A little knowledge is a dangerous thing

tunney

mossym wrote: »

Tuesday Spin
45 Mins easy. stretched it out a bit to get a loop in, but felt good, holding pace easily with little effort, hopefully that translates into something good on Saturday. met a couple of guys out on a tandem, practising for the paraolympics, was chatting to them for a while.

only downside was my nearest miss yet on the bike, passat estate cut across a bad bridge with a bend in the middle at full speed, missed me by a few inches. made no effort to avoid me after seeing me, which he could have done. was physically shaking for a while afterwards. on a careful watch-out for the car since.
29.3 in 57:35
http://www.strava.com/activities/157708024
Wednesday Morning Swim
1600m with some faster than rp 100's. not quite as well as Monday, but happy enough.

1600m in 33mins.

report to the traffic line for dangerous driving?

mossym

tunney wrote: »

report to the traffic line for dangerous driving?

that's why i'm trying to find it, pretty sure it is local. didn't catch the reg, but would recognise it again, the tinted windows were pretty distinct

mossym

warm up sessions last night. 30 minutes on the bike with 5*3 mins race pace. had started to rain here, and i was worried about the roads being slippy after the long dry spell, so i backed off big time on the descents but pushed when i could. thought as a result it would be slower than the same session pre killaloe tri two weeks ago on the same course, but strava tells me it was a bit faster. given teh slower descents i'll take that. legs felt strong, was moving well.
17km in 31 minutes
http://www.strava.com/activities/158089868

off hte bike and onto a 20 min run with 5*1 over race pace. run off the bike has felt really good for the last couple of weeks.

splits were
5 mins steady as 4:41
RP efforts as: 4:28, 3:55, 3:49, 4:35, 3:53 couple of slow ones were due to road crosses and a bit of a hill, but not like a hill was a bad idea pre kilkee and Dunlicky.
http://www.strava.com/activities/158089835/overview
easy 5 minutes to finish off.
4.5km in 20 minutes, 4:36/km average

Feeling good. Really starting to look forward to Saturday now. Lot of work put in to get to this point so at this stage there's not much more can be done so it's time to enjoy it. well, that and get into a world of hurt on Saturday:)


might be meeting up with a friend tonight for a movie so got the gear together last night. nothing like a relaxed couple of days before the race.

mossym

just out of curiosity, i did a quick comparison of 2013 to 2014

2013: Jan to June - 98 Hours of training




2014 Jan to June - 216 Hours of training




and that doesn't take into account changes in quality

mossym

Bit of housework before the race report

Friday morning hit the pool for the last warm up session. went well. Most of the crew working the pool, plus the early morning regulars knew i was doing this race so were a good few good wishes(pull buoy and fins tend to stick out among the early morning breast strokers)

1400m, 32 mins.

Was taking a half day from work, plan to be in Kilkee by 2.30 to get final bike and run warm up done, get showered, and head for registration. last minute had to go to a 1.30 meeting,so headed for kilkee at 3.Stop in Kilrush for supplies and got into Kilkee shortly after 4, where it was raining steadily.forecast was for it to clear, so decided to wait, registerat 5 when it opened, and then go do the sessions.

5 minutes later the rain stopped, so i decided to go do the sessions. Just as headed out on the bike it started again. Got the easy build and hte race pace efforts done,bike back in the car, and out for a run along the seafront, by which time the sun was out. half way through the run i passed the turn up dunlicky, nervous glance up it, looked steeper than it ever had before. was running really well though, felt like i was bouncing up the road, so took comfort that i was ready for it.
Bike, 10.8 in 20 minutes http://www.strava.com/activities/159230086
Run 3km in 13:14, http://www.strava.com/activities/159230067


back to the car, quick change, and off to registration. Was staying with a friend who has a mobile home in kilkee, he was racing in a relay as the swimmer. He was working at registration, so had a quick chat with him, went to the strand for some food, and went up to another friends mobile home for a chat. three of us headed down to meet a few others, all racing around 10.30 for a pint,well a couple of ballygowans for me. Lots of pre race talk, what was evident was the nerves everyone was feeling. My own were there as well, they had been building all week. In the back of my head i had a target that could be hit if the stars aligned, and was out of reach otherwise. this was more nervous than i have ever been for a race, including my first tri when i hadn't a clue what to expect. I knew what was out there this time, but i knew what was needed to hit what i wanted and there was a little fear i was reaching a bit too far.it wasn't far above what i thought was feasible, but enough to put quite a bit of doubt on it. time would tell.

