News Archive 2009

Gold Coast, Schoolies, Stomach Bugs and Ironman Western Australia 2009

Well, what shall I say? These were 4.5 pretty rough weeks. It could have definitely been much smoother sailing especially for the amount of money and stress this trip cost me.

Of 3.5 weeks training on the gold coast we had THREE weeks of schoolies. What is schoolies???

Schoolies is a *three* week graduation festival celebrated by Year 12 school leavers from all around Australia. It takes place after the Year 12 Leaving Certificate between mid-November and mid-December. The event is predominantly held on Queensland's Gold Coast = SURFERS PARADISE.

Means 30.000 drunken 17-year olds all on a few square meters in the middle of Surfers Paradise.

The party was maybe 800 meters away fromour apartment in Central Surfers(as the crow flies). It was mental. No chance to sleep. So we moved our beds into the lounge tucked behind a wall and embedded permanent earplugs in our ears. I still could not sleep through one single night though. I woke up between 4-5 times each night being so angry at the schoolies that it made it even harder to sleep.

They were partying 24/7...or at least they were drunk all the time, urinating, vomiting everywhere, being loud, taking apart construction barriers and throwing them at pedestrians, go missing in the surf, falling of balconies....

Here are some quotes out of the newspaper:

A Victorian schoolie had his end-of-the-year-celebrations cut short on the first day on Friday after plunging face first into a metal barrier placed across a water slide.

Grave fears were held last night for a schoolie after he disappeared in the surf.

A 16 year old boy was arrested at schoolies after trying to pass off his mothers hormone tablets as ecstasy.

Police have labelled this years schoolies participant louts with arrests up more than 50 per cent compared with last year.

GREAT and we were trying to prepare for Ironman in the middle of 30.000 mad kids that are just trying to figure out with how much alcohol and drugs and lack of sleep they can cope.

So, apart from a couple of long bike rides out into the countryside (BEAUTIFUL!!!) it wasnt really the place to be if you are seriously training for an ironman event. Fullstop. It might be a very different story if schoolies is not on. However, apart from schoolies or not schoolies, Surfers is also NOT the place to be if you are living on a pretty tight budget. It is TWICE as expensive as New Zealand.

Thats the bad sides. The good and sunny side of things: I have met some pretty amazing peopleon the Gold Coast and three of them are Lis, Owen and their little 6 week old boy Finn. They really added a lot of value to my stay in Surfers J THANKS guys!!! AND we could actually get all our training done plus acclimatise to waht turned out to be a very HOT event!!

And spent some quality time at the beach/pool :)

November 30th: Onto the plane to Perth....and onto the bus to Busselton (250km South from Perth).

We arrived in Busso on Monday night, got some weetbix from the gas station and went to bed. Next morning I went for a run along the beautiful IMWA course. Ialready felt a bit weird that morning...coming back I very quickly had to get to the bathroom with a pretty painful tummy and ...yes...the runs like there is no tomorrow. Brilliant. First I thought it was the excessive amount of magnesium I took because after using up many more DOLLARS in Surfers than planed I could not afford any massages So I doubled the dose of magnesium I took to help relax my muscles. I stopped the magnesium but the diarrhea did not go for another couple of days. Wednesday to Thursday night I spent the entire night vomiting. I have not been so sick for years!!! I guess my immunsystem was a bit challenged after 33 hour training weeks, the heat, lack of proper sleep and not enough food. So it was easy to pick up the gastro-virus that was going around in Busselton. The pharmacist I saw in towntold methat sixof his staff had it and the Ironman Doctor (Dr. Best who actually deserves this name!!!) confirmed.

