seriously, thanks for all the kind words of support.. Daly, I really got a lift from your comments. McCabe (the dark lord) has worked his magic and I’m on the fast track to recovery. Its looking good and the new bike is ordered, yes a Cervelo R3… for the bike geeks, it was nearly the R3SL but i couldn’t justify the extra 300 euro just to have a different paint job..
also got a new helmet, thanks a million Jan… my wife obviously wants me around for now as she kindly bought it for me… it even matches the team Sports Med colours so I will look the part. Met up with the swim gang last night in West wood and did part of the session with then. Chaz Michaels Michaels was in the pool causing carnage as usual.. 
I snapped this shot of him warming up.. its good to be on the mend though i’m not sure about 200km spin this sat on the Time Trial bike…..
Sore as, neck in bits but visit to Mark McCabe and he thinks I’ll be ok for IM. Couple of light exercises to do and instructed to spend time in sauna etc. .. thinking about it, could have been much worse and very lucky not to have broken anything. all this time has me surfing the net looking at whats going to replace the Trek 5200 frame that was damaged in the crash… hmmmm. the Cervelo R3 is jumping off the page at the moment, could be that 3 riders from sports med will be on this frame by next week. Fergus Barry is also thinking along these lines… have to check the fit first. Face is a bit banged up but if the back gets better that will be the main thing..
Mick Hennessy got a good view of the smash.. his mail reads
HI Dave,
How’s the body today? Hope your feeling better.
Magnificent crash all the same, I was just behind you and went right of you just as your head was hitting the tarmac.
You’re so tall that you seemed to be airborne for yonks before you landed, it looked very frightening,
It scared the crap out of me and I hid at the back of the bunch for the rest of the the day. Fergus gave us the thumbs up that you we ok when we arrived around on the second lap, which was good news. I presume this week is gonna be a rest week for you now….
Take it easy,
Mick
Nice easy spin saturday with a coffee stop in Malahide. Ferg got his new bike out (its the wrong size) for a shake down spin before the open race on sunday. For some reason i have a feeling about this race.. wasn’t well during the week etc but anyway headed up with the bike all sparkling and cleaned ready for action… nearly put on the zipp wheels for real bling but decided against it as it looked like it might rain.
Big open race, nice and handy pace but there was a good bit of rough bike handling in the pack so decided to head up to the front. Coming through a sweeping bend i saw a rider right in my path hit his brakes, skid an hit the deck. I knew then and there it was going to hurt. I had no time to do anything but slam straight into his crossbar (on the ground) and was cartwheeled straight over my handle bars. That second or two of flight ended with a sickening crunching noise (helmet) as i hit the road with my head. Ollie witnessed the crash and said he thought he was going to puke… still he didn’t stop in fairness to him. IT was a race after all! Ferg did the decent thing and stopped when he came across me lying spread eagle on the tarmac. Id say i lay there for a good 20 mins (the ambulance crew were there in about a minute as they follow the race). Onto the spine board in a neck brace and into hospital. In fairness you get seen very fast went you arrive in hospital in this condition - they even insisted on bringing in the helmet to show the medics.
Not sure if it comes across well, but the entire back right of the helmet broke off and the rest is fractured completely. This is exactly what is supposed to happen and how the force of the impact is absorbed by the helmet and not your head. Very glad i had it on.
these things actually work
Anyway, cutting a long story short, i ended up getting x-rayed etc and what i have is a bad case of whiplash and no broken bones. Off to see Mark McCabe today to see what can be done to speed up recovery. With 8 weeks to IM its not great but in all fairness it could have been far worse.
Ferg rang the misses and managed to break the news in usual fashion, “Jan, let me start by saying I’m totally fine. Dave however is heading to hospital in a neck brace”.
Arrived Dublin airport Wednesday morning for a flight to Galway having done some decent swimming the night before only to find after security that I couldn’t for love nor money read the screen to find my gate. Vision went haywire… worrying… Got a coffee and (under the pretence of having forgotten my glasses) found out where the gate was… Foolishly got on the old Aer Arann and off we went. About 10 mins in started to sweat, splitting headache and general unwellness… I think the fella sitting beside me either thought I was terrified of flying or about to detonate a bomb. The rest of the day was a misery so when I finally got back to Dublin I went straight to bed. Apparently it was a migraine – the vision thing common..
No training on Thursday but that gave me the opportunity to rock along to watch the Davy White Collar boxing night. Hilarious and in fairness savage work by all involved… I think vids will be posted online soon.. will keep an eye out.
Tentative training today at lunch (felt fine) so 3.2km swim this eve on the cards. Planning to race Sunday on the bike so just a coffee spin tomorrow. Gus Barry bought a new bike so will be interesting to see how he goes in the cat C race.. the bike looks savage but the breaks really let it down.. they look like the came off a high nelly…
Ollie is also racing which will be interesting – he had his first race last week and actually enjoyed it..very strange reaction.
