Monday, February 6, 2012 at 8:32PM If anybody is thinking about doing a pre-season tune up running race, I can recommend the cork town run on March 11th. (Click here for details)
It will let you know how well your winter run training is going. Apart from that it is a lot of fun!
Let me know if you are thinking about going and maybe we can share a ride.
Simon
Tuesday, July 12, 2011 at 6:20PM Several weeks ago Simon Lynch competed in his very first Ironman triathlon at Couer d'Alene, Idaho. This is a true test of one's endurance and something to aspire too if you really want to know just how far you can go. A report of his journey is below, enjoy. Congratulations Simon!
Location – Coeur d’Alene City Park, ID
Distance – Full Ironman ( 12.4mile Swim, 112mile bike, 26.2mile run)
Date - 06-26-11
This report could quite easily start last September when, after completing a long distance duathlon, not only did I decided that I was ready for triathlons but I was ready for Ironman. Don’t ask how I came to this conclusion, there is no logic to it, especially given the fact at this point in time I hadn’t been near a swimming pool since I was 16 years old ( 26 years ago ). This journey was going to be interesting to say the least. So as it was, in early October I signed up for the 2011 Ironman Coeur d’Alene in Idaho. About a week after this I purchased some goggles and some Speedo’s and headed to the pool for my first swim workout. To my horror, I found that swimming isn’t exactly the breeze I thought it might be. I couldn’t even swim a 25 meter pool length without having a panic attack. What the hell did I do! With my money already spend and a certain amount of bragging completed I knew I was committed or, that I should have been (committed). There was no way out that would have left no permanent scares of embarrassment. So to cut a long story short, I had a couple of swim lessons and had my technique, or lack of it, corrected which really helped. Then it was just a matter of gaining confidence and endurance and using my stubbornness to get through the training program.
Fast forward to June 22nd 2011. After completing my training program with over 70 miles of swimming, 1500miles of biking and close to 500 miles of running since January we boarded a plane to Idaho. The few days prior to the race would see us check in with the Ironman race, pick up bike, practice swim, shake down bike ride, checking gear in and a mandatory athlete meeting. In between all this we would try and have some sort of vacation.
Sunday 26th June was a long day. I got out of bed at 3:15am and promptly tried to cram a 1000 calorie breakfast in me. With the nerves doing a dance in my belly this was not an easy feat. I managed to eat a banana, yoghurt and granola, and a PB & J. That was all washed down with 24oz’s of Carbopro. By 4:30am Lori, Sean & I headed to Coeur d’Alene where the morning rituals would continue. Body marking, toilet, drink some more, check bike, toilet, check gear bags, toilet, check bike and gear one more time, toilet and finally wetsuit on. After all this it was down to the beach to await the age groupers start at 7am.
The temperature was 45 deg F and the water was a chilly 55 deg F, a little colder than I have ever swam in before but there was nothing I could do to change this so it was a matter of sucking it up and just getting on with it. As the minutes ticked down Mike Riley ( the famous Ironman announcer) was getting everybody revved up for the start and the nerves, while still there, subsided and I started thinking about what the day would bring. “Lets just start it off with a good swim and we will see about the rest of it.” The swim is a two lap affair where you run out on the beach and over a timing mat at the end of the first lap.
The Ironman cannon went off at precisely 7am and the 2500 neoprene clad athletes ran, stumbled and walked off the beach into the chilly water. The water turned into a boiling cauldron of sprawling arms, legs, hands and feet as everybody made their way to the first buoy. I was now officially part of the Ironman experience and had an ice cream headache from the cold to prove it. In the first 500 meters I saw a number of people on their backs flailing around trying to catch their breath which was a little unnerving so soon into the race. They were ok though, I am sure you have to try very hard to drown in a 5mm wetsuit. So, I swam on trying to not get kicked and trying to find a little piece of open water to call my own. As the swim progressed the field spaced out and open water was easier to find which made it easier. Before I knew it I was out of the water for the end of the first lap with a time of 43 minutes. Respectable in my mind. There wasn’t anytime to rest and within seconds of finishing the 1st lap I was on my way on the 2nd with lots more open water to swim in. With the exception of the turns there was very little body contact. As I crossed the mat to finish the swim my time was 1:31:33 which I was very happy about considering I couldn’t swim 25m back in October.
T1 proved to be quite slow. Firstly, I was staggering like a drunken sailor. I’m not sure if it was another symptom of the cold or the fact I had been swimming for an hour and a half. And secondly I had trouble finding my swim to run gear bag because I am as blind as a bat without my glasses and my glasses were in my gear bag. I had no problems with wetsuit removal as a volunteer just ripped it off me just like you see on TV. After locating my gear bag I took my time getting prepared for the bike and finally got on my bike 11 minutes later.
The bike route was also a 2 loop affair through some of the most beautiful countryside I have ever ridden through. The ride started well averaging just less than 18mph which was my goal pace for the 112 miles. In training I had averaged between 18 and 19mph for the 3 90 mile and 1 105 mile rides that I completed in the months prior. Reading the descriptions and looking at the maps of the route I had seen the words “roller coasters” mentioned a few times. After about 20 miles into the route I realized that my definition of “roller coasters” and Ironman’s definition were somewhat different. There were some serious climbs here. While not on the Alpe d’Huez level they towered above holtcomb, and holly roads. There were a number of climbs that approached 1 mile long with gradients that touched 5 or 6%. Not quite what I was expecting but this was ironman, it shouldn’t be easy. Needless to say my average speed slowed and when a bathroom break was needed it slowed even further. My average speed for the 112 bike leg was a little over 16.5mph which for anybody reading this from the FRCC this is quite slow. I was clearly not prepared for the hills. To put it in perspective while I was hitting one of the steeper hills the lead professional Maik Twelsiek went past me even faster than Mark Wolowiec does on a Tuesday night time trial.
For the most part I felt in pretty good shape on the bike, I felt like my legs had been preserved well enough for the marathon but with about 10 miles to go I started feeling quite sick. I couldn’t even blame the heat as it was in the low 70’s with virtually no humidity. So into T2 I go and I sit there pouring a few cups of ice water over my head slowly swapping biking shoes for running shoes and wondering how the hell I was going to get through 26.2 miles of running. Maybe this had been too much for me. After a few more minutes I stood up, still with a towel round my neck, and made my way to the “Run Out” arch. The only way to finish it is to start it. The crowds were fantastic cheering all the way. And 100 yards into the run I see Lori and Sean shouting for me. This was better than any energy drink or gel for replenishing the desire and energy banks.
The first 3 miles of the run were spent just trying to feel ok and generally just putting one foot in front of another. I began to feel a little more comfortable and just tried to absorb the crowd, the scenery and the kindness and support from the volunteers. At mile 5 we hit the only hill which was also the first one on the bike course. It was about 0.5 miles long with a gradient of 5%. I walked this. The turn around was about ¼ mile past this hill so at this point we turned around only to retrace our steps back up and over and back into town where we rejoined the crowd which again renewed the energy levels.
When heading back out of town on the 2nd lap the realization hit me that I am probably going to finish this and imagined hearing the words “Simon Lynch, you are an ironman” blaze over the loud speaker. I was beginning to get comfortable with these thoughts and then the stomach cramps hit and I started to walk quite a bit more than I had already.
I won’t go into too much detail but the next port a potty came by just in time. After dealing with this little interruption there was about 6 miles to go to the finish line. The last 3 miles were through town where the crowds were still cheering and pushing you closer to the finish and the last ½ mile was absolutely fantastic. The energy from the crowd allowed me to run faster than at anytime on the marathon. I felt like I was flying. Then I could see the arch and the Ford sign beckoning me at the start of the finishing shoot. I did the obligatory high fives to the words of Mike Riley, “Simon Lynch- You are an Ironman!”
I completed the race in 14:43:29 which, while my ride and run were slow, I am very happy with. The Ironman was an absolutely fantastic experience that I will never forget. How I even thought I could do it in the first place still beats me and I may never know the answer to this. But the conclusion is that I did it, one way or another and I’m glad I did. I am now looking forward to the somewhat shorter day at the Craig Greenfield tri in July and coming back to track on a Tuesday night and the Saturday rides as time allows.
To anybody who offered advice, encouragement, listened to my incessant ironman ramblings or helped pick me up after an accident I have to say a sincere thank you as I would not have completed this journey without you all.
I have to say a very special thank you to Lori who supported me through this whole process, she picked up the slack around the house when I was training, she made sure I went out training even on those 13 degree snowy days in February, she didn’t mind I got up 3 times a week at 4:30am to go swimming before work leaving her to deal with getting Sean ready for school, she hung around for the whole day updating people on facebook and texts as my slow progression continued and she even mowed the lawn while I was out running or biking. Most of all she always believed I could do it. Sean has also been a trooper, I have missed far too many of his football games and other activities. And on the day he was up from 3:30am to 11:15pm and he was cheering along with everybody. This is quite a feat for a 7 year old.
