Organisation / Route

The registration only had two lanes poorly marked out as to which one to use, transition wasn’t grouped or numbered and  briefing was was a little late. However. on the course there were plenty of marshals and a few police officers. The corners were coned off which was great as we got to go through a few red lights, however there was one set of lights that we went straight through and we had to stop if red.

Competitors

There were 126 competitors on the day and many were newbie as with most sprints. The most important ones were my friends, Dave, Niall and Rob. Niall raced in Wave 2, Dave & Rob wave 3 and I was in wave 4.

Supporters

Plenty of room at pool side and there was a good number although very quiet. On the bike leg it’s hard for supporters to get to see any racing and as a result my Jim and Lesley didn’t get any shots of my on the bike. The run was good for supporters as it was 6 laps of football pitches.

Freebies

We got a cotton t-shirt, it’s quite nice but I prefer to get one I can use for training in.

My Race

My neck affected my swim a bit, I found it a bit stiff when trying to breath and ended up lifting my head to far out as a result. I also felt a little short of breath at times but in the cycle I was feeling really good and had I kept my focus more I could have been quicker.

Poor Swim Technique

Swim - 14:58 (39th)

Like I said I struggled a bit with my neck but it wasn’t that bad, I probably dropped about 45seconds. Apart from one guy (with an Ironman tattoo) everyone in my lane was much quicker so I was lapped a few times and being the nice guy I am I went out of my way to make it easy for them, at times messing up my stroke as I went to close into the ropes. I didn’t manage to get in anyone’s slipstream for more than a few seconds so it was pretty much just me working as hard as I could.

T1 – 1:20 (17th)

I had taken my t-shirt to pool side and therefore putting it on as I ran to T1 cut my time down. I did take a few seconds to have a swig of water before I went, not sure why but hey. My mount was a cautious one after the past few failed attempts to do a flying mount on race day.

Cycle – 38:57 (58th)

I settled into the bike quickly and felt strong throughout. I passed about 6 people and got passed by 3 (one of whom I caught again). There was a longish hill that was into a headwind but I was able to get into the tri-bars and didn’t really feel the effect of the wind that much. However, at one stage I nearly went down as my front wheel got stuck in a grove on the road  while in the tr-bars and I only just manage to keep it upright. I think I could have given a bit more as I lost focus a few times and slowed up. Area’s of lost time: I got stopped at the red lights both times round, when I passed a guy with a puncture I slowed down and gave him a tube and at the end I went into the wrong carpark.

T2 – 1:06 (52nd)

With a good dismount I kept going through T2 and despite a slip when I overshot my place in the rack I was happy with T2

Run Fat Boy Run

Run – 28:00 (94th)

I was really struggling with the run, I’ve hardly ran in months and being the in the last few to finish (since I was in the last and fastest wave) was a bit of a physiology battle but the other guys had finished and Jim and Dave in particular were cheering me on. I averaged 9min/mi which is 30sec/mi quicker than last tri. My laps times were 04:53, 04:37, 04:38, 04:34, 04:40 & 04:39. Thoughts: I need to run more.

On the run I was really feeling the extra 4stone I’m carrying round with me. Thoughts: hurry up and just lose the weight fat boy!

Overall – 1:24:20 (58th / 126)

On the whole I’m happy enough. I took two minutes off my best time for a sprint triathlon and did it with very little training in the build up and with a sore neck and chesty cough, so I’m very happy. It was nice to beat Niall but it was all in the swim and he has really only started swimming in the past year, so come next year I think he’ll be much faster, he took about 8 minutes of his time from last year. The hero of the day was Dave who came 16th with a time of 1:15:14, well done Dave!

The next Triathlon is the Tri the Lough Sprint Triathlon on Saturday week. It’s an open water swim in Lough Macrory, with the cycle being two laps of a course and the run being two laps of the lough.

Foor Quantum Wetsuit

Friday: 4Km swim – 5 x (200m freestyle, 200m kick board & 200m hand paddles) + 1000m freestyle
Saturday: 60mi cycle – this was a large charity run – I had a great first 30 ave 20.8mph but the return I had cramp for last 20miles
Sunday: 3.5mi run
Monday: 30mi cycle
Tuesday:  4Km swim – 5 x (200m freestyle, 200m kick board & 200m hand paddles) + 1000m freestyle
Wednesday: 31mi cycle (cold & wet not fun)
Thursday: 6mi run (slow but steady 9:40min/mi)
Friday rest day
Saturday: 34mi cycle

Monday’s ride was nice as there was a few of us out doing it; Dave, Ian, Nev & Jim. On Tuesday Jim tuned up bike gears and it’s shifting better than it ever has, thanks Jim.

