Somebody told me this week that they were enjoying reading my accounts of Ironman training. I was very flattered. Thanks! Then they started to elaborate. They said its ‘interesting reading but I’m failing to stress one significant fundamental of Ironman… Ironman is not easy!’ Fair point Amanda. You are 100% correct – Ironman is a high endurance event that pushes the limits of competitors.
Rather than me trying to describe the ins and outs of Ironman its probably best if I let you guys check it out for yourselves (I’ve been living this wacky life for months now so I’m finding it difficult to step back from it)
The wikipedia definition of Ironman opens up a fountain of knowledge.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ironman_Triathlon
Monday – First swim in a week. Half hour steady pace. Just getting back into it after a week out of the water.
Tuesday – Another visit to the Physio today.
Later that evening I lined up another go in the resistance pool. This was a watershed of a night. And this time I was prepared. My intention was to do a solid hour. I needed this. My confidence took a turn on my last visit. I’m delighted to say I got the hour in (non stop – sans wetsuit). That was the biggest buzz I’ve got out of training in a long time!! Psychologically I’m back on track. I now know I can do it. That’s important.
Thursday – Rejoined my swim group this morning. It was a buzz to do the 100’s again rather than a long trawl. Well, not quite. To avoid going into complete withdrawl… I did do a half hour afterwards of lengths. One hour swimming.
Later that night I did an hour and a half on the bike Turbo trainer. Boring!
Saturday – A proper long cycle has been blatantly missing from my training schedule. It was time to rectify this. Thankfully the Gods were smiling on us today. The day turned into a scorcher (for September that is). Mind you we set off at 7am so we had frost to deal with first. It was chilly! We set a course for the Wicklow mountains. The higher we cycled the colder it became. Scant reward for ascending some steep hills. Eventually the sun broke through, we thawed out and life was good. Thanks Noel for your company. We did 6hours 20mins cycling.
Full marks to those of you who noticed there is still a lack of running on my training plan. I’m still on the physio table. My calf is getting better, but not as quickly as I’d like. I may need to continue getting physio right up to the event on Friday 26th. My legs are knackered. The next few weeks will be critical. If I don’t get the miles in – I will face a tougher test on the treadmill than maybe I’d anticipated. Fingers crossed!!!
A lot of people have also been asking me about the swim element of the Static Ironman.
How are you going to swim 3.8km on Grafton Street? A very reasonable question if you think about it. I’m going to use a resistance pool called a SwimGym. A picture tells a thousand words – so check out
http://www.swimgym.ie/
Total time spent training 10 hrs 20min
Wednesday, September 26, 2007
Wednesday, September 19, 2007
My left foot…
It’s hard to believe I have only 4 weeks of training to go in advance of Telethon day on 26th. Seems like if got my dates wrong here – but I haven’t. I’ll consider a two-week taper before the big day. A taper is a time to cut down on long distances and just keep the muscles ticking over. That was the plan.
Unfortunately the niggle in my leg, picked up on Saturday, has forced an early taper type week.
Monday – 9am I phone the physio for an appointment. This needed treatment asap and thankfully they could oblige. I was on the physio’s table at 4pm. The verdict wasn’t bad but it wasn’t good either. In a nutshell my legs are overworked, tight and tired. Damm! It didn’t come as a surprise. I struggled at the beginning of the run in Kenmare. My left ankle would not bend for 4km’s. It was painful stuff. I made the decision to continue – although I had a feeling I might not get away with it. You may recall I had a target in mind for finishing in under 5 hours!! It was hard to let that go in the midst of a race. Normally I run these things off. I also had a severe pain down the right hand side of my back to deal with. Great craic this triathlon thing eh..?! I completely ignored it because I had the same pain in my back last year and it went away. Mind over matter I guess. Enough moaning man - back to my left foot. The stiffness is a culmination of months of constant training. Not just one race! The advice from the Physio was to keep weight and pressure off my feet.
Did a light 1.5 hour cycle in the phoenix park.
