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End of Season Bash.
In reality, the season ended in Copenhagen. There were a final two events i'd decided to do for a bit of fun, given there were no prizes involved and they weren't really races. And as they were both swims, there was no way i was going to be near the front anyway
Boru Tri Club Night Swim
Local Tri club organise two swims this time every year as part of the local water festival. Not even sure the water festival is on this year, but the two swims went ahead. First up was the night swim Friday Night. uses the same route as the sprint race held every year, but even shorter, so only 550m, but with the difference of swimming down the canal in the dark.
Was wetsuit optional, but after all the rain friday and a fairly cool evening i went for warmth and wore the suit (well the old suit, the good one is washed and stored for the winter). this was a low fuss event, free entry, register at the start 10 minutes before, jump in and swim. was a lovely swim, late enough traffic on the adjacent road was light, so nice, calm peaceful swim down the canal, had to watch for boats on one side and reeds on the other but there was enough light from the street lights to make out the outlines so all was good. lovely swim, although at 9 minutes in the water it almost took longer to put on the wetsuit!!!
Sunday: Boru Tri Club Bail and Flail
The one i was looking forward to more was the sunday event. Loaded onto boats in Killaloe, taken 3km upstream into the lake and jump off, and swim back down. again, not a race, just for fun, and it seemed a nice way to finish OW swimming for the season. This one attracts a lot more swimmers than triathletes, with the exception of the club members, so there was a lot of hardy OW swimmers doing this in skins. Opted for the wetsuit again.
again, very low fuss, show up, sign in, get onto boat, head up the lake and jump off. There was 39 of us in total
Last year a fast current had them down in just over 30 minutes. no such aids this year, gates were closed at the weir which meant there was little to no current, and a really strong southerly wind was blowing right against us, meaning it was going to be slow.
not often you get to jump off a boat for an event (who needs Norseman) so that was pretty cool, once everyone was in we set off. The wind immediately made sure we knew this was going to be harder than other years, blowing straight into our faces was causing really irregular swells, which for a river/lake were a foot or two in size and would lift you up and dump you down. not a big deal, but because they weren't tidal there was no timing to them so you couldn't even time your breaths to avoid them. the middle section was the worst, it was the narrowing point for the lake back into the river .
still though it was great fun, a good old bashing session through choppy water, and knowing you were done once you got down you could just enjoy the thrashing and make your way down. great fun, and a nice spread in the hotel afterwards. enjoyed it immensely. to be fair if it had been a tri the swim would likely not have gone ahead as it was, but given the entries there was no weak swimmers and it turned out to a be a great event0 -
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okay neady, just for you
Where to begin. At the end of Ironman Copenhagen last year I was 100% decided there wouldn’t be a 2017 ironman. I’d promised my wife the same well in advance of Copenhagen. The job I had started the previous January didn’t suit IM training, 3 hours of driving a day just didn’t mesh well. So the plan was to skip 2017, and given I 1) had lanza as a bucket list race, and 2) would be turning 40 the same week as the race in 2018 we had agreed I’d do lanza in 2018 and we would make it a big family holiday
Then things changed a little. By the time CPH was over, I had realised the new job wasn’t working and I needed to get out fast. So the hunting began. At the same time, my extended family, who are based all over the world all decided to come home at the same time in late summer this year. As we hadn’t gotten a sun holiday in 2016 with the kids, we figured we’d go early this year to be around when all the family was home. As we got closer to xmas, we started looking at family holidays, and I mentioned combining a race. We started looking at 70.3 races around may/june, and a few looked like runners. Then over dinner with neighbours who have a kid in my eldest’s class the subject of first communion came up, with the two girls getting theirs may 2018. It appears the local priest won’t give the dates until the last minute, he believes too much non-religious prep goes into it, so he only discloses the date at the last minute. Talk about complicating plans that were over 18 months away.
So, just before xmas, my wife suggested I do Lanza this year, and we make it our family holiday. I wasn’t sure, restarting a new job, fresh off a late august IM this would make two in 9 months, but we agreed 2018 was going to be tough, and despite the 40th maybe it wasn’t best to plan on it. The condition we agreed on was I was out of the job by January. fate conspired the company I had left were eager to get me back, I was happy to go back, and the time restraint was lifted.february start date, I finished in Cahir in January, and Lanza was entered.
