Me Against The World...

interested

BetterThanHoyte wrote: »

Maybe you should have baby oiled yourself up properly like TinTin.

So you swam at my 100m PB for almost 2.5 hours. :eek: With a broken foot? :eek::eek: Seriously impressive

There is a flip side to that observation champ since, I cant do anything other than swim in the open water I see you this evening.

shotgunmcos

BetterThanHoyte wrote: »

Maybe you should have baby oiled yourself up properly like TinTin.

So you swam at my 100m PB for almost 2.5 hours. :eek: With a broken foot? :eek::eek: Seriously impressive

+1 seriously impressive and well done Chief, thats some swimming.

interested

thanks lads,

it wasnt a million miles from the time I had in my head when I signed up for this a while ago - unfortunately the foot thing was a recent handicap in addition to not really doing any focused training for this. This meant I really only had one pace to go at throughout and missed the initial jump. I dropped 2 other swimmers that had gone out the back door with me after about 2.2km and swam the rest on my own. With 5*2k laps there was ALOT of people getting lapped and traffic to negotiate.

pgibbo

Savage going Mark.

Sorry to hear about your foot. And just when you were starting to enjoy running! Serious pi$$er. Speedy recovery

@BTH - you racing Athy?

BTH

pgibbo wrote: »

@BTH - you racing Athy?

Oly Saturday and Sprint on Sunday. Then I'll be spinning on the bike on Monday supporting herself on the Mini Marathon course doing her first ever 10k.

pgibbo

Full tilt in both? Busy weekend. What's the logic behind racing both?

Hope the 10k goes well

BTH

pgibbo wrote: »

Full tilt in both? Busy weekend. What's the logic behind racing both?

Hope the 10k goes well

I'm a NS points whore!

She'll be flying for it. Sure doesn't she have a great coach!!

pgibbo

BetterThanHoyte wrote: »

I'm a NS points whore!

She'll be flying for it. Sure doesn't she have a great coach!!

So your coach coaches her too???

BTH

Tuesday

OW swim with a couple of club mates. I've mapped it out at 1k. Lovely evening for it and the water was quite warm. No cold issues at all.

Then I headed for an easy 40min run with 5*90m progressive strides. My HR strap hasnt given me reliable data for a long time now, so I just ran on feel. Averaged 4:33 pace for the 40min. Similar run again this Thursday before the races at the weekend, and hoping I can get through those quite well. Must remember to take it extra easy at the start of the run at the weekend as I have a habit of hammering the first km or 2 as it feels quite easy to run fast at the start.

BTH

Wednesday

Club bike session, out at the back of the airport. Session was 6*1km efforts at slightly higher than race pace with equal time recoveries. Came in as

Avg Speed/Max Speed/Avg HR/Max HR/Avg Cad/Max Cad

39.7/42.8/143/156/100/107
39.7/41.7/153/164/101/105
40.4/41.9/156/168/101/105
39.9/41.6/156/168/101/104
40.3/42.5/160/171/100/106
40.4/41.9/160/171/102/105

The club bike coach is my coach and he mentioned after the session that we might pick a small race somewhere, with plenty of recovery before the next race, and focus on bringing down my cadence to see how I react. On a flat course like that (or Athy) my cadence would be very likely to average over 100.

hf4z6sqo7vjngi

BetterThanHoyte wrote: »

focus on bringing down my cadence to see how I react. On a flat course like that (or Athy) my cadence would be very likely to average over 100.

I am the exact opposite i tend to sit steady around the 80rpm mark and can push out much more power 75 to 80rpm. Going to trial a higher cadence to see does the run feel better/different and how it affects the bike. Not trying it this weekend though.

BTH

Margaret Important Cupcake wrote: »

I am the exact opposite i tend to sit steady around the 80rpm mark and can push out much more power 75 to 80rpm. Going to trial a higher cadence to see does the run feel better/different and how it affects the bike. Not trying it this weekend though.

