Kona ’11 all wrapped up! Am I done with this race!?!

Almost ev­erything leading up to my third try at the Ironman World Championships in Kona this year went right. Even the race was going in the right direction for about six and a half hours. But then, just like the two previous times came the meltdown.

But let’s start from the beginning:

In order to address my weakness of not being able to cope with the hot & humid conditions in Kona, I had taken to San Diego four weeks prior to race day. There I thought, even if the heat is a lot dryer than on the Big Island, I would be able to adjust better to warm conditions than in a chilly German September. And I seemed to be right. All three races in San Diego went exceptionally well. I finished fourth at Superfrog Triathlon, the oldest Half Ironman distance race in world. I won both the September Club Race of the San Diego Tri Club (a sprint) as well as the San Diego Triathlon Classic, an Olympic Distance race. In all of these races, my bike splits were very good and the run improved the longer I was in California. With three swim workouts even my swim came back together and arriving on the Big Island a week prior to race day everything seemed fine. On my three runs in race week I had fun out there on

Ali’i Drive

for the first time since I came there first in 2004. The practice swims by the pier were just awesome and my bike rides on the Queen K highway a lot of fun.

After the usual two week taper came race day. Nervous as always I tried to find a spot a little to the right of the center of the starting line. When the gun went off at 7am I had a blast. I missed out on the infamous Kona Pier Brawl but was not the least sorry for that. I decided to just go with the flow and the only time it got a little congested was at the turn around where I headed a little too far to the left. I had mistaken a media boat for the turn around and thus had to swim back a few extra meters to the right and into a tight pack of swimmers. Nonetheless I found some space on the way back to the pier and even witnessed some dolphins checking out what the heck those strange humans were doing in the ocean in the masses. Curious creatures, those dolphins! When I climbed the stairs to Kona pier I was clocked at 1:04:52h. Everything was fine.

In order to keep as cool as possible already on the bike I took my time in transition. I donned my long sleeve bike jersey and headed out. I took the loop through town up and down

Kuakini Highway

easy and was going up Palani road towards

Queen K Highway

in no time. On this short climb I was overtaken by Frenchman Damien Favre-Felix the guy who had posted the one amateur bike split faster mine at Ironman 2010. I quickly thought about trying to shadow him in a legal distance for a while but decided against it. He had put 12min into me at IM Florida and that would have been too much of a risk. He ended up posting the fastest age grouper bike split here in Kona, too: 4:30h. I would have ruined my race right there and then had I tried to keep up.

Once on the

Queen K Highway

I began looking at my watts more closely and tried to push towards my target wattage of 250.

It felt easy and why should it not, I was in great shape. That worked out quite well and I was passing a lot of guys. And yes, a lot of groups that were not abiding to the drafting rules. To my great satisfaction a saw a lot of guys in the penalty tents by the roadside when I went by. So the marshals were doing some work. If it was enough that would turn out later. At every aid station I went through the routine I had practiced especially for this race. Grab two bottles. One bottle of energy drink and one bottle of water to pour over me and keep the jersey wet at all times to help cooling down. At the first few aid stations though I missed a lot of bottles as the volunteers had not yet figured out to run with the athletes when passing on the bottles.

The first hour saw an average speed of 25.4 miles; the second hour was just less than 25 miles. Right there I noticed that something was amiss with my left aerobar extension. The extension is fixed to the base bar with two screws that secure the extension from the back side of the base bar. One of these screws had somehow come lose and so that left extension was waggling like the tail of a certain black crossbreed dog from La Mesa when his owner is coming home from work. With one screw gone and the other obviously also loosening I had to keep my left arm on the aerobar at all times in order not to risk the extension to fall off completely. This turned out not to be much of a problem until I reached the only climb on the course: those infamous five miles up to Hawi. Other athletes later told me that the head wind going up this hill was quite strong. For my part I did not notice that too much as I was quite busy trying to keep the aerobar together. Hoping for a stationary mechanic at the Hawi turn around I yelled “Mechanic! Mechanic!”, to every soul in this hamlet but to no avail. There are no stationary mechanics on the Kona course. And regrettably I did not see one on a motorcycle, too. Thus began what I had feared most before the race: Coming down from Hawi with a Zipp 808 front wheel and some mechanical issues with the handlebars. Had the winds been really nasty – man this would have been some ride. Luckily Madame Pele was in a good mood that day and there were only a few shaky moments. What really was a problem for me though was seeing the quite large groups going up the hill only a few minutes behind me. Yoda would say: “Legal that was not!”.

