Challenge Roth 2013

 

THE RACE

Challenge Roth is one of the greatest long distance tri races in the world, according to some legends like Chrissie Wellington and Macca, this is the greatest race on the planet!

Challenge Roth is the landmark race of the Challenge organization, competing with the Ironman branded races. Where the IM organization is notoriously commercial, the Challenge organization profiles itself as a family and have a much more personal athlete and spectator focused race.

It's a fast course as well. In 2011 world records were set here for both men (Andreas Raelert - 7:41:33) and women (Chrissie Wellington (8:18:13).  Interesting fact is that the course is not the flattest on the circuit. Actually the bike is rolling hills with a few serious climbs.

Serene, Lotte and my parents were going to attend, so the pressure to perform was on!


PREPARATION

Had a great build-up and many months of consistent training leading up to this event. Performance in shorter races wasn’t great but IM pace workouts all went well. Had done more swimming than ever before, including 5k swims in wetsuits and regular open water swims. Also did a weekly long bike on Saturday morning for months. Adjusted quite well to heat and humidity in Singapore. Fittest ever.

Days before the race in Roth I felt strong; taper was good, well rested. Had my last real meal the lunch before race-day and lot’s of ice-cream and other sweet stuff the rest of the day. Had 6 hours sleep the night before the race.


RACE DAY

Fantastic weather: 13 degrees in the morning, 27 degrees maximum temperature and very sunny, little wind. Had bread and cheese for breakfast and drank 0.5L of coke. Was hoping for a sub-9:30 finish.


SWIM – 1:04:58 (Rank 513/3500)

Quiet water, wave start with 200 people, swim in canal. This was going to be an easy swim. It was a deep water start and I was in front in the middle of the pack. I swam hard when we took off and it felt fast. Held the pace for maybe 200m and then settled in to my moderate pace, trying to find feet. However, for some reason I found myself often swimming in open spaces.
On the way back it got worse and often “lost” feet and somehow had a bias to turn right even though in training I was swimming quite straight, also in open water.
When I came out of the water and saw the time, I was very disappointed. Was really aiming for and expecting sub 60 mins as I did 1:02 in the sea swim in Busselton half a year ago.


T1 – 2:32 (Rank 379/3500)

Felt good and fresh coming out of the water and running into transition felt good. Here I did feel the swim training paid off as I used to be much more tired after the swim. Transition went smooth until I got on the bike. Was again fiddling with getting my feet in my shoes and almost crashed into the barrier. But then off I was.


BIKE: 4:54:16 (Rank 126/3500)

Beautiful bike course with not a single flat section, fast roads. As this course is known to be fast, I had somehow expected it to be easier. It was actually tough and I felt not 100% strong, although it is hard to judge as the start of the bike has a lot of gradual uphills. Speed is not a good indicator. I was thinking that I didn’t feel the best I could feel on the bike, but decided to just push on as good as I could and to ensure to really enjoy the race.

I did overtake many on the bike and found myself cycling in a pace group. However, this was not the usual steady pace group. Everytime there was an uphill I was overtaken by better climbers (or people who just pushed hard on uphills), I would then overtake them again on the downhills where they tended to coast. However, a few escaped during lap 2 on Kalvarienberg and I didn’t catch up with them again.

I used a 55 large chain ring as per instructions of coach Woody. This would allow me to maximize speed on the gradual and long downhills of the course in combination with the smallest cog of 11. On climbs I could go as low as 39/25 and that was fine. Only downside is changing gear from 39 to 55 is not smooth and sometimes difficult.

Nutrition: had 1800 kcal from 1.2 liter Ensure plus. Had some salt pills and 2 bottles of energy drink. Total over 2000 kcal.

Garmin data               First Half              Second Half                 Total
Avg Speed                 37.2                      35.5                              36.8
Heart rate avg/max    128 / 139               127 / 138                      128 / 139
Avg Cadence             74                         74                                  74
     (incl coasting)

Another climb - an opportunity to get out of the saddle

Solarer Berg - "Triathlon Traumfabrik"!

T2 – 3:02 (place 1125/3500)

A great transition setup done by the race organization, fast and compact. Had a great dismount, handed over my bike and ran into transition while getting handed the run bag. Transition was smooth but took time to pee and stuff gels into my pockets before heading out on the run. Could probably gain a minute by peeing on the bike ☺


RUN – 3:30:47 (place 249/3500)

Run started with downhill, followed by an uphill. Did the first k in 4:15, continuously trying to slow down. Next k, including uphill at 5:04. Tried to settle into 4:30-4:35 but was slower and somehow didn’t commit to the pace set (despite telling myself that I will do that a million times in the weeks before)

Run along the canal was good, saw the pro’s coming back from the opposite direction. Didn't see Bockel, he was too fast, but did see Cunnama, Fachbach and the women: Xena, Yvonne van Vlerken (hup Holland!).... Their focus, determination and pace was inspiring! A bit later also saw Arnaud Selukov, one of the best triathletes based in Singapore and training buddy on many Saturday morning rides.

Had some stomach cramps during the run, but largely “controlled” them and was able to eat about 4-5 gels with caffeine and maybe 8 salt pills. Drank coke and iso and had some watermelon.

It was warm but not extremely hot. Did cool myself at aid stations but this is the coolest IM race I have done!

Garmin data      1st 10k           2nd 10k        3rd 10k        4th 10k       Last 2k      Total
Pace                  4:46               4:52               5:10             5:24            5:03           5:00
HR av/max       135/148         137/150         137/150       132/140     139/142      135/150
Cadence            91                  90                  89                89               90              90

At the start of the run, I ran through the aid stations, drinking limited coke. Later on, I allowed myself to walk the aid stations to drink more and that explains some of the slowdown below. Digging deeper is again the goal for the next IM.

The town of Schwand brought some distraction and then back on the long stretch along the canal, after a modest climb. The run started to be really tough at km 25. There is an uphill section towards Eckersmuehlen across the canal and towards the last turnaround.

Then back towards Roth. The last 2k is a round through the town of Roth with again lots of spectators, including Woody, my coach. Also saw Serene and my parents and high 5-ed Lotte. The finish was incredible, a purpose-built stadium and a U-shaped last few 100 meters that allow you to really absorb that the job is done and to start celebrating!

TOTAL – 9:35:34 (OVERALL: 147/3500, AG: 30/552)
   
I had a disappointing swim, solid bike and improved run. I don’t think I had my best day, but very much enjoyed the race. Especially the bike course but also the run course were beautiful but tougher than expected. Time not as fast as hoped, but still a 10min PB. Happy!

I highly recommend this race, with 220,000 spectators who seem to have unlimited energy as well as scenic quiet sections on the ride and run. The road surface is made to ride and the organization and volunteers were amazing. The atmosphere at a challenge event is a bit less commercial and more personal than at an Ironman event.

A big thanks to Woody, my coach who always knows exactly what is needed to ensure I continue to improve. Also thank you to my parents for their support at the race, especially my father who was with me from 4:30am until the finish line. Last but not least I am extremely grateful to Serene and Lotte who not just accept my triathlon lifestyle but embrace it and support me week after week, month after month. Thank you all!

IM Korea 2011 - "You are an Ironman!"

The Challenge

Ironman is the ultimate triathlon endurance test: 3.8k swim, 180k bike and 42.2k. A new world record was set on a fast, flat cool course on the same day as my first Ironman: Marino Vanhoenacker at IM Austria in 7:45:58. The cut-off time for an Ironman is 17 hours. During an Ironman athletes burn between 8,000 and 10,000 calories.

After racing in sprint, Olympic Distance and Ironman 70.3 (half Ironman) races, I was ready for the challenge. My first Ironman was planned to be China, but that event was cancelled 2 weeks before race day. I was already signed up for Korea as well, a race infamous for rough swims and a hilly course...

Preparation

Consistency In Training (CIT) is key to be successful and I have been training consistently from the start of the year under

guidance from Woody my Ironguides coach. The last 3 months I have been based in Singapore on garden leave for a new job in Hong Kong and had plenty of opportunity to train.

Two weeks before the race we moved to Hong Kong and I have been able to continue my training in the taper on the Computrainer, outdoor runs and swims.

Together with Serene my wife and Lotte, my daughter we flew to Jeju, Korea a few days before the event. This gave me time to prepare and explore part of the bike and run course before race day.

The day before the race, I used a fueling strategy that has helped miracles for several athletes of my coach Woody: 400 grams of chocolate and 1.5 liter of full fat coke to be consumed before 1pm. I had chosen 85% pure chocolate (fuel should not be diluted!). A quick calculation revealed that the sum of calories was 3400. I barely managed to finish the chocolate by 1pm and felt sick the rest of the day. Only later at night I was able to eat something, but I was still right awake as if on drugs until 2am. Maybe I should have used milk chocolate instead as it’s probably friendlier on the stomach. Will test some pre-race day fueling strategy in my endurance weekends in training going forward.

Race day

Got up at 4am after just2 hours sleep, but felt a lot better than the day before. Had some bread with cheese for breakfast, got my pre-swim gear and wetsuit and headed out to the Teddy bear museum from where the shuttle bus was bringing us to T1. Had my Red Bull 30 minutes before the start to prepare for a long long day...

Swim – 1:05:14

The water was 22 degrees and therefore this was a wetsuit swim. The course was simple: swim out straight to a buoy at 900 meter from the start, turn right for 100 meter

and then turn right again back to the beach to finish the first loop of 1.9K. There was a short run on the beach before the start of the second lap.

I had positioned myself on the front row, towards the side. Doing so I should have more clear water to swim. It was a mass beach start (917 athletes) and when the cannon went off, I ran to the water, dove in and started swimming hard for the first few hundred meters (the all-out sections of the swim training worked out well!). From the start I had a lot of clear water ahead of me and was able to swim well. A few times I could use others by drafting on their hips or feet.

The run on the beach inbetween the two swim laps usually feels tough, as your body had been horizontal for 30 minutes with all blood concentrated in the arm and upper body muscles. However, this time I was mentally prepared for that and wanted to ensure to use the short run to overtake some people, get it over with quickly and go back to the horizontal swim position. It worked out well. Sand was very soft and many used this as a moment to rest, I ran out and back in passing about 5 people while doing so. I could also take a look at the water to see that there were quite a few people ahead of me but the large majority of the field was behind me.

The second loop of the swim went very similar and even at the buoys the traffic was manageable and by sighting well I could avoid the crowds and keep my momentum.

The last 900 meters I drafted well on someone’s hips with several people behind us on our feet. Back on the beach, I ran up to transition while stripping down my wetsuit and checked my watch: 1:05… I felt happy as this is a good time for me! At T1 grab my bike bag, take of the wetsuit, wear my helmet, oakleys and put my wetsuit back in the bike bag and then off to the bike. Was pleasantly surprised to see that most bikes of my age group and in general were still racked, so I was towards the front of the field.

Swim conclusion: Happy with the swim improvement. Was a bit anxious for my first mass start of a triathlon race (versus wave starts), but it was 100% better than expected. My swim focus in training is paying off in addition to positioning well at the start. Need to continue the swim focus to get my swim below 1 hr.

Bike – 5:24:07

The bike was going to be hilly, but without the infamous massive mountain climbs of previous years. It was a two loop course, starting with 6k steady climb, followed by 40k of rolling hills. This was followed by a long

steady climb of about 8k, a turnaround point followed by the same way downhill to about the 60k mark of the ride. The last part of the loop is a 30k relatively flat section.I passed quite a few people in the first 30-40k and the last 40k of the 180k. A few people passed, me especially on some of the climbs. Because of the varied terrain, there was never a fixed group I would ride with.

Drafting is not allowed but you would usually ride in a pace group with at least 7 meter between you and the bike ahead of you. I stuck to this rule to be fair and for fear of getting a 4minute drafting time penalty. However, there was some serious drafting going on in this race with race officials nowhere to be seen.

60k into the race, I started to feel sick. My drinks (a strong mix of carbs based energy drink) and half a snickers bar per half hour was more than my stomach could handle. Maybe still some sensitivity from the day before but I have been sick on the bike before in other races and need to find a way to avoid it, while still getting in sufficient calories.

As I was sick, I stopped eating and took some Gatorade from aid stations, instead of my energy drink. Wish they had coke, but that was not available. Getting sufficient calories on the bike is critical in an IM as it will avoid you to bonk – running out of fuel. Being sick I had no choice but I knew that this could have its effect on the marathon.

On some sections, pace groups would form, but on climbs they would fall apart. I always tried to stay with some of the stronger climbers and in that way overtook quite a few cyclists. I trained a lot in pancake flat Singapore but did very regular power intervals at low cadence and high resistance that paid off. But then of course there were some light and strong climbers that I could not keep up with.

It surprised me that not many athletes were racing the downhills and rather used it as a place to rest and recharge. I did race the downhills and some of them were very fast and long. However, often I was spinning even at a gearing of 53X11, so unable to keep the power up on the downhills all the time.

I skipped the special needs bag as I didn’t need the extra spare tube and CO2 canisters. Would have liked my red bull but the special needs bags were handed out on a fast downhill section, so I chose to skip it.

Pace groups were forming on the flat section, the last 30k of each loop. At about 60k I rode mostly upfront in a pace groups and whenever I took “a break” to drink or eat the group would overtake me but there was only one or two others who were willing to lead the group and doing so at a much lower pace. Whenever I took the lead again (annoyed by the slowdown of the pace group), they would jump on my back again. That’s where I decided to ride away from them and hope to not see them again during the race! I feel I that the flats are still where my strongest bike performance is.

After an hour or so with less calories, drinking Gatorade and a few sips of water with salt pills, I started to slowly feel better. My worries of taking insufficient calories grew and at an aid station I took 2 gels and I started drinking my carbs drink again.

The second lap flat section was better where we had a small group of 4-5 riders all keeping the fair distance from eachother, taking the lead of the pace group and riding good pace.

It seemed that many were fading towards the end of the bike (or holding back on purpose to prepare for the marathon). I passed quite a few people the last 20k or so.

I entered T2 and handed my bike to a volunteer, got my run bag and sat down for a minute to wear my socks, running shoes, fuel belt and to drink my Red Bull. Then I got up and out of the tent to start the marathon.

Bike summary: Great ride out there in varied terrain. Could have probably pushed it a bit harder on the flats and not settle to easily in pace groups. Need test different nutrition at sustained race pace efforts.

Run – 4:47:36

The running course was very hilly as well. The two loop course started with a steep downhill for about 1k followed by a 3k continuous steady uphill.

Running the downhill, I felt the sick feeling resurging strongly. I needed to vomit and felt dizzy. I decided to start walking and not to eat or drink anything other than coke from the aid stations. Very slowly I started to feel better and could start to jog the downhills. I would stop at every aid station to get new cold sponges and drink a cup or two of coke. Still feeling sick I started to run more and more. The weakness slowly faded throughout the marathon, but my pace was still very slow keeping in mind I have been running 4:10-4:30 moderate and 5:00 pace easy during my training, even after long bike sessions in even hotter Singapore. As per my garmin, my average pace was as follows:

- First 10k: 7:47

- Second 10k: 7.01

- Third 10k: 6:33

- Fourth 10k: 6:05

The last few k’s before the finish were downhill and I increased my pace further, passing several others. I felt stronger now as I was about to finish my first Ironman. On the last corner, I saw Serene and Lotte cheering me on as well as Reza, who raced the 70.3 giving me energy to finish strong. And then all that was left the red carpet of the finishing chute!

Run summary: Disappointing run. One can only guess what would have been possible if I would have run the run I am capable off without feeling sick . I was not so much affected by the heat, it was not as hot as my training ground in Singapore. The sick feeling, lack of fueling on the bike and the hills slowed me down.

Overall summary: I am an Ironman and am proud to be a member of this select group! My finish time was 11:25:29. An Ironman is an interesting long journey. Lot’s of things can go wrong, but also you have time recover. People have won races with punctures and other bad luck.

Nutrition is the 4^th discipline of Ironman and it is a lot more complex than just eating and drinking enough. There is a risk getting sick when eating or drinking too much or take food you are not used to. You have to think of energy and salt. I took salt pills regularly and it helps me a lot. However, I still have to work on finding out the best fueling strategy on the bike. What used to work in training in Singapore made me sick in Korea as it was a race situation where there is more pressure and a longer continuous strong effort.

I finished 30th in my age group. The slowest Kona qualifier in my age group had a finishing time of 10:23:03. If I could have run a marathon of 3:40, which I think I am capable of in these circumstances without being sick, I could have made it. That’s an exciting thought and motivates me to do even better next time. IM is a great puzzle and you have to get all pieces right in order to succeed. Planning for my next one already!

Watarase Triathlon - Hot and Short!

Sprint: 1:15:18 (42nd, 5th in my age-group)

- Swim: 14:48 (79th)

- Bike: 36:16 (17th, includes T1 and T2)

- Run: 24:14 (114th)

This race was held in and around a green watered reservoir. The green but desolate landscape with no trees provided very little shade. We made the train trip out with Jay, Geraldine, Ma, Serene and myself.

Before the start of the race, the temperature was already 36 degrees and the sun was burning down on the transition area from a clear blue sky. Because of the heat, the organizer decided to cut the race in half (from Olympic Distance to Sprint) and to start at 9:50 instead of 10:15...... Sudden rush to be at the start in time, no warm-up (was hot enough anyway).

Swim: Out and back swim in a lake. Water was lukewarm, but wetsuits were allowed (actually mandated). My full Helix suit was way to hot and I overheated in the swim, my legs baking on the surface of the water. I should have opted for my speedsuit instead. Valuable lesson learned!

Bike: After running for a few hundred meters over burning tarmac, I was happy to be able to stand on my wet wetsuit before heading out on the bike. Bike went quite ok after I started to cool down from the swim, didn't push it too hard and forced myself to finish my aerodrink. Overtook many and was overtaken by 2 athletes.

Run: Good transition into run, but heat was quite overwhelming. The run was only 5K so should have pushed it harder (again). Was forced to make a sanitary stop in the first kilometer, must have been drinking too much on the bike.

After the finish..... more glaring sun and heat before heading back in the air-conditioned train to Tokyo.

Interesting race, and a PB for sprint distance (was my first one!). Some good learnings:

- Need more swim training

- If hot, use speedsuit instead of wetsuit

- Do more short brick training: I want to be able to run at 4:00 pace after the bike