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Ironman 70.3 World Championships,
Zell-Am See, Austia |
One week ago, I had the privilege of travelling to one of the most beautiful places I have ever seen, Austria, to compete in the most gruelling race I have ever done, Ironman 70.3 World Championships.
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Transition out of the
swim. |
THE SWIM was in a lake surrounded by the Alps. The locals claim, that the water is so clean, you could dip your cup in and drink straight from the lake. They aren't kidding! The water was gorgeous and it wasn't even cold. Although I was hoping for a non-wetsuit swim (I needed every advantage possible) the race ended up wetsuit legal. My wave began 1 hour and 1 min after the first wave set out. It was an in-water start and there was some pushing on the start line by some of the women attempting to better position themselves for a straighter line through the buoys. The cannon, yes a cannon!, went off and I took off like a shot. Before long I was passing through multiple waves that had left in front of me. My pink cap cutting through the white, black, and gold. As I had hoped, I finished first in my age category in the swim.
I figured this was the only place I would finish in first, as the bike course was intimidating!
THE BIKE was 90.1km. The first 20 km was fantastic. Not too hilly with a nice steady decline allowing for some good speed and false security over the difficulty of the course. At 20km a steady incline began, and in a kilometre or so after that a sign came into view that said 13km. "How could that be?" I said to myself, I'd gone much further than 13km! When I was a little closer to the sign the rest of the wording came into view.....13km to the Summit. Yes, that's right, continuous climbing finishing off with a 2km stretch at a 14% grade! Nothing like riding my bike up the mountain at 9.8km/hr for the last 2km. The climb was so tough that there were many riders that got off their bike and walked up to the Summit! After making it to the top, the next 2 km were just as tough only going down the mountain. The grade was 15% with 2km of hairpin switchbacks. There were actually crash mats set up against the guard rails on the turns, just in case someone lost control; at least this would keep them from going over the mountain. The rest of the ride was up and down through quaint towns, along side a crystal clean river, and through beautiful country side. It really was like riding through a living postcard. I was 7th place on the ride. It was incredibly taxing on me. But as one of my friends laughed afterwards, it wasn't bad for someone who couldn't even ride the bike last summer.
THE RUN was a debacle for me. Thank goodness for the aid stations. At 4km I wanted to stop and walk. It was really hot, 33 degrees Celcius, and my quads were burning from the bike. I decided to make a deal with myself, as we did spend a pretty penny to bring the family to Europe so I could do a race. I needed to finish it, so I said to myself, "just make it to the aid stations, walk them, and run in between". That is exactly what I did. It was the slowest walk ever. I swear I sampled every drink and food offering at each station before running again. I literally walked from the beginning to the end of each station. Women would pass me through the station and I would pass them back in between. For a few days after the event I said to myself and husband, If I'd only toughed it out and not walked the aid stations I would have made the podium! Instead I placed 6th, one spot from the stage. If I look at this objectively, 6th is really good. I was also the fastest North American in my age category, and 11 fastest North American age grouper overall. For my second Ironman event ever, that's not too bad.
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