IRONMAN Germany

IRONMAN Germany 12:19:02 [Results] [Certificate]

Swim - 1:17:06
T1 - 4:02
Bike - 5:51:37
T2 - 2:46
Run - 5:03:30

M40: 362nd out of 489
Overall: 1620th out of 2309

They call it the longest day and a long day it certainly was:

We got up at 3am after a couple of hours sleep. Not really my time for breakfast, but there is no other option, but to get down as many carbs as possible and start hydrating as well. We set off to the 1 hour drive to meet up with the Ulster contingent at the lake in Langen. After the usual setup in T1, we said our good-byes and there is was: the ultimate supporter T-shirt for Aileen - amazing!

I was lucky to get drawn in the start group with the pros and we were called to get into the water at 6.30am. While everybody tried to find a good spot behind the in-water start line, the anthem was played - slightly surreal. Without any further warning the race started and off we went. I took it easy until the first turn and managed to find a good position soon. After that I was able to draft for most of the first loop - I was spot on 40 minutes for the first 2.1k. The second loop was a bit more hectic as I started to get overtaken by the fast swimmers of the main field. As usual, I slowed down significantly towards the end, but managed a good enough time.

The painful 100m run into a huge T1 is on sand and on a steep uphill. I opted for the change-at-your-bike choice and avoided the tents. As soon as I entered the bike, the rain started. Hooray.

The first 30 minutes on the bike are flat and fast, and the first few hills were no problem. At 45k I heard this major unpleasant noise after a normal gear change. The entire front derailleur had broken off the frame!! I examined the damage to realise that this was quite serious. I stopped a passing motorbike and asked the referree whether he could call the official bike repair van, but was told that I simply had to wait. I decided to take the derailleuer apart to be able to distangle it from the chain. After 10 minutes of total stoppage time, I was totally soaked, covered in oil and bleeding as I cut myself on the front ring, but back on a bike only missing all big gears. This wasn't such a major issue on the uphills or when riding into the wind, but slowed me down on the long flats or downhill passages. At least I was able to continue with a number of stops as the chain kept derailing. The rain stopped at the half-way point and the wind picked up instead. The second half of the bike leg was either high-cadence due to lack of gears or high-wattage due to very strong head winds. So much about conserving energy for the run...

T2 was straightforward, but I already felt that I had spent too much energy - mentally as well aa physically - on the bike. I got into my rythm relatively quickly and was running ok for the first 15k, when things started to slow down. By the half-way point I realised that I am likely to miss my 12 hour target and started to walk. A lot. This now became more of a psychological battle and my head just couldn't cope. Lap 3 was very tough and it was good to get a lot of support from family and friends at various points. Things started to get a little better easier during the last lap, even though it was still very slow.

Finishing an Ironman is something very special and the finish in Frankfurt is no difference. Running the last quarter mile passing big crowds, the noise, the red carpet - amazing. As usual, Aileen joined me for our last few, very emotional meters and Seb Kienle put the finisher medal round her neck.

I picked up my t-shirt and grabed some salty food in the athlete's garden before joining my family. That moment is always the best after a race like that. We hung out in the finisher's area to wait for my good friend Jeff to finish his first Ironman - he was over the moon. Well done mate! We then decided to wait for the grande finale of the race, which is broadcasted live on TV. Amazing to see the last athletes to finish just under 15 hours and a great end to a fantastic day.

Click on the picture to get to the album...

I am totally pleased to have finished my second long distance, but I cannot be happy with my time. Yes, there are plenty of excuses - the knee surgery a few months ago, the lack of training due to the house build, the problems with the bike and the conditions. On reflection, my head wasn't as prepared as for Roth, I wasn't as hungry as I was 2 years ago. My nutrition over the last few months has been poor, which resulted in too much weight for an event like this and my overall level of fitness just wasn't good enough. It has been a very good (and painful) lesson - bring on Ironman Austria in 12 months time!

