Dad’s Double

Well it’s been a while since I sat down and wrote a race report, NYC marathon 08 if I remember correctly and the website has been a bit quite of late so I decided as I did the double in Athy at the weekend and as a prelude to IM Zurich I would put pen to paper. 

This particular story started while I was on holidays last July. IM Zurich opened for entry and as I had been given the green light to enter I had Mr Sheahan at the ready ( Ex Triathlete, part time gardener) to enter for me as where I was had no internet access.   A while later and Sio had confirmed I was entered all be it as Lt Col John Wallnutt, retired fighter pilot and all round daredevil. And so the IM journey started. The 2010 season had not been kind to me with a recurring injury which also but paid to the New York Marathon in Nov but it did give me the reason to, A:  join a gym and B: go to the gym. Now, this is something I have not really done in the past, but it was time to start and build up my core strength which was not good at all. 3 months later and I was feeling positive as I started the 30 week IM training programme. Looking at the programme I could see many hard days ahead of me and I honestly looked at some of the training days and said to myself that it looks mad and very unlikely to be done ! As the first 10 weeks of base training past I decided to fill in the diary and then have a look at what races might be suitable for me. In the training plan you are told to do one Olympic distance and then one middle distance or half IM and the Tri na Mhi fitted in nicely to the programme. I also decided to do the North Tipp sprint as I could not do the Joey Hannan which I would rather have done. After that the training programme had no more races but in my book there is nothing better than racing so I decided to do the Olympic and sprint races in Athy as they were both National series races and there was no way I was wasting all this training just for one race in Zurich in July !

Training had gone well but I had picked up a couple of injuries mainly a calf injury which stopped me from running for a number of weeks but on the up side the swimming was getting stronger and I was still getting in the long bike rides some on my own as race prep. Some were with the likes of Casso, Greg, BOS, and Jason mainly because I would get lost in Wicklow if I was there on my own. On one day we got through about 5 ½ hours of riding and 2000ft of climbing, which was great for the confidence as I managed to hang on the them for about 5 hours of that . The North Tipp race is well run but it’s also in a 25 metre pool and there is a lot of waiting around. It served a purpose of getting the heart rate into zone 4 for an hour or so and it’s good to blow hard after all the long slow stuff. The race went well and I won the Age group but to be fair none of the contenders were there. A couple of weeks later and it was the Tri Na Mhi half Ironman in Westmeath. Other piranha’s there were Frank K, John Adams, Rob Mc, John Staunton and Fergus Barry. It was by far the worst conditions you could imagine for racing this long. The lake was angry and very cold and there were about 120 idiots standing at the water’s edge all looking at each other and thinking the same thought as me………why the  f…ing hell do we do this. Anyway the hooter sounded   and off we went. The first time my face hit the water was about 3 seconds after the start and I think I had brain freeze for about 5 minutes. I got out of the water in 7^th place with Frank, Rob and John A not far behind. Out on to the bikes and it is probably the only time in a race I will put a bike jacket on but it was the right decision. Frank, Rob John and myself played tag for the first 42km lap and then I pulled out a bit of a lead and managed to get in off the bike in 15^th ahead of the boys knowing they would all pass me on the run, it was just a matter of when.  After getting pissed on, attacked by a mad dog and frozen to the bone  I got to T2, found some dry cloths and off I went  with hat and gloves and showerproof sleeveless run jacket. I was convinced I had a rock or something in each shoe but it was only the fact that my feet were numb. It took a couple of miles before I could feel them. At this stage the sun was out the hat was off and Rob had passed me. 15minutes later it was bucketing down and we were back to being wet and cold.  Then Frank went by looking very fresh and flying along. Just as well he did not look back as he would have seen  the dagger stare I gave him for a good few minutes as I mumbled under my breath about why I could not run that fast and if only I was 20 years younger which reminded me that John Adams had not passed me. And so it stayed with Frank finishing in the top 10, Rob in 13^th and yours truly in 17^th (excluding the relay teams) we were to find out later the 3 of us had won the Team prize.

At this stage of the training I had a new found respect for anyone who had trained and completed an Ironman. It is all consuming and you dare not miss too many training sessions as this is an animal, a beast of a race, it’s not even a race its survival. The training takes over and you realise you have not had a pint in 12 weeks without even noticing, you are a stone lighter, you are doing 4 hour bike rides for fun, swimming 3500m becomes standard and the marathon is no longer a marathon it’s just the run part of the race. You’re racking up hour after hour of training and all the time the clock is ticking towards D day the 10^th of July.

