project 40/41

rodneyr1981

So if you do wake and decide kona is for you any consideration given to where you'd try qualify? Cork maybe?

peter kern

rodneyr1981 wrote: »

So if you do wake and decide kona is for you any consideration given to where you'd try qualify? Cork maybe?

Yeah Cork is the most likely as logistically the best .
But early August would work better.
The bigger issue is that regardless how, so far the stuff I want to do doesn't work together so I have to filter out races
The good thing is the longer I wait... The easier the decision gets as the trainings window for Frenchman, soon will be getting too small... Sometimes it's better if decisions are made for you..

peter kern

not much to write
January overall was not a good training month but solid enough for what I am looking for at the moment.

unfortuntely running still not good but at least i did over 30 k last week so thats a small improvement. I do feel its going to sort itself out in the next month but would say its more a cautious optimism then reality



entered joey Hannon and the fear of pool tris i have , did make me start to swim more seriously since then , until then i spend more time on the nordic skiing machine than floating in the water . ( i improved my 4 month I00 m pb by I4 seconds this week ( i even put my googles bellow the swimming hut for that effort and it was still slow ... but its a start )


anyway the run is still a serious concern but the rest, despite the negativity of my trainings partner ( i am keeping a diary with all the insults i was given the last few month) I am ok with swim and bike and since

I have no planes to enter a race before mid april .



subject to running I have my season roughly planned out .

peter kern

The ups and downs....
The last 4 weeks or so we're certainly not boring.
about 10 days before I went to morrocco I had my first run which felt like running that continued the following week and got even better in morrocco where I felt the first time for a long time how it should be, so this is good progress, and swimming was going OK to.
morrocco was awesome the best weather possible with a good few days in the 30s and i went to few places I had never been ,did loads of climbing did I say I really enjoyed the sun and sleeping outside at really great locations...
At day 4 I broke my seatpost and after 35 k cycling standing which gave me enough time to prepare for a major surgery I arrived in tafroute, after buying a metal saw blade,I watched a mechanic for a while and since he was good this is where I went ,I disused with him the 2 options there was since the post had been unmovable for a few years, and finally decided to go with the more complicated option to cut out the seat post .... after 5 hours it was done. Mechanic found me a good seat post and they were realy helpful providing me with tools to get the job done,I felt very embarrassed for many french people that frequented the shop and who thought they where better people, tafroute over the winter has propyl 1000 retired french immigrants that stay in tafroute and many seem to think they are still a colonial power. Anyway all good, I was on my way again. And as always it's situations like this when you learn most about a place( and I got anther opportunity for that later)
so anyway since I was a bit in rush I did not close the bag of the solar charger and lost my phone. I cycled back 20 k but could not find it. Not a Bigby as the landscape could not have been nicer since I was in the red rock area which is one of the finest parts one can be.
Day 9 my rear dereuleur broke lucky only 5 k ftom a village and I replaced it for the grand amount of 2 euro for a new one. But this was the first time I really thought the time of the concorde is comming to an end .she is now 16 years old and I lover her to bits but for travelling she is getting a bit frail.
The plan for this trip was to arrive without stress in Marrakesch with all the issues I was suddenly behind scedule ....added by an abysmal road surface .
so last day I started cycling at 5.15 to get out the anti atlas and by 11 I was climbing up the atlas mountains and what a splendid day it was. After 230 k 30 k from Marrakesch suddenly a car appeared after a sharp bent appeared on my side of the road and was heading straight at me. While I have a very clear movie clip of the incident it's hard o judge but he was going approx 50 k me 35 k when I noticed the car approx 2 sec before the hit I was still going to hit me full central on. Those 2 seconds seemed to last very long but the clarity of the 2 seconds was mind blowing , there was no panic jut this clarity live had been good.I also saw the expresion off horror in his face.luckily I managed to further got the bike aside and he managed to get the car away but even if I had hit him a quarter second earlier... as way I hit the car at the very side but while the wheel hit I just got around the car and after taking off the mirror landed on the ground.I really appreciated that the guy admited straight away it was his fault and he profusely appologiced. He drove me to the hospital than to another one after he organiced a frend that spoke english helped me do afew litle errands brought me to dinner and then to the airpot. Another experience .I came out of it better than I could have hoped for with a few hairline cracks a left hand finger and the right hip is very bruised and right shoulder a bit painfull.the hand was super swollen but today 5 days later it resembles a hand again . And since I can be a bit stubborn I cycled home from Dublin airport with my gear on back ,THAT WAS FUN ,NOT lol. And cycle to work. I should be able to start aqua jogging today and swim with one arm tomorrow.the hand will affect me likely 3 4 weeks more but I expect full recovery within 5 weeks.
I left concorde at the airport.she won't recover...
All in all iam very happy I have finally done 10 runs and just before the hit I was ready to really start running again and that's what counts the most. The rest will sort itself the last few days in moorocco I cycled well and project salad bowl had started in earnest.
iam happy to be alive but also I was totally Ok when death was close and in a way that was a great feeling as I had this feeling live had been good. I always struggled to understand when people talk about that tunnel who had been close to death ,but I can see now what they mean.
So as a training camp it was not ideal , but in terms off experiences it was one of the most 10 interesting days possible.
and for the most sterotypical question I did roughly 1500 k on the bike and about
15 k of climbing and run approx 60 k .remember i do not have a speedometer or gps.

