Raising the bar a little...

hf4z6sqo7vjngi

What wave are you starting in on Saturday?....not that i will be anywhere near you at the finish line:pac: I am in wave 2.

Abhainn

Celeste Rotten Tile wrote: »

What wave are you starting in on Saturday?....not that i will be anywhere near you at the finish line:pac: I am in wave 2.

Ya already checked! Good to see your feeling better
I'm in wave 3. Looking forward to it now. Hoping the swim won't be too much of a baxtard. Sending you PM now

Macanri

Great. So we can expect you to go flying past us on either the bike or the run. I'm in wave 2 too, and we start at 15:10, whereas wave 3 starts at 15:20. I'm no. 259.

I reckon the swim won't be too bad (famous last words) - there's not much more rain forecast between now and then so the flow shouldn't be crazy. Anyway, you're swimming quite well in your OW swims as far as I can see. No bother to you.

Abhainn

Macanri wrote: »

Great. So we can expect you to go flying past us on either the bike or the run. I'm in wave 2 too, and we start at 15:10, whereas wave 3 starts at 15:20. I'm no. 259.

I reckon the swim won't be too bad (famous last words) - there's not much more rain forecast between now and then so the flow shouldn't be crazy. Anyway, you're swimming quite well in your OW swims as far as I can see. No bother to you.

I'm 323 and in M40-44 category:eek: for some reason
Will be keepng eye out for you

Macanri

Abhainn wrote: »

I'm 323 and in M40-44 category:eek: for some reason
Will be keepng eye out for you

Someones putting years on you!
I'll be wearing the 'Activ Multisport' trisuit - you can't miss it - red and yellow vertical stripes on a black and red background!

tunguska

TheRoadRunner wrote: »

As bad as you felt at least you didn't get chicked! One of my first priorities whenever I line up for a race.

Agreed. First and foremost, you dont get beat by a girl.

Abhainn

Wed
Evening Bike 55km. HR 125. 31.0kph
Same as last Wed an N11 bike out towards Bray and return.
Kept pace and cadence up on the hilly drags and returned with legs feeling good

No swim Wed morning as OH away. Doesn't look like I'll get another one in before Sat either.
Intending on a bit of a run tomorrow to stretch the legs so hopefully will be nice and fresh for Sat

I heading down on my own to Athlone Sat am so if anyone wants a lift just PM me. My car will take 2 bikes ( Spa Hotel 11:45 approx )

Abhainn

Tri Athlone Race Report
This was a first time in this event for me. This was a big race, a big field, and a reportedly fast course. So it was an opportunity for me to get a good time for the standard distance in a long while.
It was good to meet Jackyback for the first time, didn’t see Marcanri though I must have been blind with that tri suit he was showing off later
It was sunny and it was warm. Taking on liquids was going to be important especially on the bike.
Off we went and I was in swim wave 3 which was about 1150m down steam and 350m back up. Even though the river was wide there was the usual’ at the start of any swim.
The swim was relatively ok though. After the first buoy I headed too far right and soon I was nicely told to “get over”. That cost me some seconds. The most annoying thing for me in the swim was my goggles, which were a bloody nuisance. I had to stop 3 times to let the water out.

Swim 26:10. HR 146
I was pleased with the swim time. The race results split has me at 27:35 but the timing mat was at the entrance to transition, which was some 250 meters from the swim exit. An accurate swim time? - my bloody arse.
T1 was somewhat a little slow as I struggled with the putting on of one sock.
The bike course was enjoyable. The road surface was good and even though the roads were closed there was still some congestion early in the course. There seemed to be a headwind and some gradual drags, which affected the speed to the turn around point. My bike computer was not working; someone at T1 may have knocked the wheel sensor so I hadn’t an idea how fast I was going at any time. However the Garmin gave me my km splits - over 2:00min /km wasn’t good, under 1:50 min / km was acceptable on way out.
The turn around point came quicker than I expected at around 18km. With the aid of a bit a tailwind and slight drop in elevation I increased my effort. Before long I was back in Athlone somewhat annoyed at the short bike distance of under 37km. I had trouble getting my feet out of the shoes (lack of practise) and at the last second had to unclip the shoes instead. Pulled my shoes off and ran back up that same 200m incline to the timing mat.

