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

Trig1

Just realized I'm in a different age group this year 40-44 :eek::eek: even though I'm still 39 until November!!!

mossym

Trig1 wrote: »

Just realized I'm in a different age group this year 40-44 :eek::eek: even though I'm still 39 until November!!!

gives you an extra year of having the advantage in the AG so...time to target some AG goals..:)

Trig1

Well woke up this morning ready for my first race of the season. looked out the window and it was miserable out - wind and heavy rain, felt like crawling back into bed!, cup of coffee and 3 jam and wholemeal brown bread sandwiches later I had the car packed and off I went. Massive field racing today for the duathlon as it is part of the national series- nearly 200 racing :eek:(170 finished), I knew my running wasn't there yet so wasn't expecting much, realistically would have liked to better my time of 58.33 from 2 years ago (injured last year) and anything around top 50 would have been nice. So bike set up and in the lashing rain we had our race briefing, took off my heavy coat and in the 5mins waiting for the start I got soaked....

Run 1: Actually felt good on this run, form was good and felt strong, loads flying past me but I didn't care. it was my first race of the season and I just wanted to beat my previous time and not get injured, at the first run turnaround I saw Mossym coming back towards me and I wasn't actually that far behind him! was happy with that, started passing a lot of people also (those that fly off for the first km then die a death). felt fine throughout the run except for the wind and rain- the bike wasn't gonna be pretty...
crossed the mat for the run on 14.48- time for same run in my last Limerick duathlon (exact same course) was 15.33 so pretty happy with that.
overall : 76/169 17th in agegroup

Bike: transition was slow as I had my cycling shoes in a plastic bag due to the rain and I put my runners back into the bag to keep them dry, so headed off, the first 7k on the bike was torture, headwind and driving rain, but still passed loads- counted around 35 that I passed before the turnaround but unfortunately also counted around 35 on the way back ahead of me, got to the turnaround and flew back the last 7k averaging over 40kph the whole way, didn't pass many though in this section and dissapointingly never passed Mossym! was soaked to the skin at this stage but only 4k run left (around 3.5k in reality). time for the bike was 24.12mins, last race was 24.53 so considering the conditions I'm happy with that to, average speed for the 14k was 34.8kph,
overall 12th/169 1st in agegroup

Run2: Another slow transition due to having to get runners out of bag but I didn't mind.My legs were freezing heading off on this run, took awhile to get into it, saw no one behind me for the first few hundred metres, hamstring was giving me a little trouble but nothing major, slowly but surely though I started getting passed again by the faster runners, I was still running ok at this stage and still felt good, coming into the last hill to home I could feel 2 guys breathing on my Neck, 1 flew passed me but I held the other lad off until the line came..delighted to get my first race out of the way and bar a slight niggle to my hamstring, injury free, Met Mossym at the end - he had a great race- well done Mossym . 2nd run was 15.41mins last race it was 16.13mins so faster overall in all 3 sections compared to 2 years ago.
overall 73rd/169 17th in agegroup

Full result : 56mins46secs- nearly 2mins faster than 2years ago.
43rd/169 and 8th in agegroup. not a bad day I suppose

viperlogic

Great report Trig1. Certainly was a nasty day. I didn't stop shaking from the cold until after the second cup of tea!

joey100

Well done Trig, looks like that easy running might be working for you!

Trig1

Mon 23rd Feb: Day off-
Tue 24th Feb: Sufferfest fight club.. 5 min warm up. 1x 6 min tempo. 4x 6.30 mins as 4min TT 2.30mins climbing with pushes. 3mins light between sets. 5min cool down .good fast tough session. RPE 8/10
Wed 25th Feb: 100mins high cadence turbo with 2x5mins at max, mostly light spinning session - Rpe 4/10
Thurs 26th Feb: tough 14k run up keeper hill- aim for this was simple- don't walk- very very slow jogging at stages but achieved by aim- 14k ran at 5.51mins/km-avg- found this very tough on the body, rpe 8/10, nearly 1500ft climbed in the first 7k!! https://www.strava.com/activities/260054818
Fri 27th Feb: just a light 80mins spinning on the turbo as recovery after yesterdays run and trying to get the legs ready for 2 races at the weekend- Saturday- my first ever real A4 cycle race- Michael Sheils road race in broadforb, Sunday- Banner duathlon.

