I completed the London Triathlon in 2hrs 41mins beating my previous personal best of 2hrs 49mins!! So all the months of hard work and training following the strict program created by my triathlon coach despite injury paid off :)
It was an amazing weekend with over 13,000 competitors taking part, making the London triathlon the largest in the world!!
The race went well, with almost perfect tri conditions the weather was good, patchy cloud and about 24 degrees.
My race started at 15:40, I had to get to my transition zone by 15:00 to get the bike ready, layout running shoes and do my final checks on the road bike before putting on my wet-suit in preparation to start the swim.
I've never raced this late in the day before so it was new to me, but nice not having to get up so early :)
The swim leg was tough, starting in the middle of the pack I fought to work my way up to the lead pack, I always seemed to fighting for open water the whole way with the other guys grabbing on to my legs and taking a few kicks to the head knocking my goggles off at one point. I stayed with the lead pack the whole way but felt I could have gone quicker if I broke away but still beat my previous best time.
From the swim, it was out the water, wet suit off and into a plastic bag before entering the transition zone within the Excel centre. The wet suit didn't want to come off easily and was a bit of struggle to get it off my legs even though I used bodyglide lube, this cost me valuable seconds.
Transition to the bike was relatively smooth after I got the wet suit off. Not using the legs so much in the swim meant they weren't fatigued and were bursting with energy. I powered through the 40km bike legs thrashing my previous time of 1hr 20mins to get a best of 1hr 6 mins only 3mins slower than Jenson Button!!
After the bike leg came the 10k run, transition from the bike was smooth. The first lap of four was tough as always as the body has to adjust to the different type of exercise. The legs are slightly cramped from bike ride but they tend to settle down after 2 to 3 km. This really test's whether you over cooked it on the bike or not, going quick on the bike and not taking enough fluids on board can really screw you for the run.
Going quicker on the bike meant my legs were more fatigued than intended for the run also the knee injury was causing pain so I knew I had to take it way the first few laps, after the third I had some much in reserve practically sprinted the last lap. Going easy on the first three laps impacted my time and not timing myself I feared I'd gone a lot slower than I actually had.
All in all it was a good race and fun with a great atmosphere with all the fantastic supporters that lined the course. I'm now really looking forward to next years tri as I feel I could really shave another 10 to 20 mins off my time.. as long as I stay injury free from the football season that is :)
If you ever consider doing a triathlon this is a great one to start with, everything is so well organised and executed.
I just want to say a big big thanks to everyone who supported me and donated to my chosen charity MacMillan cancer support, I really appreciate it :) :) !!
Roll on next year :)
All the best,
Ryan
Monday 9 August 2010
Monday 2 August 2010
Final Week of training, 5 days to go!! :/
In to my final week of training now.
I haven't been able to update this Blog as much as I thought I'd be able to :( mainly because the amount of training I've been doing.
Since my last post way back in April I've been busy trying to follow a strict training program designed by my triathlon coach.
This basically consisted of training sessions 6 days a week with only having Friday as a rest day. So as you can imagine, following this whilst working and juggling other life activities hasn't left me with much free time at all to do things such as update a Blog.
The training program has pushed me over the past 8 weeks or so, I can't deny its been difficult training by myself in the last few weeks when fatigue is at its highest. Coming back from a day meeting in Wales which was a very early start and late finish (Back to Worthing) last Monday and then dragging myself out for a 12km run was probably one of the tougher training sessions.
The knee injury still hasn't completely gone, so that's been playing on my mind but hasn't prevented me from training it just hurts from time to time. Will just take pain killers on race day if its still there.
Injury aside, I feel ready for the triathlon I'm doing my final 1500m swim this evening and then its just rest and recovery for last 5 days.
I'd just like to say a big thank you to all those who have sponsored me so far, I appreciate it. Anyone who would like to sponsor me can here: http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/RyanMoynan Its going to MacMillan's cancer carers which is a worthy cause.
My next post will now be after the race... see you on the other side :)
Thanks,
Ryan
I haven't been able to update this Blog as much as I thought I'd be able to :( mainly because the amount of training I've been doing.
Since my last post way back in April I've been busy trying to follow a strict training program designed by my triathlon coach.
