An unexpected title

I think my season now is definitely over and I have to say: what a season! On thing is for sure: I improved a lot due to hard training, no working and believing in myself, my body and my coach.

I thought that my season had finished with the Doñana Challenge, but it hasn’t. In between squeezed a sprint triathlon in (Malaga, where I got 2^nd and was quite surprised about that result) and then I followed the advice of Jaime and signed up for the Spanish long distance triathlon championships, which originally had been organized in Ibiza but changed to Orihuela, Alicante. That made the race more accessible for me. I grabbed an invitation for the elite category from the Andalusian federation and followed the express training plan, 3 weeks, the first one 11h, second 20h, third 18h, dropped about 1,5 kg, noticed that I had missed swimming lots of meters, love running sessions on the track and need a powertap.

Thursday 3 I picked up the huge rental car Kia Picanto, headed to Marbella, did some training and shopping, slept @ Jaime and Lu’s place and Friday morning on the road again, 5h to the province of Alicante.

Friday and Saturday passed by quickly, with lovely company of Carlos 46 times IM, Alex, Fernando and Saleta, aka “what are the you 4 doing there?” à foto cafeteria moviles

Race preparation, pasta dinner, not so early to bed and as usual not sleeping too deeply the night before the race. I wasn’t nervous. Or better I had no concern about none of the disciplines, just a bit about the wind maybe. The only thing that was crusing thru my mind was the prediction that I would make podium in this race and even more because Eva Ledesma was ill in bed. I have to say: well, I have raced an under 10h IM this year, but I still don’t see me as such a good athlete. I mean, when I started with triathlon, I always got 3^rd from the end…

Anyway, I concentrated on my skills, what has to be would be…

Race morning started at 5am with breakfast in the room and coffee of the machine. I arrived really early to T1, prepared bike and bags ad myself and the wind was heavy already. The elite boys went first thru the 200m canal to the imaginary startline. In the race meeting we were told that the swim would be a go out and come back, once at the start line, we were told to swim a triangle, first buoy, then second on the left from the first one and back to the start buoy. Well, if you think in a quiet lake, that’s okay, but it wasn’t. The gun came off and I swam next to Anne, we had met just that morning preparing the bikes. Same pace and same orientation style, will say, stop every now and then to get the buoy spotted well. Before we reached the first one we had to cross a small forest in the middle of the lake, made it, first buoy done, second as well (crossing with athletes already, strange!),  35minutes. And then the big “????” started. We turned in the second buoy and I had absolutely NO idea where to go. By the time we were 3, Anne, an age grouper and I, and Anne said: the village is over there, lets go there. And so we did. About 10minutes later I started to spot the 3^rd buoy and felt much more comfortable. I came out of the water about 5m behind Anne, grabbed the bag, changed quickly and was first girl on the bike, with a funny strong headwind. Uphill, then downhill, the official behind me all the time. After the first turn to the right riding felt much better, headwind had turned into light side wind but already helping a bit. We were flying on this part of the leg, tailwind and perfect roads.

Around km 35 I was overtaken by another girl, spotted her powertap and thought: you don’t go too far lady, and she didn’t. She was in front of me for a long time, I became first again about at km 50 or 60 but not for long. And that second time she went away and I was not willed to force too much to get her. I’m quite sure she passed her set watts at that moment of the race ;)

The last part of the bike leg was easier than expected, T2 went well despite I forgot to take off the cycling jersey. Out on the run, 2 loops kind of a Y and good to control the first one. When we crossed the first time I took the time to the turning point, doubled it and that meant that I was about 3min behind. At the second turn same difference. She looked strong and so did I. Running didn’t feel as easy as it did in Austria, but it was okay. I could force, but had no real idea about my pace; Garmin is still sitting in hospital… on the third part of the loop I couldn’t spot the first girl and none of the helpers was able to give any reference of time between me and her. I only thought, go tiger, everything is possible, 30k is a long way to run and everything can happen. I knew that there was no danger coming from behind, that’s why my focus was completely on the first girl.

