¼ Ironman (Garmin Iron Triathlon Nieporęt), 27 Aug 2022

Triathlon in Nieporęt means a lot to me. It was here, where I did my first 1/8 Ironman many years ago, crossing the finish line together with my dad. I faced the challenge again, but this time I opted for longer distance and my aim was to give it my best try and simply enjoy it.

The day of the race came – early wake up, porridge, two sips of coffee and it was time to go. Since my dad was also racing, we drove there together early to sort out everything in the transition zone and warm up properly. The gut feeling that something was off came and not long before the start, I realised I forgot my wetsuit! Thankfully, the water was too warm anyway and wetsuits weren’t allowed (lucky me!) - crisis averted.

After a solid warm up, we moved to the start line. Unfortunately there was no division between starting waves and when I realised it, I had to quickly make my way through the crowd to get closer to leading swimmers (who already set off!). As a result, I had taken over everyone within my reach in the water. Overall the swim was very smooth and I came out of water 4th woman and 26th swimmer overall (although I could have knocked a few more seconds from my swim if only I placed myself better at the start).

Not losing time, I ran quickly to T1 and moved on to bike course. The first 1km of the route is a very narrow road of cobblestones and it’s not a kind start. I had my first coffee flavoured energy gel – haven’t tried it before, but I love coffee, so decided to take a risk – yummy (it was worth it). I waved and smiled whenever I cycled opposite dad and simply powered through the bike course on my Liv Envie – the road was good, wind was basically unnoticeable, but a lot of men on TT bikes cycling past me (really made me miss my Liv Advanced resting in a suitcase in UK). Going into T2 I had to face the cobblestones again, which was much worse due to higher speed. Jumping off the bike, I saw my mum and brother cheering, which lifted my spirit and I ran into transition with a bigger smile on my face.

It was already very hot and sunny, so I put my cap on and begin the run. The start of the running course wasn’t great either – path about 1m wide with half of it made of cobblestones (again!) and the other sand with tree roots. It was only the beginning though and the rest was nice. I started the run pretty quickly passing a few other contestants. One of them shouted: “wow, you’re speedy”, but little did he know… the run was a complete disaster for me. Each kilometre was slower than the previous one and I had troubles lifting my legs from the ground. I tried another energy gel, but didn’t feel any benefit from it. Energy from the gel didn’t work, but the crowd’s cheering definitely made up for it! One guy shouted that there will be beer at the finish line (that should motivate every student, right?) and a few people came out of their houses with hoses, watering down the contestants. I was very grateful for the refreshing showers from the garden hose! Although I might have overdone with them a bit - I had puddles in my shoes for the rest of the day!

In the end, I crossed the finish line at 2:39:49 (and well done dad for breaking 3hrs!), 11th woman and 113/262 overall. It was a very good race (except from the dreadful run) and I will definitely do another Olympic distance or ¼ Ironman again! I gained some valuable experiences during the race: place myself well at the start, eat some solid food during cycling (it works well on trainings, time to adapt it to races) and practice brick sessions with longer runs. I can’t wait to use that knowledge next season 😊

Maja Radecka