From Ironman 70.3 Zell Am See, Austria on Sunday the 1st of September to the tough Half Ironman at Gerardmer, France on Saturday the 6th of September 

Day 1 MONDAY

Usually I sleep quite well after a race but this time I didn't sleep much at all and woke up with some very sore legs and an extremely sore foot (from the injury I have been dealing with for some time). Packed up had breakfast which was a great hotel buffet breakfast (with lots of eggs) and headed off on my 8 hour drive back to Leysin. The journey actually took a total of 10 hours with a lunch stop and a lot of traffic. I wore some Compressport compression socks and For Quads for the whole drive and used my Firefly devices any time I was stopped or in traffic and when I got back home. I arrived in Leysin late in the evening, had a light dinner, got a fairly early night and slept really well.

Day 2 TUESDAY

When the alarm went off at 6.45 I really didn’t want to get up but I dragged myself out of bed and headed to the pool for the  usual 7.30 swim start.  I swam for just over an hour with a few sprints to loosen up the body.  My legs are not as stiff and sore as yesterday but they are still much more painful than usual after a race though this time it’s just muscle soreness which is much better than the muscle fatigue you  sometimes feel after an Ironman. I set up the bike that I will be racing on at the weekend (a road bike) and headed off for a short bike session to see how the feel on the bike. My legs felt a little sore and tired then in the evening I went for an easy recovery ride to spin the legs out and got another early night.

Day 3 WEDNESDAY

Up for swimming as usual this time around 4k of mostly 400’s then out on the bike around one of our regular loops from Leysin which is around 3 hours and has a few decent climbs. I rode easy, my legs didn’t feel too bad but I didn’t want to test them too much. There is still a lot of muscle soreness so just getting up the climbs was enough for them. In the afternoon I went for a 30 minute water run (I run in the shallow end of the pool with shoes on). This didn’t feel  great, my calves ached and my quads were screaming with fatigue but this eased a little and in the evening I went for a massage which really helped.  Right now I am wondering how I am going to do a tough half ironman at the weekend!

Day 4 Thursday

Last night was a really bad night, I woke up with bad stomach cramps and feeling very sick. I went to swimming as usual hoping I would feel OK but this didn’t help and I had to get out after a very short time in the water. I was going to do a water run before heading to Gerardmer but fell asleep instead and when I woke it was time to get on the road. I think my sleep helped as I felt a little better on the drive. I arrived early evening, didn’t make it out for dinner as I didn’t feel like eating so had and Ignite Naturals shake instead and went to bed but again didn’t sleep well.

Day 5 Friday

Pre-race day suffering a little with the same symptoms as yesterday but managed to eat a decent breakfast and went to the expo to pick up a few gels for the race. Spoke to the Sailfish Wetsuits guys who recognised me from Ironman Zell am See and lent me a wetsuit for the race as I haven’t been feeling comfortable in my own wetsuit lately.  I did a short bike and swim, my legs are actually feeling ok but I am still wondering whether I will be able to start tomorrow as I’m am having a lot of problems with my stomach and don’t seem to be keeping much nutrition in me. Fingers crossed I’ll be on the startline tomorrow. I managed to eat normally at dinner which is a good sign.

Day 6 Saturday (race day)

Woke up feeling the same as I have for the past two days so wasn’t feeling very up for racing. Went to breakfast and managed 2 scrambled eggs a black coffee and a cup of tea.  Had a lay down after breakfast which helped me to feel a little better. Started to feel a better on the way to the swim start.

RACE

Swim- a battering session at the start to first bouy, found feet but lost them when I got dunked by another female athlete.  The trial Sailfish Attack wetsuit felt pretty good!

Bike- it felt like the whole world was coming past on the first lap, I kept trucking on by myself. Alexandra Louison (and a friend of hers, a man who she seemed to be biking with for the whole race) came past me at the start of the second lap, I bike with her for a while and tried to get away a few times but her and her friend just kept catching back up so it was wasted effort for me. It began to rain on one of the last climbs of the last lap and it seemed to revitilise me. I got a gap, passed another girl and got to transition in 3rd.

Run – I began running at my normal pace and was instantly catching the leaders. Before the end of lap 2 I had the lead and soon after the wheels came off and I was struggling to keep it going. I pushed but had nothing, Louison passed me near the end and Tamsin sprinted to catch me right on the line… we have the same chip time but she got 2nd.  Very frustrating for me as running is usually my strength and today it’s where I lost the race. Feeling quite disappointed but I guess after the week I have had its not that bad. 


NEXT

Gerardmer was my last race in Europe for this season. The plan is to pack up in Leysin, drive back home to Ireland (where I will finally get my TT bike which has kindly been built up by Wheelworx bike shop) and go out to Cozumel to train hard on the swim and bike while my foot injury recovers. I have been told to bring 2 pairs of bike shoes because I will be biking so much I will need them!! 

