Chasing the Kona dream and a Mai Tai cocktail

TRR

Best of luck Fran. Hope it goes well!

Shell to Run

Wishing you a super race.

hf4z6sqo7vjngi

Goal 1 : Enjoy the race and smile all the way through remembering why we do this

Goal 2 : Finish without incident or drama and get another IM medal for Ryan.

Goal 3 : Go fvking hard and leave it all out there on the course with no regrets

I cannot wait for the morning, love love love IM racing:) A true test of mental and physical strength.

RacoonQueen

Sub 10? :pac:

hf4z6sqo7vjngi

RacoonQueen wrote: »

Sub 10? :pac:

Not a hope in hell of that happening:)

mossym

Aliya Wailing Bench wrote: »

Goal 1 : Enjoy the race and smile all the way through remembering why we do this

Goal 2 : Finish without incident or drama and get another IM medal for Ryan.

Goal 3 : Go fvking hard and leave it all out there on the course with no regrets

I cannot wait for the morning, love love love IM racing:) A true test of mental and physical strength.

hit the three of them and its a good days work. enjoy it and get it done:)

Krusty_Clown

Best of luck Fran. Be nice to see some smiley photos at the end of it for a change.

zico10

Good luck. Enjoy the race.

mossym

actually...

get your ass to bed

hf4z6sqo7vjngi

Aliya Wailing Bench wrote: »

Goal 1 : Enjoy the race and smile all the way through remembering why we do this

Goal 2 : Finish without incident or drama and get another IM medal for Ryan.

Goal 3 : Go fvking hard and leave it all out there on the course with no regrets

I cannot wait for the morning, love love love IM racing:) A true test of mental and physical strength.

Goal 1 - Achieved for most part but the last part of the run i was a broken man

Goal 2 - Acheived, no issues apart from the usual swim motion issues that transpired on the bike and made the day difficult.

Goal 3 - Achieved to some extent but always critical. Got the best out of myself given the situation, went very deep on the back end of the run just to get finished, did not have another 100mtrs in me crossing the finish line.

hf4z6sqo7vjngi

IM Frankfurt 2014 - When you get knocked down come back swinging.

Sorry it’s a long one, I have a lot to write!

Build up
Not my normal approach to Ironamn as with previous Ironman’s. I had done very little biking and practically no swimming over the winter months. I did manage to get 10 decent weeks training leading up to it, nothing fancy or ground breaking, just building up swim and bike volume with some intensity thrown in.

This was my first time approaching an Ironman without it being my A or goal race for the season. I tend not to put all my eggs in the one basket anymore as from experience anything can happen on Ironman race day. I felt the more relaxed ad hoc approach worked ok and I was showing decent numbers on the bike and swim was as good as it was going to be.

My issues in Frankfurt last year are well documented in last year’s race report [snipped]
There was never really any doubt on coming back here to seek some vengeance and settle a score with the triathlon gods!

Travelled over with a few lads from the club on the Thursday (team cervelo as we are now known) Tunney, Tango, Gary and Richie. We had a good start to the trip this time with no cancelled flights and I even blagged the bike box on for free.

Thursday evening I went for a short run and felt stiff and awkward but thought nothing of it. Friday we took a spin out to the lake on the bikes, got registered at the Expo and later I went for a loop of the IM run course. I felt much better and was moving well. The girls arrived that night and we ended up going out for a few drinks (probably one too many). It was good having [snipped] with me, she is my lucky charm as I have never had issues racing when she is with me.

Saturday we cycled back up to the lake to avoid the crowded buses with bikes. We dropped the bikes & bags off and went for a shortish swim at the lake. It felt a bit surreal returning to where I got my ribs kicked in a year earlier. It was only a short swim but I was reminded of my ongoing swim/motion sickness issues as there was a decent chop in the water and I was slightly off kilter for a few minutes after it even though we were only in for 15mins.

