Schlagwort: Triathlon

Neunter Monat – Die Zeit verfliegt

Veröffentlicht am von astridsweb in Allgemein

And for my international friends: Please scroll down for the English version!

Sorry, dass ich mich doch erst so spät wieder ausführlicher melde, aber es war ganz schön was los in den letzten Wochen. Ihr habt es vlt. über meinen kurzen Berichterstattungen mitbekommen? Anstatt mehr Ruhe zu haben ging es bei mir nochmal richtig rund in den letzten Wochen und Schwups ist der 9. Monat da und der Mutterschutz fängt an. Aber kurz ein Blick zurück:

In der zweiten Septemberwoche war ich 8 Tage in Köln zu meinem letzten Kurs Sportmedizin bevor ich die Prüfung ablegen kann. Das war dann alleine schon recht anstrengend, jeden Tag um 6 Uhr aufstehen, nach Köln fahren, abends erst um 18 Uhr (frühestens) wieder zu Hause sein. Zeit für ein Nickerchen blieb da nicht. Wie schon im März scheint  aber auch diesmal die Sporthochschule, am Müngersdorfer Park gelegen, so motivierend auf mich zu wirken, dass ich es nochmal mit Laufen probiert habe. Am ersten Tag habe ich noch viel zwischen Gehen und Joggen gewechselt. Von Tag zu Tag lief es sich aber besser 🙂 Und meinen Beckenboden spüre ich dabei auch nicht mehr. Inzwischen laufe ich wieder 3-4 Mal pro Woche 30-40 min lang. Das Tempo variiert dabei sehr von Tag zu Tag. Als Unterstützung trage ich den Maternity Fit Splint Belt, damit nicht zu viel Impact auf dem Bauch lastet. Es tut mir richtig gut mich mal wieder draussen zu bewegen! Rückenschmerzen habe ich bis jetzt noch so gut wie keine und das liegt sicherlich mit daran dass ich noch recht aktiv bin. Gestern hat es mir einmal ganz schrecklich ins ISG geschossen, da hat der der Kleine mir wohl auf nen Nerv getreten… Aber ansonsten geht es mir gerade wieder deutlich besser. Die Übelkeit die mich seit Beginn des dritten Trimesters begleitet hat ist weg, ich muss mich nicht mehr regelmäßig übergeben. Meine Bauchdecke hat etwas nachgegeben und so ist nicht mehr ganz so viel Druck in meinem Bauch. Ach ja, meistens begleitet mich Aaron, unser Hund beim Laufen! Auch er hat richtig Spaß daran. Bisher sind wie noch nicht mit ihm gelaufen, da er erst 1 Jahr alt geworden ist, so langsam darf er aber. Und es brauchte keinerlei große erzieherische Maßnahmen 🙂 Einfach ein Naturtalent, er passt also super in die Familie.

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Zwischenzeitlich habe ich auch mein anderes Projekt, die ZwiftAcademy erfolgreich abgeschlossen.  Mein Ziel alle Vorgaben auf einem mir möglichen Niveau zu erfüllen habe ich erreicht. Es hat mir wahnsinnig geholfen mich an manchen Tagen zu motivieren auf die Rolle zu steigen. Allerdings wurde es auch Zeit das Projekt abzuschliessen, die höheren Intensitäten gehen jetzt wirklich nicht mehr, haben aber auch nochmal gut getan 🙂

Schwimmen geht weiterhin gut, weiterhin Tagesform abhängig, mal schneller und mal langsamer. Ich meine aber einen Trainingseffekt zu spüren und bin jetzt schon gespannt wie es nach der Geburtspause weitergeht.

Ein bischen wehmütig bin ich schon wenn ich jetzt sehe dass immer mehr Athleten nach Kona reisen um sich auf das große Rennen einzustimmen. Eines ist sicher, wir werden das Rennen zu Hause verfolgen und auch wenn ich letztes Jahr gesagt habe, ich mag da nicht mehr hin, ich glaube einfach dass ich unter den klimatischen Bedingungen dort nicht konkurrenzfähig bin, Kona ist und bleibt Kona und wir kommen auf jeden Fall irgendwann wieder.

Was könnte ich euch noch über meine letzten Wochen erzählen? Der kleine Bauchbewohner ist sehr aktiv, trifft auch schon mal meine Rippen. Er wächst und gedeiht laut Ultraschall sehr gut und auch die CTGs sind tiptop. Die nächsten Kontrollen sind ja jetzt schon alle 2 Wochen. Es geht also wirklich aufs Ende zu.

Dementsprechend wird zu Hause gerade kräftig renoviert damit auch das Kinderzimmer noch eingerichtet werden kann. Unsere Taschen für die Klinik wollen wir auch in den nächsten beiden Wochen packen, damit im Fall der Fälle alles parat steht.

Habt ihr noch Fragen oder vlt. Tipps?  Schreibt mir doch gerne!

Bis bald, eure Astrid

 

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I’m sorry I’m late to get back to you, but there’s been a lot going on in the last few weeks. You might have heard it in my short reports? Instead of having more rest, I’ve been really busy in the last weeks and now it’s already my 9th month and the maternity leave almost starts. But a quick look back:

In the second week of September, I spent 8 days in Cologne for my last course in sports medicine before I could take the exam. That alone was quite exhausting, getting up at 6 o’clock every day, going to Cologne, not being home until 6 o’clock (at the earliest) in the evening. There was no time for a nap. As already in March, however, also this time the sports university, located at the Müngersdorfer Park, seems to have such a motivating effect on me that I tried running again. On the first day, I changed a lot between walking and jogging. From day to day things went better 🙂 And I don’t feel my pelvic floor anymore. Meanwhile, I run again 3-4 times per week for 30-40 minutes. The speed varies a lot from day to day. As support, I wear the Maternity Fit Splint Belt, so that there is not too much impact on my stomach. It’s really good for me to move outside again! So far I still have almost no back pain and that is certainly partly due to the fact that I am still quite active. Yesterday it shot me once quite terribly into the ISG, there the little one has probably stepped on my nen nerve… But apart from that, I feel much better right now. Nausea that has accompanied me since the beginning of the third trimester is gone, I don’t have to vomit regularly anymore. My abdominal wall has given way a bit and so there is not so much pressure in my abdomen anymore. Oh yes, Aaron, our dog, accompanies me most of the time! He also has a lot of fun with it. So far we have not run with him, because he is only 1 year old, but so slowly he may. And it did not need any big educational measures 🙂 Simply a natural talent, so he fits perfectly into the family.

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In the meantime, I have also successfully completed my other project, the ZwiftAcademy.  I have achieved my goal of fulfilling all my requirements at the level I could. It has helped me madly to motivate myself on some days to climb on the role. But it was also time to finish the project, the higher intensities really don’t work anymore, but have done well again 🙂

Swimming is still going well, depending on daily form, sometimes faster and sometimes slower. But I think I feel a training effect and I am already curious how it will go on after the birth break.

I am a bit melancholic when I see that more and more athletes travel to Kona to get in the mood for the big race. One thing is for sure, we will follow the race at home and even though I said last year that I don’t like going there anymore, I just don’t think that I can compete there under the climatic conditions, Kona is and remains Kona and we will definitely come back sometime.

What else could I tell you about my last weeks? The little belly dweller is very active, he even hits my ribs. He grows and thrives very well according to ultrasound and the CTGs are also perfect. The next checks are now every 2 weeks. So it really comes to the end.

