5 years ago i took my pluge into the triathlon world. It all started with a gateway race at the Fingal triathlon as part of a team relay for the sprint race. A race which we won by miles, and still stands as the crowning moment in my triathlon career. Depresing ehy?
To say the least i loved the race. Enjoyed the atmosphere, loved the pain, and then food after? What the hell we never get this at the track or at road races! I'm in. A few weeks later i had purchased a time trial frame and built up my first triathlon bike. A few days later i decided to enter my first ever race. Dublin City Triathlon, Olympic distance, closed roads, just a few km from the house.
Needless to say i trained like a muppet. Had an ok swim, SMASHED the bike (1:04) and then blew up in spectacular style on the run. The year after followed a similar pattern, with an even worse run and a massive digestive track explosion. Year after i took a break from the race as i was away at the TransWales MTB race.
THe last 3 episodes have gone well, 2:32; 2:30. Times coming down, but the bike times going up resulted in much faster run splits. This year however things had been set to go well. A bit of an up and down season, combined with some mental blowups, led to this turning into an event not a race. No PB;s were to be set even before the race started. I was here to have some fun.
Ok swim at 34mins out and into transition, even paced, not fast but i've not been swimming well this year in the least. Maybe not swimming has done that....Then the rains came, and down went the triathletes. Always amazes me how badly they can ride. Held back a little on the bike, for a 274W normalised power over 40km (1:15) felt great going onto the run, and just ran by feel for a bit. Smashed the first km in 4:17, then had to back down. The ghosts of HOTW past were there and i hadn't properly tested my legs since BOTE. Felt good on the run, but only posted a 45mins 10km as i did hold back.
Saying that i was tired crossing the line, i felt i'd given it the best i could, and was happy with my result. FIrst time this year since Portmarnock triathlon. Feels good to end the season on a high, abiet a failure in goals.
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