So when I reached Kawaihae again and turned right onto

Queen Kaahumanu Highway

I was a little angry. And from here onwards – so went the race plan – I would give the bike a little push. Struggling with the aerobar on the way up to Hawi I had not been able to keep up the wattage as I had planned. But in the rather flat sections here I could interlock both my hands to keep the bar stable and was quite ok. And for some 20 minutes this plan worked: At roughly 240 Watts I was passing lot of guys again. At 130 kilometers though cramps hit me in my right musculus vastus medialis – the muscle on the inside of the thigh. So I cut down on the watts and at under 200 watts I was fine. Every time though I pushed harder, the cramps were back. Luckily the next aid station had ice cold water to pour over the muscle and the cramps subsided. Still I was not daring to push harder than approximately 230 Watts now.

The cramp though was my first hint at the fact that even with all the cooling and all the salt in the energy drinks, bars and gels I was losing more electrolytes than I could substitute. To make a long story short: I was getting dehydrated. So I increased the fluid & salt intake even more and at the end of the bike had consumed some 5.5-6 liters of energy drink, three energy bars and about 10 energy gels.

The last 45 kilometers of the bike went by quite uneventful. Uneventful except for the fact that my friend Alex finally caught up to me and passed me with about 20km to go. He was encouraging me to keep up but I decided to go at my own pace and save something for the run. A very good plan I thought while I ate the last half of an energy bar I had grabbed at the last aid station on the bike. What I saw weather wise when I approached downtown Kona reminded me of my last two races already. Every day during race week a layer of clouds had come in over Kona about lunch time but not on race day. Just like in 07 and 08 when I had last been here. It was going to be a hot run again. But I had saved some energy due not being able to push really hard because of the lose aerobar. So I was actually looking forward to the run when I turned right from

Kuakini Highway

onto Palani Raod and thus T2 after 4:49h on the bike. About 5-6 minutes slower than in an ideal world but still good enough for a solid race if I could hold up on the run.

Then again this time I was prepared for it, I thought. And yes, when I got off my bike coming into transition my legs felt quite ok. Not great, but ok. Which is usually very good for the start of a marathon in an Ironman. Again I donned my anti overheating gear. For the run this consisted of compression socks, a long sleeve top, a cap I had equipped with a cloth to keep my neck covered and wet and some surgical gloves to put ice into at every aid station. In short I was looking really, really ridiculous - ugly as hell. But it was not looks that I was after. At the exit of transition I used all the water I could get hold of and poured it over me. So starting the run up

Palani Road

I felt good and even smiled at my girl friend who stood at the hot corner.

Along

Kuakini Highway

and also down on

Hualalai Road

everything was fine. Even when I passed my favorite food place in Kona, Lava Java Café, I was rolling. All that though, was on the first two miles of the marathon. Immediately thereafter when buildings between

Ali’i Drive

and the coastline shield the road from any wind, things got ugly. I saw it coming for a few minutes and on the third mile I got dizzy. Vertigo hit me and I was not able to continue running. Rather I was reduced to a walk by the roadside and at times had to sit down as I had difficulty keeping my balance. Writing this race report that scene reminds me the pictures I saw of the first few tries Macca had at this race. Even worse for me as I really looked like a fool when reduced to a walk after only two miles after reaching T2 among the top 100 of the World Championship. It was 2008 all over again. Only then I had a good explanation for the meltdown: A serious lack of training leading up to the race. This time I was prepared as good as was possible for me but still the heat of about 30 degrees Celsius was too much for me. Thoughts of pulling out of the race seriously crossed my mind. But since cooling down would have been a necessity anyway I kept on walking on course from aid station to aid station. My “race” though was already over at this point. That was what I had come here for and now it was over after only 5 km on the run. I was angry at myself, the weather, the conditions as well as my genetic predisposition. Angry and disappointed.

Each aid station from then on had me pour two cups of ice into my pants as well as the front and back of my shirt. At mile 4 by that beautiful stretch of coastline the race photographers use to take their trademark run shot of the athletes I made my now trademark move from back in 2008.