Trig1

Sat 28th Feb. my first ever road race... 4x14km laps with around 80 cyclists involved...started off fast but settled down pretty early, a loop of 3k fast with tailwind followed by 6k slow into headwind then 5k fast with more tailwind, to be honest the race was pretty uneventful and somewhat frustrating and pedestrian. There was a few breaks but none really stuck due to the 6k of a headwind. I was getting annoyed by lap3 so I broke away myself into the headwind :rolleyes: probably not the brightest thing to do. Another guy broke with me so we stayed away for a few km's but with the wind and 80 guys in a pelothon we were never gonna stay away so with the group catching us we eased off for the last lap. last lap was fast but nothing hectic, sprint for the line was again frustrating as you had probably 50 guys sprinting on a narrow road for the line (how no one fell I don't know), I got pretty boxed in so couldn't give it welly! but I reckon I came somewhere around top 20. 2 lads from the club finished 2nd and 6th so good result overall for the club. next road race will probably be visit Nenagh classic- with a few hills I don't see this one coming down to a sprint finish! race stats: after 9k warm up did 57.5km race in 1hr32.52mins at 37.2kph. https://www.strava.com/activities/260911380

Trig1

Sunday 1st mar: Legs were still pretty fresh after yesterdays race so was looking forward to this race, there was also a junior section of this race and it was to be my 12yr olds first dip into duathlons, he was doing a 2.5k run/8k cycle and 1.5k run and he was really looking forward to it, on the menu for myself was 4.5k run/ 21k cycle/2.5k run and the conditions were horrible, wind hail and rain throughout the race.. myself and the young lad got up early, had a good breakfast of Weetabix and brown bread and jam, got our bikes and our helmets and our gear ready and packed up into the car (note the very proud daddy):). And off we went out to Shannon, conditions again were horrible, we registered, set up our bikes in transition, I went through everything with him about how to transition properly, it was funny seeing how nervous he was, met the brother as he was racing too (oh the wife,kids,mam,dad,sister and nephews and nieces were all arriving today to support the young lad racing). My race was kicking off at 11am and his was at 12.30am.
After race briefing we were called to the start, there was a lot of reluctant people heading to the start line as the heavens had also just opened and it was hailstoning down on us.
Run 1: First run went well, I felt strong and felt I was running well, passing out a few that are usually faster than me is a good sign at this stage in the season, the bro was out of sight of course after around 2k but I was racing my own race, took ages to warm up as it was miserable out, was not looking forward to the bike, finished the run without any issues..
run: 18:23mins 35th/90 4.05mins/km for 4.5k
cycle: transition was a bit hairy, nearly slipped in the wet getting on the bike so decided on the slow approach. started passing people straight away, was feeling good and getting into my rhythym when the chain came off in a going down a downhill section and heading into an uphill section, not only did I lose all my momentum but when I got off the bike to fix the chain it was completely wedged, took a good minute to try get it unstuck and back on the cassette, by the time I got going again I reckon I lost at least 2minutes and I had to start from a dead stop into the hill, head kinda dropped a bit here for awhile as I was also passed out by a few people, I started to get going again and passed out the few that passed me, once we got to the turnaround I was still well down the field but with a tailwind for the return journey I powered as much as I could and picked off another few people, conditions at this stage were getting dangerous, going down the last hill there was a massive side wind blowing bikes all over the road, this combined with the constant hailstones and my legs and hands were totally numb, a pretty miserable cycle capped off by the brother beating me by nearly 2mins on the bike.
Bike: 36.57mins for the 21k, 15th/90 34.1kph.
Run2: The second run was absolutely miserable, My legs were so cold starting off that I couldn't even feel them, the only good thing about this run is that no one passed me out (which is probably a first) but I didn't pass anyone out either, got a big cheer from the extended family when I ran passed them.
Run2: 2.5k in 10.51mins at 4.20mins/km 30th/90
overall result: 1hr7mins44secs and 20th/90
the bro came 8th overall (he came 3rd last year) so must have been a pretty decent field, reckon may have come top 15 if I had no mechanical on the bike but who knows....
The young lad had his race at 12.30- conditions got a bit better for this thank god as I was very nervous for him especially on the bike, I have to say I was so proud of him, he also came 20th overall from 30 competitors but he loved every minute of the race and had a smile the whole way round




Sorry for all the pics but I think this is why I love duathlon/triathlons, every single kid racing got their name mentioned coming towards the finish line and got a big cheer. Well done Go Tri on running a fantastic event! pity about the conditions. Oh! the amount of food laid on by the club at the end was nothing less than a banquet. I'll be back next year! (we'll be back next year :cool:)

MojoMaker

Great to see the young lad getting involved - has he caught the bug now?

