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Me Against The World...
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shotgunmcos wrote: »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:
In poor DCs defense he should never have raced as he had been sick for the 4 days leading up to the race. Not that anyone else in the club is letting him off on that one! I'll need to beat him next time as well just to make sure!!Well done BTH, good to meet you too. I was wrecked Sunday night, falling asleep before 9 so god only knows how you felt!!!
Good to meet you again too Eddie. You were probably having a come down off the caffeine on Sunday eve, hence the early night. I did need a power nap before the feed of pints!El Director wrote: »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?
Mentally it wasn't that bad. After Saturdays race I knew I had to do it again so I was doing all I could to make sure I wasn't seizing up. you just get on with it and I was actually buzzing on Sunday morning. Adrenaline is more than enough to get you through a sprint. As DC says, sure ya can bluff a sprint!! Physically it wasnt too bad either. Being a spinner on the bike probably helped (its not all bad!) and I kept myself just under the real pain barrier on the Oly run. Looking forward to doing a "Fresh" sprint on Saturday week and really seeing how I can suffer.
RE the cadence I mentioned to my coach that I might do the Lanesboro tri the week before BotE but he said that was too close to the Beast to try something like that and he'd like much more recovery. Might even be on hold until a duathlon or something in early 2013. I think the Beast will be one that we can really go well, I always go well on the hills. I was 27th last year and with the improvements I've made since I definitely think a top ten is achievable.Well done BTH. That's one busy weekend. Fair play on being able to race 2 days in a row like that.
Congrats to Michelle too on her 10k.
Cheer Paul. I think Michelle is more delighted with her result! 54:32 chip time in the end so pretty good going for her first 10k.Savage weekend for you BTH - fantastic job you did!!
Thanks DD. So thats it settled for you? You'll race both in Luray??0 -
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littlemsfickle wrote: »I am indeed:) Looking forward to it - was probably one of my favourite races of last year. The hill at the start of the run is a bit of a killer though.
Never done it but I've heard about that hill. Hoping to do a fair amount of damage up that!
Wednesday
Went out to howth for the club bike session which was repeats on St Fintans road. I ended up eating much later than I normally would before a session because of work. Therefore I was running late so had to hammer out the coast road. Then I took off on the first rep and hammered that too. The 4th (of a planned 8) was 20second slower than the first (950m long) and that food nearly made a re-appearance at the end of it so I called it a day at that. Spun easier home but the tail wind had me cruising along nicely anyway.
Thursday Morn
Morning swim. After a 300wu & 6*50 kicking I took off into 6*100 pull on 1:45. Just like on the bike the previous evening I took off too hard. However I was feeling really good in the water. Brought them all in on 1:30. Paid for it then. Plan was for 6*200 on 3:30 afterwards, I hit 3:16 or so for the first but by the 4th I was barely making the repeat times. Matches burnt, I quit after number 5.
Midday
I had brought in the running gear for a jog at lunch time, but looking out the window it didn't seem to appealing. Until I read about Oryx and her 3hour run at 5am in the lashing rain yesterday morning. Figured I have no excuses not to do my lowly 40minute. Did a few 60m or so strides just keep the feel for that speed. held 4:49 pace for very little effort.
Friday Morn
Back into the pool to make up for Thursday morning.
300wu then 8*25 kick hard.
3*(5*100). No repeat times, just 10sec or so between reps. Made sure not to go beyond 1:40 swim time. Mostly around 1:37/38. Just wanted to get some consistent times over some reasonable distance. Extra minute or so between the blocks, if for nothing else but to help keep count! 4*50 hard on 70sec after, in on 40sec & 50cd. Similar distance covered as Thursday but no bursting out of the blocks and no major fall off in times. Better 0 -
Right, where were we, Friday? Ok....
Saturday
Had to drop the bike over to hospital in Athlone Saturday morning. Not sure if I'll have it back in time for this weekend so might be racing on the road bike. Not ideal to say the least.