Body Composition - Pre IM Germany

Weight	85.3kg
Body Fat	13.4% (LA 10.0 RA 7.5 RL 11.7 LL 11.8, B 15.4)
Total Body Water	62.5%
Muscle Mass	70.3kg (LA 4.3 RA 4.6 RL 11.8 LL 11.7, B 37.9, 5)
Physique Rating	5
Basal Metabolic Rate	2130 KJ
Metabolism Age	28
Bone Mass	3.6kg
Resting Heart Rate	55

Not as good as I wanted it to be, but given the circumstances and lack of will power when it comes to nutrition, this is the body that has to get me through IM Frankfurt on Sunday.

Lampertheim Sprint

Lampertheim Sprint Triathlon (500 / 20 / 5) 1:07:33 [Results]

Swim - 09:15 (approx)
T1 - 1:45 (approx)
Bike - 32:20
T2 - 1:30 (approx)
Run - 22:45 (approx)

M40: 20th out of 98
Male: 63rd out of 277
Overall: 66th out of 327

Last test race before IM Frankfurt. Given yesterday's 6 1/2 hour workout I expected a slower time than last year, but that didn't happen ;-) The swim was the usual battle - kicking, holding and panic attacks. I decided to wear the wet suit, which was a good choice. When I exited the water I realised that the Garmin had died. Not good. Bike split was fast and furious as expected. My legs were tired on the first 2k on the run, but felt better towards the end - shame not to know what the exact splits are...

So, 2 weeks to go until the big day. I am ready. TAPER time.

Wasserstadt Triathlon Hannover

Waserstadt Triathlon Hannover (1.9 / 90 / 21.1) 5:24:18 [Results] [Certificate] 

Swim - 35:16
T1 - 4:53
Bike - 2:49:46
T2 - 3:50
Run - 1:50:50

M40: 27th out of 50
Male: 118th out of 209
Overall: 121th out of 239

496 starters, 239 finishers and 257(!) DNFs. 9 degrees Celsius, heavy rain throughout and wind made the bike ride after a relatively eventless swim and a long run into T1 a pretty brutal affair. My hands and feet were freezing after the first lap. From lap two onwards, I struggled to change gears or break and in the last lap I wasn't even able to take my drink bottle out of its cage, let alone unwrap any of my energy bars.

T2 became a bit of a comedy as everything was completely numb. I struggled to stop the Garmin, wobbled to my dedicated place to be greated by one of dozens of amazing helpers. She took my rain gear off and put some Dextro in my mouth before we spent about 2 minutes to get my running shoes on.

The partly undulating run went mostly through a medow, which was, of course, completely soaked as well. It took me about 30 minutes to be able to have some sort of feeling in my feet. Given the circumstances, I had one of my best half-marathons in a triathlon - the time says it all.

All in all, a very chilly affair, but a great morale booster for the Ironman in 5 weeks time. I had planned to test out my nutrition strategy, but this was impossible in those conditions.

Lesson learned? Always bring gloves, a hat and shoe covers, no matter what the forecast says. Oh, and bring a shoe horn, so you don't have to embarrass yourself in transition...

Mannheim Half-Marathon

Mannheim Half-Marathon - 1:42:35 [Certificate] [Results]

km 1: 5:13
km 2: 4:55
km 3: 4:53
km 4: 5:01
km 5: 4:54
km 6: 4:57
km 7: 4:58
km 8: 4:55
km 9: 4:51
km 10: 4:57
km 11: 4:46
km 12: 4:56
km 13: 5:02
km 14: 4:36
km 15: 4:42
km 16: 4:45
km 17: 4:47
km 18: 4:48
km 19: 4:40
km 20: 4:39
km 21.1: 5:11

M40: 83rd out of 363
Male: 524th out of 2302
Overall: 551st out of 3218

Still one of my favourite races. Was aiming for a 1:45, but felt really good after the half-way point so increased the pace a little bit. Could have gone faster, but didn't want to push it - 5 hour bike ride tomorrow morning...

