Putting down the spoon

catweazle

Ended up not being a bad week training wise. I got a swim in every morning, concentrated on endurance sets of 400ms swims off 8 minutes. While just making them for the first 3 days I increased the distance from 2000 to 2500 to 3000. I decided to put in a bit of descending 100ms on Thursday which was 5 x 108 off 2.15 then 2.10/ 2.05 and 2.00. Was really struggling towards the end of the 2.00s till a muscle head jumped in beside me and started racing me, fair play to him I wouldn't have held it only for him. Friday was back to 400ms sets and i was delighted to see I was coming in at 7.20s so coming back to my pre holidays level at least

Runs 3 so far this week, a slow 5k recovery run on Monday, 8k @ 4.34 pace Tuesday and 10k @4.50 pace Thursday. Hoping to get 15k in tomorrow

Bike 20k on Wednesday and 45k today

Not the worst taper so far, I usually hate them as I can feel the weight coming on but have been pretty disciplined since I came back from holidays. No wine is my saviour while I might only have one glass a night over the weekend these days but as soon as I have a sniff of it I am cutting crackers and cheese and peanuts.

So hovering between 73/74 kgs which is as good as I have been in years, I have passed the wife's threshold level and she is worrying about my weight. It's a pain in the arse while admittedly I look at pictures some of my clothes are hanging off me and I see my face has gone very thin but the gut is still there. I must have lost all the weight off my jowls. Problem with clothes is I get them as Xmas pressies and I usually have a fine winter coat on me then, none of them fit during the summer

Mother in law is driving me nuts worrying about what I will be like for IM France next year. Skinny, I look sick, clothes are hanging off me comments - I laugh as her daughter in law is well overweight yet she wouldn't dream of saying anything to her face, fatties get off easy. My own mother is great, she remembers me back in my early GAA days when I was fit and I was around 11 stone then so plenty more to lose in her eyes.

Anyways a glimpse of some of the greyhounds down in Kenmare as they fly by them should shut them up. Eugene have you any Faris two pieces for the big day!

BTH

catweazle wrote: »

Eugene have you any Faris two pieces for the big day!

You thinking of trying a new clothing set up? I'm sure Sean could oblige somehow.

When you travelling down? We're going Thursday evening and only the two of us in the car if you want us to bring down anything, like your bike? I know you're travelling with a big support crew.

Dory Dory

Happy birthday cw!!!! So, do you go up an age bracket for the weekend?? :)

pgibbo

happy birthday you old fart :rolleyes:

sconhome

Welcome to the Old Man club!! Glad to have a bit of company around these parts!

catweazle

BTH wrote: »

You thinking of trying a new clothing set up? I'm sure Sean could oblige somehow.

When you travelling down? We're going Thursday evening and only the two of us in the car if you want us to bring down anything, like your bike? I know you're travelling with a big support crew.

Good man I will leave the 2 year old in amphibian king with Sean and you can pick him up on the way :P

Going Thursday morning I might take you up on the bike, yes I am stuck with the parents and one of the kids in my car, I brought the pussywagon over to the bike shop to put on the 39 (thanks Benny) and rather than take out the baby seats I threw it in the boot, didn't realize till I heard a bang closing it that the aero bars were sticking out. Will have a closer look at getting it in this evening, hopefully it will fit

catweazle

AKWI am only in the 40-45 age grade now not the 50-55 age grade

Thanks all wasn't much of a birthday, the wife had got her dates mixed up and had a pile of her girly friends over for dinner. I told her not to bother cancelling, plenty of eye candy for me and I wasn't doing anything till Saturday anyways.

As hoped did very well financially and am wondering can I just leave the France expenditure on the credit card without being noticed and blow it on a powermeter. Ah I better not, would be a waste of money on me anyways

pgibbo

If you can get power then do IMO. I'd imagine it would be invaluable in Nice!!! I might sell mine if you're serious. Let me know.

mossym

pgibbo wrote: »

If you can get power then do IMO. I'd imagine it would be invaluable in Nice!!! I might sell mine if you're serious. Let me know.

upgrading?

pgibbo

mossym wrote: »

upgrading?

retiring.....apparently I'm too old for this lark :pac:

sconhome

pgibbo wrote: »

retiring.....apparently I'm too old for this lark :pac:

What do old triathletes do when they retire?



Take up Adventure Racing

mossym

nice meeting you at the weekend. how did you find the race? you looked pretty comfortable on the run, by that point i was hurting enough i didn't even spot you till i heard the greeting...

i trust you enjoyed the rest of the weekend too..:)

catweazle

mossym wrote: »

nice meeting you at the weekend. how did you find the race? you looked pretty comfortable on the run, by that point i was hurting enough i didn't even spot you till i heard the greeting...

i trust you enjoyed the rest of the weekend too..:)

Ha too many people say that to me when they see me - I need to put on more of a pained expression - Trig has it down to a tee, I haven't seen as much pain and suffering since I watched the Passion of the Christ on dvd when I saw him run past.

I was going very well at that stage - I had just hassled Trig and BTH before you came along but the wheels came badly off towards the end I am afraid.

