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Ironman Austria 2014
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http://www.runnersworld.co.uk/forum/triathlon/psof-10th-anniversary-champs/276786-9.html
Thanks seren - any chance you could share the link?
HC, glad everything is OK now, I think I would have been the same if Mrs SA's bike was still there
Just for the record as well Dan Halksworth is a top bloke, meet him for the first time 2 days before IM Wales and when he lapped me on the bike, he actually took a couple of minutes out of his race to ask how I was doing
HC - you must have been so worried, glad to hear you're both ok now.
I supported in the park until my sister finished in just over 15 hrs, I didn't have much voice left at the end and even in my sleep I'm sure I was still wafting those clappers around!
Congratulations all of you ....you all did brilliantly and I've now signed up for next year.
FOREWORD
Written at work with body fixed but brain still zonked, here’s my IMA 2014 race report. Punched out, not re-read or checked for grammatical accuracy, I apologise in advance if this reads incoherently or void of anything interesting.
PREAMBLE
The first hurdle for Ironman Austria 2014 was overcoming the repetitive strain injury sustained by my index finger in June 2013, after hammering the ‘refresh’ button on internet explorer as I waited for registration to open.
Deal concluded in seconds, I was signed up with four other mates. One of whom would later withdraw because of work commitments.
This would be my third 140.6, my second Ironman. I was most excited about the prospect of all the free-speed I had heard could be had on the quick bike course but a little daunted by previous race reports which told of searing heat (39C two years ago) and in turn the prospect of a non-wetsuit swim.
My unstructured training was kindly underpinned by an outing to Challenge Laguna Phuket (formerly IM 70.3) in December 2013 and I was confident I had what it took to better my previous long-distance efforts of 12:47 hours (Florida 2011) and 13:16 hours (Outlaw 2012). A new bike and a little bit of weight loss should also help.
GETTING THERE
2014 was the year Ryanair stopped their direct flights from Stansted (my local airport) to Klagenfurt. B*gger.
We elected to fly Sleazyjet to Munich and although it would have need nice to rent a camper van and stay on the campsite adjacent to the start line, the costs were surprisingly high. Instead we rented a car and an apartment on the outskirts of town.
The French ATC strike was called off 12 hours before we flew, which was a great relief. Less than 2 hours to Munich and a simple 4 hour onward drive in the dark to Klaggers, we arrived late on Thursday.
FIRST IMPRESSIONS
WOW! Klagenfurt and the Karnten region of Austria is mind-blowingly beautiful. Helped by the enchanting rich blue colour of lake Worthesee (which hosts the swim), the alpine backdrop and rich green landscape that surround it are just phenomenal. I have travelled a fair bit and I would comfortably say this is one of the prettiest parts of the World I have ever seen.
PRE-RACE
On Friday we went and registered, a slick process at a modest (by the Yanks standards) expo and then took to the bikes for a little spin around the first second of the bike course. Yes, it’s quick. The roads are wide, mainly smooth surfaced and there are very few technical descents or turns.
On Saturday we jumped in lake Worthesee which despite another hundred or so athletes getting in some pre-race practice, was a serene experience. The fresh water is clear and tasteless (the salt in sea swims being a real annoyance since I tend to suck in as much water as air when I breathe). I decided then that I will one day return to swim the length of Worthesee.
After the swim, we jumped in our hire car and drove the whole bike course, which we’d also been lucky enough to see from the air when we took to the sky in a light aircraft for a 45 minute tour on the Friday. If only the route was a flat as seen from the sky. There are three main bumps in the route (which is two loops so you hit all three twice) and unless you trained in Suffolk, as I did, they’re pretty inconsequential. Over and done within minutes, the payback for the climbs are miles and miles (and miles!) of gentle descent where you really can pump up an impressive average speed.
Saturday evening, bikes racked. Pasta thrown down gullet. Three hours sleep (yawn).
RACE MORNING
Up, in car, at transition an hour before race. Tyres pumped. Wettie on. Down to start just before 6:45AM start where the first pre-registered wave of 800 are set off. I am in that smaller pack, thankfully.