The next reference I got was kind of smashing. What has been 3minutes had turned into 10minutes. And the wind! Can’t you shut the f… up???? On the way out to the turning points the headwind was devastating. Imagine a invisible hand holding you back… that’s what it was sometimes. But the same way as we say on the bike: what goes up must come down, if you run the same way out and back, the wind will help you. I still haven’t seen the third girl, knew that the first was almost out of reach, but kept forcing, you never know, everything can happen. Anyway, sometimes the idea hopped into my mind: second. Second elite woman in the Spanish long distance championships. Second. That’s more than I had ever imagined. There might be people saying: she came second because the good ones did not race. No. I got second because I raced. Second. 4k to go I crossed with the Gurutze, the first girl, animated her, looked at my watch and kept going, 4k to go. 20minutes later I crossed the finish line. Second!

Finisher medal, hug from Ximo and drug testing. Wow! That’s what it’s like to race elite. No problem at all. Later the ceremony of the elite category, a hot shower and something to eat, back to the hostel and relax.

Now I can name myself vice champion (although I am not vice champion, because I’m not Spanish). This is unreal. I was the one that got into T1 with 3 bikes left there. I was the one that always was one loop behind on the run. The slow one…

I think I should start to believe it. But I prefer understatement. Because the moment you think you know it all, you gained this or that, the race will give you a lesson to learn. I believe in me, in my training and in my mental capacity, which is a good one I have to say. And I have a goal. Next year maybe or the other, or the other, but I will get it. The base is set, but it will be hard to work and train again.

I got an invitation as a nominee for the annual sports gala of Marbella. Meanwhile I can tell you that I did not get the title, it is hard to compete with the number 25 world ranking golf player… but hey, my legs are faster ;)

A bunch ride, a watered Garmin and a beach run

17.09.11 another long distance race, just a bit different than normal…

I had decided to do this race short term and the preparation hasn’t felt very specific, neither many long bike rides nor long runs, swimming was difficult as well, but that wasn’t my main concern, 1k was not too far…

A big thank you to my cousin’s husband, who did me the huge favor to send me my road bike to Spain, the poor Specialized has been sitting in storage since February. I’m still a nomad and lucky to have friends and family around who keep sending me stuff I need, without them I wouldn’t have been able to race! (And yes, Ellen I’m referring to you ;)

7a.m.

Challenge Doñana is different as I said, to start with cycling is something new and I was a bit concerned about the big bunch… As I’m riding alone a lot, finding me in a 300 cyclist’s bunch intimidated a bit. The gun came off and we started (neutralized), riding out of Sanlucar, the group was slowing down a lot at the beginning, so nothing to fear about. The moment when the front car opened the race, the first group went away quite quickly, I knew this before; I had almost 180k to ride so I decided to stay with the second one, not wanting to blow up after 20k. When we left the main road to the right in direction Jerez, I wasn’t too concentrated and just a few moments later my group was 10m away and hell, no way to catch them…

Next step: waiting for the next group, but this one wasn’t ideal because: hey men, aren’t you able to lead a bit????? I was riding with 10 or 12 guys, but not the pace I’d liked, so I went away, on the 3k “off road”, a section with very bad ground, I was happy not to be in a bunch. I could avoid the big holes and went out of the danger zone without puncture. It was impressive to see how many people flatted there! On both sides of the road heaps of people changing tubes, as I said: lucky me I wasn’t one of them!

On the next steep but short hill a guy from Huelva passed me, thanks for that wheel that made the km between El Cuervo and the next crossroad far easier! Until another one who has had a flat before passed us, and he went away…

Alone again, no groups coming from behind, but always with the group in front of me, observing them but not able to reach them, until Arcos, where I picked up some mates from Jerez… I had heard about the historical centre of Arcos before, but I did NOT expect that climb, cobblestones, 17+% climb and a very small plain strip in the middle to ride on… Anyway, I made my way up there, and from the top on I never rode alone, these funny mates from Jerez made it lot easier, but long way to go, very few aid stations and nooooooo water.

Arcos de la frontera

I reached transition after 5h40min, grabbed the bag, made it into my neo, because I did not know the current or no current I would have in the water. At the beginning of the swim I was drawn to the left by the current but later I think I made my more or less straight way to the other side of the river. Out of the water JJ was waiting there, telling me that I was 2^nd of the amateur women and I knew that I could do it, because my running is good.

yep, thats me ;)

T2: the worst in a long time. Get out of the neo, clear feet with the water bottle in the transition bag (no water on the way to T2), put the socks on (wet legs), grab gels and salt sticks, cap, another small water bottle to carry on, shoes, neo in the bag, swim goggles and cap…  it took me forever to get the heck out of there.

