Ironman 70.3 Branson

It has been a tough season, struggling during the swim at almost all Bundesliga races this year. So, the Ironman 70.3 Branson was supposed to be a retreat for my bike strength and a recovery from all these sprint races. An absolut beautiful setting on Lake Table Rock and incredible bike course on the highroad around Branson called for an attractive race. The overall goal was a Top 10 finish and an age group spot for Worlds in Las Vegas next September.

Swim (28:49) Rank 27th Div. Rank 2nd

Lake Table Rock was as calm as it could have been on Sunday morning when the first wave started at 7am. Of course, as it seems usual at all U.S. based 70.3 races; age groups 18-29 went off last. So, starting at 7:40am there were about 150 starters between 18-29 taking off, chasing the wave in front, which had a 5 minute lead. It was a perfect and calm start for me, as I started on the left side without any interference of other athletes. Surprised of my excellent start, I was in the lead of the age group coming to the first turn buoy after 650 meters. Trouble didn’t start after that, but we picked up several swimmers and the rhythm was affected by slower athletes that started ahead. Taking the last turn and coming to the long 900 meter home stretch, I got passed by one swimmer of my age group. He had a perfect line and I didn’t have a chance to catch his feed. At the end, I was able to finish the swim in second place and felt very confident, even though the time of 28:49 didn’t seem as fast as anticipated. A major concern running out of the water and up towards transition was a leg cramp on my left leg. I don’t think I have ever had a pain in my legs after swimming, so this raised many uncertainties for the upcoming bike.

       

Bike (2:43:09) Rank 8th Div. Rank 3rd

Starting the bike, I planned to attack on the first hill just out of T1. Looking at the course a couple days prior the race, this first climb seemed to be the toughest, so the right spot to make up some ground. Well, the cramp in my left leg was still there and the attack was made by others. I quickly dropped into third place and lost lots of ground. Once we reached the highroad, roughly 18km into the race, I was finally able to find a solid rhythm. Road conditions were incredible and the race now just started. Looking back I don’t think there was a stretch longer than 100 meters that was flat. There was a consistent change in climbing, or flying down the road averaging 80 km/h. Half way through the first loop on the highroad I caught up with second place, who had clocked the fastest swim time. Up the hill I pushed a little more, passed him and charged the next 10 minutes all I had. I’ve dropped him and he wasn’t seen no more. I felt very confident at that point, as the guy leading our age group sure didn’t look like a runner. Cruising along and taking care of my nutrition, I thought to be in control of the age group. With about 40km to go on the bike, it was the fast swimmer again, who came by and rode back into second place. I wasn’t quite sure what was going on, as I didn’t have any power, not the slightest chance to stay close to him. This was a turning point in the race. I had no idea that I had slowed down dramatically, but split times showed that I rode the second 29km loop 5 minutes slower than the first. Absolutely exhausted, still in pain with some continues upper leg cramps I wasn’t sure if I can finish this race. Only thing on my mind to that point was to reach T2 and get off this bike. Loosing minutes to the leaders on the last section of the bike didn’t really matter anymore, as I was able to jump of the bike still in third.

         

Run (1:36:07) Rank 11th Div. Rank 2nd

Finally off the bike, still able to clock the fastest transition of the day, I was looking forward to see what my trashed legs are able to do. Really, couldn’t expect much with my condition off the bike, but didn’t think it can hurt that much. About 5 km into the run I thought my upper legs will explode and I will definitely have to quit this race early. This wasn’t a tough run course in comparison to the bike section, but the tank was empty. All in the sudden, motivation rose again at the 12 km mark as I saw the fastest biker of my age group jogging just in front me. I asked myself if this was possible, but it seemed like he killed himself with the fastest amateur bike split of the day. So, it really just took about 500 meters to catch and pass him for second place. Once I realized there was nobody charging from behind it was a slow, pleasant, but agonizing run towards the finish.

        

Overall (4:50:20) Rank 11th Div. Rank 2nd

All in all, looking back I am very happy with the result under these circumstances. I finished 11th overall, 2nd in the age group 25-29 and qualified for Worlds 2012. I guess, I couldn’t have asked for more, even though I am very frustrated with my race tactic and the fact I wasn’t able to run sub 1:30 due to this approach. There was a lot I learned during this race and I am taking several things out of this season, which should make me a superior athlete in 2012. I didn’t except my spot for Worlds, plans for 2012 are still in the making.

http://ironman.com/assets/files/results/branson70.3/2011.txt

State Champ 2011

State Champ and first win in 2011 at 2. Barmstedt Triathlon. This Olympic distance race was a perfect preparation for the K-Swiss Ironman 70.3 Branson in two weeks.

