Fat and unfit to 2hr40min Hell of west in 1year

Trig1

A very very happy bunny today... And very sore I might add . My time from the lost sheep.... 4:59:44 started my watch on the hooter and stopped it going over the finish mat . Although was a little gutted when I saw the sportstiming.ie result of 5:00:01. Anyway I'm sticking my 4:59:44 and I'm happy as a pig in sh1t

griffin100

I agree, sub 5hr. Great result

mossym

Trig1 wrote: »

A very very happy bunny today... And very sore I might add . My time from the lost sheep.... 4:59:44 started my watch on the hooter and stopped it going over the finish mat . Although was a little gutted when I saw the sportstiming.ie result of 5:00:01. Anyway I'm sticking my 4:59:44 and I'm happy as a pig in sh1t

you result has been reviewed and deemed invalid. none of the agreed post race coffees materialised so you;ve been dq'd. bennymul will back me up on this.


joking aside, savage race, well done. don't sweat the time, i hit go on my watch before we started, was across the line a couple of minutes before i remembered to stop it and my official time is 2 minutes slower than what i stopped it at. i reckon they are off

tunney

Chip time is the only time.

tunney

Well done to everyone

BennyMul

Sorry no coffee no result.


I think there was a typo in the offical results should have read 4:59:61

But great result trig well deserved hope you enjoy the pints.

catweazle

Well done Trig, I saw the time and felt pity for the kids as you shoved them out of the way trying to break sub 5. You must have suffered on the run I saw you at 10k and you looked like you were cracking so to hold up till the end was great suffering

Izoard

Fantastic effort - chapeau!

shotgunmcos

5:01, 4:61, 4:59 all irrelevant really. You left it out there and achieved your goal, well done!

Trig1

Last report of the year....could be a long one.

So headed down to Kenmare the evening before the race with the wife, let the wife drive the car down as it hurt to turn the steering wheel... took a few painkillers and anti-inflammatorys and had a long discussion with the wife about whether to race or not, we decided that I would register and get up for the swim in the morn and see how I was...

Arrived in Kenmare around 5pm Friday evening- it was a bit damp but not that windy, checked into our hotel, went for food then went to register with the wife, didn't see anyone I recognized at registration, got through registration quickly and headed away to a pub for a drink (I had a glass of coke while wife had a pint of Heineken). Said to the missus I wasn't gonna bother going to the race brief but she made me go in-case I managed to get out on the bike course and there was something important that I would miss. So while she went back to the apartment with a bottle of wine as company (she was on hols). I went to the race brief- met a Rowing colleague on the way to the brief- was very surprised to see him there- said this was to be his first middle distance race (for the life of me I couldn't remember his name). walked into race brief with him and met Mossym and Bennymul and started chatting- my rowing mate was with me but I couldn't introduce him as I couldn't remember his name (I felt like an ignorant pr1ck). how do I get out of this???? I tried to include him in conversation and just shoot the breeze when another x-oarsman arrived over chatting and introduced himself to the lads and "Pat" the guy who's name I forgot also introduced himself Whew!! anyway a few of them asked me about the injury- I played it down a bit but I was still in bits and went away shortly afterwards- got back to the hotel room took a few more painkillers and went to bed- had an uncomfortable sleep but got a few hrs, alarm set for 5.30am...



Got up at 5.30 gear on 2 banana sandwiches and off I went down to the start with the wife, racked my bike, gingerly got my wetsuit on, wished bennymul and mossym good luck and off we went into the water for swim start...



Last year was my first year doing The lost sheep- did it in 5hrs14mins30secs- before my injury I was aiming for sub 5hrs today but didn't think I had any hope of it now...



Swim... there was a countdown from 10 for the swim start... once the umpire got to around 4 everyone started swimming, I started my watch and off I went, straight away the pain in my chest came at me- every stroke I took with my left arm was very painful and there was swimmers passing me left right and centre, was gonna stop there and then but decided to try put the pain to one side and keep going, after about 5mins I warmed up a bit and the pain wasn't so bad so I started pushing a bit more with my left arm and jumped on a pair of feet and got into some sort of a rhythym, got to the first buoy and I knew at least I was gonna finish the swim, started thinking less about my chest and more about catching swimmers ahead, sighted for the white house and the slipway and started pushing hard for the last 10 mins - eventually exited the water and looked at the watch and it was reading 35.41mins- last year I exited the water at 36.51mins so I knew I was ahead of time so far...Last year my plan was to be off on the bike at 40mins, was hoping to better that this year....



