Objective 2: Galway Ironman 70.3 Completed

When I met Oliver Harkin from Primed Coaching back in January of this year, I set out three goals for the year. The first one was to complete Hell of the West in June, which I did successfully, competing with the Howard brothers. The next goal was to complete the Galway Ironman 70.3 on September 2nd. This was actually my main goal for the year and the one I wanted to achieve most.
As I mentioned in the previous post, my training in the month leading up to Galway was incredibly inconsistent and I didn't get anywhere near the targets Oliver had set out for me. However, I am happy to say that I completed it and have the teeshirt to prove it. I did have a crash and a split tire on the bike leg after about 40 miles that cost me about 25mins, but I still got through the 1.9km swim / 90km bike / 21.1km run in a time of 6hrs 20mins. The breakdown of the three parts were:-

Name	Time	Swim	Cycle	Run
Colin Cooney (IRL)	06:20:41	00:49:45	03:21:45	01:57:51
Keith Duffy (IRL)	06:42:19	01:00:05	03:17:10	02:11:06
Matt Cooper (IRL)			03:04:15
Kathryn Thomas (IRL)			03:20:23
Rosanna Davison (IRL)				01:55:45

There were a few Irish celebs competing for ‘TEAM DUFFY’ to raise funds for Irish Autism Action. Most of them did one leg as part of a relay team and you can see from the times that all of them beat mine...I'll get them next year!! Last year Keith Duffy raised €40,000 for the charity through competing in Galway, so hopefully with more celebs helping him out this year he'll raise even more.

Next up is my third goal for the year, the Dublin City Marathon on October 29th. Training has been going fairly well for this so far, so here are the stats for the month of September 2012:-
* Bike: 56 miles (3hrs 23mins)
* Run: 178 miles (20.5hrs)
* Swim: 0 yards

Triathlon Training - August 2012

During the final month before the Galway Ironman 70.3, my training went from mediocre to incredibly inconsistent to non-existent. What a time to pull out my worst month. On the plus side I went on a few holidays, got to see Katie Taylor win her Olympic gold and finished my thesis. The thesis was part of my final module in the Masters in Learning & Teaching from DkIT.

Here are the stats for the month of August 2012:-
* Bike: 68 miles (4hrs 40mins)
* Run: 82 miles (7.5hrs)
* Swim: 0 yards
* Soccer: 1hr

Triathlon Training - July 2012 Totals

A combination of tiredness from Hell of the West, a few holidays and a pulled hamstring meant that July's totals weren't anywhere near what I had planned. Anyway, on the plus side, I had a great month of relative non-activity. Roll on August and one month to go until Ironman70.3 in Galway.
Here are the stats for the month of July 2012:-
* Bike: 26 miles (1hrs 50min)
* Run: 100 miles (15.5hrs)
* Swim: 2700 yards (1hr 25mins)
* Soccer: 0hrs

Objective 1: Hell of the West Completed

I completed Hell of the West in Kilkee, Co. Clare on June 23rd and the race went well. Everything from the accommodation, the company and the race itself was enjoyable. It did rain from start to finish, throw in some hailstones and alot of hills, but it still was a great day. Splits from the three of us on the day were:-

Pos	Name	Time	Swim	Cycle	Run
163	Colin Cooney	02:45:18	00:34:29	01:22:23	00:45:46
230	Kieran Howard	02:51:09	00:34:30	01:26:31	00:45:59
325	Kevin Howard	03:00:30	00:32:18	01:31:43	00:52:05

Here are the stats for the month of June 2012:-
* Bike: 130 miles (7.5hrs)
* Run: 70 miles (15.5hrs)
* Swim: 8500 yards (7.5hrs)
* Soccer: 0hrs

The last week of June was a write-off and July has started very very slowly so I'd better start the engines soon to make sure I have enough work done for Ironman 70.3 Ireland in Galway on September 2nd

2 Sprints Done...1 Olympic Tri to go

I completed Fingal Sprint Tri and Blackrock Tri over the past two weekends, which should be good preparation for Hell of the West on June 23rd. Importantly, I finally got into the water this month too. Here are the stats for the month of May 2012:-
* Bike: 150 miles (9hrs)
* Run: 52 miles (11hrs)
* Swim: 6050 yards (3.5hrs)
* Soccer: 4hrs

Road to Triathlon - Back to my Blogging Roots

In the three odd years that this blog has lain dormant and the likes of LinkedIn, Facebook, Google+ and Twitter have eaten into my online time, there have been sporadic bouts of fitness, but with no real structure or consistency. I decided that it was long overdue to start putting in a little bit more effort to try and loose a few pounds/cholesterol points and maybe compete in a few events.
So in homage my last fitness post from 2008, here are a few stats for the month of April 2012:-
* Bike: 324 miles
* Run: 34 miles (approx)
* Swim: 1500 yards (abysmal!)
* Soccer: 3hrs

The goal for May is to improve on these...shouldn't be too hard for the swimming element.