Check out my driving hips and great pull.

Almost two weeks in to the 32 week Ironman training programme and it’s going swimmingly.  Well, I say swimmingly because that is the only part of the plan that is staying anywhere near to the schedule sadly.

Like all good plans it needs to be flexible but I hadn’t really reckoned on having to “flex” this early.

A combination of work and a recurring foot niggle have put paid to a few of the sessions I had planned in, mainly running sessions unfortunately.

I’m nowhere near getting worried about things but it is disappointing to have missed some sessions so early on.

I’m pleased with the way my swimming has been coming along and I even got a mention from Coach Oliver for doing something right at the session last Monday.  It was for driving the stroke from the hip and reaching well in to the stroke for the catch and pull.  (something sexy for the ladies there!!)

My cycling is going well still although I did have a painful experience. No, not falling off the bike, something much worse.  I had to fork out for a new set of winter wheels as my last ones have literally given up the ghost. After two very good mechanics taking a look at them, it’s clear that the freehub is completely shot to hell and to replace it is nearly as expensive as new wheels, and given that they aren’t very good to start with it seems like a bad idea to spend good money on bad wheels.  So courtesy of Dave Kane Cycles I’m the owner of a nice set on Mavic Aksium wheels.  They aren’t exactly the best wheels in the world but are a good reliable set of winter donkeys.

Running has been non-existent really apart from a very short Brick run last week which went well, but then the arthritic toe crept in and stopped any further progress.  I’m still resting it and seriously considering dropping my schedule down to two runs per week for the next six weeks or so as I think the extended period of non-running between May and October has left me with weakened muscles and tendons in my foot which I need to build back up again to prevent further injury, and knocking out four runs per week is probably not the answer.

Part of my build up plan to Frankfurt has always included fitting in a Half Iron distance race about 5-6 weeks out from the main event.  Two of my favourite races which I was hoping to schedule in are not possible any more as the Tri an Mhi CX111 has ceased altogether and the Tri Limits 71.3 will be too late for me to use as a warm up event.  I stumbled across a fantastic event called The Gauntlet which is part of The Castle Triathlon series of events and is held at Cutra Castle in Co Galway. 

It looks like a fantastic event and course and the great news is we can combine it with a bank holiday weekend trip to see our friends in Galway.  Result.  The even better news is that I managed to rope in a few of the other Guys doing Frankfurt to race as well.  I smell as Smack talk showdown coming on….

Anyway – I’ll leave the running for a few more days and keep focussed on time on the bike for a while.

Here's what I've been up to.

Activity Name	Start	Time	Distance
Swimming - Club Session	Mon, 30 Nov 2015 6:58 PM	44:57:00	1,750 m
Cycling - Commute Out	Thu, 26 Nov 2015 5:08 PM	54:54:00	12.78
Lisburn Cycling	Thu, 26 Nov 2015 7:31 AM	26:24:00	7.88
Swimming - Club 6 AM Session	Wed, 25 Nov 2015 6:10 AM	40:20:00	1,500 m
Brick - Running Z2	Tue, 24 Nov 2015 7:13 PM	15:01	1.75
Brick - Cycling - Turbo	Tue, 24 Nov 2015 6:27 PM	40:01:00	13.39
Swimming - Club Monday Session	Mon, 23 Nov 2015 6:58 PM	44:48:00	1,300 m
Cycling - Commute Out	Mon, 23 Nov 2015 5:14 PM	34:49:00	7.86
Cycling - Commute In	Mon, 23 Nov 2015 7:25 AM	29:41:00	7.95

Feeling good feels, well......Good actually

Isn’t it funny that when you are frustrated or not making progress that the light at the end of the tunnel seems distant and faint, and yet when things feel like they are on a more positive plane that things just seem to fall in to place and make sense.

Ove the last week or two I feel like I’ve really started to make progress again in terms of coming back to a very basic level of fitness and being in a physical state to take on more training and importantly get my head in the right place about striking the balance between wanting to and being able to.

Off the back of what felt like a positive outing at the Run in the Dark 10k I have been able to mentally adjust my view of what is a longer run these days and now see 10k as not a bother (even though I haven’t actually bothered to run this distance since last week) and I can now see myself moving up towards 8 or 10 miles again pretty soon.  Maybe not such a big deal but mentally it feels good.

I am really enjoying our Club Group rides at the weekends, and I know that I am getting stronger as a result.  I’m still far from being the type of cyclist that I want to be by the time I get to early July next year, however taking a long term view on it and comparing where I am now to where I was a couple of years ago, I have now got a different mental view of what is achievable.

