Ironman Austria Race Report

What an amazing race on a stunning course. It sold out last year in 18 hours, this year, 5 hours and I can totally understand why.

Antoinette and I arrived in Austria Thursday evening having travelled with Nirvana who arranged all our transfers, truck for the bikes and accomodation. We stayed in a place about 15km out of Klagenfurt in an apartment which was very comfortable. I was getting slightly stressed that evening as I hadn't had time to put my bike together and needed to go to bed. For the week before IM I always get up between 4:00 and 4:30 to get used to eating at that time, and don't I eat! For the 2 days pre race I eat 660g of carbs in order to carbo load. Keeping in mind that 2/3 of a cup of cooked rice is 30g of carbs or most meusli bars are around 15-22g carbs it is hard work to eat that much. I physically can't do it so I also use sports drinks such as Lucozade to top up my carbs (33g per 500ml!).

Saturday I got up at 4:15 and put my bike together. I had already done all of my transition bags in London so didn't need to worry about that. We went for breakfast, loaded my bike on the truck and then I jumped on a bus to tour the bike course and onto register. The bus was running late so Antoinette went to the race briefing for me. I wasn't too fussed about missing it, as long as you read the pre race material you don't need to be there. Kat and Geoff came and met us and I went out for a quick 20 min swim. The water was so warm and clear. We then went off for a high carb lunch and then the guys headed into town to leave me to get organised. I went for a run and ran the first and last KM of the run to familiarise myself with it. I then took my bike out for a quick 20 mins just to check it over again and make some final adjustments. Into transition to drop everything off and then the only thing left to do is relax.

I had a prety good nights sleep the night before, we were in bed by8pm and up at 4am. Breakfast and headed up to catch the bus at 5am. There was a girl on the bus who was obviously freaking out so I chatted to her a bit trying to calm her down. I do find it amusing that when ever you get to a sporting event like this that people find it socially acceptable to start telling complete strangers about their bowel movements or lack of in the case of my new friend on the bus. I didn't even know her name by this stage :)

I went into transition, pumped up my tires, got some suncream on, jumped in the wetsuit and headed over to the start really pumped up and ready to go. Gel number 1 of the day went down my throat at 6:50 and the the gun went off dead on 7am for the 2.5 mile (3.8km) swim.

The swim was great fun, it was congested and choppy but I have been doing a lot of work with Terry (my coach) on swimming in a pack, swimming over people and being swum over so it didn't bother me in the slightest being knocked around. The swim went out from the beach, out to a buoy, turn left, out to another buoy, another left and then you swim back to the shore and then up a canal. The atmosphere on the beach was amazing, there was a guy on the mike getting the crowd going, playing music and talking to the athletes. I had a totally different perspective on things this time and was really relaxed and having a little dance. You could tell the people who were doing this for the first time, they were the ones with a look of complete fear on their faces.

It is hard to describe, but there is a real feeling of comraderie at the start of an ironman. Especially a beach start where it is easier to interact with other people than a deep water start. I had this bloke turn to me on the beach and just take my hand without saying a word. He didn't smile, he just looked me in the eyes and squeezed me hand and nodded once. I think it was more about reassurance for himself than for me. I just smiled at him and nodded back, I really wish I had notedhis race number to see how hewent.

The gun going off surprised me a little as I wasn't yet into the water because of all the people, I thought maybe they would wait till people got out to the line. I got on the feet of this woman who was doing the most perfect speed and swimming in an a straight line pretty much from the start. I stopped sighting after a while because she was so dead on course. I am going to assume it was a woman because she had a lovely shade of red polish on her toenails, I resisted the urge to stop her and ask the colour. Unfortunately I lost her at the first turnaround so spent until the next turnaround moving between people trying to find someone else to draft. I got into the last stretch before the canal having not really found someone to draft. I knew I was on for a good swim time when I got to the mouth of the canal at just over 50 minutes and knew I only had to do 800m to the finish.

Swimming up the canal is incredible, there are people on both sides cheering and calling out right next to you! It was a little squashy at the mouth of the canal but I picked up the pace and got into some clear water so didn't draft at all swimming up the canal. I was loving the atmosphere and felt really strong so knew I was going to go under 1:10. I came out of the water in 1:06 and felt great, I sometimes feel a bit dizzy but nothing like that at all.

