Ironman Austria 2011 Race Report

My preparation had been good and I was feeling confident, race day arrived and my goals were as follows:

1.       Sub 9

2.       Irish record

3.       kona slot

in that order where each goal was likely to take care of the proceeding goal, etc. (i.e. if I went sub 9 there was a high possibility the other 2 goals would have also been met). In any case if I was slower than 9:15 then all goals would have passed. Europe and Austria in particular are fast so there is no room for mistakes, a puncture or a really bad swim and you’re out of the game already.

With almost 2500 people trying to start in a relatively narrow area, there was really no way to avoid the violence. I got away well but as usual I had people swimming all over me within seconds, Owen Martin (Setanta) had warned me it would be like this so I had resigned to the fact that the first 1km was going to be contentious. I tried not to waste too much energy with the constant grabbing and nudging but there was a lot of stop start action as I got blocked and also had people coming up behind me using my legs as part of their catch!

At times during the swim some spaces appeared and I tried to use them, I got a couple of decent drafts but nothing consistent. After the turning point we were facing in to the sun so I just used the feet in front for coordination as I had no idea where I was going. I reached the turn point in around 22mins but the way back was much longer, I reached the canal at around 45mins so I knew my goal of a sub 1hr swim was at risk.

The canal section was good fun with both sides lined with thousands of screaming spectators but I didn’t feel I was going at any great speed. I reached the swim exit in around 1:02 and started already worrying that I was now about 2 minutes down on my first goal pace. Ironman racing is a long day, but it never really feels like that. When you’re in there the time seems to go quite fast, however I had time to make up for the slower swim, a fast bike was crucial.

The long run up to t1 was surprisingly quick and I was out on the bike within about 4mins. The start of the bike is fairly flat and fast for the first 20k, having recced the course back in May with Matt Molloy I knew this section well and didn’t concern myself with the low wattage. High speed for low watts was the plan, I knew the power would rise later as I reached the hills as that’s how it happened during the test weekend. I felt good on the bike and loved the fast pace out along the lake.

My coach Alan Couzens’ advice was ride hard when the race is slow, he has written some excellent papers on power distribution during the bike. This is the strategy I had practiced and was following during the race. Unfortunately early on the bike my Quarq crank stopped emitting a signal, the watts blanked then came back with a huge figure of 2500 watts (not even Cancellara could reach those figures J ) I was a bit shocked as I had done 6months training on power and now I had no idea how many watts I was pushing! Quarq crank worth almost £2k and it was malfunctioning, great!

Luckily I have also done a lot of work with HR so Alan also had given me precise numbers to follow on that. For most of the first lap I was alone passing a lot of people, but a few really fast guys went by, I assumed they were either too fast for me to go with or they didn’t know what they were doing, either way I was staying in my own race plan range. Seemed quite windy out there and I stayed down on the bars on the flats and up for the hills to modify the position when possible.

Half way through the first lap I couldn’t find my salt stick container, I had it in a small side pocket and my race belt riding upwards seemed to have squeezed it out without me noticing, 40k in to the bike and I had lost my salt!!! This stressed me so much I started shouting at other athletes on the way past if they had any – no luck. I seen Joyce Wolfe on the main climb and she didn’t have any either. She was going well and high up in the womans race.

I was working in metric this time around but as the average pace changed so much on hills to the flats it was difficult to estimate what pace I was on for the bike, though coming through the ½ way turn point in around 2:22 I realised I was on for a good split as I was feeling quite good.

Later in the 2^nd lap I came up behind a group of guys who were doing a good paceline, there was 5 or 6 who seemed to be working together. I tried pacing with them back and forward but would drop off when the pace or HR didn’t suit me. They seemed to be good at pacing together staying well outside illegal distance so the referee motorbikes were happy with them. Keeping them within eye shot from time to time helped me maintain focus and pace.
I took on most of my nutrition in the first lap of the bike as planned, keeping one of the h5 extreme mixes with the electrolyte as I had a limited amount of this. Also picking up a powerbar bottle each time one emptied. I had 3 powerbar bottles from the stations in total and grabbed some quick water sips in the aid station before throwing the bottles within the station area. In the 2^nd lap I finished off whatever energy I had on me. Rolling back in to t2 I seen the split was good at 4:49 and I got through transition in around 3mins.