So there was nothing I could do but rest and let my body get rid of the nasty bug. Thursday and Friday hardly anything went in and certainly nothing out. My system was on holidays. Not what you want the two days before the BIG day. No food= no energy. So I tried to rest and sleep as much as possible and tried to get my head around what I could get down for pre-race dinner. I decided for pasta (surprise surprise) and I know now I shouldnt have done it. At least not tomato-sauce. I should have rather tried plain white rice or dry toast. I felt really sick after dinner and still felt sick in the morning. So I just hoped that once Iget started and moving things would clear up. But they didnt. I had near to no strength in the swim and had the taste of pasta and breakfast in my mouth. However, I managed to keep it all down. The first 45km on the bike were actually going much better than expected but from then onwards my stomach started to get more and more bloated and I was struggling to get any food down. It was the biggest effort to force one Powerbarin followed by a few GU electrolyte lollies. That was it. I tried to continue with water and my gel-electrolyte-mix but it just sat in my stomach and it felt like nothing is actually going into my bodys cells. At kilometre 100 I started on Coke. One bottle went down okay then I couldnt do anymore coke either. By that time I found it extremely hard to stretch my upper body. By km 120 I had lost all my power, couldn't get over 30kmhand started to doubt whether I actually make it back to T2. Before the race I had read somewhere that we might have to pay for the ambulance if we decide we need one definitely something I could not have ever paid for. So it became my challenge to actually finish the 180k. I knew there is now way to run the marathon. I couldnt even think that far. I just tried to concentrate on moving forward. By kilometre 160 I had to start vomiting again. The last 20km felt like hell and if they wouldnt ever end...

Anyway I made it back and straight into the medical tent where a handful of other Pros were on stretchers already. Either stomach bug like me or heat stroke (it had 37 degrees by then).

So, the first time I pulled the pin in a race. This has never happened before. And I really do not want it to happen again. After all the money spent on flights, accommodation,the new bike, theusual preparation, the unpaid leave and and and.... It hurt andof course Im gutted! But somehow at the same timeI am not. Maybe because it was totally out of my control.

Now that I am over the bug and my system is back to normal (almost at least) I am looking forward to the next Challenge and hopefully my stomach is bulletproof now (or at least bug-proof!!): Challenge Wanaka 2010. Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaahaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay!!!!

Lets DO IT!
Ce :o)

The Legend - New Zealand's toughest marathon

Kiwi Arthur Lydiard a guru of distance running and energy behind the jogging movement world wide died in 2004, but the memory of the legend lives on. During the legend marathon runners retrace the training route which formed the base for many of New Zealands gold winning athletes. The course follows the famous Waiatarua route over the Waitakere Ranges previously used by Lydiard to train his prodigies such as Olympic gold medallists Peter Snell, Sir Murray Halberg, John Walker and many other world class athletes. Over the last 40 years the Waiatarua run has grown from a secret training course for Olympians, to a punishing training run for the not-so-elite. (www.sportzhub.com)

So, on September 19^th (2009) it was time for some of New Zealands best runners to take on the heights of the Waitakere Ranges, all in the footsteps of Kiwi legend. And so did little triathlete Celia. And what a race! I really enjoyed every second and every meter of it. I tried to hold back for as long as I could to not hit the wall in the middle of this hilly marathon. And I didnt. I wasnt anywhere near it. Woohoo! And it was a lot more fun than what I thought it would be. So I ended up in 5^th place overall with a time of 3:20h (1^st woman across the line was Ady Ngawati in 3:04h who won the Auckland Marathon in 2008 in a time of 2:46h). Because I felt so good all the way through and could still run a 4:09km/min on the last two kilometres, feeling like I could keep running like this for more kilometers it would now be extremely tempting to run a flatter marathon with less meters to climb (my GPS showed 1448meter over the 42.2km) to see what time I could do. BUUUUUT...its almost time for Ironman Western-Australia and I really need to start spending more time on my bike and in the pool...

First man across the finish line was Paul Wreford with an absolutely amazing 2:23h marathon. Incredible.

Challenge Roth 2009 you can do it, you can do it, you can do it...

Maybe not the most successful race of this season but I definitely gave it my very best.

It has been a crrrrrrrrazy (but good crazy) time in Germany for me (as it usually is). Germany does not have anything to do with holidays when I am there once a year, even though people tend to think this. Going to Germany always means presenting work related projects at a conference. Luckily this year my abstract got accepted at the 1st International Sport Scientific Congress in Frankfurt which was not too far from my home town. The conference, however, was followed by a seminar presentation at the University of Education in Ludwigsburg and a one-week-visit in Filderstadt including two evening talks about Triathlon training presented to the local sport community. From Filderstadt I took the train to the Challenge Kraichgau race and from there the train all the way up North to look after my grandma for one week. From Kassel I went back to Weinheim and from there once more to Stuttgart and Filderstadt. Back in Weinheim I had the honour to host Paul Westwood who came all the way from Luxemburg and joined me for my last long/hard training sessions. During the two weeks before Roth there was a lot happening with my cousins 30^th Birthday, birth of little Line-Marie, open air ska concerts and lots of catching up with friends. Maybe a little bit too much alcohol consumption and hang-over-training sessions for ce????!!!! But man I had a blast!!! And I think the lack of healthiness and sleep was balanced by a lot of positive extra energy J I really really really enjoyed my time in Germany. Even more than last year!!!

