Monday 31 August 2009

Faakersee Triathlon

Finally, my first, and as it seems only, triathlon this year. Due to some bad planning of my Marathon I skipped some triathlon, which I regret. Well, now was the time to see what I learned on the bike.
The weather forecast was contradictory, some said it would rain other said it was going to be a sunny day. Never trusting the guys/girls doing the weather forecast I trusted my instinct and prepared for bad weather. I bought arm warmers, since I thought it was going to be cold after I got out of the water. The arm warmers helped Daniela ryf a lot in Hamburg so I thought I give it a try. All my stuff, shoes, helmet, glasses.. where put underneath a plastic bag just in case.
Into the water, I started way back and had to fight my way to the front which was hard work and caught up with the lead group. I did not believe it and it went well. All went good to 750m of swimming. Then I looked up and it rained, which is no problem in the water except for the sight. I looked up again to see the next buoy but it was too far away and the rain drops on the lake blurred the vision. As long as the guy in front of me knew where we were going everything was ok. Well nothing was ok, my goggles started to fill up with water and I could not see jack. Damn, if I empty them now I will lose the group. I flipped on my back and emptied them, as soon as I turned back again the goggles filled up again and I had real trouble concentrating, finding the right direction and keeping up. I just wanted to get out of here. For the next 600m I had to empty my goggles 5 times and I lost a lot of time. Furthermore, since my eyesight is not the best I nearly mised the swim finish line, if it had not been for the crowd who yelled to get me into the right direction. So out of the water, off with my goggles and the cap. I lost the goggles on the way, but who cares. The rain had stopped and due to the plastic bags helmet, glasses and sleeves were dry - onto the bike. It was quite lonely, two people passed me, but that was it. But since it was a 4 round race, the second round got crowed and even more with the next rounds. The slippery roads and 700 bike riders on a 10km stretch needed a lot of concentration, but all went well. Off the bike and into my running shoes. I started slowly but got up to a pace of 4:05, which was not too good.
Result was a great triathlon, it was super fun, even if the swimming part was a struggle. I had an overall time of 2:17:36 h (26:56 / 1:05:25 / 0:41:23 - 1.5km / 38.4km / 9.6km). As usual, I have to get better, especially my bike time needs some polishing. And here I am on my way home, happy about a great triathlon.

No comments: