Cologne Triathlon IRONMAN (LONG) - TriathlonFull Ironman

We were 5 Icelanders taking part, and my main team “rival” was Steinn, a good swimmer and really good runner. I had beaten him 3 times this year just because I had been able to catch him on the bike and get enough of a lead so that he could not catch me again. I would like to beat him again but knew that he would most likely catch me on the run. My main goal for the swim was to draft Steinn for as long as I could, and then just make it through the swim without dying.
We got in the water early and managed to get warm before the start. We decided to start a bit to the right, just to avoid the big pack, and an eventual fight.
Just before the start the main pack slowly started gliding forward over the start-line, so I followed them. I was not going to start behind everybody else, or what seemed to be the main pack. As I was in the first line I had no idea how many was actually behind me, but as I later saw on the pictures it was quite a lot. The inevitable happened! The starter called everybody back behind the line. I was still a couple of meters behind the first guys but well off to the side. I looked behind me and saw that Steinn had not followed me forward and was holding his position a bit behind me. Then as everybody was slowly moving back, the 10 second countdown started. All backwards movement stopped immediately and then we were off! I don’t remember too much of the start as I just wanted to get away from the line. Positioning us a bit of to the side seemed to have been a good move as I had an almost clean start, I did not hit anybody, I was not hit, kicked or in any way had contact with any other swimmer. Lucky me I guess :) After maybe 150m I started moving over to my left towards the big pack that seemed to be swimming at my pace. I found some feet and followed them. I must have been on the back end of the pack as there was quite a lot of sideway motion and it was hard to keep right behind the feet. At 500m I saw that Steinn was coming up on my right, I was a bit surprised that I was actually in front of him, as he made his way passed me I moved onto his feet. I knew if I could just hang on I would get a very good swim time. In the next 2-300 meters things “calmed down” a bit. The swimming was almost in a straight line and I was gliding very nicely. I was actually feeling very good and was thinking about passing the feet in front and pushing the pace a bit, but as I looked around I saw that we where “only” at the 1000m mark, there still was a long way to swim, so I relaxed and just stayed on the feet that was dragging me along quite nicely. I am VERY good at pushing too much too soon, but I was not going to make that mistake today. It was around this point I felt my swim cap was a bit lose, like it was not on all the way. I made a quick check and felt that it had slipped up a bit so in my next stroke I tried to pull it down again, while still swimming and that seemed to do the trick…….but not for long. I tried to pull it down again but this time it came off :( Oh crap. I was not going to stop to put it on again, but I also did not want to lose it as it was a pretty cool cap. It took me only one stroke before I let it go. There was no way I could swim the rest of the way with a swim cap in my hand. Bye bye swim cap :(
As we passed 1500m I was again “enjoying” myself, I was not stressed and I was cruising along without too much effort :) So when I saw somebody moving by on my right side I made the switch and pushed to get on these apparently faster feet :) And they where good feet to follow as we moved up on the outside of the pack. Suddenly I was swimming side by side with Steinn. I had not seen him in quite a while so I felt really good about that. We went around the turnaround buoy side by side. He had the advantage as he had the inside line, I went a bit too wide and lost him. I tried to get in behind some feet, but at this point the group had spread a bit and everybody tried to get back together, so contact was made when the group reassembled. I did not want to get in a fight so I hang back a bit. I might have been at the back of the group now, but I had a kicker in front of me :) He was using his legs so much that I could not see his feet, and I was right behind them. I was being pulled along without really doing anything :) A couple of time somebody tried to move in and grab the feet I was following, but this time I did not move !! These where MY feet, so bugger off. With around 1000m to go I saw Steinn again, he was in the same group. At this point I knew that I was going to get a good swim time, and my plan on just following Steinn’s feet had kind of worked out. It was not his feet but we were in the same group. I felt so good I started to sight a bit more and look around. I saw that I was actually on the back left side of a V, so I decided to try and move up in the middle. Then just as I pulled away from the feet I was following and moved up, somebody from the right decided that he wanted to change sides. He crossed in front of me and pushed me into the guy I was trying to get by, he did not like that, I did not like that, the guy who had pushed did not like it, I was sandwiched with no place to go. With each stroke I connected with someone so I dropped back, that was the only place to go. I got on the feet again and immediately felt how much energy that little fight had cost. I quickly found myself back into a good rhythm where I could recover a bit. With 200m to go, the pack moved off to the right to get closer to the shore. I did not move so I got some open water in front of me so I picked up the pace. Steinn had also not moved to the right so for a bit we where swimming side by side again. Then I thought I should pick up the pace a bit more, I remembered reading that at the end of the swim you should kick more to get the legs ready for the bike. So I kicked hard and put some power into my strokes, and went by the whole group :) I saw the stairs coming up in front of me and the swim was over. I got out of the water in 13th position :o and 5 minutes faster then what I would have accepted as a “good” swim :) And best of all, for the first time ever, I had beaten Steinn in the swim.