I’ve also signed up for an open water sprint triathlon on Saturday week, it’s the only sea sprint this year and I’m really looking forward to see how I do. My swimming is going great and I feel strong in the pool but I’ve never been able to transfer this into open water. I got a new wetsuit so let’s hope that does the trick. I think Ian & Dave are doing it with me.

Nutrition wise I’ve also been doing well, rarely have I manage to sustain training and dieting but for now it’s working.

Happy St Patrick's Day

How are you celebrating St Patrick’s Day?

Since I was off I decided to start my day with a cycle. Dave and I did 30mi up to Gleno, across to Larne and back. I’m very week on the bike at present so need to put in a lot of miles this month. Post cycle the plan was to do some work in the afternoon but I’m wrecked and with running club later, I think I’m going to sleep well tonight!

Right now I’m watching a film and catching up on some jobs I need to do. One is trying to work out to but some sound equipment for X amount of money when it costs X x 1.2.

If you follow the link you can download the picture here for you computer desktop for free – Happy St Patrick’s Day.

Browns Bay with Ian

Today was my third bike trip in the past few weeks, before which I hadn’t been on the bike since September. I’d like to say I have amazing residual fitness and muscle memory but sadly no the 32 miles were tough and as I came up the last wee hill my quads were starting to crap every time I got out of the saddle (which in itself was an effort to ease the pain cause by the saddle).

Over the past few weeks my Triathlon training has started in earnest. I’ve fitted in a good few swims and a few cycles but only the one run which didn’t go great as my calf, which has kept me from running for many weeks, went after only one mile.

I have signed up for my first two sprint triathlons of the year TriLaois, Portlaoise in April and the Roe Valley Sprint Triathlon, Limavady in May. Hopefully Dave and Ian will get into TriLois as they are 4th and 5th on the waiting list and they will both be at Roe Valley if all goes to plan, along with Niall. I also get to race to against my Twitter friend Lisa who has been training hard all winter and will be tough to beat. I did them both last and have the race reports online TriLaois & Roe Valley.

Bike in Bath

It was a wet and dirty road today so I had to give the bike a good clean and in an effort to ensure it dried in time I’m trying the bath method.

Organisation / Route

There was a bit of faffing about before registration but once it got started it went quickly. Transition was good as it was mostly grass and easy to run in bare feet on. The cycle was 80% uphill and with the head wind for the 2nd half was a killer. The run was also hilly and very hard but both these made it a good event to test yourself.

Competitors

A good mix of experience and novice people at this one. Once more there were plenty of the fitter competitors offering encouragement to this fat boy.

Supporters

There were some round the pool and some encouragement from the marshals and the occasional person round the cycle and run tracks.

Freebies

We got a free backpack and race belt. Backpack will be handy but the race belt doesn’t have any tags so I’ll probably not have any use for it.

My Race

I was injured for 6 week over the summer and therefore went into this race with only 3 full weeks training, as such I was way below power but was happy enough with my performance considering. Here’s the breakdown:

Swim - 15:18  (53rd)
I wasn’t expecting a great swim as I’d only been in the pool a couple of times and was struggling to get under 15mins. However there was quite a distance to run before transition so my swim must have been about 14:45 in the pool.

T1 - 1:02
This is my fastest time for T1 and I managed a great flying mount onto the bike, got my feet in and strapped up quickly after that.

Cycle - 45:11 (105)
Very hard windy cycle that was 80% uphill. I struggled to keep pushing on and lost concentration a few times.

T2 - 0:38
Very happy with this transition. My dismount was flawless and I got the shoes on quickly but forgot to take my glasses off I don’t like running with them on so I tucked them into my belt.

Run - 25:37 (135)
Killer run was two laps 0f valley park which was a hard hill. I struggled going up te hill both times but found some extra energy for the last 3/4mi downhill. It was a little shorter than 5Km but I wasn’t complaining.