I was still very relaxed about the race which was good, as for [snipped] I could tell she was starting to stress and was concerned for me, she knew how much this meant to me to be incident free. Out for dinner with the rest of the crew on the Saturday night and I could sense that the nerves of a few were starting to build, Tunney in particular was unusually quite and I could tell the reality of what lay ahead of him was starting to sink in. Finally hit the hay around 10pm and no issues with sleep, slept like a baby.


Race Day
Up at 3:30 for brekkie at 4am to cram as much food in as possible. We had heard conflicting weather reports for the day, rain, thunder storms but that all seemed to change to a very hot and humid day.

We headed to the Intercontinental for a 5am pick up with the girls following us out soon after to watch the swim. The one thing [snipped] was very nervous about was the swim, mainly down to previous swim issues and what happened last year. Must be hard being a supporter!!

We arrived with plenty of time to get setup. I found a quite spot sitting under a tree contemplating the day ahead. That's when the nerves hit me and I was overcome by a wave of emotion, I had been waiting 12months to settle a score. I had decided today was all about enjoying the experience but I made a promise to myself that it was going to take an army tank to stop me crossing the finish line!

Bumped into Tunney and we walked down to the wave start, we were off at 6:45am in the elite group which had about 450 people in it. We seemingly got snapped by endurance nation on the way down to swim start.

[snipped]

Swim
I lined up in the middle towards the back, the German national anthem played and then the countdown gong. I let out a war cry in anticipation and my heart was beating out off my chest with anxiety, adrenalin and excitement. Keep cool I told myself trying to not get panicked, 3, 2, 1 and we are off.

Nowhere near as bad as last year, a few punches and kicks but thankfully no great concerns. I quickly noticed the field spread out after 300/400mtrs. Felt as if the 1st loop was taking an age to complete and it felt much longer than last year where I measured it short. True enough as I exited the first loop it came up 200 long, I was on for a 76 swim assuming the 2nd loop made up the 3.8km as I was holding 2min per 100 on the watch.

Into the 2nd loop and it was here I started to encounter a lot of traffic with fish from the later wave passing me. The chop in the lake was like a washing machine at times and I was getting roughed up a good bit. I was asking myself, why are you doing this, you cannot swim, you know you are starting to feel like ****. Tried to focus on the positives, bike and run coming up, you are normally good at those!

Came out with an 81mins on the watch, WTF was the initial reaction as it was 2mins slower than last year with broken ribs! Main difference was the swim last year was short at 3.6km and this year it was long at 4.1kms so in reality swim would have been around a 75 on proper distance.

I saw [snipped] running up the sandy and steep ramp. She had asked me to give a thumbs up if I felt ok or thumbs down if the motion issues had arose in the swim as she would not relax otherwise......I hesitated and gave her the thumbs up so she would not worry (I lied, as I felt like **** coming out of the swim).

Transition 1
I thought I was quick enough but apparently not, messed about getting some sunscreen on along with cycling jersey pre filled with my nutrition.
Michelle must not have believed my thumbs up as she had raced around to the side of transition to see if I was ok as she thought I looked pale and grey out of the swim. It would not be the last time she would feature in my race.

Bike
No flying mount, parked up at the side and mounted safely to avoid someone falling on me like last year. Tried to keep positive on the bike but I noticed power was below target pace, chose to ignore it and keep moving. Stuck rigidly to my nutrition and hydration plan, 2 zipvit gels within every hour, some flapjack bar and sip often on a mix of water and zipvet energy drink. I actually lost one of my pre loaded energy drink bottles on the bike as I was switching around bottles from back to front, should have really stopped to pick it up but kept going.

About 90k had passed and I constantly had to drop back or pass slower groups of riders, the drafting going on was insane but tried not to get worked up over it. The start of my problems, bottom bracket bearings where starting to go on the bike, of all the times I thought. Richie passed me at this point and heard the noise coming from the bike. Not sure if it impacted my overall time but I am sure it did not help. I passed Tunney somewhere around 120/30k I think, whilst I was feeling crap he looked as if he was ready to climb off and lay down somewhere.

The heat was unreal, I clocked average temps on the bike at 29 degrees with it reaching 36 towards the end of it. 130k through to 160k was tough going and I was really feeling weak and a little dizzy. Nowhere near as bad as Roth but bad enough to have me worrying about getting through the whole race.