Accordingly, we are currently renovating our home so that the children’s room can still be furnished. We want to pack our bags for the clinic also in the next two weeks so that in the case of the cases everything is ready.

Do you still have questions or maybe tips?  Feel free to write me!

See you soon, your Astrid

 

Zweiter Wechsel – Auf ins dritte Trimester

Veröffentlicht am von astridsweb in Allgemein

So ganz reibungslos hat bei mir der Übergang ins dritte Trimester nicht geklappt. Unglaublich dass es jetzt schon so weit ist! Mir geht es immer noch gut, meistens. Ich habe aufgehört zu zählen wieviele Wochen ich jetzt schon nicht mehr laufe. Anfangs waren ja meine Sehnen das Problem, seitdem es aber nicht mehr so heiß ist, habe ich auch nicht mehr ganz so viel Wasser eingelagert und keine Schmerzen mehr im Fußgelenk. Die Hände schlafen trotzdem noch regelmäßig ein. Eigentlich könnte ich also laufen, wenn, ja wenn es sich nicht so seltsam anfühlen würde. Ich habe einen Fitsplint Maternity Gürtel, der Rücken und Bauch unterstützt. Den trage ich seit der 19./20. SSW. Trotzdem habe ich jetzt das Gefühl, dass ich beim Laufen Druck auf meinem Beckenboden spüre. Viele Frauen, die vorher auch schon regelmäßig gelaufen sind, laufen fast die ganze SS hindurch, andere nicht. Ich denke man sollte das tun was sich für einen selber gut anfühlt. Klar habe ich gedacht dass ich bis mindestens zur 36./37. Woche laufe bzw. solange es sich gut anfühlt und jetzt ist es halt schon in der 28. SSW soweit dass es sich bei mir nich gut anfühlt. Schon von Beginn der Schwangerschaft an hatte ich immer starken Harndrang bei Laufen, ich bin also prinzipiell einen gewissen Druck gewohnt. Doch das Gefühl jetzt ist ein anderes. Ob es daran liegt dass ich besonders gut in meinen Körper hineingehöre oder dass ich die letzten Wochen nicht laufen konnte, ich kann es euch nicht sagen. Was ich aber weiß, und das seit dem ersten Tag der SS, dass ich mich sehr gut auf mein Körpergefühl verlassen kann. Schon vorher dachte ich ein sehr gutes Körpergefühl zu haben, doch das hat sich jetzt noch mal verschärft. Was ich tue, wieviel und wie intensiv hängt nicht davon ab ob es irgendwelche offiziellen Empfehlungen gibt, sondern wie ich mich dabei fühle. Und auch dass ich mal nichts tue und viel liege kommt auch vor.

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Jetzt habe ich geschrieben dass der zweite Wechsel nicht ganz so unkompliziert verlief und mag euch nicht länger auf die Folter spannen. Quasi mit Eintritt ins dritte Trimester trat bei mir Übelkeit auf. Mit Sodbrennen habe ich nicht ein so großes Problem, ja, auch das habe ich, aber das ist gut auszuhalten. Ab und zu bekomme ich ordentlich Tritte in die Magengegend 😉 Meint der kleine Mann bestimmt nicht böse. Insgesamt wird es was enger im Bauch, meine Organe haben nicht mehr so viel Platz und in den letzen 2-3 Wochen ist der Bauch schon gut gewachsen. Oft bekomme ich noch zu hören, dass mein Bauch noch recht klein sei, das liegt an meiner recht stark ausgeprägten Bauchmuskulatur. Das macht es mir aber nicht unbedingt leichter, denn so entsteht mehr Druck nach innen. So langsam gibt aber auch bei mir die Muskulatur nach und der Babybauch kommt langsam aber sicher hervor.

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Ich versuche mich wieder fit zu halten und mein Indikator ist mein Körpergefühl, mein Ehrgeiz steht hinten an. Pläne gibt es nicht. Schwimmen klappt mal schneller und mal weniger schnell, das ist wirklich Tagesform abhängig wie fast alles andere auch. Ab und an bin ich zumindest mit Paddels noch genauso schnell wie vorher, das wird sich bestimmt auch bald ändern. Neben dem Schwimmen macht mir Radfahren sehr viel Spaß  auch wenn das fast ausschließlich auf der Rolle stattfindet. Und ich bin noch ganz gut dabei in der Zwiftacademy. Warum ich das mache? Weil es Spaß macht 🙂 Inzwischen habe ich sechs von den zehn geforderten Trainingseinheiten abgeschlossen, fehlen außerdem noch eine Gruppenausfahrt und ein Rennen. Für mich bleibt es die spannende Herausforderung die Einheiten bestmöglich zu erfüllen mich dabei aber nicht zu überanstrengen. Ich hoffe mir geht es noch ein paar Wochen so gut wie jetzt, dann ist alles gut. Auch wenn ich auf „richtiges“ Laufen vorerst weiter verzichten muss und wohl auch bis nach der SS nicht wieder kann. Ich werde also meine Spaziergänge ausdehnen und die Laufübungen mit Aaron etwas ausweiten, ab und an ein paar Schritte fühlen sich okay an. Hier und da wird dann das Aquajoggen und deep water running das Laufen an Land ersetzten.

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Meine Stabi-Übungen habe ich nun auch zunehmend abgewandelt und die Gewichte beim Krafttraining deutlich reduziert. Anstrengend wird es trotzdem immer noch 😉

Ich hoffe die Sonne lässt uns noch nicht ganz im Stich, nach Herbst ist mir nämlich noch nicht zumute.

bis bald, eure Astrid

 

The transition into the third trimester didn’t go so smoothly for me. Unbelievable that it is already so far! I’m still fine, most of the time. I’ve stopped counting how many weeks I haven’t been running. At the beginning my tendons were the problem, but since it is not so hot anymore, I have not stored as much water and no more pain in my ankle. The hands still fall asleep regularly. Actually, I could walk if, yes, if it didn’t feel so weird. I have a Fitsplint Maternity belt that supports the back and stomach. I’ve worn this since the 19th/20th SSW. Nevertheless, now I have the feeling that I feel pressure on my pelvic floor while running. Many women, who have run regularly before, run almost the whole SS, others not. I think you should do what feels good to yourself. Of course I thought that I would run until at least the 36th/37th week or as long as it feels good and now it is already in the 28th SSW so far that it does not feel good with me. Right from the beginning of my pregnancy I always had a strong urge to urinate when running, so in principle I am used to a certain pressure. But the feeling is different now. Whether it is because I belong particularly well into my body or that I could not walk the last few weeks, I cannot tell you. But what I know, and this since the first day of the SS, is that I can rely on my body feeling very well. Already before I thought I had a very good body feeling, but now this has intensified even more. What I do, how much and how intensive does not depend on whether there are any official recommendations, but how I feel about it. And also that I don’t do anything and there is a lot.

Now I have written that the second change was not so uncomplicated and I don’t want to keep you on the tenterhooks any longer. Quasi with entry into the third trimester nausea arose with me. I don’t have such a big problem with heartburn, yes, I do, but it’s bearable. Now and then I get a good kick in the stomach area 😉 I’m sure the little man doesn’t mean angry. All in all it gets tighter in my stomach, my organs don’t have as much space anymore and in the last 2-3 weeks my stomach has already grown well. Often I still get to hear that my belly is still quite small, that is because of my quite strongly pronounced abdominal muscles. But that doesn’t necessarily make it any easier for me, because it creates more internal pressure. But slowly my muscles are also weakening and the baby’s belly is slowly but surely emerging.