Overall - 1:27:45 (95)
Considering the build up I’m very happy with this. I would have been much much quicker had I been training all summer as before I got hurt I was really going well.

There were 173 people entered in this triathlon which put me in the top 55% which is my best place in a triathlon so far, with the other events being  Roe Valley 2010 top 72% , PortLaoise 2010 top 58% and Quarryman 2009 top 60%.

Ian Courtney was doing his first tri and did very well beating my by about 2mins and Dave once again showing his fitness beat me by over 6mins even after a few week of not training.

Picture taken during a wee cycle

Since my last post I’ve managed to get in a few cycles which climbed a lot of hills!! I haven’t been exercising as much as I should have and have only really started training properly again last week, with a couple of swims, a couple of cycles and a couple of runs.

Last weekend I was at a Christian Conference in Castlewellan Castle, @TheCastle is a great bible teaching weekend and well worth going to. We were looking at 2 Timothy and I was really challenged about how I approach my leadership roles.

Dave at Spelga

This weekend coming I have my first cycling event of the year. The Coastal Challenge is a 100Km cycling round the Ards peninsula. It’s my first time doing this run but with 700 people I’m sure I’ll find a group going at my speed to sit with. I’m not even gonna try and keep up with Nev, Steve and co.

My Car was due it’s MOT  yesterday and I don’t have a date for it until tomorrow so I’m making the most of the good weather by cycling to work. It’s lovely but would be better without the wind, when did Northern Ireland get so windy, it was never like this when I was a lad and wanted to play with my stunt kite.

Chai Seed with Weetabix

So you’ve read the title and you’re wondering what Chia is? Well it’s a type of seed. It’s a wonder food with lots of great stuff in it. Read here for more info at Raw Living, Healthy Fuel and I bought it at Funky Raw. The great thing about them is the slow releasing energy, this is great for long events or even just to help me not snack.

I’ve found it’s best to take it on it’s own after the food but it’s great when added to a smoothy.

It all started a few months back when Tanya asked me to raise some money for a 5Km fun run on Easter Monday (today). I’m training towards this distance for the sprint triathlons anyway but my calves have hampered my running. Then last Sunday Tanya’s husband, David told me it wasn’t a fun run it was the Whitehead 5mile road race but I thought I’d give it a go anyway.

Today as I was signing up I noticed a distinct lack of other fat bloke, at least at Sprint Triathlon you get a few. I lined up with the other competitors, including David Marshall and Dave Ramsey and when the whistle blew we all headed off, Dave up with the front runners and Dave and I slotting into the slightly slower runners. I settled into a nice pace and was feeling really good, despite the very hilly course my first lap (1.6Mi) was just over 13mins averaging about 8min/mile but just as I passed through the start/finish line my calf went. I limped round the course in a less respectable time just over 15mins (average of 9:40min/mile) and called it a day. David Marshall who hadn’t done any training did the same a few minutes later but the Dave ran an excellent race to finish the 5miles in about 34m30sec.

The Whitehead Easter Monday Road Race

I’ve a lot of work to do if I’m to have a chance of beating him at either of the two triathlons we’ll be competing against each other in. My first is this Saturday, so hopefully the ice / warm bath /ice I’ve had this afternoon will help it heal quickly.

As for today’s event I’m disappointed because I was feeling very strong round the first lap and didn’t really tire the pain in the calf just got to uncomfortable.

Swim - Run - Cycle

With Easter almost upon us and hopefully some good weather on it’s way (they’ve promised a BBQ summer again) it’s time to ramp up the training. I’ve a couple of events next week, Monday a 5Mile running road race in Whitehead (I’m not sure if I’ll finish this let alone do well) and on Saturday 10th April just days before my 33rd birthday I’ll be taking part in the Portlaoise Sprint Try-athlon.

While I’m not overtly fund raising this year (since you were all so generous last year) I have asked for some sponsorship around work and will be doing next week’s event to raise money for a small charity called Children’s Cancer and Leukaemia Group if you would like to give money to this worthy cause you can do so on their donation’s page or see me before this Monday. Hopefully Dave R and Mark T will be joining me on Monday and also David Marshall , who’s wife got me into the run.