On the way back from the turnaround at the Blue Chapel all the ice had cooled me down so much that I was able to start trotting again. On the way back into downtown Kona that trot went up to a speed of roughly eight minutes per mile which I was able to maintain from then on. I had promised Michelle to finally run up

Down on the road to the lab it was not as hot as in previous years. Good for me and good for my third mile in under 7min. Only there did dare to roughly calculate my projected finishing time. If I were able to keep up the 8-minute-miles I was running now I could still break 10 hours. So I tried to give this race one last push. At about this time I met Uli and he was so kind as to do a quick in race interview. I was doing good, but still slowing down quite a bit. With about five miles to go I realized that sub 10 hours would not be possible anymore and thus took it as easy as one can take the last 5k of an Ironman. Down

Palani Road

was painful nonetheless, a kiss from Michelle with about 300 yards to go lifted my spirits again.

And in the finish chute I had one last moment of real fun. Flo, my host in San Diego before the race- a big “Thank you!” goes out to Flo here - had joked about me doing the Time Warp from the Rocky Horror Show Musical at the finish line and I did it. At least I tried very hard! But judge for yourselves.

In the end I came in 475^th overall in a total time of 10:01:57h. My crappy run was clocked at barely under four hours (3:59:31h) even though according to my Garmin the course was short by roughly half a kilometer. Except for the Time Warp at the finish line there was no excitement at all after crossing the finish line. Nothing. Just disappointment. Not even the fact that I had dragged myself out of this really deep hole at run mile three and had come back to negative split the marathon by some 30min was able to lift my spirits. IT was rather that I had posted the 999^th run split of the day that dominated my state of mind.

To sum it all up I am just not made for this race. When I met Paula Newby-Fraser after the race and asked her about what else one could do to do well in the conditions in the Big Island, even she was at a loss. Some people, she said are just made to race here, others are not. I am definitely of the second kind. Will I be back nonetheless? Uli already documented that I vowed this was my last try. He also documented his own quote: Let’s talk about that tomorrow.” Well, we’ll not talk about it tomorrow and not next year. Because next year it’s not going to be Kona. If there will be another try at all? I don’t know. What more can I do than to head out into the heat four weeks prior to the race? Before the race I admitted that it is unlikely that I’ll ever be at the Kona starting line as fit as in 2011. I was in better shape than never before and still the heat broke me. So what’s the point? Should I stick to races in Scandinavia or Antarctica? Perhaps. Still there is some strange allure to this race that I am not really able to explain. Sure it’s the fact that it’s the race that started it all. It’s the race that made the sport what it is today. It’s a living part of triathlon history. WTC calls it the World Championships and it gets more difficult by the year to qualify. So it’s a privilege to be at the starting line at all. No question. But the race also moves away from the mythos it has become. The course is way too overcrowded. In the water as well as on the bike. If you swim anywhere between 58min and 1:10h you are in the middle of one large pack that sets sails for Hawi at about 25 miles per hour. After about 60 miles of the bike I had finally squeezed through and blasted by too many packs of riders to count. But that necessitated a bike time of 4:48h. Could I still post such a bike split at age 45? Highly unlikely! And to go with the peloton like so many people do these days? For them it’s part of the game in 2011. Nope, that’s not going to happen for me!

So either it has to be in the near future. I age up in 2013. And in 2014 the Olympic Distance Triathlon Worlds is said to be held in San Diego some time in September. One of those might be my year!

So perhaps: Until then!

Tim

Some more pics: https://picasaweb.google.com/timule/Hawaii2011?authkey=Gv1sRgCKSnt5Pdn6Oebg

p.s. As Kona was my last triathlon of this season, it’s time to say some thank you for 2011. A big thank you goes to Heather Sweet and Mac McEneaney from QR. They put me on the noble steed that is my CD 0.1. This beast propelled me to an average of 28,5 miles for the bike part of the TCSD Club September Race. It also made me beat Macca’s 2010 bike time at the San Diego Tri Classic on it. And they say their new Illicito frame is even faster. I’d very much like to try! A second big thank you goes out to the whole Triathlon Club of San Diego! I came back after four and a half years in Germany and those guys welcomed me as if I had never been gone. A special thank you goes out to club president Thomas Johnson for the awesome new race kit:

To my flat mates of

7279 Cornell Ave., La Mesa

I say just one thing: Prost!

