Freitag, 4. Oktober 2013
Donnerstag, 3. Oktober 2013
Montag, 16. September 2013
Rhein-Ahr Triathlon, Remagen – Man, am I done!
 |
| The Bridge at Remagen MEmorial Plate |
It was my
first time racing Rhein-Ahr-Triathlon that took us to a quite historic site: The swim exit there is right at the bridgehead of what used to be the Bridge at Remagen
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ludendorff_Bridge),
site of a fierce battle in WW II for the last bridge still standing across the
Rhine when the allied forces reached the river.
Talking
about the swim exit at the bridgehead means that the swim took place in Germany’s
largest river: the Rhine. With quite a lot of rain in the days leading up
to the race the river was flowing quite fast. So the ferry we would jump from took
us upriver for some 3,5km to accommodate for the current. We had been warned
that everyone who did not stay on the shore side of the buoys would be disqualified
– no quarter given! There is a lot of ship traffic on the river and thus too
much danger involved. Still, swimming in a larger group of athletes lead to me fumble
at navigation a bit. So when looked up when approaching the first buoy I had
to veer to the right to take it on the inside. What would have not been a
problem at all without a current but proved almost impossible with the river
flowing at ~7kph. This lead me to neither pass the buoy on the right nor the left. I
hit the buoy straight on! Right there and then I felt the current for the first
time in its full force I was pushed under water and quite some difficulty
grabbing the net holding the buoy to get my head out of the water again. This
split second felt like ages but obviously was not enough for a panic attack to
hit. Nonetheless from now on I took to the far side of the buoys with a lot of
space to spare. Even if the current was much stronger in the middle of the river,
that was not worth the risk. I hit the shore after only 19min of swimming and was
up the ramp and at my bike first of our team. Still this was a Kona rehearsal
and so I put on socks and road cycling shoes instead of no socks and triathlon
cycling shoes. This took a while and so two of my team mates caught up to me
when I exited T1. Jörn dropped back almost immediately due to some back issues –
it was not the best day for our team that day! But Alex stayed with me for some
time until we passed a group of athletes and he for whatever reason stayed
behind and lost about 1:30min. I played the usual catch up game. After riding
through the field at three races I knew who to look for in order to figure out
my position in the field. And when I passed the usual suspects for leading the
league with about 15k to go, I knew that at least the bike ride today was a good
one. I put the pedal to the metal for the final 8k and reached T2 five minutes
after the leader, pro athlete Markus Fachbach. Yet, his wave had started five
minutes before me so that made it look even better for the bike. Nonetheless
the race for the runners was now on. And as the 2nd Ferderal League
guys of the wave before us usually do drafting races they can run! And run
fast! So one guy after the other passed me. I noticed only two guys competing
in my league though and so was quite contend with the run, too. And even if those fast
runners passed me they still had to make up 5min in order to get back what I
had taken out of their lead from their head start. I was waiting for Alex to
pass me on the run all the time but he did not. Even at the last turnaround he
had at least a 1min deficit and so I came in first of our team. Still I ended
up fading badly on the last of the three run laps but I was just dead tired. In
the end Alex and I were separated by only 40sec. I finished 3rd
in our league, a good 15th overall and 2nd in my new AG (http://www.triteam-sinzig.de/tri2013/ergebnis2013.pdf).
And yes, even though the bike time included my donning of socks and road cycling
shoes I still had the fastest bike time overall (http://tpks.ws/DpiE)!
Regrettably
Jörn had a bad day and Oliver’s day was even worse: For whatever reason he had
to throw up three times on the bike already and almost pulled out of the race.
In the end though he persevered and so the minimum number of four athletes of
our team finished.
For me the race concluded my rest week before the last two week block of big hours before leaving for Kona on Oct. 2nd. And man, was I tired Sunday night. In bed at 9pm I was fast asleep no 5min leter!
