The difficult second album

joey100

Was thinking something like that alright Mossy, I'm grand on gradual descents or wide open ones, just when it's narrow and steep I struggle a bit with confidence. Something to work on though, and shouldn't be a problem on any more races this season, know the roads in Dublin city and Skerries and have done Caroline Kearney before, so time to work on it.

RJM85

I wrote a much longer and more eloquent post a second ago but it didn't post. I can't be ar$ed doing it again. Bullet points:

1. Well done.
2. Cyclocross

Dory Dory

Congrats, Joey! Super day, especially your fantastic run! I have to ask - what was it like to get your arm tangled up in the net during the swim? Obviously you're a confident and polished swimmer, but would a weaker swimmer have panicked?

joey100

Cheers Dory, Was a strange feeling, I had just sighted coming up to the buoy and thought 'there's a net on that, don't get too close' and I managed to get too close. Felt it on my arm before I completed the stroke so knew it had happened. Luckily wasn't too busy with people around me so was able to get it out ok. I'm definitely not the best swimmer around but I am very comfortable in the water, years spent kayaking down grade 4 and 5 water has seen to this. Swam a few times down rivers like that before too so a flat triathlon swim never seems too bad. Was only after the race when I thought about the swim and remembered what had happened that I realised it might have been dangerous, never really thought about it during the swim, was just something that happened, bit like getting a kick off someone beside you in the water.

joey100

Right quick catch up, Monday was a rest day and the legs were still feeling the race on Sat, seems to be more from the run than the cycle but a nice day off. Tuesday got home from work all set to head out on the bike on the Skerries tri course to find someone had tried to break into the house. Downstairs window was cracked and window frame in pieces. Spent the evening waiting on the Gard's and trying to get the window sorted. Finally got it done but too late to head out then and to be honest wasn't in the form for it either.

Wed 10th June

So had the day off work so missed my morning swim. Had to wait on builders and window company to come out in the morning. Got out for a short 45 min easy run, legs were still a bit tired, pace a bit out from usual but only about 5 seconds a kilometre. Put this down to bad nights sleep and the stress of the last day or two. Evening got out for an easy cycle, Laura came with me so the pace was kept nice and easy. Cycled the Skerries tri route, think it might be a route that suits me, not as flat as it looks on the profile with some decent drags along it as well as nice open descents where I know the road. Looking forward to Saturdays race now, hopefully the legs be up for it!

MojoMaker

Sorry to hear that Joe, nothing is safe anymore. Hope the TT bike is locked away somewhere safe inside the house at least - you don't know who's watching. I can strongly recommend sash locks for the windows - €15 for a pair for each window, and deadbolts into the ground for the rear door / patio door - just adds to the general perception that your place is 'minded'. Obviously a second beefy deadlock on the front door is virtually essential these days.

See you on Sat.

Steroo

What is the bike route joey for skerries!? Thanks

joey100

Steroo, It's on the golf course road, heading the lusk direction, out that road for around 3km, then a left turn and around 1.5km to a turn around then it's back to the lusk-skerries road where you turn right and drop down towards Skerries, under the railway bridge and through the housing estate on the right back towards the golf club for lap 2. It's got a few steep little hills as well as some drags, fast towards the turnaroud and then again on the SKerries road towards the railway bridge. Think they have a map in the race briefing, if you know the area you probably have been on some of the roads. Generally decent surfaces and only narrow around the golf course area. If your doing the race keep an eye out, I'll be the small lad with the tattoos in the activ multisport gear.

joey100

so rest of the week was a bit all over the place training wise, not as much done as I wanted but was feeling decent for the race on Saturday.

Skerries Tri

Only seen this race the weekend before and knew a lot of the roads so decided I'd enter. Only down the road from the house and the weather forecast was good. Lacking a bit of the sharpness I had in Camlough but was feeling good going into the race. Down nice and early and walked through Transition a few times to figure out my spot and try not to forget it!

Swim approx. 15 mins

All times are approx. from the watch, timing company is having some problems so most of the splits aren't available. Sea didn't look too bad from the shore, got some advice from a few locals about where to aim for. When we got down to the shore though and at actual sea level there was a decent swell and it was pretty windy. Positioned well enough at the start and got a decent start. Swell was bigger than expected and made sighting pretty difficult, tried to follow feet as best I could and rely on them a bit. Again like last week the benefits of being able to breathe on both sides where there, I could breath every 2 on my left going out so I wasn't breathing into the waves. Turnaround from 1st to 2nd buoy wasn't too bad, bit hard to see the buoy but began passing others out. 2nd to 3rd buoy there was a current washing you down the beach, had been warned about this so aimed higher up than I needed and got out feeling decent. I'd say this is the toughest swim I've ever done and the only time, so far, I've had to stop in the water to have a look for the buoy. Time was slow but judging off others who I know it was a decent time.

T1 (No time)

No time for this, but it was long. Only because of the run from the swim to T1, probably about 2/3 mins of running and then getting through Transition. Bit of a fumble with the helmet clasp but nothing major.

Bike (approx. 33.30)

Again a bit of an estimated time. Garmin has a time but that's from when I start moving the bike out of T1 and stopped back in T2. Knew the course so knew not to push too hard at the start. Began passing people early on and the legs felt good, not fresh but strong enough. No one passed me on the bike and made it stick, few back and forwards with a few guys but made up some time here. Even managed to hit over 61kmph on one of the downhill sections. NP was around 235 for the race, aiming for around 240 so not too bad. Pleased with how I held the power, better than my usual spiking and paced it well. Knew early on though that my heart rate monitor wasn't picking up and had no reading for it. Not too bad on the bike but would come into play on the run.

T2 (No time)

Nothing major, feet into shoes no problem and out running.

Run 19.02

Usually run by a combination of pace and heart rate. No heart rate today so was going to be pace and effort. Made up a place or 2 in T2 and passed one or 2 straight away on the run. Settled in behind another lad for a few hundred metres before I passed him and tried to push on. The course was a very gradual climb out to the turnaround with a wind in our faces. Time a bit slower than I would have liked going out but picked it up coming back in. The lad I passed early on stuck with me for most of the way, didn't feel like I would have much of a sprint in my legs so pushed on a bit from around 2.5km in, this worked and I put a good bit of space between us. Last 400m was around a rugby pitch and the pace slowed a bit.

Overall 1.12.01 5th Place

time is slower than my last 2 sprints but this was an accurate course with pretty long transitions. Pleased with the time and position. The lads who beat me where a fair bit ahead and I managed to put a bit of time into the lads behind me. Beat some lads who beat me in Laois and Carlow and beat some lads who last season where beating me by a min or two over this distance. Most pleased with how hard I pushed it between the bike and the run. Still trying to find the balance between how hard I can go on the bike and still run well off it and I think this race had a decent balance. Not the fastest run course with the rugby pitches at the end but was still below 19 min pace for the 5km. Don't think I was ever as wrecked as I was at the end of this race, took a min or two of lying on the ground before I could get up. So altogether a good race, one or two small mistakes but made no difference to my position.

Sunday 14th June

Nice 2hour very very easy cycle. Laura headed out with me for this spin and although it was probably a bit slower than I would have liked it stopped me from pushing too much. Nice easy spin with some climbing thrown in and felt good on the bike. Never pushed too much.

Plan for this week is an unstructured week. Bit of a break between the two halves of my season. Now is all about getting ready for Dublin City. Nice easy week this week before I start back into training.

Steroo

joey100 wrote: »

Steroo, It's on the golf course road, heading the lusk direction, out that road for around 3km, then a left turn and around 1.5km to a turn around then it's back to the lusk-skerries road where you turn right and drop down towards Skerries, under the railway bridge and through the housing estate on the right back towards the golf club for lap 2. It's got a few steep little hills as well as some drags, fast towards the turnaroud and then again on the SKerries road towards the railway bridge. Think they have a map in the race briefing, if you know the area you probably have been on some of the roads. Generally decent surfaces and only narrow around the golf course area. If your doing the race keep an eye out, I'll be the small lad with the tattoos in the activ multisport gear.

only seeing this now Joey. I should have had my eye out to say hello I had plenty of time to kill to. YOu did very well in those conditions fair play!

mossym

well done joey. save running too. work off the bike definitely paying off

joey100

So into an unstructured week, bit of a break mid season before I get back into it. Last night was just and easy run, about 2km up a hill and then 2km down the hill. Bit of a run around a pier and the beaches around it, nothing fast or hard. No garmin, heart rate monitor or any info, just out running. Nice evening for it too.

joey100

Nice cycle after work. Lovely evening so home from work and straight out the door. Still getting used to where I live so went exploring, altogether around 50km done in an hour and a half. Plenty of climbing too. Probably didn't keep it as easy as I should have, going to have to cover the speed section on my garmin, get too caught up in keeping the speed high.

MojoMaker

Take it off altogether maybe - or you still want to collect and use the data?

RJM85

Garmin in the jersey pocket.

I'm also currently enjoying an unstructured week. It's lovely.

joey100

Unstructured weeks are strange, the last weeks have both been building to races so have been easy enough, this sort of feels like another one of them. Been keeping it similar to what I would normally do, I fall out of habits very easily so trying to keep it going! Apart from the swimming, have been enjoying the not as early mornings, and that's probably the one I need to keep going the most.

