An IM 2001? Yes! But where? Our choice was somewhat limited, as we still wanted to have a race date that was during our summer. One of the major characteristics we looked for in a race was the venue; it should spell "Vacation Venue" as well as being a great-organized race. We hesitated for a while but finally went for Ironman Austria, which was to be held on July 15th, 2001.

We had a great training year with our new coach Paulo Saldanha. The training workouts he provided us with were a great source of motivation. He also completely changed the way we trained. We reduced by more than half our swimming training time, and seriously increased our volume on the bike and run. Also we learned to train hard on the bike with Paulo's workouts and our new CompuTrainer. Another great addition to our training this year was a training week in Tucson Arizona in March, which really jump-started our riding for the summer. Over the course of the year I averaged 13 hours of training per week. I don't think I could have done more physically (to avoid injury) nor mentally. I worked hard and felt as ready as I could possibly be for this race. If only I could have a good day and break twelve hours or a fantastic out of this world day and make it in 11:30. We'll have to wait and see, as an Ironman takes you through so many ups and downs, you never know how the day is going to unfold.

Pre-race week

Wow! Wörther See region is beautiful, the pristine waters, the mountains, the typical Austrian villages all around and the high snow peaks in the background, simply breathtaking. We arrived a week before the race and what a smart move that turned out to be. It took us much longer than anticipated to adapt to the time change, and we must have picked up something like a little virus on the flights here because both François and I did not feel great the entire pre-race week. We stayed at the Plattenwirt hotel, about 500m from "Ironman City" and the transition areas. Perfect location so we did not need to rent a car and the bus stop to go to town was right across the road from the hotel. We had a nice big room with a balcony in the new addition to the hotel facing the bike and run course. Yes, we rode 3 times and ran 6 times in front of our hotel. At first I thought this might not be such a good thing, but I had no thoughts of quitting passing there, as there were always lots of people cheering us on. And the proximity was much appreciated for the post-race!

As we were so close to the action we saw the entire "Ironman City" take shape. It was actually the army who set-up the whole village as the Carinthia region and the city of Klagenfurt are the two main sponsors for the event. I guess this also reduces the need for volunteers. We rode the bike course once, very easy mainly for course recognition and to take some pictures. Ouch! The Monster hill Rupertiberg is worse than anticipated. Going up once is fine but we'll have to climb three times. The run course, however, is entirely flat, but with very little shade. As for the water, it is simply beautiful, might even be too warm to swim with a wetsuit, but no matter the temperature, it is allowed.

During the pre-race week we spend a lot of time at the beach, swimming and sun tanning (got to look good!), but even more sleeping to try and feel better. We slept 12-hour nights (I love those window shutters that make it completely dark in the room and keep it at a good temperature), plus we napped in the afternoon, will we be ready for Sunday? One afternoon we decided to do a little castle bike tour, we rode on little roads and stopped to look at old churches, castle; it was a nice and beautiful ride.

Thursday morning, it's registration, the only time the weather was not hot and sunny, it was raining a little but not for long. That night we had dinner with members of the IMA mailing list we had never met, with whom we have exchanged via email through the year. So we finally meet Mauro and his wife from Italy and the famous Mike Bundy from Australia. A nice dinner at a good restaurant on the lake, it was great and a lot of fun.

Friday night is the carbo-load, a very well organized sit down dinner (served at the tables, no line-ups, Yippee!). Can I eat any more than that? I doubt it very much. We had a little ceremony with very skilled army skydivers, Austrian flag dancers and the welcoming speeches by the mayor who gave Jürgen Zäck and Wendy Ingraham the key to "Ironman City".

On Saturday we checked our bikes in the transition area. It is still hot and sunny. We are starting to get anxious, it's getting to the point where you are tired of waiting and just want to get it over with, so you can start relaxing and enjoying your holiday (and maybe start planning next year's race!). We got familiar with the transition area and noticed that the army changing tents were co-ed. Hum! Good thing I will be racing in a one-piece and will not need to change clothes! They said we'll be too busy and in a hurry to even look, but what about the volunteers? I guess that's the extra bonus for volunteering!

