Month: July 2019

Worms triathlon is probably where I did my best ever sprint triathlon in 2017. Even though I got done for drafting, I could see the winner of the race ahead of me as I ran down the chute.

2019 is very much not 2017 though, and not to be too negative about it, I suck compared to how I was in 2017. Since my first DNF 2 weeks ago, I swam once and managed about 13 hours of training over the 2 weeks. At least I feel more comfortable on my TT bike now that I have changed the bars back, but I haven’t ridden enough to feel great on the TT bike yet.

There has been a heat wave over the last few weeks, so as expected wetsuits were not allowed for the swim. That is a bad thing for me! This week we had a very strong team, Michael, Basti and Timo are all very strong and Robert and I are fairly similar athletes.

So after waiting around for hours, the race finally started at 12:10. I felt like I was near the back from the start, but I could see Robert almost all the time and swam on his feet for a while before he seemed to veer off to the right, so I kept on straight. I wore a new pair of Swedish goggles, which immediately filled with water and I struggled to see much, hence the swimming on feet! I got out of the water just behind Robert in 14:08, not a good time.

I overtook Robert after about 1km of the bike, but after about 3km he overtook me again. I felt comfortable in aero, but I still wasn’t fast. I had to let Robert go as I couldn’t keep pace, I swear I used to be quite good at triathlon! I kept on at my pace, passing a few people but I wasn’t flying.

In T2 I managed to overshoot my parking spot and had to go back, costing me a few seconds. I shouted a comedy – I hate triathlon – to the masters team who were cheering me on. On went the shoes and I was off on the run, slightly worried after my nightmare in Zell. Fortunately this time I could run, and I actually felt like I was running well.

I overtook people pretty constantly, but I counted that Robert was about 40 seconds ahead of me at the start. I was very slowly catching him, but it was going to be tight as to whether or not I would catch him. The course has changed in the last couple of years and the run isn’t very nice anymore. We run over a bridge, around a loop and back over the bridge, it’s hardly scenic and very windy and up and down.

On the 2nd lap, I was definitely much closer to Robert, but as I came back towards the finish area, it was clear that I wouldn’t catch him. That means I would be the Streichergebnis, the one who doesn’t count in the team score, as Michael, Timo and Basti were all minutes ahead of me.

So, after a DNF last time out, this time I wouldn’t count in the results, it’s quite a season I’m having. I was shocked at how bad my bike time was, and I will really try to get a lot of kms in before Frankfurt City in 4 weeks.

This result also means that it is almost certainly my last race for TCEC, as I’m not allowed to start in the 2nd team and all of the best starters are available in Neuwied, meaning I should be left out. I’m moving to Berlin in Autumn, so won’t be around next season for the league races.

I might sign up as an individual starter in Neuwied, just to compare myself against the others and for fun, but if my training doesn’t go well, I’ll just leave it be and go out with a whimper, not a bang.

I had dreams of grandeur going into this one but it ended up being my worst race ever!

Zell am Mosel is a lovely little town, very picturesque and normally a good race too. We would swim in the Mosel with the flow of the river, so it was 2km swim instead of the normal 1.5km in an Olympic triathlon. The river was really slow though, I reckon it was more like a 1.8km swim, which doesn’t exactly play to my strengths!

This week the team was completely different again. Michael was back and Heiko B and Stephan J were filling in the 1st team, with me and Robert starting again.

After a walk along the river to the start, the race was finally underway with a mass start. The river is fairly wide, so it wasn’t aggressive like last week. I felt like I was swimming well at the start, but I realised that I was probably too far to the side, whereas the fastest stream is in the middle.

After what felt like an age, I saw the sprint start to my side, so we still had 700m to swim, damn! It all went ok though, and I was 2nd out of the water in TCEC, well behind Michael, with Heiko B and well ahead of the others.

In winter I messed around with my bike, I angled the tri-bars up so that I could get my head lower. It is really uncomfortable for me though, but I have been trying to get used to it. I set off on the bike in Zell but after 1km I was already out of aero and riding on the top-bar.