In Roth I had a fantastic time staying at Susas (my coach) parents home in Heideck about 20 kilometres out of Roth. Maybe a bit tricky logistically sometimes but it was worthwhile. Jacob (Susas dad) cooked the most beautiful meals (e.g. pasta with Salmon and crabs YUMMY!!!) and both, Annelise (Susas mum) and Jacob have been amazing hosts!! I wasnt lacking anything at all!!

My mum did an awesome job playing the taxi-driver for both, Pauli and me, before/during/after the race. What would we have done without mommsie Kuch?

So the days before the race the weather report started to look better and better and on race day it turned out to be the PERFECT day. Not too warm, cold, or windy. Unfortunately I started the race with a panic attack in the water. No idea where the heck this came from but for a few minutes my chest was so tight that I could not breathe normally at all. I knew that my Polar chest strap was a bit too tight and I was wearing an additional top that added to the tightness around my chest. But I think the cause was rather nervousness than anything else. Anyway, I slowed down a fair bit, even considered to breast stroke (but didnt do it) and after a short time I came right. Very strange thing to happen but it was all back to normal after only a few minutes and I started to feel more comfortable again. My swim time was okay with 00:59:30h. However, plan had been to stick to Paulis feet which I actually thought I did but it turned out to be another guy that I was following whilst Mr. Westwood swam a fantastic sub 55min.

Due to a blocked left ear a couple of days before the race I had to see the ear-doc to get it checked and cleaned. Because the magic doc recommended to have warm feet during the race I decided to wear socks and booties for the first time in my triathlon career. This added at least another minute to my transition time. But apparently I was still quicker than a lot of other Pro athletes. So off I went on the bike. I could get passed a few faster swimming age group girls but was basically on my own the whole time. I followed the same strategy as usual. I had divided the 180 km into 4*45kilometers and took it really easy for the first 45. Rode at IM pace for the 2^nd 45km, tried to push it a bit more on the 3^rd 45 and rode strong but moderate on the last 45km. This all went really well and after 5:20h my legs were near normal. Not tired at all. However, from kilometre 150 onwards I started to feel sick but hungry. Really weird...Calorie-wise I should have not felt hungry at all. I had two PowerBar bars, electrolyte-drink, and the usual amount of salt tablets. However, I took 10 caffeinated gels on board that I would not usually use. Stupid German customs had thrown away all of my BALANCE supplements that I had sent to Germany for the races. So I had to take Gels that I wasnt used to and I am pretty sure that the caffeine was the cause for my hunger and sickness.

Off the bike my legs felt good but my stomach was in one single cramp from kilometre 1 onwards. I tried the porter-loo at around kilometre 10 but it didnt help. After the second porter-loo stop I felt heaps better and thought that I would get back to normal. But this didnt last for more than 20minutes and the rumbling in my stomach started again and became a real issue for the rest of the marathon. I wasnt prepared for so much (stomach) pain and it turned out to be a major challenge to struggle from kilometre to kilometre in the end. I did not want to start with Coke before kilometre 30 so kept taking in water and gels that made it all worse. I was so so so glad to have my family on the course that kept cheering me on and up. All I wanted was to stop running. But as soon as I had this thought in my head I tried to stop the negative thinking and kept repeating positive, positive, positive... and you can do it, you can do it, you can do it.... in my head. At least it distracted me from the negative thoughts. Unfortunatelly it didnt help with the pain.