Gulp…….
It was pointed out to me approaching the race I had kept it very quiet that I was doing it. The above might explain why. However, those who were seeing the training on strava and garmin connect spotted pretty quickly that the training was IM focused, so it wasn’t a total secret.
I knew lanza’s rep, knew some who had done it before, and knew it would be a different challenge to CPH. Times there meant nothing. In my head I prepared for a completely different type of race. Training went well, run took a step forward, swim was pretty much the same, bike ftp was bang on where it had been at 305 but I was holding a higher % of ftp comfortably on training rides. My long runs were longer than last year, nothing longer than 2 hours last year, I did a couple out to 2h40 this year and the body was fine.
One thing that bothered me was the recurrence of the back issues I had coming up to CPH. I had thought it was well behind me, hadn’t felt it since then, but the last few long rides it came back. Once again was just on the bike, as soon as I got off it was fine, but given I had been okay on race day in CPH I hoped for the same. Big mistake.
So race day approached. Myself and my father were flying out the Monday before the race, give me a chance to do the last warm ups in the heat, recce the bike course, and get up to la santa to register. The rest of the clan arrived Thursday, with the race on Saturday .
The week build up was incredible. I’ve never had the pull to Kona some have, probably cause I know it’s highly unlikely I’d ever get there, and if I was to try I’d give up too much time I’d rather spend with my kids. I’ve a certain amount of greed when it comes to training, but there’s a cap on it, and kona would be too much. However, the week in Lanza gave a small taste of what it must be like. Triathletes everywhere, swapping stories and advice, you couldn’t walk 5 feet without meeting another. Much more of a buzz than Copenhagen in the days before. Got registered on the Wednesday, drove the bike course, and realised what was ahead.
Family arrived Thursday, while waiting for them I was standing outside the apartment and met last years winner Jesse Thomas .sound guy, turns out he was staying right next door to me!! Spoke to him loads, both pre and post race, and it was so reassuring to see the same doubts, issues, and opinions I’d have expected from any of us here. .
Friday I racked my bike, dropped off my gear. I felt good. Ready to go. The awful wind we had Thursday had dropped off, the temperature had gone up, but I was less worried by heat than wind. Ironic that was.
Out for dinner with the family Friday night, ate light, had my bigger meal at lunch, and was home in bed by 10.
Race Day:
4am alarm. Honestly cannot remember what I ate, I know it was similar to Copenhagen and had rice cakes/peanut butter/honey as part which worked well then. Down to the race start, my wife got a picture of me from behind walking down the steps in the darkness, I love the pic, echoed the mood completely. Pumped the tires, stored the nutrition, and just chilled. As race start approached, threw on the wetsuit and headed for the beach. Found the 1:10 and 1:20 swim signs and took up station right between them. The course is a loop to the left, out 100m or so, then hard left. Had been warned the first turn was a battlezone, but going too wide you added a lot. So I went to the right of the start area, but not all the way. The big countdown then. As we got close, there were announcements in 4 or 5 different languages, except all of them gave the phrase worlds hardest ironmans in English. Talk about making you nervous
CPH had been the new staggered start, this was old school. At 7.01 the gun went, and we charged forward. Into the water, pulling hard, getting banged but nothing too bad. Next thing it all stopped. Looked up, clear water in front of me, to the left there was carnage with the guys on the fastest line, out to the right of me those that had gone wide to avoid it had grouped up so bad it looked worse. But right up the middle there was a clear channel, I had 20 feet of open water in front of me, so I took full advantage, and got around the first turn relatively calm. It got worse on the pull to the next buoy, but it was quick, seemed to have a current pushing us down, then we turned 90deg left and I knew there was a current, as we were getting pushed way down from the next buoy, but it was a short run and we got there. At that point I picked up the best draft I have ever had in a tri, got on a hip and followed it all the way back into the swim start. Pace was perfect, if I slacked off I was losing the hip, so I stayed there the whole way in. second loop was more of the same, I thought there would be less bashing as the field was strung out, but it was pretty similar. Finally I was taking the last left and feet were under me, and up the beach we went.
Swim: 1:17, need to check but pretty sure that’s almost exactly what CPH was.
I knew roughly where my crew would be, and nowhere near there I heard someone shouting my name. Thought I caught a glimpse of who it might be, but wasn’t sure.