Last couple of times for Ironman the goal on the bike was definitely about competing the distance without feeling too tired for the run and then rely on my strength (not pace) to carry me through, and to be fair it did work well for me as an approach.  This time however I want to be in a position where I can push harder on the bike and still feel strong for the run.  It seems very obvious but the key to this is not being a fantastic runner but about being a decent cyclist who can run with strength.

The other side of the Group ride is that it gives affirmation of progress when I am able to see how I stack up against my club mates week on week but also it’s motivating to see them improving every week too. It’s a simple thing but it feels good.

I have been pairing up with “Big Ring” Pollard quite a bit, especially for swimming and I have to say the level of improvement he has displayed over just a month is fantastic and it is driving me on to make sure I improve at the same level, although to be honest he is improving faster than me at the moment and I just hope I can narrow the margins of difference as we progress. It’s great to see improvement in others and I do feel somewhat responsible, as I sort of talked him in to the whole IM Frankfurt experience. So I better make sure I keep the motivation levels up and am pressing myself onwards to do justice to his efforts too.  It’s a bit strange feeling accountable to someone else for your training but that’s pretty much what Ian and I have created.  

Basically he’s a Bollox who isn’t going to let me off with anything and I’m going to be the same with him!!

Next week marks the start of my formal training plan for Frankfurt and I feel good about going in to it. It feels important to me to be in a good state of mind as it’s a long road and it is tiring physically without having to battle inner demons as well.

To quote the lyrics of the Allman Brothers – I’ve got to “Keep on Keepin on.” (It's a great song, give it a listen)

https://youtu.be/-b-HS4sXhs0?list=PLPLP60S6bGa3eNfM5GEf6Bb-p6XQvN4bp

Few recent workouts for anyone interested:

The oldest Newbie in town.

So, it’s been a few weeks since the last update in the “Tales from Wounded Knee.”

I definitely feel like I am over the hump of recovery from the knee surgery which is 9 weeks ago now.  My focus is now very much on trying to get some basic level of fitness back so that I can start in to my Ironman 32 week training plan with at least the ability to complete all the requirements of week 1 without being completely destroyed at the end of it.

Progress against this objective is decent, with the odd set-back, most of which have not been injury related but more to do with work interruptions and general business in life.

I’ve committed to at least two swim sessions per week and my Fish-like swim Buddy “Big-Ring” Pollard has been keeping me honest. (Don’t ask about the nickname – it’s not as bad as it sounds.)

We are keeping each other straight and ensuring that if we commit to training that we turn up – it’s also good to have someone to bounce off – and given both of our needs to hit the salad bar – bouncing off is pretty much what we do!

Swimming is coming back slowly but surely – I am trying to work on the technique side of things again early in the pre-season and the sessions the last couple of weeks from Coach Harkin have been really enjoyable.  Swimming? Enjoyable? I’ve lost the plot – what I really mean is that I didn’t completely hate it.  I can feel a bit of strength coming back – maybe not speed but a little bit more endurance.

Cycling has been very enjoyable and the really mild October was fantastic as it meant the Club Saturday runs have been in reasonable weather conditions and well supported with 8-12 of us out each week. It’s amazing how quickly I can feel improvements in the cycling.  On a flat or downhill I feel OK at holding my own at a steady pace.  As usual the hills are not my friend, and I know that the front loaded Camel Hump is not helping my power to weight ratio, hence the need to hit the salad bar more than the Tiki bar!  It is true that if you ride with people who are better than you then you will improve.

I’m relatively encouraged in the very early stages of my aim to become a better cyclist and earn the right to look good on my new Cervélo rather than someone who just stole it.  There are a lot of miles to go yet but the start is positive and I’m enjoying it.

Now, when it comes to running, this is my first love in terms of the Triathlon disciplines, and this time last year I was in really good shape after knocking out a Marathon PB in Dublin and had my sights set on a couple of Ultras and several other marathons over the next 6 months.  Roll forward 12 months and my sights are set somewhat differently.

Last Wednesday I did the Run in the Dark 10k at Stormont.  My goal for this was primarily to get through it feeling Ok and if that happens to be in the region of 55-60 minutes I’d consider this as a step forward.  

I’m glad to say that I managed a decent 53.57 for the 10K.  Not exactly blistering but not bad and well ahead of my estimated time. I felt pretty strong and was rarely passed on the second lap and managed a 90 second negative split.

