Race re-cap for Day 1: Ironman 70.3 Zell am See
Given a lot of pertinent information has been covered in other ‘chapters,’ I’ll jump right into the race start! I didn’t get a chance to do a warm up swim because I was rushing around to secure a swim cap. As my swim wave waited to enter the water, ladies were sharing that they were nervous about the size of our start wave, saying there were 400-500 of us starting together. It’s true – this was a MASSIVE start wave! All the ladies were starting at the same time. We were one of the first start waves, and were graciously allotted ten minutes before the 30-34 year old men started behind us.
We entered the water and were jam packed into the start corral with approximately one square foot of personal space per person. I was getting super nervous for the start and imaging all the elbows and feet that would likely meet my face, but I also didn’t want to start in the back and get stuck there since I’d been consistently coming out of the water in the top quarter to third of my start waves even though I certainly don’t consider myself a good swimmer. I seeded myself on the far right edge by the dock, on the third row back, and starting thinking about my strategy for avoiding impact with flailing body parts. Suddenly we all looked over and saw pink caps converging on the first buoy. What’s going on?! Were some ladies in a sub-wave allowed to take off early? No, not at all. Major false start. We had to wait to for a boat to intercept these ladies and have them swim back to the start corral. This cost some real time, and Ironman wasn’t pushing back the start time for the men behind us which meant that there would be upwards of 700+ folks starting the swim course very close together.
After a delay of several minutes, the women took off and it was surprisingly slightly less physical than I had imagined. I stayed to the right because I prefer to swim on my own at the expense of logging extra yards. I noticed before we’d even reached the turn on this out-and-back course that the men behind us had taken off and caught up to the female group. With every breath to the left I could see pink caps getting mauled by blue caps, it was a righteous cluster and I was happily avoiding it by swimming very far to the right and logging an extra tenth of a mile on the course!
When I emerged from the water, I saw that I had swam under 38-minutes, which is not great at all, but I would certainly take it given the situation.
We filtered into T2, which took us onto a rubber track (like a football field track) and by racks labeled with our race numbers where our transition bags were hanging. I grabbed my bag and continued right into the changing tent to swap out my wetsuit and goggles for helmet and sunglasses.
Right onto the bike my legs were burning. My power didn’t look out of control, but it was hard to tell because I was trying to get the ball rolling pretty hard. I think some of it was that I hadn’t been on my tri bike in about two weeks and the burn is a little different on my road bike, which I’d been training on, so I was hoping it was just a ‘re-adjustment’ issue. Given that feeling along the rolling, high cadence portion of the course, I was actually anxious to start the climb around mile twelve.
A photo that Topher shot from the midpoint of the climb while we were driving the course on Friday.
The climb was 15 kilometers straight up hill. It starts off relatively steep (7-8% grade), then levels off where I can ride in aero in the middle of my little ring (I actually even switched to the big ring for some sections) before it gets really gnarly and the last 2km are a grind along a 15% grade. This part was really tough. I saw people walking their bikes both days and one guy trying to resist it fell over on his bike right in front of me, plus I could hear my valve extender rolling around inside my back wheel. I could see this was a slow 9-10 mile stretch that was taking me a while and really drawing out my bike time, but I felt I was doing pretty well since I was sticking with a strop group of Europeans the whole climb and we’d dropped quite a few others a ways back on the hill.
Once we eclipsed the hill, there were some pretty treacherous switchbacks and hairpin turns where WTC/Ironman had set up tall guard rails with pads on them to catch rogue cyclists. It was a fun stretch for me and I’m used to that kind of riding given all the mountainous Northern California routes I’ve been tackling. After two or four miles, the descent straightens out and you can really hammer. Eventually this becomes rolling hills. When you hit town, there are A LOT of turns, so this was definitely a course to test bike-handling skills. I felt better about mine on Sunday, perhaps already having ridden the course. Another thing I was able to correct on Sunday was the chain drop that happened with about ten miles to go – it’s been a long time since I’ve done that! I hated to get off my bike and spend time fixing it since I felt like I was losing momentum, but on the whole, my legs felt much better after the climb and I really felt warmed up on the loops in the last twenty miles. This was a very scenic and really fun bike course!
After rolling into T2 and grabbing my run gear bag, which was labeled and hanging on a rack on the opposite side of the tent from the bike gear bags, I put on my racing flats and took off. I was surprised that my legs felt pretty light and my stomach felt good, I was excited to tackle this run!
I started on the run with a handful of girls that appeared to be near my age, and initially it felt like we were all running the same pace. I was thinking it was going to be a pretty interesting run! After a mile or two, I was able to shake them and was feeling pretty good. The run course starts you off on the lake path, and then takes you into town on the cobblestone and pitchy hills. This was fun due to the spectators and crowds but definitely wasn’t accelerating the pace. Afterward, we went back out on the lake trail to the turnaround for each loop, which ended in a long ascent in direct sunlight, and dern it was hot! The actual turn loop was in the shade and there was an announcer with music who called out competitors’ names and nationalities as they made the turn – I thought that was really awesome!
In town, I saw the Oylers and some other Atlantans cheering, which was great for a mid-run boost!
On the second loop, I was heading up the long, slow climb to the turn and a girl passed me. I recognized her from the beginning of the run. I wasn’t certain if she was in my age group, but she sure looked like she could be. My legs were getting heavy, so on the climb, she pulled ahead of me. At the turnaround, the announcer proclaimed that I was in eighth place. I knew I had about 5k left in the race, and that seemed like a good stretch to potentially catch some more girls, so my pace picked up again for the last 5k. As well, I caught that girl on the descent from the turnaround loop and got a look at her bib. There was no body marking at these events, so you couldn’t determine a competitor’s age group by checking their calf. It was listed on their bib with the race number, and I could tell by her bib and number that she was in fact in my age group. The race was on! I was focused on forward momentum, so didn’t look behind me to see how close she was, but I knew she was running pretty well and could assume she wasn’t far behind me. Based on when she pulled ahead at prior points on the run, I was nervous heading back into town, as there was more climbing leading to the finish, so I was trying to do what I could on the descents and flat straightaways since I had been able to pick up speed there on earlier stretches.
Alas, when I pulled into town and started the final climbs, about a quarter-mile from the finish, she pulled ahead. I was really trying to catch her. It was like the run from the Iron War, and I’m sad to say that I was Dave Scott all the way. I chased her through the finish line as I passed Michael and Giorgia cheering – she snagged sixth place and I seventh by fourteen seconds, we were both a minute off the podium and I could tell she was as hungry for that slot as I was. We thanked each other for the push and tried to determine our finish position before collecting medals and morning clothes.
I felt good about this race, particularly the way I stayed relaxed given the scenario at the swim start, and then the way I was able to compete with the Europeans on the bike - I consider them super bikers - to move up in the age group and female rankings, and finally that I was able to finish strong on the run. There was one girl in my age group that rode the bike course in 2:48, the other ‘fastest’ times were low 2:50s and I was right behind them, what a tough course! Following that, I was able to run within thirty seconds of the fastest run time for my age group. Though I didn’t land on the podium or walk away with a slot to race in Australia, I was pretty happy with the way things unfolded.