Kitzbuhel - My Most Challenging Triathlon Ever?

The view on the way to the hotel!

First I must apologise for the lack of posts but 2014 ended up being quite a year!

Back in February I discovered that I had been remiss to not check whether I had qualified for the European Championships because I didn't have the qualification race I hoped for!

The take away lesson was I had qualified and that a bad race for me doesn't always mean you don't achieve your goals.

Given the issues I was having with my hip throughout the lead up to the race in June I decided that as I couldn't get my money back then I may as well go to the race and see what happened.

My new goals for the race were to enjoy myself in Kitzbuhel and to manage pain on the bike and the run.

I think I did a pretty good job of all my goals!

The view from our room!

As soon as we got to the hotel I was impressed the Hotel Kitzhof is simply stunning! The relaxation areas were beautiful, the grounds were immaculate. The hotel features a small but perfect gym and has a small spa area and a lovely indoor pool. Around the spa area outside there are lots of sun loungers with a plentiful supply of clean towels.

I was so glad that we had decided to get to Kitzbuhel quite a few days before the race to get settled in and not have the usual rush when you arrive at the race venue a couple of days before the race.

It proved to be a good move and I my first goal of the trip to enjoy myself seemed like it was going to be super easy to do!

In the days before the race my room mate Fiona and I spent some time swimming in the beautiful Schwarzsee Lake and riding the bike course to get familiar with the hills we would be racing up and down!

The lake was warm and stunning!

I had to stop to admire the bike course view!

Once we had checked out the lake a few times and the bike course it was time to take it easy in between attending briefings.

The food at the hotel champagne (!) breafast buffet was absolutely amazing and it was all I could do to limit breakfast to Bircher Muesli. I decided the morning after the race we might have a glass of champagne as a treat!

We spent the days relaxing and doing some stretching and foam rollering to keep everything supple and ready to rock on race day.

Then the dreaded rumours started that it was forecast to rain on the day of our race. It was gutting to hear this as the descents on the course were pretty steep in places and just because Kitzbuhel was so stunning in the warmth and sunshine!

In the days before the race Fiona and I went by cable car (well we needed to rest our legs!) to the Kitzbuhel Horm which was fab, even if we were a little under dressed at the top!

The view at the top was fantastic!

My attempt at a mountain top selfie!

Race Day

I was feeling excited and I have to say a little anxious about how my hip would be during the race but I tried to focus on my goals to enjoy the experience and manage my pain during the race.

As usual I struggled to eat my breakfast but ate enough to get me through to the start. Knowing I have eaten well in the lead up to the race generally makes me less anxious about this.

We were lucky to only be a 10 minute walk from the hotel to the race start and the weather was looking as predicted but it hadn't started raining, yet!

Team GB are such a friendly lot and once we had put everything in transition we walked towards the swim start to prepare for the start. Sadly it was just as the first few waves were starting that it also started to rain :( I guess at least it had been predicted and when riding the course I had also thought about how I would ride if it did rain, cautiously is the word!

Swim

The swim start was quite a small group of my age group 45-49 which means that the start is not quite the washing machine start that it can be in mass starts.

I have to say I was distracted in the swim. Instead of focusing on swimming as hard as I could I found myself unfocused and thinking about how I would feel on the bike. This was a major faux pas on my part. I have always focused on doing my best in each discipline but when I am carrying an injury I find it particularly hard not to think about the limitations said injury may bring.

There was a long run around the transition but I got onto my bike with no problems, apart from managing to rip my number off trying to get my wetsuit off, doh!

Bike

I had trained a lot on hills in the lead up to Kitzbuhel before my hip injury and this had been an element of the race I was super excited about. I did a training camp near Malaga and we did a lot of very lumpy rides to start to really build my strength. To have to hold off on the bike was super tough but I concentrated on working as hard as I could but remaining pain free.

The rain meant it was necessary to have some caution on the descents. My caution meant I was always overtaken by the Italian and Swiss girls behind me. I did however always manage to overtake them on the uphill!!! That said all the to-ing and fro-ing was a bit off putting but that's just how it was.

At about the half way point a guy who was clearly not taking anything cautiously went down on a corner. Thankfully there was still enough room for me to get round him, phew!

I came to the end of the bike super happy to be upright with no dramas but my time reflected not being able to push as hard as I would have liked. Job done!

Run

I am very happy to report that I had a good run despite my hip injury. Clearly the pain killers did a good job of masking any issues with my knees and my hip would allow me to run at one pace only but at least I didn't have to walk!

I finished soaking wet but jubilant that I had finished the race in one piece.

Everyone was so supportive afterwards and Team GB won quite a collection of medals, including some of my friends which was fantastic to see their hard work pay off.

The race was organised superbly. I honestly think that the only thing that could have made it better was the weather!

We stayed after the race to watch the Elite Women and it was awesome to see the Olympic Champion Nicola Spirig in fine form!

We retired to the hotel to get clean and dry and celebrate with some champagne. Then we watched the remainder of the womens race from our bed!

It was a holiday after all?

Post race recovery drink ready!

Getting photobombed in transition!