It was late on the Wednesday evening when the thought of racing at the weekend popped in to my head. Without much thought I entered Ironman 70.3 Salzburg at Zell Am See. I had no idea how far away it was or how I would get there and I didn’t know anything about the course but once I had entered I felt really relaxed about it all and was excited to be racing.  It was totally unplanned, just over two weeks after Embrunman and I had done no real run training since late July so I was happy to go with the flow and see how things would play out on the day.

I checked the course profile and it looked fairly flat which is not my usual type of race course but I saw it was a different type of challenge and a nice change. Ritchie kindly lent me his Cervelo P3 Time Trial bike for the race. I hadn’t ridden it before but I managed to set it up in a fairly comfortable position and of course I put my own green bar tape on it. I took it for a spin the day before the race and it felt good. For some reason I couldn’t shift from the small ring to the big ring and after a long time with the mechanics trying to fix I decided that I would just keep it in the big ring for the entire race.

Zell am See is a really beautiful area and a great place to have a race but considering that the lake was surrounded by mountains on all sides it seemed strange that the bike course was completely flat. At the time I was wishing that they would take us in to the mountains on the bike but I guess it’s good to test yourself on different types of bike courses and with the weather we got on race day it was definitely better to be on a flat course. It was a lovely surprise to hear that the race didn’t start until 10am. Considering that my last race started at 5.50 am in complete darkness the late start was a real treat. It meant a nice lay in and breakfast at a normal time before heading to the race start.

The swim was fine for me, nothing special but I just did what I could and came out of the water in about 6th or 7th position.  When we exited the water it was raining heavily and as I ran through transition I was thinking about the arm warmers  I had in my transition bag but for some reason I decided not to put them on.  I was regretting that decision at some points in the race as it didn’t stop raining and was quite cold but I stayed focused on the job which seemed to keep me a little warmer. The start of the course had a lot of corners through some smaller streets and it was very slippy. I saw a couple of people fall so decided to play it safe on the corners and not take any risks. I biked most of the first lap fairly steadily then pushed on for the second lap. Although I’m not used to riding flat courses like this but I actually enjoyed it even in the rain. I got to transition with a fairly decent bike split and in 4th position just over 3 minutes from the lead although I had no clue what position I was in or what the time gaps were at that time.

So on to the run which would be an unknown for me as my run training leading in to the race and in fact since late July has been pretty much non-existent due to a foot injury. I started at what I thought was a fairly strong pace and though I didn’t feel great my legs felt quite strong. There were a few turn  points where you spot other competitors and I could see that 3rd wasn’t too far away so I had my first target in sight (Rahel Kung the super swimmer who held on to take a brilliant 4th). Then I moved up to second but there was no sign of 1st. No time gaps, no one telling me where the leader was or that I might be able to catch her so I presumed that she must have been way out in front and that I was probably running for a comfortable 2nd place. I thought I heard someone shout 5 minutes as I started my 2nd lap and that didn’t really fill me with confidence.  I kept running and looking for the lead bike of the first lady but it was nowhere to be seen. I knew it had to be one of 2 girls either Sam Warriner or Eva Wutti, (the Austrian who recently became the 3rd fastest lady ever over the iron distance in 8h73).  As I was starting my last lap someone shouted 2 minutes you can catch her and instantly the chase was on. I have never pushed like that in a race before. All I could think was run as hard as you can and see where it gets you. So I literally gritted my teeth and pushed on as hard as I could. Then suddenly I could see the lead bike in front of me it was still pretty far away but I could see it and it was getting closer and closer. At the furthest turn point I could see I had gained a lot of time in just 3k and I thought I might be able to do it if I could keep that going. I dug deep forgetting about anything but catching the girl in blue just ahead of me. I was breathing so hard and talking to myself that I’m sure I frightened a few people on the course and with 2k to go I took the lead from Eva Wutti. I didn’t want to look back, I just kept running to the line and it was quite a relief to cross it. (I must apologise to the English man who I quite forcefully shoulder barged just after I took the lead… Sorry!!)


So it seems that the terrible weather was a great for the Irish as Gavin Noble won the men’s race in his first ever 70.3. It was great to see him on the run and it was something that helped give me that extra push I needed at the end when things were getting tough.  My last minute random decision turned out to be a good one and I am really glad I raced in Austria last weekend.

After the 10hr trip back to Leysin on Monday I had 2 days of training and then packed up the car again to head to my next race in France which is on Saturday. Two races in one week is not something I have done before so it will be interesting to see how things go over the tough course at Geraradmer Triathlon this weekend!