Trollinger Half-Marathon

Heilbronn Trollinger Half-marathon - 1:51:13 [Certificate] [Results]

km 1: 5:38
km 2: 5:27
km 3: 5:44
km 4: 5:30
km 5: 5:13
km 6: 5:33
km 7: 5:19
km 8: 5:16
km 9: 5:41
km 10: 6:01
km 11: 4:39
km 12: 4:51
km 13: 5:04
km 14: 5:07
km 15: 5:06
km 16: 5:17
km 17: 4:38
km 18: 5:08
km 19: 5:08
km 20: 5:11
km 21.1: 5:31

M40: 218th out of 509
Male: 1268th out of 3256
Overall: 1392nd out of 4352

Cycled almost 90k to Heilbronn in the rain and got to the race completely trenched. Took it easy during the first half and the hill at 10k to see how things go before picking up a little bit of pace. Nice race, but often too crowded to run, let alone overtake others. Good 5 1/2 hour workout - getting there, but still need to loose a lot of weight...

Amphibia X-Bag

I had the pleasure of meeting up with Adrian McGreevy from Amphibia last week in Dublin. Adrian was brave enough to go on Dragons Den to promote his product range and successfully attracted funding in his business. I am now the proud owner of the Amphibia X-Bag.

 

Finally, a bag I can wear while cycling to a race - no more boxes - and use in transition - no more rucksacks. So far, I have only used it in training, but can't wait for the first races of the season.

In the news

I somehow made in the news, well the local paper "Weinheimer Nachrichten":

I'm a new man...

... new running shoes, new Garmin, a new experience, and a new knee.

The meniscus surgery is now 2 weeks away and things look pretty positive. While there is some bruising left and the odd niggle especially when I turn my leg, I have been able to start training again. I did a 30 minute test swim (pull bouy only) 10 days after the op, half an hour of running yesterday and an easy 1 hour ride today. Still some way to go, but getting there. I will take it easy for another week and then hopefully get some serious miles in over Easter...

I also decided to run on soft shoes for a while and keep my flats for when the knee is 100% again. I opted for the Brooks Ghost 3. It is last year's model of the neutral shoe. Let's see.

As a treat and because my 310XT broke about 6 months ago, I purchased the new Garmin 910XT. I have only used it during the run so far and first impressions are very good: smaller in size, more comfortable to wear and a much better display. Can't wait to use it in the pool to try out the new swim features.

During my first 2 1/2 days on crutches plus the remainder of that week, I decided to try fasting to see if it helps with my ticker and also to keep the weight down while not exercising. 7 days on soup was quite revealing. I enjoyed parts of it - the lightness as well a clear mind - but it was also hard work. I am planning to do this again after the season in autumn.

I also just finished Chrissie Wellington's book "A Life without Limits". 5 out of 5 stars!

So, unless something dramatic happens in the next 14 weeks, I am now confident to make it to the starting line of Ironman Germany! Bring on the tough and long training sessions!

ADIT 2012

ADIT Short Distance (1.5 / 100 / 10) 4:29:44 [Results] [Certificate] 

Swim - 33:52
T1 - 3:39
Bike - 2:56:31
T2 - 3:23
Run - 52:01

M40: 58th out of 119
Male: 237th out of 522
Overall: 238th out of 666

After some shenanigans with the bike at Frankfurt Airport, I flew out to Abu Dhabi on Thursday evening to be picked up from the airport by my club mate Uwe around midnight. Luckily the bike arrived safely, but the box took quite a bit of a battering - I think this might have been its last trip.

We got up early on Friday morning to go for a quick test swim before breakfast. Less than 5 minutes drive away, we had access to a nice beach as part of a (very) posh golf club - perfect training conditions. This was the first wet suit swim in over 5 months and I didn't feel right after little sleep and no breakfast. Less than 5 minutes in the water I had a flutter that lasted for about 30 seconds. Not good. This was followed by another just before getting out of the water. My first thought was not to start the next day as I perceived it too risky to have a flutter in the Arabian Gulf… We then went for a quick 30 minute test ride on the bike to make sure everything is working.

The rest of the day was filled with the usual pre-race obligations: race pack collection, purchase of CO2 cartridges, bike preparation (incl. a flat tyre), check-in and checking out the transition area. We also had the pleasure of driving Sylvia Felt, one of the female invited pros, round the bike course. This was rounded up by a perfect carbo-loading session and packing everything for race day. I didn't sleep well at all, subconsciously worrying about the swim.

