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140.6 deep breaths...
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Saturday morning long bike
Summary.. well, most of it
I headed out with one of the fast lads from the club training for a real stab at Austria 70.3 in a few weeks. A very solid biker with a recent AR win under his belt and we were on the TT rigs. The plan was 4 hours steady but it was more like 4 hours of solid work. We hit Charleville via Kilmallock setting the tone by pacing each other every 10 mins or so 10m apart out of the draft zone. Although there was no physical effect of a draft you got a distinct psychological draft. We were chugging along nicely into a headwind. At Charleville we turned for Tipperarary and passed a peloton of about 100+ charity cyclists on the other side of the road. It was gnarly out to say the least. Windy and some chilly light showers. I wore my waterproof jacket expecting the worst and ended up sweating like mad. My mate was full of beans so the pace was sharp. The road to Tipp wasn't great at all and presented plenty of nice drags to suck the energy from the legs. My hip flexor felt these drags and I'd fall a little off him. 12 months ago though he was significantly stronger than me on hills so getting through this section together, albeit tough, showed another sign of progress. From Tipp we headed back to Limerick at a fierce pace for a while before I reined it back to keep my heart rate in check. My Garmin died about 20km from home but we were averaging 34kmh which was bang on my IM pace target. I felt it when I got home though. The legs were heavy. No run again. It was just under 139km in just over 4hours. Nice session.
Sunday afternoon Joey Hannon Memorial Olympic Distance Triathlon
I was in 2 minds whether to give it a miss or not. My quads and gluts were stiff and tired and I wasn't firing on all cylinders. However I had decided to omit one of the races closer to the IM so decided on the race practice. We were hanging around for ages for the last wave to start and I did a fair bit of stretching and excersises to try to energise myself. Reports in from earlier waves was that the wind on the course was brutal, great. It turned out better than I expected. 12th overall in a PB of 2:08:33, my best result in an Olympic Distance Tri and my best Joey yet.
The swim. I was in an ambitious 2nd fastest wave but there were some guys I knew I could hang onto. I went off in the middle of the gang but the pace was hard and my energy faded after just 300m. I let a few through and despite my best effort couldn't hang onto a lad I usually lead out in the mornings. I sort of muscled through the swim for a 25:12, way short of what I expected. I was just tired. No disaster, I know my swim will come back to me. What concerned me most was how my quads felt when I kicked off the wall. Ominous. Swim split: 25/200ish
T1 was grand. One of the lads roared at me that I was around top 20. Cool. I had mo watch or HRM on. The race was done entirely on RPE.
The Bike. The leap of faith worked for once and I got an instant momentum from it. Quite the opposite of my fall last year. I passed 2 in the process and got motoring. The wind on the outward leg turned drags into climbs and some blustery gusts threw the bike around. I focused on a high cadence on the way out and using gears effectively I reeled in about 10 more. I was passed by one, Ruadhri Geraghty who I knew to me a strong biker and he flew off ahead. At the turnaround I noticed about 4-5 lads behind me, all of whom I knew to be strong runners so I put the boot down. I gave the next 10 km as much juice as my tired legs could muster. There was a clear road ahead for ages but I was motoring. I began to reel Ruadhri back in although he was better of hills than I. With 4km to go my quads were burning so I gave up chasing him. I'd got back to within 50m but then it dawned on me that I had a run to do so I dropped a gear and spun back to UL passing 2 more just before hitting T2 in 9th after 1:01:14. Bike split 4/200ish
The Run: I fumbled a bit with my runners but hit a stride quickly enough out of T2. My legs felt ropey after a km so I got into as steady a rhythm. I felt like I was moving at snailpace and all the runners I had passed would come flying past. At the 2.5km turnaround I could see a whole lot of them and then a stitch hit. I focused on my breathing and cadence to keep going. My hip was behaving itself but I only had one pace. My new goal was to hang onto a top 20 spot but I was only passed by 3 speed merchants to my surprise. The second lap was really hard work but I found a little extra for the last 2km to maintain 12th. The course was a full 10k and I was surprised to clock 40:01. One of my goals last year was to go sub40 off the bike and I never came close all year and today, on heavy legs and a stitch on board for 15mins I couldn't be much closer! I had felt like I was running 42-43 ish pace so I was pretty happy with that. If I had a watch on and knew what the deal was I may have pushed that last little bit but this was not a priority race which is why I had no data. Run split 20/200ish.