Up the climb for the last time and I just let rip, let out a few roars with a smile/grimace on my face. Got to the top and near came down as some guy dropped a bottle right in front of me, done a Peter Sagan style bunny hop to avoid it. Entering back into town with about 1k to transition and took feet out of shoes, flying dismount with no issues. Bike done in 5:35 but as usual my power was nowhere near what I had trained comfortably at, 30-40w down so swim to bike issues still impacting my bike performance. I was hopeful to be closer to a 5:10 all going well.

Transition 2
Grabbed my bag and found a seat, I had packed spare running shorts and my DDAC singlet top if I fancied a change from the tri suit but decided I was ok (the pee had dried through). Compression socks on with my brooks pure flows, sunscreen on and hat/glasses and off I went not knowing how the legs would respond.

Run
I took a quick glance at the garmin for the first time to show elapsed time of 7hr and a few minutes on the watch. The biggest mistake was about to happen. Those who know me from racing and training know I have a default mode, balls out and race with my heart, which is entirely the wrong thing to do in an IM. I had figured I may have an outside chance at taking some time off the pb of 10hr 30. I figured I would run 2-3kms at 3.2x marathon pace and see how I went.

The one thing I noticed was the heat and humidity, the conditions were getting tough. I was surprised at how good I felt, the first 5k went by like a dream, I passed [snipped] around 3k in and they gave me a huge roar, this really spurred me on if not scare me a little, [snipped] is very intimidating when she shouts at you. I had been running between 4.30km and 4.50km pace and after completing the first loop I was on target for close to a 3.20 marathon time and feeling good.


I took a gel every 10.5k loop and was taking on water only at the aid stations with some sponges to keep myself cool, I had planned on taking some coke on the last two loops. I passed the girls a 2nd time and I was really starting to work well. The pace still had me on for a pb but I noticed effort levels were rising as was the temperatures. It was utter carnage as people were walking, collapsing all around me. It can only be described as a scene from the walking dead.

I hit halfway still on for a 3.2x run but by 25k the wheels were starting to come off. It was a real struggle coming back down towards the finish to get my third of fourth finishing bands. I felt like my head was in a vice grips with it being slowly wound inwards. This is where I really contemplated DNF as it was getting so tough. [snipped] had moved closer to the start/finish area and I passed her around 32k, she knew by me I was in big trouble and was doing her best to keep me moving forwards. I was staggering all over the place and I was treading a very fine line right on the edge. For some reason I handed off my hat & glasses at this stage, for what reason I do not know.

With 10k to go it was full on survival mode of walk/jog/crawl., I had well and truly overcooked myself and even with taking water on I knew dehydration and possibly sun stroke was becoming an issue. I was finding myself starting to get confused, dizzy and I was starting to puke. I had not felt as bad as this in a race since probably Roth, it was time to either stop and lay down or keep going and hope I did not collapse and pass out.

I heard a familiar voice on one of the turnaround points and looked down, it was Tunney, I was genuinely surprised as I had thought he was long gone after the bike yet here he was still gritting it out albeit a lap behind. I tried to start running to catch up to him but every time I started I was getting tightness in my side and was getting a sudden urge to puke.

I eventually caught up with Tunney who at this stage was mostly walking/surviving. He seemed in good enough form at that stage but I was in a bad way, I was mindful I was not moving in a straight line. I was calculating that walking pace would still have me out on the course for over another hour and I could simply not hack it.

I think it was around 36/37k before I was due to collect my last band I used any positive thoughts I had left and just started running, leave it all out there, no regrets ringing through my head. It was not pretty but much faster than walking pace, Tunney was gone at this stage and I pitied him having another lap to do in that heat.

Normally when you get to 35k of an IM run you can somewhat start to enjoy it (I use this word loosely) as the last few k you know you are going to make it. This time it was not until I crossed over the flyover bridge with less than 2k to go I knew unless I collapsed I was going to make it.

