I thought that a race two weeks after the NYC Marathon would be a great idea. My training had been close to zero since New York, but hey, how quickly could fitness fade?

Hegemer Chlauslauf is a very local race, which I did for the first time in 2010. Like then, I was not the only family member to run: my mum did the 6K race.

I wanted to sport my NYC Marathon arm warmers for some subtle bluffing, but I forgot them, which made for a rather chilly outfit – we’re talking late Swiss November after all. It was not like a year earlier where snow was lying everywhere, but still, not warm at all.

The start was single-seeded at everybody’s discretion. My mum started a bit before me, and directly after me a guy (friend of a friend whom I’ve met at Hallwilerseelauf) followed.

I went out quite fast, being a recent sub 3 marathoner and all, with the guy hard on my heels.

Turns out having run a marathon doesn’t make you any smarter. I wanted to pass mum and say something stupid, but when she said “you’re running the wrong course”, suddenly what I wanted to say wasn’t the most stupid thing around anymore.

At least my “shadow” had followed me also onto the wrong bit. We came from the bottom left:

The extra bit is about 200-300 m. Not to mention the mental palm-to-forehead that hurt quite a lot. The comments of our common friend who had passed us during our little adventure didn’t help either when we passed him again.

The initial pace was a bit higher than what I could sustainably run, so I slowed down a bit. My companion always stayed behind me, which is definitely the tactically smart position to be in; I finally dropped him after about half of the course.

Due to the nature of the race, the course was not busy at all, so the approach of the “killer stairs” just before the finish was some welcome change of events. I tried to run them full speed, two steps at a time:

But that hurt. My legs burned like hell. This is the one out of about ten shots where it doesn’t show:

(All pics except the first one courtesy of my dad, by the way.)

A few hundred metres of shuffling, and I was done. My mom was already there, not like the year before where I passed here before the finish. Somebody’s getting faster!

I got my “receipt” with the race time and basked in the glory of having finished. Seems I collected some dew underway:

I chatted with a friend from primary school before this final family finisher shot was taken:

Turns out I was 131 seconds from the podium. Definitely more than I lost with my detour… next year! Maybe without New York in my legs and a bit fresher. And without extra distance.

Hegi was the last race of 2011 for me. Coming soon: review of 2011, plans and goals for 2012, race reports from the two races I did already this year (Engadin Skimarathon and Kerzerslauf).

Since this is also an archive, it’s never “too late” to write a race report. It might not be super interesting to read about things that have happened five months ago, but hey, who cares in ten years. So here it goes, my NYC Marathon race report!

I had trained more and more focussed than ever for this event. Specifically, I followed a seven weeks plan for triathletes who want to do a marathon late in the season. It was about five sessions running per week, one swim and two bike (and two core strength). The long runs on weekends were never super long, but after the run there was between one and two hours of bike every time, just to keep the metabolism going but spare the joints.

I missed only one key workout, but replaced three of the interval runs with races: a short one after the first week of training, a half marathon after the fourth week and a short hilly race after the fifth week. I didn’t taper for these races, but the high volume weeks (high for me) paid off, all three races went very well and the half marathon was a personal best by about four and a half minutes.

I travelled to New York a few days before the marathon and was most generously hosted by Sarah (and her “children”), one of my longest standing tumblr friends. Marathon week was very easy, a short run and a swim on Tuesday, fifteen minutes in my goal pace (padded by warm-up and cool-down) on Wednesday and a super easy five kilometres on Saturday.

During training, my right foot had started to hurt a little after long workouts, and during that very last run before the race, I could feel I quite strongly but didn’t let it bother me much. (Spoiler: I didn’t feel it at all on race day.)

On Sunday morning, I took the Staten Island ferry with what felt like 10’000 people, 90% of which seemed to be Italian. I could catch a glimpse of the Statue of Liberty, but it was a bit far away and I had other things on my mind. Like, running.

I was quite early in the runners’ village before the start and, after dropping off my bag, spent more than an hours walking around, getting coffee, bagels, power bars and what not (more coffee). A bit more than half an hour before my allotted starting time (in the first of three waves), we were called into our corrals. I was in number eight, about in the middle of my wave, which was a bit slower than what I wanted to run, but when I signed up for the race, I predicted 3:20:00, so that’s where I was put.

I just kept to the front of my corral so I could advance a bit when we would walk to the starting line. It was rather cold, but I had my fancy old clothes (to be thrown away before the start) and it was manageable. Just before it was time to go to the starting line, I decided to use the toilet one last time – of course exactly when the crowd starting moving. I caught up with people quickly though and was about in the first third of my wave, I guess.