During the first meters of running, I was willed to change my garmin into run mode, but, hello! A plain display and a strange beeping made me know that: he had decided to get a portion of Guadalquivir water and it didn’t feel very well! My first thought: I need to know the hour of the day to get the gels in on time… It is not an Ironman, but I have to run 30km, its hot and windy and this combination is a nice one for dehydration. I asked some people on the beach what time it is and from that moment on, at every aid station and some competitors I met. The first 10k felt really good, the tide was still low and the sand hard, perfect to run a nice pace (no idea what pace it was, Garmin was beeping, but no useful information). I got the first girl on k4 or 5, or maybe 6… I reached Dani from my club and kept running. Bit by bit the water came in, forming little creeks I tried to avoid (wet shoes are not my favorite). Around k15 the running started to feel worse. The sand became softer, my legs more tired, but I kept going. I couldn’t help start to sing a Manu Chao song “la marea va subiendo, subiendo mama…” (high tide is coming in, it’s coming Mom….).

km1

I had 2 things in my mind, Manu Chao’s song and JJ’s words: look for the hard sand, always look for the hard parts to run on. On km 27 I got angry, hell, there IS NO HARD sand!!!!

On the last aid station I said something like: “please, no more sand” to the guys there and the surprising answer was: just one more km, you get off the beach then and have the last two on the road. I did not know that, and was released, even though the way up to the costal walk was hard, the last 2k lonely but okay.

Finish line was nice, I didn’t feel the same like in Austria and it will be hard to repeat what I did there, but it was okay. Lucky to go over it as the first amateur woman, thinking that it was the season final. Maybe it wasn’t but that’s about to decide. JJ was waiting for me there, with my finisher medal. I can’t say why but I didn’t enjoy this finish as I should have… Maybe Austria was too good, maybe I underestimate this race. I enjoyed the race, the beautiful surroundings, the different design, the run in the national park Doñana, but there was something missing. I definitely didn’t spend the dedication, time and love I spent on my IM preparation this year. For me it was one more race, a long one, 8h 45min to be exact. After a week or so I started to realize what I did. I know now that there is way to go on my bike performance. I know now that I did a really good swim and I knew before that I love running and I do quite well on that; At least in long distance races.

My special thanks to 3 J’s, the double for being there, for making me company on the training rides, runs and swims, for believing in me and everything else.

And the single one to my coach, good work mate ;)

beautiful views on the way back

The perfect day

Today it's one month already that I got up at 4am to welcome the big day I was preparing for so long. The weather forecast was nice, not too cold, not too hot, no wind, perfect.

It was a freezy morning, when we prepared our bikes in the transition zone. Once everything was set up, I followed my this year’s new habit and took 5min or 10 in a quiet corner to visualize the race, every stage of it, with my very special IM song that found me about a week before the race.

At 6am I met with Hannes in the changing tent, both of us quiet, but confident and ready to rumble.

I picked a position quite in the front to start the swim, a bit on the right side of the left pack.

The speaker sent us into the water one minute before the gun came off, and when that happened, the water became to boil. It is the most amazing moment when I watch a triathlon and the most terrific when you are in there. Too many elbows and feet around you… I just concentrated on a little phrase Jaime had written in my t plan for race day: don’t get tense. It costs me a bit not to get tense, but thinking in these 3 words helped, until I got out of the washing machine about 5 or 600m after the start. The first turn at 1400m was quite clean, another 500m after the second turn, I had found some nice feet at that stage, but they went a bit too much to the left, so I changed 2XU for Blue Seventy and kept drafting for a while. I definitely enjoyed the moment when we entered the canal; I heard the crowds cheering and felt the current produced by the swimmers in this clear, nice water. I didn’t know how far the canal swim was, it took longer to get to the swim exit than I thought, but when my feet hit the ground again, Garmin said: 1:03 something which made me smile and run quickly into T1.

The transition went fast and without any problems, I hopped on the bike and started the 2 loops course, the first 25km along the lake, flat and fast, controlling the watts, “don’t over pace”. My concentration was on the W and the nutrition, number 7 became a magical one in that race; when I started the bike lag the watch showed 1h7min, from that moment on every 7 had a significance, as it was the time I had to eat, or better to have finished one of the 6 parts marked on the bottle with the holy concentrate ;)

After the first 30k I knew that I was riding fast, the second hour was a bit slower due to the climbs. On both of them someone had written on the road: go tiger go, and: I love my tiger. And so do I ;) Hannes passed me on k 60 approximately, see you later alligator. The third 30k were fast again, they could have been even faster without a group of 8 or 9 in front of me riding down to Klagenfurth blocking the road. And when I came to the turning point to start the second loop the watch said: 4h 47min, I was in the perfect timing.

