Germaneeeeeeee

Well that was one whirl wind trip.......from boulder colorado to Weisbaden Germany and return all within 5 days.....

what a beautiful place weisbaden germany is...........I raced the European HALF IRONMAN champs last weekend, sorry for the delay in my race report, but I have been pondering on how it went!!

Training here in Boulder at high altitude I was super excited to see how I felt racing at sea level.  Boarding the flight to head to frankfurt on thursday late at night.  Perfect for having a good night sleep on the plane......THANK GOODNESS FOR MY STAR ALLIANCE GOLD CARD!! armando and I got greatttttt seats.....this trip was all about racing a good solid half ironman and having some fun......well I certainly did both.

Arriving in germany only about 30 hours before race start felt kind of weird...but what else can one do 2 days out from a race.....rest and relax and that is exactly what I did.    I had heard alloootttttttt about the course here in Weisbaden....super hilly and very technical.  The only thing that I regret is that I didn't see the course before the race!!  there just wasn't any time......but wow what an awesome course.

Race morning rocked along pretty quick, caught the shuttle bus out to the race venue...once the driver had finally directed the bendy bus in the right direction..(we headed about 30 mins the wrong way).....we made it to the start only about 45 mins before the gun!!!  relax....and have fun is what I kept telling myself.....

Did all the my bottles, clipped my shoes on the CERVELO, pumped up my zipps, filled up my profile aero bottle.....I really didn't have a lot of time to squeeze my self into my TYR WETSUIT....never mind better late than not at all.

Headed down to the swim start, did a few laps around the closest buoy's.....felt incredibleeeeeeeeeeee I could have swum with a peg on my nose....wow...this was going to be exciting....racing down at sea level.  The gun went off and I felt good, wasn't as fast as the fast guys, but saw a lonely person up ahead, ugh Amy Marsh, thought right go after her and keep going.  AMY is a very good swimmer.....  Pretty quickly I got to Amy, didn't hesitate to keep on pushing, I could I had soooooooooooooo much oxygen I could keep swimming.  I exited the water 2nd female, with a really solid swim.

Out onto the bike with the conditions mmmmmmmmmmmm drizzling and steamy I knew that caution was the way to ride today. I headed off feeling great, but the only problem is that my bike shoe wouldn't tighten....so I rode the entire 97.8km with my foot slipping in and out.  I felt good on the P4, but I did have to take it easy on some of the corners, as the roads were pretty slippery.....I was caught on the bike by a lot of girls......karin thurig went straight by...and then when natascha badman finally caught me at the 70km she went right past too.  Hill after hill was upon us, I felt good but trying to relax my body and not stress about my shoe....I steered my way into T2.....getting ready to unleash a solid run.  Laced up my asics....and motored out of Transition.  By now I was trailling 6 girls.....and right on my heels was Sofie Goos and Yvonne Van vlerken (2 time winner of the race).....

The only thing about training at altitude is that to do leg speed and fastttttttt running is really hard...as the air has so much less oxygen your body really struggles to do this kind of training.  So I knew that I would last....but just how fast could my legs go!!  I started out and finished feeling great.......one other thing about coming into the race only 30 hours before....is the time change.....so right now half way in the run the body clock is around 4am......but still I felt good.  I was catching girls, then I got passed from behind, I tried and I tried hard.....alllllllllllll the way to the finish line.....

I came across the line 0NE SECOND....behind yvonne (past champion) and in 5th place.....I felt great....not much else I could have done...I was happy with my race, I did my best.......my finish photo was awesome, or maybe it was yvonnes finish photo......

Weisbaden is beautifullllllllllllll and I would recommend it to anyone....the town is incredible....and there just happened to be a WINE FESTIVAL on....a celebration of all the vineyards in the area!! what a bloomin bonus, and the best part is that they are known for there reislings....and mmmmmmmm that just happens to be my favourite wine too......

I was happy with my weekend, I was happy with my pretzel eating frenzy, and armando was a VERY HAPPY MAN, with his dozen bratwursts in 4 days!!!  wine and food festival with a race!!!  how good is that...........

THANKS AGAIN TO EVERYONEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE ALL MY SPONSORS, FAMILY AND FRIENDS........you are always there for me, whether it be in NZ, Europe or wherever..........

Next up on the cards is 70.3 world champs in Las Vegas........Need I say more.....Im sure this will be awesome too!!!

hugs

JO