Back to the mobile home, sleeping bag on the couch, and out like a light. well,except for the 3am trip to the head to drain the ballygowans:)

Next up: Race Day. This will be a long one

mossym

Race Report: Hell of the West 2014.

If you like brief outlines of races then feel free to skip this one. This log is as much for me as anyone else,so this is an effort to capture one of two "A" races for me for the year, and as a result, i can guarantee even starting to write it will not be short.

Woke up 6.30, threw on the trisuit, and left the mobile home. My friends, although racing, planned on getting up at 7.30/8 and arriving to transition just before close. I knew i wanted to get my warm up in, get racked, and be settled in loads of time. helps me to relax to have it done in loads of time.

Parked up near enough to transition, on the road where the bike legs go out. Had my breakfast, granola and yoghurt, banana, and a water. put the bike together, headed off on a warm up spin. Beautiful morning, legs felt good. Loads of cars heading into town with bikes on. Spin went well, legs felt good.

8.7km. http://www.strava.com/activities/159230060

Legs felt good. Nerves, on the other hand, didn't. Were all over the place. 6 months work focused on this. one go. all the early mornings in the pool, the bike sessions with teeth gritted, the hands on knees after run intervals. The biggest problem was a 2:24 in Joey Hannon, but with a 38km bike and an easy course, and a 2:38 in Cutra with a 44km bike and a tough course. Kilkee was cutra and more, but in Cutra i was sick. That had to cost a few minutes right? So 2.40 was my satisfied goal, 2:35 was my happy, and 2.30 was my "did i really just manage that" goal.

I'd actually have been better off if a gale was blowing, or there were 10 feet waves, i'd have written off 2.30 straight away. But the sea was flat, light wind from the east, and everything was lined up for a fast run at the course. Got back to the car, called my wife, she picked up on the nerves straight away. THe reassurances helped a bit, but as i wheeled the bike and my gear down to transition i had a ball in my stomach.

As usual though, as soon as i got into transition, started to feel the race buzz, met a few familiar faces, the ball disappeared, and a quite calm set in. Has happened me every time. Got the bike racked, headed off on a warm up run. Legs felt a little asleep, but that's normal too.

After getting back, realised i had left the HR strap in the car, so trotted back up for it. see, there is an advantage to racking early. No stress.

Met a few friends, trig1, bennymul were around, could sense the collective excitement. race brief came and went. Wave 1 headed for the beach, then it was our turn. Walked down the beach with a couple of friends, guys i cycle with, Into the water, few over and backs to warm up. Back to the start, had decided to start on the right, take the first buoy wide. Lined up on the right, near the front. This was wave 2, and i figured with most of the sharks gone in wave 1 i'd fight for a spot at the front of this one.

The Swim
Gun/shout went, and off we went. I;ve been in some chaotic starts, but this was something else. Carnage. Got one really decent heel to the head, enough to force the head out of the water with ringing ears. But kept going, and eventually it cleared. The other benefit of so many people is lots of drafts, and this was my best ever effort at using them. was on heels straight away, and was moving well.

the tide was going out, so i figured the run out to the first buoy would be really quick, the run across the bay okay, and then the run back in slow. however, it seemed to take forever to hit the first left turn. Took it wide, got on another set of heels, and stayed with them most of the way across, until they slowed too much, and i jumped to the buoy alone. got on another set of heels as we turned for shore. at one stage was on some heels, and had swimmers tucked in close on at either side. can't get more sheltered than that.

