Ironman Austria!

Hola!!

I had to double-check to make sure I still had the rights to this webpage before starting this, and got a bit caught up in nostalgia (took me 13 days to read all my old post-race blogs lol), but I decided to bring this back to recap the latest race!

Reading the last entry in here from 2021 and seeing where I’m at right now in 2024 is honestly kind of crazy. The highs and lows of the last three years have made it a wild ride and it would take much more than one blog or YouTube video to outline all of the changes that have happened in my life, but luckily my Instagram story highlights cover most of the obvious changes, so just go look at those if you have no idea what has been going on!

On a post-race/food poisoning hike in Girona!

So Ironman Austria :) 

One of my goals over the last few years has been to target 1-2 long-distance races per year and learn as much as I can. The 70.3 distance, especially in Europe, is extremely competitive… Meaning that if you don’t come in with a borderline ITU swim background you are unlikely to be able to win any race, let alone make some money. The shift to a long-distance focus has put me in a position where tactically I can find myself around other athletes of similar ability for most of the day, hopefully being able to use them to launch myself into as high of a finishing position as possible. In December when looking at the race calendar I knew I wanted to do a June-July Ironman, but I also know that historically I’m pretty burnt out by the end of June… So choosing between Challenge Roth, which was in early July, and Austria in mid-June was kind of easy at that point. The guarantee of a wetsuit-legal swim in Austria also helped!

The view from my kitchen in Austria

The race takes place in Klagenfurt, about an hour north of Slovenia, and there are some pretty spectacular mountain ranges in the area, which also always draws me to a race. Honestly, getting to look at a sheet of paper that has a bunch of really nice locations and be like hmmmmm yeaaaaaa think I’ll go there is a pretty crazy thing… something that 8 years ago I probably would have thought was impossible and I am extremely privileged to be in a situation where I can live anywhere I choose, do basically any race I want, and have the opportunity to make some cash doing it!

I’ve spent the last few years dialing in a really solid race morning routine (my sherpas can confirm, it’s pretty dialed), and so for whatever reason, I woke up less nervous on race morning than I ever have in my life for event. I knew that the last 6 months of training had gone as perfectly as they possibly could have, I don’t think I missed a single session the entire time (including yoga!!), and had the best winter/spring of my life. That coupled with a few solid results in some really competitive European 70.3s had me feeling like I had done everything in my power to set me up for at minimum a really good day.

Racked up the day before the race!

Fast forward a few hours to the start, things got a little bit chaotic as they lined us up with only 90 seconds to go, and I quickly realized that my plan of starting on the far right was also everybody else's. I knew that historically this race has a giant group around 3 minutes down from Lukas Wojt (former Olympic swimmer), and my race plan involved trying very hard to make it into that group. When the gun went I found myself getting absolutely buried by the boys. It was about 1300m to the first turn buoy, so I knew that it really didn’t matter what happened in terms of positioning immediately, as we all had such a long way to go. That said, it’s still kinda shitty when a bunch of grown men are more concerned with moving up for zero tactical reasons and grabbing at legs than actually making forward progress (lol). Eventually, the group settled in, and I found myself around some colored caps. I had a minor mental breakdown when I thought I was swimming next to somebody who I will not name and potentially having the worst swim of my life, but luckily it turned out to be Milosz Sowinski, who will later on in this story become a hero who I owe dinner. 

I am somewhere on the far right

Honestly, the swim course was pretty sick. The lake is spectacular, there are tons of spectators at the start and along the canal where we exit. It was pretty uneventful and boring once I was in the group, and I really tried to just switch off, stay relaxed, and use as little energy as I could. The biggest focus for me was also figuring out the size of the group where I was, and how I could have the best possible T1 to position myself for the start of the bike. When we exited it seemed like we had a giant group of 10 or 15 guys, and I saw some very strong bikers (Weiss and Horseau) who I knew were going to absolutely crush the course. I also wish I had kept more of an eye on Tim van Hemel and Lukas Stahl, who went on to have some excellent races, but overall I was just focused on being super smooth and fast through T1. Milosz and I made it onto the bike in 2nd and 3rd in the group, and Horseau was right behind me.