Headed up to Portrunny to watch the Lough Ree Monster Tri as it was close by. Lovely day for it which my pink forehead will backup. Local uber swimmer David Sheridan took the win. I beat him by over two minutes in the Athy Oly. Maybe I should have raced :rolleyes:!! Watching himself and Brian Harris (lead swimmer in Valentia this year) battle it out in the water was great to watch. Two completely different styles. Harris looked to be doing twice as much work. David has this ridiculously slow turnover. ElD, also met your mate Peter there again. He seems to have caught the bug big time.
Eventually got out for my run. Plan was 60min with 20min@ 10k pace. 3 hours standing in the sun, a bit dehydrated, hungry, first bit of speed in my now 5 weeks old New Balance 1080 resulting in bad blistering in the heat, two tough drags early in the hard work, (excuses excuses
) I only managed 15min at pace. Managed 4k in that 15min. Not bad but not where I should be.
Sunday
Out on the bike plan was for 3*20min @Z3. 40min wu out the road before getting started. These went quite well. The last one I deliberately lowered the cadence down to a sluggish 88-92. Others averaged 100 or thereabouts. Average speeds for the pace work was 31.5 (hilly section) 35.1 & 34.3.
As I was missing the Interested led ow swim at the bull wall I hopped into the local lake for a quick dip. Covered maybe 750. I still seem to switch off and stop sighting as regularly as I need to. Don't like how it interrupts my rhythm.
Monday
After my coaches trip to the Blenheim at the weekend he eventually updated my schedule for the week. I had a hard run and the club swim scheduled for yesterday but only found out after I got to work yesterday. So no choice but to do the run after swimming.
The swim session was 4*100 drills on 2:00, then 6*400 on 7:00. Brought these all in 6:30-35. Nice and consistent, relatively comfortable, although my arms/shoulder know about it today. Quick dash home and upload the run workout to the watch.
This was 45 min with 20min @ 3:40 pace :eek:. After almost 3k in the pool. During the warm up jog I could feel my ankles were a little stiff/tired from kicking off the wall. Eased into it and managed to hold on to 3:39 pace for the 20minutes. Reverted to the Kinvaras for this run, but the blister damage had already been done on Saturday. In a bad way now. Vaseline will be my friend for the rest of the week
. Average cadence of 92 for the 20minutes so nice to see that holding up after the swim session. 0 -
Tuesday
1 hour run as 30min easy and 20min @155HR. As my HRM is boll*x I set out to do 4:10-4:15 pace for the steady work. Actually held 4:07 handy enough. 13.3km for the hour
Wednesday
Hard bike session with the club. 8*3min hard with 2min recoveries out by the airport. Avg speed west bound were 40.7/39.4/38.6/37.6 and east bound a more consistent 36.8/35.7/35.7/35.4. Hard hard work. Including the spin out 48km in 1:45.
Thursday
Morning Swim. 500wu then 4*(4*100 descending on 1:45). These were a slog. Still wrecked from the bike session but got through it anyway. Struggled to hit easy pace times, and was working really hard for 1:35s.
Easy hour on the turbo in the evening, with 6*15sec hard, 45 recovery stuck in the middle.
Bike
Damn bike. Going to be racing this weekend on my entry level training bike which I bought second hand for €300, stock wheels and groupset with over 6,000km on it since I bought it and god knows what before that. Weights a ton and creaks badly, but at least I'll take off the mudguard for the race :rolleyes:. Problem with the seatpost clamp on the TT bike, which seems to be a design flaw and is causing a lot of cracked frames. Planet X have redesigned the whole thing for this year and it sounds like I'll be getting one of the new frames under warranty. But while they sort out the red-tape with the UK company and the suppliers beyond that, my bike is in Athlone and unsafe to race. Ashford duathlon was shifting problems, Burnfoot was freewheel problems, Athy was broken chain, now this. Bloody bike has been a bit of a nightmare this year.