Here are the crowds at the three starting locations:

I was in the rightmost, maybe fifty metres from the line. Where the elite men were starting, but I couldn’t see them anyway. After the national anthem, it was about time to get going! I had set my Garmin to a pace of 4:12 min/km, a bit faster than required for my goal of sub three hours, but better safe than sorry.

Despite the huge amount of people, the crowd came to a stand still just once after the start, and it was rather easy going, not much pushing or the like. Still, the first kilometre was very slow, maybe two minutes slower than my goal pace. That’s maybe because there were a lot of people running, could it be?

I was running on the curb as it was the easiest to pass people there. The price to pay was having to watch out where I was putting my feet as everybody peed at the wall (and over the curb, subsequently). Note to self: if ever running on the lower deck, keep far away from the edge. That’s not water trickling down from the top deck!

The bridge was over soon, and we entered Brooklyn. The routes of the three different starting locations converged here, but there was enough room for everybody. The crowds along the street were massive, I had never seen such a thing at footraces before. I thought to myself “if it keeps being like this for the rest of the course – that’s going to be easy”. (Spoiler: it wasn’t all that easy.)

I still had to catch up on the time lost in the very beginning but didn’t want to rush. At the 10 kilometres mark, I was about twenty seconds slower than my goal time, so that was okay. It was so warm that I got rid of my arm warmers (as in stuffed them under the waistband of the shorts). Here I am at the 10k mark (lower right corner, black shirt, black shorts, left foot in front):

After the very entertaining 4th Avenue in Brooklyn, there was some zigzagging on very narrow streets, half filled with spectators. I think it was there around where I passed Dr. Andy. (I don’t recognise “celebs” from behind, but it seems they wore bib numbers with their name on them on the front and the back. That’s how I knew.)

I don’t recollect too much from the rest of Brooklyn, just that in some neighbourhoods people were decidedly not interested in the race. Well. Their loss.

I kept my pace in check all the time, and at the half marathon point, I was pretty much on target. The clock here shows the gun time, and it had taken me about two minutes to cross the starting line:

I’m the guy behind the one in red, checking his watch.

The half marathon point was on the second bridge of the race, still a friendly one, and was also where we entered Queens.

I don’t remember much about that part, just that there was a lot of zigzagging. Okay, compared to Brooklyn, pretty much everything is zigzagging, but still. To get from Queens to Manhattan, we had to cross Queensboro Bridge. I had been warned, but it was still awful. We ran on the lower deck, so my GPS went a bit crazy: I knew I was slowing down a bit, but not that much.

No people were around to cheer, only runners suffering on the seemingly endless slope. I tried to keep it steady and then take advantage of the downhill, which made for the fastest kilometre split of the race. I guess. Can’t believe my GPS data from there!

Getting to the end of the bridge, we had to do a 270 degrees turn, onto 1st Avenue. Coming from such a difficult, lonely part onto this avenue with spectators about five rows deep on each side felt like entering a stadium with a huge crowd cheering. Running really did itself for some time now!

On 1st Avenue was the only time that Powerbar gels were offered. I had brought four of my own and started eating one every thirty minutes from the first hour on. I think this is the 2:30:00 gel:

That’d mean that I was already past The Bronx. And over the last two bridges, which were not very steep or anything, but it was a bit lonely and getting hot. The little loop in the Bronx was fun, and it looked more and more like I could finish on time.

Back in Manhattan, we soon started running along Central Park:

The last few kilometres are a blur. Not because I was super exhausted but because there was so much going on. The very last bit is also all uphill and I had to watch out no to lose too much time.

The last curves were approaching, I checked my watch – and was good to go! The gun time was about 3:01:something, but my time was 2:59:09. I didn’t know exactly, but clearly I reached my sub three hours goal.

As you can tell, I was all smiles and super happy. (Maybe more internally so. I was also pretty exhausted.) The post finish photographers had a hard time with me, it took them several tries to come up with this masterpiece:

Finisher!

The walk/shuffle to the trucks with my clothes took about forever as everything hurt, but I had lots of good talks. There were quite a few people with me who just missed their sub three hours goal, but nobody seemed to be bitter about it. We laughed and joked, and I got my clothes in no time.

That was my New York Marathon experience! In case it hasn’t become clear: this race was one of my most rewarding sporting experiences ever. Firstly, just because of the breathtaking scale of the event, secondly, because it showed me that if I work hard for a goal, I can reach it.

Now I just have to transfer this knowledge to my “swimming” and triathlon!

My best takeaway from the race is a time qualifying for the Boston Marathon, which I plan to do in 2013.

At the end of training week number five for New York, I replaced the speed work with Üetliberglauf, the last in the 2011 ZüriLaufCup series. I already had my six results, it was not possible for me to advance in the overall ranking and I could not be passed either, so it was just for the sake of it.

