Ironman Regensburg Race Report

Pre race day registration was a mess. There was registration at one place, bag collection at another place in the city, shuttle to T1 from a third place, and I was given wrong directions. I couldn’t find threaded CO2 canisters anywhere in the city or at the bike expo. So I decided to take risk and race without a puncture repair kit. The race day morning looked beautiful. There was mist over the lake and the transition area was lit by the pink sun light. It was a 2500 people mass start. This has to be the biggest mass start I have ever done. There was excitement everywhere. As soon as the start gun went off, the triathletes dashed into the water. The swim was a mess as expected. Two noticeable differences when comparing with Australian triathlons:

1. The good thing about European triathletes is that they are more respectful than their Aussie counterparts. They don’t swim over other triathletes, they don’t pull them by the ankles at the buoy turns
2. The bad thing about European triathletes is that they don’t know how to swim. I was drafting behind one and all of a sudden, he stopped doing freestyle, and started breast stroke. Finding him too slow, I decided to swim around him, but his frog kicks were too wide to dodge.
3. European triathletes don’t mind swimming on the wrong side of the buoys and cutting the corners. The good thing about this is that in such a large group of swimmers, it may reduce the congestion at the turns and is safer that way.

I swam 1h17, which is 5min slower than Ironman Australia, even though I went harder. It must be due to buoyancy difference between salt water and fresh water swims. My transition was far from smooth. Took a leak, which was a great idea, as it is always hard on the bike. Then there were triathletes everywhere at the bike mount line, who wouldn’t give way to others. In an attempt to dodge them and sit on the bike, my shoe came off from the paddle, but don’t think I lost too much time. Then I had to remember yelling “Rider left” instead of “Rider right” we would yell in Australia when overtaking. Slow cyclists everywhere, hard to find room to safely overtake. There were a few long climbs on the course, with nice descends and flat stretches. The course was scenic. The 180k bike leg was a two loop course through the old European villages, where you can use the entire width of the road to go fast on the turns, just like you see in the cycling TTs in European pro cycling tours. The supportive crowd yelled “hop hop hop hop...” and “super” to encourage the cyclists on the climbs. I felt great for 60k, then had some back ache but nothing too bad. I started getting slight cramps in calves around 150k. Thinking that there’s still a bloody marathon to go, I increased my water and salt intake. The water in Germany is hard water. It has very high salt contents. It’s like sea water. The more you drink, more thirsty you feel. I probably drank too much. My 310xt says 177km instead of 180km, so either the bike course was smaller or I took some short cut?! About 12km before the T2, we crossed a bridge from where we could see Walhalla. The bike dismount point came without a warning, and there was very short time to take foot out of the shoes. The 6h16 split was 23min faster than PMIM, and I felt sub 12hr is within reach.

T2 was smooth. Took another leak, but the run felt strange. All that water I drank in the last 30k of the bike was sitting on my gut, giving me stomach cramps. I couldn’t find my running form. By 6-7 km into the run, I got frustrated and decided to induce vomit. Then I wouldn’t stop throwing up. I threw up about 3L of fluids at four different times. I felt weak. It was impossible to hammer a good time in the marathon. Soon I started getting bad cramps in my calves. The worse was that I couldn’t eat anything after it. So, the marathon became more of a run/walk. My custom Compressport calf socks were awesome. I discovered their alternate advantage. When I started getting cramps, I took some ice cubes from the aid stations and stuffed them in my compression socks. It eased up the cramps, prevented my legs from seizing, and kept me going from one aid station to the other. I dragged my ass across the finish line in just under 14hours. This time I really enjoyed the finish chute. Did high five with almost every spectator standing along the finish chute, danced with joy, and said “Du bist ein Ironman” to the other finishers who were rushing to the finish line. A great ironman, but my perfect race is yet to come. I hope it will be at Busso. The after party was excellent, and the volunteers party was a great way to socialise with the friendly volunteers from Regensburg and the villages around.

