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Budapest, Hungary Sept 8-12
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The numbers
I'll just get the numbers out of the way so I can describe the experience without boring ye too much
25th in my AG category
8th IRL home
Position after swim 24 (swim rank 24)
Position after bike 20 (cycle rank 13)
Position after run 25 (run rank 32)
119th Overall in 2:12:50
35th IRL home
Swim target 25, actual 24:40
Bike target 63, actual 60:03
Run target 39, actual 43:19
Nowhere near the sharp end, but I was not just making up the numbers either! Also, my friends and family won't allow be too self-critical about the numbers as they keep anchoring the experience for me by reminding me what it had taken to get here. No excuses then, the numbers are what they are, 2 out of three targets hit isn’t bad :cool:
So what was it like?
My body aches today. Quads tight, left glut strained, black eye, right calf on the verge of cramp and stiff shoulders. My work colleagues think I’ve been in a fight, but I assure them it was just a stray elbow in the swim!
Early Saturday morning I jogged down to the Barracks to support some club members racing in the sprint. One of our juniors had a storming win and that set the vibe. Even at that early hour there was loads of support on the streets and lining the bank. It’s a special thing about Triathlon that you can represent your country and any age with the right dedication and support. I’ve said it before in a Goal setting thread that those that support you on your journey to your dreams are gold dust, and a special kind of it at that! I watched amongst others, El Director having a sprint finish with a GBR athlete called Speed and the Junior Elites collapsing over the finish line one by one as if they were shot. Everyone on the course giving it socks, some willing to put their body completely on the line. It was interesting too to have the big names in the sport wandering around. Yesterday as we sat on the wall, one of the girls gave a hoot and there were the Brownlee brothers passing right in front of us giving us a grin. Athlone was buzzing! I went for a short cycle with one of the lads after the Elite Women’s race and had to cage the energy!
Yesterday morning eating porridge at 5am I had already been awake for 3 hours. There was a storm outside and the noise of the wind added a sort of terror to the mix of nerves and excitement. Cycling down to transition it was very gnarly. TI made the call to disallow disc wheels. Barriers had fallen and even the blue carpet in transition had lifted. All talk was of the cycle. I got into the wetsuit early just to stay warm. I felt relatively calm. I guess the wind and rain took my mind off the nerves. Our loved ones were there outside the Barracks sheltering from the rain under the trees. Even the miserable conditions could not detract from the atmosphere.
The Swim
My plan was to swim hard to the first buoy, 150m and then settle. I sprinted from the pontoon and didn’t look up for about 20 strokes. Thankfully I swam straight. My heart was already beating through my chest. The lead swimmers were almost at the turn by the time I focused on it. They roasted the field with a pair of 18 min swims, Christ! I stayed on some feet for about 200m back upstream until I noticed the feet were wandering off left of the strung out pack. The lesson here is that it’s great to get on someone’s feet but be sure they are going the right way!! It was my own fault for not sighting enough. I had to get back on line and in doing so met a stray elbow hard into the right eye. It knocked my goggles off and gave me a jolt. It required some fumbling and sculling with the left arm only to fix that little incident but I was swimming again soon enough. I had lost 20-30m on the group I was chasing and it was draining too much energy to catch up. For the next 750 I swam side by side with another guy. I noticed a few times that I was paying more attention to his stroke than mine and realised that I was catching the water far too lazily and my stroke was shorter than normal. I had convinced myself to keep my cadence up but it cost me efficiency and I realised I was swimming more like 12 months ago than recent form. That is, I was just turning my arms over to get through the distance rather than focusing on gliding with a long stroke. As soon as I noticed I corrected. Sharpened my catch, rolled my body and finished longer. I pulled away from my companion. The problem was it had taken a km to realise it. He stepped up his game too and went for it, kicking hard. I resisted the urge to trash the water again and kept it steady up to the pontoon. It wasn’t my best swim but I hoped my effort made up for the lapse in concentration.
Running up a hill into the Barracks, the right calf started to seize. Thankfully it didn’t cramp fully but lingered dangerously while I put on the helmet and kicked off the wetsuit. I had planned to run hard into transition but the cramp slowed things down to a more cautious approach. Long transitions are not fun when cramping!