When the alarm went off at 4:30am, I was in a complete delirium, but had decided to race after all. I would take it really easy during the swim and avoid anything that could trigger another flutter. Quick breakfast, drive to the start, bike preparation and transition setup. There was only a single transition area, separated by gender, and everybody had a numbered hook and a chair. Fantastic.

The start was delayed by 30 minutes and we watched the pros go off. It was my turn almost 2 hours later. Good time for some last preparations (read: visiting the loo multiple times) and do some relaxation exercises. The wave was only 200 people and I started right from the back. I avoided any collision and took it very easy indeed. Orientation was quite easy. First turn: the tallest flag post in the world, second turn: 2 exposed skyscrapers, last turn: finish. The time was very slow - I didn't even take a Garmin! - but, I managed to get through without a flutter. I have also no recollection being hit by the chap ahead of me when getting out of the water:

On to the bike and out in the dessert. The course is, apart from a couple of nasty bridges, almost flat. The wind was relatively kind, but picked up towards the end. After a third of the distance, we had the pleasure to go round the Yas Marina Formular One course. Great fun. At the half way point, my speed was still very good and I felt that this was to be a good bike split. And so it was. 34 km/h on the training bike isn't bad at all (the Plasma wouldn't fit in my bike box).

Now the run, my other Achilles heel. Because of a meniscus tear I had run about 20 miles in the last 8 weeks - this doesn't even count as preparation and I had no idea whether the bandaged up knee would hold up. By this time temperatures had risen to about 28-30 Celsius. Warm, but much milder than expected. We ran down the Corniche, passed the Emirates Palace hotel and turned at the famous flag pole.  The run was much better than expected. I slowed down every time I felt a niggle and got through without any issues.

To my surprise I even finished sub 4:30. Not only that, I felt great. After receiving a nice medal I went straight to the buffet, which was the best I have seen in a while. Tons of local dishes, fruit, sweets, and drinks - exactly what I needed. We then watched the pros from the long distance come in before checking out our gear. A perfect day was finished off with some perfect steak and a drink in the roof top restaurant of the Yas Marina Formular One hotel.

Lesson learned? Leave the Garmin at home and don't panic. Not so sure about racing with little training and an injury, though. 2 weeks to go until the knee surgery and then we see how the rest of the season goes.

Health

Health hasn't been great in the last 8-10 weeks. My atrial flutter has been back since mid December and I have torn my left inner meniscus at the begging of January. Training, or lack thereof, has been everything but ideal, to say the least.

My flutter was bad for about 2 weeks. I guess it was a combination of stress (heavy work load and moving house twice within 8 weeks), poor nutrition and squeezing in the foundation training for Ironman Germany. I have since increased my potassium and magnesium intake, which have improved things a lot. However, the ticker is not as good as it was and it is likely that another ablation will be required. Hopefully this can wait until the end of the season (and getting the house built). I am also looking into alternative approaches, mainly around nutrition, mineral intake and relaxation.

The knee went pop, when I kneeled down on the carpet to play with Aileen. It was really painful for 2 days and then started to improve. I went to see an orthopediatrician 2 weeks later. An MRI scan revealed the diagnosis. We agreed to treat the injury with a bandage and intake of ortho-molecular substances (high doses of glucosamine, chondroitin and hyaluronic acid). There was a 20% chance that the tear would heal, but this has not materialised. The keyhole surgery is now scheduled for March 19th. After that, I will be on crutches for a fortnight and will not be allowed to train for another 2-3 weeks. This period will be accompanied with physio - good time to start adding some core and stability training to mix again.

Will I be able to race in Abu Dhabi? Yes! I decided to give it a go. The swim will be no problem as long as the ticker doesn't play up; the bike should be ok as I have spent quite a few miles on the turbo; and the run will be the interesting part - worst case it will be a walk / jog.

Will I be able to race Ironman Germany? I Hopefully! I know it doesn't look to good at the moment, but if I can start training as planned, there is a chance that I will get enough miles in to get me round somehow. Let's wait and see...

