“Four shall be the number…” – Race Report Challenge Roth Relay Competition

The Holy Hand Grenade of Antioch

Damn, fate does not know Monty Python! It goes like this as far as I remember:
“First shalt thou take out the Holy Pin, then shalt thou count to three, no more, no less. Three shall be the number thou shalt count, and the number of the counting shall be three. Four shalt thou not count, neither count thou two, excepting that thou then proceed to three. Five is right out. Once the number three, being the third number, be reached, then lobbest thou thy Holy Hand Grenade of Antioch towards thy foe, who being naughty in My sight, shall snuff it."

So no counting to four, dear fate. Nonetheless sometimes four is your number and it was our number on Sunday. Then again, I came in 3rd among all 4.000 cyclists of the day, so perhaps three is the number after all. But let’s start from the beginning:

How it came to be
What was planned a a supporting weekend for my significantly better half at her relay marathon at Challenge Roth turned out to be quite a close race for the podium in my own relay. A few weeks prior to the Iron distance race in the world (approx 3.500 individuals and 600 relays) I was approached by two very nice guys who needed a decent cyclist as theirs had had to pull out of the race due to injury. I had done a realy in Roth three times already and would do it again at any time. There is nothing like it. 30.000 people cheering you on at that famous hill called Solarer Berg gives me goose bumps every time even though I already did the race seven times.

So I hooked up with Pascal and Juergen from Warendorf in order to crash the top 10 at the male relay division. Regrettably both of them were plagued with illness (Pascal with a 6 week long flu, Jürgen with that nagging plantar fasciitis) so they arrived not 100% in shape. That was in a way just like me as I had shown some decent bike splits in shorter races but blown up badly at a local half iron relay I did with my family only three weeks before Roth. So neither of us was sure whether we could do what we had wanted to do and all added about 5min to our expected times. If this all worked out, we’d be in a range of 8:20-8:25h with a 60min swim, 4:35h bike and 2:45h run.

QR at the Expo
The day before the race I visited the QR booth at the expo and had the pleasure the meet QR's Steve Dunn and German QR distributor Bernd Adamski and chat a bit. It was really nice to finally meet you guys and chat a bit. I recommended triathlons most famous hill: Solarer Berg to Steve and hope that he made it there on race day. From the expo I head-ed over to T1 to drop off my bike and there was nothing left to do than to go to bed and hope for the best.

The swim
When the gun went off at 8:50am Sunday morning our swimmer Pascal was right on par with expectations: He finished his swim in just over one hour (1:00:18h) and already I was off with the time chip that served as our baton. I had not only blown up at that last half iron relay but also had surrendered 10min to fatigue on the second loop in the 2011 Roth relay.

Race strategy blowing in the wind
My plan thus was to really approach this race conservatively at around 280 watts in the flats. This worked out quite well until the 30km marker. From then on there was a stiff head wind in a 16km long section that usually is the fastest section of the whole course. Even though my wattage was at about 300 I had difficulty to maintain the 40kph that I had aimed at for ma average speed for the whole 180km. In this section I was actually overtaken for the first time and tried to stay within a save 15 meters dis-tance of the guy. But after some 5km I just gave up, his stroke was too powerful and I let him go expecting never to see him again.

At the foot of Kalvarienberg hill, at 5km and 5% grade on average the longest of the climbs in Roth, my average was already well below 40kph. And the hill was still to come. Damn! But it was the same wind for everyone I kept telling myself. And I wanted to take it out conservatively. I told this to myself a lot of times also. The ascent of Kalvarienberg though was great! We had a tail wind for the first time that day and I flew up the hill. Great fun! The cross winds on the following descent though were no fun at all and I had to really hold on to the extensions of my aerobars. Strangely the first signs of cramps in my quads started to show at 70km already and I was a bit worried. Then I remembered some words I had heard from Macca once about how cramps this early in a race are quite probably a problem of electrolytes only and can be fought with salts. I thus put in as much sports drink and salt as I could within the next hour an the cramps went away. During this hour I had the privilege again to climb triathlons most famous hill: Solarer Berg. I know what to expect and those goose bumps began to show way before I could even the crowd. Riding up the hill was fantastic again and it was over in an instant. I had a blast and witnessed the second coming of Christ in the form of my teammate Pacsal handing me the second set of water bottles full of Powerbar Isomax. This stuff really made a difference on Sunday as I was able to drink off the cramps after 120km.

