I’m a sock guy! - 5th @ Emser Therme Triathlon (Sprint)

Its mid august and it was only my fourth triathlon of the season last weekend. And it’s the one but last also. What’s up with this 2012 season I ask myself sometimes? But with my AAA race so late in the year – IM Wales is on Sept. 16th – I only entered into serious training in late May and everything this summer is geared towards Sept. 16th. It’s so geared towards IM Wales that I even put on socks when racing a sprint triathlon like the one last weekend. And in the case of this race it might have cost me the podium. At least if you also substract the 30sec I lost due to being mislead for about 150 meters into a dead end on the run. But then let’s get to the race:

The sprint triathlon at Emser Therme Triathlon was a first for me. Our team competes in the three states league only since 2011 and that has you some new races each year. Good if you ask me as doing some races seven years in a row got boring after year four and plain annoying the last two years.

Our team at the race from left to right: Bernd Paczarkowski, Adi Kohr, Oliver Rinkenberger, Jürgen Metzler & I

I had placed 12th and 9th in the first two races this season and only started to add run in-tervals to my training in the last weeks so I was quite confident to improve on those results. Even I thought myself to be in good shape the team was not. Three of our top four guys for some reason or another did not make it to the starting line and thus we had to make do with a significantly weaker team than expected. Nonetheless it was a perfect day for a triathlon and the rest of us vowed to have a good day even if we were rather competing for the one but last places in the result list than for a podium finish.

My swim went quite well, I finished the 500m leg in roundabout 7:15min and was right where I wanted to be – within a minute of the leaders whom I saw heading out of transi-tion when I reached my noble steed. Right there and then – next to my bike - I might have lost the podium on Sunday. Why? because I decided to test my race equipment for IM Wales and put on socks as well as cycling shoes and did not go for the barefoot and tri shoes option. Time lost: approx 15sec.


I headed out of transition and out onto the bike course. This one was pretty straight forward: an out and back courst that gained some 300m (~1000feet) on the way out and was almost completely downhill on the way back. I started with what seemed a steady output of about 340 Watts which I could keep up for just about the first half of the bike leg.


22km cycling + T1 (including putting on my "oh, so dear" socks) + T2 = 36:45min = best bike split! ;)

About one kilometer from the turnaround I got a glimpse of the leader and the lead vehicle in front of him for the first time. At that time I was in third position determined to catch up to the front before the end of the bike. I moved into second place right after the turn around and started the descent into the oncoming athletes. “Into” because not all of them stayed on their side of the road all the time and also because of the fact that I took one of the switchbacks a little too fast to stay on my side of the road. It was not dangerous in any way but still let me take no further risks on the way back to town. In one of the roundabouts near the end of the bike – the course was not closed for traffic – a senior citizen just plain stopped right in the middle of the road. I had to bunny hop onto the sidewalk in order to avoid a collision. One minute later I was approaching T2 and saw the race leader Marc Unger head out onto the run just when I racked my bike. 



Overview of the bike part. Complete power file @ http://connect.garmin.com/activity/209971005

 

My IM Wales test run did not so far as to put on those ugly compression socks in T2 so I was on his heels only a few seconds later. But on his heels I was for a short time. Marc is a much stronger runner than I – he is able to post a 35min flat on an Olympic distance race where I on my best days really stretch myself for a 37min run. The only option left was to try to secure a podium spot, ideally second place. This looked possible because when I had finished the small 300m loop around transition the guys in third and fourth were still racking their bikes. I was ahead about a minute and for the first time this year my legs felt as if they were prepared for running off the bike. Only 100 more meters on half of my advantage was gone. Why? Because volunteer directed me to the left where - after some 100 meters - I found myself in a dead end alley. Obviously this was not the run course so I turned around as fast as I could and got back on track. Time lost: approx. 20sec. A look to the right though that the guys from behind had almost caught up. No more than 100 meters were left between me and them.

So it was all out from then on. I held on to second place until about the 3km mark but there it was over. Within the next 500 meters two guys caught me and I was in 4th place – again. When the third guy went flying by at the 4km mark I was in a way glad as I did not have to finish 4th for the third time this year. So in the end I finished in 5th place. The podium was only 16 seconds away with 3rd up16 seconds and 2nd another 5 seconds ahead. It would not be right though to blame the volunteer though! 16 seconds is easily what I lost due to my own “mistakes” of choosing socks and cycling shoes over the no socks & tri bike shoes. And that was of my own choosing. But in the end I don’t regret the test run as it’s the race on Sept. 16th that really counts for 2012. And for that it seems I am quite well prepared.



The result for our team was a little more disappointing than me just missing out on a podium spot: With our second tier crew at the starting line and another athlete being directed off the run course we finished in 10th place. At least we did not come in last.

Next stop: Ironman Wales. Bring it on!

Results Emser Therme Triathlon:

Place_Name_________total time__swim___bike___run

1. ___Unger, Marc____1:02:43____7:42_____36:52__18:09

2. ___Janousek, Martin_1:04:09____7:36____38:19__18:14

3.___ Wiegran, Dennis_1:04:14____8:07____38:15__17:52

4.___Becker , Marco__1:04:26____7:20____39:09__17:57

5.___ Stutzer, Tim____1:04:30____8:16____36:45__19:29