Originally written in German. Translated to English by AI — please excuse any awkward phrasing.
…or what’s been a long time coming finally works out…
Ever since I switched from pure cyclist to triathlete about 8 years ago, I’ve had this dream of the legendary Hawaii — the mecca of all triathletes and venue of the annual Ironman Triathlon World Championship. My goal was to get there within five years, but I hadn’t counted on so much bad luck and such fierce competition:
- My first long-distance start in 2007 at Challenge Roth went according to plan — sub-10 was the goal and I hit it almost exactly with a total time of 9:59:39h
- The second long-distance year was marked by lots of running injuries and correspondingly little run training, which made the time of 10:12:58h at Challenge Roth all the more remarkable
- 2009 was similarly injury-plagued as the year before, again with plenty of running injuries. A DNF at Challenge Kraichgau and a failed first serious Hawaii qualification attempt at Ironman Austria were the results
- After recovering from those injuries, 2010 was my best year yet — at Ironman Frankfurt I improved my personal best to 9:36:19h. And that’s when the strong competition thing kicked in… I missed qualification for Hawaii by about 90 seconds. I spent the rest of the year running my very first solo marathon in 2:56:15h
- 2011 was actually a perfect year — no injuries, new personal bests, everything just clicked. New PBs at the Heidelberg Half Marathon, Challenge Kraichgau and Ironman Frankfurt. I improved my previous year’s time by another 18 minutes to 9:18:55h, but still didn’t qualify — missing by a ridiculous 13 seconds. Another qualification attempt at Ironman Wales failed thanks to three flat tires on the bike
- 2012 was plagued by running injuries and lots of missed training again. I just barely got my act together for Ironman Frankfurt and was in reasonably decent shape at the start, but then rode myself into the ground on the bike and had to pay for it on the run. Despite everything, I still improved my PB by another three minutes to 9:15:39h. And as you can probably guess — again about 30 seconds too slow for Hawaii.
After all of that, I had actually decided not to make another qualification attempt this year and to focus fully on Challenge Roth. Back to the roots, back home to what I consider the best triathlon event in the world. I boldly checked the “Sub-9” box when registering — the goal was clear. Preparation went really well, aside from a small weakness in swimming. That was factored in and not unexpected given the training load.
So on July 14th at 6:30am I stood at the start in Roth, came out of the water after a poor swim in 1:05h and was fairly horrified — that wasn’t how I’d planned it. The first two hours on the bike were really hard, my legs were screaming. After that it got better minute by minute, the pain disappeared and things finally started clicking. After 4:48h on the bike I racked my ride in T2, a glance at my watch as I left T2 showed a running total of 5:57h… Phew, not quite what I’d planned, but still within the realm of possibility.
I knew from previous years and training results that I could safely run 3:08h over the remaining 42.2 kilometers, but a 3:02h????? That’s a whole different league — in numbers, 10 seconds per kilometer faster. I decided to go for it: either sub-9 just barely works out, or it goes horribly wrong. Fortunately it was the former, and I crossed the finish line in 8:59:27h, completely exhausted but overjoyed. Mission accomplished, welcome to the Sub-9 Club!!!
So much for the backstory.
After Roth I took a two-week break — the race had cost an enormous amount of energy, physically and especially mentally. But the thought of making one more qualification attempt wouldn’t leave me. Where though? Ironman Wales would have been an option, but it was already sold out. That left only Copenhagen, a race that had recently become an Ironman (the organizer sold the company to the Ironman group) — which made me hopeful. My theory was that everyone who wanted to go to Hawaii had already signed up for other IM races and the competition there wouldn’t be quite as fierce… On a whim I registered, and a few days later I was off.
Pack bags, drive to Copenhagen, check in, the usual routine…
The starting groups were arranged so that age groups went off together. Very unusual — I was in wave 4, meaning a lot of people had already gone before me.
Interestingly, I had absolutely no desire to race right up until just before the start, wasn’t nervous and was basically completely relaxed. But I also knew the whole venture was a bit of a kamikaze mission, while still holding onto the hope and belief that it could/would work out.
