Ironman Austria 5th July 2009
Headed out to Austria on Thursday the 2nd of July with an intended plan of chilling in the airport, relaxing on the plane and driving down to Klagenfurt in my own rental car. Sadly this wasn’t to be. Devo, Caroline and their 1 year old, Adam arrived in the airport all set for action. I’d already checked in (and got emergency exit seats for myself) and was sipping a coffee in Starbucks listening to my ipod when the call came through. Devo had arrived with a passport which was 3 days out of date…… getting himself a new passport and then traveling down on his Todd was going to be an easier and less expensive option then trying to re organize everything for the whole family so would I help Caroline with Adam? Sure what could I say… and anyway, how hard could it be looking after a 1 year old???
I met Caroline in security, my coffee going cold in starbucks and likely my comfortable armchair by the window already taken. Caroline looked stressed and the kid was covered in drool and (I’m sorry to say) didn’t smell too good. My stress levels started to climb. In the space of just five minutes I found myself pushing a buggy which had tons of things hanging off it… scary things, bottles, bags, nappies etc… and the seat of the thing was covered in what looked suspiciously like mashed food. How could someone live like this? Devo had changed my seats to be sat with Caroline and the Kid… I insisted on sitting in the row in front of them and ended up getting funny looks from the flight crew… I think they though I was Caroline’s husband and Adam was my kid… the air hostess said that I could sit in their row but I told her I was totally fine where I was. She gave me a funny look and then went away and started whispering to the other hostess and pointing at me. Much rolling of eyes followed and the fella hostess gave a little sad shake of his head… In fairness the kid was ok… the usual banging on the back of my chair etc but I leaned back and gave him a few peanuts when Caroline wasn’t looking and he went quiet for a while….. and slightly blue till he started coughing… weird!
Touchdown Vienna, hot as and we picked up the rental – a family wagon of some sort… no GTI golf for my trip. Got the bike boxes installed and set off.. it was hot as – 30 odd degrees and the kid was sweating like you wouldn’t believe. In no time the hollering started. I turned up the radio as loud as it would go but incredibly the crying still was piercing my skull… amazing set of lungs on the little fella. In no time at all – like 25 minutes, it was time to stop for a feed. No, crisps would not be ok for him… I was only asking! When we finally arrived I was in a state but once I dropped off the terrible twosome, I was able to check into my apartment and start to unwind.
I built up the bike which was looking fantastic and when I finished I started work on Devo’s bike – opened up the box and witnessed a shocking case of ‘I don’t care’ as he had just thrown it in there. The one thing that concerned me re the bike was the decision to run with Tubs. I was really worried about puncture but with one spare on my bike and a can of emergence repair gunk I thought I should be ok. Also, although I only averaged 31 kph in the end – there were long periods of very fast bike where my speed was over 40 kph and I have no doubt that the zipps were the right choice for this reason.
We had gone out with Nirvana Europe and at first I was disappointed that the place we were staying was a) so far from the Ironman city and b) so quiet… however I was wrong on both counts – too much time spent in IM city and the stress levels start to go up as you see very fit and fast people wandering about pushing some of the most expensive bikes on the planet…. Also the quiet was needed to get in good quality sleep. Devo arrived late Thursday night and I was off the hook re helping with the kid.
Friday morning Nirvana ran a briefing for their clients – this was excellent and in fairness they looked after pretty much everything for us. We headed on their bus to IM city and got registered and sorted out. We then went for a swim in the amazing lake – lovely clean clear water and nice and warm… memories from Valentia faded completely! Friday night was pasta packing night in the big tent – they brought in flags from every country that had an athlete competing (but they forgot Greece… sorry alexis!). Tension was building but at the same time it was very exciting and the competitors were all super friendly. Saturday was bike racking day – and packing and hanging the T bags… it started raining while we were doing this and the numbers started coming off the bags… I basically nearly lost it but the IM staff were great and sorted things with markers etc… still, I realized how nervous I was at this stage….
Managed to get a decent nights kip on Saturday night and was up at 0400hrs pacing about the apartment and running through the checklist in my head over and over. The bikes and T1&2 bags were racked and hung in transition the night before but I was worried that I had put my run gear in my bike bag and vice versa (no need to worry).
Down for a light breakfast ensuring there was no trace of fiber… I had been warned that this could have nasty side effects later in the day! Usual pre race nerves were now in full effect but magnified 1000 times. Fergus Barry will know what this means. Onto the bus and off we went to the Ironman City. Much checking of the bike, pumping up tires etc… and what with the sound system pumping, the heli flying over head and the huge hot air balloon getting ready for take off and the nerves were pumped! There was much emotion on the start line but I tried to do what I had been told to do… stay calm, don’t get carried away with the emotion and relax.
Bang – start at 0700hrs. I was at the front and to the left for the start – I hit the water and swam hard for 100 meters and then just tried to hold back and relax. It was fine! The water was lovely and I was getting nice drafts off other swimmers. In fact – it was one of the most relaxed swims I’ve done in a race. I had been warned about people grabbing onto my shoulder and using me as something to pull/push off…. So I tried this out on some other swimmers and it works really well.. one warning, you need to swim hard away from them and if they manage to catch your ankle you could end up getting punched.
Got out of the water in 1hr 12 min and felt great – id swam easy enough and saved myself for the bike and run. Plan re eating was I wouldn’t. I was going to stick to the fluids and gels. 400mls energy drink, 200mls H2O and 1 salt tab per hour. I didn’t take anything on board for the first 30 minutes on the bike and just tried to get the HR down to 135. I planned to hold at this for the full 180km and managed it pretty well – it climbed on the hills. The road was very fast and smooth; I actually really enjoyed the whole bike although it was getting very hot. I was dumping water over my head at every chance I got. By the time 180km was up I’d had a really nice ride, and no puncture or mech failure. It was a huge relief to park the bike and know that it was just a matter of me and my legs from here on in. Started running and felt completely fine. I planned to hold back until 30 km but this soon wasn’t an issue as the 30 + degree heat started to kick in…. the deal I had made with myself was that I would run the marathon and only walk the aid stations. I was stuffing sponges into my top at every opportunity I got… it was so so so hot…. After the first turn around (7km) it was 10km up to Klagenfurt city where we turned around again, did a 10km down to the first turn around, then back up to Klagenfurt city one last time and then home to IM city… it was demoralizing thinking about having to do this loop twice but I just concentrated on getting 10km done… it was getting hotter and I was worried about overheating but thankfully some of the Austrian’s were out in their front Gardens hosing us down… this was super! I saw Devo before the 7km mark and he gave me a big shout!! When I saw him again at 16km it was a different story…. I was slow for most of the next 25km but around 5km to go I realized that if I could dig in, run hard and push to the end I would get in under 12 hours. I saw Alexis running out to Klagenfurt City on his last lap and he told me to go for it…. Id hit the flat coke since the half marathon point and it was giving me a nice lift so I managed to pick up the pace and run…. The support was great and I was passing people all the time now. It was however hurting… 2 km to go and I knew I was going to make it! Delighted I started to really enjoy myself and the last 200 meters into the finish were immense… I crossed the line and there was Devo waiting – he came in 12 mins ahead of me! The time on the clock was 11hrs 51min and 40 seconds… it was a long day but I have to say now, it was worth all the pain and training. I loved every minute of it…. The only problem is what next???
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