I try to keep fit again and my indicator is my body feeling, my ambition is behind me. There are no plans. Swimming is sometimes faster and sometimes less fast, that really depends on the form of the day like almost everything else. From time to time I’m just as fast with paddles as before, I’m sure this will change soon. Besides swimming, cycling is a lot of fun for me, even if it takes place almost exclusively on the reel. And I’m still pretty good at the Zwiftacademy. Why am I doing this? Because it’s fun -:) In the meantime I have completed six of the ten required training sessions, and I am also missing a group exit and a race. For me it remains the exciting challenge to fulfill the units in the best possible way but not to overexert myself. I hope I’m as good as I am now for a few more weeks, then everything will be fine. Even if I have to forego „real“ running for the time being and probably cannot do it again until after the SS. So I will extend my walks and extend the running exercises with Aaron a bit, now and then a few steps feel okay. Here and there aquajogging and deep water running will replace running ashore.

I have now also changed my Stabi exercises increasingly and reduced the weights during strength training significantly. Effortful it still becomes 😉

I hope the sun doesn’t completely abandon us yet, because after autumn I still don’t feel like it.

see you soon, your Astrid

 

Mitten im zweiten Trimester – Baby und Bauch wachsen weiter

Veröffentlicht am von astridsweb in Allgemein

Inzwischen bin ich Mitten im zweiten Trimester angekommen und Tritte in meinem Bauch sind zur Normalität geworden. Zum ersten Mal habe ich sie bewusst in der 19./20. SSW wahrgenommen, vorher habe ich auch schon etwas gespürt, aber das hätte auch alles andere sein können. Manchmal gibt es jetzt sogar schon ein kleines Beben der Bauchdecke. Ehrlich gesagt habe ich so früh damit noch gar nicht gerechnet. Aber das ist toll. So konnte Chris schon fast so genauso lange wie ich unseren kleinen Nachwuchs spüren, zwar anders, aber genauso spannend!

Das Baby wächst und gedeiht, letzte Woche war der kleine Mann schon ca. 490 g schwer, mal gucken wohin das noch führt. Die Placenta hat längst schon ihre volle Größe erreicht, was jetzt noch an Gewicht dazu kommt kommt durchs Fruchtwasser und das Baby selber. Wobei auch ich eine kleine Energiereserve angelegt habe 😉 Anfangs habe ich mich 2-3 Mal pro Woche gewogen, das habe ich jetzt aufgegeben. Meine Gewichtszunahme war bisher sehr konstant und völlig im Rahmen und momentan nehme ich täglich gefühlt 3kg zu und nachts wieder ab. Ich neige schon jetzt dazu Wasser einzulagern, vorwiegend an Sprunggelenken und Unterschenkeln. Da trägt sicherlich auch die Hitze ihren Anteil dran bei. Zum jetzigen Zeitpunkt hat sich mein Blutvolumen deutlich vergrößert und wenn es so warm ist funktioniert das mit dem Rückstrom nicht mehr so ganz perfekt. Naja, es gibt schlimmeres. Bei mir hat sich leider auch etwas Flüssigkeit in der Sehnenscheide am linken Sprunggelenk eingelagert, so dass es immer sehr schnell gereizt ist und richtig dick wird und ich momentan nicht laufen kann. Radfahren und Schwimmen ist aber kein Problem und ich fühle mich fitter den je, also mal auf die Schwangerschaft bezogen 😉 Nur gerade hab ich nochmal eine Zwangspause eingelegt, da sich ein Insektenstich entzündet hat. Die lokale Behandlung schlägt zum Glück jetzt doch an, so dass ich um die Einnahme von Antibiotika nochmal drum rum komme. Ich hoffe das bleibt auch für den Rest der Schwangerschaft so. Ich bin froh keinerlei Medikamente nehmen zu müssen. Klar, manchmal kommt man nicht drum rum, aber die Kopfschmerzen ertrag ich lieber wenn ich welche habe und auch wenn es meinem Knöchel bzw. der Sehne gut tun würde nehme ich keine Entzündungshemmer ein sondern behandel ihn nur äußerlich mit Arnicasalbe, Tapes und Kühlen. Auch wenn Paracetamol als unbedenklich bei Einnahme in der Schwangerschaft eingestuft wird, noch lernen wir immer noch dazu und wer weiß was wir jetzt noch gar nicht wissen geschweige denn ahnen können was es evt. doch für Auswirkungen auf den kleinen Körper hat.

Ganz auf Tabletten verzichte ich nicht, denn auch ich nehme die empfohlenen Nahrungsergänzungen wie Folsäure, Eisen, Jod und B-Vitamine zu mir. Zum einen lassen sich bestimmte Fehlbildungen vorbeugen, zum anderen hat der Körper einen gesteigerten Bedarf an diesen Nährstoffen, den du kaum durch deine Ernährung decken kannst. Das heisst aber nicht dass du auf eine gesunde Ernährung verzichten kannst. Die ist die Grundlage dass Mutter und Kind sich wohl fühlen. Also achte ich darauf dass viel Gemüse und Obst auf meinem Speiseplan steht, regelmäßig Fisch und ab und auch auch Fleisch (auch wenn ich vorher 20 Jahre lang keines mehr gegessen habe). Milchprodukte nehme ich in Maßen zu mir, aber auch die sind wichtig damit man genügend Calcium zu sich nimmt, doch auch in grünem Blattgemüse ist jede Menge Calcium enthalten.

Bei mir setzt übrigens so langsam der Nestbautrieb ein 😉 Darüber und wie es mir in den nächsten Wochen so geht lest ihr, wenn ihr mögt, wie immer hier.

Eure Astrid

Meanwhile I have arrived in the middle of the second trimester and kicks in my stomach have become the norm. For the first time I consciously perceived it in the 19th/20th SSW, before I had already felt something, but that could have been anything else. Sometimes there is even a small tremor of the abdominal wall. To be honest, I wasn’t even calculating so early on. But that’s great. So Chris could feel our little offspring for almost as long as I have, different but just as exciting!

The baby grows and thrives, last week the little man weighed about 490 g, let’s see where this leads. The placenta has long since reached its full size, which is now added to by the amniotic fluid and the baby itself. But I also have a small power reserve. At the beginning I weighed myself 2-3 times a week, so I gave up now. My weight gain was so far very constant and completely in the range and momentarily I gain 3kg daily and at night again. I already tend to store water, mainly on hocks and lower legs. The heat certainly contributes its share to this. At the moment my blood volume has increased considerably and when it is so warm it doesn’t work so perfectly with the return flow. Well, there are worse things. Unfortunately I also have some fluid in my tendon sheath at the left ankle joint, so that it is always very quickly irritated and gets really thick and I cannot walk at the moment. Cycling and swimming is no problem and I feel fitter than ever, so sometimes related to pregnancy 😉 I just took another forced break because an insect sting got infected. Fortunately, the local treatment is now working, so I don’t need to take antibiotics again. I hope it stays that way for the rest of the pregnancy. I’m glad I don’t have to take any medication. Sure, sometimes you can’t get around it, but I like the headaches better if I have some and even if it would do my ankle or the tendon good I don’t take anti-inflammatories but just treat it externally with arnica ointment, tapes and cooling. Even if paracetamol is classified as harmless during pregnancy, we are still learning and who knows what we don’t know, let alone what effects it might have on the small body.

