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David’s race report

David and Horst at the finish Garmin Barcelona Triathlon 2011

My team CARFAX took a part in a beautiful Triathlon race in Barcelona last  weekend. More than 6.000 triathlets participated at the race day. We had four PRO triathlets on the start list. It was still nice weather, Indian summer, perfect racing conditions.

Because of safety reasons, big waves, organizers decided to shorten swim course. I guess for me that was not the case because I had tough swim and finished swim leg with some distance between first group and me. My navigation in water was not good that morning, so I had solo bike ride. I cought some triathlets on the bike, but they were to slow for
me to bike with them, so I pushed and went solo for 40 km. I tried to ride high pace and finished couple positions better then I was before swim. On the run I had good legs, I had consistant run through whole 10K run, my run time was sub 32:30, which was good for 15th position overall.

And here are Horst’s impressions:

I was happy to meet the CARFAX Tri-Team again and to particpiate together at this years Garmin Barcelona Triathlon. I knew that some very fast guys from the ITU World Cup circuit would also race. My aim as an Ironman Triathlete was to stay as long as possible in front. The swim wasnt that good for me. I am known as a strong swimmer but the choppy sea makes it hard for me to find the right direction. I lost a lot of time because of some extra meters. In the end I missed the first pack on the bike and I tried hard with Jonas to close the gap to the front. But the guys in our group were not motivated to work together with us and the conclusion was that we lost even more time. With some anger I cycled to T2 and try to run fast as I can. With the 4th best running time, around 31.30 min for
10km, I finished in 9th position. The result was allright because I tried my best and the tactics of the other gyus impede a better place. In the end it was a great weekend. I had a lot of fun with my teammates, the race course and the weather were beautiful and our Teammanager Thorsten takes good care about us.

Directly after Barcelona I flew to Florida. I will stay here for the next 5 weeks of training and racing. You will see me on the start line at Ironman 70.3 Miami and Ironman Cozumel, to get the first points for the Hawaii Wolrd Championship qualification 2012.

Jonas crashed on the bike course…

Thanks CARFAX for a really fun and interesting weekend at the Garmin Barcelona Triathlon. It is always fun too meet, and race with, the rest of the team. The race itself did not turnout the best for myself though. I had a crash early on the bike segment when Horst and I tried to get away from the group we were riding with. I managed to get back to the group but could not finish the run since I had hurt my knee in the crash. (Now a few days later my knee is fine so it shouldn’t be a problem for Ironman Florida on November 5^th) But still as I said it is always fun to meet the rest of the CARFAX team, now we
are all looking forward to the next year.

Hawaii. Crowie takes his 3rd Ironman World Champion in a new race record. Chrissi wons the titel for the 4th time.

In 8:03:56 Alexander bet the time from Luc van Lierde in 1996. Wellington finished in 8:55:08.

KONA 2012 – Mission almost impossible completed!

Silvi an the way to the finish at the Ironman Hawaii2011

When I started in my first year as a Pro no one had expected that I would qualify for Kona in my first pro season, due to the new KPR System. So, the fact that I was among those 30 ladies that were qualified for the IM World Championship 2011 in Hawaii, was already a big achievement.

After a longer break I started to get ready for Kona end of August. Everything went fine. I even won another running Cup (3*10K race), so I was very positive when I left for Kona.
I arrived about 10 days ahead of the event, so my body could get adapted to time zone and climate. Also the tapering week went fine and I couldn’t wait for the race day.

Saturday morning I was in a very good mood (as usual) when race was officially started at 6:30AM. I knew I would have difficulties to stay close to the other pros in the swim. Even
though the swim split was poor, I had a good feeling coming out of the water, because I knew about my strength on the bike and on the run.

After a fast transition I started the bike course. As some kind of “lonesome rider” I had do
the first 90k almost alone on the Queen K Highway. After the turning point in Hawi the first age grouper came passing me, one after another and I realized that my legs would not be able to follow the pace. Furthermore I had problems with my back so I had to get out of the Aero Position during the last 90k. When I arrived on T2 I was quite exhausted and I knew that I had a horrible bike split.

But anyhow, I started the marathon hoping that my body would still be able to do it. I was happy when I realized the back was fine, there were just the legs that felt quite tired
but I was sure that I still could finish the race. At the end I could even pass some other pro ladies on the marathon, so that I finally came in 23^rd , just 3 places worse than my goal “finishing among the Top20 in the world”.

Even though it was my worst result ever, I was happy that I made it after such a tough season. After having completed 4 Ironman Distances and 2 Half-Ironman within exactly 4 month I am tired and my body definitely needs to rest a little while but on the other hand I am quite proud of the result of my season as a pro season. For sure I would have never been able to make to such an outcome without the support of CARFAX my main sponsor.

CARFAX is giving away one spot in  the Olympic, Sprint and Relay races.

Sign up here for a free chance to join us in this fantastic triathlon

On Saturday the week before the Ironman 70.3 Pays d’Aix when I got home after a bike ride I felt that everything might not be ok. And sure enough, on Sunday morning I woke up sick. To get sick one week before a race is newer a good thing by you always try to convince yourself that it will pass quickly and that you will be fine on race day. I got better and decided to go to France and give it a try.

The field was strong with three world champions on the start line. The course was tough, at least the bike part with 1200 climbing meters. I felt right from the start that I was not a 100%, on top of that someone, accidently, unzipped my wetsuit in the start and it took in water. I tried to make it tight again but did not succeed. I did not manage to swim with the first pack , I lost about a minute on the race leaders. 

On the first climb of the day I found out that I did not had my best climbing legs with me on this day and I lost even more time. About half way through the race I started to feel a bit better and actually caught two places on the final kilometers of the bike course.

I started the run all the way back on 15:th place… Considering how the race had gone until this point I decided to just run through the half marathon in a decent pace and not try to force anything. I cruised around the three laps feeling quite ok and actually over took three men and thus finishing the race at 12:th place. 

I am not, of course, happy with this result, but considering my preparations with the sickness right before the race it is still OK. One good thing about not running 100% is that the time for recovery will be much shorter and I should be able to resume full training a bit faster. Now two days after the race I feel much better and the sickness seems to have been better. 

The season is not yet over for me, I still have two more races to do. Next stop is the Garmin Barcelona Triathlon on October 16. At that race I will have company from my teammates at CARFAX, I am looking forward to that!

Train hard and be smart!