It’s scary how the lack of running has destroyed my running fitness and where I was running 32 miles over Mountains just 7 months ago, I now have to work hard on a four mile flat run round the Tow path in Belfast. 

I just need to get it in my head that I’m on a long journey back and it may even be two years to get back to the sort of running shape I was in last year – but then again I need to also remember that I hopefully will enjoy less injuries now compared to when the big miles were going in. Give and take really.

On the whole it’s a very positive view for me as I’m back in all three sports, I’m enjoying them all and I can see improvement almost every time I go out.  In some ways it feels a bit like just starting out where improvement comes every time.  I must be the oldest newbie in town.

The big training plan for Ironman Frankfurt starts in just over one week’s time and I’m really looking forward to it but also I am beginning to remember what hard work it is and the commitment and motivation levels required to keep going through crap weather, tiredness, work requirements, family time and all the other things that life throws our way but that’s half the challenge and the fun.

A bit more activity and images you'll want to shake out of your head.

Monday 12th October 2015

I know many of you will have been on the edge of your seat wondering how the recovery process and the general road back to fitness has been going.  Well fear not, you’re about to get the latest instalment in ‘The Road back to GLORY Mediocrity!’

Following my successful test outing on the Turbo last week, I followed it up with a run.  By run I mean slow belly wobbling jog. (and yes it was belly wobbling.) Sadly my choice of T-shirt that used to fit nicely, which no longer does, just made the wobble even more pronounced and on my return to the house I was met with ridicule from Erin asking had I really gone out in that?  Unfortunately I had but I won’t be doing it again until it is a little less of a “Compression” top.

The Run itself went OK thankfully.

30 Sep 2015 - 1.62 Miles – 00:16:00 – 00:09:17 per mile.  Not exactly PB pace but at least I was running again and no pain from the knee, just a feeling of slight stiffness. (Phnar, Phnar, Snort.)

I haven’t managed another run since but that has just been logistical rather than for any other reason, so I’m looking forward to stepping up to maybe a couple of miles next time.

I forced myself to get back in the pool again and despite knowing that I was going to suffer like a Dog I poured myself in to my Speedos (there’s an image you won’t loose! – by the way they aren’t really Speedos)) and got back in to the pool.  I thought I better as next time it will be under the menacing tutelage of Coach Oliver.

It’s fair to say that I was less than impressive and just about struggled through but at least I’m back in  the water.  Things can only get better.

6 Oct 2015 – 1100M – 00:45:00

The one sport that seems to be coming back again OK is my cycling.  In the last week or so I’ve managed to get on the Turbo for a short spin, commute in and out of work and get a decent spin out with the Club last weekend.

All of these went well and I haven’t been pushing too hard on the knee just to make sure it’s holding up well enough.

Signs are positive so far with no pain during or after the rides. Although I do have mental scarring from the weekend ride after being exposed to Andy Macfarlane in white cycling shorts.  Yep, you heard it right, WHITE Cycling Shorts!

There really is no place for these unless you are:

1. World Road Race Champion and called Peter Sagan
2. A Professional Cyclist of similar standing to the aforementioned World Champion
3. Living and training in the hottest of climates
4. A very fit and attractive female cyclist who has the Tan to prove point C.
5. Hung like the proverbial Baboon.

As far as I could tell, (without looking too closely) Andy didn’t fall in to any of those categories, and in my mind is now banned for life from putting me through that experience again. 

I prefer to keep this image in my mind - and just to confirm - THIS IS NOT ANDY!!!

6 Oct 2015 – 9.07 Miles – 00:30:00 – 16.10 MPH – Cadence 89

8 Oct 2015 – 20.88 Miles – 01:31:18 – 14.10 MPH – Cadence 67

10 Oct 2015 – 38.29 Miles – 02:20:58 – 16.30 MPH – Cadence 67

For the coming week I am hoping to continue the gentle build up and gain a little bit more fitness and strength and hope the nightmares go away.

"A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step." - Lao Tzu c.528 B.C.

Tuesday 29th September 2015

Hard to believe but it's been almost a year since I last penned a blog entry.  Mostly due to ambivalence and general lack of activity to discuss, I just gave up on keeping the blog going.

I can't promise that I will stick at it but I hope to at least make some effort to record what's going on and also take the opportunity to take the p@£s out of people.

