Toiler's Constant

Kurt Godel

BeepBeep67 wrote: »

How's your aero position?

Not great, needs a fair bit of adjustment. Most urgently, the saddle needs to be raised, but otherwise I have to say the arms felt comfortable enough.

I also need one of those Garmin gizmo holders you have- screen was tucked away under the arm flaps, not good!

nerraw1111

AON seems to be two separate events. Runners see very little of the walkers. Start later, finish earlier, pass all walkers within 30min period. Road section is good craic given time of night. Did the hybrid, was fun but yeah, it's neither or. I'd like to give it a proper go.

nerraw1111

PS. What aero bars did you go for?

Kurt Godel

nerraw1111 wrote: »

PS. What aero bars did you go for?

Profile T2 Plus Aerobars , they got good reviews on wiggle, are very adjustable, and I was surprized at how light the package was. Arm rest's don't flip up, that's an issue for some people who grab the horizontal handlebars when climbing. I'm happy with them out of the box.

BeepBeep67

Kurt Godel wrote: »

Not great, needs a fair bit of adjustment. Most urgently, the saddle needs to be raised, but otherwise I have to say the arms felt comfortable enough.

I also need one of those Garmin gizmo holders you have- screen was tucked away under the arm flaps, not good!

Came across this while I was getting a climbing friendly cassette

Kurt Godel

Wed 4k OW swim

No training for the past few days- just busy with other things. So after a long day at work I relished the idea of stopping by Wicklow harbour for a few laps. The grey, cold, mist, damp, rain; of the past few days, all magically lifted as I drove down, and the sun was beaming down from crystal blue skies as I entered. First loop was a little slow and achey, as I warmed up into a steady pace, which continued for the next few laps. Six glorious laps of Abhainn's loop, before neck rash from the wetsuit forced me to end. This really is a magical place to swim.

Kurt Godel

Thurs 59k bike av speed 28.6kph

Shillelagh-Clonegal-Craan-Bunclody-Carnew-home.

More gears trouble. I crimped a derailler cable when putting on the aero bars, and now the front crank is stuck on the big ring. In case this can't be fixed before Sunday's race, I took a spin over to Bunclody to recce the Racing795 bike route. A puncture just coming into Shillelagh had me contemplating aborting, but it got fixed quick enough, and in the end I'm glad the spin continued. The roads around here are full of debris and stones, so punctures are an expected hazard. Bike speed suffers accordingly, as you can't trust the roads around the next corner.

Bike to Clonegal was 20k in 40 mins, where I wanted it to be. The pace dropped a bit after that, as there were a few more hills to be negotiated- but I'm happy with the overall pace. Aero bars make a huge difference flying downhills- I was often cruising at 50-60kph for long stretches. The Tri route itself is a good one. Its described as not hilly, and its not, although you can tell that description came from someone living beside Mount Leinster.

*Edit- just remembered my experiment, I had my swim trunks on under the bike shorts. Never noticed them at all, that's a good sign.

Dory Dory

Kurt Godel wrote: »

Thurs 59k bike av speed 28.6kph

Shillelagh-Clonegal-Craan-Bunclody-Carnew-home.

More gears trouble. I crimped a derailler cable when putting on the aero bars, and now the front crank is stuck on the big ring. In case this can't be fixed before Sunday's race, I took a spin over to Bunclody to recce the Racing795 bike route. A puncture just coming into Shillelagh had me contemplating aborting, but it got fixed quick enough, and in the end I'm glad the spin continued. The roads around here are full of debris and stones, so punctures are an expected hazard. Bike speed suffers accordingly, as you can't trust the roads around the next corner.

Bike to Clonegal was 20k in 40 mins, where I wanted it to be. The pace dropped a bit after that, as there were a few more hills to be negotiated- but I'm happy with the overall pace. Aero bars make a huge difference flying downhills- I was often cruising at 50-60kph for long stretches. The Tri route itself is a good one. Its described as not hilly, and its not, although you can tell that description came from someone living beside Mount Leinster.

*Edit- just remembered my experiment, I had my swim trunks on under the bike shorts. Never noticed them at all, that's a good sign.

Have you ever tried cycling in just your swim trunks? Perhaps for the shorter distance races you won't even need your bike shorts??? Shave a little off transition??? Or is there just too much bump and grind on even the shortest of courses?

griffin100

Bike to Clonegal was 20k in 40 mins, where I wanted it to be. The pace dropped a bit after that, as there were a few more hills to be negotiated- but I'm happy with the overall pace. Aero bars make a huge difference flying downhills- I was often cruising at 50-60kph for long stretches. The Tri route itself is a good one. Its described as not hilly, and its not, although you can tell that description came from someone living beside Mount Leinster.