Lost those heels , and strayed a bit right, got a tap from the kayaker to stay left away from the reef, moved back a bit left, but still had to fight my way through weeds. Then it was a straight shot in to shore. Got shallow, onto my feet, legs felt solid, feeling good. Looked at watch, 28.xx. okay,as expected. that's okay, but hang on, that looked like a 3, not an 8. Another look . 23.xx. You've got to be kidding me. Fastest oly swim to date was 28 mins, and i just took 5 minutes off it. ran up the beach, surprised to see my family there as they weren't supposed to be down for a while, and was screaming at them that i had just done a 23 when this pic was taken.


Official time includes the run up the beach,

Swim: 24:34, 193rd overall, 40th in my age group . http://www.strava.com/activities/159230856

T1
Awful, leg got stuck in the wetsuit, paniced, couldn't get it out. Finally managed it, helmet on, grabbed the bike, ran 20m and realised race belt still on the bars stopped, got it on, and finally headed for the exit.

1:41, 545 overall, 111th in my age group.



The Bike
Got settled, feet into shoes, and headed up the hill. Decided to wait for the flat to take a gel, so focused on climbing well. started passing loads, and it became obviosthat drafting was going to be a huge issue. was passing packs of 3/4 all the way up to 10 or more. I'd pass a few indivduals, come up on a group, slow to try and find a way to legally overtake them as they were across the whole lane, and the people i had just overtaken would sail pass me again. awful

Did my best, avoided drafting as much as possible, but it was impossible to stick to the time limits for overtaking. I'd move out to pass a group, and one of them would move right, i;d be on their wheel screaming at them to move left, but someone would be on my wheel straight away and i couldn't drop back. It was awful.

Finally after the right turn back towards creegh it opened up a bit, and i started to make better time. anyone that passed me never got far away and i'd catch a bit up the road, and was passing loads. started to be a lot less after passing back through doonbeg on the way back, and i reasoned i had moved through most of wave 2, and the top guys from wave 1 were too far ahead, so i was in the lull in between.

Hats off to two ladies from pulse though, they were with me going up the hillout of kilkee, and as we descended back into kilkee we were still trading places, two mighty fine cyclists. well done

Back into town, shoes off, quick dismount at the line and back into transition

Bike 1:17:25, 203 overall, 52nd in my ag. 34.1km/hr avg http://www.strava.com/activities/159231775


T2
Long run with the bike, but got going pretty quick,

1:00, 322 overall, 54th in my ag

The run

Ah, the interesting bit, but for reasons that wouldn't transpire until the top of dunlicky. Headed out of t2. passed two girls handing out gels. shook my head no at them. this is important, remember this bit:)

At this stage, my brain was in overdrive. i finally allowed myself a look at the overall time on the watch. sub 1:45. That made it simple. average run pace quicker than 4:30 and i had a sub 2:30. with all the pace work i'd done my confidence i could hold this, even with Dunlicky hill, was solid. This was going to happen.

Headed off up the hill. Legs were complaining already. no worries, get to the top, cruise back down. Kept the effort steady, held 4:20 all the way up. strave put my climb up as the 7th fastest climb up that hill, although it's since moved up to 11th. given that includes previous years(and i knoew not everyone logs their times), but i'm taking it as a measure of the effort i put in.

got another km or so, met the leaders coming back down. Hey, that's not bad, i'm 2km into my run, they've that left after starting 10 minutes ahead of me. kept climbing. passed fazz, BTH, gave them a roar. keep climbing. Around this point, something in the back of my head finally made it past the wall of pain that was building. Something about a gel. and a vision of a gel still stuck to the frame of my bike.

For all my oly's, i've taken two gels. one on the way out on the bike, one as close to the dismount line as i can to see me through the run. except for today. in the midst of it all, i;d forgotten the second. and on a warm warm day, my body was starting to realise it. i could physically feel the energy levels dropping. the pain was rising too quickly. i'd nothing to fight it. the only thing i could do was keep the legs moving at the same pace, ignore the body's protests, and keep my eyes on the pace, watching for signs it was dropping.

