Race Report – Lindenseelauf 15km

I haven't been posting my weekly training updates, but I have been fairly religiously following the Jack Daniels' 5-10km plan for the last 9 weeks, whilst slowly increasing the amount I run by 5km every week too.  Last week I ran 96km and I will run 100km this week.  I have also run every day for the last 40 days or so, obviously a big record for me as I doubt I had run 10 days in a row until this streak!

So to the race.  It started at 2:30pm but had to set off at midday to get the tram, train, then bus to the start!.  I was happy to see a few TCEC guys were also doing the race, 3 others doing the 15km and the younger lads all doing the 5km.  It was pretty cold at about 3 degrees, so I wore long sleeves and long tights, but after a few seconds of the race I noticed that everyone ahead of me was wearing shorts, maybe I need to wear shorts too!

                   

I started and straight away there were 5 guys ahead of me, one more passed me after a few hundred metres.  I didn't overtake anyone all day!  I looked at my pace and saw that I was running 3:35/km, too fast but not crazy for the first km.  I settled in and soon realised it would be a lonely run, the guys in front of me had all paced well, and those behind me were well behind me.  I felt a bit tired after 6km, and with 9km still to go I was a little worried, but soon enough I reached the airport which I knew was the furthest point of the course and made the turn.  I realised that we had been ever so slightly climbing for a while, so now I could enjoy the slight downhill, though my pace didn't really show that!

At the 10km marker I made a lap on my GPS, it showed 37:30, 10 seconds outside my 10km PB.  It also meant that I could technically run 19:30 for the last 5km and still beat my main goal time of 57mins.  I still felt strong but after 12km it started to hurt.  My heart rate monitor slipped down, so the readings went crazy, I pushed to hold my pace and felt confident of keeping below 57mins, but 56 seemed a real push as I would have to have a great last few km.  I could hear clapping behind me after I ran past some onlookers, I was worried that that meant that someone was coming up behind me, but I soon saw that it was a race official cyclist, and they were ironically clapping him – phew!.

The last km was ok, I didn't have a sprint left in my legs, but I wasn't dying either.  I crossed the line in 56:28, well inside my goal time, but short of my dream time of 56mins.  A quick look at the Vdot charts shows that it was my best run ever, and equates to a sub 37min 10k and a 1:21low HM, both much better than my PBs.

I think that if I had tapered into the race I could have run a bit faster, but this isn't my goal race, so I am happy that I didn't.  It was also run mainly on trails, not on asphalt.  I think that makes it a little slower, but it is still a good and fast course, they are nice wide trails, hardly technical!  I will definitely be back to do the 10km in Rüsselsheim early in January to try to beat my 10km PB again.

I was 7th place overall, 2nd in my age group so I got some lemonade and a certificate for my troubles!  The other TCEC guys all seemed to have a good race too, Torsten wasn't ecstatic, but I think everyone enjoyed the run.

Next up – Ebersheim Adventslauf on December 13th

Race Report – Zornheim Bremserlauf

So after 4 weeks of my Jack Daniels plan I was in decent form going into the penultimate leg of the Wingertscup in Zornheim.  I had been in Ukraine the week before, so had jammed in 2 workouts on Wednesday and Thursday, before the race on Saturday, but though my legs weren't 100%, they were fine.  My Dad was in Germany visiting, so we went to Zornheim well in advance to get ready for the race.

I looked around at the start line and didn't see the guy that always win.  Max, my main competitor for 3rd/4th pace was there, but claimed not to be on form.  I fancied that I could be on for a good result if that was true, but just before the start, the fast guy rocked up.  The race started and there were 5 at the front, I knew 1 was running the 5km, I hoped the 2nd place was too, but he wasn't.  The guy who always wins was 3rd, but just ahead of me, Max and another guy from Mainz were just behind me.  The course had 1 steep uphill in the first few km, before going downhill for a long time.  I was losing time on the uphills, but at least holding my own on the downhills.

After I reached the lowest point on the course after 5km, I was in 3rd, but someone was quite close behind me, Mario from Mainz.  Max was way back and the guy that always wins was still only a few metres behind me.  The climb started and I started falling back.  Mario closed in and closed in, before finally overtaking me.  I thought we had reached the top as I was just behind him, and I fancied that as the last 3km or so are all flat or downhill, that I could re-overtake him, but the path turned right, revealing another few hundred metres of uphill ahead.  When we finally got to the true peak, he had a good 30m on me.  I tried to catch my breath and get rolling downhill, but I couldn't make any real inroads into his lead, then came another little uphill and I was done for, his lead grew to 50m or more, game over, no podium today.