Because I live rather close, I could run to the start; I was a bit late and had yet to collect my number, but that went smooth and I could join the crowd waiting for the start.

The weather was perfect and I looked like something stung me in the right eye:

I saw some people from afar and exchanged nods and thumbs up, and then we started. I had done the race in 2010 already and remembered especially some brutal climbs. Every flat or downhill bit was to be considered a little gift.

There was a small group I ran with for the first few kilometres. On the flat bits I would gain on them, in the uphill parts they would gain on me. Finally it was just one guy and me, and in the first longer steep uphill part, he went ahead and I had not the faintest chance to follow; never saw him again in that race.

I felt quite good overall, and the steepest bit was so gruel in my remembrance that the reality could not quite live up to it. After the halfway point, there was a longer downhill bit, and even though I felt quite fast, two guys caught up with me. I decided to stick to them, and together we passed a bunch of people (among them “red guy” from Hallwilerseelauf). Eventually I managed to get away from them again, and before the steepest bit of the way back, I saw that the leading woman was not too far away.

With maybe four kilometres to go, I caught up to her, breathing loud enough for her to glance back about five times. Sorry about that! I’m not a big fan of loud breathers myself, but I couldn’t help it. I passed her, and on the last downhill part there weren’t many people any more. Just before the end, I saw two guys close to each other and decided to try and get them.

Once I was with them, I tried to get away as quickly as possible, but that was a wee bit early for a strong finish and I almost blew up. Plus there was a chaos with walkers and people from the fun run all returning at the same time, but I managed to finish before the two.

I ended up 11th in my age group and with the third best result of my 2011 ZüriLaufCup races. As expected, that didn’t change my overall ranking, so I’m still number nine there.

I chatted a little bit with some people, but I got cold very soon and headed inside to get changed. I jogged home to cool down properly and was rather content with myself and the world. From now on, there was just one more hard workout on the plan (90 minutes marathon pace); other than that, the NYC taper would begin!

I’m already in New York for the marathon on Sunday, but there are still two race reports to write! My head will probably explode if I try to keep all the memories inside, so I better get started.

Hallwilerseelauf is a half marathon I did last year already, where I improved my PB from 1:29:59 to 1:27:21. This year, I came from a 1:25:02 at Greifenseelauf, but had a solid four weeks of NYC specific training in my legs. My goal was to beat the 4 min/km mark, 1:24:24 for the complete distance.

I bumped into a lot of people before the race: two guys from work, Oli, a guy I know from elementary school and often see at races, a girl I know from a group of people with whom I spent last New Year’s Eve… lots of chatting to do thus.

My wave started four minutes after the elite wave and three minutes after the wave with the relay runners. After a short while, we already bumped into the slower relay runners; a bit annoying, but after some time the field was stretched out enough to avoid any collisions.

As expected, the first few kilometres were very fast as they’re a bit downhill. I tried to do a fancy pacing trick with my Forerunner: loading the course from last year and then “scale” it to my new goal time. I put it to 95%; turns out that’s 95% of the speed, and not 95% of the time, so it was actually slower. Once I realised it I put it to 105%, but I didn’t look a lot at the watch anyway.

I tested my NYC outfit with arm warmers, and I’m happy with it.

Once the course got flat, my pace dropped to a bit faster than 4 min/km for most of the time. I kept passing people and was more or less waiting for the legs to become heavier, but just like at Pfäffikerseelauf three weeks before, it just didn’t happen.

I played back and forth with some people, like for example this guy in red:

He was in front of me for the better part of maybe half an hour, then I passed him, he passed me again, I passed him again… and eventually I lost him. (Behind me.)

The 10 kilometre point came, the North end of the lake with its many spectators, and before I knew it, I was on the final stretch.

The legs still refused to show signs of getting tired. The last bit of the course was not so flat, but really varied and interesting to run; other runners were few and far between.

Once I saw the finish line, I mobilised some last reserves for a strong last few metres:

I was sure that I was below my 4 min/km goal, but seeing 1:20:28 on the watch was still a surprise. A very positive one. Lots of training is good for something after all! If I can improve this by a bit and get a 1:19:00, I would qualify directly for NYC marathon, so I could sign up myself and get cheap flights and alll… worth trying!

I started my New York marathon specific training two weeks ago. I follow a neat plan for triathletes that assumes you did train during all of the season and want to finish with a fall marathon (exactly for me thus). It’s just seven weeks, with three weeks build, one rest week, two weeks build and one taper. The magic (and lazy) thing about the plan is that the long long runs are at most two hours 15 minutes, but directly afterwards you hit the bike for about two hours – trains the lipid metabolism, spares the joints. And is more fun than only running.

