me from the swim, and our bike times were pretty much the same. I'm looking forward to next year though, it's good to have a ready-made arch-nemesis!!

As for the swimming, I never, ever thought that I would "get into" it, but I'm already looking forward now to giving it a lash over winter. Just have to get my head around the drive to a swimming pool .

Macanri

Hay you're a triathlete now, you can always run or cycle to the swimming pool - brick session every session:D

Seriously though, that's a great performance for your first tri, especially off so little swim training. You're a brave man doing an OW tri as the first outing.

littlebug

Well done Ronan. That's a great result. Alll these tri reports would nearly (but not quite) have me wanting to learn to swim properly!

ronanmac

littlebug wrote: »

Well done Ronan. That's a great result. Alll these tri reports would nearly (but not quite) have me wanting to learn to swim properly!

It's funny... I never had any interest in learning to swim properly, but after Sunday, I'm definitely interested!

pgibbo

littlebug wrote: »

Well done Ronan. That's a great result. Alll these tri reports would nearly (but not quite) have me wanting to learn to swim properly!

Well, LB, there's an opportuntiy on your doorstep:

Interested in improving your swimming and fitness? Join Tuam Masters Swimming Club. Training sessions run from 7.00pm-8.00pm every Sunday. Classes are for adults and cover all swimming abilities, from competitive swimmers to those who can swim a number of lengths of the pool and would like to improve their technique.
Registration takes place from 6.15pm to 6.45pm on Sunday the 19th September 2010 in Kingfisher Leisure Centre, Tuam. New members are always welcome.
For further information check out http://www.tuammasters.com :cool:

catweazle

Nice advertising Gibbo but Tuam is hardly on his doorstep - Nice cycle over though alright, quick swim and LSR home!

pgibbo

It was targetted at LB - littlebug. Funny lad D'Arcy!

littlebug

pgibbo wrote: »

Well, LB, there's an opportuntiy on your doorstep:

:eek: // mutters some excuses about children/ babysitters/ work/anything else I can think of //
Actually unless "can swim a number of lengths of the pool" means with a nice long break between each length then I don't think I'm good enough I did click the linky though so you never know

(Here Rónan... you can have your log back now:))