Velden Pago Triathlon | 22.06.2009  |
As I promised, a short summary of yesterday's race:
After recovering quite well from my competition in Vienna and not having
another olympic distance planned for at least three weeks, I decided to do my
second sprint triathlon this year. It took place on the western end of the Wörthersee
in the beautiful city of Velden. Although in my opinion the water temperature seemed
quite warm, the race officials decided - probably because the temperatures cooled
down significantly over the weekend - to allow wetsuits in the 750m one-loop swim
leg. As this is a huge disadvantage for me, I left the water much further back than
expected and already had a 60+ seconds gap in T1.
Biking on the very hilly course went quite well as we made up more and more time
on the three man group before us at each turning point. When I heard that the
difference was only 10-15 seconds after second transition, I probably ran the fastest
first kilometer of all competitors and closed the gap to position four at kilometer
one and to third place on kilometer two.
The second half of the run was slightly downhill, but it still felt to be twice as
long as the first half.
After all I finished third, 85 seconds behind the winner.
Velden Pago Triathlon
0,75 / 20 / 5
1. Lorber Christoph, 56:03
2. Gaggl Lukas, 57:03
3. Scherwitzl Boris, 57:28
4. Jandl Thomas, 57:43 |
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| Third place | 21.06.2009 |
Finished third place in Velden today (sprint distance) - report will follow tomorrow!
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| Gallery update | 08.06.2009 |
| Photos from Vienna are now available in the gallery. |
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| Race report Vienna | 08.06.2009 |
After a detailed course inspection the day before the big event and some junior
European cup races in the morning, the Austrian national championship on the
Olympic distance started last Sunday shortly after 4 PM. Together with about
70 other athletes I opened the swim leg with a jump from the pontoon in the
"Neue Donau".
Although my swim form in the pool was great over the last few weeks, I wasn't
satisfied with the first discipline at all. First a water temperature of about 18 degrees
Celsius allowed wearing wetsuits, which wasn't - although I'm not that good at
swimming - in my favour. Somehow I feel like a "one-speed-man" when I'm
wearing a wetsuit and I can't really go much faster in competition than in training.
Being still at the tail end of the second group after 400 metres, I lost contact
almost immediately after the second buoy and had to swim the whole way back
against the current on my own. It wasn't really hard but - like I said - to some
unknown reason I couldn't go as fast as I wanted. (At least I entered T1 relaxed ;-))
After a very disappointing swim leg I left the water on about 25th place with a
90 second gap to the group before AND the group behind me. I couldn't count
on any help and started out on the seven lap 38 km bike course in the middle of
nowhere.
Although the conditions were extremely windy and I stayed completely alone
until the second to last lap, I was able to go about the same speed as the group
before me and changed to the run on position 24.
With a two minute gap to the guys in the second pack and the solo ride on the
bike I had no hopes of improving my position and ran my own, constant pace.
My legs felt great over the whole 10 km and I was able to catch some guys
especially in the last of five loops.
Overall I finished 17th in a time of 2:02:12, which meant 11th place in
the Austrian championship overall and 4th place in the 23-and-under category.
Concluding I admit that the result makes me feel confident for the rest of the
season and I know that I really have to work on my "swimming with wetsuit"-abilities.
Austrian Championships 2009
Vienna, Donauinsel
1. Höfer Franz - 1:51:38
2. Berger Dominik - 1:56:18
3. Wutscher Manuel - 1:56:41
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11. Scherwitzl Boris - 2:02:12
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| Summary | 08.06.2009 |
Great video coverage
Click me!
Race Summary and photos will follow soon! |
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| Off to Vienna... | 08.06.2009 |
Well, everything is set, (almost) all preparations are done
and I can honestly say, that I'm in great shape.
Tomorrow morning we set course to Vienna to have some time for
a training on the competition course.
Starting shot will be on Saturday at 4:10 PM. |
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