The Peninsula Sea Sprint is run by the Peninsula Triathlon Club and took place in the wee harbour town of  Ballywalter, Co. Down. It was very well run with details coming well in advance and the registration being run efficiently. There was a girl at the route maps to explain everything and she was the first or many to point out the tight left hander on the bike run. It’s Northern Ireland’s only open water sprint triathlon. There’s no free picture I’m afraid so you’ll have to imagine a fat bloke looking wrecked.

Organisation / Route

As it was an open water (beach start) swim everyone was starting together so the briefing was in T1 with everyone there. There were lots of people about to set up and it’s the first time I’ve ever had my bike checked before entering the race, which is a nice touch. They had a bike shop there offering tune ups before the race.

On the course there were lots and lots of marshals and some police stopping traffic, even though it was open roads the main corners were kept clear.

Competitors

Very few people like me. Lots of experienced and fit racers many affiliated to a club of some sort. It was a small field with only 84 in for it.

Supporters

Despite the weather being rubbish, raining and very very windy (25MPH) there was quite a few people about. The layout of the course lent itself to supporters with the run passing transition 5times.

Freebies

A a nice Saucony T-Shirt and a few pits and pieces, including a sample of 50+ suncream which I actually used today for my neck before a cycle in +20 degree NI weather.

My Race

Quick summary, okay swim, not great cycle & poor run. Here’s the breakdown:

Swim - 14:33 (51st)
Despite the high winds the water was fairly calm but I wasn’t feeling great. On exiting the swim I got the dizzy feeling I seam to get everytime I swim in open water (I’m looking into cause and possible fixes for this). Was out of the water in 13:44 but took a while staggering up and into T1.

T1 - 2:48
The dizziness took a while to wear off and I was slow in transition. I had decided to wear socks since it was feeling cold but wasn’t able to stand on one leg very well. On the plus side a zip top made it much quicker to get my shirt on (I also wore another shirt over the top since I was worried about the temperature and my chest).

Cycle - 46:28(66th)
I was happy with cycle and think I went as hard as I could. I had a climb for the first half of each of the two laps and a strong headwind made this tough. I was only 30seconds behind my friend Ian who over 4stone lighter than me so I’m happy about that.

T2 - 57sec
Great dismount but I hit a kerb with the back wheel and knocked it out of place meaning it was sliding all over the place until I realised and lifted it. Apparently I touched the bike after removing my helmet and I got a verbal warning (stop & go penalty) as I left transition.

Run - 29:23 (80th)
I was really feeling it by now and my run was rubbish. Also my shirt ripped my nipples off.

Overall - 1:34:08 (73rd)
The lead competitor was 1:05 so I’m happy that I was the same time down as my last triathlon but all in all I feel I can improve greatly in each area (even transition). I look forward to trying next year.

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.

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.

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.

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).