I had a good look behind me, and Max was nowhere to be seen.  I reached the last 700m or so and didn't pay attention to which way people ahead of me had run.  I looked at the arrows on the ground and saw they pointed in both directions, I thought we had come from the left, so I ran right.  I ran along taking the next signed right turn, which soon opened out into a long downhill.  I saw that no one was ahead of me, so I had gone the wrong way!  I ran back uphill to where I had gone wrong, and Max was just ahead of me.  He saw that I had gone wrong and very kindly let me pass him for 4th place.  I am sure that I would have done the same for him, but he could have take 4th had he chosen to, I was done after sprinting to get back on course.

My time was 39:15, but the course was a good bit short.  A later look at my GPS showed that I had lost just over 90 seconds be running off course, so 37:45 would have been a fair kind of finishing time for me.  Mario in 3rd finished in 37:15, so I can believe that 37:45 would be right for me.

I felt like I ran a decent race, but I was definitely weak on the uphills.  I need to lose weight if I am going to have a real chance in Ebersheim, though I am starting to think that sub37 could well be doable on a true 10km race, even with some hills on route.  The winner in Zornheim ran 35:15 or so, 2:30 is a lot to pull in in 8 weeks, but next time I will be much further through my training plan, tapered and hopefully lighter, so I will give it what I can to go for a win.  My plan B is to beat the winning time from last year of 37:21, I can't control other people running dead fast, so maybe just setting a time goal would be better..

Anyway, I expect my next race will be a 15km Lindenseelauf.  That will be flat and hopefully the right distance, so I will be able to gauge my fitness properly.  Sub 57 will be good (PB fitness), sub 56 great, sub 55 amazing! 

Jack Daniels 10k Plan – Week 2 – Feeling good!

Into week 2 of the plan.  I started the week with a real long run this time, though long might be an exaggeration!  I did 17km to Gau Bischofsheim and back, so it was quite hilly. I ran at exactly 5:00/km pace and felt pretty decent, even with a bit of muscle ache still.

Although I was feeling ok, I stuck with my plan of having Monday free, so I didn't run and went to the pool instead.  Tuesday is workout day.  On the menu this time was 4 sets of (200m R 200m jg, 200m R 200m jg, 400m R, 400m jg).  I stupidly did all of the intervals too quickly, especially the first 400m interval in 75 seconds instead of the prescribed 81.  That made the last set a bit harder, but I could have done another set had it been required.  My calves started to seize up pretty quickly after the run, but no where near as badly as last week.

On Wednesday I ran straight after work, I trusted my stomach so much that I ran in the clockwise direction of my normal 11,5km loop, something I rarely do!  I did 9 sets of strides and had a 4:48/km pace with a 149 HR, not too bad.

On Thursday I ran in the evening as the sun was setting.  In wanted to do more than the 7,3km I did last Thursday, so ran to Klein Wintersheim and back.  It worked out to be 9,3km and a nice run, all slightly uphill on the way out, then an easy cruise home.  My new Skechers Go Run Ultras had arrived so I used them for the first time, just like my old ones, they didn't rub and fit nicely.  I really enjoyed this run it was 4:56/km with a HR of just 138 ave.  It was made all the better by a mention on the Rob Watson show podcast that I was listening too, I couldn't help but laugh.

Friday was workout day 2.  Last week i had made these intervals easier, this week I was going to do it as close as possible to what was described.  I ran to Willy Wacker straight after work and after a quick pitstop did my 3×1 mile T intervals.  They are supposed to be 6:20/mile, I was running 9 metres less, but ran them all a little too fast, but in control too.  6:11, 6:15 and 6:13 were the splits, followed by 6x200m R which were at almost perfect pace, 2 were 40.xs but the others all about 39s.  The whole run ended up being 12.3km at 4:23 pace and a 158bpm average HR.

Yesterday I ended the week with an easy run.  I ran to Bodenheim, which is a hilly route for me.  I completely forget about the strides until I was quite close to home, so only managed 6 sets, though I think the 10% inclines must count as a stride too, so I won't lose any sleep over that.  Again my pace was good at 4:52/km for 11.8km with an average HR of 146.  It was definitely a bit harder due to the inclines, but probably better specific training for Zornheim and Ebersheim as they have a hill or 2 en route too.

