Alanya, Turkey 2013 - My Euro Dream Odyssey

El Director

interested wrote: »

Yep, admittedly it was more cross country than trail though. After all the rain we've had its pretty soft underfoot. Ive built up to this distance over the last 4 weeks but subtle changes in running technique mean Im no longer suffering from achilles, calf and quad pains so its possible for me to run on a daily basis which Ive never felt I was able to before. Also, Im running faster** with less perceived effort.



** its all relative, most would say what I was doing before wasn't strictly running

But dude that is absolutely great to hear! Delighted for you, I know running was a constant frustration for you. Hope it continues in this vein now too.

Dory Dory

@interested - if you ever travel to my neck of the woods, I will take you trail running in my rocky mountains and will buy you a pint for every mile you can dare go in your barefeet.

El Director

Weds Eve 16th May

Bike 20k TT

The first ever Activ Multisport TT. A 20km TT, well I clocked it at 19.41km, same distance for everyone. Everyone except me that is! I am in a build race specific phase so i guess with the weekend race and this on the menu tonight it is certainly race specific and is sharpening me up. It was a 3 lap affair and there were a few roundabouts, which I knew pretty well and I did two laps as a WU with 4 mod hard efforts (should have 5 but I eased off as I felt I needed to stretch). This type of course suits me, flat and not technical, so power down. These are handicapped and I was second to last off, did not think Bjorn Ludick (NS Champ)was going to do it but there he was so I had 45sec on him. He was on his road bike, me my full 2012 bike set up...yes the disc cover had its first outing this evening. So I hit off, struggling to get clipped into and failing to start my own watch for about 5 sec. Straight away my HR was up were I planed to be 155, but I felt I could just push it a bit more but decided to cap it at 165 and on the last lap just throw caution to the wind and build to a very strong finish. This didn't happen as it went over that quite a bit but my RPE was in check, I felt fine. At one of the round abouts I was supposed to go left but I went straight through which was fine really as (a) the road ran parallel to the correct one (b) if anything it made my race longer. I did that on all 3 laps! But the road surface was better on the road I took Not to worry this was training anyway. So passed nobody for the first two laps, I was glad to know Bjorn was hunting me down because it really kept me focused, very determined not to let him catch me. On the third lap I started chewing my TT bars, I really went for it, no running after and wanted to give it everything...which looking at my HR I did. I caught 4 on this lap and then rounded the last roundabout, 500m to go I and I dare not look back for fear! And it was that fear that drove me strong to the line. I wish I had hit lap for all three just to see my pacing but I think I got it spot on. Posted the fastest split on the night too which after Saturday is very welcome.

Time 28:30; Dist 19:41km; HR 166(177); Cad 97; Speed 41km/hr;

Garmin File

Total time 55min Total Dist 40km

Well with a bit of an upset in personal life/crazy day I couldn't do a proper CD I had to get home pronto...all sorted now I would have had to pull out but one of my prodigies was coming tonight for his first TT and I wanted to be there. After Saturdays race and my ass being handed to me by 27 triathletes on the bike course I must say it got me down a bit. I was totally exposed for the awkward, graceless rider that I am. I had questions to answer. Those questions are of course still there and need to be addressed but at least I still know I have the power I thought I had for these types of courses. What I'm trying say is, my confidence has recovered a little tonight, still plenty to work which is the best thing.

I do have a sub 29min 20k as an objective this year, making the required adjustments i would have missed it by about 30sec or so, but definitely doable in my mind now.

hf4z6sqo7vjngi

I think your bike split was a blip at the weekend and perhaps a course that did not suit your strengths. As you say you need to work on your bike handling skills for the technical bits.
The one thing you should remember is that prior to taking on a coach others and I where always left scratching our heads as to why you could not get it up:) your HR up on the bike that is!!. I think it is clear that the body and particular your legs are much stronger and you can push much harder for longer. Perhaps being able to suffer and push hard on the bike in the past was an issue, certainly not now!! Solid effort last night.

