Apfelland Triathlon Race Recap
My first Olympic Distance Triathlon was on the 18th of May at the Apfelland Triathlon in Stubenberg Styria.
It was a very exciting day and even more exciting race week.
Here is my Apfelland Triathlon Race Recap:)
Apfelland Triathlon Race Recap
Let’s jump back to the beginning of race week.
The Week before the race
Monday
On Monday on my way to school, I suddenly got a sharp pain in my ankle.
I didn’t think too much of it at first…but the pain persisted for the rest of the day and showed up as slight pain when walking.
Monday was strange, I had a rest day(!) I hadn’t had a day off training for a while and didn’t know what to do with myself at first, I went for a little walk and made myself comfortable on the couch.
Tuesday
I wanted to pay more attention to the quality of my sleep throughout the week, but somehow the quality of my sleep decreased every day.
My stress levels increased.
The nervousness before my first Olympic triathlon combined with school stress was not the best combo.
Long school on Tuesday, then a 1-hour workout, and then I was almost in bed already.
Wednesday
Wednesday I didn’t go to school and somehow tried to manage the first day of carboloading, work, and some school deadlines.
Conclusion: It really didn’t work as well as I wanted and I found myself very stressed and completely overwhelmed with everything.
I then reorganized my priorities and realized that I wasn’t going to get everything done that day.
My swim training in the evening was actually really good.
Thursday
Carboloading at school was an interesting experience.
But I managed everything well.
I had another long school day and discussed the race with my coach after school.
Afterward, I wanted to run my intervals at race pace along the Danube…., but after I had run 5 steps, I realized that this was probably not the best idea.
I called my coach again and had a crisis meeting with him.
Namely: It’s 2 days before my race and I can’t run 100m, what do we do?
Our solution was mobility, stretching, and massaging.
I also had to move my intervals to the bike.
Of course, all this didn’t exactly reduce my nervousness.
Friday
I had a test in school and only went to there for that.
I packed in the morning and after I got home at 12 I made a good portion of pasta with tomato sauce and then headed off to Styria with my boyfriend at half past 1.
We quickly checked into our hotel room and then made our way to the lake where my running intervals from Thursday and a 20-minute swim in the lake were waiting for me.
Nobody could have predicted what we would encounter at the lake.
It was thundering.
It was pouring with rain and my foot didn’t feel very good either.
I had another crisis meeting with my coach and we agreed to inspect the bike route by car first and then hopefully do the swim afterward without a thunderstorm.
That’s exactly what happened.
I tried to memorize the route well and by the time we got back, the thunderstorm had passed.
I quickly put on my wetsuit and then threw myself straight into the lake.
The swim was REALLY good, which made me very confident.
Now I was more afraid of running than swimming, which had always been the other way around.
Then back at the hotel I ate another portion of pasta, washed my hair, and quickly hit the sack.
Race Day
Saturday
My alarm clock rang at 5 am.
I got ready, my mom made me my battle braids (my mom and brother also arrived on Friday in the evening) and I ate my Pre.
My breakfast consisted of:
- A coffee
- 2 slices of toast with plum jam
- Half a Maurten Drink Mix
We checked out of the hotel shortly after 6, packed up the car again, and made our way to Stubenberg Lake.
After a 25-minute drive, we arrived at the lake and met up with my dad to pick up my race documents.
Then my mom and my brother arrived with my road bike.
We checked the tire pressure and then took my bike to the transition zone. I set everything up the way I wanted it.
Then I still had about an hour before the start shot.
I lay down in the trunk of the car for a while and then started my Theraband warm-up at 8:30.
At 9:50 I was at the lakeshore and did a swim warm-up like many other athletes.
At 9:10 the gate to the start line was opened and we waited the last few minutes for the start.
I was about in the middle and at the end of the 1st third of the crowd.
My thoughts then looked like this:
- “You can do this”
- “Have fun”
- “You can do this”
- “Have fun”
I said these words to myself right up until the starting gun went off.
