Rosses Point Olympic Triathlon 25th May

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Tri an Mhí CXIII - Irish middle distance National Championships

There has been a ton of discussion about this race, most of it surrounding contingency plans for when, in the event of a curtailed or cancelled swim, what was going to be the likely format. Lots of people wondered about the water temperature.

Bottom line, we all had the training done (or should have!) and we were all there to race the conditions that were thrown at us on the day.

I've written previously about the rules under which decisions are made on race conditions, emphasis on the swim in particular.

This is my race report, not a rant, though I will point out a few negatives I was not happy about and points likely to make me think twice about next year.

70.3 things on a checklist

Fail to prepare and what do you expect?

Failure.

There's no two ways about it, your middle distance (half Iron / 70.3) race day is 100% dependent on the amount of training you have put in over the past year AND the amount of organisation you put in your readiness in the days leading up to the event.

Taper week is all about checking things. Checking the legs, the body, the nutrition, the bike, the gear.

The obvious thing to say at this point is don't change anything, do nothing new or unexpected in the week before a race and definitely don't try anything new in the event itself!

So how do you organise yourself for race day?

You need a spare room or somewhere you can lay out all your gear in an orderly fashion so you can pack it in a logical manner and keep track of it all. you will also need a couple of transparent storage containers and a bag or box for your transition setup.

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="403"] Amphibia X-Bag available from Amphibian King Galway[/caption]

I'm going to break this into a couple of sub sections so we approach this planning properly. Ideally you are doing this a few days before hand, not the evening before when you should have your feet up.

• General Preparation -
  • Assuming you are racing in a one or two piece tri-suit, bring that. If you are using sport specific clothing ensure you pack it ie. swimsuit, cycle shorts & jersey, run shorts & singlet.
  • Ladies - the only essential I can think of outside of this list is a bra, I'm happy to edit in whatever you think is necessary. Use whatever bra you have used in training knowing that it won't cut, chaffe or fall off.
  • Bodyglide. Don't ever forget the Bodyglide!!
  • Heart rate monitor, watch and accessories. Bring these IF and only if you have used them in training, know how to use them and are also confident racing in the event that they fail to work mid race. Do not be dependent on them. Ensure batteries are fresh and memory is empty.
  • Post race clothing - pack a tracksuit, hoody and rain cover in your transition bag / box. You may be hanging around waiting for transition to open after the race so warm clothes are needed until you get a chance to shower and change properly.
  • Compression wear - calf guards, quad guards, recovery leggings etc.
  • Racebelt
  • Safety pins
• Swim -
  • Wetsuit - visual check for damage, nicks, cuts, nail marks and repair any with Black Witch or equivalent in
  • Neoprene swim hat
  • Silicon swim hat (spare)
  • Goggles
  • Goggles (spare) possibly clear lens / opposite tint to main pair, handy for changing conditions or parts if a strap breaks)
  • Suit juice
  • Towel(s)
  • Nose-clip
  • Ear-plugs
  • Anti-fog solution
  • Flip flops or sandals
• Bike -
  • Clean and visually check the bike from top to bottom. Check tyres for wear and any embedded debris. Do not race on new tyres, ensure they have been run in a few times prior & make sure you are comfortable with the handling of the tyres at race speed in different weather conditions. Same applies to brake blocks and cables. Make sure if you have replaced any that they are working fine. Don't leave it til race day to find out brakes levers are sticking!
  • Bike
  • Helmet
  • Cycle shoes
  • Elastic bands
  • Socks
  • Head unit / computer with battery and clear memory!
  • Calibrated power units.
  • Spare tubes / tubs (know how to change these!!)
  • Tyre levers
  • CO2 canisters / pump
  • Bad weather gear -
    • Overshoes / toe covers
    • Gilet
    • Rain jacket
    • Arm warmers
    • Leg warmers
    • Gloves
    • Clear lens glasses
  • Water bottles
  • Aero bottle, straw & sponge
  • Race wheels (hopefully you also have your normal wheels just in case of dangerous wind conditions)
  • In transition final checks
    • Track pump
    • Tool kit
    • Electrical tape
    • Valve stem extenders (you'll know if you need these)
  • Other optional items (kitchen sink stuff)
    • Maintenance stand
    • Turbo trainer for in-van warmup
• Run - this is the easiest section
  • Running shoes
  • Speed laces (Greeper are my favourite see my previous post on Race Laces)
  • Socks (might be the same ones as used on the bike, bring spare in case of weather)
  • Talcum powder
  • Fuel belt / pouch
  • Cap / headband etc.
  • Sunglasses
• Nutrition - I'm being deliberately vague here as you should have this all sorted out to suit your individual nutritional needs. I don't want to confuse people with my nutrition plans or to have others confusing mine!
  • Pre race snacks & drinks.
  • Pre swim gel
  • Bike - gels, bars, drinks (water, 4:1, sports drinks)
  • Run - gels or whatever you run with that is not provided at water stations.
  • Post race recovery drink & snacks, protein & carbohydrates.