Abu Dhabi International Triathlon

I had an offer I just could not refuse: enough air miles to get me to UAD and free accommodation plus an amazing looking early season race: the Abu Dhabi International Triathlon. Can´t wait to swim the the Gulf, cycle through the desert and on the Formula One Yas Marina Circuit, and run passed Emirates Palace.

I signed up for the Short Distance: 1.5k swim / 100k bike / 10k run

Body Composition - Dez 2011

Weight	85.6kg
Body Fat	14.5% (LA 10.9 RA 9.0 RL 12.1 LL 12.3, B 16.8)
Total Body Water	61.5%
Muscle Mass	69.6kg (LA 4.2 RA 4.4 RL 11.7 LL 11.7, B 37.6, 5)
Physique Rating	6
Basal Metabolic Rate	2113 KJ
Metabolism Age	28
Bone Mass	3.6kg
Resting Heart Rate	51

That's it. The 30 week training plan for Ironman Germany is about to start. Weight a bit higher than expected, but still ok. The body fat values cannot be compared with previous results as I changed my profile on the scales to athlete mode. Resting heart rate is very good!

I am a bit concerned about 2 niggles: my hamstring started playing up 2 days ago after sitting on the train for 5 hours. Also, my right knee has been giving me grief for some time now. I have been doing regular strengthening exercises on a wobble board and hopefully this will improve things.

Stadtlauf Eppelheim

Stadtlauf Eppelheim 10k - 46:04 [Results]

km 1: 4:36
km 2: 4:36
km 3: 4:35
km 4: 4:26
km 5: 4:36
km 6: 4:40
km 7: 4:27
km 8: 4:45
km 9: 4:37
km 10: 4:36

M40: 12th out of 22
Male: 67th out of 139

Total: 70th out of 185

Nice little local race in perfect conditions. 3 laps round my old school village in Eppelheim. Felt much better than on Tuesday. Really wanted to crack the 46:00, but somehow things didn't work out at the end, even though I kept overtaking all the time. Garmin showed 220m more again?

Hockenheimring 10k

Hockenheimring 10k - 47:08 [Results] [Certificate]

km 1: 4:38
km 2: 4:44
km 3: 4:41
km 4: 4:42
km 5: 4:42
km 6: 4:36
km 7: 4:43
km 8: 4:50
km 9: 4:44
km 10: 4:36

M40: 80th out of 173
Male: 449thout of 947

Total: 508th out of 1244

First time I ran on a Formula One course. Great feeling!

I hadn't prepared for this at all, but was still surprised about the lack of speed. But, as usual, there are a number of excuses: it was quite windy and Garmin showed 240m more than 10k. It is still a very poor performance, so I decided to run another 10k on Sunday to see if I can come up with more excuses... Race report and more pictures.

Movement Analysis

I underwent a very professional gait and movement analysis. Details can be seen in the detailed report. The bottom line is that I need to strengthen my core (no surprise there) and also have to make sure my knees get stronger as they bend inwards which has a knock-on effect on the rest of the body while running. Highly recommended!

Elbaman

Elbaman 70.3 (1.9 / 94 / 21.1) 6:38:09 [Results] [Certificate] 

Swim - 36:47
T1 - 1:56
Bike - 3:35:05
T2 - 1:17
Run - 2:22:11

M1: 54th out of 73
Male: 221st out of 311
Overall: 238th out of 346

This was probably the most spectacular race I have done so far: swimming in the Mediterranean Sea, cycling in beautiful Elba and running along the beach. The time has been disappointing - again - and things went all wrong on the run - again.

Picking up race pack and checking in the bike on Saturday was a very low-key affair. No stands, no fuzz, and hardly any checks. Easy. A last 10 minute swim in the sea to get used to the salt water and swimming without wet suit, which we were told are not allowed as the water was supposed to be 25 Celsius.

As there was only a single transition area, setting up kit on Sunday morning was relatively straightforward. We made it to watch the long-distance start and then went on to get changed and started preparing for the race. To our surprise everybody was wearing a wet suit and word spread that they are allowed after all. Hooray. I was just about to go into the water for a bit of a warm-up when I realised that some Mussolini marshall was handing out dozens of 10 minute penalties as it was apparently not allowed to enter the water prior to the race. Weird, but who argues with a little dictator with a whistle and a yellow card… A bit of a panic set in when I realised 5 minutes before the start and already in the start block, that my mobile phone was still in my tri-suit. So out again, taking off the wet suit to get the phone and everything in reverse.