The Bike
The leap of faith worked well and was nicely encouraged by the Marshall too. The course meandered out of the town and around a roundabout to the old main road and instantly into a gale force headwind. It was raining too. Generally unpleasant conditions for cycling! The call on disc wheels was clearly the right one as the bike wobbled with heavy gusts. It was just about getting to the next km marker and staying out of trouble. I was passed by a strong IRL bike with a GBR bike and a guy from Iceland clearly drafting. They actually looked to be working together and I gave a yell. Not that it made a difference and in the wind you couldn’t hear anyway. I later caught the 2 drafters at about 35km and took some pleasure in burning them. All in all I had a reasonably good bike. The journey out seemed never ending but you knew the turnaround would yield some relief which kept the faith. Like the swim though I did catch my concentration wandering at times. I have recently become better at negotiating hills and drags using gears better but yesterday I often found that my cadence was just too low meaning I was on the wrong gear. I was generally working very hard but I think I could have spun into that wind much more efficiently. Again it was back a few months to the good ole mashing of the pedals. The noise of the wind was a distraction and I guess when working hard there is a fine line between grinding out the effort the ugly way or the smoother way. The uglier way is usually fraught with bad habits and at a cost of more energy. One of my gels was missing too, obviously blown away for a magpie to bring back to its nest. Thankfully I had a spare and took it just before the turn around. The aero bottle was definitely more helpful getting water on. I had no bike computer as my plan was mainly to use the hrm to prevent overcooking the cycle. The watch display however was just muddy water, another one ruined. As a result I had no idea what my heart rate was. I had passed lots of bikes but mostly women. I did pass a couple of guys but couldn’t tell if they were from my age group or not. The legs were on fire though and the left glute ached for some reason. I soon forgot about the woes after the turnaround and dropped into the biggest gear available to motor home. The outward leg may not have been as quick as I could have done it but I let loose on the return. I’d spot a bike ahead and chase it hard. The km marks flew by and before I knew it I was back at the roundabouts leading into Athlone. I had definitely made up a couple of places as and it was sweet to catch the 2 who had passed me at the start drafting. I’ll admit being a bit of a wuss on the roundabouts though. They were wet and after the fall in training recently I just didn’t want to risk it. I got the feet out and dismounted at speed. I ran up into transition as quick as I could go. The calf cramp didn’t resurface but I did jar my foot on some loose chipping of come sort. I didn’t notice the blood until I found my shoes which took me an age. I ran past my transition spot and knew I had gone too far. I looked back but couldn’t see my shoes. It didn’t dawn on me to just look at the numbers on the racks, doh! Eventually after a bit of frantic searching, I found my shoes under my wetsuit. Note to self (again): don’t fire the wetsuit on top of shoes… ahem… cough cough
The run
I can’t remember how the legs felt running out of transition but as soon as I hit the road, cramp. The calf lingered forcing me to land flatter and the left quad seized forcing me to check the pace regularly on the series of short sharp hills. There was fantastic support out on the course which twists around the town centre. Passing under the clock on the first lap I did some sums and reckoned 2:09 would be a pb and would require a sub 40 run. I needed to do 9:30 laps or thereabouts but I only managed to stay consistently around 10 mins per lap. I knew my run target was long gone but I took heart from the fact that I managed to lap steadily and not crumble. I was in a world of hurt though. My quad was on fire and I had no bounce and no stride. I felt like I was passed by the world at its mother. Matt Molloy skipped past me like I was standing still and he had started in a wave 10 mins after me (the 40-44 AG!). I tried to pick targets to chase or hold onto but couldn't muster the speed. The effort was there in spades. I literally pumped my arms for 40 mins as the legs were not doing it by themselves. It explains why my arms feel today like I had been wrestling rather than running yesterday morning! By the start of lap 3 I realised a guy from Norway was in as bad a shape as I was. He was about 100m ahead of me. We caught each others eye at the turnaround in the Barracks and both knew we had become each others targets. For 2 laps I inched the gap closer. I could barely increase the speed before the quad began to seize. Our eyes met several times and each time I knew he was pressing to stay ahead of me. I’d wait until he looked away to gain a few more meters. Every time our eyes met I would be closer and I’d see him will more from his body. I felt the same. On the last lap crossing the bridge 300m from the finish I said to hell with my calf and quad and I sprinted. He looked back and I was already beside him. He didn’t respond. My calf was fully cramped within seconds and felt like I a clamp around it was wound a quarter of an inch clockwise every stride. It didn’t matter. I finished with my head held high and proud to represent the emerald Isle. For the first time after a race I queued for a massage. I felt quite emotional. I was a bit disappointed with my overall time but I was reminded later that I started this tri lark last year and I’ve improved so much since then. That gave it another perspective. I can take comfort too that I have more to give. Watching the Elites later was unreal. The speed they do everything and how far they push the envelope. Brownlee was amazing. He arrived into T2 with Gomez and then just literally sprinted across the bridge and away from him. His first Km was a 2:46 :eek:! A great sportsman too, smiling and high fiving everyone as he cruised home. The image of him coming over the bridge with pure determination on his face is one I’ll remember.