Across the finish line Pauli was waiting for me and to then just sit there...next to a very sad and unhappy Celia. So good that he was there. So good to have real friends!!!! Thanks Pauli =) !!! You know you are my hero ;)

So the end of the story is that I finished in 10:08 hours and even though I could not accomplish my goal to finish under 10 hours I won a personal tough race and fulfilled the target to place top 20 which I did by coming 16^th overall. I have improved last years time by 17 minutes. 16^th place overall was the 7^th place at the German Championships and 3^rd in my age group. As a Team we even won the German Championships. So maybe not as good as I wanted but still I am very happy with my overall result. And apart from all this, it is important to have these not-so-good, frustrating and tough races. They motivate you to further better yourself. And this is the plan now.

So next on the programme are six weeks off training. Which means I can concentrate on work and future plans (i.e. applying for a new job in Germany and/or Australia). AND apart from all that there will be time to socialise and do some other fun sports...such as snowboarding, rock climbing, a little bit of Yoga, ballett and Capoeira J Yay! Ill make sure I get the most out of my time off as possible.

Next race will be the Ironman in Western Australia (Busselton) on December 5^th 2009 including four weeks of training at the Gold Coast beforehand. I really want to see whether this will make a difference.

I will let you know whether it did!

Challenge Kraichgau...hot hot hot...

Arriving in Bad Schoenborn the weather turned sunnier and sunnier and the forecast for Sundays race ended up saying sunny and 30 degrees. Wow, almost unbelievable after two weeks of cold and rain. So I started to take in more salt on the Friday and Saturday before the race. I was also very lucky to have Tatjana staying with me the night before the race. It makes such a big difference to have some mental and logistic support. With the race starting at 9am on Sunday it made for a really relaxed beginning of the day. Being on the go for the two weeks leading up to Kraichgau I was going into the race feeling not quite over my jetlag and not feeling fully recovered. I actually developed a nasty little headache the day before the race that came back on the first half of the bike course. Luckily it did not get too bad and I could manage to ignore it and stay focused on what I am doing.

With a swim time of 27:30 minutes I managed to almost hit my planned time on the second. I know I am not a brilliant swimmer and need to stay focused and concentrated the whole way through to not lose the main bunch of swimmers. Through T1 and getting onto the bike I followed my 2009 strategy to divide the course into 4 parts starting slow and taking most of the calories for the race in on the first 22 kilometers. The second part (22 kilometers) was meant to be done at steady pace but had to be adjusted to the rather hilly course. Third part I tried to speed up a little bit and I could manage to catch some of the athletes that had passed me before. Amongst them, Merryn Johnston, who caught me again at kilometre 2 on the run. Which I knew would happen. Merryn is a great runner and had an amazing race coming third female overall. Fantastic to see her progress since turning pro! Real pro.

I am very happy with my bike split of 2:42h since I did not try to have the fastest bike split but be able to still run off the bike. And I could actually manage to produce a personal best half-marathon time with 1:35h.Yiiippiiieh! Very happy J More than 2 minutes faster than my usual 1:38h even though the run course wasnt particularly fast/flat.

So I finished 5^th overall and fastest German girl over the finish line in 4:49h. I am super happy with this result. Many thanks to coach Susa who is doing everything quite right!!!I have never felt that good before and this throughout one complete season in NZL and now Germany even with accompanying non-triathlon things to do and focus on and no money for proper massages and alike. But still no injuries whatsoever. The body is holding together brilliantly J Aaaand I bet the four girls in front of me are not full-time working and running around Germany to present at Conferences and Universities etc. Ha!

Overall it has been a fabulous time in Kraichgau with lots of happy like-minded people and a good crowd supporting the race. Definitely Roth- and Solarer Hill character here and there on the course. I would totally recommend this race to everyone. You just got to make sure that you get a glance of the 90km bike course before you do the race. I was really glad I had friends that showed me the course and the numerous tight corners in the little villages beforehand. Thanks Uwe and Inga!!

A couple of nice big blisters that need to heal now and then I am ready to go go go and put a couple more weeks of good quality training in for Roth.

Next race report to come after the 12^th of July (The world famous Quelle Challenge Roth).

