We Swim We Bike We Run We Core We Diet We Stretch We Sleep and then do it all again….. We Tri

The Happy coach… The Hounds and the Kittens, making waves

Davy Richardson (who besides me calling him Davy for the last 3 years actually doesnt like it, I found this out on a moaning early morning drive down south) set the ball rolling with a great 5th place finish in Dunmore East Hook Or by Crook sprint distance tri. Tri the Hook as I call it was a national series event, with all the big names aiming for the win. David had an exceptional swim to beat Ross Higgins out of the water. A solid bike leg and some super fast transitions, led the little wippet up the long hill to a great top 5 placing along with some well deserved national series ranking points.

 swim to bike work, paying off 🙂

On the cool down word came in from the Tiger Grealish that the kitten and himself poduimed again this season. With both athletes not wanting to out-do each other claiming silver medals in Mullaghmhor Co.Sligo. A cold water swim took its toll on both athletes but they raced hard to pull back places, Martin having a great final run leg to overall and nearly catching the leader. Anna was unlucky not to have the leading female in her wave, so was left a little a bit dispointed in her overall performace, Still a great swim and an even better run, bode well for the upcoming races.

Andree The Pink Kitten Walkin let her legs do the talking against one of Irelands greatest ever sports star and took home a great first place in the ladies Monstown Triathlon over the sprint distance of 750m 20km and 5km run. A blistering final run even gave her the fastest female run split and challenging a lot of her male counterparts (aka the all talk captain)

Stephen Rooney is showing some fine form of late winning the local Aquathlon Training league and now showing his biking is coming back he took 3rd place and his first ever senor poduim in the Monstown Triathlon. Finishing along side Coach-athlete-mentor STL he showed some true grit to close him down on the run.

A huge high 5 to all the GOTRI team of athletes who raced last weekend, A big double weekend coming with Austria Ironman, Kilkee and Athlone triathlons taking place. You have trained smart, now GoTri 🙂

A true weekend of stupid training for the coach, but hey thats why the saying says do what I say not what I do. A weekend not on the cards for racing ended up with 2 races in 2 days but it gave me the chance to see the GoTri team athletes in action so I enjoyed every min of it.

I got to catch up on 3 great athletes under the Tri Irl Junior squad umbrella and see a lot of our elite age-groupers from GoTri doing exactly what they were told, racing with a smiles( it is voluntary) all the hard work is done. Behind closed doors,away from flashing lights, in quiet corners alight with sounds of thundering turbos and sweaty floors, smelly runners and wishes for personal cooks as hey…. I dont always write easy training weeks in 🙂

Saturday came and went in a blur as the GoTri FitzFlora van had to make a few whirlwind stops to pick up A Tilly  athlete, Paddy Who?? the shannon Masters Moaner supplied the laughter however along with Davy waffles as we drove to Waterford to race the countries best.

My personal experience of saturday and waterford is ………….. I DONT DO GRAVITY , I dont like hilly run courses, they find the truth in an athlete, there is no hiding and God doesnt listen to the cries of any athlete who enter’s of the own free will!!! 2 hail maries and 4 our fathers still didnt help as I crawled over the Alp…. from 10th to 28th

My two traveling team mates made the trip worth while and along with a great group lunch after with John Mangan, Ross Higgins, Davy and Paddy, I was ready for bed. Sleep is a controlling factor in any athletes training program.

Sunday, a late start, exactly what I needed… not ideal for most folks, but for me and my schedule it was perfect. I picked up Andree the Leading female GoTri athlete this season and we headed off to Cork to Race the greats. Sonia O Sullivan, the living legend and now Triathlete was on hand to help promote a great cause in the Irish Heart Foundation Triathlon in Monkstown.

Andree led by example and took out a great race, showing off her pink rocketscience tri clothes to all the locals cheering on the 130 athletes.In great shape now heading into some big races, she even claimed a top 10 overall result on the day.

I had good race, a freezing cold swim didnt leave me in a great spot on the bike, I warmed up quickly enough chasing Young Hound Stevie Rooney and Chris Mintern down the road to racing glory.

Chris was gone out of sight and it took me until the 10km turn around to catch the young fella, thankfully I have a tt bike and he has a heavy steel mount, my light carbon race wheels gave me a 1mins lead into t2 and a chance to get over the hill and onto the downhil running.

I saw stevie coming at about 3km and made the decision to cross the line together, if he would hurry up and put me out of my missery, stop me from running with a crick in my neck trying to see if and when I was to be  caught, but knowing stevie, he is a little bit quiet however he is very competitive I held him off until 20m from the line…. im not too sure if he was letting the Old man have his day or was I being cheeky and asking lady luck for another poduim place

A big well done to all who took part over the two days of racing.

Train Smart: Train Happy

stl