There’s also a swim per week, which I replace by the freestyle training I do with the Academic Sports Association, and two to three core strength workouts. Overall about ten workouts with one rest day. It’s quite a bit more than what I train usually, but running always was a big part of my triathlon training and with all the strength training (which I usually skip) I’m not afraid I’ll get myself injured.

Having a goal like the NYC Marathon is even motivating enough to get me out of bed about twice a week for an early morning run, something I could only do if I was to meet somebody for running until now. The extra volume is quite visible in my weekly training hours:

So the rightmost yellow block is today’s easy run, the two columns left of it are weeks 1 and 2 of the plan. I skipped one run and one bike in week 2, that’s why the volume has gone down a little. But still, it’s more than before (where I got a bit lazy). Also, it’s not going to be my most social seven weeks as I’m every evening either training or super tired. I’ll have a life after New York again. (Actually, it’s not that bad.)

To top up week 1, I replaced the “fast” weekend run by Pfäffikerseelauf, a 12.3 km race around Lake Pfäffikon (which I did last year already) on Sunday. I went without much expectations, having quite some mileage in my legs already, and the excuse “I did it out of full training” was neatly prepared.

I did a longer warm up than I’ve ever done for a race, almost half an hour with drills and what not, but I guess that was a smart thing to do. It was again a warm day, and sweaty but ready I lined up for the start. I met Oli in the crowd and said hi, exchanged a few words about plans and even got a mention on his blog. Me, the pacemaker! ;)

The course was mostly flat with one climb shortly after half of the distance. I remember the I almost blew up there last year, but this year I wouldn’t be as surprised.

We started, rather fast as always, and I got ready for my legs to become leaden.

Which they simply didn’t! I felt very strong throughout the whole race, kept passing people and really enjoyed it. It was not my fastest race, but I felt almost as good as I did during Reusslauf (which was my best racing experience so far).

The climb went fine as well, and I was looking forward to the rolling hills after it. This was taken at about ten kilometres:

I could keep up something like a 3:45 min/km pace for the last four kilometres and had quite a strong finish. The guy just in front of me somehow stopped running a few metres before the end so I had the choice of passing him (and running into the scaffolding of the finish) or slowing down as well. Which I did, because had I been the guy, I would have thought that’s it’s mighty stupid to blast past somebody else one metre before the finish if you’re not even fighting for a podium spot or something.

It ended up being somebody of my age group, but I was in the top 10 of my age group anyway (a first!) and was happy to see that this was my second best ZüriLaufCup performance, improving my total by 48 points. I’m now 9th in the series for my age group, it’s impossible for me to pass anybody in front of me and I can’t be passed by anybody behind me in the last race, so I probably won’t even go. Unless I can squeeze it in my plan, of course, because it’s pretty Üetliberglauf and actually very close to my place.

This we ran:

I’m thinking of doing a half marathon at the end of next week as a final test (and breaking that stupid 1:24:24 barrier): Hallwilerseelauf (which I did last year). Viktor Röthlin does it as well, and he’s going to New York, so it must be a smart idea.

(Vik also says “don’t just copy the pros”. But it really fits into my plan!)

To celebrate the end of my pre NYC marathon training, I ran Greifenseelauf one week ago, one of the biggest half marathons in Switzerlands. It was already the fourth time I ran it; the only race I’ve done more often is the SOLA relay (nine times).

Even though racers were supposed to collect their number two hours before the start, it was no problem to get it later. Everything was well organised and I didn’t have to wait in the queue at all.

I bumped into three different ASVZ tri camp people and chatted a bit before heading to the start; I was in the first wave this year because I indicated a sub 90 minutes goal time.

Actually, I wanted to break 1:24:24, which corresponds to exactly 4 min/km. Last year, I ran 1:29:59.8 in this race, and a few weeks later I set my half marathon PB of 1:27:21 at Hallwilerseelauf. A few weeks ago, I would have been confident that I can make it, considering for example Flughafenlauf, a 17 km race where I had a 3:50 min/km pace on not even a very good day. But my running mileage has been reduced quite a bit for some weeks (more cycling, more swimming, less overall time spent for training) so I wasn’t that sure anymore.

Near the start I met Julie who had the same goal as me, we chatted a bit until the gun went (upon which we stopped chatting). Starting in the first wave was really convenient: no pushing, nobody blocking your way, just smooth running from the first second on. My plan was to avoid going too fast in the beginning, the stick to the 4 min/km pace until half of the race, then go and see if there was any fuel left in the tank.

The first two kilometres were a bit fast, so I was about 15 seconds in front of an exact 4 min/km pace. I used the “virtual pacer” feature of my watch to check on that. Going at that pace had me run a little slower than the average runner in my vicinity, but I hoped to collect them all later and focused on my own pace.