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NeedsTraining wrote: »Bad news on the bike, but at least its covered under warranty.
Now, must put my thinking cap on and come up with an excuse for your bike split still being quicker than mine.
Those two young children are probably the only excuse you'll need. You travelling down tomorrow with the support army? Michelle might need the company!!
Oh, and can I borrow your wheels!?0 -
BetterThanHoyte wrote: »Those two young children are probably the only excuse you'll need. You travelling down tomorrow with the support army? Michelle might need the company!!
Oh, and can I borrow your wheels!?
That excuse will do nicely
Travelling down this evening with the troops. Brother lives down there so hitting two birds with the one stone.
Weather dependent tomorrow, which is not looking great, all will be out cheering.
Michelle has some patience 0 -
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So, down to Dunmore East on Saturday morning, and travelling solo as Michelle didn't fancy standing in the rain all day. I'd received reports of a strong swell in the water on Thursday and Friday which could have resulted in a duathlon. Not what I wanted to hear with Haggis McCloud travelling down.
Plenty of rain, but some sunny spells for the drive down. But the water was dead calm so that was a relief. Registered and headed down to transition, bike and run wu before the heavens opened and transition turned into a river. By the time that stopped I was shivering and not really looking forward to this at all. Joked with the people beside me in transition that I wouldn't need suncream today....... :rolleyes:
Down to the water and we were let in for a WU before being taken back out again so the safety boat showed up the course. The water felt very cold. Back in again, and we're off. Strange how I don't feel the coldness of the water once the race starts. A much wider spread of swimmers for the start so not as much bumping and pushing. Still managed to get my goggles knocked off again :mad:! Very quick fix this time though. Eventually started to close in on the first buoy and I could see that while there wasn't a huge crowd around there was a group of 6 or so around me and probably more just behind. Felt I was swimming well, and after the second buoy I upped the pace a little again and managed to pass a few more. One poor guy to my right at this point was wearing his goggles as a necklace around his neck, and still trying to sight. Looked bloody painful. Anyway, just before hitting the beach I managed to take on a massive gulp of water. This meant on the long run up to transition, up a massive hill, I had all this salt water sloshing around my stomach. Nice :rolleyes:. Hit the top and John Connolly was on my shoulder. He beat me out of the water in Joey Hannan and the Athy Sprint (although only by 6 seconds) so I knew I'd had a pretty good swim. 13:41 and 40th fastesr split of 378 so just outside the top 10%. Not bad
T1 1:19 and again 40th fastest. A little delay with the wetsuit over the ankles but clean enough.
Bike. Flying mount which was followed by shouts of "nice mount" from a spectating Fazz. What he didn't see was by left shoe elastic snap and it taking me until the bottom of the hill to get my shoe on. A long string of riders in front of me now (including Mr. Connolly who had pipped me in T1) and usually I'd have hammered past them quite comfortably. So I was out of the saddle hammering up the slight drag but making much slower progress that usual. And so was the story of my bike. Lots of effort and hard work but not the progress I'm used to. Felt I was wrestling with it a bit. Damn thing doesn't shift gear cleanly at all either so I didn't changing gear as much as I normally would, instead hitting the drags out of the saddle to fight up them. Hoped I wouldn't pay for this later. At the turn around I could see Haggis McCloud was very close behind, and knowing how good a runner he is I knew I was under pressure. Then I met the horses. Two of them, loose and running down the centre of the road with bike passing on either side. Absolute lunacy. Anyway, into T2 in 35:06 with an average speed of 35.3 for the 20.66km per my watch. 37th Fastest split, but I've never done a race with so many people overtaking me on the bike. Its a fast enough bike course and one I think I could have done very well on. Wrestling with the bike only yielded an average cadence of 89 :eek:. Thats not like me at all. I have noticed recently that I definitely spin a much higher cadence on the TT bike. Not sure what that could be down to if anyone had any ideas? Position, chainring size, crank length??