Bike Garmin time: 1:04:45 33.9KPH. 36.6km. HR150
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/96340671

Very irritating, why couldn’t it have been 40km??
I was happy at the almost 34kph average which was probably my best ever split for a bike. (Entry level missey bike God love it)

Got through T2 in good time and no problems and onto my favourite section.
Run - Problems!! Congestion! It was very challenging. I was doing a lot of left /right zigzagging and in places I had to wait until an opening came up ahead. Sometimes I just ran onto the “wrong” side of the road to overtake groups.
I went through 1km in 3:31km which was a little too hot. I had heard before hand the course might be slightly short by possibly 500m, so I decided to go as hard as I could. The 4 and a bit looped course had one nasty hill and a couple of tight 180-degree turns and with the congestion keeping a nice rhythm wasn’t easy.
I reduced the pace a little after the first km. I was glad with the one water station visited on each loop and as it was warm I tried to cool down with the usual water over the back of the neck trick
Eventually it transpired and I realised the course was “long” and I just tried to maintain the pace over the final minutes and which I failed slightly. My goal had been to run a decent 37:xx for 10km off the bike. I went through 10km in 37:10 and that was very honest on the day and all that went with it

Run: 10.53km in 39:12. HR 168
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/96340695

Summary:
A good attempt overall. I know if I ever could improve on the swim technique and get a decent bike I know quite a number of minutes could be taken off that time.
And let it be know I am a long distance runner, and just a holiday triathlete for now

Macanri

Great report and even better racing.

You had a good swim, a strong bike and an absolutely stonking run. Fair play, for a holiday triathlete like.

Nice to meet you afterwards and put a face to the name.

Yea, I think I'm going to have to turn down the brightness on that trisuit. Maybe after another few washes the colour will have faded a bit - wishful thinking I reckon.

Water leaking into the goggles is very annoying alright. What we have practiced before was, flipping over onto your back, then lifting the bottom of the goggles up to let the water out, stick them back down, flip back over and continue on FS. It's handier than coming to a complete stop. I only had to do so once in a race.

Hope the training for Swinford goes well - don't go crashing the bike like last year!

Abhainn

Macanri wrote: »

Great report and even better racing.

You had a good swim, a strong bike and an absolutely stonking run. Fair play, for a holiday triathlete like.

Nice to meet you afterwards and put a face to the name.

Yea, I think I'm going to have to turn down the brightness on that trisuit. Maybe after another few washes the colour will have faded a bit - wishful thinking I reckon.

Water leaking into the goggles is very annoying alright. What we have practiced before was, flipping over onto your back, then lifting the bottom of the goggles up to let the water out, stick them back down, flip back over and continue on FS. It's handier than coming to a complete stop. I only had to do so once in a race.

Hope the training for Swinford goes well - don't go crashing the bike like last year!

I have 3 or 4 pair of goggles that all will be soon binned.
Great race by you Mick, can't believe I didn't see you so I could catch you - honestly;)

Abhainn

Cyprus hols
One of great benefits of life is to have sound in-laws, especially when they have a nice spot in Cyprus. The location is Souni on the south part of the island and the nearest city Limassol. We tend to go out local, up the mountains where there is the best food and good drink. Not quite so nice for some running fans is the fact that we are 8 miles from the coast up towards Mount Olympus. Hilly, no flats and hot in July.
So I haven’t been taking it easy so far on this break.

Monday eve:
10.5km @ 04:16 km. HR 149. 29C
Did a couple of laps of Souni Village and then a larger loop of the area that took in some trails that were nice except for the two dogs that scared the crap out of me
No flat land up here. Bloody hell your either going up or down
The top of my quads were a little sore on the last downward km probably still the effects from Sat race
The recovery ice bath (pool ,27C) at the end was welcome
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/96952515


Tues am
Mid morning downhill run from Souni to Episkopi village . 9km @03:54/km HR145
When your throwing out sub 3:40 per km and HR is just ticking over its a great experience. But its downhill and its like telling lies.
The plan was a day at the beach (not the closest one) so I headed off before the gang hoping to get in 10 clicks. They passed me at 8k and headed into a shop so I could only manage one more. Only 28C and sunny so conditions not so bad
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/97011906

Tues :
OW swim Ladies mile beach. 1.1km in 25min
Fcxking goggles drove me bananas. Was taking it easy anyway. Water was nice.

Wed am . 11.3km @06:55. HR 155. Max 176
Was planning a flatish run down by Curium beach very early am but bed was comfy and I debated how I was going to get a run in today. Fcuk it I went for the bloody hard one. 5km up to Kividies village like a mad man and thankfully only 27C. And then all downhill for another 5km. Quads, calves killing me till the last one click all up hill that nearly blew me away. Just sat at the pool for 10 mins wondering what the hell all this is about. I didn’t intend this would be so hard. Shattered.
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/97193996

hf4z6sqo7vjngi

Good to meet you on Saturday Joe and great racing. Nice to see you are taking it easy on the training front whilst on holidays:rolleyes:

Abhainn

Thurs noon
OW swim Curium beach 1.7km 41min
Decided no running today. Legs need a bit of recovery after the recent hilly runs
It was the sea then, up and down parallel to the beach. The waves were a bit of a nuisance and the current kept pulling me towards the shore. One can see the benefits of a wet suit and swim time over large baggy shorts.

