IronMan Austria

By Ian Fagan

Where do I start. When I crossed the finish line in Switzerland 70.3 a couple of years ago I swore I would never put myself through something like that again. But I lied and signed up for Austria full distance last year

A brief review of my training. I designed my own plan and it started in November and was very lonely. It resulted in me missing loads of social and family occasions. Seven hour cycles on your own in Wicklow are not much fun. I am a terrible trainer. I just hate working hard so at least when I was in Wicklow I was forced to climb and put in some effort. Its not really ideal for a course like Austria but it got me working. My swimming improved and then went backwards which still has me confused. My running has improved massively over the past year. Overall I trained well and stuck to my plan. Oh yeah I only did about 3 core sessions which was a pathetic effort and something I have to change.

I travelled over to Austria with my family(Orla, Siobhan and my parents) on the Thursday. I met the other Piranha members in the airport. Everyone seemed to be really looking forward to it. Trip over was fine and we arrived at the hotel on time. When I got out of the car my first reaction was “Holy Sh!t its hot”. I lived in Africa for a couple of years as a child and can handle living in heat but this was as bad as anything I can remember over there. My parents will back that up. Then I went down and registered and had a look at the lake. Its simply a stunning place.

Next morning It was down to the lake for an early swim. Gav Diana Cormac and Michael were getting out of the lake as I was getting in. Duffy doesn’t normally do mornings so he must have been excited. Water was amazingly warm but I thought fine for a wet suit. It was also at this stage that I got wind of the shipping company trying to charge us extra for the bikes. Kev Gileece was looking after this and seems like the type of person who wouldn’t mind arguing it out with the shipping company so I decided to leave it in his hands. Besides my bike was here and that was all that I cared about. Built up my bike that day(actually my dad did) and picked up a few bits and pieces. It was too hot to do anything so I sat on the beach and got in and out of the lake.

Saturday before the race was another swim and off to the race briefing. Cue the drama. South African bloke cracks a joke about them taking a boat way out into the lake to find the coldest spot to take their measurement. Hands the mike to the race director who chuckles and then hands the mike to some other poor soul who tells us the temperature is 24.8 degrees and under the Austrian Triathlon Federation rules it will be a non wetsuit swim. 1000 people gasp in unison. I’m sure some of them think the world has ended. I just said “boll*x”. My goal time had already gone with the heat but now I was worried about wasting energy. Encouraging text message from Orla gets me back on track. Checked in my bike and relaxed for the rest of the day. Slept fine before the race.

Woke the morning of the race had breakfast and got a lift to transition. In the breakfast room nobody was really eating except me. I had three bowls of start and a roll. Most important meal of the last seven months for me. In transition said best of luck to the two limerick lads from the hotel and got my bike set up. Again it was already seriously hot at half five in the morning. Walked down to the beach and I met up with Kev and Andy from 3dtri and Gav and Cormac. Myself and Kev spent the pre race discussing what to do with our bikes and the shipping company so I didn’t really get a chance to get nervous. After the national Anthem, priests saying something we were off. Water was lovely and seemed warmer then the previous days. I told Gav I was going to draft off him and I did for couple of hundred meters and then I lost him. When I got to the first turn I had decided to go wide. It just meant I could keep swimming. After I took the turn I looked up and saw open water in front of me. I thought that I had got to the front of the group I had been swimming in but I was actually swimming miles wide of everyone else. People in boats shouting at you is not a good sign. Again I took the next turn wide and swam off line but I couldn’t see anything in the sun. My shoulders were starting to hurt near the end but I didn’t care once my legs were fine. I did curse the lack of core sessions near the end of the swim. 1:19.44 I thought was shockingly bad but everyone seemed to swim slow(except for Cillian) and transition was still packed with bikes when I got there. No drama here. Took my time and got everything right.