A lot has happened since the 23rd of October 2014 when I last posted to cyberspace.  Too much to really go in to but it can be easily summarised as:
Marathon PB at Dublin, Trail Marathon at Tollymore, Road Marathon at Lusk, First Ultra Marathon at Wicklow Way (Brutal!), Knee injury, Roe Valley Triathlon, Knee injury, Enter Ironman Frankfurt 2016, Maracycle, Lap the Lough and Knee Surgery.

You may have got the gist of the theme of recurring knee injury.

Cutting a long and frustrating story short, I picked up an innocuous knee injury in April and basically have not run since apart from the odd short trot which resulted in a lot of pain.
Knee surgery for a tear on the "lateral meniscus thingy" on 2nd September was the end of the knee problem (hopefully) and the start of getting back to running which I have missed so much.

So, as the Blog title suggests,I am back on the road to recovery as of today.
I threw my leg over the bike and did a very easy spin on the Turbo trainer, just to get the movement back in to the knee and gain a sense of activity back again.

Rarely has a slow spin on a turbo been such a pleasure.

The goal now is to build my recovery to the point where I can start my training programme in November for IM Frankfurt.  That's the big goal for the next 7 weeks or so is to gradually build back in to activity and hopefully shift some of the weight (A LOT) that I piled on over the last few months.

I'm pretty sure that Keara will have mixed feelings about the training building up again as it means I will be out of the house more but I might stop moaning so much about not being able to run.  We'll see.

Anyway, it's good to be getting back to training and blogging again and I feel like I have taken the first step of the Thousands of miles that are ahead of me until I hopefully cross the finish line at Frankfurt again.

Running for a PB, leaping like a Salmon and struggling to give a toss! Lots to think about.

Wednesday 15^th October 2014

Running ( 01:27:43 / 10.00 Miles / 00:08:46 per mile / HRZ3)

Sweat, snot, rain, cold hands, running jacket, hat and wet socks.  Yes, it’s winter running at its finest and I am right back in to the middle of it.

I had to get out for a 10 mile run to really have a test of both my fitness and how well the Achilles has healed up.  So, despite the rain and wind and general misery I went out the door and got it done.

In a slightly masochistic way I really enjoyed this.  I had a new running jacket which has been hanging in my cupboard since late August and has remained unused, so I was really looking forward to donning the Orange Adidas coat and combined with my other unused item,  an Ironman Zurich (Did I mention I did an Ironman?) beanie hat  I was ready to brave the elements.

I have actually missed the misery of running in the rain and it was pretty refreshing to get back in to it.  I always feel like winter miles are harder miles and that I feel like I have earned a greater sense of satisfaction from being out in weather that most people would not even consider going out in.

The run itself went pretty well and I must have been in the zone as I passed my friend from work and didn’t even really notice or acknowledge him.  Sorry Gerard!  Pace was a bit slower than hoped and my Heart Rate started to elevate a bit as I got near the end.  Clearly the endurance fitness just isn’t quite what it should be.

The Achilles held up pretty well and only really stiffened up a bit about a mile from home which again was uphill, so it was quite reassuring.

I think I will wear my Compression Calf Guards for my long run this weakened and possibly for the Dublin Marathon too.  Just to give me an additional bit of support.  Although it means making a big sacrifice in covering up the Ironman Tattoo.

Clearly this is just  vanity on my part, but the Tat is always a talking point at a race, as many people ask about your tattoo on the way round and it is always inevitably followed by “I’d love to do a Triathlon / Ironman but I can’t swim.”

I have now given up saying to people that they could do it, it just takes effort and determination.  It’s a bit annoying that the assumption is that if you do Ironman or Triathlon you were born in an Aquarium and have a God given gift of being able to swim like a fish.

The reality is that probably 90% of people I know that do Triathlon do not come from a swimming background and have had to work bloody hard at swimming just so that they could enjoy this fantastic sport.

So, if you give me the old sob story about not being able to swim, I’m sorry for not being more sympathetic and encouraging but I’ve had enough of it.  I started out unable to swim 2 lengths and worked at it.  It’s a question of desire over ability.

Anyway, rant over on that matter.

I’ll go for an 18 mile run at the weekend and that will be the end of (or in reality start of) my long runs and then hopefully get a few shorter runs in next week.  So much for tapering… but I’m adopting the Donald ‘The Machine’ Smith and Stanley ‘Awesome’ Edgar – No Training – Training Plan and I’ll see how it goes.