For some kilometres, my pace was spot on, sometimes I was a bit faster, but overall I kept my 15 seconds. According to my watch, that is; the fifth kilometre seemed a little long, and from then on I arrived at the kilometre signs pretty exactly when my lead was gone.

I felt okay, but not like I could go much faster. At the 10K mark, I clocked 40:21, thus slightly behind schedule. My original plan to go faster after eleven kilometres was on the fly replaced by a new plan: going faster for the last third. Once the 14 km mark was past, I really tried to go a bit harder, but couldn’t get anything faster than a 3:54 split.

My parents were watching about three kilometres from the finish and dad took some pictures. Here’s the winner, Tadesse Abraham:

A bit later, the fastest Swiss marathoner, Viktor Röthlin (ended up third):

Fast amateur Christian Kreienbühl (eighth in the end):

The fastest woman, Monica Jepkoech:

And then, finally, myself. Looking to somebody on the other side of the road and seeing my parents only after the pic was taken:

On the way back, my weird motions mean: “It’s going to be close!”

“Don’t know if I’ll make it!”

Running.

“Will be tight on time!” (And heel-striking.)

And with that, the final stretch came. After a flat bit, there was the dreaded (actually rather gentle) slope, making for a slow second to last kilometre, putting me behind schedule even according to my watch, and I knew the watch was showing too little distance.

Last year, in a similar situation where I wanted to be sub 1:30:00, I managed exactly and got a 1:29:59.8. This year, all the sprinting was in vain, as the clock stopped at 1:25:02, 38 seconds slower than my goal. I wasn’t disappointed too long though, that was a new half marathon PB and a pretty decent one at that. I’ll have to beat 4 min/km in another half marathon then.

In the finishing area, I chatted a bit with my parents (wearing the rather ugly finisher shirt of 2011), a lot of other people, and finally headed for the showers and home.

The next day, my NYC marathon preparations would officially begin!

To round off my 2011 triathlon season, I started at the Tägi Tri sprint triathlon about ten days ago. The 2010 edition of this race was my first triathlon ever (including getting lost on the bike), so I was curious to see how I would have improved in the meantime.

My start was at 10:30, so without getting up at an ungodly time I managed to get to Wettingen around 08:15. My trusty (upgraded) bike got its own compartment in the train:

Tägi Tri is a sprint triathlon, where the “long” race is 1 km outdoor pool swim, a 36.8 km bike and a 7.6 km run. I did the “short” race (half of all that) because my company sponsors a special category where all their employees can start for free, but only on the short distance. Fine with me.

After checking in, getting marked and setting up my transition, I went to watch a few of the waves starting before me. Every thirty minutes, about 30 competitors started at the same time, four or five of them sharing a lane for the swim. Quite a lot of ASVZ tri camp people were competing: Karin, Henrik, Marcus and Yonca (all doing the long one), and I watched them all swim. Some swimmers were incredibly fast, like Marcus who clocked 17:07 including the very long transition to cycling!

I had still some time to drink coffee and get really nervous. With my starting time approaching, I went to the swim start to get my lane and listen to the briefing, then warm up a little and swim one lap before things got serious.

We were just four in our lane and sorted out roughly who would be how fast so there wouldn’t be too much passing in the beginning. After the start, two of the guys were gone quite soon, and I was on the feet of the third (who was breast stroking, but at a decent pace). My goal was to swim freestyle for all of the distance. As usual, the first few laps were no problem, breathing every third stroke and all, but around half the distance things became a little more laborious. After 200 metres I sprinkled in about four breast strokes but then changed back, determined to not “fall back” again.

I switched to breathing every second stroke and my form was probably terrible, but hei, I managed. Unlike the year before where I had the pool all to myself in the end, there were still some people swimming when I left (“left” as in “rolled myself over the pool edge”). The transition zone was super slippery and I had to take tiny steps, but without too much hassle I could leave, jump on the bike and was on my way.

My swim time (including T1) was almost two minutes faster than last year’s and faster than one third of the other contestants. For me, that’s quite an accomplishment, but for the moment I was mainly happy with swimming (almost) everything freestyle.

Now the actual fun part began. Because I was far behind the really fast people, nobody passed me during the whole bike and at times my cycling felt pretty powerful. The course was a bit longer than last year, and the extra bit was all flat and straight, perfect for me. Thanks to intense study of the course and realising that it was almost the same as last year, I did not miss the right turn at the end of the first lap and went by the transition zone to start my second lap.

I really tried to go all in, considering the run would be very short, yet still the bike speed was not much faster than what I had for example at the triathlon in Zug, where the bike was more than twice as long. But good enough to progress a bit in the ranking.

T2 was no problem, still the same super slippery ground, but managable.

The idea was to go really fast in the run, 3.8 km being really short. I managed to have a quick first kilometre (3:45), and also the second was okay (3:54). I passed a few people, but now they were few and far between. The slight slope on the third kilometre took its toll in the shape of a 4:22 split; the last bit was faster again (3:45 pace).

The finish stretch was all straight and you could see until the very end; one guy in front of me was looking back for a long time before taking the last turn and I tried to hunt him down, but no chance. Good for a fast finish though.

My run split ended up being the 4th fastest of the 38 in my division (the “sponsored short course”), and overall I finished 13th. I was really happy with that since usually I struggle to even place in the better half, and that was already scratching “fastest third”. Plus I was content with the swimming.

We stayed for the awards (Marcus came in second on the long course), pasta and cake, and soon after I left. Good way to finish my first full triathlon year! Off to Autumn running, Winter swimming and 2012 plans.

After a break of several weeks, the ZüriLaufCup series continued with the first of its four autumns races, Rütilauf, last Sunday. I decided to participate; it was my 8th ZLC race of this year, and because only the top six results count for the overall ranking, I would have to perform (relatively) better than in two other races to earn some points.

It was a very hot day, the hottest since decades for that exact date (or so I heard, but it seems credible). I had never done this race before, but public transportation was available until very close to the starting area so I didn’t plan a lot of extra time to get there.

After arriving, I put my bag in the changing rooms and headed for the start to “warm up” (even more) with about ten minutes to go. I was immediately soaking wet and started thinking about getting a sleeveless shirt for running. For next Summer, you know. (And only for races.)

With about five minutes to go, I joined the crowd before the starting line. I did have a look at the elevation profile before, but it was kind of hard to memorise:

I could keep in mind that after 4.5 km it’s “easy” for a bit and that there are some mean hills before the end. I could have also remembered “it’s just never flat”.

And off we were!

If you look closely, you spot fast Julie (with the red hair) and triathlete Filippo Neri (blue shirt, black short, no compression socks).

And if you look very closely, I’m there as well!

The course did a little loop back through the starting area before going out on a bigger loop. The path got very narrow early on and I was a bit annoyed that I hadn’t started further to the front because it was very hard to pass people, but being held back in the beginning of a race is usually a good thing as people tend to overpace after the start anyway.

For quite some time I kept passing people, but the course made sure I never found any kind of rhythm. It was blistering hot, and on the sections not covered by trees it was as if somebody was pushing me towards the ground. I took every drink and sponge I could get, but the two gulps of water were like the figurative (German) “drops on a hot stone”.

Quite soon I reached the position in the field where I was surrounded by people with my pace, so not much passing was going on any more. At one point I passed Jens, a guy I know from seeing him at ASVZ, the academic sports association, but I never could put much distance between him and myself.

After the turning point in the South with about three kilometres to go, I hit an all time low. Kilometre splits were skyrocketing, lots of people passed (among them Jens again), and I just couldn’t muster up any strength to go faster.

I’m not sure where this was taken, but probably around then:

This was either after just being passed by Jens or passing him for the first time.

The “pièce de resistance”, a mean climb just before the final stretch, was still waiting, and it was mean. The good thing was that I could pass Jens again as he resorted to power walking (which probably wasn’t much slower than my run shuffle). The last kilometre was not a prime example of a strong finish, but at least nobody else passed me. Very happy to get to stand in the shade I gulped down lots of water and drinks and tried to stop looking as if somebody had thrown me into a swimming pool.

I chatted with Julie who placed 3rd woman overall (which makes me 3rd in my virtual “me vs. the women” race) and met Oliver who recognised me from this blog (and I recognised him from his). Oli had blasted past me somewhere in the final ascent and placed 9th in our age group; I placed 10th, which sounds pretty cool, but I never felt like doing a strong race.

Even though the relative placing was better than my ZLC average, I didn’t get any points for the overall cup because compared to the time of the age group winner, it was my second worst performance of the year. Fine, the age group winner (last year’s dominator Christian Kreienbühl) was about 10% faster than the second place and likely ruined points for everybody, but still.

In the overall cup standing I lost one place because Adrian Brennwald (world champion in Double and Triple Ironman) finally did his 6th race. One guy improved by five points, but that doesn’t change the overall standing, so now I’m placed 7th. 

The main question until the end of the season will be whether the people with less than six races who are faster than me (e.g., Dani) will race enough to get to six races or not, because I will only improve marginally (if at all).

This weekend I’ll probably do the next ZLC race, Türlerseelauf, on Saturday; on Sunday I’ll to Tägi Tri sprint triathlon where I did my first triathlon ever one year ago. And then it’s all about preparing for NYC marathon!