Palani Road

on my third Kona and surprisingly it worked. There are no pictures or films to prove this though as Michelle had started to seriously worry when it took me more than 100 minutes to complete the first ten miles to the foot of

Palani Road

. Nonetheless she sent me up this hill with a few encouraging words and off onto

Queen Kaahumanu Highway

I was. Up there the humidity was not as high as by the shore and I was able to cool down more. At that time I started to actually pass people again for the first time in some two and a half hours. Speaking of two and a half hours: That was roughly what it took me to complete the first half of the marathon: 2 hrs 15min. In the end this made for a nice negative split on the run. Yeah! Just before I turned off the highway and down into the Natural Energy Lab I went past Kenny Glah. Then and there I had a chat with the person who has now successfully completed 27 Kona Ironman races in a row. Really great guy!

1st at San Diego Triathlon Classic

It has been some time since I last won a triathlon an yesterday it happened again. This time at the San Diego Triathlon Classic.

But let’s start from the beginning:

Before coming over to San Diego for my Kona prep I had signed up for the only Olympic distance that was held here during my stay: San Diego Triathlon Classic. The race is put on by fellow Tri Club of San Diego members and owners of San Diegos best bike shop Moment Cycle Sport: JT Lyons and Cory Osth and thus it was a must do while being in town.

When I arrived in town one of my first stops was Moment Cycle Sport to have them look at that creaking Zipp wheel of mine. Within no more than ten minutes Cory had found the problem, a 2mm spacer someone had put in the hub where there was not to be any spacer. Ever since then the wheel works perfectly. Thanks Cory! I then told him that I was going to compete in Saturdays race and returned the day before the race to pick up my race number etc. Only then did I notice that even though some 700 people in total had registered for the race, it was only going to be five guys racing in the Elite category I had signed up for. That made me very nervous as I was sure that whoever it was, everyone would drop me in less than 100 meters into the swim. Nonetheless they had given me bib number 2 and even reserved some port-a-potties just for me – lucky me.

I then racked my bike at just the perfect spot and right next to me another QR CD 0.1 was racked. In the end it was going to be these bikes that would post the fastest bike splits for the day in both the male and female category. Not a bad testament of what that frame is capable of, right?

A lonely swim

When we entered the water the fact that it was only five guys really hit home with me. It was going to be a lonely swim today I suspected. And that it turned out to be. After the gun went off, I tried to keep up with the feet in front of me for perhaps ten seconds then looked around for another pair of feet but everyone had taken off like a rocket and so I was on my own. When I saw the competition slowly disappear on the horizon I began to think whether I would rather have signed up for the age group race. But it was too late for that now. I setteled in to a good rhythm and may have swum at a pace of about 1:30min/100m. Quite decent for me but way too slow compared to the others. At least three times I was really shaken up as the planes taking off at SD International Airport flew past me not 200 meter above. Quite a sight to see. When I approached the one but last buoy I saw the competition exiting the water already and had another 2-3min to swim. Well, I thought let’s play catch up then!

A really good bike

Even if I was really far behind the leaders the crowd at the swim exit still gave me a lot of cheers but perhaps that was just out of courtesy. Perhaps I could impress them a bit more with my bike split I hoped. Thus I grabbed my CD 0.1 and was in no time off onto the bike course. This takes you first through one of San Diegos many military bases, then heads up a 7% grade hill for about one kilometre and than it’s out and back to the Cabrillo National Monument. You then go back to the military base for a second loop before you head back to the transition/finish area.

As everyone else in my wave had exited the water more than two minutes ahead of me it was quite a lonely first five kilometres until we went up the hill for the first time. I was putting out a steady 330 watts and it felt good at the time. Up the hill I increased the effort a bit and there I could see two of my competitors for the first time. I noticed that I had already made up some time on them. At the top of the hill I had nearly caught up to the first guy and passed him on the out and back section to Cabrillo Monument. At the turnaround I checked how far I was back on the leader and that gave me some hope. I was only 1:30min back at the time. So I was making progress. On the second part of the first loop I overtook a second competitor and thus found myself in third place. As we started the second loop things got a little confusing as now we were sharing the road with athletes from later waves that were on their first loop. The overtaking though did not mean any slowing down but rather gave me another push and I think the second ascent up the hill was even faster than the first one. It was only when we left the loop that I did not see any competitors in front of or behind me. They had also pulled out the lead motorcycle on the second loop so there was no way to know where I was. Approaching the transition area I got out of my cycling shoes in order to get off the bike as fast as possible. But – this should remind any reader of looking a course maps very closely before a race – there was another two kilometres as we past transition on another 1k out and back section in order to ride all of the announced 40k. So I had to put my shoes back on and while doing that on way back on that out and back section I saw two guys about 90 sec behind me that I had not noticed overtaking. There were just too many people on the second loop.