As I neared closer to the finishing square I was hearing the crowds, I broke down mentally, emotionally, physically for a brief few seconds. Composed myself with about 500mtrs to go. Coming back to the start/finish loop I wearily flashed my 4 bands and made my way into the run finishing chute. I was overwhelmed, breathless, 12 months I had waited for this experience, one that cruelly I did not get to experience last year.

I threw out a few high fives, enjoyed the atmosphere, seen Michelle at the finishing area, my only regret was not stopping to give her a kiss but honest to god I was afraid to stop as I hardly had a step left in me.

I crossed the line in 11:25, the legs went, received some medical assistance and overheard. “[snipped], you are an Ironman” and let a scream of relief out and was a little emotional for a minute or two after.

[snipped]

Took me a while to come around in the athletes area, avoided going to the medical tent by lying that I felt ok…did not want to be kept in there for an hour or two like last time.

Finally made my way out with a beer in hand [snipped], she was relieved I go through it and proud at the same time. I am extremely grateful for the support she has given me and she certainly helped keep me on track during the day.

Went to one of the pubs beside the finish line area to exchange war stories. Richie and Darren had a great race but I was gutted to hear about Gary’s DNF due to medical advice as I heard he had been flying and was well on the way to smashing out a sub 10. All our attention quickly shifted to making sure Tunney got home safe. We waddled back down to collect our bikes and the 41k marker to shout him home.

This was my fifth time on the start line of an Ironman and my 3rd time finishing. Ironman must be one of the toughest physical & mental tests you can put your body through. The numerous highs & lows of the race and the inevitable stripping back, piece by piece of your character to see truly what sort of person you are, a quitter or a fighter!

I have been asked am I happy with my performance by a few people. It’s an interesting one, it’s nearly an hour slower than my Ironman pb so on paper you would say no. However, less training went into this race and it was never really about achieving xxx time. For me the race was about redemption from previous poor fortunes in races and knowing that I could go deep again and finish another, I got my answer, I went deep and then some.

Is it my last Ironman? I really don’t know. My attention for the next while will shift to bike racing and the goal there is to eventually race the RAS. The pain and memories of this one will stay with me for a while and it was great to share it with a great group of friends.

A famous philosopher called Rocky Balboa:) once said,
“Let me tell you something you already know. The world ain’t all sunshine and rainbows. It’s a very mean and nasty place, and I don’t care how tough you are, it will beat you to your knees and keep you there permanently if you let it. You, me, or nobody is gonna hit as hard as life. But it ain’t about how hard you hit. It’s about how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward; how much you can take and keep moving forward. That’s how winning is done! Now, if you know what you’re worth, then go out and get what you’re worth. But you gotta be willing to take the hits, and not pointing fingers saying you ain’t where you wanna be because of him, or her, or anybody. Cowards do that and that ain’t you. You’re better than that!”

A massive thanks to all my family & friends for their continued support and messages. To Liam for the loan of the race wheels, being a good friend, offering advice and keeping me company on some of my long bikes. To Darren for the swim sessions and also a very good friend. To Gary/Richie for the added healthy competition on the day. To Tunney, who no longer coaches me but who I still listen to and value his advice and friendship. To the WAGS you will never know how much the support helped keep us lads going during the day. [snipped] simply put an awesome lady who is my biggest supporter and without whom I would never get to these crazy races and challenge myself, legend.

Over & Out

RacoonQueen

That trisuit is worse than the Activ one!

Dory Dory

That finishing video should have come with a strong warning for anyone considering doing their first IronMan. :eek: But well done to you. I've always said you wear your heart on your sleeve....and that you are passionate about what you do - both admirable and brave traits in my opinion. Congratulations on such a successful day, jb. You have a lot to be proud about.

Trig1

Congrats JB, awesome performance!!

hf4z6sqo7vjngi

Well that was a long holiday, over 3 weeks in the states with the family, had an amazing time with the kids at Universal, Disneyworld, Clearwater and could do with another week away just to recover.