That's gonna start costing you

catweazle

I am surprised daddy let him out in that wind catching hoodie

Trig1

Mon 2nd mar:-day off
Tue 3rd mar- just a handy 6k run at 4.54mins/km
Wed 4th mar- sufferfest revolver- warm up then 16x 1min flat out 1min light, cadence 100+- good hard session.
Thurs 5th Mar- starting my wind down for Keeper challenge race at weekend- light 6k run at 5.05mins/km
Fri 6th Mar - light 1hr spinning on turbo, threw in 5x 1min flat out 1min light- all set for race day Saturday- one of my top 3 events of the year.. Keeper challenge adventure race- 32k bike over keeper hill, 19k run from base of hill to the summit and back followed by 6k cycle back to finish line in Newport- my best result for this race was 2013 when I came 17th in time of 3hrs6mins- well prepared this year so aiming for top 10 and sub 3hrs.

Sat 7th March- Keeper challenge-
My pre race plan was to get in the leading bunch on the bike and test the waters- If I felt the bunch wasn't very strong I would try and break away so I had a little time when I came to "the wall" at 17k gone, If I felt they were strong I would stay with them and hope to get over "the wall" without falling off the bike and having to push it over the climb.
I had a good nutrition plan which I was gonna stick to religiously- got up the morning of the race- brought my runners up to transition, registered nice and early and went back home (perks of the race being on your doorstep) took a squeezy amino acid tab followed by a squeezy carbo fuel drink, cup of coffee and 2 brown bread and jam sandwiches, packed the bike into the car and off I went to the start- bike ready, gear checked, - 2 squeezy caffeine gels for bike and 2 resealable sachets (3 gels per sachet) of squeezy water gels for the run. 10 mins before the race I took my first gel- squeezy tomato gel (horrible) - basically taste like tomato puree but packed full of electrolytes. forced it into me - got onto the bike and just rolled down to the start- chatted with a few lads and before we knew it we were off..
Cycle 1- 32km stage with 1500ft of climbing in the first 17km.. went off at a hectic pace and before we knew it I was struggling to stay with a group of 6 riders, looked behind me and within the first 3-4km the 7 of us had broken away from the rest of the 70 competitors, I struggled for awhile until I got my second wind and then started feeling a bit more comfortable, there was some very strong cyclists in the group so I knew I wouldn't be breaking away from anyone today., the first 10k of this cycle is a long drag all the way from Newport to the keeper hill turn off, once we got to the turn off the road flattened out a bit but basically turned into a back road with grass up the middle of it and loads of pot holes. 7 of us were still away on our own from 2 cyclists a little further back, there was no one else really in sight. I was feeling it in the legs at this stage and I knew we were coming close to "the wall" , I did not want to lose contact with the leading group at this section!!!
We got to "the wall" and I used every gear on my 28 teeth rear cassette but the 6 cyclist started slowly going away from me on the climb, I was pushing the gears as hard as I could, I was standing up on them and my legs were screaming at me but eventually the bike ground to a halt and within around 50m of the top of the climb I came off the bike again for the 3rd year running on this event! just to add insult to injury the 2 cyclists that were further behind also passed me out on this 50m stretch. I tried to run a bit with the bike just to get over the last few metres- once I got over the wall I hopped back on the bike again and started pushing as hard as I could to try catch the group again, I soon passed the 2 stragglers but unfortunately never regained contact with the leading bunch of 6. To make matters worse- once we got over the climb we faced a bruising headwind for the 15km back to transition. I took my first gel here with around 40mins gone in the race, I kept pushing hard hoping that around the next turn I would catch a glimpse of the group but I saw nothing until a long straight within 4kms of the transition where I saw a cyclist ahead, I drove again, (in hindsight killing the legs but I didn't care) before I knew it I was in transition and there was 1 guy in there still trying to get his runners on. I took another big swig of my gel before dismounting. did the 32km in 1hr6mins-32kph average
Run... A grueling 19km run from the very base of keeper hill to the summit and back to base- 700metres of climbing in the 9.5k to the summit.
I don't know what was keeping the guy in transition but I dismounted- got the helmet off, running shoes on and off I went, a few mates were there to tell me that I was 6th at the moment- same position I was in 2 years ago after the cycle until 11 passed me in the run, I was determined not to let this happen this time, my aim was not to walk the first 7.5k- just keep running!!!!!! I was resigned to the fact that I would definitely have to walk the last 2k to the summit as it was pretty steep . so I set off at a nice rythym with my gels in my jersey. I was expecting the legs to feel like lead but they felt remarkably ok. I also expected the slow guy in transition to catch me fast but he was just going further and further back, after 2-3kms I was feeling good, legs were feeling good and I was growing in confidence with every step as at this stage the last time I raced this run I was already walking, after a call of nature I looked behind me and as far as I could see there was no one in sight and I was still coming 6th , I kept plodding along and the km's kept ticking by, I kept sipping on my gels and I was feeling good!! at around 6km gone I was still running and really shocking myself and enjoying myself but I looked around to see 2 guys closing me down fast, the 2 passed by quickly, 1 kept going fast but the other slowed quickly once he passed me out, I caught up with him and started running stride for stride with him, once we got to the turn for the last 2km to the summit I was still feeling good and believing in myself, I was still coming 9th at least, amazingly I did not walk any of the last 2k- shockingly I was still running and sipping on my gels, the guy I was with was struggling now so I gave him a gel which he was delighted with, just before the summit another whippet passed us both out which put myself and himself into 9th and 10th position but I didn't care-soon later we saw the leaders coming towards us and we were not that far behind them- I was thrilled with myself that I ran the whole way to the summit without stopping, now there was only the matter of the 9.5km run back to transition and the 6k cycle back to Newport...
we started descending together but soon he was making ground on me, he was a better descender, I thought to myself if I just keep him in sight I'm a better biker and I'll pass him in the last 6km, the km's were ticking by again and no one else was passing me and I was still delighted with how I was doing until I suppose the inevitable happened with about 3kms to go, I looked around and there was 1 guy flying down the hill towards me, he passed me quickly and within a minute also passed the other guy around 150m ahead of me, this left me in 11th position which I wasn't happy with, so with around 2k to go in the run I started digging deep and found a little more pace from somewhere, with around 1km to go I turned a corner to see the guy I ascended to the summit with walking, I felt like cheering, I ran passed him and gave him some encouragement telling him there was only 5mins of running left but he said he was done for and he couldn't run, I was delighted but couldn't show it. I now had the fast whippet as a target, he was now nearly 300metre ahead but I knew if I kept him in sight I would have him in the last 6k bike...I got back to transition delighted with my run performance- and I just saw 2 guys heading off on the bike- 1 the whippet and the other was 1 of the group of 7 cyclists from the start of the race so I now had 2 targets..I also looked at my watch and saw 2hrs45mins on it- I knew I could now break 3hrs!!!!! my run was 1hr39mins for the 19km- 5.13mins/km