This basically consisted of training sessions 6 days a week with only having Friday as a rest day. So as you can imagine, following this whilst working and juggling other life activities hasn't left me with much free time at all to do things such as update a Blog.
The training program has pushed me over the past 8 weeks or so, I can't deny its been difficult training by myself in the last few weeks when fatigue is at its highest. Coming back from a day meeting in Wales which was a very early start and late finish (Back to Worthing) last Monday and then dragging myself out for a 12km run was probably one of the tougher training sessions.
The knee injury still hasn't completely gone, so that's been playing on my mind but hasn't prevented me from training it just hurts from time to time. Will just take pain killers on race day if its still there.
Injury aside, I feel ready for the triathlon I'm doing my final 1500m swim this evening and then its just rest and recovery for last 5 days.
I'd just like to say a big thank you to all those who have sponsored me so far, I appreciate it. Anyone who would like to sponsor me can here: http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/RyanMoynan Its going to MacMillan's cancer carers which is a worthy cause.
My next post will now be after the race... see you on the other side :)
Thanks,
Ryan
Wednesday 28 April 2010
Back on track
After 4 weeks out due to the knee injury I'm finally able to start training again.
After finally getting checked out I was told that I damaged my medial collateral ligament, the ligament on the inside of your knee to you an me, its responsible for knee stability so I didn't really want to risk permanent damage by coming back prematurely.
Training has started slow, its more rehabilitation for the knee at the moment. I have started with swimming, today was my first session since damaging the knee 4 weeks ago. It was tough and I was surprised at how much fitness I had actually lost from not doing any cardio for 4 weeks. I'm currently way off the 1 mile front crawl mark but I'm definitely improving on my technique.
I'm going to postpone running for another week as the damaged ligament still isn't fully healed.
Things are starting to look at bit more positive again, hopefully I can remain injury free for the next few months!! :)
After finally getting checked out I was told that I damaged my medial collateral ligament, the ligament on the inside of your knee to you an me, its responsible for knee stability so I didn't really want to risk permanent damage by coming back prematurely.
Training has started slow, its more rehabilitation for the knee at the moment. I have started with swimming, today was my first session since damaging the knee 4 weeks ago. It was tough and I was surprised at how much fitness I had actually lost from not doing any cardio for 4 weeks. I'm currently way off the 1 mile front crawl mark but I'm definitely improving on my technique.
I'm going to postpone running for another week as the damaged ligament still isn't fully healed.
Things are starting to look at bit more positive again, hopefully I can remain injury free for the next few months!! :)
Tuesday 6 April 2010
Injury Misery
Well it's another week on and the injury received from football 2 weeks ago is still hanging around preventing me from doing any training last week :(
Stupidly I played an 11-aside match the Sunday before last, believing the injury to the knee was almost healed. However, during the last 10mins of the game... after being very careful, I took a harsh tackle from a member of the opposing... very upset team that we beat 4-0 in the end.
I'm now left with a swollen shin and very agitated knee, I really should go and get a scan from the hospital... but the prospect of having to wait to at-least 3-4hrs to get seen is keeping me from doing so! Also, I've had injuries similar to this before and the old RICE (rest,ice.compression,elevation) method has always worked.
I'm going to leave it a few more days to see if the swelling goes down, if not it will be a trip to the hospital.
I can't bare another week not training, the worst case scenario right now is that it is more serious than first thought and I can't train for months.
Fingers crossed this is not the case.
Will keep you posted.
Stupidly I played an 11-aside match the Sunday before last, believing the injury to the knee was almost healed. However, during the last 10mins of the game... after being very careful, I took a harsh tackle from a member of the opposing... very upset team that we beat 4-0 in the end.
I'm now left with a swollen shin and very agitated knee, I really should go and get a scan from the hospital... but the prospect of having to wait to at-least 3-4hrs to get seen is keeping me from doing so! Also, I've had injuries similar to this before and the old RICE (rest,ice.compression,elevation) method has always worked.
I'm going to leave it a few more days to see if the swelling goes down, if not it will be a trip to the hospital.
I can't bare another week not training, the worst case scenario right now is that it is more serious than first thought and I can't train for months.
