Can I Run? Yes, I can! - 6th at Ironman 70.3 European Championship

Just ask „Kona, anyone?“ and they all show up (preface)

It’s funny just predictable the minds of us triathletes work. Over the last years it looked as if the Ironman 70.3 European Champs in Wiesbaden was slowly losing its significance among age groupers. The last beating the race took was last year when the proud race was down to only 1.300 individual starters from a once proud 2.800 in the early years. So what as WTC what do you do to attract a larger field. It seems, it’s quite easy: Put Kona slots on the line and they’ll come. And come they did after WTC offered 30 of those coveted Kona spots very late in the season. A jump from 1.300 to more than 2.400 starters is more than a testament of just how many guys & girls think that they would have a shot at Kona.

So much for politics and now let’s get down to my race.

 

The four of us Euro Triathletes on the Timex Multisport Team got a few free starts for Ironman events here. Being already qualified for Kona I went for the Wiesbaden 70.3 because even though it’s only 30k from my home I’d never done it before. With its brutal bike course that “offers” some 1.500m of climbing on 90k it should also suit my strengths I thought. I would not be a triathlete though if I would not have had some kind nagging of injury hampering my training. This summer it’s my right knee that does not take running all too well. So after my last long run on July 4^th I had a total of 60k of running under my belt going into the race not knowing whether the knee would hold up. The MRI I had done in race week though had shown that there was no (additional) damage present in any cartilage and that I’d just have to stand the pain should it come. I was quite confident in my cycling though as I had just beaten out Faris al Sultan, Timo Bracht and a few other pros on the bike a week before at Frankfurt City Triathlon. 

Nonetheless the podium in my age group I thought was just impossible to get to. First because of the fact that I did not taper for the race at all – Kona is the top priority in 2013. Second because of the competition: The guys had on the podium were just another level than me. In first I had the reigning Kona age group champ Christian Müller who posted an incredible 8:28h in Roth just five weeks ago. My PB: 9:04. I expected a close race for second between Dutchman Dave Rost and Austrian Alexander Frühwirth. Both of them have competed on a pro level no more then three years ago, Alexander having a PB of 8:11h. Nonetheless I was really looking forward to racing and hoped for a decent swim & bike and then look just was to happen on the run. The only drawback was that they sent us old guys in the 40-44 AG off in the last wave of 2.400 individual athletes. On a course like this, that would make for some interesting overtaking I expected.

 
Swim
So at 8:35am off we went and the two loop swim went by rather uneventful except for me almost losing my all too small swim cap three times. You can see jsut how small these caps were from the - upside down - pic below with me and Daniel aka BÄM! Kasack!

After a slower transition as usual I got the first official card of my triathlete life. I had not clipped my shoes into the pedals and put them on in front of my bike. Shame but no time penalty on me. I then slipped on the carpet leading to the dismount line. Head first I crashed  into the grid ling the course and so had to recollect myself and my two water bottles. A bike crash before even mounting the bike - hey that’s a good start to the day.

Bike

From the first kilometer on the course was full. All too full! Way too full. At first that was not too bad as first come some rolling hills and not too fast a descent. I heard an incredibly loud “Tiiiiim!” at the climb to Wicker. Timex Teammate Ann Parthemore had spotted me. Thanks Ann and Eric for the support.

On the first descent though it became apparent that the I’d have to be very careful today. The sheer number of people and variety bike proficiencies lead to quite a few dangerous situations. So I decided to take the descents easy and attack the climbs. The best opportunity to do that is at the big hill of the course the ascent to “Wiesbadener Platte” a good 5,5k on which you climb some 350m for an average ascent of 6,5%. Things went along quite nicely there and a steady output of about 320 watts was possible with not too much of an effort. From there it’s rolling hills again in the Taunus Mountains and there the drafting problems started: I noticed two guys obviously working together a team approaching them from behind. Obviously this was about the front of my AG and when I passed them they immediately stuck to my rear wheel. This went on all through the next 15k. I turned around a few times and told them to stay back at least 10 meters. Nothing happened. On the next roller I let the two pass in order to once again tell them to stick to the rules. No reaction at all. Right there we had been overtaken by the first relay cyclist. I when I saw him slowly disappear up the road I seized the opportunity. He would, I thought ideal in clearing the road ahead for me on the next descent. And so it was. Even though I kept a distance of at least 50 meters the plan worked. What I saw there really scared me though. The told at the race briefing that on this day and course it would be ok to overtake two guys at the same time. That would mean three guys riding next to one another. At no point though we would be allowed to cross over to the opposite lane! This guy was opening up a sixth lane to pass five guys at once. I kept thinking “This is going to end baldy any second.” but nothing happened. On this descent on the next small roller I was so able to lose my two shadows and did not see them in the bike any more. We went back to “Platte” and there started one crazy descent. I’ve been told that a German pro once rode more than 100kph there, for me the max speed on Sunday was “only” 86kph. In no time I had covered the last7k to T2 - total bike time: 2:32h. For those interested, here's the power file:

 

 

Run, yes run, not jog! :)

All through the bike I had wondered whether the temperatures would stay so low as for me to be able to have a good run and they did. When I headed out onto the four lap run course it was no more than 20C and I was fine. So fine actually that the first two kilometers went by in less than 4min each and I had to actually slow down on purpose in order not the overdo it. My plan had been to run in the mid 1:30h range. But with the temps being as they were and my legs and knee holding up I decided to give a sub 1:30 run split a chance. And here the home turf advantage really came into play. There were literally dozens of friends and sports buddies lining the course cheering me on. Not the least Ann and Eric who gave me that enormous  “TIIIM!” every time I passed them. Still I dumped some three cups of water on my head at every single aid station:

 

Thanks to Karsten for the run pic!

Rant of the day

On run lap two though it was time for the bike shadows to come back. I had memorized the two guy’s numbers and first names and when they passed I was really annoyed and especially let Alexander Frühwirth from Austria know. We actually got into an argument right there and then but a relay runner calmed us both down. Thanks for that. Nonetheless, dear Alexander that style of racing is just pathetic and not worthy of a guy who has been in the sport for so long. On the other hand I have heard that this might, just might, just have been your style of racing all the time. In the end I had to let him go though and settled back into a good rhythm. And guess who went on the grab the last spot on the podium? Yes, Alexander behind Dave in first and Christian in second.

Push it one more time

When I entered the last lap I looked at my watch for the first time and thought that if I gave it one last push I just might still get a time of under 4:30h. So I really pushed and gave it a try. I was not overtaken by another athlete but barely missed out on the sub 4:30h finishing just behind good friend Daniel Kasack in 4:30:53. That would have been good for second place at last year’s race here but was “only” good for 6^th place in 2013. No reason to be ashamed though rather to be proud of especially a surprisingly strong run.

 

Next stop Hazelman, 17.08.2013!