Above all, don't forget to pack your spirit of adventure, your enthusiasm for the competition (even if it is just with yourself) and your sense of fun.
It may all go pear-shaped on the day but as long as you enjoy yourself you will always pick it back up again for the next race.

I hope this is of some benefit to you.

See you out there :)

 

Friday evening EDIT: Two things I can't believe I forgot to add:

1. Your governing body (in my case Triahtlon Ireland) valid membership with photograph. No ID, no race!!
2. Leave wedding bands, engagement rings, jewellery etc at home. Swimming in a cold lake this afternoon I spent the whole swim trying to keep my wedding band on my finger. Everything shrunk in the cold ;)

Related articles

• What's a triathlon wetsuit? (amphkingwest.wordpress.com)
• To lace or not to lace? (amphkingwest.wordpress.com)

Great Limerick Run 2013

Friday afternoon and I got a phone call from my wife who was in Limerick for the afternoon.

"If you were running Limerick, would you do the half or six miler?", she asked innocently.

"Half", I replied instantly but quizzically.

"You're in for Sunday!"

Now, racing a half marathon was not on the plan for me as I'm two weeks out from my first middle distance triathlon for 2013, Tri An Mhi CXIII but sure it'd do me no harm to give it a crack.

Limerick City was hosting what was to be a great afternoon og running. There was plenty of choice from full and half marathon to 6 mile and kids events. Something for the entire family to do with plenty of action and entertainment on the streets. Amphibian King Galway sponsored a mile of the course which is how I ended up with a race entry. Normally, I would have ran a mini-competition on Facebook and Twitter for someone to win the entry, but I didn't realise we had a complimentary entry, so apologies for that!

We headed down to Limerick on Saturday afternoon as I was to be up early to recce the course and (primarily) to hang our sponsors banners on the route.

First thought was, this is not flat! Everyone I'd spoken to in the lead up to the event (customers who were planning to race) had said it was a flat course. It wasn't. There were a lot of undulations, no real hills, but plenty of up and downs and quite a few switches and turns as the route wound it's way around the city. Once the banners were out and a bit of banter on Twitter (@Amphkingwest) it was back to the hotel for some breakfast with the family before heading back out again to catch the marathon underway.

One of the Amphibian King athlete's Gary O'Hanlon was running the full marathon and was expecting to have a good race. I caught a couple of pictures of him at the 12 mile mark where he was leading

and then caught him again at 16 miles where he had opened up a decent lead over second place. He went on to win the marathon while I started to panic as I got caught in roadblocks and traffic management plans!!

Made it back to base at 11:20 to get a quick change of gear, thankfully I had it all sorted in one bag and everything was charged up that had to be charged so it was a Superman like transformation from civies into running gear. Loaded everyone back into the car and around the block to get to the starting area. Found a great parking spot near the finish line and abandoned the car, cap on, gels in pocket, kiss-kiss, "see you later", do a wee down a side street and into the starting pen with enough time to say hello to one or two familiar faces, find the pace group (1:40) and GO!!

I never remember much of a race but I remember the start being  a bit chaotic with plenty of shunting around and people jockeying for position. Loads of people jumping into the slightest of gaps as they open up which annoys me a little (big bit!) as everybody is looking for space to settle into some sort of a regular stride. You get space in front of you and some lad cuts across to jump onto the footpath, blah, blah, blah... you know yourself, I don't need to rant.