Just keep it where it is. 4:21. That will do it. Just keep it there.


met trig1, a high 5 as we passed. that helped. postiivity helped(cheers trig). Finally made the top with sigh of relief, downhill now. except of course it's not downhill, loads of uphill drags. at this stage body was screaming, and i was struggling big time. Usually it's just mind against the pain. but here it was mind against pain and a body that had nothing left.

still 4:21, just keep it there.


Started meeting a few more on the way down. saluted those i recognised, but even focusing on anything other than keeping the legs moving was tough. bladder forced me to stop for a quick pee at the side of the road, i had to, but moving again straight away. got down to the water stop at 2.5km to home. decided to walk it for a few seconds to get water in, but i knew it was fuel i needed. got moving again. at this stage the pain was like nothing i had ever felt. mcos has mentioned getting farther into the pain cave before, i get it now. i'd hit far into the cave today. and a fair portion of it over a stupid gel. whatever the reason, it hurt, and hurt an awful lot

but, still 4:21, just keep it there.

and honestly, that's about the last thing i remember accurately from the race. from there on i was on pure autopilot. i made it down to the final turn, and down the stretch to the finish line. i remember bits and pieces, but not clearly. Hit the line, hit the watch stop button. i remember looking. 2:27 on my watch. i know i smiled.

time 43:42, 191st overall, 59th in my age group. 4:21 average pace(I kept it there )
http://www.strava.com/activities/159232878/overview

moved into the finish area. wasn't right on my feet, felt unsteady, faint, thinking back now i'm pretty sure i was not far off fainting . passed BTH who asked me how i got on, hardly understood him. headed into the tent, bottles of lucozade. i don't think a drink was ever more perfect in the history of time. Grabbed two. one downed in one go, the other followed.

almost immediately, started to feel better. Grabbed some cake, another lucozade. came around some more. got back to normal. looked at the watch to make sure i hadn't been dillusional. no. 2:27. figured the official time would be off a bit, but not enough to deny me my 2:30. job done. one very happy camper.

headed back out, met loads of people and shared the post race analysis. was buzzing. had hit my big target and passed it. finally got to answer BTH's question now that i could talk, met trig1, delighted with a sub 2:30 as well, but disappointed him a little with a slightly faster time than him. smaller gap than killaloe though, so the lost sheep may be his revenge.

enjoyed the buzz, but then headed off to meet the family. Results were posted shortly after.

Official time
2:28:24, 173rd overall. 48th in my AG.

Absolutely delighted. top 20%. Convinced the run would have been another minute faster at least if i'd taken the second gel. but that's nitpicking, and the truth is i hit my goal and then some. would rather have rememberd a bit more of the finish:), but again i won't sweat that


Most times would love to have stayed and swapped the stories with everyone. But, another triathlon forum baby on the way, wife is due in November, so thought it better to get her home. We spent some time on the beach,sent a quick message to Dave the coach, lot of effort on his part as well to get this done, then headed for home, a very happy mossym.

i said it would be a long one. a few final thoughts

HotW is a superb race, something a bit more special than most races you do in ireland. The atmosphere, the detail, the field it attracts. all top notch. i'd do it every time, even if only aiming to finish, just for the buzz.

The drafting is awful though, really awful.The groups i had to move through i reckon cost me a couple of minutes on the bike. apart from my own cost, a race this good does not deserve to have this issue. it has to be resolved.

Lastly, the triathlon crowd on here are a really top notch crew. great to meet you all at the race, and hope you enjoyed it as much as i did

mossym

rather amazingly, the guy in front of me in that pic is my neighbour across the roads brother. of 1300 people in the race, it was him ahead of me coming out of the water. something i never realised until i saw the pic today

Dory Dory

Very well done to you - brilliant day and brilliant report! You've worked incredibly hard...and you deserve the awesome result you got today. So happy for you! Congratulations!!!!

