I just landed at Changi Airport in Singapore after some eventful weeks back in the Philippines. Since I have a few hours of layover, I thought about writing some lines about triathlon no. 38 which was 5i50 Triathlon Bohol on July 14, 2024. I had attended the race back in November 2017 and remembered it very well.
It was once again one of those races, where I came in 4th. There is not much more “sayang” or let’s say annoying than missing the podium. In this case, it was not even close, since I was about 8 minutes slower than the 3rd placer. But it is particularly bitter, when you realize that you would have made the podium in the next older and even the younger age groups! In the end, you can’t know, who will show up in your age group, and how strong the field is; but I somehow had the subjective impression that “my age group” was more often stronger than weaker.
Anyways, long story short – I returned this year, and was finally able to land on the podium again. Being almost 7 years older and about 12 minutes faster on this course is something to celebrate, and in this article I wanted to discuss some of the major points that enabled me to finish 3rd in my age group and 16th overall out of 522 competitors.
How did I swim, bike, and run faster?
In all three disciplines, I was faster this time. My best sport was surprisingly (?) the swim. Again. Like at Ironman Cairns in June, I was able to land a new PB during the swim, and since I have not trained more compared to previous years, I attribute this to a better technique, and maybe one training session with Tim Reed (in case you don’t know who that is – he won Ironman 70.3 Cebu about 4 times, ist the Ironman 70.3 2016 World Champion and won about 100 other races as a pro) who corrected only one thing in the pool which obviously made me much faster.
My split was less than 25 minutes for the 1.5 km swim which I thought to be not in reach, at least as of yet; but maybe I was just limiting myself? And if so, how much faster could I swim next time? My bike ride was a bit faster than 1:05 h for the 40kms – still my fastest ride so far, at least in a non-drafting Olympic distance triathlon.
I think that a better TT bike frame made a huge difference, and of course the bikefitting, apart from many hours on the bike this year. I am currently averaging about 200+ kms per week and I also feel that the Wahoo Kickr training is kicking in! I was able to average about 37.3 km/h which gave me rank 13 overall, and I am very happy about this result. I can’t wait though to get my speed even up to 38 and more.
On the run, I was aiming for anything between 45 and 60 minutes. I really did not know what was possible due to ongoing patella issues and a sore Achilles tendon. But the first kms were pretty fast at around 4:20 – 4:30 min/km, so I just tried to keep it up and go for it!
A very important thing that I need to mention as well is a much better nutrition. After years of experimenting and “fading out” in the tropical heat, I know how important the extra sodium intake is, apart from massive hydration and carbs. Moreover, the mental aspect/attitude was definitely also something that made a huge difference. I will further elaborate on the details of how to become a faster athlete, and we will definitely record some more podcast episodes on this topic as well.
In the meantime, I just keep on enjoying the moments and memories of the past days, being grateful for an awesome team and preparing for many more races in the next weeks and months!
One last thing: I have started a fundraiser and would really appreciate your support – even sharing the link to this article or my fundraising page would definitely help. I am really grateful to see that donations are coming in for people and their families who need our support and positive energy. THANK YOU!