Karl B. CHALLENGE ROTH RACE REPORT
Swim: 1:12:02 Target Swim: 01:15:00
(03:13) (05:00)
Bike: 5:38:54 Target Bike: 05:45:00
(02:07) (05:00)
Run: 04:12:07 Target Run: 04:00:00
TOTAL: 11:08:20 Target TOTAL: 11:10:00
The organisation, volunteers & course are second to none, with out doubt, the best triathlon I have ever done.
Roth is what I call an “Honest course”,its got a great swim venue with distance markers every 200m so you know exactly where you are (so simple but so helpful), a rolling & hilly bike (with fast tarmac) and a flat run on a nice surface of crushed stone for most of it until mile 18, thats when the hills start (brutal).
Swim: Pretty uneventful, a bit physical for the first 300-400m but nothing too bad, I had cramps as has seemed to be the norm this year in my wetsuit. There was a chance of non wetsuit swim on the Friday before which I actually didn't mind as my swimming has been better without it this year, but, on the day it was wetsuit legal and as I'm always faster (cramps or not) in a suit, I chose to wear it.
I stuck to to the outside shore line on the way down, cut over & stuck next to the buoy at the first turn, Chose the inside line (buoy line) on the way back up, Swum next to the buoy on the 2nd turn then back to the shore line for the last 400m & exit. (pee’d 2x)
T1: Stuck to my plan like glue, one of my best ever T1’s.
Bike: High HR, as is becoming the norm for me when I race, so no panic or stress I'm used it now, after 30’ HR still hadn't dropped to where I wanted it, so made the decision straight away that I was racing with HR not power. Controlled the bike with EN ninja discipline, rigidly sticking to an HR from my race rehearsals rather than power, pee’d at least 6 times but took 4x salt tabs so wasn't worried.
No drafting that I saw, there was a constant steam of referees making sure everyone raced fair, Its an honest course which keeps everyone split up & also means if you go to hard on the first lap your going to find it very hard/impossible to recover and get back on track, I like hilly courses like this, the wind picked up for the second loop but it didn't affect me, I kept a positive mental attitude all day. I was really surprised about the amount of people I was passing on the down hills, I'm a fairly light athlete and normally I’ll pass going up but everyone was stomping up the hills (on the first lap) and sitting up coasting down, talking to people after they ALL said “ how windy it was on the 2nd loop”, I kept quiet but disagree thinking, no, you just went to hard on the first loop, but hey, thats why I am a proud EN member who has a great team with awesome knowledge of how to execute a race.
All of the big hills are so well supported, the local community really digs this race, the solar-berg IS as crazy as you may have seen, you cant help but have a massive HR spike going though the tunnel of crazy fans all cheering you on, I was smiling from ear to ear, but there are at least another 2 hills with masses of fans all over it cheering you on, with Djs and bands pumping up the crowd.
(Enjoying the atmosphere up the the solar-berg)
T2: Stuck to my plan like glue, one of my best ever T2’s, helped by the fact that I had a volunteer empty my back for me, lay it all out then packed it away, I realise that this something you guys in the US are used to but over here in Europe it just doesn't happen. I have never had or seen any helpers in an Ironman event in Europe.
Run: (pee’d 3x) Set out too quick out of the change tent as normal but quickly set about trying to slow down & lower HR straight away, I kind of got it under control (in TRP at least) & had always thought that this may be an acceptable (pace/HR) combo for the first half of the marathon, so thats the plan I decided to go with, all was going well until the first turn cone (6mi) when I must have just turned awkwardly and straight away I felt an injury I did stretching (of all things) 2 weeks ago come right back (I over stretched or maybe even did a small tear in a muscle behind my knee), oh crap I thought, Id forgotten about that, ah well lets see if I can run it off, it may just have gone tight, no, that didn't work, it was getting more and more painful as I went on to a point that I knew I was limping, I had the first negative thought all day pop into my head, “man, I may not be able to finish this”, then straight away told myself that “you’ll still finish even if you have to walk it, you’ve got time”. I carried on like this for a while thinking if I can just make it to half way, walking half a marathon is better than walking from now, at the next turn around point (about 11.5 mi) I walked around the cone to make sure I was careful and carried on walking up to & through the aid station nearby, I started to run again and the pain had all but gone, “great” I thought, “walking helps it out”, ok Plan B - I’ll run aid station to aid station, which was my plan for the 2nd half anyway so only a bit earlier than planned. I just about made it to the next aid station (13.2mi) but was in agony as I approached it, I walked through & set of running again, the pain had gone but soon started to come back, ok Plan C - I’ll Run 1/2 a mile then walk for 15 seconds then run 1/2 a mile etc etc, this worked for 1 mile, Ok Plan D - Ill run for 1/4 mile then walk for 15 seconds then run 1/4 mile etc etc, this worked nearly up to mile 18, but mile 18 is where the hills start at Roth, going up was agony so I had to walk much of the ups but kept going, walking what I had to, running what I could (plan E), I did this until mile 20 when I was walking more than I was running, “dam it “I thought, “I'm gonna have to walk for 6 mi, this sucks, Ive got the fitness but my body isn't playing ball”, Ok, one final ‘all in’ tactic, Plan F - Im gonna run as fast as I can manage and see what that does..... well it hurt but I kind of realised that if I really elongated my step and stretched my hips as far as I could it didn't really hurt as bad, as you can imagine this was THE strangest running style ever & one that I have never done before or hope to have to do again but at that point I really didn't care what I looked like, I just wanted this thing over, the problem was I’d spent a-lot of time walking & this weird running style was making me go into Z3 quickly but I was doing about 8:30-9 min mi, I couldn't seen to slow down at all with this strange style so I decided to run 12x 1/2 repeats like this (Plan G), I’d run half a mile be absolutely shattered and walk until my pace slowed to 10 min mi then set off again with my weird running style, I’d figured if I could average around 10 min mi I’d have this run done in 1hr, and so, thats what I did, lord knows what my finish picture will look like as I was in a world of hurt coming down that chute, but, I got it done & with a new Iron distance PB.