In my diary I had decided to give up one long cycle and do a double header in Athy instead. I had also decided I could not taper of this race so it was full on training schedule for the week racking up 14 hours of training in the 6 days before competition. Not the best prep but this was training, it just happen to be with a load of other people in Athy. Rolled out of bed on Sat morning at 7am and 58 minutes later I was standing in GAA hall in Athy collecting my race number. Out I came the other side with what seemed like I had just done the food shop at home. In my Lidl bag I had 6 eggs, 2 tins of beans, one bottle of juice and one jar of Jam along with the usual t-shirt. I can safely say DCT will have a better goodie bag ( no pressure Jane R). Off to transition to set up and it’s all looking just like last year. There is quite a number of Piranha’s around. Ian Fagan & John Eadie set up side by side, Stephen E , Casso and Steven M close by as well as Jen, Anne, Nick, Brendan but the one Piranha, Derek Leahy, that I am looking for is nowhere to be seen ( same age group 45-49). Down to the start we go with the pipe bands and for anyone doing there first tri this is a good one to do, safe river swim and closed roads for the bike. I am in wave 3 with the rest of the old fella’s and there seems to be a group of about 60 but still no sign of Derek. 5,4,3,2,1 bang we are off and I start with some nice and long but fast strokes and just keep the head down for about 20 or so and then it’s up to sight. I look straight ahead to check my direction but there is something funny about what I am looking at, there is no one in front of me, look to the left and no one, look to the right and there is one other swimmer out near the middle. I get in behind him and manage to hold on to him till the turn at 600m he then pulls away from me but we have already pulled out a big lead on the rest. I am out of the water in second and look at the watch to see 27minutes and thinking that is very slow or that course is long but hey that suits me as it’s the same for everyone. Swimmer one is gone from T1 by the time I get there and so the chase is on. Guess what , never saw him again and he went on to win the Age group. 1.08 for my  bike and still on sign of Derek. Off out on  the run and as I have been doing a lot of bricks I am into my stride very quickly but the legs do feel heavy after cycling into the wind for the last 10km home. 2,3,4km gone and I feel like I am running OK but not great, and still no sign of Derek , happy days 2^nd place is looking good, shit spoke to soon as I hear this voice behind me just before the 5km turnaround . aaagghh there you are John I was wondering went I would catch you. …….Good men Derek say’s I careful now going around me as the path is not that wide and we don’t want you going for another swim !!   Pity that half way through the sentence he was already 5 meters past me. ( mental note spring training will be all about speed work). I followed him home in 3^rd place in the age group and 34^th overall and very happy with the days work.

Day 2, rolled out of bed at 6.45 after only getting into it at 1.30am as I got stuck watching a silly movie but thankfully I was going down with Ivan so did not have to drive. 30 minutes into the journey there is a call from Swanners who tells us he missed a turn and is on the road to Wexford ! Missed a turn swanners, you missed a county we explain, U turn and gun it. He made it in time for registration, now if only he would do that during the race. I set up in the same place again and off we went to the start area. For the sprint we had Ivan, Kevin, Swanners, Sharon, Alva, Fiona that I can remember. The lads knew there was a race on between us but no one was saying it. As usual wave 1,2 and 3 were all female and then the old lads in wave 4, Mark and Kev were wave 8 and Ivan wave 10. This race turned out to be the most enjoyable for me in many years. The hooter went and there were 6 maybe 7 swimmers all strong, swimming across the river like there were lanes. No one crossing anyone else, no fists flying or any of that we were all just holding our own place. As we got to the turn there were still 6 leaders and thankfully I was hanging in there. With 400 to go there were still 5 swimmers across the river battling it out , 300 to go I can only see 3 others, 200 to go we dropped another. Now  there one guy in near the reeds and another between us but he is fading so with 150 to go I try to up the pace a bit and also start to kick a bit harder. I hit the ramp in 1^st place with a swim time of 9mins ( has to be short today) but only 5 seconds ahead of 2^nd place and within 45 secs there are another 7/8 racers out. I am passed in T1 and off we go out on the bike. I am now in 2^nd place and the guy ahead has only come up from the 40-44 age group this year and I am fairly sure I have not beaten him before. I settle into the bike knowing that this is going to be short and hopefully fast . After sitting about 40 meters behind him for a minute or 2 I realise I have more speed than him and close the gap, pick my moment and motor pass him not giving him any chance to stay with me. I push as hard as I can and I am hitting 46kpm on the flat for a couple of minutes to open the gap. 32 minutes later and I am in off the bike and holding 1^st ( inAG). Now the plan for the weekend was to race the Olympic and to take it easy in the sprint, maybe swim hard, cycle 90% and then take it very easy on the run as I did not want to do any damage. As I pulled into T2 and got the shoes on I told myself I would go easy on the run but I think I had forgotten that thought by the time I hit the exit matt. To hell with it the race was on and there were 4 guys who are faster runners chasing me home. There was also the fact that Messers Swan, Eustace were looking for a scalp so I had to give them all a run for their money. And that’s exactly what I did. I ran hard and I was actually feeling quite good, not too tired, maybe all the long stuff was about to pay off. In the Olympic I ran just under 45mins so I knew I should go better over the shorter distance . I got to the turnaround point which left me with 2km to go and in no time 2^nd 3^rd and 4^th went past me in the other direction. It was now head down and keep the pace up and also all the time watching out for and signs of tightness. 1km to go and as I am getting near a little elbow in the run it gives me the chance to have a look behind to see if they are closing and they are but I think I have enough on them . To be sure I stretch it out and I am now motoring along with a bit of a grin on my face and run the last km in 3.50 crossing the line in 1.05.35, winning the Age group and 24^th overall. Within 60 seconds we had 3 more Age groupers over the line. A very close race and one I really enjoyed. Our Age group will never win a race put it is very competitive and you all have that to look forward too ! On the day Kevin and Mark both had a great dice with Kevin coming out on top and Swanners beating me by 30 odd seconds. He was 30sec faster in T1 (every second counts ) Kevin finishing in 16^th and 3^rd in AG and Mark in 18^th and 4^th in AG  with Ivan just behind me by 90secs.

 

Looking at the results to date It would seem to me that Piranha Tri club is getting stronger and stronger but if we are to win the Club National Series which I believe we can, we need everyone trying to complete the required 5 races. For me its back to IM training and hopefully I will make it there in one piece and without any further injuries. The Wiclow 200 is next on the list and if I get through that I think I can start to believe I am nearly ready to take on one of the biggest endurance races in the world. Here’s hoping for the perfect Race !

Johnny W