When is the next one on so i can see if it fits into the plan as it would be good to meet the rest from the club....and try give you a run for your money:)

How did you find the disc cover, any noticable difference?

El Director

Thurs Morn 17th May

Bike 45min easy

A 45min easy spin this morning first thing. Damp out there, headed to the park and did some laps including some bends-in the wet, much practice needed. I was/am concerned that I didn't get in a CD, stretch or roll last night. I just hope there will be no side effects. 30 min easy run later today and I will find 30min for stretching/rolling.

Time 51:56; Dist 23.65; HR 126; Speed 27.4km;

couerdelion

Mackenzie Slow Joker wrote: »

When is the next one on so i can see if it fits into the plan as it would be good to meet the rest from the club....and try give you a run for your money:)

Next Activ Multisport bike TT is 13th June.
Bargain price of €1 and a chance to win a cake! :pac:

El D was impressive last night. Bjorn gained 15s on him in the first lap but then slipped back. My wife said when he overtook his young prodigy the lad just looked and shook his head. I'd like to think that was in awe of the speed but he could have been wondering what his mentor was wearing on his head.

Also not sure about your Garmin calcs I think they may have cut a few corners, with the extra distance it was probably a lot closer to 20km than you think.

El Director

Mackenzie Slow Joker wrote: »

I think your bike split was a blip at the weekend and perhaps a course that did not suit your strengths. As you say you need to work on your bike handling skills for the technical bits.
The one thing you should remember is that prior to taking on a coach others and I where always left scratching our heads as to why you could not get it up:) your HR up on the bike that is!!. I think it is clear that the body and particular your legs are much stronger and you can push much harder for longer. Perhaps being able to suffer and push hard on the bike in the past was an issue, certainly not now!! Solid effort last night.

When is the next one on so i can see if it fits into the plan as it would be good to meet the rest from the club....and try give you a run for your money:)

How did you find the disc cover, any noticable difference?

I did. It was very easy install, never removed a cassette befroe but the right tools and youtube made it easy My tool collection builds and builds, which is great, I'd love to be a whizz of a bike machanic :cool: I also took MLOC's advise and used black insulation tape around the edges.

It does make that beautiful sound but there was vibrations coming from somewhere, I think though it was at the front end of the bike If I had to put a number on the difference, possibly 1km/hr...total guess but I felt fast and sounded fast :cool:

BTH

couerdelion wrote: »

Next Activ Multisport bike TT is 13th June.
Bargain price of €1 and a chance to win a cake! :pac:

Club members only or can an outside come in for a bit of a hammering??

El Director

BetterThanHoyte wrote: »

Club members only or can an outside come in for a bit of a hammering??

No problem opening it up to non-members as long as they are TI members.
The more people the better the event, but the first place prize (a yummy cake) would be held for the first club member across the line and a 2 euro charge instead of 1. There is also a rule that each member of the club must marshall one run and one cycle. So it wouldn't be fair non members turning up to race all of these so enlight of that a non member is allowed to do two TT's and if they want to do any more they must marshall an event first. Fair enough imo.

Thurs Eve and Fri Morn

An usual log for me. Yesterdays 30min easy run missed and this mornings, what looks like a tough session, pool session missed. I knew this week would be manic with work and life and so it was. 3hrs sleep thurs night, 4 hours last night and I'm like a zoombie today. It was 11pm when I got my change to go for a run last night but that was too late as I had to be up at 4:30 for an airport run AND swimming at 6, had I done the run best case was I'd be asleep by 1am...night before 3 hrs sleep so fcuk that. Anyway I headed back to bed after airport run, the swim session was compromised and my health would have been too....run down.

So tough decisions there, a rare (ie not happened this year) back to back sessions missed but at least I will be set for the weekend.

shotgunmcos

Hey it happens, Life just dictates sometimes. I've missed seriesof training sessions too thi syear, too many to count on one hand in fact.. Currently all sesssions hit for this week though so hope I haven't jinxed myself!

El Director

shotgunmcos wrote: »

Hey it happens, Life just dictates sometimes. I've missed seriesof training sessions too thi syear, too many to count on one hand in fact.. Currently all sesssions hit for this week though so hope I haven't jinxed myself!