Swim : 35.41mins 199th/301 52nd in agegroup



T1: last year I put on a cycling shirt but no socks on the bike and my feet froze so this year I was going for the opposite, socks and tri suit, bent down to put on socks and my chest suddenly reminded me how sore it was, winced while I got my socks and shoes on, put on helmet, lied to the wife and told her I was fine and off I went on the bike, went over the mat and looked at the watch and it was reading 38.38... I was well ahead of my 40mins..







T1 2.57mins 115th/305 32nd in agegroup



Bike: My Bike last year was 2hrs42mins and change, I was hoping to knock a big chunk off that this year and we had perfect conditions for it, immediately got down on the tri bars and wasn't in too much discomfort- I knew I might not be able to do the run or if I did it would be very painful so my attitude was to give the bike everything I could, Immediately took a caffeine gel and set off as hard as I could- was averaging around 38-39kph and passing loads- (when your 200th of 300 there was loads to pass) Pain in chest was not affecting the bike, I knew I had the bike training and fitness and I relished this part of the course, once we came to the first climb I flicked the rear gears down a few whilst staying on the 53 in the front and spun hard up the hill, felt good and still passing loads, got to the top of the first hill and my speedo was still reading 35kph avg, decended ok ( was a little nervous after fall last week) came upon the crash with a girl in a lot of discomfort but there was already 3 around her and 1 guy waving us on, took another normal gel after half hour on bike..then started ascending Healy- still felt good on the ascent- was passed by 1 guy but kept a decent pace line behind him and stayed with him, on the descent off Healy the nerves kicked in- I flew down this descent last year but could not do it this year- a combination of the fall last week and having no confidence in my back wheel (Chinese import) had me going slowly around the bends on the descent, was passed out by a few flying here but could do nothing.. once I got back on the flat I passed them all out again and got my speed back to around 33.5kph average. Knew I was still going well as last years speed was around 30kph average throughout the spin, ate a full caffeine bar here coming into glengarriff and before the caha pass I took another Gel- Climbed well here again but chest was starting to re-surface as fatigue was setting in, was passing less and less people at this stage and was only picking off 1 person at a time from a distance, once I reached the top of the Caha my speedo was still reading 30.8kph- time to let fly for the decent with a tailwind- averaged 40+kph for the last 20k and started feeling good again, passed out a couple more at this stage, was looking at the watch and with less than 4k to go I was reading 2.25hrs for the bike and was feeling good, took a Squeezy tomato gel here - electrolytes- had trouble swallowing it as it was horrible but got it down with a lot of water, came to bridge and untied the shoes- a nice flying dismount and I was over the line in 2hrs30mins15secs with average speed of 32.6kph -more than 12mins faster than last years time of 2hrs42mins40secs...



Bike: 2hrs30mins15secs 25th/305 and 7th in agegroup (took a few nice big name scalps on the bike too)

T2...had a long run into t2 with the bike- thankfully I had socks on but straight away the chest resurfaced- every step was a sharp pain in the chest- I was worried straight away that this was race over- bent over to put shoes on and more pain- Wife was there again asking was I ok and all I could do was grimace and I saw the worry in her face and said I was fine and off I went with 3hrs12mins on the clock