I do not dispense with tablets completely, because I also take the recommended food supplements such as folic acid, iron, iodine and B vitamins. On the one hand certain malformations can be prevented, on the other hand the body has an increased need for these nutrients, which you can hardly cover by your nutrition. However, this does not mean that you can do without a healthy diet. It is the basis that mother and child feel comfortable. So I make sure that I eat a lot of vegetables and fruit, fish and from time to time and also meat (even if I haven’t eaten one for 20 years before). I eat dairy products in moderation, but they are also important to get enough calcium, but green leafy vegetables also contain a lot of calcium.

By the way, my nest building instinct is slowly starting -) You can read about it and how I am doing in the next weeks, if you like, as always here.

Astrid

Race Report Hawaii 2017

Veröffentlicht am von astridsweb in Allgemein

“If you can’t fly then run, if you can’t run then walk, if you can’t walk then crawl, but whatever you do you have to keep moving forward.”
― Martin Luther King Jr.

 

It’s hard to find some words for what I feel now. I am kind of feeling being between the chairs, juggling my emotions, being  totally overwhelmed.  What I’ve felt on Big Island summarizes it up pretty much what I’ve been through the entire year. It was the worst and the best of times. I’d always said I aim for the podium because this was just what I was feeling I was ready for, but I’d be happy whatever the outcome was if I did myself justice. Well, that didn’t happen, but part of it did. I have to admit I am disappointed. I can do far better than what I’ve put together on that day, on the one and only day that did really count for me, the day that really mattered. But guess, I am happy and relieved as well because I was able to let my A- and B- and C-goals just go when I had to do justice to the weather and my body. The former wasn’t that hard, the latter even more.

Not only me but my family and friends and my great medical team had made sacrifices and although it doesn’t help I now look at all the time and effort I spent all year long in the run up to the race and wonder if it was it all worth it? ‚YES‘ is what I say immediately and don’t even hesitate for a second. I (and I doesn’t mean just me but all the people who      have been on my side, supporting me, being there for me or even just let me do what I wanted to do) know everything I could do to prepare for this race I’ve done and still believing in me, despite all the odds, will make me proud to think about, at least I hope, in years to come. Sometimes you get good days, sometimes you get bad days, some get more good days and some have to work harder to get a good day, but dealing with the bad ones is part of it and I believe, makes you even stronger. Just if you don’t try you won’t know, so I’d rather fail than wonder ‚what if‘.

As I got lots of positives from 2017 I got lots of positives from the trip and the race. Having had a mechanical and more than a couple of punctures, which really made me a bit nervous in the beginning, helped me to relax again and find the right balance for my mental state going into the race. Each and every session, no matter swimming, cycling or running, went smooth and even the harder ones I did hit on every second and each Watt.  Happy, not having any issues which had to make me take some extra rest days, well plenty of rest days and periods this year. Come on race day I did believe in myself still being aware of having one of the hardest days in triathlon-life ahead of me. Before the canon went off I remember having a nice mixture of excitement and coolness.

Despite having a crappy race I know I have been on peak. Why I didn’t put it together? Well, thats‘ hard to tell.

My swim was one of the best I ever had in Kona, still missing my goal to beat my time of the H’oala Swim from one week before. The plan was to go out the first 10k a bit harder on the bike and then to settle the pace but trying not to get dropped by a group if I am in one. So that did work well. I concentrated to drink and eat consistently and stay with my Watts. I didn’t want to push too hard too early, so I had to let some girls go on the way up to Hawi, they were really pushing hard. Still feeling strong and fit I did believe I would benefit thereof on my way back to Kona. Then it did hit me hard in my back. But soon I was at the turnaround and did hope to get rid of the strange feeling in my sacroiliac joint and gluteus which I knew very well from some months ago. Being back on the Queen K it did hit me hard again.  I even wasn’t able anymore to hold my pace together, trying hard I felt the weakness in my right sacroiliac joint which from then on bar me from pushing my Watts any longer.  I had to ride more conservative because it did just hurt too much.

So I messed up the bike massively but even I’ve wondered what I should have done different, I can’t tell you. The run did start surprisingly good. Still feeling a bit hot and being anxious about my gluteus I did start conservative but managed to find my rhythm and a nice pace soon. I used every aid station to drink and get some ice to cool myself down. And there I was again, back in the game, not feeling my sacroiliac joint anymore. I knew that being patient and putting a solid run together could still bring me at least a TOP 10 finish. I took Palani easy because from this point it is still 26km to go and I was feeling great. Just to get hit by the pain in my sacroiliac joint again on my way on the highway. Still trying to hold my body together, it was a force and back in finding my stride. Soon the Energy Lab was to come and it was just another 4 km down there and then just running home. Remembering some of my long runs, with a 10k of picking the pace up in the end, motivated me to keep pushing. I knew the podium was almost unreachable but you never know who did risk too much on the bike or in the beginning of the run, so you better keep going until you cross the finish line. And running out of the Energy Lab I really felt the boost and felt a nice stride coming back, but only for seconds, then I felt like I would collapse by pain. So it wasn’t me passing my competitors but others passing me, still giving me words of encouragements for which I was really thankful. I met a guy from Switzerland and I was able to motivate him to stay with me, which motivated myself as well to just keep going. I mean, Chris was there as well, he tried to stay with me as often as he could, which did help a lot as well. I just really wanted to finish, no matter what, so I had to dig really deep. Approaching Palani I saw one of my competitors again, I was gaining on her. That made me push myself even harder and even if I wasn’t going TOP 10 I kept pushing for every second out there, knowing I would regret, if I didn’t. So I passed another two fellow pro women. And then I was passing the finish line as if I had won. Well, I did win, I did win over my inner self, I’ve never lost so much, being that far away from my goal and what I know I am capable of but I NEVER GAVE UP and that is what has given me the smile and joy on that finish line until I collapsed into the arms of two volunteers.

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Thanks for the great support! Family, friends, sponsors and just everyone out there!

I’ll be back!

#followmypassion #performingperfect #believe

 

 

Injury on my Scandinavian tour – Missing to defend my title at Indeland – Building for two World Championship

Veröffentlicht am von astridsweb in Allgemein

Jetzt ist es schon einige Zeit her dass ich etwas geschrieben habe. Sorry dafür.  Wie ihr euch denken könnt war ich in der Zwischenzeit trotzdem gut beschäftigt 😉 Nachdem ich glücklich den Ironman South Africa überstanden hatte, und nicht nur überstanden, sondern deutlich besser ins Ziel gebracht habe als wir vorher aufgrund der viel zu kurzen Vorbereitungszeit gehofft hatten, wollten wir meinem Körper etwas Ruhe geben. Daher habe ich einige Tage gar nicht trainiert. Das war allerdings einfach, da ich in der Zeit viele Dienste in der Klinik hatte. Wie immer wenn der Sport deutlich zu kurz kommt habe ich die Bewegung vermisst. Da wir aber in keiner Weise unter Druck standen, da ich  für die Qualifikation für Kona  schon genügend Punkte hatte, konnten wir mit einem sehr langfristigen Aufbau für Kona beginnen. Auf dem Weg dahin wollte ich jedoch im Sommer einige Rennen bestreiten, aber keine Langdistanz. Beim Blick in den Rennkalender waren die Rennen schnell gefunden. Ich wollte sehr gerne wieder nach Schweden, wo ich meinen ersten Ironman gewonnen habe, und habe mich daher für den 70.3 in Jönköping angemeldet. Zur Vorbereitung auf das Rennen sollten der 70.3 in Helsingor und der Indeland-Triahtlon dienen. Da es keinerlei Druck gab noch irgendwelche Punkte sammeln zu müssen habe ich mich gefreut einfach nur des Triathlon wegen am Start zu stehen. Die Vorfreude war riesig.

