Racing Qatar Stage 6: Ostseeman Glucksburg

          The Ironman! The ultimate challenge of all triathletes. A race that anyone who has ever tried triathlon knows about and looks up to like something that if you do, you’ve done it all! Well…although not everyone can finish 3.8km of swimming, 180km bike ride and run a 42k marathon at the end, I knew that I could finish it almost any time within those 17 hours they give you! So for me it wasn’t some kind of supernatural battle, but definitely I wanted to do it and try how hard it really is, because from your comfy chair looking at some pictures everything looks easy. Pretty humble I am huh? J

          Actually there was a challenge for me too…and a big one! Finish the race in some good time…let’s say below 10 hours! So when I registered for the Ostseeman, an Ironman distance triathlon in Glucksburg in Germany, I set up a biggest race and challenge for this year! “I train all year l long, so with some more training I can attack sub 10 hours finish” I thought. But it was around February, six months before the race! And everything was to be changed!!

         At the beginning of the year everything was looking great and I felt equally great…winning races, posting personal bests and feeling strong! Then I went for two week trekking holidays to Nepal. “After I come back I’ll have 2.5 month for dedicated Iron training” I planned and enjoyed Nepal’s best! But somehow it wasn’t as I planned at all and don’t ask me what and when it got wrong, because I don’t know! So at the end of June with one month to go I was somewhere near the bottom, because I somehow haven’t done anything since I came back 6 weeks ago…strange, but Garmin spoke clear. I had to start again!

         I tried to finish the Iron distance during my training week, but I managed only once. I was not finding time and peace for quality training and tried to combine too many things together resulting in not doing anything right. So when I left home to Czech I was worried. Not worried that I wouldn’t finish, but that it would hurt! If you train enough, you can race and the race doesn’t become a painful struggle for survival. Obviously I lowered to goal time to more realistic sub-11 hours to give me some hope, but still…I felt terrible.

        I had one week at home prior to the race and I had to spend it training a little instead of resting. But those few enjoyable rides and runs in the forest and village scenery gave me some peace of mind. They didn’t prove me wrong that I somehow lost my shape since spring instead of being way further, but I at least started to look forward to the race again J And it stayed like that until the evening before the race day. Calves still a bit sore from a 20k mountain hike in Alps three days ago, I was packing, stretching and thinking about my strategy…lost in thoughts…concentrating…adrenaline rising…I was ready!

          It doesn’t matter if you go sprint or iron distance, because the majority of things you have to do and prepare during the race morning are the same. I’ve done few triathlons before so the race morning routine was smooth and I had plenty of time to stand on the beach and calm down. They played a bit of national anthem of each nation which had a competitor in the race so I felt kind of important for a second, but then immediately I got lost in 600 headed crowd and my own concentration. DUM-DUM…DUM-DUM…DUM-DUM…loud heartbeat sound from the speakers in the last minute before the start cutting silent air like knife was almost terrifying! 3…2…1…BANG!

          I’m not afraid of swimming among hundreds of other people anymore, so I bravely got in the middle of the raging bunch of kicking legs and flailing arms and fought my way to the first buoy. There we almost stopped because of congestion and had to slowly get around kicking water! But after that it became one of the most enjoyable swims I’ve done. Water of perfect temperature, visibility to up to the bottom and long stretches between buoys where I could get into rhythm made me even feel that I swim faster than usual. Time 1 hour 20 minutes proved me that it was really only a nice feeling! No problem…I was expecting it J

          I didn’t try especially hard to make a super quick transition and I put on all things necessary to make the most comfortable ride possible, but it was just around 4 minutes, which is the same as when I try hard. Strange! The bike course started and was mostly flat, but then after 3k came one of the few steeper hills. But it didn’t matter. I was enjoying the village and countryside scenery full of green trees, sharp turns on narrow road around houses and descents through fields. There were many groups of supporters along the way cheering for everyone and I had always energy left for a smile and some gesture towards them. Something I hardly experience in Qatar!