All in all I did 71.8km this week.  The next 2 weeks could be a bit tougher as I am going to Ukraine on Wednesday.  I will run everyday until then, have Thursday as a rest day, and see what I can manage when I am away.  The general plan is to get up to at least 80km per week, that would be a long run of 20km and 12km 5 days a week, that doesn't sound too stressful.  I feel great at the moment, I am running sub5/km pace all the time very comfortably.  I want to lose weight as I seem to have settled at 82.5kg, at least 4kg more than I want to to be. I'll see what happens in the next few weeks, if I don't start crawling towards 80kg, then I might have to make some dietary changes 🙁

Jack Daniels 10k Plan – Week 1

I've decided to start doing the Jack Daniels 10k plan to try to get some structure to my running, and, hopefully, be on top form for Ebersheim Adventslauf on December 13th, where I want to try to go for the win.

I haven't followed a running plan before, but as I have the Jack Daniels Running Formula book, and I have heard good things about it, I chose that one.  It will also be a stepping stone towards Rotterdam marathon in April 2016.  The problem was that I have to select my VDOT.  My garmin showed that my 5k time recently was 18:20 (VDOT 55), though the course was long so I actually finished in 19 (VDOT 53). I also ran a bumpy 10k in 40:08 (VDOT 52) but I was tired post Ironman and it wasn't so flat, so I have decided to go for a VDOT of 55.  My PB half marathon scores best on the VDOT system, and that would be a 57.

Now that I have selected my training paces, I can follow the plan.  The week starts with a long run, but only up to 25% of the total mileage I run per week.  This week I just did a normal 11.5km run to ease into things, in the future it should be a 16-20km run at easy pace (about 5:00/km pace).  On Monday I had a day off as I was climbing for several hours during the day and was pretty tired.  Tuesday was the first workout day: 2 sets of 8x200m in R pace, i.e. 40 seconds for 200m.  I went to the Willy Wacker track to do the workout and was consistently under 40s for the intervals, apart from the first interval, where I was basically guessing the pace needed!

I felt good post-workout, but I had really bad muscle ache in my calves for a few days afterwards (along with arms, chest and shoulders from climbing!!).  On Wednesday I did an easy run with strides, 10.9km with 8 strides.  My guts weren't happy with the gap left between eating and running, something to remember for future runs.  On Thursday I was exhausted, but got out to run 7.3km, it was actually at a decent pace, even though I was planning a really slow run.

Friday was workout 2. 4x200m R pace, then 2×1 T pace, then a final 4x200m R pace.  I had seen this in advance and knew that Jack meant for me to run 2x1mile at T pace (3:56/km) but as I am easing into the quality sessions, I went for 2x1km instead.  I also messed up the paces so ran 3:41 and 3:46 for the 2km.  My legs were still feeling tight before the workout, but actually felt better afterwards!  The T pace was ok, though I was still happy to cut it short this week.  Next week I will have to push through.

Today I ran an 11.5km route at E pace with 8 sets of strides.  I feel like I am getting into my rhythm already as today was much better than the other E days.  I ran at a decent pace (4:55/km) but my HR was quite low at 145.

I plan to follow the plan as closely as possible for the next 11 weeks.  I did 62km in the first week, that will rise to at least 66km this week, maybe 70km.  I will keep the day off for a few weeks, then add in a 7km run, then increase it to a normal run, so I'll be up over 80km by that point.  I don't want to do too much too fast, so increases will be gradual.  I want to try to lose a bit of excess weight too.  I have started well this week, my appetite isn't so high when I just run, cycling always seems to be the killer!

Tomorrow I will run 16km or so at E pace. I think my calves are recovering well, my Skechers Go Ultras are on their way too, so I am confident I will start hitting all of the prescribed workouts in the very near future.

Race Report – Landskronberglauf – Wingertscup

Part two of my stupidly planned two post-Ironman races was on Sunday in Oppenheim.  It is part of the Wingertscup, and I wanted to run it as a back up race, in case I am injured, ill or busy for one of the last two races of the year ( I need 4 results from the 6 races to be in the final leaderboard)  In the morning I was in Worms supporting Katja in her half marathon, where she ran a big 5 minute PB and won her age group too!  We waited after the race until she got her prizes, then had to quickly leave to get to my race for 15:30.  I had put the 'address' into google maps and 'Turnacker' came up with an address somewhere not far from the station in Oppenheim, on the Rhein side.  We got to the station at 14:50 and went to the Turnacker, except that wasn't where the race was.  After some descriptive chat about where the run is, we were told that it is on the other side of town.  It was 15:10 at this point and Katja's legs were tightening up nicely!

