IM Austria Preliminary

This weekend I will be attempting my second Ironman race. Last time in 2007 I did IM France. This time I'm going to Klagenfurt for IM Austria.

My previous time was 12:55, and inevitably I'm hoping to try to beat this. But am I as fit? And if so, where can I shave the minutes off?

I read an interesting document recently that took some averages of all the Ironman age-group times from events around the world, and estimated what course was the hardest. It even put times in. All things being equal, it says that I will be about 40 minutes faster on the Austria course than in France. However, I'm not so sure.

Swim

France was a sea swim, which is my favourite. Extra buoyancy from the salt water, which I also find tastes better. It was two laps, so maybe I'll save a minute there, but I'm fairly sure I'll be around the 1:30 mark again. I'm more confident in the water, and not so scared of the distance, and haven't had any cramp problems with my calfs so far - maybe I can push it a little and save 5 minues.

Bike

Austria doesn't have the long slow climbs that France had. However, I'm a fairly good climber and passed a load of people on that section. I may be atypical and so the time advantage wouldn't apply so much for me because of this. I'm not fast on the flat, and I'm not even very fast descending. My bike time for Windsor triathlon this year was only marginally faster (about 1 minute) than three years ago so time will tell if I can do any better. But I guess 1 minute over 40k equates to nearly 5 minutes over 180k.

Another thing to consider is that in France, I was aiming for 25km/h pace. and so I actively slowed myself down at times. The reason was to avoid overdoing it and not finishing. I did beat that average, but I think I'll be a little more ambitious this time. An average of 30km/h would give me a 6 hour bike time - I'd like that, and depending on the conditions, it is achievable.

Run

Both runs are flat. France was very open and simple to plan - 5K up to the airport, 5k back, and repeat 4 times. I liked this, as it made it very easy to maintain a steady pace. Austria has two laps, but I believe they meander through the town. It will be harder to keep track of my progress maybe. I'm not that confdent in beating my 4:26 time - though I have slightly better run training behind me this season. Time will tell.


Barring accidents or injuries, what it really comes down to I think is how hard I want to push it. I think I am more than capable of 13 hours again. I might be capable of 12 physically, but can I mentally make myself do it. I think this is unlikely. I'll try and do a better estimate soon, but right now, I'm hoping for 12:30.

Found an Ironman France 2007 video on YouTube.



Here is the link.

...that's me in the background, at 50 seconds, smiling :-)

Nokia Windsor Triathlon 2009

While it's all fresh in my mind, a race report.

Summary: I had a great day and finished with a time of 2:41:32, beating my PB from three years ago (which was 2:47:55) by over six minutes.

Detail:
My training regime this past year has involved a cycle commute to work. I normally set off at 6:55am, so my 6:50am start was no problem. I woke up before the alarm clock, and easily navigated the 5 minute drive down to the car park. Having said that, I didn't appreciate the time I needed to get ready; getting the wetsuit on, taping gels to the bike, cracking open a new pair of Zogs Predator goggles, pumping the tyres. I ended up slightly rushed and almost forgot to take my swimming hat to the start. I had to run to get there in time as my bike was positioned as far from the swim start as it's possible to get almost.



Swim:
The water wasn't cold, and the current in the Thames was hardly noticable, unlike last years torrent. I started off slow as usual at the back of the pack, breaststroking until I got some space. I really enjoyed the swim up the river, in the bright sunshine. The people in the waves behind didn't seem to be catching me as fast as last year, though I had no real idea of my time. At one point early on, I thought I was doing really well, and had a quick glance behind to see that there were only two green hats behind me. This was a bit of a disappointment, so I tried to swim a bit faster. Turned around at the buoy, and swam back, and oddly this shorter section seemed to take ages. I never felt particularly tired - always my aim in the swim section. This is good as in three weeks I have to do a 3.8Km swim. Worried that I'd miss the hidden exit, I kept looking up, which was a bit silly. Nevertheless I was really pleased when I got out and looked at my watch:

Swim 37:12

Long run down to my bike, managed to get the wetsuit half off as I went, and did a fairly standard time for T1. Could do better with the wetsuit

T1 2:17



Bike:
Hoping for big things from new Planet-X Stealth carbon bike, but interestingly the technology doesn't seem to have made any significant difference to my time from three years ago. However, it was a lot of fun out there, and I passed a lot of people. Too many people passed my though - I can do better with some specific speed training. I'm training for an Ironman race, so have been more interested in endurance. Slightly annoying was a car that got in the way and appeared to be tracking cyclists rather than trying to overtake. I actually had to pass it myself. As usual, one cyclist seemed to be doing my exact pace, so we leapfrogged each other the whole course. Non-drafting makes this complicated and annoying. I was happy to keep the pace brisk, but not kill myself anywhere - ~34km/h on the flat, and ended with an average 33.4km/h

Bike 1:11:55

I don't think there is really anything I need to work on for T2. Perhaps taking my feet out of my shoes before dismounting would shave a few seconds, but I don't like the extra risk of this, and the loss of speed whilst I'm freewheeling.

T2 1:33


Run:
The run is always harder then I expect it will be. I've done quite a few brick sessions so I didn't suffer from wobbly leg syndrome and felt happy running right from the start. I did feel tired, though not too bad, but didn't feel fresh obviously. I had to put a new elasticated lace on my left shoe and it wasn't correctly tightened. During the second lap, my foot didn't feel right, so I had to stop and tighted the lace. I was fine after that but that lap time is a bit slower and I blame worrying about the foot and stopping to fix it for that. But I was consistent at approximately 16 minutes a lap, with a slight negative split, which is nice. I had enough left for a strong finish - maybe I should have pushed sooner (really got going at the second water stop by Eton College)

Run 48:35

Total Time 2:41:32

Conclusion:
All my times were faster than three years ago (I'm going to try and forget last year's race ever happened :-) ) My overall position was 725th - but considering my swim position was 1444th, I know where I have to improve. I've always known this though. For the record, bike position was 336th which is very pleasing, but run was 601st. I need to keep cycling as I am, and get swim coaching, and do some speedwork for running, before i do this triathlon again.

Nutrition:

For the record.

Pasta dinner the night before, obviously :)
Small banana for breakfast, a few sips of PSP22
SIS caffeine gel as I made my way to the swim start.

2 SIS gels on the bike, and ~400ml of Go electrolyte drink. This was too much - I felt a bit bloated. I usually cycle for an hour before even touching any liquids.

Grabbed a banana in T2, forced down two big bites as I ran. This made me feel worse in fact, but maybe the energy kicked in later. Should have had a gel instead perhaps. Had one sip of water on lap 2.

Only five days to go to the Nokia Windsor Triathlon 2009.

This will be my first triathlon of the year, a small barometer of my fitness. I expect to have a really hard swim (it's been raining heavily so the river will probably have a strong current). I have a new bike and would like to shave a few minutes off previous cycle times. I haven't managed to injure myself yet this year, and if that continues, I am planning on putting in more of an effort on the run.

I'd love to beat my PB, but weather permitting, will settle for beating three hours. I am pretty fit, but I've neglected my swimming, so that's probably going to be the deciding factor.

This is only my 'B' race - Ironman Austria 2009 in under four weeks is my 'A' race, so I need to do what I can to prepare for that.