Fingers crossed this is not the case.
Will keep you posted.
Friday 26 March 2010
Fundraising for MacMillan Cancer Support
Hi All,
As you may already know, I am taking part in the London triathlon this year for MacMillan cancer support.
The triathlon takes place on 8th August and is the Olympic distance, this consists of a 1 mile swim, 42km bike ride and a 10k run. I will be aiming to beat the time I got back in 2006 of 2hrs 49mins.
MacMillans cancer support is a charity that I hold dear to my heart, they do such a good job looking after families and people who are affected by all types of cancer, more information on them can be found here: http://www.macmillan.org.uk/AboutUs/AboutUsHome.aspx
If you would like to sponsor me and donate money to a very worthy charity please let me know and I can give you my sponsorship form.
Alternatively, for those of you who don’t do paper and ink sponsor ship or live to far away, I’ve set-up an online sponsor form through Virgin, they do not charge as much commission as JustGiving.com, they only take 2% of the gift aid retrieved from donation so the charity gets the full donation + remaining gift aid :), this can be found here:
http://www.virginmoneygiving.com/RyanMoynan
My aim is to raise a much money as possible, I’d like to raise at least £600.
I’m not terribly good at fundraising so if any of you have any ideas to help me hit my target I would be grateful to hear them :
Many thanks :D :D
As you may already know, I am taking part in the London triathlon this year for MacMillan cancer support.
The triathlon takes place on 8th August and is the Olympic distance, this consists of a 1 mile swim, 42km bike ride and a 10k run. I will be aiming to beat the time I got back in 2006 of 2hrs 49mins.
MacMillans cancer support is a charity that I hold dear to my heart, they do such a good job looking after families and people who are affected by all types of cancer, more information on them can be found here: http://www.macmillan.org.uk/AboutUs/AboutUsHome.aspx
If you would like to sponsor me and donate money to a very worthy charity please let me know and I can give you my sponsorship form.
Alternatively, for those of you who don’t do paper and ink sponsor ship or live to far away, I’ve set-up an online sponsor form through Virgin, they do not charge as much commission as JustGiving.com, they only take 2% of the gift aid retrieved from donation so the charity gets the full donation + remaining gift aid :), this can be found here:
http://www.virginmoneygiving.com/RyanMoynan
My aim is to raise a much money as possible, I’d like to raise at least £600.
I’m not terribly good at fundraising so if any of you have any ideas to help me hit my target I would be grateful to hear them :
Many thanks :D :D
Training preperation
I've decided to set-up a Blog to log my progress training for the London 2010 triathlon.
Through the following months I will be updating this Blog on a daily / weekly basis logging my training progression.
With 5 months to go before the triathlon my current fitness levels are reasonably good. I owe this to my regular football matches and training.
Although, recently I received a nasty knee injury from a 6-aside football match, only a flesh wound, but it has hindered my training this week.
This is a concern as I can't afford to receive any serious injuries, I will have to be careful over the next couple of months until the football season ends
Things that I need to work on primarily are swimming and cycling. These tend to be the most common weak points for most amateur tri-athletes.
I'm currently receiving swim coaching from a trained triathlon coach. I never received swim coaching for my previous two triathlons so this is a first. With only having one lesson so far I've already improved drastically and wish I'd taken the initiative to have coaching before.
I have another swim lesson next Wednesday, I'll make my next post then updating you on what I've done.
Through the following months I will be updating this Blog on a daily / weekly basis logging my training progression.
With 5 months to go before the triathlon my current fitness levels are reasonably good. I owe this to my regular football matches and training.
Although, recently I received a nasty knee injury from a 6-aside football match, only a flesh wound, but it has hindered my training this week.
This is a concern as I can't afford to receive any serious injuries, I will have to be careful over the next couple of months until the football season ends
Things that I need to work on primarily are swimming and cycling. These tend to be the most common weak points for most amateur tri-athletes.
I'm currently receiving swim coaching from a trained triathlon coach. I never received swim coaching for my previous two triathlons so this is a first. With only having one lesson so far I've already improved drastically and wish I'd taken the initiative to have coaching before.
I have another swim lesson next Wednesday, I'll make my next post then updating you on what I've done.
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