Well I went into this race full of confidence of coming home in under 10 hours 30 mins, but it proved to be a far tougher race than I had ever imagined.
In fact it took all my will power just to finish in the end, but lets go back a few days.
I travelled out with a training buddy and his wife, unfortunatley my family couldnt attend as my daughter had commitemnts with her school, but I was in good company with Steve & Emily.
We travelled down to Stanstead on Thursday, stopped for coffee on the way down (as we do!), checked the bikes in, we were getting well practised with taking the bikes abroad now.
Our flight was uneventful, we were to land in Graz (we had left accomodation & flights to the last minute and there were no more flights available to Klagenfurt) where we had hired a car for the 140 km drive to our lakeside accomodation near Klagenfurt.
Then the pilot announced that due to bad weather in Graz we were being diverted to
....... Klagenfurt, bonus, that's saved us a few hours travelling. Anyway after some negotiations at Europcar we were sorted and on our way.
Early into Klagenfurt on friday for registration & race briefing. There was a huge gasp and some tears when the race director announced that the swim was non-wetsuit, there were some very unhappy people! Me, I wasn't that fussed really, same for everyone, it would add a few minutes on to my time but that's life, can't do anything about it, just get on with it!
A wandered through Iron City before we went back to the chalet, Iron City was pretty amazing, Ironman certainly know how to put on a race, most impressed.
For the rest of the day we tried to stay out of the sun (it was hot!), built the bikes & tested them, hydrated, ate and early to bed.
I had a minor issue a few hours before I needed to rack my bike & transition gear, in that the cable on my front mech broke ..... erm I need to get this fixed, don't fancy the Rupertburg climb (twice) in the big ring!.
So surprisingly calm, I went to find a mechanic in Iron City. The Nirvana guys (we'd booked accomodation through them) were tremendous, the mechanic had been in the blazing sun for the last 8 hours, yet he kindly set about sorting my bike, half an hour later I was queueing to rack my bike and leave my transition bags. Just let the air out of my tyres (it was still very hot & I didnt want any punctures due to over inflation/ heat expansion) just as I let the air out of my front tyre, a huge pop, thankfully not my bike, but the one opposite, who's owner was going to be a bit stressed when he returned in the morning to fix that).
Anyway, just made it back in time for a final carb loading tea with Steve & Emily, a quiet electrolyte drink on the balcony then off to bed.
A very early breakfast (3 hours before race start) of oats, banana, peanut butter & jam on bread ..... and coffee !! then off on the 10km drive into town, parked the car in our "normal" spot and walked over to transition to inflate the bike tyres and set up my hydration and food on the bike.
All sorted, now to wander over to the start, stopping for the customary final toilet stop on the way!!!!
To cut along story short, we were still queueing 15 minutes before the start and had to rush to the streetwear bag drop then sprint to the start and push our way to the front on the beach.
No sooner had we found a spot and we were off.
It was pretty cool setting off on a 2.4 mile lake swim with 2,700 other triathletes without a wetsuit, the water was warm, started off well but towards half way I could tell I was tiring, as swimmers started to pass me, so I jumped on there feet and hung in.
The last 800m is up a canal, quite cool I thought, until I got there, the water was pretty muddy, the narrow canal meant everyone was boxed in, really difficult to keep a rythme. A long run to T1, took my time & out on the bike.
Within 1 mile my rear seat mounted bottle holder went horizontal & I lost my gatorade, just managed to grab the other bottle (water) before it fell out ...... erm could have done without that, ended up holding a bottle in my hand in aero for the next 60 mile, until I had a brain wave I tooked it down the front of my trisuit.
Must admit for the first 95+ miles I felt great, cruising along at good speed averageing 22 mph, over taking plenty of others and powering up the short sharp climbs, but the second time up Rupertburg got me, half way up I over heated badly and blew up, felt horrible, I managed to dig in and spin to the top, where I drank & ate what I could, the final 15 miles were hard and I knew already that achieving my target time was going to prove tough.
In T2 I continued to hydrate and eat, I covered myself in sun cream and put on my run cap (I hate running in caps, makes me even hotter), but as I found out later, they we're recording temperatures of 39 degrees out there, I couldn't risk it & had to cover my head.
I set off, legs felt heavy, my head was telling me to stop, but one thing the Double taught me was that you always have more in you than you think, I will not DNF (I've only done that once in an off-road duathlon where I crashed and damaged my ribs), that little voice in my head can, well I won't swear, but it can take a running jump, I ain't listening!
After about a mile the heat was just too much and the walk/ run marathon began. Not pleasant, but it was all I could do. I just couldn't get enough water to cool down, this was going to be a long, hard afternoon.
Well to cut a long story short, I got to the final turn, 3 miles to go and decided that I wanted to finish in style, so concentrated on my running form and surprisngly started to feel better (funny how the finish line does that!).
I got home in a respectable 11 hours 30 mins, still disappointed I didn't deliver what I knew I was capable of but hey, thats the way it goes, you can't race well every time, chalk it up to experience & move on.
Met up with Steve & Em, Steve had done well, very well, nearly qualifying for Kona, he'd beaten his sub 10 hour target but was still atleast half an hour slower than what he had hoped was possible .... next time!
Plenty of food in the athlete village, a stroll back over to transition to collect bikes & kit, then back towards the car. As we rounded the corner to where the car was parked, I say WAS, it was no more, vanished, ooopps !
I wandered over to an official who suggested it had been towed away, too close to the run course!! Anway one kind policeman, an even kinder taxi-driver and 200 euro's lighter we were on our way back to the chalet, a 2 hour delay was not exactly what we wanted after an Ironman, but you've got to laugh. Now for beer & food !!
In summary, it was a great few days, a great course that I will go back to one day!
