Austria update #2

I woke up on Sunday morning to the sound of rain on the roof. Did I mention that the rain is following me? I leave NY and its beautiful…I come to southern Austria, where is noted for its “Mediterranean-like Climate” of warmth and sunshine, and it’s rainy! Don’t blame me if it gets cloudy and rainy in New York again after I return from Austria! After doing a little core and stretching in the morning, I called Sylvie and she quickly came over to drop off her Mtn. bike that she will be lending me this week (mostly for Erin during the race) and she also took me to the ONLY supermarket open in town. That’s right…no stores open on Sunday and few on the weekend at all. What a nice concept! I know people talk about a time when Long Island was like that, but not since I can remember!
After buying some food and getting a driving tour of Klagenfurt, courtesy of Sylvie, we headed to Brigitte’s house (Sylvie’s mom) where she prepared a delicious lunch for us! Sylvie, myself, Horst , Michael and Brigitte all sat down to a salmon and potato lunch with a variety of salads, and a little white wine as well. We sat for a while talking and laughing, trying to figure out different words in English, French and German! After lunch, we sat on the terrace for coffee and DELICIOUS chocolate cake (there goes my “no dessert before Ironman”, but hey, it wasn’t ice cream, right?! Plus, it’s just a week out now…it can’t hurt, right?!) Well, it was excellent and Brigitte even packed me up some to bring home!). My bags still did not arrive, so Sylvie was generous to lend me some running clothes and off I went for a light 40 min jog. I ran on the path that runs parallel to the canal that the Ironman finishes in. It was a beautiful run and it felt great to move my body after a long travel day! I returned just in time for Tea Time! We sat down at 4PM for a special English tea with a bit of sugar, rum and milk. It was so good that Brigitte packed me up my very own teapot and loose tea to bring home and make for myself! I’m sure I won’t make it quite as good as she did! We all sat again talking and laughing. I was sitting there thinking about how lucky I was to meet this wonderful family…
When I arrived back at my cottage, I was informed that my bike and luggage just made it to Klagenfurt and would be delivered to my home here! Yippee!!! I had enough time to grab the bag and bike and head out the door to meet Henry (the man who hooked me up with all of these accommodations, etc) and his family. On the way there, Horst and Michael were kind enough to drive with me (I followed along in my Smart car) so I would know the way and could HOPEFULLY make it back on my own! I had a great pleasure of meeting Henry, his wife and his two daughters and their two friends. A couple from the Netherlands was also staying there for the week and the husband is racing Ironman for the first time! We all sat down to a delicious cake (yes, more cake!) and great conversation. Again, I thought…how great is this? I have been in the company of kind and generous people since I landed here!
I finally left Henry’s around 9PM and found my way back to the cottage (thanks to Henry’s directions)! Tomorrow I must put my bike together and go for a ride! I am here, after all, to race an ironman in a week! I am looking forward to the ride, and maybe I’ll have a bit of that chocolate cake that Brigitte sent me home with after my ride!

Ironman Austria update #1

Right now it’s Saturday June 27th and I am typing this up while settling into the little cottage I am staying at in Klagenfurt, Austria. I do not have internet access here, but my plan is to periodically update my trip here in Austria leading up to the race on Sunday July 5th. Before heading over to Austria I had the pleasure of meeting up with Charlotte Johnson (most of you probably know that Charlotte and her husband Paul belong to Team Runners Edge). Charlotte and Paul did the race 2 years ago and Charlotte was SO sweet to take the time and sit down with me to tell me all about the race course, about Klagenfurt and to give me a LIBRARY of books to read all about the area as well. Charlotte is racing Ironman Germany this year and ironically, it takes place on July 5th as well! Good Luck Charlotte!!!
So I’ll quickly run through the details of my travel here. Friday 3:30 PM, George’s mom drives me to the airport. We predict crazy traffic, but luck out! We get to the airport early (unfortunately she is stuck in major traffic on the way home). Im at the airport earlier than I would have liked, but it’s better than being late! I board the plane around 6:15 PM (It’s supposed to take off at 7PM). We FINALLY take off AFTER 10 PM! We sat on the runway for HOURS due to a major thunderstorm. I get to Paris at 11:35 AM…my connecting flight was scheduled for 9:35 AM… Oh well! Missed that! So, I get put onto a different flight and run through the airport to make it on time. I had 20 min to get to the gate and the Terminal seemed like it was MILES away from where I landed (the airport in Paris, by the way is unusually hot! I felt like I was just done with a workout when I finally got to the gate)! We take off from Paris and I arrive in Vienna WITHOUT my bike or my luggage! I have another flight with Austrian Airlines in an hour and a half and I need my luggage, so Im thinking I will have to miss my flight to Klagenfurt, stay in Vienna, get the bags and bike tomorrow and head to Klagenfurt then. Instead, I am reassured that my bike and luggage “should be delivered to where I’m staying in Klagenfurt by tomorrow evening”… Hmmm…we’ll see about that! SO, I check in and head to the gate… Five minutes before we are to board, the airport shuts down (due to a thunderstorm! I can't get away from these things)! FINALLY after a short delay we take off from Vienna and arrive in the quaint little city of Klagenfurt!
Luckily, I am renting a cottage from a local here. This can be a long story, but Henry, a man who lives here and who I was originally going to rent an apartment from, helped arrange my accommodations here at this lovely cottage when his apartment became unavailable. Henry also helped with the rental of a “Smart Car” for the days I will be here alone. He even had the owner of the rental company come in on Saturday and open up the store just for me! In the short time I have been here in Klagenfurt I have had an incredible experience! I was greeted at the airport by Hoerst (Henry’s friend who I am renting the cottage from), his sister Brigitte and her daughter Sylvie (who turned 20 today!) as well as Hoerst’s son Michael (14 years old) who greeted me with a flower. They all brought me to the rental company, then to this beautiful little cottage just 5KM from the race start at the lake. They showed me around the house and the incredible garden where I am welcome to grab all of my lettuce, veggies and fruit that I need while I am here. They also prepared some food for me and Sylvie offered to take me into town tomorrow. Pretty amazing! Their kindness has been so comforting after a much dreaded long travel day. I was most nervous for traveling and arriving here totally alone and they made the experience nothing but a pleasure! My friend Erin with whom I went to College with, arrives Tuesday night. I am looking forward to it, but the days here without her will definitely be more pleasurable and not quite as “lonely” as I thought they might be. Now I just have to keep my fingers crossed for the arrival of my luggage and bike!! Im DYING to get on my bike and check out the course!