Fri early am run. Curium and areas
The temperature is continuing to rise over here. This means runs need to be earlier. I was hoping to get hopping along by 7:15 or so. It was half an hour later before I off for a run. The legs were still stiff, calves especially then quads. So recovery has been slow and poor – must remember to lay off the Keo and vino soon :rolleyes:asthose seem to inhibiting muscles mending
Flatter route today that took started off in then headed towards Akrotiri and return via Episkopi and ending back to the start point. By 8km I was definitely struggling somewhat. The temperature was increasing and I was starting to overhear. A quick stretch of the claves and quads then and finished the last 4km ok

Summary: 12km at 04:15 pace. HR 146
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/97598621

Abhainn

Sat
Planned rest from the night before:)

Sunday early am:
Curium beach start and loop of local villages
I had to get this early as the hottest day loomed. I was running at 7am and temperature was 28C. I intended to run at 04:30 / km and keep the HR in zone 3. All was ok until the midpoint and highest point in the loop put pace was increasing a bit and HR too. Tried to run in the tree shade out of the rising sun. Glad when I reached 12k where there is a natural spring well. A welcome load of water over the head and back cooled me until the finish
Summary: 15.1km at 04:13 pace. HR 143
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/98036568

Monday
OW swim Ladies mile
It was supposed to be a water park today but the huge explosion at Zygi this morning messed that up.
So beach day instead and got in about 1.2km in 26 min. The speedo long johns weren’t very speedy :rolleyes:

Abhainn

Tues am
Early am Souni lapper run.
I half planned a progression run around a loop of the area. The loop is 1.98k and basically first km is downhill and the second up hill (33m rise and 33m fall in the loop).
But it was fcuking hot even at 7am. I’d see how the first one went and took it from there. It went reasonably well and the 2nd was faster so by the 3rd I said Id finish it out. By the 4th the legs were finding the return uphill click challenging but I finished out ok with each 2km about 13 secs faster than previous
Summary:11k @ 04:18. HR 144 Temp 30C

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/98591811

Wed
Rest
Travel home 12hrs door to door and home by 12:30am.

Thursday
Evening bike. 55km @ 32.9kph. HR 128
I wasn’t really in the form for this but it turned out quite the opposite. Felt tired all day from previous day travelling and back at work also.
Conditions ideal. Route was to Wicklow to Bray south exit and return.
I worked the long N11 drags keeping the pace up. Legs felt good. Good bike

On a side note I haven’t weighed myself in a few weeks, just afraid too.

Hoping to give the next 3 days a good effort in lead to next weekends race
Lunch run today and OW swim tonight.
Long brick Sat (100k ) and long run Sun (22k).

TheRoadRunner

what race are you doing next week?

BeepBeep67

Abhainn wrote: »

long run Sun (22k).

I need to do 14 on Sunday 7 @ 7:45 pace and 7 @ 7:10 pace if that's not too slow for you we could hook up.

Abhainn

TheRoadRunner wrote: »

what race are you doing next week?

Humbert Half Iron

Your going well

BeepBeep67 wrote: »

I need to do 14 on Sunday 7 @ 7:45 pace and 7 @ 7:10 pace if that's not too slow for you we could hook up.

Sound. 2nd 7 @ 07:10 is ideal for my first 7 if you get me. Text me

Abhainn

Fri lunch run Tymon Park
6.6 miles at 06:50 / mile pace. HR 137
Legs didn’t feel that fresh but an acceptable trot

Fri evening: Cold water again
OW Swim 2k in 39:40. HR 125
This swim began in the harbour but I also ventured outside the pier as the sea was relatively calm for once. Swam parallel to the pier and the rocky beach for 1km out and back. In places the water still felt ice cold on my face. It’s mid July and still this bloody Irish sea if freezing.

Sat early am. Long Brick Bike 100k / Run 4.5km
Was planningto be out the door for 07:10 as I needed to be back for 10.40 or so. But it was 07:25 before the stop- watch was enabled. The forecast of strong winds and frequent showers wasn’t appealing so I just hoping I would be back before the worst of it.
My legs certainly didn’t feel fresh, maybe from the Thurs evening bike. The 4k climb from Kilmac was hard this time round as the showers and wind became worse.
Legs improved after this. However as I faced into the wind again at 80k they began to get tired again. The wind in last 10k was favourable and all felt fine again at the end.
Summary: 100.15kM at 29.4kph. HR 130
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/99468830

Run 4.5km at 04:06km
Wind delayed me on bike so I had to quickly change into running gear and followed the OH who had a something on in order to collect kids.
My plan next Sunday is to set off and maintain a pace of 04:10-04:15km off the bike. This was slightly faster than that. The legs felt good however.