T2 0:57 43rd fastest. Legs feeling the effort on the bike a little, but a clean tranisition.
Run. Down a steep hill, hard right, and up a long steep hill. Legs really feeling the effort now, but I see I'm closing in on a few of those bikers who went past me. Proper short baby steps going up here, but a good high cadence and I was making good progress. First km gone in 4:09 but that included the down hill too. Trying to manage the effort as there were still some uphill drags after this steep hill. Second km and I'm still catching and passing people up the hill. This one down in 4:19. Over the top and I catch a Naas tri guy whos moving fairly well. Ran with him a bit. He wanted to have a chat!! I don't think I could have talked much anyway! Pushed past him and he upped it too to keep with me. Was really getting into my stride now, passing another 2 before hitting the main road. KM3 was 3:46. Glance over the shoulder as I hit the main road and I could see Haggis less than 150m behind me. This could be close. Tail wind now with some ups and downs. km4&5 are 3:41 & 3:42. Didn't catch anyone else, but some of the second wave bikers went past with one clubmate warning me that Sean was behind. I know, I know.... KM6 was 3:26 which surely must have been mostly downhill, but I knew he'd struggle to catch me at this pace. Went past STL along here too. Last drag up through the village and I allow myself a glance over the shoulder with 200m to go. Only the Naas tri guy to be seen clearly at about 100m behind (others in the distance) so I know I'm safe. km 7 was 3:28 and 3:47 pace for the final 100m for a 26:55 run and 3:47 pace for the 7.1km, 19th fastest run. Very happy with my run. 3:47 pace aint going to set the world alight, but with the massive hill, and the extra effort on the bike I'll take that. My run has progressed nicely since the debacle in Limerick, and blowing up in Tri an Mhi. Another two weeks and I'll be really hoping to smash the sprint in Athlone, especially if I have a real bike to race!!
Haggis outsplit me on the bike, T2 and the run but I managed to hold him off by 22 seconds. Bit of a relief. The grief I'd have got in the club if I'd have handed over my "clubs fastest man" mantle after only one race would have been unbearable. He's flying though, and a good winter working on his swim and I'll be in real trouble (don't worry about your swim Sean, you'll be fine!!)
Its a really nice race. Great road surface as it uses the main Dunmore East Waterford road, a tough challenging run and a lovely setting once the sun comes out which it did eventually. So much so that my shoulders are now glowing pink and pretty sore :rolleyes:. Pneumonia and sunburn in the one day :rolleyes:.
Edit: Oh, I finished 20th!!!0 -
Sunday Morning
Long negative split run. out at 8am for this and I knew i'd struggle a little after the race but it went ok. Plan was 50min @145hr and 30min @160. I had to guess the effort though, but think I was close enough. 4:33 pace for the 50min and 4:09 for the 30min, 2min cd, 18.5km. cadence 90
Off out to the bull wall for 10am ow swim with interested and a few others from the club. Took it relatively easy for this, but I was getting very tired by the end. Covered about 1km with little to no kicking. Good mornings work..
To add to the race report my run cadence was 90. So for the first time ever my average run cadence was higher than my bike cadence. 0 -
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haggis_mccloud wrote: »Cheers BTH, and well done.
Was actually surprised when I saw that you weren’t far away as I climbed the hill in the run as I missed you at the bike turnaround/T2 and presumed you were an uncatchable distance away. I was hopeful then of at least getting close enough for a sprint finish but you hang on well in the last few k in fairness. And sure you would have been further ahead if you weren’t on the road bike.
My big chance missed. But gave it a good shot so no complaints. I'm sure you will be flying for Athlone with the TT bike back.
Enjoyed the day too – super setting and well organised race.
Oh, and I thought I was working hard on my swimming this winter. That’s the problem!
Well keep doing what you're doing and stay behind me then:rolleyes:Nice going BTH, a good tough race isn't it?