6k cycle home- into fierce headwind..
I said to myself 9th place is mine today and I tore off- I couldn't see anyone up the road but the road was very winding and with 3km of the finish I turned a corner and there was the whippet struggling into the headwind- I tore past him like he was standing still, I was now coming 9th and I was flying it and I was beaming- I was hoping to catch the other guy too but I never saw him- I flew cross the finish line in 2hrs55mins50secs
beating my previous P.B. for the course by 11mins and coming in top 10- 9th overall... and to be honest I have never been so happy with a race in my life, everything went perfect, I felt really strong throughout and my nutritional plan was perfect thanks to my mate (a squeezy rep). And I was only passed out by 3 people in total all day- not a bad days work eh!

shotgunmcos

Your best race report too! Really enjoyed the read and was willing you on! Your biking prowess coming through nd if not for the top of the wall it would have been perfectly executed. Delighted you broke 3hrs as I know how tough this event is ad thats a leap. Serious progress on the run too, well done!

I hope to be fit for this next year. Great race IMO

griffin100

Great race report!! Well done.

BennyMul

Savage sir, fair play

mossym

well done trig. the guy who won it works same place as us, and from talking to him could be the guy you saw struggling with shoes, he mentioned he came in with a group and they were all gone before he was even off the bike

great race though

Trig1

Since Keeper challenge-quick update.
Well took the 2 days off after Keeper challenge as the body was in bits, woke up the Tuesday morning as sick as a small hospital and was sick for the bones of the rest of the week...no training done until the monday 16th March...bodies way of telling me it needed a break I suppose.