Heiko passed me, which isn’t normally the case. Then when we hit the hill, which was a bit of a beast, Mt Barlo, Stephan S came past me like I was standing still! I tried to take it easy, an Olympic is much tougher than a sprint and I could catch him later on the run.

Finally, I was on the descent and back on the flat, but that was only lap 1 of 2. On the 2nd lap, I caught Heiko again before the hill, but Robert and Uli caught me, that means they were way, way faster on the bike than me.

After the bike was finally over, I decided to put on socks and really go for the run. I was confident of catching everyone but Michael on the run. I set off and almost immediately was paralysed. I had a really bad stitch and couldn’t breathe. After 400 slow metres, I thought I should walk and try to let it pass.

It didn’t pass. I jogged slowly and it hurt like hell. I jogged very slowly and it was still dreadful. I knew I couldn’t run at all, so I would have to walk and make sure that we had 4 finishers. I hadn’t seen Stephan J at all and even after walking for a long time, I still hadn’t seen him. I knew that if he had dropped out, I needed to finish no matter what, even if it meant walking 9km.

Luckily Stefan was still in the race and passed me after about 2km. I walked to the end of the first lap and dropped out. It’s my first ever DNF and not something I am proud of at all. I feel like I let down the team, even if I had run well, it wouldn’t have been a good race, but this was just a nightmare.

As soon as I got home, I started to change the set up of my bike back to being a flat bar, as it used to be. I just can’t stay in aero with my arms in a slight praying mantis position, so it had to go asap.

The 2nd race of the season was in Baumholder. Where I hear you ask? Yes, Baumholder, it’s about 15km south of Ider-Oberstein. If you have to orient yourself using Ider-Oberstein, then you are in the middle of nowhere, and so it was in Baumholder.

It’s actually a nice little town and it works very well for a triathlon, as there is the lake which is just about big enough for a sprint tri, a hilly bike route and the run around the lake.

We arrived nice and early and were all ready to start. The team that started in Hachenberg was decimated, with only Peter starting for the 1st team again. Timo was subbed in, along with Robert, Stephan Schweiger and me.

The 2nd team were all between 16-18 years old. That’s not normally a problem in a sprint, but today the bike course was 26.5km long. They announce 45 minutes before the race that no one under 18 years old could compete, as it is too long. All in all 11 kids couldn’t start, someone from another team even cried!

As a compromise, the organisers shortened the bike course to 20km (22km actually) so that everyone could start.

They also changed the advertised swim. It was going to be 600m, but advertised at 750m, they added a short out an back to make it a bit longer than 750m and a real boxing match at the start.

So we started. It was really aggressive, I was hit and kicked and people were swimming all over the place, even with only 45 starters. After 200m it got much better and we had to swim once around the lake in an anti-clockwise direction. Sighting was difficult as they had different colour buoys. There was also an almost invisible rope that we had to swim around to get to the exit, I didn’t know it was there so it cost some time.

But the swim was over and I was just ahead of Robert, with Peter and Timo being miles ahead of me as expected. I took my road bike as I wasn’t sure what the best choice would be. It was advertised as 410hm over 26.5km. That’s hilly! It was also raining on the way to the race, so I wanted the disc brakes, even though it actually dried out completely before we started.

I rode ok, but think I made the wrong bike choice. I was overtaken by a good few people, especially on the flats/downhills. Robert came passed me after maybe 12km, but I managed to stay with him, even overtaking him on an uphill, only be overtaken again on the next downhill.

We got into T2 together, so I followed Robert. He ran into the wrong row of bikes though, so I did too. I decided to dip under the bike hanger and get my shoes, but the ref saw me and told me to go back out and around, that cost me quite a bit of time.

I set off on the run maybe 20 seconds behind Robert. He seemed to be keeping the gap pretty steady to me, but after 1.5km the elastic snapped and I caught him quite quickly. I passed him near the end of lap 1 and could extend my lead over the next lap.

At the very end, my guts started to feel really bad, but luckily it was only a 4km run, and I was done before it got bad. I crossed the line as 3rd in our team and 19th in the league, nothing great, but ok.

Overall I was satisfied with my day, my swim kind of sucked and I think if I had been on my TT bike I would have been faster, but who knows!