Training has been going well so headed down to this to track progress via race. 

Knew my run wasn't there, but wanted to try swim better and see where bike is at in a tough field. 

Swim - 22:46 (1.4km in water, short run up beach).

I didn't have the speed to hand onto the front group in the first 3-400m and was dropped. 
It's a constant battle for me, but there are signs of progress there so upping volume and proper quality to try bank more. 

T1 - tad slow as took my time trying to turn on mini rear video camera (failed) and front camera (achieved). 

Bike - 1:07:22 

My biking legs have been feeling good the last couple weeks, so set out strong and tried to hold power between 280-300. 
It was a head wind heading out, didn't feel too strong though. 
Usual 50 or 60 ahead for me to chase down, passed a lot of drafters and folks who just ignore the 10metre rule, the 5 sec drop back rule, etc etc yada yada. 

Thought I was doing well when I caught Dave Richardson but turns out he was on a bad day and I was still a few mins behind the top 10. 
Bit more progress and a decent split. 

On the way back I came into Doonbeg and that narrow bridge to the misfortune of a tractor stopped ahead of me and cyclists coming through against me on their side of road. 
Marshal is blowing whistle to stop. 
I know it's a DQ to cross white line and pass on other side of road esp as other competitors coming against me so I'm stopped behind tractor cussing away at my bad luck. 
2 others come up behind me before 1 decides he didn't need to stop, flies onto other side of road and across bridge close to wall just as tractor is going through. 
Yes, he nearly got squashed. No chance could the farmer see him. 
Another athlete followed closely and had another near escape. 
Me and 2 others passed the tractor then when safely across the bridge and set about chasing again. 

So I'm thinking that's a DQ right. For the first guy and possibly the second? 
A bike marshal passes me straight away and heads up to the first offender. 
He must have been behind us or else the bridge marshal told him I'm guessing. 
Anyway, he goes to the offender, has words with him and they both slow as I'm trying to pass. I end up shouting some nonsense about "I'm still in a race here come on" and the bike marshal moves on. 
I pass and thing the offender is likely DQ'd or penalised or something. 
Maybe lost 5 seconds stopped, and another 20 in slowing down and speeding back up I'd guess so circa 20-30 seconds gone. 

Held 10 watts more (np) than last year which was a pleasant surprise. 
286w for the split and felt pretty good throughout. 

Think I came into T2 around about 10th - 12th or so. 

T2 - standard, gambled on the sockless approach despite knowing the race was gone. 

Run - headed off at an alright pace, felt good and was holding gap to 2 others ahead. 
Passed the penalty box to see 2 numbers there, then I got passed by the first offender who it appears had no penalty or dq for dangerous cycling. 
Anyway, a few km in and I can feel a hot spot rubbing against inside of my foot. Should have worn socks. Saw the top 10 coming against me and they are all faster runners at the mo so I backed off and tried to cruise home without rubbing the hotspot too much. 
Lost a few places, meant nothing, happy not to hurt the legs. 

Finished the race feeling great, no sore legs, good to train straight away and should be fast recovery so happy with that. Cut also isn't too bad so grand. 

Run - 40:34

Finish - 2:12:26 - 18th place


Great race, I love that course and it's honest for all disciplines so quite fair. 
Into July I go for some swim and run focus.
Next race isn't for 8 weeks at Lost Sheep, so I'm into build block of solid work and looking forward to it.

It's been an inconsistent year but things are slowly coming into place.

Issues so far:

Jan - Back locked up, spasmed muscles and took 2 weeks to address properly. Very low training and easy during this period - 6-8 hours per week.
Ongoing maintenance in the form of foam rolling since this - mainly lats that get tight so hoping it's from better swim form.

Feb - Had a bug that was doing the rounds and trained through for a bit and delayed recovery as a result. Prob 2-3 weeks of mediocre training again during this period.

May - Having some fun Go Karting at a stag do, came around a hairpin to have guy in front turn and lose it too late for either of us to change racing line. Resulted in him spinning and me going straight into him sideways.
I took the brunt of the crash and my back whacked sideways against the seat.
Fortunately, just bruising and again further spasmed muscles.
Another 10 days of easy/mediocre training until sorted.

June - Food poisoning/Bacterial infection - knocked me out for a week of zero training. 


There was a 5th issue during this period, which I'm still getting right and that is the self-coached application of training stimulus.
I could have mirrored what worked before, in terms of intensity and days etc. But have experimented and lost the most important element - consistency.
At least, consistency in terms of the overall load I know I need to be training at in order to improve this season.


So that's a quick update on the negatives. Now what about the positives?

Well ironically due to all the inconsistencies I've only really been base training and haven't got into any real quality work yet.
This is both due to me planning to peak much later this season and also due to fitness levels not improving enough due to above issues.

I am where I am now, and I feel that base has landed at last though slightly thrown by last weeks infection. 

I competed in 2 races recently being Tri an Mhi Half Ironman (4th) and Kilkee National Olympic Champs (18th). 
Both showed good signs of improvements mainly on bike and fitness is growing. 


I am now in a position to start the quality training and build for peak fitness at the end of the season for 2 goal races - Ironman Mallorca and also Lost Sheep half ironman Irish Champs.