Wednesday 7th July

40 mins run this morning - following by a quick splash in pool.

Ran through the grounds of St Patricks College Maynooth http://www.maynoothcollege.ie/ . I'm very lucky to be able to use these grounds along with Carton House http://www.cartonhouse.com/activities-trails.html for doing the runs.

Chocolate muffins are now banned at lunch on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays!

First open water sea swim of the year

Saturday morning last - Dunmore East in Waterford was the location for my first open water sea swim of the year, my brother Declan had his first swim the previous week in Kilkee. The distance was 3.8km, over a two lap course. About 300m of the swim was in the relative shelter of the small bay and the remainder was out into the channel. After turning past the first boy the water had quite a swell and a good size chop to it. A drop in the sea temperature also was fun! On the second lap the sea got a bit more confusing to swim in because of the bigger waves and this made sighting the buoys a lot more difficult. Because the buoys were so small, it was difficult to see or even to see other swimmers around you. Eventually the swim back to the start was managed even though we were swimming through a tough cross current emphasizing the need for bilateral breathing. I still can only breathe to my left side! The swim had all the ingredients of a demanding open water event. A large temperature variation and large surface condition variation. Result - Pearse 1hr 22 mins Declan Reggie 1 hr 38 mins. Both of us very pleased with the swim and are looking forward to the next one.

The Hell of the West

Last Sunday was my first time to compete in the Hell of the West Traiathlon. A 1.5km sea swim, 45 km hill cycle, 10 km hill run. Time completed in 2hr 54mins. Over 800 competitors took part in what was a super organised event. I will be back next year to try and better the time for sure.

This Saturday Pearse & I will do a 3.8km sea swim. This is an Ironman swim so very keen to see how we go.

Reggie

A run in the sun

Yesterday we both ran with the local Dunshaughlin running club again. This time we ran the 10km race circut, the heat was in the mid twenties so a nice pace was needed. We strolled in under 50 minutes which we are happy not to push it too much. Starting to get focused on equipment now:

Wetsuit wise: Pearse - full Orca speedsuit / Reggie - Zoot Zenith
Runners: Still debating, looking for a stockist to try out the Vibram KSO Treks but cant find any in Ireland yet.
Headwear: Blue Seventy Skull Cap

I dont have any idea of what type of bag to bring, need to do a bit of research on this one.

Reggie

Thursday night swim

We went to the lake for a swim and met 8 others from the club - plan was to head out to the island and back. Into the water and away with us, after about 12 minutes we stopped to regroup and make sure everybody was feeling up for the remainder. All thumbs up and so out the rest of the way to the island. I got there and waded in to about 20m from the shore. Felt good and relaxed, I was there in just over 30 minutes and the rest of the group were there very soon after. A few minutes to catch breath and then it was back in one go the the slipway into the lake - Back in the same time so the full 3.6km in 61 minutes, Declan 'Reggie' was a few minutes after me in 69 and was happy with his swim also. He sighted well and arrived in a very straight line. Shore sighting was a good exercise and also judging the current which was very gentle. We did a short run on the road for about 10 minutes in the wetsuits, first run in the wetsuits and it went good. Afterwards we all had a good chat and enjoyed jaffa cakes and maderia cake, Tasty! Next swim is on Thursday so that should be another good excuse to try out a few runs and swim repeats.