Lough Cutra Gauntlet Preview

I thought I would just do a quick preview of the start of my challenge to compete all 5 Castle Triathlon Series Gauntlet events, oh and the Bastion in the middle of them.

The thought of it, especially the July period, does scare me a tad still. I really have no idea of how I will recover from a half ironman to compete at a full ironman 2 weeks later, and then do another half ironman 2 weeks after that, at least I will go into the 1st of the 5 at Lough Cutra in a fully fit and rested state and have a month to get fully recovered before the 2nd one.

I have had a great winter and spring build up, since starting being coached by Darren Jenkins, we have slowly built up my fitness to a level I have only ever reached when purely cycling. My winter fears of too slow a build up have been proven to be totally unwarranted, Darren has got me here in such an easy manner it is hard to believe how fit I appear to be on paper. Hardly any missed sessions, no illnesses, only one or two failed sessions, all in all the best ever winter/spring season I think I have ever had. Big thanks also need to go to Secret Training for supporting me with my nutritional needs, it has kept me fueled throughout my training and recovery.

Swimming has improved, running has improved, cycling has remained pretty solid so I would expect to have become a better triathlete, let's hope it translates to racing.

As to my thoughts about Lough Cutra, it is a wonderful event which this year is part of the Triathlon Ireland National Series so sees another increase in competitors in the Gauntlet, this is fantastic news as it can only draw in an even higher class of triathlete to compete against. The numbers have increased so much that there is now 2 starting waves, ideally I would have liked a single wave as as well as competing again my Age Group competitors, I do like to compete against the whole field from the start. Obviously the numbers mean there is no option of one start so my aim for the day is to race as hard as I can and just see where I end up, at least I get to watch the 1st wave go off and then relax for a little while for my wave to get going.

What am I expecting, well I am not sure to be honest, last year was a bit of a case of doing a decent swim and a great bike, but as my running had been crap leading up to the event the run was only ever going to be a decent training run. This year obviously things have been great, I am hoping the swim is faster, just need to get on some real good feet, the bike is unlikely to be faster but I hope to be at least around the same time as last year, I guess the wind direction will have the biggest impact. As for the run, now I aim to attack this with a bit of relish, I know what sort of pace I can do in a standalone HM now so the aim in reality is to try for this pace and see how long I can keep it up for.

I am really looking forward to Sunday, it's time to really get going this season and see how the winter has paid off. Let's get racing :)

First Blowout of the Year

A late start to the racing season for me this year, and it started with the local East Grinstead Triathlon a nice sprint triathlon to wake the body up from it's training slumber. This is a great local race and one where it really does have a relaxed feel about it.

To be honest you would have thought that with some of the training I had been doing that I would be primed for a sprint triathlon rather than the main focus of the year which is half ironman and ironman races. Time to put all that fast paced work into action I suppose.

The weeks leading up to the race were full on training weeks, first a nice week out in Spain with lots of volume, as well as the standard fair of intensity in nearly every session. After this I was slightly hoping for an easy week leading into the triathlon, unfortunately for me when looking at the training plan it was clear it was going to far from an easy week. It meant a hurried e-mail to Darren to ask was there any point in doing the triathlon, I just didn't see the point in doing a race and under performing due to fatigue. Darren had other ideas and just told me to race it as hard as I could and let's see what the outcome was, the focus is on my first half ironman in a few weeks time. Basically MTFU and just get on and do it.

The day before the race was a frantic affair as well, rear mech shifter on the TT bike decided to break and wouldn't stay in the lower gears. It meant a few bodges to the lever but I managed to do a temporary repair on it that was good enough to race with.

Race day, a lovely hot day in fact possibly a bit too hot but better that than the freezing cold and raining. I was off quite late in the elite wave so I had plenty of time to get myself sorted, cheer on quite a few teammates doing the race and just generally chill before my start.

Swim: As part of the elite wave we all start together, this gives you plenty of space in the pool and some quicker swimmers to match yourself up against. I was hoping for a sub 8 min 500m, not super fast but fast enough not to lose too much time. The swim goes well I keep well within myself and climb out in 7:59, a bit slower than ideal but a decent enough time, and 4th of the elite wave. Felt good running into and through transition.

Bike: First time racing with shoes already clipped into the pedals, no flying mount for me but a quick mount none the less. Found it quite easy getting my feet into the shoes and then we were off. I had come out just behind one guy, I went straight passed him within a few 100 metres and apparently was 3rd on the road of the elite starters. I would have liked to race by power but my Garmin had decided it didn't want to boot up in transition so it was a ride on feel type of race. Given my training load over the last few weeks it was probably better not to go via power as I didn't really have any clue of what I could sustain. It just meant a go as hard as you can for as long as you can and see what happens, it actually didn't feel too bad. About 6 miles in I caught up with the 2nd place elite, Paul Savage, knowing he was a much faster runner than me I just tried to make up as much time as possible on the bike. I did wonder where the first elite guy (James Amey) was, as although I was passing slower riders these were all from the general starters. I did get a few glimpses as I got near the end of the ride and arrived at T2 about 15 secs behind. A decent ride but nothing spectacular compared to my very best.

Run: This is where I felt I was going to feel the training fatigue, but just tried to go as hard as my legs could go. I didn't know how far Paul Savage was behind me, but I could just see James up the road in front of me. I tried to catch him but after the first lap he had pulled away slightly, but Paul hadn't caught me yet. With the shouts of a certain Charlie Pennington and all the girls from the Tri Spirit Team urging me on, I just tried to keep a similar pace, Paul eventually passed me just after we started the 2nd lap, I tried to latch on but by now the fatigue and the heat of the day was getting to me. As he slowly eased away I just tried to keep up my pace as I had no idea of how close the other guys were behind. The end result was a very close battle from 2nd through to 6th, with us all being within a minute of each other.

I finished 3rd in the elite wave, but as per normal you never truly know where you stand as some of the fast guys aren't part of the elite wave. This was the case for this years winner, Sam Begg, a superb time of 1:06:32 which was the class of the field. Another early starter ended up in 4th place so I finished 5th overall, but did manage to bag the V40 1st place prize with a 1:09:52. A bit of an unexpected bonus was the fastest bike split, still half decent on the bike I guess.

I was happy - honest

A bit surprised with the result if I am honest, Darren obviously knows what he is doing, and even in a fatigued state it was faster than last year and overall a much better performance from me. I do think about the 46 secs to 2nd place and what could have been in a fresher state, but as Darren says this event wasn't a focus for me so I have to be pleased. It was a great race overall and great to have a little running race at the end, even if I am still slow compared to some.

Next event is the Gauntlet at Lough Cutra on the 29th May, can't wait for it and I have been promised I will be tapered for it :)

Thanks to Darren for the coaching, Secret Training for the nutritional support, Go Resource for your continued support and the Tri Spirit Team for all the continued encouragement.