Dungarvan was last Tri last year and it was to be the same this year. You can read how that went here.
The build up to it wasn’t ideal. A total of 70km cycled in the previous 7 weeks was never going to be good prep but after having my best race of the year in half marathon the Saturday before I felt fit and ready for the challenge. Then Sunday came and I hurt my back. The next 3 days were spent slowly walking around the house trying to mind my back. Sitting for more than 10 minutes hurt and it looked like I’d have to skip the race. On Thursday evening I went for a slow swim and it went ok. On Friday I went for a slow 5km jog and was fairly stiff after it. But I was able to do it so I went ahead and started to get my kit ready for the next day.

Race Day

I was up early to have small breakfast and load everything into the car. Got down there in good time and just like last year the weather was looking good. I got registered and proceeded to get my bike racked and my transition area set up. All the club were in the same area so we were all kind making sure we had enough space to lay out our kit right.

Swim 00:29:06 (9th of 143)

The swim is always my favourite and look forward to getting under way. The swim had an Australian Exit which always makes things interesting. It was a beach start and as soon as the countdown was complete off we went. Sprint into the water only for all but the bravest to slow right back down as we ran over rocks after rocks. Clonea beach is shallow so it was a a small bit of running and dive, followed by up I get again another bit of a run and dive. I got into a good rhythm straight away and even though it looked smooth from the beach there was a bit of a current which meant you were fighting against that the whole way out to the 1st buoy. Around the 1st buoy and then straight line to the next. I found myself right next to teammate Shane. When we got to the next buoy we had to go back at an angle to the exit. It was fast on the way back in. I can a good push from many waves, felt like I was flying at times. I got out of the water and around the flag. I was 11th after the 1st lap. Straight back in and dealt with the Australian Exit a lot better this year than last year. This time it felt like I was going nowhere trying to get to the first buoy. But once I got to it I was able to get around and find that rhythm again. On the second loop when we got to the second buoy you had to go at the opposite angle and toward the lifeguard building. I was feeling good and pushed on. When I looked at my time I was a bit disappointed and was a lot slower than last year. Almost 4 and half minutes but it was a lot tougher swim and definitely was a bit longer. To my surprise I was 9th out of the water

T1 00:01:47 (47th of 143)

Hit T1 and Brian and Shane were in there at the same time. We were close to each other coming out of the swim. I was throw out by the fact my fulfill bar was taken from its wrapper so I had no fuel, and I was hungry. Put my socks on and took my time getting ready. Then it was time to motivate myself for my least favourite part of the day.

Bike 01:18:34 (77th of 143)

What can I say about the bike that I haven’t already said before. Because there were so many sprint cyclists on the road I felt I was going well on the bike. The course has a lot of ups and down and is fast start, tough after the turnaround and fast finish. I kept to a good pace and before I knew it I was going through the sprint turnaround. At that time I was wishing to myself that I could turnaround there as well. Hitting the 20km mark which was a small bit after the turnaround point I was averaging over 30km/h but that was mainly aided by the fast downhill we hard before the turnaround. At the turnaround point I was told I was 33rd through, so that meant 24 people passed me up to then. Unfortunately we had to go back up it and I felt I was going backwards. This didn’t help my average and did take it out of me and took a while to recover on the flat. Once frustrating thing was the trains of cyclists (mainly from the same club) passing me. With drafting being illegal that did annoy me as that was an even bigger advantage to them as they were gone within seconds of passing me. But I was there to race my own race and struggled on. Comparing to last year I averaged 1.5km/h faster. So even though I had done almost not bike training this year I did better but it wasn’t as windy this year also. I had a lot more pass me on the bike right up to the end.

T2 00:01:24 (83rd of 143)

It may feel like I stopped for a cup of tea with the time spent in T2 but after being passed by a few just before the end of the bike I was behind them going into T2. And 1 person missed his rack space and had to double back (you know who you are Aidan :-)). I didn’t mind and there was a bit of joking between us. Got my stuff together and on went my new Asics Dynamis 2 which make it very easy in transition, no worrying about tying laces and off out to the other part of the race I don’t mind.

Run 00:44:09 (13th of 143)

First thing I did to throw me off was when I was re-configuring my watch selected bike instead of run for the last part. So straight away I couldn’t use my watch for lap times etc. Well it had 5km lap splits. But that is probably a good thing. Go out and see how I would do. Last year I set myself a goal to have at least 4:30 min/km but failed to do that so that was this years target. I knew I could catch a few on the run and make up for lost time on the bike and I did that straight away. Martin gave me a nice slap as I passed him, I think that help me speed up – mainly to get away from him :-). It is interesting comparing last year and this year, even though my pace was much faster this year it had the same look on the graph. I slowed down in the same parts and picked it up again in others. I was hungry during the run and started to struggle a bit but was able to keep a decent pace. I had one person pass me throughout the run and he was out of sight in no time. That was close to 8km in and he finished strong. I still think doing more work on the bike will also help my run leg. I was happy to cross the line and grab some water and cakes.

Overall 02:35:02 (28th of 143) 

I was delighted with the way the race went after the week I had. I didn’t think I would get near last years time but there was only 1 minute of a difference and that was mainly due to the tough swim. I picked up time both on the bike and the run so overall it was a good day at the office but also shows yet again I have to work hard on the bike. For me it is easy to skip

Thanks again to all in Tried & Tested Triathlon Club for putting on another great race this year. I will be back next year to see where I am at and see if I actually do put more effort in getting out on the bike.