Ironman Austria - Race report: Part 4 - thanks

Read Part 1 - premable

Read Part 2 - the race

Read Part 3 - post-race thoughts

Ironman may be an individual sport, but it is always a team effort – the day itself is just one of hundreds that get you to that finish line. Which means there are a lot of people to thank.

First and foremost, I have the most supportive family (especially my folks) in the world who are always my biggest fans – for that, and many, many other things, I love them all dearly. 

My friends – both the ones who have to listen to me make weekly excuses as to why I can't come out for drinks again and yet keep inviting me anyway (please do keep inviting!), and the ones who offer tonnes of encouragement and praise by phone, email, Facebook etc – aren't far behind my family in general awesomeness levels.

My finishing time in Austria would have been unimaginable eight months ago, before joining Tri2Aspire and our coach, Jason, deserves a healthy dose of praise and thanks for that. I set him a tough couple of goals - to improve me at both sprint distance and Ironman distance simultaneously - and we achieved both and then some.

Perhaps the biggest portion should be distributed evenly among all my fellow Tri2Aspire team mates – at some point, I'm certain I've swum, ridden or run with everyone in T2A, or chatted to them about triathlon, strategies and Ironman. It seems cruel to pick out anyone in particular, but I feel I have to: Both coach and Ed have accompanied me for countless metres in the pool (and a word here for Seth and Dubai Masters – we're really lucky to have such a good and committed masters swim program in Dubai, such things are rare). 

There were a couple of killer long rides that Messrs Attenhofer, Hawkins and Marshall carried my slow-ass through. Those shadowy short-course characters known only as Flanners and The Silver Fox played just as much of a role in keeping me honest over the quick stuff too, and for that I owe a debt of gratitude that I hope to repay in the next couple of months. A doff of the cap to all you gents. 

King of the Mountains I may not be, but any improvement I've made in the hills over the past few months are due mainly to the organisational skills of Senor National and the total selflessness of support drivers par excellence Sarah and Claire. Chapeau, mes amis, chapeau.

I tend to do much of my running solo but there are times I venture out with company. It feels like Miss Q and I have put the world to rights on far too many sweat-laden long runs and occasional Safa Park beastings over the past few months since I joined the team – appreciate the company and the shared pain. Also, amongst all the horror that is the Coach Dirt runs, one in particular sticks in mind, when Piers was kind enough to pace me to a new 5k PB. That felt like a real turning point for me in considering myself to at least be 'someone who runs' even if I'm still some way short of being 'a runner'. Thanks mate. Hope to keep pushing all of you guys in the way that you've all pushed me.

Finally, the guys at Sport In Life in Dubai, provided me with the Gus, the Roctane drink and the electrolyte powder that got me through a hot and tough race - if you can stomach it, I highly recommend Gu's Roctane drink as it was a pretty easy way of getting 2-300 calories into the body fast on a day when calories were hard to keep down due to the heat. They also let me test run the brand new Polar RCX5 which I'll provide a more complete review of soon, but let's just say for now that it performed splendidly on a difficult day.

Then there are the guys at Aerofit who gave someone who had no previous knowledge or understanding of training zones or fat/carb metabolism some valuable information and tools that were employed in both training and racing.