THE SWIM
It’s a dry start. Maybe I didn’t get there early enough but it didn’t appear that anyone had been allowed in the water to warm up. I’d like to get goggles clear, stretch arms and make sure my earplugs aren’t going to leak and let my brains fall out but I’m denied that opportunity.
The pros are announced and, with German efficiency, the cannon sets us of at 6:45AM. There’s the usual bun fight for space but twenty minutes in my only distraction is a few zig-zaggers and by contrast to both Florida and Outlaw, the swim in not as fraught.
We swim out 1,400m (ish), turn 90 degrees left for another 300m before pointing ourselves back towards the bank of the lake directly into the sunshine. Sighting is not straightforward but establishing where the entrance to the canal is by the silhouette of the treeline helped. The final few hundred metres in the canal is dirtier and shallower and distressingly, the white caps of the second main wave (set off 15 minutes after my wave) start passing me. That said, it doesn’t take long to reach the swim exit at the funky looking Seepark Hotel and as I haul my @rse out of the water, I check my watch and see it’s taken me 1:07:55 . A nice surprise for a swim in which I didn’t push myself.
THE BIKE
It’s a quick course. It’s 25 miles before you see any form of notable incline and I’m rolling along nicely. After an hour I start being passed by people and bikes that just shouldn’t be quicker. I check my speed and it’s a few digits below what I’d expect. The usual “what’s going wrong” question starts rolling around in my head and after going through a few motions, I apply more weight over my front wheel and get feedback from bouncing on my front tyre. I realise it’s not fully inflated. I’m sure I pumped it up to 120psi before the race. Did I (?) or is this a slow puncture (the only other, frustrating alternative).
I have two inner tubes and three C
RUN
During pre-race over thinking, hero here has decided he can go sub-11. That would now require me to match my stand alone Marathon PB of 3:54. I start plodding, sub-9 minute miles for first three. Achilles still hurts. I see support crew, rub on some Tiger Balm, plod some more and after 5 miles realise my guts aren’t playing ball, again (Outlaw Marathon destroyed by explosive @rse from get-go, for full 26.2 miles!). Inexplicably my stomach is cramping. Thankfully this time no ‘evacuations’ but it’s gruesomely painful at times and tough to take in any fluid or food.
Keep legs turning and enjoy the great support clustered at the centre of a double out and back loop (imagine starting at centre of bow on shoelace and following loop to left and back, right and back, then going again). There is a foray into Klagenfurt town centre (right loop) where there more good support and some nice scenery on the stretch by the lake (left loop).
My stomach pain and inability to take much on board hampers me significantly between miles 10-20, with the longest stretch of walking being nearly 3 miles worth. The sun had returned for much of my ‘run’ and it was comfortably mid to high 20s. That didn’t help much either, I’m sure but as the finish line draws closer and the limited amount of iso drink, coke and orange segments finally provide me with some energy and the stomach pains ease and finally go away, I manage to muster another good period of running and with the “Go Pirate!” cheers coming from an increasing number of supporters and other forum members out on the course, I manage to bring the Marathon with a final hour of running, in a total time of 4:44:40.
Lumping in two uneventful transitions I finished in 11:46 hours on the nose.
SUMMARY
Amazingly beautiful part of the World.
By far the best of the three 140.6s I’ve raced.
Comfortably the most ‘giving’ century+ ride I’ve ever taken part in.
Excellently run and supported.
Finishing sub-12 was the target (tick). Finishing sub-11 was a pissabolity in ideal conditions (fail).
Would I love to be there next year having another crack as part of the PSOF, yes.
Am I going to be there next year racing in the black n yella … damn sure I am!
Great reports all...
..and a huge cheer for Dan Halksworth... what a star!
wheres the rest of the bike report ...
This isn't going to work so well but stitching in final bit of bike report....