Tuesday - I did a 2 hour easy cycle in the phoenix park.
Wednesday – Another session with the physio. When I’m lying there on the bench and my face is turning purple I keep reminding myself as I hold my breath so I don’t shout obscenities
‘Its good pain!! The pain is good’
The recommendation was not to run for a week. That’s fine except I can’t swim either this week. To avoid infection on the Tattoo I have to skip swimming pools for one week. I’ve gone from a triathlete to a monoathlete. This week is now all about cycling. Thanks Neil for massage that night.
By the end of that day I was completely tenderised.
Thursday – Time to dust off the turbo trainer. Each evening I was getting caught in the darkness cycling in the park. When the lights go down its not just the Reindeer that you have to look out for in the park… We’ll say no more! I set the bike up in front of the TV and put on a DVD. This probably sounds ridiculous but I purposely watched a DVD I’d seen before. I didn’t want to be overly stimulated by the DVD – this had to be more about the cycling. A bit strange? Obsessive? Compulsive? Not at all. Just too lazy to go to DVD shop! There will be no DVD’s on Telethon day – just people watching. That’s why all support from people on the day will be much appreciated.
I did two hours on the turbo. The film was called Deja Vue. The irony was not lost on me.
Saturday - I needed to do a long cycle. Happily the weather was bang on. To make things interesting and show a bit of support I decided to cycle to Mullingar to the Caroline Kearney Memorial triathlon. It took me 4 hours to get there. Slow pace on me tod - nothing special. I should have got there sooner except for dodgy directions. It would appear that no one in Mullingar has heard of Lake Ennell or how to get there. That’s ok except its only 6 miles from the town centre! My fault really, I could have brought directions with me. I shouldn’t be putting people on the spot like that…
Total time spent training 9.5hours
Unfortunately the niggle in my leg, picked up on Saturday, has forced an early taper type week.
Monday – 9am I phone the physio for an appointment. This needed treatment asap and thankfully they could oblige. I was on the physio’s table at 4pm. The verdict wasn’t bad but it wasn’t good either. In a nutshell my legs are overworked, tight and tired. Damm! It didn’t come as a surprise. I struggled at the beginning of the run in Kenmare. My left ankle would not bend for 4km’s. It was painful stuff. I made the decision to continue – although I had a feeling I might not get away with it. You may recall I had a target in mind for finishing in under 5 hours!! It was hard to let that go in the midst of a race. Normally I run these things off. I also had a severe pain down the right hand side of my back to deal with. Great craic this triathlon thing eh..?! I completely ignored it because I had the same pain in my back last year and it went away. Mind over matter I guess. Enough moaning man - back to my left foot. The stiffness is a culmination of months of constant training. Not just one race! The advice from the Physio was to keep weight and pressure off my feet.
Did a light 1.5 hour cycle in the phoenix park.
Tuesday - I did a 2 hour easy cycle in the phoenix park.
Wednesday – Another session with the physio. When I’m lying there on the bench and my face is turning purple I keep reminding myself as I hold my breath so I don’t shout obscenities
‘Its good pain!! The pain is good’
The recommendation was not to run for a week. That’s fine except I can’t swim either this week. To avoid infection on the Tattoo I have to skip swimming pools for one week. I’ve gone from a triathlete to a monoathlete. This week is now all about cycling. Thanks Neil for massage that night.
By the end of that day I was completely tenderised.
Thursday – Time to dust off the turbo trainer. Each evening I was getting caught in the darkness cycling in the park. When the lights go down its not just the Reindeer that you have to look out for in the park… We’ll say no more! I set the bike up in front of the TV and put on a DVD. This probably sounds ridiculous but I purposely watched a DVD I’d seen before. I didn’t want to be overly stimulated by the DVD – this had to be more about the cycling. A bit strange? Obsessive? Compulsive? Not at all. Just too lazy to go to DVD shop! There will be no DVD’s on Telethon day – just people watching. That’s why all support from people on the day will be much appreciated.