Thursday 16^th October 2014

Cycling (01:24:10 / 20.59Miles / 15.20 MPH / Cadence 70 HRZ2)

Time to be careful now. Autumn is always a really dodgy time on the bike.  The wet roads, low sun and leaves on the road make for a slippery ride.

Down the Tow Path to work this morning and I had to be very careful at picking my line in order to avoid leaves and make sure I was only braking at the right times.  It probably forces good discipline but makes for a bit of a slower ride.

I hope to make myself a stronger cyclist this year, as I’m tired of being slow on the bike.

I decided that I can use my commute to build up the miles but also to try and work on a few things that will hopefully make me stronger and faster.

On the way to work this morning I focussed on keeping a higher cadence and decent pedalling technique.  Ideally I wanted to keep cadence in the high 90s.  I got pretty close to this and in reality only dropped below on the average because of stops and being cautious in leafy parts.

I plan to use the homebound rides to push a bigger gear and focus on pushing the legs harder.  Hopefully this will help to build strength.  The theory being that I will focus on technique and strength and that they will both improve and meet somewhere in the middle.  Eventually permitting me to push a bigger gear at a higher cadence which will translate to speed.  It’s all theory but at least it’s better than just spinning out miles with no real purpose.

The cycle home was absolutely unbelievable.  Belfast was hit with a downpour of close on Biblical proportions.  It created a lot of flooding and terrible traffic congestion.  The ride home was very wet.

I didn’t mind getting rained on but riding through massive puddles without knowing what was in it and the constant risk of motorists with steamed up rain covered windows mowing me down was somewhat of a concern.

I was genuinely very pleased to get home in what was a Personal worst for the length of time to ride home.  Importantly I got home safely!

Saturday 18^th October 2014

Running (00:21:45 / 3.10 Miles / 00:07:01 per mile / HRZ3)

Queens Parkrun
 

Cycling (00:46:07/ 16.02 Miles /15.90 MPH / HRZ2 / Cadence 75 )

My employer has been running a programme throughout the whole organisation called ‘Be at your best.’  It’s a general  Mind, Body Spirit type of programme and part of it has been a couch to 5K programme for people.

Saturday was a Graduation run for these folks who put the effort in.  It was combined with the weekly Queens Parkrun and presented a chance for me to show support to colleagues and also have a wee bit of a smack at a decent 5K time and maybe even bag a PB.

Brendan and I decided to ride the 6 miles down to the event and obviously ride home afterwards.  Just another way of getting a few more bike miles but also in the back of my mind I reckoned I always run faster off the bike so maybe this would help my chances.

The actual run went really well for me despite my own efforts to sabotage myself by going off too fast.  I managed to reign it in and controlled it very well with almost perfectly even splits to come home with a 21.45.  This represented a PB by 37 secs.  I’ll take that OK.

It was great to see so many colleagues out and achieving their goal that they had worked hard for.  A real feel good day.

Sunday 19^th October 2014

Running (02:42:02 / 17.81 Miles / 00:09:05 per mile / HRZ2)

Long Run

Horrible.  Just bloody horrible.

Normally I like my long runs, but in all honesty I hated virtually every step of this run.  I felt like I was battling the whole way.

Battling the wind, my lethargy, the residual effects of wine and beer the previous night and a general feeling of apathy towards the run.  I hated it and it showed.

I just had to grind through this run and get it done.

There were some positives. As I was hating the run so much I decided that I should pay more attention to what was going on around me.

It’s bizarre that despite being outdoors so much that I don’t pay enough attention to Nature that is all around me.  On this run I paid more attention and was rewarded with a view of something I have never seen in real life before.

I saw Salmon swimming upstream and jumping up the weir on the Lagan in Lisburn.  It was incredible to see and there were quite a lot of them.  I even videoed them doing it.  It was great to see and demonstrates how much cleaner the River Lagan is nowadays.

I also saw a couple of Hawks hunting a bit further on and some squirrels in the park.

The Natural world delivered for me where my own body and head let me down badly.

If I am to take a positive from the run it is that I slogged it out and still managed to average 9.05 per mile.  It doesn’t fill me with confidence for Dublin and the possibility of achieving my goal of a sub-4Hr marathon but hopefully I’ll feel less lethargic next week.

Monday 20th October 2014

Swimming (1500M / 00:51:28)
Club Technique

I didn't get cycling to work today as I had a puncture.  So much for my wider, super tough puncture proof winter tyres.  About 200 miles and I'm punctured. Bugger!