I have two inner tubes and three CO2 canisters to last me 112 miles. Half a canister is used reflating tyre before I hop back on and begin my period of puncture/DNF paranoia. By mile 38 I’m convinced the pressure is still leaking away and so I’m off again to check. I’m right. Damn it! Tyre off, tube out, new tube in, another canister used. Now down to one of each. I’ve never had this problem before during a race. I’ve never DNF’d. I’m in good shape to smash the bike but I’ve already lost 8 minutes and I may not even make it to T2…
The rest of the first lap is spent trying to recover some of my lost time. I hit the turn point for the second lap, see thousands of spectators, including female support team and the confidence returns.
The second lap is tempered by the weather changing from sunny at 25-30’C to overcast with occasional downpours of rain making the roads slippery. The legs start to burn a bit on the few sections of climbing and the odd issue of pain in my Achilles when cycling (yet not when exclusively running) becomes more obvious.
Nonetheless, I’m off bike and back in transition in 5:42:08.
Great report Robbie. We did give you a shout on the run as you flew past a couple of times. Sorry we weren't there a bit more for you all. It was an emotional day.
My this threads gone quiet, after a years training I'm at a bit of a loss to know what to do now
. Another IM? maybe.
How far did everybody else make the swim? My 910 made it 2.59 but I was zig sagging about a bit trying to find the canal
Mine was long too Farm Boy but mostly because my sighting was rotten. The swim time was about where I expected it to be (maybe a couple of mins slower) so I don't think it was that far out
Farm Boy ... last couple of hundred place left for the inaugural Ironman Barcelona (formerly Challenge Barcelona). There's a live thread. The race is in early October and a few pirates are heading out there.
The notable perks:
(a) you are "race ready"
(b) being the first event as IM, it's slightly cheaper
(c) return flights from the UK are less than £100. StanstedGirona for the OH @ £70 + LutonBarca £90 for me (both returns)
&
(d) the race accommodation, on top of start line, is between £90-£150 for three nights.
Basically you have no excuses.
I sold it as "a weekend away in Barcelona". Adding later the caveat of 12+ hours of support and the fact it's in Calella (70KM north of Barca).
Either way, the beach will be sandy and the booze alcoholic.
Buena suerte!
Finally back, recovered and reminiscing. Just the most stunning location for a race!
Really nice to meet Happy Chap, Toucs, Troggs and Robbie. It was definitely too hot for a chubby Scot!
I knew something had gone wrong with Toucs race but that must have been a horrible experience. Dan is now my favourite pro! Glad everyone is well in the end.
Dan was fab, I may have taken to stalking him through social media (oops)
Pugs, what do you have lined up next? No plans to return next year?
I’ve been waiting for inspiration to strike to produce a witty and interesting race report but it’s just not going to happen so you’ll have to make do with the following.
Preamble
The plan for IM Austria wasn’t to break any records but merely to stand on the start line better prepared than I’d been for any of my previous IM attempts. To be honest, that shouldn’t have been too much of a challenge. However, despite the best intentions when I signed up, as usual, I struggled to actually motivate myself to get out and do the work. I managed a few longish rides, one century and a few 60-80 milers plus lots of shorter sessions but very few significantly hilly rides. I’d also suffered through a weekly spin session pretty much every week since September. My running started from an all time low and never got much better. A succession of minor injuries made me slightly paranoid about damaging myself and resulted in my longest run being about 10k. I did put in a 15 mile walk though, just as a precaution! The only thing I was happy with was my swimming which is, in my opinion, the easiest part of any triathlon.
The journey to Klaggenfurt was stress free given that my bike was being transported by road by Happychap and Toucs. Heathrow to Vienna then a quick change for the short leg to Klaggers. The hotel was very conveniently situated just across the road from the race village, lake and finish line. Wednesday dawned grey and drizzly so I decided not to tempt fate by riding part of the course and just went off for a bit of a walk instead. On return found Happychap and Toucs in the hotel bar after driving around the course. Their report of ‘OMG far more hills than expected, particularly on the way out to the first loop and the Rupertiberg had us in hysterics’ was just what I didn’t need to hear and almost had me packing my bags.