And only when I entered transition and the announcer said something about the lead cyclist entering did I notice that I had really overtaken all my competitors - two of them without even noticing it. He also said that I had broken Maccas bike split from last year’s race. So my legs seem to be alright - at least on the bike.

The crowds were amazing by the way. I had put on my Tri Club of San Diego jersey I always race with when in the US so I got even more encouragement in the form of “GO TRI CLUB!” cheers, than I would have normally got. Thanks tri club!

Now they play catch up!

I was out on the run course in no time and even had a lead cyclist with me. The two lap run course is just about perfect to keep track of your competition. There are three turnarounds on each lap giving you six splits in a total on those ten kilometres. I had a lead of roughly 1:30min at the 1k mark on two guys running side by side at the time. And they were looking fast! Faster than me, anyway. And so my lead was down to a mere 30 seconds after the first lap. I was already settling on the thought of being caught by at least one of the guys but still a podium finish was secure so I would not have minded much. But at the first turnaround of the second lap it was still 30sec and people told me that there was only one guy left chasing. I kept my speed of about 3:45min/k up and also on the one but last turnaround I still had a 30 second lead on him. I then decided to push one more time to perhaps distance the guy before the last turnaround and it worked. At the last turnaround I had 40 seconds again ant it was only about a kilometre left to go. I had really pulled the thing off. For the first time for I don’t know how long actually no one had overtaken me on the run. When I approached the finish line the announcer was cheering on the crowds and I high fived a lot of people as I took my time in the finish chute. I was really stoked!

The guy chasing my, Eric Nau from Ecinitas finished exactly 30 sec back. Third across the line was William Jones from La Jolla.

At the winners ceremony we had quite a blast as the race sponsor Barefoot Wineery gave us champagne to have fun with! And I got one of these:

Results: here

4th at Superfrog Triathlon on the 10th anniversary of 9/11 2011

Superfrog Triathlon... sounds strage to a German ear but it's been around for a while (it was created in 1978 by the Navy Seals as their preparation race for the Kona Ironman). And you don't mess with those guys because, not even over race names... well you know why!

My host here in San Diego – Flo – suggested doing the race when we talked me staying at his place for my Kona prep. Awsome, down to the roots, fair and challenging were some of the terms he used to describe the race. Well I thought, even if it’s the day after the day that I fly in to San Diego, I’ll give it a try. And it was worth it. Even if on the day before the race I was awake for a continuous 27 hours I still had a blast.

Race morning: Oh, overslept!

The day began with a shocker: Flo and I had agreed to get up at four o’clock in order to have some breakfast before heading out to Imperial Beach and the late check in from 5:15. Thanks to our neighbours here even I did not sleep well and, when I woke up for an umpteenth time that night thought… is it really only four o’clock? It was exactly five o’clock and that meant: Red Alert. With in 10 minutes we had packed our things I had grabbed two bagles and off we were. In the end we were fine because the Navy base the race is on doesn’t open before 5:15 an we arrived at 5:38 am. I grabbed my race number at the late check in and racked my bike. On the way to the bike I was introduced to race director Eric Rehberg and after a little chat he found out that I would have rather registered for the elite category but as that was named “PRO” in the online registration process had not dared to do so as I don’t own a German Pro License. Well, it took Eric five minutes to check with the timing people and off the bike rack I took my QR cd 0.1 and racked it with to Pros. Strange feeling that by the way. So now I had to deliver.

Whitewash!

he 7am swim start of the first wave saw some 7ft high waves at breaking about 150 meters off the shore. Had I mentioned that my last ocean swim dated back to last years Ironman Florida and that I am not familiar with how to dive through under those bastard waves. Well, I had my first lesson today – the hard way. Twice on the way out and before I had even reached the first buoy the whitewash crashed into me.

At roughly 65°F the water was not too warm and to be submerges for 3-4 seconds without being therefore prepared is nothing the I really liked. After the second time and exactly 1:47min into the race I seriously thought about quitting. I was hyperventilating and had a really hard time. Nonetheless what would Flo say if I called it quits no two minutes into the race. So I kept on trying and made it to the shore after lap one. Not though with out learning the had way that also on the way back to the shore you should at times look back to check if the next wave sucks you up or not.

This is how it looked from the shore. I am sure that this guy initially also wore swimming goggles.