Pmaldini

great race report Mossym, super time, was hoping to bump into you after the race as I knew you were going to have a good one, you ran past me just before the turn and looked very strong, I was fading badly at that stage, myself and bennymul went straight into the sea after the race, really helped the legs recover, congrats also on the baby news

mossym

Pmaldini wrote: »

great race report Mossym, super time, was hoping to bump into you after the race as I knew you were going to have a good one, you ran past me just before the turn and looked very strong, I was fading badly at that stage, myself and bennymul went straight into the sea after the race, really helped the legs recover, congrats also on the baby news

cheers pmaldini, was keeping an eye out for you after the race but didn't spot you. never realised i passed you on the run either.

the ocean was a good idea, trig mentioned it when i met him in the finishing area, meant to do it but then managed to grab a shower at a friends place and only thought of it when i got back to the beach to meet the family. would have helped the legs yesterday morning i'm sure.

hope the race went well for you, couple others i know were using it in their IM build as well, the guy ahead of me in the pic above is Roth bound.

mossym

Dory Dory wrote: »

Very well done to you - brilliant day and brilliant report! You've worked incredibly hard...and you deserve the awesome result you got today. So happy for you! Congratulations!!!!

thanks Dory. lots of work alright, but the days like saturday make it worthwhile

Pmaldini

mossym wrote: »

cheers pmaldini, was keeping an eye out for you after the race but didn't spot you. never realised i passed you on the run either.

the ocean was a good idea, trig mentioned it when i met him in the finishing area, meant to do it but then managed to grab a shower at a friends place and only thought of it when i got back to the beach to meet the family. would have helped the legs yesterday morning i'm sure.

hope the race went well for you, couple others i know were using it in their IM build as well, the guy ahead of me in the pic above is Roth bound.

I was happy enough, 8 min PB, 2:42,was hoping for sub 2.40, thought id be a bit stronger on the bike with all the cycling recently, but wasn't, maybe it was falling back after each train came past me!!!!!:mad: but overall It was a good training day for IM, only 8 weeks to go:eek:

mossym

Pmaldini wrote: »

I was happy enough, 8 min PB, 2:42,was hoping for sub 2.40, thought id be a bit stronger on the bike with all the cycling recently, but wasn't, maybe it was falling back after each train came past me!!!!!:mad: but overall It was a good training day for IM, only 8 weeks to go:eek:

good stuff. The roth bound guy i mentioned was disgusted i passed him on the bike, he tried to stick with me and couldn't. started doubting his training, took a while to remind him he's been training for a 180km cycle, not a fast 45km.

best of luck with the last 8 weeks, must get a breakdown afterwards from you of how it went

Pmaldini

mossym wrote: »

good stuff. The roth bound guy i mentioned was disgusted i passed him on the bike, he tried to stick with me and couldn't. started doubting his training, took a while to remind him he's been training for a 180km cycle, not a fast 45km.

best of luck with the last 8 weeks, must get a breakdown afterwards from you of how it went

ill take comfort from that advice Mossym, maybe I am going in the right direction after all, even though I don't have a log on here I will most probably do a race report if I manage to make it to the finish line

BennyMul

Great result, its nice to see it when the training pays off.
Congrats again.

Trig1

Great result, great report and great news on baby!!! 40seconds! I'll get you in the lost sheep!! :D

mossym

Trig1 wrote: »

I'll get you in the lost sheep!! :D

Should suit your strength on the bike. Lets see how you're running in late August..:)

pointer28

Huge congratulations on both counts!

mossym

Good as Kilkee was, it's only part of the puzzle for the year. so Sunday was back to work, or at least doing something to get me back working. Easy 48 minute spin, only 22km. This was nothing more than a pedal around, never looked at pace or heartrate, and an email before hand from the coach had me reflecting on the year to date. i was around the loop and home before i knew it, lost in a deep train of though. Nice ride though

http://www.strava.com/activities/159977603

Monday Evening Run
The legs were still very tired, but an easy run might help. really slow, 5:24 pace, leisurely 8.1km in 43 minutes. Legs definitely still hurting, need to take it easy for a few more days.