Goose bumps
Solarer Berg is at the 75km marker of the two loop course (2 loops of 85km + 10km from T1 to T2) and only 15min after passing the hill I got my split time for lap one: 2:09:31h. This was 4min slower than my first lap in 2011 but due to the wind and me taking it a little easier it seemed fine. Heading into the second lap I noticed that the wind had turned around 180° wondered what this would mean for the next 100km. For some time I was not sure what would happen but when I reached the point where we had had that strong head wind for 15km I noticed that the wind was now coming from behind and I was flying! Really flying at ~50 kph! Those 15km were over in three minutes less than on lap one and at a significantly lower wattage (~270 lap 2 vs. ~300 lap 1). Concerning wattage: surprisingly my wattage did not drop during the whole ride. It was 280 in the flats on lap one and two. I must have been the lower temperatures that remained in low 20s (Celsius) for most of the ride compared to the high 20s back in 2011.

So it was up Kalvarienberg for the second time at 125km. Right here I had blown up last year so I was very careful not to overdo it there. Surprisingly everything was fine. No signs of cramps, no heavy breathing, no blowing up. I was relieved and reached the top of Kalvarienberg in no time. Only 50 more kilometers to go. On the first lap I had passed a lot of the faster athletes on their second loop and in the end overtaken the second pro woman. On the second loop it was the relays and the slower age groupers only. The speed difference was big but in a harsh contrast to last year I did not see many groups sharing the effort in the wind. So even though there were some 4.000 cyclists on the 85km loop I did not see too much drafting going on. This though is just my personal experience as others told me that there was blatant group riding taking place. Luckily no one tried to suck my wheel.

After the descent to Karm on lap two (at 140km) I was began to really believe that this was going to be the day when I would break the 4:30h barrier for the first time. And – I did not really believe it myself – caught myselfcontemplating as to when to start a final push for the finish. Still you might even blow up with 10km to go and I had my bad days and know that when this happens it’s not fun at all. So I kept on pushing a steady 280 watts towards the second ascent of Solarer Berg. Once up there in Solar I grabbed one last water bottle, splashed it over my long sleeve Skins 400 cycling jersey (the best thing there is, period!), ate the last caffeinated PowerGel and started the last push. It’s almost 20km to go from there but there are no more hills to climb. Just two bridges and that was going to be it. And even last year I had been able to push an average of 43kph for the last 9km from T1 to T2. So off the cannonball went and just after that last aid station I saw him again: The only guy who had overtaken me had clearly blown up badly. I passed him at a speed difference of at least 5kph and went off. When I pressed the lap button for the second lap I was taken aback at what I saw: I had completed the second loop in 2:04:44h, just about 5min FASTER than the first loop. Must have been the wind. ;)

Full throttle
I knew that it’s exactly 9km from T1 to T2 and had the wind in my back. It was great fun. On those last 10km the really tough guys of the day take it easy, try to get some last solid food in and prepare their legs for the run to come. Right there was the moment when I really cherished the fact that today my exercise was over after the bike. That was especially true as right there and then the cloud cover that had shielded competitors the whole morning was breaking up, the sun came out and the winds subsided. It was going to be a hard day for a marathon. Lucky me! My last thing to do was to hand my bike over to one of the great volunteers and run into transition to pass our timing chip on the our runner, Juergen. Not really sure where I would find him in transition – I had in the mean time forgotten my own bib – I went through there shouting “Juergen, Juergen, Juergen!” because there was a little doubt in my mind whether he was already there as I was some 10min ahead of schedule having completed the 180km in 4:26:38h. This had placed us in fifth position in the relay competition and we still stood a chance for the podium. The noble steed that is my QR CD 0.1 had carried me to the second fastest bike split among some 600 relays. And as the only guy faster than me is a professional cyclist riding for a continental UCI team, that’s fine with me. One guy though, carzy Konstantin Bachor was even faster than this guy, but Konstantin had preceeded the 180km biking with 3,8km of swimming and finished his day off with a marathon of 3:04h to finish in 6th place overall in the men’s professional division. Cudos to the bold old school Swim/Biker who entered T2 with some 10min over Timo Bracht and the eventual winner of the pro race James Cunnama.

The run
So Juergen literally tore the timing chip from my ankle and was gone in a second. All I could do from now on was to hope for him to find his good running legs today. The athlete tracker that we followed closely had him in 3rd, 4th,5th and even 6th during the run. But somehow the times did not really add up all the time so we could only speculate. To me his marathon just flew by and when I received word that he approached the finish line after passing the 38km mark I really had to hurry in order to meet him at the spot we had agreed on some 400m from the finish line. Pascal and I saw him early and could prepare to get up to speed to run alongside him but when he went by he was still running very fast. As there were a few other competitors also running towards the finish we de-cided to run behind him and only on the last meters run side by side. Somehow though Juergen slipped away and left Pascal and me a few meters behind when he crossed the finish line at full speed. The finish line photo  looks a little awkward:

Juergen’s marathon time of 2:51:56h had us finish a close 4th in a total time of 8:21:59h some 5min off that coveted third spot on the podium.