There's a bit of a drag coming out of transition and coming up through Clonegal - if you are taking the Clonegal Hill in the small ring you need to be careful changing down as you'll be flying coming off the hump back bridge and might throw the chain (as many did last year) or else you'll leave it too late and you'll have lost too much speed to change. If you've a compact then you'll do the entire course in the big ring anyway. The descent from Clonegal is very fast and the decent into Bunclody on the main road is also very fast, just watch out for the junctions to your left on this one. Best of luck with this, I'll probably be marshaling on the bike route so will give you some encouragement.

edit: I've just seen Dory's suggestion re. cycling in your swim trunks, not to be recommended on these roads unless you've an undercarriage like a jump jockey.

Kurt Godel

Dory Dory wrote: »

Have you ever tried cycling in just your swim trunks? Perhaps for the shorter distance races you won't even need your bike shorts??? Shave a little off transition??? Or is there just too much bump and grind on even the shortest of courses?

Hmmm... I'm actually clueless on what gear to wear, so I may as well try biking and running in the swim trunks on the day. I have a cheepo trisuit, but can't really see any benefit from wearing it over the trunks. Photo's should be good for a laugh, if nothing else.

Kurt Godel

griffin100 wrote: »

There's a bit of a drag coming out of transition and coming up through Clonegal - if you are taking the Clonegal Hill in the small ring you need to be careful changing down as you'll be flying coming off the hump back bridge and might throw the chain (as many did last year) or else you'll leave it too late and you'll have lost too much speed to change. If you've a compact then you'll do the entire course in the big ring anyway. The descent from Clonegal is very fast and the decent into Bunclody on the main road is also very fast, just watch out for the junctions to your left on this one. Best of luck with this, I'll probably be marshaling on the bike route so will give you some encouragement.

Good advice there. I'm still getting used to the bike, and changing gears in good time up hills is not one of my natural skills. I like the descent from Clonegal, decent enough surface for a backroad.

griffin100 wrote: »

edit: I've just seen Dory's suggestion re. cycling in your swim trunks, not to be recommended on these roads unless you've an undercarriage like a jump jockey.

The family jewels will be encased in bike shorts, it's settled. 30 secs extra in transition, vs eternal damage, no contest.;)

Abhainn

Kurt Godel wrote: »

Wed 4k OW swim

No training for the past few days- just busy with other things. So after a long day at work I relished the idea of stopping by Wicklow harbour for a few laps. The grey, cold, mist, damp, rain; of the past few days, all magically lifted as I drove down, and the sun was beaming down from crystal blue skies as I entered. First loop was a little slow and achey, as I warmed up into a steady pace, which continued for the next few laps. Six glorious laps of Abhainn's loop, before neck rash from the wetsuit forced me to end. This really is a magical place to swim.

There's normally a race there each Wed evenin I think about 7pm. (I was running by there Wed evening) The route goes outside the south pier and a few 100m into the open sea parallel to the shore. No wet suits though !

Kurt Godel

Fri 1km pool swim

The pool was absolutely jammers with kids everywhere, crossing lanes, standing on the ropes, causing splashes and mayhem everywhere. Rather than show my angry side and plow sternly through them, I remembered this is exactly what I used do when I was a kid back in the stone ages, and got in a steady- if interrupted- 1000m.
Felt a twinge in my back in the changing room though, the after effect of newbie aero position from yesterday. Zum rub is currently working its magic, lets hope there is no impact on the race.

PS Couldn't get the bike serviced, Revolve in Gorey are booked up until Wednesday! So I'm stuck on the big ring, shouldn't be too much of an issue.

Abhainn wrote: »

There's normally a race there each Wed evenin I think about 7pm. (I was running by there Wed evening) The route goes outside the south pier and a few 100m into the open sea parallel to the shore. No wet suits though !

Cheers for that Joe, I'd be well on for checking this out. Are you going down yourself next Wed?

Kurt Godel

Sun Bunclody Sprint Triathlon

No idea of times at the moment, but its probably useful for the future if I get down my thoughts without knowing how I did.