Cheers. Yeah, I definitely like that course alright. I'll be back some day hopefully.El Director wrote: »Well done BTH, a great result considering your bike woes. I hope you get sorted for Athlone.
Cheers ElD. Just got offered the led of a P2C from a clubmate until I get sorted too which is cool. He said he'll not need it again until the end of July. Maybe I'd be better racing that in Athlone anyway! 0 -
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Best of luck tomorrow!! We want a "glowing" report from you!!
:)You're glowing, as always BTH. Well done you!!
I've just noticed this. Are you psychic DD???
Monday Eve
Club swim session again. Dropped down a lane to lead out. Seems the boss wanted me to work on my right arm entry as it comes across my body too much. Anyway no WU, straight in 7 * 200 on 3:45. First one in on 3:15 before being told to slow it down some more and focus on that right arm. 3:25s or thereabouts after that. 100 easy before getting into 6*100 on 1:45. Held 4 @ 1:35 before a 1:30, then traffic for the last had me back out at 1:35. 50 easy then the real fun started. 4*50m max on 2:00. 36/37 for all of these. 36 is my PB so I've gotta be happy with that. They hurt, hurt bad, and I was really struggling and fading a little for the last 5/10m of each one. 100cd
Tuesday Eve
Similar to the end of Monday swim I had 6*1min max efforts on the bike in the Howth hills. Done on the final section from the barrier at the turn off onto Thormanby road up past the carpark. Again, these hurt. Average speed ranged from 29.9-31.3kmph, with long recoveries 6:30+. Spin out and back had me at 45km for just under two hours.0 -
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How annoying is that re the NB! Has happened me before with a pair of runners and after 100k had to cut my losses. Sold them on e bay though that would have been a tough session, 60min with 20 @3:40/km hopefully you will get to do this again once the blisters have healed. Glad today went well anyway. 0
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interested wrote: »nutrition
So the blisters were caused by a few Wispa bars? An unusual theory alright. Usually very good with what I eat, but sometimes those sugar monkeys need their fix/overdose!!El Director wrote: »How annoying is that re the NB! Has happened me before with a pair of runners and after 100k had to cut my losses. Sold them on e bay though that would have been a tough session, 60min with 20 @3:40/km hopefully you will get to do this again once the blisters have healed. Glad today went well anyway.
Its a pain in the ar*e alright. Put a call into my usual running shoe shop and hes cool with swapping them for something else. Reckon I'll just go with the new Kinvaras as I had no issues right from run number 1 with the last version.
Its a tough session alright, did it last week too. But its the pace I should be running off the bike for 5k and we need to push to get me there.
Thursday Eve
Went down to the pool with no plan. Not a great idea, but I bumped into one of the club swim coaches who was finishing up his set before heading over to the Thursday club session. Picked his brain for a session and after a 250m WU I did 3*(3*100 on 1:45, 2*200 on 3:30) with a 50 easy between each set. Holding 1:34-37 pace throughout, but the main focus was keeping the right arm nice and wide. Felt strong in the water, and while that arm did at times fall into old habits, it went well overall. 200m CD
Friday Morning
I don't like running in the morning. I especially don't like running fast in the morning. But with a brother to collect from the airport this eve and a drive down the country I was out by 6:45. A very interesting session. 60min with 4 sets of 400m in 75, 2min walk/jog, 200m in 37, 1min walk/jog, 100m in 18; 5min recovery between sets. Did these in the local park to avoid traffic/pedestrians etc. Had to hop the fence which meant the place was very quiet which was nice.
400s in 75.5, 74.8, 72.1, 71.6
200s in 35.1, 34.7, 37.2, 36.5
100s in 18.2, 17.3, 17.2, 17.3
Very slippy and windy out. Thankfully there was little rain. Got soaked on the way to work though :rolleyes:
"Rest" day tomorrow but I might squeeze in an OW swim before heading to that wedding. Still wish I was going to Kilkee...
