Transvorarlberg Triathlon

26. August I completed the Transvorarlberg Triathlon, a fantastic event! Only 3 weeks after the Norseman, I should perhaps still be tired, and not do a half-lon triathlon competition (1.2-102-12 km), but the competition looked so nice, and I like the mountain competitions (2000 meter ascent at the bike, and also up-and-down on the run course in Lech), so I decided to participate :-)

Photo: www.transvorarlberg.at

For some unknown and unbelivable reason, I didn't seem to be that tired after Norseman after all... and I finished as the 6th woman overall - amazing. 10 minutes behind the winner, Yvonne van Vlerken, so it was pretty tight among the first women after more than 5 hours racing. (Normally I would of course be much more behind Y.v. Vlerken, but she got some problem with the cold...) I'm really satisfied! :-)

Bregenz and Bodenssee at saturday

Bregenz and Bodenssee at saturday

I arrived Bregenz by Bodensee at saturday, and relaxed and enjoyed the city, the atmosphere, the warm water and the nice weather (The first part of the day at least..). A nice place.

On sunday, the race started with 1.2 km swimming in Bodensee. The weather had become colder, but the heavy rain (from the night) had stopped. The wind, however, was only becoming stronger (And blowing against us when swimming)... I have never been swimming in that big waves before, never been swimming so much breaststroke, and never been drinking so much water from the sea during a triathlon competition before... It was like swimming in an ocean, but in the ocean the waves are still a bit "softer". I have heard the waves was up to 2.5 meter high...

Well, so my swim performance, and time, wasn't very good, but usully (this year) it is not good, so I don't think the waves made the differences to the best ones much larger... It was almost a bit fun (Although a bit anoying) to "swim" in these waves...:-)

Transition area in Lech

But after some time in the water it was time for my stronger dicipline, the cycling:-) The course started in bregenz, and ended in Lech in Arlberg, passing the Hochtannbergpass at almost 1700 m altitude. First it was cloudy, then it started to rain...(The race director had actually warned us, that if we were cycling fast, we would catch up the rain, however, if we were cycling a bit slower, we would always stay behind the rain. So we have to take the blame for it ourselves, that we got wet...) The rain and weather wasn't really a big problem before we were going to cycle down to Lech from the Hochtannbergpass. Then it was pretty cold, about 5-6 degrees at the top of the "Pass"... However, I'm used to Norseman now:-) And actually, the biggest problem cycling down was not the wet road or the cold, but an amazing amount of cars driving in the same direction (probably a lot of supporters actually...), driving to slow, to dangerous etc...

Arriving Lech

The bike course however, I guess was a very nice course, with a fabolous view. I couldn't see much of it do the weather, but I could imagine:-) (And I saw it on the way back in the bus) At least I arrived safely, and except for the annoying cars, and a bit cold body, the cycling went excellent:-)

In Lech, a very nice mountain village, there was a 2 loop running course of 2*6 km. It went through the city, and in the forest around the city. A very nice run course too, always a bit up and down, and the "time went fast" due to the nice surroundings and atmosphere, although I wasn't really running really fast, my performance was OK, but a the legs are probably bit tired and not fully "recuperated" after Norseman...

 And surprisingly, I finished as the 6th woman:-) And after the finish, the sun was coming too, showing the nice mountains and surroundings here. Preferably, I would stay here for some more days now, enjoying the mountains, go hiking etc... But I had to go back. But next time... :-)