Back to swimming again and the focus tonight was again on streamlining and getting the basics of technique right. 
I felt like Shit after about 600M.  I hadn't eaten enough and had a bit of a bonk.  This is bad enough at the best of times but in a pool it is just horrible.

I managed to work through it and actually started to feel better after a while and wound up doing OK in the sprints at the end.

Tuesday 21st October 2014

Running (00:34:26 / 4.00 Miles / 00:08:36 / HRZ2)

With only a week to go until the Dublin Marathon I will be taking it pretty easy this week.
Tonight was just a simple easy paced run and I felt a lot better than I did at the weekend.
Hopefully the positivity and running will carry through to the weekend.

Thursday 23rd October 2014

Running (00:52:01 / 6.00 Miles . 00:08:40 per mile / HRZ2)

Another decent enough tapering run tonight. Although calling it tapering feels a bit odd as I haven't really put in huge miles in training to justify a taper to allow myself to refresh.  Sine I came back from holiday after Ironman I have only run 21 times for a total of 150 miles.  That really is Bugger all mileage to come in to a Marathon but it's what I have got to work with and the fact that the 6 mile run tonight was very easy and felt dead on at that pace is at least encouraging.

Keara is treating us to another couple of nights in Dublin ahead of Monday so we will hopefully have a great time over the weekend and then an enjoyable run in the Marathon.


 

Slowly working my way back in to it.

Monday 13th October 2014

Cycling (00:59:38 / 15.93 Miles / 16.00 MPH)
Commute

Back on the bike and it was a lovely crisp morning but it's not going to be long before I have to get the winter leggings on.  Much warmer on the way home and not a bad wee ride.
This was the first ride trying out the injury and it all was good thankfully.

Swimming (1400M / 00:47:39)
Club Technique Session

Oh Dear God!  I was not looking forward to this.  back to the session with Coach Oliver and I was prepared to suffer as this would be only my 4th swim since Ironman and my first in 5 weeks.
Thankfully Oliver took it a bit easier on us and with a real focus on balance, streamlining and stretching it was a good session and I survived OK and actually felt like I was putting the coaching in to practise on a few occasions.

Tuesday 14th October

Running (5.00 Miles / 00:38:39 / 00:07:44 per mile)
Tempo Run

Whenever I have any sort of time off running I always notice that the basic fitness levels remain and I'm able to get back to distance OK but  the speed definitely suffers.
This run was pretty decent and the splits were very even and the overall pace was good.
The weird thing about this run was that I felt a bit uncoordinated.  It was a strange feeling that I just felt like I had lost my form (for what that is worth anyway) and was nearly making the run harder for myself than it should have been.
I can only put it down to loss of muscle memory for running a bit faster.  I'm sure It'll come back.

Actually...I'm sure the extra 7lbs of weight since Ironman don't help my fitness or form either.  I could do with losing a chunk of that before Dublin. 

Tick Tocking away.

Tuesday 7th October 2014


Short and sweet.


F*%king Achilles injury again = no training = Pissed off person!


Attempted 2 runs in the last 10 days.  Both have ended after less than one mile and resulted in me walking home.


To say I am not pleased is somewhat of an understatement with just over two weeks until the Dublin Marathon.


Bollocks!

Set backs, non fractures, drop outs and a clean stretch. It's been an interesting two weeks.

Tuesday 23rd September 2014

Getting back to it again.
Since Titanic Triathlon which was over two weeks ago I've been suffering from a pretty severe foot injury.  I've no idea what it was but it left me literally hopping on one leg at times as I couldn't out weight on my left foot.
It got to the point that last Monday saw me in Casualty at the Royal Victoria getting an X-Ray as I was getting concerned that it may have been fractured.  Thankfully it wasn't and their best guess was some sort of severe Tendon strain.  Prescribed some Mind blowingly strong Ibuprofen which had similar medical qualities to Magic Mushrooms and a bit of rest off the foot.

Eventually I managed to get back on the bike a bit towards the end of last week for a commute and then I tackled Parkrun for my first run in two weeks.

Parkrun went well enough - I didn't push on too hard but went reasonably well and finished up only 15 seconds off my Wallace Parkrun PB time.  More importantly the foot felt OK.

This week I managed to get back on the bike again and commute in and out of work and recently I've been using the Tow Path a bit as it's longer and means I can get a few extra miles in.
It might be dodgy enough in the dark and wet in winter but I'll stick with it as long as I can.