I did two hours on the turbo. The film was called Deja Vue. The irony was not lost on me.
Saturday - I needed to do a long cycle. Happily the weather was bang on. To make things interesting and show a bit of support I decided to cycle to Mullingar to the Caroline Kearney Memorial triathlon. It took me 4 hours to get there. Slow pace on me tod - nothing special. I should have got there sooner except for dodgy directions. It would appear that no one in Mullingar has heard of Lake Ennell or how to get there. That’s ok except its only 6 miles from the town centre! My fault really, I could have brought directions with me. I shouldn’t be putting people on the spot like that…
Total time spent training 9.5hours
Tuesday, September 11, 2007
“Its not you, it’s me”.
Family first: Congratulations to my sister Siobhan and Brendan on the birth of baby Cathal on Sunday. A future Ironman no doubt!
Back to the unreal world….
This week would be considered a rest week in triathlon speak. After one almost half Ironman and one proper half Ironman races over back to back weekends it was time to pull back and take a break. Monday night and Tuesday night were spent on the computer refining the Event Management Plan for Dublin City Council. As you can appreciate we can’t just turn up on the day and erect a SwimGym Pool and stage on Grafton St. Permission has to be granted from all quarters and this being a unique event adds to the complexities. The level of detail expected has been an eye opener for me. I can fully appreciate how people make their living writing up such plans – they are a science in themselves.
Wednesday – One hour front crawl swim in the Pool. I count the time as opposed to the distance. Maybe that’s not the best way to approach this but I struggle to keep count of the lengths. In fact I would say it’s next to impossible in a 25 metre pool! For what its worth I say the NAC is probably the place to go for this type of swim. Doing a long swim in a Gym Pool is a perilous experience. Hands up who hasn’t experienced Pool Rage? Yes, good auld fashioned ‘I want to kill that idiot who just knocked my off my rhythm anger’. We all have. It’s no different to Road Rage. There are 4 kinds that I’ve sussed out in the swimming lanes from my own experience.
1) The Boy Racer. In for a few quick laps, big splash, no style to the stroke. It’s all about getting attention!
2) The Sunday Driver. They can’t, won’t, shan’t or will never get out of the way.
3) The Road Worker. They look the part but generally do feck all. Mostly to be found leaning against the pool wall chatting. Generally give unclear signals as to which side of the wall they will let you turn from until the last second. The M50 comes to mind here….
4) The Learner. Waits until the coast is clear before they set off. Completely oblivious to the fact that you are doing lengths and take off just as you reach the wall. Aaarrrggh! They are the worst.
Thursday - 45mins front crawl in open water. Got a proper fright as I was swimming. I was pottering along at a nice old pace; wide open space all to myself when BANG! My fingers hit off something solid. I got a big shock! In light of where I was swimming - that milli second spent stopping allowed some seriously unpleasant images shoot through my head. I was relieved to see it was just a big plank of wood. Still it was a bit unnerving.
Saturday – The plan for Saturday, concocted on Wednesday, changed by the hour on Friday afternoon. Originally it was a 6 hour cycle starting Saturday at 6pm. Then it turned into a 4 hour cycle. Then it turned into a run. This sounds like ridiculous planning. That’s probably stating the obvious! The changing goalpost’s was not my doing. I’ll explain why shortly.
Taking up from where I left off last week I decided to do 2hrs 15min. I set off at 8.30am knowing that a few 3D tri guys were starting a run at 9.30am. That would do nicely for a bit of company. Thanks to Martin and Mick. The last couple of km’s I did start to feel a pain in both calves. I put it down to stiffness. Normally it’s my right calf that gives up the ghost if at all. I slowed down. Normally I run these things off. I think both calves were slowly deciding. On the last lap of the Polo Grounds my left calf made the decision - its not you, it’s me. Trouble! Luckily it was the end of my run.
Quick shower and onto the Tattoo parlour… Where else!
