Originally written in German. Translated to English by AI — please excuse any awkward phrasing.

Yesterday was the second middle-distance (half-iron) race within a week — the Triathlon in Maxdorf: 2km swim, 85km bike, 20km run. Raced straight out of training, no taper, so a performance as strong as the previous week at Kraichgau wasn’t exactly expected.

I somehow got up on the wrong side of the bed — spilled milk at breakfast, changed clothes after brushing my teeth. A bad omen, and more mishaps were to follow…

Regardless, I set off just before 6am for Maxdorf, about 50km from home.

After picking up my race packet I was handed 2 gels, which I mindlessly tossed in with my other stuff. The day before I had read on their website that there would be gels and bars on the bike course and run course — or so I thought.

Back to the car for my running shoes, then went to place them at T2. I put them at spot 225 — and back at the car realized I had bib number 255. Back to T2 to move everything.

Back at the car I packed my stuff to ride to the swim start. Without the gels — still convinced there’d be nutrition on course. Just after I set off, the bag slipped halfway off my back and nearly went into the wheel. Just barely avoided a crash — lucky me.

Checking in at the lake went smoothly, until a fellow competitor asked if I had extra gels — he’d also left his in the car. I only had one, so I couldn’t help. I also told him it wasn’t a big deal since there’d be nutrition on course… until he burst my bubble and told me there wasn’t. Well, great!!! A half-iron on one gel — how is that supposed to work?!?!? I decided not to give up before the start and make the best of it. Lesson learned for the future.

The swim was orderly and relatively smooth. After 29:19 I climbed out of the cold water of the Nachtweideweiler lake in Lambsheim. The first transition was noticeably better than the week before, and off I went on the bike. Let’s see when the lights go out.

The first flat kilometers went well. I climbed the ascent to Lindemannsruh reasonably and tried to save as many matches as possible. At the top there was an aid station with water and sports drink. I grabbed two bottles of sports drink and was just tucking them away when I noticed there were bananas too… oh well, hands full, no way to grab one. Stopping wasn’t an option. The next 20km was mostly downhill — unfortunately I didn’t know the course and braked far too often. With course knowledge you could have charged through at full speed.

Toward the end of the second lap the lead motorcycle for the first female pro came into view; I managed to pass her on the second Lindemannsruh climb — but paid for it afterward. At the aid station at the top, only one of three stations was staffed and I managed to grab a bottle, but nobody was at the banana table so I went without again. Energy was fading fast and I was losing focus — evidenced by a brief excursion onto the grass at 55 km/h on a descent. Incredibly lucky there — that could have ended very differently. I decided to back off and recover somehow.

I lost sight of the first woman on the descent, but fought my way back toward the end of the bike leg and came into T2 with a small gap. Bike time: 2:23h; including both transitions the official result shows 2:26:47.

Again I couldn’t get out of my cycling shoes in transition. Afterward, with both hands, it took me several minutes to open that damn buckle…

By this point the legs were already dead, and the first kilometers showed it. Nothing worked — calling it running would be a stretch. Cola became my new best friend; I felt like I drank three cases of it on the run course. It worked — after about 5km things clicked into place and I was back to my normal pace. I crossed the line in 1:19:39, having somehow survived the day without food.

Total time: 4:15:45h, 25th overall and 8th in my age group — respectable given the circumstances.

About the race itself:

It’s a nice event in principle, but doesn’t hold a candle to something like Challenge Kraichgau. There was no fully closed bike course — some drivers were quite disruptive, especially since they were going the same direction as us. No solid nutrition (handing out 2 gels at the start doesn’t count as nutrition for a half-iron distance). Parts of the run course were completely inadequate — narrow, sandy forest paths where you couldn’t even run side by side, on a out-and-back course. That’s simply not okay — I didn’t sign up for a cross-country run.

Summary:

  • Swim: all the training is paying off — very solid
  • Bike: more was possible, but considering the circumstances (no food, unfamiliar course) it was fine. My fat metabolism seems to work really well
  • Run: recovered on the first km from the hard ride, getting stronger as it went on