Leenane to Westport and Beyond

hardCopy

Humbert Challenge Half Iron - 22/07/2012

My first Half Iron attempt. Was quite nervous about this. I felt under trained for the event, I had covered all the required distances but felt I wasn't getting out often enough recently, trying to get by on one session a week of each discipline.

Although I like to call myself a triathlete, I hadn't actually done a triathlon since Chicago in 2008! Training went a bit off the rails after Chicago and in recent years I've been doing more running with Gaelforce being my big race last year. I did a couple of duathlons this year and hoped to do a couple of sprints/olympics but the scheduling didn't work out.

I got down to Swinford on Saturday afternoon and went for a swim in Callow, my first OW swim since Chicago. Thankfully I'm skinnier now than I was then so the wetsuit still fit.

I hardly slept a wink on Saturday night, I'm normally not that nervous before a race but this one got to me.

My goal time was 6:30, which I had roughly broken down to 0:45-1:00 swim, 3:30ish cycle and 2 hours for the run.

I had an awful time getting my breathing right on my practice swim on Saturday evening. I put this down to having no hat and my head being cold.

Sunday morning came and I woke bright and early dying for a pee. My girlfriend was up early too, almost as nervous as me and had brekkie laid out for me. We got to transition nice and early, got set up, did a walk through of transition. The briefing was quite amusing, with promises of imaginary sandwiches at the top of the Windy Gap.

I got in the water as early as I could to get used to the cold, the hat made a big difference, as I had hoped. I stayed near the back for the deep-water start so as to avoid being ducked. Again I found it very difficult to find a rhythm, my breathing is pretty consistent in the pool but I just couldn't get myself right and ended up doing some breast stroke to get my breath back every so often, it was also quite crowded so the first pair of feet I tried to follow ended up stopping and kicking me in the eye.

Eventually I figured out that I was just trying to swim too fast, once I slowed down I was able to get a rhythm going, albeit breathing more frequently than normal. By the time we reached the Island (maybe 600M) I was starting to pass a couple of people and after the turn I realised I was at the front of the bunch with no feet to follow, I had enough in me to make the jump to the next group and find some new feet. After the last turn (about 1500M) I felt great and was steadily passing people all the way in.

Swim: 39:51

T1 went pretty smoothly, I managed to get the suit off double quick and everything I needed for the bike was on the bike. My target was to hit 26km/h on average for the bike. The first stretch of road was flat, possibly even downhill and I was in the mid-thirties and feeling great. I had done the bike route before so I knew where the hills would be and where I could push hard. The road from Foxford to Pontoon is quite rough and the vibrations managed to loosen every bolt on my new Aero-bars. I tried to ignore the loose bars for as long as I could and was actually holding them in place as much as I was steering. Around Bofeenaun I noticed my new cleats also felt loose so I decided to stop and get everything right before I hit the days big climb. All fixed and was able to give it socks on the long drag up to the start of the Windy Gap. The Gap was just as bad as I remembered and I spent most of it in the granny ring.

The rest of the cycle was relatively uneventful bar a little bit of off-roading when I took a turn too wide at Parke and had to cycle in the ditch for a few metres. I also managed my first ever on-bike water station without crashing or spilling anything. I did have a hairy moment on Main Street in Swinford when some ass decided to ignore the marshal asking people not to turn right and parked in the middle of the road waiting for a gap in the tailback on the opposite side of the road, I had to jam on and squeeze round the inside.

Bike 3:14:41

Towards the end of the bike I started doing some calculations and realised that if I could do the run in under hours I'd finish in under 6. My half marathon PB is 1:42 and I had just done 1:44 a couple of weeks ago. I started running at 5 mins/km and felt OK for the first km. Then I hit the first hill, I expected this to be short so slowed down a bit but it just went on and on. I then started to get an awful in my nuts which hurt with every step. I ended up run/walking for a while, then I tried to just run 4K at a time and walk the water stations. This wasn't working, I was walking more than I should have and when I managed to run I was over 7mins/km. I hobbled around until about 13KM, at one point thinking I was going to puke. For some reason at 13KM things changed and the pain either went away or I blocked it out. I was able to up the pace and stay around 6mins/km and starting passing lots of people who had passed me when I was walking.