Edit: Did somebody say Run Green?? 0 -
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Training, eh. Yeah, still dong a little bit of that.
Saturday Morning
Headed over to Athlone to strip the race wheels, pedals, and saddle from my TT bike which is still in the shop. Two weeks they had it at that stage and absolutely nothing done as they were waiting for go ahead from the manufacturer.
Got a quick dip in at Coosan Point where Athlone Tri club do their OW swimming. circa 1500m swam in 25min or 2.34km if you were to believe the erratic garmin file.
At a wedding then for the rest of the day. Great day :cool:
Sunday
No. See confessions thread.
However, I did manage to collect the TT bike I have a loan of for this weekend. And found out its a compact. Not Ideal, but we'll see.
Monday
No, see confessions thread.
Instead I set about adjusting the loan bike to fit me. Saddle up 2inchs, bars down 1inch. And making sure the racing wheel cassette lines up just right.
Tuesday
Back on the wagon. Similar run session to Fridays except only 2 sets of 400m in 75, 2min walk/jog, 200m in 37, 1min walk/jog, 100m in 18. Did these a little harder than last time. Felt a little awkward and uneasy as I tend to do if I've missed a run session. Very very warm evening, and the drunken louts heading to the Chillis concert didn't help my mood! Anyway, splits:
400s in 70.0, 71.6
200s in 34.7, 33.7
100s in 17.5, 16.9
Finally got word on Tuesday that the lads in Athlone got the go-ahead to replace the frame. So brand new frame under warranty. They said it'll be ready on Wednesday but I won't get near them until the weekend so I'll collect before the race on Saturday. They're also going to try and replicate the setup I had as close as possible. Might still need tweaking, but hopefully they'll have the right length stem anyway.
Wednesday
Out on this loaner TT bike as I'm not racing something I've never ridden. Plan was 3*15sec, full recovery, 3*30sec full recovery, 2*1min full recovery. Hard hard efforts as a tune up for Saturday. I did a long warmup and cool down as well as I wanted to spend a bit of time on the bike. Out the back of the airport, and did the efforts into the wind. Its always windy out there as its so exposed. Managed to hold onto 40kmph for the 1min efforts at the end, which wasn't bad. Towards the end of the cd I lifted effort a little with the tail wind to make sure I had enough gears to get through the race. 50*12 @95cadence had me breaking 50kmph. I'm still fairly comfortable up to 105-110 so I'm unlikely to run out of gears as its a fairly flat course. I have an 11 cassette so if it looks like being particularly windy out I might throw that on for the tailwind. Probably be ok though.
Thursday Morn
In the pool this morning. I nabbed the Monday session off one of the lads and did that
400m progressive WU.
3sets of 6*100 on 1:45, 90 seconds between sets. Held 1:35 or damn close for these. Hurt though!
8*50 on 60sec and 50 hard 50 easy. Only able for 42 sec for the hard ones. Struggling!
200cd
2800m in the hour. Tough going, but I needed a good swim as I hadn't been in the pool since last Thursday eve.0 -
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Triathlone was the scene of my introduction to triathlon in 2009 as a last minute call up to a relay team. We managed a 1:26 that year and I vowed to come back and beat that time on my own the following year. So 2010, Triathlone was my third solo tri and the first time I’d done the entire swim front-crawl. I got round in 1:15 despite their being a partial up-stream swim and a longer run course than the previous year. I didn’t go back last year as I wanted to avoid all the hanging around, but in my new roll as a NS points ho I had to go race the sprint again.
Looking at the start list I knew I could go well. Top ten was a realistic target. I also noted the main danger man in my wave was El Directors new’s nemesis from Invictus Tri club. I got down to Athlone early, collected the new bike :cool:, registered before the queues gathered, and headed off for lunch with Michelle. Back in then to set up (while Michelle went off trying on wedding dresses :rolleyes: and no, she didn't buy) and lots of chatting, Peter Kerns, Fazz, ElD, Needs Training, Haggis McCloud, and various other clubmates. Also spent some time sussing out the ins and outs of transition as these had changed slightly from 2010. With a long wait until my wave start I was taking my time, then a few of us strolled up to baggage drop, and hung around there for a while, more chatting!!
