The Lead up
The week leading to Austria was less than ideal. I had to work late on the one night I had planned all my prep (and left to the last minute). I hadn’t slept more than 3-4 hours a night for the 5-6 days before flying out and as much as I would love to blame someone else – this was all me. I just couldn’t sleep.
I had sent my SRMs off to get repaired and something had gone wrong with the PCV when I got them back and SRM said they’d try and get a loan one to me in time but I wasn’t confident in getting one. The tyres on my chosen wheels were borked and I didn’t have time to change them. I was a little stressed. In the end the PCV arrived, I went with different wheels, and I got packed.
This year I was travelling with my wife, six month old daughter, and my mother. I had initally suggested going by myself but given what I put everyone through last year they insisted on coming with me as they couldn’t go through it from Ireland.
Flew out very early on the morning of the 1st to Munich. Plan was to drive the 3:30 down, assemble the bike and go to bed. However it wasn’t Munich, and it wasn’t a 3:30 drive, it was closer to six and was West Munich ala Ryanair. Still we got there for about 9 and little Aoibhe had been a total angel for the whole flight and drive down, happy out.
Up the next morning, Friday, and after lunch when to assemble my bike. My rear mech had gotten a hammering despite being off the frame, wrapped up, and in a solid bike box. One extreme panic later, and with the help of my mother and the local bike shop, the rear mech was fixed. Back to putting the bike together. However a screw, the rear wheel adjusted on my P2c, was missing. Another bloody disaster. Again my mother took charge of things and drove me down to the Ironman village where against all odds they had one, a single one, in the entire mechanics tent.
I was stressed to the hilt at this stage, tired from lack of sleep, nervous, and horrible memories of 2009 coming back.
I got out on the bike quite late for some moderately hard work. Did my warm up and started working. As I did a moto with two girls came past me. I accelerated and jumped on their wheel. Try as they might they couldn’t drop me despite their best intentions and to be honest it was a fantastically fun ride.
Back in, sat around for a bit, feeling a little better but still stressed to the hilt. Then out for a easy run. Ran in the heat and noticed my HRs 10bpm than what I expected them to be for the perceived effort. Must have been the heat. Then back into hotel. As I started to go back into the hotel I saw my wife, my mother and little Aoibhe in t-shirts that they had got printed up with “Team Tunney” and “IM Austria 2010″ on them. I nearly cried and was completely overcome. This completely changed my attitude and banished the demons that were haunting me from 2009. It was almost instantanious and I felt so good after this.
Up the next morning for another brick and all was good. A splash in the evening with some pick ups and again all was good. Off to bed with a few glasses of wine on the Saturday night feeling good, feeling happy and feeling relaxed.
I even went to the race briefing. Which was pretty handy as I had intended on only bringing 5 gels with me and getting the other 10 I would need from the aid stations. Turns out no gels were being given out on the bike. Handy I went. Even if I was 20 minutes late. The funniest bit was the main man saying “Under Austrian Triathlon Federation rules water temperature must be 24.8 degrees or lower for a wetsuit swim. We found one spot in the centre of the lake.”
The race
Alarm went off at the crack of dawn on July 4th 2010. IM Austria race morning – take two. I was already awake. My 6 month old daughter did not appreciate being woken at 4am. made a nice change though, her being woken at an ungoldly hour rather than me. Up and down to breakfast in Hotel Dermuth. Porridge that I gave them had been prepared for me and after a nice feed of porridge and coffee I was ready to drive down to the Ironman Village, or rather be driven.
Arrvied down at the Ironman village, and into transition. The amount of bike p0rn was amazing. My favourite was a bike parked near me. A red and black Spesh Shiv with Zipp 900 disc (red and white) with a Zipp 808 front (red and white) and a red SRM PCVII. Fantastic. It just looked so fast and so sweet. Still I went over to my trusty P2c with 900 disc, 404 and SRM PCV and stuck my gels on. Then grabbed my wetsuit, arsed about a bit and then headed down to the swim start.
IM Austria is broken down into two swim starts, left of a pier and right of a pier. My intention was to start from the fast side which was the left. Or so I though, but that topic was covered in the first twenty minutes of the briefing. I quickly figured out that I was on the wrong side when I had no feet to sit on from the start and no one could sight without reverting to breast stroke. Still I swam as best I could, concentrated on sighting regularly, finishing my stroke and staying relaxed. First buoy came and went in what felt like an instant. 1400m out. Onto the next one and this is where I was glad I learnt a lesson last year and used mirrored goggles – I could sight on the way back in, the glare on the water didn’t blind me. Onto the next buoy, then onto the canal. The canal got rough again but I kept at it, swam my own swim and coming up to the exit I was happy that I might have met my ‘A’ goal of 1:10 or at least my ‘B’ goal of 1:15. I know I swam 1:09 last year with a broken collar bone but given my reduced feel for the water due to reduced miles swum I didn’t expect to match it. Out of the water, looked at the clock 1:06, fvcking excellent.