16th Mar- 3hrs easy turbo to get back into the swing of things.
17th Mar- day spent at the parades and minding the kids whilst the wife caught my illness- so an unwelcome rest day.
18th Mar- Beautiful day for a cycle so got out on the tt bike for a go at my 48.5k tt route... felt good for most of the cycle and very nearly beat my p.b. for the route- Hit 10k in 15.40mins- 38.3kph, hot the next 10k at 16.45mins- 35.8kph for this one- but did a nice 20k split in 32.25mins, did the next 10k in 16.59mins- speed-35.3kph and did the full 30k in 49.25mins, hot 40k in 1hr6mins50secs- that 10k was a little slower at 34.4kph- starting feeling it in the legs for the last 8.5k but got the next 5k done at 35.8kph - still going good until I hit the last 3.5k- the drag home killed me again- did the last 3.5k at 30kph- ....
Full stats for the spin was 48.77k in 1hr22.50mins avg pace of 35.5kph and avg pace of 1.42mins/km- felt good for this time of the season.
19th Mar- 2hrs on the turbo with a set of 4x5mins at race pace- felt good
20th Mar- longish run - 13k in 1hr2mins10secs- 4.48mins/km- felt fine during run but hips and hamstring very sore now.

shotgunmcos

Trig1 wrote: »

16th Mar- 3hrs easy turbo to get back into the swing of things.
.

Love this :eek::rolleyes::cool::pac:

Trig1

22nd March- day off- recovery
23rd March- light 8k run 5.04mins/km - felt easy
24th march- Sufferfest- Angels- 6.30mins warm up, 10mins over and under threshold intervals and then into the main body of 3x8mins climbing - low cadence big gear with sprints with 4mins recovery between sets- really good hard session and a whole world of pain, 1hr5mins in total
25th march- Recorded a load of cycling races off Eurosport so today was the last 60k of stage 3 of the tour of Catalunya- 80mins in total- very tough with first 20mins at a tough tempo, next 40mins were all climbing with pushes every time Contador went, then 20mins high cadence downhill spinning followed by a sprint for the line against Pozzovivo , pipped on the line:mad:, really enjoyed this session , around 40k cycled in the 80mins.
26th march- Big turbo session planned today- Milan-SanRemo Monument last 90k- planned around 2.5hrs of hard turbo, had 2 gels with me for the journey. I honestly think this was probably the hardest turbo session I've ever done, matched cadence from the very start and within 15mins the sweat was pouring off me- did Hard tempo when Peleton was in view at 95+ cadence, pushed at cadence 100+ when breakaway group was in view, did a hard low cadence on the climbs at around 80 - stood on the pedals when racers were standing at cadence 70 in hardest gear, and on the decents got the cadence to 110+, this was a fantastic session and left everything out there, took a gel at 1hr15mins and 1hr45mins, pool of sweat on the floor when I finished but felt good for the whole session. 2hrs20mins in total for around 70k.
27th march- planned a run at lunch time in work but never got the opportunity as up the walls all day.

Trig1

28th Mar... Plan today was a long 16k run to make up for yesterdays missed session, a light 16k in training for great Limerick run half marathon. set off at a nice tempo hitting 5.05mins/km for the first 3k until disaster happened 300m later- strained my left calf, stopped instantly but damage was done- hobbled home and immediately on foam roller...this used to happen a lot but hasn't happened in months- loads of foam rolling for the next 2 weeks and no running for at least 2 weeks :(. gonna be hard to get all my sessions in now also with a busy work schedule and not being able to run !

29th mar... Busy at work- no session, also calf very tender so rest only today.

30th mar... Calf seemed ok on the turbo so what better may to test it than 2hrs on turbo watching E3 Harelbeke - 17 hills trying to match cadence and resistance- calf was fine on turbo. 2hrs turbo in total

31st mar... Another 2hrs turbo - last 30k of Gent-Wellengum for the first hour then WTS Auckland for the next hour- another tough turbo and another 2hrs done.

1st Apr... A rare swim 2k in U.L. as just 2k straight- 40 lengths non stop of the 50m pool- felt nice and relaxed - 44.30mins for the 2k

2nd/3rd Apr... Unfortunately 2 days missed

4th Apr... 103k cycle with nenagh cc racers- good session with 2x40min hard rolling over session and a few hills thrown in at the end- wrecked after it 103km in 3hrs21mins at avg speed 30.7kph
https://www.strava.com/activities/278939750

Trig1

5th Apr... missed day
6th Apr... missed day
7th Apr... slow 5k just to check status of calf- no too bad 5k at 5.31mins/km
8th Apr... another missed day as up the walls in work
9th Apr... progressive 6.5k run further checking calf... splits were... 4.59/ 5.02/ 4.47/ 4.35/ 4.24/ 5.22(wind down)- felt good again.
10 Apr... Short window for cycle- 37k into headwind at 30kph
11 Apr... Long horrible cycle with lashing hailstones and loads of hills.. went with the nenagh cc group this morn and the plan was to do the visit Nenagh classic A3 route- (113km), the group split early(after around 30k) into racers and leisure cyclists, think I was the only A4 in the racing group with a few A3's and A2's - there was 8 of us in total and pace was pretty tough, after a few hills I was really feeling the pinch and was struggling to stay with the lads, after chapel hill I was dropped and didn't see them again, I continued to try push at my own pace - got a little lost and got pelted by hailstones - 3hrs20mins and 91km's later I made my way back to the car soaked and cold to the bone. did the 91k in a miserable 27.6kph https://www.strava.com/activities/283138094

