Originally written in German. Translated to English by AI — please excuse any awkward phrasing.
Who would have thought I’d ever get to start a race report with a headline like that?!?!??!
I earned my World Championship qualification in May at Ironman Lanzarote. Four weeks later I raced Challenge Kraichgau (1.9km – 90km – 21km), and four weeks after that I stood on the start line at Challenge Roth (3.8km – 180km – 42km). After that came a longer break and a significantly longer and better preparation for the Ironman World Championship in Hawaii.
Side note: those were all the races I did this year — four triathlons in total, three of them on the long distance… something you probably shouldn’t tell anyone.
On October 2nd we finally headed to Hawaii — the journey there was significantly more tiring and longer than planned due to flight delays. We were supposed to arrive around 9pm local time on October 2nd, but it ended up being October 3rd at 1:30am. At least that meant we could take our rental car right away (we’d booked it starting October 3rd anyway) and saved ourselves another trip to the airport.
After a very very short night it was time for a big grocery run, then unpacking and assembling gear. There was even time for a short easy spin to stretch the legs.
Acclimatization went surprisingly well and quickly for me — the last training sessions were still anything but great, though. With each passing day the place got more and more crowded. More triathletes, more advertising, more aid stations, more craziness of everything… Anyone who wants to experience narcissism in its purest form should head to Kailua-Kona in the week before the race and just stand there and watch. What gets inflicted on the local population is sometimes quite remarkable…
Back to the actual topic — the race. The last sessions, as mentioned, were all underwhelming. My legs always felt very heavy on the bike, though they eventually improved. Run legs were good. A longer session on Sunday was still on the schedule — an almost 90km ride from Hawi back to Kona in excellent conditions.
On Wednesday before the race the actual race prep began with picking up registration packets, and on Thursday came the pasta party with the usual American fanfare.
Friday was bike and bag check-in, and then it was already race day.
Alarm at 3:45am — the usual routine was to follow. Just before 5am we caught the first shuttle to the pier, where we headed straight to body marking and weigh-in. Then to the bike for final preparations, and then the pro athlete start was already upon us. Note for next time: don’t stand right next to the cannons — it’s insanely loud!!!
Straight after that into the water, and barely at the start line the gun went off. And we were racing… This time I positioned myself further forward and to the outside left of the field — I’d already soaked in the atmosphere last year. Swimming at Hawaii, despite the mass start, is actually one of the more pleasant aspects, because the width of the field means there’s typically very little contact. So I could swim my own pace relatively relaxed without being disturbed. After 32 minutes the second right turn arrived and it was back toward the pier. I got there after a further 38 minutes — noticeably longer than the slightly longer outbound leg. That was largely down to the current, which was significantly stronger than last year. As a result all swim times were on average 4-5 minutes slower. So I can be quite satisfied with my swim time of 1:10:33h (135th in my age group, 739th overall). Similarly average or good as the year before under tougher conditions.
That said: I really need to learn to swim properly — there’s no way around it if I want to move to the front.
T1 was fine — I was able to get into my race suit top much more easily than expected and get sunscreen applied (didn’t want to make that mistake again this year).
On the bike the major chase race began — I made up position after position right from the start, thanks to really solid bike legs from the very beginning. The first time on Hawaii that year, and exactly at the right moment, they showed up as promised.
The small loop through Kona was as packed as always — out on the highway things became much more manageable. But it quickly became clear, not long after Kona, that this wasn’t going to be easy. Already on the way to the airport there was headwind — not normally the case. After that the wind kept building, mostly from inland at an angle into the front, but constantly interrupted by wild gusts from every possible direction. That held all the way to Kawaihae, then eased off briefly for a few kilometers, only to come back even stronger on the remaining stretch to Hawi. At times it was pretty hard to stay on the bike — some people got simply blown off. Aerodynamics were crucial here in particular, and throughout the rest of the race.
I cope with these conditions pretty well now and can actually use them to my advantage. I kept making up positions and was only overtaken by a handful of people. Already on the bike, though, stomach issues started developing — the ice-cold water wasn’t agreeing with me, and every sip brought stomach cramps and bloating. That would later “ruin” my marathon — on the bike it wasn’t a major problem. You always grab the cold drinks but let them sit in the bottle cage for 5-10 minutes before drinking — by then they’ve warmed up to a tolerable temperature. As always, countless bottles were lost along the way — I caught some of them reactively, others were gone for good. If I ever come back here I need to get different bottle cages. Or the organizer should finally provide decent bottles and stop using those weird supermarket plastic ones.