It’s been quite a long time I didn’t write something here, sorry for that. As you can guess I was busy in the meantime. Happily having survived IM South Africa, and not just survived, but finishing much stronger than what we could have except from my short preparation for the race, we wanted to give my body a rest. So I took off some days from training. That was kind of easy because I had a busy week in hospital 😉 But as always I started missing to swim bike and run soon. Now that we weren’t in any rush or had any pressure anymore since I had already enough points for Kona we started a long term build up for Kona. My wish was to do some races in summer. No more long distance, but some shorter races. Looking through the race schedules it was easy to decide. I wanted to go back to Sweden, where I did win my first Ironman, and signed up for IM 70.3 Jönköping. For preparation we also choose to do two more middle distance races before to get me into peak form. I was really excited. There was no pressure for collecting points, it was just about triathlon and racing and giving the best on race day.

 

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Wenn ihr genau hinseht, dann seht ihr das der Helm gebrochen ist. Bei mir waren es zum Glück nur Prellungen, Schürfwunden und Schleudertrauma. Looking close you can see that my helmet is broken, I had sone bruises, abrasions and a whiplash injury.

 

Zwei Woche vor dem Wettkampf in Dänemark hatte ich noch einen Sturz mit meinem Rad. Zum Glück ist nicht schlimmeres passiert. Der kaputte Helm wurde rasch von Giro ersetzt (DANKE!). Prellungen, Schürfwunden und Schleudertrauma waren relativ rasch auskuriert (DANKE Dirk König bei Physio Vital). In der Rennwoche selber merkte ich auf einmal dass mein Körper bereit war. Bereit für das nächste Rennen. Mit der Verletzung vom Winter hatte ich noch lange zu tun und war noch lange damit beschäftigt die Muskulatur wieder aufzubauen. Aber genau in dieser Woche fühlte sich alles endlich wieder normal an. Dazu kommt dann auch noch dass Helsingor wirklich ein schönes Städtchen ist, die Landschaft, aber auch kulturell wird dort einiges geboten. Am Wettkampftag lief es dann leider nicht wie geplant. Mein Schwimmen war ganz gut, das beste seit langem. Vor allem der Start war prima bis ich irgendwann die Lücke nach vorne nicht gefunden habe und bei dem Versuch einen anderen Weg zu nehmen hinten raus gefallen bin. So habe ich mich irgendwann in der dritten Gruppe wiedergefunden. Bis dahin war alles soweit okay. Auf dem Weg zum Rad hatte ich dann plötzlich starke Schmerzen im linken Oberschenkel und konnte  nicht mehr laufen. Es fühlte sich wie ein starker Krampf an, nur eben viel schlimmer. An Laufen war nicht mehr zu denken, also bin ich gegangen bis ich es irgendwann an die Mount Linie geschafft hatte und auf das Rad durfte. Ich beschloss  zu versuchen Rad zu fahren, in der Hoffnung dass sich die Muskulatur lockern würde. Die ersten 10 Minuten waren die Hölle, zum einen der Schmerzen wegen, zum anderen aber vor allem deshalb weil ich sah, dass ich nicht annähernd Wettkampfleistung trat. Es war klar ich würde immer mehr Zeit nach vorne verlieren. Und so sind aus gut drei Minuten nach 10 km schon 6 Minuten Rückstand geworden. Mit und mit konnte ich das Bein aber normal bewegen, wenn auch nicht den normalen Druck geben. So blieb es für den Rest der Radrunde, die Schmerzen waren fast weg, aber normal war das nicht. Irgendwie habe ich noch gehofft dass sich das beim Laufen ändern würde. Wieder in der Wechselzone angekommen, musste ich erst mal vom Rad runter klettern und dann war es eigentlich auch schon vorbei. An Laufen war nicht zu denken, die Schmerzen waren wieder so schlimm wie am Anfang, es zerriss mich innerlich. Also hieß es aufhören, doch so einfach ist das im Wettkampf irgendwie nicht. Es ist schon unglaublich wozu einen so ein tolles Publikum und das Adrenalin bewegen können, ich habe mir doch tatsächlich die Laufschuhe angezogen und wollte es mit Gehen versuchen. Zum Glück hat Chris aus einiger Entfernung gesehen dass etwas nicht stimmte und kam zu mir rüber gerannt um mich aus dem Rennen zu nehmen.  Das war meine Rettung und die einzige richtige Entscheidung. Klar war ich frustriert und habe einige Tränen vergossen. Zurück zu Hause hieß die Diagnose dann Muskelfaserriss. Die nächsten beiden Wettkämpfe muss ich leider absagen. Etwas gutes jedoch hatte der Wettkampf, ich habe einen wunderschönen Ort venengelernt, viele nette Menschen getroffen und weiß, dass ich mit der Vorbereitung auf den Punkt topfit war und sogar meine Leistungen aus dem Vorjahr bereits jetzt übertreffen kann.

Two weeks before the race in Denmark, the IM 70.3 European Championships I had a crash with my bike. Luckily I didn’t have any severe injuries. And just as race week arrived I felt that my body was ready. Ready to race again. For a long time I still had to deal wish my injury I had during winter and was working on building strength again. But just that week everything felt normal. Helsingor is just a beautiful place. But everything did fall together on race day. My swim was okay. I had a great start but then I struggled to keep contact to the fast woman and even struggled to stay in my group firstly. Slowly I managed to get back into the group. Either way, it was one of my fastest swims and I existed the water in a perfect position to attack the podium. Running to my bike I started to really struggle. I felt a pain in my left quad, like a cramp, just even worse. Trying to stretch and loosen it, I only made it worse. I wasn’t even able to run through transition, I had to walk. That was so frustrating. I decided I try to start the bike, being in lots of pain I wasn’t able to push my pedals. It took about ten minutes until I finally found some rhythm, but far away from what I am usually able to push. And from three minuter in T1 the gap to the front was growing to 6 minutes after only 10 km. It is a two loop bike course and you pass the center of the city. Coming trough the large crowd they were cheering loud. I wanted to cry because I would have liked to enjoy it but was just suffering. Since the pain got better I was hoping for a good run. I should have known better, because I still was not able to ride my normal watts. Crawling off my bike the pain was even worse. It is surprising how a huge crowd and adrenalin can influence you and make you try. I had to walk and every step did hurt. I just didn’t want it to happen so I got my running shows on and wanted to just walk and maybe see if the pain will go away. Chris was waiting for me somewhere down the run course. Looking of me he saw my head going up and down (as I was humbling) and ran over to the transition where he had to shout very loud until I was able to hear him. Luckily he came to safe me to start the run. As you can guess I was really frustrated and sad and yes I did cry. Back at home I got diagnosed with a torn muscle in my left quads. What means that I had to withdraw from Indeland Triathlon as well as IM 70.3 Jönköping. But I also took some positives with me, having been at a great place, meeting some very nice people and knowing that I was perfectly fit on race day and I am already stronger than I have been last year.

