Jason qualifies for the Ironman World Championships in Hawaii….
25 Trainingsstunden pro Woche = je 4 Schwimm-, Velo- und Lauftrainings plus 2 Krafteinheiten haben sich gelohnt! Jason gewinnt die Alterskategorie am Half Ironman in Tallinn und verdient sich so einen Qualifikationsplatz an den Triathlon-Weltmeisterschaften auf Hawaii…! Ein grosser Traum jedes Triathleten. Bravo Jason, wir ziehen den Hut vor deiner Leistung und deinen harten Trainings!
Hier der interessante und spannende Bericht von Jason über den Half Ironman in Tallin, seine Vorbereitungstrainings und Kona. Den Halbmarathon in Tallinn finishte Jason übrigens in einer starken Zeit von 1:34:53 h… – und dies nach 1,9 km Schwimmen und 90 km Velofahren! Starke Leistung Jason – bravo!
Sport has always been something that I have enjoyed in my life and when I was in my 20s, my passion was triathlon. But life sometimes changes your interests and priorities, and for a number of years I did not participate in any triathlons or even practice all three sports, but the interest was always inside of me.
More recently, the triathlon fire began to burn brighter and I decided to seriously pursue the sport again. The dream of any triathlete is to go to Kona, Hawaii where, every year in October, the Ironman World Championships are held. Covering 3.8 km of ocean swimming, 180 km on the bike and finishing with a full marathon, Kona is the biggest and most important race of the year.
All of the professionals are there, including big names that you have probably heard before: Daniela Ryf, Jan Frodeno, Anne Haug, Lionel Sanders and Lucy Charles Barkley, just to name a few. In addition, the top age group triathletes from around the world compete. This year, I will join them.
But getting to Kona is not so easy. To compete in Kona at the World Championships, you must first qualify by finishing at or very near the top of your age group in one of the other Ironman races held in various locations around the world. To do this, I knew that I needed help and a few years ago I decided to hire a coach to design my training plan and work with me to secure a Kona qualification spot. I worked hard and was successful in earning my qualification spot, and now am preparing for the big race on 9 October.
My Kona dream is now two months away and my training is coming along well. My coach is happy with my progress and I know that I am getting faster and stronger. In addition to my daily swim, bike and run training, I regularly compete in races (Covid obviously caused some problems for my race schedule over the past 18 months) so that I can test myself and see if I am improving. My most recent test was a half Ironman (1.9 km swim, 90 km bike and 21.1 km run) race in Tallinn, Estonia on 08.08.2021. I was thrilled with the result!
The day before the race I was a bit worried because the weather was awful, it was raining heavily and very windy. Luckily, on race day, the weather was perfect: the roads had dried, the wind was calm and it was not too hot. I was ready to race!!
The swim was in a lake near to Tallinn and I was fortunate to be able to swim in the lake a few times before the race. On race day, I navigated the course well and came out of the water 2nd in my age group. After a quick transition, it was on to the bike course. Flat and fast…I averaged 39kph for the 90 km and was passing quite a few of the younger cyclists. I needed to be careful though, because if I went too hard on the bike, I wouldn’t have anything left for the run and walking the run is awful. Another important element of the bike (and the run) is making sure that you get enough nutrition. I mostly used Maurten drinks and gels, and PowerBar gels (some of them will contain caffeine).
I finished the bike 1st in my age group and was feeling very strong as I prepared for the 21.1 km run. Out on the run course I was maintaining a sub 4:30 pace and putting more distance between myself and the second place person in my age group. Some nutrition and water at almost every aid station helped me to record a 1:34:53 time for the run.
Overall, I finished 1st in my age group in a time of 4:36: 55. Winning my group at this race was important because I have now earned a qualification spot for the 2022 Ironman World Championships at the half distance. But first there is Kona and that is my sole focus for the next eight weeks.
My training thus far has been very good and I feel confident that if I keep working hard and stay injury free, I will be ready for a good race in Kona. My training consists of two workouts every day (there rarely are holidays or days off) and in a week I typically swim 4x, bike 4x, run 4x and have 2 strength sessions in the gym. The number of hours that I spend training varies, but can be as much as 25 hours a week. Just like the BRC training, some workouts are very intense, while others are just meant to build my base and endurance.
It is important to say that I cannot do this alone and I am lucky to have a great group of people around me that make this possible. I have a good coach, great support at home and when I race, and training partners (some of whom are BRC members), that push me hard during my workouts.