Even though the competition wasn’t deep, one competitor made the race much harder than anticipated.
Personally, I planned a hard swim, hard bike and easy to mediocre run to save some energy. As expected, I was down about 90 seconds after the two loop 1.5k swim, leaving the quiet lake in third position. Starting the bike I was already in second and intended to catch the leader within the first 20k.
Well that never happened, after I took a wrong turn at the 5k mark as one of the race marshals seemed to be asleep, showing the wrong direction. I wasn’t able to make up this additional deficit of roughly 30 seconds and finished the bike in 58:09, still down 90 seconds. Even though I had to bike extremely hard over the entire 40k, I still felt exceptionally well, knowing that I have a chance to catch Matthias up front. Especially my last track work out (7x1600) last week made be believe and think positive about this 10k.
At the end, it took nearly 6k and a total run split of 35:50 to charge for the lead, as Matthias seemed to have an exceptional day. All in all, it was a perfect last test, with a final time of 1:55:03.

http://www.barmstedt-triathlon.de/pdf/Barmstedt_Olympisch_Einzel_2011.pdf

Everything is set for Branson now and I am very excited that K-Swiss will support me at this half ironman. Looking forward to race in the new K-Swiss uniform and representing this cool company and their sponsored event. You can follow the K-Swiss Ironman 70.3 Branson live ticker on ironman.com on Sunday September 18th.

2. Bundesliga 2011

Fantastic team effort in Grimma, with a 5th place finish and an overall 8th spot in our first Bundesliga season

Season 2011 so far...

All in all, the season is developing much better than anticipated after the infection in March and my rough Bundesliga start. Especially after the disasters 48th place finish in Gütersloh, I was quite happy with a breakthrough second place (first off the bike) at the 1. Harz Triathlon. This was a fantastic first time event, a beautiful setting, with an incredible bike course and great price purse.

That race was followed by an 18th place finish at the 2. Bundesliga race in Düsseldorf, which was an improvement of 30 spots to Gütersloh. Schwerin, fourth stop at the 2. Bundesliga I’ve had a tough time with the swim and left the stunning castle lake in 59th position. This made me chase the guys on the bike and totally explode on the run. After catching the front pack, giving me the 7th fastest bike split of the day, I had hardly any energy left for a strong run.

Therefore, finished 35th and left the site with some unfinished business for this upcoming last 2. Bundesliga race in Grimma on Sunday.

Preparation has been going well, with some swim focus weeks and solid runs that will also prepare me for my main 70.3 event in Branson this year. Before heading to Missouri and chasing a Top 10 overall spot, I will test my new BG Fit bike position (big thanks to Laufrad Hannover) at the 2. Bramstedt Triathlon. This Olympic distance race is also Hamburg’s State Championship race and therefore should be a good prep for the final race this season on September 18th.

2. Bundesliga Gütersloh - lesson learned!

Never thought I will have a dreadful race, because of an awful first transition, but… there is difference between draft and non-draft legal triathlon racing. Our second stop in the 2. Bundesliga race season was once a gain a great team effort, rewarded with a good 9th place.

All kicked off with a 1,000m pool swim in the beautiful Nordbad in Gütersloh. All athletes, 75 in total, were divided in eight lanes ready to rumble and rock the pool. I was a little anxious of this situation at first, but a good opening 300m (1:15-1:17 pace) had me in third position, feeling quite comfortable in my lane.

As expected by myself, I wasn’t able to hold this pace, got passed but still hang in there and easily cruised to the finish, with four other guys out of my lane. Jumping out of the pool, on my way to the first transition, I saw a huge line of athletes, knowing I would make this massive bike group and be right in the hunt.

But, all came different and reminded me of Chris McCormack a few years ago in Kona. Standing at the bike and fighting with the helmet. In addition to those essential seconds I wasn’t able to get into my shoes, after jumping on the bike, further loosing significant soil. Once I had everything back under control, the entire group was gone and I had to start the first bike loop by myself.

Loop after loop, my group grew bigger, but also loosing roughly 30 seconds per loop to the 40 to 50 man strong lead group. The 40k high-speed bike course wasn’t tricky enough to go for an attack, or hard enough for more athletes to drop out of the front group. So, at the end it was a massive pack that arrived roughly two minutes ahead in T2.

Even though I felt very strong and relaxed starting the run, it was almost impossible to make up further ground to the front. At the end, I clocked a fantastic 33:41 run split for myself, making up a few spots, but only finishing in 48th place. The upset of the missed bike group after T1 prevailed my mind and I was super disappointed not being able to help the team further with a Top 30 finish.