In the end the swim time of 28min flat was not too bad but the course might have been a bit short. I didn’t mind though, today. To my astonishment there were even a few guys that exited the water after me so I did not embarrass myself too bad.

Where are those watts?

Once on my noble steed I let the real race begin – or so I thought. The adrenalin might be pumping in my veins but you just can’t wipe away the quite strenuous travel from Frankfurt to San Diego. So some numbers were low and some high. Regrettably it was the wattage that was low and the heart rate that was high. Nonetheless I kept overtaking people and made steady progress on the four lap course that is quite pancake flat. For a rouleur like me that’s usually ideal but after some 10km I was overtaken. That does not happen too often and in even rarer case I am not to keep up with those people at all. In the end the guy turned out to be the overall winner of the race, Josef Major from Hungary. So I continued on and saw the wattage get lower and lower but was in the and able to accept the fact that today was going to be just a hard training session with supplied nutrition. When I exited the loop to transition Flo told me that I was in fifth place and I was a bit surprised at that. But still a bike time of 2:10h for those 90km was not too bad in the end.

The sandbox!

They had told me before the race that about haft of the run course would be on the beach. Not the beach promenade but the beach itself. That meant running in part through deep sand an gradually make your way to the hardpack section that the water forms when it washed ashore. Still it’s a lot slower that concrete or even gravel tracks. And it was strenuous. Nonetheless that’s what I like: challenging courses and conditions. At the first turnaround I checked the distance to 4^th and to 6^th place respectively. 4^th place was way out of reach an ran a lot faster than I did. 6^th though was some five minutes back immediately followed by 7^th place. So there might be a chance to make it to the finish without surrendering my spot. A first that would have been in 2011. But when the course went off the beach again and I had to cross the loose sand again and run uphill I really suffered. And at that point I made the decision to leave the race at that and to really continue it as a long brick session. So I ran about 4:40min/km on the gravel and paved sections from then on. When I hit the beach for the second time it was time take splits again and surprisingly 6^th and 7^th place were still more that two minutes back. Still they had made up more than three minutes on the first lap and I was expecting them to surely catch me before the finish line. But in the end money was only up for grabs for the top three finishers and I was in fifth place. What the heck did I care! What the hell did I care until I reached mile marker 12! At that point neither the Navy guy nor the fellow TCSD member had run past and I began to think the Top5 had a nice ring to it after all. So I accelerated to approximately six minute miles to perhaps make it after all. At the last aid station though I heard the staff cheering on somebody no ten seconds after they had stopped cheering me on. Still able to do a little math I suspected it to be one of my two followers. And as I could check at the last turn around about half a kilometre from the finish line I war right. The Tri Clubber who goes by the name Dave McMahon was no more than 10 seconds back. So it came down to sprint after all. I hit the pedal to the metal and went to sub six minute miles. A few frightened looks confirmed that Dave dropped back. So with a half marathon of around 1:38hrs I allegedly in 5^th place I crossed the line. Total time something at 4:18hrs.

4th not 5th in the end!

It turned out a few minutes later that the first guy across the line was a runner from a relay team so I had actually finished in 4^th place… grrrrr…. Once again no awards for me in the USA. The cowboy was a little frustrated. ;)






In a way that fits as finished 6^th in my age group for three times already (IM 70.3 CA & Wildflower 2007 as well as at Ironman Florida last year.

Nonetheless I had a great day at a really great race. Honest course, though conditions, great people good food afterwards. Innovative trophies in the shape of a detonator (see pic) that regrettably did not get one of.







And as a quite wise guy I know once said: There is not much I demand off of a race: Correct distances, a fair and well policed the course and enough to eat & drink for everyone are really enough.. Today that was the case and I appreciated that very much. I can really only recommend this race to anyone searching (a) a race for their Kona perp in California and (b) those that want to experience something completely different than WTC races.

Thanx to you Navy guys!

Tim

8th @ Leage Race # 3 & AG podium at Westerwald-Triathlon

I’ve not done too many races this year due to injuries and the Kona prep but as team captain I try to do each league race. The one last Saturday was race number three and late but hopefully not too late I seem to get back into shape.

Even though Westerwald Triathlon only had some 200 participants the field was stacked with potential and we were in the middle of it. It was the sprint tri state champs of Rhi-neland-Palatinate and they had EUR 500 for the winner so a few very fast guys showed up.