When I passed the personal aid station located on the right side of the road I went to the left to avoid getting involved in some plastic bag or similar trouble, when someone passed me on my right side that obviously was willing to cuddle with me. Paul passed me too close, so we went shoulder on shoulder (literally!) during a couple of seconds and I just tried not to hit the pedestrian way. I jailed at him (in Spanish, as it’s the first thing coming out of that German mouth when it comes to swear), he didn’t even apologize! With a good injection of adrenalin I kept going, calming down myself after that scary moment, I was really lucky that I had ridden so many km this year and to dominate my bike. I’m sure I’d have crashed if not.

The second loop went quite the same way as the first riding for a while with Fernanda Keller around, I had heard a lot about her, and yes: she is beautiful and in an amazing form, I wished I’d look like that with 48!

On that second loop it began to dawn on me that this IM could maybe be a way better new personal best than I had imagined. The last 30k I paced that last long downhill just not to lose seconds or minutes, my plan was let the bike with 6h27min, it turned into 6h30min and I thought: If you are able to run 3h30min, you get the 10h. I parked my dear bike in its place, the first IM race without any back issues and with no negative thoughts on the bike. Every year on km 150 I was thinking: damn, can I please get vertical and run? Not this year.

I put on my superstition socks and the fast red shoes, grabbed two gels, on in each hand, salt tablets in the back pocked of my jersey and headed out for the run. 2 loops, 6k to the left and back and 4 and something towards Klagenfurth. I was running a bit faster than the set pace by the coach, but it felt good and I said to myself: let’s see how long I can hold that pace, when I crack, I crack, but it doesn’t matter.

I stack perfectly to my nutrition plan, gels, water and salt; nothing else. When I had eaten the two gels I kept grabbing one from the aid stations to keep it in my left hand, in the right hand folded water cup. I had done my training sessions carrying the Ipod, water bottle or phone and it just felt weird not to have anything to hold on to. On K 15 and a bit I spotted a black pants white top and a familiar running style in front of me. I passed Hannes on k16. He just said: great Kirsten, go, you get the sub 10, get the tiger out! And I ran. At every timing mat I heard my friends in Spain cheering, hoping me not to crack, and maintaining the pace. And I did. At Km 38 I knew that I had the sub 10, no matter what. I passed a guy with a lot of pearcings in his ears, thinking that it has to be uncomfortable and he said: you go girl, and I: I do, he: god bless the ignorant, I: that’s not ignorance, that’s training ;) I would meet him again after the finish line, Karl with a K ;)

2km left, keeping up the pace, increasing it. 4’25’’. I couldn’t believe that that was happening. It felt great, unbelievable, amazing. When I turned left where many people still had to do another loop and the crowds were cheering I was just laughing loud.

The last turn to the left showed the race clock: 9h 55min. Nothing can describe that moment, maybe this photo:

I did not pass out as I did 2 years ago, I did not cry like every year before. I had never enjoyed a race and less an IM like I did. And I am flattered about what I’m able to do. Of course it helped that I had dedicated a lot of time to train. That I was not working since February, living a professionals’ life. But even though I’d never thought that I could be sub 10.

A huge thank you to my coach! We did a good job this year. The second one working together, but we definitely improved. Last year I struggled so much and this year I didn’t.

Another big thank you to my kind of sponsor: Tamalpais for letting me the powertap! I’ll get one as soon as I can.

And thanks to all the others who teached me, supported me, helped me out. I have no idea if I’ll ever be able to repeat that time or improve it. Of course I want to but circumstances change. It was the perfect day.

At the moment I don’t want to repeat IM Austria. It was perfect. Only the Hawaii slot would have topped it, I missed it by 1 position. Next time ;) or the one after the next, or maybe never, but I’ll keep trying :D

A goodbye and hello raceweek

After 3 weeks in hell of windy Hannover it was about time to head south, on Monday to Nürnberg, 470km driving and a relaxed dinner @ dads house. We didn’t have a lot of time Monday evening, even though it was nice to chat a bit sitting outside enjoying a mild evening outside after too many cold, grey and rainy days in the north of Germany.

