European Triathlon Championships - Kitzbuhel

I have been extremely slow in writing about this event, despite it being super-awesome itself, I had a less than perfect time which unsettled my Mojo for a while.

This time I was lucky to be able to travel with my mule, and we arrived in Kitzbuhel on Monday (before the race the following Sunday) which gave us lots of time to relax, take in the sights and do a little bit of training.

The long way down.



At the top of the horn!

The first day we took on the Kitzbuhele-horn which featured in the Elite European race of 2013. It involved 8km of climbing 4000ft, which was INCREDIBLE! I am a bit of a sadist on the bike, however the TT was not the tool for the job, but I don't have a garage full of carbon fibre machines to choose from. The way back down was a bit more terrifying, and we had to keep stopping for wheel cooling down breaks (maybe a bit over cautious, but I didn't want anything exploding before the race!)



The rest of the week featured all the usual pre race stuff like course recce, registration and racking. I have never been anywhere where I have had the luxury of being able to do a swim recce, and maybe this was an error to start doing things I had not done before. Following my swim recce, that afternoon I felt a little dodgy, then Friday (2 days before the race) I spent the entire day in bed, sweating, and shivering with a less than enjoyable stomach! (make of that what you will). I was now pretty worried about my race on Sunday. Saturday I felt better, but still not 100% and I managed to make it to the team brief and bike racking in the evening.

RACE DAY! Wake up at some offensive hour, try to cram some breakfast down my face, then off to the race. My race start was the second of the day at 0730. The start went OK, but after about 500m I was sick while swimming. If you have never experience this, it is very un-nerving. Unhappily this happened twice, and although I am an abdominal swimmer, my swim was much worse than expected, meaning lots to do on the bike and run. I was sick another couple of times on the bike which player havoc with my nutrition. I did however manage to enjoy the beautiful course, and I was catching up with people all the time which is always nice! Onto the run, and yep...sick again! However more people to catch and the end was well and truly in sight. I managed to claw my way up to 7th in my AG and posted the fastest run of the day which was a small victory.

I learned so much from this race, and although it didn't really go my way, it was fabulous experience, made all the better to have someone to share it with. Not only that, there were a handful of RAF Triathletes competing at the European Championships at both Sprint and Standard Distance which made celebrating all our achievements even better.
 
I even made it onto the race review! (My feet at 2:10 and me at 2:15 for a smidge of a second!) Age Group Standard Distance Highlights

Reflecting on the race now, and after realising that this race was on the anniversary (to the exact day) of my first Standard Distance Triathlon, and my first EVER open water swim, it just shows what you can do with hard work, determination and a bit of luck!
 

View from the top of the Hahnenkamm at the closing ceremony