Ya you are right and I was thinking of all you guys with families and stuff and that I am so lucky to be at a stage in life where I can put tri pretty high on my priority list. I'm not annoyed or frustrated in fact I am happy with myself for not being so.....I'm learning to let go and I'm confident in myself to know that I made the right decisions dropping those two session.

El Director

Fri 18th May

Run with 6x 5k at race pace

Horrible wet, dark freezing cold late afternoon at the polo grounds. Usually a few others around doing their own session but this afternoon, just me. Full winter gear on, so depressing.

After 10min of easy running I stopped to do my dynamic stretches, heel flicks and high knees. Then some build work and straight into 6x 5k race pace. I wasn't sure what to aim for here, I'd like to think that sub 18 5k is now within my reach so I decided to try and get the 1k's done in 3:35. Had to be careful though no point hitting the first 4 and bombing the last 2. So the rep times and HR were:

1) 3:34 (163)
2) 3:31 (163)
3) 3:35 (165)
4) 3:34 (161)
5) 3:34 (165)
6) 3:33 (165)

A good session, felt good-running has now for a few weeks. Feeling lighter on my feet and not over thinking it anymore-simply lift each foot and let gravity do the rest. A 8 min cool down and I was just in the car before a hail shower.

Time 53min; Dist 12.23km; Ave Pace 4:20/km; HR 146(177)

Argghhh since then I've been sick. It's made how the body knew something was up. I usually get 7/8 sleep every night, then last week Weds and Thurs night because of one thing or another-I only got 7hr sleep between the two nights. Queue sore throat, mouth ulcer, high temp and muscle soreness/aches. I had all week been looking forward to spending time in Camlough. UP there they have the swim marked out so I was going to do the 750m loop followed by 4 loops or so of the bike course just to get familar with it. So that didn't happen and I haven't been able to do much since Friday. 30min yesterday to see how i felt and I felt fine but the throat was still raw though (gateway for infections) So took it easy yesterday evening and this morning I have a 45min easy turbo to see how I feel, throat feels a good bit better and loads of gargling salt water and drinking hot honey/lemon/lime drinks.

This week is a recovery week before a two week peak phase. It's so annoying, things were perfect but I missed 3 key sessions over the weekend-the last of the build phase so I know these were very important sessions and would have really iced the cake. I am aware that most of the work has been done anyway...it was just so close to perfect, but nothing ever is. Once I get doing some race pace stuff over the next 10 days or so I'm sure I'll be fine, a bee-ach this had to happen but it could be worse.

El Director

Weds Morn 23rd May

Swim Coach Prescribed NAC LC

Back swimming for the first time in a week!! Just did the same as last Weds session minus the B&B set and somehow I forgot to do the 400 mod hard set!

4x 50 des 1-4 off 60: 48.1, 48.4, 44.0, 42.1
5x 200 mod hard: 3:18, 3:17, 3:20, 3:20, 3:18
4x 50 fast: 41.0, 43.1, 44.3, 45.3

Good to be back logging.

Time 0:50; Dist 2,200m; Ave Eff 40; Ave SWOLF 79; Ave Pace 1:40/100; Ave Strokes 24.8/length

A relief to be back training-first A race only a week and a half away now! I like to learn from these disruptions because I am really gearing up this year for next. For instance the ITB issue at the beginning of the year-I read and learned as much as I could about it and now I actively work on preventing those type of injuries with plenty of maintenance work....although neglected in the last couple of weeks.

So this illness came after two very very poor nights sleep in the middle of a build phase. So next time as I approach an A race and I'm in the final build/tough/important phase I will ensure where I can I get MORE sleep than normal and also make sure I get plenty of Vit C and the stronger type of Manuka honey. So hopefully lessons learned.

El Director

Weds Eve 23rd May

Bike 60 min easy with spurts

A glorious day yesterday so I was delighted to be out on the bike, in summer gear this time A relatively flat route with a head wind. Kept it smooth and kept the effort honest.