Speaking of rants.

There was an exceptionally funny moment (you should have been there) when after about 5 minutes watches started beeping all round the pacers to mark the distance. With a quick look at her watch and even quicker wit, the pacer (claralara from Boards.ie) started cursing triathletes with their "km's" and declared that the 1:40 was a "triathlete free zone".

I was running just off to the side of the group and soon settled into my stride and felt myself moving forward away from the pacers. I had set my Polar RCX5 Race Pace to a target of 1:35 but realised very quickly that I had made a mistake by using the footpod.

Brief Tech bit: with Polar the watch gives preference to different data sources under different circumstances. In the absence of sensors the pace, distance information comes from the G5 GPS pod which also provides the GPS mapping of where you have been running. When you attach a footpod (running) or speed sensor (cycling) the watch has preference for pace & distance information from the sensor and uses the G5 pod for mapping still.

In theory the sensors give more accuracy, especially on the bike, but the nature of the footpod is a little more haphazard in reality. Unless you are extremely diligent in calibrating the footpod I find it is a very approximate way of measuring distance. (Accurate in a controlled environment like a treadmill).

Anyway, it meant I couldn't rely on the pacing information the watch was giving me, it was showing me drifting way off on pace and I knew that the pacers were well behind me so I wasn't doing 5:00/km.

As it turned out I was measured over 19.7km when I know I ran every inch of the 21.1km.

I have two pet hates in racing.

1. People who cut the racing line. Just about every corner that could be cut, was cut by those running around me. Up on the footpath, around cones, you name it, it was done.


2. People who think they are pro cyclists. Just because you see pro-cyclists dumping water bottles does not mean you can fling it as far as you can over a hedge. You have obviously never cleaned up after a race and are just being a twat. Drop it with another bottle by the side of the road, if you must, but there were plenty of big, green recycling bins on the route.

I got a nice lift running back into the city when I saw Edel & the kids at the side of the road cheering enthusiastically somewhere around the halfway point. Edel was busy talking photos but is never shy about pushing me on and encouraging me to finish strong.



 

Looking at the photo, I was quite relaxed at this stage, I was running well and very steady. I was good with my nutrition, GU gel before and at 8km and plenty of water along the way (bottles too big actually, the baby water botttles are ideal and there is less waste). I was tipping away with my HR hovering in the zone 155-160 which is my tempo zone and I also had the confidence to forget about the pacing on the watch and trust the feel in my legs.

Not going hard enough for 1:35 but knew I was going better than 1:40.

We went out of the city across the bridge to a more residential part of the city (no idea where) and we did a lot of looping back and forth passing Thomond Park at one stage. I went for a 2nd Surge gel at 12k (preemptive strike) as I knew I would start fighting myself pushing on to the finish. The 100mg of caffeine would keep me from daydreaming which I find is my curse, head drifts away and I slow down.

Somewhere around the Tennis Club, TI coach Lynne Algar caught and passed me with her sister. Both had been at the Open Water clinic on Saturday and were running really well. In fact they caught me just around the time I was finding excuses for easing off, 'not going to make my target, why push on', 'my knee is aching' etc. etc. and it woke me up. I'd been picking people off all the way round. No one had passed me that I didn't catch up with and pass and leave behind again. This was the first time in the race this had happened.

Feck!

I ran off to the side for a couple of km but they were on a mission. I didn't so much drop off them as they just pushed on ahead. I was trying to make sense of the road markings which by now had merged with full, half and 6 mile markings.

The finish came up fast. I passed a couple of Craughwell AC shirts as I came off the NCR onto the bridge, I'm sorry I just ran by, and hauled ass over to the final bend turning right to see the finish banner 200m up the road.

Sprinting in for the line I could see 1:37 on the clock and knew I'd nailed it!!. Finishing 1:37:39 overall gave me a 2min improvement on my half PB.

Happy days!

You can see the Polar file here, just ignore the km markings. Thanks for reading.

https://www.polarpersonaltrainer.com/shared/exercise.ftl?shareTag=997916c6fd53a7b5225699e8ed277a35

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• O'Hanlon reigns in Limerick (talkofthetown.ie)