My Season In Pictures.

 

As the season is over, and races are done and dusted, I’ve decided to go through my season with pictures for something different.

It all started in January when I bought my new bike. Happy as Larry that day 🙂

I went to inspired cycling for a bike set up which was fantastic.

 

All winter/spring, it was cyle, cycle, cycle with Chris and Shane mostly.

The 1st race of the year was the Omagh half marathon. 1hr 35mins. Happy concidering we cycled 40 miles before hand to get there. haha

Took part in a few parkruns in portrush and derry. My 5k PB still stands at 19mins 58 seconds.

The 1st tri of the season was the Liam Ball. Finish time was 1hr 14mins.

Mad as this may sound, I ran the Belfast marathon the very next day, finishing in 3hrs 35mins. Very happy with that! Heres me and my ‘wee’ 😉 cousin Eddie and our proud mums.

Next up was the Roe Valley tri, I finished with a time of 1hr 13mins. Again, very pleased.

Outdoor swimming then started, the creggan ressie was visited on many occasions.

Evening cycling was also starting as the summer nights came in, Darrel and Keith even made it out a few times 😉

The half Ironman distance was next, 5hrs 10mins for the correct distance. Stupidly they had an extra mile to ruin at the end which pissed me off, A LOT.

The Olympic distance tri in Portrush was next, Here are 3 happy men at the finish line, me, Tommy and Roger. My time was 2hrs 22mins, over the moon.

The summer had finally arrived and I got many many long cycles (with buns and coffee stops) in with Gerard, good times!

Then the big 1, the Ironman distance in July. Here me and Stevie checkout transition, and many happy faces welcomed me at the finish. My finished time was 12hrs 18mins, this was such a good race, I was a very happy man that day!

A night time swim was then next bit of fun I had. Here are a few MAMILs eager as ever.

Then I got to give something back to the sport and helped out with our clubs junior tri.

The Belfast half marathon was my last race of the year, PB 1hr 34mins. Very very happy. Here I am with Darrel and Aine who were also delighted with their 1st half marathon finish times.

Then its finally time to train for enjoyment and just tick over, a few pics from the runs I’ve had at the Roe Valley Country Park, a wee cycling selfie 😉 and my 1st ever puncture! haha

Aaron

Belfast Marathon.

Day 2 of 2, event 2 of 2, and hopefully a PB 2 of 2! This was my feelings on Monday morning as my alarm went off at 6am. A tad tired from Sundays triathlon, so I thought 1 slap on the snooze button would be fine, WRONG! I had actually turned it off and ended up running late to get ready. Eddie was the driver for today, and as I ran around the house trying to sort out my porridge I heard the car horn tooting outside. Opps!

Finally on our way, John, Davey, Ryan, Eddie and myself all sipping water en route and chatting of how we hoped our race will go. Excitement and nerves bundled into 1, there really is no feeling quite like it.

Arriving in Belfast, the skys looked dark, the wind was picking up a little, and we tried turning our nervous energy into positive energy. Crowds gathered at the starting point, both with runners and spectators. The atmosphere was building up, and adrenaline was pumping though our veins. We met up with some of Eddies training partners John, Simon and Archie, we have all hopes of staying together and finishing in and around the 3hrs 45min mark.

Eddie was the official 3hr 45min pacer for the Belfast marathon, and this was his 1^st time to ever do the job. Off went the air horn and we were quickly underway, crowds cheered and the hairs on the back of my neck were standing. Such an amazing feeling! Mile 1 was 8 min mile pace, slightly faster than required, but in among the crowd you kind of have to go with the flow till it spreads out a bit. The banter running with a crowd of mates was good, few jokes, and chit chat as always, made the miles tick away nicely.

Everyone felt comfortable in the early stages which was good, personally I felt much better than I had thought, but the steady drag up the Antrim road from mile 11 to 14 had a worrying thought in the back of my head. Taking in water at every opportunity, grabbing jelly babies from the kind spectators, and taking the energy gels I carried with me would see me through the mid section of the race. The Antrim Road wasn’t as bad as I thought, (even if the heavens did open at that point) family and friends were at the top cheering us on which is always great, to see friendly faces gives you that extra burst of energy and encouragement is forever welcomed.