Mooseman 2009 Race Report

My mom and I traveled up to New Hampshire last weekend for the Mooseman 1/2 Ironman. Mooseman is a race that many Long Islanders have done and a race that I have wanted to do for a while, but haven't done mainly due to my racing schedule and conflicts in the past. Doing other 70.3 races such as Florida and Buffalo Springs that are just too close in time to Mooseman have made it difficult to fit in. The other reason (or "hesitation") I have had with Mooseman is the historically cold water! Also, it can be a bit chilly up there as well and I try and steer clear of cold races...that being said, it was 95 degrees last year and PERFECT weather this past weekend, so if you have any of these excuses in your head, forget them! The race is awesome... As you can see in the picture on the left, the lake was gorgeous!

So, quickly re-capping the race, I was happy to have a small contingent of Runner's Edge and TNT athletes there that I knew, so it was nice to run into them the morning of the race (*see the Team Runners Edge Results following the post). I was also pleasantly surprised to learn that my friends Matt Long (I Will Foundation) and Frank Carino (along with their two buddies) were doing the race! Both Frank and Matt are doing Ironman Lake Placid in July, so I am looking forward to cheering them on up there! It was great to have them at Mooseman.

Race morning was quite nice as I headed to the lake to do my "warm-up", but the water was COLD! In fact, much colder than the day before when I went swimming in the shallow section of the lake WITHOUT my wetsuit! (It was also sunny and 82 degrees the day before). I panicked a bit as I headed out of the water for the start when I realized that I would be starting in the first wave which included over 100 men and me! Yikes! While some women may think that the idea of over 100 men and them is some kind of fantasy (he, he, he...), I can promise you that it is more like a nightmare! I definitely panicked in the swim and ended up costing myself a LOT of time! As the gun went off I found myself "running for my life" into the water and "sprinting" as fast as I could so I would not find myself UNDER some of these men (he, he, he). Even the small men seemed monstrous in size to me in that water. They thrashed about, they hit me, they swam over me. Finally I found myself doing the breaststroke and clutching at the neck of my wetsuit as I was having a hard time catching my breath! "Where's a kayaker", I thought..."Im done for the day"! OK...I got a grip. I slowed down and tried to find some space. From there I "wimpily" (is that a word??) swam to the shore. I exited in 31:33... "Oh well" I thought...I still have a bike and a run!

The bike was AWESOME!!! Some great climbs, but also many sections where you can just FLY! It was a two-loop course and I loved every minute of it! Nothing more to say about that. The men that I despised in the water were much nicer on the bike. Words of encouragement if they passed me, and also when I passed them! I felt great, which was the best part...something that hasn't happened in a while in a 70.3 race! I biked a 2:38:29

Starting the run I felt GOOD, but not GREAT...I tried to just move along as best I could. I must say that on this 2-loop course the way out has some tough rolling climbs, but the way back feels FAST! I started feeling better and better as the run went on! I noticed the other girls who started in the waves behind me, so I wanted to be sure to run fast enough that they would not beat me. With the spacing of the waves it was hard to tell EXACTLY where they were in relation to me, but I felt that if I ran hard, I would be OK. Steve Shulman from Runners Edge (also a TNT and LI Tri Coach) was a great source of encouragement for me out on the run...I looked forward to the turn-around where I would see him, so thanks Steve! In addition to Steve there were MANY spectators out on the course that were going crazy for me as I came by...it was awesome!!! My run split: 1:28:40

So I ended up finishing first despite the fact that I swam 5-6 min SLOWER than the 2nd and 3rd place women (Oops!!!!). The finish line was a party, the race director (Keith Jordan) was awesome, the race was amazingly organized, the area was beautiful...I have nothing but positive memories from this race and I HIGHLY recommend it! Total time 4:42.

Ironman Austria is a mere 3 weeks away! Im happy to have a good result under my belt and I am ready to rock! one more 20-22 mile run is in store for me on Monday and my last 100+ Mile bike is scheduled for Thursday. I am recovering VERY well from Mooseman and am getting more and more psyched to race Austria!

CONGRATS to everyone who raced last weekend in Mooseman and in the Rev 3 Triathlon!

Oh, and Thanks to Brad Smith for actually wanting to read these posts!!! ;-)

*Team Runners Edge Results:

Ken Cunningham - 5:35:37
Mark Eicher - 5:40:46
Nicole Skidmore - 5:59:33
*Michael Guida - 6:05:27
Tim Daly - 6:26:08
Kathy Keilitz - 6:57:19
Louis Ciliberti - 7:07:33
Howard Kohos - 7:20:21
Maria Diglio - 7:32:50
Diane Basso - 8:01:58

Congrats to our 2 Mooseman Olympic Finishers:

*Michael Guida - 2:53:10
Deborah Young - 3:50:06

*Competed in the Bullmoose challenge completing the Olympic Distance race Saturday and the 1/2 IM Sunday...