I was completely unprepared for the race itself — I didn’t know a single meter of the entire course, everything was new territory. I hadn’t even thought about how I’d approach it, what tactics to use, etc. It went so far that I only realized during the swim that it was in salt water. Tastes disgusting, by the way…
Anyway, whatever. With a running start, off we went — surprisingly little fighting, and I felt relaxed throughout. While swimming I didn’t know how to interpret that feeling — but I couldn’t really swim any faster either. Roth had felt similar, so I was already prepared for the worst and figured it might be 1:10h or something, it seemed too easy and slow. I was pleasantly surprised when I saw 1:01h on my watch at the swim exit. Wow, didn’t expect that… and the feeling got even better when I saw that almost all the bikes from my start group were still racked in T1. A completely new feeling for me — normally my bike is long gone by then.
Off on the bike, straight through Copenhagen and then along the coast heading north, with a decent tailwind from the southwest. The legs were similarly sluggish as in Roth, but I knew that would ease up after two hours. The first 40km flew by in just under 59 minutes — that was just awesome. Then came the not-so-pretty part where you have to ride all the way back. I have no idea why, but the wind was hitting my bike and riding position from such a perfect angle that I had a slipstream effect and was making great time. I was just overtaking or blowing past other athletes from earlier waves, almost eagerly waiting to be overtaken myself — that happened about 30 times total, but 26 of those were photographers and camera motorcycles, not once by a referee and only 4 times by actual cyclists. Two relay riders and two other solo starters — one of whom I caught just before T2 (who would then do the same to me on the run, only to be passed again; turned out he was in my age group). Somewhere around three or four hours into the race I began to realize what was happening here and what kind of opportunity was opening up. And suddenly I was really pumped for the race and the suffering — the rest of the bike flew by. Only the last few kilometers back into Copenhagen through the city were rough, with headwind straight in the face nearly blowing me off the bike twice. With a bike split of 4:39:05h for the 180km I’m super happy, even if the wind helped a lot.
So there I sat in T2 with a total race time of just under 5:45h and I still couldn’t quite grasp it. Insane, just absolutely insane. Now put in a solid marathon like in Roth and hope it’s enough. Off I went. 4 laps through the city center, with an enormous number of turns and corners, poor road surfaces, partly on wooden boardwalks in the harbor, cobblestones, wet and slippery streets and lots of wind. Not very fun to run. The aid stations were also very unfamiliar — all on the left side of the road, sometimes two within 500m and then nothing for 2km. The first two laps were relatively trouble-free, after that the course got really crowded and you sometimes couldn’t pass at all — the course is simply too narrow. Toward the end it got noticeably harder as expected, but I managed to hold the pace reasonably well. After two more laps it was over and done with — the finish chute was so hidden you really had to search for it. By that point it had also become clear to me that I was going to smash my six-week-old personal best. Pulverize is actually the better word. 3:02:11h for the marathon, a total time of 8:48:02!!! Another 11 minutes faster than in Roth… wow…
Physically I was completely done, but genuinely happy. I never would have expected this and never would have dared to dream it. And then you just have it — the perfect day where everything falls into place… I think that was it, and I know to appreciate it accordingly.
The big suspense was still the finishing position — I needed at least sixth place in my age group to qualify. A few minutes later came the huge wave of relief when I looked at the results: 15th overall, 4th in my age group, fifth-best amateur. Hawaii, I’m coming…
One more word about my current age group M30: what’s happening there is not normal, the times are completely insane. By far the fastest age group of all — holding your own there is not easy. I had to experience that firsthand. Every year I’ve made enormous progress in performance, but so has everyone else — sometimes even more. At this race, 4 other amateurs finished ahead of me, 3 in my age group. At Roth it was 27 amateurs, 14 of them in my age group. Simply unbelievable. Two minutes slower and I would have missed a slot again — with a time well under 9 hours. It almost makes you lose faith.
For the stats fans, here’s the data from the race:
Swim: http://connect.garmin.com/activity/361990462
Bike: http://connect.garmin.com/activity/361990470
Run: http://connect.garmin.com/activity/361990478
Finally, I want to thank everyone who made this possible and supported me along the way. Thank you so much!!! Especially my physio Tobi for the weekly hardest 30 “training minutes”.
Aloha & see you in Kona, Hawaii.