Wrapup 2016 - planning 2017

2016 has been a good year as I have managed to break my PB in three different triathlon distances and also became a mentally stronger triathlete. This was also the first year that races and training planning was done together with Darby (coach) which was a key foundation for successful races ,zero injuries (well not from training J ) and zero sick days.

The build part of the training went quite well and by January my FTP raised from 250 to 280 all looked great and then came the ski vacation.
For my wife 40^th birthday we have went for a long weekend in the Italian Alps. When trying to show off how fast I’m (first ski holiday with the wife) I have made an amateur snowboarder mistake and at the speed of 36km/h crashed on my left hip. Lucky only my pride got broken yet a three weeks of lying on the coach and a three more for recovery caused my fitness to drop.

Recovery went well and by the time of the first race (21^st of May) I was 90% recovered as still had pain when transitioning from cycling to running

In June I have joined Finland’s best triathlon club SKB Racing Triathlon Team, this gave a boost to my racing performance as racing with a tri-club suit and getting a great team support in local races is game changer especially for those dark moments during the race (among other great benefits of being part of this club)

Races this year were planned quite well :

·      Half distance in May to remove the rust (IM 70.3 St Pölten)

·      Olympic in start of June (Vantaa Triathlon)

·      Half distance in end of June as part of the full distance training  (Långvik)

·      Full distance in mid July (Challenge Roth)

·      Half distance in  mid Aug to close the season (Challenge Turku)

Racing went great , first the confidence was high and pre-race stress low then setting goals to each race and create a race plan based on those prove as success (never race without a goal/s). I have managed to break PB: Olympic 2:11 (previous 2:25), half 4:35 (previous 4:45) and full 9:49(previous 10:25) this prove a good progress and I believe that there is more room to improve.

What next?

Still planning for this year to do few running events a 10K race, an half marathon and my first full open marathon (Frankfurt). Next year races are already planned ,booked and goals are set.
will start with IM 70.3 Mallorca in May - goals : take off the rust, experience a non-flat course, visit Mallorca and enjoy good time with SKB team. In June The Championship race in Slovakia – Goals: race with the best and improve my half PB and in July Finntriathlon Joroinen Finnish championship in half distance – Goal: top 10 in my AG.  
For full distance event I have wanted to do IM Kalmar (Sweden) yet the logistic for this race was too complicated so in the end I have registered to IM Copenhagen – goals: Finish time 09:30, top 20 in AG , those are not easy goals yet I believe that if work hard and get the needed progress those goals can be met.

Challenge Roth Recap

Because of the 15 years’ celebration Challenge Roth had a waiting list this year, which I got lucky to be the first in, and got an entry to one (if not the most) famous long distance triathlon race in the world.

Thursday morning early flight to Munich and a two hours’ drive to a small town, which was located 5km from Roth. I usually try to rent an apartment with a kitchen which makes it easy to maintain the pre-race diet. The place was in a quite part of town with high end tech accessories from the 80s.

 

Back to the 80s

After unpacking and assembling my bike I joined the long line to registration with almost 6000 other athletes. It took about 40 min to get the welcome kit and sign the no drafting board.

Checked out the race expo, which was quite big with the traditional swim, bike, run and other gadgets one might be interested in. One of the more interesting item that was the unique swimming snorkel from Ameo. After long talk with the Ameo guys, and nice race discount I of course bought it. Swimming is so boring so any new toy that makes it more exciting is more than welcome (I´ll report about the experience in few weeks).

The organization offered swimming training in the race course on Friday and Saturday   from 06:30-09:00 which was prefect as it was the same time as the race and was only 15 min drive from my place.

The swim in Roth is done in the Donau canal which is used for cargo ferries. For the training and race day they have close it by blocking the canal from both sides, which means no current and fast swim.

All pre-race preparation went fine, only a broken bike stem had to be replaced. Did total of swim  a 40 min bike ride and 2 runs, felt good and ready to rock.

 
Tip 1: Always arrive few days before the race so you get your gear tested and have time to relax.

Tip 2: drive the bike course and make yourself familiar with it’s up and down hills, it will remove a lot of race day stress and will help you plan your ride.

I felt ready for the race, my coach (Darby Thomas) has created an excellent training program which got me stronger in both fitness and mental strengths. The goal to the race which was set by wife was sub 10 and I was planning to do my best to achieve it.

