Phoenix Park Duathlons 2010

I wrote up a wee post on the duathlons coming up in the Phoenix Park

Football, tag rugby, a duathlon, a wedding and a birthday

We won our last league match for a while against Mountnugent. They had beaten us twice last year so it was nice to beat them for a change. I was playing at corner back and despite us leaking two goals early on, we never really felt like we would lose.

That's a different situation to the tag rugby team on Thursday nights. We finished second last in the league with only one win out of 7 matches. But then last week we managed a win against the team that beat us the week before that. So we have one last match this week.

There was also the third Phoenix Park duathlon last Wednesday. I hadn't pre registered so it meant that I was to set off in the second wave with the women and the other non pre registered guys. It was a good race for me, I was second after the first run, second to someone else after the bike and then ran away from everyone and managed to finish first in the wave, a couple of hundred metres ahead of the fastest woman. I didn't quite get my goal of under 40 minutes but I was happy with the race.

Last Saturday was Andy and Aileen's wedding in Celbridge and they got a lovely day for it all after we got out of the church. It had been raining up to the start of the ceremony but we had lovely weather for the evening. Congratulations to them both and best wishes for the future!

It was also my birthday on Saturday and I got a birthday cake at the wedding dinner. It was probably the best cake ever! A giant chocolate Rice Krispie cake with jellies in it and covered in icing! Thanks Pauline and Greg for that :)

It's back to work today, and I am shattered. I think it'll be a week of resting and recovering.

Phoenix Park Duathlon

I raced in the second Phoenix Park duathlon organised by Belpark last night. Beautiful weather, a light breeze on the final straight and a good crowd. I entered on the night as the pre entries were closed when I finally got around to trying to enter on line. I got there early, straight from work, because I wasn't sure how many people would try and enter on the night. Because of that I had plenty of time to warm up and get ready before the race.

It started off well with a mass start before stringing out onto the bike path around the 15 acres. I felt good running along and managed to pass a few people in the second half of the run. I was expecting around 12 minutes for the first run but got in in 9. Then it was on to the bike. I was a little nervous about that especially as it was straight into the Kyber pass downhill. I braked too early for the turn at the bottom but got around it alright and powered up the hill. I managed to catch some people and got some clear road for two tightish hairpins that had my heart in my mouth when I realised I had to lean more than I thought. I caught a group on the final drag of the lap and felt good. Met Peter starting his first lap when I was starting my second and within a few seconds he was blasting past me. Following him were 4 others quite close and not worrying about any draft busting marchalls. I caught them all again on the uphill but once again it seemed that their chain gang was working well and they all passed me on the drag to the end of the lap.

On the third lap, I decided to go hell for leather. Blasting down the Kyber pass and up the hill after it, I had finally dropped the chain gang. Passed some back markers on the last drag before taking my feet out of my shoes waaay too early. Got some more power back on and had a good second transition. I was right behind 2 others going into the forest and got some good encouragement from some runners that were out.

I was slowly losing ground on the 2 in front of me when I heard heavy breathing and gasping coming from behind. That kept me going and pushing and I caught up with one in front of me at around half way. On the last corner I was passed by someone and kept on his shoulder for a little bit. I tried to up the pace and pass out one more but he had a better kick and I let him be, just holding my position so that I wasn't passed in the last straight.

I finished in 40 minutes and 19 seconds beating my pre race estimate of 45 minutes. First run was around 9 minutes, just under 7 minutes per lap and 10 minutes for the last leg of the run. The race gave me more confidence on the PlanetX Stealth and it felt nice and responsive under me. I reckon with some real training I could get some nice fast times out of her.

Peter, Yvonne, Clare and Gerry all did the race as well. I think they were happy enough with it, even if Peter was empty after the bike.