On the 8th August Ireland hosted its 2nd triathlon of the year in Bantry, West Cork, Ireland. The weather Gods aligned with no wind and blue skies for the day - which, if you've ever been to Ireland is a rarity and makes the place look like paradise :)

The swim was glassy and I flew the bike course averaging nearly 32kph which is a first for me. All those SE workouts paid huge dividend. It didnt come without a price though, and I had little left in the legs fro the run. Had it been flat, I might have been ok, but I neglected to research the run course and found out the day before that it have 500m of elevation in the first few km. Straight up, with a few hair pin bends had me walking for far too much of it. My time reflected this, and I ran it in 2hours, for an overall time of 5h:20min. I finished 10th in the middle age group (40-49) but next year, as consolation for turning 50 I'll jump to 3rd. Every cloud ....... :)

Lessons Learnt are to know your route and train accordingly. I did all the prescribed bike SE workouts and these were a huge success. But more hill work on tired legs would have helped too.

Ive signed up for the full IM or Long distance course on the 29th August. I raced this course in 2015 in just under 12hours, so I'll be very keen to see how I do this time round. 

For those of you who'd like to see some pics or know more about the event, here's a few links

https://hardman.ie

https://www.facebook.com/HardmanIreland/

Stay Safe and Stick to the Program ;)