Openwater Swimming: Great Fjord Swim & Coumshingaun

It has been such a busy year between building our house and lecturing in the college that I did virtually no swimming training at all. Over the summer I managed 4 or 5 sea swims and that was it. Unlike the previous few years though I did not bother with the wet suit on those swims, enjoying that sweet spot after the initial shock is over and you acclimatise and getting out before the cold had time to kick in, maybe after 20 minutes.

I did my second half marathon in September, Athlone's Flatline, and on the Monday after I went for a lunchtime swim to give the body a stretch. It felt really good and I went back on Thursday for a proper 1k session. I was loving it and got in touch with one of my swimming mates who told me they had been going out to the lake all summer and were still going out. I joined them the following lunchtime giving my wet suit it's season debut.

I joined them again the next Wednesday and was buzzing from it now. The lake was a 8 minute drive and we were in the water 40 minutes at the most. I had been aware of the Great fjord swim the last few years and was aware it had gone back to the format of diving off a boat and swimming in rather than the lap format of last year. McG then mailed and said did I know about it and that was the spur. I said it to the 2 lads I was training with and they were both keen, one of them having done it before.

Lunchtime training in Lough Ree for Great Fjord Swim 2015

I had done the Coosan Aquaton the previous summer but prior to that my last open water race was the Dingle Olympic triathlon 2 years ago. I had been scared before that race and got bitten by a jellyfish swimming but felt that I had broken through and could survive out there. But I never went on to cement that. It was 2 weeks to the race so I just kept going at lunchtime. My goal was to get over any residual doubts of being afraid in open water.

I read or rather listened to my first audio book while training for the half marathon, The Rise of Superman which is a brilliant book about flow. On the Thursday session, 9 days before the fjord, I experienced flow swimming and I'm not sure I did again - though the race itself was close to getting there. The body was just moving, going though the routine and I was not thinking about it, a wonderful feeling I am struggling to articulate.

The fjord race was a dream event, the most fun event I've ever done! Because of an accident in a triathlon in England this summer were a swimmer went missing the great fjord swim were making tow buoys compulsory. We got the ferry out 2km up the fjord from the sleepzone hostel and jumped off the back of it.

The course had buoys every 100m and a bonfire on the beach we were swimming too but I saw maybe 3 or 4 buoys and never saw the fire smoke :-( What I did see were other tow floats and they kept me on course, so we guided each other really. I finished in 0:52:24 and was very happy, especially when I went into the exit tent and got some hot soup. I was surprised and delighted when McG told me on top of Diamond Hill the next day, after a hike in to die for conditions, that I came 38th, which was actually in the top 25%. After so little, though intensive training, I was chuffed.

4 weeks later I had a weekend trip to Waterford planned and when a Coumshingaun hike was raised, it was clear to me that this was a not to be missed chance to swim there! The last time I visited this most special corrie was to climb on one of the routes there in September 2009, previous times were invariable family trips with our first born before we moved away from Waterford.

Jumping off the boat in Killary I had no nerves just a desire to swim and even after reading the lone swimmer's blog post which starts off saying "My days of being an open water swimmer are over.", I was well up for the coum swim. I swam right into the back of it moving from the south west edge over towards the back. Knowing the rest of the group would be getting cold waiting I didn't go into the back corner - next time - but turned and swam back down the middle of the loch. I didn't see even one fish - it has some even though no rivers feed it. It's 800m long and I guestimate I did about 1300m. My feet were cold, hands just a little, but there was no thawing involved. I've been a lot colder after getting out of the water after a quick in and out on Christmas\New year's day.

Snooker Masters 2015

Pre tournament odds for Shawn Murphy winning the Masters were around 18-1, that only left 5 players above him tipped to win - Ronnie O’Sullivan, Mark Selby, Neil Robertson, Ding Junhui, and Judd Trump.

