Ironman Austria race report

So where do I start? Let’s try at the beginning. Why did I decide to do an Ironman? Well, last year the plan was to do the run part of an Ironman as a relay with a couple of club mates, but when push came to shove I decided I didn’t want to go all the way across Europe just to do a marathon when in fact I could possibly do the whole thing. What was I thinking?

So, long story short, my mate (Chris Tasker) and I decided to sign up for Ironman Austria 2009, Chris had already done Ironman Lanzarote twice (dubbed the hardest Ironman of the all) so I felt good knowing I could rely on his previous Ironman experience. After signing up we had 12 months to train, it seemed like an age away, needless to say the time flew by, interspersed with a few trials and tribulations along the way to test us (more on that later).

It was now December 2008 and I decided I needed a coach to help me on my Ironman journey so contacted Neill Gowans (a coach from our club) for some help. He’d already done Ironman Austria and was a respected coach in our club so seemed the perfect candidate (and he was free!). Many questions and emails later Neill took me on and so started 6 months of Ironman training. Ironman Top tip number one, get yourself a coach, they do the thinking for you, so you can just concentrate on the training and the race.

Training was going well, until a few months before the race my appendix burst! Not good! Whilst on the bed recovering from an emergency appendectomy I was working out how many weeks training I could squeeze in after recovering from the op. Fortunately I had already done a few bit of base work and if I rested up for 3-4 weeks I could still get in about 8-9 weeks of training before the big day – tragedy averted!

In the weeks up to the race you naturally have some doubts. Have you done enough training, can I hold back on the bike and still manage a half decent time, can I manage to run the whole marathon (hadn’t done a marathon up to this point), will my appendix region be ok? After chatting with my coach and my wife, Sarah, I knew I had the miles in the bank (I had done a big block of training in the 2 months before the race) and was ready for the Ironman, it may not be quick (or pretty), but I was going to finish this race and finish in one piece.

So the bikes were packed (another story about getting the bikes out to Austria but we’ll leave that for another day) and after re-checking list upon list Chris and I were on our way to Stansted for our RyanAir flight to Klagenfurt. We could see lots of bikes at the airport; I wonder where they were going? Anyway, we arrived in Klagenfurt on Thursday afternoon and after paying the taxi driver some crazy amount of Euro’s we arrived at our accommodation. We’d hired a static caravan for a week, it was very basic, but the location was perfect, we were about a 5 minute walk to the swim start and the transition area – bonus! One thing that did slightly concern us at the point was the heat, it was after 6pm and it was about 30’C! Could be slightly warm for the race, we were thinking.

Friday and Saturday came and went, we did a recce of the lake where the swim was going to be (beautiful scenery), drove the bike course with James (another club mate) and mentally marked the big hills, registered for the race itself, went to the pasta party, had a look around the expo and then put our bikes in transition and transition bags on their relevant racks. That was it, race preparation was over, only time now to get our heads down and mentally prepare for the race. Where had the time gone?

Alarms were set for 5am and both Chris and I woke before them, nerves perhaps? I’d slept really well, then set about getting some breakfast down my neck. A big bowl of muesli, a banana and a litre of energy drink was polished off rather quickly before we headed off to transition. It was about 5:30am and everyone was in transition or milling around tinkering with their bikes, trying to burn off that little bit of nervous energy that everyone had – including me. My bike was now set for the day so we headed off to the swim start area. We all had to funnel through a small area to get to the beach area, this took quite a bit of time, as you can probably imagine with 2500 neoprene clad athletes all pushing through an area big enough for 4 guys! Everyone eventually got through and we had about 5 minutes until race start.

The pro’s entered the water and the age groupers were held on the beach, in the race brief the day before we were told that we would start in the water too but 30m behind the pros. Before we knew it the hooter went and the fireworks were released into the air and we all guessed that was the sign for us to start so everyone made their way into the water. This is where the “fun” began! It was carnage! There were arms and legs everywhere, everyone trying to find a little bit of space to get into their swim rhythm. I took my fair share of kicks to the ribs and hits round the head from Fritz and his pal Klaus, my goggles were knocked off but luckily I wear them underneath my swim hat so they were replaced pretty quickly. It was not a fun time at this point of the race! The first 3000m of the swim is in the lake with the final 800m being down a canal, the tight canal stretch just meant more people on top of each other – more carnage! I exited the water, made my way up the ramp and then checked my watch: 1hr08. A good start considering the fight in the swim.