Swim Pros:
* Sighted well
* Consistent pacing
* Comfortable
Swim Cons:
* Turnover low
* No feet
* Time not under 60 
Into T1, the most dangerous part of any triathlon. Wetsuit off, socks on, shoes on, helmet on, ran to bike. Grabbed bike, and ran to the exit all the time looking out for fat blokes who might push me over. Anyone and everyone avoided, I’d survived T1 – this day just gets better and better I thought.
T1 Pros:
* Survived
* Under 5 minutes
T1 Cons:
* Should have had shoes on pedals, but hand’t practised with road shoes.
My plan for the bike was holding 225 watts for the flats, 260 watts for the uphills, easy on descents steering clear of groups, and popping a gel every 20 minutes, 750ml to 1000ml water an hour and a salt stick or two at the 90km mark. Heart rates around 145bpm for first lap and 155bpm for the second lap.
I let my stomach settle down and worked at getting my HR down. After 20 minutes or so I popped a gel and my HRs were coming down. The bike was very congested but it was possible to ride legally.
After a while groups began to form but it was still possible to ride legally. Most people didn’t, I did. I kept on rolling and taking it a little easy. I noticed my heart rates lower than expected and my power lower too. I wasn’t working hard enough, so I picked up a little.
The first proper hill came and everyone went nuts. I was out of the saddle and close to 300 watts and guys were flying by. I’m not that heavy so for them to be flying past me they must have been pumping out 700+ watts. I thought to myself “At least the group will be out of my hair, cause they’ll maintain their lead on the descent”. Given I intended to take it easy on the descent and most of my riding had been on the Computrainer, and I wasn’t used to riding a disc, I was convinced I’d loose alot of time on the descents. Nope, both not only did I catch the group that spanked it past me on the climb, I passed and dropped them and continued to ride my own ride on the flat.
I came through the first aid station that I need new bottles in and to my horror they bottles of water were the crappy disposable ones. I had a lollipop bottle holder and this was not good. Still I did my best and moved on from it
First hour 146bpm average, 208 watts average, 35.4kph.
Temperatures were still nice 23 degrees for the first hour and I was pi$$ing like a race horse. Eventually the second climb, the longer, steeper one came and my plan was the same. By this stage the group I had dropped wasn’t far behind me, almost caught me in fact. I hit the base of the climb, *ping* *ping* *ping* guys, big guys, hammering past me, I chuckled, maintaining my own plan and rode on. Hlaf way up the climb, I’d caught them all. By the top I’d passed them. Including the guy with the blinged out Spesh Shiv, “Nice bike” I told him as I passed him. Didn’t get much of a response. Again on the descent I put lots of ground into them, same on the flat. I was becoming aware that I was working too easily, that my power, HR and perceived effort were well down on where they should have been. Speed was not were I wanted either. I decided to see where I was at the halfway mark and raise it for the second lap. First lap cautious, second lap not, was the plan.
Aid stations after the first one were given water in proper bottles so happy days, was getting plenty of water on board. Too much, still pi$$ing all day. Lost time on the pee breaks.
Second hour 144bpm average, 203 watts average, 34.7kph.
The group seemed to be working more as a group now and by the turn around point they had caught me and they were more organised. The last 30 minutes of the lap were fast. Very fast. 40kph fast. But for low power and low HR. Came through the turn around under 2:30.
Last 30 minutes of lap one 145bpm, 195 watts average, 39.7kph
Decision time. Push on and aim for 155bpm and 225 watts average or ride the same again and get under five hours. Was I going to be greedy and go for broke. Or accept a 4:59 bike. Given my best case goal was 5:05, riding the same again would bring me in 6 minutes less and I’d have extra for the run. Rightly or wrongly I decided to ride the second lap easy again.
A very different lap. Not for me, exactly the same for me. Well close too. If anything I rode a little more easily. Again was this a mistake? I don’t know. How was it different? The constant surges of the groups meant they were a spent first. The group that had been yoyoing past me on the first lap were gone, the next group was caught, past without them even trying to jump on me and people stopped pinging past me on hills.
First hour of second lap 145bpm, 198 watts average, 34.5kph
This next hour of the bike I really really came into my own, I felt fantastic but didn’t push on, I rode the same again. But I was catching groups – 20 rider groups and 3-4 rider groups, left right and centre. I wasn’t pumping out much wattage so they must have just blown completely. I knew the average speed dropped on the first three quarters of the lap but picked up on the last bit so was still happy sub five would be close. Temperatures now up to 37 degrees. It was warm.
Next hour 199 watts, 146bpm, 33.2kph
The last 30 minutes was very very fast again, but I wasn’t passing people now. Which was good as the temperature dropped and the heavens opened. 21 degrees getting off the bike and 4:59. Fvkcing delighted.