On Tuesday morning we did not drive directly to Austria as we had planned before. My brother and I had an important date, a sad one, because a dear and beloved person has left us last week after 5 years of fighting against cancer. Günter was our moms’ second husband and one of the few people I would call “wise”. It was always enriching to talk to him, he was tolerant, intelligent, funny, loving... a very special person who left our lives and who will hopefully be with other beloved ones again now.

Our first drive to Nürnberg was quite funny, this second trip of 540km was a bit more quiet, thinking about many things and not talking too much the first hours.

I have quite a bit of experience in long trips by car right now, I missed to post the story about my 2 days drive from Marbella to Hannover, maybe I’ll do that in the next days or weeks, still don’t know. Just some information: important equipment for long drives: Coffee, music, a working aircon (which is NOT the case in my car right now), something to eat, compression socks and tons of humor!

We arrived in Klagenfurt at about 8.30pm, checked in our little apartment, and situated about 8km from the race start a bit outside of the city. The apartment is located on the other side of the road where the main building is, so for internet we’re sitting outside, the walls are too thick for wifi to come trough ;)

On Wednesday a beautiful day said welcome to Kärnten, the perfect conditions for the bike course check. I haven’t seen too many bike courses of IM races, but I think the lake and mountain scenery topped with perfect weather, no wind and blue sky is really hard to top! There are two climbings on each of the two laps, they might hurt in the second lap, but we do have lots of km’s to recover (not like Regensburg ;). I think Mr. Powertap will have a lot of work to do here, as the first part of the bike is mostly flat and animating to give it all ;)

The lake is awesome to swim, we went once without wetsuit and yesterday with wetsuit, both options no problem, I really enjoyed the Kona style coffee boat on our yesterday morning swim, today I missed it due to some extra sleep…

Everything is prepared for the big day already, course checked, tires changed, TT helmet tested. The only thing missing is the fancy back wheel, it got stuck in Madrid for too many days and arrived yesterday in Hannover, no chance to get it for the race or 190€ to pay, but that won’t happen…

After collecting our registration stuff yesterday we took some time in memory of Günter, as we couldn’t join his very last journey, some minutes on the lake thinking of him. I think there can’t be better scenery to say good bye to a beloved person… I’m sad that he left us, but I’m happy to know that he had a fulfilled life, 73 years of a lived life. I said good bye to him yesterday, watching the water and the mountains and just before we left, the sun came through the clouds and sent us a farewell smile.

This IM is different already to the others; it’s probably the most relaxed until now. We’re just my brother and I, we decide what we do and don’t do, head over to the expo, come back, train, cook, relax, and surf on the internet ;)… I don’t know exactly if it’s the circumstances, the experience or if it’s me, but I’m enjoying every minute here and I’m hot to race on Sunday! I haven’t got any doubts, I feel prepared and excited and there will be what has to be, I’m sure I’ve done everything I could to prepare my race. I really enjoyed it this year, of course I was lucky to dedicate a lot of time to train, without working like the years before. And I enjoyed to be trained by Jaime, I think we did a pretty good job this year, both of us ;) Thank you for your patience and plan changes during my travels coach!

There isn’t much more stuff to do before 7am on Sunday. Tomorrow race briefing, some swim, bike and run, bike check in and relaaaaaaax.

I’ve never been so calm the days before an IM, hopefully it’s the silent moment before the storm, prepare yourself tiger, you will have a lot of work to do ;) I will need him, but I already spotted a painting on one of the hills, saying: I love you my tiger, and: go tiger go…

Nothing more to say!

Home is where your heart is…

It’s day 20 in Germany. I arrived on Saturday 28^th late in Hannover, after 2 days of crazy driving, too much coffee, a terribly sore back and 2850km. The day after I still felt physically terrible, it was worse than the journey back from Australia. I couldn’t think, was dissy and veeeeery tired. Meanwhile I got used to training here in flat Hannover, the first 4h ride I went like proven on my travels with my very own navigation system:

Swimming is nice in the stadium pool, just a bit challenging not to hit the granny’s and granddads who are mostly going in pairs, chatting during their breast stroke vertical position style J

Just 5min from where my brother lives is a lake with a nice 5,8k track around, so running is going well too.