T2 ....3.19mins 60th/305 17th in age group

Run... The first 10mins of the run were probably the most painful 10mins I had ever ran, my body was telling me stop you are in too much pain but my head was telling me I was on for sub 5hrs... my head won over and I persevered, the more the run went on the less my chest was hurting thankfully and the more I could concentrate on pace...I knew if I ran under 1hr48mins for the half marathon I would break 5hrs... started re-thinking my plan before the injury- last year I walked through all the water stations and walked up the hill, this year I had planned not to walk at all, got to the first water station and took a sip before it from the gel bottle I was carrying (3 gels in 1) then took a cup of water and High 5 , kept running whilst I was drinking them but got some into me- I was under 25mins for first 5k so was on target, hit the turnaround point and was aiming for the 10k point in under 50mins, was also expecting to see MossyM closing in on me at this stage but never saw him, hit the 10k point in 49mins and change, exactly around the 4hr mark- took more gel- water high 5 and kept running, I knew I had 1hr to do 11k- simple eh!!!!. kept a nice rythym for another few km's- passed Bennymul going the other way and gave him a big High Five , still didn't see Mossy and started wondering did he have a fall or pull out-, at the 15k mark was the next water station, I stopped and walked through this as I was wrecked- took on water and coke- coke was too fizzy but was nice, lost a bit of time here as when I looked at the watch again I was down to around 31mins to go to 5hrs and 6k left....got to the dreaded hill soon after- tried to keep running to the top but failed and had to walk up the last bit- got to the next water station and stopped and drank again- was told just before this that we had exactly 3k left- I looked at the watch and it was pushing towards 4hrs45mins- 15mins to do 3k -sounds easy but when calfs and hamstrings were in bits it was a nightmare. At some stage I ran past the photographer and tried to smile...
https://www.flickr.com/photos/jancek/15084029961/in/set-72157646628308037

So with 3k to go I started to try bring the pace up - the legs responded a little and I even passed out 2 guys at this stage- got to the 20k sign and wrote on the road was Go FOR IT- so I went for it- my calfs were cramping, hamstrings were cramping, hips and chest were in bits but I wanted this sub 5hrs so badly, 1minute to go and there was still no sign of the finish line, I thought I had blown it until I recognized the school we had registered in the night before and I knew the finish was just around the corner- I broke into an all out sprint now for the line, 40secs to go and I knew I was gonna do it, I was gonna break 5hrs JUST! I looked for the clock at the finish but there was none??? I saw the wife cheering and taking photos, looked at my watch and I still had 20secs so took the pedal off the gas for the last few second coming over the line and stopped the watch on the line at 4:59:44....I was overwhelmed with emotion- and dizziness- the wife came over to see was I ok but I couldn't talk to her with the lump in my throat- I just showed her the watch and she was thrilled for me...I took a few mins to come around and slowly walked over to the park and got a banana and some water into me and forgot all about the chest pain- I was a happy camper!!!!!Last years run was 1hr49mins36secs this year I ran 1hr47mins47secs. Stayed around at the end of the race and met up with Benny and Mossy again- both were also wrecked but were happy with their races.

Run: 1hr47mins47secs 90th/305 and 32nd in agegroup
Overall 4hrs59mins44secs 60th /305 and 17th overall in agegroup..
now for the gut wrenching part....
Got back to the hotel room and drew a bath and had a look at sportstiming.ie to see were the official results out- they were- I looked for my result and yes I came 60th overall and 17th overall in my agegroup but my time was down as 5hrs00mins01seconds :eek::eek::eek::eek::eek: , WTF, 1 second off 5hrs, how could that be, I started my watch probably 3 seconds early at most!!, I was fuming but after a few minutes I said to myself- you started once you started your watch- you raced the whole course from start to finish and stopped you watch going over the line at 4:59:44- you did sub 5hrs and that's that!!
Went out that night to enjoy myself but the 1second was playing on my mind- why was there no clock at the finish? why did I slow down coming towards the line? Ah heck I'll have to come back next year and go 2 seconds faster:D ..... anyway it was a real tough race and I was delighted with my result- never thought I would come near that time with my injury...here's a few more pics of my race....signing off now for awhile, sorry for the long report....

catweazle

Well done trig, think of it another way - theres no way you are heading off doing bike racing only now with 2 seconds to lose for next year.

How you pulled that run time out with the f-all running you have done this year puts me to shame

mossym

great report Trig. and well done on getting through that race, Friday night and especially Saturday morning i didn't think you;d make it. great strength of character to fight through that pain.

gofasterdad

Great report, great race. That performance took some guts. It has inspired me to return to Kenmare myself next year. Tomato flavoured gels??, my stomach turned just thinking about it.

