Challenge Roth 2015

Challenge Roth is one of the most spectacular long distance triathlons in the world, mostly due to the large number of spectators lining the course: the latest estimate I heard was of more than 250,000 this year!

This was the reason why I chose this race for my first Ironman distance, and I was lucky to get one of the coveted starting places when I signed up about a year ago.

So after one year of training, race day was on July 12th, and I could finally prove that I could swim for 3.8km, cycle for 180km, and run a marathon (42.2km), back to back, and in under 15 hours!

So this is it: my race report. I got up at 3:30am on race day, and only got back to bed at 1am. A long day. But one I'm mightily proud of!

After applying the start number tattoo and anti-chafe cream, it was time for breakfast: 2 rolls with strawberry and apricot jam. Then a short drive to the swim start, followed by a bit of a wait filled with putting water bottles, gels, and electrolyte tablets in place on the bike; leaving the bag for the first transition in the transition area; waiting; and finally, putting on the wetsuit.

Swim

Fairly quickly after that the swim start happened, and the race was underway! Orientation in the canal was straightforward, the water nice and warm, and so I could swim at my slow but comfortable pace. Until the first turning point, when the starters from the following start group caught up with me (they had all announced a sub9 finish, so were expected to be fast), after which swimming became somewhat less comfortable. But overall an ok swim, and after 1:31 I was on land again.

Cycle

I didn't focus on speed during the cycling - conserving energy and staying within the time limit were my main concerns. The first few km I spent calculating the portion of distance already covered. After 6km: one thirtieth already. After 12km: two thirtieth, that was quick! etc.

Another attraction were the race judges who frequently passed by me. They always observed the groups cycling in front of me for a while before making a decision on whether or not to give a time penalty to someone. Once a cyclist near me got a time penalty (the drafting was done behind me, so I cannot judge whether it was justified), very good entertainment for a few minutes ;)

To my great surprise, I had an average of 28km/h for the first hour, much faster than in training. How did that happen?! Then the tallest hill in the course came close, the 'Kalvarienberg'. I had quite some respect for the hill, so arrived there with some anticipation. The atmosphere cycling up was great: an announcer, a group of cheerleaders, a samba group with drums, and a bunch of other people cheering. Whether it was the atmosphere or the power in my legs, I found the hill to be demanding, but very nice and very doable. The hill flattened out towards the top, and I even managed to pass a few people, very good for (my) morale.

Starting from km40 I remember sitting on the saddle became more and more painful. No surprise, and luckily 'only' caused by pressure, not chafing. From around km130 every change in sitting position was really painful.

Towards the end of the first loop I approached the famous Solar hill. A great view from the bottom: lots of space to cycle, and crowds lining the hill up to the very top. Very impressive. Unfortunately I don't really like it when there's little space and lots of noise at the same time, which is what happened during the top part of the hill. I cycled as fast as possible just to escape this mess.

In the second loop there were markedly fewer spectators (which finally made Solar hill a great experience!). Starting from the top of the Kalvarienberg (~km30 in the second loop) there was a vicious headwind during much of the second loop. Not nice. But I was used to winds from cycling in England, so I suffered less than many of the others. The wind was probably the main reason why the second loop was slower than the first (3:11 vs. 3:25).

Overall my average speed was 25.5km/h, much faster than in training. One factor contributing to this probably was the quality of the road surfacing, which was very markedly better than in England. After 7 hours on the bike I arrived at the second transition area, about half an hour faster than the plan!

I took my time again during transition. A helper applied a new layer of sunscreen, while I discovered that my right foot was hurting badly. The outside of it was cramping and I had to switch to heel strikes for the first 3-4km of the run.

Run

My plan for the run had been to keep a pace of 6:30min/km (a 10:27 mile), and I was able to keep this pace throughout (overall average was a 6:26). Andrey found me at several aid stations and gave me ice water - a very welcome refreshment, and talking to him while he ran next to me was a welcome diversion!

I entertained myself by controlling my pace using my GPS watch and passing all the walkers. Many people were walking, starting as early as few km after the start. I definitely had not expected this! I didn't have major problems. Sure, the legs hurt towards the end, but by then the finish line was almost in sight. The worst part were the last 6km, where my lungs were acting up and made breathing difficult. I repeated calming words almost like mantras, and succeeded at least to the point that I could keep the pace, and smile for the finish!

Comparison of the disciplines

In comparison to the other female starters, swimming was my worst discipline (423rd out of 429). Totally fine, because it is the shortest anyway. Next was cycling (371st), and by far my best discipline was running (165th). Keeping running was key to success here. And mental strength helped: I was convinced that I could keep a pace of 6:30, and did not have self doubts whatsoever. Overall, I finished after 13:14:51 hours, 62nd out of 90 in my age group - a great result for my first long distance triathlon!

Nutrition

Nutrition was another key to success. Because I didn't like the energy drink the organizers supplied, I made a bike bottle of High5 'syrup', which was enough for 5l of High5 energy drink. So whenever my aero bottle was getting empty, I added syrup, two electrolyte tablets, water from an aid station, and blew bubbles into the bottle to mix the stuff. Worked great, but I only needed about a third of the syrup.

In addition, I had two soft flasks with High5 gels, 5 with caffein and 8 normal ones. Every 20 minutes I ate a normal gel, and when I felt tired I ate a caffeinated one instead. I drank some plain water with each gel, which explains why I didn't need as much sports drink as anticipated. When my soft flasks were empty (around km110, as planned) I took gels from the aid stations and ate those.

At some point during the first loop I forgot to eat gels, and as a result felt my energy levels drop. I noticed it in time to recover and from then on paid great attention to not missing the 20 minute marks.

I also found a very helpful and memorable tip before the race: whenever your mood changes during a race: eat! Especially when the mood changes to the negative. I found this extremely valuable and applied it a few times during the race. Without fail, my mood improved with an additional gel in my belly.

Supporters

There were several people there to cheer me on: Andrey (of course), my family, and some friends from my crazy sports forum. All of them said they saw me several times. Except for Andrey -- who spotted me, and then came to talk to me and run beside me -- I only saw the fast twitchers once, and my family zero times. I was quite focused on doing 'my thing' and hardly noticed specific faces in the spectator crowd. Especially on the run, there was a lot to do (in order of frequency): think hard about what food and drinks to take at the next aid station (gel+water? sports drink? salt? coke?); control pace; pass other runners; calculate how much distance is left, and how long it will take; etc.

Even so, I found the spectators in general very motivating, especially those who cheered me on with my name. Being a girl was a definite advantage here, because the guys around me mostly only got general cheers, not named ones.

Training

I started preparing for the race in January and trained for a total of 175 hours and 35 minutes, an average of 6:16 hours per week. About 60% were done on weekends, and 17% (32:15 hours) was high-intensity non-specific training (weight training, plyometric training, core training, sessions similar to Crossfit,... designed by a 'guru' in my crazy sports forum).

In kilometers, I spent:
16km swimming (4.2x IM distance)
1531km cycling (8.5x IM distance)
508km running (12x IM distance)
Putting it in relation with the race distance, it is no surprise that swimming was my worst, and running my best discipline.

Considering that there was a lot going on besides training (a new job and moving between cities, among other things), this kind of training meant I could still prepare properly for the race and finish much faster than planned, without being in too much pain during the race.

Results are online here.

Mitteldistanz Cologne Triathlon Weekend

So heute habe ich endlich wieder eine richtige Tastatur. Ich hoffe hier ist der richtige Platz um meinen Wettkampfbericht unterzubringen (urspruenglich geschrieben auf fasttwitch.de).

Wie ich irgendwo schon mal geschrieben habe, war das also meine erste Mitteldistanz nach insgesamt knapp anderthalb Jahren Triathlon (bzw. Ausdauersport überhaupt). Mein Plan war hauptsächlich ins Ziel zu kommen, und eventuell unter 7 Stunden zu bleiben - das erschien mir nach den Trainingsergebnissen gut machbar :)

Ich bin mit meinem "Fanclub" (bestehend aus Mutter und Schwester) am Freitag schon nach Köln gefahren (praktischerweise wohnt mein Bruder dort, so dass wir seine Wohnung verwüsten durften). Abends war ich trotz (oder wegen?) des Pausentags ziemlich platt und hatte Rückenschmerzen... also früh ins Bett gegangen und mit dem Mantra "ich bin fit und gesund" im Kopf eingeschlafen.

Samstag gings mir wieder gut, also weiter nach Plan: morgens noch kurz die letzte Einheit absolvieren und danach gemütlich das Rad mit den Öffis zum Fühlinger See bringen. Dumm nur, dass ich nicht daran gedacht hatte, meinen Helm mitzunehmen. Also stand ich dann vorm Rad Checkin und musste unverrichteter Dinge wieder abziehen. Aber immerhin konnte ich meine Startnummer und die zig Wechselzonen-Beutel schonmal mitnehmen und anschauen wo genau ich am Sonntag hin muss... gut für den Kopf :-)

Sonntag morgen war ganz entspannt - vor allem weil ich auf dem Hinweg meine zwei "Gepäckträger" dabei hatte, so musste ich mich nur um mein Rad kümmern ;-)
Nach dem Rad-check stand ich erst etwas planlos in der WZ1 herum, wurde aber gleich von einem Helfer in die richtige Richtung geschickt. Das fand ich übrigens sehr positiv an der ganzen Veranstaltung: überall standen eine Menge Helfer, die nicht nur freundlich waren sondern auch immer kompetent weitergeholfen haben.

Dann noch WZ2- und Zielbeutel abgegeben und zum Schwimmstart geschlichen... die Spannung stieg langsam aber sicher... um 12 dann endlich WK-Besprechung... Neo an, noch ein Gel futtern und dann war es soweit!

Aufwärmen hab ich in der Aufregung glatt vergessen (weil sich auch sonst überhaupt niemand warm gemacht hat, der so um mich herum stand...), also mussten die paar Meter vom Schwimmeinstieg zur Startlinie reichen. Ich habe mich an der äußersten Bahn eingereiht - lieber ein paar Meter mehr und dafür ruhig schwimmen als ständig von den anderen gestresst werden. Die Strategie ist super aufgegangen - wohl auch weil ich so langsam war :-)
Insgesamt war das Schwimmen echt locker. Lag zu einem guten Teil daran, dass man sich tatsächlich an den gelben Leinen unter Wasser orientieren konnte - ich musste nur für Wendebojen und Ziel den Kopf zur Orientierung heben.
Rausgekommen ist dann eine für mich sehr gute Zeit (44 Minuten - gerechnet hatte ich mit 50 Minuten, vor allem nach der Schwimmleistung in Düsseldorf, wo ich mit Slalomschwimmen für 1500m 42 Minuten gebraucht hatte)

Am Ausstieg hatte ich kurz Krämpfe in Ober- und Unterschenkel auf beiden Seiten, aber nach zwei, drei Schritten war der Spuk auch schon wieder vorbei. Dann locker zur WZ, Neo aus (aufräumen musste ich ihn nicht - ein Helfer meinte er macht das schon), Radschuhe an und los gings.

Die Radstrecke habe ich fast komplett in Aero-Position bestritten. Das ist deshalb erwähnenswert, weil ich im Training insgesamt sicher weniger als 20 Minuten in Aero-Position gefahren bin (da waren mir immer zuviele Autos am Überholen...). Das Resultat waren natürlich übelste Druckstellen an der Sitzfläche... gegen Ende bin ich ganz schön hin- und hergerutscht weil es überall wehtat. Außerdem gabs Druckstellen an den Unterarmen, die waren das wohl auch nicht gewohnt ;-). An der Sitzposition muss ich echt noch arbeiten, viel länger als die 90km hätte ich nicht auf dem Rad sitzen wollen.

Auf den letzten 10 oder 15 Kilometern habe ich mich dann noch nett mit einer anderen Starterin unterhalten. Wir hatten uns gegenseitig schon ein paarmal überholt und dabei ein paar Worte gewechselt, aber so ab km70 war wirklich sonst keiner mehr in Sichtweite, dann sind wir bis zum Schluss einfach nebeneinander gefahren und haben uns gegenseitig von diversen Schmerzen und voller Blase abgelenkt :-)

In der WZ gings für mich dann auch schnellstmöglich aufs Dixi - hach, war das schön. Dort reichte die Zeit auch für einen Blick auf die Uhr: 4:20 Stunden standen drauf. Noch 2:40, um mein Zeitziel zu erreichen... also würde eine 7er Pace locker reichen! Also bin ich ganz gemütlich losgelaufen und habe erst auf der zweiten Runde ein kleines bisschen mehr Gas gegeben. Die Wendeltreppe fand ich eigentlich ganz lustig. Bin so im Seemannsgang hochgewankt und hatte oben immer einen viel zu hohen Puls. Aber es war eine nette Abwechslung, vor allem wenn man so lang unterwegs ist wie ich. 2:27 stand am Schluss auf der Uhr. Nur fünf Minuten langsamer als meine (bisher einzige) Halbmarathon-Zeit vom letzten Jahr, damit kann ich wirklich zufrieden sein.

Im Ziel - nach insgesamt 6:48:33 - war ich dann doch ziemlich platt und habe die kostenlose Massage sehr SEHR gerne genossen. Wenn ich meinem Fanclub glauben kann, konnte ich nach der Massage auch plötzlich wieder viel besser laufen. Muss wohl ziemlich fertig ausgesehen haben nach dem Zieleinlauf?!?

Wie auch schon nach der OD Düsseldorf war ich im Ziel erstmal pappsatt. Vielleicht habe ich unterwegs zuviel gegessen?!? Auf dem Rad waren das so alle 10km ein Gel oder Riegel und insgesamt 2,5 Radflaschen voll Iso-Plörre. Beim Laufen habe ich an fast allen Stationen ein Gel genommen. Ich habe irgendwo die Empfehlung 1g KH pro Stunde und Kilo Körpergewicht gelesen, da habe ich versucht hinzukommen. Gerade nochmal nachgerechnet, ich lag wohl so bei 0,9g. Jedenfalls brauchte ich danach kein Abendessen mehr.

Und bevor ichs vergesse noch ein Wort zu meiner Wettkampf-Geschwindigkeit: weil mein Hauptziel ja das Finishen war, habe ich mich im WK nicht an Geschwindigkeiten orientiert, sondern fast nur am Puls. Ziel war auf dem Rad die 160 und beim Laufen zumindest auf der ersten Hälfte die 165 nur selten zu überschreiten. Zur Orientierung: Maxpuls liegt so bei 190 oder knapp drüber, bei FT Einheiten komme ich häufig in den Bereich um 180.
Auf dem Rad hätte ich wohl etwas mehr Gas geben können, da lag der Durchschnittspuls am Ende nur bei 155 (max 168), beim Laufen hat es dagegen ganz gut geklappt, da waren es 163 (max 174).

Und das Fazit? Ich bin saumäßig stolz, dass ich ins Ziel gekommen bin!
Die Zeit lässt sich in den nächsten Jahren sicher noch verbessern. Wenn ich meine Zeiten so anschaue, sehe ich vor allem beim Radeln und Laufen großes Potential. Soweit ich das beurteilen kann, fehlt es mir in beiden Disziplinen an Kraft und Kraftausdauer. Da komme ich mit FT sicher gut weiter!

Triathlon Training, part 1

Today, I completed the first (of three) blocks in my training for the half Ironman I'm doing in September. The graph below gives a very nice summary of my training in the past twelve weeks:

Customs among race cyclists

How do you distinguish between Japanese and non-Japanese race cyclists? Apart from the obvious, there's one big difference I noticed during my cycling trips in Japan.

As I mentioned before, I cycle on a 5km loop because it's the only designated bike path I've found so far. Every time I'm there, there are several other race cyclists doing loops, so I suppose it's really one of the better options for cycling around here. Being a loop, you often come across other cyclists who happen to do the same loop in the opposite direction.

Now, in Germany, when you encounter other cyclists on the road, you greet them - nothing fancy, just a nod of the head or a short raise of the hand. In Japan, however, this custom doesn't seem to exist: up until now, the only cyclists who have returned my greeting were gaijin, while the Japanese cyclists stare but don't react - not even on the second or third encounter. What a shame!

Cycling in Japan

Happy New Year everybody! I'll write about my New Year in Japan soon.

But first, I've been meaning to write about cycling in Japan for some time now. In a way, I'm happy I put it off until now because I would have sounded overly bitter and resentful after my first few attempts at cycling here a couple of weeks ago.

Now, as far as I'm concerned there are two aspects to cycling in Japan, and it all depends on which kind of bicycle I use: city bike or road bike.

As you may know, I brought my road bike to Japan to keep up my triathlon training (if you want to have a look, it's this one). But of course, I can't really use the road bike for daily errands such as shopping. I would hate to leave the bike unattended somewhere, in fact I don't even own a lock for it. And I would have to wear cycling shoes to go shopping, which would be very strange.

So I bought a cheap city bike which I use mainly to go to the train station, to the gym, and for shopping. This is actually the cheapest bike I've ever owned, but it serves its purpose perfectly. Have a look:

The concept of bicycle lanes is virtually non-existent in Japan. People use city bikes all the time, but most of them just use the pedestrian paths. And as long as I'm riding my city bike, I'm perfectly comfortable riding there as well.

But when I ride my road bicycle, the pedestrian paths hold a couple of surprises that make them a very inconvenient option: there are potholes, street lamps and road signs narrowing the path, pedestrians and other cyclists going at different speeds, and so on. So, the only other option is using the street. But that's also not perfect: there are many, MANY traffic lights, it's possible to get into traffic jams, and some drivers pass by rather too closely for my taste. All this makes cycling a rather stressful experience, quite in contrast to Germany where I found it very relaxing. (Basically, this is the part that would have sounded bitter and resentful a couple of weeks ago).

In the meantime, I have found a route that may not be perfect, but at least viable - and better than everything else I tried. It consists of a 5km loop where a dedicated bicycle lane runs parallel to the road. This loop has only five traffic lights, which is really something to be thankful for in this city! Everytime I went there, there were a couple of other cyclists doing loops, so I guess that this is really one of the better options to ride a road bicycle in this area.

The loop is located about 10km from my apartment, and so far I've tried two different routes to get there. The most direct path is a big and very busy street with several lanes in each direction and virtually no traffic lights. However, the cars on this street are way too fast and pass very closely. So this is not a very enjoyable option. Another option I've tried is somewhat of a detour, nearly twice as long as the direct path, and with many more traffic lights. But it's also a more quiet street and everybody drives a lot more slowly because of all the traffic lights. That makes it my favourite option right now.

In fact, I went there earlier today. Have a look at the track:

Cologne Triathlon Weekend

If you want to know what makes me tick these days in less than three minutes, just have a look at the trailer for the Cologne Triathlon Weekend (from their YouTube channel):

I love this sport!

(and, yes, I know this is not strictly related to my life in Japan ;-))

Started training again

I have excellent news, though mainly for myself: my season break is finally over! I hated being idle for the past three weeks, so I'm really happy that I can start my regular training again now.

My goal for this season is to finish the middle distance at the Cologne Triathlon Weekend next September, and I'll probably throw in an Olympic distance triathlon around the end of June (maybe 3MUC in Munich).

I'd been a little anxious about finding a pool and gym for swimming and weight training (roads for running and cycling are a little easier to find ;-)). But, as it turns out, no problem at all: a colleague introduced me to a really nice gym not far from my apartment where I can do both!

So on Monday we went there to sign me up. The joining process took rather long - about 30 to 40 minutes - because they wanted to know lots and lots of details, like my home address and phone, work address and phone, my yearly salary, who to contact in an emergency, whether I have tattoos or contagious illnesses, and much more.

But, at long last, it was done and I could explore the gym. As space in Japan is rather limited, the gym is spread out over several floors. The entrance area is located on the first floor (which is equivalent to the German ground floor). Several studios where they hold all kinds of classes are on the second floor (among the classes are yoga and aerobics, and a whole lot of other stuff, but the timetable is in Japanese... and anyway, I didn't join the gym to take classes). The fourth floor features the locker rooms, showers, whirlpools, sauna and swimming pool. It's only a 25m pool, but at least it seems that it's not very crowded in the evenings. Finally, the gym area with the usual amount of machines, free weights, benches, treadmills and bicycles is located on the fifth floor. Most of the signs in the gym are available in both Japanese and English, and the staff also speak a little English, so it was really no problem to find my way around.

I signed up for the night plan, meaning that I can use the gym between 8pm and 11pm on weekdays. Especially for the pool, these are the opening hours of my dreams! Very unlike those in back in Germany where the public pools closed at 8pm at the very latest.