Early on the run I felt good, keeping my hr to Alan’s plan between 135 – 150, sitting around the 140 mark mostly until I settled in. The garmin was reading around the 4min/k and often dipping under so I wondered if it was accurate because it felt very easy. The only issue was that my stomach felt slightly bloated though not quite enough to stop me running. My buddy Matt Molloy was out ahead, he’s an incredible swimmer and I knew he’d have at least 10-12mins on me there. I’d recced the bike course with him few months back and so I knew he wouldn’t get any time on me on the bike, I estimated that he was around 10-12 mins ahead on the run because of his swim split. The course layout was good for spotting other people ahead as you turn back on yourself quite a lot. I seen Matt about the 5k mark and he was coming back at around 7k so I estimated about 8-10mins between us.

I knew he was going to be strong and I would have to run my socks off to catch him, but my stomach cramps were getting worse and after about 8k I decided to pull in to a portaloo. I tried but just couldn’t go, the mental pressure and anxiety just seemed to block any chance of this happening so I just got back out on the run after a few minutes. I was panicking that I had lost approx. 2minuutes here and I thought it was the start of me having stomach trouble. Strangely though I started to feel a bit better when I got back up to pace, perhaps the drop in hr with the unsuccessful toilet stop was the reason.

From here I started to get in to rhythm and really started to enjoy the run. The garmin was consistently reporting sub 4min/k and I started to believe this was accurate when I calculated some of the run splits as we passed the km markers. Could I really be running 6min miles here??? My worry now was that this was unsustainable. Something will blow if I keep this pace! But my hr was only 140, in fact sometimes dipping down below 140. Since Italy 70.3 three weeks earlier I knew my running was good, but I’ve had so many injuries and run issues in the last 2 years I still thought it was too good to be true.

Rory (Maguire) was coming the other way and giving me splits, Owen and Rory were both flying at around 8-10mins back and I knew if I had the slightest issue these guys would have been past me like bullets (They were both running sub 3 pace!!). At the far end turning point in the town (around 15k in) I seen Matt again coming the other way and counted about 7mins between us, considering I had a 2mins toilet stop I knew I was reeling him in. I kept on the coke for energy and Iso for electrolyte. The temperature was perfect and I felt no urge to slow down at any point, in fact I had to pace back a few times when I seen my hr go above 140 as it seemed so natural to speed up. I thought I’d save that for the 2^nd lap.

In to the 2^nd lap I felt very good and was starting to realise I was on for a sub 3 marathon, the pace was improving and I started to move my hr up cautiously towards 145. I reached the spot where I seen Matt in the first lap but this time hadn’t yet seen him, I carried on for a few minutes and still no sign, this made me think I was getting close so I had to keep controlling my hr as I was getting carried away in the chase by raising hr above 145, only ever for a few seconds as I then brought it back to within Alan’s orders.

Matt is an amazing natural athlete all round, he wins just about everything he enters and has little if no weaknesses. Coming in to this I thought my only chance if getting him was to chase him on the run and just outpace him, here’s a guy who runs 1/2marathons in 1:13 so I knew he wouldn’t be running slow. When I came up behind someone who looked like Matt at around 26km, I was surprised to see him so soon. As I approached I noticed his pace had dropped a bit and he was suffering, I felt great so I knew I was going well past, but I worried that Matt was dropping his head so I shouted that he was still well inside the Kona slots. He said afterwards he was in a bad place at that stage but he picked up and got motoring again. Matt did a 3:11 run in his debut and matched the previous record Irish record at 9:02. This is one of the fastest debuts on record.

