Starting afresh...

I feel like I need something else to do, what with family, work, study, coaching, training, DIY, so I thought I'd start up my blog again and make a conscious effort to try and get something down each week ;o)

Firstly, I think will do a report on my latest IM and that was once again in Austria (man, I love that place...) a few weeks ago.

Training and preparation had gone pretty well compared to previous years, OK, I picked up a few niggles throughout the year, I mean who doesn't and I was also training more consistently - I'd put this down to:

1. My daughter being a bit older and sleeping better
and
2. Making a conscious effort in trying to eat more naturally - i.e. Paleo (ish..). I will talk about this in another post as I feel that it is very interesting seeing as I have recently qualified in Sports Nutrition.

This year we decided to drive down to Austria as we wanted to stop at Eurodisney on the way back to surprise my daughter - what a drive that was!! Driving on the A8 going towards Stuttgart at night is something else.... Lets just say I am a fairly confident driver but some of the speeds these guys were going, I had to change my pants after!!!!

We got to the hotel Plattenwirt about 5.30 and settled in pretty quick. I was fairly tired and the medial side of my left knee was a bit sore from all the driving but all I wanted to do was get out and onto my bike! Finally got out for a 30min spin about 7ish and took it nice and easy and then realised that there was a triathlon going on - should have seen the peletons of riders going round, it was spectacular... Even more spectacular though, was seeing the group of Spanish (I think?) Ironmen going past and leading them was a guy on what must have been a £10k+ bike!! It was a Specialized Shiv, Shimano Di2, Zipp disc and a Hed3 front and also a gucci TT lid to boot!!! He did have bit of a stomach on him (not that is necessarily a bad thing ;o)) so it would have interesting to see how he got on?

Next few days went pretty quickly, what with registration, looking round the expo and spending a bit of time at the lake and also Claire taking part in her first competitve race - the 'Irongirl'.... She did really well and came 153rd out of 250 something :o) She set off like she was in a sprint and was almost up with the leaders at the start - I think she suffered for it later though...

Race day:

Early breakfast at about 4ish - loads of bread and jam and a couple of coffees. Had to take all my gear with me as I didnt want to wake the support crew. Almost trod on Warren who was sleeping on the floor just by the door!
Got to transition relatively early and it was already buzzing with anticipation. Checked the bike over - fine. Checked the bags over - fine. Good to go :o) I just couldn't believe the amount of carbon there was in transition - I had BMC next to me and then a P4 beside that!! There must have been around £60k's worth of bikes in my section alone!!
Did the normal loo stops and got into the Strandbad. Met up with Mark and Kathi, Mark looking decidedly calm whilst Kathi looked knackered!! Bless her, she got stuck in traffic coming over from Switzerland on the Saturday after only get in at 3.30am and then she had to get up early today as well...
I thought that the support crew weren't going to make it on time but they did and I was really pleased to see them :o) Got ready and gave Maddy and Claire a big kiss and hug and I was off into the breach once again...
Still undecided as to where I was going to stand and I heard that the slower swimmers were going to be in left pen and the faster ones on the right - not sure if this was true? So, as my swimming had been going really well and was looking to be out of the water in 65 minutes I went for near the front of the slower group.

Swim:

Starting position was mistake no1 for the day. I got bashed, legs were grabbed, couldn't get into any real rhythm to start with - this went on for a good 1000m!!! Also had a problem with my timing chip, it felt like it was starting to slip off!! All I wanted to do was to stop and check it but if I did, I am sure that I would have been swam over by the masses... I finally got some free water and managed to get into bit of a rhythm but this soon came to an end at the first buoy! I always seem to question myself as to why I do this when I am in the swim. I have never truly been comfortable in the water and with everybody bashing into you and seemingly all swimming in the same space as you, I do tend to panic. I try to relax and not let it worry me but it still does - that was IM number 4 and I still get it, I guess it is something I have to live with if I want to carry on in this crazy sport...
The timing chip issue was still worrying me, so I stopped just after the buoy to check but I couldn't see it properly as there were far too many people around, so swam a bit more and then stopped at the safety boat to check it - it was fine, it was just the band (which I bought at IMA 06) that was flapping about and coming apart!! So off I set again...
I never felt like I got into a rhythm and knew that I was off my 65 minute target but I did not know by how much? The last bit, the canal, seemed to go on for ever!! Got to the ramp - 1hr 15 (and 48 secs)!! WHAT!!! This is my slowest ever IM swim time!! I have done more swimming than ever and all my times at the shorter distances have been quicker!!! I won't lie, I was pretty gutted and my sub10 goal seemed to be out already...