Kurt_Godel.

Fascinating to read that Peter, you have an incredible positive attitude!

peter kern

Kurt_Godel. wrote: »

Fascinating to read that Peter, you have an incredible positive attitude!

Lol
its very rare somebody says I am positive..
but all in all I had fantastic holidays and all the things that did not go so well added to it. To really enter the real life of morrocco is not easy and to get there twice in 10 days is pretty good .

Besides I guess chances are slim for races back before July and I guess for races that drew a more international crowd I can't see it starting before august of course just guessing but in likely hood racing before June 15% probably maybe ,before July 30% before August 50%
but realistically sars took 8 month in Asia in germany they are talking about 6 month

Btw I realise iam at page 41 of this blog maybe it's a good time to finish project 40/41 at least I would have gotten something right in my headline ...

El Director

Love reading your adventures Peter, just caught up there. You should have a travel blog too Hope you are heeling up well. I have an aqua belt for aqua jogging if you want it once the pool's open again.

peter kern

Yes hand is pretty good ,progress is always nice and in Last 4,5 weeks there was one or two days it got worse and 1 or 2 days it did not improve but everyday there is noticeabLe improvement . today is the first day I can't see any black bruise at hand ( and iam one of the people hat hardly ever gets bruised ) I would say within a week hand will be pre accident

While this staying at home and social distancing ( I do social distancing since I travelled the first time solo when I was 15 en ...) dosnt impact me but prospect of travelling restriction worries me .

Training has gone well I guess roughly 70 ,k a week running and the least 2 weeks 10 to 12 hours on turbo and usually 45 min ballet a day
iam not training seriously but I enjoy it and mainly focus on Rom but for the last week in feel as fit as pre crash and that means iam fit and the running is making good progress and 6 weeks off proper training will have me in pretty good Shape for a tri . Weight wise iam doing OK never great but this supermarlet system suits me and I have löst weight since the lockdown.

peter kern

Yesterday when I started to count the tiles of the roof ( 846 btw ) I realised I have spend 37 hours on the turbo 14 en this week . Whi,e i have certainly done a few 12 hours week I don't think I have done 14 and never excluively on the turbo. ( 6 k cycling to the shop is the only outside cyc,Ing done the last 3 weeks.

The good thing is this was the first week irelaid where I got into the training Grove, that was the first good and more importantly good and enjoyable week . My first sub 3.30 k my first proper tempo run good turbo week and good nutrition . Part of it was planned part of it I just struggled a bit which is normal when I wouldnratherndonthe washing up then going for a run. There will sure,y be ma y more ups and dwns in the run but the last 2 weeks most of them I enjoyed and its starting to feel a bit like running rather than a struggeling slog . Iam still very careful but I had also my first 20k run day this week ( still broken into 2 )
it's ****ing hard work but the needle of the imaginary scale is moving to the left.

