IM – 7: TriAthy Olympic. Race 2 of 4

On Saturday, I did the TriAthy Olympic Distance triathlon in Athy, Kildare. The weather was good and everything went smoothly in the morning (long registration queue aside). The race was set off in waves starting with the eldest groups. The aim was probably to have everyone finishing as close to each other as possible. It must be disheartening to be passed be loads of people though.

The swim went well. I started in the first third or so of the swimmers and finished the 1.5km in 31:14. The swim was 600m against the current of the river Barrow and then 900m with it. The majority of the swimmers swam close to the bank against the current. I stayed a little farther out in a group of 3. After rounding the bouy and turning downstream, the groups broke up and everyone powered down with the current. I had a goggle break for the first time in a triathlon. After trying to fix it a few times, I gave up and just swam with the one eye that worked. It didn’t actually make much difference.

The cycle was quite fast. There were a lot of people on the course due to the aforementioned wave setup but the roads were wide so this didn’t cause too many problems. I changed the gearing setup on my bike last week for two upcoming races: the Wicklow 200 and Half Ironman UK. Both have some tough climbs, and so I changed to a compact crank set (this gives smaller front chain rings). This essentially took away some of the “hardest“ gears and put in some “easier” gears.

I won’t try and explain much about gear ratios, because frankly, I don’t know much about it over the simple math: engaging a smaller chain ring at the front means each turn of the cranks turns the wheel less, and so it requires less effort. The opposite is true also – bigger front chain rings, or smaller back ones mean each turn of the cranks is harder, but gets you further. Here’s an article on Compact Crank sets.

I wondered if I’d loose power on the bike at the higher end because I’ve sacrificed the harder gears for easier mountain climbing but I didn’t. I have a high cadence compared to most cyclists anyway, probably because I grew up beside the mountains. The cycle was a two lap course of the 20km loop. There were no turns or hills to speak of so it was simply a matter of keeping a good aero position and powering for the full distance. I finished the cycle in 1:11:19 which I was very happy with. The fact that I wasn’t tired at all made it very, very difficult not to do the run – I was on to set a good time.. But after the injury problems during the Velentia run, I’d been advised to take 10 days off running. Knowing that tendonitis has the potential to go on forever if I keep inflaming it, I resisted the temptation and called it a day there.

When I got back to Dublin on Saturday evening, I went out on the bike into the mountains for a while. I felt like I had a lot more to give so it was worth using it.

I Sunday, I completed my first full, straight IM swim of 3.8km in the 50m Westwood pool in Clontarf. It took 1hour 24. I’m happy with this considering I generally swim about 10% faster in races, owing to the extra buoyancy of the wet suit and the other competitors. That would mean translate to about 1:17 – 1:20. I was a small bit stiff afterwards but not too tired. I hit the sauna afterwards again for some “heat training”. For the week, this was by far the biggest swimming week of my training so far – 10.25km.

After the swim, in lieu of being able to train for running by actually running, I walked the 15km home with a heavy rucksack. I figure it might do at least something to keep the running muscles ticking over. I actually found a lot more tiring than a 15km run.

Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday were composed of an AM: Swim and PM: Bike. My morning weights sessions have now all been replaced by swims. I think I benefitted hugely by the 6 months I worked on Strength, but now it’s time to spend the last 6 weeks concentrating solely adapting the body to the very long distances of the IM race.

This was weekend number 1 of 3 competing - I’ll be doing the Wicklow 200 next Sunday and Half Ironman UK the following Sunday, June 20th. I think I’ll get the first real picture of how prepared I am come the finish line of HIM UK. I’ll be wearing my Ireland cycling jersey and I’m hoping for some good signs.