The season seems too short, after spending a lot of time recovering from injury this year it was nice to go out on a high and finish with my best race of the year. I couldn’t decide for a long while would I do this race and when I did the decision was between sprint and Olympic. With the race being so close to home I said I might as well go for the Olympic distance. This would be my 2nd at that distance this season after doing Dublin 2 weeks previously (report here)
Nice start to the morning
After a sleepless night the night before the race I was happy I organised everything a day early. It still didn’t stop me double checking everything in the morning but at least I wasn’t searching drawers looking for socks or something. I had my porridge and toast for breakfast and said goodbye to Martha and George. It seemed windy on the drive down so when I arrived at Clonea I was surprised with how calm the water looked. I parked the car up and was in and out of registration in no time. Next was off to transition to set up and for 2nd race in a row I had plenty of space around me. Usually people either skip the briefing or would not pay attention but it was important this time because for the 1st time ever for me and a lot of others there was an Australian Exit swim. We got our directions and were good to go.
Water looking calm
Hopefully dark clouds going opposite way
Swim
As mentioned, it was an Australian Exit swim, 2 loops of 750m and a beach start. I lined myself up behind the eager group I waited for the countdown. Off we went running towards the water. The biggest debate to begin with was when do I stop jumping over waves and start swimming. I had two false starts when the water wasn’t high enough but on third attempt I got going and off I went, sighting the first buoy. We were swimming in the shape of a triangle for the 1st loop and beach start meant it wasn’t the usual violent start. I was comfortable and rounded the 1st buoy with no trouble, sighted the second and made a straight line for that, before taking the angle back to the beach. This really did feel strange. Out of the water and run up the beach around the flag before running back into the water and starting all over again. Main thing going through my head was that if I was doing the sprint I’d be finished by now. As soon as I hit the water and starting swimming again I started to feel dizzy and short of breath. I had to take a few seconds to get composed and go again. It took about 10 seconds but I was good then. On the long stretch between the 1st and 2nd buoy I had someone on my toes the whole way. I’d go right, they’d follow, I’d go left, the same. They got a nice helping hand. Once I turned the 2nd buoy it was at the opposite angle we’d hit the beach this time. I was out of the water in an official time of 24:54, I had 24:06 on my watch but the timing map was long way from the beach. My official time had me 15th out of 151 swimmers. Officially I did 1st loop in 12:02 and 2nd in 12:52. I was 16th after 1st loop so it was nice to know I picked up 1 position
Swim
T1
Took my time in T1 to get my socks and shoes on and even with that I was 28th out of 150 in a time of 1:23. Off out on the bike I went.
Bike
As bike legs go this was one of the harder ones I have done. Wind and hills are not fun and when they are combined you know it is going to be a tough day. Straight away coming out of transition you could feel the wind blowing and it didn’t seem to be blowing in a direction that would suit. To my surprise even with the gradual climb out of Dungarvan I was holding a steady pace when broken into 5km blocks which I like to do. It was 10:49, 10:26 and 10:40. So under 30km/h average but that is where I am at. Then came the quick section with a nice 3km of descent. At the time it didn’t hit me, i’d have to tackle this on the way back. I completed that 5km in 8:57, my fastest split of the day. But complete contrast after the turnaround point I was faced with my slowest split of the day of 13:09. I really struggled on the hills and the wind was still all over the place. My next 2 splits were 9:57 and 9:02 as I got to enjoy the declines after the battle with the hills. The bike was showing as short and was just over 38 km. I won’t complain. Shorter bike is always good 🙂 I averaged 28.91km/h average. So close to breaking the 29km/h average. That will be target for next year. I completed in a time of 1:20:03 (81st of 151). Huge improvement needed compared to my other positions in each other discipline.
Bike
T2
After getting through the bike it was into T2, rack the bike, throw the helmet on the ground and into the runners and back out I go. I felt I didn’t waste too much time in there. Completed in 58 seconds (34th out of 151)
Run
I had aimed to try go around averaging 4:30 per km and I started off with good pace. It was hot and windy and at times you could feel the gusts blowing you around. I knew it was bad on the bike but didn’t think it would have too much affect on the bike but it sure did. My km laps were looking good for the 1st 6 where I was, on pace but the lack of big mileage meant I did slow down at km 7 and lost some time in km 8, 9 and 10. Of course like any triathlon the distance was a fraction off and it ended up being actually just over 10:25km. But I didn’t mind that. It was a nice run. Footpath, main road, coast run before old railway line run. It had everything and all the stewards along the way gave great encouragement. Since we all started in one wave I knew anyone I passed meant I was going to get a better position, and of course the same was for the people who passed me out. In the end there were 2 who went by me and I did go by a lot more. I upped the pace for the sprint to the line and finished the 10 (ish)km run in 46:49 (31st out of 151). Next year I will be targeting a sub 45 min 10km run in a triathlon. Since my PB is 40:53 in a 10km road race.
Run
Overall 2:34:09 (38)
I was delighted with my overall result. A great end to the triathlon season and great race to finish with. Definitely my favourite swim of the year. Well done to all other Cobh members who took on the race today. This is my last race for them before I transfer club and it was a great end to 4 great years with them.
Almost there
Thanks to http://www.dcimagesireland.com for the finish line photo
Next up is my 120km charity cycle followed by Lisbon half marathon.