Cavan Sprint Triathlon

Racing 2 weeks running is a bit of a novelty for me so was looking forward to testing myself in another sprint event last weekend.

The short version for those smart asses out there is great race, lovely location, better swim, challenging bike, good run, didn’t win! Now you can go back to “wandering” around Vancouver Seán!

After the calf cramps in Ballybay last week I was so sore for about 2 days afterwards that all I only did a couple of sessions during the week and can’t say they were quality ones either!

Almost mistimed the whole morning and arrived at Killykean Forest Park just as they were announcing registration and transition closing! Big panic and rush to get set up – definitely didn’t need to any extra effort to raise my HR before the race!

Walk to the Start

The swim was a 750m point to point swim, the heavens opened just before the start – Lorna and the kids got soaked, thankfully I was in my modified wetsuit at this stage!! After a bagpipe accompanied walk to the start, it was straight into the water to try and get a quick warm-up done. Was surprised to see the number of participants getting into the water – about 150 – as it didn’t look that busy at briefing.

Positioned myself to the left hand side as it looked the straightest line with less of a

Exiting Swim

“turn” to the 2nd buoy. Was much happier with my swim & sighting this week even though it was slightly more crowed – especially when we turned at the last buoy. Came to a complete stop at one stage when someone swam right across me at a 45° angle – no idea where he was heading too!

Leaving T1

Out of the water in 14.58, 31st place and a bit of a run up to T1. As last week my modified wetsuit easily fell off and I was quickly out onto the long drive down the park. Much happier with getting up to speed this week and wasn’t long before we were out into the rolling Cavan countryside. With the heavy showers and a good few sharp corners and bends I was definitely more cautious than normal on the corners and as the bike leg went on could feel the effort of pushing out of the corners in my quads. The course was challenging with one short sharp climb (my gears wouldn’t shift into the smaller front ring – my quads were loving me!) but overall enjoyed the course. I’d forgotten how long the drive up the entrance was and got my feet out of the shoes way too early coming into T2 which was frustrating but ended up getting off the bike in 41.06 for the 22km course.

Leaving T2

I had the same problem as last week getting my feet into my runners and definitely lost a bit of time there – need to check that out for future! The run course was a single loop of an island in the park all on trail which was really nice. It felt much quicker into my stride this week and thankfully no sign of the cramp of last week. There were a couple of small inclines to keep the legs honest and was really happy to see my pace drop to about 4.15 for the last few km’s.

Managed a high 5 with Noah coming to the finish line to finish the run in 22.50 and a total time of 1:20:32.

Overall I was much happier with the whole race this week – was much more consistent across all 3 legs – was 31st out of the water, 31st on the bike and 29th on the run! Was pleasantly surprised to finish 27th individual overall from a field of about 145. Still loads of room for improvement but finding my racing legs again.

Next up is Lough Ramor in Virginia this weekend and then Newry sprint at the end of the month – a very flat course so looking forward to that. maybe another in between if i can find one! Suggestions welcome!

Thanks to all at Cavan Tri club for a great race & for the curry afterwards! Again thanks to Lorna, Eabha & Noah for enduring the rain showers to cheer me on!

Finally congrats to my cousin John who completed IM Canada 70.3  for another IM medal to add to his ever growing collection!

Credit to Lorna and Sonja Smith Photography for the pics!!