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13 July Austria Ironman
Peter Pain successfully completed his first Ironman, in Austria, with an excellent overall time of 11hr 21 min 24 sec. for the 2.4 mile swim, 112 mile bike ride and 26.2 mile run.
Pete's report of his experience is below:
I had long threatened to do an Ironman and after much ribbing by the Irongods in the ATA I entered IM Austria. As soon as I entered I thought, “What have you done!” Well, after all the training I have completed the distance so here is my race report.
SWIM After a night of very little sleep it was up at 4 o’clock and breakfast. Down to race start, check bike and transition bags, the atmosphere was absolutely buzzing. The weather was overcast and temperature much lower than the preceding days. The start was between 3 jetties that were about 200m long packed with supporters. 5 minutes to go and tension mounting, 4, 3, 2, 1 the banner goes up we start to walk into the water and the siren goes off. This came as a shock as I was told it was a deep-water start and the water was only up to my knees. The noise from the supporters was amazing, 3 helicopters were circling overhead and I thought of the scene from Apocalypse Now. For the next 800m it was like the first 100m of a standard distance start; lots of pulling, pushing and certainly not for the faint hearted. Had to stop so as not to hyperventilate and then had to stop again after hitting a barrier of swimmers going nowhere. I then got clear water and found my rhythm for the next 2200m. I then entered the 10m wide canal for the last 800m to T1 with 6 swimmers in line heading down its 10m width; no problem as swimmers were of the same ability at this stage. Target for the swim 1.15, time completed 1.15.
I headed into T1, which was manic with bodies everywhere, both male and female stripping of and getting on with it – that had nothing to do with my slow transition! I was planning on 5mins for each transition and took nearly 7 mins; wanted to be fully prepared for the bike.
BIKE The first 12 miles were slightly rolling but fast, the weather was very cool and causing some concern, if only I knew what was to come! The first hour on the bike was straightforward and I set my pace from training. After about 90 mins the sun came out and the temperature rose dramatically. I was taking on fluids every 15 min and sticking to a feeding plan. The first hill, St Niklas’, had an average gradient of 6.8% and a max of 10% over 1250m. The second hill, Rupertiberg, was 2500m long with an average gradient of 5.92% and a max of 11.7%. The crowds were amazing and it was a bit like a TdF with the crowds parting the way to let you through. Then it was down the other side, let the bike go and get some free miles in, follow the main drag into town. Got to the turn around in 2.40hrs having predicted a time of 3hrs; this slightly worried me but I was feeling good. Third of the way into the 2nd lap my chain jump off and jammed between gear hanger and 1st gear, resulting in a pit stop to sort it out. The heavens then opened up and torrential rain (monsoon conditions) fell for over 3 hrs; this did not disturb me too much but it did slow my pace. The big climb still had the crowds but this had been joined by thunder and huge streaks of lightening across the mountain tops – a very surreal experience. Most riders were being cautious on the down side of the climbs but again I just let the bike do its thing; I made up large numbers of riders who seemed to have lost their nerve or was it first one down is the maddest – who cares wins! It was impossible to be wetter as I hit T2 literally, lost the feelings in my legs threw my leg over the bike to hit the saddle and topple over – schoolboy error! Slightly bloodied but still focussed I calmly moved into T2 changing area. The place was awash with water and it was difficult to get the wet kit off and dry kit onto a wet body; I had been dryer coming out of T1!! I had felt like I could achieve a 5.45 bike but would have been happy with a sub 6 hours so having achieved a 5.44 – job done!
 RUN I made my way out onto the run course, after a slow T2 of 9 mins, for what I knew would be the most testing of the disciplines. I had not gone further than 16 miles in training and had run that distance of a 86 mile brick so I knew the first half of the run should be okay – after that it would be new territory and that’s how it turned out! The rain abated after about 3 miles for the sun to come bursting through and the temperature to rise further. I got to the half way and having kept to my race pace I could feel my leg muscles starting to tire; I was also suffering with very sore feet from the complete immersion in water for so long. At 16 miles I started to have a mental battle with myself. I kept myself running/jogging and then walked through the feed stations; this continued for 5 miles with others around me in the same state. At the last turn for the town centre I gave myself a severe dressing down and launched into my final 4 miles, switching off the pain and going for it. I was hurting but determined to finish in style. I hit the finish area to huge cheers, past the cheerleaders and up the finish ramp. I was hoping for a sub 4hr marathon and thought I might be able to do a 3.45 but had to settle for a 4.06. The original plan was to crack 12 hours but I knew from my training I could possibly do 11.15. I had an overall time of 11 hours 21 mins 24 secs. It had been a real battle against the elements, the clock and on the run an inner mental battle.
At the end I was ecstatic, elated and felt emotional at having done what I had set out to achieve. I was no longer a wanabee, I was an Ironman and until you do your first one you will not understand; would I do another one? Yes, without a doubt, and believe, on this performance, a sub-11 is easily achievable - even at the ripe old age of 49!
An Ironman is achievable for anyone but it is a distance that demands respect and that is something I understood from the start. I completely focussed my training on that one event; I declined other weekend events so I could train long. I listened to myself and set a realistic training plan that by and large I stuck at through the 6-month build up. I found out what nutrition products they were using at the event and used those throughout my training. The crowd support, organisation and the race circuit itself were brilliant, although this was my first IM, Austria passed my expectations.
If you are thinking of an Ironman do this one! Last of all I would like to say a big thank you to everyone that sent me messages of support leading up to and after the race. I have to say when I struggled it motivated me to know people were watching on the Internet and any failings would actually be a very public event!! Afterwards I was amazed to get messages saying I just saw you cross the line – the power of technology!!
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