The run was strange in that it's a long course on quiet roads with a pretty small field so it's very lonely at times. The final stretch into Swinford was just as quiet, I had expected to approach the finish through town but even after the 20KM mark I still couldn't see any sign of a town. I was beginning to think the course was too long or my watch was wrong when suddenly I came round a bend and the line was only a few metres away.

Run 02:21:53


Swim - 0:39:51
T1 - 0:03:09
Bike - 3:14:41
T2 - 0:03:01
Run - 2:21:53
Total - 6:22:35

Overall I'm delighted with my time and delighted to have done a HIM, although a little disappointed with the run, I never really felt out of breath, just very much in pain.

Next up is Gaelforce West where I hope to smash my time from last year.

For next year, I think the Ironman idea is postponed, I want to get faster over shorter distances before I make that step. I'm sure I could do the distance but not sure I want to hobble around in agony on the run like that again. At the moment I'm thinking I'll join a tri club and do a proper season with another Half Iron and improve on my time before I try to go longer.

PS: The reason I've gotten so bad at updating this is that I now use a Garmin instead of mapmyrun. Mapmyrun instantly uploads everything onto the web and made it easier for me to copy and paste stuff into here. Now I sometimes go a week or two before I sync to Garmin Connect and Idon't usually have the Garmin in work to manually copy the data up here.

catweazle

Well done on the race - it was my third year doing it and I thought the conditions were the toughest yet. That should put you in good shape for Gaelforce endurance wise anyways

Harto45

Great stuff hardCopy, well done. Been following the log for a while now. What's your goal time in Gaelforce?

hardCopy

Harto45 wrote: »

Great stuff hardCopy, well done. Been following the log for a while now. What's your goal time in Gaelforce?

My goal at the start of the season was to go under 6 hours but I think at this stage I should be able to get under 5:30. I'm wary of goal inflation though all the same. I ended up a little disappointed after Swinford because I was still adjusting my goals 80KM into the cycle.

hardCopy

Another fantastic day out West.

The weather was great for Gaelforce this year, although the the course definitely seemed to be more muddy compared to last year.

I think I underestimated/misremembered how tough the run course was. I found it very difficult to nail the pace I was aiming for on the run, there was a lot more uphill than I remembered and it was more difficult to make progress in the bog than I remembered.

At one point I ended up stuck thigh deep in mud and had to use a fence to drag myself out.

All the same it was great to feel so much stronger than I had last year, I was able to cruise up the last hill into Killary where I was walking last year.

Run 1 - 01:20:38

I timed out and waited for my girlfriend as we wanted to do the kayak together. She can't swim so she was a bit nervous but she had a couple of kayaking lessons beforehand and we cruised across comfortably.

Kayak - 00:10:26

The second bog run felt great, I took a long timeout so lots of slower runners had gotten ahead of me, this meant I spent the whole run passing people by, I had one spectacular fall just after the first set of steps, resulting in a forward roll off the side of the 'trail'.

Run 2 - 00:23:17

The bike leg was great, again I was so much stronger than last year, at one point on Sheffry I was the only person still cycling. A bit of a pain when the walker/pushers were spread all across the road but very satisfying.

I got chatting to a couple of lads shortly after the hill and two of us ended up pacing each other the rest of the way, when some lad in a red jacket came past us like a train we managed to up the pace and draft off him for about ten minutes, I went in front when we hit the bog road but red jacket slowed right down on the rough stuff. The other lad I was with was a lunatic on the rough stuff and I really had to push hard to hang on, I never would have gone that fast in the rough if he hadn't led the way. He ended up throwing a chain and told me to carry on.

Bike 1 - 01:42:26

Last year I stupidly tried to go straight up the Reek. This is the quick way if your a strong climber but it was foolish for me. This year I knew better and went up the zig-zag, I had been down to visit earlier in the summer so knew I was able to keep on plodding and made steady progress, passed lots of people once we hit the cone.