Grabbed my bike bag, into the change tent on the beach, which had the sand for a floor. Not so great, by the time you were changed you were just covered in sand again, well that and the sun screen the volunteers graciously lathered all over us. Didn’t waste a lot of time and was out and onto the bike pretty quickly.
500m on the bike and I was pulling over, couldn’t see a thing with suncream on my glasses. Got it cleared and took off. Passing almost straight away, glad to be onto the bike. Plan was to hold 210w on the flat, 280w on the big climbs, and recover but not take it easy down the hills . I thought I was doing pretty well out over the first few climbs, was passing loads, and as we headed out the long straight road towards yaiza I was motoring, holding over 50km/hr and absolutely motoring past people for a lot less watts than that.
And that became the problem. Even though I felt like I was hitting the numbers I was supposed to be whenever I checked, my average power was nowhere near where it was supposed to be. No-one was passing me, I was continusouly passing others but my average power, which I expected to be well over 200 at this point, closer to 220, was only 190w. I hoped I’d build into in.
About a third of the way around, I was coming into a town when I spotted what looked like a limerick flag, had to have a good look to see and indeed it was, and the mysterious voice from earlier turned out to a a regular running partner form work who I didn’t know was out there, she’s out on maternity at the moment and was only there for the weekend to support a friend. She was jumping head of us all the day so got lots of encouragement from her
Fairly soon we were past la santa, and took the right turn inland, where it felt like the temperature went up 10C in the space of a hundred yards. It was just dead heat, and made the going tough. Finally we hit the first really big climb up mirador del haria. Hit my numbers easily, 280w all the way up, what the hell was going on elsewhere. Was flying past guys, I’m sure they were laughing thinking I was overcooking it, but for the first time I think I was doing what I had trained to do.
Over the top, and down the tight hairpins. Every turn was hard on the brakes, which felt so bad to be losing the speed given how hard the altitude was gained. Down into haria, and headed for mirador del rio
At this point my power numbers became secondary. I had bigger issues. My back tightened up completely, and I was hurting pretty badly. It wasn’t too bad climbing, so again I climbed well up mirador del rio which is nothing really after the previous climb, and flew down the descent, past two guys unconscious on the side of the road, their blood pooling across the asphalt, where they had taken the turns too hot and smashed badly.
Now we were down on the flat, and from all previous reports should have had a strong tailwind driving us home. I;ve cyclied the road in the other direction many times, and always had a head wind, so I believed it. Except today. It wasn’t hugely strong, but it was definitely a head wind. F^%K.
I was still feeling strong, and it wouldn’t have bothered me, except my back was killing me at this point. From here back to the end of the bike, 50/60km or so, I had to get off the bike several times just to stretch my back so I could get aero for a few minutes, and by the end just keep going. So frustrating, knowing I could have pushed harder but wasn’t able to.
Finally though we were barrelling down into Puerto del carmen, 70km/hr + down the hills into the town and hopping off the bike. As I knew it would, once I was off the bike my back was fine, not a peep out of it. So I wasn’t worried about it for the run.
Bike: 6:29
As I hopped off the bike my family was right there, hearing the two girls roaring encouragement was a big boost, and I flew into the change tent. Runners on, hat on, kept the shades on, and out I went.
First 100m I was eager to see how the legs were. Not bad, not as good as they had felt in CPH, but I’d been 75 minutes longer on the bike over tougher terrain. So I was somewhat encouraged, but to make my wife feel good as I ran past them I pointed up the road and roared at her that I was just going to go for a little run. In my head I knew things weren’t that jovial, but I knew it would help her.
The biggest worry at this point was the heat. It was oppressive, overall I was there for 2 weeks, this was the hottest day we had. It was well into the thirties, and with a light wind from the wrong direction it wasn’t getting any cooling help. So the aid stations became critical, water, ice whatever they had to cool down, getting cool was more important than getting through them fast. The run was two loops, one of just over 30km, then a shorter one of 12.
The first 5km were fine, roads I knew well. Then we passed the airport and some of the stretches over the next 10km were hell, long quiet stretches, no crowds, no sound, sun bouncing off the concrete ground and walls, felt like a furnace. Finally got to arrecife and turned around heading back to the start. The walk periods through the aid stations were getting longer, but I always got running again, and when I was running I was moving okay, was passing others without getting passed by many. But I knew I was really starting to struggle.
