Crutch to 5k and beyond

Dory Dory

The very best of luck to you! Looking forward to your report.

68 lost souls

Thanks Dory. I'll do a full race report hopefully tomorrow. In brief though was very happy with the day. Was slowed down at the start by slow swimmers all around me but was only 1 minute off my ideal swim time and then beat both my bike and run times. I'll hold off on timings until the full race report

68 lost souls

Race Report
Dublin City Triathlon
Sunday August 25th 2013

Race day breakfast was a bowl of Crunchy Nut and lots of fluids. Was up at 6.30 which for me is pretty much a miracle. Loaded the car and off I went.

Transition was open from 7-8.30 and was very well organised. Had a bike and helmet check going in and all the racks were evenly spread out with our race numbers and names on them so no fighting for a space and everyone had the same amount of space. Decided I shouldn't try getting the shoes on while already clipped in so I left them beside the bike for this race. The transition was on grass so could run without falling with the cleats on.

My wave wasn't until 10.40 so I had plenty of time to soak up the atmosphere which was great and watched all the other waves head off. The olympic distance swimmers was inspirational to watch, especially wave 1 with some top class triathletes like Mr. Noble, Rory Sexton, Kevin Thornton and Bryan McCrystal. THose guys are seriously fast.

The race brief had a very strong emphasis the effort to stamp out drafting with 80 marshalls on the course as well as motorbike marshalls watching for drafting and recording race numbers, if the race number was noted more than once there would penalties depentant on the number of times recorded.

Ok 15 minutes to my wave so ate an energy bar and got the wetsuit on. Into the water and a little warm up back and forth swimming. I was really unsure where to place myself in the water and went towards the middle of the pack; a bad idea. When the hooter went I set off for my usual pace and bang straight into traffic. Had to literally doggy paddle for 50 meters or so until I got space to use proper strokes and another 100m or so before I got start having space and even think above overtaking. Once I go into space I was off and really liked the format of the swim. Having the booms down the middle of the swim meant I could site them and not have to adjust my breathing. I could tell I was speeding up because the first few hundred while in traffic I was breathing every 2nd stroke and once I got up to my normal pace it was 3 strokes. Around the buoy safely and felt the little current there was there speeding me up a bit. Out of the water in 13:02, damn those 2 seconds. Very happy with that swim, was not far of my 12 minutes that I know I am capable of.

Slow enough transition of 3:04 into the shoes with no socks, sunglasses on, helmet on, shorts over the speedos and off I went.

Cycle had a tough start around the bend and up the hills, didn't expect it to go well after this start. Then got around the turnaround at chesterfield avenue and it turned around got a great push going on and picked up the pace. A lot of fun on this section of the course. Started overtaking a lot of people and was gaining confidence. The main thing I was watching out for was as I was closing down on people was to get past them so I wouldnt be mistaken for drafting. At one point the course narrowed though as I was overtaking and another faster racer had to get past me and got frsutrated a bit. I can understand but was not my fault, I was overtaking and the person on my left drifted right so pushed me out wide and I got past as fast as I could and back into the left. Second lap was a lot of fun and I was feeling great. Fast finish and ran out of gears a few times. Speant alot of time getting tucked into the aero position using the TT bars including cornering so was happy I was confident enough for that. Total bike time 36:12 delighted with that.

T2 was slow again at 2:18.

FInally the run, was feeling tight on my calfs and went out slow enough so I didnt burn out. The hill into the park again was a struggle and walked some but then heard people cheering and that kept me goung. Everytime I slowed down I heard a crowd and kept goung. I stopped twice to stretch out my calves as I didnt want to pull anything. Kept the pace up and jogged the majority of it. I was worried about the cross country section but it was actually very well prepared and nice running through it. THe reception at the finish was great and kept me going. Run time was 25:23.

Total race time 1:19:58 well under the 1:30 expected time and really enjoyed the ice cream, massage and refreshments at the finish line. All in all a great race! Very well organised and very well attended and supported crowd. Looking forward to doing the Olympic next year!

c07

Fantastic result. You've every right to be well chuffed with your time!
Well done..

Dory Dory

Fantastic job!! Congratulations on a solid performance.

68 lost souls

Thanks c07 and Dory. I hope I can get my full sprint time down to that soon.

Wednesday 26th August 2013

Today was the first day back to training since Sunday. Went out for a run and was feeling stiff still, as well as that my knee was acting up. I was diagnosed with a mild case of chondromalacia last year and it was playing up today which sucks. Pushed through anyway which we will see tomorrow if it was a good idea or not. Have some biofreeze on it at the moment and resting on the couch as I write this.