While I’m on a tangent: there were no large groups on the bike this year — the conditions did a great job of selecting for individual riding. Still, every penalty box was well occupied, sometimes with 10 or more people at once. That’s how it should be — tough, fair, everyone riding for themselves.
So — we’d reached the turnaround, directly followed by a nice descent with a tailwind from the side and relatively few gusts. In principle the wind around Hawi was ideal: tough conditions on the climb, favorable conditions on the descent — not much reason to worry about getting blown off at 80 km/h.
The Kawaihae climb went fine — after that it was more crosswind than tailwind, this time from the ocean side. At Waikoloa came by far the most enjoyable stretch of the course: full tailwind from behind and frustration over a chainring that was too small. I had a 54t on there, but in principle a 70t would have been needed. For several minutes you could cruise along on a flat road at 70 km/h, easy at 110 rpm and 170 watts. Absolutely incredible — and unfortunately over just as fast as it came. Within seconds the wind direction changed completely and you were back to struggling at 220 watts to make 35 km/h.
On the other hand, that’s exactly what makes this race so compelling: unpredictable, constantly changing and usually brutal conditions — you have to expect the worst at any moment and stay focused the entire time. And somehow it’s always made very clear to you just how small you actually are.
The remaining bike kilometers played out similarly — me versus nature, doing my best. My bike split of 4:54:55h genuinely surprised me. I hadn’t expected that. Only about 1 minute slower than in significantly easier conditions last year — which translates to about 100 positions better. After the bike I was in 36th place in my age group, 136th overall — having made up 759 overall positions and 99 in my age group.
T2 went to plan — I did have to hunt down sunscreen myself again, which had worked much better last year.
Starting to run was noticeably harder this time — the good run legs had somehow vanished. They reappeared after a quick bathroom stop around km 3. That was also the first and only time I needed to urinate during a race — something that’s genuinely never happened to me before.
From km 3 the running felt more right, though it was already clear stomach problems were coming. There were zero chances of getting “warm” drinks anymore — everything (water, cola, sports drink, Red Bull) was ice cold. Up to km 25 the race was going quite well, despite increasingly severe stomach issues. I kept improving position by position, the running felt light and easy, nowhere near any limits. But “light and easy” at 35°C and 90% humidity doesn’t work without a lot of internal cooling and especially without any nutrition intake. By km 25 my stomach had deteriorated to the point where everything just had to come out. Vomiting in the Energy Lab by the side of the road — there are nicer experiences. Well, somehow you have to keep going — quitting was never really an option. As fast as I could manage I kept running, mostly skipping fluid intake and only cooling externally — thoroughly, at every aid station. “Walk the aid stations” and “somehow make it to the finish” were the mottos from that point on.
You can see it very clearly in my Garmin recording. Here’s what a marathon looks like when you really don’t want to be running it:
How you still end up running a 3:10:50h marathon? I genuinely don’t know — I have no explanation and no memory of it. Somehow willpower was stronger than everything else.
All in all a total time of 9:23:12h — 21st place in my age group and 92nd overall. Take out the 9 women who chicaned me, and that’s 83rd among men. Subtract the 31 male pros finishing ahead of me, and it’s 52nd among age groupers.
Summary:
Thoroughly positive at this point!
If someone had offered me that result beforehand — I would have taken it without hesitation. The time under those conditions is simply very good, and having a place among the 100 best triathletes in the world isn’t exactly a bad thing either 😊
So I can close the Hawaii chapter for now with a clear conscience and possibly pick it up again in a few years — we’ll see… There are plenty of other great and even greater races than this one.
For next year I’ll be pulling back a bit — three long-distance races per year as a full-time working person is more than enough and not sustainable long-term. I haven’t signed up for any triathlon in 2015 yet — an interesting and liberating feeling.
As a reward, among other things:
Burger:
Cookies (Yes, I ate them all… all of them… alone… in two days…):
Shaved Ice:
