Earth Day !

Another week in the books. I have to say April is my favorite month of the year. Not just because my birthday occurs during it. It is due to the Spring weather and early season races which gets you excited for the season ahead.
When I looked at my goal races for 2010, I was really interested in the European Duathlon Championships in Nancy France May 1st. I can know officially declared I will be representing Ireland and racing with my Dutch training partner Dirk De Heer. About 10 years ago I got to put on the Irish Singlet a couple of times as a Junior for Cross Country. This is an opportunity for me as I decided to fully focus on Multisport starting 2010 and I would like to thank everyone at Triathlon Ireland for being so helpful.
More to come on the Europeans, back to the weeks training.

Mon- Tempo run 8miles 44:50 on the canal. Just locked into 5 35 pace after the first mi. CORE afterwards.

Tue-AM 3miles jog and light Swim w Zac PM 5miles easy after working all day.

Wed-PM Bike 37.5miles @ Hains for most of it.
Run 9miles total (3miles 19:00- 5 X 800/200 w 200 jog between. 2:24/33sec pace)

Thu-Run 6miles easy
Bike 35.5 miles short reps with Dirk. 1mi-2mi-3mi-1mi-2mi-3mi

Fri-Bike 6miles to the race.
Run 8.5 miles total .Crystal City 5km Tempo pace with Matt. 15:44. Relaxed.

Sat: Swim 1900 with Zac, who was flying. W-out was 4X500. I did 3 and did 2X100, 1X200 on the last, as I was hurting. Shoulder was sore at work afterwards. After the Duathlon I need to swim 5 times a week.

Sun: Run 8miles Total. Earth Day 5km. Tough course. ran 15:41, but the effort was a lot faster. Ask Nate B and Erik K! Last mile was all the way up hill, first was fast we went out in 4:45 then the second was twisty just a bit above 5:00. But overall a fun race.
Bike 15miles afterward the race. It was cold out and didn't have enough clothes on.
PM Bike 19miles on my ride for Nancy. Thanks to Revolution Cycles for allowing me to borrow a nice Trek 4.7 . Best bike store in the DC Area. Check out their new store at Crystal City.
http://revolutioncycles.com/

The Dolan Keeps on Rollin !

Duathlon Race # 2 for 2010

This was a race that I decided to do when I selected my focus races in 2009.
It was listed as a 5k-30k-5k, but the bike was over 34k ! No worries as it was a great bike route. A little windy but rolling, which suits my riding style.

The field was pretty strong and I was excited about racing after some good bike workouts in the last 2 weeks. After a not so prefect warm up- we set off at a decent clip. 5:03 1st mile with 1/2mi of it on dirt. Both runs were mostly on a twisty bike path, out and back. Going into T1, three of us made up the pack hitting 15:29-30 for a bit under 5k . I had a good transition and got out 1st on the bike. (after a scare for a split second as I looked at the wrong spot for my helmet). The bike started up a big ass hill. about a mile long. I rode Lance style checking my competition out . But their were no pace takers or makers, I decided after a mile to roll as it was only 30k right !! JK. I hit a solid pace after I got out of the park (just under 2mi into the bike)
The wind was weird, felt like a cross wind but I found myself hitting 38MPH on the flats . So as per usually on the bike I focused on feel more that pace. Knowing I could run a strong 2nd run if needed, I didn't push all out on the bike. Also normally I don't like to lead this earlier but prefer to come from behind in the second half , So I played a little poker by checking, checking on the turns while keeping my cards close to my chest . Don't get me wrong I was riding good tempo putting in a solid effort but not all out, right around 12mi I could see a guy closing in so I let up a little. thinking I had only 14mins left on the bike, going off 30k listed race distance . Anyway this Fregre guy who I discovered later was a strong cyclist (did some serious Pro riding) caught me with 2mi to go. No bit deal, as I knew he had to ride pretty much all out to make up the ground. I could have out split him if required in a Tri or TT. But its a Run-Bike-Run not a TT !
I relaxed and got focused to run, Going into the 2nd run I started easy and worked into it, my goal was to hold a strong pace. No need to crush it.
I honestly had to say I knew it would only be a 2 man race and when I didn't see my buddy Dirk until 1/2mi to go in the run, I was worried that he had crashed or something. It turned out he went way way off route on the bike. Which sucks but I was proud of how positive he was about the situation. A true testament to his strong personally. Bigger things to come from Dirk !

Great race and will be on the 2011 Race Schedule.

RW

Take back the City !

Training has been going well and the store is busy busy everyday. Got to love the Springtime weather. Come in and get your new Brooks Green Silence.
PR or Coarse Record guaranteed !
http://www.facebook.com/home.php?ref=home#!/runpacers?ref=mf

Last week I was motivated after the Powerman Race. I put in a solid week, Here are my totals and some highlights:

Swim-6750 yards (3 swims)
Highlight was Saturday morning with Zac we swam 2x1000 as our main workout.

Bike-130 miles (5 rides, 1 only 10miles)
Highlight was a 60k with Dirk in 1:31:20. The last 20k I felt really good and rolled. Dirk is a great training partner and told me to "JUST GO" ! I ended up hitting 28:20ish last 20k.

Run- 53miles ( 6runs)
I did a brick on Wed of 2mi-1mi-2mi. felt ok. Highlight was running 15:24 @ the Crystal City 5k Friday. Last yr my fastest was 15:28. Felt relaxed and had put in some training already that day.
Lots of turn on the coarse, but real fun with all the runners out there! Good job to the 933 people that showed up.

Next up Doylestown Duathlon 5k-30k-5k on Saturday.