Wiesbaden hosted this year for the 3rd time a middle distance triathlon as part of the 70.3 Ironman series. The event is very well organised and run over a challenging course with over 1500m climbing on the bike and a challenging run finishing in the centre of Wiesbaden.
This year my teammate Chris with his wife Lisa and Alex and I decided to make the trip dow to Wiesbaden to see what the fuss is all about. The drive tuned out to be rather long and we arrived just before 6pm after an early morning start. Wiesbaden turned out to be a really nice typical German town with lots of little restaurants, coffee shops and expensive shops.
The preparation before the race went without any major incidents and the time passed quickly. Sunday greeted us with a really warm and windless weather and the additional bonus was a lay in due to a relatively late start at 8:55am. The race was run in waves with over 3000 athletes competing in total. We were placed in the AG35-39 wave, but unfortunately the organisers decided to place some of the best age group athletes from all waves (including our age group) with the professionals. This meant that they would have the opportunity to draft and pace of the pros while we would have to fight through the congestion on the course.
We arrived in transition with plenty of time for a change and after the usual faffing around we were off in the warm water of River Main at 8:55. The swim went well for me, there wasn't too much pushing and shoving and I had someone to draft of most of the way. I was quite happy coming out of the water in 34:15, having had one of the easiest swims in a long time.
Quick transition where I've managed to pass Chris and onto the bike and my legs didn’t feel too good. I was going through the motions and passing quite a few people but never felt totally in control and was going up the first climb of about 8km quite steady. The bike was certainly much more hilly than I expected with some long steady climbs. After about half way I started feeling better and was able to push a bit harder. Some of the descent were quite scary, especially the run back into town where we hit over 80km/h. Bike time 2:51 which I was Ok with considering my condition.
Once I got of the bike my legs felt really heavy. I took my time in transition and after a couple of km of the run started to feel better and picked up the pace hoping to run at least a decent half marathon. Unfortunately it wasn't to be and after 2 laps I started to slow down considerably on the hot run and congested run course. Eventually I ended up running 1:31 for a total time of 5:02, 117th place overall and 24th place in my age group. At the finish I had absolutely nothing left and felt more like I've just completed a full ironman than a half.
Overall I guess I'm happy with how I've executed the race, but it shows just how much of a gap I have this year to the top guys. The standard of racing over the last few years has definitely improved in the European Ironman races and it looks like I have some catching up to do.
Next race will be the Vitruvian middle distance race in the UK in September.
This year my teammate Chris with his wife Lisa and Alex and I decided to make the trip dow to Wiesbaden to see what the fuss is all about. The drive tuned out to be rather long and we arrived just before 6pm after an early morning start. Wiesbaden turned out to be a really nice typical German town with lots of little restaurants, coffee shops and expensive shops.
The preparation before the race went without any major incidents and the time passed quickly. Sunday greeted us with a really warm and windless weather and the additional bonus was a lay in due to a relatively late start at 8:55am. The race was run in waves with over 3000 athletes competing in total. We were placed in the AG35-39 wave, but unfortunately the organisers decided to place some of the best age group athletes from all waves (including our age group) with the professionals. This meant that they would have the opportunity to draft and pace of the pros while we would have to fight through the congestion on the course.We arrived in transition with plenty of time for a change and after the usual faffing around we were off in the warm water of River Main at 8:55. The swim went well for me, there wasn't too much pushing and shoving and I had someone to draft of most of the way. I was quite happy coming out of the water in 34:15, having had one of the easiest swims in a long time.
Quick transition where I've managed to pass Chris and onto the bike and my legs didn’t feel too good. I was going through the motions and passing quite a few people but never felt totally in control and was going up the first climb of about 8km quite steady. The bike was certainly much more hilly than I expected with some long steady climbs. After about half way I started feeling better and was able to push a bit harder. Some of the descent were quite scary, especially the run back into town where we hit over 80km/h. Bike time 2:51 which I was Ok with considering my condition.
Once I got of the bike my legs felt really heavy. I took my time in transition and after a couple of km of the run started to feel better and picked up the pace hoping to run at least a decent half marathon. Unfortunately it wasn't to be and after 2 laps I started to slow down considerably on the hot run and congested run course. Eventually I ended up running 1:31 for a total time of 5:02, 117th place overall and 24th place in my age group. At the finish I had absolutely nothing left and felt more like I've just completed a full ironman than a half.
Overall I guess I'm happy with how I've executed the race, but it shows just how much of a gap I have this year to the top guys. The standard of racing over the last few years has definitely improved in the European Ironman races and it looks like I have some catching up to do.
Next race will be the Vitruvian middle distance race in the UK in September.
