Sports

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I’m passionate about running, biking and triathlons. Not particularly good at any of them, but having a hell of a lot of fun!

Endurance sports were a rather late discovery for me. I grew up as a sedentary overweight smoker—until I decided for a healthier lifestyle. Started running, developed a passion for mountain biking and later for road cycling. Things evolved naturally into triathlons, despite never having been a strong swimmer.

What follows is a list of races I’ve participated in. Publishing it keeps me honest with myself and on track to reach my goals. And it’s very motivating!


Running

Three running races so far: two half marathons and one full marathon.

My first race (half marathon at Greifenseelauf 2007) was a couple of weeks after I quit smoking… and I pretty much fell for all the mistakes one can do on their first race. Overtrained in the last week, slept badly, stressed out on race day because I hadn’t prepared my gear, ate minutes before race start. That experience left me frustrated and I wasn’t eager to participate in further races.

Until 2015 when my brother convinced me to attempt the full marathon in Munich. I trained for two months, followed the workout plan to the letter. Race day came around; I was slow but the race itself went smoothly and most importantly, it was fun!

In 2017 I participated in the Munich half marathon as pacemaker and support for my fiancée, who was attempting her first race! Things went well and she was extremely happy to beat her expected finishing time by 10 minutes: 02h35 instead of 2h45.

Date Event Distance Total
2007-Sep-22 Greifenseelauf 21.1 km (Half Marathon) 02:21:25
2015-Oct-11 München Marathon 42.2 km (Marathon) 04:52:25
2017-Oct-08 München Halbmarathon 21.1 km (Half Marathon) 02:35:58

Triathlon

I’ve raced my first triathlon in 2016. It was an Olympic distance triathlon in Hamburg, together with a dozen co-workers. Swimming isn’t really my strong suit, yet went surprisingly OK. Biking was satisfactory too, even felt I could have pushed harder. But running was the toughest part. Cramps hit me while still in transition zone and lasted until the finish line.

Six weeks later I’ve raced the Ironman 70.3 in Zell am See, Austria, with 1300 meters of ascent on the 90 km bike track. Again, swimming and biking went well, but cramps hit me during the running part. I somehow made it to the finish line.

In 2017 I’ve raced the Ironman 140.6 in Vichy, France, together with my brother and a friend. Both had already completed two full Ironman races and I could benefit from their experience. Unfortunately swimsuits were forbidden on race day (water too warm) and I had fallen sick two days before the race. Still, it was a lot of fun, even if the marathon proved tedious after having swam almost 4 km and cycled 180 km.

After crossing the Ironman finish line I remember thinking “This is amazing, but doing it once is enough”. The day after I had sore muscles and still thought the same. But the following day, with all pain gone, I was secretly thinking about the next one. Not sure if it will be the full Ironman distance though, maybe I’ll stick with IM70.6 half distance.

Date Event Distance Swim T1 Bike T2 Run Total
2016-Jul-17 Hamburg Triathlon 1.5-40-10 (Olympic) 00:33:57 00:07:21 01:10:51 00:05:31 00:58:09 02:55:47
2016-Aug-28 Ironman 70.3 Zell am See 1.9-90-21.1 00:38:25 00:06:09 03:24:26 00:09:28 02:40:16 06:58:44
2017-Aug-27 Ironman 140.6 Vichy 3.9-180-42.2 01:52:48 00:08:01 06:22:48 00:09:47 05:47:34 14:20:58

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