Race evaluation
For me this race was a surprise. And a positive on in that! Never would I have thought that I’d be able to ride 4:26h in 2012. My best time had been 4:31h from 2008 and that year I went on to post the fastest bike split at the Ironman I took part in. If this is not a good sign I don’t know what else is.

The next weeks
It’s the last block of solid base mileage that is coming in the next four weeks until my last league race is coming up on August 12th. On the bike I think the power is there, it’S the run and swim that is going to get some more attention during this time.

For the number guys
Power file 2012: http://connect.garmin.com/activity/197430141
Power file 2011: http://connect.garmin.com/activity/98300271

Power graph 2012

Power graph 2011

Until then

Tim

Race stats:
1 TEAM ARNDT 1 07:44:17
2 WSA SPEED TEAM 07:57:31
3 TEAM ARNDT 2 08:16:10
4 BERNER24.DE 08:21:59


Split times:
Swim 01:00:18
Trans 1 00:02:00
Bike 04:26:49
Trans 2 00:00:56
Lauf 02:51:56

Platz (Gesamt) 4
Zielzeit (Brutto) 08:21:59

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.

First Olympic Distance of 2012: Swim & Bike OK, a lot of work left to do for the Run!

Having fun on the new QR Cd 0.1

Once again lacking sufficient running mileage I headed off to my first Olympic Distance of the season last weekend. I thus did not expect much of the race but still wanted to give my new bike, a 2012 Quintana Roo CD 0.1, a first try at the races. This absolutely sleek frame had arrived at my doorstep two weeks before the race and I had wasted no time building it up. The new Cd 0.1 has a few improvements over the 2011 model that really make things easier and better if you are the one to build up the bike. There are torque numbers printed for all crucial screws you have to fix on carbon material on the frame as well as the seat post. In addition to this the frame set is compatible with traditional mechanical shifting as well as the electronic alternatives. Nonetheless I still opted for the mechanical alternative as I had all the parts at home already. The first three rides on the frame were promising and the wattage was in a range to be expected three months before my season highlight at Ironman Wales. But that’s enough bragging about my new bike, let’s move on to Saturday’s race:

The “Short Track Triathlon” in Griesheim served as the season opener for our team in the Regional League, the third tier of triathlon leagues here in Germany. So the level of competition here is quite fierce and last year my best result had been coming in in13^th place at Westerwald Triathlon in late August. In addition to my lack of run mileage the course on paper did not look to favour my strength aka the bike: It was set out as a three pool course on pancake flat terrain. Race day though had at least one good thing for me which was a constant wind from the south west at about 30 miles. So there was hope after all.

With some decent training results in the pool I was quite confident to be able to hold on to the second group of swimmers in the lake and positioned myself on the lake shore accordingly. Nervous as I was there was still time for some fun when some water caught in the legs of my wetsuit during my five minutes in the water prior to the start:

Shooting for a good swim today?

When the gun went off I was still a bit nervous, as I am not at all a fan of land starts where you have to sprint the first 50 meters into the lake. But with only about 120 athletes in our wave the washing machine was not too violent. I so finished the slightly long swim course in 15^th place and was all set for playing catch up on the bike.

Here the wind had really picked up and with a tail wind you went 55+ kph while when heading into the wind the needle went down to the low 30s. Still my CD 0.1 worked like the machine it was built to be and in the end carried me to the second fastest bike time of the day (if you consider that in comparison the my teammate Alex I put on socks for the run, that is ;). Damn, priority goal # 1 missed! Second - or third if you like - bike split again. Just like in the first race of the season. On the first loop there were a lot of athletes to overtake but as I moved forward in the field, overtaking became less frequent. The advantage of such courses is that you get splits quite often and our entourage did their job quite well. So I knew that after loop one I was in 6^th place and after loop two had progressed to 5^th. 

Max. effort after a U turn

I overtook one more guy on the last loop and so put on my running shoes in 4^th place. My bike split which included both transitions was at just over 60 minutes and my Garmin had my average at 41kph. On a course with ten 90° turns and two U-turns per loop, adding up to thirts 90° turns and six U turns over the 40k that’s still quite fine with me.

Heading out onto the run I immediately realized that it would not be my day on the run today. The legs were just not doing their work properly. So I settled for a speed of approximately a six minute mile after the first kilometre but had to slow down even further when heading directly into the wind on the out and back course that had four laps in total. On the first two laps I was overtaken by four guys and thus found myself in 8^th position. Still it looked as if I would be able to get in a new personal best placing at this level of competition. 

Redefining the term "Blowing up" on the run! 