It's interesting tiimes doors close and others open , when my had was okish again I offered 2 clubs swim cord sessions online and with the club in germany it's works very well . sometimes German efficency is a good thing slow at the beginning but once started no fluffing around

I still think there will be a few small races September October and at the moment I don't really mind I need to get in shape first and there is no need to waste enrgy what will happen and not .

Kurt_Godel.

peter kern wrote: »

Y again I offered 2 clubs swim cord sessions online and with the club in germany it's works very well .

Are these sessions you can offer on this forum? (appreciate not everything is free)

peter kern

Kurt_Godel. wrote: »

Are these sessions you can offer on this forum? (appreciate not everything is free)

It's an interesting idea but
By and large most people have a real poor execution .and it's really really hard work to correct people.
Personally I don't think it's very swim specific training but really valuable for stroke awareness and improving range of motion . Both aspects issues for most tri swimmers.

Totally my personal opinion and 0 evidence based is, classes like this with coach in a room would be super valuabke for adult learner's .

peter kern

Apart from yesterday's long run which was not good last few weeks weeks were very good

base running speed is improving nicely and sometime this week I suddenly had an 8 .39 pic flashing up in my brain when I was running . So some part of my brain seems to think I am getting in shape. The reality certainly would confirm this and the last 4 weeks increased my fitness quite a bit. I counted something between 59 and 60 hours on the turbo the last 30 days . Not that often that I think training has gone really well the last 4 weeks
Weight wise am doing OK to iam lighter than last year and each high is lower than the last high and the lows are getting lower. I have no scale but I would guess 79 kg and very close on target of 76 I had for end of June ( I don't want to hit that target anyway now but 77 is what iam aimIng for till end of june. 76 is the start of goodish racing weight and while my goal is 74 for October I don't want to spend too much time as it's too much metal l effort. More importantly iam at a weight where I enjoy running and thats a good weight to be at the moment. More important than weight I have reduced sugar intake and that's valuable in many ways .
Next week will be an easier week and then I expect cycling outside shoukd be OK and I will start hill reps .


Something more random when I was wondering while training is going so well I realized likely it likely comes down to the fact that I spend 2 .5 half years in South America where people are very good to adapt to difficulties pretty much all the time they are just so much better to go with the flow and certainly that had an influence on me ., I loved south America and the last few weeks europe prob is the closeted it has been to this lifestyle .neighours speak to each others more life has slowed down a bit . Besides you can run on the street with little traffic its so much nicer without all the cars , despite the fact they are comming back now, people are walking around its just a nicer place at the momental and I like it .naturally whi,e many people are very stressed most people in Europe have far more monetary resorces so overall it's still easier as a whole for Europeans to deal with this . in europe people can prepare for bad times something many people in southamerica cant do but arange with it .I certainly live in a bubble and i understand for many otheres its different but personally I enjoy dublin more at the moment . And I guess this helps. And it's a good time to reflect a bit upon ones life.

peter kern

Swimming is nice I guess this sums it up nicely. Loving it again .

Well not for my trainings budy, day 5 and the message was" I can't be ars.d today" ....

peter kern

So before training is getting more structured I had 2 goals before June
I wanted to be about 2 kg lighter by end of may than last year and I reached that about mid of may and iam about 2.5 kg lighter now overall the last 8 month have been a bit of a roler coaster but apart from 4 weeks in Feb I did Ok and since April very well.
and I wanted to get my first 24 k run run I failed that goal by 2 days but that's not too bad.
Since I started swimming and the tt bike I started to get a bit tight again around hips and hammers but it's still going in the right direction and the good days are getting better and the worse days are less worth.