Saturday night we went to an Italian restaurant by the university for our last carbo-meal, what a mistake that was! After 1:00 sitting down in the over-heated restaurant we still had not seen a waiter. The restaurant was filled with locals who go out on Saturday night and athletes with their friends and families wanting a pasta dinner. We finally got to order and much later received our food, paid on the spot and left shortly after. Not the kind of pre-race meal you want, a little too stressful thank you. We still got to go to bed early, and actually got a good night sleep.

Race Day

Race morning we got up at 3:30 am, open the shutters went on the balcony and felt the heat already at that early hour. Not a cloud in the sky and no wind "it's going to be a hot one baby!" We ate breakfast at 4am. The hotel's breakfast room was filled with anxious athletes; you could cut the tension in the air with a knife. I was not really hungry but force myself to eat a piece of bread and two oatmeal packages I had brought from home. We walked to the transition area, and waited in line, as it was not even open yet! We got our bikes ready, I filled my jetstream with Gatorade, set my highly concentrated Endurox R4 and Gatorade bottles on the bike (as I don't like the sports drink they were providing out on the course), pumped the tires, got the shoes clipped in, set the speedometer to zero, made sure the bike was in the right gear, set the helmet and sunglasses on, so they wouldn't fall off, oh well I think that was it for the bike transition! Dropped the special needs bag for the run (just some Band-Aids and a Powerbar). We went to the beach to get body marked, and came back to the hotel to relax; well we tried to at least! OK it was time to go, back on race site, got the wetsuit on, dropped the dry-strip bag and got in the water to adjust the fit of my wetsuit properly. We got out of the warm-up area and noticed that we had to go all around to get to the starting line, but all the spectators were blocking the way, a little moment of panic as we pushed and shoved and made our way through the crowd to go through the gate with our timing chip, Ouf! We made it.

6:59AM

One minute to go, I made my way to the far right of the beach for the "beach start", Francois was next to me, but when the gun went off he took off and I was stuck in a crowd of people which was not moving forward. For the first five minutes I could barely swim, the start was between two very long piers, and then when you cleared the piers you aimed at the first buoy. By the time I reached the first buoy I could still only do a few strokes before swimming over someone or being hit on the head or kicked by someone doing breaststroke next to me. Having had two pretty bad swim experiences at IMC, and feeling a lot of anxiety at this point I decided to get off-course and swim far right of the buoy. What a good and smart move, I was by myself, swimming at a good comfortable pace with no one who could kick, hit or drown me. Of course I also couldn't benefit from drafting from someone else but that was ok, I was having a good swim not wasting energy fighting back anyone. After the first 2000 m we ran out of the water for 100m and jumped right back in, this was to make the swim more "spectator friendly". But friendly to me it was not; as it broke my pace and I had a hard time finding back my stroke. Soon I got into the channel where we swam for the last 800m. It was pretty gross, full of weeds, but narrow and shallow. It was about 20feet (6m) wide and 2 feet (1m) deep, "Can you say current?" There must have been around 300 athletes in front of me and I could not believe the speed I was swimming at. The current made me fly! I looked at my watch and calculated that if I kept up the pace or even accelerated a bit I could probably make it under an hour. Wow could I achieve goal number 1? Swim split 0:59:33 "Yes sir it's a great start to a long and beautiful day!"

I ran out of the water, ran to my T1 bag grabbed it and ran through the changing tent to take the wetsuit off and grab my food in my bag. I asked a volunteer if he would put my wetsuit in the bag for me, Danke Schön! Off to my bike, as I ran out of the changing tent I hear "Mon Amour!" I turned around to see François coming out of the water, Wow he had a great swim this is terrific we are both feeling good (I should know better, an Ironman isn't over until you cross the finish line!). I got to my bike put my sunglasses and the helmet on and off I went. I was doing great, had a good swim and a good transition T1= 2:51.

The Bike

It was a beautiful HOT day, not a cloud and no wind (great I don't like wind!). As I started my first loop and rode out of transition the crowd was amazing. The streets were filled with people cheering us on. Toward the end of town, whom do I see standing by the side of the road all by himself? The great Peter Reid (my hero!). I was in my aero position so he did not see CANADA written on my one-piece suit. Do you think he was there for me or for Lori (that would be Lori Bowden his wife!)? He's been there for all my Ironman races thus far; maybe I should start to wonder!