Kona is next and so it's time to evaluate the shape I am in:
The outlook for Kona is great regarding the swim and bike. The bummer though is my right foot - not "My left Left Foot, that'S one great movie! - which aches. This being my third foot issue of the year means the inevitable: I am 40!
Montag, 2. September 2013
On the upward spiral (staircase) - 10th at Cologne 226 Half
 |
| The Upward Spiral (see below for deatils) |
I had
never been there since and wondered whether I’d recognize anything. I would
not. Nothing looked remotely familiar when I arrived on race day. Luckily the
race started at 12:30 and so I could sleep in an only had to leave home at 8am.
Registration went through without problems and they were even able to get me
into the first wave of elite competitors which only had some 70 athletes.
Swim - perfect!
The bad parts
The gun went
off and I was too slow. Too slow to catch any group worth to speak of as I am
just not one of those that can go all out for those critical 150-200m after which
the speed settles down. So I was almost alone but that was not too bad. The
swim venue is a lake specifically designed for rowing races and has buoys every
10m connected with a rope just about one meter below the surface. You can
follow this rope all the time you never have to look up. That made for an
acceptable swim time of 28min flat and no brawl to speak of at the turn around.
I arrived at my bike and the race was finally on.
Bike - out of gas after 60k
I had made
the swim exit in the middle of the 70 athletes of my wave and was silently hoping
for bike ride that would see me enter T2 in the top 10. This plan worked quite
well for the first of two laps where we passed by all of the sights Cologne has
to offer including the impressive cathedral – which I did not look at once I
noticed after the race. By the end of the first lap I was all too busy getting
rid of about six athletes that had tried to stay with me when I overtook them
at around the 30k mark. It took me some 15k and some effort to get rid of them but
in the headwind section at the northern end of the course they finally gave up.
At the end
of the first lap turn around I counted about six athletes in front of my.
Exactly how many I could not be sure as there were some athletes of the other
waves and the full distance also on the course. The second, shorter, loop of
25k was real work though. I had started the bike at an effort more fitting a race
that I would have tapered for and so slowed down quite a bit on those after
65k. The wattage dropped significantly from around 290 Watts to something like250 watts by the end of the bike. Nonetheless I entered T2 in safely in the top
10 overall with a net bike time of 2:12h for the 90k. Race time when I hit the
run course: 2h 44min. So I had about 1h 30min left for the half marathon if I
wanted to get my entry fee back. Really it was my mind that wanted to get the
race in for training purposes and not for any result. Thus the priority was to
get to the finish line in under 4:25h not to fight everyone that would come up
from behind. So I let a few guys pass and settled into a good rhythm at around
4:10’/km. Holding this speed would safely get me to the finish in time and I
put an emphasis on good hydration all the time. Then at the end of the first of
two laps it was: the spiral staircase I had been warned about before the race.
You run on both sides of the Rhine river and yes somehow you have to cross it
twice on every lap. At the 9k mark of every lap this takes you up this spiral
staircase. Some 40 steps and a real bummer as it takes at least 15 seconds off
your time for that kilometer. Still for me this thing somehow defines the
development of my shape these days. Everything seems to go in an upward spiral.
I had no problem at all holding the 4:15’/km and it felt like cruising at
times. I got passed two more times on the second lap and thought myself to be
somewhere around 12th to 15th place. To my very surprise when I
reached the finish line after a race like a Swiss watch in 1:14:29h they announced
me as 10th overall and winner of my age group. Not bad for hours 22
to 25,5 of sports activity this week. ;)
 |
| I was cold & lonely on the podium at 7:45pm. |
So much for
my race and the fact that I enjoyed it very much. There are though a few
drawbacks if one dos this race in different parts of the field. Within my wave
of only 70 athletes there did not seem to be too many drafting issues. The two
waves of about 350 athletes each that followed though were a different story.