This was closure on Ironman Austria. I’d made up my mind early on in the year that if I finished Austria I’d get the M dot Tat. The Tattoo parlour had to re-juggle their schedule for various reasons and that’s why I had to change my training plan. Ordinarily I’d have given it a skip in favour of my training but the waiting list for Tattoos on a Saturday is weeks. So there you go. Sore, quick, swollen but happy. Job done. I’m now branded merchandise. If lost, please return to Ironman Inc…..
Total time spent training – 4 hours
PS – Don’t tell my mum I got a Tattoo
Back to the unreal world….
This week would be considered a rest week in triathlon speak. After one almost half Ironman and one proper half Ironman races over back to back weekends it was time to pull back and take a break. Monday night and Tuesday night were spent on the computer refining the Event Management Plan for Dublin City Council. As you can appreciate we can’t just turn up on the day and erect a SwimGym Pool and stage on Grafton St. Permission has to be granted from all quarters and this being a unique event adds to the complexities. The level of detail expected has been an eye opener for me. I can fully appreciate how people make their living writing up such plans – they are a science in themselves.
Wednesday – One hour front crawl swim in the Pool. I count the time as opposed to the distance. Maybe that’s not the best way to approach this but I struggle to keep count of the lengths. In fact I would say it’s next to impossible in a 25 metre pool! For what its worth I say the NAC is probably the place to go for this type of swim. Doing a long swim in a Gym Pool is a perilous experience. Hands up who hasn’t experienced Pool Rage? Yes, good auld fashioned ‘I want to kill that idiot who just knocked my off my rhythm anger’. We all have. It’s no different to Road Rage. There are 4 kinds that I’ve sussed out in the swimming lanes from my own experience.
1) The Boy Racer. In for a few quick laps, big splash, no style to the stroke. It’s all about getting attention!
2) The Sunday Driver. They can’t, won’t, shan’t or will never get out of the way.
3) The Road Worker. They look the part but generally do feck all. Mostly to be found leaning against the pool wall chatting. Generally give unclear signals as to which side of the wall they will let you turn from until the last second. The M50 comes to mind here….
4) The Learner. Waits until the coast is clear before they set off. Completely oblivious to the fact that you are doing lengths and take off just as you reach the wall. Aaarrrggh! They are the worst.
Thursday - 45mins front crawl in open water. Got a proper fright as I was swimming. I was pottering along at a nice old pace; wide open space all to myself when BANG! My fingers hit off something solid. I got a big shock! In light of where I was swimming - that milli second spent stopping allowed some seriously unpleasant images shoot through my head. I was relieved to see it was just a big plank of wood. Still it was a bit unnerving.
Saturday – The plan for Saturday, concocted on Wednesday, changed by the hour on Friday afternoon. Originally it was a 6 hour cycle starting Saturday at 6pm. Then it turned into a 4 hour cycle. Then it turned into a run. This sounds like ridiculous planning. That’s probably stating the obvious! The changing goalpost’s was not my doing. I’ll explain why shortly.
Taking up from where I left off last week I decided to do 2hrs 15min. I set off at 8.30am knowing that a few 3D tri guys were starting a run at 9.30am. That would do nicely for a bit of company. Thanks to Martin and Mick. The last couple of km’s I did start to feel a pain in both calves. I put it down to stiffness. Normally it’s my right calf that gives up the ghost if at all. I slowed down. Normally I run these things off. I think both calves were slowly deciding. On the last lap of the Polo Grounds my left calf made the decision - its not you, it’s me. Trouble! Luckily it was the end of my run.
Quick shower and onto the Tattoo parlour… Where else!
This was closure on Ironman Austria. I’d made up my mind early on in the year that if I finished Austria I’d get the M dot Tat. The Tattoo parlour had to re-juggle their schedule for various reasons and that’s why I had to change my training plan. Ordinarily I’d have given it a skip in favour of my training but the waiting list for Tattoos on a Saturday is weeks. So there you go. Sore, quick, swollen but happy. Job done. I’m now branded merchandise. If lost, please return to Ironman Inc…..
