Kitzbuhel and Poznan
Austria was my first triathlon since breaking my collarbone in late May, and subsequently I had little hope of it being a high placing affair given my frankly sporadic training period leading in to the race. In the weeks following the European Aquathlon I chose to get to as many swim sessions as possible and to focus on trying to regain some bike fitness. I chose to keep my running to a minimum whilst trying to regain some level of fitness as I knew trying to focus on all three whilst my stamina levels were low would have most likely led to burn out before I made the event.
The race was in the beautiful ski resort of Kitzbuhel, Austria, and after a rather arduous journey I was relaxed and ready to race. Wearing your country’s colours is always something I look forward to and despite my lack of expectations I was just happy to make the start line. A difficult race ensued with a rapid (short swim ≈ 1440m someone told me), a fun triple lap bike course with a kick ass climb every lap, and a gruelling hilly run in the warm Austrian sun.
Another top 20 finish at European level (17th in age group) It wasn’t really the target at the beginning of the year but considering the circumstances I was happy with how I performed.
A week later and I was in Poznan, Poland, for the Challenge family middle distance triathlon. This race had me worried. Whereas my policy of leaving the running alone in my brief build up to Austria had of paid off, I knew that Poznan was going to be a world of pain. 3 proper run sessions over two weeks does not give you the fitness to run a half marathon at the pace you want to.
Poznan was not a race I enjoyed on the whole. I love middle distance racing, as unlike Olympic distance races there is sufficient time for a bit of strategic racing and the dynamic of pacing comes into it. I started the Poznan swim well. By the turn at around 750m I had made the lead swim group of about 7 athletes and was feeling comfortable in the water. The lake I must point out was not the cleanest place I have swum in by a long way. I was struggling to see the feet around me, it was that murky.
Up to the turn my race had been going well, beyond that I don’t remember much of the swim. I took a whack to the back of the head from a fellow competitor and was dunked heavily, swallowing a lot of lake water. I felt incredibly disorientated for rest of the swim and can only imagine my stroke must have looked like I was drunk, my arms flailing wildly wanting it to be over, losing around a minute to the lead swimmers who were meters ahead of me at the turn. Out on to shore and I made my way through transition all the time feeling so unwell, a theme that would continue for the rest of the day. The bike was a mixed bag, feeling good in patches, but unable to stomach much food or drink so my legs started to fall apart within the last 10km, my lack of fitness was starting to show. It turns out you can’t wing a middle distance race.
The run was horrible. I continually threw water over myself in an attempt to keep cool as temperatures rose, and the feeling of being about to throw up continually came. The finish came mercifully and I was more than happy for this one to be all over. 39th out of 776 and 8th in age group speaks volumes of how much potential I have at this level of race given my lack of middle distance training or triathlon training at all in the build-up, and as a result this will be the focus of my 2018 season.
