Tri season is finally here and it was time for me to return to Schull. After missing last years race I wanted to come back, I’ve done the race three times previously so it is good to compare where I am now.

After setting off before 6am it was a nice drive down. I got my traditional car space and registered. The water was as calm as I have ever seen it, no wind and plenty of heat. As per usual it took me forever to get organised. You would think after 4 years I’d have setting up in transition perfected but definitely not. Once I got everything together I went around and had a chat with the Cobh team and a few others there on the day. The good thing for me was that there were no nerves I was out there to enjoy myself. I was in wave one so once briefing was done it was down to the water.

Swim 13:03 (47 out of 283)

The start of the swim was like a proper washing machine but it didn’t take long for it to open up in front of me and had clear water. With the water being so smooth it wasn’t hard to sight. 1st turn was good, everyone must have been in a good mood in the sun as there was no bunching at the buoy. The next one to site was hard so I just followed the kicking legs in front of me. I had a person on my toes the whole way to the 2nd buoy and it continued right to the ramp. I guess that person was racing smart and letting me do the work, everyone few seconds a tip on the toes and couldn’t shack it. Got to the ramp, had a little stumble and over the timing mat. Happy enough with my time.

T1 2:29 (75 out of 283)

There is a nice run up out of the water, you don’t move too quick so gives the time to get out of the wetsuit. Enter T1 and got off the wetsuit quickly. Took the extra few seconds to get my socks on and into the bike shoes and continue the long climb to the mount line.

Bike 44:05 (160 out of 283)

Now this is where it is never pretty. As far as Schull cycle goes it is one of the harder ones. It’s up and down on an out and back course. I’m not strong on the bike and when I’m climbing I feel like I’m going backwards. After short flat section you are straight into the 1st hill. It takes me some time to get settled into the bike so an early hill didn’t help. My 1st 2km was my slowest 2km split by a good distance. I knew I just needed to hang on and even though plenty of people passed me out I knew I just had to get back to transition. The downhills are enjoyable but of course you knew just around the corner there would be another hill. Time wise it was slower than time but I hadn’t put the bike work in this year. I just about got off before the mount line.

T2 2:03 (75 out of 283)

I really need to practice dismounting the bike while leaving the shoes on the bike, especially when it is a long downhill run to T2. I was holding back hoping not to fall. Bike racked, helmet off and quick change of shoes and off I went. Back on the long uphill to the start of the run.

Run 20:06 (23 out of 283)

Just like everything in Schull it includes hills. But when it comes to running I don’t really mind that. You are straight into a hill and it didn’t seem to bother me as I pushed up it. My plan was to go as hard as I could for as long as I could. The heat was starting to pick up and you could really feel it. I was bang on 10 mins at the turnaround point so I couldn’t complain with my effort so far. I could feel the tiredness starting to kick in and any up hills I could feel myself slowing down. I knew there was a good downhill to finish with so main thing was to get up to the top of that and let gravity get me home. Crossing over the line in official time of 20:06 meant it was my fastest sprint run. Delighted with that. Next goal break 20 mins

Overall 1:21:48 (77 out of 283)

Overall I was delighted with my race today. With injury affecting a large part of this year already I knew had I a long way to go to be race fit. I had a good swim but the bike still has a lot of work to done on. I felt great on the run and picked up most of my time there. If I could get my bike right I’d really knock a good bit of time off. I was just under a minute faster overall compared to the last time I did it, with all the gain coming on the run. Well done to everyone racing this week. Well done to Schull for putting on another great race.  I’ll be back again next year and see my progress (or lack of it).

Year on year comparison

Year	Swim	Bike	Run	Total Time
2014	11:53 *	48:35:00	23:39	01:28:55
2015	13:33	49:26:00	21:37	01:30:06
2016	12:24	43:19:00	21:30	01:22:32
2018	12:52	44:01:00	20:07	01:21:48

*Swim was 500m