Finally time to roll, suited up and headed down towards the swim start, passing Fazz as he was dismounting. Didn’t see which leg he leg with this time!! Quite a few people made a bit of a mess of their dismount from what I saw.
Up to the swim start and I made sure to get into the water early (dying for a leak!). We were directed towards a canoe about 100m upstream, but seconds after reaching it we were 100m away again. This was going to be a quick swim. Hooter goes, and a fairly tame start. Got going well, and I could see there wasn’t many getting ahead of me. Got what ever draft I could, but not sure how much benefit there is in an entirely down stream swim. Swam fairly well, but I think I meandered a little more than I would have liked. Aimed for the right of the pontoon for the shortest run into T1 and picked off about 6 places on the run in. Swim was 8:46 and 49th fastest. Out of 600+ that’s not too bad. 25sec off Ms Fenton who is always a good marker for me in a swim. She's starting to get nervous :cool:!! Got to my bike and I could see Mr Invictus Tri just leaving with his. This race is on!!
Clean transition, DNS's either side of me so I had loads of room. 6th fastest 2:20 (it was a long run in).
Clean mount and I passed two more guys in the first 300m of the bike. Suddenly I’m right up behind my target, and I decide to pace (legally) of him for a bit, until I see him still fiddling with his shoes. Almost 1km into the bike 
!! So I power past him while he’s still messing and set about passing a steady stream of people from the earlier waves. There was a strong wind on the outbound leg and it was tough going at times. I was pushing hard, and my mouth and throat were getting very very dry from the effort. I’m also sliding forward on the saddle a lot. It’s a clubmates bike that I’d borrowed and I obviously hadn’t got the position spot on. 8km in and the messer goes past me again. I up it a little to keep in touch. First 5k avg 34.6kmph (21.1mph), second 5km 36.1 (22.4mph). So I was working hard into the wind. I got a little held up in traffic at the turn and my target got away a little. I was really starting to feel the effort, and dry throat at this point too. Then I remembered I had a drink and a gel. Took these and set about making the most of the tailwind home. 10-15km went by @42.6kmph (26.5mph). Shortly after 15km I got a very bad crosswind gust which nearly sent me flying across the road. Gave me a bit of a fright! After that I started to feel a little sickly, almost like I was going to vomit. Tried to ignore it and push on. Back into town and about 1km from home I sit up and let out a massive blech (classy!!), which seemed to help. I doubt the girl I’d just passed appreciated it though!! 15-20km @ 41.4 (25.7mph) and the final 650M @29.9kmph (18.6mph) which would have been mostly unclipping and running in to T2. 4th fastest bike split of 32:35 and an average pace of 38kmph (23.6mph). I lost 25 seconds to Mr McGarry on the bike, so he must have really hammered the return leg as I’d made up 20second to be with him at the turnaround :eek:.
Into t2 hard and through in 1:20 for 10th fastest.
Straight into a good rhythm on the run. I look down and see 3:15 :eek: (5:13/mile) pace. Oh, sh1t, I’m going out too hard again, I’m going to blow up. It was a little downhill so I just kept going. On the bridge and I’m doing 3:27 (5:33/mile). Ok, just ignore the watch and run as I'll start worrying about whether I can sustain this pace. First km down in 3:32 (5:41/mile). The second, which included the two “hills” in 3:44 (6:00/mile). I’m flying passed a huge amount of people, but I know they’re all struggling towards the end of the Olympic. It does keep you alert trying to find a gap and dancing through the crowd. A flat KM3 in 3:28 (5:34/mile). This is going very very well. Km4 up one hill in 3:40 (5:54/mile), km5 up the second hill 3:37 (5:49/mile), less people on the course now. This is crazy speed :cool:!! The final 700m I was right on the limit knowing while there was no-one in front of me there would be others in later waves who I could be “virtually” sprinting against. Brought it home @3:21 (5:23/mile) pace for that 700m!! Run split was 20:23 which was only good enough for 15th in my AG (not sure about overall) but I averaged 3:34 (5:44/mile) pace which would be a 5km PB for me (current PB is 18:00) so really happy with that.
