Detour to Ramstein? - 9th at Tri-Pfalz Triathlon

Last weekend saw the second of four league races that I have committed to for my club, Tri Pfalz Triathlon in Kaiserslautern. For the Americans reading this: It's the city next to Ramstein Airbase and Landstuhl Regional Medical Center you know from the news. Set in and around one of the Soccer craziest cities of Germany the finish line was staged on the top of famous Betzenberg right next to the local Soccer stadium. That got everyone on our team excited even though two of our best guys did not make the start line due to injuries. So a podium finish for the team was quite impossible even before the race had started. Nonetheless all five of us gave our best and as much fun as possible:



Jörn, me & Andreas having fun on race morning

When the gun finally went off, my swim was right there. 22:00min for 1.500 meters is a good time for my and I got onto my QR cd 0.1 in around 20^th place. There I put the hammer down. Everything on the bike on Sunday felt great. The legs were spinning steadily at around 300 watts and I made my way through the field on one of the most beautiful bike courses I have had the privilege to ride. With around 1.300 feet of climbing the bike course of 40k cannot be considered flat but still I was able to complete it in under one hour. My bike time of 59:45min was the second fastest of the day and saw me dismount my noble steed in 2^nd place overall. Well done, my carbon friend.

This seemed to set me up for a top ten result at least. Regrettably not every volunteer was at his post when the first athletes hit the run course and so I and two other athletes took a left turn at about 300 meters into the run. There was a barrier right in front of us and to our right. No chance to run straight ahead. We noticed our mistake when spectators shouted at us to turn around and “Get back there!!!”. When we got back to the intersection the assigned volunteer had finally taken his post and sent us straight ahead. The problem was that this detour had taken some 90 seconds and in the mean time we had already been passed by four other guys. My run is not where it should be but still the speed sessions of the last two weeks had some impact: Running 6-minute-miles fast felt a lot easier than two weeks ago and in the end I was pleased with my time of 42:50min for – incluiding the detour - 11.2 km. That is especially true as on the last kilometer of the run we had to make out way back up the hill where T2 and the finish line were. That last kilometer included some 100 meters of climbing through steep streets as well as a staircase with some 70 steps. Nasty stuff and easily where my heart rate was highest on Sunday:

I crossed the line some nine Minutes behind the winner and in 9^th place overall, coming in 2^nd in my AG. We were there for the team race in which we finished 8^th. Not bad but not great either. For the team rankings they add up the times of the fastest four athletes of each team. Adding it all up 7^th place was five minutes ahead of us. The winner of my AG also had finished some three minutes ahead of me and it thus made no sense the file a formal protest in order to get back the 90 seconds I lost due to my detour. For myself though I subtract those 90sec from my time and see myself in (virtual) 4^th place.

For me personally the race was superb as I see that I am getting into shape as the season highlights come closer. For the team the result was as good as we could hope for on the day and with the team that we got to the starting line.

Next stop: Cycling at Challenge Roth Relay competition.