If there is one thing I have learned over the years of doing long course, its that NOTHING EVER GOES TO PLAN, so stay clam, stay focused and adapt if you can. I am so happy with the way in which I went about the day that no injury or set back can ruin that for me. What made this day extra special was the fact that my wife Abbey, was also doing the race, it was her first “iron” distance race & we got to see each other on the bike and run & share the experience together......... priceless !!!
Nutrition:
Pre swim: Breakfast-Musli & yoghurt, fruit juice, coffee,
2hrs before-Cliff protein bar,
1hr before-banana,
40mins before-1x saltstick tab,
15mins before-High5 Banana gel,
500ml high5 electrolyte drink sipped since breakfast until start.
Bike: 6.5x SIS energy bars, 3x High5 Banana gels, 1xSIS double espresso gel, 1x Gu chocolate gel, 1250ml High5 energy drink, 3x saltstick tabs. Water from aid stations.
Run: 2x High5 Banana gels, 3x Squeezy drink gels, cola & water.
Comments
@Karl Bonner This is awesome. I love how your emergency plans went all the way to "F". And sometimes maybe plan "F" is the best. Just gun it and let it hurt!
Maybe this is the one that I do when I get my Iron Mojo back :)
Thanks for sharing the experience and such a fun read!
That's awesome! Nice way to manage what was thrown at you.
Roth is a total bucket list race!
A friend of a friend here in Dallas was competing. Someone ran into him on the bike and broke his rear deraileur off. Boom...race over. At least he's thoroughly enjoying his vacation now!
@KARL BONNER Congratulations on a hard fought race! Very impressive tenacity on the run - great to see the consistent training pay off for you on the swim and bike. Also some inspirational transition times😄
With all the drama on the run and you still had a PB! Congratulations! Your problem solving is an example to all of us. Roth looks like such and outstanding race and one of a kind experience.
@Patrick Large ,@Scott Alexander , @JoJo Thirasilpa , @Sheila Leard, thank you.
That's really unlucky for your friend Scott, I feel for him, it could happen to anyone of us.
I did have you in my mind JoJo going through transition, thining dont muck this up after giving JoJo some advice 😂.
This is a bucket list & one of kind race for sure, I have tried to get in for 4 years in row on release day but no joy, so decided to go with a travel company who were fantastic, I cant recommend the race enough..................... TeamEN international event anyone?? 😀 ... i'd go again!!
Karl, it looks like you had a fantastic race, albeit painfull. Beat your goal time even under extreme pain. Way to execute under duress!!
So epic...thanks for sharing!!! I hope you are enjoying your recovery!
@Gary Lewis @Coach Patrick Thank you
@KARL BONNER Way to go! incredible story of patience and persistence! You certainly dug deep. Congratulations!! Well done.
Thank you @Greg Charbeneau
@KARL BONNER Great race report, way to hang-in there on race day. I appreciate you were problem solving as you kept moving forward.
Can you shed a little more light on how you got your spot? Did you go to the race venue last year and wait early in the morning on site?
@Jeff Phillips thank you.
We went with a travel company "Tri Travel" tritravel.com.au they provide travel services, race recon, airport transfers etc in Germany plus you get a code for a guaranteed entry slot which you pay for on top. There are a number of different travel companies that do this, the one we chose was because they did the travel for Asia, Australia & UK, I believe that Race Quest do the same for the US ( don't quote me on that).
It seems that once in Germany all of the companies act as one, under the name Challenge Roth Tours & you all use the same busses for all or any of the services you choose to use. I can't recommend them enough, I thought that they provided an excellent service that ran like clock work.
@KARL BONNER Thanks for the report; I was suffering there with you during the run, wondering just where the pain was - in your knee itself, or something in the calf muscles? Losing 12 minutes to your plan on the run sounds like a huge success to me, let's hope your leg bounces back in a bit.
Oh, and huge congratulations on being a transition Ninja, as well as a true EN downhill racer, flattening those hills on the bike.
Awesome! Great execution and way to figure it out on the run! Only being 12 minutes off run goal with that pain is great. Congratulations and thanks for the great report! Heal up now
Thank you @Al Truscott & @Tim Sullivan. The pain started right at the top of the calf muscle/knee pit (the area I'd hurt before), it progressed from there to all around the outside of the knee as well, Im fairly sure in hindsight that this progression was due to tight hip flexors due to a combination of trying to protect the area subconciously & therefore not running with my normal form & also (I have since noticed) a low cadence for me on the bike probably due to me trying to keep my HR down.
Sounds like that symptom may be swelling in the knee joint, which is a real non-specific finding. Possible causes include but not limited to: something within the knee itself (meniscus, ligament, etc), excessive pull on the patellar tendon (as you suggest with low cadence on the bike), patella loses its straight tracking (weakened quads, hip flexors). You are probably very strong and run with good form in general, but over 5+ hours cycling, then 2+ hours running, some minor, insignificant issue might lead to the swelling (google: Baker's cyst as an example) which can hurt like the dickens if you keep up the effort.
Thanks @Al Truscott, I am thinking ligament strain after googling bakers knee, same area but I haven't had/have no swelling.
The good thing is I got out on the bike today & no pain so I can at least swim & bike, ill ice and stretch best I can & fingers crossed it'll ebb away. I have a physio booked for next week also so that may shed some light on the situation.