Total time spent training – 4 hours
PS – Don’t tell my mum I got a Tattoo
Wednesday, September 5, 2007
‘Two roads diverged on a grey grid locked motorway, and I took the road least busy and that may help make all the difference on Tele
One of the hardest things to do when you are in serious endurance training mode is to not train at all. Yep, you read it correctly and your eyes are not deceiving you. Doing nothing is tough. Taking a rest or Active Recovery as it is known, is just as important as going out and doing a physical session. The body needs time to adapt and condition itself. Bombard it with constant physical exertion and your looking for trouble – namely injury. So R+R is not to be scoffed at. In fact I’m all for it. Only problem is I’m slightly hyperactive. I don’t do sitting down very well. Upon reflection for this week, I made things hard for myself. I never really gave myself a chance to recover and paid the price on Saturday’s race.
Sunday – I had too many drinks at the après Dublin Triathlon do. Slow day. Ideal for relaxing. Not Active Recovery in the classic sense but a chance to vegetate. A no brainer! Not for me. I got up and spent most of the day cleaning the house. Idiot! Not for having a clean house but for being overly active on my day off. I’d done a long day yesterday and now I was prolonging the recovery process.
Monday – Not surprisingly I went into work tired.
I asked Neil if he’d oblige and give me a massage that night. It had been a few weeks since I’d had one so it was good timing (and also an attempt to make amends for yesterday) at least I was doing something proactive. I will freely admit I wasn’t looking forward to this. My misconstrued idea of a massage is: A slender blond Swedish girl (wearing very little naturally…) with small hands, gently rubbing my tired muscles. The reality couldn’t be further from this illusion of my mind. Neil is an ex heavyweight Boxer!! (and an accomplished Triathlete at that). This is a sports massage. I am a wuss when it comes to sports massages. There could only be tears! Say no more….
Tuesday – I designed this week to be hard at the beginning, easy in the middle and then bust a gut at the end. Tuesday was chalked in as a long run in the Phoenix Park. I had a notion of doing 1.5 hours. This wasn’t any improvement on last week. In reality I should have been adding another 15 mins to this minimum. I was still tired tho. Best to stay on the side of caution.
Traffic was exceptionally heavy so I decided to start from home instead of driving to the Park. Driving would have given me the option of using the car as an aid station (somewhere to house food and drink). I did bring some liquid but it was minimal. I was also under pressure to be somewhere afterwards. And, what’s worse – to be on time too! The joys of it all eh...?!
Maybe it was the nice evening or the afterglow of the massage, but I felt great. So I decided to go for the extra 15min. It was roughly an hour into the run when I had this brain wave. I ran to a point where there was no opt out. I anticipated this run home to bring me up to 1 ¾ hours. I made a pig’s ear out of gauging the distance. I got home in two hours. I was badly dehydrated, starving and suffered the last two kilometres. This was ridiculous. What was I doing?? I know better than this. I hit the wall due to lack of nutrition. Bad call Eoin.
To make matters worse I was late
Wednesday - One hour swim in open water. Front crawl - moderate pace. The water is getting colder. The hole in my wetsuit is getting bigger. Note to self: buy new wetsuit.
Triathlon Blog timeout: I had a lucky escape today. A tipper truck reversed up onto my car while I was sitting in it. Front of car badly damaged. Glad he decided to stop when he did or it could have been a lot different. Scary experience!
Thursday - This was a milestone for Telethon Day on Oct 26th. I had my first swim in a resistance pool similar to the SwimGym pool that will be constructed on Grafton Street. I was quietly apprehensive. I’d have to swim 3.8km in this pool. I’d committed to this without even seeing one. Good move or bad move? We’d soon find out.