World #11 Murphy beat world champions and world #4 Mark Selby 6-5 in the first round. He beat #12 Stephen Maguire 6-4 in the quarter finals, Maguire had beat world #7 Judd Trump in the first round. Next up was world #6 Mark Allen in the semis, he beat him 6-2.

Neil Roberston, the world #1 beat world #3 Ronnie O'Sullivan 6-1 in the semi-final, it was Ronnie's first Masters semi final loss after 10 wins. It was Robertson's third Masters final in 4 years but Shaun Murphy destroyed the world #1 6-2.

World #2 Ding Junhui should be next to join the triple crown club, he has to win the world championship to do that.

Matthew Stevens, world #21 has also to win the world to complete the triple crown. Stevens lost the final in 2000 to Mark Williams leading 14–10 at the start of the last session. He lost the 2005 final to Shaun Murphy from 10-6 up overnight. He is still only 37

In the quarter final against Marco Fu, Ronnie O'Sullivan claimed his 776th career century, taking him one beyond Stephen Hendry’s haul.

Ronnie has 2 more Triple crown events before he turns 40. My money on him is to equal Hendry's record by wining 3 more triple crown events. I wonder how many players in their 40's have won a triple crown event?

Remarkable triathlon podium streak ends

The 3rd round of the 2014 World Triathlon series last weekend in Yokohama in Japan was won by Javier Gómez, 31, triple world champion (2008, 2010, 2013) and winner of all this year's races.

As usual the Brownlees and Gomez were in the lead group out of the swim and formed part of the front cycle pack. The bike course was over 9 laps. Kiwi Tom Davidson did a phenomenal job and bridged a large group over to the leaders, including Mario Mola (ESP) and Richard Murray (RSA). Both of these finished ahead of the Brownlees. Gomez and Mario Mola had an amazing sprint finish with Gomez just doing enough.

That brought to an end - after nearly 50 consecutive race - the podium streak of Jonathan Brownlee which dates back I believe to the 2010 European Championship in Athlone.

London will host the next round of the Series in Hyde Park on 31 May. For a change, the elite men’s and women’s races will take place over the sprint distance (750m swim, 20km bike, 5km run).

Swimming lessons 2010-2013

In many places I have lived over the years I have looked for adult swimming lessons and was frustratingly never able to find them. I had it in my head that I wanted to learn to flip turn.

When we moved to Athlone in 2010 we discovered it was hosting the 2010 European Triathlon Championship 6 weeks after we came to town :-) Watching 2009 world & 2012 Olympic Champion, Alistair Brownlee win over the now current and three time world champion Javier Gomez was fantastic. Seeing regular people taking part was an inspiration for me to train and compete on the same course the following year.

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Discovering the Athlone Regional Sport Centre and it's instructors has been one of the best things about living in Athlone. I have done their advanced lane swimming classes which runs in 7 Thursday night blocks 5 times, twice in 10/11 in preparation for my first tri and 3 times in 12/13 while training for my second.

On my first night in 2010 I told the instructor Dave I wanted to learn the flip turn. He said there were a few things to learn first! I still can't flip turn! I had read some of the total immersion book, borrowed from my brother, over the previous decade while self-learning freestyle. I had used the book principally for learning alternate side breathing and had not dived into the rest of the book in detail. It had not yet sunk in how technical a sport swimming is.

In advance of competing in the 2013 Brian Boru tri I went over my swimming lessons notes.

The personal feedback I got from the 2010/11 sessions was:

• Breathing too rigid: body must turn as well as head to breath, head should stay completely still, only break over water enough to just catch a breath.
• Relax the shoulders
• Entry
  • My left arm goes right over and enters the water outside my shoulder on the right, it should enter in-line with my shoulder.
  • Can see bubbles when I swim as air passing through fingers, keep fingers tight.
  • After 10 lengths, throwing my arms, which twist my legs, keep elbows high.
  • after entry catch water and push back when extending hand back to hip.
• Legs
  • My legs are sinking & cycling in the water, straighten them and keep my knees down.
  • Feet are straight so the block water, be long in the water.