NOTHING !!!
I am a SUPERSTAR :)

Original I did not want to run in T1. The plan was just to take my time getting the pulse down and out of the wetsuit. But how can you not run when you get out of the water and everybody is cheering you on? So I ran all the way to my bike. There were no wetsuit strippers but I did not have any problems getting it off, I had used bodyglide and it worked perfectly. I was surprised at how many bikes were still around, at this point I had no idea how many was in front of me, but the rack with my bike was still full. Actually on that rack alone there were more bikes then there are Triathletes in Iceland!! Before the swim I had decided to bike in my long sleeved bike jersey, so I had already filled the pockets with all my supplies. As I was putting on my jersey I had a quick word with Steinn who was only 2 bikes away. With a last “good luck” I took my bike and ran out of transition. I had not rushed it as I wanted to make sure that I got all my stuff with.
Both transition times are included in the bike time, but I would estimate that I spend around 3 min in T1.


Nothing

I did not jump on the bike. I took the extra few seconds to place my foot on top of the shoe before I pushed off, then up to speed and into the shoes with no problems. I did not push it too much, instead I concentrated about finding a good position and settle down. The run out of T1 had brought my pulse up to 163 which I thought was really high for that short run. So I just focused on pedaling with a steady rhythm. As I got closer to the first turnaround point, I realized that there were actually not that many ahead of me and beside the first couple of riders they were not far ahead :) and that made me feel really good about the swim. Of course it did not take long before the bike elite started passing me. Most of them on Cervelo´s with disc wheels. Damn they looked good, and the sound :) I need to get myself one of those :) I was focused enough not to try and stay with them. I consider myself a fairly good biker, but these guys where in a whole other league. So I just let them go. At some point a guy on a white bike, dressed in white and with a white disc passed me, I don’t know why but I picked up the speed a bit and stayed with this guy. I notice he was a bit faster than me on the straights where he was pulling away, I did not try to stay with him there, as every time there was a corner or turn I got back up to him. I don’t know if he was scared of corners or what. Maybe I was just able to take advantage of the fact that I had biked the course a couple of time and knew it pretty well My nutrition plan was to only drink water for the first 30 minutes, then start slowly with my energy drink and powerbars and gels, and salt pills on the hour. I was in a REALLY good mode while biking and although I was not pushing it, I still managed to do almost 36km (22,5M) in the first hour :) The only thing I was not so “happy” about was that Steinn was also doing really well and I was still only minutes ahead of him. I knew that if I was going to have the smallest chance of beating him, I would need to be 30 min or more ahead after the bike and that was not going to happen the way he was going ! At the end of the first lap as I went through the turnaround point at the transition area, they were playing a good song, and that made me really happy. And I think I was humming it for most of the next hour. It really surprised me how much that affected me. The next time I went by, they were playing a song I have never heard before and that annoyed me, am I weird or dose everybody get affected by music ?
OK, back to the race. At the first turnaround point on the second lap, I again, with a good turn, was right behind Mr. Whitebike. Getting up to speed again he quickly went back in to his aero position. I wanted to stretch the legs a bit more so I kept standing and actually went by him. I thought I might as well lead for a bit and as I was feeling good I pushed a little harder. Then 15k later after an open turn I looked back and to my surprise he was nowhere in sight! The only thing I could think of was that he must have had a puncture or defect, else he should have been right behind me. Well I went on and at the next turnaround point I saw Mr. Whitebike again, over a minute behind me. I guess I was just going faster than him :) I finished the second lap feeling fine. Halfway there and the time was 2:30 :o
Smoking race tires batman, that is some avg :o
But as all good things this came to an end as well. Going down towards the first turnaround point the wind had picked up, and it was getting stronger. Riding into the headwind was not fun, and going down a long straight road even worse :( Going back was a lot more fun. This is about the time my tummy started acting a little unstable. I had been good with my drinking and nutrition, grabbing gels, bars and bananas at every drinking station. The only thing I could think of that had caused it was that I had mixed my energy drink to strong. It might not have been the whole reason, but from then on I hardly had any energy drink, and when I did I was sure to drink water right after. It did not really change anything, but it also did not get any worse !
It was after about 100k that I got a little tired of biking for the first time, but I just kept telling myself, you just need to go here one more time then it is over, Just one more time……. It might have been big laps but it felt good knowing that I was getting towards the end. I was now also starting to lap the back markers and it was nice seeing more people on the road, and actually catching somebody. Beside from Mr. Whitebike I had not overtaken a single rider ! And since he had first overtaking me, I had just sort of taken my position back. Besides from the wind getting stronger and stronger I was still doing fine. I was making sure I was not pushing too hard, just keeping that steady pace. Oh here is a tip for you, when you are racing and there are photographers taking pictures, don’t give them 2 thumbs up while being in your aerobars !!! The photographers loved getting a bit of attention, but don’t do it, because once you get the pictures you will realize how stupid it looks !!!!!
The last lap was long, the sections in headwind were a killer. At some point I was almost in my granny gear ! And it was flat :( Going the other way was a lot more fun, but over so quickly. Finally I was heading into transition, put my feet on top of my shoes and was dismounted without coming to a complete stop. Unfortunately as I jumped off I had to turn and my shoe hit the ground and unclicked :( So I had to go back for it, lost maybe 10 seconds.