I managed to get through T1 with no hassles and spotted Chris’s bike still in transition, we’re about the same on the swim so was a little surprised that he wasn’t out before me, but no worries, I was convinced that he’d soon blow past me on the bike (he’s a much stronger biker than me). I started the bike leg in a positive mood. This soon turned sour as I realised my gel flask containing 5 gels was not on my bike (it must have fallen off in transition). I instantly thought I was going to struggle through the bike leg without my gels to keep my energy up. What do I do? What do I do? “Forget it!” I told myself, what’s done is done, move on and get on with it. I had a couple of gels in my back pocket and I knew I had a gel and an extra energy bar in my special needs bag (which I could pick up at the 92km point), on top of that I would use the energy drink provided at the aid stations. Crisis over, now time to settle into the bike ride. I took the first lap easy as per my coaches instructions, I was advised to stick to a certain power reading (on my power meter) on the flats and then another higher reading on the hills. I seemed to be zipping along, the roads were nice and smooth and the general pace was pretty quick. As I am not a great biker I knew that loads of guys would over take me on the bike, however that was fine by me, either they were much better than me or they were going too quick too early, I was convinced I would be seeing them again on the run anyway! Just like clockwork Fritz, Klaus and his German mates were all flying past me what can only be called a pack, or drafting in the more technical triathlon sense. In layman’s language they were cheating! I gave a few of them a few choice words but that didn’t deter them from their goal, they were quite happy sitting on someone else’s wheel for the best part of 180km. The marshal’s broke up some of the packs, but it still continued once the marshal had disappeared on their motorbikes.

Anyway, I left the drafters to their game and continued on with my own game plan. Everything was going well, power was spot on and my average speed was above what I thought it might be. There are two big hills on the bike course (which you ride twice), but living in south Wales I’d ridden plenty of hills in training so wasn’t too worried about them; that didn’t make them easy, but far easier than some of the other guys were finding them. The second hill (the Rupertiburg) was the biggest, it had a steep climb then a bit of a false flat then it kicked up again before giving you a lovely downhill section. Riding these was hills was great, the support from the locals and other supporters was amazing, it was a bit like some of the Tour de France climbs when the supporters are literally on top of you shouting and screaming, blowing whistles and clapping, really amazing. But the best bit climbing up the Rupertiburg was about a third of the way up the climb when you could hear the DJ playing his Euro-pop music and chatting on the microphone about something or other. As you climbed, he got louder. Then you saw him, a proper DJ with mixing decks on the side of the road (on a mountain!) playing music and encouraging you up that hill – awesome! He seemed to only have one song though!

Anyway the first lap went without a hitch (about two hours and fifty minutes); I was feeling really strong and not worried about starting the second lap at all. My only slight concern was my mate Chris. I had expected him to come flying past me by now and had seen no sign of him. I was sure I’d be seeing him soon so put that to the back of my mind and continued on. The second lap was an uneventful three hours, I had decided to slow down slightly just to save my legs for the run, having not ever done an Ironman (or even a standalone marathon) I had no idea how I’d be feeling on the run, so played it safe. The DJ on the Rupertiburg came and went (same song, if I hear “Put your hands up in the air” again it’ll be too soon!); it was naturally a tougher climb on the second loop, but no major issues. One of the funniest things I saw on the return into Klagenfurt was one nice German fella (could have been Fritz, Klaus or one of his cousins) stood on the side of the road getting a good bollocking off one of marshals. It seemed he hadn’t heeded their advice with drafting calls and were pulling him out of the race. He was not happy – I was laughing my head off! But it got better. He then decided, in a fit of rage, to pick his bike up and throw it into the nearest field! I nearly fell off my bike with laughter!

It came up to the five hour mark on the bike and my mate Chris finally rode up to me, we had a quick chat, then he was off with the parting words “You’re having the race of your life”. Thanks Chris. For a split second I thought about trying to stay with him, but wised up and decided to stay on my pace and if I was lucky I might see him on the run (we’re about the same speed on the run, but he had issues with his knees in the run up to Austria so hadn’t done as much running as he would have liked). The final run in to Klagenfurt is pretty flat with a few downhill’s, so it gives you some time to prepare for the run; I took in some final nutrition and started to think about the entry into the Iron Village and the transition area. At this point I ready to get off the bike, my feet were wet (you don’t need to ask why) and even though it had been a good steady ride, nearly 6 hours (5:50) in the saddle is enough for anyone.

