First of all, apologies for the year delay in this report. Never seemed to get round to it!!

Having followed the progress of the club members in Ironman Austria 2009 I was hooked. Marc Butler is the guy to blame for setting me on the road of Triathlon. Having witnessed him learning to swim from the 'dip toe in the pool' stage to Ironman, I was inspired. Not only was I astonished about how well Marc, Dave McCourt and Mick Macken (nearly Ironman novice!!) done in Austria, I clinged on to the remarkable achievements of Adrian Dolan and Conor Kelly in finishing this Ironman crack. Their achievement was every bit as remarkable as the lads and got me thinking that I should give it a go.

The first stepping stone was the Dublin Marathon in October 2009. Having trained with my new buddies Tommy Murray and Adrian Dolan, I felt a 3:45 marathon was a reasonable target. About 3 weeks before hand disaster struck when my right knee started giving bother. Like a fool I strapped it up and attempted the marathon. To cut a long story short I should never have done the thing and walked most of the last 6 miles in agony. I finished 4:18 and knee was in a heap. One thing I did gain from the marathon was a mental toughness that this would never ever happen again.

During the knee rehab (12 weeks of physio before deciding surgery was the only option in Feb 2010) the goal of Ironman Switzerland 2010 was set and a great crew signed up for it. I had the following to compare notes with:
Mick Macken, Marc Butler, Charlie, Tommy Murray, Dave Warby, Adrian Dolan, Philly Hayes, Conor Kelly, Padraig Cooke and of course the soon to be Ironlady Grainne O Neil were all on board.

Having had the knee operation in Feb 2010 I had loads of catching up to do so got cracking on the bike. Most of the crew decided to go with Morgan Fox for training and he was a great help to me. I got strong quite quickly on the bike and swam throughout the knee problem with a pull buoy so the only problem was lack of running. For me Ironman

Switzerland felt like I was always playing catchup due to my knee problem.
I had to try and catchup but not over do it.

My target for Ironman Switzerland was to break 12 hrs. I thought this was achievable. I had a nightmare of a swim 3.8km (all over the place), I finished the swim in 1hr 30min. The bike was extremely hilly and on the 2nd loop I thought that I better behave myself with the dreaded marathon to come. Bike time was 5:58. Both these times were higher than my targets so I thought the 12hr goal was out the window. After my disaster in the Dublin marathon, I decided that if I had to walk during the run it was only during the feed stations and nowhere else. I told myself that if I walked on the course between the feed stations I would not allow myself stop at the next feed station and this worked a treat. Off I set on the run.

I had no garmin for training so ran purely on heartrate and how I felt. I kept a steady pace and ran from station to station. I also discovered that I have a stomach like a horse. I had a Powerbar gel at every feed station and finished the marathon in 4hr 4min. If I had a garmin I reckon I could have broken the 4hr Marathon.

I was delighted to finish my first Ironman in a time of 11hrs 42mins. I was amazed about how strong I was at the end of the run and then started questioning had I really pushed myself. If I was offered 11hrs 42min before I started I would have taken it for sure. When you can say that, I suppose its a good result. Also considering the average swim and bike I had, I rescued the day with the decent run.

Special mention to the team that did the Ironman Switzerland. I made great friends on the journey. Looking back, Marc was extremely lucky to walk away from his bike crash on the day. I had no idea of what happened until after the race. How he went on to do an Ironman the same year after that I'll never know. Hats off on the day to my buddy Tommy Murray. He blew us away with his swim time and his bike time was amazing. To achieve that bike on that course was some achievement. Huge credit also goes to Grainne on the day. It was an emotional roller coaster for her and to even make it to the startline was amazing given the circumstances at home. Her day was very eventful and for her to get home and become the first Ironlady in the club was a huge achievement. We all stayed around to see her finish and was emotional for us all.

So lessons learnt, this Ironman thing is a huge commitment and it can be done. Thanks for all the memories but.........what if?


As the time passed after Ironman Switzerland I began to question myself. What if:

If I had a full training schedule behind me?

Had I pushed myself hard enough on the bike if I was still strong at the end of the run?

Whats my limit?

Unfinished business?

All the above coupled with the fact that I had put on 2 stone by Xmas 2010 got me thinking. One last crack at it. Why not? Aisling encouraged me to go for it and momentum began to gather.
We had a meeting in the pool one evening and shortly after, the following signed up for Challenge Barcelona Ironman in October 2011:
Dave Seery, Tommy Murray, Adrian Dolan, Stephen O'Reilly, Mark Vaughan, Marcus Boland, Dave Warby and John Bruton.

We decided that Dave & Charlie would take the swim programme and most of us decided to go with Morgan Fox again for the training schedules.

Alot of people questioned Morgan Fox and how he qualified to coach us for an Ironman. Sure Morgan was a pro cyclist and knew nothing about swimming or running.....??

