Post race blues and an exciting decision

  After the excitement of an event the worst thing is getting back to reality. I had already had my only rest day of the week on the Monday in Bath so it was straight back to training and a night shift on the Tuesday. I was also put back into reality when the smallness of what I had achieved over the weekend was put into context of what I want to eventually achieve. A half marathon feels like nothing. This is not me being big-headed, that is just what traning and the reality of my goal has taught me. Despite this I have been unindated with people offering congratulations and many expressions saying they could never run one mile yet alone 13. However, in my head a half marathon is achievable for anyone. It does require training and is a great achievment but I do not believe anyone when they say it is impossible. Anything is possible and that is exactly what I am trying to prove by becoming an Ironman.

  Getting back to reality also means the post race blues kick in. The hype of a race gives me such a buzz, the whole atmosphere from beginning to end is a feeling I relish. So when the feeling of euphoria is over the depression starts. It isn't so much that I am back to work it is purely that the race is over, which is ironic as all I want is for the race to finish when I'm struggling through it. Now, the word depression may seem a bit strong, but it is actually a scientific fact that some people do struggle with post race depression. I am not saying I suffer so severely, but I certainly do get a massive low. It is a good job I have another event in two weeks!

  However, today Dan and I made a decision that has got me excited and cleared my depressed head a little. Dan is now fully on board and supportive of my Ironman journey. The majority of Sunday night we were talking about it. Since knowing becoming an Ironman was not just an impossible dream but a real goal my next thoughts had always been on where to do it. I had mentioned this to Dan before but got a flat response then as my motivation obviously didn't seem strong enough for Dan to get the bug of my excitement. (I believe this blog has helped cement my determination). 

  There are only two locations in the UK that a full Ironman event takes place; Bolton and Wales. Now, I am sure Bolton has some lovely scenery and I don't want to offend anyone I know who lives there but it would not be my first choice of location to complete the event. There is just no competition in comparison to some of the places where an Ironman takes place ranging from Cotes d'Azur, Lake Placid and New Zealand. As well as this, I am not shunning Pembrokeshire in Wales for their lovely scenery as I love Wales. But the almost guaranteed bad weather conditions and route of this event makes it one of the toughest (probably second to Lanzarote with its extremely tough bike leg and blistering heat). This may sound like I am trying to avoid the tougher event which is no way to call yourself an Iroman, but that is not the case. (If was doing that I wouldn't have picked my Ironman 70.3 in the non-forgiving Exmoor as this is argued to be the toughest middle distance Ironman there is). All I am trying to do is help myself and find somewhere I WANT to be doing such a gruelling event. Either way I play it it is naturally going to be a tough event and then there is the extra pressure of going abroad. The weather abroad is different and most likely hotter which will inevitably mean different training methods, possibly doing my previously discussed Bikram turbo session.

  Anyway, on Sunday I tried to start the conversation again that I was unsure where to do the Ironman. I had narrowed it down to three locations; Nice in France (Cotes d'Azur), Frankfurt in Germany and Klagenfurt in Austria. However, when we started talking I began thinking of the expense of getting my bike to such an event as a bike box which guarantees it's safety costs around £400, then there are the flights, hotel. food etc. I always had the thought of turning an event into a holiday, but always felt bad mentioning the idea to Dan as it seems like I would be choosing the location and because of the expense of it it would mean it would be our only holiday of the year. This tactic is used by a lot of triathletes. Gill from Chiltern Tri for example did a half Ironman in America and made a road trip holiday out of it with her family. So I had admitted defeat and said I would do the event in Bolton. It was then that Dan planted the seed of the Eurostar to cut costs, but it wasn't discussed further.

  So, this morning. I don't know how it came up again but we got onto the subject of my Ironman location. With the hope that the Eurostar would get us over to an event on the cheap my dreams of doing one outside of the UK still lingered. It was then that we thought of the Eurotunnel meaning we could take our own car and bike rack, or better yet hire a campervan and sleep in it to cut even more costs. From here the dream expanded. We have both always wanted to do a roadtrip around Europe and this just seemed perfect. We were flying off of eachothers ideas. We had so many ideas we couldn't get them all out. We instantly decided to go to town to get a map of Europe and sit with a coffee deciding where to go, what van to get and at the base of it all, finally decide where to do the Ironman. We painstakingly started circling everywhere we wanted to go in Europe until we had to stop logistically. I had to decide where I was going to do the Ironman as it meant going down throughthe centre of Germany to Frankfurt or sticking to the edges and going to Berlin and then down to Austria or France. It was decided we were more keen on seeing Berlin so that narrowed it down to either Nice in France or Klagenfurt in Austria. I decided on Austria as it meant it would be dead in the middle of the holiday, is underestimated for its stunning scenery and would be a damn sight cheaper than the Cote d'Azur! (We decided that although we would be sleeping in the van for the majority of the trip we would get a hotel for the night after the Ironman so I can try and recover a little in some luxury). So I shall be competing in Ironman Austria in 2014.


You may be able to see the circled places we plan to visit

 
  With my Austian decision made we had a vague route mapped out on where we would be going on our road trip. After some suprisingly calm discussions we cut out some destinations as they were too far out of the way these included Amsterdam and Hamburg. The list of planned destinations we ended up with was; Brussels, Cologne, Berlin, Prague, Vienna, Klagenfurt, Venice, Milan, Turin, Monaco, Marseille, Toulouse, Bordeaux, La Rochelle, Nantes, Versailles, Paris and Reims. We then worked out the distance of travel between them all, worked out how long we would stay at each and it equalled to 20 days. This may seem like a lot of places in such a short space of time, but the idea is to just experience each city and the list is not a strict schedule, we can cut and add places as we chose. The aim is to be spontaneous for once! We also agreed that it would be difficult to stay in places like Milan, Turin and Monaco so they would have to be swift visits anyway.

  We had a great idea of getting a van on ebay that we could get cheaply and convert, but we worked out by the time we had made it safe, liveable for 3 weeks, insured and taxed it it would cost more than renting one that is already the full package with a bed, sink and storage. It would be a different story if we could afford to get a proper VW campervan and proudly keep it (something I one day hope to do as I have always had a fascination with them). We were however looking at old Ford transits that looked like after two weeks in Europe would combust. (The place which we are looking at renting from also have some awesome spray paint jobs on their vans which adds to the fun of it).



An example of the 2-berth rented campervan



  I never had a gap year and although I have been privileged to go to some amazing countries when I was younger whilst at school and with my parents on holiday I have still got many places I want to travel to. I get jealous when I see a lot of my friends still exploring the world. I read their blogs from amazing places that only the spontaneous get to see. I want my own little part of that excitement and spontaneity and although I do want to travel further afield one day to India, China, New Zealand etc there are some amazing gems in Europe, just across the channel, that I want to experience as well.

  Although I am already loaded up with a map of Europe, a lonely planet about Europe and a caravan and camping guide to Europe I have a long wait yet. I also do want not to, as well as cannot do much planning due to the nature of the trip. However, I cannot forget that the Ironman is really the basis and major part of this long awaited trip and there is a lot of training to do between now and then. 

  On another note I am so glad I have decided to do the trip for another reason. People keep reminding me lately do things while you can. It may seem morbid, but I have been told this twice in the last month. A friend at work, although still very young, is cramming in everything she wants to see and do before she dies.This is after a family member of hers regrets not doing so. As well as this Gill told me that if it is something you want to do just do it, as the feeling and want will not go away and you will regret it if you don't. An Ironman and my own mini gap year Eurotrip are two lifetime wishes I shall experience in 2014 and I cannot wait!