Luckily the team managed a much better transition and overall race, with another Top 10 finish in our second Bundesliga race of the season. Thanks to Michi, Julian and Blei! http://www.dtu-info.de/ergebnisse.125.html

Now, I have six weeks to work on my transitions and swim speed until our third team race on July 3rd in Düsseldorf.

Let’s get to work!

2. Bundesliga Gladbeck

It’s been 8 months since our final Regionalliga race in 2010, but the new formed TRIONIK Tri Michels Hamburg Team was more than ready for the opening team sprint in the 2. Bundesliga Nord this last Sunday. It was the first Bundesliga start for all of our athletes and you could feel the tension during bike check in. Some forgot their bike numbers in the hotel, some had to adjust their helmets before entering the transition zone.

Once we, Bruno, Christian, Blei and Julian arranged our box, we had a few minutes to check the competition before leaving for a good warm up run. It was a total of 15 teams, 5 starters each that qualified for this year’s 2. Bundesliga Nord season. Top 3 teams advance, last 3 at the end of the 5 race season will once again drop to the Regionalliga. So, it is our and our sponsors main goal to stay in the league and establish our team in the Bundesliga.

Kick off to this team sprint was at 11am with a 750m pool swim, non wetsuit. Being the newbie team we had to start at 15th spot, 14 minutes behind the super fast team from Potsdam. This gave us the opportunity to watch the top teams, as they started of their team swim. Very, very impressive as they clocked a 1:04 for the first 100 meters with their 5th swimmer.

Finally, it was 11:14 am when TRIONIK Tri Michels jumped into their season opener. Led by Blei, it was our aspiration to average 1:20’s per 100 meters, so all 5 swimmers were able to follow. This target was almost reached as we clocked a time of just over 10:30 minutes.

Followed by the swim was a super long transition through the swim stadium into the arena and back out of the arena, a total of approximately 600 meters.

Once arrived on the bike, we were able to and had to draft within the team, but keep the standard non draft box with all other teams. The bike course consisted of a 4 loop 5.5k city course with a few bad road patches and rough turns. It took a while to find a good rhythm and finally settle into good pace within the team. However, the first two loops were very fast with lots of accelerations through the turns that had some team members struggle to stay together. Coming to the end we felt very confident about our performance and throughout the entire bike ride it was an amazing team spirit within the complete team. Everybody gave everything for the squad, pushing a hard gear upfront and cheering when settled in the back.

What a fantastic experience!

Once finishing the 4 loops it was again a long transition back into the arena. It was Blei and myself that managed the transition the best, which gave us roughly 15 seconds ahead of the others before starting the two loop 5k run course. Our run specialist Christian, took probably the longest during the transition and we weren’t quite sure how good he had recovered from the bike. Yet, it took only a few second until Christian ignited and started to take the initiative. Just like on the bike, every team member was effected by the absolute stunning vibe that was in-between us.

At the end, we gave it all we had as the time of the fourth guy over line was the only number that counted. We clocked a 16:30 for the 5k run, felt very good about this performance and hoped it was enough for a decent placement. It was tough to tell though as we didn’t pass, neither saw any other team (only when they were in their second loops) during the entire race.

It was roughly 30 minutes after crossing the line when we saw the official results. 9th place, a Top 10 spot in our Bundesliga debut, it couldn’t have been any better. What an amazing experience for every team member and fantastic team effort. We try to take this vibe over to this weekend’s Bundesliga race in Gütersloh and once again want to prove that we belong to the strongest teams in Germany.
http://www.schwimmverein-gladbeck-13.de/images/stories/pdf/ergebnisse_triathlon/2011/li_all_2bl.pdf 

As a team we want to thank the guys and Leana from TRIONIK and all our sponsors for the support that allowed such a great start into the season 2011 – Thank you!!!

2011 Season Kick-Off

I’ve been back training since mid December. but the 2011 season will truly kick off this weekend.

A good long weekend of swimming with the Bundesliga Team in Denmark , combined with a couple long runs will push the next gear.

Training in Hamburg, as well as Johannesburg, South Africa in January have been fantastic so far.
We have had a much easier winter, with clear roads and trails for good running. Lots of improvement in the pool so far as well, as the entire team can benefit from our new swim coach every Tuesday. We will have to see how much I can improve my swim in just one winter, but a frequent sub 20 minute time over 1500m have to be assured.
In addition to the current training peaks and good development I have planned almost the entire race season, as well as a 10 day training camp this March in Mallorca.

I am very happy that we were able to find a great sponsor and partner for this challenging season that lies ahead.Watch out for the TRIONIK Tri Michels Hamburg in the Bundesliga and other national races this season. Pictures and a link to the new team website to follow.