I was pretty spent for a finish but all of my splits were marginally faster than last year in much worse conditions so no complaints here
The run in to the IM is now just 9 weeks. I've had a good think about it and I decided to drop the HIM on June 4th. Its a long drive to Tyrone and 5 weeks out from the IM is risky. I asked what I would benefit from it and then also realised it was scheduled on a recovery week, so it was dropped from the programme. What I have now is a 3 week block of work, including a sprint Tri. Then a recovery week where the volume will drop right down. Finally another 2 week block of work before a 3 week taper. I'll be taking a full day off each week from now on too. There is lots of weekend life stuff coming up too so I have to find some way of getting the long bikes in. Its all about getting ready for Roth now. No junk sessions or heavy races. Focus.0 -
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Nope not even close, its not on my agenda. NS races are usually stacked so its hard enough just to be competitive in your AG let alone overall! Spiddal is in the middle of a training block too so its just a bit of fun to break it up. You are putting in some pretty solid work yourself and the constant chasing of brownie points is comicalGreat racing - especially after the hard bike the previous day. I will be expecting you to to take it home in Spiddal, have you won one yet.........no pressure
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Well done, MCOS. What strikes me most about your recent race reports is how you're so easily hitting targets now that were previously a challenge, and this with IM training in the legs. I never imagined IM training would speed a person up, but I guess the huge levels of fitness makes going to, and staying at, speed, easier?
Would love to do Spiddal, alas not around, but it would make an interesting day watching yourself and Ruaidhrí race up and down the hill on the Moycullen road!
Good observation ronanmac. Yes its down to the base fitness built up over the winter. If my main goal was a HIM or OLY later this summer I'd be concentrating on speedwork onto that base. I think with the higher IM fitness you just become more efficient at paces you raced at before. I was able to give the bike some welly yesterday ad not lose too much on the run. With fresher legs I'm confident I could have run quicker off the bike. Its not a matter of getting faster but more a case of slowing down less 0 -
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Monday evening first OW dip of the year
A couple of swims yesterday. I'm taking Fridays off from here so front loading week's swimming. The Pool one was bits 'n bobs done in the slow lane at half hearted effort before work. The body just felt tired, unsurprisingly. The OW swim was waaay more enjoyable in the evening. Only a couple of us out, sharing the river with rowing crews. The first 5 mins were cold, but the brain freeze calmed down and I did a nice 2,200m with the technician. Her stroke is just effortless looking. The suit felt good too. I tried to lie 'on top' of the water as she said she does. A lot more flexibility around the shoulders and almost a soft tight fit. The balance was good and I just glided along steadily. We did another hard 100 and an easy 100 before hopping out. The rain had been lashing all day so the water was murky. It was just 40mins but I was tired after it. Enjoyable though
Hips are not too bad actually. I basically took the week off running last week.That's a serious result MCOS. Well done. How's the hip flexor after the long cycle and Joey? Quite a busy weekend.0 -
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What gets me is say mcos is going for sub 10 and he leaves his 310 on the bike or doesn't wear it in the swim, how do you know on the run what time you have left to dip under 10 if you cant start it up till the bike
I'd probably use a tiny waterproof stopwatch with nothing fancy about it for the raw time. How many times have hrms and gps-enabled watches f****d up on the day when there are 500 other people with the same gadget sending out signals. I'd certainly want a low-tech backup.0 -
Hmm options
KQ the BMX foam option would have you gawking at the baaar sideways kid', you'd end up with a pure gammy neck for a laugh at the end of it
Ahem.. So
Option A: Just wear the yoke under the W/S sleeve in multisport mode and its on for the race. Try not to crack it off someone elses in the swim, rip the W/S taking it off or have your watch baring arm dragging you to the bottom of the canal...
Pros: Its on and thats it, no faffing about. You can record the whole race start to finish
Cons: Its a behemoth of a yoke to have on your wrist. Its on your wrist for the bike section
Option B: Have it on the Bike in T1 on a mount turned on ready to press start.
Pros: Not having to 'carry it' in the swim. Its attached to the stem so you can stare at it to your hearts content without coming out of TT position.
Cons: You have to remove before you get to T2 and some enthusiastic German volunteer yanks the bike from underneath you. You have to wear an awkward wrist strap to attach it to or carry it. You don't get a constant race time as CW mentioned.
I'll wear it on my next OW swim just to see how it feels.0 -
shotgunmcos wrote: »Hmm options
KQB the BMX foam option would have you gawking at the baaar sideways kid', you'd end up with a pure gammy neck for a laugh at the end of it
And so ends my knowledge of tri bikes (is there no spot either side of the pads for it?). I assumed if someone could fit a bike mount on you could fit a small bit of foam? The foam would just be a nice cheap mount ensuring the match doesnt move around
Should read more closely. I see it goes on the stem0 -
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