CP Ascent - 00:47:53

Coming down, I decided to follow the trail to the bottom of the cone and then hit the heather. This was great fun, I seemed to have the whole mountain to myself. Due to my crap eyesight I ended up running towards a fence when I hit the flat, I could have been quicker if I had taken a more direct route here.

CP Descent - 00:38:10

The Skelp was just as bad as last year, although I managed to ride a bit more of it this time. My descending has improved also and I was more comfortable coming down the steep hills to the main road.

Bike 2/Final Run - 00:47:37

Smashing great day!

Outside of GFW, I've been down to Kerry for a cycling weekend and did the Sean Kelly Tour 100KM.

Time now to focus on running as I've signed up for the Dublin City Marathon and Half Marathon. My girlfriend has signed up for the Half and my buddy is signed up for the Half and Full as well. I'm hoping to go under 4 hours after doing 4:28 last year.

hardCopy

hardCopy wrote: »

My goals for the next year are as follows:

• 5K < 25 Mins
• 10K < 50 Mins
• Marathon < 4:15
• Half Ironman < 6:30
• GaelForceWest < 6:00

My key races will be:

• Connemara Marathon - April 1st
• Humbert Challenge Half Iron - July
• GaelForceWest - August 18th

I will try to update this as often as possible, at least every week.

Reflecting on the last year, I've now hit most of those goals:
5K = 22:01 - Rathfarnham 5K
10K = 46:50 - Training run (Hoping for a better chip time in the Reindeer Run 10K)
Marathon = 03:52:45
Half Ironman = 06:22:35
GaelForceWest = 05:50:27

I'm pretty happy with how the year has gone.

Time now to start planning for the coming year. I have a few non-sports things I need to sort out before I launch into a full on training plan but will start running again next week in preparation for the Reindeer Run 10K.

shotgunmcos

Well done hitting all your targets! My lineup next year is similar to your 2012. Looking forward to GFW

hardCopy

shotgunmcos wrote: »

Well done hitting all your targets! My lineup next year is similar to your 2012. Looking forward to GFW

Cheers. I just had a look at your new log, have you a goal in mind for GFW? Hit the hills and get over to Croagh Patrick a couple of times if you can.

My IM ambitions will wait until 2014 I think. I'd rather take another year and get faster before I go any longer.

I did my first Cycle Sportive this year as well in the Sean Kelly Tour 100KM. I'll try to include a few of the An Post Series events next year as I really enjoyed it. Swimming needs more work next year, I think I managed about 3 decent swimming sessions before Swinford.

I definitely think I need variety in my training, I like bouncing from one event to another across different disciplines, I think I'd get bored if I tried to concentrate on one.

shotgunmcos

hardCopy wrote: »

Cheers. I just had a look at your new log, have you a goal in mind for GFW? Hit the hills and get over to Croagh Patrick a couple of times if you can....

No, however by the time it comes around I hope to have improved the running. You never know who will show up and I'd imagine the AR scene is going to get more competitive next year. I'll know more when I do a training run on CP sometime!

I hear you on the boredom factor. It was one of the reasons I decided to try tri. Then I got bored of S/B/R .... Variety is certainly the spice of life

hardCopy

Had my first post-DCM run yesterday. GF was running a 16KM LSR so I went along on my bike to keep her company. I cycled the first 10K then put the bike away to jog 6KM. Felt pretty good most of the way around but my hamstrings were a bit sore on the hills at the end.

I also volunteered to help out at the Malahide parkrun this weekend. I met some of the team on Saturday. I'll be helping to marshal the finishing chute.

hardCopy

The first half of November was a bit messy and I struggled to get back into any kind of routine.

The second half was better as I decided to run my first parkrun on the 24th. I only managed to get two decent runs in beforehand so wasn't expecting much.

I got around in 00:22:43. It's a nice course with a deceptively tough drag that you have to climb three times. Over a minute slower than my PB from September but I was happy just to get round after taking it easy post-marathon.