Only got a handful of runs in whilst over there as i was carrying a few niggles after the IM. It was too humid and the simple fact i wanted some down time from training. I managed to put on 6kg whilst away which was an achievemnet in itself. More from over eating and large portions but i am ok with that as it will come off quick enough and i dont mind allowing myself a few weeks every year not worrying about what i eat.

Back to cycling this week, a few sessions so far with one tough turbo, 6x5 BG holding around 45-50cad and 250-260w, need to learn how to suffer again on the turbo as i have some really tough sessions planned over Winter.

I plan on racing Kilmessan on Sat evening with the sole intention of not getting dropped:) As for the rest of the season, i have two tris to finish off the tri season but not bothering doing any further swim training and limited run training as cycling will start to take focus in preparation for next season. Also will have a few more bike races planned to gain some further racing experience which will hopefully bode well for A3 racing next year.

After 4 years of having big IM target races to keep me motivated over Winter to train for i will need to find suitable challenges/races for me to target next season on the cycling circuit.

BennyMul

I suggest you race the Des in Carlow, a great race fecking hard but great race. I may even be there myself about 3 years since I last raced it and suffered.

ohhh welcome back

hf4z6sqo7vjngi

BennyMul wrote: »

I suggest you race the Des in Carlow, a great race fecking hard but great race. I may even be there myself about 3 years since I last raced it and suffered.

ohhh welcome back

Yeah i was thinking of Des as an early season target as its normally on in March, possibly then looking at Gorey 3 day or Ras Mumhain. I would only consider doing Mumhain if training went better than expected over Winter and i hit certain benchmarks along the way as i heard the racing in this is extremely tough, as tough as the RAS. Then possibly Louth RR champs.

Later season races/goals will depend on how early season goes. All training/racing gearing towards being a MOP or BOP in the RAS whenever i am ready to do one in a few seasons. FTP tested over an hour would need to be around 340/50w, be at race weight and have built up sufficent racing experience and moved up to A2......a lot to do so:)

I have decided to not mess about next season and upgrade straight to A3 as the longer races should suit me more. The juniors will make it difficult to score some points though:)

RJM85

Aliya Wailing Bench wrote: »

Yeah i was thinking of Des as an early season target as its normally on in March, possibly then looking at Gorey 3 day or Ras Mumhain. I would only consider doing Mumhain if training went better than expected over Winter and i hit certain benchmarks along the way as i heard the racing in this is extremely tough, as tough as the RAS. Then possibly Louth RR champs.

Later season races/goals will depend on how early season goes. All training/racing gearing towards being a MOP or BOP in the RAS whenever i am ready to do one in a few seasons. FTP tested over an hour would need to be around 340/50w, be at race weight and have built up sufficent racing experience and moved up to A2......a lot to do so:)

I have decided to not mess about next season and upgrade straight to A3 as the longer races should suit me more. The juniors will make it difficult to score some points though:)

Louth RR champs is a funny race. I did it this year 3 weeks after the baby arrived on no training (and a kilo or two overweight) and ended up 4th. The timing of it (just before the RAS) means that the big boys often don't show up.

Newry 3 day is a great race and could be a good end of year target.

Bambaata

Come on down to Wexford this 23rd/24th August! Thats the next bike racing for me. 80k & 1.8k TT saturday and 80k Sunday, lots of chances to grab points!

hf4z6sqo7vjngi

RJM85 wrote: »

Louth RR champs is a funny race. I did it this year 3 weeks after the baby arrived on no training (and a kilo or two overweight) and ended up 4th. The timing of it (just before the RAS) means that the big boys often don't show up.

Newry 3 day is a great race and could be a good end of year target.

Yes Newry later in the season could work, its just up the road as well.

Bambaata wrote: »

Come on down to Wexford this 23rd/24th August! Thats the next bike racing for me. 80k & 1.8k TT saturday and 80k Sunday, lots of chances to grab points!

Interested in this but have already paid and signed up to do DCT on the 24th. I wonder if transfers are allowed and if somebody wants to buy my entry as would much rather do Wexford.

Did you have to pre reg and are you still in A4 or have you moved up to A3 yet?

Bambaata

yes pre-reg online. €50.