My body aches today, but it was worth it. In fact it dawned on me this morning that this was a dress rehearsal for the biggie. The biggest event of my life is in 10 weeks. Budapest... I simply cannot wait
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Thank you for the encouragement and your comments guys
Tuesday 06/07/10 pm: Easy swim
1,500m easy f/c and another 500m with the pullbuoy. Body was still tired so took it at recovery pace and stopped whenever I felt like it. Careful not to kick off the wall too hard as left calf is pretty tender after Sunday.
30mins core afterwards.
Dusted off the 11kg dumbells and mat and did
20 military press, Bicep curls, push ups straight after each other
Then 10 of each
Then 5 of each... no break and full slow range of motion.
Abs various 40 reps
20 leg raises
Planks
Stretches, mainly the calves.
I haven't done resistance training in ages and the short upper body stint left me sweating and feeling quite pumped. Taking no rest is one way to feel a burn! I wanted to Roll the calves out but the left one was just too sore to roll. The plan is to do this 3 times a week minimum between now and Budapest. I will be increasing the reps, lengthening the planks and stretches and introducing more specific core strength exercises. The whole point of it is twofold. Primarily to improve the core to help the running and secondly to just tone up the body
So, less than 10 weeks to the Biggie for this year. This week is recovery. I'll do a few hours but no pressure on the body and backing off at the slightest discomfort. Then back to Base for 3 weeks keeping a focus on speed for the running though. Next, 3 weeks of building the intensity and visiting that Z5 place a fair bit. Finally 2 weeks of tapering carefully and being as strict with my prep as I was with Kenmare last year before the giddy excitement of Race Week. Tic toc Tic Toc......0 -
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Cheers Gringo78 thats a fair observation The sub40 was not intended on the Wednesday
I underestimated how fresh I was after more than 2 weeks of taper and it was a miserable night too. I was a bit unsure about taper and even felt it was a bit too long at 3 weeks. The tempo run was a little of impatience and a little niaivety. I'll be seeking advice closer to the biggie though. A coach wouldn't have let me get away with that :cool: 0 -
shotgunmcos wrote: »Cheers Gringo78 thats a fair observation The sub40 was not intended on the Wednesday I underestimated how fresh I was after more than 2 weeks of taper and it was a miserable night too. I was a bit unsure about taper and even felt it was a bit too long at 3 weeks. The tempo run was a little of impatience and a little niaivety. I'll be seeking advice closer to the biggie though. A coach wouldn't have let me get away with that :cool:
I know you didn't have the garmin or the heart rate monitor so you could only go by feel and you were feeling great because of the taper. However, by limiting such a run to max 3 miles in the final week, it won't happen again with or without a garmin.
Of course, the positive from it is 1. you still get the training effect from it as your A+ race is still to come and 2. because you were fighting for a pace you could not achieve on the day in Athlone, you really were forced to dig deep for the run, run through cramps etc and that sort of physical/mental challenge can only be garnered in a race where you're fighting a losing battle. It'll really stand to you in Budapest because when things get tough, you'll know in your head, things have been tougher and you've kept the pace up. Improving race times is all about breaking down mental barriers and recalibrating what your body see's as achievable and tolerable.0 -
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Wednesday 08/07/10 pm: Cycling 64km group spin
I said to myself that I was not going to get involved in the sprint and I even wrote it down. As the pace crept up back in the road I was still persuading myself not to. Reign the ego in :rolleyes:. As the line approached no one had made a move and so we coasted through it. I had convinced myself though to let any move happen and just watch. There was a break up a small hill 5km previously but I bridged it and dragged the rest with me. I think we all just wanted to get home for the football. Quality match it was too. The spin was lively enough. Windy and a little bit harder work than I wanted. However being the disaster that I am with stuff, the Garmin is broken and the hrm is broken so no stats at all.... kind of liberating I only knew it was 64km because it was an identical route to a previous spin. I had decided to abandon the thought of a lunchtime run earlier as my calf was still quite sore. The cycle did the trick though, it feels much looser today. 0 -
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Congrats on going green in the run. Fair play. That's all 3 hit for you. Nice one! :cool:
Calf a bit better after the cycle but will roll it a bit over the weekend and not run on it to be safe. Don't want to risk any damage before Carna. Cycling and swimming for the weekend it is then! 0 -
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