I had driven to Liechtenstein to bike and ski on the course three days before the race and the conditions were perfect - nice, crisp snow and sun......life was perfect.   As Christian (boyfriend) and I left home to drive to the race the day before, conditions didn't look as good as it was overcast and snowing but surely snow for a winter triathlon was good, right?   We had completely miscalculated the traffic as EVERYONE in southern Germany appeared to be heading to Switzerland for skiing...why they had waited until Saturday afternoon was anyone's guess. We finally arrived at the race course about 4pm, which was still enough time for a quick ski and bike. I hadn't been able to ride the bike course before as it was on the ski tracks and man it was tough. There had been so much fresh snow since I had been there on Thursday and it was snowing again!   I improved on my second lap and only had to get off twice to run with the bike through the deep snow, so I was happy with that. The piste bully would go through again before the morning to hopefully pack the snow down a bit more.   We then skied round the course together and I was feeling a lot more confident about my skiing. I really liked the course as it went uphill alongside the stream and then a good downhill through the forest followed by a loop around a meadow in front of the village.

We were staying at the race hotel which was about 3km from the race course and I headed off to the briefing leaving Christian to deal with unloading the car.   It's always a scary when you are doing a race for the first time with everyone else looking confident and knowing each other.   The briefing went pretty quickly and the only issue was the amount of snow overnight....everyone's fingers were crossed the weather God would take a break. I was taken by surprise and awarded a Liechtenstein mug as the race organizer was so excited they had someone racing from Asia. Everyone was amazed I had only just learnt to ski......looks like I was going to be the entertainment the following morning.   I met a really nice cyclist from Liechtenstein, who used to race the winter triathlon series and mountain bike professionally but now focused on road cycling. He was helping on the course in the morning and was able to talk to me about air pressure.   Tyre selection and pressure are critical for riding on the snow - if you get it too soft you make it really hard work and too much pressure, the bike simply slips in the snow and you go nowhere.

I am not sure what they did with the heating in the hotel but I didn't seem to sleep much that night....I had the balcony door open as it was so hot and seemed to have the race constantly on my mind so the alarm clock was no surprise.   After breakfast, we headed off to the race site and surprisingly made it in plenty of time...a new experience for me.   This is when I start to get really nervous and as we parked, all I could see were National Triathlon Teams all looking like they knew exactly what they were doing and I didn't even know what I needed in my transition!   As we got to the transition, my new friend (Elias) from the night before was waiting to help me and he and Christian got everything under control.....air pressure sorted and I was ready for a test ride.   What a disaster, it had snowed all night and the course near transition was un-rideable as far as I was concerned....the snow was simply too deep.   Now I was in full panic mode.....12km seemed a long way to run with a bike in the snow.   Elias agreed to play around with the air pressure and ride my bike to see what would work best, so I left him to it as I sorted out my ski's.   It soon became obviously everyone was having problems riding on the soft snow and I started to feel marginally better.  

As I came back from my ski, it was great to see Kathy (Australian biathlete I had met in Rupholding) had driven over to watch and cheer me on.   Christian was looking really pleased with himself as he had set up this amazing transition area with plastic matting keeping everything dry with towel for me to stand on to keep my socks dry, while I changed all my shoes over.   If nothing else, at least I now had the most professional looking transition area! The race start was delayed by 15minutes as they were worried about the bike course being ride-able and in the end if was shortened to 3laps...big sigh of relief from me as this was what I was most worried about.

Ok, 10minutes to go, time to strip down....here I was again in minus temperatures in a lycra race suit, what was I thinking when I entered these races!!!   The race organizer announced us all individually to the start line and the only thing I was thinking was please, don't let this be as bad as my first World Cup Summer Triathlon when I was pulled off the bike course.   GO.....we were off and suddenly Goofy was back and I was stumbling up the snow field struggling to find my balance.   I am definitely not a finesse runner and it became obvious very quickly I had needed to do more training in heavy snow. The field soon stretched out and I was at the back with a couple of other girls who would pull ahead in the heavy snow and I would gain some ground back on the one harder section.   The altitude also made it really tough combined with the cold air and 6km took me what felt like an eternity and who thought adding hills onto the run course was a good idea?  

I finally made it to T1 and the dreaded bike section.....I kept telling myself positive thoughts as I pushed my bike onto the course desperately looking for a section of harder snow where I could get onto the bike without doing a face plant in front of everyone.   Safely onto the bike, I started to work my way up the snow field.....so far so good - I was going forward.   It was hard work, slow progress and you constantly had to concentrate to keep the bike upright and pick the right line over the tracks made by the other bikers.   I overtook one of the French girls which made me feel better and got to the first uphill. I made it most of the way up before jumping off to push the bike and the whole hilly, forest section, you are constantly jumping on and off the bike but at least everyone else was doing the same.   Then comes a steep, downhill which is really fun when the snow is a bit harder but in these conditions, you come down with no brakes and slipping all over the place trying to avoid tipping the bike over in someone else's tracks and hoping you make the corner at the bottom.   Elias was here and cheering really loudly.....first time round, I am sure I let out a big yelp as I came down and my eyes were on stalks as I felt completely out of control and nearly took out the photographer (check out the below photo!)   The whole loop round the transition area was impossible and Christian was shouting for me to run it as that's what 90% of the field were doing ahead of me.   Three loops took ages and I was very relieved it wasn't the planned four laps as I made it back to T2.

I wasn't sure whether I would get stopped on the ski section as I was a way behind the race leaders.   To be honest, I didn't think I was actually going to make the finish at all until the last lap.   I was definitely getting more than I had bargained for and my money's worth!   I tried to get a gel in during T2 but it was so cold and hard.....almost like trying to swallow a frozen slug.   It was helped down when I was handed a cup of hot tea as I went through the first aid station....seemed funny as normally I am dying for ice and cold coke!   I really surprised myself and completely loved the ski section. Finally something that was meant to be done on snow and it felt almost easy compared to everything else.   I wasn't sure if I could actually ski 10km as the most I had done in training without stopping was probably 2km. There were a few hills on each loop not to mention the fact I had already been racing for almost 2hrs. I thought I would do one loop then everyone was cheering so much as I came through transition, I headed out again thinking one more loop. I actually started to feel good at the end of this loop and could see Christian cheering away as I headed out onto the final lap in the realization that I would actually finish the race.   Coming across the line was awesome and it was really cool to have set myself a new challenge and achieved it.   It not easy to force yourself to learn new skills and put yourself out of the comfort zone but it's so rewarding.  

Christian was awesome and had me in the warm finish tent with hot drinks, dry clothes and had all my stuff in the car before I could hand my race number back.....he's definitely getting a return invite to my races!   We were soon back to the hotel, warm shower and on route home via the Pizzeria.   Having spent all my racing years having to fly to most races and deal with the whole packing/unpacking the bike, it was great to be able to drive to a race and I am really looking forward to doing some other European races.   As for my winter triathlon career, I got 9 th place as all the other girls dropped out due to the conditions. Amazingly enough, this means I now have a world ranking of 26 th until the next races.   I am still really keen to do the series next winter as it's a good fun and compliments my triathlon training. It's very hard on the body doing Ironman racing and training all year so this is an ideal way to get fit and give the body a mental and physical break at the same time.