On Sunday, I did my second ever olympic distance triathlon. This time around, it was the one in Uster; it doubled as the Swiss Championships.

In the days leading to the race, a heat wave hit Switzerland and I was watching the lake temperature very closely, hoping it would be less than 22 °C on race day so we could wear wetsuits. Well.

On Sunday morning, I took a reasonably early train to Uster and arrived a good 75 minutes before my start at the scene. Unfortunately I didn’t bring enough cash to pay for the one day competition licence, and everybody I met hadn’t enough spare either, so I had to ride back to town and withdraw some cash.

With that, my time cushion was gone and I started to become nervous. When I finally got my number, cap and all, I proceeded to the transition zone and set up my stuff. I had an awesome spot, at the very end of a rack.

It was too warm for wetsuits (by 0.1 °C, thank you very much) so I saved some time by not having to get into mine and headed to the swim start with about 15 minutes to go.

The water didn’t feel very warm at all, but after a few strokes of warming up (and that’s all I could do for warming up) the temperature was okay. We lined up behind the pros, I saw some friends and made “thumbs down” signs for the non-wetsuit swim, and off we were.

The swim was a simple out-and-back around two buoys, the bike was an extended lap around the lake and the run was two laps more or less along the lake.

After a perceived duration of ten seconds, the waters around me became pretty calm. Calm as in “because there was on one swimming next to me”. I employed my signature freestyle breast mixed stroke (freestyle until close to dying, then breast stroke to recover) and lived up to the title of my blog. Very much so. Okay, there was one guy swimming in the vicinity, but that was about it.

With about 75% of the swim done, I saw a super fast group of swimmers with orange caps blast past me about 80 metres to my right. I thought “Hu? Are they having the women’s sprint at the same time? Or why are there people at the same time on a different course?”

When a bit later a much larger group of blue capped girls zoomed by, I realised that my 15 minutes head start on the women’s olympic race was not enough to be out of the water before them, and that I had been swimming very curvy towards the swim exit (hence the 80 metres). Of course, because I didn’t have time to check the swim exit beforehand.

When I finally got out of the water, it was exactly with that blue capped group, that is, the fastest amateur women. So my transition was together with the very (very) slowest men and the very fastest women. (Déjà-vu?)

Thanks to not having to get out of a wetsuit and my awesome transition spot, T1 was quick and I was underway with the bike. My parents were there to watch and dad took this shot:

Notice the new clip-on aerobars, new saddle post and new race wheels. And how shiny my bike was because I cleaned it the evening before.

Hopping on the bike and getting into the shoes went without further problems, and I was underway on the bike course, which I’d ridden a few times before in training. It’s got a rather mean elevation profile: 

Lots of not-so-steep but steady uphill, a fast descent and then flat around the rest of the lake. Thanks to my aforementioned positioning in the field(s) I could pass quite some guys and got chicked just about three times. (They were drafting of each other, I should mention. Just because.)

The tri-spoke wheels weren’t quite as noisy as I hoped they would, but I still believe that apart from actual, measurable advantages (reduced drag) there is also a considerable psychological impact of having those things on your bike.

Things were rather uneventful (except that one time I almost lost my bottle while putting it back into the cage), I enjoyed lying on my aerobars and felt pretty fast. The long ascent was okay, I’m not a strong climber, but I was content with how I got up there. Before the in-between descent there was the “Tempo Sport Motivational Mile” with funny posters every few metres (“Running is your strength? Have fun with the next few kilometres!”) and an actual cheering crowd just before the top. Good idea. I’ll go shop with you guys again.

The end of the ramp came sooner than expected, and the flat bit before the descent was very welcome. I caught up with one of the girls who had previously passed me and stayed ahead of her, until just before the descent where she was more gutsy in a sharp corner.

Then the descent. Ever since I’ve had my little crash, I’m about as daring as a 100 year old when descending so that’s not where I make up for a lot of time. And, as a free bonus, I lost a lens (again) just before the end of the downhill part. High time to get that laser surgery appointment. It’s just not that much fun to ride half blind.

Since I’m already totally used to riding with just one lens, it didn’t bother me much, but the fast last 10 km would have been more enjoyable with full sight, I guess. A bit of extra excitement was added by a construction site, which forced us to ride around it on small paths including about 100 metres of gravel. My poor wheels!

Just before the transition zone, the bike course and the run course were next to each other and I saw some of the triathlon camp people on the run. Transition went smooth, and I started my run.

Running is by far my favourite part of any triathlon. As the overall strong people are far ahead, it’s usually collecting lots and lots of runners, very motivating. First and foremost, the girls who chicked me, of course. (Thoughts on “chicking” on Chucky V’s blog, check it out!)