Tri an Mhi 09 - Run

For the triathlon I’m on my own so if anyone fancies a 4:30am start you’re welcome to come down with me. After that I’ve a about 6weeks before the Roe Valley Sprint Triathlon and then the next one I’m down for will be on 1st August in Lisburn. One week later I hope to do my first Olympic Triathlon in Castlewellan, (I’ve a feeling the cycle in this one might be a killer). Then I have the final and now annual trip to the Tri an Mhi Quarryman Triathlon hopefully Mart T, Dave R, Stephen A, Niall J and Ian C will be joining me for this one. I’ll be hoping to improve on last year’s 104th position.

All that only leaves July without an event so I’ll be joining Nev & co in the Coastal Challenge, 100Km round the Ards Peninsula.

Anyway as you can see my life and therefore Blog / Twitter / Facebook updates will continue to be pretty boring and nerdy sports updates but hey it’s better than your posts about coffee, traffic jams, Glee etc. (well to me anyway).

The event was fantastically organised by Tri Ah Mhi. They had so many marshal’s out there was no way anybody could have taken a wrong turn (although one girl from Newry did manage to to over a roundabout when she should have turned right). The weather was fantastic sunny with no wind and the other great factor was the level of support all around the event.

To give some background this was the original event Mark suggest I enter to give me motivation to train over the summer. As it had an open water swim I needed a wetsuit so about 6 weeks ago I decided to order a wetsuit. I wanted to get a wet suit that would fit me once I lose all the weight I have to lose and was delighted to find the 2XU do a suit that is a medium solid for people my height weighing between 12s 4lb and 13st 12lb and since I was losing 2lb a week I figured I might be close in time for for the race. Unfortunately my weight lose slowed and I only got down to 14st 9lb and while my suit fitted me (with some help from Dave) there wasn’t any room for breathing.

Tri an Mhi 09 - Swim

Swim: 19:15.68 (91/160)
For the swim I couldn’t get enough air doing front crawl so I switched to back stoke (I’m probably only a little slower doing back stroke but it was hard to navigate in the open water and I ended up zigzagging back and forwards. On the plus side I got a bit of sun on my face.

Transition 1: 03:07.60 (117/160)
When I was getting out of the wetsuit I was light headed from lack of oxygen and nearly fainted twice. It took some time and with the help of the transition bars to stay upright and get my kit on I finally got out and on my bike.

Cycle: 58:22.97 (95/160)
The cycle was very enjoyable and it was nice to actually have people around me (although drafting wasn’t allowed). There were plenty of hills to test the legs and I think I worked hard enough with an average heart rate of 170bmp and max 187bpm, I guess I maybe could have put in more work on the downhill sections but hey there’s always next year.

Transition 2: 00:42:76 (64/160)
This was smoother, I had recovered from my dizziness and was actually complemented on my dismount (I had been practising). It takes me a wee second or two more than average because I need to put my knee support on.

Tri an Mhi 09 - Run

Run: 32:09:24 (97/160)
Ohhh man this was tough. Running is my worst discipline and when you throw in three laps with a big hill it gets tougher knowing what’s ahead but the noise from the finish line and all the supporters spurred me on. Again I worked hard on this with average heart rate of 174bpm and max 184bpm.

Tri an Mhi 09 - Finish Line

Over all: 1:53:38:25 (96/160)
Tough as it was I really enjoyed the race and can’t wait until next year to try it again, hopefully 2 or 3 stone lighter.

Tri an Mhi 09 - Three Amigos at the finish line

The downside to the day was for Mark who hurt his back putting on the wetsuit but still managed to to make it through the race and beat me by about 30 or 40secs (I don’t know his times yet), he’s one tough wee man.

Tri an Mhi 09 - Mark in pain

Dave having only trained for only about 4 or 5 weeks proved his super fitness again by beating me, finishing about 8mins ahead.

Tri an Mhi 09 - All the gang

We had a great weekend apart from the Triathlon with Elia, Claire, Cara, Noah, Luke and Leah all joining us for two night staying near the event. Since finishing I’ve had a break from training and diet but it all start again in the morning and to help keep the cycling going over the winter I’m going to get a mountain bike.

More pictures on my facebook page.

Thanks to everyone who donated money, texted, facebooked etc. to encourage us. It’s not to late to add to the sponsorship money for Cancer Research UK at http://www.justgiving.com/dermois/