I'll cover up some of the garmin screen, no harm in seeing power and time, just to make sure I'm keeping it in the easy zones. The info can be useful afterwards so no harm in recording, just don't need to see it when I'm out.

RJM85

It helps that I wasn't fit for much till today. So far I'm enjoying the bit of free time when I want it.

joey100

So last week was a nice relaxed unstructured week, no real swimming, bit of a splash around but that was it. Little bit of running but was mainly some cycling. Nothing fast or hard just out around the local hills. So back into it this week, was at a wedding on Saturday so Mondays early morning swim was moved to today, was too tired on Monday morning.

Mon 22nd June

Evening run. 30 mins easy. Legs felt good and for the first 2 km I was moving well. Heart rate climbed a bit after this so pace had to be pulled back. Average pace around 4.40 and heart rate fairly controlled. Not as fast or steady as I have been but to be expected after 2 weeks prepping for races and 1 week unstructured. Legs were grand after and was glad to be back training.

Tues 23rd June

First time proper swimming outside of races in too long. Bit of a warm up then into main set of 10 X 100m alt easy/fast. Easy came in around 1.37 with fast between 1.28-1.31. Surprised to see me going under the 1.30, been a while since I have and didn't feel like I was moving well at all. Felt messy in the water and was gasping a bit, speed still there and stamina will come back.

This Thursday I have my first FTP test since I got back from Honeymoon in April. Looking forward to seeing if I have gotten stronger, feel like I have but we will see on Thursday, hoping the weather stays nice so I can move the turbo outside, not sure how long I would last on the turbo in the spare room in this heat.

Other thing I have been thinking about the last while with the announcement of Challenge Galway is going long. not going to be for a while yet, definitely not next season but I like to be prepared and the conversations have already started at home about what will be involved and the time commitment. Austria might be a runner, would have to be somewhere warm and would help if I could sell it as a holiday after.

pgibbo

Barcelona - Calella is a good race and a lovely spot - nice beaches, restaurants, etc. It would be a good spot to holiday after.

tunney

Frankfurt. Is in Germany. (seriously though Frankfurt is a sh1t hole, great race but don't even think if for holidays) Roth could be nice for holidays too.

pointer28

I know nothing but Kalmar in Sweden looks beautiful.

mossym

pointer28 wrote: »

I know nothing but Kalmar in Sweden looks beautiful.

reporting this so a couple of the mods here have to read it

(nothing wrong with your post, private joke with the mods )

RJM85

I'm in a similar position (although I haven't mentioned it at home yet). Interested to see what you decide! The time commitment involved, especially to do yourself justice seems daunting.

tunney

RJM85 wrote: »

I'm in a similar position (although I haven't mentioned it at home yet). Interested to see what you decide! The time commitment involved, especially to do yourself justice seems daunting.

Its not THAT bad *assuming* you know what you are doing and haven't decided to do on in Year 1/2/3

joey100

Some good suggestions there folks, keep them coming! The other thing I would like is for it to be fast, when I do one, I'm not doing it to get around. I want to do a decent time so would help if it was good road surfaces and usually a fast course. I'm not picky at all, just want somewhere I can have a holiday in after, is fast, good roads, good weather and isn't too much of a pain to get too, not too much to ask for is it?!

RJM85

tunney wrote: »

Its not THAT bad *assuming* you know what you are doing and haven't decided to do on in Year 1/2/3

Next year would be year 3 of tri, and I'd be following coaches orders if I were to do one. I'm basing the 'daunting' on how shattered I am after bigger weeks of HIM training.

zico10

I'd pick a hilly route, if I were you. You might not get as fast a time as you would on a pancake flat course, but it'd suit someone of your physique over a course like Barcelona, where pacelines/peletons won't be broken up. Beasts on the bike have a huge advantage over you on these types of courses.
I'd suggest Wales, but you probably wouldn't be able to sell it as a holiday destination.

mossym

obvious one for me if you're not looking for flat, and want a holiday, is Lanza. race is right out of PDC.

joey100

I'd pick a hilly route, if I were you. You might not get as fast a time as you would on a pancake flat course, but it'd suit someone of your physique over a course like Barcelona, where pacelines/peletons won't be broken up. Beasts on the bike have a huge advantage over you on these types of courses.
I'd suggest Wales, but you probably wouldn't be able to sell it as a holiday destination

I get what your saying Zico and it was something I had thought of. I'm not too worried about my overall position, Kona isn't going to happen so overall position not a huge priority. Obviously it would be nice to do well but this time round I'm more interested in time, but that might change over the next while.

hf4z6sqo7vjngi

I would suggest Barcelona, cracking spot, done the half and full there and its a fast enough course if the wind along the coast is being kind.

I have not raced Lanza but have biked and ran most of the course, i think you would like it and the climbs would suit you.