10 / 27 / 2009

XTERRA World Championship on Maui - only 4^th place

My hopes were high that I could defend my 2008 world title in the U20 category also 2009 in the U25, because last year was just only one U25 triathlete better than me.

My expectations were realistic, that it would be almost impossible: 2008, I was well prepared and trained ideally the weeks before the competition. At this year's World Championships it was definitely the total opposit. The involuntary five-week break from training through the basic training in the Austrian-Armed Forces has left traces, which you can see at my time (more than 3 hours). Without regular long training session you're really wrong at such competitions. Even all the prayers and the three Hawaiian shamans could help me.

Before start the American national anthem was sung a cappella. There was great mood also for a foreigner.

Results: 4^th got Carina Wasle (Austrian female pro), Michi Weiss (Austrian male pro) - 2^nd the year before - got 3^rd place. I must be satisfied with my 4^th place, because I couldn't show any of my strong performances like this summer in the U.S. Due to higher swell the swim time this year was slower than in 2008. The mountain bike course was actually a lot easier than last year because the track was not so washed out. There were less flats and crashes than usual.

The pro-categorie won the Spanish professional Eneko Llanos, who also won the Double (Ironman and XTERRA). Second got Nicolas Lebrun from France. One of the favourites Conrad Stoltz from South Africa finished 5^th. For the XTERRA victory there were.- $20,000 in prize money. In the women professionals won Julie Dibens (UK) her 3^rd time in a row.

However I only let my head hand down on this picture.

My next competitions:
I have big plans for 2010, which I'll work out in the coming weeks. Probably I'll go after the military service (till March 6^th 2010) sometime to Australia for training and start I'll start 2010 as a professional.

09 / 05 / 2009

Xterra Vienna - unfortunately I dropped out this time

Xterra Vienna / Klosterneuburg was my first Triathlon after my 2 1/2 months - very successful (4 competitions - 4 wins) - stay in the USA.

Because of this circumstance I was one of the favorites (overall) for Xterra Vienna.

After my half-marathon (relay - half ironman Podersdorf) I felt pretty bad for some days because of bad food which I ate after my run. I felt the whole week quite weak however I started in Klosterneuburg. I even got overtaken on the mountainbike part - which never happened before in Xterra. I tried to reach the finish - even with a bad result - but I dropped out during the run.

On Monday I have to join the Austrian Army, so I had to cut my Hair. But it didn't hurt.

I hope I find enough time during my military service (4 weeks in Klagenfurt, later in Vienna) to do my preparation to defend my Xterra age group world champion title. I hope that the Woerthersee (close to the caserne) is still warm enough during fall for some swim workouts.

I also plan to do some short and hard races on weekends (for example fell run in Velden on Sept. 20^th). But that depends if I get free time on weekends.

08 / 28 / 2009

Coming back from the USA - Ironman Podersdorf

With about 100 kg luggage I arrived in Vienna after a 30 hours flight (because of delays...) from Salt Lake City.
A quick overview about my time in the US: sporty (training and competition) was pretty successful, my half day job was very interesting, my local travels brought me to beautiful areas, I met a lot of nice people.

The day after I came back a Petra - a nice sport colleague from Styria - asked me if I like to take part in the mixed-relay (Half-Ironman) to fill in for their injured runner. I couldn't say no. So I did fast a 21,1k workout.

I had to get up a 4:30 (that wasn't too bad because of jetlag). Start was already at 7:30 and it rained heavily. It was hard to drive to Podersdorf.

I finished the Half-Marathon quite easily with 1:18. What would be possible all out? Our relay – Robert, Sonja and me – did quite well, but it wasn't enough for the podium.

08 / 22 / 2009

Good last race in the USA - „Widow-Maker”

I also won my last competition in the US. I did an outstanding hard hill climb race in Snowbird / Utah. The weather was perfect, so nothing should be in the way of the race.
The name Widowmaker says a lot about the competition with a finish at 11.000 ft. About 300 participants were registered for the road hillclimb
(10 mi. 3300 vertical ft.)
I won my age group (20-29) in this race, although I had to start two minutes later because I didn't have an American license.
The second part was a mountain bike race 5 mi. 3200 vertical ft. That was only for really tough (US national team members and so on ...).
The trail was almost impossible to ride through. 1/3 of the course I had carry or pull up my bike.
Third place overall at the Widowmaker was pretty good.
But I got some problems with my price - two vouchers (2 x 75 $) for lift tickets at snowbird resort - although I'll be back in the US for the Xterra Worlds in Maui / Hawaii (October 25^th).

07 / 18 / 2009

Third Victory in a Row - Xterra - Beaver Creek / Colorado / USA

In the famous ski area, where I started with Xterra Triathlons 2008, I also won the Xterra triathlon 2009 in my „new” age group 20-24
(as 2008 - age group world champion - juniors 15-19).

The Xterra in Beaver Creek belongs to the US-Mountain-Cup and is one of the hardest triathlons in the US.

Because there were so many starters the starting field was split up into four waves.
The competition was held at an elevation between 8000 and 10000 ft, which made it even harder.
But I had no problems, because I already stayed one month in Utah for trainings and races.

My swimming was much better than last year (because of my intensive swim training). Actually my bike-part was really good although I crashed half way. I destroyed the front derailleur cable. So I had to finish the bike part only with a 22 chain ring. That cost about me 5 to 10 minutes.
In the final trail run I did very well.
If I hadn't crashed I would have finished midst the Professional field.

After the award ceremony I went back to Salt Lake via Moab, UT and enjoyed the incredible landscape at the Arches National Park.
I'll stay in Salt Lake City till 27^th of August.

My next races in the US:
15.08. Swim 5k Deer Creek / Utah              Swim (open water)
23.08. Uphill Bike Snowbird / Utah              Bike (road)

My flight back to Austria:
27.08. SLC-ORD-LHR-VIE (Salt Lake City - Chicago - London - Vienna)

My next races in Europe:
05.09. Triathlon Bled / Slovenia

07.09. Army - 4 weeks in Klagenfurt, then five month in Vienna

25.10. Xterra Worlds Maui / Hawaii / USA.
Even I'll we be a solder of the Austrian army I'll get allowed to defend my Xterra world champion title from last year in Hawaii.