My answer to this is that anyone that could get me through a cycle of 180km and fresh enough to tackle a 26mile marathon was good enough for me. He beasted us on the bike and Marc Butler and Tommy Murray are testament to Morgan's bike training. He also knew all about endurance and nutrition so that was enough for me. So off we set on a 30 week training programme.

Dave / Charlie put in a savage effort with us all in the swim training programmes. They were always willing to help and the attention to detail was first class. The programme was very specific to each individual and correcting their faults. I am still no dolphin and far from the polished article but the 3.8km distance held no fear for me. The lads asked me what my target swim time was and I said 1hr 15min. They said that this was a realistic target for me and I knew with their help I would be a far more efficient swimmer which would benefit me for the rest of the race. I knew that if I followed the lads guidance, I was in great shape for the swim.

On the bike training, the intensity was definitely higher than last year. I suppose I had a big base from last year and it was just a matter of tapping into it. The weight began to fall off me and Morgan was cracking the whip. The Slieve Blooms became our friends. There was no letup and a hard Saturday was followed by an even harder Sunday! I'm a firm believer in training with someone better than you to raise your game. In Tommy Murray, I had the perfect cyclist to train with and Stephen o Reilly drove us all mad with how strong a runner he was. Training with these guys kept me focussed.

The 30 week bike programme generally includes the few bike tours (SSCC Midlands tour, Tour De Burren, Sligo Tour and Wicklow 200km) and efforts on the weekend spins. I often cycled to Waterford on my own in training so the distance again held no fear. Being a weak swimmer, I always made a big effort on the bike to catch people and this seemed to make me strong on the bike. Add into this the small matter of the 3day Malin to Mizen spin, I was alot stronger on the bike compared to last year.

The running was going steady as well. Mike Murphy is a huge addition to ATC. He was always helpful when I annoyed him and was never more than a phonecall away when needed. I had a decent run in me due to my football playing days. Never a speed merchant but strong and steady I suppose. I was doing alot of run training on my own for the earlier and shorter runs but joined up with Tommy, Adrian and Stephen for the longer ones. I was amazed about how much Tommy improved and even more about the ease of which Stephen could run. His shape and posture are not what you would expect for a strong runner but this fella seemed to glide along the ground. He brought a new intensity to the group and we all had to improve to stay with him. As he was new to this, he kept us on our toes and was a great fella to train with.

Morgan normally throws a training 1/2 ironman into the equation for us and this coupled with the half Ironman coming to Galway in Sep would provide me with 2 good markers about how well I was going. Our trial 1/2 ironman in coosan was first up and I felt great. I swam and biked really well and felt strong on the run. I died a little on the run but passed Tommy (rare occasion) to finish behind Marc and Stephen.

For me the Galway half-ironman was all about achieving my swim and bike targets. This was for me only a stepping stone towards Barcelona. In horrendous conditions, I was happy with my finish. I had a strong bike (beat Tommy's biketime for the first time!!) but died a little on the run. I discovered what a fine line it was to push the bike hard and not die on the run. I also had knee trouble after Galway. This was due to a new bike tt position and lack of streching. It caused a few sleepless nights and alot of painful hours on the foam roller to sort out the IT band problems but I was in good shape for Ironman Barcelona. The same could not be said for Stephen who tore a calf muscle in Galway. It was horrible for him to miss out on Ironman Barcelona after the work and sacrifces he had put in. His day in the sun will come and for him to travel out and support us during the race was testament to the man. We would later discover that John Bruton would pull out through injury as well. Tough to take for two good friends but I had to stay focussed.

On to Barcelona and I felt strong. Trial Swim was gorgeous and after Morgan eventually got the bike problems sorted, I was all set. My start time was 8:45am later than the norm of 7am. I slept reasonably well and got through the traditional pasta breakfast. Felt a stone heavier with the few days of carb loading but I knew I could stomach it.

My target swim was about 1:15. I would have settled for a 1:20. The swim start was incident free with about 200 in my wave I think. This sure beats the 2000 people wave start in Switzerland!! I got in to a good rythem early and was comfortable throughout. I swam good lines and the water was nice and calm but very warm. Came out of the water very happy with a swim time of 1hr 14mins for the 3.8km swim. Gave Ash the thumbs up on the way into transition.

Made the slight mistake of having 1 bike shoe on before taking off the wetsuit, I have previous here... enough said. I was soon off on the bike and cone helmet (thanks Aileen) and ready for a big effort. I also had a new bike setup compared to the previous year with new tt bars (thanks Kevin). I was determined to stay in the tt bike position as much as possible.

The first part of the 2 and 1/2 lap course was slightly hilly but I was hammering along and happy. I remember looking at my watch of an overall time of 1hr 30 and thinking I was only getting out of the water this stage last year. I held a good average speed of from 36kmph to 34kmph. The food and drink were going down ok and I did'nt feel the heat (25deg) that much.

