Duathlon or not, I had my first podium in an IM 70.3 event (read: as a Pro) in the weekend. …And I am very happy about it!
It was a rough weekend in Rügen ,Germany, with waves so high (2,5m+) that water safety refused to go in.
Final decision of cancelling swimming wasn’t made until race morning, so as a strong runner and weak swimmer (but with PB’s in the pool in the back of the mind!!) I found it quite hard to find the right mindset throughout Saturday … I knew it would be an advantage for me if we would have to run instead of swim, but at the same time it is triathlon and not duathlon I like to compete in!
Well it was out of my control anyway, so what better to do than find shelter and get in the zone?!
Final call came 2h before start. My wetsuit stayed in the bag and an extra pair of running shoes came in handy. Duathlon (5k,90k,21,1k) and my chance to put my mark on the race from the BEGINNING.
There were three of us in the lead together after the first run – Yvonne van Vlerken, Laura Philipp and I. We rode the first 15-ish k together before Anja Beranek came flying by and dragged Yvonne and Laura with her.
I was now left alone, with the cobblestones in the rain. Apart from passing rails, cobblestones and taking sharp turns on the wet roads I felt great on the bike!
T2 was a looong run – on more cobblestones! – onto the beach, shoes on and out on the run course. And guess what was await – even more cobblestones 😉 and a muddy trail…(good job I love running off road!) Anyway I felt strong running in the beginning and could tell that I was catching up on the 3 girls in front of me (actually 3min on the 1st.of 4 loops …on Anja in the lead) Positions changed in the front and after another loop I passed Anja – now running IN 3RD! This was the big boost of my race! it was amazing to cross the finish line, and knowing I had my first podium secured, made the biggest smile of the day. (I could even feel the ear to ear smile)
Well the feeling of shaking and spraying a bottle of champagne is not bad either!!! I felt very honored to be on the podium withthese two girls (who sprinted for the victory) and in addition to that I had to go and do Press conference as well…
As you can understand I have -despite the weather, had a great weekend in Rügen, Germany. I’ll like to thanks my roomie of the weekend Nico for a nice road trip! Say CONGRATS to Emilie going to the Worlds in 2015 and at the same time thanks to her and Till for a nice time!
Ohhh not to forget, also a shout out fore the Team behind IM 70.3 Rügen! Doing a great job trying to keep the party going all weekend in Binz , Rügen, and all the volunteers and spectators who was there despite the rain.
Photo credit to: Ingo Kutsche, Petko Beier – Photography, Marcel Hilger, Emilie Koors Hoff, Nicholas Ward Muñoz …and my own Samsung phone
Comments