Jack of all trades and master of none

My first triathlon of the season and my first ever sprint tri took place in glorious sunshine in Caherciveen on Saturday. I drove down the night before and stayed in Waterville with Pete and Pat. Ani came along for the trip on the promise of some water sports in Valentia after the triathlon. Following a breakfast of porridge, tea and toast we headed off the 10 miles to Caherciveen to register before 8:30. As the race was not starting until 10:30 we had plenty of time to set up our gear – I had forgotten how many bits and bobs I needed compared to a running only event. We still had time to drive the first km of the run, which opened our eyes to the challenge ahead – it was certainly the toughest uphill km I had ever seen in a road race. Typically by the time I get onto the run in a triathlon all I want to do is take it easy and run a steady consistent pace as the mental and physical effort required to race tactically is considerable. This is typically followed by a post race analysis of “if only I pushed a bit harder I could have finished further up the field”. The race was in 2 waves with the red hats (of which I was one) taking off first and the white hats following on 5 minutes later. The event was very well supported locally with the local school band leading us out to the waters edge for the start – felt a bit like all-Ireland day in Croke Park – they’re used to that in Kerry. After warming up in the water for a few minutes the field had drifted from the start line and was asked to swim back. However before the full field was in position the starting gun was sounded. I was caught unawares with my cap off while adjusting my leaking goggles. I quickly put my hat on and took off as fast as I could chasing down those in front of me, with my left goggle filling up with water. It took a while to get into my stride and it wasn’t until I was 300 or 400m into the swim that I felt I was swimming strong - around the 2nd last buoy and heading for the swim exit, continuing to pass others right up to the exit. My legs were a bit wobbly for the first few steps on dry land as I entered T1. My lack of transition training quickly became apparent as fumbled my way through the changeover to the bike - I didn’t even have the Velcro straps on my shoes open with the result that fellow club runner, Conor O’Brien, who was out of the water after me exited T1 with me. I also used some time to put on the Garmin, thinking that it would be useful for pacing on the bike and run. I got off to a reasonably good start on the bike, getting out of the saddle and pushing the pace over the first km through the town to get the blood flowing through my legs. Once out of town I settled into a steady pace and held my position pretty well and while I was overtaken by a few I continued to pass others during the 5k climb to the 9k mark. Conor had gone past me after about 3k and Pete passed me at about the 8k mark. Crested the hill at 9k and a drop to the 10k turnaround point. I continued with a steady pace on the return leg and even managed to pass a few on the 5k descent, coming alongside Conor and more or less matching pace with him into town and T2. If T1 was bad T2 was a comparative disaster, taking 55 seconds to take off my bike shoes and put on my runners. I was unsteady on my legs and my runners weren’t the easiest to get into, despite the elastic laces. The result was that I lost about 15 to 20 seconds on those around me, including Conor and once I hit the run I did not feel at all comfortable. I exited T2 with a guy in a green/black tri-suit on my shoulder and even over the first 100 yards he was pulling away from me. My lack of motivation, general fatigue and the thought of the impending hill was enough for me not to give chase and I allowed myself the luxury of deciding that I was going to take it relatively easy on the run with a steady manageable pace and not burst a gut trying to reel others in (if my pace allowed me to pass someone well and good). I plodded up the hill in a low gear and could see Conor about 100 yards ahead – he might as well have been on a different planet as far as I was concerned although I took comfort from the fact that my pace was not too dissimilar from those around me – that was until just after the 1k mark where the road levelled out a bit and this guy went past me looking very relaxed – the only guy to pass me on the run (turned out he was 4th M40-49). Eventually I reached the turnaround and could enjoy the 2.5k descent to the finish – the view was spectacular but I had little time to enjoy it. The descent was more rewarding than the ascent as I managed to catch a few runners in front of me. It felt good seeing runners coming against me struggling against the very gravity that was now allowing me to freewheel. Before the 4k mark I even passed the guy in the green/black tri-suit and ran comfortably strong over the last k to the finish line, crossing in 1:16:37 (27th overall - 21st individual) - 28 seconds down on Conor and 47 seconds down on Pete.

My splits and rank out of 243 finishers (excluding relay teams) were:-

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Swim - 14:15 - 28th -thought I would be faster.

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T1 - 1:32 - 53rd - Could have been better.

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Bike - 38:44 - 28th - very happy with bike placing as this was by far my weakest discipline.

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T2 - 0:55 - 129th - relative disaster - easily lost 20 seconds.

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Run - 21:14 - 27th - reasonably happy but legs felt like toast for first half.

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My individual position at the various stages was Swim 28th, T1 Exit 35th (ouch), Bike 20th (great), T2 Exit 23rd (WTF), Run 21st.

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My placing for each discipline was surprisingly consistent - except for the transitions, which i'll have to work on. Overall i'm pleased with my first sprint but am looking forward to the Olympic distance next month which I feel suits my endurance base more. I'll have to see if I can get into the Lost Sheep half IM in September (anyone with a slot that they want to exchange please let me know).

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Back to Running

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This week sees me start a new 2 phased programme with a view to improving my middle distance times from 5k to 15k over the next 9 weeks and then a further 9 weeks of marathon build up for Dublin. So for the next 9 weeks I have picked 9 out of the 18 weeks of Phase 2 to 4 of the 5k to 15k Training Plan in "Daniels Running Formula" (3 weeks in each phase "Early", "Transition" and "Final Quality" - Phase 1 is base building - which I surely have covered at this stage). The plan centres around 2 to 3 quality sessions a week with the remaining weekly mileage made up of easy runs and a long run. I'll probably stick to 2 weekly quality sessions as that should be enough for me.

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The quality sessions for phase 2 include repetition pace intervals at the track on Tuesday and tempo runs/intervals on Thursdays (which I will replace with races when the mood takes me - the Ballycotton 5 mile series comes to mind, which just happen to be on Thursdays).

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My first track session this evening involved 5 x (2 x 200m with 200m jog recovery + 1 x 400m with 400m jog recovery). As I had recently been increasing my exposure to running without cushioning I decided to run the session barefoot (the real deciding factor was that I had forgotten to bring my running shoes with me on the 5 mile bike ride to the track). My first run after the Cork Marathon had been a 4 mile easy paced barefoot run on the track, which went off without a hitch so I had some exposure.

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The 1.9 mile warmup felt good - no issues. Kevin Geary did offer me his spare pair of runners if I needed them. My target pace according to Daniels was 40 seconds for the 200s and 82 for the 400s (although my mind was set on 80). The first set went off without a hitch, as did the second set. No issues and running barefoot felt great.

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Halfway through the third set I felt some discomfort under the second toe of my left foot and on closer inspection noticed that the skin was broken and the toe bleeding - I guess the friction of toe against track surface, particularly on the inside leg, was enough to wear away the skin (a bit like sandpaper) - still the positive was that it showed that I was landing on my forefoot and that bio-mechanically there was no issue. I took Kevin up on his offer and completed the remainder of the session in shoes. At first it felt like I had been at the dentist - you know that feeling just after you get the injection and everything goes numb - well my feet felt like that, I could hardly feel them at each footfall. Whereas before the impact of each footfall was absorbed by the muscles in the foot it now felt like the surface I was running on had turned to foam - a bit like gym mats only twice or three times the thickness. I quickly adjusted and completed the session to plan.

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36/39/79

39/39/79

39/39/81 (81 was the first 400 in shoes)

40/39/79

39/38/79

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