http://www.strava.com/activities/160080567

mossym

Right, bit of a catch up to do

Tuesday:
Back out on the bike. 45km, meant to be easy, was mostly but the pace picked up a little towards the end, probably a bit harder than it should have been but felt okay so went with it
1:40, 45km, 26.8km/hr avg
http://www.strava.com/activities/160495786

Wednesday
2100m swim
200's and 100's with PB. one thing i've noticed, the gap between my times with and without pb is getting smaller. it was a big differerence, i'm still faster with the pb, just not as big a difference.

2100m in 42:23.


Luncthime run
8.5km easy in the heat, was very muggy, kept pace a little lower because of that, legs still not back after Kilkee, guess i took a lot out of them.
0:44, 8.5km, 5:09/km
http://www.strava.com/activities/162069957


Thursday Morning Turbo
some big gear work, i'm usually a spinner, cadence over 90 when pushing, so this is strange for me, although when i started out i spun a 70 to 80 cadence. did this early in the morning, no food/water. haven't done a lot of these but it went well.

20k in 50m, 5* bg intervals


Did this early in the morning as was supposed to be having a night out with the wife. that morning though, something clicked in my head, and for no reason i remembered our four year olds passport was out of date, and we're flying to lanzarote next wednesday. Queue a hectic night of form filling, photos, and visits to the garda station to get stuff stamped. friday morning had us heading to cork to the passport office first thing, ruling out the planned swim. got it taken care of(except i have to drive down to cork again in the morning to collect it), and afterwards the wife dropped me to killarney as i was doing the ROK on saturday

While there, got 6km at easy pace with some builds done through the park.
6.2km, 30 mins, 4:54 pace, legs starting to get some life back


Saturday -ROK
Second time doing this. Was doing it with the lads i cycle with(well sometimes, lot of my training has been solo this year), and some of them are struggling this year so this was going to be a slow 170km. Given the crowds not much choice anyway. stayed with the group all the way around, pushed it where possible, drove the hills, and a strong push on the road into kenmare. going up molls i dropped the rest, kicked it up a bit and climbed well up molls, then pushed mod hard for home, stopping a few km short of town to wait for them . Was happy with what was left in the legs given 6 hours in the saddle, even if it had been easy. got off the bike feeling great. would have had zero issue heading off on a run at that point, after 170km on the bike.

170km, slow 25.7km/hr, http://www.strava.com/activities/162070115/analysis


Sunday
Plan was for a bike, but was a little time constrained so swapped in an easy run, 9km done in 45min 4:58.min pace
http://www.strava.com/activities/162376146


festival was on in the village, and they have an OW swim race every year. Had never done it before surprisingly, so this year i headed down and did it. it's only 500/600m, so did it without the wetsuit. Was moving well, holding a nice pace, and was only doing it for fun, knew there was a couple drafting behind me, and when they went past i let them go. had enough to go after them, maybe should have as they bothh swam into the places. came over the line right behind them. enjoyed the swim, was nice to do it without the wetsuit, water was lovely, although i froze in the wind once i got out.

think the time was about 9 or 10 minutes for the swim, forgot to turn off the timer so strava time is long
http://www.strava.com/activities/162599236


This felt like a long week, body was tired by sunday night. tired legs climbing the stairs to bed.

