Half Ironman Triathlon – 2nd June 2012
Pre - Race Preperation
Since the marathon in May I have only done a couple of runs
and a couple of short cycle commutes to and from work. To check my fitness a
few nights ago after my cycle back from work (14 mile) I did a 10 mile run
later that evening with fitness partner McGregor (our dog). We both enjoyed and
I knew I had a reasonable chance of achieving the half distance ok. Unlike last
year I have not done any other triathlons to test things out or even tested out
pre - race open water swimming. The closest I got to open water was the odd
surf session with my brother and a few friends during the year.
I tried to go into this event with a relaxed mindset. Although
in previous events I noticed that I always tend to freak myself out, over
thinking things and also on the day of events let the morning preparation stress
me out. I realised that I ought to try the cool, calm and collected approach
and merely just go out there and ‘enjoy’ the event, after all, no one was
insisting that I do it. I later realised that this helped me during the day a
great deal to have a calm and positive mindset.
In the morning I had the usual bread and peanut butter with
crunchy nut cornflakes and set off for Dungannon. Arrived ok and registered and
got ready for the set off. After registering I briefy met a friend from
facebook I got in contact with Eamonn Sheehan who is doing a great upcoming Autism charity event '212 in 2012' https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100002287336105#!/212in2012. Great to meet Eamonn, a real
down to earth guy.
The weather was perfect. Slightly sunny and minimal winds with water temperature perfect. I set up my bike and kit in transition area and got changed into my wetsuit. The bikes in transition were as usual all very cool looking and a lot better than my mudguard setup basic road bike. Anyhows I didn’t let it dampen my spirits and made my way down for the swim.
Swim
The swim got off to a good start but after about 5 minutes I
felt my left goggle filling up with water. Not sure whether this was due to
poor fitting or if it was because they were an old pair of goggles I haven’t used
in a long time. This resulted in me every few minutes stopping and
re-adjusting. I made sure that I didn’t fiddle about too much in case they
broke – I didn’t fancy a mile open water swim without any goggles. Unfortunately
halfway done my second swim cap came off when I was fiddling so I tried to be
extra careful from there on in. Only once did I go slightly off course and
thankfully a canoeist support team member kept us right. I did notice that some
of the folk did cheat a bit and cut the buoy markers a bit short instead of
going around them fully. I felt great during the swim although I struggled to
find anyone who I could draft behind this time around. Felt as if I could have
gone faster during the swim but I purposely held back as I knew it was going to
be a long day. On the way out onto dry land after the swim I had a funny moment
when I fell over coming out of the water as I was pretty unsteady.
Bike
After the swim the transition went ok. I took my time, got
changed and set off. I started my garmin cycle sensor to keep track of milage
but quickly realised it wasn’t working – dam it! Nutrition on the bike I ate a
couple of flack jacks, a gel and caffeine tablets. Throughout the bike ride I drank
plenty. Feeling well filled up with fuel and drinking almost 2 bottles of fluid
on the bike section I felt ok with no periods of low energy. The course is
mostly country roads with minimal ups and downs throughout which was to be
appreciated. During the ride I thought about the upcoming Belfast Dublin
Maracycle; this I have wanted to do for years since secondary school when I heard
about it. It’s always been an ambition of mine.
During the ride it was good that Eamonn came across me. We
cahtted for a while and advised me that I had done 29 miles so that gave me a
rough idea of how far I still had to go and also guided my decision making for
nutrition for the rest of the ride. I noticed that quite a few people overtook
me on the bike ride and I think I was one of the last handful of people in
towards the end. I have never been fast on the bike, so maybe this could be
something I could work on in the future. To be honest towards the end of the
ride I was looking forward to it to finish as I had a pretty sore back and my
poor bum cheeks had fallen out with me after three and a half hours on the saddle!
Run
In transition after the bike, I took my time and then got
running. Unfortunately this time I made a mistake and after starting the run I quickly
realised it. I had not changed from cycle shorts to running shorts. I knew it wouldn’t
be a big deal as I would be returning to this transition area at the end of
each of the 4 laps so after the first lap I had a quick toilet stop at the
portaloo and changed into my run shorts and off I went again. The run went
pretty well and my garmin watch worked with my footpod for distance and my HRM read an average of 167 which I am happy with. Of the three disciplines I had looked forward to running most of
all this time. Thankfully I ran with little difficulty throughout. Fair enough I
was slow, but I was steady and I felt my form was fine without strain or
breathing difficulty at any stage. My nutrition plan ran well with a couple of
gels and a few caffeine tablets to carry me through the run. I also actively
tried to drink water at three of the four laps which I think helped. Throughout
the run I overtook more people than those that overtook me. I finished feeling
tired but strong and with a smile on my face. What a great day!
Big thanks to Bob and the rest of the lads from Tri- Limits that
organised the event. I have to say they did a great job in every manner despite
there being probably twice the amount of people taking part compared to last
year. Big thanks to them
Here I am with good friend Eamonn who finished shortly after
me: -
Eamonn had a very tough day with quad injury playing up and
his leg seezing up during the swim, so hats off to the big fella for being able
to complete the race. Eamonn told me that Bob and some of the other guys are
doing the Newry Marathon the next day after this race, now that’s crazy; I would
love to have given it a go I admit.
As for my total time I think it was about 6.47. A lot more
than last year but last year I did cut the swim route short. Also at no stage
did I even try to push myself during the race. I merely wanted to enjoy it to
the full, and indeed I did, what a ‘beautiful day’ as the song by U2 goes.
That’s that for now. In three weeks time I have the
maracycle to do. Hopefully this new event for me will go well.
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