“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