Celia J

Germany 2009

Finally summer is here. Yay!! I arrived in Germany about a couple of weeks ago on June 2nd and apart from a first sunny day or two on arrival there wasnt much reason for developing summer feelings yet. Actually, it was FREEZING cold and raining. But it didnt really matter because I spent most time inside anyway. First stop was Mainz and Frankfurt visiting my favourite family, the Brunns, including my very best friends Tatjana and Ctine to celebrate Tatjanas Birthday. During my stay in Mainz I had the honour to present one of the projects I am involved in in New Zealand. This I did at the first international sport-scientific congress in Frankfurt organized by the DTB vize president Dr. Annette Hofmann. It was Anette who offered me to also present at her seminar at the University of Ludwigsburg. So she ended up being my most generous and friendly host for the week leading up to the Challenge Kraichgau race. And she had even more plans for me. So I helped with the community sport sessions on Tuesday and Wednesday night where we did some running, running drills and core work together with the keen participants. I was very amazed by the general interest in the sport of Triathlon and Ironman racing. It was a great pleasure to have about 20 people surrounding me and listening to me talking about training, racing, nutrition and a life that combines Ironman training and a fulltime job. I truly enjoyed my time in Filderstadt where I have met this great bunch of humorous, kind and generous people. Special thanks to Annette and her friends Margret and Sieger. Margret cooked the most delicious menu for us the night before I left. Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.....!!!! I definitely want to come back to Filderstadt now J

Report for the 2009 Auckland City Triathlon Club Champswill come soon!!!

Auckland Halfironman 2009...what a beautiful day...

Awesome! This is the way to finish the season J with a nice calm and sunny race along the east coast outside of Auckland.

I would have never ever thought to be able to feel that good after only three weeks recovery from IMNZ. I have been ridiculously tired the second and third week after racing in Taupo. However, it seems to have been enough recovery to produce another consistent race.

Swim: The swim was calm as and the sea basically one big mirror when we started the 2-lap swim. I had finally managed to get a couple of people to look at my stroke and was doing a bit more technique training. For the last few weeks. It must have helped a little bit to stay concentrated all the way through the swim too to come out of the water clearly under 30min.

Bike: The plan on the bike was again similar to IMNZ. I had split the course up into 4 parts starting really easy and fuelling on the first part, then riding consistently with moderate pace using the third part to pick the pace up if feeling good. On the first part I just tried to ride strong without blowing my legs up. It worked. Again. Even though it is quite a hilly course I could manage to come off the bike after 2:42h with good legs.

Run: For the run I tried the same. Having to do three laps I decided to take the first one easy and picking the speed up progressively. It worked to and I felt really good throughout the complete run. It was almost good enough to catch B (Belinda Harper) on the run. Just.

All in all I am soooo happy with NZL 2009. All times in all races have improved and I feel like recovery is happening much quicker too. It certainly has a big effect that there is less stress (moving homes 1million times per month, studying until early morning hours etc...) involved in my life right now. Anyway, this might change at the end of this year with resigning from my current job and moving on to new adventures J I love adventures. Exciting!!

As soon as the official results are out I will post them!

Ironman 2009 All power is from within and therefore under our own control (Robert Collier, 1885-1950)

Here it comes J my happy-IMNZ09-report. How could I not be with a fantastic coach, great training program, no pre-race injuries and less stress due to an awesome boss who raced an amazing IM race himself on March 7^th (read below!).

SWIM

Race day started with a smooth swim in the dark at 6.45am. Maybe not the smartest idea to have chosen tinted goggles. However, I could still figure out where the bright orange buoys are. Paul might think I am not quite right because following his opinion I did my usual drift-of-the course-thing half way through the return leg of the swim. Whatever! ;)

Exiting the water at 1:01h wasnt exactly what I had aimed for either though. Weird, at the first turnaround buoy I was still 2minutes ahead of my aimed 58minute swim-splits.

Anyway, I planned to be on my bike at 1:06h the latest so I just had to get through T1 a little bit faster which wasnt a big problem and so at least I could start the 180km bike in time and back on schedule.

BIKE

Plan was to split the 180km up into four times 45km:

1. 45km with lowest heart rates aiming at taking most of the fuel for the day in starting with plain water for the first 20minutes then with liquid fuel and then solids (1 Energy bar, 750ml BALANCE electrolyte drink, water)
2. 45km steady/moderate effort and overall controlled riding. One honey sandwich (hmmmm...) and water to wash it down plus diluted BALANCE gels.
3. 45km Move up in the field if I felt like it and I did J because I fuelled properly and paced myself at the start.
4. 45km Still strong but controlled and steady riding. Taking in the last BALANCE gels.