I enjoyed the weekend - but would have liked to have catched up with a few more heads after the meal that night, dragged the in laws into the The Wander Inn after the meal but was swiftly suggested I should find somewhere a bit quieter

Trig1

catweazle wrote: »

Ha too many people say that to me when they see me - I need to put on more of a pained expression - Trig has it down to a tee, I haven't seen as much pain and suffering since I watched the Passion of the Christ on dvd when I saw him run past.

I was going very well at that stage - I had just hassled Trig and BTH before you came along but the wheels came badly off towards the end I am afraid.

I enjoyed the weekend - but would have liked to have catched up with a few more heads after the meal that night, dragged the in laws into the The Wander Inn after the meal but was swiftly suggested I should find somewhere a bit quieter

Ha ha . Yes I suffered big time in that run. Was that you in the white tri suit shouting at me " I'm coming for you trig? "

catweazle

Well as per usual the wheels came totally off the taper this week, 1 swim and 1 run was all I got in. The usual work overload before a few days off basically scuppered me during the week and a large extended family screwed me when I got down to Kenmare.

I was hard fought to even get 10 minutes friday evening before I headed to register to make sure the new gears were working. I knew there was a bike mechanic at registration so any problems and it was being handed over to him. All seemed to be fine in the 200ms up and down the road in the pissing rain so left it at that.

The night before involved slipping away from the pub after two glasses of wine and then eventually telling my mother to feck off to bed at all hours as I was on the sofabed, she never sleeps

The Lost Sheep:

I got down to registration to see BTH and Izoard deep in discussion on transition exit strategies. My first time down here and I was impressed with the set up of a narrow row of bikes as far as the eye could see but couldn't see how I wasn't getting screwed with my bike rack being at the very bottom. Said hello to the school friend, bastard has signed up to IM Sweden I was hoping he would do Nice with me.

I was dreading this race yesterday, but I was a little more relaxed that morning with the weather so good, a nice race briefing that took all of 20 seconds which is the way I like it. Give some of these race directors a megaphone and you would think it is was an Oscar acceptance speech

Off we went, all year I have been concerned about my endurance I have been getting plenty of swims in but only short ones for the most part so unlike what I should do I decided I would go out easy and pick it up later if I feel ok. Lovely swim starting off, very little bumping and the nerves went away soon enough, got into a reasonably good rhythm and just kept it going.

The rhythm more or less stayed the same the whole way through with perhaps a little more glide on the way back into the pier, particularly as I could feel the usual build up of cramps starting to develop, saw one or two jellyfish and hit a few clumps of seaweed smack in the face but I kept turning over.

Into transition and no idea of how I did as I don't bother with the Garmin but was happy enough when I got a hello from BTH who was combing his hair just up from me. Either I did ok or he did ****e I thought.

A pgibbo like transition of nearly 5 and a 1/2 minutes (I decided at the last minute to dig a long sleeved top and a pair of bib shorts out of the bag and put them on, cold hands and stuffing nutrigrains and gels into pockets aren't suited)

Swim 33:30 (105/305)

Cycle:

I got away on the bike and it wasn't long before the school friend pulled up beside me for our usual chat, hes a better biker than me so I knew I couldn't afford to lose too much time to him so I stuck close to him. A good bit of drafting at this stage but there was a lot of congestion at this stage. It thinned out after the first climb and I didn't see much after that.

Hard to know how I was going, there is a lot of climbing on this course with two big ones. I decided after the first climb which is a short enough one I was going well, the new gearing made this comfortable and I like descending so I bombed it down the other side

Healy pass next which was the big 8k climb, again between the extra teeth on the gears and plenty of practice on hills in Portugal I was able to start overtaking a few that were around me and put in some metres into the School friend. The odd quick glance towards the top and the scenery was stunning, the last few 100ms there is a real kick up of 12-14% so the only time I was out of the saddle all day to get over that.

I nearly came off on the 2nd switchback and was ****less the rest of the way down and got taught a lesson from the school friend in descending.

The next while was uneventful enough, rolling and a slight headwind is no good for my mental state and I was beginning to find it tough and struggling to stay down on the aero bars.

Next up was the Caha pass and immediately I started overtaking people again. I was getting tired towards the top but I had a good rhythm going and just kept grinding away. I was surprised towards the top when I looked back and all the guys that I started up it with were dropped - including no sign of the School friend :cool:

The only downside was that my average speed had dropped and I thought the sub 3 hour cycle that I had hoped for had gone. Little did I realize that for the rest of the way back to transition I was going to hold 39kph for near 20k. A great descent and a nice tailwind on the flat and I flew home, I got caught behind some considerate driver who was crawling coming into transition and decided to sit up and freewheel in rather than risk a penalty by taking him on the inside. I could have kissed the Pussywagon after dismounting - this was a tough cycle that usually would have gone pear-shaped for me so finally a bike ride that I was satisfied with

Cycle 2.55.20 (177/305)

Run:

I was looking forward to this - i was feeling great after the bike and thought I could put a good run in. Started out well and the first k came in in the 4.20's. Calm down Cat I will blow very quickly at that pace, I settled and the 2nd and 3rd were at planned pace at 5:00 pace. I had a few cramp niggles and a full blown one came on the back of the leg, I pulled up like I was shot and nearly 3 minutes later I was off again. I was well pissed but it did seem like it was gone at least. Got a hello off Charles Maltha the leader as he went by, I was shocked usually you get the thousand yard stare off the top guys when you give them encouragment but I didn't even say hello to this guy - fair play to him he must have been very comfortable and enjoying himself.