Race day:

After a good sleep and pre-race gourmet meal of apple sauce, cottage and a banana I have arrived to the swim start. Final preparation, sort talk with super cool Daniela Ryf  and I’m ready to race.

unlike many Ironman branded race in Roth you can have all cycling gear on the bike

It was not possible to do a swim warm up but you get 5min to swim to the start which was sufficient to get the blood moving. I choose to be on the inner side of the course which was a  good choice as the faster swimmers were also on that side and it helped keeping a good pace.

Loud canon go off and here we go, first 200 meter all out and then got into a good rhythm while behind drafting the lead group. There were distance signs every 200m which really helped with pacing the swim, on the first 1km we already started to pass the group which have started 5 min before us. At the 1900m mark quick look at my Garmin Fenix 3 watch 30:02min, looking good! Wanted to push more so I can finish the swim under 1h but with a 600 swimmers to pass it was impossible.

Tip3: In Roth try to get to start group 2, I think it based on your either race target or previous results

 

Swim time 1:01:48 and off to T1

T1: Entering into the transition tent a nice old lady helps you with the wetsuit , put it in the bag and wish you a good luck. Helmet, race number sort run and jump on the bike. Time 2:23m

Bike:

Was ready to push: my plan was to hit around 210w on average ,ignoring HR and most important no drafting. Drafting is cheating and also Challenge Roth has a quite hard penalty for it  which  is very simple you get disqualified ans for other typical race penalties you get 5min stop and a lovely 1km added to your run!

Tip 4: Don’t draft , you only cheat yourself.

The bike course is not flat (total 1500m of assent) but it is fast as the climbs are very sharp and the downhills are very long so you can get a good speed for most of the course, it is very similar to Ironman St Pölten 70.3 bike course.

First hour went as planned (Garmin Edge 520 shows 37km/h Avg, avg power 207w) until arriving to Kalvarlenberg a.k.a pain hill. As I drove it yesterday I have already planned how to tackle it  and keeping Darby's advise to have a moderate push on uphill (…and full gas on downs) I set on a 260w effort until reached the top, than was ready to push again but a strong head wind has destroyed my plans, straggling on the next  20km has required an higher effort to (watts up) . On 2^nd loop it was crowded on the course as additional riders from the last swimming groups as joined, but I managed to get away from the few drafting trains , finishing the last round taking a sharp right turn to Roth with a 4 km was eager to go off the bike and start running.

Great support from the locals on each town you pass

Bike Finish: 5:00:6 Avg 200w , NP 211, IF 0,75 almost as planned.

T2: Again a first class service by Roth voluntaries, they take your bike, hand you the bag , help you with putting the shoes and make sure that you have all your gels etc. What a great service, its gives you this "PRO" feeling.

Out for run after 1:57m

Run:

Garmin Fenix 3 showing a race time of 6:06h which means that I need a 3:53 marathon for a sub 10, legs felt good and my motivation is up, looking possible lets hit the road.

Run has started well , good pace under 5min/km and HR topping Z2. Coming to the 4km timing point I don’t hear the typical beep, quick look on the left leg f%&k the timing chip is not there!

Tip5: Use small safety pins to secure your chip.

Lucky the guy from Mika timing said to me that they can put my number in the computer  on each station , after sort break back to the run. Roth running course is flat , mostly on gravel ,with a few turns and has many supporters along it all those are somewhat easing the suffering.

On the 17km the first mental break comes body asks to stop and go for a beer, looking  again at my Garmin the average pace showing a nice 5:08 so the beer will need wait for a while.  Reaching the half marathon mark in 1:50h  gave a positive feeling as it means that I have to run less then 6m/km to reach  my goal as not major pains sub 10 is in the basket.
It was all mind pushing till the 38km (yes it is all in your head), stopping on each aid stations for some drinks (water, cola , red bull . iso drink … all in a good mix), few water sponges to cool down the body and back to run.

I still needed to stop on each timing station looking for the Mika Timing guy to put my number in the computer which was a pain in the ass as some them were busy with other activities such as beer drinking (arggg).

Tip 6: being caffeine free for 10 days worked, you get the extra kick when taking a gel with caffeine.

On the 38 Km getting back to the town of Roth , some bands playing rock music ,  many supporters , kids giving you high five all made the pain goes way and a green light for the final push.

Crossing the finish line with a 3:43 marathon (25 min faster than last year) and a total race time of 09:49:56, welcome to the sub 10 club!

What a great race such great feeling, for sure will race Challenge Roth again.