Regrettably two team members were out due to injury. So all we could hope for was a middle of the pack result with two of our backup crew racing. In the middle of my Kona prep I could not do much of any tapering. The day before the race saw me running 2:30h at IM pace and Saturday morning two hours of easy spinning on the bike so I did not ex-pect much. But the race was only a print (500m swim – 20k bike, 5k run) so I thought it might work out.

Once we were off, all mayhem broke lose as 150 guys tried to make the first 90 degree turn only 150m from the start line as fast as possible. My black left eye is testament to the brawl. I exited the water in just over 7:30min and was quite pleased. Once on my QR CD 0.1 I started to play catch up, as always. The bike course had some 1000 foot of ver-tical climbing on just 20k so it seemed fair where I was in the race. Behind me it seems to have been a different story though. Right before we hit T2 I caught rode past local pro Benjamin Rossmann. I thought: Hey that’s not too bad! I could hear the announcer say something about me being in 4th place overall. At 35:43min for the hilly course I had posted the third fastest bike split of the day and hit off onto the run. A quite hilly run though and even though it was only 5k I really suffered and had to surrender three spots to finish in 8th place overall. Even though I made the podium of my age group (2nd) we could not stay for the awards presentation as the race had only started at 5pm and we still had an invitation for dinner.

My teammates also did a good job and in the end we finished 7th of 12 teams and after three of four races of the season we are “Safe!” and can plan for another season in Ger-many’s third tier triathlon league.

Sunday then had another quite strenuous workout waiting: four hours of IM bike effort followed by 30min of running. Damn am I happy for my rest day today!

Cheers

Tim

Rothsee Triathlon: Getting back in shape with a 3rd place

Roth!

For German triathletes it’s a magic word! It has the ring of Germany’s first Ironman and since 2002 it’s the home of the Challenge Series of iron distance events. But in addi-tion to the world’s biggest long distance triathlon Roth also hosts Germany’s second larg-est Olympic distance triathlon, Rothsee Triathlon. For 23 years now, usually two weeks prior to the big one, some 2.000 athletes gather at Rothsee for one of Germany’s classic races. You swim right next to Main-Donau-Channel where the swim of Challenge Roth is held and the majority of the bike course also takes place on the Challenge course.





I did my first Ironman in Roth 2001 and since then have been in Roth counts for at least ten times either to again participate in the Ironman/Challenge race (2002, 2004 & 2008) or to watch the big guns play. For just as many years I was looking at doing Rothsee tri-athlon but it was only this year that I finally made it.

Due a public holiday we arrived in the area three days before the race and I was able to put in quite a few miles of bike training out on the Roth course. On Friday I met up with Clemens Coenen, newbie professional triathlete and fastest age grouper at the 2008 Kona race. You might remember him from that years NBC coverage: He was the guy to readily step back to give center stage to Chrissie Wellington even though he arrived at the finish chute first. Riding this course always gives me goose bumps and doing this with such a great guy: just awesome! We chatted about 81 of the 83 kilometers that make up one lap of the Roth course. Clemens then headed out for a faster loop, I met up with another friend to ride my second one. Two days prior to race day riding hard with Clemens might have spoiled my race on Sunday.

Well, Sunday!
The weather forecast was not too good, not too bad. And when we got up it was still rain-ing. Luckily that stopped two hours before the start and we had safe conditions. My race report is a quite short one, actually: I had a decent swim, a great bike and an acceptable run. No, not that short.

Last week’s swim in Edersee was really bad due to the waved caused by 50 miles of wind. This time the water was absolutely calm… until the gun went off. Then it was a little tight on the 1,5k swim course. That hit home to me at the first turn around when the heel of another athlete struck my left eye. I am humming “Blue Eyes” since then. Out of the wa-ter at about four minutes behind 1997 Hawaii champion Thomas Hellriegel aka Helle I was right where I wanted to be. I took my time in transition to put on my socks and road bike shoes I am going to wear in Kona, too.



(Entering T1)

The first five kilometers on the bike I took it a little easy as I did not know how my lungs would take an immediate full throttle effort. When my lungs just did their work and did not close their valves I put the pedal to the metal. I gauged my effort on the noble steed that is my black Quintana Roo CD 0.1 by power: The flats at around 300 watts, the hills at 350. This works out quite well and after the first half of the bike leg I still found myself within five minutes of the lead.