All in all, the bike worked out beautifully. My legs were still fresh and I was well fuelled and hydrated for the run. However, included in an overall time of 5:16h was a little crash at kilometre 90 which cost me another 1-2minutes.

I had just past km90 on top of the little hill before Napier Road starting to add the next 10kilometers 17minutes to my current time when I approached the corner to Napier Road. Because it had rained my wheels and the street were soaking wet and my brakes did not grip whatsoever so I ended up sliding through the corner on my hip/shoulder and to make matters worse banging my head on the ground. I awkwardly twisted my left leg but could not feel any pain anywhere when jumping up to check my bike which also seemed to still be intact. So back on the bike I was just a bit dizzy but nothing else.

RUN

Coming out of T2 at 6:22h was exactly what I had planned. However, starting to run I could feel the damage I had done to my knee and ankle. My knee felt like it was drifting to the inside with every step. So I needed to stop a couple of times to see whether it started to swell. At km5 my knee started to hurt more and more and I seriously started to wonder whether this might be my first DNF race. However, when I approached my dear friend Bronnie she yelled at me to NOT GIVE UP and to forget about the accident. So I did, and it worked! It is amazing. Well, at least it got me back to focusing on my run-race-strategy instead of constantly trying to figure out if the knee is okay. So after another couple of kilometres I finally found into a steady pace. Plan was again to start easy and get in as much fuel as possible (no solids just diluted gels) with about 200 calories per hour. If there would have been anything left at km 30 I would have increased the pace. However, unfortunately I was slowing down from then onwards. Only a few seconds per km. This needs to be different next time. It is incredible how much faster you can race if you have the discipline to pace yourself right from the start!

FINISH

Crossing the finish line in 10:01h was almost 30minutes faster than last year and apart from the knee I felt much stronger. I improved my overall placing from 14^th to 11^th which got me into 9^th in the Pro-categrory.

MY BOSS Grant Schofield or The Grantinator

An incredible performance was also produced by my boss, Grant Schofield, who quit Ironman/Triathlon racing almost a decade ago and only recently decided to give it another crack at Ironman NZ 2009. He certainly kicked my a** and finished second in his age group in a stunning time of 9:31:25h. On top of that he had a shocker of a swim (1:08:01h) but smashed the race with a 5:03:31h bike ride and a fantastic 3:13:51h marathon. I am feeling very fortunate to have a boss who is hard working himself but understanding when it comes to IM training. Congratulations to Grant and his fantastic family/support team. My biggest respectfor his achievement that day!

 

Thanks to all of you that travelled down to Taupo to cheer!!! (Especially Bronnie, Dave and Olly!!!)

Talk soon youll hear from me again soon with my Auckland Halfironman (March 28^th ) race report J

PS: Here is a little Intro to the Auckland Halfiornman 2009 beforehand

Two-time World Duathlon Champion and professional triathlete Paul Amey has confirmed he will take the start in just under a fortnights time at the 6th Leppin Sport Auckland Half Ironman.

Ameys inclusion in an already strong men's field will also see at least five of the top ten finisher's from the Port of Tauranga Half in January come north to compete over the Half Ironman distance, starting at Maraetai Beach and finishing some four hours later on the shores of Kawakawa Bay.

Celia Kuch will head the womens field, and having taken second place for the last two years, including the closest ever women's finish over the final few metres in 2007, Kuch will be looking to go one better in 2009.

Entries are tracking well ahead of the 2008 event, with the website close to overload at times over the weekend, and a record field is expected next weekend. Online entries are only open for a few more days, so competitors are advised to enter as soon as possible to avoid disappointment.

Ironman New Zealand 2009

For all German visitors my race reports on http://www.triathlon.de/(in German):

Post-race-report

Pre-race-report

English version will follow soon - promise :)
Celia

Port of Tauranga Halfironman 2009

Again - another beautiful long weekend in Tauranga after the Tinman race end of November. Fantastic weather, lovely people and a great Halfironman.

I am very pleased with my race. Coming overall 5^th , 4^th in the elite and getting a bronze medal in the Elite category at the NZ Tri Longcourse National Champs is brilliant. I finished in a time of 4:35h with a 00:30:29 swim, 2:22:18 bike and 1:38:39 run split.