2 weeks ago somebody asked me how fast I can run 5 k at the moment and I said 17.40 and then we decided to do a handicapped race . That was good fun and I was pleased wirh it . 17.49 and I started a bit too slow I would like to say it was 10 k pace i run but realistically the second half was more like 5 mile race pace. Anyway solid enough given that I have done very little intenstiy the last 8 month and much more important I was less sore after it then the week before so all good. And I do think I get it down by 10 sec a k but iam not too fused as long it's at least 17.15 not flat out.
Swam about 21 k last week and no complaints and I rather enjoy it.
and iam chipping away on the bike

peter kern

Too much to write .In short I would say I am just about in sub 9 h Iron distance shape now . So basically ahead of scedule weight and fitness wise. And run is catching up nicely now. Realistically I would likely still break at 34 k but not much longer( I hope ) and the last few weeks run has gone well which is great and swim and bike are excatly -well a bit ahead of -where I want it to be.
The more detailed version would be pretty long so I leave it there at the moment ,but the last 3,5 weeks were great . not always plain sailing but well worth it .

rodneyr1981

peter kern wrote: »

Too much to write .In short I would say I am just about in sub 9 h Iron distance shape now . So basically ahead of scedule weight and fitness wise. And run is catching up nicely now. Realistically I would likely still break at 34 k but not much longer( I hope ) and the last few weeks run has gone well which is great and swim and bike are excatly -well a bit ahead of -where I want it to be.
The more detailed version would be pretty long so I leave it there at the moment ,but the last 3,5 weeks were great . not always plain sailing but well worth it .

So based off that are you planning any racing? Assuming that some do go ahead

peter kern

rodneyr1981 wrote: »

So based off that are you planning any racing? Assuming that some do go ahead

yes I do. And if not I do organize my own race . Which to be honest is not that different of 50 percent of long distance races I do . Last year in moritzburg I had a swimmer for 1 .2 k or so with me and a relay cyclist for about 10 min with me the rest was totally solo.

peter kern

rodneyr1981 wrote: »

So based off that are you planning any racing? Assuming that some do go ahead

an intersting point to this... so last week i had my 2nd head on collision on the bike since corona started, by somebody distracted who thought it is a good idea to come to my side of the road... i hear people always saying they need to know whats going to happen , of course this is not going to happen at the moment lol .there is just never anything to be taken for granted... and a few split seconds can change many things...

but as always bad thing leads to a good thing ( the last guy who run we over was super friendly and from this lady who wasn't that nice but this time i made sure i was not out of pocket ( i got scolded by 2 people that i did not ask for more but i hate this claim culture and i did ask what covered the parts and a days work to get is sorted) and i used a day without a bike for something great i would not have done otherwise.( that resulted in some nice jelly fish stings and an aggravated achillies but boy was it worth it)

luckily this time i knew pretty much on the spot after i hit the ground falling of the car that I am fine(it was a small car the speed was less and the deflection ankles were just better this time and while i did smash the windscreen of the car and had the helmet engraved in the windscreen there was no high impact on a single body part)
the funny thing was, the last time i kind of thought live was good, in the endless split seconds before the hit this time i thought not f.cking again.
i guess TRAINING in inverted comas does work.and i new what i had to do this time.
i don't need cars passing me with 1.5 meter distance all i ask for stay on your side of the road... i got 5 weeks out of my "new" 2nd hand bike but apart from front wheel and fork the rest of the bike survived.

anyways the last few weeks i started to do some interval work and doing some benchmark sets, and it would appear that things are going ok
i had a 320 m swim course i did 6 x with 30 sec rest and it worked out just under 27.30 no wetsuit which was quite ok or in other words joey hannon tri i would expect to swim about 20.50 is and 19.30 in a wetsuit and i think i should be able to take 12 secs of 400m time before september. and if i get there i should be 51 min ironman swim shape . need to find a good swim partner the next few weeks once a week.
have been working on hand position since start of swimming and i managed to change something i had not managed before (always the best to change stroke after a long break) it defo gives me more grip in the water.
more importantly i really enjoy swimming again there is so many positive effects from corona...
cycling i have done a good few hill reps and times are coming down nicely base fitness on the bike is high and its now up to me what i make off it in the next while there is work to be done but i think i am on track what i want to get out of this.
run also improving nicely because of bike accident i overdid the running a bit running up hills and the achilles did not like it but overall i am positive. it was anyway 4 days before a run rest week so no biggie at the moment to rest a bit earlier.

I was supposed to do waterville half and was looking forward since it does not get much better for a half than this course, but i guess the reduced field is not playing into my hands ( i guess i should never have talked up the race and in future i should say how crappy those races are, as it looks like hardman becomes the new tesla in the tri world , and i am not known to enter races early (

at the same time one week is a long time and i could camp at race registration like they do before an i phone release, i finally got my ti license in the post i ordered in january so thats a positive sign that the tri stars are aligning for me lol

rodneyr1981

peter kern wrote: »

an intersting point to this... so last week i had my 2nd head on collision on the bike since corona started, by somebody distracted who thought it is a good idea to come to my side of the road... i hear people always saying they need to know whats going to happen , of course this is not going to happen at the moment lol .there is just never anything to be taken for granted... and a few split seconds can change many things...

but as always bad thing leads to a good thing ( the last guy who run we over was super friendly and from this lady who wasn't that nice but this time i made sure i was not out of pocket ( i got scolded by 2 people that i did not ask for more but i hate this claim culture and i did ask what covered the parts and a days work to get is sorted) and i used a day without a bike for something great i would not have done otherwise.( that resulted in some nice jelly fish stings and an aggravated achillies but boy was it worth it)

luckily this time i knew pretty much on the spot after i hit the ground falling of the car that I am fine(it was a small car the speed was less and the deflection ankles were just better this time and while i did smash the windscreen of the car and had the helmet engraved in the windscreen there was no high impact on a single body part)
the funny thing was, the last time i kind of thought live was good, in the endless split seconds before the hit this time i thought not f.cking again.
i guess TRAINING in inverted comas does work.and i new what i had to do this time.
i don't need cars passing me with 1.5 meter distance all i ask for stay on your side of the road... i got 5 weeks out of my "new" 2nd hand bike but apart from front wheel and fork the rest of the bike survived.

anyways the last few weeks i started to do some interval work and doing some benchmark sets, and it would appear that things are going ok
i had a 320 m swim course i did 6 x with 30 sec rest and it worked out just under 27.30 no wetsuit which was quite ok or in other words joey hannon tri i would expect to swim about 20.50 is and 19.30 in a wetsuit and i think i should be able to take 12 secs of 400m time before september. and if i get there i should be 51 min ironman swim shape . need to find a good swim partner the next few weeks once a week.
have been working on hand position since start of swimming and i managed to change something i had not managed before (always the best to change stroke after a long break) it defo gives me more grip in the water.
more importantly i really enjoy swimming again there is so many positive effects from corona...
cycling i have done a good few hill reps and times are coming down nicely base fitness on the bike is high and its now up to me what i make off it in the next while there is work to be done but i think i am on track what i want to get out of this.
run also improving nicely because of bike accident i overdid the running a bit running up hills and the achilles did not like it but overall i am positive. it was anyway 4 days before a run rest week so no biggie at the moment to rest a bit earlier.

I was supposed to do waterville half and was looking forward since it does not get much better for a half than this course, but i guess the reduced field is not playing into my hands ( i guess i should never have talked up the race and in future i should say how crappy those races are, as it looks like hardman becomes the new tesla in the tri world , and i am not known to enter races early (

at the same time one week is a long time and i could camp at race registration like they do before an i phone release, i finally got my ti license in the post i ordered in january so thats a positive sign that the tri stars are aligning for me lol

Sorry to hear and thankfully no personnel damage. Lucky or unlucky depending on which way you look at it

peter kern

so if i take of 12,2 sec of my 400 m time ( i did say i have 12 in me ...( till september i would be sub 5 min which i would be happy with ,the plan was to aim for 5.05 and not much has changed , but with what looks like more solo swim starts it might actually make a bit of sense to get a sub 5 if its does not cost too much effort ,as the gaps in the swim will get bigger and makes the swim a bit more valuable than usual .
AAAAAAAAnd i have to say i still really enjoy swiming this year . given that even by my standard that was poor kicking for the tt , my tumbles were off since it was the first pool swim in 5month and from 225m i was more focusing to remember how many meter i had done rather than on swimming , i was pleased with this as it was a couple of secs faster than i thought it would be and i left likely 4-5 seconds out there in sub standart execution and lack of -better no- pool time.