Time 1:06; Dist 34.4km; Speed 31.6km/hr; HR 128(159)

Thurs Morn 24th May

Gym

Stretch/Roll/Core/Strength

Time 1:30

El Director

Thurs Eve 24th May

Run 30 min easy

Somehow, somehow I didn't stop this session on the spreadsheet until Friday morning :eek: don't know how I missed it.:mad:

Fri Morn 25th May

Swim NAC LC Coach prescribed

Well this was the session I missed last Friday...very tasty, yum The main course was 4x 400m at race pace, instruction was to pace them evenly.
1) 400m: 6:39; Pace 1:40; Time/Length 48.5/50.0/50.4/50.4/50.9/50.6/53.1/51.2

2) 400m: 6:39; Pace 1:40; Time/Length 49.4/50.0/50.8/50.1/49.8/50.5/53.1/52.4

3) 400m: 6:34; Pace 1:39; Time/Length 47.1/49.6/50.8/50.3/48.8/50.0/53.5/58.8(??)

4) 400m: 6:41; Pace 1:40; Time/Length
50.2/51.1/50.8/51.4/51.4/50.6/49.5/49.1

So I think they were pretty well paced.

Fast 50's; 40, 42, 43, 41

these have actually gotten faster in the last few weeks

Enjoyed the session

Fri Eve 25th May

Run with 6x 1k at 5k pace

Same as last Fri session, last week full winter gear incl gloves, pissing rain and later hail. This Friday, 26 degrees, a pair of shorts (extra small ) no top, shades, wow if only it could be like this always! My fav place for these sessions - The Polo grounds, nice to have grass under foot. I like to do two laps (no more) in my vibrams as part of the warm up. Last year that wasn't possible, this year and 10kg lighter it's one of the things I look forward to during the week So the 6x 1k race pace:

1) 3:32 HR 167
2) 3:35 HR 166
3) 3:31 HR 162
4) 3:32 HR 165
5) 3:35 HR 164
6) 3:30 HR 166

Not as well paced as last week, struggled with one or two in the middle but the last was strong. Great to be able to be out there.

Time 53:38; Dist 13k; Pace 4:07km/hr; HR 152/177;

Sat 26th May

Bike Long with steady and sprint race efforts

Met up with Jackyback and Bambaata for this one, great to have the company for once. I knew though our sessions wouldn't gel to well together, JB in IM build, Eddie in recovery and myself with a week to my first A race which is sprint. And so it was spent a good bit on my own but had to stick to the plan. The first hour we were together then into 45min steady-very strong head wind made it tough going but I was loving getting stuck in. I had the workout programmed into the 910 but I made a mistake and it was telling me I wasn't in the required zone but I knew myself-the alerts were getting so annoying though. Then with 13min left of steady my rear mounted bottled cages came off-bolts were sheared. Had to stop, one bottle almost empty so finished it put the other in my pocket and left the empty bottle and cage on the side of the road, JB offered to collect them later for me, cheers dude. So releived myself, took a gel, other bottle in my pocket and off we went again. Finished the rest of the steady effort:

Time 0:45; Dist 20k; Speed 31.5km; HR 137; Cad 81

15min easy then, dropped in behind the boys, well Fran was off doing his IM stuff. Got a gel on board and drink too. Then 30min at sprint race effort. Again, a killer of a head wind but kept at it.

Time 0:30; Dist 17.5k; Speed 35.5km; HR 140; Cad 77

You will notice the cadence is pretty low, decided to do this to build some strength and just to work hard as this will be the last tough bike I'm sure.

Time 2:45; Dist 90k; Speed 32.5km; HR 131; Cad 83

Sat 26th May

Run Run off the bike

Got into steady zone as soon as I could, clipping along nicely. 7.5min out and back, I did find back tough, as I was pushing a bigger gear than I am used of I guess, still though felt pretty good and not a bad pace after a tough bike.

Time 16:10; Dist 4.08km; Pace 3:58/km; HR 153;

Garmin file of the last few sessions

Great to have the company and a chat after with the lads if only for 10 minutes....you don't meet like minded guys in everyday life. Really enjoying this weather too and shorts/short sleeves.