From the 2012/2013 sessions:

• Breathing: I am over-inhaling, so I am working too hard to compensate. I am gasping each time, breathe should be normal, if you breath too hard it tells your body it should be "panicking" as well.
• Entry
  • Keep fingers closed, together, be a spoon not a fork and knife.
  • Hand is entering too late, I should not stretch my hand at the top of the water before entry. I am entering close to wrist, it should be entering between wrist and elbow of opposite hand. As a result my body is not as streamlined through water. I should enter at right angles and then glide under the surface longer. After entry, the hand should extend about 10cm under water (find a point between the malleable top water and the deeper stuff), before stretching.
  • My left arm is pulling across and not doing a complete stroke. Imagine a centre line going through body and don't let hand/arm cross that.
• Strokecount
  • I am only doing half strokes, I should extend my hands and then brush my hip when I pull back.
  • Normal stroke is one hand following the other but my cadence is too fast. The out of water stroke should be slower (no resistance) as it's slower under water.
  • I am not extending enough in the water, I am moving my arms too fast.

My ongoing issues I need to work on are:

Leg sinking

I have a big problem with my legs sink and I have not been able to improve that yet. The ideal is the ankles breaking surface and with some splashing.

Entry

I am still struggling with my entry, I know I am going in too later and I struggle going in earlier.

Strokecount

My stroke count for 25m still is generally 30-32. The best I have managed is 29. This is way too much and means I am wasting energy. I should be able to reduce this to 24 with improved technique. Swimmers with excellent technique would do perhaps 18 strokes per 25m.

Breathing

I have breathing issues and mentally struggle keeping my head under water. Recently I read the Inner Games of Tennis, first written in 1975 it talks about switching off the thinking brain (self 2) and letting the body (self 1) uses it's memory muscles. It worked on switching off my brain to get through the Brian Boru mentally but in the long run this is no good for improving technique.

Back to reading the classic Total Immersion book and more lessons for me.

Brewers' Ryan Braun - drugs cheat

Mixed emotions on Ryan Braun's drug suspension - obviously disappointed in someone that I admired - but delighted to see some action being taken by the sport. He got off 2 years ago (in his MVP season) on what was assumed to be a technicality - no doubt making the authorities more determined to catch him.

However the suspension is a bit of a joke - he'll miss the rest of the season - 65 games in a 162 game season. Brewers bottom of their division, already out of contention, no real impact.

Interesting reaction from the Brewers' owner - e-mail to all fans:

http://brewers.mlblogs.com/2013/07/30/a-letter-to-brewers-fans-from-chairman-and-principal-owner-mark-attanasio/

Even more interesting is that he's PAYING FANS TO TURN UP:

http://onmilwaukee.com/sports/articles/brewersfansfirstvoucher.html

Desperate times......

Lug up Lugnaquilla

Lugnaquilla - or just Lug - is the highest mountain in Wicklow. At 925m (3035 ft), it is also the highest peak in Ireland outside Kerry. In Scotland, it would qualify as a Munro. It's a serious enough mountain in winter, with avalanches and rescues in recent years, and options for ice-climbing on the North and South Prisons which guard the peak.

I first hiked up Lug in the late 90's, and was up only once since then, in January 2001. The latter was with Richenda, about 3 days after we first met. Tom, you were there too (as was Eoghan, and a few others). It was a seriously cold day, and no time to hang around on top. I don't think an exaggeration to say than minus 15 with wind chill.

Last week was the first time I realised it was possible to bike up Lug. With the seed planted, it seemed there was a bit of interest and in the end with not much planning (except a map, and knowing the route up and down) Paul and I met up with Andy in the beautiful Glenmalure valley last Sunday evening at 6:30.

