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Wiesbaden Ironman 70.3 - 2007:

My big event for this year! For me, hard to believe: I had actually had made it to the starting line despite of my continuous series of injuries and illnesses. My running shape was far from optimum. I had been hardly able to build up endurance and hadn't run more than 10km this year. Besides, this was only my third triathlon ever and therefore you might still consider me a complete greenhorn. However, the day before, when we checked-in our bikes it became very obvious that the organization of this event was just about as perfect as can be. I haven't experienced an event of this quality ever before.



The excitement before such an event is awesome. Everyone is hyped. Obviously, there seems to be much more at stake in terms of money and training-effort than for an MTB race.
Sunday, beginning at 8:00h AM, the first competitors divided in age-groups were sent into the water. My friend Michael and I, starting as M40, were scheduled for 8:50h. Before we went in, the first pros already came out. 24 minutes for the fastest! My fans had brought themselves in position and had hoisted the flag.



The swim-course was a straight-forward 1.9km out-and-back through the harbor. Even for the comparatively large M40 group there was enough room to largely avoid "bodyslapping".



My strategy was to start unspectacularly, avoid any panic and to increase the load once around the turning point. Paying dues to my state as greenhorn, I couldn't manage to get any benefits of water-drafting. But even so, I was able to out-swim my best time from training. After 35 minutes I came out of the chilly Schierstein harbor, unfortunately with a cramped calve. However, I was happy to see that in swimming there is still room for improvement!



During the transition I must've slipped off my transponder along with the leg of my wet-suit. Thanks to a lady-official who had spotted the device on the ground, I was still in the race. I can only repeat: perfectly organized event!



We had inspected the bike course some weeks before. 90km loaded with 1500hm were speaking a clear language. On climbs I usually have an advantage. So this was the part for me to shine. A "not very tall" Spanish competitor addressed me as "a beautiful girl". Well, he didn't get to see too much of that girl. Perhaps he had pumped too much creatine into his awesomely masculine shoulders. After all this climbing I zipped down the last descent into the no-passing zone of Wiesbaden. Just shy of 2:46h meant a 32km/h average. OK for this course, but with more experience I would probably have invested a bit more.



The transition to the running (my currently weakest discipline) perhaps went a bit too relaxed. With my lack of experience, I gave in for too long to the feeling of "legs of concrete". This resulted in a rather unsatisfying 1:46h on the 21.1km loosing an uncomfortable number of positions. But now I know what to do during the winter.



Coming in on the final stretch rewarded me with an uplifting experience. Wiesbaden had to take notice as the speaker commented on my Pink Pirate dress. In the Athlete's Garden I immediately started my recovery program by consuming fruit, sandwiches and Red Bull in an alarming speed and quantity.



My total time was 5:17:51h, 53rd of the M40, 269th of the Men, 290th overall. Many people said that I should be very proud of this result as a beginner. However, I think for next year I'll rather focus on ATTACK !!!



As a "funny" anecdote:
After the event I went having an ice-cream. I slipped on a curb and found out the next day that this had actually resulted in a pulled ligament.
This goes to say that having an ice-cream can threaten your health in many ways.
Upcoming event will be the Hirschberg MTB marathon as a sort of "recovery".
But only if my foot will allow me to do so ...
Many thanks to Bine and Adrian for the support and the photos!
Take Care Peace

Alex a.k.a Captn. Crook



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