Next up was the RNLI Reindeer Run 10K in Marlay Park. I was looking forward to this as my girlfriend was also running and my sister was running her first 5K with her boyfriend. I wasn't really sure what pace I'd manage after the previous week. My garmin battery was dead on the morning of the race so I had to run with a regular watch. It was a small enough field so I started near the front of the pack and tried to pace off a group of lads who started at a similar pace to me. I stuck with two guys all the way around and from checking my watch at the KM markers and figured I'd be on for a new PB of around 45 minutes. I ended up finishing in 16th place with 43:08. A new PB and my highest ever finish.

I'd love to try and work towards a 40 minute 10K but I can't find any between now and my holidays in March (apart from one in Kerry which is too far away).

I think I'll work towards the Carlingford Half Marathon, just before my holidays and try to pick up a new 5K PB at Malahide parkrun along the way.

Edit: There is a 10K option in Carlingford, not sure which one I'll do as herself is looking at the Half Marathon, she might mock me if I only ran the 10K.

catweazle

A 22.43 5k to a 43.08 10k :eek:

Thats some improvement in the space of a week. You must be like a horse who was in need of a blow out before the derby

hardCopy

catweazle wrote: »

A 22.43 5k to a 43.08 10k :eek:

Thats some improvement in the space of a week. You must be like a horse who was in need of a blow out before the derby

I think I was just so rusty going into the parkrun that I was never going to do myself justice.

I'd like to see a Garmin route of the 10K course all the same, I thought I was on for 45 minutes based on the markers and mental arithmetic, then suddenly I was at the finish line when I was expecting another 200-300 metres.

hardCopy

So I had my last race of 2012 on the 29th, welcome detox after Christmas and Pre-NYE.

Run 1 - 5.5K - 25:09
Bike - 17K - 37:57
Run 2 - 2K - 9:28

Pretty pleased overall, I could tell pretty quickly that Christmas and the couple of bottles of Heineken the night before were taking their toll.

I haven't been on the bike in a while and this made me realise that spinning just isn't the same so I'll be aiming to get out on the road more often as the weather starts to improve.

2013
Training restarted after New Year's yesterday. Managed to squeeze in 8KM between apartment viewing appointments. The next few weeks could be messy until we get moved. I have to squeeze in a few apartments between work and swimming tomorrow but it shouldn't be a problem.

My excess weight is now fully under assault, I want to get down to 12 Stone by the beginning of May.

I'm using MyFitnessPal to monitor what I eat and keep the calories under control.

So far, so good. I managed to shift a few pounds in early December despite a lads weekend away with heavy drinking and junk food. I decided it wasn't worth even trying to track calories over Christmas. Overall I'm lighter than I was at the beginning of December, even if Christmas was a backward step.

Current Weight: 13 Stone, 3 Pounds.

I still haven't nailed down my goals for the year but racing will revolve around at least 2 HIM races, GaelForceWest and Dublin City Marathon. I have a 3 week holiday in Australia from Mid-March to the first week of April. That may impact on the diet but should allow for lots of Open Water swimming (if I can avoid the sharks).

hardCopy

I just had a quick look at Garmin Connect and MapMyRun.

My total distances for 2012 were:
Swim: 19.4 KM (Very low, considering that included HIM training)
Bike: 1,825.01 KM (Including a cycling holiday across Italy)
Run: 974KM (If I had stuck to my marathon plan I would have been over the 1,000 KM mark)

hardCopy

I tried training by HR today for the first time. I'm thinking I'll work of Don Fink's IM Intermediate plan which includes a HIM at week 22.

I started at week1 today to allow for a three week holiday in march.

Today was 1 hour on the bike in Z1 and Z2. This felt very slow and I'm wondering if the target zones are little low for a HIM goal as opposed to IM. More research to be done!

Tomorrow morning is my first run session with the tri club, trails with some hills I believe, should be fun.

My weight loss is going well, down about 7lbs since early December.

elvis jones

hardCopy wrote: »

I tried training by HR today for the first time. I'm thinking I'll work of Don Fink's IM Intermediate plan which includes a HIM at week 22.

I started at week1 today to allow for a three week holiday in march.

Today was 1 hour on the bike in Z1 and Z2. This felt very slow and I'm wondering if the target zones are little low for a HIM goal as opposed to IM. More research to be done!

Tomorrow morning is my first run session with the tri club, trails with some hills I believe, should be fun.