She couldn't run up the steep hill and stairs, so I decided to go on up the hill to the race alone, though it was a forlorn effort given that it was 15:20 by the time we got back to the station.  I went as fast as I could and found a restaurant with some people parking.  I asked if a race was being, or had been, held there? They said there was, but pointed me towards some trees, apparently I had to go through the forest to get to the run.  I arrived at the start sweating like a pig at 15:28, but as so many people had had problems finding it, they had moved the start to 16:00!  Lucky me!


The route was a bit unclear, even though they had drawn a nice map!

I had seen that the guy that always wins was there, along with the guy who was 1 place behind me in Wallertheim (the challenger).  After a name call of every runner on the start line, we eventually started at about 16:10.  Immediately 3 people went ahead, but that was all, the fastest, the challenger, and a girl.  The girl fell off the pace after about 800m, leaving 2 ahead of me.  They were running together about 5m ahead of me.  I felt in control and was hoping that the challenger would over-do it trying to get away from me, and blow near the end.  Just after the first lap, they started to edge away from me, I couldn't do much about it.

At the turn on the 2nd loop, I saw that 4th place was actually only about 50m behind me, so 3rd wasn't in the bag yet.  At the turn on the 3rd and final loop he was maybe 15m further back, and 1st and 2nd were well gone, so I thought 3rd was mine barring a blow up.  I didn't blow up, and cruised in 3rd place in 40:07.

My heart rate was sky high again, I think my body really needs a break after the ironman.  I can't usually run a 10k with a 181bpm average, but I did it today!  I am happy I did the race, for 4€ I got 3rd place, a medal and a bottle of wine, so I can't complain!  I can complain about waiting over an hour and a half for the awards though!  I actually had to leave just before they finally got to doing the podium, otherwise I would be stuck there for an hour before my next train arrived.

Now I will take at least a week off, then a week or two of just very easy running, then I will try to pick it up a bit.  I want to get some form going for Zornheim in late October, and really be on it for Ebersheim to try for the win.

Zornheim should be my next post in the blog, unless someone persuades me to do some stupid run in the meantime!

Have a good one!

Race Report – Firmenlauf

I wasn't sure that I would run in the 5km firmenlauf after last Sunday's Iron distance Tri, but I was feeling pretty good by Tuesday and the run wasn't until Thursday evening, so I decided to give it a go.

The course is a good one through the middle of Mainz. Last year I was still really anemic, but a 4.85km course helped my secure a sub20 minute time, running 19:40 or so. I fancied that this year I could get about 18mins on that course.

There were 7000 people signed up for the fun, including about 15 from TRON, where I work. We had our team photos and they went to the back to get in position, I decided to push to near the front, otherwise the first 2km would be a write off. I started about 10m from the start line, but there were still lots of slow people starting ahead of me. The gun went off and the first 200m were difficult with so many people going slowly, luckily I got through the masses quickly and could run my tempo. After maybe 800m I saw Arne, who wasn't sure he would make it to the race, but apparently walked into the starting shoot from the front just before the start, so was on the start line when it started.

The race was pretty uneventful, I felt controlled and was constantly passing people up until 4km or so. The course was a little changed from last year, adding an extra loop near Romisches Theater. Soon enough I was on the long home straight. I decided not to sprint it in, as the home straight is probably 600m+ long, so that is a quick way to blow up! The TRON supporters were on the right hand side of the road and cheered my on as I passed by, I crossed the line in 19mins on my GPS, but also 5.18km due to the extra loop.

I was pretty happy with how I ran, even if the time was a bit slower than I had hoped. I was pleased to find out I was 20th from 7000 entrants, so I must have done something right. I was feeling fine after the race, so got my alcohol free beers and went to cheer on the other runners.

I was pretty amazed when I saw my heart rate that I had touched 191, my all time highest HR ever recorded!  I guess I was pushing quite hard then, though it really didn't feel tougher than other runs I have done where my HR is 180 max..