The first loop was going well, but jeez those Germans can ride. They were passing me as if I was at a stand still and I was riding well and at a good pace, a bit on the "careful" side, as I was still not very familiar with the course and a bit nervous with all the winding roads. The first part was rather fast although technical (for me at least!), than you got to St-Egyden and the steep hills started than it was Rupertiberg. I tell you it really helped to have all those people cheering us on with cowbells and horns. Going up Rupertiberg the cheers were so loud you forgot it was difficult and I felt energized. One man told me I was the 23rd woman to reach the top, but you have to realize that only about 130 women took part in this race. The fact that very few women were racing seemed to entice the volunteers and spectators to cheer the ladies on even more.

After the big hills there was quite a nice decent followed by some rolling hills to bring you back to town with a slightly downhill course on the main boulevard where I was riding 45km/h, that's a nice way to increase your average speed! I made the first loop in 1:58. Hum! I will have to maintain that speed to make my second goal of breaking 6 hours on the bike, not an easy task as you usually don't get faster in the 2nd and 3rd loop.

My second loop was actually quite faster; as I felt more secure with the technicality of the course I stayed more often in my aero position and I hit the breaks a lot less. I was so full of energy by km 100 I was toasting to my coach Paulo, while drinking my concentrated Endurox R4 mix. I was feeling so great. I came in 1:54.

The third loop was a lot more difficult, I was no longer cheering or toasting anyone, the aid station at the out and back simply disappeared, so for a little while I was short on liquids, and by the time we reached the critical part of the day; the third climb up Rupertiberg, the crowd had left to go back to transition and see the pros take off for the run. "What about us? We need you here and now!" The only encouragement was seeing guys walking their fancy and expensive bikes up the hill, while I was riding next to them on my little bike! I came in 2:04 for a great total of 5:56:00, goal #2 achieved.

I managed to take in about 1500 calories while on the bike; I drank my entire Endurox R4 bottle (750cal), and probably 5 or 6 jetstreams full of Gatorade, plus some water. I managed to eat only one Powerbar, as solid food was not going down well at all, I also grabbed a few pieces of banana on the course. I also took about 4 Powergels. I had forgotten to set my watch to beep every 15 minutes to remind me to eat and drink (sorry Paulo!), but remembered it in the first 10km of the bike ride so I set my computer to show elapsed time and more or less followed the prescribed schedule to eat and drink something every 15-20 minutes. One thing I did only towards the end of the last loop was splash myself with water, ah! What a great feeling in this torrid heat. I should have done that from the start. You always learn something new every race!

I finally got to the transition area, got off the bike and thanked God that they had bike catchers. I ran to the changing tents, picked up my T2 bag on the way…ouch the asphalt was burning my feet (ok so I am a wuss when it comes to my feet and hot pavement, but it was really hot, they should have put a carpet or something). A longer transition (T2: 04:12) as I took really good care of putting quite a few bandages on my problem blister on my right foot. One that has not healed in the last 6 weeks, and is always hurting when I run.

The run

Off for my marathon, the crowd was amazing, I felt lifted, and I was running strong. I even wondered if my pace was too fast, but I felt great so I kept it up. By km 2 I heard someone say "Go Canada Go!" I was pleased that my tactic had worked (having Canada on my suit to get more encouragements!) I turned around to acknowledge my unknown supporter and wave a hand in recognition, and whom do I see? Yes Peter (Reid of course!). Wow I was so excited I reacted like a 13 year old and said with such a high pitch voice (I did not know I had) "Oh Thanks Peter!" I felt like such an idiot, but I was so happy, that it carried me at least for the next 5kms.