Finally got back the start, collected my band, and headed out on the second loop. Stopped to give the girls a quick kiss, my smallest one telling me “daddy’s running!!!”, I just hoped she’d continue to be right. I knew it was getting very tough with a third of a marathon still to go, but the old adage I’d read on here so many time of just keep moving was firmly in my mind. I started giving myself walk breaks on the hills, even though they were minor, but I always picked a spot and said you will be running by there, and I always was.
Finally made the final turnaround. 6km to go. Walk breaks becoming more frequent, but always managing to get going again. Finally, with 3km to go, I said no more, we go from here, and didn’t even stop at the last aid station as I trotted back in. that finishing line was the sweetest sight, heard my name and Ireland being called as I got the chute, got to raise the finishing ribbon as they let everyone do it, and was done.
Run: 4:05
12:05 overall. To be honest, if you had asked me on the marathon I would have had no idea what my time was, it was simply a case of keeping going. I had no idea what time I had done, I just knew how many km I had left. And it might sound strange but I didn’t really care. From very early in this race it had turned into a personal battle, me against the day rather than the clock. As soon as I couldn’t hit my numbers on the bike the time became irrelevant.
I was so empty I almost missed my medal, they had to pull me back to put it on me. Out, met the family, felt a lot better to see the smile on my two girls faces. Very proud of their daddy. Treated myself to a big bowl of paella, a massive icecream, and a cold beer at the finishers tents, grabbed my bike and took them the 200m to the apartment, a big benefit of staying close to race start. Out for dinner that night with the folks, a well-earned steak and a nice bottle of red, where the pride at having battled through it
So thoughts on lanza? It’s a brutal race, well deserving of its reputation. That said, I know I could take a chunk off that time on a better day. I’m not sure it’s the type of course to go chasing times on, it’s a battle, and I think that’s what it’s more about, forget the time till the end, go, go hard, see how you manage, then take the time at the end. Will I do it again? For sure. Not for a while though. I have some things to take care of first. Swim has always been the weakness, before I tackle another ironman I want to know I’m going to swim sub 1:10 as a minimum. I need to sort out my back issues on the bike, that’s two that have been affected now, it’s not the tri bike, I have the same problems on the road bike, I have some ideas but need to get it addressed. And I’ve long had some low hanging fruit on the run I should address.probably into a run focus now and do DCM, so hopefully that will help there
The immediate aim is a bit more family time and fun for the summer, for the last 4 years I have had my a race in late august or early September and the summer had been a beer free diet watching period. Not this year, A race is done. I’m going to do the local races, but my main aim to enjoy 99’s with the kids, a few beers with the family and friends on warm evenings, and a bbq whenever I feel like it without worrying about weight or missing a seesion. I’ll train away on top of that, and whatever that brings is enough .0 -
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It was 100% worth waiting for Mossy
You had some battle on your hands. It's always really interesting to read how people cope mentally when the chips are down and you coped admirably, thank you for writing about that battle.
Well done on a super performance, I'm really chuffed for you, especially so soon after CPH AND best of all, you can enjoy the summer with the glow of satisfaction.
p.s. you never said anything about the atmosphere in Lanza, was it any good at all?
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@neady not sure if you are pointing out how many times I mentioned the buzz around, or the atmosphere during the race, the first was covered,the second, well cph beat it hands down. As great as lanza as a race is, long periods of the run have no support, long lonely stretches, with really only the finish having big crowds. Cph on the other hand was just unreal, people everywhere . Cph wins the in race atmosphere hands down
@rodney. For sure , I don't see me doing any less training than other summers, I'll just be a bit more liberal in having the few nights out and the beers . I've about 5 races I'm planning already but no goals on any, just use whatever fitness is there. The amount of sessions should be normal though0 -
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@neady not sure if you are pointing out how many times I mentioned the buzz around, or the atmosphere during the race, the first was covered,the second, well cph beat it hands down. As great as lanza as a race is, long periods of the run have no support, long lonely stretches, with really only the finish having big crowds. Cph on the other hand was just unreal, people everywhere . Cph wins the in race atmosphere hands down
I was only kidding, the feel good factor around Lanza came across in spades
Also wow, that's a nice line up of races you've got going on there.0 -
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