My weight loss is going well, down about 7lbs since early December.

I started running to HR this week as well, i've been told to do it by my sports science guy ! He has told me at this time of year its all about base training and this is the way to do it.

If you haven't done the VO2 and body compisition i'd advice you to do so, really good and helps you see where you are and where you need to go.

Oh whats your fat burning zone for running and cycling ?

hardCopy

elvis jones wrote: »

I started running to HR this week as well, i've been told to do it by my sports science guy ! He has told me at this time of year its all about base training and this is the way to do it.

If you haven't done the VO2 and body compisition i'd advice you to do so, really good and helps you see where you are and where you need to go.

Oh whats your fat burning zone for running and cycling ?

Based on Garmin Connect my bike Zone 1 is 114 - 128, Z2 is 128 - 142. That's based on a max HR from last week on an uphill sprint on Howth.

The run is based on a max HR of 195, I haven't done an all out test to see if that's accurate.

I was just playing around with Garmin Connect and realised I had no Resting HR inputted. Based on a test I did yesterday where I wore the chest strap lying down for 4 minutes I had an average HR of 43.

Inputting this brought the zones up a little higher, yesterday it was telling me that 128 was the upper limit of Z2. Maybe it won't feel as slow to work in these zones now that they're updated.

Having gone through Fink's plan again, he does include lots of Z4 work as intervals during Z2 workouts, these come in late in the Build Phase and throughout the Peak Phase.

I think the best thing to do might be to modify the plan to a 7 Week Base, 7 Week Build, 7 Week Peak. Rather than 10 Week Base, 10 Week Build and 2 Week Peak that I would get by following the Iron plan as far as the HIM practice race.

Still not sure how I'm going to manage things while I'm in Aus, I'll be bringing my runners along and I won't need a wetsuit for swimming so I should find plenty of opportunities to throw in some kind of training.

Totals for the week:

2 Runs, 21.6KM
3 Cycles, 68.39KM
2 Swims, 3.4KM
1 Strength Session, Upper Body

hardCopy

Last week's figures:

4 Runs, 1 of those was off a 30 minute cycle, 21.9KM
2 Cycles, 19.92KM
2 Swims, 4.25KM
1 Strength Session, Legs.

Bit of a messy weekend training wise but I did manage to get myself fairly well organised for this week. I have all my lunches prepared and most of my dinners ready for the week so it should be easier to get to bed at reasonable hours this week.

I've found an 18 week HIM plan that I like which would technically start in two weeks time. In the meantime I'm working through the first few weeks of low HR stuff in the Fink plan. I'm beginning to realise that the hardest part of starting a plan like this is making time every evening for training and all the other day to day stuff, I think a couple of weeks of structured training without too much intensity is a good way to get into a manageable routine.

On Sunday I managed to do all my washing and ironing for the week, cook a pile of chicken breasts for lunches and make a stew and a soup for dinners. With a bit of luck I should be able to leave work each evening knowing I just have to train and eat, leaving some actual social time.

We get the keys to our new apartment on Friday so things will probably be extremely hectic next week between packing, moving and training.

hardCopy

Well that weekend was a disaster!

I had to work in Galway on Saturday. My car broke down on the M4 coming home, which meant spending most of my Saturday night waiting for a tow.

I got a lift to Clontarf so I could walk to the start of the Raheny 5, when I checked my emails I found that I had never actually entered the race. I remember registering online but have no record of it in my emails or bank statements so something must have gone wrong when I submitted.

At least I managed to borrow a car to move stuff to the new place, and now I have to cycle to work again. I decided to skip my club swim tonight, I have too much packing to do at home and I couldn't squeeze all my swim gear into my panniers along with my work clothes, laptop, books, lunch, various other crap.

Dory Dory

Wow. That was a crap weekend. But, things can only get better!!

hardCopy

Last week's totals:

3 Runs, 17.55KM
3 Cycles, 24.36KM
2 Swims, 3.3KM

That includes a 30+15 Bike to Run brick session.

No swimming so far this week but a bit of extra cycling in and out of work.

hardCopy

Training is going fairly well after all the apartment moving stress.