Tomorrow it's about the kids at Fingal Tri/Aqua, the first outing of El Directions Junior Development Squad

El Director

Sun 27th May

Run 80 min walk/run strategy, upping the effort in the last 20min

Very hot out there, decided to hit the park for this one and run the trails, this way I'd have some shade to run in. Again really enjoyed the run and felt pretty good, built into a nice pace in the last 20. No garmin so had to go by feel.

Time 1:20; Dist c.18km

Mon Morn 28th May

Swim Coached Prescribed NAC LC

This looked like a tough one and it was but I enjoyed it and I felt pretty good too. After the warm up I had: For this session I based my race pace 100 on Fridays race pace session, on average the pace was 1:40/100.

4x 50 des on 60: 48.03, 46.41, 43.63, 41.65
400sw (5sec per 100 faster than race pace): 6:26 (1:36/100)
2x 200p (5sec per 100 faster than race pace): 3:14 (1:37/100); 3:16 (1:38)
2x 100sw (10sec per 100 faster than race pace): 1:32; 1:33

So I didn't quite make the targets but the effort was there.

Time 1:00; Dist 2,100m

Mon Eve 28th May

Run 30 easy

A nice easy 30 and the run felt really good. Feeling light.

Time 0:30; Dist 6.5km

Tues 29th May

Bike/Run Short bike with race efforts followed by run with race efforts

Love this phase of the programme, race like efforts short in duration. I practiced mounting the bike correctly and more efficiently (more of this later in the week). After some high gear and build on the bike I had 3x 5min race pace:

1) Speed 41.9km/hr; HR 153
2) Speed 39.3km/hr; HR 154
3) Speed 40.1km/hr; HR 152

Time 0:50; Dist 28.14km; Speed 33.9km/hr; HR 131; Cad 88;

Straight onto the run within 1.5min. I felt very lively and had to rein it in a bit during the initial 4 mins. Then I had 4x 1min race pace:

1) Pace 3:39/km; HR 157;
2) Pace 3:27/km; HR 158;
3) Pace 3:34/km; HR 153;
4) Pace 3:32/km; HR 160;

Fast paces...I'd be delighted, over the moon with 5k splits like that in a straight 5k! Not expecting that of course Sun.

Time 16:43; Dist 4.25km; HR 153; Pace 3:56/km;


So I have trained for almost 8 months (3rd Oct 2011), I've had 3 races in that time and in the next 11 days I have 3 races For me I have invested, time, sacrificed and effort and the pay out is the opportunity to race. Yes I am in peak/race phase It starts tonight with the Ballbriggan Aquathon ran by Fingal Tri Club. Here I hope to have a solid swim and a clean, quick transition. On the run I just want to get the HR up to race pace for Sunday and perhaps ease off a bit towards the end, it's a very technical looking run actually. Then my first A race of 2012, Athy Sprint. The course suits me although a more upstream swim would be better. Both the coach and I feel that I should go pretty well in Athy but Camlough 6 days later will be my best performance. This really suits me as the whole idea of picking Athy and Crooked Lake was to mimic next year's AG Euro prep, that race is on the same weekend as Crooked Lake is this year. So if all goes well I will know how the two weeks proceeding the Euro's will look.

Ok gotta go, hope to get a race report up tonight after the aquathon, looking forward to it, hope it gives me a confidence booster

Bambaata

I think you'll be going a lot better on Sunday than some people might think ;-) Hope the aquathon went well.

El Director

So I hit off towards Ballbriggan hoping to arrive early, get registered and set up in transition where I wanted and then a decent warm up. For once it all went pretty much to plan. Was 3rd person to set up in transition. Now this was a first-transition was on the sand "thats a problem" I thought, grit, sand and little stones in my runners. Went looking for a basin of some sort to fill with water so I could step into it before putting my runners on but no luck. I decided next best thing was to leave a bottle of water beside my runners, so I'd get wetsuit off and then grab the bottle AND runners and run out to the road before putting them on. I tested this but there was a very rough patch just after where the sand ended and before where the run would begin. So I'd have to put them on before the rough spot. Not ideal but same for everyone. The DAA sponsored the event and it has to be one of the best goodie bags I've ever got (for Linda mostly:)) Anti-aging serum (not that she...or indeed I need it ) and Baileys chocolates included among other things.