Tuesday, June 21, 2011 at 8:27PM The Flying Rhinos had a great showing this past weekend at the Big Fish Triathlon in Hadley Twp. The weather was great, the water cool, and plenty of spectators in attendance. I think the only complaint heard was about the pesky wind that always seemed to be in your face no matter which direction you were heading. The Rhinos came away with some wins and training goals met. For me, it served as my return to racing after having sustained injuries back at the end of April. I managed to hit my target of top five age group and proved to myself that I hadn’t entirely lost everything. It really helped to rekindle the fire inside. Cheers, Tim
Results:
Tim Sherrow, sprint distance tri: 5th of 28 in 35-39 age group, 21 of 150 overall, finish time of 1:15:33
Dick Egan, sprint distance tri: 4th of 5 in 64-69 age group, 128 of 150 overall, finish time of 1:39:58
Dan Wilson, olympic distance tri: 10th of 10 in 30-34 age group, 87 of 121 overall, finish time of 2:56:37
Terry Castor, duathlon: 1st PLACE of 7 in 45-49 age group, 4 of 34 overall, finish time of 1:26:41
Ed Chenhalls, duathlon: 1st PLACE of 7 in 50-54 age group, 6 of 34 overall, finish time of 1:27:31
Friday, June 17, 2011 at 6:25PM For any Rhinos competing in the Big Fish Triathlon, I will have the FRCC tent set-up in the finishing area so you can hang out and swap 'war stories' of your day at the races. Bring a chair to relax and watch your fellow teammates and competitors finish their race. See you on Sunday! Cheers, Tim
Wednesday, June 15, 2011 at 9:30PM Dan Wilson has been busy the last few weekends racing for the Rhinos in Sprint and Olympic distance triathlons and has provided nice race reports.
If you've done any multisport racing and would like to provide a short race recap, photos, or just your results, send them to frccmultiteam@gmail.com and I will get them posted. Cheers, Tim Sherrow
Island Lakes Triathlon
Island lakes State Park in Brighton, MI
Saturday, May 28th, 2011
Weather was drizzly, overcast, and in the 50's. Overall 1:31:03 time (18 in my age-group) for the Sprint Distance (800M swim, 25k bike, 5k run). 64 degree Kent Lake was cold and that zapped energy from many athletes, myself included. My swim felt pretty sluggish despite my heavy winter training. The other challenge was others not sighting properly and swim in all different directions. Got kicked 3 times and had to switch my line at least 7 times due to other swimmers getting in the way.
Bike started miserably with an aero water bottle malfunction (Velcro kept coming undone and I dropped it 3 times in the first 1.5 miles. The rest of the bike went well despite the cold temperature and wearing wet shorts and a tri-top. Pulled my left calf at 10.5 miles and had to slow to stretch it. Decent average speed of just over 20MPH.
I felt good about my 5k run. I did a lot of work on that this winter so I am happy.
Probably could have been 5 minutes faster without the bottle and calf issues. Looking forward to Olympic distance @ Belle Isle.
Official results:
Overall - 1:31:03, 112/267 athletes
Swim - 105/267 17:48 for 800m, Bike - 127/267 41:16 for 12.5M, Run - 155/267 28:47 for 5k/3.1M
Age Group 30-34
Overall - 18/23 athletes
Swim - 11/23, Bike - 18/23, Run - 19/23
Motor City Triathlon
Belle Isle in Detroit, MI
Sunday, June 12, 2011
Claiming to be the fastest triathlon course in the country, I would have to agree. Very flat overall with a nice current on more than half of the swim leg, the 1.5k swim, 23mi. bike, 6.6mi. run all went very well for me in the Flying Rhino purple and yellow as I raced by first Olympic distance triathlon, after just 4 sprint races.
It was a windy and chilly 60 degrees in the early morning with the relatively heavy wind all morning out of the East. Standing on the beach with 500+ athlete we all caught the chill off the water. As we entered the 67 degree Detroit River the chill went away as we got down to business on the 1500m swim. I pulled off my best swim pace of any race with a 27:48 coming out of the water in under 30 minutes.
After a quick transition, I was off on the 23M bike, or 4 laps of Belle Isle, competing against the wind, Canadian Geese, and the other riders, I made it in under 1hr 10 minutes with my 2nd fastest bike speed of my 5 races with 20.2MPH.
After another good transition, I was off on my 6.6M run, the longest run of my life. I trained for 6.2M and noticed a week or so ago that the course on Belle Isle was 6.6M. Ah well, it worked out and I put in my 3rd fastest run pace of 9:20 minute miles to clock a 6.6M run in a bit over an hour.
As I came down the finishing chute, I checked the clock and I saw 2:44 as I crossed the finish line, (subtract 3 minutes for being in the 2nd swim wave). I beat my goal by over 15 minutes so needless to say, I was very excited and happy with my first Olympic race.
Official results:
· Overall - 2:41:05, 116/199 athletes
· Swim - 27:48 for 1500m, Bike - 1:08:21 for 23.5M, Run - 1:01:33 for 6.6M
Age Group 30-34:
· Overall - 9/14 athletes
· Swim - 8/14, Bike - 8/14, Run - 10/14