TriAthy - Race Report

Bless me Triathlon Ireland, for I have sinned. It has been - shock, nearly a year since my last triathlon. You, see…after slogging my guts out to get ready for Escape from Alcatraz, I just lost the will, the urge, “the hunger”. I promise not to stray again - at least not until October anyway when the weather turns to shite again.

Getting Ready

I approach triathlon training in the same way that alcoholics approach the bad stuff; I binge, hurt myself, regret what I’ve done horribly, go cold turkey - then relapse all too predictably. This year has been different. With the help of a handy wall-chart I have actually, shock horror, paced my training nicely - building slowly over the last 5 weeks or so after a long winter lay off. It has worked, I’ve been swimming comfortably, cycling smoothly and running (yes!) without constant stabbing pains.

TriAthy was my first test of this new, sensible approach to training. We were traveling to Athy using the power of Bus Éireann (who - let’s be honest - are not always the kindest when it comes to putting your bike on the bus, but who had no issues this time), which operates a reasonably quick 90 minute service from Dublin. A short montage through West Dublin, East Kildare and we arrived in Athy - where the local shopkeepers were quite literally (okay, maybe not literally) rubbing their hands in glee. Over 2000 triathletes had arrived on their doorsteps and were eating everything in site like neoprene-clad locusts.

We watched the last of the Olympic distance athletes coming home, then waited to get into transition. I was unlucky enough to be picked in the 6pm wave, so there was a few hours of hanging around in the sun before it was go-time. Setting up in transition was no problem - the organisers were very generous with space on the rack, so no hassle laying out my stuff.

The Swim

6pm came around pretty quickly with temperatures still touching 20°C. I stretched into my (quite possibly too small) wetsuit and took my place in the river. I made the huge mistake of getting too close to the front, and when the whistle went I was summarily kicked and punched out of the way by the bigger children. I took a fierce kick in the jaw and had to stop and get my bearings for a while. No major harm done, but it was pretty rough stuff in the swim - I can’t say I was composed and “totally immersed” on what should have been a totally easy 750m swim.

Cycle, Run

Anyway, swim over - onto the bike. A bit of a breeze had picked up, but otherwise the cycle was totally uneventful. An out and back loop of 20Km through some nice countryside. I can’t say I put in a great time, but I enjoyed the cycle - after 5 weeks of training I don’t really have any reason to deserve a lightning time.

Bizarrely, the run was my favourite part of the day. I caught my breath early on, and ran comfortably - which for me is a rarity. In the last Km I was able to pick up the pace and make the finish look good for the cameras (Cliona). Within 10 minutes we had to be back for the last bus back to Dublin, so I had to grab my gear and get to the bus stop - which was a bit miserable, it would have been nice to sit down for 5 minutes - but hey, that’s life.

Aftermath

So, what have we learned?

• I am still at the beginning of my training for the year - and did okay
• I am not big enough to be thrashing around at the front with the big lads - oh well
• I am getting older (yes, it’s true) and a few weeks training don’t equal decent times - like they would have two or three years ago
• I am making good, injury-free progress for the first time in a good while - going to take a few days off (even though it was just a sprint) and get back to work

Since getting back from the race I’ve been thinking about the growing ferocity of swim starts - which part of me thinks is unnecessary. I will probably write again about how race organisers can, and should, promote fair play in the swim, as they do on the bike and run - but that’s for another day.

Thanks to the organisers of TriAthy - a huge undertaking. Few pointers: a lot more bins, better trained marshals, better instructions on what to do if you get into trouble in the swim (guidance was a bit vague for newbies), better security in transition (it was like a come-all-ye circus).

A grand start to the season, with a refreshing kick in the face thrown in for good measure. Not too bad.