Monday - Lost Sheep Recce
I'm off for the next twoo weeks, so took advantage and drove down to Kenmare, parked up, and took the tri bike for a spin over the lost sheep course. think i got one turn wrong which meant i did an extra climb which wasn't needed, but apaprt from that went well, i've done most of the course before about a year ago, so i knew what healy and caha were like. think i'll swap out the cassette on the deep wheels, was pushing a 39-25 today and i climbed steady enough, but as a spinner i think i can climb them better with a lower gear. will have a think about it

Given the legs were tired, i took a wrong turn with a climb i didn't need to do, and wasn't pushing too hard, was happy enough with 2:50. reckon i can take a bit off that on the day, lot depends on how i want the legs to be off the bike. those climbs take it out of you

78km in 2:50, 28km/hr
http://www.strava.com/activities/162896024

phew. up to date. run tomorrow then off on holiday. planning a good bit of swim mileage, some runs, and a lot of good food and beer, serious diet when i get back to get the weight down for lost sheep.

Pmaldini

Nice training week there Mossym, enjoy the hols and all that ow swimming oh and the beer of course:D

BTH

mossym wrote: »

think i'll swap out the cassette on the deep wheels, was pushing a 39-25 today and i climbed steady enough, but as a spinner i think i can climb them better with a lower gear. will have a think about it

Voice of some experience here.

I did the lost sheep in 2011. The end of my second season and my first season on a TT bike so I certainly wouldn't have called myself an experienced triathlete. Also a spinner, I have been known to average over 100 for a sprint tri. 54/42 up front, so I got a 27 cassette for Kenmare that year. Ended up not using the 27, not going higher than the 24, and thats on a 42. Theres no way you'll need more than a 25 with a 39. You'll push up those hills harder in a race than you will in training, and having a larger gear that you won't use means you probably wont have an 11 for the downhill.

Just my opinion.

mossym

cheer Eug

there is no issue on getting up with the 39/25, it was more a question of whether throwing a 27 would get me up that bit faster. that's useful feedback though, thanks for that. might stick with what i have. Will be at least one more spin over the course before race day so will see how i get on that day

Trig1

you still training away? seen nothing on boards or strava for awhile or are you training secretly now!

mossym

just back(literally)from a week in puerto del carmen, so although i was annoying some on twitter i wasn't updating here. will get a synopsis up but there was a beautiful cycle one day, several ocean swims and some very hot and sticky runs. week was more about time with the family though


You trying to benchmark already?:)

mossym

okay, going to roll the last week into one update, pretty much cause a lot of it was sessions on holidays and they were very similar

Wednesday morning the 9th, got a 6.5km run in, 30 mins, 4:50 pace, done early pre flying down to lanzarote

Thursday: 1km swim, and another 700 or 800m done later. all the swims were done in the ocean, great to be swimming without a wetsuit. crystal clear warm water. 8km in 40 mins run with some builds done at 6pm or so while the family was showering. heat was a killer. pace was 5:00mins/km, and probably should have been even slower

Friday
Something very similar, roughly 2k of a swim, but missed the run this evening.

Saturday
Friday evening i rented a bike from Renners, same place i rented from for the race last october. had it booked in advance. collected the bike on the friday evening, no pedals on it when i get there, lady asks what i need, shimano? i nod my head, she points to a set of pedals, yup, they are the right ones. puts them on, i go back to the apartment

Alarm set for 6am saturday, as ihad clearance to disappear till lunchtime or so(pregnant wife, very hot temps and an energetic 4 year old only combine for so long). except my phone was off by an hour for some reason, so it went off at 5am, and it was still pitch black. lay there pissed off i had disturbed sleep an hour early, when suddenly the realization that the pedals i had gotten were shimano, but spd, not spd sl, and matched my mountain bike shoes perfectly but were completely wrong for what i had.Superb. now i had to wait till 10am till the shop opened.

so my planned 140/150 turned into a 90. i gave up on the idea of going down to femmes to do it's claimed 20% climb, and instead headed north to tabayesco, a 10km climb jackyback has mentioned a few times. not knowing what was in front of me i spunup it rather easily,where as now i'd like to go back and have another go. never mind, it's a superb climb, and i enjoyed getting to do it even once.

cycling over there is brutal though. at one stage i had to pedal hard to keep going. downhill. the wind was slowing me enough i couldn't freewheel. my average speed for the ride was way down on what i normally would hit for that distance, due to a mixture of the hills, the wind, the heat (very very warm), and while the bike i had was quite nice, a meridia carbon with ultegra, it had a bit of a rattle under heavy braking that had me back off the descents more than i would on my own bike. still though, a very enjoyable ride, and not bad training either
http://www.strava.com/activities/166658910


that evening dropped the bike back, and got an easy 20 min run in afterwards

Sunday was the world cup final, got a 1600m swim in during the day, a very quick 20 mins run in that evening as we headed for dinner early to get the match.