Heading out of the water

Onto the bike with Arthur

The bike course starts along the lake we swam in, then heads into the mountains for a short loop, followed by another bigger loop with a few steeper climbs before heading back into town. Then we repeat ;). On my recon ride, I found it was actually pretty fast despite each loop having around 3000ft of climbing since most of the descents didn’t require any braking, and there were only two U-turns on each lap (3 total for the bike). I also finally got around to setting up my eTap groupset, and wow, that made a massive difference being able to shift on the basebars! Timmy, if you’re reading this, it’s finally happened.

Our peloton rolled out, with Horseau and Weiss quickly getting to the front, and our speed hovering over 30mph for most of the way out. I found myself in 5th wheel, but the guy in 3rd wheel was really struggling to maintain a consistent gap, which was causing a bit of stress for most of the people behind us, as nobody wants to let a gap open up early on in the bike. I could tell you all about my watts and the intensity factor, but I know that all you really care about is that my power balance was 50.3/49.7.

Weiss, Horseau, Van Hemel, and Stahl pulled away doing some large numbers up a hill, and once they were gone, our group of 4-5 finally settled into what I felt was a really sustainable pace. I focused on eating and drinking and staying out of the wind, while a large German just crushed himself on the front keeping the pace high. It was honestly the best-case scenario for me, where I knew the pace was fast, but with the legal draft you get at 12ish meters, it’s easy enough to sit in without pushing yourself too hard. Up the climbs, Vincent (Belgian dude) and I would set the pace to make sure we didn’t lose too much time, and I thought we were riding pretty solid. Jon Breivold came by our group maybe 90 minutes in, and I already knew that going with him was absolutely not the move, so I just kind of let him ride away as it didn’t make sense. He went on to outbike us by 15 minutes, so I think that I made the right call there, as it likely would not have ended in a great race for me had I tried to match him (if I could have).

bikin

On the second lap of the bike, the rain began, and while none of the turns were particularly sketchy, there was a lot of age group traffic. I had a minor incident where I grabbed a bottle at an uphill aid station going like 8 mph, and then looked up to run into an older fellow who had decided to full-on stop right in front of me. Luckily my body and bike were OK (he didn’t fall), and I was able to chase back on after about 7 minutes of adrenaline-filled angst. Once back in the group, I realized I still felt quite good, and did a bit of work here and there at the front. But not too much, because I need to reserve my passenger princess elite status. 

In the rain on lap 2

Eventually, I found myself on the wrong side of a split in the group with maybe 10 miles to go on a downhill thanks to our buddy who couldn’t hold the gap losing the wheel, but I was able to salvage a decent gap and drop the rest of the guys, so rolled into T2 about a minute down from Milosz and co.

Normally in a 70.3 I put a ½ bottle with a bunch of electrolytes, etc so I can take it when I start the run. But during a full, my plan is to crush 2 bottles with 30 minutes to go on the bike. Unfortunately, I had ejected a bottle with 7 or 8 miles left, which foiled my plan. I still had a special snack baggy with some pretzels (ironically the only thing I’d be able to eat in about 3 hours) so I slammed that and then headed out onto the run. I started out running a bit too fast, as one does in an IM, and was dramatically passed by a French athlete. After 1km he began to slow down, and I passed him again. I’m not really sure why he thought he was a 2:25 marathon guy for 750 meters, but I did see him again, this time crying under a tree about 7km in, a nice reminder that slowing down isn’t always a terrible idea…

I tried to take the first 10km pretty easy, but I felt quite good and hadn’t had any signs of cramping or fatigue from the bike or run so far, which meant that I had probably been getting the pacing and nutrition generally right. Around 10km in I still felt OK, and reminded myself that there were literally 20 miles to go and that 20 miles is a super long run. At that point, I just stopped looking at my watch and focused on making the effort feel as easy as possible and trying to trust that my body would keep running fast. The goal was to use as little mental energy as I possibly could between 10-30km, and almost keep it on autopilot, with a pace that MIGHT be too easy. I figured that if I was fresh going into the last 12km, that was when I’d be catching guys anyway. I had no idea what position I was in, but I could tell I was running pretty well, and could also see that a lot of guys were working super hard.