I then overtook a loosely riding group of five athletes and tried really hard to get rid of them. At kilometer 30 I had achieved that and was really enjoying the ride as there was quite a tail wind from then onwards. With Thomas Hellriegel in the race the best bike split of the day was out of reach from the start but I still had my eyes on that second place among this days bike riders.

I reached T2 after 39:09min for 40k. More than 25mls/h on a course that has a total climbing of some 1.200 feet that’s quite alright.



(Entering T2)



Only after the race and from the properties of the pictures my girlfriend took did I learn that I had really posted the third fastest bike split of the day, only 1:18min slower than Helle and a mere 8sec slower than Coenen.

In T2 though my racing as such was just about over. With no more than 200 miles of running under my belt in 2011 I was in survival mode yet again. Six-minute-miles is the maximum I am able to do these days and with the hilly terrain on Sunday I was not able to keep this pace up.



(One more run lap to go)



I had quite a few guys overtake my on the 10k run course but not too many. With my bib number of 33 I ended up in 33th of more than 1.500 participants. The run time was 41:20min and I was very pleased. The only drawback of the day was that it took ages for the results to be released and we still had to check out of our hotel and drive back to Frankfurt that same day. So we headed off without so much as a glance at the swim and bike splits. That then was no great idea because with that I missed the face that I had placed 3rd in my age group and would thus have been entitled to step on that always cherished thing called podium.

Then again that takes away nothing from a rear perfect weekend that shows that pa-tience with my foot slowly pays off and

One thing for you Americans reading this RR: Imagine an Olympic distance race with a carbo loading dinner the day before the race, roads closed for traffic good marshalling, feed stations every kilometer on the run and a giant finish line buffet and free post mas-sage service as well as a sports fabric finisher shirt. And now imagine what such a race would cost? Well divide this number by three and you might get to the ball park we are talking about here. Yes, you get all this for less than $ 50, € 35 to be precise. So when-ever you come over to Germany to do Challenge Roth or Ironman Germany and can spare the time: Do this race!





(Post race chat with Clemens Coenen, 2nd place overall)




Yours

Tim

Edersee Triathlon - You reap what you sow

I did not expect too much of this weekends race as neither my swimming nor my running are on par with last years form. With running it's the nagging plantar fasciitis that kept me from running up until mid May. With swimming... well to be honest it's a lack of motivation due to not being able to run.

Saturday was my first in Germany's 3rd tier league and man was it tough. Winds with gusts reaching 40 miles made for a quite choppy swim and an adventurous bike leg. Nonetheless: The tougher the conditions on the bike, the better for me. The swim left me in the back of the pack at about 30th place. Due to the asthma problems that let me DNF the first reace of the season I started the bike conservatively trying not to put too much stress on my lungs. At the first hill of the day I figured out that a heart rate of 165, about ten beats lower than my usual race heart rate was save and carried on.

Then after about 10 kilometers the real fun started: I was going downhill and if not for the low 13°C it felt like Kona. Cross winds of 40 miles really let me hang on tough to the aerobars as I had put on the deep dish 808 front wheel. I still kept on overtaking and soon found myself in second place of our team. Only our Uberbiker Alex who had passed me in T1 was nowhere in sight. As the kilometers went by I continued to pass guys and after 44km and some 2100 feet of vertical climbing I reached T2 right up there in 9th place overall. My bike split on the brave CD 0.1 was the second fastest of the day. Good job, noble steed and no bad result if you figure that I was operating 10 beats under normal race intensity. This meant an average power output of some 301 watts at a weight of 75kg. With time my lungs will hopefully permit full throttle biking again and then: "It’s on like Donkey Kong!"

On Saturday though I was not at the peak of my abilities and the worst was still to come. My running is far from good these days, see above. My run training this year amounts up to the ultra high number of 200k. So it was just about damage control from kilometer one. In training I had not run one of the 200 kilometers in under 4:30min so I was a bit nervous as to how my foot would take the target speed of 4:00min/km. In the end it worked out all right and I was able to complete the run leg in just over 41 minutes. In the end I places 23rd out of some 50 league competitors which was fine. Alex placed 8th , right in front of Flo in 9th. Joern came in 25th and in the end we just missed the team podium and finished in 4th place.

My next stop will be one of Germany’s classic races, Rothsee Triathlon near Nuremberg next weekend. I am thrilled to find out how my CD 0.1 is going to fare against the likes of 1997 Kona Champ Thomas Hellriegel.

Will keep you posted!

Tim