2 Mile Run - 00:14:06
Transition 1 - 00:01:32
10 Mile Bike - 00:34:56
Transition 2 - 00:01:27
2 Mile Run - 00:13:59
Total time - 01:06:00
(19th Overall / 28 )
Almost certainly my last event of the year and in a sign of the season, it was completely Baltic for the race.
I travelled down with Mark Vaudrey from the Tri Club and we had a great chat about all things Tri and Ironman as Mark has signed up for Ironman UK in Bolton in 2013. A brave man as this is one tough course.
Once we got to An Creagan (which is halfway between Cookstown and Omagh) we realised just how cold it really was. Frost was still on the ground and the temperature was barely a couple of degrees. Thank God there wasn't a swim. That could have been nasty!
I managed to meet up with the legend that is Frank McVeigh, a fellow Macca MX12 Facebook member and IM Talk contributor and listener. We have been bantering back and forth on Facebook and Frank had been "claiming" to be nursing an injury. As his performance would later show, I would love to see what he is capable of when not injured!
It was brilliant to see another couple of Lisburn Triathlon Club members at the event too, with Darwyn Young and Mark Crawford there too. This was the first multisport event that the club had been represented at, and there is a real possibility that we had the largest club presence at the race. Now that's impressive.
The Run - 1
Although this was only 2 miles, the first mile hurt like hell. I started out pretty quick and I was struggling to get my breath properly for at least half a mile. I just went out too quick - plain and simple.
I got in to some sort of rhythm and regained my composure albeit I still had snot running down my chin which was no doubt induced by the extreme cold and running pretty quick for me.
I was fairly pleased to do a decent time and get out on to the bike.
The Bike
After a slow(ish) transition which was made harder by trying to put on cycling shoes while wearing gloves, I headed out on the bike.
The out and back route felt pretty good on the way out and I seemed to be moving along quite well. Frank passed me at about 4 miles and I barely saw him again through the rest of the ride.
Literally as soon as I reached the turnaround point we came straight in to a headwind and suddenly there were hills where I don't remember ther being any on the way out.
Hills is maybe a bit of an overstatement, but the rod was definitley undulating.
it was pretty tough going on the way home and another guy and I managed to swap position literally 6 or 7 times on the road back.
I turned back in to T2 knowing that I had pushed pretty hard and that I am now officially Bike UNFIT! I need to do more work on the bike.
The Run - 2
Another slowish transition and I ditched the gloves after trying to get the bike shoes off and having to admit defeat with the gloves.
Pretty quickly I was out on the run and really unusually for me I started to get those horrible little calf niggles that are the prelude to a cramp. I very rarely get these and I can only put it down to the cold and my lack of brick training recently. Luckily after about half a mile the muscles loosened up and I was able to get back to a normal stride again.
About 1 mile in to the run I met Mark V coming back the other way and he was looking very relaxed and was heading towards an overall 6th place finish which was brilliant.
Not far behind was Darwyn and then Mark C. As it turned out, these two had a great battle and at the end only about 9 seconds separated them for 12th and 13th place.
As I neared the turnaround point I met Frank on his way back. We exchanged a high five and went in opposite directions.
I felt pretty strong on the way back and pushed the pace on a bit and managed to pick off 3 people on the return mile. This seems to be a trait of mine recently, that I am able to pull off a negative split. In this case the second run was faster than the first run. I was well chuffed with that.
The overall finish time of 01:06:00 was pretty pleasing off the back of not too much training on the bike.
Post race
Once again the guys at Tri Limits rounded out a great event with soup, rolls and Pavlova. Yes - Pavlova. Beat that WTC and Challenge!!
Thanks to the Tri Limits team and all the volunteers.
I had a great day, I loved the event, it was great to meet Frank and also to for a few guys from the club to race together. The Club really feels like it is coming alive.
It will be even better when I get the Club kit organised and we race in the same colours.
A great way to round out what has been an amazing year of racing, and it sets me up nicely to move fully in to London Marathon training.
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