Pre 70.3 Pescara, a screwed week

Pescara Italy, 26ºC, sunny perfect. Racing on Sunday has to be perfect too, as the whole week is screwed. Frankly, my last week is all about screws.

First screw problem, changing the number plates of my car, I couldn’t fix them due to the screws, but that’s not very interesting…

So: on Tuesday, preparing the travel I cleaned my bike and was about to change the brake shoes. The first one went well, the second didn’t. I had been too lazy to get some pliers, so I took the bike multi tool, well, the screwdriver to push the old one out the screwdriver slipped and aaaaaaaaaaaaah, it went directly into my left forefinger. I was scared, because that finger didn’t look very nice and hurt a lot. My thoughts went directly to the swim leg on Sunday.

One of the nurses at my work cleaned it on Wednesday morning said: igh, that doesn’t look very good, but she also gave me back some confidence telling me that it was not too bad. Anyway it still looks ugly and hurts.

So, yesterday we took the plane to Rome, we, me and JJ who I’d surprised on Monday with the ticket to Italy.

We arrived late in Montesilvano, had a gelato and went to bed at 12pm. I slept in, got up at 10am and could have slept 2 more hours, I needed a good rest and had a perfect night. 

So, this morning, we had some awesome Italian coffee on the hotel terrace and made plans: I’d put together my bike, ride 2h to know the race course, have lunch, some beach and a swim in the afternoon. But life is what happens when you make other plans: when I was fixing the seat post and screwing down tight, I heard a “clack” and thought: that was NOT good. Result: the thread is a bit tired already and wasn’t willed to catch the screw. So, instead of riding and resting we spent the morning and parts of the afternoon driving around Montesilvano in search of bike shops and hardware shops. We had some nice lunch and after that we found a corresponding screw and could put together the bike.

My worst  thought was, if the thread was really screwed up, I’d had to buy a new frame and after my last purchase, new wheels with Powertap my bank consultant would give me an upset call. 

 

hilarious, tired and making jokes, better like that than to preocupy

At 4.30pm I went out to get to know the bike course. To Pescara I have to ride approximately 5k and had the way painted on a paper. But I was not prepared to what I was about to find out there. Heaps of traffic, no street names, or wrong ones, until I thought: that’s impossible, I have to have passed the crossroad where I’d to turn right. I had a roaming look on google maps and had passed the road I had to take. So I went back, passed it again (because the road was called Via d’Illo and not Via Po like in google maps…) When I finally had found the right way and the place where the loop starts I was riding 25k already and was really angry. The roads were really bad, the police at the airport had made me to throw away the CO2 cartridges, my back wheel has a 65cm profile, not a 45 like before and the tube has no long valve, so with the lucky week I’m having I decided to return to the hotel and not risk any more accidents. Tomorrow I will get up early, grab my bike, put it in the car, get to the spot where the loop starts, and ride the loop relaxed and with good mood, not swearing like today.

 a bike bridge, and a pedestrian bridge, separated!

At the end, I have ridden 40km in 1h43m (great average), but fixed my bike, had a run with short efforts which felt good, had a nice shower, a lovely dinner and I’m glad that I have inverted some € in another flight ticket.

Things came out nice today, tomorrow will be even better, and on Sunday: prepare!

Never enough...

Between my last post and today are 6 weeks, 1 travel, 1 triathlon, 1 10k competition and many doubts. I’m having problems to find motivation, even though I’m training, because I know, if I don’t, I’m feeling worse… I was about to write about Ican Marbella, a race I was so much looking forward to, was so excited and nervous to race back home with all my friends around and it hit me in an unexpected way. I got so cold in the swim that I didn’t get to race that race until almost T2. Then I had a great half marathon, feeling strong and personal best but I don’t know why, but my proud cloud that normally involves me after a race and stays with me for at least a couple of days, was missing.

I had many other clouds obscuring my day a day, training without focus, looking for excuses why not to go, bad weather, a lot of stuff on the work schedule.

Last week I had yet another test of 5k which I made in a township where I was due to my job, I could cut off 8sec/km respect to the last test and on Monday I raced a 10k run in a village close to here. The average pace was the same as in my 5k test and I won. But something’s still missing: My proud cloud. At least I had found my tiger for that one, but no pride, no happy days after.

The question is: what do I have to achieve to get back into my proud cloud? I think it’s not what I have to achieve, but the way to look at it. I know perfectly what I want and I’m working for it. And if I get it: will it be enough?

Probably today I made one step towards the joy of training. Well, this morning, first swim in the open water pool, too cold, wetsuit on, but not focused. I was about to meet a group of boys to cycle with at 2pm, half an hour before I heard something I’m not used to: my door bell, they where there, to go out for a 3h ride. Only 10min into the ride it started to rain really badly, so we turned into a gas station, had coffee and a chat and went out again, without rain. Good pace, all flat, windy but at least a ride I came home from with tired legs and with the feeling that I’d done well. It took us 4,5h to ride 3, but we did it and I recognized my riding self today and got to know some new roads and a loop I really like!