12 Apr....Silver Pail GP Fermoy A4 race- 60km
After yesterdays spin I had no motivation to do this today, especially when I woke up in the morning to see the rain and wind outside but I dragged myself slowly out of my bed, got the bike into the car and off I went down to Fermoy, 2hrs later I was warming up on the circuit with 2 club members, it was freezing , I had full gloves, 4 tops, leggings and boots on and I was still cold, race was to be 3 20k laps, there was close to 100 riders in our race, the A1's/A2's when off first, then the A3's and then us, from the start the pace was pretty pedestrian so I went straight to the front to try liven it up and to get position for the first bend and hill, I drove up the first hill but we had a pretty stiff headwind so once a few took over I settled back in the bunch for awhile, pace I have to say was pretty pedestrian and annoying at around 34kph, toward the end of the first lap unfortunately one of my team members chain broke so we were down to 2 from the club in the race, the second lap again had no drama and was again pretty pedestrian, on the 3rd lap I decided I had enough on the slow speed to I went to the front again to try bring up the pace, another few lads had the same idea and a couple of us worked at bringing up the pace, group started to string out a little as more pace was being injected, with still around 8k to go the pace was really heating up and it was getting dangerous as everyone was fighting for position, I still found the pace very manageable here and it was annoying me that it was not like this for the whole race, with a few 100m to go I felt like I was positioned ok (big learning curve for me) people started to go for the line but I still waited tucked in behind a big guy- in probably 30th position at this stage, with around 100m to go I went and started passing out guys easily but unfortunately the line came too soon and I crossed in roughly 20th position, again as I said this is a big learning curve for me, I was not positioned well enough for the sprint and when I did go I went to late.. few things to remember for visit nenagh next weekend (if I manage to get over the hills with the leaders:o)
https://www.strava.com/activities/283908156

mossym

nice report there trig, gave a nice idea what the race was like


best of luck at the weekend, forecast is looking good so might bring the family down to nenagh for the day, will give you a roar of encouragement/abuse depending on how you are doing....

BennyMul

+1 on the report. a good read and ride considering you had 0 motivation,

Good luck Sunday
make sure you stay as close to the front as you can, easier to respond to any attacks, there is less chasing out of corners when ....s let the wheels go, and you can save energy on climbs as you slowly drift back through the peleton,

mossym

are you doing boru tri? they've changed the course significantly. lengthened the bike(can sense you rubbing your hands already), but it's a faster run too:)

Trig1

mossym wrote: »

are you doing boru tri? they've changed the course significantly. lengthened the bike(can sense you rubbing your hands already), but it's a faster run too:)

Oh I'll be there! when is it on?

mossym

June 13th. 2 weeks ahead of Kilkee. Not as good value as your own club's race though

Solobally8

Fair play to you last night. I saw you were right out the front of your bunch coming up to the roundabout. Terrible crash in the scratch group

