Triathlon at Retirement

Last year was not my best sport performance year. I had a meniscus injury that severely hindered my running training, I had Covid and I had the flu. Altogether, there were too many breaks in training, and it showed in the results. I still placed in nationals, even won nationals in winter triathlon, but all my times were slower by about 10%. This year was going to be different, at least that was the plan... Well, I plan and reality rules. The meniscus injury is much better but not completely gone. Now I have added a brand-new injury in the other leg, seems like a strained hamstring. In August the problem was not there at all, but I started to feel it a little bit in September. I rested, I stretched, I warmed up every time, but it has got worse and worse. Last week, on dog agility training I felt it burn. That was it, now I cannot run at all. In between my leg injuries, I have also dealt with a big cold and a UTI. I forgot to mention a tooth infection and a root canal.  In fact, this...

Last Triathlon for the year for me was just for fun on a slightly shortened sprint in the town of New Braunfels, TX. This race had a lot of first timers. Swim was in the amazing spring water pool in Landa Park, crystal clear and perfect temperature. I was one of the few that choose to wear a wetsuit, because I am sure that even on shorter swims, it is faster. The swim was actually in two parts, first about 150 meters in the spring fed pool and then 150 meters in a regular pool. I swim about 10-15s faster per 100m in wetsuit, that is a 30-45s advantage by using it. Getting the wetsuits off takes about 15s, so I am still ahead and, on a sprint, every second counts! I should mention that there were two options to get into the water, jump in or a water slide... I judged the waters slide would be about 5 seconds slower, so I was boring and jumped in. Bike course is slightly undulating but has a steep uphill shortly after start. A few beginners were in the wrong gear and had to walk up. I ha...

  Another competition! The Wurst Tri Ever sprint triathlon took place in New Braunfels, Texas, Sunday the 11th October. Covid-19 restrictions were enforced with minimal contact between people and we had face masks except during the competition.  Swim started in the spring fed Landa Park pool and it was fantastic to swim about 150m in the absolutely clear water above the natural vegetation. Then we transitioned to a regular pool for an additional 150m. Bike course had a large hill in the beginning and the end and lots of turns along the way. The cyclist in front of me got caught in the wrong gear uphill and took a fall, fortunately with no injury.  My timing chip did not register on all the timing sensors, but fortunately it was noticed by the organizers so they checked me off manually as well, thanks for that! I finished in 2nd place in my age group on 1.23.19, almost 4 minutes after the winner, Lisa Canedy.  The wurst from Kiolbassa smoked meat was so good... /Gunil...