Monday, another swim, and a fantastic run north out of puerto del carmen along the coast, dirt trail that went endless up and down, stairs cut into the side of hills, very rough underfoot, but spectacular views and a run i really enjoyed. had never run that way before but it will be my route of choice when i go back there.
8.2km in 45mins
http://www.strava.com/activities/166658860

Tuesday, just a swim. no run.

Wednesday. arrived home. meant to get out for a run. didn't happen, up since 5 and was asleep on the couch when i meant to go

bit of a thrown together report on the week but it'll do

mossym

After getting back, thoughts turned to Lost Sheep, and a lot of questions started popping up in my head. My first oly was a disaster, and this is a much bigger step up. messing up the oly meant a bad time. messing this up and it could be a dnf. no way am i doing that on my first.

the goal in my head was always to use this to get a taste for the half distance, as oly and half is where i'd like to focus for the next couple of seaons. that was always based on the notion i wasn't fast enough for sprints, few results this year have changed that view slightly , but i'd still like to get used to racing half. no rush to go longer than that anytime soon.

so, a really good chat with the coach over the last couple of days has helped a lot. Kilkee was always the time goal for this year, and i beat my wildest expectations, even the revised one after seeing earlier results. this one is more about a good solid race, get a feel for the distance, learn a few things, and finish strong. feel better about it now.

joey100

Similar enough plans there to myself Mossy. Ended up doing a half this year but more by accident than planning. Used it to just try out the nutrition and get an idea of the distance adn tried to enjoy it as much as possible. You be well able for it with all the training you have been doing. And it's probably the most enjoyable distance I've done yet.

mossym

joey100 wrote: »

Similar enough plans there to myself Mossy. Ended up doing a half this year but more by accident than planning. Used it to just try out the nutrition and get an idea of the distance adn tried to enjoy it as much as possible. You be well able for it with all the training you have been doing. And it's probably the most enjoyable distance I've done yet.

thanks for that Joey, good to hear. looking forward to the race now. it'll be a very different challenge to what i've done, lets see how it goes

mossym

Thursday Night
47km cycle, loop from my house to birhill, nenagh, up portroe hill then home. This was done overgeared, few gears higher than i normally spin, cadence was 77 avg versus 90ish typically. speed was good at 32.1km/hr, but the slower cadence/higher gear took it's toll on the legs, find spinning much easier

http://www.strava.com/activities/167265700

Friday Run
should have been an easy 9km, but felt anything but. Warm and muggy, not sure if the night before had taken more than i expected, but this wasn't easy. felt slow and tough. early pace was around the 5:00min but slowed a bit
http://www.strava.com/activities/167896939, 9km in 46 mins


Saturday Cycle
Was going to do the lake, but instead opted for a different type of challenge, spun out to Cratloe and did 2 ascents up woodcock hill, 5.5km at 5%. met the cycling ireland lads on top the first time setting up the finish line for the junior tour. was a wet one out that direction, got soaked, made the descents very slow and careful. legs were feeling it on the way home, but this was a good effort.
90km, 3:27 moving

http://www.strava.com/activities/167896960



Sunday Run
Hadn't done a long run in a while, so sunday evening i got out for 80 mins. tough 15km, some hills, was warm again. hit the hills too fast, legs were pretty tired by the time i got home. nice steak then though..:)

15.1km, 79 minutes

http://www.strava.com/activities/168593840