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In der Zwischenzeit habe ich die Einladung zur IM 70.3 WM in Chattanooga erhalten. Eigentlich wollte ich die WM dieses Jahr ausfallen lassen, aber unter diesen Umständen habe ich die Einladung sehr gerne angenommen. Es wird für mich kein „A“ Rennen sein, aber wo kann man schon besser seine Form testen als wenn man mit den Besten der Welt zusammen an der Startlinie steht?

In the meantime I got the invitation to the 2017 IM 70.3 World Championship which will be held in Chattanooga, and I am happy to accept the invitation. It won’t be an A race for me, but what place and race is better to test your performance before the World Championship in Kona than racing against the best of the world?

 

Thank you all for your support, everyone out there who follow my  passion. My family and friends for being me just who I am. My husband and coach Chris (triworx-coaching.com) who support me, believes in me and helps me to get stronger. My medical support team: Dirk and Berit and Conny and Andreas. And of course all my sponsors:

#myroadtokona – IM South African Championships 2017

Veröffentlicht am von astridsweb in Allgemein

For a long time I didn’t write on my blog and just posted on social media. It wasn’t that I didn’t want to write but I just couldn’t. During winter happened a lot.  Just to make sure you stay with me, I start at the very beginning:

Last season was an up and down, with not finishing IM Frankfurt did mean not going to Kona in 2016 (we had decided to get there either with one IM or not at all). So I aimed for early points and did get them by racing IM 70.3 worldchamps in Australia, winning IM Barcelona and placing 4th at IM 70.3 Miami. Since Frankfurt I already felt a minor problem with my gluteus and hips, nothing to worry about, I thought, but I did have cramps every race I started and my stride just didn’t feel normal. Even Chris did ask me once why I did have changed my running posture from mid foot to front foot and I just answered that I didn’t changed it but it just happened (and felt happy about it). That should have been the point to stop and ask someone what was going on. Well at least we did ask but didn’t get the right answers. So we just kept going and hoping it will just be okay with having massages and doing stretching and drills. When I was able to win Barcelona in sub-9 I thought it might not be too serious. Then in Miami I still had one of my best bike splits (and the fastest of the day), but running didn’t feel normal at all. First day after the race I asked to go for an easy jog to get rid of my cramping gluteus, believing it would be better than resting. The flight back home made it even worse. Finding some rest the first week back I did hope for recovery which didn’t happen, gluteus got even worse. So I started training with almost no intensity, starting my runs with having pain in my right hip which did disappear every time after a few minutes. So I decided to go for one of the local running competitions which meant to do also speed work. On November 15th I went out for 5 x 1 k. It took me some time to settle into a nice rhythm. Intervalls worked out better then ever. Only the rests in between made me almost cry, pain got worse. But still not feeling any pain during my intervalls I kept going. Just to realize after I finished my speed work that I had no idea how to get home. It was still a 4 k jog home and it took me forever. This was the last day I did run for a long time. I was in pain walking, I was in pain resting, sitting and even lying – I was distressed. 

An MRI on Thursday didn’t show any significant pathological signs. Knowing that, I thought I just might need more rest and more massages and manual treatments. Friday night we went by car to the movie theater, me on the right side of the car. And then I wasn’t able to get out of the car. I wasn’t able to lift my right leg at all and had to take it with my hands and put it outside like I was paralyzed. Shocking!

I thought walking did at least look normal and every time Chris asked me why I was humbling I groaned at him that I didn’t, until also strangers asked me what had happened. There was no way to ignore it any longer that something serious was going on. Swimming was only possible with a pull boy and riding my bicycle only on my indoor trainer with almost no effort. For the last week of November I had signed up for a seminar in pediatric intensive care medicine in beautiful Blaubeuren. Not only intensive care seminar but it was also to be an intensive seminar since the talks started 7.30 am each morning until 8 or 9 pm with a break of an hour for lunch. First I had planed to have some running sessions during this week, make some trail runs, have fun. But I had to change plans and took my indoor trainer and bicycle with me. After another week of no training but swimming or better say pulling I just wanted to give my legs and body some turnover whilst sitting on a chair for 12 hours all day long. At least I did learn a lot and really can recommend this seminar to all German speaking pediatricians. The food was great as well 🙂 Just my walking didn’t get any better, but worse neither. End of the week there was a hike planned and I just wanted to get outside. Bad idea. It did only last 90 minutes. Going a bit uphill was fine but the way back, having some downhills I had to fix my hips with my hand to be able to walk anyway. I barely made it back. So I prescribed myself: no more sports at all. Back home I immediately saw my doctor again, got treatment, but nothing worked. With help from a friend I finally found the best orthopedic doctor I met so far. I was totally destroyed, willing to travel anywhere if just somebody could help me. As soon as I contacted her she just saw me. Being a former Olympic qualifier she knows how you feel being injured. When I told her my story she knew what my problem was. She even didn’t need to examine me, which she did anyway just to be sure. The same day she made me see an osteopath. The first time since 6 weeks I felt that something positive was going on, just a minor step, but something did work. I met another osteopath who also helped me a bit but the pain in my hip didn’t go away, still not being able to walk. Just before New Year’s Eve I met Berit, the sister of my orthopedic, also a physiotherapist and osteopath who also sees a lot of athletes. And after her treatment I didn’t have any pain. She wanted me to take 2 more days of rest and then start running again for 20 minutes. So I did. I immediately felt that I was still having a schon relieving posture and didn’t think it was good to keep going like this. I tried it 2 more times and then we had to decide to stop running again. I made appointments with her in Hamburg where she lives and works to get another treatment in the second week of January. At least I was able to push the pedals again on my bike trainer and was back to swimming. No big efforts but at least some. After this second treatment she got me back in my running shoes 🙂 Really slowly but making progress from day to day. I started running 10 minutes a day, after a week I did it twice. We did built it up like this very slowly, still having a relieving posture and not being able to stretch my hip for along time until it looked and felt almost normal again. In the middle of February I was able to run 10 k again, just easy effort and flat. Instead of a strong schedule of swim, bike and run I had a strong schedule of rehabilitation training, stability training and work at the hospital. In the time left I squeezed in my „normal“ training. Seeing Berit again in February she gave me the GO to increase my volume and go for my training camp at end of February, but kept my rehabilitation work doing every day. In between I still saw my other therapists and now have build a perfect network. I now see my physiotherapist every week, see my osteopath every 4-6 weeks to check on my body and meet Berit every 2-3 months or as often as necessary.