It turned into a strange run at this stage, I started to push it a little into the 4:50s to make back a little time but I started to feel the pinch at around 7/8k, I was finding the course very hard, no steep climbs but it was very up and down and the hills were sapping my legs. At the 10k aid station I took my time had a few drinks and then snuck a slash just up from it.

It must have been the coke but I got a rush of blood to my head at 13k and decided I was feeling strong again and started going back into the 4:40s for a few kms, this was fine for a while but it all unravelled round the 16/17k mark. I saw a lad walking up a decent hill in front of me so I powered up it and could feel the energy stream out of me towards the top. I got up it but I was fruitcaked and the next hill I started to contemplate walking it, made it up that one too but the mind gave in at the next and I ran up it till I turned the corner and the guy behind me couldn't see me and then I walked. This was the death nell for me, walk once and it gets easier to justify it again and again so most hills after that were walked. I was paying the price for being greedy now and I had nothing left, last 2k or so were reasonably downhill so minded the cramps and was able to coast home

I could see the young lad primed and ready to run in with me towards the finish, a quick look behind me and no-one close so was able to trot in with him

Run 1:54:41 (147/305)

Overall: 5.33.40 (155/305)

Overall very happy with bike and swim but disappointed with the run, I should be able to do better than that. Although I have done plenty of 20k runs this year, I think a few more closer to 25k would have helped, the tank was gone at 17k. My thoughts during it was how the hell was I going to run 26 miles next year

Besides that, loved the race, lived up to its reputation and Kenmare itself was a great spot. Although I might not bring the extended family the next time, the bar every night before the race wasn't the best prep.

So that's it for the year (all 2 races) so with a few 40ths coming up perhaps a week or two off but no more - base training awaits!

pgibbo

Good man CW. Not too shabby at all :cool:

Roll on Nice!

Dory Dory

Well done cw!!! And I had to wonder when I saw your transition times (that were very reminiscient of pgibbo's ) if there's something in the water out west. You know, a sub 5:30 could have been yours if you hadn't taken so long to powder your nose and no doubt had a bit of a chit chat. Solid swim, solid bike....and to be honest, the run wasn't all that bad looking at your time and how you came in compared to others. And as usual, your report was pure classic cw entertainment! !!!!

pgibbo

What did you get for your 40th CW? Please don't say Nice!!!!!! :rolleyes:

catweazle

Dory Dory wrote: »

Well done cw!!! And I had to wonder when I saw your transition times (that were very reminiscient of pgibbo's ) if there's something in the water out west. You know, a sub 5:30 could have been yours if you hadn't taken so long to powder your nose and no doubt had a bit of a chit chat. Solid swim, solid bike....and to be honest, the run wasn't all that bad looking at your time and how you came in compared to others. And as usual, your report was pure classic cw entertainment! !!!!

The first transition was admittedly super slow however the 2nd one was average enough I would guess - the set up down there is one row of bikes snaking right down to the bottom of the pier, so its very long. I don't think this cost me too much time in the long run - going down the descents I was very very glad of the long sleeve top and I didn't have the usual barse issues down below. Sub 5:30 would have been mine if I had trained a little harder perhaps in the lead up to it

Very hard to know - it was still a pb in all three disciplines compared to any of my Swinford attempts, however it is silly to compare courses particularly when Swinford was 90k of a cycle (admittedly much easier)

pgibbo wrote: »

What did you get for your 40th CW? Please don't say Nice!!!!!! :rolleyes:

Worse - Kenmare! Race entry and accommodation was on Mrs C

Patrick and Anna bought me a pair of Compression pants (how did they know)

I paid for Nice out of my own pocket however with family coming in on top of that I should have all bases covered financially with a few bob left over for Mrs C's holiday spending fund

A nice Exteondo gilet is also winging its way over to me as we speak as a private and very secret present from myself

Izoard

Great stuff, cw - how were the old skool S80s, coming off the Caha Pass?

A slip of a lad like yourself, should have been struggling with the cross-wind...

All the best for Nice and happy 40th!

catweazle

Izoard wrote: »

Great stuff, cw - how were the old skool S80s, coming off the Caha Pass?

A slip of a lad like yourself, should have been struggling with the cross-wind...

All the best for Nice and happy 40th!

A long time since someone caled me a slip of a lad

No didn't notice any issues with the S80s a small buffeting every now and then but none that had me worried, the only thing that gave me a fright going down the Caha was going through that tunnel with shades on, I couldn't see a thing and was just praying there was no pot hole in my path

Dory Dory

catweazle wrote: »

the only thing that gave me a fright going down the Caha was going through that tunnel with shades on, I couldn't see a thing and was just praying there was no pot hole in my path

Agreed!!!! Scary as sh*t!!! :eek::eek::eek: