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Cologne Smart 2009
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Cologne Smart 2009 - TriathlonSprint
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 Swim
Comments: As mentioned before this was my first OWS in a TRI. It was about 150m from the swim entrance to the start. Me and Corinna got there with about 5 minutes to spare so we had to tread water until then as it was an in-water start. Lots of people around us and some guys in wetsuits were complaining about how cold the water was. We just told them that as they are wearing a wetsuit they cannot complain because we were one of the very few without wetsuit (I did not see many that were not in wetsuits). Corinna and me placed ourselves a little to the right as the turnaround buoy was more to the left so more people were to the left. The start gun went off and off we went. It was also the first time ever that I swam for a longer distance without having the turnarounds in the pool and I actually really enjoyed it. It was no problem at all and I found a rhythm quite fast and there were not that many people around as I thought. I followed the lines underneath the water and slowly made my way more to the left for the turnaround buoy. Took some breaststrokes in between to sight as it got quite crowded at the buoy. On the way back I just focused on long glides and during the whole swim I had no idea how fast I was going but I constantly kept pushing a little harder on the way back. I had the feeling the whole time that I could have swam faster but as this was my first swim like this I did not push it. When we got to the swim exit we needed to climb some stairs which were very slippy but there were volunteers there to help us out which was good (me being so clumsy I would have probably fallen). The time was taken about 10m after the swim exit so the net swim time was probably around 14:55 and I am OK with that for my first OWS! What would you do differently?: Swim faster.  Transition 1
Comments: Although my time was over 3 minutes it is actually quite a good time considering the fact, that you had to run about 200m to the transition area (luckily on green carpet which was nice as I hate running barefeet on asphalt). Transition went well and I as soon as I got to the bike I was organised and fast. What would you do differently?: Nothing  Bike
Comments: As soon as I got on the bike I started pushing right away and probably overtook about 20 people in the first few minutes. On the first loop it was very crowded on the course (narrow streets, out and back course and about 500 people biking). It was often very tough to follow the non-drafting rules. It was really windy (I would estimate that it was gusting up to 45-50km/h (~30mph) at times) but as I am used to the wind from living in Iceland I did not have any problems with it and it felt just like home. Sure I would have liked to do a race without much wind for a change but so far I can not change weather lol I went out of the aerobars two times on the long straights where the wind was blowing quite hard because it was difficult holding the bike straight but other than that I biked aero the whole time! I overtook at least 100 people on the bike and it felt good but I knew they would probably all get me back on the run ;) I had half a water bottle on the bike but did not need any food or other stuff. My goal was to get a 32km/h avg which would have probably worked out if there wouldn´t have been that much wind, but under these conditions I am happy with the bike! What would you do differently?: Nothing, maybe push even a little harder. Transition 2
Comments: I take that time as the run with the bike was about 100m and then another 20 to get out of the transition area. Had some trouble getting my socks on due to my numb and wet toes but I knew I needed them so I patiently tried until it worked. The only thing that was a little annoying in this transition were all the relay people that blocked the entrance to our bike racks and I had to shout "get away" more than once to get their attention and get some room to go through. What would you do differently?: Nothing  Run
Comments: Running was just simply FUN!! I love running and it will always be my favorite part of the TRI. The run route is beautiful and went around a lot of small lakes and the whole rowing stadium lake. Lots of people running around and it was nice to run in company. I pushed right from the start because my goal was a sub 6min per km pace. I felt good and the legs felt even better (so I probably could have pushed a little more on the bike) and I knew I could make my goal right from the start. I never doubted it and just went for it. I knew my friend Corinna was not far behind me on the bike and she is a faster runner so I knew I had to keep pushing for her not to catch me. I turned around a couple of times because I kept thinking that she must be catching up to me for sure but she never did. After km 2 I really needed to pee but I successfully ignored it :) After km 3.5 I got a big stone in my right shoe but again no way I was stopping and luckily it went somewhere where it did not bother me too much. It rained once or twice during the bike segment and about 1/3 of the the running path was a clay-mud-like underground and you really had to watch out there as it got quite slippy. I kept telling myself not to fall. After about 4km I found a group of people to run with and tried to stick with them for a while but they slowly pulled away so I was alone most of the time. I even managed to overtake 4 (!) people on the run which I think has never happened before lol. I had some trouble breathing for a few times and I had to slow down. Today I was limited by my lungs and not my legs which does not happen often! After 4km my back was ready to be done but I ignored that as well and told it to keep up for 3 more km!! I had two sips of water at the aid station but no food at all. Did not need it. I saw my husband and his friend at about 1km to go and they were cheering me on. At that point I started to get trouble breathing again and told my husband to get my asthma spray to have it available after the finish. The last 500m you had to go another loop around the transition area before going into the finish which was mean but I kept pushing as hard as I could. The finish line was nice, red carpet and cheerleaders cheering for you. I finally saw the clock and was happy to have made my secret goal of going sub 1:50 :) What would you do differently?: Nothing Post race
Warm down: After the finish I looked for my friends and my husband and they were there right away congratulating me. It was really nice. 3 minutes later my friend Corinna finished as well. We got our finisher medals and our (really nice!) finisher t-shirts and then I got something to drink. I am never hungry after races and usually don't eat much but they had some typical german apple and cherry pie and I could not resist that! It was soooo yummie and I ate it guilt-free :) We stood around for a while and then changed into some warmer clothes and waited for the medal ceremony. My husband got 6th overall (from 1000 people!!) and 3rd in his age group and his friend won his Age Group and got 15th overall. I was very proud of both of them!! All in all an awesome race! It was so cool to race with 1000 other people as we are not used to a crowd like that here in Iceland. I had an awesome weekend with some great company (thanks guys!!) and I would really like to do this race again in the future! This was my last TRI of the season and I am actually glad it is over for now. It was a long season (6 months) and got everything I wanted out of it and had several PBs. Now its time to get my body back in order, fix the back and fix the shoulder and get to the bottom of my breathing problems. What limited your ability to perform faster: My weight.... Profile Album Last updated: 2009-08-31 12:00 AM
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 2009-09-10 4:08 PM |
Extreme Veteran  608   Iceland |  Subject: Cologne Smart 2009 |
| 2009-09-10 4:39 PM in reply to: #2399612 |
Extreme Veteran 459 | Subject: RE: Cologne Smart 2009 Great job on the race! Sounds like you had a really good year this year. Nice pics too...you look really happy.  |
 2009-09-10 6:59 PM in reply to: #2399612 |
| Subject: ... This user's post has been ignored. |
| 2009-09-11 10:15 AM in reply to: #2399612 |
Master 1322 Chicago | Subject: RE: Cologne Smart 2009 Wooo Hoo! Sounds like a lovely day and congrats on getting through the first OWS in a race i'm sure it was unnerving. I always worry about what kinda creatures are out there too. So far I've only seen fish about an inch long swimming on the bottom. Hope it stays that way! You look fabulous! |
| 2009-09-14 7:54 AM in reply to: #2399612 |
Champion 19812  MA | Subject: RE: Cologne Smart 2009 Great first ows race!!! Huge race and you had some many folks to pass on the bike..sweet! Nice pace on the run....impressive! I had to do some math to see how it converts to mph..as I'm not so good at metric. I'd love to run that fast~ Congrats on a awesome race. |
| 2009-09-14 7:47 PM in reply to: #2399612 |
| Expert 843 Gilbert | Subject: RE: Cologne Smart 2009 Great race! I love reading your race reports. Thanks for inspiring the rest of us! |
| General Discussion-> Race Reports! |
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Germany
15C / 59F
Overcast
Overall Rank = 85/213
Age Group = F30-35
Age Group Rank = 19/48
This was our second Triathlon in Germany this year. We (mys husband, his friend and my friend) flew out to Cologne on Thursday evening and got their about 1am at night and were finally in the hotel by 2am.
Slept as long as possible the next morning and got up just in time to still go to the breakfast buffet. We stayed in our crew hotel (as I was technically "working" that weekend) and it is a 5 star hotel which is really nice.
After breakfast on Friday we put our bikes together and then biked out the lake where the competition was held to pick-up our race packs and to check out the lake and get a short swim in the in.
The lake was a rowing stadium and was very convenient for my first "open" water swim. There was buoys every 12.5m connected by a line which was about 1.5m under water and while you were swimming it is possible to follow the line which makes it easy to swim straight.
The guys knew the lake already as they did their Ironman there last year.
After we picked up our race stuff we changed and then got a short swim in. I think it took me longer to actually get in the water than I was in the water afterwards lol
I am such a chicken when it comes to swimming in a place where I don�t see the ground. I just stood in the water for about 5 minutes and I tried to get my irrational thoughts (e.g. are there monster on the bottom of the lake, will the plants bite, will the fish eat me?) out of my head.
Finally my friend Corinna came back to shore and we swam out to the buoys holding hands (lol) and it worked OK. Thanks Corinna!!
It still took me a while to get over the fear but it went OK.
Water was about 22C (71F) and as it was warmer than the air it was not that cold! I did not wear a wetsuit!
After the short swim we looked at the expo but as it was quite small we did not spend too much time there. We still bought quite some stuff though and somehow I am glad it was not bigger as otherwise I would have probably spend a lot more money ;)
Biked back to the hotel and I was very lucky as I had my first flat of the year but luckily right in front of the hotel!! We then went for a short shopping trip and then had a bite to eat.
All in all the Friday consisted of 32km bike, 400m swim and about 5K walk which I believe is way too much the day before a TRI, even if it is just a sprint ;)
This is definitly a TRI for me as it did not start until lunch lol (I hate early morning starts!!).
And as we were all in the second start group we did not have to start until 1pm. Had another nice breakfast at the hotel and then biked out to the lake (16K warm-up!!)
We checked in our bikes and I was amazed by the huge transition area. Here in Iceland we consider it a big race when 20 people show up! There it was 1000 participants!! The first start group started at 12pm and we looked at the swim start and then finished setting up transition before walking down to the lake.
I was worried how long it would take me today to get in the water so I wanted to be there early but in the end I knew that I would have no problems getting in as there were 500 other people with me (and what are the chances that the monsters eat me and not one of them lol)