Double Ironman in Bad Radkersburg 2021 - Claudia Müller

With a preparation time of three months, Claudia became a double Ironman finisher. She had more than achieved her goal. How she fared and how she lived through it, you can read here in this post.

Fully packed with clothes, equipment, food and the most important person at her side - husband Günter - Claudia Müller drove to Bad Radkersburg. The journey started a little earlier to get a good place with the team vehicle in the transition area. Other athletes also arrived earlier. Everything was unpacked and prepared to be ready for day X. Together with the other two supervisors Josef and Sonja, everything was discussed in detail once again: food strategy, inspection of the bike course, equipment, etc.

The catering was well thought out and planned through. Claudia Müller also had her important products from PANACEO with her. ENERGY ISO² powder, ENERGY AMINO⁸ powder and ENERGY BOOST³ powder. Solid food consisted of bars, rolls, rice cakes, soup as well as Manner-Schnitten wafers and salty snacks. The team agreed that Claudia would always get ENERGY ISO² and something to eat.

Race-Day

It all started at 6 o'clock in the morning. Claudia got up, had breakfast and motivated herself in her head: "Claudia, don't worry. You can do it! You just have to finish. Nothing more. The goal is to finish within the prescribed grace period."
Start time was 9 a.m. The atmosphere among the athletes was very good. There were 40 starters and 2 teams with a total of 11 nations represented.

Discipline: Swimming

The timing chips were distributed and the swimming lane was assigned. Claudia was assigned to the fastest lane. This did not bother her. She knew about her strength in swimming and was very familiar with the 50m pool, as she had already celebrated the greatest successes in the 24-hour swim there.

After a short swim-in, the starting signal was given at 9 am. Claudia swam as the first. Behind her 8 men. After every half hour it was time to eat and drink. Planned was about 700 ml ENERGY ISO² and a piece of an oatmeal bar. Everything worked great and Claudia enjoyed the good mood of the spectators and her mind was fully on the swim. Train after train - length after length. Soon 5 km were done and she felt great. The food intake worked well and she swam very evenly: efficient swimming, her great strength! 

After 7.6 km she got out of the water as the fastest woman and 2nd overall. Relaxed, she changed the chip and casually ran into the transition area to put on her cycling clothes.

Discipline: Cycling

In sunshine and pleasant temperatures we went on the 360 km bike course. 35 laps á 10,3 km. Claudia started the first lap relaxed to get familiar with the course. Her gaze was constantly directed to the Garmin display, because she had received the specification from her coach to move between 125 and max. 150 watts. In the start-finish area, spectators and the coaches of the other athletes were slowly arriving. This was an additional incentive.

Concerning food, the tactic was every hour a bottle of ENERGY ISO² and an oatmeal bar. In total, that was about 70 g of carbohydrates. That fit very well and felt excellent.

Claudia had never expected this average and she continued at her pace. It was getting dark and she switched on the light. There were already more than 200 km on the speedometer. The food and liquid intake were very good. In addition, she drank ENERGY AMINO⁸ and she felt that this loosened her muscles.

It was starting to get cold and Claudia put on her warm clothes. The weather also worsened and it started to rain very hard. The wind was also no help and the visibility was getting worse. The other athletes were also struggling with the cold and the wind. Lap after lap she continued to complete and even caught up with other athletes, which spurred her on even more. 

After 13 hours of cycling, it was half past one in the morning. Awesome! What a time! In the transition area she handed the bike over to the coaches and headed towards the team bus, where running clothes and food were waiting for her.

Discipline: Running

The last section - 84.4 km run. 64 laps of 1.3 km each. Claudia already felt a little tired and felt a few aches and pains on her body. She drank a tea, ate a butter roll and thought about her great bike time. A supervisor from the Orga team came by and told her that he would accompany Claudia on the first run lap. She was fine with it, but immediately told him that she would walk this first lap to regroup muscularly and to readjust.

After the first walking lap, Claudia then started running loosely. It was heavy, but the legs played along. She was able to run loosely, just as she had imagined. Sometimes she even walked a bit. Unfortunately, she felt an unpleasant pulling in her left calf. With every step she felt a slight pain when her foot touched the ground. 

For food, she continued to receive ENERGY ISO², tea, bars, cake, and Oreo cookies from the aid station. At some point she started walking the first 600 meters and running the rest. The pain in the foot was getting stronger and the entire left calf was already a bit swollen. But Claudia did not think about giving up! Caregiver Sonja then even wrote on the asphalt "YOU don't stop until you're done."

It became light and the tiredness disappeared. On the lap that was to indicate the first marathon, it was clear to Claudia that she would shift more to walking. She had practiced fast walking in training and knew she could do it well. Unfortunately, her foot hurt a lot and it felt like someone was cutting into her calf with a knife with every step. Mentally, she motivated herself and didn't think in the least about quitting. Everyone knew she was going to finish. Even herself!

During the last 10 km the weather deteriorated rapidly. Heavy rain and thunderstorms. The organizers didn't call it off, but it was freezing cold and Claudia was soaking wet and her foot was bothering her. There were 7 laps left. Continue or take a break in the bus? Together with the coaches, Claudia decided to take the bus. She drank warm tea, ate a sweet roll and put on warm clothes before continuing on the way to the finish.

There were still 7 laps á 1,3 km to go. It was still raining and Claudia put on a rain poncho. She walked very briskly, actually very fast. She knew she would make it soon. 7,6,5,4,3...laps. The finish line was getting closer. Only two more laps were left.

The last lap they had to go in the opposite direction. With the Austria flag in her hand and an indescribable feeling in her stomach, Claudia reached the finish line. She had made it. A long and hard way was over and accomplished.

Double Ironman Finisher

With a preparation time of three months, Claudia became a Double-Ironman-Finisher. She had more than achieved her goal. She only wanted to finish in the prescribed time (38 hours) and finished after 32 hours, including all the breaks and handicaps.

The fastest man finished in just over 20 hours and the fastest woman in just under 29 hours. Claudia Müller was the 2^nd woman out of 5 overall. That was a pleasant surprise.

Claudia needed about 3 weeks of regeneration time until her foot recovered. Meanwhile, she is already training again and has already set the goal for 2022:
The Triple Triathlon in Bad Radkersburg!

It will be an exciting year of training - according to the motto: "Don't stop until you're done!"