Sun- Morning Long run
Hooked up with Beepbeep 67 for the first half of this run. It was good to have company. But the wind was one of the strongest I have run in this year. The first 4/5 miles weren’t easy, combination of conditions and my legs felt very stale from yesterday.
By half way things were looking up. Legs had awakened and I increased pace a bit. Initially planned to do 13 miles but ended up a little more, as I failed to find the dog who seen the gate opened earlier by the wind and set off on some great adventure.
Eventually he arrived back home at 6pm, looking worst for wear, don’t know whether it was all the swimming or shagging he was doing or both:rolleyes:

14.15 miles at 07:00 pace. HR 143. Last 7 at 06:41 pace


I’m happy with the last 4 days efforts since coming back from the hols. There’s not going to be any long stuff this week in lead up to Sunday. Will probably take two rest days too.

hf4z6sqo7vjngi

Joe are you considering going long next year? The IM's seem to be selling out fast when they are launched. Austria has already sold out and Challenge Roth opened this morning but i expect that to sell out fairly quick.

Izoard

Celeste Rotten Tile wrote: »

Joe are you considering going long next year? The IM's seem to be selling out fast when they are launched. Austria has already sold out and Challenge Roth opened this morning but i expect that to sell out fairly quick.

Nirvana always have slots if you are stuck, and I snuck into Roth in December, so plenty of time to torture yourself yet...

Joe, all the best with the HIM - sounds like it will be a great day out.

Abhainn

Celeste Rotten Tile wrote: »

Joe are you considering going long next year? The IM's seem to be selling out fast when they are launched. Austria has already sold out and Challenge Roth opened this morning but i expect that to sell out fairly quick.

I haven't decided anything yet.
Yes I know about Austria, I expect Frankfurt to be gone quickly also
You mentioned Challenge Barcelona back in Athlone, thats kinda sticking with me now.

hf4z6sqo7vjngi

Abhainn wrote: »

I haven't decided anything yet.
Yes I know about Austria, I expect Frankfurt to be gone quickly also
You mentioned Challenge Barcelona back in Athlone, thats kinda sticking with me now.

Yeah its a fast course and one for later in the season with it on in late October.

Abhainn

Monday lunch run
5miles @ miles at 07:20 / mile pace. HR 129
Recovery run

Tues:
1hr Turbo
Could only do this after I put kids to bed. OH had a function the Dragons Den crowd
This felt too easy, so easy I made sure the Trax was calibrated correctly after.
I was just ticking over. The bloody No Sen-Ums attacked me though near the end and left some nasty bites.
Watts 207, Cad 86. HR 115


Weight check
I got the courage to throw myself on the scales at the weekend. A tad over 75kg, which is about 2kg over this time last year. For the past few years I am usually at my lightest at this time. I‘m hoping though the extra mass is muscle and not fat.

Abhainn

Wed lunch run
Planned a type of tempo run. Didn’t want to over do things 4 days before a race so aim was first 2 miles @ 7min / mile then 2 @6 min and to finish 2@7min
The result wasn’t exactly to plan. Session ended up as 2@ 06:50 then 2 at 05:45 (10 mile pace) and finished up with 2 @ 06:45.
All in all a good workout and hopefully not too much. HR 147

Wed evening
OW swim 1.95k. 40:20. HR129
Down to the harbour for the last OW swim for a while. It was 8pm gloomy sky and water, a bit depressing really with only a few about.
I thought I was going fairly well and all felt good but pace seemed to be a little down and HR up too
So it was probably not a great idea to have eaten a very large portion of carbonara and talked easily into 2 fine glasses of Penfolds Shiraz just over a hour before


Thurs:
Rest

Plan until Sunday is short run tomorrow and short bike Sat.
Wind for Sunday looks light so hopefully it will be dry also

catweazle

Abhainn wrote: »

Wind for Sunday looks light so hopefully it will be dry also

Wind from the west too from the forecasts at this stage

I wonder will I recognise you this year with all that extra weight put on

Abhainn

catweazle wrote: »

I wonder will I recognise you this year with all that extra weight put on

I've got the same head and that hasn't changed much for the worse I hope


Looking forward to this now. Hoping for cloud cover and light rain for the run. Might bring suncreen just in case

8k run lunch today @ 04:15pace

hf4z6sqo7vjngi

Best of luck for the weekend, nail it!!

pgibbo

Good luck this weekend. Should be a cracking weekend for it :cool:

Macanri

All the very best for tomorrow Joe. No doubts you will do a good time. Looking forward to hearing how it all goes for you. Enjoy.