We were ambitiously aiming for a 3 hour loop, but had lights (and one bivvy bag between three!) just in case. So, off up the valley, northwest - past the beautiful An Óige hostel, following the course of the Avonbeg river.

The first 15 minutes were probably the toughest of the whole circuit. It was seriously hot, like nothing I've experienced in Ireland (at that time of day). The terrain was gravel fireroad, slippy. On we climbed.

Looking back to Glenmalure valley.

Hot.

 
Harder than it looks. Andy, with Paul behind.

This sign clarified that mountain-biking is a prohibited activity. We took a left here onto a smaller trail, heading up towards Table mountain.

Up at 700 m. now, just like that. This is the boundary of the Glen of Imaal military range - "...do not touch any military debris,  it may explode and kill you...".

 Paul and Andy. Taking a breather here.

A gentle climb to Camenabologue, Lug is now visible.

Cairn at Camenabologue (758 m). There is a sting in the tail here though, as we dropped down over 100 m, and more climbing to follow.

 A bit of carrying needless to say.

Check out those views - you could see every mountain in Wicklow from up here: Sugar Loaf, Djouce, Tonlagee, Mullacleevaun, Kippure, Turlough hill, Lugduff...

The cliff is the one of the faces of Lug, down to Art's Lough below.

Paul silhouetted.

More views...

...and the sunset.

The three of us on top. Still plenty of light, right?

Um, puncture.

From the top, it was flowing (whooping) downhill, leading to technical (less whooping) rocky downhill, and finally the zig-zags (super fast switchbacks - more whooping) back down to the valley floor, and a short ride back the road to the car. It was fairly dark by now, but we had just about gotten away without lights. A plague of monster midges here, like nothing I've ever witnessed - we were being eaten alive.

The stats: it took us four hours to get around, but my moving time was 2 hours 45, so there was plenty of hanging about, taking it all in. Average speed was a hopelessly slow 7.8 km/h (possibly explained by the ~900m. climbing).

This was a really special and epic spin, real mountain-biking (as in, we biked up and down a reasonably large mountain), and something I wouldn't have even contemplated a week ago. We were all very buzzed up, and to be honest despite the (nice) tiredness, it was hard to sleep that night. The conditions were absolutely pristine - this is normally a seriously boggy circuit, and we didn't even get a foot wet. This is clearly the best summer we've had in this country in decades. Are you making the most of it?

Ancient Brambles arête & the lost ring

Rock Climbing is my favourite thing to do in the outdoors, the places it brings you, the freedom, the feeling of satisfaction are not really paralleled for me.
In 2009 I took a breath and realised I had not been on the rock since Easter 2006 when I spent an amazing five days at Pedraforca in the Pyrennes (including a benighting after climbing the stunning line circled in the picture).

Living in Waterford and hiking up to the amazing Coumshingaun I had been wanting to get up there climbing. I had a Saturday outing with Cormac in July to the excellent Ballykeefe Quarry in Kilkenny and then on a September Sunday I went up to the coum with Andy, where we fought through the typical rain and got up a 25m route on the south-facing cliff - Devices & Desires (HS 4B). Too many plans foiled by the weather, too little time.

Martin and I started hatching plans for Costa Blanca and that November we spent 3 prime days climbing there (including Penon d'Ifach pictured below).

I had not been on the rock since, going on 4 years. Over the June bank holiday weekend I brought my 6 year old on the climbing wall in Dingle, she flew up the 20m walls and loved it. Then I read McG's post about midweek night summer rides and I got inspired.

I started climbing outdoors through a beginner's climbing course in Dalkey quarry with the Irish 
Mountaineering Club in spring/summer 1992. On that course I made a lad, Colm, and we purchased a rope and basic rack together. 2 years later I moved to the USA, before going we split the gear, buying a 2nd rope which Colm kept, with me retaining the original. I climbed all over with this rope until I dislodged a rock at Ti Point in New Zealand in 2000 which ended up badly damaging the rope at the half way point and ending up with 2 25m ropes. I still have the damaged piece:

Colm and I had briefly got back in touch last year over a phone call but I had not seen him in a long time. I got on climbing.ie which hosts a wiki for climbing in Ireland and I saw 2 small crags in Westmeath both near Castlepollard. With me in Athlone and Colm in Dublin I proposed we meet up at one, the Rock of Curry, and go climbing.