Pmaldini

Great race Trig, your an animal, most people would have pulled out with that kind of pain

Trig1

Well I've had almost a month of rest after the lost sheep half Iron race and the chest is still not right, been back to the GP twice to be told it just needs rest- a torn muscle in the chest but problem is every time I sneeze it tears again!! , can't swim! or push anything with the left arm so September has been a month of rest with only 220km's cycled, 6.5km's ran and 700m's swam in around 5 separate sessions, hoping to get back proper cycling and running next week.. I will then weigh up my plans for next year....looking back on the year gone I can say that I had 5 major goals for 2014....

1...go sub 70mins in a sprint tri (still did not do this as the 1 tri I had targeted for this had a headwind on the day for the bike- did 70mins and change.

2...get a sprint tri top 10... came 8th in worlds end sprint -first ever top 10 sprint finish- delighted with this.

3...do a sub 20min 5k.. Didn't think I would do this this year with no running training but managed a 19.48min 5k in Worlds End tri.

4...try go sub 2hrs30mins in Kilkee HOTW. Never though I would get close to this but with perfect conditions on the day I was thrilled to come across the line in 2hrs29minsxxsecs.

5...Sub 5hrs in "The Lost Sheep" Half Iron distance race. With injuries leading up to this race and not a lot of run prep done I did not think it would be possible to knock 14.30mins off last years time but with an ok swim- a very good bike(knocking 12mins off) and a solid run I crossed the line in 4hrs49mins44secs (on my watch) and was thrilled- chip time would later have me at 5hrs and 1second but I'll take that..

All in all with a lot of biking, a little swimming and nearly no running I still achieved 4 of my 5 major goals for 2014 season... very happy with that.. looking forward to what 2015 has in store!

Trig1

Mon 29th Sept- Monday night- 8k light run at lunchtime in work average 5.36mins/km
Tues 30th Sept- just 25k light cycle with kids- 22k with the son and 3k with the daughter
Wed 1st oct- cycle with keeper cycling club- long warm up of around 18k then a good strong tempo for around 40k - nice and fast, 31.kph average including the 18k warm up- good to get legs working again- 9k light cycle home.
Thurs 2nd oct-rest
Fri 3rd oct- rest (work)
Sat 4th Oct- 8k run at lunchtime in work- bit faster than last time 4.57mins/km
Sun 5th oct- rest (work)
Mon 6th oct- back on the turbo :D:D - missed the turbo and was looking forward to getting back on it and nothing better to re-introduce us than Sufferfest- local hero... 5 min warm up then a 6min crit race to get the legs pumping then straight into high cadence 3x6min tt pyramids with cadence of 95/100/100+/100/95 with 2mins rest between each- then straight into 5x3mins road races with mostly climbing and big gear- cadence 75 with 2mins rest between each and then to finish it off there was 4x2mins sprints building throughout with last 30secs flat out.. and 5mins wind down at end- great session- loved it!!!!- 90mins in total

mossym

Trig1 wrote: »

Wed 1st oct- cycle with keeper cycling club- long warm up of around 18k then a good strong tempo for around 40k - nice and fast, 31.kph average including the 18k warm up- good to get legs working again- 9k light cycle home.

even in the off season you don;t care for the easy spins do you..:)

Trig1

mossym wrote: »

even in the off season you don;t care for the easy spins do you..:)

Oh there will be plenty of light cycles and light runs over the next few weeks!!

Solobally8

Going round the lake in the morning Trig?

Trig1

Solobally8 wrote: »

Going round the lake in the morning Trig?

Sorry Solobally8, never saw message but after last Saturday I wouldn't have been in any fit state to go around the lake

Trig1

Quick Update:
Wed Oct 8th: 6.5k run 4.53mins/km
Thurs Oct 9th: 10k run 5.23mins/km
Sun Oct 12th: 33km cycle with young lad
Wed Oct 15th: 6k run 4.55mins/km
Fri Oct 17th: 100mins light turbo
Sat Oct 18th: 120km cycle with Nenagh cc
Sun Oct 19th: 22k cycle
Tues Oct 21st: 10km run 4.50mins/km 48.30min for 10k

Trig1

Wed Oct 22nd.... 80mins easy spinning turbo - low Heart Rate of 120- still sweating buckets.

