Ironman 70.3 World Championships was a concoction of emotions of the ultimate highs and lowest lows.
Set in Zell Am See , Austria the lake side town was the prefect location to host a championships. The 2km swim took place in the lake that in winter freezes over, dead flat and easy to navigate the wetsuit swim was calm and fast. For me the day was going to be a battle of survival after coming off my bike less then 24hrs before the start damaging my hip and shoulder.
After struggling to get my wetsuit on, I headed down to swim start not to attempt to race or win but just to complete the race which was emotionally very hard to take in that I was not going to be able to leave it all on the course.
The Bike leg went up into the Austrian Alps with the main feature of the course being the 30min climb up the hochkönig to the ski town then down the fast decent back into town. I could ride relatively pain free beside that it hurt to place my elbows down on the aerobars. I pushed relatively hard on the bike considering my condition my power was low but I tried to keep the effort up to enjoy my time around one of the world’s best 70.3 bike leg.
Coming into transition I knew that the enjoyment was about to end as I set of a walk/jog around the 21km course around the lake. The pain in my hip made it impossible to run pain free and I felt every step. The course was like a war zone with athletes everywhere melting in the hot condition, a lot of people underestimated the course and paid for that on race day, with multiple of people walking or pulling out.
I walked over the line 25th in my age-group and emotional roller coster behind me. It was hard to swallow with a top 5 result slipping away from me, but that is racing and I will come back next year.
I had multiple trips to the local Austrian Hospital before heading back to London, cleaning out the injected hip and scans to make sure it wasn’t fractured.
I would like to thank my Mum and Dad for getting me through this tough time, I was almost not going to race but they convinced me to get through it.
Austria will be my last race of the season with time need to recover before I get into training back home.
THANKS TO ETIXX NUTRITION FOR THE FOOD TO GET MY THROUGH THE DAY, ZIPP FOR SUPPLYING ME WITH THE FASTEST WHEELS ON COURSE AND A+ THE VALLEY FOR SETTING MY BIKE UP BEFORE I LEFT, ALSO TO AUSSIE TOM FOR YOUR FINANCIAL SUPPORT AND BELIEVING IN ME