We arranged to meet up the evening of Wednesday 19 June which turned out to be a lovely evening. We eventually both found the little farmers lane described on the wiki at about 7.30. The crag looked impressive, especially for the Midlands, perched up there from the road and we started catching up on nearly 20 years as we got organised.


We could hear farm equipment on the go and we kept an eye out for the farmer to have a chat. It was not long before he came up to us, he was a nice lad but unfortunately there was no way we could climb there he said. I showed him the details of the crag on the web and he was unaware of previous climbing done there in 2010 & 2011. His stance was that with the crag and access being on his land, one sue would shut him down.

It's an unfortunate situation in Ireland where there are almost no public right of ways at all. I got the farmers details and have since talked to the Mountaineering council of Ireland's Access officer who is going to contact him and expects to put him at ease. So I hope to get back to the Rock of Curry this summer!

I remembered the 2nd crag in Westmeath and getting connectivity back in Castlepollard we found the crag was close by in Fore. The small outcrop is unmissable from the town being a 5min walk up behind the graveyard. In the summer evening light the gorgeous view from the base of the crag of the valley overlooked the old Benedictine Abbey ruin of Fore Abbey where St Feichín founded an Early Christian monastery around 630 AD.


Colm had brought his rope, it turns out it was the 2nd rope we had bought in 1994, which I had never climbed on, tonight was to be the first time. The climbing wiki describes 3 routes on the rock the first put up in 1974. It must have been after 9 when I tied in and started up this route in the middle of the buttress. Starting to climb, I noticed my ring and down climbed tossing it into the side pocket of my bag. The rock was solid but had some loose bits due to not being climbed on frequently. There was an obvious crux (hard bit of the climb) which I worked on for a while, on stepping up over the bulge it felt a bit loose and taking account of the time of the day and wanting to get something done I backed off.

Really I fancied the small arête 5 metres to the right which was unclimbed! I have only put up one route before, on the North Island in New Zealand, a chimney I christened Buzzing Web. This was a not so difficult climb but it felt great to be on the rock again. As I climbed the arête the vertical ridge became more obvious and would look more aesthetic if some gardening was done to remove the vegetation.


With the fine evening we were in shorts and getting to the top of the pillar it became obvious pretty quickly when I tried to go further that I was being ripped to shreds. With the night drawing in I decided to setup a belay station which we could abseil from slinging the pillar with a 5m corlette.

When I got home I added the climb to the wiki and called it Ancient brambles arête. The following day I missed my ring and that night went through my bag - absolutely gutted to not find it. Christine had given me this ring when we got married at sunset on a boat in Hawaii, this was not cool. Colm checked and it was not in his bag. I could not believe I had not hung it on some gear and just tossed it in the bag loosely and absent-mindedly. I took a half day on Friday and rented a metal detector and went back to Fore with all the family where we diligently spent 2 hours finding and digging up old beer cans and the like. We came to the conclusion that a cow had eaten it in the grass. When I found a story about a wedding ring being found in a cow when it was cut up 3 years after being sucked off the finger I was not too hopeful. We talked about heading back with a couple of detectors checking all the patties. Also, Christine since rang the garda station and tourist office.
You can see the detecting going on in the picture!

Last night I finally got to reorganising my gear nearly 2 weeks after the climb at Fore.

Sorting my second last piece, I was blown away so see sitting on the carabiner on one of the extenders my ring! Subconsciously old habits died hard and I must have slipped the ring on a carabiner when throwing it into the bag without even realising it.