Picked up a couple of PB's recently.

New 5K PB at Malahide parkun on the 23/Feb: 20:26 (Down from 21:55 at Rathfarnham in October)
New 1/2 Marathon PB at the Carlingford Half on the 2/March: 1:33:05 (Down from 1:41:55 in Connemara last year)

Carlingford Half was also the first time I've managed a negative split.

I might get out to the Marlay parkrun on Saturday, then I'm officially on a break from racing as I head off to Australia for three weeks on the 16th.

Weight is dropping steadily, down to 77KG now from 85.3KG in December.

BTH

hardCopy wrote: »

Training is going fairly well after all the apartment moving stress.

Picked up a couple of PB's recently.

New 5K PB at Malahide parkun on the 23/Feb: 20:26 (Down from 21:55 at Rathfarnham in October)
New 1/2 Marathon PB at the Carlingford Half on the 2/March: 1:33:05 (Down from 1:41:55 in Connemara last year)

Carlingford Half was also the first time I've managed a negative split.

I might get out to the Marlay parkrun on Saturday, then I'm officially on a break from racing as I head off to Australia for three weeks on the 16th.

Weight is dropping steadily, down to 77KG now from 85.3KG in December.

Two big fat PBs and a shed load of weight gone in two months. Some nice work going on here. Enjoy the break, but don't go un-doing all of it

hardCopy

Quick update.

I'm back training after the holiday, although it did take a while to get back in the rhythm. I didn't get a huge amount done while I was away but I did get to run in some spectacular places: http://connect.garmin.com/activity/295523132, http://connect.garmin.com/activity/295523149 - Literally running through crowds of wallaby and deer!

We left a lot of the house moving jobs until after the holiday and then had to get all sorts of furniture bought and built, housewarming to organise and various other bits.

I gave our club TT a go off pretty much zero prep and got suitably spanked: http://connect.garmin.com/activity/310354104

I had a nice Sunday run, did 12 sets of 1 minute @ ~4:00 min/km with 1 minute rests as part of a 14km run: http://connect.garmin.com/activity/311902710

It's so much easier to get out these days with the long and relatively dry evenings.

First tri of the year coming up on Sunday and of course I'm sick with a cold. Ran home last night and cycled in this morning, will take it easy for the rest of the week and hope it goes away.

Weight is currently just over 77kg and on the way back down after some holiday bloat. I'd like to see how I feel at 70kg but I haven't been that light since I was 12 years old, not sure how I'd look at that size.

hardCopy

Fingal Sprint Tri never happened for me but I did Athy Olympic on Saturday.

Swim: 00:30:14
T1: 00:03:13
Bike: 01:19:12
T2: 00:01:57
Run: 00:45:11
Total: 02:39:49

I was disappointed with the swim. I did no Open Water training and didn't get into the river early enough to acclimatise. I spent the first 10 minutes doing breast-stroke and trying to get my breathing under control. Poor preparation and silly mistake, I knew well enough to avoid it and won't make that mistake again.

I was very happy with my bike split, it was my fastest ride of the year, with a higher average speed than I managed in a 20K TT only 3 weeks ago.

I went off a little too quick (trying to make up for a poor swim) at the start of the run and the pace did drop over the last 5K. Need to pace myself a little more realistically and get more brick work done.

My right foot is a little tender after Saturday but if it feels good tomorrow I may head along to a sprint Duathlon.

My weight is still hovering around 76KG, I want to drop a few more KG but just haven't had the discipline in recent times, need to sort that out ASAP.

hardCopy

40K club spin on Saturday, this was to be a "beginner friendly" spin so I brought my girlfriend along for her first club spin. I'm currently helping her improve her swimming so that she can start racing tri. Lovely day for it and had a nice stop in Ratoath. I was to do another 40K in Phoenix Park afterwards but just after we separated I realised she had no key. The next two hours were spent tipping up and down between home and the park and eventually waiting in the apartment for her to wander home, apparently she was waiting at the other end of the park for me to complete my first lap!

Had a great LSR on Sunday. I got up early, had a decent breakfast and got out before 12. I felt strong on the run and kept the pace inside my recommended zone according to McMillan.