When I pushed past Matt I again seen Owen and Rory in the opposite direction, still flying and looking good. We were all giving each other some acknowledgements and encouragement, but now my thoughts turned to something very exciting, the small subjects of the Irish record and a sub 9. It got me slightly emotional, I had dreamt of being in this position and visualised it so many times. My main priority was to keep getting nutrition without slowing down, and most importantly to keep running fast. It occurred to me that this was my chance, opportunities like this do not appear often in life and I was going to hurt myself as much as it was required to make this happen.

I had the motivation, the thought processes in place, and importantly the legs. I had a slight hard patch about 30k in and my right thigh was getting tight but I thought I’m running 6min/miles here of course it is going to hurt!! I had to keep an eye on hr as the prospect of breaking 9 got me so excited that a few times I got carried away and hr went up to 150. Soon as I realised I quickly brought it down and stayed calm.

With about 8k to go I knew I was on target and all I had to do was keep moving, I seen Rory as I raced the last 5k towards the line and he shouted I was going to smash the record, then Michael (Joyce Wolfe’s husband) shouted something similar as I sprinted for the line. Strangely I still felt good and the last few km seemed to fly in.

I showboated a bit over the line which is unusual for me but it was like a dream happening before my eyes and I couldn’t contain myself, I don’t remember some of the race but I think the brain shuts out painful memories in the same way trauma is removed after accidents. I do remember seeing a lot of people I knew out there and us all shouting at each other. Some nice Irish girl handed me a small Irish flag and I waved it heading over the line, I still don’t know who that girl was!!??

When I realised what had just happened I felt a deep sensation of joy, I knew it would take some time to sink in, but I’ve worked hard for a long time to realise this dream and I was going to enjoy it. I’ve had so many kind wishes and shouts since, I’m on a great high that will last a while.

As if I wasn’t happy enough my good friend Owen Martin came across the line also inside 9hrs, we were both so excited we were practically dancing around. I met Owen in Germany 2 years ago in my first Ironman, we both went under 10hrs and Owen was even back then a focused and strong athlete. To see how he has turned himself in to an elite is a huge inspiration and he’s the guy I look at to make myself feel guilty when I am having lapses in focus or will power. Before Switzerland last year I was having one of those lapses and he brought me straight back in to line! We celebrated together in Hawaii last year, and now in Austria. We are racing again this year in Galway, Vegas and Hawaii, it’s very exciting and in the best hearted way we will be fighting it out in every one of them!! J

Matt came in at 9:02 for a great finish and a huge achievement, he had pressure on him to perform and he delivered, top athlete and much deserved kona spot.

A few minutes later and young maguire was sprinting to the line in 9:06, for someone his age he is such a great example to all those kids at home in Ireland on what you can achieve if you really want to. Rory has a big future and I hope I’m part of it for a while yet, anyway maguire needs someone’s heels to look at on the run! :-D

A few very strong Irish athletes are racing the fast Roth course this weekend so my record may not last long but I have set these guys a good target, if any of them get under 8:49 then they will fully deserve the title. These are exciting times in Irish triathlon and Ironman and I love being a part of it.

I’m joining Owen in Kona again this year as he was also top ten in my age group. Matt got a slot too and although he was unsure at the time of taking it, I told him he would regret it later if he didn’t take it, will be good to have him along. Rory came 6^th in his age group but just missed out on a slot, he may try again in Regensburg, but he has years and so much potential. He is verging on sub 9 in a tough sport. All 4 of us will be fighting it out in Galway, let the smack talk begin!!! J

My splits for the day:

SWIM	BIKE	RUN	OVERALL	DIV.POS.
1:03:16	4:50:19	2:49:03	8:49:45	3/444

# fastest amateur run at 2:49 (including a toilet stop! J), 5^th fastest run including pros.

# 3^rd M35 AG, 28^th overall inc pros.