Piranha National Series Strategy – Race 2

The second race on the Club Calendar has arrived! Saturday, 13^th June sees at least 50 Piranha’s participate in By Hook or by Crook in Dunmore East, Co. Waterford.

This note has the following sections:

• Who’s racing?
• Race briefing
• Belpark Piranha Face Off
• Car Pooling – how to arrange a lift
• Getting there

• Post-Race Dinner and Drinks in the Spinnaker Bar @ 7:30pm

• Pre-race day training and race day warm-up

Who’s Racing?

2015 Race Briefing

The 2015 race briefing can be accessed HERE . Please read it and be familiar with registration time etc.

Belpark Piranha Face Off

Belpark are also holding their Club Championships at By Hook or by Crook. To add a little spice to the event, we are going to have a competition between the two clubs like last year. Belpark beat us last year so please please rectify the situation this year and prove Piranha is the best club in the land! The winning club will be the one with the most points awarded under the following categories:

1. First woman to finish – 3 points
2. First man to finish – 3 points
3. Fastest female swimmer – 1 point (bring it home Linda!)
4. Fastest male swimmer – 1 point
5. Fastest female T1 – 1 point
6. Fastest male T1 – 1 point
7. Fastest female bike split – 1 point
8. Fastest male bike split – 1 point (bring it home Anthony!)
9. Fastest female T2 – 1 point
10. Fastest male T2 – 1 point
11. Fastest female run split – 1 point
12. Fastest male run split – 1 point
13. Average Points for all club participants [Based on NS scoring percentile rules but including CAT 1 athletes- Willo to score / “massage” the figures] – 5 points
14. Average Points for all women [Based on NS scoring percentile rules but including CAT 1 athletes- Willo to score / “massage” the figures] – 5 points
15. Average Points for all men [Based on NS scoring percentile rules but including CAT 1 athletes- Willo to score / “massage” the figures] – 5 points
16. Lowest Average T1 & T2 times of all participants – 3 points. So not faffing around please!

This means that every Piranha competing will contribute to the Face Off. It will also encourage all Piranhas who have finished the race to walk back the course and encourage our fellow Piranha who are finishing behind us. It makes for a really great day.

We will have a prize giving social night with Belpark after one of the next National Series races in the coming weeks and I will advise of the date and venue. There will only be prizes for first woman and first man but if you are fastest man or woman in T1 or T2 you will have the adulation of your triathlon peers for the rest of the year 🙂

Car Pooling – how to arrange a lift

It is 200Km and a 2hr 20 min drive hour drive to Dunmore East (from WW in Clontarf anyway) – so it makes a lot of sense to car pool both for company and sharing of petrol costs.

The spreadsheet attached to the link below can be used to offer or request lifts. If anybody is having difficult organizing a lift please post up on the forum and someone will likely sort you out

By Hook or by Crook Car Pooling

Getting There

I recommend that Piranha’s should get to Dunmore East between 9.00am and 9:30am, leaving Dublin about 7.00am or slightly earlier as you will probably have to stop for lattes, scones, petrol etc!

The majority of the parking is at the harbour – about 1k from the Spinnaker Bar where registration is taking place. If you arrive a 9.00am, you should park at the harbour, get your bike / transition bag ready, cycle with gear back to the Spinnaker Bar to register and the go straight to Transition (0.5k further back from the Spinnaker). Transition does not have assigned spaces, so the earlier we are there the easier it will be for Piranhas to register our bikes together.

There are 3 waves (11.30 men under 40, 11.37! Males over 40, Male Juniors and Relay, 11:44! Females) relatively close together and the race briefing is at 11:00. I’d advise doing your bike and/or run and/or swim warm up pre-race briefing and perhaps a further little run with strides after the briefing if time allows. See below suggestions for a pre-race warm up.

The link below will give you directions to Dunmore East. It assumes that you are leaving from O’Connell Street. Essentially head down the N7 (to Nass) which you can access from the M50 – and follow the driving instructions from there.

Dublin to Dunmore East – Driving Instructions

Post-Race Dinner and Drinks in the Spinnaker Bar @ 7:30pm

I have reserved an area for 20 people upstairs in the Spinnaker Bar from 7:30pm on. That should cover the 15 people who are staying in the 3 Piranha houses booked in Sea Cliff estate and a few others who have indicated they will like to go along. If you haven’t indicated your interest in going to this dinner already to me, please let me know and I will try book additional space if needed.

Pre race-day training and Race-Day warm-ups

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: Particularly 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 pedalling 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. [Note: Given the race briefing in 30 minutes before race start and sometime delayed, I’d advise doing a 10-15 minute jog at around 10:45. After the race briefing ends, you can do a further 5 minutes of jogging along with a few strides]

Strides Warm-up Video

Swim: I would recommend 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 and hope you all have a great weekend!

William (Will) Owens

National Series Coordinator
M: 087 997 6190 | PM: Willo | Email: williamowens1@gmail.com