Run was ok, would have been happier with a faster pace but I did 2:30 at race pace followed by 1:30 walking and repeated that for 5k. That has me running for a minute more at a time than I had been and with less overall walking. I'll do this for a bit and then reduce the walking to 1 minute.


I was averaging 6 minutes a km which while isn't awful it's a long way off what I was doing 2 years ago at my peak of 6 minute miles.

I plan on hitting the bike tomorrow and then a pool swim on Friday.

68 lost souls

Well I got the bike in but not the swim. A bit lacking in training last week as I was away at a wedding. Got in a 2 short runs but no swimming or cycling. Didnt have the phone charged so not sure about times and that but been feeling drained the last while.

Got back on the bike today and cycled to work, felt awful on the way in, really stiff and slow. After work though was a different story. I was determined to make it up and kick my own ass for slacking lately and I beat my PB coming home from work by 8 minutes. Going to have to push it this week with two races coming up on the 21st and 28th.

68 lost souls

Training has been going well but still without internet at the moment so been really bad at updating my log I'm thinking about closing this one and starting again with a new winter training log now that the season is over?

Basicly did lots of running and some swimming with a bit of biking but not much before the 21st. Then sprint tri at Port Beach went really well. Dont have a race report written but swim went well, need a hiarcut before the next race to keep the hair out of my eyes and also need to remmeber to bring my goggles next time. Ooops! Luckily I was able to borrow a spare pair but they were clear and Im used to using tinted for for sighting and had to stop a few times to look up and get my bearings. Out of the water in 15:15 for 750m, right about my target time of 2minute 100s. Hoping next season to up it to at least 1:45 as I know I can swim that in the pool. Onto the bike and 20k in 42:47. Happy with that, thought I could have pushed it a bit harder in parts maybe but hadnt done enough biking leading up to the race. Finally my run which I suffered through, couldnt get my legs working off the bike so had to ease into it, then made it about 2k into and had to slow to a walk, tried to get the speed back up but was between walking and jogging for most of it. Knowing I had gotten my 5k down to 27 minutes in training I wanted to get sub 30 minutes on the run but 30:50 was the final time.

My transitions went really well this time around, getting better at them. It helped that there were only 50 or so bikes so a small tranisition. 1:35 and 1:06 so would like to get them sub 1 minute next season. Looking at my average paces I was doing 6:10 km on the run which is right around where a lot of my training has been up to now. Happy considering it is not too long since I considered walking the runs in this season. My bike averaged 27.6km/h which I am happy with, hopefully 30+ next season.

Overall time 1:31:33

I have knocked 15 minutes off my previous sprint distance time which I was very impressed with. Unfortunitly I missed getting a race ticket for the Naas pool tri so missed out and thus ended my season. Unto winter training!

Did a bit of recovery training the week after the race and ended up doing my longest run to date on Thursday a whopping 10km which is not a lot for most of you reading this but twice my furthest distance.

Ok so this week so far where am I?

Monday 30th September - Swim

2.6km in the pool. Started with several 100m sets to warm up and then 10 lengths kicking only, 20 lengths one arm only. Main set 10x8 lengths, 12 lengths cool down. Was trying to work on my technique and get my stroke right to conserve energy.

Tuesday 1st October - Run, Intervals

5 minute jog to warm up
10x 30seconds full on sprint, 1 minute walk back
5 minute jog to cool down
Stretch and small bit of yoga.

Winter training has been ramped up starting this week with training planned 5 nights a week with the club, going to try and take it seriously so I can have a great season next year and hopefully get in an Olympic early on.

I suffer severly from seasonal aided depression so I plan on battling it this year with training, as well as moving to a new town where I know no one and am quite lonely having left my family and other half I hope training with the club will keep me sane.

68 lost souls

Wednesday 2nd October

2 and a half hour gym session. First hour was stretching, circuit training and yoga. Second hour was spin and then bike and treadmill intervals. Was a tough session for me and looking at how my clubmates were going I can see I have a lot of room to improve but thats what it is all about.

Thursday 3rd October

Back in the pool for swimming. 100 lengths or so. Main set was done in 10 lengths wth legs only, one arm, one arm, cathcup and then swimming. Did that 8 times and worked on improving technique and tieing it all together.

Weekend; after a long week of working out every night I was feeling it. Took it handy over the weekend and did a good bit of non training related things and spent time catching up on things that needed doing. Going straight back into training Monday with a pool session.