bike wise i used the powermeter the first this year and that was quite good as well and i guess i am already sub 4.40 h ironman shape.as numbers are a tiny bit better already than the last 2 years when i did 4.38 and 4.40

thats the good news the bad news is this week i realised now its getting serious but with no guarantee of racing i kind of struggled the first time this year so far it was more general fun to train but know its getting more specific and for a few days i was a bit impacted by looking too far ahead what is still to do , which than had a bit of an impact of my training as felt a bit overwhelmed.and for the first time since end of feb did not enjoy training, anyway last week was recovery week and the last block was 6 weeks with many hours and after struggleing a bit wed thursday and friday , i was ok again and i did make a lose plan for an ironman race in mullingar with a friend for end of september beginning oktober .
sat while the plan was 4x 15min at 285 watts i did 5x 15 on 295 in the shed and no ventilation and i enjoyed it.
intrestingly that was one of the few recovery weeks ever i lost weight , defo the first where i lost more than 50 grams ...and thats quite good. weight is good overall of course there is still room left for improvement .
i guess i used the weight sledge hammer a bit this week and i did realise to be bit lower on energy most of the week
and sunday i did stop my 5 k run tt half way through as there was not much happening powerwise and i was really hungry. still i was pleased to see that i run fluidly and a day where i manage to do strides is still a very good day for me, I also could see what pace i was running in my last few tempo runs on courses , i had not meassured out ,so i did get something out of it and after 2 very good results its also good to have a bad one as this is a nice kick in the backside. hopefully ...

peter kern

last wasnt the most pretty week but i got the stuff done and my first 100 k run week including a solid tempo session . negative point was a long run monday i had to walk the last 6 k but managed another long run sat that was better. the monday long run was a planning error as those days even after a short fast run the next day is not a good time for a long run as iam too tight.
bike worked worked well and pretty pleased with the intensity work i managed one vo2 set and one 60 min tempo.
did an 140 k ride sat with 80k at half ironman pace in prep for hardman bantry race. looking forward to this.not sure yet how i am going to approach the race but i will certainly test my swim and bike and try to get an indication where my run is.
solid swimming too.
monday i used the aero gear on the bike the first time this year but went back home after a few laps as the roads where to busy and too many sunday drivers on the road and right now i dont want my third accident with a car and went back on the turbo my fault as i took way to long to get the bike ready.
lovely evening swim at seapoint. was nice to swim in the race wet suit.

rodneyr1981

Racing on sat week?

peter kern

it seems like not and its very sad as i agree this is the year hardman should have shinned as this is the way sport should work in those times ,and there was a really good field lined up , sub 8.10 ironman, kona age group world champ , 2 more sub nine atheltes and a new 12 500 euro bike athelte , but as a wise man said in those times dont put your eggs into one basket and i put my eggs also into the basket where the tri season is running at the moment.

Kurt_Godel.

peter kern wrote: »

it seems like not and its very sad as i agree this is the year hardman should have shinned as this is the way sport should work in those times ,and there was a really good field lined up , sub 8.10 ironman, kona age group world champ , 2 more sub nine atheltes and a new 12 500 euro bike athelte , but as a wise man said in those times dont put your eggs into one basket and i put my eggs also into the basket where the tri season is running at the moment.

Bitterly disappointing for you guys at the pointy end Peter- I guess there is a glimmer of light that it might still go ahead perhaps after Sept 13th.

Although given the elite quality of the field, TI ought to step in financially to at least facilitate the top 15 race.

rodneyr1981

Kurt_Godel. wrote: »

Bitterly disappointing for you guys at the pointy end Peter- I guess there is a glimmer of light that it might still go ahead perhaps after Sept 13th.

Although given the elite quality of the field, TI ought to step in financially to at least facilitate the top 15 race.