Fri Oct 24th...nice easy lunchtime run 6.1km's at 5.18mins/km average

Sat Oct 25th... Another long cycle with Nenagh cc including a climb over Dolla hill, went with the racing team again and struggled again and was dropped early, very tough sessions for this time of year..120km's in total at 30kphhttp://www.strava.com/activities/211359129

Tues Oct 26th... another easy lunchtime run...8kms in 43.32mins at 5.18mins/km

mossym

Trig1 wrote: »

Fri Oct 24th...nice easy lunchtime run 6.1km's at 5.18mins/km average


Tues Oct 26th... another easy lunchtime run...8kms in 43.32mins at 5.18mins/km

i'm in shock, you do know what easy is after all..:)

Trig1

mossym wrote: »

i'm in shock, you do know what easy is after all..:)

Ha ha. This is the new me!

Trig1

Wed Oct 29th: 12.5k light cycle with the kids followed by 41k cycle on my own at 28kph

Thurs Oct 30th: Small ring Hilly cycle over silvermines,, sore tough cycle- 61kms at 26kph with 500m of climbing...http://www.strava.com/activities/213471723

Fri 31st Oct: Slow,slow,slow 10k run trying to keep Heart rate under 150bpm- found it very hard to do this and was nearly walking at stages- av heart rate was 151bpm at 5.29mins/km

Sun 2nd Nov: Another 10km run a little pacier than last- trying to keep km's averaging 5mins/km and checking Heart rate during run....first 5kms were 5.04 / 5.04 / 4.49 / 5.01 and 4.50 with Heart rate steady betweed 154 and 157, as fatigue started drifting in the heart rate started steadily rising...km 6 was done at 4.53 with hr starting to head towards 160, km7 at 5.02 and hr at 161-162, km 8 was 4.46 heart rate touching 170- still felt ok but heart rate was still rising and last 2kms at 5.13 and 5.01 were both done at around 173 HR :eek::eek: basically nearly 90% of my perceived max HR (220-age) still felt fine and it felt like a comfortable run but heart rate was all over the place- reckon I will be doing a lot more slow low HR runs over next few months... it was still a medium pace 10k coming in at 4.58mins per km average with average HR of 159...http://www.strava.com/activities/214876192

Trig1

not much done in the last week....need to find my mojo again!

Wed 5th nov... 80 mins high cadence turbo at 100rpm - av HR - 130

Fri 7th Nov ... light slow run keeping HR under 150 7.5kms at 5.31mins/km average heart rate came in at 147

Mon 10th Nov 120 mins light high cadence spinning on turbo- average HR 127

Tues 11th Nov- plan tonight was a longish run at a steady pace and a steady heart rate so planned to try keep pace at 4.55mins/km and heart rate under 160 average....first 5k's went fine all clocking around 4.55--- 4.55/5.05/4.50/4.54/4.52 and heart rate was rock steady at 155-157, km's 6-8 also felt good with heart rate still below 160-these km's were 4.53/5.02 and 4.43, last 4 km's were a struggle and heart rate went from 160-167 for the last 4kms - legs and lungs were sore after it, last 4km's were 5.13/5.00/4.53 and 5.03- should be easy running but fitness just isn't there yet and not enough weekly sessions being done....
Overall run was ok... pace averaged at 4.57mins/km and average hr was 159 so pretty much what I planned- need to get more sessions done!!!

Trig1

Not much training done at all in the last 2 weeks due to a niggly hamstring injury- trying to rest as much as possible to get rid of it but still there.... only a handful of sessions done...

Sat 15th Nov...Nenagh cc group cycle- 95kms at 29.5kmph 3hrs11mins
first time I wasn't dropped by the racing team
http://www.strava.com/activities/219385850

Did nothing after that for a full week as hamstring playing up...