I must first of all thank Ger for the usage of the pool then and going forward. It was cool to finally see one. First impressions were good - the water was warm! It was a strange sensation getting into position. Ger turned up the power and off I went. It was grand for the fist few strokes and then my goggles gave up. The pressure of the water was exposing a weak point in the rubber. My right eye was taking a pounding. Change of goggles and then back to it. I lasted about 10 mins. Second goggles started leaking. I was not having much luck.
Verdict: Its gonna be harder than I anticipated. I will be using a wetsuit on the day that should help. I’ll need to practice.
By the time I got home for Ger’s gaff it was after 10pm. When I was in the bathroom I noticed my right eye had burst a blood vessel. 1/3 of my eye was dark red. Shit – that wasn’t part of the plan.
Friday – Got out of work early to make the registration for the Cork Tri Half Ironman in Kenmare. Looking down the barrel of a 5 hour drive really didn’t appeal to me. In fact I was anything but enthusiastic. Love the race, hate the drive. I took solace from the fact that I was making my best early escape down the road to date. I still laugh at my first drive to Kenmare 3 years ago. I arrived down at 1 in the morning having had a chicken snack box on the way as my main meal of the day. That great race preparation for a Half Ironman that starts at 7am!!!
Anyhoo – that was then this is now. I was making good time until I came upon the Electric Picnic traffic. Total gridlock on the motorway. I was so tempted to pull into the left hand lane and catch up with mates at the Picnic. Instead I took the road least busy…. (ah! says you... suddenly the above Title is making sense. I haven’t lost it!! yet)
Saturday - Early rise at 5pm for race. I’d set my sights on finishing the race under 5hours. That would be a 17 min improvement on last year. A tall order but achievable.
Great buzz around the transition and start of race. Thanks to Eamonn for the loan of the gear. It raised a few eyebrows and wise cracks - all part of the banter. At 7am 250 of us kicked into life and stated the 1.9km swim.
Next step was a 90km bike which took us over the Healy pass, the Caha pass and beyond. The scenery was majestic. The conditions were perfect. It was great to be out there. Could the Electric Picnic top this? Hmmm…..who knows
Lastly we had the half marathon to run. A lot of pro Picnic feelings ran through my mind during the course of the run. It was probably this lack of focus that cost me the extra 9 mins. I finished the race in 5hrs 9mins. I was a little disappointed but it’s still a great achievement to finish. The bottom line is the training would be very beneficial for the Static Triathlon. This was another helpful training session and a most enjoyable race. Fair play to Cork Tri Club.
A mighty booze up that night more than made up for everything…
Total time spent training (incl massage) 9 hours
Sunday – I had too many drinks at the après Dublin Triathlon do. Slow day. Ideal for relaxing. Not Active Recovery in the classic sense but a chance to vegetate. A no brainer! Not for me. I got up and spent most of the day cleaning the house. Idiot! Not for having a clean house but for being overly active on my day off. I’d done a long day yesterday and now I was prolonging the recovery process.
Monday – Not surprisingly I went into work tired.
I asked Neil if he’d oblige and give me a massage that night. It had been a few weeks since I’d had one so it was good timing (and also an attempt to make amends for yesterday) at least I was doing something proactive. I will freely admit I wasn’t looking forward to this. My misconstrued idea of a massage is: A slender blond Swedish girl (wearing very little naturally…) with small hands, gently rubbing my tired muscles. The reality couldn’t be further from this illusion of my mind. Neil is an ex heavyweight Boxer!! (and an accomplished Triathlete at that). This is a sports massage. I am a wuss when it comes to sports massages. There could only be tears! Say no more….
Tuesday – I designed this week to be hard at the beginning, easy in the middle and then bust a gut at the end. Tuesday was chalked in as a long run in the Phoenix Park. I had a notion of doing 1.5 hours. This wasn’t any improvement on last week. In reality I should have been adding another 15 mins to this minimum. I was still tired tho. Best to stay on the side of caution.
Traffic was exceptionally heavy so I decided to start from home instead of driving to the Park. Driving would have given me the option of using the car as an aid station (somewhere to house food and drink). I did bring some liquid but it was minimal. I was also under pressure to be somewhere afterwards. And, what’s worse – to be on time too! The joys of it all eh...?!
