Dublin City Triathlon

With Wanaka being my main race I had set my sights on Dublin City Triathlon(DCT) being my main tri of the summer. Considering I had only done one other Olympic Distance race before I was looking forward to seeing where I am at compared to London last year. Being slow to sign up almost cost me a place but thankfully after it initially sold out they made more places available. I snapped up the chance to do it.

When it came to training I my running was going well, same with swim and I finally started to increase my cycling distance. Its something I really need to continue working on. With a lot of road races I need to manage my training but felt confident overall.

My targets before the race were:
Swim: 30mins
Cycle: 1hr 30mins
Run: 45mins

With Robert doing the super sprint distance we all stayed in the Clarion in Liffey Valley the night before. Great location and less than 10 mins to the Garda Boat Club. My luck was in while checking in. Martha and I got an upgrade to one bedroom apartment. Nice an spacious. Robert and myself headed off to registration and it was nice and fast. And by far the best goody bag you could have got. It made me laugh because last year in London you didn’t even get a tshirt and got a “virtual” goody bag with coupons to get money off on line. Where as here with DCT you got a great Amphibia bag and plenty of goodies.  We had a look at the swim and transition etc before heading back. A nice “healthy” meal that night of a huge burger and chips went down nicely.

 

The morning of the race was here. Alarm set for 6am. Looked out and just as the forecast said it was pouring rain. Sure it couldn’t rain for that long anyway. Good to get it out of the way early. Had some toast, got all my things together and met Robert. We headed in a long and got parking on the road about 700m away from the boat club. We put our bikes together and headed off. Rain was still pouring at the stage. We got our bikes checked and found our spot in transition. Spaces were numbered and you were next to other club members so, the 3 Brutons & Alan Cummins racked up next to me with a few from Cork Tri on the other side. As soon as we got in there they were closing transitions soon after so we timed it well. Bike racked and all my gear covered from the rain we left transition to hang around until it was our turn.

 

Swim

I love the swim so I’m relaxed from the start. I jumped and treaded water for about 5 mins, making sure the goggles were secure, refitting them a couple of times to make sure no water was going to get in. I thought the start would be a bit crazier than it was. Maybe I positioned myself well but I was able to get into a nice rhythm straight away. I remember passing the turning point for the Super Sprint and thinking to myself it would be nice to just have to turn there, it also gave an idea of distance so far. Only once did get put out a bit and that was when someone decided to climb over me. Was rather strange as we were about 500m into by then and plenty of space on either side of me. Got to the turnaround point and felt good. I knew I’d be with the flow on the way back down so would be easier. I passed a few from the previous and then passed the Super Sprint turnaround again. I knew then I was on the home stretch. I got out of the water with an official time of 28 mins exactly. I’ll take that.

T1

It took me a fews to adjust but once I did I ran through and got the wetsuit off. My calf felt a bit tight so took my time. Even with my gear covered, it was soaked.  Just like most races this year I decided to take the extra bit of time to put socks on, it just a bit more comfortable. I was 2mins 29seconds. Which overall wasn’t too bad I guess.

 

 

Bike

Now to my least favourite part of the day. Going into it I wasn’t sure about the loops but overall I felt it was good. I got better on each loop as I got used to the conditions and the course. For whatever I lost going up hills I didn’t really gain on the downhills. This was mainly due to me being a bit cautious and not wanting to go skidding off my bike. After the 1st turn around on Chesterfield Avenue I felt my calf tighten up a bit which meant I had to slow down a small bit just to make sure it didn’t get any worse. After about 2km (mainly downhill section) my calf seemed alright again and I was able to push on again.When I got to the sections where 1st lap and the loops meet I could hear Martha before I could see her. This was one of the fans zones and it was good to see and hear someone cheer you on. There was a DJ there as well who was encouraging every one.  Just before the hitting Chesterfield Avenue for the 2nd time Alan passed me on the bike. He was looking strong and no way was I going to keep with him. I kept ticking away on the bike. Counting my laps. Making sure I didn’t miss one or worse again, do one too many. Each time I came down the hill towards the fan zone I could hear Martha which helped me as you faced the steady climb, I did let her know each time what lap I was on so not to have her waiting there for ever.

The laps seemed to fly by and before I knew it I was taking the right out of the park. I was able to make up some time on the flattest part of the course on Chapelizod Road heading towards transition.
I got off the bike in a time of 1:26:48. By my watch that was close to 28km per hour average, which for me is very good. Times are slightly improving on the bike but a lot more work to do.

T2

I was quicker in T2 compared to other athletes and was out in 1min 46seconds. I had my runners in a bag so there were some what dry. Was going to wear a hat to keep the rain out of my eyes but decided to stick with the glasses. Off I went out of T2 and a few shouts of “Go on Cobh” from marshals were good to hear.

 

Run

Now this is the part I like best. Of course its hard to know how it is going to go as it all depends on how much the other 2 took it out of me. You start with a nice flat 1st km on Chapelizod Road before turning into the park. Again Martha popped up and make sure I saw her. Definitely helped me get up the 1st big hill. Next thing I knew it changed from road running to cross country. I didn’t know this part and it definitely takes its toll on the legs. Through grass, mud and slippery hills it was interesting to see how this would work out. There was close to a km on each lap of road running and I was able to pick up some time before slowing down again on the grass loop. From my splits it was obvious where the hard parts were. Michael Bruton came flying past me at one stage, made it look easy.

I met Robert on my 2nd lap. Lucky him, he only had to do the loop once. Olivia and my two nieces, Emma and Robyn, cheered me on as I started my 2nd and Martha joined them when I started my final lap. All the support was great throughout the day and definitely give the kick I needed. To stand out in the rain for the whole day is something else. Its fine for us when we are running around but it must have been miserable for them. My last km was by far my fastest. I had the energy to really kick on. I passed out many people once we hit the road one last time. I completed the in 45:35. It was the only one where I didn’t make my target but I’ll blame the cross country run for that 🙂

My final time was 2hr 44mins 34seconds. Finished 208 overall out of 484. I’m very happy with that as anything under 3 hours I would have been delighted with. The weather conditions made things even harder. I will definitely look to go back next year and try again. It was a great day. DCT put on a great event and any marshal I came across had a smile on their face. Well done to all involved in the organisation of the event. Thanks to my wonderful wife Martha who was everywhere to cheer me on. Great to see Olivia, Emma and Robyn out, must have been hard to bring them around in the rain. Well done to Robert getting back to doing a triathlon for the 1st time in 3 years. And finally well done to all the Cobh members who  competed today.