There was about 350 starters in the race and the start was not as hectic as expected. There was a sand bank after approximately 100m and much of the swimmers starting walking again for about 30 seconds. As always, I started to slow down a bit at the half-way point, but got through the first leg in no problem. The time was not spectacular, but ok. Through the sand, underneath some showers to get rid of the salt and approximately 400m through Marina di Campo into T1 and ...

... on to the bike for 2 tough laps. I had cycled the route once a few days prior to the race, so knew what to expect. I managed to hold back on the first lap and, apart from 2 near collisions on very technical downhill serpentines, I felt quite good. I started to feel the lack of training on the up-hill sections on the second lap and the last undulating and windy 20km were quite tough. The bike leg was supposed to be 94km, but everybody I spoke to had clocked somewhere between 96 and 98km. Must be Italian miles.

I knew that my running is extremely poor at the moment, so I started at a very moderte pace of around 5:30 km/h. Despite the heat, I felt quite good until the half-way point when I started to get sick. Every time I ran, my stomach started to cramp up and I had to revert to walking. Not sure whether this was caused by the isotonic drinks that were handed out or the fact that I couldn't go to the loo properly before the race. Either way, it was quite frustrating as my legs seemed perfectly fine.

The finish was great as Aileen joined me for the first time. We got a nice medal, a finisher shirt and some lovely food. All in all a highly recommended race in a beautiful setting.

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Darmstadt Half-marathon

Darmstadt Half-marathon - 1:47:13 [Certificate] [Results]

km 1: 5:12
km 2: 5:08
km 3: 4:29
km 4: 4:50
km 5: 4:59
km 6: 5:06
km 7: 4:45
km 8: 5:04
km 9: 5:01
km 10: 4:53
km 11: 5:02
km 12: 5:03
km 13: 5:10
km 14: 4:50
km 15: 5:19
km 16: 5:36
km 17: 4:57
km 18: 5:13
km 19: 5:13
km 20: 5:36
km 21: 5:11

M40: 51st out of 146
Male: 295th out of 801
Overall: 332nd out of 1084

Another half-marathon, another poor race, just a different set of excuses: I expected a flat, fast run, on tarmac and, given that the start time was 9am and most of route went through forest, good running conditions. What we got was an undulating race (almost 200m in altitude), mostly run on gravel. What was the real killer though was the high humidity - it was like running through a rain forest. I don't think I have ever lost so much liquid on such a short distance. I never really found a rhythm and faded on the last few kms. Well, it was a good and tough workout, but nothing worth repeating...

Power to the people

Finally, managed to get out on my new wheels (HED Jet Flamme Rouge 6&9) with Powertap SL+, courtesy of eBay. I decided to sell my Zipp wheels and change to wheels that are

• Not as deep as the Zipps as I was struggling on the fast downhills
• Have clinchers as I know how to fix them and need to carry less stuff with me on the bike
• Have aluminium rims so breaking as less of a gamble
• Change to 28x11 at the back to get up those hills

The fact that the wheels came with a Powertap was a big bonus. 


Did the first ride as part of the RTF St.-Ilgen. I have now silly amounts of power data; just need to find out what it all means and what I can do with it...

70.3 Germany

70.3 Germany WIesbaden (1.9 / 90 / 21.1) 6:14:10 [Results] [Certificate] 

Swim - 37:48
T1 - 4:23
Bike - 3:17:17
T2 - 1:34
Run - 2:13:07

M40: 167th out of 273
Male: ???th out of ???
Overall: 944th out of 1547


They call it the toughest half day, and tough it certainly was.

Because of the 70.3 label and the race hosting the European Championship, everything was done by the rule book. The race briefing lasted for 90 (!) minutes before I made my way to the checkin area and swim start on Saturday, which was almost 20 miles away.

An early start was needed on Sunday morning. Why a half-distance has to kick off at 7am remains a mystery to me. The swim was in a relatively small lake that includes quite a number of turns plus a short exit after two thirds of the distance. The M40 was the biggest group again which resulted in the usual nonsense throughout the swim. I struggled to find a proper rhythm and got out of the water about 2 minutes slower than expected. T1 required covering a distance of 700m, hence the slow transition splits.

Off we went on the cracker of a bike course with almost 1500m of climbs. I managed to keep it easy on the first third, before the rain started. Nothing heavy, but enough to make the downhills a bit more challenging. I really felt the benefit of having ridden the course 3 times prior to the race, as I overtook a lot of riders on the last third. I reached well over 80 km/h on the last long downhill into Wiesbaden. Apparently, the pros hit almost 110 km/h - total and utter madness.

I was almost 3 minutes ahead of schedule when I started the run and was optimistic to beat my 6 hour target. The run course is 4 laps through a nice park. It is never really flat; nothing serious, but enough to make finding a rhythm difficult. The same holds for a lot turns and changes of the surface. All was good until km 7 when all came to a halt and I started to walk. I just couldn't get myself to run through the pain barrier. I realised at the start of lap 3 that 6 hours is not doable which resulted in even more walking breaks. The result was a half-marathon personal worst.

A great event with a very tough bike course. Would I do it again? Maybe to get the daemons  out of my system.

Lesson learned: Improving the bike at the cost of running and the lack of bricks doesn't really improve things at all. My running has to get better again. Not sure where the mental block comes from as I can torture myself on the bike any time. Plenty of work ahead after a well needed rest. 6 weeks until Elbaman!

Aqua Sphere Kayenne

First swim using my new goggles. Very impressed, especially with the fastening and adjusting mechanism.

Römerman

Römerman (1.8 / 42 / 10) 2:46:30 [Results]

Swim - 23:12
Bike - 1:35:10
Run - 48:07

M40: 43rd out of 89
Male: 203rd out of 378
Overall: 228th out of 448

This is a fantastic, but tough local race. Swim downstream in the river Neckar - hence the good times -, a tough bike course with 600m of climbs (up to 16%) and a tricky run as there are no real straights. Got mild cramps in my calves on the big climb and started to cramp up in my right upper leg on the last 3k. Quite happy with my time, but would have liked to crack the 2:45. My running has to improve!

Speyerer Brezelfestlauf

Was pacemaking my dad to a 2nd place in the M65 at the 8.2km Brezellauf in our home town:

Lampertheim Sprint

Lampertheim Sprint Triathlon (0.5 / 20 / 5) 1:08:00 [Results]

Swim - 10:10
T1 - ??
Bike - 32:15
T2 - ??
Run - 23:15 (approx)

M40: 33rd out of 113
Male: 71st out of 261
Overall: 74th out of 332

This was a great little race. The swim was very hectic and there was too much fighting going on for my taste. I panicked a bit at the first turn after I was hit quite heavily and had to slow down a bit. The bike part was very flat and very fast. An average of over 37 km/h says it all. My run was average - I have no idea where my pace is gone.


All in all a nice local race. Shame I missed the 1:08 by 8 tenths of a second. Definitely doing this again if it fits in the IM schedule.

IM Frankfurt Registration

Here we go again. Just signed up for Frankfurt IM 2012. And so have Jeff and Michael from Up & Runners. Great stuff!

Lisburn 10k

Lisburn 10k - 47:04 [Results]

km 1: 5:28
km 2: 4:38
km 3: 4:24
km 4: 4:31
km 5: 4:41
km 6: 4:34
km 7: 4:43
km 8: 4:46
km 9: 4:40
km 10: 4:39

This was an unplanned race, but as I was in Belfast on business I thought I might as well use the 10k as a good speed session. Unlike the start, conditions were perfect. Even though the race was chipped, there wasn't a timing mat at the beginning. That wasn't helped by the fact that a lot walkers decided it would be best to position themselves towards the front and trot along 4 breast. I lost more than a minute on the first km and had to slalom through people for another km. I had also forgotten how undulating the course is and that I haven't really done any speed work lately. I came home in 47:00, but reckon that it would have been a sub 46 net time without the walkers at the start.

Was great to meet up with the gang from Up & Runners again!