Passing swim leader Lukas Wojt

The run course also required quite a bit of thinking… So while it was extremely flat, there were a ton of random turns, mixed surfaces, narrow paths, and neighborhoods to navigate. The first highlight probably came around 2km in when I saw the Fischer family (one of my Mom’s work friends) who live in Austria! Another was 18km in when running through downtown Klagenfurt when they began to plan Born in the USA. Needless to say, several choice words were included in my compliments to the DJ, and quite a few high 5s to drunk strangers were given out. I managed to get to 25 km before my brain was pretty worn out. My legs weren’t feeling great, and I was just kind of holding out for a hero. I could see that I was looking better than a lot of people ahead, though, and decided to keep pushing, knowing that if I just made it to 5km to go I’d be ok and probably survive. At a around 31km, something switched, as it usually does in an IM, and I went from feeling OK to absolutely terrible.

Feeling good going through town

It’s honestly hilarious how you can go into a race with a plan for how you’re going to handle these tough moments. But when they come, and you try to think of all those thoughts, all that really happens is you basically go: “F this, I’m so over this, this is so dumb. I cannot believe how much time and money I have put into feeling this terrible (even though 7ish hours of the day felt great).” Unfortunately for my body, I was also catching people. And catching people is very motivating… So I kept pushing, and realized I wasn’t really slowing down very much, eventually getting 4 or 5 guys in that last 10km. I had no idea what position I was in, and could not wait to get across that line and lie down. There is a part of my subconscious that always wants to try and at least remember a bit of the last 3 miles of an IM, as it’s a really special experience. Being 8ish hours into a workout, absolutely destroying your body is honestly quite an experience, and taking in the crowds, people screaming, other competitors, etc is really special and something that you do want to absorb, so I do my best to not black out at these races! 

Starting to get ugly

I technically crossed the finish line in 11th position, and immediately laid down on the ground, before going to the medical tent where I got some help. I wasn’t able to eat anything but pretzels for the next 12 hours because my intestines had shut down and was in a lot of pain. I remember calling my brother after the race, somewhat dejected. Sometimes during the race, you think you’re being soft, and I know I had those thoughts for sure during the last 10km, where you really are just trying to make yourself go faster and motivate yourself and nothing seems to work. But it turned out I had actually just put my body through some shit, and it just wasn’t able to push anymore. Getting 11th place is especially demoralizing, as it’s 1 place out of the prize money (the official Mantell curse).

Final U-Turn before the finish. Very over it.

The next morning I got a message from Milosz saying that I should probably go to awards since the athlete who had originally finished in 10th had cut the course, and I was probably going to get a plaque. I immediately began to not regret anything I had done to myself the day before. Pushing myself past that guy 24 miles into the run was totally worth it now. Not being able to eat for 12 hours and having a stomach completely crushed? I’d do it for 48 if it meant $1000! Basically, a lot changes when you throw in some cold hard cash, even if it is 15x less than what the winner got ;)

Realizing I'm going to get under 8:14 if I go a bit faster!!

To make it simple, I got 10th and then spent the day hanging out with my friend Yannick at the Strandbad (local beach) where we just chilled and ate and talked and it was super nice. The next day I took a chill day on the road and stayed at a nice Airbnb on the way to the Vienna airport, before heading back to Girona!

best fashion tho

This has been a very long write-up, almost as long as some triathletes' Instagram captions, but I hope that if you’ve taken the time to read it you enjoyed hearing my perspective on the race, the dynamics, and maybe have a shred of desire to see a new cool place or challenge yourself to do something you think you can’t.

I also have a lot of people to thank for helping me get to this performance who have been massive enablers of my life over the last 7 years since I decided to chase this moving target. A lot of the time I feel like a dog chasing a car; I have no idea what I’m going to do once I get it (or if I even can), but I’m having a really fun time going after it, so for now I’m going to keep doing that! I’ve been really lucky to have such great friends and family in my life, and I appreciate everybody who reached out before or after the race - it really means a lot!

I’m finishing up a bit of a break right now (which is how I’ve had the energy to write this post), and my next race will be on 8/18 in Czechia with Yung Blake Peiffer, followed by Ironman Barcelona on October 6th.

Feel free to reach out if you have any questions - and thanks for reading!

Also - thanks Sportograf for the photos!!