Tonight was my first serious enough run back again.
I set out with the goal of doing 7.5 miles in an hour and I'm delighted that I managed over 7.6 miles at an average pace of 07:49 per mile.  It felt tough but do-able which is encouraging.

Disappointingly I had to miss the Stena Triathlon because of the injury and I also withdrew from the Causeway Coast Marathon next weekend as I just couldn't risk the foot on the rough off road course.
This leaves me with a five week stretch through to Dublin Marathon and hopefully I can stay injury free and get a decent stretch of training in before then.

I've also swapped the Causeway entry over to another race in Mid November which is the Tollymore Marathon.  This is an off road Trail marathon through Tollymore Forest Park.  in the back of my mind is the thought of doing the 40 Mile Ultra Marathon version of it but that might be a bit much.  I'll make the call after the Dublin Marathon and see how the body is coping after it.

Onwards and Upwards - hopefully!

Belfast Titanic Triathlon - Race Report

The pressure was on for this race big time.

After my Last blog post filled with Smack talk and calling out all and sundry I felt like I had to deliver a half reasonable performance.  I knew that I was going to get a good ole Ass Whipping from most of the Guys in the Club and that there would be some tight contests with the rest of them.

This was my first attempt at the Titanic Triathlon and my first time over the Olympic distance in three years.  I was looking forward to giving this distance a rattle again and also a bit wary of swimming in the River Lagan, which is never renowned for its cleanliness.

The Trash talk certainly stirred things up a bit and thankfully everyone took it in the manner in which it was given.

The Swim

After getting all set up in Transition, we headed over the bridge to the start point for the swim which started on the Odyssey Arena side of the river and it would be an out and back loop of 1500M, getting out of the water on the opposite bank.

We seemed to spend a really long time treading water before the start but once we got going things turned out to be pretty tight.  Even though the race was in wave starts, the effect of funnelling the swim between a span of the bridge meant that it got a bit congested.  This combined with the murky water and blinding sunlight on the right side led to a problematic start in terms of sighting and getting some open water to swim in.

It thinned out a bit after about 400M and I started doing my usual trick of drifting left instead of swimming straight.

The water quality was surprisingly good but it was incredibly salty.  Probably the saltiest water I have swum in.  Every mouthful was disgusting and I just hoped that the high salt content would kill off all the other bugs that no doubt lived in the water too.

As I rounded the first buoy to swim across and then back, I was glad to change direction as my breathing to the right meant that I had been getting blinded by the bright sun the whole way up this stretch.

Shortly after beginning the stretch for home I saw my mate Donald swimming alongside me.  He didn’t see me at all but I tried to keep on his toes and managed to do so for about 300M but then I drifted left again and lost touch with him.  Pity, as he came out of the water about a minute ahead of me and I’d love to have been getting out with him.

Getting out of the water proved to be almost the hardest part of the day.

The ramp up was semi submerged and incredibly slippery.

I got half way up and literally slid back in to eh water again.  Second attempt was no better and I wound up desperately clinging on to the side of the ramp but again slid back in.  The helper who was there shouted for me to grab his hand and at the third attempt I managed to get out of the water. I must have looked like a right Dipstick or drunk but I couldn’t believe how hard it was to get out.

There was a decent crowd of people at the side of the water coming out and I got a few shouts of encouragement along the way, including one from Captain Awesome! (You know who you are!)

T1

T1 went relatively well for me. The time was not fast but a lot better than I would normally do.

The Bike

Out on to the bike and the curse of the dodgy Garmin fitment hit me again. As I fiddled to get it snapped in to place I knocked the button and moved it in to Transition phase – which meant that I would not have any data for the bike ride as I went along.  I was also very slow on actually getting on to the bike as I was doing this and it didn’t go unnoticed by two of my non competing club mates. (Who incidentally were upset at not getting called out in the smack talk blog post!) So thanks to Nelson ‘The Fall Guy / Admiral / I get chicked’ Shanks and Arran ’Hey Wonderboy is your collarbone really broken of is that an excuse to cry off a race?’ McKee.  It’s worthy of note for Nelson that the Chicking is by his Girlfriend, the very talented and fast Jenna ‘Don’t shout at me on the bike in case I fall off’ Henning.  Jenna was also competing and going bloody fast as she always does.

I could hear Nelson shouting at me “You’re meant to start riding now!” as I ran alongside the bike trying to connect the bloody Garmin.