Not raced an open race in months so still A4. Need one more top placing.

shotgunmcos

Well done in FF Fran, just catching up on your report. Good read ☺

mossym

Bambaata wrote: »

1.8k TT saturday

is that a mistake or is it really only a 1.8k tt? seems very short.

Bambaata

they've now changed it. It was to be 1.8k on the quays in town but have now reverted back to last years 3k+ hill TT

hf4z6sqo7vjngi

mossym wrote: »

is that a mistake or is it really only a 1.8k tt? seems very short.

Bambaata wrote: »

they've now changed it. It was to be 1.8k on the quays in town but have now reverted back to last years 3k+ hill TT

Signed up for it, probably will go with the road bike given it is such a short and hilly tt stage. It might be quicker than the tt from looking at the profile.

Time to shift a few pounds:)

hf4z6sqo7vjngi

Week commencing 04/08/14
13hrs 38mins
404.4kms
29.6kmph avg
8276kj of work
935.9 TSS

Two key sessions and two races which i got my a$$ handed to me and act as a reminder of where i am at. In fairness the goal was to use the races to get some sharpness in the legs but i was surprised myself with the drop off.

session #1 - 6x5 BG holding around 45-50cad and 250-260w

session #2 - 3x12 threshold holding pre IM threshold of 265w with 3min recovery. In hindsight i should have adjusted my threshold down to around 245w as i reckon i have dropped a bit from a 4 week break, in real terms with weight put on over holidays i have gone from 3.9w/pkg to 3.2w/pkg. These efforts hurt too much for my threshold to be still the same.

League race - Tougher than any A4 race i have done to date. Its only about 50mins/35k but its some workout. Done too much work on the front early doors and was over threshold (around 270w) for the first 20mins with plenty of 400/500w surges. Blew my legs off, recovered slightly then the faster group came up and pace lifted again, blew again getting dropped for the last 5k but kept the effort honest all the way. Avg was 42kmph before i got dropped and 40kmph by the end, insane hard but well worth it. - 245w avg for 51mins.

Kilmessan 40k 3 laps - Rode over 35k to the start with Dolan into a stiff headwind, in hindsight not such a good idea as any zip the legs i had was gone by the start. Everyone must be on EPO or something:pac:, again insane hard, 42/43kmph avg relentless pace that never let up. My last few A4 races i found controlled and could make moves when i wanted. Here i hung on for dear life at the back and could not for the life of me get up near the front.
Ended up getting dropped heading into the last lap along with a few others. Tried to jump onto the A1 train but missed the last man, ah balls. race (for me) 40mins @ 251w, 41.1kmph. The 35km ride home was on tired legs:rolleyes:

2 weeks to Wexford, i dont think endurance is the issue but top end and recovering from those short/hard efforts is. Tailoring the next few sessions to deal with that. Tonights turbo will be short but horrible,
7x20sec on and 40sec off (on 450w) 3min rec
7x30sec on and 30sec off (on 425w) 3min rec
7x40sec on and 20sec off (on 400w) 3min rec
5x1 on and 1 off (on 375w)

At least i dropped about 2.5kg for the week. Finding it hard to bring the calorie count from 8000 a day in the US back down to normal levels:eek:

RJM85

I miss getting to do league races. They're mental.

Dory Dory

Bambaata wrote: »

Come on down to Wexford this 23rd/24th August! Thats the next bike racing for me. 80k & 1.8k TT saturday and 80k Sunday, lots of chances to grab points!

I believe Ms. Iron-Ultra-Hoochie Orxy lives in Wexford. I'm sure she'd put you boys up for the weekend if needed.

hf4z6sqo7vjngi

Ah the difference a week makes and a couple of tough turbos thrown in. Different animal at the league race last night compared to last week.

hf4z6sqo7vjngi

Dory Dory wrote: »

I believe Ms. Iron-Ultra-Hoochie Orxy lives in Wexford. I'm sure she'd put you boys up for the weekend if needed.

Ah i am booked into the Maldron, no doubt i will catch up with the Queen of Wexford for a coffee when i am down that way:)