Hannover ½ ironman distance 2011

so it is time to tell the whole story about my adventure in the German city of Hannover last weekend. it started very well but ended up as many of you knows in the hospital.
I and my truely fans, my wife and my children we arrived in Hannover on thursday evening and stayed in the city center. it was very hot and humid, so we preferred to stay inside the most of the time because the children did like the high humidity. fortuntely there was a big mall close to our hotel so we can get some food and spend our time together.
Saturday I started to the day with some cycling for 45 min with some short intervals and ran 15 min. off bike with the first km in race pace and the rest very easy. afterwards I felt very ready and optimist to reach my goal, top 3 overall.
Raceday I woke up at 8 and did sleep very well the whole night, had a very light breakfast as usual, light bread and jam and some fresh fruit and juice. I prepared my gear and we left to the race area so I had two hours to prepare myself before my start in heat 2 at 11:45. I did all the routine like always and lay down in the shade to relax and imagine in my head the whole race, and I felt ready mentaly and phsyically. the wet suit on and on my way to the channel where we going to swin. a marshall saw my CEP tubes and ask me to take them off, because according to the german regulations, it is not allowed to wear socks on during the swim part. I tried to tell him these are tubes and not socks, but now way, I took them off and went straight to the water.

Swim part: I was in the frontline just behind the canoe, and when I heard the gun I swam like mainac to stay in front just to get out of the jam. after 400 meters I stayed in the front and still behind the canoe, I wondered where are the fast guys to draft on, I looked to the both sides and found 2 guys swimming on my right side and they started to pull away, I stak on there feet and hanged on the whole way, finished the swimming in 24:15 and did not feel exhausted. I think it is a less than 2km as they mention. but the best swimming in my life.

bike part: I ran off the water and up to the transition area 200 m. away, and the wetsuit off and helmet and glasses on and run with the bike out with the 2 others in the group. jumped on my bike and took the shoes on and started to pedal and started to feel very stiff ín my backside of my thighs and espacially my butt. it hurts very much, I started to ease down and I had to stop a couple of times to stretch my muscles and did not help at all, but I denied to pull out of the race, maybe the wise descession was to do so. I was riding my bike with 100 watt the first 20 km and afterwards I could push a little more up to 200 watt and after the first round (at 30km) I could push it up to 230-250 watt. the second loop I went very fast and could see how strong I could ride, but after km 70 I started to feel very hot even I drank a lot and took my salt according to my plan, and it used to work. I tried to ease down again and finished my bike in 2:30.

Run part: I thought now I will show how fast I could run, I improved a lot this year and been able to hold very high speed for longer time than ever. I started and my Garmin should the first km 3:48 and I felt fine and the next km 3:53 and still fine and the heartrate law and now emergancy signs. suddenly I hit the wall and could not concentrate and started to get very hot again, tried to cool down with water, did not help at all. I ran and walked the rest of the half marathon. so I can finish. running time 1:44.

afterward I felt very tired and bad, but had som water melons and energi drinks, then took a shower and went to down town to have some food with my family. before I started to eat my food felt very bad and started to sweat a lot and went to the toilet to puke. since then I puked everything I consumed till I decided to go to the hospital. and there they told me that I am having a kidney failure and hardly dehydrated. so I slept there for a couple of days with alot of Natruim cloride in my arm. had som bread and pasta, and now I am fine and back home ready to prepare for my main goal Roth Ironman distance.

The show is just begun

05.05.2011: it has been long time ago I updated my site. now the triathlon season is started and I have already raced ½ IM in lissabon Portugal and became nr. 3 in my agegroup and 18 overall. the most spectacular is that I ran 1.19 and its 5 min fastest than last year. the bike course was very wet and slippery so it is difficult to judge my performance on the bike. but I felt very strong when it was safe to push. I am using powermeter now so my focus is not on heartrate any more, and it works very well.
the next race will be in Hannover another ½IM and I am aiming for top 3, I came in 5th last year and my overall performance this year is much better.
the focus in training now is form top in the 10th of July in Roth, Germany. I am aiming for Sub 9 hours IM.
My training this year is a little different from last couple of years. I doing hard work 2 times a week and long run/rides once a week, just to see if I can get faster. in the run it is already giving good results, so the bike will be very interesting to follow. the Swimming is getting better, the morning sessions with the guys from KTK86 are improving my performance.