Challenge Roth, July 7, 2019 (XL)
Race Reporter: Philippe
It was a perfect day for racing this last Sunday and I am very happy with finishing this Ironman in 13h51.
Two years ago I didn’t finish this race since I stopped the race after 1 km in the marathon ( I was exhausted under 32°c temperature and in fact I was not ready/prepared for an Ironman).
The temperature was 30°c on Saturday but only 22°c on race day and we were able to swim with wetsuit! I swam 15 min faster, biked 30 min faster and ran 41 km longer than two years ago!
Race day
Surprisingly I slept very well and woke up at 3h30 for breakfast, ouch! taking the bus at 4h30. I Felt very relaxed in transition area and had to wait two hours until my start time ( I started 1h30 after first wave).
Swim
A good swim for me in 1h29, I paced myself and had no stress, happy to be done. Open water swim sessions with Sylvain were really good for me to be relaxed and easy
Bike
I made sure that I was not pushing too hard on watts/hr at the beginning of the race and did a good first loop, second loop was harder with the wind, I was hoping to do 6h30 but did 6h48.
Run
I was worried how my legs and knee would feel so I started slow and tried to keep a 7 min pace. Nutrition was hard for me and I was getting tired, I focused to run enough to finish in less than 14h00 and was delighted to see the finish line. This is an amazing feeling to enter a stadium full of fans and I enjoyed the last 200 meters!
This was my last Ironman.
Until next time….
