‘ZUPER ZUPER’

It’s hard to believe seven months of training specific to the ironman has been completed and only two weeks left to taper. This was the point I was supposed to feel at my fittest ever ! Instead I came down with the cold and a respiratory tract infection. A few days off training had never been heard of before. Coach Neal Doggett was not overtly worried and stated a few days off at this stage will do no harm.

Arriving in Klagenfurt, Austria the Wednesday before the Sunday race was supposed to give me enough time to check out the swim, bike, and run course, register and generally settle down. Could I have been more wrong ! Doug and I were still awaiting our bikes 15 minutes after everyone else had collected theirs - to no avail. A promise for them to be delivered on the daily flight next evening proved worthless. Numerous phone calls to London and the intervention of a kind soul at baggage control proved fruitful and the bikes were eventually delivered on the Friday evening. This left a few hours to prepare and check them before our allocated time slots for check into transition area the following morning.

That evening proved stressful. Apart from the bike check there were also the bike and clothing sacks to be arranged for check in the next morning . Fuel consumption to be checked, rechecked and perhaps re- rechecked !!

Saturday came and went in a flash and before I new it race day appeared.

With literally a few hours sleep; I rose at 3.30am for a 4am breakfast. Neal had given us all a thorough plan of the calorie and fluid intake we should consume to survive the day. 600 – 1000 cals were allocated for breakfast. Normally that would be an ‘exciting pig out’, however I did manage to consume a fair amount. I think I had been so anxious about my bike that I had exorcised all the nerves ! Ha Ha ! at 5.30am a one-mile walk to transition with Doug, Roy and Craig seemed quite ‘eerie’ as we walked down by the canal, steam was seen rising from the water and background ‘morgue’ music could be heard from the start area. Or was that just my imagination working overtime ?

Met up with Neal and Andrew in transition and had a few minutes panic over my bike computer. Having been in the open air all night some moisture had entered underneath the controls, one quick dry and panic over. How could I have survived without any data !

Before I knew it almost 2000 athletes were lined up on the beach area of Lake Worthersee. Was that really a fully robed priest in the water giving us his blessing ? or was it the last rites ? Afraid my German is non-existent. Count down, hooter off and a run/push/shove into the water. Arms, legs kicking punching, not forgetting a few ‘scelps’ across the head, white water. It was like swimming in a washing machine. ‘Keep your wits about you’. ‘Clear water soon’ I thought. How wrong could I have been. 800m straight out into the lake was the 1^st turnaround point. Here it was so congested everyone was piling up on top of each other. Two buoys led the field back to the crowd at the shore of the lake. I just could not sight this at all and had to ‘go with the flow’, hoping the swimmers beside me could sight. I’m sure I went off course at this point. At exactly 2000m everyone left the water for a 100m run through lines of spectators to head off for the final 1800m. The last 800m of the swim was a legendary swim through the Lendkanal. A narrow canal crowded with spectators on both sides. As luck had it, the oversized red swim cap I had been given had almost slipped off the back of my head leaving me quite visible with my white cap, resplendent with Saltire flag. Again a fight for swim space was inevitable, and weeds from the shallow canal appeared churned up.

After 68 mins the swim was over and I was heading for transition 1. (T1 – 4 mins.57).

The bike course consisted of three 60k loops around Karnten. The scenery was wonderful. There were plenty of aid stations along the course, giving out energy bars, bananas, and drinks. On the first loop it was really demoralising to be passed by so many cyclists going off at ridiculous speeds. I kept focused on keeping my HR down and pacing the loops, which I managed to keep fairly consistent at 2hrs 8 mins. My HR was still way beyond what it should have been on this loop. The 10% climb was tough but manageable. By the time the second loop came around my HR had finally settled down and the eating and drinking plan was well under way. The heat was a tremendous 35C at the hottest point of the day, which was probably when I was starting the third loop. I was having to work a bit harder to maintain the speed and HR on this loop. I started to get anxious about the third climb, ‘was I going to have enough to make it to the top? Or’ at the worst I could walk’. The crowds were magnificent. Whole villages lined the streets and as seen on the Tour de France, spectators lined each side of the climb, shouts of ‘up, up, up’, ‘zuper, zuper’ and ‘bravo, bravo’ could be heard everywhere. Hooters, whistles, drums, clappers…even a bright red headed DJ blasting pop music at the top of the climb could be heard announcing ‘ironlady’ every time a female athlete passed. This all appeared to make any thoughts of not making it up the hill disappear! I even started to pass a number of athletes myself.

Each loop of the bike also passed through the centre of Klagenfurt where again a giant loudspeaker could be heard picking out the occasional name and number of a passing athlete. Again I was lucky to hear my name and ‘Scotland’ being announced. Another little confidence boost. After 6hrs 26 mins on the bike – 180k and 5000ft worth of climbing I headed for transition two. I entered with another English speaking chap. ‘Shall we run through transition to see how the legs are?’ He said. A few seconds later: ‘Er, perhaps a quick walk instead’. ‘Only a marathon to go now’, I could hear him say. ‘ Oh, it is only 4 x 10k’s’ I replied.

I changed completely into my running gear in the tents provided, consumed another gel and some water before I started the shuffle/run. (T2 – 6 mins 43). The run course consisted of two laps 21k each. Out on the course I could not believe how many athletes were walking. As I plodded along I kept thinking ‘when will it be my turn?’ This thought was pushed aside quickly as I carefully planned my fluid and gel intake, sighting for the first 10k marker. I then focused on the 2k markers, as there were supply stations at each. I managed to plod between stations and walk through them to take fluids on board and soak myself with sponges to keep cool. I ran with another GB female for all of the second half of the run. We kept each other going, each experiencing a bad patch at different points. Throughout the run course people offered sponges, hoses and buckets of water to keep cool. Near the end of the marathon I started to drink flat coke and this gave me the boost I needed to give all I had left to the last kilometre.

Crossing the finishing line in 12 hrs 39 mins was very emotional. Tears just ran down my face. (Saddo!). A helper gave me a hug, wrapped me in polythene and made sure I was in a reasonable state, which surprisingly, I was. There was a good post race supply of food, drink and beer. I even managed to consume ½ a chicken, but I left the beer until the next night.

After collecting my finishing certificate and T-shirt I headed off to catch up with the family Roy, Craig and Scott who had gallantly supported me from 3.30am that day until the finish. They appeared at various stages in the race – on the canal in the swim, various points on the bike and stages of the run, each giving me plenty of encouragement.

Neal Doggett finished well in 10hr 43 mins having picked up a 6 min penalty for drafting, which was just about unavoidable on the 1^st loop of the bike.

Andrew Doggett finished in 12 hrs 31 mins.

Doug Steele unfortunately DNF due to a number of factors resulting in an IV drip. This affected and saddened us badly.

My special thanks to Neal Doggett for his encouragement and coaching abilities. Without him I would never have contemplated or completed this challenge.

My thanks also to Jeanette Keenan who put up with me throughout the long runs and to Team Caledonia who provided invaluable company on various long bike rides, maintaining my sanity!