You have a lot of time to think when you are out there on your bike or feet and I have many things to think about. But there is one major thought in my head and heart, hanging there like a smog cloud over a busy city: What am I doing here? And: was it the right decision I made?

When it comes to decision making we base them on certain reasons. There are reasons that come from your head and the others that come from your heart. My decision was based on both head and heart. It seemed all very clear. After 6 years in Spain it was time to move back to Germany, where my family is. Job situation is better here and some private reasons played a role as well.

Normally you feel bad until you’ve taken an important decision; once it’s taken you’re fine with it and can work towards the next station. I did that. My travel to Australia was part of the decision, a little break for my soul before I start over again. When I came back to Spain it felt strange, because it was like home, but no home there anymore. Even though I had beautiful 2,5 weeks and I loved every single moment of it. I enjoyed to ride on my beloved roads with or without my friends, loved to get up at 6 and jump in the water at 6.30am for the swim session with posterior breakky, loved to drive around well known places…

after swim breakfast

                                     

And then the moment came that I had to say goodbye to my friends and to the places that had become so familiar during the last years. When I left Marbella with my car I cried many tears, they came back every now and then during the 2 days and I felt like I was cheating on my Spain.

The first days here in Germany have been quite nice concerning weather issues, but lately it sucks. I just finished the last tough training week, yesterday 6h of riding with grey sky, massive clouds, rain, and heavy blasts. But yesterday it wasn’t freezing. Today 2h15min run with rain, 14º and heavy wind. I think if this isn’t preparing me mentally for the Ironman, I really don’t know what can prepare me.

bike ride panorama

yes, we did ride the same day, the sunny girl and the rainy brother in terms of clothes ;)

fast but dirty rain running shoes

I’m getting to know this city, its surroundings, the bike and run tracks… but I always ask myself: is this my home? At the moment, home is maybe a bit difficult to define, in terms of job and daily routine. But I’m thinking a lot about this phrase: home is where your heart is. Right now my heart hasn’t arrived yet. On one hand you have your family; they are always there, no matter what. And then there is the family you pick, the people who live your every days routine with you, who make you free time something special, these guys you spend a lot of time with, share good and bad moments, who call you, who ask you how you’re feeling. You don’t find them too easily; it takes time to create this amazing thing called friendship.

I’m just becoming aware of what I had. Unfortunately you have to lose something to get to know what you had. When home is where your heart is and mine is in two different places, do I have a broken heart? How long does it take to heal? Do I want it to heal? Or just go back to where I think my heart is and see what happens?

I’d never thought that I would say that: I miss the sun. 20C of temperature difference today.

2 weeks to go for IM Austria. I start to see the race, to see myself in the race. I’ll just store my heart in triathlon until the race to make myself feel home. After the Ironman I’ll take my time for research. Meanwhile there’s always internet to keep in touch.

Did the tiger move to Germany? Wasserstadt Triathlon Hannover

A beautiful day for racing! Sunday 5^th June at 12h the last big test for IM Austria was on the plan, a half IM distance race called Wasserstadt Triathlon Hannover Limmer. I’ve been around the area on Saturday already to watch my brother race a sprint distance, which here in Germany is without drafting. I’ve never seen disc wheels or aero helmets in a sprint triathlon and it was kind of funny to see.

Our wave start was at 12h midday, we headed over to Limmer around 10am to get everything organized with time, I hate having to hurry before a race, enough hurry in the race ;)

The sun was burning down on us already, I walked around with my holy water bottle as usual, racked my bike, prepared the running shoes and already famous white compression socks (hey they are fantastic to recognize for the photographers ;), went to the race briefing (5min, nothing new), hugged my brother and tried to avoid direct sun, which was really complicated.

As proved in Sydney my Ipod was with me this time again. The prior days to the race I have felt quite tired and not very strong; I was a little bit concerned about that, but took the moment to sit down next to a goal on the socker field where the transition zone was to concentrate and focus on my race. Bruno Mars helped on that with “on the other side” which in this case for me meant: the finish line. I went mentally thru the race the swim, transition, bike, transition, run and finish line, took a deep breath and was ready to go.