The 1^st half was completed in 1hr 51 mins, I still felt really good and decided my time with Eddie and the lads at 3:45 pace was over. I pulled the trigger and increased my speed, I ran a few mile at 7:30 min mile pace as it was mostly downhill. I thought, I’ll push on, and if I have to fall back again Eddie the pacer will pick me up and get me home still with a good time.

Here I am at mile 15, feeling good!

Mile after mile, I was waiting patiently on the well known point of ‘hitting the wall’. I expected it around mile 22, but to my surprise I kept feeling better, stronger and fitter as I went along. Mile 23 and 24 were both 7:30 pace again, which I was absolutely delighted with, again I thought I would ‘hit the wall’ at mile 25 or 26, but no, I ran strong and steady all the way to the finish line. Completing the 2^nd half in 1hr 44 mins giving me a total marathon time of 3hrs 35 mins! Over the moon is an understatement, I shaved 52 minutes off my PB!!

Happy man at the finsh.

Eddie brought the group in with 3hrs 43mins, perfect and well done Eddie on a great job for everyone. The rest of our mates came home strong too, am almost sure there was at least 4 or 5 PBs among us. Excellent lads well done.

At the finish line the crowd cheering you on was brilliant, family and friends all there to greet us at the end. Hugs, kisses, handshakes, and about 100 pictures were taken with everyone, everyone had such a good day.

With my very proud mum and dad. Their support for everything I do is relentless, thank you.

This results in a few days rest for me now thankfully, well earned rest I must say. I couldn’t be happier with my weekends races, 2 races, 2PBs, what more could you want 😉 Time to focus once again though, my next race is another sprint triathlon in 2 weeks time. Bring it on!

Aaron

Garmin Connect

Hi folks, I have loads to write about with my weekend of racing, I do intend giving a full post to each race, mean time all I have time to write is that I managed 2 PBs, here’s my marathon on Garmin Connect.

Checkout Aaron8 on garmin connect.

I promise to write about my experiences tomorrow on my well earned day off work 😉

Aaron

Training Done & Time To Taper.

With my races coming up this weekend, it meant I had to beef up my training early in the week in order to taper in and rest in good time for Sunday and Monday.

Monday evening saw me go for a run, plodding along happy as ever in Zone 2, Darrel was keen to join me for a few miles, as the thought of Sunday has him a bit nervous haha only joking. I ran from Ballykelly into Limavady, met Darrel and ran home again. This certainly breaks up a few hours running that’s for sure, and time flew in. I ran 13.1 miles in total, just under 2 hours.

Tuesday was swim training at Roe Valley Leisure Centre, with the Triangle Triathlon Club. As the sun was shining, and it was a perfect evening, I decided that I would cycle to swimming and home again, glad I did, and it with a little detour on the way home, I knocked up a 15 mile total, all good.

There were at least 18-20 people there for training, as usual, the craic was good, and the set was as tough as ever. Mervyns knowledge and coaching skills are first class, and I think he thrives on it when he sees us busted. Cheers for that Merv.

The weekends races leaves me with no option but to go big on my cycling mid week, I met up with a mate, and headed towards Derry/Londonderry and even ended up cycling a good bit in Co. Donegal. Early morning start made it a little nippy I must say, but as the sun came through, the temperature rose. Cruising along in Zone 2 as usual, (this Zone 2 training better work) haha! My final mileage was 72 miles at an average pace of 15.5mph, happy enough for sure.

Thursday was the start of my wind down, with still a little training, I had a 30 minute jog and a 30 minute swim, both just nice and easy, not looking at pace or anything else. Sometimes it’s so nice to just train at ease, and not worrying about how well you’re going.

Now it’s time to sit back and eat, eat and eat. The triathlon on Sunday can’t come quick enough, oh, and not to mention running the Belfast marathon the next day! 😉

Aaron

Huge Catch Up On My Training Over Easter.

I had a few days rest and recovery time over Easter, it was certainly needed after my half iron distance training on Easter Saturday. On Easter Sunday I ate loads of chocolate, big dinners and generally ate what I could fit in. Great eh? Monday was much the same, finished off another chocolate egg and treated myself to a greasy big burger from the local chip shop. It felt great to have a little wined down time, relax and just eat whatever I liked.