Swim
The starting signal came and people started to run, including me. I threw myself into the water but couldn’t really start swimming because of the mass of people in front of me, so I just followed the people in front of me.
I tried to find my pace and maybe find a few good feet to hang on to.
I found my pace really quickly.
I thought to myself at that moment. I’ll just swim comfortably because that’s how it felt in that moment.
I was very happy that I never got a kick, punch, or anything else.
It was quite crowded at the turning buoys and I tried to turn 90° while swimming breaststroke.
It worked well.
The swim seemed really good to me, but the time felt kinda long, I thought to myself, I’m probably already at 40 minutes😂.
After a while I didn’t know what to think about to make the time pass faster, so I just kept counting to 20. Always three strokes, then I counted up a number.
I also thought to myself, push with your arms, you won’t need them anyway for the rest of the race!
I came out of the water after 29:33 minutes and almost immediately spotted my coach, my family, and my boyfriend cheering me on😍.
T1
I pulled my wetsuit down to my hips as soon as I got out of the water and then quickly pulled the rest down when I got to my transition spot.
I put my race number on, quickly put on my socks and cycling shoes, and put on my helmet and goggles. Then I picked up my bike and made my way out of the transition zone.
Bike
I quickly got on my bike and headed off.
I soon realized that I might not make my 1h30min target time, as the course had a bit more of a climb than I had thought.
I pushed well on the bike, but in a way that I thought I still had enough in reserve.
I also made sure to fuel well from the start and felt really good on the bike.
The course was INSANELY beautiful and it was a lot of fun!
I saw my dad along the course during a climb, I didn’t have that much speed and I had a quick chat with him.
T2
I was back after 1h46min, swung myself elegantly off the bike, put on my running shoes in the transition area and then started straight onto the run.
Run
My legs felt pretty numb after the bike ride. So I didn’t really feel my injury.
The first three kilometers were really good and I felt really fast. After that I was still fast, but It got harder.
I was really happy, the sun was shining, the lake and the scenery looked soooo beautiful. It really was like a dream.
I took my first gel just after the first kilometer, the second at 3.5-4.5 km, and then another half gel at about 6 km.
I took the rest of the half gel at km 7-8.
All in all, I felt really strong during the run.
It was exhausting, but I wasn’t in my pain cave like I was during my sprint triathlon.
So I think I could have done more.
Once during the run, an inflatable gate collapsed on top of me, but I got through it before it collapsed completely.
It was incredibly motivating to see my family, boyfriend, and coach along the course!
Especially when my coach told me that I had overtaken second place in my age group 3km before the finish, no one could have stopped me then!
The finish line was so amazing.
After 50:32 minutes and a total of 03:09:48, I reached the finish line.
Unfortunately, the sprinklers didn’t work at that exact moment, but it was still amazing.
At the finish line I got a finisher medal and went to the athletes’ area.
There I quickly grabbed a Coke and some potato chips.
I signed my name on a board with names and briefly thought about lying down on one of the massage tables.
But I knew that there were probably already a few people waiting for me :)))
I handed in my timing chip on the way out and went straight to my support team❤️.
After talking to them, my boyfriend mixed my recovery drink.
Isoclear with Maltro.
I came first in my age group, so we went straight to the award ceremony 🙂
After the award ceremony for the sprint distance, it was my turn.
It was really cool to be on the podium at my first Olympic distance triathlon (even though there weren’t many competitors in my age group).
Afterward, I snacked on pretzels and raisins. And then I picked up my bike and the rest of my stuff again.
We packed everything up and my boyfriend and I made our way to a wellness hotel that we had booked for one night.
It was about 4-5 and we had a bite to eat in the restaurant and then chilled out for the rest of the day.
In the evening we ended the day with pizza and then fell into bed completely tired.
I was really able to use the rest of the weekend to relax! After all the stress and emotions of the last week.
I think there are definitely a few things I can do better before and during my next race, but all in all I’m really happy with my performance and my race nutrition.
Now it’s time for some recovery before I start preparing for my 1st Ironman 70.3 in Zell am See on September 1st!