Looks like my swimming is continuing to go backwards and I still seem to have massive problems finding the fastest way from one buoy to the next...Two male elite athletes that stayed with me for a while during the swim were actually kind enough to call out my name when I started to drift off the course...however I was too busy going the wrong way to hear them (it might pay to get a pair of new goggles) and kept adding to the actual 2km swim. At some stage it will be time to overcome my open water fear and learn how to swim straight without the black line guiding me. If there is anyone who wants to join me for swims at Takapuna Beach...let me know!! I dont care how slow or fast...as long as I know the shark has another option than just me ;)

However, the 90km bike was going really well and I felt comfortable all the way through. Interestingly enough when it came to the turnaround on lap 2 I could not quite figure out whether the round-about at Yale street was actually the correct one for the 2^nd lap of the bike...so for the way back to Tauranga I was cursing myself for obviously not having read the map properly before the race (or maybe listening at the race briefing) and actually had to stop to ask a race official if I turned correctly...since I must have sound German or something he did not really understand what I was talking about...so I decided to get back onto the bike to head back to town...on the third lap I had some more athletes around me that turned at exactly the same spot. So, on the third lap I could finally stop doubting whether I might be disqualified and pick up my speed again.

Heading out onto the run it took me quite a while to find my running legs. Actually running around the Mount base track I got sick twice. So I definitely know what I will not have as Ironman-breakfast in March. You always learn something new at races J Things that work (my 2xu calve-guards were AWESOME!!!!) and things that do not work (nuts and raisins for breakfast).

Overall I am a super happy little German J and I am actually glad to have started the 2009 season without any major injuries or crashes! So IMNZ can come J

*PS: Oh and if you ever look for accommodation in Mt Maunganui during the Port of Tauranga Halfiornman. Check out the Seagulls Guesthouse in 12 Hinau St Mt Maunganui:

www.seagullsguesthouse.co.nz

Dave & Sue are the most fantastic hosts ensuring that you getsome good nights of sleep before the race. Even if they need to tellEVERY other guest in the house that they have to be aware of athletes staying in there accommodation. There are fans for the rooms in case it is too hot.This place was a former retirement home and has numerous bathrooms, toilets and showers.A huge kitchen, dining area, launch. ALL extremely clean!!!It is a 15-20minute walk away from Pilot Bay. And there is a big New World supermarket around the corner. Takes you less then 5minutes to get to the beach/marine parade. AND it is cheap as!!!

Its probably a pretty stupid idea to give away the secret of this treasure place...

Overall results of the Port of Tauranga Halfironman 2009:

Men

1. Duncan Milne (Taupo) 3:56.55 (26.20 swim 2:06,46 bike, 1:21.44 run)
2. Cameron Brown (Auckland) 3:57.22 (25.13, 2:15.07, 1:15.01)
3. James Bowstead (Waiuku) 3:58.14 (26.17, 2:06.14, 1:23.35)
4. Blair Jordan (Tauranga) 3:58.27 (25.14, 2:09.38, 1:21.32)
5. Jamie Whyte (Invercargill) 3:58.59 (26.22, 2:06.07, 1:24.18)
6. Liam Scopes (Auckland) 4:00.55 (26.06, 2:15.26, 1:17.24)
7. Bevan McKinnon (Auckland) 4:01.16 (26.15, 2:06.53, 1:25.52)
8. Brodie Madgwick (Auckland) 4:05.48 (26.42, 2:16.54, 1:20.02)
9. Paul Westwood (Rotorua) 4:06.02 (30.22, 2:13.18, 1:20.19)
10. Glen Gore (South Africa) 4:09.25 (25.10, 2:20.27, 1:20.60)

Women

1. Samantha Warriner (Whangarei) 4:10.47 (26.07, 2:17.16, 1:25.25)
2. Joanna Lawn (Auckland) 4:18.47 (26.19, 2:23.18, 1:26.47)
3. Michelle Simpson (Auckland) 4:31.46 (30.21, 2:20.40, 1:38.13)
4. Abigail Bayley (Australia) 4:33.18 (29.51, 2:26.32, 1:34.24)
5. Celia Kuch (Auckland) 4:35.30 (30.29, 2:22.18, 1:38.57)