I headed down to the swim start, a canal like in Roth and some good memories. I was in the last wave start, I’ve no idea  how many people but not too many, clean one! Waiting for the run to get off a girl next to me without wetsuit sais “the water is quite warm, no wetsuit needed”, I smiled at her and thought: yeah, but I like that little help to get the butt up ;)

The gun got off and the party started. It was not too bad, I just had to avoid some feet close to my chin but within a minute I was out of trouble and the water felt good. About 3 minutes later I heard my dear friend Jules when she told and showed me about how to draft in the swim and I started to look for a nice pair of feet, or better, a nice hip to sit on. And I found it. It was the “the water is quite warm” girl, I tried to pass her, but it took me too much effort and I remembered some other words from last year Pre-Regensburg when Jaime said: if you try to pass someone on the swim and you just can’t, sit on these feet. And so I did. I went with the ZeroD black trisuit (the expensive lovely one with the flowers on the shoulder ;) almost thru the whole swim and I loved it. We passed the buoy together and on the way back we had some awesome under water sceneries, clear water with long seaweed stretching out its tentacles to us, tickling in the face swimming over it… I don’t remember 1,9k passing by so quickly (it was a bit less than 1,9 due to a ship parking on the former turning point…) The way out of the water went over some stairs up to a boat, over that boat and a long way to the transition zone.

I made my way quite fast into transition, got rid of the wetsuit very well, grabbed my powertap tuned light blue old lady and out on the bike course. My legs felt bad at the beginning and I had to slow down my energy to not get over the Watts set by the coach. I thought of Lu, my best girlfriend, training partner and rocking athlete who just finished Brazil in a fantastic time, some days ago talking about Ironman Brazil she said to me: Santo Powertap, holy powertap… people were passing me, but I just thought: you guys wait, I’ll get you later, we had 3 laps to go, not one. The first lap I had to control my legs, they wanted to go faster than my head, but my butt was hurting, normally this feeling comes around km 80 of a long ride, the burning muscles, but it was already there. I focused on the numbers on the little yellow computer and went fast, with a sweet tailwind at the beginning which turned into sidewind which turned into head wind. On the second aid station my brother passed me like an airplane, shouting out “come on Kirsten get the tiger out!” My respond: “no worries, the tiger will come! Later!” and let him go.

On the second lap I had got used to control the watts, enjoying the riding and seeing the fast pace on the cervo (aka cycling computer). Half way thru the second lap my dear back decided to challenge my head, it started to hurt and got worse, but I stayed in the aeroposition trying to move a bit back and force on the saddle to change posture… On the third lap the wind got stronger. I heard my coach “you don’t care about wind, watts are watts” and so I didn’t. Controlling myself on the little uphills (it was a damn flat bike course, 440m on 90km) and pacing on the flat, tailwindy kind of downhills. Holy powertap! I caught loads of people on the last lap ;)

I was glad to get into transition and rack my bike there, getting my sore back in an upright position. It reminded me heaps of my Ironman races, it’s always like that. I had some hope that it would be different this year, as I didn’t experience back problems in my training lately, but maybe 2 days and 2850km in a car aren’t very good for an athlete’s back?

So, bike stored, socks and shoes on, race cap and gels grabbed and out on the 21k, 2 laps to go. My face was covered with salt; I realized it at the beginning of the run and tried to get water into my face and cool down a bit. It was really hot now and sun was burning. The first part of the run course wasn’t very friendly, a lot of curves and different soils made it hard to find a steady pace and my head was burning. First gel on the run at min 30.

On the next aid station I spotted a white capped white top black bottom guy walking in front of me and I thought “you see? I told you the tiger would come” even if I didn’t feel the tiger. My legs were tired and without power to push. I got onto him and said “hello my love!”, his answer: “no, that’s not possible!” And we ran together. 3 years ago my brother and I had planned to get over Roth’s finish line together but it failed by 20sec. Now we were running side by side, sometimes I went a bit in front, sometimes he did. We stopped at the aid stations to cool down a bit (they had water hoses there, great thing!!!) and get enough liquids into the body. After the second gel at min 60 I decided that I didn’t want more of them… I got a shower and finally got rid of the salt in my face and felt a bit better.

The last 8k really hurt. I couldn’t help but groan or swear sometimes to keep going. My legs wanted to walk but I didn’t. At one point my brother said: come on we’ll suffer this together to the finish line. And so we did. The last 150m to the finish line went uphill and we paced up until we got there, he grabbed my hand 30m before the line and it was awesome! I couldn’t physically but that special thing gave me an extra push to get the last reserves out of the body. And the tiger. He came, even if it was only for the last 150m.