At km 5 I finally spotted Francois coming towards me. I had anticipated seeing him much before that point and was getting a bit worried. We stopped and talked a little, he told me how he almost quit after a few kilometres that he suffered from dehydration that he was still not feeling good and would see how things went. I wished him well and kept on going. I did not tell him that I was feeling good and running well, he probably could see it just by looking at me anyhow. I made it to the first turn around and headed back towards the transition area. Around km 8 I was thinking of stopping to fix my right foot's blister, which had been killing for the last few km (as I was carrying with me some extra moleskin and Band-Aids). But I decided against it, and simply continued to endure the pain, thinking about what my coach told me "you are not there to have fun nor to feel comfortable". Well one thing for sure I was not comfortable! Just before the 10km mark, some 8 hours since the beginning of the race I had an urge to pee for the first time. Having given up on comfort I hid behind a parked car and peed while still fully dress (yes, through my suit!), splashed some water from the aid station and off I went. Ah, that was pretty easy, a new technique for future races! I ran my fist 10km in 58minutes, which for me is quite fast in an Ironman, considering all the walking at the aid stations, stopping to talk to My Love and peeing. That was a pretty good pace maybe too good for my own benefit!

At km 13 I crossed Francois again, we didn't stop but he told me while passing by that he was feeling better and could now run a bit more, again no time to tell him how I was feeling, although by now I was feeling less perky than an hour ago! The good news was that by now the pain from the blister was gone (or numb!). However, I was slowing down a bit, the heat was really getting to me it was 35 degrees Celsius, no wind, no clouds and very little shade. Running toward the city centre there were less supporters, and the centre itself was like a ghost town. Not one café or store was open, the city was deserted. At km 15-16 I needed to go to the washroom for real! I asked around at the aid station and they pointed to a restaurant next door. The washrooms were downstairs, at least it was a luxurious washroom but I could easily have done without the 15-20 stairs. Back on the run course, I started evaluating my situation and everything was in order. I felt fine, my stomach felt fine, my legs were tired and sore, but there was no discomfort or let's rephrase that, I had no acute pain, as comfort I had given up at 7 am!

At this point I still couldn't drink the sponsor's sport drink nor coke so I stuck to water (which was always cold, so that was good!). I was now getting really hungry and craved for something salty, chips or pretzels, but they only provided us with oranges and bananas (which at this point I could no longer stomach). I stuck to taking in my Powergels and drinking water, but I was hungry as hell. I remembered … eating lots of watermelon and cantaloupe as well as grapes at IMC…. that would go down so well right now… Oh well next time I'll have some Pringles in my special needs bag that's for sure!

At km 20-21 my stomach was starting to not feel right. I was suffering from major cramps and would very soon have a need for a "Johnny on the spot"! So now that I needed one I started looking for them, hum! Couldn't see any, so at the next aid station I asked for "eine Toilette bitte?" I speak German so trust me it was not a language barrier. The volunteers looked at me as if I was coming from out of space. "What she wants a washroom? Why?" Who could be in their right mind thinking that after 10 hours of swimming biking and running around one would have a use for a fricken toilet? I know we Ironman competitors are demanding and insane but where is the $/"&? Toilet? Finally one volunteer pointed to yet another restaurant down the crossing street. Well, I think NOT! I have wasted enough time running around for washrooms, so I decided to wait for the next aid station, surely "Johnny" would be there waiting for me.

I clearly remember this lady specifically asking at the pre-race meeting if there would be "Johnnies" on the run course as she mentioned there weren't any the previous year, and the race organizers answered YES. So where were they? I made it to the next aid station having again to walk some parts as my cramps prohibited me from running, and again go through the process of asking for a washroom, this time I believe they thought I was from Mars. I am not pleased, so I kept on walking on this bike path between the train tracks and houses. Than, I got it, there was no washroom at the aid station because they have made those public ones available to us; I could now see the big WC sign. I could almost feel the relief, I grabbed the door handle but it was locked. Ah! Someone was already in there. It was ok, I was ready to wait, and wait, than I noticed that it was not occupied, you needed 2 shillings to open the /?&$% door. "Well you just wait and I'll get my wallet full of change for you!!" Can you say aggravation? At this point I was not a happy camper. I kept on going, but eventually I reached the point of no return. There was no alternative, I hid behind what I wished was a well furnished bush (not!) and stripped down (remember I was wearing a one piece suit!) to do my business and leave the owner a nice little present by his drive way. Thank goodness for the sponges! I was bend down, naked in between a few leaves, everyone could probably see me, well I could see them, but I honestly didn't care and I don't think they did either, it was so damn hot and competitors were falling apart all over the course. Ambulances were everywhere, people throwing up, passing out; it was just not a good scene.