As the course heads out and back on quite a few sections I was able to take a
good look at some really bad drafting problems. I just hope that the marshalls –
there were many of then! – took care of that problem in the right way. The
other thing was that it took a long, long time for the awards ceremony to begin
and there was nowhere you could get shelter and warmth or even a shower. It was
only 15C yesterday and many people were very, very cold especially among the
full distance athletes. No showers and no warm place for them was simply a
shame!
Will I be
back for more at this race? As a mind calmer before Kona perhaps – for any
other reason – no.
Montag, 19. August 2013
Viernheim Triathlon – Bike Split Wars, Part Three
The imaginary duel
It’s been
three races on three consecutive weekends lately and for my part I liked it a
lot. The first weekend saw me outbike Timo Bracht, Faris Al Sultan and a few
other pros at Frankfurt City Triathlon. On the second weekend I had a very promising race at the European
Ironman 70.3 Champs in Wiesbaden finishing 6th in my AG with a bike
time that was just 2min slower than that of Faris al Sultan. Good for me, bad
for him – he says he just is not in shape - yet. Yesterday saw me battling it
out with Timo Bracht on the bike again at the Viernheim Olympic Triathlon… not that
he knew anything about out “duel” though. It was the third of four races in the
triathlon league I race in for my local team and we
did quite well finishing 6th on the day.
On the course
My day also went along quite nicely. After a 1.500m swim that seemed shorter (22:31min non wetsuit) we had to navigate some hills of the Odenwald mountains and tackle some descents that would rather have required a mountain bike than a TT bike. And as I don’t know these hills all too well I was overtaken on a descent for the first time in ages. I repassed the guys on the next uphill section though and slowly distanced them on the last flat 8k section back to T2. To my very surprise I was told that I was leading the league race entering T2. That lead though was not to last all too long as my teammate Florian Brosch passed me after only some 500 meters into the run to not to surrender that lead to anyone anymore. The run in Viernheim is a three lap thing and when I heard that the race leader Timo Bracht was about to finish his first lap when I had only reached the 1km mark it became clear that he had taken revenge for his defeat on the bike two weeks ago in Frankfurt. Not that he knew anything of this, though. He had not only outswum me by some four minutes, he had also outbiked my by another four minutes. At Frankfurt City Triathlon – a pancake flat 45k TT – I had had an advantage of more than a minute on him. Well seems it’s those extra 16lbs compared to Timo that I have to push up the hills that do make some difference after all- testament to this is the fact that my NP @ Viernheim was a massive 327 Watts which was not enough to get even close ti Timos time when I had outsplit him in Frankfurt with an NP of 307 watts.
With the race leader so far ahead and a three lap run course my mind was set on one thing from the beginning: “Just don't get lapped!”.
I
tried very, very hard but just before I finished lap two he got me. I managed
to call out to my spectating teammates something like “Bummer, I got lapped!”
but then continued on my last lap. I ran about a minute faster than in
Frankfurt just two weeks ago and was very pleased with being only 14min arrears
of Timo Bracht and in 8th place and 2nd in my AG.
The outlook
 |
| Out of the saddle in Viernheim |
On the course
My day also went along quite nicely. After a 1.500m swim that seemed shorter (22:31min non wetsuit) we had to navigate some hills of the Odenwald mountains and tackle some descents that would rather have required a mountain bike than a TT bike. And as I don’t know these hills all too well I was overtaken on a descent for the first time in ages. I repassed the guys on the next uphill section though and slowly distanced them on the last flat 8k section back to T2. To my very surprise I was told that I was leading the league race entering T2. That lead though was not to last all too long as my teammate Florian Brosch passed me after only some 500 meters into the run to not to surrender that lead to anyone anymore. The run in Viernheim is a three lap thing and when I heard that the race leader Timo Bracht was about to finish his first lap when I had only reached the 1km mark it became clear that he had taken revenge for his defeat on the bike two weeks ago in Frankfurt. Not that he knew anything of this, though. He had not only outswum me by some four minutes, he had also outbiked my by another four minutes. At Frankfurt City Triathlon – a pancake flat 45k TT – I had had an advantage of more than a minute on him. Well seems it’s those extra 16lbs compared to Timo that I have to push up the hills that do make some difference after all- testament to this is the fact that my NP @ Viernheim was a massive 327 Watts which was not enough to get even close ti Timos time when I had outsplit him in Frankfurt with an NP of 307 watts.