I feel like I have recovered well from Köln, even though I have some bruising on my arms and shoulders. My saddle area is still not great, but getting better by the day. I will most probably run the 10km in Oppenheim on Sunday as part of Wingerts Cup, then a week or 2 of near complete rest, then I will kick off training again. Near term goals are going to be running related, but I want to try to keep up a bit of cycling and keep on swimming as much as I can.

I think this blog in future will be for occasional updates and for race reports. The week by week minutiae will be dropped, though I can still look back at what I did this year to look for future improvements.  I might try to do some more product review stuff, like the shoes I try out etc, but I don't try out too much new stuff, so that would be pretty sporadic at best.

Race Report – Köln226 – my first long distance Tri

Finally it was time for the big race of the year, my first Iron distance race, Köln226.  Me and Katja arrived in Köln on Saturday afternoon with the weather wet, cool and windy.  I had to meet up with Christian Hafner pretty quickly, so we could check in our bikes at fühlinger see.  I cycled over and met him outside his hotel next to T2 and we went to the start.  After picking up my start numbers and chip, I checked my bike it in the absolutely torrential rain, not good for the bike, or the roads the morning after.

On the morning of the race I had a breakfast of croissants and bread after getting up at 4:20am. I slept surprisingly well!  There was a shuttle bus from town to the start (it wasn't very full when I got on – see below), I got the 05:20 bus and was at the start in good time.

The mass start time was 7:05 and at about 6:50 I was in my wetsuit and ready to go, the water temperature was pretty nice and comfortable.  The countdown started, and we were off!  The swim is in a rowing lake, with lane markers that are one metre underwater, perfect for staying on course!  I found the line after about 200m and stuck to it like glue!   I was pretty tentative in the swim, as I have never swum 3.8km before, so I kept it steady and ticked off the 250m markers as they came and went.  I had a peeing plan, which was to do breaststroke near the end to allow me to pee, then start to crawl again.  In Hannover I wasn't able to pee whilst crawling, so this seemed like a way to save a toilet stop early on the bike.  I was surprised after 1k that I could crawl and pee at the same time!  Soon enough I was at the turn, I looked at my watch and it showed 37:11, not bad, not great.  There were no lane markers on the way back, so I stayed near a group and pretty uneventfully got to the end, with an empty bladder too!  My end time was 1:16:xx, about what I expected, but not a dream time.

I ran through T1 and found my bike.  Everything went smoothly until I realised that my cycling glasses weren't there.  It isn't too important, but not ideal either.  I started cycling, hoping to hold about 220w for the ride, except that my fxxking piece of sh!t power meter from 4iiii decided not to work, today of all days.  It is the ONLY reason I bought the power meter, so they will be getting a nice email from me.  I quickly decided that 140bpm heart rate would have to suffice, so I set off.  The first 15km are into Köln, then there are 3 loops of just over 55km.  The start was a bit chilly, but I settled into a rhythm, with a slight tail wind.  The turn around in Köln was quite technical and cost a bit of time, then on the way out the head wind was more noticeable.  I was riding behind someone who had passed me, a comfortable 12m behind him when a motorbike ref came to me and said I needed to watch out as I was borderline drafting… I really don't think I was!  The next 60km or so went well, but after 100km my ass, that I had forgotten to butter up, was hurting quite a lot.  Even worse were my triceps, they were agony every time I moved in aero-position.  The road surface wasn't very good either, so every bump hurt 2 body parts a lot!  With my average speed dropping, the last loop out of Köln against a strong wind was pretty bad, I had to sit up due to my arms, so survival was the name of the game.  I was behind someone again a bit later having caught them, I sat in again well back, when a ref came again and gave the guy in front of me a black card i.e. a 5 minute penalty.  He was at least 6 metres behind, not exactly on the wheel of the guy in front.  The ref then came to me and said I was borderline, I said I would be careful.  The ref came past again 5 mins later, when I was well clear of everyone, and again 5 mins later, giving me the thumbs up!

The last part of the ride after T1 was filled with middle distance riders.  I was trying to be careful to stay well away from slipstreams, but the roads were now very full.  I had to brake a few times, and had no more issues getting to the end, though I saw some real packs of riders in the other direction.

