NS Race Strategy – Race 6

The sixth race on the Club Calendar has arrived!!   Saturday, 16^th August sees 21 Piranhas participate in Tri the Hook Triathlon hosted by Hook Tourism. This is also the inaugural Leinster Championships.

The race starts at 11.00hrs and has only two waves. Please support Piranhas out on the course after you cross the finish line have grabbed water and a banana.

This note has the following sections:

• Race Briefing
• Who’s racing?
• Getting there
• Car Pooling – how to arrange a lift
• Pre-race day training and race day warm-up

Race Briefing      

Tri the Hook – Race Briefing

Who’s Racing?

Getting There

The race Registration is at St. Mogues GAA Fethard-on-Sea and Transition is at Carnivan Beach – just beyond Fethard on Sea.   This is estimated to be a 2 hour 20 minutes drive – and is essentially of equal length whether you come via N11 (Wexford Road) or M9 (Waterford Road).   Directions for each can be found on the links below:

Directions from Dublin to Tri the Hook Triathlon via M9

Directions from Dublin to Tri the Hook Triathlon via N11-M11

Registration is open from 19.00hrs to 21.00hrs on Friday and from 07.30hrs to 09.30hrs on Saturday. You should be leaving Dublin no later than 06.15hrs to make it to registration without stress.

Car Pooling – how to arrange a lift

Please post-up on the forum if you are looking for a lift – the Car Pooling spreadsheets have not proved efficient for prior races.

 Pre race-day training and Race-Day warm-ups
(compliments of Dig Deep’s Shannon Connolly)

 Pre-race day drills:

 Swimming: If swimming in open water:

• 10 minutes aerobic front crawl swimming- focus on open water skills- sighting/turning around buoy-
• 4 x 20 seconds hard with 30 seconds recovery
• Another 5-10 minutes very easy swim (Mixture of front and back crawl)
• Stretch

or

If using pool, 20 minutes easy swim to include,

• Warm up: 200m as 50m front/50m back easy
• Main set: Include 4 x 25m at higher intensity with 30 seconds recovery between each 25.
• Cool down: 5-10 minutes easy front or back crawl

Bike: 30 minutes easy cycle, with 3 x15 seconds at zone 4 Hr (effort 8/10) in the middle of the session- separate each of these efforts with 90 seconds easy spinning. Keep to a flat route today, and focus on maintaining high cadence.

Run: 5 minutes easy run with 3 x 7 second strides at increased intensity at the end.

Tip 1: for the longer distances, do these sessions early on Friday, and then keep off your feet to get recovery before Saturday morning

Tip 2: Focus on hydrating by sipping water throughout day

Tip 3: If doing swim in open water (recommended if possible)- Hang your wetsuit out to dry early. A dry wetsuit will be a lot more comfortable in the 15 minutes before race start.

Race day warm up

Cycle:     Before you rack bike try to get 10-15 minutes easy cycle- this will give you a feel for you race position, changing gears and pedaling technique. Keep this cycle at easy intensity- This can be a couple of hours before the race start and the purpose is to give you a feel for the bike (Use run/swim as warm up before race)

 When racking your bike:   
Do a couple of jogs through the transition and visualise where you have to enter and exit for T1 & T2. Know actually where your bike is – memorise how to get to your bike quickly.

Run:       After racking your bike and setting up your transition completely- I’d recommend to do run warm up next- complete 10-15 minutes jog with 5x 10 strides seconds at intensity of 7/10 (see link below)- try to be finishing the run warm up approximately 20-25 minutes of starting your race – then get wetsuit on for swim warm up below.

Swim:     Dynamic movements of your arms and shoulder e.g. circling your arms and practicing the swim motion then get into the water for at least 5-10 minutes if possible for swim. Start with some aerobic swimming and add 4 x20 seconds at race intensity, with 1 minute easy between each.

Any questions then please contact me on the numbers below.

Happy racing,

Bernard Hanratty



M: 087 231 5076| PM: Bernard | Email: ber.hanratty@gmail.com