With four other athletes of my team out on the course a quite unique possibility for teamwork presented itself lest in the race. The rules in these races are that for the team result the times of the first four athletes of each team are added up. When my teammate Juergen caught me on the run (he was a lap back and some two minutes behind our fourth athlete) at about 7,5k we teamed up for my last stretch into the stiff head wind. With Juergen in front of me I was able to pick the speed up a little to run km 8-10 in under 4min. When Juergen turned right for his last lap I finally could turn left to the finish, still in 8^th place. Even though I suffered a lot out there on the slightly long run course (about 10.5k) that I completed in the really slow time of 42min flat I thus still had my best performance as of yet.

With Alex (5^th) and Joern (12^th) we hoped for a team podium on the day which in the end was not to be: We came in 4^th. The second race, 4^th a second time. I just hope this year does not continue like this.

Team spirit

The lesson I have learned from the race is that my swim and bike are working out quite well. On the other hand there’s a lot left to do on the run and a lot of weight to lose on the road there. Compared to my race weight in Kona last year I still have to lose some 10 lbs. This is especially true as I tend to overheat much faster when being heavier. So Monday is going to be the first day of a stricter diet – if I can keep it up!

The next race is on next Saturday already: With two of my girls I head out for a family relay at the Hesse State Champs over the Half Iornman distance. It’s the bike portion for, as always.

CU at the races

Shift Series

First race of the season: 4th at Kinzigtal-Triathlon - 4th - Again!

 

In a way there is nothing to complain about concerning last weekend’s race in Gelnhausen which served as my season opener. Except for coming in 4th behind old fellow Oliver Weber. Again. Oliver is a really nice guy who I know from way back when and we even chatted pre race about our shot at the win had not two professionals signed up for the race just three days before the race day. We agreed on that ideally the two of us would race for the last spot on the podium, third. We did not know just how right we would be. But let’s start from the beginning:


The swim went alright except for the knock on the head I received just 20 meters into the first lane. My black eye is testament to the fact that someone at least tried to swim faster than my in the opening 50 meters.

It was pouring rain just the way I like it when we ran to our bikes and I was in 10th posi-tion mounting my QR and looking forward to the next 23km. I am made for racing in temperatures around 10° Celsius so I relished in that. The rain though… made things difficult when cornering and especially in those three roundabouts we had to navigate through. Nonetheless I made my way through the field towards the front. 

After the first of two laps I had first passed Oliver for 3rd, then the fastest swimmer of the day for 2nd place. To Oliver I had said “See you on the run course!” as I was quite sure he’d catch me there. On the second bike lap though the leading man was nowhere in sight and in the end the fastest bike time of the day belonged to him and regrettably not to me by some tiny 20 seconds. Maybe he just took a riskier approach to cornering on Sunday because later he told me that in the last roundabout his rear wheel had nearly overtaken him and his had been able to prevent a crash at the last moment. On the other hand maybe it was the bike I rode Sunday that cost those precious 20sec. With the 2011 CD 0.1 sold and the 2012 frame not delivered yet, I was forced to use my still very much loved TiPhoon which regrettably is a 9 year old design which surely is not as "aero" as the CD 0.1. In the end, it's over now and the old metal still persormed quite well. So there is no reason to complain.

Off the bike I went in 2nd place with Oliver trailing in 3rd by some 45sec. and in 4th European Cup Veteran Paul Schuster some 90sec behind. One could think that for a mere 5k run that might be enough but not with those running legs of mine on this very day.

I thus tried to start the run hard and smile in the face of disaster at the turn around in order to set back the competition. Regrettably that plan did not work out as the guy in 4th had on his way to the fastest run split of the day (16:02min for 5k), already moved up th 3rd and the pass was imminent and swift. Behind him was Oliver working hard to catch me. Then there was no one for the next minute. So it was either 3rd or 4th today and I fought hard. Nonetheless my fading run legs had me hear his breath a few meters before the 4k marker. It was almost the same place where Oliver had run me down for 3rd four years back - deja vu! I must said something like “Not again!”. The really nice guy that he is - and with the guy in 5th over 2min back - Oliver offered to finish the race together with me in 3rd place. Generous offer but still I declined. First the race organizers would really have a hard time figuring out what to make of that and secondly I like to really earn my spot on the podium. So I let him go and settled for 4th.

(Top 4: Paul schuter (2nd), Marcel Bischof (1st), Oliver Weber (3rd), me - did I mention it was not only raining but foggy also?)


Nonetheless I am quite content with what I have been able to gather concerning racing shape during those two weeks in training camp on Mallorca and am looking forward to the next races of the season. Until then there is still some four weeks to get my running legs back. Seems like there’s nothing to really worry about in 2012. Except perhaps that tiny pain in my right knee… again. But we’ll see how a few days of rest after the race will work as a cure for that.

Cheers


Tim


Results Kinzigtal-Triathlon Gelnhausen:

1. Marcel Bischof 0:59:06
2. Paul Schuster 1:01:09
3. Oliver Weber 1:02:22
4. Tim Stutzer 1:02:50

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!