Now I hadn't peed since the swim, so knew that I had to go in T2.  I got in after riding 186.5km according to my garmin, and after nearly 7 hours total time, well behind goal schedule.  After a quick change, I went straight to the portaloo, sorted out everything, and set off on the run.  I knew that it was going to be bad, but after 1km I looked any my purposely slow pace was 4:30/km, far too fast.  I tried to slow, but failed!  I decided that I should make hay whilst the sun was shining, so carried on.  Soon enough my pace drifted to 4:45, 5:00, 5:15 and slower.  After 10km I was slowing and getting worried, there was still 32km to go, and who knows how low my pace would fall, maybe I would have to walk the rest! That'd take 6 hours!  I kept on plodding, walking to get drinks at almost everyone of the very frequent drink stations.  My pace was still slowing, but the rate of slowing was falling, I seemed able to hold faster than 6m/km even though I was feeling awful.  The 2nd loop was like purgatory, the 1st loop took 1:12, the 2nd 1:25, pretty much 1 min per km slower.  On the last lap at least I knew that I was on the home straight, after getting over the bridge I looked and saw that a 60 minute 10km would get me an 11h finish time, but I also knew that it wouldn't happen.  I kept plodding, not really feeling any worse than after 20km.  I started to think that my pace was near irrelevant, as with 7km to go, even running at 7mins/km instead of 6 would cost me pretty much nothing.  I won't lie, beating Jochen's time from last year was a goal, but with 5km to go, I knew that was a shoe-in.  With 3.5km to go, I saw Katja making the turn for the half marathon, I shouted for her to come back for a kiss, then sent her on her way, I knew I couldn't even nearly keep pace.

After the spiral staircase and slight uphill over the bridge, I knew it was all over bar the shouting.  I enjoyed the last 500m, fist pumping and just so happy that it was over!  I got over the line in just under 11:07.

After the race I felt a bit sore, my knees were hurting, my triceps were incredibly painful and I was very tired, but generally I felt better than I had feared I would!  Even though I didn't break 11h, as was my goal, I am putting it down as goal achieved, especially as I would have broken 11h if the bike hadn't been extended by 6.5km!

I am not sure that I will be rushing to do my next ironman.  Something that I thought about during the run was that I struggle to run well off the bike.  That obviously is made worse after longer bikes, with longer runs to follow. Until that problem is solved, I don't think Ironmans should be my main concern!  I will definitely (quote me on that) NOT do a long distance in 2016, who knows what 2017 and onwards will bring, but it isn't a dream of mine to do a second ironman!

So that's that. Project 2015 is over.  It has been a long hard year. I really think that a not extremely hot ironman in late July would have been about perfect for me.  I think I over-cooked it a little at the end, and stated to lose fitness and the will to train, just as I should have been ready to go.  That also corresponded to me not doing my weekly updates, that was partially due to work getting really busy, but also due to constant tiredness and the stress of needing to get out to train all the time.  I think my need to hit my weekly goals might actually have been a bad thing, I would cycle an extra few hours when I was exhausted, instead of resting and getting in more quality.  The next updates will be my next races, let's see how I feel after a bit of rest and recuperation time..

Race Report – Vereinsmeisterschaft

I haven't been keeping up with the week by week updates for the last few weeks, I've been tired, tapering and busy at work. I will try to get my numbers in so that I have a tally of how much I have done before Köln.

1 week out from Köln was the club championships.  It starts in Nieder-Olm with a 300m pool swim, then a ride to Gau-Bischofsheim, it was 16.5km last year, then a pretty tough 4km run to end it.  Last year I was ill with low iron/HGB so was way below my best.  I did a 57:xx then, but this year I was hoping for a sub 50 time, though that seemed tough.  The winner last year did about 45 mins.

I got there in good time, had a bit of a chat with the guys I know from the league team and was in good spirits.  I watched one of the other non-TCEC starts, it was pretty slow going, the fastest swimmer swam 5:50, with most way slower.  Our start time was 8:50 and at 8:50 there was no sign of an imminent start, until they shouted, LOS!  The swim is a bit chaotic as there are no divides, not lanes, and everyone swimming out and backs trying not to hit each other!  I seemed fairly mid-pack.  I went out too hard and after 50m had to remind myself that it was 300m!  I got out of the pool and stopped the watch at 5:10, faster than expected.

I ran down to my bike and had a decent transition.  It was crowded at the start of the bike, and I passed a few people.  My hamstrings and shoulders were feeling tight, maybe a result of 9 days off the bike!  I caught a group, well 3 people, who were very clearly pack riding.  I decided to hang off the back of them until the hill in Selzen, when I would try to get past without them hanging on.  I managed that, but soon enough on the flats and downhills they got back to me.  I was riding a bit out of aero as my shoulders weren't happy.  I pretty much managed to stay near those guys until the end.  I noticed the route was a bit different this year, it was 1km longer as it cut right earlier than last year.