With the race leader so far ahead and a three lap run course my mind was set on one thing from the beginning: “Just don't get lapped!”.
 |
| Trying very hard not to get lapped by Timo Bracht. |
 |
| My AG podium M/F. Always a bummer when people can't stay for the awards! |
The outlook
Thus, in my
imaginary bike split war against Timo and Faris the standings going into Kona
are: One each! We’ll see what we can do, come the big dance. Just kidding – it’ll
be at least 20mins that they outbike me on the Big Island.
So long
Tim
Montag, 12. August 2013
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 4th 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 6th 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!
Montag, 5. August 2013
Faster than Faris on the bike - The “BÄM!”* is back! – Frankfurt City Triathlon Race Report
 |
| Awards were given out in forn of the Frankfurt Stock Exchange |
It’s been
held right in front of my doorstep for four years now and never did I race in
the Frankfurt City Triathlon. And if not for my father having had to pull out
due to an injury it would at least have taken another year to race here. Things
being as they were though I had my father’s slot transferred to me and entered
the race just three days before it was held last Sunday.
With my
knee not really liking running these days the objective was clearer than ever
for the race: Try not to lose too much time in the water, put my head down on
the aerobars for the whole 45k of the bike course and then pray for at least a
decent run. The non wetsuit swim in Langener Waldsee where they also hold the
swim of Ironman Germany went by quite uneventful. I was racing in the first of
eight waves together with a star stacked pro field that included Ironman 70.3 world
champ Sebastian Kienle, 2005 Ironman world champ Faris Al Sultan, two time Ironman
Germany winner Timo Bracht as well as this year’s runner up at Ironman Germany,
Jan Raphael. No way I’d ever see those guys after the swim start but at least I
would try not to lose too much time on the pancake flat 45k bike along the
river Main.
I lined up
right behind the pros and when the gun went off tried to get into a rhythm as
soon as possible. After some 100 meters I tried to look a bit further ahead for
the first time and gone they were. Those guys just smoke the first 200 meters
on the swim as if a shark is chasing them. Some 24 minutes later I exited the
water with no one 50m in front or behind me. T1 with it’s 600m was a bit long
but when I reached my QR the race was finally on. On like Donkey Kong! Not only
is the course pancake flat, no the surface is also very, very smooth. And so
even at only a bit over 300 Watts I was riding at about 44kph most of the time.
As expected I never saw the real pro men again and the only people I kept
passing on the first lap was the pro women. Due to my knee issues I really left
it all out there and at a time really thought I could make the bike split in
under an hour. When I entered T2 though my watch told me the truth of 1:01h.
 |
| A good day on the bike... |
So I put on
my running gear and headed out onto what is one of the most scenic inner city
runs I can imagine: The 5k loop takes you to almost all of Frankfurt’s inner
city sights. The old opera house, the Sock Exchange, Katharinenkirche, and if
you try really hard you can get glimpses of the cathedral as well as the famous
town hall where the Germany emperors
were crowned in the middle ages. Being a resident of Frankfurt for more than 15
years I know all of these sights and so was not distracted all too much from
the job at hand.
 |
| ... followed by a hard day on the run. |
Lap one went by with only two guys passing me and I entered
lap two with about a minute on the next guy behind. Regrettably though I was
slowing down quite a bit and running kilometer times of more than four minutes.
I have not done one sub 4min kilometer in training this year so what did I
expect? Still I got passed by only one other guy on the second lap and entered the
finish chute quite pleased finishing in 15th place overall and first
in my AG.
If only I
can manage this knee issue the European Ironman 70.3 Champs next week could
also turn out good.
Abonnieren
Posts (Atom)