Would you race at 80rpm?? I've seen from a couple of the logs here people doing FTP tests and the like at low 80s RPM or even lower and always wondered if they'd actually race at those numbers? I reckon my legs would be in a heap if I raced at 80rpm. I've always been much more of a spinner on the bike anyway, getting pretty decent bike splits on efficiency and my favourable weight v height rather than powering through a bike leg. My average cadence down in Limerick for Joey Hannan was 96 despite the crazy wind that day. I know I have averaged more than 100 for a sprint race last year.

hf4z6sqo7vjngi

BetterThanHoyte wrote: »

Would you race at 80rpm?? I've seen from a couple of the logs here people doing FTP tests and the like at low 80s RPM or even lower and always wondered if they'd actually race at those numbers? I reckon my legs would be in a heap if I raced at 80rpm. I've always been much more of a spinner on the bike anyway, getting pretty decent bike splits on efficiency and my favourable weight v height rather than powering through a bike leg. My average cadence down in Limerick for Joey Hannan was 96 despite the crazy wind that day. I know I have averaged more than 100 for a sprint race last year.

My 4hr long bikes all seem to be low 80s and some even below that so yes i would probably race at that. Does not seem to cause any problems from the brick runs i have done so far. What works for one person may not work for another.
I just seem to feel more comfortable in a bigger gear so much so i think i may opt for a gearing change in Roth. Biggest gear at the moment is a 53/12 and i find i "run out" at times on fast sections so might go 53/11 or a 54or55/12. Need to do some checking around though.

BTH

Margaret Important Cupcake wrote: »

My 4hr long bikes all seem to be low 80s and some even below that so yes i would probably race at that. Does not seem to cause any problems from the brick runs i have done so far. What works for one person may not work for another.
I just seem to feel more comfortable in a bigger gear so much so i think i may opt for a gearing change in Roth. Biggest gear at the moment is a 53/12 and i find i "run out" at times on fast sections so might go 53/11 or a 54or55/12. Need to do some checking around though.

I actually ride a 54 up front which is kind of lost on me a little. I never get out of the 16/17/19 as a result, and only on fast descents do I ever get anywhere near my top gear. In fact on the more challenging rolling courses I end up switching a lot between big ring and small (42) ring which aint ideal as this is never as smooth a change as a cassette gear change. Even for flat out sprints I wouldn't get into the 54*12 as I just can't turn it without a tailwind!!

hf4z6sqo7vjngi

Sounds like you need BG work and I need HC work:)

El Director

Well I'm the inbetweener than! My cadence in TT efforts and in the duathlon I did in march was 93rpm, it just feels right and now I don't even need a sensor, it feels like the right balance. If an out right TT then perhaps it would be lower, if there is a head wind then higher. I actually place a lot of emphasis on cadence, for me 93 just feels right. Now if only I could raise my run cadence but I'll have to become a better and more efficient runner first :rolleyes:

BTH

Thursday Eve

Easy run with 6*100m hard. 10k in 48min or so.

Friday Morn

Swim. 500 as 25hard 75 easy, 300 as 100 hard 200 race pace, 6*50hard on 70sec, 100 easy. Short and sweet.


The bike is shining again. Must mean I'm racing soon.

pgibbo

Good luck and enjoy

Dory Dory

Good luck this weekend. I'll wait to read your report then make up my mind about doing a double!!

El Director

Good luck tomorrow and Sunday Eugene, make sure your recovery strategy kicks in as soon as you have crossed the line tomorrow, recovery drink and meal with 2hrs and compression gear etc...too! O and 10min soaking the legs in the Barrow is very effective IMO.:cool:

BTH

Initially

Swim 23:31 bike 1:04:01 run 39:10 total 2:09:08. 19th. 7th AG

Sneezing a lot. Very sniffly. Sure it's only a sprint.

Dory Dory

Awesome work! And nice photo of you on the dock.
Tomorrow?

BTH

Dory Dory wrote: »

Awesome work! And nice photo of you on the dock.
Tomorrow?

All systems go.

And impressive spot that pic!!

BTH

11:11/ 32:42 / 19:21. 1:06:00 32nd overall 11th AG.

Reports will not be happening today!!

BTH

So the big double weekend kicked off with a 6am alarm on Saturday morning :mad:. Landed in Athy at about 7:30, registered quickly, and out for a quick bike WU. Easy spin a few km out the road and some short sprints on the way back. Bit of chatter with some club mates and them down to transition to rack up. After the race briefing myself and Dave Cahill headed out for a short run WU as we had a decent wait before our wave kicked off. Wave 5 eventually arrived and I lined myself up in the front row with Bjorn Ludick on my right, and Stephen Earley beyond him. A little out of my depth, but I had no interest in hanging around at the back :cool:.