Pre-race
Really well organised, easy to park, register, set up transition. The Racing795 boys and girls were out in force, nothing seemed to have been left to chance, the months of planning showed in the ease everyone got ready. The management of the whole race was top class, and made for a great day for the competitors, so hats off to Racing 795. Met another lad from the club, who was worried about drowning (in the end he swam the 500m solidly for 14mins), and then said hi to Oryx, who quickly pushed the conversation onto just how slow and creaky she is at Tri. What a sandbagger, she finished 3rd lady! Well done that girl:)

500m Swim
I was in the last wave to go, so got to watch 80 mins or so of the other waves. Lots of different levels of ability. My clubmate did breast stroke when needed, the marshalls were attentive to letting slow swimmers know if someone faster was being hindered, all seemed to be working well. Oryx was swimming well, a strong stroke, and breathing well, although she suffers from the paradoxical runners ailment of absolutely not using her legs in the pool. A raised gluteus maximus would be beneficial (should really have mentioned this to her after).
Anyway, the time came for wave 5 to go. Four in my lane, myself and another anticipated 8:30, one guy 9mins, and one guy 7mins. So I swam out in third position, and was just really glad to be finally underway. No idea currently what time I finished in, but the two lads in front were blocking me, and weren't moving despite tips on the feet. At times I had to Breast stroke, and if a marshall would tip one, he thought to just let the second guy pass out, so they switched positions thus a couple of times. My own fault, in future I'm going to be more assertive when it comes to leading out Tri swims. I managed to get into 2nd place on the last lap, and exited the pool beside No.1, with a lot of energy, and a bit frustrated. Lesson hopefully learned here.

T1
Talc in socks, bike shorts and singlet (put on backwards:rolleyes:), and away we go. Not too bad, but there's always time to be shaved. Must get a proper trisuit (I swam in briefs).

20k Bike
The two lads who swam my lane exited T1 with me, and shot off into the distance up Bunclody hill. I travelled at a decent clip which suited me, held an aero position for all downhills, overtook quite a few (don't know who was in what wave though), motored along at an effort that hurt enough to be decent, but not enough to let my breathing get out of control. All junctions were marshalled, no fear of getting lost, the rain stayed off, and soon I was climbing out of Clonegal, about halfway point. Right, I put the foot down a bit, finished with backroads, hit the motorway, and could see targets ahead. Upped the effort, took one, targeted another, all the way back to Bunclody. Remembered to unclip coming into trans (why didn't I just take my feet out? More lessons learned). Shouted to Oryx who was just finishing her run, as I ran to the rack.

T2
Lock laces make a quick show change, turned my singlet the correct way (on the run), and out of T2 without incident.

5k Run
If you're going to get jelly legs after the bike, running with short cadence up a hill is a good cure. That's the best I can say of the first kilometer, which is a climb up and over to the motorway. Coasted a bit here, before ascending again a backroad to turnaround. My running isn't good (circa 10k training in the past month), so the idea was to keep up some cadence until turnaround point. When it came, there was a chance to let loose back downhill. Felt a little shorter than 5k, and I managed to pick up the pace a bit to the finish with a bit of a sprint.

Happy to finish, had a chat with Oryx after (who had gone so slow and had such a crap race that she came 3rd:D). She's some gal, hopefully I can get some of that go-so-slow-you-medal to rub off on me.
Great day out, enjoyed this for my first Tri, lessons learned for next year, and big happy smiling faces all round. Where else would you be but Bunclody?

[IMG]https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-sVIMe8hSrpc/UB6zRO_125I/AAAAAAAAArU/Gca9fW85WEc/s640/Oryx%20Bunclody%20Tri.jpg" height="480" width="640"[/IMG]

Oryx

My god my name is in there a lot Will take on board your observations on my lack of kick, and move swiftly past any other observations. Its frustrating not knowing times but it looked like you ran a good race and finished strong. Well done.

catweazle

Kurt Godel wrote: »

Anyway, the time came for wave 5 to go. Four in my lane, myself and another anticipated 8:30, one guy 9mins, and one guy 7mins.

exited the pool beside No.1, with a lot of energy, and a bit frustrated. Lesson hopefully learned here.

No sympathy - you are far faster than an 8.30 swim so you should have said it

Dory Dory

Well done you!!! And love that photo of two very special peeps!!!

Kurt Godel

catweazle wrote: »

No sympathy - you are far faster than an 8.30 swim so you should have said it

Nail on the head. I've done enough to now know Tri guys can't swim. They can bike, and run a bit, but if you're going to go by me during the bike or run, the least I can do is hand you your ass during the swim. Nice one catweazle, no more Mr. nice guy in the pool.

Kurt Godel

Kurt Godel wrote: »

Ok, cards on the table, who's in for predictions?

Swim: 8:30
T1:1:30
Bike: 41:00
T2: 1:30
Run: 23:00
Total:1:15:30

Will try and shave those 30 secs

Actual:
Swim: 8:39
T1:1:23
Bike: 40:16
T2: 1:06
Run: 22:12
Total:1:13:37
Overall 9th position

Ok, its my first Tri, I did better than I thought, but all I can focus on is missed time through swim congestion:D. It was a useful exercise writing a race report without knowing times, now I can add an addendum:

Swim
Fastest got 7:08. I could have got that or faster. Need to recognize I have talent in the pool, and be more aggressive.