But back to the story: Training camp went very well. We had 8 days of great training in the southern sea alps, some long rides on the bicycle, a lot of brick runs. Most of them starting fast and also had my first run longer than 75 minutes. And it all did work very well. The day of our trip back home I did a two hour run in the morning with increasing my speed on the last half hour. I was so happy that even after a tough week of training I was able to run some k’s in Ironmanpace. For the first time I didn’t feel my hip at all this week. Before I still had a strange feeling like my hip being tired (no pain). But this week I did enjoy running again. Didn’t last long though. Sitting in the car for an hour I already felt the pain coming back. Anyway we had planned to stop at least every 2 hours to get me do some stretching but now I really needed to work on it. Having our first stop Chris got shocked when he saw me walking. In his eyes it looked like I did walk as I did back in December and January. I knew I wasn’t walking normal but I also knew it was different from what I felt back then. Stimm on our trip home I contacted Berit who did answer immediately. Back home I did my hip routine and went to bed. Now I had to admit that something was going on because I again did feel a discomfort. The next morning she gave me an additional hip routine which I was supposed to do after having done a 20  minute run…. and it did work out! I was so happy!!! Also I knew I was kind of safe because I would meet her again the next weekend. Feeling better from day to day we decided to stick to our plan and test how far I can go. So on Friday I had an Ironman specific bike session with some Intervalls and on Saturday a 28 k run, my longest so far (3 weeks before the race), again with increasing pace towards the end. In the evening I saw Berit and she was very happy. Just from the therapists view I did look much better than before, she didn’t find any major problem. You can’t imagine how happy I was, it might actually become true that I’ll be on the start line of IM South Africa on April 2nd to chase my points for Kona.

Well, not the last time of a setback. Back at work the next week I got asked if it would be possible I could work a full time job again (I did cut back my hours in February) and only a few minutes after being asked I started humbling again like in December. I just thought, this cannot be true! What did I do wrong?? I was able to take some minutes to just lay down in our office, come down and do a bit of hip routine. Getting checked by my physiotherapist the next day we were sure it wasn’t a setback but just my soul crying :-/ I had a though schedule, maybe not wise to register for my neonatology exam one week prior to the race. Anyway, I managed to calm down at least a bit, nailed my training sessions and was perfectly prepared for my exams, which I happily passed. Not much time to relax the next days as I was on duty all weekend, really looking forward to leaving on Tuesday. To be sure I didn’t take any minor or major problems with me I had a last body check with Andreas (osteopath) on Monday. After arriving in PE on Wednesday we did go for an easy bike and run in the afternoon. On Thursday I saw Marolien (physiotherapist) who checked on me a last time that I didn’t have any muscular problems from the flight (thanks for making the contact Kyle!) she herself raced the Ironman and she got hit by a car about 4-5 weeks before the race and she still made it to the start and from start to finish! CONGRATS!!!

About the race itself:

I needed at least to place 7th to get a safe Kona slot. I knew I wouldn’t be able to have a fast race, but of course I dreamed of the podium. And I was really excited for raceday.

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My swim got much stronger. So my plan was to catch a group and somehow have the swim of my life. Did not happen 😦  From my trainings we knew I hadn’t the fitness on the bike like before IM Barcelona and I missed a lot of running. So our plan was to take it kind of easy on the bike, and went out with a lot less power than what I raced last. It seemed like the other girls in the front did push very hard and they gained some time on the first of two laps, only Daniela Ryf, the reigning world champion didn’t go much faster, so either she didn’t have a good day or had a similar strategy I thought. Passing Chris at the beginning of lap 2 he shouted at me to go just 5-10 watt harder on the second lap. And just as said I did go some minutes faster. I had to be very patient all the time. Well, I know what it feels to exit the water far behind but usually I gain place by place much faster. Not this time, holding back. Counting places I moved from 20th after the swim to 6th after the bike, not realizing I overtook Nikki in T2. Racking my bike I hit my toes, but anyways this didn’t bother me much longer. Running off the bike felt easy and smooth. We just changed strategy here and decided to not go out for an even pace but start a bit faster to gain some time. It was going to be a very hot day out on the run. The crowds made it a bit easier, they were cheering loud! From the middle of nowhere I started to struggle with a pain in my right knee it did bend when it wasn’t supposed to, it came and went away and came back. Trying not to think about it too much, but didn’t help, it slowed me down. Thanks I have a dream and I believe, I just thought „never give up, keep smiling and keep going“. I was able to settle into a new rhythm. In between I made it to 4th place, knowing that close behind me are 3 or 4 girls chasing me. Instead of looking back I kept looking forward, counting k by k. I still wasn’t going for the 7th or 4th place, I was going for as many points I could get, I was willing to fight for my road to Kona. I had already did put so much blood, sweat and tears into it for my comeback and that made me defend my 4th place until I crossed the finish line 🙂

The next day I didn’t know how to handle my emotions. On the one hand I was soooo happy I made a safe Kona slot, on the other hand it wasn’t satisfying not to have a close fight for the podium. Because I race to fight for the win and compete with the best. 

I love to say thank you to everyone who believes in me: My husband and coach, my family and friends, my sponsors and partners AND my docs, physiotherapist and osteopath! THANK YOU for BELIEVING in me and MY DREAM!

Fotos: Ingo Kutsche, Chris Decker

Sub-9 Club

Veröffentlicht am von astridsweb in Allgemein

„Life is like a box of chocolates. You never know what you’re gonna get.“

Every Race is different! You never know what you get on raceday. You know the distance you will go and you know the course profile and the climate, but if you are going to have YOUR day that’s sadly nothing you can plan but only hope for.

Although I had a great season so far, placing 1, 2, 3, and 2×5, my goal races didn’t went as planned. So instead of heading to Kona this year I went to IM Barcelona, looking for some early points for Kona 2017 and another victory. That’s what I came for. Once again struggling on the swim I wasn’t too far behind the leader, so I was still in good mood in T1, just realizing, as I made my way to my Cervelo P5 that my left quads started to close up. I took it easy, tried to relax and kept going, but it only got worse. I even had to stop close to the mounting line and tried to stretch it out. Somehow I made it onto my red bull, at first not flying at all. The first 3k of technical section through narrow streets of Calella we weren’t allowed to go into the aerobars, so fine for me, still time to stretch, massage and work anyway on my quad to get it again ready to race. Passing the roundabout at 3k, allowing to go into the aero position I was surprised I could do the position, even better than any other, so I got even more optimistic cause it’s manly a flat course in Barcelona. I knew I was 6 min behind the leading woman, the ever amazing fast swimmer Lucie Zelenkova. Approaching the first turnaround halfway out I already gained 90 sec. I started to calculate and tried to stay calm and pace myself, if I would just keep gong like this I could catch the other girls at 90 k, so still much time left. And so far everything seemed to work out as we had discussed it before the race. Going out just felt easy, having a tailwind, the way back, facing a headwind was still fast. Shortly before halfway through the bike, I spotted a group in front of me and Chris shouted at me that’s only 20 sec, and shortly after that I passed them, taking the lead. It was a mixed group of us pro woman, some pro men and AG men. Although I caught and passed them I did not manage to break away. So it was a game of being patient again and staying focused. On the way up to Argentona I attacked again and tried to get away from the pack, not looking back a single time, even going down I pedaled as hard as I could just to get passed again some km later. On the last turns and slight uphill I again managed to stay in the front and made my way to T2. Still not sure if I could stand on my left leg and swinging of the bike I  took it easy, and then running felt kind of okay, even sitting down to take on my Asics did work. I just left my bags and ran out of T2 when Anna came, so I knew I did not have much of a lead. I wanted to take it easy in the beginning of the marathon, knowing that it will be hard on the second half as always, but something made me run much faster than planned, feeling just fine. Knowing that this was very risky I still kept going and getting payed off by building my lead more and more. The run course is mostly flat with some short down- and uphill. Each time passing this part of the course I got scared my leg would shut down, close up again. It did not feel smooth but I was kind of hopeful I could make it to the finish. Going onto the last of three laps I knew I could bring the race home in 1st position if nothing unexpected happened. I did not smile at all, being in pain but tried to fake a smiling face – seems like it did not work at all 😉 only on the last two km of the run, when I knew for sure, even if I had to walk I would take the win, I just could not but smile all over my face!