Count down starts and we all go on 3! A lot of white water and a few punches but nothing compared to Lanesboro last year. However, within 20m my goggles were full of water. I was blind in my left eye, and very limited vision in my right. Soldiered on, but it eventually got too bad, so a quick roll over on my back to fix and I was off again. I had been swimming a couple of yards left of another swimmer and I lost less than a body length on him so not too bad. After about 300m I seemed to get some clear water and it stayed that way for the remainder of the swim. Just concentrated on keeping the stroke long and strong. Pretty uneventful swim really. Picked off a few from the earlier wave which was nice. Out of the water in 23:31 for 45 fastest swim of the day. Hilarious, I’m a top 10% swimmer:cool:!!! Who’d have thought that possible this time last year. Still think theres a bit more to come this season as well. Swam relatively straight, but room for improvement on that front too.

Into T1 and I notice Fazz’s bike is gone :mad:. Given the alphabetical order of transition he was right beside me. Damn. Did I have a bad swim or he a good one. Anyway, helmet on and out to mount line and launch myself onto the saddle. 1:15 for 61 fastest, so good, but not brilliant.

Feet in, shoes closed and all of a sudden I’m closing in quickly of Fazz who is still closing his shoes 400m after the mount line. Whats he playing at? Let a (friendly) roar at him to get out of my way. Think this woke him up as he was soon pulling away from me. Took him a little longer than it did in Limerick so I was happy enough with that! Hammering along nicely on the bike and cruising past dozens of people. As I was approaching the first turnaround point at about 15k I see Dave Cahill coming back the other way. Figure he has only about a minute on me. This could get interesting! Before this weekend it had been 4 years since Dave had been beaten by a club mate. Maintained a pretty even effort throughout and home in 1:04:01 for an average speed of 37.3kmph and 24th fastest bike split on the day, and an average cadence of 99 for anyone interested. Fairly happy but believe I should eventually be seeing a 2-3min improvement on this. Perfect conditions and a pretty good road surface.

T2 was again fairly clean. In and out in 1:10 for 69th fastest.

I was very conscious of not going out too hard on the run. I’ve done this regularly in the past and paid for it later. Accidently hit stop on the garmin when taking it off the bike and only realised over 1k into the run so no exact numbers but seemed to hold an even pace throughout holding 3:50-3:55 pace for the entire 10k. Like the bike, I was cruising past a lot of traffic. The run course has a very uneven surface that caused quite a few scares when I almost went over on my ankle. At about 3.5k I could hear someone gaining on me. Figured this was probably BMC from the next wave and sure enough he cruised past me, and he was fairly moving. Approaching the turnaround I could see Mr Cahill and he was struggling. Around the turn I passed fellow Longfordian David Sheridan, and he encouraged me to catch Cahill!! Closed in on Dave, and sat on his shoulder for a couple of hundred metres before cruising on again. Finished fairly strongly but also mindful of the challenge ahead on Sunday. 39:10 for the run, for 22nd fastest split. Better running than Joey Hannan or the HIM but still a lot of improvement needed here too. I’ve had far too many training interruptions since my 10k race in March and I’m hoping these are now at an end.

All in all happy with a 2:09:08 finish time and a strong 19th overall (541 finishers). Straight into the river after in prep for Sunday. Bit of hanging about chatting but I soon started shivering so headed for the showers and home.

A lot of sneezing when I got home, and feeling very very warm. Didn’t know whether I was coming down with something or if it was just very warm. Hopped up on the turbo for 20min of Dory Dory style spinning to loosen out the legs and keep them from seizing up. Sneezing eased off after a post turbo shower so that was a relief. A good stretch and plenty of fluid and I was ready to do it all over again.

BTH

A later alarm call as I had registration already sorted, and knew where I was going. Landed down, bike out of the car, and hopped on for the same WU. Snap. First pedal stroke and my chain broke. Damn. Front derailleur seemed to have taken a bit of punishment as well as it was all over the place. Ok, could have been worse, could have happened during either of the races instead. Into Ashling from wheelworx and she hadn’t got anything but she phoned Rob down at transition and he could sort me out. So loaded up everything I needed for the race and headed down to Rob. A new chain later and I was back in business. No bike WU but at least I had a bike to ride. After that it was the same post briefing run warm up before wave 5 again. Chatted with El Director, Bambatta and Needs Training down at the swim start. Bambatta complaining about being fat but claiming that gave him an advantage in this colder weather.