Eventually I got out on the two loop course and tried to go pretty hard.  It was hard to tell how hard I was going without the Garmin but I felt like I was putting in a decent effort and couldn’t wait to see how close I was to the other Guys.

Throughout the bike I just couldn’t close a gap of about 4 minutes on both Donald and Brendan but was managing to just hold off Ian, Stuart and Mark.

The bike went pretty well I thought, despite having my energy bar shaken out of my tri suit pocket on a speed ramp right at the start and just having to survive on a gel and hoping that I wouldn’t bonk later on.

As I came over the bridge and in to T2 I got the fright of my life as my cleat would not come out of the bike and I was suddenly faced with the prospect of looking like a Dick for the second time today.

(Some would argue that it was WAY more than just two times!)

Thankfully just in the nick of time the cleat came out and I managed to get off the bike with some degree of dignity.

My good friend Brian was down spectating and he managed to get a really great photo of me as I passed by the Harland and Wolff crane.  I love the big Cranes because of the family history with the Shipyard and I just love the photo he got.  Definitely one for the scrapbook.

T2

T2 went just as well as T1 but the pressure began to mount as I was joined by Mark and Stuart who had clearly closed the gap on me on the bike and I left T2 just behind Stuart.

I was really looking forward to the run as it has been the part which has been going really well for me.  I haven’t run a full on 10K in quite some time but pre-race I had a target in mind of staying sub 50 minutes and a dream run would be around 48 minutes.

The Run

Out of T2 and Stuart managed to slip ahead of me and I could see him about 20M up ahead.  I managed to bridge the gap and by about half a mile in I had caught up to him and passed.  Instantly I regretted this and thought that I was going out too quick and that Stuart would pass me as I lay in a confused and Bonked out state at some point later in the run.

I put this thought to the back of my mind and just focussed on staying uncomfortably comfortable. (runners will know what I mean by this.)

Another half mile in I caught up to Keith ‘hard as Nails’ Bradley. (Another who I forgot to slag off in the smack talk)  Sadly for me Keith was on his second of the four loops.

I just kept pressing and noticed that I was passing more people than were passing me.  The ones going past me seemed to be ahead of me in terms of their loops, so I was comfortable that I was making progress in my wave anyway.

As I got half way round my second loop I caught up to Aaron who was on his third loop.  We also got passed by Mark at this stage too, he seemed to be really steady and I decided to retain the gap at about 10M if I could.  He did the occasional surge and I had to push on a bit harder to close the gap. Aaron dropped off about midway through his last lap and that left me with just Mark up ahead of me to focus on.

As we got on to the fourth loop I decided to make a bit of a move and upped the pace a bit.  It brought me up to and past Mark and I thought at this point I better try to press on a bit and open the gap.

It seemed to be working although as I got to a turn and looked over my shoulder he was only about 5M behind me. At the next turn I decided I would press hard out of the turn and try to open up a bit of space between us as I really didn’t fancy a spring finish between us. Although the idea of a sprint finish is great, the reality for me may have been a vomit inducing hurl across the line.  Not good at all for a finisher’s photo.

Coming down Chichester Street for the last time I was checking the reflections in the office windows to see if I could spot Mark behind me but I couldn’t see him, so I hoped the surge had worked.

With about 500M to go I sensed someone on my shoulder and I thought it was Mark, so without glancing round I really hit the pace as hard as I could and the person dropped away. As I rounded the last corner and looked over my shoulder I saw that it hadn’t been Mark at all but I just keep the pace up for the last 100M.

It was nice to see some familiar faces at the line and I was delighted to have finished in an overall time of 02:38:49 and most pleasingly of all I managed a run split of 47:23.  The run duel with Mark was really enjoyable and I know that it made me press on when I might not have done. Mark finished about 20 seconds behind me with an almost identical run time.  It was a great contest.

Summary

Overall I’m pretty pleased with a 15 minute PB at this distance but it has reinforced for me that I am too slow on the swim and bike and in reality the most gains can be made on the bike.  I really need to work out a way to get faster on the bike.  On a positive note, my running (which has been limited recently) is still in decent shape and I should try to build on this to get it to another level.

The best part of the day by far was the turn out by Lisburn Triathlon Club.  IT’s fantastic to see how well we are doing with over 20 out racing and the Club celebrating its’ second birthday last week.  It speaks volumes about the people in the Club.

Next up is the Stena Triathlon in two weeks’ time and this will be my last Tri of the season and I’m really looking forward to it.  Goal. Sub 1H20Mins.  Let’s see how that pipedream goes!