Over Easter my good friends Seamus and Aislinn got married, this was a great few days, I had 1or 2 beers with the lads and was able to let my hair down without worrying about needing more sleep and going to bed early like the bore I have been lately. All was good for sure.

Rest time was over though, and it was time to put a few miles in again, nothing crazy but just enough to build myself back up for what will be a massive few weeks as races are finally here.

I managed a handy wee swim and run in the middle of the week with Darrel. Also a 13.1mile run on my tod, on Thursday evening, the weather has been fantastic and I plodded along happy as Larry in Zone 2 all the way.

On Friday, I met up with some of the MAMILs for an early swim in Templemore 1^st thing in the morning, Barry and I banged out 100 in no time at all, I managed a wee hour on the bike after work too, handy wee 17mile spin around the bridges.

As the 1^st sprint race is this weekend coming (Sunday 4^th) a few of us fancied a 12.5mile Time Trial on the bikes, so Saturday morning was our chance. Darrel, Keith and I met early and got on with it. A little 10 minute warm up completed before we took on the Roe Valley bike route for the TT. Conditions weren’t the best, but it was nothing crazy thankfully. We all had wise heads and tried to preserve our energy a little so we could sprint hard on the way back to the finish point. My average at the turning point was 18.3mph, happy enough, and as the return section is fast I increased my speed and ended with a 20.1mph average, and a time of 37mins 19secs. Totally over the moon with that, and it leaves me full of confidence for the race this Sunday. Darrel had 46 minutes and Keith 47mins, the race on the 24^th May is going to be a cracker between them. They were also very pleased with their times and know they can beat this with a bit more work.

On Sunday I met up with my 2 Limavady ‘Ironman’ mates Chris and Shane. They had a 4hr 30min bike ride planned so I tagged along for a bit with them, I had a brick session planned and only needed 2hrs 20min bike ride. The craic was good (when we finally got Chris out of the house) and made our way along the Coast Road. The weather was superb and the amount of cyclists out was a pleasure to see. At my turning point I wished them well and made my own way back, I do enjoy being on my own while training too, it’s such a great way to relax and clear your head. A slight tail wind pushed my home much quicker than my outward journey, I suppose cycling with those 2 doesn’t help the average speed either though hahaha only joking guys!

Home, and as usual, straight on with my Asics, jog time. The locals in my wee village see my all the time and give me the odd shout of, you’re not out running today again lad are ye, you’re not wise. It will all be worth when I’m and Ironman I replied lol That probably means nothing to them though!

Another week completed then, mad to think that on a more relaxed rest week I still got 9 hours training done, the good thing is, I feel totally fresh and ready to have a very busy start to the week, Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday will be big hours, and then finally taper for the Liam Ball Sprint triathlon race on Sunday 4^th and the Belfast marathon on Monday the 5^th. That is a bit mad eh?

Exciting times…..

Aaron

Training Day After Day…..The Joys

So far, I have trained everyday this week, with 1 still to go. Hours and more hours, with no rest day (yet) certainly is tiring. I’ve decided that my rest day this week will be Sunday. Treating myself to a good lay in, and the main reason being, it’s the London marathon. Last year was the 1^st time I used the online tracker, to keep an eye on the journey of my mates as they run, so of course this year will be no different. Eddie, John, Mervyn and Archie are the 4 main men I’m keeping an eye on, all going for PB’s which I’ve no doubt they will achieve.

As for my own training this week, it’s been all go, with some decent miles clocked up. Monday and Tuesday was pretty tough as I mentioned in my last post, they were sprint sessions, so the next 3 days was more relaxed but upped in distance.

Wednesday was again, my day for a long run, my dad was keen to cycle along with me for the company, so the ‘craic’ was good. He’s 1 of the lads really, we’ve a really close relationship, and he’s also my friend, which I think is pretty dam cool! 🙂 The miles seemed slow to begin with, my right calf was tight/felt tired but thankfully it freed up and I felt good. The sun shone and I couldn’t have had a better evening for it, being able to wear shorts and T-shirt in the evenings is welcomed that’s for sure. Total of 20 miles ran at 8:54av pace, happy enough as it’s my 1^st time at that distance in almost 2 years since training for the 2012 Belfast marathon.

