Ironman Italy
Review:
I travelled from Fuerteventura to Cervia 4 days ahead of Ironman Italy. Unfortunately, neither my suitcase nor my bike arrived with me. My coach Ute Mückel picked me up from the airport and we drove to the hotel. As a frequent traveler I always have the most needed things in my hand luggage. On Wednesday morning my coach drove back to the airport collecting my luggage while I send out the last update to you and did a swim session in the sea. Building up my bike, I found the base bar being broken. Oh my god – we only have 48 hours till check-in.
After evaluating the options and some phone calls later we got a plan that wanted to be executed FAST! At this point again many thanks to my coach Ute, my parents, S-Tec, Profile Design, Uwe from DHL, Marco Beltrami from an Italian bike store, and last but not least Stefano the mechanic!
Third place at Ironman Italy in 09:02 hours
A big blog of training preparing for the Ironman world championships ended last Saturday with a fantastic race at Ironman Italy. I finished third in 09:02 hrs.
The swim start did not go so well for me. The air temperature with 12 degrees was quite chilly. After the swim warm up we waited at the beach for the gun to go off. The water temperature of 21.5 degrees was much higher than the air. I did not have a feeling for the water for the first 400 meters, as my hands and fingers were quite cold from waiting in the cold air till the start. They
even felt numb in the water. I could not catch the front pack of the girls and found myself
swimming in fifth position on my own. I overtook one girl after about 1 km and swam up to another one right at the swim exit. I had not used my wetsuit in training as I prepared for a non-wetsuit swim (for both races, in Italy and Kona). Some bad weather conditions the two days leading up to the race however resulted in a substantial drop of water temperature and a wetsuit legal swim. My Aquasphere Phantom is so smooth at the shoulders that I did not feel any resistance even if I did not train in it for a while. Coming out of the water after 0:56 hours is a good result for me! My lessons learnt is that I will pack some gloves for Ironman Arizona in November to use between the swim warm up and till the gun goes off. I already know it will be at least as chilly as Italy early in the morning.
Having 3000 athletes on the course means a looooooooong transition zone. In T1, I could make up one place hopping on my Ceepo Shadow in third place.
Out on the bike course, the power output was not as high as I expected it. Neither went my heart rate completely up to race mode. Two
reasons to count in was that
- I have not properly ridden my bike for one week, as my bike was delayed and then arrived with a broken handlebar.
- I did this race deliberately with some fatigue in my body because of the build up towards Hawaii.
The power output did not drop towards the end and I could overtake another girl arriving in T2 in second position. With the second fastest bike split of the day in 4:45 hours I am happy.
Out on the run course I kept my pace at 4:30 Min/km as this was the goal pace to finish off with. After the bike I always need a bit of time to find my run rhythm, but after a few km, I felt well all the way. Though the pace was not high enough to keep second place, but I secured a podium slot by finishing the run in 3:12 hrs. Resuming the race, I am happy with my overall performance.
Outlook:
Now it is one week in the office and then starting my journey to Hawaii. I will be on Hawaii as of October 1st. Leading up to the race, I will aim to daily update everyone on my social media channels with stories and posts on the final preparations towards the race.
Aloha,
Mareen
My results 2019 so far:
3.Ironman Italy
4. Riesenbecker Triathlon – TeutoMan, half distance
1. ATV Hückeswagen Triathlon, half distance, county championship
1. Harsewinkel Triathlon, half distance
1. Niederrhein Triathlon Kalkar, olympic distance
3. Indeland Triathlon, half distance
6. Buschhütten Triathlon, olympisc distance
6. Challenge Lissabon, half distance
10. Ironman South Africa
Further schedule 2019:
Oct. 12th Ironman Hawaii
November Training camp Playitas, Fuerteventura
Nov. 24th Ironman Arizona