After getting my feet out of the shoes far too early, I got to T2.  I had a very quick change into my shoes, and set off.  I was surprised to leave Heiko behind at the start of the run, but maybe I over-cooked it of the first hills.  Last year I saw the winner Konstantin coming back down the first hill as I was going up it, this year I was a lot further along the course, which was a positive!  I'm not sure he has to worry for next year though.  The run was fairly uneventful.  It was hot and sunny, my HR was sky high and I kept an ok tempo round the course.  It measured 3.8km at the end, and I ran a 15:55, ok for a hard and hot course.

So after a long wait, I heard my result was 51:30 or so.  I was reasonably placed in the club, but 1 minute faster would have been 4th.  I managed to shred my feet in only 16 mins in my new Zoots, I will have to try tightening them and wearing socks, otherwise they will be out of the rotation!

All in all it was pretty good.  I am a little worried about the bike, so I will get out 2-3 times this week for a spin to keep loose.  My run and swim were good enough, especially if the weather is as predicted next week, i.e. cool and cloudy.

I might try a final post before Köln, but if not, see you on the other side!

Merzig City Triathlon – RTV 2. Landesliga – Race Report

This was my 2nd league outing of the year, another sprint distance race.  Merzig is in Saarland, about 180km from Mainz, so I was getting a lift from a team mate Heiko.  The alarm went off at 5am, a nice start to the weekend!  I decided to go without the wheel cover as I didn't know if it would be ok on the back of the car, no problem though.

We got there nice and early at just after 8am ready for the 10am masters start, and the 10:45 league start.  It was pretty cool for once, with a little bit of rain beforehand, but not enough to really wet the course.  Christoph, Heiko and me went for a loop of the run course before the start, it was pretty interesting, some on trail, hairpins, steep short sections, looked good to me!  We watched the masters start the swim in the Saar, they swam against the current for about 400m, then turned back and swam 350m with the current.  The water was pretty warm at 22 degrees.

I had taken my new Zoot running shoes with me, even though they aren't may favourite shoes, they are quick in transition at least.  I was also debuting my Giro Advantage aero helmet, I was a little worried about this, as it can be a bit tricky to get on, but I need to try it out before Köln, and this was the perfect opportunity to do it without looking like too much of a cock!

The race started at exactly 10:45am and my left half of my goggles were full of water after exactly 4 seconds!  It was very uncomfortable to start with, but I breathed unilaterally so that it wasn't too bad.  I was in a group and there was quite a bit of contact for the first 200m, then I started moving forward though the group and then off the front.  It all seem to be going ok, sighting wasn't too easy with one eye, but I found my way and made the turn.  I cleverly swam straight into the 2nd buoy, before heading back with the current.  I really felt like it was a decent swim, so was very disappointed to see 15:30 on the clock when I got out.

I ran through to transition, Heiko was still there but about to leave, I quickly got ready and was on my way with only minor shoe difficulties.  I even managed to mount quite decently, clicking in first attempt, in the right gear too!  It's a shame that wasn't the case for the guy just ahead of me who did a 'flying mount' and falling dismount.  The exit was very narrow, so I couldn't easily get around him, so that cost me a few seconds waiting for him to recompose himself.  I soon got my head down and got a head of speed going.  At the first turn I saw that Heiko was about 30 seconds ahead of me, I thought I could catch him, and if I wanted to finish ahead of him i would need a little gap on the run.  After the turn we went against the wind, someone overtook me, but hit the wind and slowed quite a bit.  I sat behind for a short rest, then someone else overtook.  This guy couldn't even actually get past us both, he got just ahead of me on my left, before running out of steam in the wind.  I decided that just before the 2nd turn, I would go for it, so that they wouldn't be able to hang on with the wind behind us reducing the slipstream advantage they would get.  It worked well, I saw Heiko just ahead of me and I left the two riders behind on a fast stretch of road.  I soon came up on Heiko's back wheel and went straight past, I didn't put in a kick, as he is a team mate, but I don't think he followed for long.  The rest of the ride was quite uneventful, I managed to get my feet out just before the transition and was really fast, for me, in T2.