Before I know it I’m in the transition tent after racking my bike, a change of socks, new nutrition in my pockets, trainers and cap on and I was nearly ready to go. At this point a nice young Austrian girl asked “I help?”, a few things crossed my mind but I remained focused on the job in hand and asked her to pop some factor 50 sun cream on my shoulders; it was 30’C outside and I was expecting some serious sun burn action to be happening. It is quite a large transition area but even that doesn’t explain why I spent nearly seven minutes in there, what the hell was I doing? Anyway, I left transition at about a race time of seven hours ten minutes; I was already doing the math regarding possible finish times. This was rather naive of me, as I said earlier I had never run a marathon before so I put all the thoughts of times out of my head (for the time being at least).

I headed out and instantly felt good, but with 26 miles ahead of me I thought perhaps I shouldn’t get ahead of myself. My coach had suggested I run to my heart rate monitor, so I slowly increased my speed until I was sat on about 150bpm give or take a few beats. The plan was to sit on this heart rate for as long as possible and then decrease it if need be, this would be helped by walking through the aid stations; that was the plan, all I had to do now was implement it!

After a mile or two I started to appreciate how hot it was out there! Even at this stage so many people were walking, it was a surprise I must admit. Anyway, I continued on, walking through the aid stations taking on water and energy drink and picking up some sponges too. These went straight down my tri vest to try to keep me cool along with one underneath my running cap. At this point you start to appreciate all the support that is out on the course, from locals coming out of their houses with sprinkler systems to cool you down, to the kids picking up the discarded sponges and putting them in their own buckets to give to the following competitors, to simply calling out your name. I lost count of the times I heard someone call out “Super Mark!”

I get to the 10km point and can see my mate Chris just a few feet ahead of me, I’m still feeling really good at this point but the heat is pretty bad now. I pull up to Chris and we have a quick chat, he says his knees are a little sore but no big issues with them so far, I wish him luck and set off at my own pace. I get to the half way point in 1hr55mins still feeling good, and bang on pace for a four hour marathon (the time I had hoped for the marathon). I continued on until about the 25km point, this is where I started to have a bit of a wobble, it was now starting to feel tough. For the next 10km I did some real soul searching. I was feeling tired, my stomach was complaining about all the gels and energy drink I had taken on board and I was starting to shuffle along. So many people were walking and I wanted to join them! My speed and heart rate had dropped, but there was no way I was going to walk. I could hear my coach’s words in my head “Keep on trucking”, and that’s what I intended to do – but it was so tough. This is where you really appreciate the awesome support that is out on the course. I then received a present from the Gods......... it started to rain! It didn’t rain for long and the sun returned quite quickly but it was a very nice respite. At this point I had about 8km to go and started to feel a little better (I had a quick porta-loo stop!) and I was working out in my head roughly my finishing time as long as I didn’t have a meltdown in the final km’s. Probably not the best thing to do in the circumstances but it took my mind of the fatigue for a little while. It was about 5km to go now and I guessed I had about 30 minutes of pain left, time to dig in (HTFU) and push up the pace a little bit. I was really tired now but with only a couple of km’s to go I could see the end in sight, as you approach the Iron Village the support becomes more intense and that just drives you a little bit more. I was now coming towards the finish shute, the sheer elation you now start to feel is unbelievable. This is the end of a monumental physical and emotional effort.

So the finish line came and it was just awesome, just one of the best feelings in the world. I had hoped to go about the 12 hour mark, and somehow I crossed the line in a time 11 hours 12minutes! I was ecstatic! 11hr12 was so much better than I had thought I could ever do (and I managed the finish the marathon in 4hr01). I high fived anyone whether 5 feet of me, whether they wanted a high five or not - it had all been worth it (I think). I must admit I was a little emotional after crossing the line, it had been a long hard road and crossing that line was such a huge release.

Overall, IM Austria is an amazing race. The people and other triathlon supporters are so friendly, the support from the locals is ace and the scenery is stunning. I am really pleased with my race, I didn’t fall apart like many others and the finish time was a real bonus for me. I’d like give a massive thanks to Neill, my coach, he gave me so much advice and some great training plans. And of course a special thanks to my family and friends for putting up with me throughout all of this, it really does take over your life and my wonderful wife, Sarah, has been so supportive during the past 6-8 months. I couldn’t have done it without her support and encouragement; it really was a team effort! Thanks Babe!

Will I do another Ironman? If you’d have asked me directly after the race I’d have told you where to go, but now, who knows? Probably.......watch this space.