Bike
Practice is the only thing that will make me faster, I'm happy with this time, just reward for effort on the day.

Run
Again, just reward for the effort. Which is an effort way slower than I should be doing. Now that my knee is less troublesome. I'll start to train a bit more running wise.

Overall
Happy in that I beat my goal, and learned lots in my first real Tri. Came 9th, a better swim would have me 7th or 8th. Onwards and upwards:)

Dory Dory

Look at you!! Look how far you've come in just a few short months. Congrats on an awesome 9th place finish...and congrats on this excitement and talent you've discovered!! At some point you should consider doing an open water swim race.

Oryx

Top ten in your first race. Our Neal would want to watch his back

joey100

Well done Kurt, I was the fella placed just above you in eight place! And from looking at the splits it was in the transitions that I made the time on you. Great result.

griffin100

Well done Kurt. Sorry not to have caught up with you to say hello but I did get to roar at you though coming into transition off the bike though

Kurt Godel

joey100 wrote: »

Well done Kurt, I was the fella placed just above you in eight place! And from looking at the splits it was in the transitions that I made the time on you. Great result.

Nice one joey100, well done on your race. Deffo going to get a tri suit now, can't be wasting time in trans!:D

Thinking about the Hardman Oly in a few weeks, the bug has bitten!

Kurt Godel

Tue 44.5k bike, 26.5 kph average.

Wicklow-Rathdrum-Aughrim-home. My legs were stiff after the race (and standing around for 5 hours yesterday waiting for a meticulous dog show judge:rolleyes:), so this spin was just the ticket to get some life into them again. Some tough hills after Aughrim, but nothing hectic on the speed front, kept to a very comfortable pace throughout.

Kurt Godel

Tue PM 500m OW fun with the kids

Wicklow Harbour, with the kids. Junior is a good swimmer, has a bit of buoyancy like his auld fella. Good fun, loads of activity down here, a great place to swim as always.

Dates with Hardman didn't work out. There's a 1500m swim of Glendalough in Sept that has me interested, but its €35 to a market-builder. Signed up for next weekends Tri the Hook sprint, its around an area I am very familiar with from childhood holidays. And local enough. And only €40. Nothing whatsoever to do with stalking Oryx.

Oryx

And as I told ya over on my log, I'm not even doing it!

Kurt Godel

Oryx wrote: »

And as I told ya over on my log, I'm not even doing it!

So, fine, then I'll stalk you at work. I presume you're a Marine Biologist, or Fisheries Restocker, or Indoor Wave Pool saleswoman for the South East region? Nothing's worse for the old swim training than stalking someone who works in a dry environment.

Oryx

Kurt Godel wrote: »

So, fine, then I'll stalk you at work. I presume you're a Marine Biologist, or Fisheries Restocker, or Indoor Wave Pool saleswoman for the South East region? Nothing's worse for the old swim training than stalking someone who works in a dry environment.

I'm general fcuk-up manager for an sme in the mct. Bit arid for you, little fishy. Now less chit chat more training. You got a race to win. Can't have Neals missus beating ya

Kurt Godel

In the sense that no-one on these logs is writing about any more than their hobby, (meaning I don't know where else to express this), it was with a profound sense of loss I heard today of the death of Art Critic extraordinaire Robert Hughes. Usually the modern critic is as useful as Jasper Johns' toothbrush containing teeth rather than bristles: RH was one of those personalities who helped define the age he lived. In an age where "Art" has become nothing more than tittelation for 15-second attention spanning fashionista's, RH revelled in his art of put-down. All the while, however, while championing the great and the good, both old and modern. His series and book, "The Shock of the New", are seminal for anyone interested in modern culture.

I worked (through gritted teeth) for a year and a half in the studio of Jeff Koons, probably the most "celebrated" modern painter. Koons couldn't paint to save his life (in truth, couldn't do much but manipulate a gullible media), so he paid guys like me to paint his paintings (for peanut wages, which went on to sell for tens on millions). Any time Koons earnestly discussed an oil colour or brushmark with us, I bit my tongue and inwardly smiled at RH's description of him:

Koons is “an extreme and self-satisfied manifestation of the sanctimony that attaches to big bucks. Koons really does think he's Michelangelo and is not shy to say so. The significant thing is that there are collectors, especially in America, who believe it. He has the slimy assurance, the gross patter about transcendence through art, of a blow-dried Baptist selling swamp acres in Florida. And the result is that you can't imagine America's singularly depraved culture without him.” Hughes placed Koons's work just above that of Seward Johnson and was quoted in a New York Times article as having stated that comparing their careers was "like debating the merits of dog excrement versus cat excrement".

Above all RH made you think about art and Art, and made you want to paint. RIP: make's you want to paint.