So peter and the other 14 should be able to race and rest us go for a pint instead?? How do you propose they determine what 15 race? I know your looking for potential solutions but that one could never work. We all paid the same entry fee.

peter kern

Guys let's not discuss on my blog who should go for pints and who not lol


I realized I never put this up
and I guess this answers my personal feeling at the moment .... Hardman oktober the 24 the would be if I wrote the script lol





So another week ( this is the week before hardman bantry .) done with the realization that this run business is not where it needs to be. Not the end of the world but the reality is there is now way IAM going to run a sub 3 .10 marathon right no w and that is being positive. As it looks more like 3.18
This was a bit of an easier swim and run week at the same time I still did good sessions in both and did my treadmil session 7 sec a k quicker than the week before
And a very good swim session .
The bike I still worked normal
And Thursday had a 200 k ride and it was my peak bike week miles and intensity considered .
With 900 k was a bit more than planned but I had underestimated the distance from bantry to Dublin by 50 k ... I lost my will to live around naas and the red cow roundabout...


Did hardman bantry half an awesome course and everybody said this is the toughest run course they have done.
My plan was to do my best for swim and run and while this was not good on the day , I did my very best what I had on this day and I was happy .I came away with that the swim is where I need it to be the bike is good and the run while not a desaster I am really too slow , my run time is not what I could have done so it's not that bad but there was no way I would have run a sub 1.40 even I had tried . Still I was holding up better than I thought given my or better my non existing race prep .
I did not expect fireworks in either dicipline but a sub par swim is certainly closer to where I want it than a sub par run ...
while I wasn't the most keen on Friday to go IAM very glad I did
It was great to race and in a way all the covid changes make races better . ( Not the missing food after the race lol) So nice to have all your gear in transition registration was so time efficient swim start without people trying to go half a meter ahead. So good work.

The course was fab bare a very long distance from buoy 1 to 2 which made it impossible to see and the first guys all got lost . I think the first swim ever where I swam of course . I think when I mentioned this to the Rd it was a point taken for next year . Other wise loved the course.
Besides doing one of he few Irish races held this year ,One of the reasons to do the race, even though it did not fit the training was to train coping mechanisms when things do not go well. I guess 10 out of 10 for this ...I had a lot of them moments and I am happy how I dealt with this as this was one of the things I can improve on also it was a good nutrition test . Which was made a serious test of me missing the bus to cork on Friday which made a race to get to the race . I took on 400 grams of carb on the bike yet I with constantly on the edge for being lo on energy. But certainly good force feeding lol. I just did not have time to enter a shop or coffe to get a second breakfast after having the first one at 4.40 and did some 80 k after that.
Pacing ... IAM still pissed of as I made 2 mistakes there. the first one i kind of can accept ,to do but the timing was so stupid had I done it a k later it would have still been a risky move but it would have made sense. At the same time no it did not make sense give my nutrition status w . The 2nd one oh dear . The difference between reality and wishful thinking could not have been bigger . The pacing is the one thing IAM annoid about in the race in a normal race both decisions would have been good but in this race they where bad . The rest was all good. At the same time this is why I did the race to practise and refine .
There is a lot of thinking going on now. Originally I planned my season to be in peak shape for October 10 the Kona thing never got my real interest I was kind of really happy when Frenchman was placed on October the 10th . and do hardman full .as I really like both races. Then with the corona stuff going on I was invited to a race in Poland and it being the polish champs and a good field that suited my sub 8.40 goal I decided to go there .... As of today unless there is a miracle happening ( and to be fair the left leg has made great progress and the right is not that far away .. (maybe ) I won't go there. There is not much point if there is no chance I can run 3.10 .... I do think I can leave t2 before the clock is going to hit 5 hours 30 . But as of now I have done nothing that suggest a 3.10 marathon well at least not with the right leg lol. IAM making progress but then who is going to bet at the moment a race will be on in October .... Anyway there is plenty of time and if I don go to Poland I will do hardman ( well ...)

Last week was another solid week nothing special 2 quite good runs and one really bad one. Swimming very good. And bike apart from long bike aslo quite good .
And weight is definitely in the green zone. Of course I can still lose a few kg but I would say if I lose more than 2.5 kg than chances are high that I would start to lose bike power anyway so for a flat course it would likely be the best weight . IAM right on target for peak weight in oktober and I have no sugar gravings.
So only the run he said is the issue ... Only ...
And of course this little virus.

peter kern

last week was not the most successful week. had to walk home one long run ,at least i got a long run done this week even if a bit slower than i liked. but i did one of the best sessions ever which i was really pleased with 90 sec into it it seemed like game over but i did get the 4 x 15 min run done . i had to laugh as i was more excited at the end of the session than any race i have ever done...
still a solid week and 2 long rides done and 1 very good swim .

even with the run limitation iam looking forward to start at 2 ironman distance races in 8 days. i love the fact that there is a strong field at the hardman.

peter kern

last week was another good week
2 X 180k bikes done and 2 really fast swims and a solid 3.8 k Swim , which was not great as i really did not have a gear above crusing speed
i run very little to give legs chance to have a bit of a rest

hardman was great there is somehting special when you enter a transition aera when its dark and the hills behind the lake as a backdrop
swim as i said was not good but i did enjoy it.
molls gap is my favorite climb in ireland and i was reasonably focused on the bike bare one stretch of aobut 25 30 k where i did shut off a bit. my bike was about 7 min too slow as i would have to be just under 4.50if racing this this weekend and i was planning 4.53 4 on the day. i did not use my race front wheel and no latex tube and the rear wheel was a slower tire so i left about 9 watts so i would have been there or at least quite close to the goal time and i had a few more min in me * of course those few min than also increase the risk me tighening up too much i was well in control there too but still its somethinghing that really needs to be considered with high harmsting issues but anyways i was pleased with the bike and for this week i have my aero weapon velotec suit , it was simply to cold on sat to wear it but that suit is something else in confort and also faster than my current suit. but iam glad i did not wear it as i was a bit cold out of the water.
and i was very pleased with the run as after 2 k i losended up and run at a decent pace. thats where i decided it was worse going to poland and i stoped after 4k. realisticaly i do not think i can run a 3.10 next week but i do think i can start runnung 5.30 h into the race and i then we will see and i do take and 8.45, and more likley than a 3.15 run is that i start to walk but the weather looks good ...
anyway always a pleasure to cycle down there and it was an excellent race and i take my hat of the organisation team and also the TO s . i did ask one how much work was involved and there is much more work involved to get those races done than meets the eye with the guidlines changing all the time.

and and i do feel for stephen as he was in excellent shape for the race.but this is always the risk on roads like this the fastest tyres are risky. he would have been better of with more sturdy tyres since first place and 4th place were so far down and he was close enough to me after 90 k to outrun me easilly. anyway no risk no gain as they say.
and for me i felt good yesterday for some reason the harmsting is really good , just run short and slow y day but not once did i feel it and iam not going to agrevate it before the race.
and btw Alan good race and thanks so much for the pump adaptor , also big thanks to dave who offered me one as well

ps one more thing bryan sexton had by far the best paced marathon of the day, seriously littly drop in pace from begining to end on a course like this , bryan mc crystal did predict it very well what would happen in the 2nd half the day before the race as he had done a lap friday morning.

zico10

peter kern wrote: »

ps one more thing bryan sexton had by far the best paced marathon of the day, seriously littly drop in pace from begining to end on a course like this , bryan mc crystal did predict it very well what would happen in the 2nd half the day before the race as he had done a lap friday morning.

I can't argue with that, but a poorly paced 3:13 marathon would have been a lot more use to him than the perfectly paced 3:15 marathon he did run. Sometimes you just need to race hard and hope for the best.

peter kern

zico10 wrote: »

I can't argue with that, but a poorly paced 3:13 marathon would have been a lot more use to him than the perfectly paced 3:15 marathon he did run. Sometimes you just need to race hard and hope for the best.

I think that depends on few factors overall kienle who does what you say usally pays a price in the 2nd half while lange who starts more controlled usually runs the 2 nd half faster than anybody by a good margin as he slows down the least on a course like hardman with so many hills IAM sure Brian's pacing resulted in the fastest possible run split for him besides IAM sure that was the fastest bike he did by a good few minutes and a good swim for him. IAM not so sure about the swim but the bike is defo the best he did
Overall poorly paced means you leave time . So I don't think it's possible that a poorly paced marathon is faster at 42 k it's likely faster till k 34 or so but then you lose the advantage and some more
Some people can go out faster than others but that is then still good pacing . But again I think on this course the way Brian run let to the best time for him
Btw when did you level with garron I assume you must have been within a few meters at the finish line.