On our way home, we stopped in Enniscorthy to buy a newspaper for our good friend Peter, who used to live nearby but is now back in the Netherlands. Although the town looked nice today, there was not much to do or see, so we headed on and stopped in Portlaoise at The Store Yard, a big antique shop Irene wanted to visit. It was definitely interesting, but the only thing I liked, a centuries-old chess table, we could not afford.
Here a small photo album from this midweek break
Straight after the race, we drove up to Portlaoise to meet Manuel and Lavern for a night away. The hotel wasn’t the greatest, but the sun was shining, the food was good, and the service was excellent. It is always great to catch up, of course. The next day, we did a bit of exploring, and I was quite impressed by the Rock of Dunamase, definitely worth coming back during the golden hour some day! But here is a small photo album anyway.
Finally Manuel and I had to finishes with a relaxed open water swim of course at Derrounce lakes.
It was a very hot day, which felt very different from two years ago when it rained and was very cold. The swim went well, and the bike was fast, about one minute faster than two years ago, but I lost more than a minute on the run. Overall, I was still only 23 seconds slower than my time back then. 140th out 508 and 8th (of 34) in my age group.
The summer weather is back, so I was looking forward to our Friday swim training, although I am on kayak support duty again this week. I decided to do an easy 1000m swim keeping in mind tomorrow’s triathlon race, before I headed out with the swimmers. For this week and the next three, we are doing timed sessions for different distances. I went out with the 1500m group and enjoyed being on the water and taking some pictures.
The last person to come in was Paddy, who had a big surprise for our coach, Laura. He gave her a reward for her being a first-time ironman coach, him being the first-time Ironman!
We had our work summer celebration, which meant a lovely meal out and a few drinks afterwards. Given that half the team lives more than an hour’s drive away from Athlone, we had a reasonably good turnout this year, with most of the department present for the meal at least.
Everyone agrees: the momentum is gone, especially since two out of the five events have been cancelled. Our club's race last week was cancelled because it was too hot and the traffic on the road to Coosan, where we run, would have been crazy. To make matters worse, the weather is dismal again, and the turnout is quite low.
But we are still making the most of it. I finished 15th in the men's section. It is still a beautiful spot, and running between the alpacas is always fun!
I decided to go for a recovery spin today and joined some of my club mates for a 70k social ride. It was another lovely summer's day, only spoiled by a puncture. But Robbie used the opportunity to show some of the newbies how that gets fixed!
