What kind of a feeling is this! I can finally be back in what I consider to be the most beautiful country: South Africa. You will surely shake your head now and not be able to fully understand it. However, for a long time this was the country where I had tears in my eyes when I arrived and departed. Unfortunately, South Africa is in crisis, but the people are unique. Total strangers took me in and the motto was always: "My castle is your castle". And that's not just said like that. Since then I've been part of the family.
So I'm all the happier that the Ironman South Africa is my first race this season. However, I have to shorten the trip to a minimum of eight days: Two days there (Mallorca - Munich - Dubai - Johannesburg - Port Elizabeth = pretty exhausting) four days in South Africa and right back after the race! I would like to stay longer, but the trip to South Africa is not a vacation trip, I want to do a good race and get back to training quickly after the race to prepare for the next goals for the season.
Once in South Africa, time flies by as you prepare for the race. Last training sessions, material check, race briefing, mental preparation. Everything is very focused. Two days before the race, they pull a shark out of the water. That fits great again! – If there's something I don't like, it's swimming in the big sea and not knowing who or what is swimming around next to me.
The competition is fierce this year: probably only Hawaii is so heavily occupied. South Africa is a tough race, and not just because it's so early in the season: the bike course in particular is tough: 180 kilometers with 1600 meters in altitude, rough road surface and strong wind. The running course is also a bit hilly – and hot.
Without having made close acquaintance with sharks, I am the fifth woman to come out of the water. On the bike, I strictly follow the instructions from my trainer Jo about when and how hard I should ride. Eva Wutti overtakes me in the first kilometers. I stay calm and let her go. 100 kilometers later I have her again and when I drive past her, it seems to me that she is standing still. I can keep reducing the distance to the top. With the fastest bike time and a new course record, I am now the third woman to get off my bike and immediately make up even more ground. I soon overtake the second woman and hold my position for quite a while. But suddenly my legs tighten and I can't lift them anymore, a blister on my foot also opens and hurts like hell. The last ten kilometers are purely a matter of will, everything hurts, I slow down, finally I'm overtaken by the third and fourth placed woman. But I can defend my fifth place! With that I reach my minimum goal for this competition: More than 2000 points for the qualification in Hawaii. Since it's the South African Championships, my fifth place earns even more points than my Ironman win in Malaysia! Of course I'm also disappointed that I couldn't defend my second place because my legs didn't want to do as well as I did in the last ten kilometers. But after a six-month break from racing, it was almost to be expected that I would still lack a bit of competitive toughness. And the first six women were incredibly close together. The top 5 within 15 minutes. In many races there is often more of a difference between first and second place.
The next day is the award ceremony and I can see the positive side of my result: I held my ground well in a world-class field! And I've got a few hard racing kilometers in my bones again and the next races will be even better!
After two and a half hard days of travel back to Mallorca, I first need a lot of sleep: After all, I hardly slept at all for three nights. Not that I partyed (my coach only allows parties if I win) - but I hardly ever sleep the night after a race, I'm tired but also so caffeinated and full of experiences that I just can't fall asleep. The award ceremony on the second day after the race lasts almost until midnight and the next day my plane leaves early in the morning and I arrive in Dubai in the middle of the night and have to leave again in the early morning. Uff.
Now all I want is a bed where I can sleep undisturbed for three days. And then at the next Ironman I don't just run 30 kilometers fast, but the whole marathon! Have a good start to the season everyone!
Your Diana