Into the water and again positioned myself front and centre, this time alongside El Director. And once again I got a lot of punches and I got goggles full of water. Not as bad this time though so kept going. Kept myself to the left of the river on the upstream leg. Had a relatively clean upstream swim after the chaotic start. Was quickly closing in on the turnaround so started to make my way right. As I swam right I passed behind a small group and at the turn they hammered me into the buoy. My leg got wrapped up in the rope and it took a couple of swings to break free. On the return swim I had a swimmer to my left repeatedly punching me, while to my right was another swimmer up against the central dividing ropes. This continued for about 250m before I eased off a shade to let the puncher get slightly ahead. Kept fairly close to the two of them for the rest of the swim and exited in 11:11 for 81st fastest swim. I felt I swam pretty well all things considered.

Into T1 and a 1:11 split, so faster than the previous day with probably a worse Transition spot so not bad. 55th fastest.

Out onto the bike course and the flying mount doesn’t go as well as Saturday. Right shoe elastic snapped before I got my feet in so not as clean but not bad all the same. A colder day meant the feet weren’t as responsive as I’d like which didn’t help. Out on the course it was a similar story to Saturday as I flew past a huge number of people from the earlier waves. A nice tailwind on the outbound leg and I got out at a shade under 40kmph. I could feel the previous day in the quads now so I kept the cadence nice and high. Return leg into the wind was a bit of a slog and with the tired legs I kept it spinning nicely. Got held up at the end of the bike leg. Another guy infront was overtaking a lot of slow people but he was holding me up. With part of the road devoted to the run leg and an endless stream of outbound bikes I couldn’t get past him. 34.5kmph average on the return leg for a bike split of 32:42 and the 22nd fastest on the day. Average cadence of 101!!!

T2 wasn’t so good as cold numb fingers left me struggling to get into my shoes. Then I started heading out the wrong way. 1:34 and a lowly 294th fastest overall.

Hit my stride straight away on the run and was moving well. First Kilo went in 3:50 before a stitch hit at just after 1k. Eased off slightly and it was gone in 3/400m. On the gas again and KM2 was a 4:00. Approaching the turnaround I was feeling really good so pushed on a little. Just after the turn I could see John Connolly from my wave not far behind and he looked to be moving well. Upped it again and KM3 was a 3:50 again. Still feeling great and not wanting to lose an AG place to John I upped it again. Km4 in 3:49. Only a couple of minutes left and was determined to finish strong. Brought it home with a 3:39 fifth KM for a 19:21 and 41st fastest run. Given the muddy conditions that is the first run since March that I’ve been really happy with. Grew into it and finished well.

28th overall in a time of 1:06:00. A lot of things this weekend could have gone better for me, and losing 5 days to illness a week ago didn’t help matters, but two solid if unspectacular results, and a hat full of NS points which was the main target. My first sprint race since last season and I really enjoyed it. Next 3 races are also sprints so I should be well up the rankings with some more high end speed work thrown in over the next 4 weeks. Delighted to finish so strong after the two days or racing as well.

BTH

Recovery after the Sunday race took on a different format to Saturday, with a good feed of pints and a 4am bedtime! Monday was a struggle, but eventually go up and out on the bike to support Michelle on the mini marathon course. Gun time of 55:55 for her first 10k hammering her hour target so she was delighted with herself. Chip time will be even better as she was about 20 rows back in the jogger section so took a while to cross the start line. If only I could get her swimming!!

shotgunmcos

Really solid racing at the weekend BTH and a deserved hat full of points indeed. I saw you on the bank chasing down DC, he had pain etched on his face and I knew you had him! Nice scalp, well done :cool:

Bambaata

Well done BTH, good to meet you too. I was wrecked Sunday night, falling asleep before 9 so god only knows how you felt!!!

El Director

Well done to you BTH on what had to be a mentally and physically demanding weekend of racing. You set out your goal to maximise the NS points gained as much as possible and by doing both races and finishing so high up in both...mission accomplished.

Turns out you were right re your cadence being 100+, your coach said ye might target a smaller event just to experiment with a lower cadence, any advance on that? I was also wondering if you will target a race, make it an A race ie turn up fresh and sharp and give it a good lash?