Representing Ireland
From the very first triathlon I did in May 2009, representing Ireland was an ambition I harboured. And with (interim) retirement in September 2014, it looked like 2015 was the year for me to seize that opportunity.
Qualifying
I had determined that Pulse Port Beach 2014 would be my ticket to Chicago, with the top 5 in each age group qualifying. Despite a strong race, I only came 7th and was concerned that I might not get onto the team. I applied through the TI system anyway and to my delight I was accepted.
A Sense of Responsibility
Having been accepted onto the team, I now felt a burden of responsibility. My performance in National Series 2014 ranked me well outside the top 10 in my age group. How was I going to perform against the best age-groupers from around the world? Wouldn’t it be great if I could up my game to come in the top 50% of the field??
Planning the Year
With a 3 month holiday in New Zealand early in the year, I had the perfect opportunity to lay down a base for my training. Starting in April I would have 5 months of preparation before Chicago in mid-September. I would be able to complete a full complement of National Series races as part of my training.
New Zealand Base
After a 4 month absence from training due to injury, I completed a 70.3 in Auckland in late January, and I also did a training camp at Lake Taupo (home to Ironman NZ) in mid February. I borrowed a bike from one of the TriCamp coaches for the entire holiday. I tried to get a long bike in every 3 days and a run every three days too. Swimming was going to be difficult as I was uncomfortable swimming on my own.
In truth the running went well, but bike was difficult to sustain, particularly on the South Island (second half of holiday). I lost 9Kg through endless exercise and an absence of snacks in front of the telly. I also discovered hill running which I really enjoyed. A chance ParkRun in Wellington before I left in March yielded a lifetime personal best of 19:02 for my 5K – at least I was on top of my run.
Tri Coach
I decided to hire Shannon Connolly to guide me through my 5 month prep for Chicago. We agreed that bike and swim had to be the primary focus for improvement. Shannon would build the plan with Hook or by Crook and Hell of the West being the key races.
Shannon (who worked with the Club as a coach in 2014) is based on Leeds. We did a few in-person training sessions but coaching was delivered via TrainingPeaks, 2 skype calls a week and daily texts.
Training
My training involved 15-20 hours a week. As I do not have a 9-5 commitment, I often did the training during the day. Shannon kept the sets on bike (turbo / road) and swim varied, and he looked for constant feedback from me. I learned a lot about training, and the importance of having a clear goal, and drills, drills, drills.
The downside of this approach was that I did not do much training with the club this year. I found the personalized swim and bike sets lonely, and motivation difficult to maintain. It really proved to me the benefit of group training – and how privileged we are to have the amount of group training that we have in Piranha.
NS Races
I finished 5 of the six NS races I started – having crashed out of Hook or by Crook. I finished the season with a first in age group at Castlewellan at the end of August which was a great confidence booster as I prepared for Chicago.
The Irish Team
In the weeks before the event the Irish Team Manager, Gerrard Deegan, set-up a facebook page of the team. Through this forum we got to know each other, banter about the course, transport, accommodation and other helpful details. It became apparent that many of the team are ‘regulars’ on the European / World circuit wearing the green jersey. Several of those participating are resident in the US and UK but competing under the Irish flag.
Support
I received an enormous amount of support and well wishes in advance of the race. Family, Shannon, friends and all the Piranha’s really pushed the boat out to inspire me to do my best. It was really lovely to receive that support.
Sprint Race
Thursday, 17th Sept – and it was time for my ‘A’ Race. Transition closed at 9.30am but my wave wasn’t until 12.30pm, so I racked my bike at 8.00am and returned to my apartment, had breakfast, stretched and kept out of the race drama.
There were 130 registered for my age group, so we were split into two waves. I was in wave A and wave B started 5 minutes after us. Swim was a point to point along the lake wall and it went fine (i.e. none of the B wave caught me in the water). T1 was nearly 400M – so I’d decided this was an opportunity for me to gain some places.
The bike was 3 laps of an out and back course. There were some terrible road surfaces (bad bumps with water bottles flying!). But I kept a steady eye on my powermeter (target 230W) and made sure that I didn’t lapse into any coasting. Another long transition into T2 again served me well.
It was 27C by the time I started on the run – so it was very tough. It was a 2 lap run and there was great support. There is nothing more motivating than a “C’MON IRELAND” cry from supporters of all countries. I was only passed by one person on the run, so I was confident about how I was finishing the race.
I made one fatal mistake. As I basked in the glory of the finishing line, hands aloft and smiling goofily, a Norwegian guy in my age-group who I had passed 400M earlier piped me on the line. How pathetic!
Standard
While the Sprint was my “A” race, I also entered the Standard Race, which was held on Saturday 19th. I stayed off my feet on Friday felt good going to bed. I followed the same routine as I had for the Sprint as the set-up was similar.
The swim was out along the harbour wall for 375M, then a 1,125M back along the sprint swim course. I started to get cocky as it seemed to take ages for the first guy from the B wave to catch me. There was a small gap, and then they came in shoals – very humbling. Undeterred I made the best of the long T1 run.
More than 50% of the bike was in tunnels – and guess what – the power meter didn’t work (either no GPS or it was too dark to read it). I went by feel, and I had a great spar with some Canadians and Aussies. The second lap I found much more difficult as the course was less busy and it was easier to lapse into coasting.
T2 and the run were just great. I felt like I was flying – I just kept knocking people off one by one. In addition to the Irish team, Liz Torres from University of Illinois (Sports Psychology team from 2015) was there to cheer me on and take some great photos. And this time there was no way anybody was going to pip me on the finish line.
Results
The primary measure of my results is my position within the 117 men who finished my age-group in each race. The results were:
So my performance was consistent in each race in the order of T2, Run, T1, Bike and Swim. I clawed-back 49 places from the end of the swim in the Sprint race and 45 places in the Standard race.
The statistic I like best (because it flatters me most!) is that in the Sprint run I passed 86 and only 1 person passed me. In the Standard run I passed 136 people and nobody passed me.
I achieved a 31 percentile and a 41 percentile – well inside my original 50% target. I was very happy with that.
Overall Assessment
Proud indeed that I am to be a Piranha, it was magical to represent the country in Chicago.
It was nice to be part of a team, and a lot of effort was made to integrate the TI contingent (who were attending ITU Congress), the elites and the age groupers. The team manager had endless energy, and was so enthusiastic for each person to do his/her very best.
I would highly recommend the experience of representing Ireland to any Piranha. The Europeans are in May 2016 in Lisbon, Portugal and the Worlds are in Cozumel, Mexico in September. I won’t race for Ireland next year – but I definitely will return to race in the green jersey again (and again).
Thank You!
Thanks to all the Piranha’s for their support. Thanks to Shannon Connolly my coach, to Jo Smyth my physio, to SportsMed Ireland for strength and conditioning and all the Piranha coaches. Any of course the encouragement from my kids and extended family.
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