Distance: 24.21 km
Time: 2:09:15
Avg Pace: 5:20 min/km

My right foot felt a bit tender after Athy, I think my laces were too loose on the run. This has been ever so slightly annoying ever since. After the LSR yesterday I woke up this morning with a full-on limp :mad:

I was going to do the Howth Aquathon tonight but I think I'll just do the swim leg and skip the run. Will be my first ever DNF!

hardCopy

Right foot is still at me. I skipped the Howth Aquathon altogether and went for an easy swim in Finglas, I spent most of it helping my girlfriend with her swim technique so didn't tax myself too much.

I did no running last week until Mullaghmore Sprint Triathlon on Saturday. The swim was almost parallel to the beach, sea was fairly calm. This was my first sea race but it went much better than Athy. I learnt my lesson and got plenty of time in the water to warm up and swim a few strokes before the off.

The bike felt tough for some reason and was actually a slower pace than Athy which was a longer race. I'm not sure what went wrong here, maybe I just didn't push hard enough. I blamed the wind initially but after looking at the Garmin, my average HR was lower on the bike in Mullaghmore than it was in Athy, so maybe I just didn't work hard enough?

The run went really well, it was a tough hilly course and the first couple of KMs were very exposed and windy. I'm pretty sure nobody passed me on the run while I passed about 20 others, so I was happy here.

I ran with greepers laces and they felt good, they're not as easy the pull on as the elastic ones I had before but more comfortable on the run. I wore a bad choice of socks on the day, too long and tight so this slowed me down in T2.

Swim: 0:18:20
T1: 0:01:51
Bike: 0:40:20
T2: 0:02:44
Run: 0:21:23
Total: 1:24:37

Despite feeling good and running well, my ankle was at me again after the race. I went to the physio on Tuesday and she reckons it's a ligament problem which should resolve itself over the weekend with lots of stretching and that I should be OK for Swinford.

I swam with the club on Monday, physio on Tuesday, swam 1,000M on Wednesday morning and will cycle tonight. Hope to do 90-100KM on the bike on Sunday morning and return to running in some form next Tuesday.

hardCopy

So I haven't had a long run in two weeks, the race is two weeks out, my ankle seems to be improving and I'm looking forward to returning to running. Club swim on Monday night and club cycle on Tuesday means I should get a nice run on Wednesday. Swimming in particular is a nice low-impact way to keep the fitness up while resting my foot.

I managed to kick a club-mate in the pool last night, this was my toe this morning:


As the kids say: #fml

hardCopy

So the toe was cracked.

I had my first run last night since Mullaghmore Tri on the 22nd of June.

Took it handy, jogged 2KM and walked for a bit, then jogged 2KM home.

Toe was OK but my legs were fairly sore in general, I can't remember the last time I took such a long break from running. It's definitely going to take me a while to get my running form back.

Have kept ticking over in the meantime with swimming and cycling, and even a couple of sessions of aqua-jogging.

My next event will be the Meath Heritage Tour on Sunday, I'm doing this with a couple of mates and we're going to do the 50K and stick together.

My big races for the rest of the season will be GaelForceWest and Dublin Marathon.

Solobally8

Wow that looks like it was some kick. How was the other guy?

hardCopy

Solobally8 wrote: »

Wow that looks like it was some kick. How was the other guy?

It was actually a very innocuous thing. It happened treading water after our warm up, I did the rest of the session and never really noticed it until I got out of the water.

I forgot to mention in my last post, I did the Swim and Bike legs of the Humbert HIM in Swinford.

Swim - 0:37:05
Bike - 2:53:21

Both improved on last year and felt great getting off the bike. It was very strange racking my bike and then heading to the race official to hand in my chip. I hung around transition for a while and got some sun and then got my bike out and left once mst people had left for the run.

Got some good running done last week, 4K on Wednesday, 6K on Friday and 11K on Saturday.

Did the Meath Heritage Cycling Tour 50KM on Sunday in about 1:53. Nice day out and brought one of my mates out on his first sportive. Will hopefully do the Sean Kelly Tour 100KM at the end of August.