I’m missing the long rides with Marbella’s Elite ;) But today I can say: there is some nice cycling company over here to ride with. Unfortunately it takes time to make friends, but last week I’ve seen some new things that are telling me: you’re on the right way. And I hope this way wears the sign: motivation!

And between dark clouds and sunny weather sometimes you find something really nice to walk on...

ICAN Training Camp Mallorca

Writing in an plane with sore muscles… This last 5 days I went a bit back to my last year’s life, training, eating, hanging out with good friends, just a few clothes in a backpack and my bike. It still feels more normal than my “new life” in Germany.

About 3 weeks ago my dear friend Lu asked me to come to Mallorca, “we will be a bunch of girls training there, will be great for you for the ICAN Marbella”, what I didn’t know, that it was THE training camp of ICAN, my first official training camp. First I thought I couldn’t go, because of work (yes, I do work again ;) , but I could convince my boss, change meetings and booked a flight. Last Friday, the morning of my travel to Mallorca, I got the great news, that it wouldn’t be only Lu and Jenny training there, but also, Santi e Idoya, my coach Jaime and some other dear friends.

So this german girl made her way to Mallorca, the Spanish german island. I swear, I never saw so many bikes coming out of the special baggage claim, I guess there were 40? 50? Bike tourism in Mallorca is huge! Rebeca, from the Ican picked me up on the airport to take me to the hotel Palmira in Paguera, in the west of Palma, about 25min from the airport. I was surprised about the nice hotel and was received so kindly by Sunil (Mr. Ican). And there they were finishing dinner, not my real family but the one I chose some years ago, these people who make their way into your life without noticing it, the ones who share good and bad moments with you, the ones you can laugh with, the ones who love you despite your failures and scars. I knew that I had missed them a lot, but even more I knew it when I saw them. It felt like I’ve never been away, and I loved it.

So, quick dinner, a glass of cava with the crowd and hitting the hay to get ready for some good training sessions the next morning.

After breakfast our ride started with delay due to some more (Idoya) or less serious mechanical problems on the bikes, climbing some hills thru Sierra de Tramuntana. It still isn’t summer, but we had great weather, could sit outside on a stop in “I don’t remember where” for a quick bite. The new SOAS kit feels great and comfy, important to know for long distance racing.

3h20min ride on the first day and a 2thousand something swim in the afternoon and a quick spa session in the hotel, dinner buffet (good one!) and good night.

Day 2: 5h ride (planned 4h, but we know Jaime), not as hilly as the first one, but awesome training! Sunny day, nice ride, perfect company! The afternoon run dropped because of the long ride and a circuit training in the hotel gym, abs, shoulders and run (on a funny treadmill with proper will, got faster without telling her).

Day 3: solid swim session in the morning and run in the afternoon. Was planned to be an easy run, but its never how you think it is… Lu had an accident during the run; she went down and hit the ground roughly. Luckily she “only” has a bad elbow now, so legs are working and she’s okay.

Day 4: planned: 4h ride, weather: stormy, pouring rain, no riding. So, plans changed, heading to the pool to get a swim session designed by Ivan Tejero, technique exercises and filming by coach Jaime, thanks to Pablo Cabeza for making the pace for me ;) After swimming another funny circuit training in the gym next to the pool, so much fun and, hello, I have muscles who are not working! Hahaha.

Our buddy Nico didn’t join us in the gym, he went for a ride and in the afternoon we got the message that he had an accident with the bike and is in the hospital. Everyone was worried, but when we got back from the run we got the message that nothing broke, “only” shoulder out and bruises. Unfortunately he didn’t just have the crash but also his bike was stolen! The guy who picked him off the road to get him to the hospital, hided it, but either he came back for it or he did it so badly that someone else took it. I really hope for Nico that they find the bike! Despite a lot of pain he is always smiling, an example to follow!

After dinner we got our feedback about the swim techniques, now I know what to work on and that there’s still a lot to improve (I knew that before, but it’s great to see where the problems are)!!

Well, and today, day 5, only half bike ride for me. I could only do 2h and said goodbye to my folks, Lu came back with me, lucky to be able to do 2h rides already with her sore arm.

I can’t believe that the 5 days are over already, but my batteries are charged by spending time with best friends, I’m motivated to hit the painbox the next 3 weeks for IcanMarbella.

And I forgot: the dinner invitation from the local politics who see Ican and Icantrainingcamps as an oportunity for the area! WE LOVE THAT!!! Nice people, great place, awesome food, thank you Paguera!!

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!