Good food! Good beer! Great people!! Makes me want to go back :-)

Gold Coast Half Ironman 2009: The birth of a Triathlete

There was blood everywhere. Loads of it. On my legs, cycling shoes, all over the transition area, neighbor's towel, it was oozing out from my hands in all directions as I hurried through the first transition and prepared for the 90km cycling leg. But all this gore was no where near the worst horrors of the race.

My Gold Coast Half Ironman triathlon started at approximately 7am, with the 1.9km swimming leg in the murky waters of Calypso Bay. That is the feeding time for large horrible bull sharks that live in those waters. The swim start was a bit more rough than usual and everyone was trying to draft behind the fast swimmers. I got kicked in face many times, but got a good draft until someone kicked on my balls. I lost rhythm and fell behind the group of leading swimmers. I tried to close the gap, but due to poor visibility in murky waters, I got drifted off the course about 400m into the swim. Through murky water, I saw what looked like blooms of some brown coloured jelly fishes below. I hardly considered them a threat and continued swimming until my hands brushed on them. They were no jelly fishes! They were blade sharp oysters which had ripped open the skin on my hands before I could realise.

When I looked at my hands to assess the damage while still swimming, they looked as bad as if I have tried to stop half a dozen arrows with my bare hands. The salt water was just adding to the fun of things. But worse, it was infested by bull sharks. I had 1.5km more to swim, and after so many months of training and waiting, I was not too keen to leave the race unfinished. So, I continued to swim, trying to catch the fast group, leaving behind a strong blood trail while some of the slower swimmers drafted behind me. I don't know whether it was real or just a hallucination due to excessive blood loss that I was seeing large shark like image just under me. Whatever it was, it was a nightmare. I finished the swim in 37min, and ran to the transition area where I had a chance to slowdown and see the blood oozing out of my hands. There was blood everywhere. Loads of it! My blood pouring out right in front of me!!

I took off my wetsuit, grabbed the bike and ran in my pink budgy smugglers. The race officials said “Stop! You can't race without a shirt on.”
“What? I don't have any shirt in the transition area,” I replied. A spectator took off their singlet and said “Can he wear this?” The official said “Yeahp!” I grabbed his shirt, took off my helmet, wore it, and wore my helmet again. I think that guy was very kind. He was an angel. He helped me when I needed it. I can turn gay for him. And I think the race officials or whoever makes rules like that are gay. With adrenaline pumping, I started the cycling leg as if I am on fire. I had to consciously calm down myself as there was a long way to go. The winds were very strong and during the last lap, I was doing 25km/hr against the wind and overtaking heaps of people. I managed an average of 31km/hr over the 90km distance completing the leg in about 2hours and 55 min. I was feeling strong for the running, and in the transition area, I gulped some
energy gel and water, which turned out to be a perfect recipe for disaster. The water and gel sat on the gut, and gave painful cramps as I tried to get into the running rhythm. I just couldn't run properly for the first 10km. I had strength in my legs, but couldn't use it. Faster I would try to go, more pain I will have in the stomach, and I would have to stop running. This was very frustrating. But after 10km, the cramps abated a bit, and I could get into reasonable pace. But no way on earth I could have made up for the time I lost during the first 10 km. My running time went through the roof with 2hours and 27min for 21 km. I completed the Gold Coast Half Ironman triathlon in 6hrs and 6min. I was happy that I made it within the cut-off and hence I qualify for Ironman Australia. The first thing I asked the officials after the race was "Were there any shark attacks?" I was glad to hear a "no" for a change.

My thanks to Jules, George Lowe, and all the friends at DHBC who supported me with advise and encouragement to achieve this. 4th October 2009 is the day I will remember as the day when a triathlete was born. This is the day when I got a new life. A triathlete's life. A better life :)

Next triathlon: Port Macquarie Half Ironman, 1st Nov 2009, target time: 5:30hrs on the bloody hilly course.

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