Maybe it was the nice evening or the afterglow of the massage, but I felt great. So I decided to go for the extra 15min. It was roughly an hour into the run when I had this brain wave. I ran to a point where there was no opt out. I anticipated this run home to bring me up to 1 ¾ hours. I made a pig’s ear out of gauging the distance. I got home in two hours. I was badly dehydrated, starving and suffered the last two kilometres. This was ridiculous. What was I doing?? I know better than this. I hit the wall due to lack of nutrition. Bad call Eoin.
To make matters worse I was late
Wednesday - One hour swim in open water. Front crawl - moderate pace. The water is getting colder. The hole in my wetsuit is getting bigger. Note to self: buy new wetsuit.
Triathlon Blog timeout: I had a lucky escape today. A tipper truck reversed up onto my car while I was sitting in it. Front of car badly damaged. Glad he decided to stop when he did or it could have been a lot different. Scary experience!
Thursday - This was a milestone for Telethon Day on Oct 26th. I had my first swim in a resistance pool similar to the SwimGym pool that will be constructed on Grafton Street. I was quietly apprehensive. I’d have to swim 3.8km in this pool. I’d committed to this without even seeing one. Good move or bad move? We’d soon find out.
I must first of all thank Ger for the usage of the pool then and going forward. It was cool to finally see one. First impressions were good - the water was warm! It was a strange sensation getting into position. Ger turned up the power and off I went. It was grand for the fist few strokes and then my goggles gave up. The pressure of the water was exposing a weak point in the rubber. My right eye was taking a pounding. Change of goggles and then back to it. I lasted about 10 mins. Second goggles started leaking. I was not having much luck.
Verdict: Its gonna be harder than I anticipated. I will be using a wetsuit on the day that should help. I’ll need to practice.
By the time I got home for Ger’s gaff it was after 10pm. When I was in the bathroom I noticed my right eye had burst a blood vessel. 1/3 of my eye was dark red. Shit – that wasn’t part of the plan.
Friday – Got out of work early to make the registration for the Cork Tri Half Ironman in Kenmare. Looking down the barrel of a 5 hour drive really didn’t appeal to me. In fact I was anything but enthusiastic. Love the race, hate the drive. I took solace from the fact that I was making my best early escape down the road to date. I still laugh at my first drive to Kenmare 3 years ago. I arrived down at 1 in the morning having had a chicken snack box on the way as my main meal of the day. That great race preparation for a Half Ironman that starts at 7am!!!
Anyhoo – that was then this is now. I was making good time until I came upon the Electric Picnic traffic. Total gridlock on the motorway. I was so tempted to pull into the left hand lane and catch up with mates at the Picnic. Instead I took the road least busy…. (ah! says you... suddenly the above Title is making sense. I haven’t lost it!! yet)
Saturday - Early rise at 5pm for race. I’d set my sights on finishing the race under 5hours. That would be a 17 min improvement on last year. A tall order but achievable.
Great buzz around the transition and start of race. Thanks to Eamonn for the loan of the gear. It raised a few eyebrows and wise cracks - all part of the banter. At 7am 250 of us kicked into life and stated the 1.9km swim.
Next step was a 90km bike which took us over the Healy pass, the Caha pass and beyond. The scenery was majestic. The conditions were perfect. It was great to be out there. Could the Electric Picnic top this? Hmmm…..who knows
Lastly we had the half marathon to run. A lot of pro Picnic feelings ran through my mind during the course of the run. It was probably this lack of focus that cost me the extra 9 mins. I finished the race in 5hrs 9mins. I was a little disappointed but it’s still a great achievement to finish. The bottom line is the training would be very beneficial for the Static Triathlon. This was another helpful training session and a most enjoyable race. Fair play to Cork Tri Club.
A mighty booze up that night more than made up for everything…
Total time spent training (incl massage) 9 hours
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