On Sunday I raced at the ITU World Championships in Immenstadt, Germany as part of the British age group team. As I didn't qualify for the Ironman World Championships this was going to be my ocassion to measure myself against some of the best triathletes in the world in my age group, so I wanted to do well in this race.
Immenstadt is located in a beautiful area of Germany called Algau, in the mountains, approximately 100 mile from Munich.
My preparation going into the race wasn't ideal as we've been quite busy recently. My last couple of training races went quite well though and I did a good ride at the Richmond Park 10M TT and a week ago came second overall in the Eaton sprint triathlon, improving on my time from May.
To make the situation worse on thursday on my way back from work my chain on the bike broke, which meant that I didn't get back home till 11pm and on Friday my flight to Munich was delayed by almost 2.5 hours and when I eventually arrived in Immenstadt at 2am I was very tired.
The team GB was staying in the comfortable Algau Stern Hotel, 12km from Immenstadt and it was interesting to stay with the rest of the team and see their preparations.
The race was very well organised and it was great to be able to rack the bikes on race morning and not having to worry about doing it a day before.
On the race day I woke up feeling relaxed and ready to go having had an unusually good night's sleep. We arrived at the start with plenty of time and I even had time to take some pictures. Just before the start as I was warming up I felt sharp pain in my back and it immediately went into a spasm and I could hardly breathe. There was no time to do anything about it with 10 minutes to the start and I was worried that I might get into trouble in the water, so I wasn't sure if I should even be starting the race. Eventually I decided to get in the water try to relax and give it a go. Somehow when I got in the water it felt a little bit better and was able to breathe and swim.
The swim was fairly uneventful, I had a conservative start as I wasn't sure how hard I was going to be able to push with a locked up back, but I had clear water and managed to stay out of trouble. On the return leg of the 4km loop I pushed a little bit harder and came out of the water in 1:12:20. Not bad, considering the circumstances and I was happy with that. Quick transition and I was on the bike, but my legs didn't feel great, so I decided to keep it steady hoping that it may improve. The bike course was simply brutal - up, down, left, right on some narrow roads. Luckily it was dry and the road surface was good, so descending wasn't a problem. The 2200m of climbing recorded by my watch doesn't really do the course justice - some of the climbs were so steep that I had to be out of the saddle for the entire climb pushing 300W just to keep the bike moving. There was 8 climbs recorded on the official course profile and about 10 other unclassified "bonus climbs". Of course such a tough bike course had one advantage - the drafting was non-existing so it was a fair race. Somehow I was really enjoying this bike course and I was even descending well, overtaking loads of people. Whenever passing a GB athlete I also tried to shout some encouragement. I went though a bit of a bad patch after about 40 miles, but recovered fairly well and was even able to push a bit harder on the second, shorter lap. Unfortunately the back was still very tight, which made climbing and riding hard on aerobars quite uncomfortable. After another exhilarating descent into Immenstadt I was finally happy to be back in transition in 4:17, which I though was a reasonable time given the nature of the course.
Onto the run and unsurprisingly legs felt quite tired after all the climbing and suddenly it was very hot. Nevertheless I locked into a solid 4:25/km pace and tried to take in some gels an as much coke and water as I could get from the aid stations. My plan was again to try to take it steady for the first of the 10 laps and try to push it for the second and third lap. Solid strategy but this time it wasn't going to work as almost immediately after I started the second lap I started to feel very weak and was getting cramps in both legs. Quads first, calves and then hamstrings. Whenever I tried to pick up the pace I would get a cramp and was reduced to a gently shuffle. I walked through a couple of aid stations trying to get as much fluid as possible but it wasn't helping, so I had to resign to running a 5min/km pace. As I started the last lap I calculated that if I kept that pace I still has 2 minutes to spare to get in under 8 hours and this become my next target. Over the next 8km I've even managed to make up another 2 minutes which was just as well because as I entered the stadium it turned out that the finish was not at 3okm, but another 500m further. Eventually I finished in 7:58:45 with a 2:26 run split. This gave me 98th position overall and 20th place in my age group. Not what I had imagined and hoped for, being already 8th in the world twice, but a respectable result nevertheless.
Am I happy with my race? Mixed feelings again. It was a truly epic race with a fair, tough course, very well organised and possibly one of the most beautiful bike courses I've ever done. The whole town was clearly behind the race with posters everywhere and the course lined with spectators, particularly on the climbs. Being 20th in the world in my age group, on a course that theoretically did not suit me is a respectable result and I've beaten some good athletes and as a 4th GB athlete home. Many athletes would be very happy with that. On the other hand the result also shows how the sport has moved on in the last few years, how much more competitive the age groups are and how the gap I have to the top age-grouper has grown. I haven't really improved my swim in the last few years, my bike is similar to what it was 5 years ago and my run results have not been consistent. It was great to be a part of the GB team and the beers (perhaps a few too many) and banter after the race was great, but is that all I really want? It's pretty clear that I'm not going to acheive my goal of winning a World Championship medal.
Where to from now? Was this my last international race? I'm not sure - I'll give it a few weeks before making a decision. It may not be a bad time to refocus on other things and say I'm happy with what I've achieved. No regrets.