Well somewhat relieved I was able to pick up the pace and start running again. I crossed Francois again, but we basically only waved and he saw that I was not feeling well. I made it to the turn around and had one last out and back to do. The heat and pain at this point were almost unbearable. This is where I started to really dig deep for the reasons why I wanted to finish and why I even like doing this? Around km 33 I saw Francois for the last time before the finish, we stopped I gave him a big hug and told him "Please my Love promise me this is the last time we do this. Never again ok? I am not having fun, I am hurting, hot, hungry, there are no toilets, and there's nothing salty to eat!" I was on my soapbox that's for sure! He answers, "Yes I promise, it's the last one!"

I again had to use a washroom, and some army guys told me there was a restaurant a few blocs further out of the running course, so I waited. I finally spotted a café on the side of the run course, so I went in and I ran to the back where the washroom was, and of course it was locked! I waited, than a lady walked by and told me I needed a key, meanwhile I don't need to remind you that the time was still ticking on my watch and I was almost in a state of panic. "Where do I get the key?" At the cash, which of course was at the front of the restaurant, I made my way through the crowd and tables asked for the key ran back to the back of the restaurant. It was not a key but more like a tool and in my frenzy I couldn't get it open, so I asked for help and some waitress opened the door for me, Danke!

I went back on the course and looked at my watch, my brain was a bit dead and I miscalculated and thought I was very borderline to break 12 hours so I started pushing. I still had more than 5km left and I didn't know if I had it in me to keep up this pace for such a distance but I tried, I pushed, and endured the pain. I later realized that I would do it under 12 hours no problem, so I now set my goal to breaking 11:45…well that was pushing it!

The Finish

Approaching "IronmanCity" I could hear the crowd, it was so up lifting. What a feeling it is to finish an Ironman, a multitude of emotions started emerging within me. It was not only the achievement of one day; it was a years' worth of commitment. All the hard work and sacrifices, the feeling of joy and satisfaction, it was overwhelming. I was close to the finish chute and there was a bunch of racers, since I didn't want them on my picture I had to either out sprint them (which is what I had done the year before at IMC) or let them go by. I accelerated, but so did they, I had nothing left, so I let them go by. All that for a picture you will say? "Yes, but it's a photo finish it's important". Running down the finish chute, I was in a daze, I was so happy. Happy to finish, happy it was over. The finish line was somewhat elevated; you had a little uphill, a flat portion, and a little downhill. I ran up and crossed the finish line with my arms up in the air in a sign of victory in 11:49:00. I was pleased with my results and only to finish at this point, but what did I see? A big downhill, which to me was so steep I could not go down, my legs had given up and there was no way they were going downhill. At this point I was thinking they wouldn't let me go down by myself they would come and help me right? So I bent over, put my hands on my knees and waited for the volunteers to help me go down, all of this happened in a span of two seconds, well that's when the photographer took my photo finish at 11:49:02. "Yes it's a shitty photo", all that finish strategy for nothing! Meanwhile I was still waiting and they never came to get me, so I finally stood up and went down by myself. A volunteer grabbed me and I received my finisher's medal. All finishers get a medal and they all deserve one as far as I am concerned. I went in the finish area and met Francois; he missed my finish, as he did not expect me so soon! We were happy and exhausted not to mention very sore. I was able to eat a little something after the race, quite an improvement on the previous years. They had so much food and now they had the good German pretzels full of salt, better late than never! We hung around a little in the finish area, and waited until I was ready to walk all the way back to the hotel, some 500m. We got back to the room where I took a nice bath, and changed into some dry clothes. We relaxed and exchanged stories. After a while we went back to the finish line to see others finish. Wow what a party, it was fantastic. I could barely stand on my legs but we were having fun and cheering the finishers for the last couple of hours. The pros were back and they looked fresh and not even sore (how do they do it?). We ate a little and got our bikes from the transition area along with our transition bags and headed back to the hotel where I could now finally devour my Pringles!

Overall I achieved all my goals: Swim under an hour (59:33), Bike under 6 hours (5:56), and run under 5 hours (4:46), finish under 12 hours (11:49:00), and be strong and healthy enough to attend the last finisher coming in at midnight. Yes I saw the fire works! All in all a good day at work!

Iron Titanik

<<Back to Race Reports Home