Into T1 where I had a looooong transition as I was really taking my time to get lots of suncream on. I learnt my lesson well at Hawaii last year about getting burnt and have the scar to prove it. I also choose not to wear a tri suit so got changed into cycling clothes. The transition was huge so there was no way I was going to keep to a 5 min T1, but I wasn't bothered. My bike was right near the pros so I carried my shoes and got out the other side without too much trouble. I had managed to break my Co2 cartridge head so had sent Antoinette on a mad mission to find another one whilst I was in theswim and then hand it to me when I started the bike. The Flying Dutchman had put lovely new tires on my bike so it was unlikely I would puncture but Murphy's Law, if I didn't have anything to fix a flat I would have got one. So Ant passed me a Co2 canister as I went past her 100m from T1 and then out onto the bike course for the 112 miles of fun or 180km!

It was such a beautiful bike course. You head out along the lake on a few ups and downs on these lovely clean smooth roads. There were a lot of people so it was draft central. At one point I was at the back of a group of 24 people going up a hill. I thought the draft busters were very fair, if people looked like they were making an effort not to draft they let it go and just blew a whistle to get people's attention and that generally broke the packs up. I did have 1 guy who would not get off my wheel for ages, I kept looking back at him but he wouldn't budge. I heard the motorbike behind me and still he didn't move and when I looked back again, he was being given a penalty :)

There were a couple of climbs and I wasn't feeling very strong at all. There were a couple of girls who over took me which didn't go down well. I seem to have lost my climbing ability, I obviously forgot to pack it :) The good news is I am much better on the downhill's and flats so was catching the girls and leaving them behind, along with a lot of guys. I never understand why people don't push harder on the downhill's, it is so easy to make up time. I decided to take a kamikaze approach to the hills and put faith in my super grippy new tires (thanks to TFD) and tried not to touch my brakes. I had done a lap of the bike course in a bus on the Saturday so I knew there were only a couple of sharp corners. One I didn't remember and as I was flying down a hill was wondering to myself why they had big crash mats at the bottom of the hill, realisation dawned a split second in time as I realised it was a hairpin turn, I almost scraped the mats as I went round the corner with about an inch to spare :) Rather than slow me down it gave me more confidence so I pushed harder knowing that I had been around the toughest corner. TFD has been tutoring me in not using my brakes on descents. His London bike from his race days is 12 years old and he had never ever changed the brake pads :)

My first bike lap was done in 2:42 and I knew at that point I had been out too hard. It was difficult not to get caught up in the crowds and really cane it. On one of the hills, this guy had set up his DJ decks about 2/3 of the way up. He was ignoring the guys but every time a woman went past he would shout out 'IRON LADY!!'. Totally cracked me up each time. Our names were printed on our race numbers so lots of people would call out 'Supa Carolyn, Supa!' as you went past. I couldn't help but work the crowds, I figure if you are going to be out there you might as well have fun :)

I saw Kat, Geoff and Antoinette on the way down to the first turnaround which got me screaming and hollering like a loon. There were so many people lining the road that they had started to spill onto the road. Lots of signs and balloons and people going crazy. Fantastic atmosphere, makes you feel like you were winning the race rather than just finishing 1 lap of the bike!

Rich caught me on the 2nd lap so we had a chat, I had given myself a talking to and had slowed down slightly. My bike computer wasn't working at all so was working on perceived effort. I was leap frogging between groups using the downhill's to catch the next group. There was still a lot of drafting going on but hey, it wasn't me doing it and really I don't care if other people do it. It is their guilty conscience knowing they are a CHEAT.

It rained really heavily for the lat 30-40 mines of the ride. At one point lightening struck so close to me I actually screamed it scared me so much. The thunderclap after it was deafening. I have never been that close to lightening before, it certainly made me ride a bit faster! It was hard to see but I knew that the last stretch was smooth and straight so I went as hard as I could on the down hill. Coming down that stretch for the 2nd time was a totally different experience. There was absolutely no one out there. Given how crowded and packed it was on the first lap it was almost eerie.