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Taking home my second IM victory, setting a new PB on the bike, the run and finish time of 8:54:27 entering the sub-9 club, setting a new bike course record and putting down the second fastest female bike split in 2016 with 4:40:13  (Daniele Ryf had the fastest time in Roth) I was more than happy!

Congrats to Lisi Gruber and Anna Watkinson for competing the podium, AND of course, congrats to Patrick for another great race and win!

I am loving enjoying to cross the finish line, I wanted that tape and I got it. The probably best part of winning, except for the victory itself, the ceremony and the shower of champagne is coming back to the finish line for heroes hour to welcome home the last finishers of the day.

I am so thankful for all your support and messages, it’s overwhelming! I am proud of having the best coach and husband on my side, believing in me even when I struggle. Friends and family I often don’t have time to see and of course my partners in triathlon.

First step is taken on my mission #roadtokona2017

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IM 70.3 WC 2016

Veröffentlicht am von astridsweb in Allgemein

We had a great time in Australia and felt like home. For the first time we had a homestay and were so lucky. Never met before, but just some days later felt like being friends (or even more family!). For me it was the first time in Australia and I immediately felt in love with the people, the country and the style of living. Good and healthy food, even better coffee and perfect training conditions. We not only enjoyed the lapped 50m pool but also attended the swim squad (thanks for the warm welcome!). If this wasn’t enough, we met with Mel Hausschildt who showed us around on her training routes. From the first day on we were getting familiar with the area around Noosa. Last trainings went perfect except running felt strange, my stride felt somehow different. Having one of my best massages ever we found out that this was caused by a sore glute. We worked on it and I felt fine and fresh, ready to race:

My day did not start well, I somehow got stopped at the swim start and it felt like ever to manage it to swim to the front, just to realize I missed the group. Kind of trying to not make it even worse, I put lots of effort into the swim, so I was more than surprised when Chris told me it was a PB in the swim. Good way to start a race.

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Now I was ready to rock it on the bike, that was at least the plan, but sometimes it comes different. The run in T1 took forever. Just thinking if they maybe changed the rules and I didn’t know, I finally got to my red bull. In short distance to Laura I started the bike. Closing my shoes, approaching the turnaround, my left hamstring shot down, I had a cramp I never had before. Trying to get rid of it with just moving and pedaling did not work at all, every time I bent my knee it got worse. So I had to rest and stretch, I clapped and massaged it and all the other did pass me. Rolling like this for already 5 minutes I just thought that I am not coming all the way to DNF and no matter what, I will finish the race. Some minutes later I was able to push again with both legs. It still was there and it felt strange but surprisingly I was able to stay with my expected watts. I caught back the other girls, just to take them with me until the 50k mark. I spent a few k’s riding at second weighing up my options, riding in second, saving some power and saving energy for the run but going slower or making my own race. I went for the second and I am glad I made a fair race. I pushed really hard on the last 20k to make a move from the group and finally did. When I jumped off my red bull at the dismount line, well I didn’t jump due to my sore hamstring,  I was already on the run course trying to catch as many girls as possible and having one of those runs I had in my other races this year. I wasn’t with myself in that moment and so it happened that I did open my helmet some seconds too early, but that’s the rule and I got to close it again and again to first rack my bike. Loosing again some seconds… what a day, I stayed calm.

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Starting into the run I immediately felt that I had to work hard. It did not feel like running that day, my stride was short,  I could not push. I never felt the rhythm, it was just hard work and I guess it did look as horrible as it felt. Don’t give up and keep pushing and smiling was what was in my mind and so I kept fighting and even passing some girls, finishing 14th.

Breaking into tears cause of being dissapointed by such a black day due to what happened during the race. It took me some days, exactly 3, when I was back at work on the preterm intensive care and all my colleagues where nothing but happy for me. Now I am proud of what I achieved, PB in the swim, the bike and overall, placing 14th in the pro field at the 70.3 world championship.

Thanks to everyone who believes in me and helps me make my dream come true, for this I work hard, every day.

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Thanks to our families, the Stienens, the Deckers and the Hamblins!!! Thanks to Chris for pushing me, understanding me, loving me!

And of course thank you to all my partners.

 

 

Über den Kraichgau zur 70.3 WM nach Australien

Veröffentlicht am von astridsweb in Allgemein

Jetzt sitze ich hier und weiß eigentlich gar nicht was ich schreiben soll… Gedanken gehen mir genug durch den Kopf, doch irgendwie kann ich sie gerade nicht in die richtige Reihenfolge bringen und die richtigen Worte finden. Schreibblockade – Zum Glück bin ich keine Schriftstellerin sonst würde ich jetzt bestimmt in ein tiefes Loch fallen 😉

Ich fange einfach mal vorne an. Ich mag das Rennen im Kraichgau, die Stimmung ist immer super und dich mag die Strecke einfach, besonders die Herausforderung die nach dem Radfahren beim Laufen wartet. Letztes Jahr musste ich aufgeben, daher wollte ich dieses Jahr unbedingt zurück kommen!

Gestartet bin ich einigermaßen gut in das Rennen. Kleine Probleme am Anfang des Schwimmens habe ich irgendwie überwunden und konnte zu Yvonne und Natascha aufschwimmen und sogar kurz vor Ihnen das Wasser verlassen. Ein etwas langsamerer Wechsel ließ mich als 5. auf die Radstrecke wechseln. Autsch, hier hat’s dann erst mal ordentlich weh getan. Entweder ich hatte mir irgendwas eingefangen, was falsches gegessen, getrunken, nicht genug oder zufiel, jedenfalls haben die Waden ganz schön gezwickt und auch die Oberarme! (So schnell bin ich jetzt dann auch wieder nicht geschwommen!) Ich habe dann erst mal meine angestrebten Werte getreten und mich abgesehen von den kleinen Zipperlein auch wohlgefühlt. Nur habe ich mir damit nicht zugetraut hinter Natascha uns Yvonne her zu fahren, so dass ich die 90 km alleine unterwegs war. Besonders erwähnen mag ich hier noch den Anstieg in Gochsheim, ihr seid der Hammer Leute, einfach krass wie ihr einen da hoch brüllt!!!

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Als 4. konnte ich auch die Laufstrecke wechseln und abgesehen von meinen Waden die mir ein wenig Sorgen bereiteten fühlten sich die Beine noch sehr gut an, so dass ich auch schnell anlaufen konnte. Ich habe es dann mehr oder weniger rollen lassen, die Beine einfach mal machen lassen und der Blick auf die Uhr zeigte, dass das Tempo passte. Die 2:20 Rückstand auf Platz 3 konnte ich rasch verringern. Die Unterstützung an der Laufstrecke war klasse! Und so konnte ich erneut aufs Podium laufen! Riesig gefreut habe ich mich über die schnellste Laufzeit des Tages!

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Als besonderen Bonus kam dann auch bald die Nachricht, dass ich damit schon im der ersten Runde für IM 70.3 WM in Australien qualifiziert bin!!!

Die nächsten Wochen nutze ich nun um an der Form für die Langdistanz zu feilen um beim IM Frankfurt fit am Start zu stehen. Vorher werde ich noch beim Indeland-Triathlon starten.