Warm Up

10 min of running with some spurts and heel flicks and high knee and some dynamic stretches.

Time 10:22; Dist 2.38km; Pace 4:21/km; Hr 147;

Swim - 750m

As we walked down to the start almost everybody got straight in instead of walking to the start where we'd be counted in. I just walked along the beach keeping calm, I thought we'd be starting in the water but it was a run in start so I didn't get any swim warm up, bone dry getting in. So once everybody was counted the whistle went straight away, caught off guard! I started well to the left and there was only 3/4 of us but I was sure it was the best position to start. We raced in and the race was on. Dived in as soon as I could and straight away got into a nice rhythm. I spotted a guy just ahead to my left and slightly ahead so got in behind him. I breathe to the right, nobody to be seen so every now and again I took a breath to my left just to have a look. I spotted well and could see I was close to the front. I went around the guy I was drafting off and at the first buoy (200m) 3 of us came together. One guy pressed on and I drafted again for a bit in third. Then I decided to see if I could get the first guy. It took almost 500m but I took a better line than he did back into shore so that we pretty much got out together. I often thought I'd love to lead out of the swim because I thought that person would get the biggest cheer of the day....I wasn't disappointed

Time 10:50; Distance 860m; Cad 34; Pace 1:20/100m(??);

T1

One of my aims tonight was to have a clean transition. It was anything but clean with all the sand but I got out of the suit very efficiently even with the 910 on, it's actually a great wetsuit for that. Grabbed the bottle and runners then washed my feet at the start of the rough section. This wasn't a success Despite my best efforts I took of running with half the beach in my runners, Eoin Brady (Raheny Shamrocks and eventual winner) ran out before me but I was only 20m behind.

Time 0:45

Run

Unfortunately I couldn't even attempt to get on Brady's shoulder, hamstring cramping. This happens me from time to time, hamstring or calf after the swim. Not good when you have to get into your bike shoes on the bike and obviously not good when you have to run. At least I have a theory about it now. I drink a lot of water always, I noted today I had a particularly large amount through out the day, in prep for the race. Could it be possible that I am washing out sodium and other minerals and causing the cramp? I had no sports drink at all only water. Maybe a nuun tablet?? Anyway between cramping and stones in my runners te run was far from comfortable and Brady was moving very well and away from me, no way I'd have caught him anyway. We had 3 turn arounds and I thought I was fairly comfortable in 2nd after two turn arounds. A very technical run it was. I kept an eye on HR and it was as high as I'd like it to be. At the third turn around and with about 1k to go I was very surprised to see 3rd was right up behind me. No way I was getting into a battle with Sunday in mind and the cramping I didn't want to go to deep. Again not sure I could have held the challenge off and I was happy to cruise to a 3rd place finish and first podium of 2012

Time 17:11; Dist 4.64km; Pace 3:42/km(an 18:30 5k); HR 178;

Cool Down

Only had time for 5 min but better than nothing.

Time 5min; Dist 1km

Splits are from my garmin, will post official tomorrow.

Well done to Fingal Tri, a no nonsense, well supported and marshalled event - over 20 marshalls on the run A really friend bunch too and great location.

The DAA are not short of money that's for sure what with the happers for 1st, 2nd and 3rd. 4 bottles of wine, baileys choc x3, lilly o briens choc x2....so nothing for me then but Linda thinks I'm the best A lovely medal and I'm happy with that.

This was just the sort of race I needed, delighted with 3rd but the quality wasn't really there but I don't care because I was only concerned about me and my performance. Getting race sharp now and looking forward to adding what I consider my best discipline into the mix on Sunday. Wave 5 for me.

griffin100

A podium finish when not pushing too hard on the run in..........truly a sign of some great training. Best of luck this weekend.