I sat down just behind the finish line and started to sob… Glad it was over and happy for this very special race that we couldn’t have planned better.

4 weeks to IM Austria and still some work to do. E.g. get my back fixed and regular massages. I failed a bit on that part lately, but it isn’t that easy when you move around all the time…

When we picked up the bikes and headed to the car I stopped by the results, and there it was: 3^rd in my age group. We weren’t too many, but even though that’s a great effort for me, beating my personal best in half distance by 40minutes. You can’t compare one race to another, but 40min is not only due to the course.

4 weeks to go. 4 weeks to feed the tiger and get him tuned for the long one. 4 weeks of pro life, even if I have to get focused on real life bit by bit. I don’t know where I will stay, where I will work, where I will live. I don’t even know where I want to live right now. I’m feeling happy when I’m sitting on my bike. The only consistency in my gipsy life ;) The gipsy and her tiger…

Same same but different

I’m back in Spain after more than 2,5 months traveling thru Australia and some days in England. It was a new sensation coming “home”, as I have decided that this here is not my home anymore. There was no welcome committee, no one had asked my arrival time… that’s the thing, if you decide to move on with your life, everyone else does too and that’s good! I know my friends’ life’s here as it used to be mine as well, so I knew what they’ve been doing.

Well, I’m lucky to report that my bike arrived in one piece, 13 flights and no damage; I think that’s worth it to mention!

One of my working colleges and friends picked me up from the bus station and gave me a lift to another friend’s house and on Sunday I hit the well known highways with my bike, riding with 2 friends after a long time. And now I can say: I got faster. We rode for 4h on my flat favorite course and I felt great, despite the last 10min effort where I was pretty tired yet. A 30min brick run and a refreshing leg icing in the Mediterranean Sea afterwards. Damn, what a difference to the Pacific Ocean! But hey, the Pacific doesn’t provide the icy part ;)

That was the Sunday, on Monday I went back on the road with my bike, 4,5h this time on my own. A kind of rolling hills course which got me to a place where I’ve been only once before and which reminded me of some important things:

2010. My first year training with a coach, Jaime. After 3 IM distance races I had decided to change something, because you can’t expect better results using the same recipes. The first weeks went well, until I got tired and started to struggle. And I made so many mistakes. I started to question myself and the training, I was tired and unmotivated and every time I couldn’t ride or run the paces I was meant to, I was overwhelmed. Too many days I looked at my plan in the morning and I knew already that I wouldn’t be able to do what was written there. And so it was; the famous self fulfilling prophecy. And the worst mistake: I didn’t talk with my coach. He had no idea about what was going on in my head and heart; he just saw the training resumes which weren’t very amazing. I expected him to tell me something, without acting by myself. I think I wasn’t prepared badly last year, but the result of the doubts and the hesitating was a mental break down in the race where I walked the last 10k. But I finished, crying on the finish line like so many times before in my training and happy that it was over. That the season was over.

One of these struggling weekends my friend Tarne was visiting Marbella, she brought her bike to train and I perfectly remember the Saturday: I was supposed to swim and run and she wanted to ride. I felt terrible. I wanted to ride with her, my plan said a different thing and again I thought I was doing bad if I went riding. At the end we went riding together, talking during 4h or more about riding, training and the life. She gave me some motivation back this day because I noticed that I was not riding too badly. I had to forget to think about what I was doing, or better what I was or wasn’t able to do. The point where we turned was the same point where I found myself this Monday.

On Monday stopped up there, remembering this day last year and all the tears I’d cried. And I was feeling so happy this time. It was a beautiful day and standing at this same point I became aware of the changes I’ve made. Not in the way that everything was bad last year and is perfect now. It was just the same place, the same bike, the same weather and the same person, but so different.

beautyful Cadiz

The big change I was remembered of this moment was my training, the results of it and the communication with my coach. I guess I had to learn to be trained. I had to learn to trust him and myself. I had to learn to verbalize my doubts and questions and to accept the answers. I had to learn to enter the pain box and to enjoy it. And I did.

It’s like with other things I wrote about in this blog: at the moment you start trying and just let life happen, it works. And it's about thinking what you're able to do, not what you're not able to do, the question if the glass is half full or half empty. Mine is half full ;)

 As Jaime said to me one day: you need to trust yourself, you can do it. Thank you coach!