Didn’t get to the pool until late Friday as visited my sister and her new baby Jamie… all good (bar the collection of young wans hanging about outside the Rotunda smoking etc). Pool empty, very boring swimming alone though at least no Eric the eel to contend with in the fast lane.
Weekend weather was great, out Saturday with sports med crew on a fine weather spin, split off after 2.5hrs and got in the balance of my 4hr requirement. The sound of Mark shouting at Conor and I faded quickly as we took a left turn through Enniskerry village… lovely! Spent the rest of the day chilling out and managed to get the BBQ fired up Sat eve which included ice cream for desert……….
Sunday met Robert for a planned 4 hr spin at 10 am. First day in a long time without the leg warmers on… He had been out since 830 so nothing too mad on the cards. Anyway ended up spinning to the MTS and up through Enniskerry to Roundwood. Huge MTB race was being held in savage weather. We stopped and were given a can of Monster (500mls) which I knocked back. Mad stuff, felt wired after it. Robert was complaining about the hills but still went right at Roundwood and up to the Sally Gap via the Guinness estate… major bad decision on my part was to go left at the top which brought us down to Lauragh.. for some reason I thought it was closer… it wasn’t. 54km back to Dublin, I called Jan to say I’d be back half an hour late and started to pedal. I called her back to admit the truth to myself as much as her… another 2 hrs…sorry! Millers pizza and dvd completed the Sunday experience.
Just back from long weekend down in west cork. Great breather from Dublin and a 2 hr run on Bere Island seemed to fly by compared to same length of time running at home. Made the mistake of going for a quick dip after the run – very cold! Got out for a decent spin on Saturday, early ferry over to the mainland and headed from Castletownbere up to Glengarriff. From there took the Caha Pass up and over into kerry.. it’s a decent climb but my pace was handy enough so could enjoy the scenery. Managed to get a puncture half way up but got that sorted quickly.
Over the top through the long tunnel (not light which is interesting when there are cars zooming through) and out into Kerry.
From there I was down into Kenmare on a long descent with decent surface.. this is all part of the half ironman course which will be held in September so good to get to know it. Realized by Kenmare that I was cutting the time very close for the 1500hrs ferry so had to push hard to get up the first climb to Lauragh. After that it was up the Healy Pass – a great climb with a real good kick at the top and then a fast decent to sea level and Bantry bay. Back just in time for the ferry. I felt I deserved Sunday off so ended up having a couple of roasters in Dessie’s.
looking down the Healy Pass
Sunday off, got up late and chilled out for the day. Watched the Munster match in Dessie’s but they turned off the Leinster Match!!!
Monday I managed to drive back from Castletownbere to Dublin in about 4hs 15mins (another pb) and crashed out for the evening after an easy swim. All in a good weekend though Jan didn’t like the drive without stopping much.
As expected I got mailed a link to a photo of Ferg and I running in the park on Sunday. I should note the RNLI gear, something I got roped into doing for them… Wouldn’t recommend running in the fake life jacket.
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MONDAY
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30-Mar
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SWIM 2K EASY AS YOU LIKE
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COMMUTE
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TUESDAY
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31-Mar
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RUN 90 MIN 60 135-145, THEN 30 MIN TEMPO 150-160
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COMMUTE
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WEDNESDAY
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01-Apr
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Sportmed Gym easy and swim MASTERS
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COMMUTE
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THURSDAY
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02-Apr
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RUN COMMUTE VERY EASY / BIKE 90 MIN -2 HRS AFTER WORK EASY PACE KEEP HR <130
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COMMUTE
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FRIDAY
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03-Apr
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SWIM 3K: 1K WARM UP / MAIN SET 2 (3@ 100 HARD WITH 30 SEC RECOVERY THEN STRAIGHT TO 400 AEROBIC ) EASY SWIM 5 MIN BETWEEN SET/GYM
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COMMUTE
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SATURDAY
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04-Apr
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4-5 hour bike 180-220 run 1 hour pm
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SUNDAY
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05-Apr
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Bupa 10km run
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Above shows the last week of three week bock so now on an easy week. Having gotten roped into doing the 10km in the park had to switch Saturday to a long bike ride. Ended up going out with Robert and Ollie for this as the main bunch were doing an easy coffee spin (as racing Sunday). Really tired on morning of Bupa run but not overly bothered as not going for a time. Had a decent breakfast of granola, fruit and yogurt followed by a couple of poachers and toast… not a great idea 2 hours before a race… anyway Kipper Fergus and myself cycled up to the park and did a couple of warm ups dressed as RNLI supports (complete with fake life jackets..) Moody had dropped out due to injury. Ferg and I lined up in the 35-45 min section which was alarmingly close to the start line and elite runners. Legs felt dead and wasn’t looking forward to the race but as the gun went I set out hard and reached the 1st km in 3.30…. not a good idea as the HR went through the roof.. what was I thinking. Dialed it down and got into a decent rhythm running at 4.10 pace which slowed as I hit the hills. Still, given the training during the week I felt decent enough and finished just shy of the 42 min mark. Ferg was right behind me so happy enough. Hopefully photos of the get up to follow.
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