Trig1

13th Apr... day off
14th Apr... afternoon- light 5k run in the sun at 5.05mins/km
evening- Limerick cc summer league race 1. after a quick 6k warm up I arrived to the start to see around 50 cyclists already there, decided I would go in the second group tonight as it was my first night back, there was such a large crowd they decided to have 4 groups so I went in 3rd group instead- we had around 15 cyclists in our group. the first group went off with a 6min gap to the 2nd group, they had a 2min gap on us and we had a further 4mins to the scratch group. We started off very fast and to be honest I struggled with the pace for the first few km's until I got my second wind, settled nicely then and before I knew it there was only myself and 3 others sharing the rolling over at the front of the group with around 10 passengers, pace was very fast for the whole race and I found it to be a great workout, we also held off the scratch group for the full duration of the race which was a good achievement.
Average speed for the 36k race was 42kph
15th Apr... Long run planned today to really check out calf and see will I be able to do the GLR Half marathon in a few weeks, 16k planned, unfortunately got 13.5k done before the calf went again, but got a nice 13.5k done at 5.07mins/km
16th Apr... Nenagh cc Summer league race 2.
After the calf issue last night and with Visit Nenagh classic on sunday my plan was to take it easy tonight and go in the middle group again, arrived at the start to see 60+ cyclists waiting, so 3 groups were going- a massive front group of 25+ went off with 6 mins on the second group, when I was 20+ going off in the second group too I felt guilty for leaving such a small group in the scratch group so myself along with another went back to the scratch group, the massive 2nd group went off with 3 mins on us- we had around 13 in our group so we knew it was going to be very difficult to catch any group tonight, but try we did, we went off very hard with everyone sharing the work, once we got to the ramp after birdhill(goes on for around 5k) I sat at the back for awhile holding on for dear life but as soon as we got over it I started rolling over again and pushed hard, we caught a good few guys that had been dropped from their groups and our group had lost a few too, at the turnaround we saw that the first group still had a Big advantage and the second group still probably had a minute on us, so once we turned around the roundabout we drove really hard to try catch the 2 groups, with around 5k to go the second group had around 200m on us and we were pushing at 60+kph for these few kms but never really caught them, the sprinters in our group managed to pass out some from the second group in the sprint finish but the first group were all home at this stage, felt great about the race and really starting to feel good on the bike... averaged a very fast 43.2kph for the 36k race- average watts according to strava was 384- not sure what that means?? , after a 20k warm up and 10k cool down- around 66k cycled in total
17th Apr- start of my winding down for my biggest bike race of the year on Sunday- Visit Nenagh classic- just did a nice light cycle with the young lad- 52.3k in total at 25kph
18th Apr- After giving the bike a good cleaning today for tomorrows race I just took it for a quick 22k spin to ensure everything was working smoothly, and I have to say the bike felt good and I was raring to go and looking forwards to tomorrows race!!

Trig1

might be a long one...80k race
So My nutrition plan for the race was to be the same as Keeper Challenge- carbo load Saturday and sunday morn before race, squeezy tomato(electrolyte gel) gel before race and 3 gels for race, my race plan was to try drive pace hard and make it an honest race with some Nenagh cc clubmates as the pace at Fermoy last week was ridiculous. I Knew I was going to suffer on the hills so I was hoping to position myself at the front of the bunch for the 2 KOM's (hills) during the race so at least when I was falling back I would hopefully still be in the middle of the pack by the end of the hills. After these hills if I was still in contention anything could happen!
So I arrived at the Hotel for registration around 9.30am after a feed of banana sandwiched and coffee, took my time getting my bike together, giving it a once over to ensure everything was ok, got into my gear around 10.15 and met with a few club mates for warm up and discuss tactics- there was 6 of us racing in the A4 race, I spoke with a few of the strong lads and we agreed to drive it from the start to see what happened, there was a rolling neutral start from the Abbey hotel to the first roundabout- there was what looked like 150+ racers in the A4 race, it was a great spectacle to see and we got loads of encouragement from spectators as we started the race.
Immediately myself and 2 other Nenagh cc lads started rolling over at the front of the pelethon and with a slight tailwind we were able to keep a hot pace of 40+kph for probably the first 20k

Pic of myself and the other 2 Nenagh lads sharing the work at the front...

After 20k we started to come into Ballina on a few bendy roads- few other guys started pushing towards the front here so we let them, as far as we were concerned our first job was done, the pace of the race was now at a good honest tempo with no big bunches, once we came back to birdhill and back on the N7 towards Nenagh again we were going up a slight Drag and had a bit of a headwind so the pace dropped considerably, I started getting annoyed with this again so immediately went back to the front to drive it again, once we took the turn off for silvermines the pace immediately ramped up as we were on a descent here and a bendy road for a few kms, I still felt really good and very much in control, I took my first gel as I knew we would be coming towards the Dolla climb soon 6k of a climb and our first KOM.
A few kms before Dolla we had a couple of Kms of long drags to negotiate- this is where I initially thought my race was over- I fell back into the comfort of the pack for a few kms of these drags when disaster happened- a bad crash right in front of me with 6 riders sprawled along the ground- how I didn't come down I have no idea- I slammed on the breaks expecting riders to smash into the back of me but it never happened- I was unfortunately at a complete standstill and had to negotiate my way around the carnage and then try and chase back on going up a slight hill- I really killed myself here to try get back to the bunch , the legs were in agony and I was now extremely nervous about going up Dolla as the legs were spent and we still had around 40k to go, thankfully we had a few km's of downhill before the climb so I just free wheeled in the bunch to let the legs recover, with around 500m to the turn for Dolla I negotiated my way back to the front of the bunch- exactly where I wanted to be for the first climb.