2nd lap was slower in 2:55 but deep down I knew I had over done it. I have never cycled that fast before in training let alone backing it up with a marathon. My total bike time was 5:37 which was 8 mines faster than my plan. I was very determined to go under 11 hours and was feeling great coming off the bike, but wondered how my legs were going to perform. I had got my nutrition bang on target having eaten religiously every 20 mines and consumed 750ml of liquid an hour. My pre race and race nutrition is something I take very seriously and I know exactly how many calories, grams of carbs and mg of sodium I need to consume every hour to maintain consistent output in the race. My friends think I am a tri nerd and I have no idea why :)

T2 was slow but I took my time drying my feet, getting dry socks on and getting Vaseline into the chaffing hot spots. It took a good 7km for me to hit my stride in the marathon (26 miles or 42.2km) on the run but already I was 2 min down on my 1:45 half marathon pace. I started to make it up between 8km and around 15km but the damage had been down and I was losing time. Physically I felt OK but mentally I couldn't pull it together. I pride myself on being very strong mentally and being able to process negative thoughts in a race. In hind sight I hadn't spent enough time mentally preparing because I was so busy in the lead up. I saw Antoinette, Kat and Geoff and stopped for a minute to speak to them at the halfway point. I told them I had a case of the sads and in true tough love style they told me to suck it up and keep running. It worked and I pulled it together enough to keep a consistent pace going. I caught Rich who was walking having just thrown up and walked with him for a little bit. I struggled through the 2nd lap of the part out along the railway line and was freaking myself out knowing that when I hit the 32km mark I had to pick up the pace.

I got back through the crowds to the last turnaround and knew it was now or never and started to push. The rain has stopped and it was heating up but I had been drinking enough and had kept eating every 20 min so knew I could do it. I spotted Stef as I was almost at the last turn around and made him my target. I caught him within about 3km and had to hold it together for another 3km to get home. I couldn't speak to him as I went past, it was taking all of my effort to maintain my pace and form. There were a lot of people fading away at this stage and I kept telling myself to draw strength and push home. I had eaten gel number 20 and what I thought was my last gel at the 37km mark. I almost didn't make it and at the 40km mark all of a sudden my legs were like jelly and I knew I was going to blow or eat another gel. Yummy!! I sucked down half of it and within 2 min was flying again.

I saw Daz who was in the recovery tent which was about a 800m from the finish and he yelled at me to pick it up and get home in under 10:50 so off I went. I flew around the last bit and loved going up the last bit along the lake and into the finishing shoot high five-ing people and waving and smiling. It makes the pain worth it and is just so much fun! I crossed the line in 10:48:40 which is a new personal best for me. I achieved my goal to go under 11 hours and learnt some valuable lessons in plenty of time to fix them before Arizona in November.

Post race massage was excellent, this lovely girl who has seen more of Australia than me spent 45 minutes working on my legs. I think it is why I'm not sore at all :)

I am feeling pretty good today, I lost a little bit of skin off my chest from chaffing but by far the most painful injury is a blister I had from these lovely stiletto sandals I was wearing on the way out to Austria. With all the dirt and grit from the race it has become a little infected. It is so typical of me to have a stiletto related injury rather than a race related one :) I'm back in heels today after cycling into work and will cycle up to Hampstead for tonight's swim session. No rest for the wicked. I had a really good debrief with Terry this morning and we are going to work on mental conditioning to ensure that I am better prepared for Arizona.

So, I now have 2 weeks of easy training and then we hit a strength and conditioning phase and then onto building up my fitness. I realised that I am a lot stronger this year but don't have the fitness I had last year, but I have plenty of time before Arizona to build that up.

What a brilliant day out. Unfortunately my timing chip didn't work so you have to take my word for my splits;
Swim 1:06
T1 9:17
Bike 2:42 1st lap + 2:55 2nd lap total 5:37
T2 7:12
Run 1st half 1:50 + 1:56 2nd half total 3:46
Total time 10:48:40

It placed me 8th in my age group, 42nd woman and 834th overall. Very pleased :) Roll on Arizona!!