I'm presently putting together my raceplan for next year...
Berlin half marathon (late March)
(possibility 1): Half Ironman in Mallorca (early May)
(possibility 2): Half Ironman in Copenhagen (mid-June)
La Marmotte (early July)
Ironman Copenhagen (Late August)
I'm with my club in Mallorca for training camp anyway... Downside is that it's so early I won't have done any open water swimming that early in the year, and there's a risk that it's a non-wetsuit swim (BIIIIG issue).
A bit stuck on chosing between 1 and 2, tbh.
Full race report from Sunday:
So... It's Wednesday, three days after a really, really good day.
I got up relatively late, at 5 am and had breakfast. Off to the lagoon in short order, but of course the Metro had issues with all the people (athletes, spectators, and people headed home after a night out on the town, so I arrived at the start area very late, at 6.30, and my jump off was at 7.20. Anyway, I quickly inflated the bike tires, filled my bottles, got into my wetsuit, and headed for the start line. It was such a rush that I didn't really have a chance to get nervous, so maybe being a bit late was a good thing. Didn't have time to warm up either though. Greeted a few people at the line, and pretty soon we were off. I found a nice steady rhythm right away, and had a very relaxed swim, all told. Pretty slow, but steady, and with good navigation.
I exited the water and T1 was a bit of a rush. I had a fusion speed top in my bike bag that I decided against wearing, and I also left behind the banana I had packed, due to sound advice from my doctor.
Getting the bike to the mount line was a breeze, and soon enough I was at the roundabout, and off onto the course, having greeted a huge number of Kvik and personal supporters. I was so happy to have the swim over with, and be underway on my best discipline. I dropped into the aerobars asap, and found a really good rhythm. The first loop of the bike was a bit of a whirlwind, in that I went hard, but felt really good. I didn't get quite as much fluid as I had planned on, but things seemed fine. I was well on track for a bike split of about 4:50. However, after precisely 102 km, I began fading a bit. I had gone a bit too deep in the first loop, and the 'punch' was gone from my legs. I decided to back off a bit on the second half of the second loop.
As many of you know, I crashed on my race bike a month ago, and I have had issues with my hip ever since. The furthest I had run in the month leading up to the IM was 700 meters, and that in significant pain. I didn't know how my hip would react at all, so my plan was to ride hard on the bike, and then walk the marathon, if that was necessary.
I finished the bike with a split of 4:59:44 ��, and handed it off at T2. The left pedal had felt a bit funny, and indeed the cleat under my shoe was loose. The dismount went ok though, and I headed into the change tent, where I met Dennis from my club, who was very focused on his change
. That got me going, too, and I set off on the run.
The beginning of the run is always tough, but I had the added complexity of trying to figure out if my hip would hold up, so I set off at an easy pace. The hip didn't give me much bother at all, but I quickly realized that a month of no running is poor preparation for a marathon. The marathon became a game of running when I felt like I could, and walking when I couldn't. I'd guess it was a 50/50 split in terms of time. The crowd really helped there, as the next Kvik team member, friend, or family member was always right around the corner. Eventually I made that wonderful turn-off toward the finish line. And then proceeded to trip over an errant cobblestone, and scab my knee and palms. I bounced back up, and made it across the line in 11 hours 55 minutes.
Considering the hip/running issues, that is just fine.