          During the third lap I realized that there are six laps to complete! From the beginning I thought there are only five, so my happiness from being behind half vanished, but only for a short while. I was pedaling comfortably at high cadence, maintaining speed around 32km/h and staying out of any knee or toe pain, so soon I was at the last lap even having the fourth and fifth lap the fastest! The last one was a bit of struggle though, but I got to the transition in 5h and 33min, which was a good time giving me confidence and hope J

          The run transition could have been much quicker if I didn’t go to the toilet. I was holding it quite a while so those two minutes of rest in the cabin was a nice kick to the last part of the race, the marathon! I was starting at 7:01 hours on the race clock. “Just run a marathon under 4 hours and I you have it!” I said to myself relaxed. My marathon best is 3:10 and my first marathon ever I ran in 3:25 so I was not worried. But I should have been, because it turned into nightmare!

          As always the first few kilometers were feeling easy and I was running way faster that my target speed 5:30min/km. I forced myself to slow down, because I knew that like that it wouldn’t last long! This feeling of power was deceiving. There was five last of 8 kilometers to complete the run. So was cruising comfortably the first lap, then the second was a bit harder but still ok, but in the third I started to feel tired. I started to walk though aid stations, spending every time more to get some drinks and food. There was one short, but steep hill on the course and I started to walk that one too and my average started slowly to fall.

          Increasing number of one kilometer laps on my Garmin I ran with 6 min/km. “Still ok…I ran faster at the beginning so that will compensate it…I’m on target” I told to myself and continued. Third lap was still ok, but the fourth I really was running out of gas! I didn’t feel any particular pain or fatigue, I just had nothing left to give. The race was getting too long, too boring, too exhausting. My brother Jan who was with me, because after the race we were going kitesurfing, was supporting me every lap on the course, ran one short stretch with me. I never thought that pacemaking would be a good thing, but in that moment I knew that it really is. That 1km stretch we ran together were immediately 30s per km faster than I was running at that time and I speeded up without no particular effort! Once he let me go, I slowed back down immediately.

         Finally the last lap came. But when I saw the race time and realized that I was below target and I cannot continue like this to make my below 11 hours time! I had to speed up. And I had to speed up now! As it usually is, there is much more power in your body that you feel there is. You just need to mobilize it with your head. Some people can do it better, some people worse and I think I can do it quite good J If there is a right cause and motivation of course! And in this case there was and I didn’t even have to mobilize that much…just to speed up to 5:30min/km for the last lap. Yes Sir! So I put higher gear, stopped taking nutrition, because I was full of everything anyway and even kind of sprinted the last 2 kilometers to the finish!

          I made it! I was an IRONMAN! 10:57:51 is an average time, but I was really happy for it. This race was only about competing against myself anyway. I have to admit that it was about that tough as I was expecting it. The only difference was that it felt and was way too long. It was more of a struggle and fight for survival than a race. I just cannot push hard to the limits, because judging my strength over such long time and distance is impossible. So I was more like taking it rather easy and I didn’t like it that much. I can’t say that I was not enjoying the race, which at the end I was. But I was not enjoying it as much I do shorter races where you go full throttle, because you know that even if you run out of energy you will get to the finish in reasonable time, because it is short. Running out of energy at the end of the bike section here, you are asking for DNF!  

          The next day we were sitting in the car driving towards the kite beach in Sankt Peter Ording and I was still thinking about my Iron experience. I knew I can do better and probably attack the sub 10 hour finish, but I felt like I don’t want to. At least not now! Feeling of trying to enjoy doing sports more and focus less on chasing time and competition was lately creeping on my mind and after this race it burst open. “Let’s try it” I though. I knew that I couldn’t say “Let’s do it” because I knew that suppressing my competitive and challenge hungry spirit is difficult, but I could always try J

          So Mr. Ironman…we have an unfinished business here! I’ll probably be back one day, but for now let’s keep it like this. Until next time!