T1:

This was slow again... This was down to my number belt!!! Those damn little toggles on them are a real pain in the arse! One of them had come undone, so I had to try and re-thread it with wet hands and my HR was pretty high - you try it ;o) I finally did and literally sprinted to my bike with my shoes in my hands and off I went - 4.25.

Bike:

After almost being taken out by an Irish guy right at the start, I settled into my pace and target watts pretty quickly. My target was around a 5.10 for this race but plan B was a sub 5.20 and plan C was sub 5.30 - anything else, and the bike was going to end up in the Worthersee!!! My target watts were (Normalized) 215 and I settled into this well. The first half of the ride went by pretty easily apart from all the bloody drafting :-o
Got to spot Claire and Maddy very quickly at the top of the Egg hill (I think thats it's name?) and that gave me a real boost :o) Finished the first lap in 2.38 - was quite pleased with this as I wasn't really pushing it and watts were all good...
The 2nd half started well again and saw the family again at the top of the same hill - this was an even better boost!!!
It was around the 80 mile mark, where I started to feel it a bit, so I just broke the final bits down into small chunks - 2 and a half miles at a time, each one I gave myself a little cheer for completing and this worked well. It was also at about this mark that I heard the thunder for the first time and it was moving in quickly... At the bottom of the Rupertiberg, the heavens opened! I have never cycled in such hard rain - someone told me after that it was actually ice balls, no wonder it bloody stung!!! All this rain now made for some interesting descending ;o)
I got back into T2 with a final time of 5.16.57, which was a PB but a little off my plan A target of 5.10, but hey ho... Have to give a quick shout out to Laura Trimble (I think thats her name?) or KP off of Tritalk who I was having a little chat to on the bike and looked super strong - she qualified for Hawaii after coming 3rd in AG - fantastic effort :o)

T2:

Nothing to mention here really... Time was 3.26.

Run:

I was off my sub 10 plan as if it all went to clockwork, then I would have had to do a 3.35-3.40 marathon but after a quick calculation, I knew I had to go sub 3.25 (after looking at all my splits after the race, it would have actually to have been sub 3.20!!). I made the decision to go for it!! I have done 3 IM's and have survived the runs, not raced them. I was feeling confident and the legs felt good. I was using the run/walk strategy and it was working well. I hit the 10k mark in 48 minutes and this was going to plan...
However, another 2k in and things started to get bad!! It had got hot and after the thunderstorm, very humid. I can do the heat, but humidity - I'm British, us Brits just can't do the humidity thing (well, at least I can't!)...
So, now it was back to survival mode and it was getting tougher and tougher as I saw my splits getting slower and slower. I still thought that I had the sub 4 marathon in the bag and eased off a bit in places - now I know, never back off, ever, ever, as this cost me :o(
I got to finishing shute and I was really pleased, grabbed Maddy and we ran across the line together. I ended up with a 4.03.28 marathon and a new IM pb of 10:44.07 :o)

I felt pretty dizzy after, so ended up on a drip (or two) for a while and felt a bit better after. So, got some food and drink in me and then headed out to meet the family.

Summary:

It was a PB and yes I was very pleased, over an hour quicker than the first time I did the race but, and here is the real but, I know I am a lot faster than this!!! Everybody says this and it is just realising your potential that is the hard part... My sub 10 goal is not dead at all, but next year it is going to be a sub 11 goal as it is in Lanzarote and by all accounts if you go sub 11, that is as good or even better than a sub 10 on a 'normal' IM course ;o)

Oh, here is a link to some great piccies that Warren took during the day - the guy is a genius behind the lense...