I just love racing, I love pulling on the club trisuit, I love the nerves, I love the race day pains and the post race fatigue. I love the banter with race mates, I love trying to figure out how to win the battles within, I love trying to win.

I hate not being fit, I hate not putting the club crest on the top step, I hate making race day mistakes, I hate the word hate.

I love trying to be better, I love sports science, I love listening to the body, I love the whispers of the heart, I love the sounds of carbon deep section wheels

I dislike mediocrity, I dislike niggles and those who don't see the art in coaching, I dislike the voices, I dislike mechanicals

It is what it .... A third place at a local triathlon, to many a result of little bearing on the world of domestic triathlon. To me however it was yet another start to a comeback.

Something I'm always doing and undoing, maybe I should stop the undoing but life isn't a straight line or pathway. It's usually a roller coaster, a leaving cert size calamity of stress filled exams and little tests that once passed you look back on and realise it doesn't mean as much as you thought but are glad you have learned and hope to learn from the experiences.

What does one do when in the space of 3 years, you have 2 kids, loose your father, loose a dear friend, loose your dogs, loose your sister ..... I could throw a few more losses in their, a few good athletes, a few dips on the business front and a few layers of skin from crashing the bike a few times before you and I would realise hitting rock bottom is not really the bottom and that it's possible to fall further.

Why do I write these things ? Because as a person, as a coach, as an athlete, as a father and partner I wear my heart on my sleeve... And like us all I strive to put one foot in front of the other most days on the path to meaning.

The race recap

Joe kicked dragged my arse through the swim, a super kid with a huge work ethic. Made the swim-ple mistake of letting me boss the pace for the first 350m after which I was able to dog in for the return leg to T1

Transition very rusty - I slipped on the mud coming out of the water, snagged my zip, just tried to rush things - having not raced since the end of May - start of June. I lost time

The bike - I was in the red after the swim, I rode by feel and I didn't feel good for quite a while. I struggled on the backside of the course with the hills. I over shot a tricky turn in Montpellier and played Russian roulette with a car in castleconnel village but I made it back to T2 in first place

T2 exact same as t1 - flustered my way through it

The run I was suffering, the swim and bike had the tank empty. Their is an expression of " race hardness" I'm missing that red training and it wasn't too long aprox 1km before the gazelle like Colm turner zipped past me. The young limerick man is on a roll lately and it's great to see him back dancing to victories in races up and down Munster. Joe caught me again soon after, as I watched his yellow predator suit saunter off into the distance I relaxed, with 2.5km to run I began to enjoy the event. No longer worried about victory but enjoying the return and to boot a poduim placing, thinking about Melanie, the funeral on Sunday the day after the race but a month after her passing. I thought about the process of life, the battles we all have, the journey, the assessments, the reality

The reality is ... Life is short, make the utmost of it.

A big shout out to all the GoTri Gang, seriously fast racing from the hounds and kittens

Yours in Sport
Serious Talking Lynch