I spotted Bo on the bike twice (he looked grand considering the injuries he had) and passed Dave Warby near the end of the bike. Never recongnised Dave with those tanned legs of his but to his credit he made an effort to catch up with me to tell me how well I was doing and to keep it going. I knew the bike must have been going well when I caught Dave. He started swim 10-15 mins before me and would have hammered me timewise so things were going well!.

I had a bike target of 5:30. I was 5:58 in Ironman Switzerland and knew I should have done better. To achieve this I would have to hold a 33kmph average speed. In the end I finished with a 5:12 bike time and an average of 34.5kmph. I was well on target to break my target of 11hrs bar disaster on the marathon. As I finished the bike leg, Tommy was starting the run. He let a roar at me. This was the first time I spotted him all day.

Off I set on the 26 mile marathon. I hoped to break the 4hrs but after pushing so hard on the bike, I was'nt sure. I had to hold a 5.45 pace per km and felt I had a chance. This year I also had the garmin to keep me focused. Sh*T, left the garmin on the bloody bike so like last year I just ran on feel. The run leg was 4 laps of 10.5k. I did'nt enjoy the layout (mainly 5k out and 5k back along the same road) but felt ok. The heat was very hot at this stage (about 28deg) so I stopped at every aid station and like the previous year, started lashing in the energy gels. I had 16 on the run and 20 in total throughout the day. Some horse.

Spotted Tommy several times on the run leg. I knew he was struggling or was he? I was eating into his lead (about 9mins at marathon start i think) and was gaining on him. I think I caught him around the 20k mark so now I knew there was only 5mins between us. He started in the next wave after me. Approaching Tommy I knew he would hang on for dear life.. he told me he would that morning and he was true to his word. Having no Garmin and 5 mins to make up, I upped the pace and true enough here was my buddy Tommy hanging on. He was breathing heavier than normal but we all know Tommy. He once told me that he has 'brute force and ignorance/stubborness in abundance' and I knew it was almost an impossible task to shake him. Beginning to feel the pain myself I decided it was best to ease off and behave before we both blew up with another half marathon to go.

Tommy and I ran the rest of the marathon together and it worked a treat. We worked off eachother and the fact that Tommy had a garmin, I always had the 4hr target in the back of my mind. I knew we were going to be closer to 10hrs 30min than 11 hrs. On the run, I was delighted to see Bo running through his injuries. Mark Vaughan also looked comfortable. However there was trouble ahead. Adrian was in serious bother with the heat and was dizzy. He was walking and in bother. The fact that he regrouped and got going again is remarkable. He is the only man in the club to have done 3 consecutive Ironman races in 3 years. There was no sign of Dave Warby in the later stages of the run though? More on that later.

So Tommy and I ran on and on. Stopped at the stations and got the gels on board. I knew if we finished together he would be 5 mins ahead of me overall. If I was offered that at the start i would have taken it. We sepearted approaching the finisher shoot and I got pumped up roaring at the crowd on the way to the finishline. I was that ecstatic I could have done cartwheels. I even contemplated doing the Robbie Keane tumble and shoot the bow and arrow but got sense. I screamed at the athlone crew when I spotted them. Its a feeling I never had before.

My target was to break 4hrs on the run and I ran 3:58. My target was to break 11hrs overall and I finished Ironman Barcelona in 10hrs 32min 33secs, 37th in my age category. I had smashed my goal and finished 1hr and 10mins better than last year. I was over the moon and it was only right that Tommy and I more or less crossed the line together. He is a remarkable man and prooves what hard work can do. He had no sporting background growing up and once touched the scales at 16stone plus. We started the triathlons together and here we were finishing the marathon in our 2nd Ironman together. He is not called the Beast for nothing and deserves every bit of recognition for his remarkable time.

Afterwards, Dave Warby went out of his way to track down Tommy and I in the recovery tent getting the rub down. He shook both our hands and congratulated us. It was only at this stage that we learned about the cramps he endured on the run and how he had to abandon the race. If it happened to me, I wouldn't want to talk to anyone for a month but not Dave. He is a giant of a man in my eyes and if I look as well as him at his age I'll be happy. He is a swimming icon to all of us. His sub 55min swim that day was awesome and his day will come again.

Big thanks again to all the support out there on the day. Without their help, none of us would have got through the day. Thanks for all the support from home as well. Last but not least, big thank you to my wife Aisling. She could not have supported me more and I'm glad she was there every step of the way of my greatest achievement. To the kids, Jack & Hannah, Daddy loves ye and is home for good. So my Ironman journey is over and I'm officially retired......well from the long stuff anyway!!

Thanks for the memories. Dave Seery.