Out on the bike and took it easy. The world and its mother seemed to pass me in the first 20k. Gav and Cormac went past after 15k and we exchanged a few words. The back of my left knee was hurting me but I have had this before and knew how to deal with it. For some reason my the back of my left knee is the only part of my body that likes work. So I put the bike in the big ring and cured that problem but I was a bit worried that I would suffer for it later. My nutrition plan was simple. Half a bar every 20mins and a gel thrown in every hour. Basically I wanted to get all my nutrition from my food and not rely on the aid stations except for hydration. My theory was that I couldn’t trust the mix of drinks at aid stations so I couldn’t rely on it. Anything I got from them was a bonus. I had a quick chat with Diana I think near the end of the first lap. It was a fairly uneventful bike except for the heat really kicking in on the second lap. After the race people were saying it hit over 40 degrees. To be honest I tried to ignore it and kept myself as cool as I could by emptying water over myself. Towards the end of the bike I was tired but when I caught Gav I knew he was in trouble. On a normal day I would never have caught him. My second loop was significantly slower then the first even though I was riding with a lower then normal heart rate in the first lap to conserve energy. Best bit of the bike was seeing my family and hearing my mam and dad go mental as I went past. I was feeling sick near the end and had to stick to gels for the last hour 5:48. Slightly disappointing looking back at it but I was in good shape compared to a lot of people I saw out there.

Gav followed me into the tent in T2 and lay down on the ground. We had a quick chat and I headed off. Again I took my time and composed myself.

Before the race I had decided to walk all the aid stations and take in as much hydration as I could. I like running and I have worked at it very hard at it but I knew after 200 yards that my legs we fried. I ran for a couple of K and then I stopped and had a chat with my family. My cousin Stephen was also doing the race and I let them know that I had seen him on the bike course. The told me to keep going but I just wanted to have a rest. I went on to the aid station took on some fluids and jogged on. That was the theme for the rest of the race. I was going fine for the first 13k but my knee was hurting and I was starting to suffer. I started taking on two drinks at the aid stations. But I was really just emptying one over my head and walking for a little bit longer. The local support is amazing and they had countless hoses going to walk under. The amount of Irish people supporting the race was outstanding. When I was running I was moving fine but it was getting harder and harder to keep going. My pre race run plan was gone out the window and I felt like I was slow roasting. Another couple of hours and I would be fine for eating. It was quite messy out on the course. People sitting down vomiting and standing up vomiting and asleep on benches. I did see someone being paced and ran between the two of them saying what I thought of them. I just didn’t see the point of cheating in the race especially when you have more chance of winning the lotto then your age group. I hated every minute of the run and I got a bit emotional near the end but pulled myself together for the finish. My daughter Siobhan gave me an Ireland Flag and ran up the finish line with me. To be honest she was going too fast for me and my legs were hurting. I really wanted to share it with her and she had sat through the heat all day waiting for fleeting glimpses of her crazy dad. I don’t really remember the finish line run in or hearing my name been called. I do remember the guy from Russia curled up in a ball on the ground shaking and the Spanish guy being carried off on a stretcher. Obviously I didn’t try hard enough.

I sat on the ground and chatted with my family for a while and recovered. I then went into the tent got my gear and had a quick chat with Dave and Gus who both had great races. I met up with Cormac who also had a great race and Gav who DNF’d due to the heat. He was alright about it and not surprisingly was only interested in eating pizza. Diana and Michael were there as well after great races. I then waited for my cousin to finish. He had gone through hell in the heat. We went back to the finish line for the last few finishers. It was a great atmosphere and it is really inspirational to see these people finish after racing for nearly 17 hours.

Good Points

My pre-race plan of taking Dioralite for three weeks to avoid cramping worked well

My nutrition plan was ok

Bad Points

My bike power

Laces on my shoes opening. Schoolboy error not using lock laces.

Don’t use a certain shipping company(ended up driving the bike to Vienna and flying it home). Shower of robbing b*st*rds

What would I do differently.

Train for a longer time but shorter hours which might give me better quality.

Tips

Don’t put ice in your running hat. You just get a bad headache. I should have known better.

Use your aero helmet in the heat. My head was warm but it did keep the sun off my neck and I don’t think it had any negative effect on my race.

Met Chrissie Wellington. I was like a school girl meeting One Direction. I thought I would be much cooler about it. She was out on the bike course screaming support at everyone. If only she had taken up my offer to do the bike leg for me I might have run faster. She is super nice.

Massive thanks to my family for putting up with me over the past year. I’m grumpy at the best of times.

I was already thinking about doing the next one about 3 minutes after I finished and decided to sweeten the deal for my family by proposing. She said yes to getting married but not to Ironman 2014. I will have to work on that one