Ironman 70.3 Graz, Austria August 15
th 2021
We had looked forward to this event for a long time. My last
important races before Covid changed the world so drastically, had been at the
end of summer 2019.
there were two events very close together and both races resulting
in an age-group win for me, which had left me feeling very happy with my world indeed.
ITU World Standard distance Triathlon Championships in
Lausanne, Switzerland on the September 1st 2019
The very next weekend was a seemingly lower key event
because it was on my doorstep, was the BTF National Aquathlon Championship, in
Arundel three or four miles from my front door.
towards the end of that year, just before Christmas, my
husband, best friend and coach, Stephen and I, settled down and entered four
major races abroad that would be our main focus for the summer of 2020. Then along came the deadly Covid 19 virus and our sports
world had to be put on hold.
We went into full lockdown on March 1st 2020 and
took it very seriously. If only everybody had taken it equally seriously I
think it would have been over long before now I am quite sure.
All the sports facilities were closed down until further
notice. Stephen and I only left the house before dawn to go and run in the very
quiet and peaceful nearby woodland and downland.
We were home again long before most people were even out of
bed and our run training went very well. At that time people were thinking that
it would all be over in a few months but it wasn’t to be.
This was my birthday celebration lunch in the Kunsthauscafe in Graz centre with lovely server.
We did loads of turbo training indoors so our bike work held
together well.
We did not have any swim training at all until late spring
this year. I am one of those people we get aches and pains when I have not
had exercise and so suffered aches and pains in my shoulders to the point where
I would get up in the night and stand in the dark air swimming a few lengths.
We added Qigong as an extra for the movement benefits and
the mental attitude.
We follow a cross-fitness-ballet weekly class.
Both of those were found on You Tube.
Other worries crept into our lives with business going well
off the boil and a number of other things were not working out so well.
We both suffered some irritating injuries after falls on
muddy trails during the winter times.
However, we kept working hard at our fitness levels, no
matter how hard it was to try to keep motivated.
Then early this year most were postponed again until later,
well into the summer this said though we did manage to compete in the Eton
Sprints weekend that was all controlled very carefully according to the Covid
rules. We were thankful for the bit of
race practice though it was only at sprint distance. No age group wave starts,
but one athlete at a time set off,
So, what I am saying here is that we should have been ready
for the big events this year all of which had been postponed from 2020 until
2021.
We had lost heart a bit, is probably the best way of saying
how we felt.
We were like many others wondering, if it could ever be like
the old triathlon days again.
It is only fair and honest to say that we were doubtful that
this event in Graz would ever happen.
We had taken a few days stay in Klagenfurt before moving on
to Graz. The cycling and the swimming are great there and we have taken breaks
there many times having raced the full Ironman Austria race together over the
years. This year was just a last few days of training and we were out on a ride,
when disaster struck and Steve had a crash hitting a high curb flying off his
bike and hitting his head, shoulder and knee quite badly and damaging his bike
too. The bike got repaired in Klagenfurt but Steve could not move his shoulder
very much, all he could do was to rest as much as possible before the race. Our
first big race in two years in danger again due to injury this time.
Then the day after my 82nd birthday we found
ourselves at the registration desk in the tent in a square in centre of Graz,
in the World Heritage old town there in Austria.
We were still waiting for the catch, but found that once we
had shown evidence that we had both had two doses of the Covid Vaccine, and
that been tested before we travelled.
Our race numbers and goody bag were handed over. Steve was
determined not to drop out of the event.
On Saturday we checked our bikes in and handed over of race
bags containing our Bike kit and Run kit.
Sunday morning our alarm sounded at 5.20 am and we took the
last few things we would need with us when we drove to the Schwarzlsee for the
Swim start.
It was announced on race morning at the lake side that the
water temperature was 26.7 degrees which meant that wetsuits would not be
allowed.
This was good news for both or us and bad news for many of
the triathletes who felt that they needed the buoyancy.
There was a rolling start and we were set of into the water
one athlete at a time. Stephen told me to go on ahead and he would try to catch
me up during the swim. He is a much stronger swimmer than I am but he would be
swimming with one arm, not that he had mentioned that to anybody. We did not
have any expectancy of a good result for this event but were very happy to even
be taking part. We planned simply to go through the motions and have a nice day
of adventure. We do all our training together and are roughly the same speed on
the bike particularly for the run. 1900 metres using one arm would be
astonishing.
After swim and into the changing room to take off the swim
wear and change to bike kit we were both already quite slow but were being
passed by the last of the slower swimmers during the bike. Most of the time on
the bike ride I could see Steve a way ahead of me which was a comfort to me and
he was suffering from his shoulder injury and getting down on the bars was
almost impossible for him. Later on, that became totally impossible, maybe
because he was moving with difficulty or maybe the arm rest that snapped off
and landed on the road a little way up the road from me, so I added a bit of
speed, in case he didn’t know it had dropped off, but as I shouted at him, he
shouted back that it must have also been weakened in the crash the previous week
so not there was no chance of getting on the tri bars.
He still wanted to carry on but I was very worried about him
and bothered about myself as the temperature went up and up because I am not
good on very hot days. For nutrition I had coffee with creamer and manuka honey
in my front drinker, fixed to the tribars and I had been drinking that since I
started the bike ride. Things got trickier when I found that I could not pull
the other bottle out that was on my down tube out of the holder. I don’t know
what the problem was, why it was stuck but I did know that I need to be
drinking the water as well as the sweet drink since that goes down like food,
and I needed the water. We both kept on going close enough to see each other but
most definitely not drafting and keeping a distance between us. the course was
flat and easy to start but then started to have hills that seemed to get longer
and though I had no problem with my legs, I certainly needed that water.
I was getting hotter and hotter and thought my head would
explode, and so eventually I knew I had to stop to get the water bottle out of
the holder because I was over heating big time.
There was a bus stop, so I got off my bike and sat down to
drink some water. I drank the whole bottle and I suppose because I was last on
the course at that time, I was being followed by the broom wagon which was also
very off putting. A man appeared watching me drink the whole bottle down and
handed me another bottle that I also drank. By that time there were several
people from the tailing coach (broom-wagon). I said that I wanted to go on but
then Steve also appeared having turned back when he realised that I had dropped
so far back to see what had happened.
Steve insisted that we call it a day at that and they were
all telling me to get into the bus. Both our bikes were put in the coach and we started off with
the coach moving a bit faster then, because they need to catch up with the next
slowest rider.
Sitting in the coach already was a man we had passed a while
back, when first Steve and then I, had asked if he was ok or had a problem but
he just said he needed sugar and later we found out that he was diabetic. All
the people on the bus had plenty of time to chat and drink water or eat bars of
this or that and they stopped at an aid station and picked up bunches of
bananas too. We had to follow the rest of the bike route as we passed through
all the pretty Austrian villages until we got back into Graz, where we were
walked to the finish zone.
By the time we got back we were all feeling much better but
of course our race was over.
Some feeling worse about it than others.
Stephen and I had not had much in the way of expectations at
all, so we were not upset about the outcome, it was a start.
We had taken part in our first race.
We are triathletes again.
Well apart from the run Eh?
We’ll be back!