Crossed the line, and Mr. Invictus Tri is still standing there hands on knees. He beat me by 24 seconds in the end and we were first and second finishers in our wave. I finished 8th overall once all the other waves were in, and 3rd in my AG. Absolutely delighted with that, and thrilled with my run. After the debacle in Joey Hannan, and effectively blowing up in Tri an Mhi, its slowly been improving. However, I certainly wasn’t expecting to run pb pace off the bike. Off a borrowed bike. Maybe I should set a proper 5km PB soon!!
Walking back from collecting the bike with RQ (nice to finally meet you) and alls grand until she starts talking gibberish (something about furlongs or something) so I decided I've use google to help translate my log into her gibberish language!! 0 -
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Great racing, particularly running and deserved result.
Well done! Fair play.
As a side note, back of pad calcs has you getting nearly 10 extra NS points for your 8th in sprint compared to my 12th in Oly!
All depends on number of TI registered athletes, and likely less in sprint but needs to be a whole lot less or I'm screwed!
Super result!0 -
Margaret Important Cupcake wrote: »Nice one top 3 in AG. Great pace off the bike as well, impressive.Cracking stuff. Nice AG podium too. Fair play. That's impressive running :cool:Great racing, particularly running and deserved result.
Well done! Fair play.
As a side note, back of pad calcs has you getting nearly 10 extra NS points for your 8th in sprint compared to my 12th in Oly!
All depends on number of TI registered athletes, and likely less in sprint but needs to be a whole lot less or I'm screwed!
Super result!
Cheers lads.
Fazz, you were already over 10 points ahead anyway so I wouldn't go losing sleep over it. Seriously impressive result from you in that field.
Oh, and I like your swim split...... SNAP!!0 -
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Brilliant BTH! Absolutely cracking running on a tough run course, in the sense that it is 'dragy' technical and crowded. I have lost out to Mr Invictus twice this week (in the space of 6 days) by 17sec and 7 sec! Imagine the battle the 3 of us would have had!! Were you on a P2? Your bike split was very very close to mine despite me just doing the bike leg so well done there too! Great to see you get the result you deserve dude, you've been a little unlucky this year up to now. 0
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Congrats on the cracking job! I can hear the neon glow of pride and accomplishment from here!El Director wrote: »Brilliant BTH! Absolutely cracking running on a tough run course, in the sense that it is 'dragy' technical and crowded. I have lost out to Mr Invictus twice this week (in the space of 6 days) by 17sec and 7 sec! Imagine the battle the 3 of us would have had!! Were you on a P2? Your bike split was very very close to mine despite me just doing the bike leg so well done there too! Great to see you get the result you deserve dude, you've been a little unlucky this year up to now.
Thanks guys.
This
is what I raced on on Saturday. Reckon I may have lost a little time because its a compact, while my own is a 54/42, but managed to pull out a good split anyway. I'll get photos of the new bike up once I have her race ready, not much point in putting up a pic of the training wheels.
It'll be interesting to see how I can convert that pace now on the longer Oly courses, although the Beast and Brian Boru aren't exactly fast courses. Should go well enough though, if all goes to plan.
I was chatting to McGarry briefly afterwards. He doesn't seem too keen on doing any Oly's or at least the harder ones. Reckons he's not ready for them yet!! He did alright in Joey Hannan though :rolleyes:. You're doing CK this year again?? Hopefully that turns into a right battle!!0 -
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