Last 29 minutes of second lap 145bpm, 195 watts, 37.7kph.
Total bike 200 watts average, 145bpm
Bike Pros:
* Consistent pace
* Controlled hills
* Perfect fueling
* Solid descents
Bike Cons:
* Too much water, too many pees for first three hours
* Didn’t ride to plan, rode too easily.
(Update: My sports science friend went over the SRM file and while I could have ridden harder I wasn’t the 15% off I thought I was, maybe 5-10% off. I could have rode smarter and scatter analysis of the SRM files show places where torque and speed, and torque and power are out of whack. One possiblity is not changing gears – something I do from time to time. But also that a 39×25 wasn’t ideal for some aspects of some climbs (the 10 and 12% places), however, bar these short sections the gearing was perfect for me and I wouldn’t have like a compact on the flats or the nastiness of a more spread cassette. Plus given the time spent in these bad zone, there would have been neglible impact on cycling or running)
Coming into T2 I had a choice – a slow cautious dismount, or a leg swinging, hit the ground running. The choice would be a reflection of how I felt my legs were. Would I cramp and snot myself if I tried a fast dismount and hammer to rack my bike and get my run bag? I felt as if I had biked easy so went for it. I didn’t regret it Racked the bike, grabbed my run bag and thanked God that Glenda made me pack socks “just in case the bike ones needed changing”. The combination of pee and rain meant they did. Stuff in the bag and off I went. Given it was cold and overcast I didn’t wear shades and didn’t put on sun cream. I changed my race belt to the run I had stuffed with Sis Go Gels. My choice of energy for long runs.
T2 Pros:
* Legs in good shape
T2 Cons:
* Slow for what I did
* No sun cream
So out onto the run. This was the leg that I was most confident in as I hadn’t cycled as much as I like, nor swam, but I ran lots and I was running well.
I went with my Polar S625x instead of my Garmin 310xt as the Garmins HR reading is utter crap. So I just had perceived effort and HR to go off but that should have been enough I thought. Ran with a low PE and a low HR. A combination that had always in training yielded 4:30 per km. Plan was 19:30 run, 30 second walk. But I also wanted my km splits and 5km splits, I tried to juggle things in my head and with the watch. I came through 5km in 22 minutes. C0ck I thought. Way too fast. And then the fiddling with splits and laps started. I still felt great and ran as I felt. Water in aid stations was in cups and I didn’t take any as I don’t like cups. I popped a gel at twenty minutes but then with the fiddling and the rest I missed one or two gels over the next hour and a half or so. All went well for the first two hours or 27km. There was a warning at 21km when my 30 second walk break was more like two minutes. Yes it was hot but that didn’t really bother me. However the warning signs were there, if you run long with me you’d know I go for 1-2 pees an hour. I had one coming out of T2 but that was it. I’d not taken that many calories on in hindsight and I’d gone out too hard. 4:10 per km for the first 10km was bad. It was just I felt so fresh. At 27km my 30 second walk was a few minutes and I struggled to get going again. My quads went completely, agony. I knew it was bound to happen just not so early. And not when sub 9:30 looked possible. I switched to a race walk approach. This worked for maybe a few hundred km and then it was walkies time. 30 minutes later and somewhere with 7km to go I realised that if I didn’t get something going I’d be 10:30 plus out there. I’d sipped some water and some coke for the 30 minutes and even tried stretching. Eventually I managed to hobble a bit. The hobble turned slowly into a jog and the jog kept going. Coming up to 39km I know I’d go under ten. I pushed on thinking I might make 9:45 but eventually I realised that was going to happen so I walked some more. I ran the last bit and coming up to the end I saw four lads ahead of me. “Four places for the taking” was the immediate thought and I sprinted. How the hell I managed that I don’t know. I caught and passed three of them but the last stayed away. In hindsight a bad idea as my finishers photograph shows 9:51:20 instead of 9:51:17 as I had to wait for him to finish his posing. I had finally finished IM Austria and I felt good. I really really felt good. Mentally and physically. I really did.
Run Pros:
* Was fresh starting
* Finished well
* ITB held up
Run Cons:
* Hydration issues – should have brought own bottle(s)
* Fuelling issues – should have taken more on board and at the regular predefined times
* Pacing issues – too hard out
* Mental weakness – could I have started running again after 10 minutes? 15 minutes? 20 minutes?
* Quad implosion
All in all IM Austria is a fantastic race. So scenic, so much fun. Great swim, great bike, great support on the bike, nice enough run and fantastically supported. I’d go back in a heartbeat.
Overall I raced well but deviated from the plans slightly and was punished for it. Lessons learnt. A success, a good day, a result I am happy with. Glenda, Aoibhe and my mother made a huge difference by being there. Given all that happened over the last year or so I needed the emotional support.