I started out on the run knowing Heiko was probably about 1min behind and Christoph was well ahead.  I knew that Heiko was in marathon training so he could catch me, so I just went for it from the start.  It's strange with 2 leagues competing at the same time, the 1st league has some seriously fast people in it, and they sometimes overtake me like I am standing still.  Generally I run quite well for our league though, and I overtook quite a few people too.  I knew the route already, having run it earlier, and my legs felt fine, so it was a decent enough run for me.  The first lap always seems the worst to me, but after that they tick away quite quickly, they should too at only 1.66km per lap!  I kept looking around for Heiko, but couldn't see him, half way round the last lap I could see 30m behind m and he wasn't there, so I finally could stop worrying about being last in our team!  Heiko was the fastest for the 2nd team in Zell earlier this year, so it wouldn't have been a disgrace to be behind him, but better to be ahead I reckon!

I looked at my watch, hoping to see 1:05 or so.  I was very disappointed to finish in 1:10.  It seems that the course was slow somehow, the cycle was 750m long, and the run a bit technical, but still…
As the 2nd team only had 3 members, instead of the 4 that score league points, or the full team of 5, we needed to all do well to pick up decent points, and we did that with Heiko coming in 16th out of 46, me 13th and Christoph 9th.

Weeks 31 and 32

Sup y'all, so I was really busy last week so didn't get a chance to write my weeks review.  It was an easier week anyway, ending in the Erich Fill Triathlon, so I will cover it in a few sentences. I swam a 3.5km on Tuesday evening along with 2.5km on Saturday and 1.1km on Sunday, so 7.1km for the week, not bad. I had monday as my rest day and ran 11.5km on Wednesday and Thursday. On friday I rode 59km, my legs felt great having not ridden for 5 days, so I was ready for the Tri on Sunday.

Running 33km (1344.1km YTD)
Cycling 96km (5420km YTD)
Swimming 7.1km (109,45km YTD)

So on to last week. On Monday I ran 11.5km again, I wanted to run quite slow after my fast '10k' the day before, but it ended up at 4:53/km so not dead slow.. On Tuesday I went to the gym and did my old school 7x1km intervals on the treadmill.  I did the intervals at 15km/h with the last one being 1.5km with increasing speed up to 16km/h.  It felt pretty good to be honest, it made me feel like I haven't lost too much run fitness since spring. I did some strength work too, mainly legs but abs, triceps and chest too.
On Wednesday I couldn't really be bothered to do anything, and just about binned training, but finally got out for 34km on my road bike.  On Thursday I swam 2.7km before going to the pub quiz, I wish I had time to do more, but I didn't 🙁

Friday I cycled 58km to wörrstadt and around to Wallertheim and back.  When I was in Stadecken Elsheim I looked to my left and saw Jochen, then quickly noticed that he was bandaged, and next to a car with a broken window!  Apparently he had crashed into the back on the car after a downhill, but wasn't badly injured, just a few cuts.  I hung around until he left in an ambulance, made me think though.

On Saturday I set off early to cycle to Heidelberg.  Its about 100km away, so I found 2 GPSs and started following the line! It was pretty good with only a few slightly gravelly parts.  Last time I cycled to mannheim it was a nightmare getting through Ludwigshafen, this time was a piece of cake!  Speaking of cake, when I got to Heidelberg, I stopped to get a coffee only to find they didn't have any cake, or anything to eat at all actually 🙁  I only stayed for about 20 mins, before heading back on the Hessen side of the Rhein.  The wind was a bit all over the place, but I the Ks clicked away quickly and even after 180km I felt fine.  By the time I got home, I had 195km on the clock at just over 31km/h, I could have gone faster if the track had been smoother, but that's not the point anyway, it was a good long training ride.

On Sunday it was hot, so I decided to run my long run late in the day.  I went out at about 19:30, but had so many problems with my stomach that it was pretty pointless.  I had to stop for "comfort breaks" so often that it was becoming a joke.  I ended up doing a hilly 14km and calling it a day, and a week.

It ended up not being a stellar week, but I did hit 2 of my 3 key workouts, i.e. running intervals and long cycle.  If my stomach had let me I would have done the long run to hit the trifecta, but it wasn't meant to be.  Next week is just another training week, I will try to step it up a level, but the weather looks hot, hot, hot, so swimming and running will be bad. Let's see what I manage.

Running 36.1km (1380,2km YTD)
Cycling 288.1km (5708,1km YTD)
Swimming 2.7km (112,15km YTD)

I need to get 2 long swims in next week, I want 7km+