Sat 22nd Nov... Nenagh cc group cycle- 90kms at 29.6kph- 3hrs 2mins
dropped on Dolla hill on this spin in the 2nd rolling over session- HR hit 181 just before getting dropped,
http://www.strava.com/activities/221865345/segments/5245704755

Mon 24th Nov... very slow low HR jog- struggled big time to keep heart below 150 hitting nearly 6min/km at stages but managed to do 11.5kms at HR 150 averaging a pitiful 5.43mins/km but honestly its harder to do these than it is to tip away at 5mins.km- I hope they stand to me later in the year- Hamstring still giving trouble- need to get on the foam roller tonight!!

http://www.strava.com/activities/222793335

Trig1

Another quick update...finding it hard to get time, or to commit to updating this anymore....been doing a bit thankfully...

26th Nov...7.5k run as 5k hard and 2.5k light...did 5k hard at 4.37mins/km

28th Nov...Turbo- sufferfest-downward spiral- 1hr interval session

30th Nov...was meant to do a long 140k cycle with Nenagh cc today but couldn't get out of the bed so as punishment did a 3hr turbo session instead- a sweaty session to say the least

1st Dec.... Turbo -Hell hath no fury-main set - 2X20mins races and 1x3.30min TT - avg HR 138- hit max HR of 168

2nd Dec...6k laps of pitch with Kids (training for 5k on st.stephens day) medium run-avg 5.03mins/km avg hr- 153

3rd Dec... Turbo- 2hrs sweaty Z2 turbo- avg HR 131

4th Dec... very light 6k run with Kids- stayed with the 12yr old for first 2k until he fell away- tried slagging him that his fat/bald dad was beating him but it didn't work- he has a long way to go, nice light session at 5.43mins/km avg HR 145

5th Dec... 8k night time run at work- a steady run concentrating on form and keeping pace around 4.55mins/km- pushed last km- pace 4.54/4.47/5.02/4.51/4.59/4.45/5.00/4.28- avg HR 158

Trig1

A very very miserable Decembers training but might as well document them anyway..

Wed 10th Dec- 1hr light run in wind and rain- 500m laps of park- 11.1km at 5.24mins/km

Sun 14th Dec- Light afternoon run- 7.1kms at 5.14mins/km

Mon 15th Dec- 80mins high cadence turbo- sweaty session

Wed 18th Dec- planned an 8k run tt to see how bad my fitness had got so set my strava and off I went- around 6mins into the run I had received no update on my 1st km pace- stopped and checked the strava and it never picked up satellite- stupid phone- set off hard again but decided just to do 5k flat out instead- a bit embarrassed putting up my splits but anyway- a long way to go- 4.31/4.33/4.35/4.43/4.34 mins/km for the 5km's giving me a miserable 5k flat out time of 22.58mins:o





then the Christmas eating happened-

Fri 26th Dec- nearly 3/4 of a stone later :o:o I waddled around a 5k race staying alongside my 10 year old daughter, she was aiming for under 45mins and crossed the line in 38.50min- was delighted for her and really proud, 12 year old son also raced, he was aiming to break 30mins and did 29mins and change- delighted for both of them- here's our selfie from the day

https://fbcdn-sphotos-e-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-xfa1/v/t1.0-9/10304868_10202001776564488_6507388606855594058_n.jpg?oh=d6023b144852b78e646fb4cc784d10ab&oe=55400665&__gda__=1430301320_626f88f3cc4009156f310f5ba8679bdd




Sat 27th Dec- time to get back doing a bit of proper training- what better to get me into it than a few new sufferfest videos- sufferfest "the hunted" followed by sufferfest "extra shot"- 80MINS OF TORTURE- had to stop 3 times as I felt I was gonna puke. good to get it done though.

Mon 29th Dec- planned A light nighttime run in work-very quiet in work so was gonna do a longish run to try out my xmas pressie- saucony progrid kinvara 4's - anyway had to call it quits after 6.3km's as the roads and paths were frozen and it was getting too icy underfoot.... light 6.3km's done at 5.28mins/km- jury is out on the kinvara's as I was getting a slight sore knee towards end of run.

mossym

Are you used to running in a low drop like the kinvaras? Can take a bit of getting used to