Maybe try to push a little more at the beginning of lap 4, or take a short sprint just to bring the body out its comfort zone.

My rack was the second after the entrance, so I had no problem finding my spot, and as it was completely empty I had room enough. Putting on my socks and shoes I got a small cramp in my calf, but quickly stretched it out, gave the calf a slap and said “NO” in a very firm voice. That helped :)
T2 time is included in the bike, I would guess I spend about 2 minutes in T2

Dont forget my fuel belt, else nothing

Starting the run I knew I had about 3:45 to make the super goal of 10h. 15 minutes ahead of my estimate spilt times.
My plan for the run was to run 2k then walk 30s as I knew I would have to walk at some point, I was hoping this would help preserve the legs a bit more than if I would try to run the whole time.
Because I knew there was a break coming up, I did not worry too much about the pace. I started running at 4:30 pace, which was fine. The first break came and I could relax and got a bit more control over my running. 2 minutes after I had started running again I came to the first drinking station. I slowed down and got some water and gels. Back on the pace and on it went. From here on I got a little slower after each break, at the same time my tummy started acting up again. 7k and the first lap was over and I was not happy. I was down ! I hated running, I hated the fact that there was a long way to go, I hated that I was running slower and slower, I hated my tummy was getting worse.
Around 10k Steinn passed me, we had a quick word and then he was moving on. Any other race and I would have been depressed about getting passed, but right now I couldn’t care any less. My pace was still dropping and all I could think about was putting one foot in front of the other. Lap2 done and my tummy was getting worse, I knew I had to make a pit-stop soon…VERY soon. It seemed like I ran forever but there it finally was, my savior, a porta-potty.
That helped !!!!! I could now run a bit more relaxed. Even though I had slowed down and was being overtaken by what it seems was everybody, I felt better. Lap 3 done and I was gliding back into depression. Then I saw the 21k marker, half way and I had 1:54 on the clock. I calculated that if wanted to go under 10h I needed to move a lot faster, so I tried pushing a bit more. The best part was that this was the last lap around the lake, then a 14k run into downtown. I was still doing my walking breaks but now I took them at the drinking stations. Probably what I should have done to begin with, well live and learn. Lap 4 done :) and I could take the turn towards the city. I ran about 3-4k more and then I could see that there was no way I was going to make 10h so I stopped running and started walking. I walked for 5 min before I slowly started running again, but this time I was going easy. No reason to push; now it was just about finishing without dying. My wife had also said that if I died she was going to kill me ! So I was jogging towards the finish right into the headwind that was stronger than ever :( Well I did not care anymore…..left…right….left….right…..
I even asked some of the volunteers at a drinking station if they could give me a lift into the city, and they actually said yes, but I would have to wait 6-7 hours until they had packed everything down ! Not wanting to wait I jogged on. Finally I made it to the goal, there were a lot of people cheering, I was still thinking clear enough to take of my sunglasses so I would look “good” on the finisher photo. I did however not notice all the cheerleaders’ right before the finish line. I have pictures of me running by them, but I don’t remember them standing there, I guess all I wanted to do was finish so I could stop running.


I think I just need to run more, my marathon base was just not enough, else I thing I did ok

Had some food and a beer, talked to Steinn who had finished 30 minutes earlier. Got a hug and kiss from the wife. I was just happy it was over. I managed to get a massage before heading home. My legs where messed up and I was exhausted.


Not enough running base. On the bike I could have used a bit more speed, I had enough base but not enough speed work.


The race was very good, the swim was fantastic, bike and run course good. Lots of volunteers, this was only the second time they ran the IM distance so they did very good. What could be better was the information beforehand about transitions. The race ended 14k away from transition which was a little annoying when you had to go pick up your bike. I would like to race here again.