El Director

griffin100 wrote: »

A podium finish when not pushing too hard on the run in..........truly a sign of some great training. Best of luck this weekend.

Thanks Gif. I was pushing best I could for the first 4k, HR only 3/4 beat down on a flat out 5k, good for confidence for sure.

Dory Dory

So, are you saying you don't drink wine and don't eat chocolate? :eek:
Well done. You'll fly this weekend!

Fazz

Great stuff looking forward to more of the same in Athy!

Well done. Great times and savage swim!

couerdelion

How on earth did you get in the sea and get straight into a rhythm? It was freezing last night and I was getting ice cream headaches if I had my head under for too long.

Congrats on the podium and see you on Sunday.

catweazle

Well done, I take it you were first out of the water - would love to do that!

I used to have awful trouble with cramping, guys in our club recommend Tonic water as long as it has quinnan, I never get them now as long as I remember to take it before hand, just a few sips (unless its mixed with gin or vodka)

hf4z6sqo7vjngi

El Director wrote: »

The DAA sponsored the event and it has to be one of the best goodie bags I've ever got (for Linda mostly:)) Anti-aging serum (not that she...or indeed I need it )

Not sure ElD myself and Ed had noticed you had got a little older looking there at the weekend i would start using some of that Anti-aging serum:) Although probably not a quality field it was nice to podium and a good run out.
Not to heap any pressure on you but i reckon you are going to go pretty well the weekend in particular on the bike.
Your OW swim times have been impressive when you compare them to your pool times. A good problem to have!!

pgibbo

Super going dude. Bodes well for the weekend. Congrats on the podium! :cool:

shotgunmcos

+1 on the OW swim pace.. 1:20/100m :eek::eek: Does the wetsuit help you THAT much?!

Well done on the podium Eld D, that will set you up for a craic at it this weekend eh

El Director

Thanks guys, really enjoyed the race last night, hopefully now I can carry it into the next two races.

@Dory Dory I don't drink wine and chocolate isn't my thing either. Now give me a hammer with beer and crisps and I'd be happy as a pig in muck....and be eating like one too

@couerdelion the water was lovely I thought...I was only up the coast from ye too! How was the group swim? Many go?

@catweazle thanks dude. I wasnt first out but only 3 secs behind and got a feel for it, it was cool and I never thought I'd be in that position 3.5 years ago when I started learning to swim properly. I must try that soda trick too some time.

@shotgun does the wet suit help that much? Not sure, I've always maintained that my swim style best suits the ow swims, especially sea swims. I feel they are more about power/strength and not as much about skill/fineness, not saying skill isn't important of course it is but I can get away with trying to muscle it out a bit. But the wetsuit is also a big part IMO. I feel like super man when I put it on :cool: that gives me great confidence. The core panels help and buoyancy is second to none IMO.

BTH

El Director wrote: »

@shotgun does the wet suit help that much? Not sure, I've always maintained that my swim style best suits the ow swims, especially sea swims. I feel they are more about power/strength and not as much about skill/fineness, not saying skill isn't important of course it is but I can get away with trying to muscle it out a bit. But the wetsuit is also a big part IMO. I feel like super man when I put it on :cool: that gives me great confidence. The core panels help and buoyancy is second to none IMO.

Great Stuff El D. I know whos feet I'll be looking for on Sunday. Another very strong OW swim, and really outshines your pool swimming.

You're in the TYR Cat 3 as well aren't you? I must agree with you, its a very very good suit and for the first time ever my feet break the water when I swim!! Definitely makes a big difference.

pgibbo

BetterThanHoyte wrote: »

Great Stuff El D. I know whos feet I'll be looking for on Sunday. Another very strong OW swim, and really outshines your pool swimming.

You're in the TYR Cat 3 as well aren't you? I must agree with you, its a very very good suit and for the first time ever my feet break the water when I swim!! Definitely makes a big difference.

I believe he's in the next model up, so even better still!

This weekend should be very interesting!