Didn’t stop me registering for next year on the Friday though.
Swim.
Not too keen on the washing machine effect so as usual started towards the far right and took my time getting into the water and off we went. For a long while it felt like I was going nowhere largely because I thought that the person in a fluorescent jacket who I could see every time I breathed to my right was standing on the pontoon: he wasn’t, he was standing on a paddle board. By the time I worked this out I was pretty much at the first turn buoy which was a bit of a scrum with people just stopping and treading water waiting for a space to get around it. Never felt really relaxed but the rest of the swim was fairly uneventful except that I, along with many others, headed for the wrong set of boat masts to get to the canal entrance and ended too far over to the right. Shortly before reaching the canal my chip slipped out from under the leg of my wettie and was flapping around on my ankle so I used that as an excuse for a quick breather while I tightened it up a bit. The canal was an interesting mix of excellent drafting and frustration as there wasn’t a huge amount of space to pass people. Finally hung right towards the exit, was hauled out of the water and jogged off towards transition.
1:19:24 - slightly disappointing
T1
Actually, that’s not hugely accurate. I might have jogged for 50 yards before remembering that today was an exercise in energy conservation and slowing to a brisk walk. Grabbed bag, into change tent, not much space. Managed to get wettie off without falling over, dry feet, socks and shoes on, cycle top on, helmet and gloves on, pockets stuffed, wettie etc into bag, dump bag in drop zone. Quick visit to portaloo just for good measure, brisk walk to bike and exit.
Thought I’d been quite speedy. Apparently not.
16:06 – must learn how to run in bike shoes
Bike
Ooh, lovely smooth roads. But remind myself that I’m not iron fit and energy management is the order of the day. Settled into a comfortable pace as the first of about 600 hundred crap swimmers started passing me, some on bikes which sound like they’re about to fall apart or haven’t been lubed for months.
Some undulations but nothing too worrying and I remember that Happychap is prone to exaggeration. Onto the western loop waiting for the first feature hill which came and went and wasn’t too bad and was followed by a nice bit of down and a nasty little stretch of upflat. Joined for a while by Farm Boy who apparently had taken 30 miles to realise his rear brake was rubbing before stopping to sort it out. We had a bit of a chat before he realised how slowly I was going and off he went.
Started to wonder how long before Toucs would pass me up. More fairly gentle ups and nice sweeping downs, onto the eastern loop and eventually spotted the little sign which warns that you are about to meet Evil Rupert. Through a couple of nasty little uphill bends, look up and see a ribbon of road disappearing up into the trees some way ahead. Keep spinning and up we go. Reach the top, phew. Through the trees and OMG another steeper looking section ahead fortunately preceded by a short slightly downhill bit to catch your breath. Start climbing again and realise that the mobile disco towards the top of the climb is blasting out one of the favourites from the spin shed; great. Couldn’t get onto the beat though. Finally reach the top and it’s pretty much downhill from there. Except for the little climb through a feed station; who thought that was a good idea?
Still no Toucs; hope he’s made it out of the swim. Finally see the turnaround ahead. Hooray! Half way and feeling okay. 200m down the road my brain registered the music which was playing at the turnaround. ‘Let’s go round again ….’ Good grief!.
Brief stop at special needs station to top up nutrition and off I went for lap 2. Target was to ride as far as the Evil Rupert and then take a walk if necessary. Crossed paths with Pugsley on the out and back bit between the loops and exchanged ‘Arrrghs’ which seemed to amuse the spectators. Still no Toucs which likely meant he’d either not made it out of the swim or had a major mechanical. Short rain shower was quite refreshing but the wind seemed to have picked up a bit. Not that it was very strong and mostly from the side. Keep pedalling. Happychap should catch me soon though, as long as her back, which has been in major spasm for the past few days, isn’t giving her too much gip. Keep pedalling. Finally reached Rupert and surprisingly still feeling ok so set myself little targets. Pedal the first section and walk the worst of the second. Passed a few people walking, dug in and kept spinning. Little breather on the flatter bit and onto stage two. Pedal to that bend. Good, keep pedalling. Wonder if can actually make it to the top. Ooh, yes, it seems I can. Maybe all those sessions in the spin shed were actually worth the pain.