Thursday was a midweek cycle, I had an hour spinning earlier in the week, but there’s no substitute for the real deal. Chris was also up for it, and again, the sun was shining. This was a perfect evening with very little wind. We headed for the back roads and made our way to the top of the Legavallon Road, a fair climb considering we wanted an easy night! Lol

For every uphill, there has to be a downhill, this made me smile for sure, sitting at 30+mph for about 5 mile all the way to Limavady again was unreal. By the time I made my way out to Ballykelly again, I had clocked up 35.5 miles, and just over another 2hours training in the bank 🙂

Friday morning was swim time, it’s always an early rise on Friday’s, as we swim at 6:30am at Templemore sports complex in Derry/Londonderry. Really handy as it’s only a few mile from my work, and a few mates in our MAMILs group also join in, more the merrier and all that. We all took our turn at the front, leading for 250m each, in blocks of 1000m. Again, with a bit of company, the lengths and time disappears in no time at all, we completed 128lengths in total, 2 mile exactly in 60minutes. Not bad going for being so early in the morning. haha

The benefits of such an early start, means Friday evening’s are total chill out and rest time. The 6am Saturday alarm will come soon enough, and tomorrows plan is a brick session, 4hour cycle and 30 minute run. A group of 6/7 of us will be taking the scenic route to Portrush and Portstewart 1^st thing, my Kuota can’t wait to get out again, bring it on 😉

Aaron

Midweek Catch Up.

So far this week my training has been pretty productive. Monday was a 2 hour cycle, Tues day was a 2K swim and Wednesday was an 18 mile run. Things really are full steam ahead.

Swim:

Masters swim class on Tuesday was as usual, a great mix of endurance and speed. My lane was shared with Darrel, Ciaran, Chris, Kevin and Roger. A good group of lads and we are all swimming well. We worked with paddles and fins, tough work on our arms that’s for sure.

Then came the sprints, we paired up and made it a head to head challenge, wise thinking, as this obviously made us push ourselves harder in order to beat our mates. Of course, Darrel, my mate for almost 20 years, and a natural in the pool, chose me. Dammit, I knew I was in for a tough few races now. The 1^st few sets of sprints went Darrel’s way, fair play, but thankfully my strength in the water, and pure amount of training hours came through in the end, and I’d say we took a 50/50 share of the wins in the end up 😉

Chris was paired with Ciaran and Roger paired with Kevin, each having their own battles and banter to go with it.

Run:

Now that I bit the bullet for the Belfast marathon in May, I had to get a long run in at some point this week. Of course that meant giving my cousin Eddie a call. He’s the marathon runner among us, and is the best man for the job when it comes to finding a training partner. Told him of my plans, and he was more than up for it as always, 18 miler will be the job he said! Whaaatttt!!!? lol

Low and behold, I agreed, and arranged a route for yesterday evening after work. He brought his mate Ricky along who is training for his 1^st marathon, and this run would suit him fine too.

The miles ticked along nicely, having good company is half the battle, the craic was good and the banter was in full flow, while always taking in any advice Eddie was likely to tell us. Darrel joined us at the halfway point and joined in for 3 or 4 mile, this broke up our run a good bit which took our mind of the distance, happy days.

The final few mile of my run would be on my own, as I made my wall back home. I keep my steady pace till the end easily enough which I was very pleased about. Thoughts of a 3:45 marathon would be cool, my pace at the minute is 8:50s for the long runs, so I’m not far away at all. Happy enough at this stage, and especially happy with how I felt at the end of the 18 miles, all good I must say.

So when’s my rest day I wonder? Come on Saturday, hurry up! 😉

Aaron

Decision Time…..

May and June seem to be filled with triathlon races galore. All of which I enjoyed last year and can’t wait to do again this year. Though my problem this year is, I’m training for an Ironman, which of course is my A race this year. As a result of that, I really want to get a marathon race completed before that, because it’s 2 years since I done 1.

The dilemma now is which 1 do I go for, Belfast, which is a day after a sprint triathlon I’m racing at, or the Walled City marathon here in Derry/Londonderry, which is 6 days before a half ironman race I’m competing in!

Triathlons come 1^st in my book, so I guess a tired marathon after the tri is my winner, I definitely don’t want anything hindering my half iron distance race in June, it’s my B race for this season.

Decisions decisions ……

Aaron