Immediately once we started climbing I started feeling it in the legs and I slowly started dropping back through the field but after a km or 2 either the gel kicked in or the gradient leveled out a bit but the legs started working again and I was actually passing a few guys out again and holding my own, I was riding now in pain but comfortably in the middle of the pack- before I knew it I just passed the sign saying End of KOM and coming into templederry- thank god for that, we were just about to start descending when I felt something jiggling at the end of my finger , I looked down to see my wedding ring jiggling at my nail about to fall off my finger WTF????:eek::eek::eek:, my first instinct was to reach for it with my other hand but thankfully I didn't do that as I would definitely have fallen, I clenched my fist straight away and thankfully caught the ring- I maneuvered the ring back onto the finger and back underneath my cycling glove- crisis averted whew!! imagine trying to explain that to the wife, I lost a bit more ground here trying the get the ring back on my finger so I had to chase back on again but thankfully it was a downhill section for a few kms so chasing back on was easy enough, we were heading into the last 1/4 of the race soon enough and with the bunch after been wittled down by the Dolla climb I was glad to still be feeling good and I still had my 3 Nenagh cc mates around me also doing well. I took my next Gel here as we were already nearing our next KOM race- the Golden Mile- the 4 of us had already discussed tactics for this climb - this is a climb up a dirt road that you can basically only fit 4 cyclists abreast on so we wanted to be the lead 4 cyclist going into this climb and this we were. Again this climb hit me hard but thankfully it was only a mile long, I fell back again on this but again only into the middle of the bunch so by the time we were descending the other side I was still comfortably in the pack. Once we descended I thought that was the end of our climbing until we got onto the main road at grennenstown and faced into another short stabby climb- I lost contact with the bunch here as I was not positioned for the climb and I now thought my race was over as the legs were in bits but thankfully it was only a short climb with a nice few kms and descending afterwards to give me time to catch back on and recover. I recovered well just as we were coming into toomevara and I took my last gel here and started feeling good again, I knew at this stage we had only 15k left- a nice flat road and a slight tailwind- exactly what I love, so with still my 3 team mates around me we started really upping the pace, the group was down now to maybe 40 riders but they were dropping fast as the pace was being maintained at 55+kph for this section, 2 guys had managed to break away and were a bit up the road so a chase was now also on, I looked around me to make sure the other Nenagh cc lads were there but unfortunately one had lost contact, a few minutes later another suffered a puncture, we were within 5k now and I was still at the front of the pack, pack was down to around 30 riders and we had 1 guy maybe 100m ahead of us , I started making moves now and saying to people to drive it as we were running out of road, I roared to a guy to my left to get out of my way and let me out as he had me boxed in- he must have though I was possessed but I felt strong and wanted to go hard, he let me out and I went to the front of the pack and immediately brought the pace up to 60+kph, before I knew it the Abbey court hotel was insight- that bloody rider was still up the road- he had this race won! so it was now between 20+ of us for 2nd place, as soon as we passed the Abbey hotel there was a sign saying Finish 500m- I knew there was a left turn into the finish so I started winding it up for the left turn and as soon as we were around it I went for the line- there was a good few ahead of me at this stage but I pushed as hard as I could and crossed the line totally spent but delighted after giving it everything and finishing in the leading bunch

Me in the black and white to the right of the pic.
I was hoping for a top 10 finish, found out later I had placed 8th and got into the points for my first time. Wife and kids were at the finish line but never saw me crossing :rolleyes:, suppose I was going too fast for them;), did my last km at 66kph :eek:. delighted with my overall performance in the race and I think tactically I got everything right, the other lad from nenagh cc finished around 15th, it was a good honest race with a very fast pace- average pace for the 79.5k was 38+kph - strava says I did the race at 300watts average. found out after I went home that I was also in the prizes and I missed a photo-op oh well, anyway onwards and upwards from here- I can see a lot more bike races in the future!!

Solobally8

Excellent report and result. Well done Trig!

mossym

well done trig, super result, nice to see the work being rewarded

Trig1 wrote: »

average watts according to strava was 384- not sure what that means?? ,

not a lot unfortunately. strava uses your weight and speed to guess at what power you must have bene pushing to get you there based on other riders over the same course. it doesn't count that you might have been struggling against a wind, or had a savage tailwind, jsut weight and power

in your case, the fact that you were rolling over in a group isn't counted,so it;s assuming you were on your own pushing that speed for the whole time. meaning it's high .

i;d imagine you;re putting out some big numbers though, you'll have to get a PM