By this time I had expected Happychap to have caught me cos, even though she’s a crap swimmer, she is a bit of a demon on the bike. Mentally cross fingers that she’s not had to withdraw as well. Started to feel a bit weary over the last few miles through the outskirts of Klaggenfurt but finally reach the end and mange to dismount without falling over.
7:47:18 – crap cyclist
T2
Rack bike, waddle, deep breath and hold, visit portaloo, breathe, waddle to bag racks. Not many there so should be easy to find mine. Hang on. IT’S NOT THERE!! Double check the few bags still hanging there. Nope. Check numbers on the end of the rack to make sure I’m in the right place. Yes. Look again. It’s definitely not there. Shit.
Someone emerges from the change tent heading towards the racks clutching a bag and I can see my number on it. Sorry she says. She’s number 1084, I’m 1074. Panic over. Into tent where this time there’s plenty of space. Sit down and take a deep breath. Brain is telling me it’s had enough now. Shut up brain. Change shoes, switch cycle shirt for monaco, visor on, take a quick drink and head for the ‘run’
14:00 – needed a rest
Run
My watch was preset to a 3:1 run/walk which, before the event, I thought I’d be able to maintain even given my lack of run training. That delusion lasted about 5 minutes. Kept walking while I changed the setting to 2:1. Nope, can’t even manage that so turned off the run/walk setting just walked. Through the park thinking I’d get a boost from Happychap and Toucs who were bound to be on the lookout by the hotel. Passed the hotel and not a sign of them. Cue a mix of uncharitable thoughts and hoping they were both still in one piece and keep on walking.
First feed station, lovely refreshing watermelon and some coke. Keep walking and start trying to calculate what pace I need to maintain to beat the cut off. Faster than I’m going at the moment; brain to legs, ‘run’. Legs to brain, ‘fur cough’. Keep walking. Next feed station, perhaps something savoury. Take a small, salty looking cracker, take a bite and wish I hadn’t as it instantly absorbs every molecule of moisture in my mouth. Slurp water and keep walking. There’s a pirate ‘arrgh, Pugsley’, brief chat, go pirate. Keep walking. Greet pirates, chat to other walkers. Finally reach the turn around, check time and decide it’s time to try to speed up a bit. Try 30s/30s run/walk; that works so stick with it. Reach the hotel and hear a shout. Relieved to see Happychap and have a brief shouty exchange to hear brief version of her story. (Last member of team Run to Live so now I have to keep going). Counting repeatedly to 30 kept my mind occupied and eventually I reach the town centre. Around the square and back we go again. Half way and time is looking better. The run/walk strategy had improved average pace from over 16:30 m/m to a more acceptable 15:15m/m which meant I should finish within the cut off, as long as I could keep it going.
Slow and steady out to the far end of the course, round the loop and head back towards town again. Then it started to rain, light and refreshing at first, then proper wet rain. Turned down the offer of a poncho by one of the water stations on the way into town ‘cos I was still feeling quite warm but about half a mile further on, as the rain got heavier and the thunder started rolling around overhead, I wish I’d taken it. Fortunately, in anticipation of maybe feeling cold as I got tired towards the end of the day, I;d tucked a buff and armwarmers into the pocket of my monaco so I put these on which improved things slightly. Shortly after going through the town centre for the final time my brain rebelled and said enough and I physically came to a standstill. No point standing in the rain so started walking again and was joined by a cheery Irish volunteer who escorted me along to the last feed station where I stopped briefly to pick up a poncho even though I was wetter than I’d been when I got out of the lake and trudged onwards. Finally back through the park and the turn along the lakeside towards the finish. Tore myself out of the poncho and dumped it before summoning up just enough energy to jog down the red carpet.
6:37:45 – I’ve been slower!
And all that added up to 16:15:30 which was about 40 minutes quicker than I was expecting