After an asphalt bit, the course changed to gravel and crossed a little forest. Here I’m coming out of that forest on the first of the two laps:

I tried to keep my pace under 4 min/km, but it snuck over the four minutes all the time. I didn’t feel like I could go any faster, so that was that.

The best part of the running course was its end, just before finishing (or starting the second lap), where lots of people were lining the path and quite I few I knew were cheering.

The second lap was a bit harder, but more and more people were populating the course. I ran some time with a guy who first passed me, but at about seven kilometres I shook him off. The photographer after the forest was still there:

The last two kilometres were my fastest but I forgot to take splits every kilometre so I don’t know exactly. I just know I was happy to finish, here I’m just about to:

And I was done. As in other triathlons before, I didn’t feel extremely exhausted in the end, but during the run I could not have gone any faster, or so I thought. Leave more on the bike next time?

Compared to average times, I’ve lost about ten minutes in the swim alone – it took longer than my run! The bike was average, but also there I have a lot to improve. I’m not super happy overall, especially with the more than crappy swim, but I did like the event as such. I’ll be back.

I’ll do one more triathlon this year, Tägi Tri sprint (the first tri I ever did, last year) in one week, and then it’s all about preparing for NYC marathon. Plus a few short races (the last of the ZüriLaufCup series) and Greifenseelauf half marathon where I want to go sub 4 min/km. Next race: Rütilauf, the day after tomorrow!

In the pro race, Nicola Spirig topped the women’s field by something like six minutes to claim her fourth consecutive title; Ruedi Wild took advantage of Sven Riederer’s absence (he wants to focus on the last WCS race in Beijing) and took his first title.

Yesterday, I ran one of the five races of the Five Days Mountain Racing Cup (“5-Tage Berglauf-Cup”). I originally had planned to do the whole cup (you have to finish four of the five races to get into the overall ranking), but realised I couldn’t and wanted to skip it completely, but when Kaspar asked me if I wanted to join for one race I was in.

The cup consists of short and sweet races, all around 5 km and about 10% inclination. Just like yesterday’s leg from Steg up to Hörnli, 5.1 km and 430 m elevation. The profile promised to be all upwards (surprise!) with three tiny flat bits and an extra steep finish stretch:

The races are pretty low key (about 150 participants every day) and cheap (50.- CHF for the whole cup), but timing and organisation is super professional.

After a short warm up it was already time to get going!

Kaspar is in the front row at the very left, my head is just to the right of his. The two red guys front centre are Stephan Wenk (international caliber duathlete and mountain runner) and Christoph Menzi (national caliber runner), favourites of the day (and week).

After the start, I was mainly passed during the first kilometre or so, since I had been so close to the front. It’s good to never be blocked, but it’s not so fun to be slower than everybody else around you!

The favourites took the lead from early on:

I’m between Kaspar’s and Stephan’s heads. I like the guy with the fisher hat and the bermuda shorts, he runs every race like that! (And he’s pretty fast, even though apparently he goes out too fast every time and blows up at some point.)

Here’s another shot of the field shortly after the start:

I’m just in front of the orange guy.

The race was maybe short, but the intensity was sky high from the first second on. Shortly after the leading woman passed me about 1.5 kilometres into the race, I managed to hang on to the people around me. Just before the first flat bit, some orienteering juniors, one of them less than 14 years old, caught up with me and I didn’t really feel like letting them go.

The flat bit came to the rescue, I could undo a few passes. But as soon as we got into the next ramp, I was passed again. At least by now I was completely warmed up! I didn’t feel bad, but it was pretty hard to go at this intensity and still feeling slow, compared to flat road races.

The next flat bit approached, I was still around the same people and could stick with them until the third flat bit. After that came the final ramp: first you got a glimpse of the great view, then you stood almost still, it was so steep. With just a few hundred metres to go, this would have been the place to step it up a notch and pass a few people, but I was already content not having to walk.

One guy just in front of us did walk – until I passed him, that is. Then he started running again:

And he went on to pass me:

I thought the finish would be a little bit further away than it actually was so I didn’t push 100%, but I’m not sure I could have caught the guy also if I had known exactly.

I finished a bit more than four minutes behind Kaspar who placed third, and about one minute behind Markus, another tri camp buddy. My overall pace was 5:24 min/km, which is about 1:44 min slower than my fastest pace for road races… I’m not exactly a mountain running hero, you could say.

But! It was a really cool race, perfectly organised with a very cozy atmosphere. And this view!

Next year, I want to do the full cup for sure. There’s also the one day version: all five legs on a single day. In 2013 maybe, or who knows, now that I live so close to Üetliberg… I’ll see!

My next race will be Uster Triathlon, olympic distance, on the 28th of August. I hope for some cold rain until then, because at the moment it would be too warm for wetsuits! Oh the horror…