I have asked myself this question many times when professionals demonstrated how one can apparently "effortlessly" compete in two such competitions within two weeks.
For working hobby athletes with ambitions and without enough space to regenerate between races, never in life! I thought so far. Especially after my own experiences after such a race, and that I need at least four weeks before I can even start training again.
That it can really work, however, shows a small field report by Thomas Schulz from Nuremberg.
Long distance Roth July 18th, 2010 at 09:54:36; Regensburg August 1st, 2010 in 10:39:03.
The trend is increasingM. double
... when I registered for the IronMan in Regensburg in late summer 2009, almost a year before the starting shot, it was clear to me as an experienced triathlete that this would be my second start within 14 days on a long distance and that it would be a small one is little crazy. But after all there is a double and triple and even a tenfold triathlon and they are mastered too, so why shouldn't I do two with a 14-day break in between?
Of course I had concerns, of course I was advised against it, but if you always allow yourself to be guided by concerns and difficulties, you will probably never gain new experience. I also like Mark Twain's motto “the only thing you never regret is madness”.
When I slowly started my preparation for Roth in November and realized that after a two-year break my form had suffered more than I had expected, I quickly realized that if I wasn't like “Julie Moss I want to crawl across the finish line at the 1982 Ironman, but I still had to do a lot of training. But the goal was set, it was public and I had to try to motivate myself for the coming months and competitions and hard training. The long, hard winter did the rest to make life difficult for me.
Motivation:
There are many ways and possibilities to motivate yourself. Describing the possibilities and methods would just bore everyone here. And I don't want to write a book here either. That is yet to come ;-) The most important motivational factor is certainly the joy of a good meal after training. And so I then fed and trained myself through the long winter and spring.
Dress rehearsal:
My start on the Olympic distance at Rothsee, three weeks before the challenge, was a turning point, no matter, the worse the dress rehearsal, the better the premiere.
That was also true, the challenge went really well for me up to KM seven on the running track. Then the air was out, the stomach doubled and within a few minutes the strength and motivation were gone. Out of sheer desperation to have to stop now, I started myself twice! to feed through an entire supply station (usually I only take gels in the WK). I'm not sure whether it was the delicious rice cake, the melon between the TUC biscuits or the CocaMuesli or even one or the other club colleague with the nicely meant saying “you look good”. At any rate, the lights went on for me at that moment on again and it ran and ran and…. to the goal. In which I then finished just under 10h. I felt good. Hardly any pain, a little tired, muscular but in good condition.
Not a real joy, because it was only the first prank and the second ....... .:
It was important for me now to clear my head and not even think about the IM Regensburg in 14 days. But now you are constantly being asked what didn’t make things any easier. But it was clear to me that I now need maximum physical and, above all, psychological recovery, whereby the mental level in the second WK would certainly be the most important criterion. Because the body just can't really recover during this time.
Two days before the start I got a little nervous, it was completely unclear whether I had at least recovered a little and whether I could even Finnish. But I didn't have time for these negative thoughts anyway, it was too late, I wanted to finish this now. Do what you have to do. And under no circumstances try to reach a certain target time. So take off all the watches and trust your body feeling. In retrospect, it was absolutely the right decision.
Of course I was in pain in the competition, swimming went very well, and while cycling I felt the last stresses. I had expected that I would have problems with my muscles, tendons and ligaments, but none of that was the case, rather my stomach, diaphragm and stomach were twitching. This region had practically hardly recovered, and this was particularly evident in the marathon that followed, and I have to admit that I didn't really enjoy running anymore. But the WK in Regensburg was really nice, and the audience did not allow any weaknesses, you were constantly pushed on, so that I just had to bring Das Ding home. Which still worked after a few kilometers of hiking.
And how am I doing a few days later?
Better than ever, no muscular problems, no injury, clearly a few minor pores and a little bit tired. OK, the appetite for gel, cola muesli, and melon TUC crackers has not yet returned, rather I feel like bratwurst and cream cheese cake.
Thanksgiving:
This was made possible by the support of:
... many friends, training partners and club colleagues, the trainers from the PostSV-Nürnberg triathlon department, the fans at home and on the track and all supporters as well as the Netter-Bauart company from Obermässing, my personal support team Helmut and Katja and everyone else who knows me have supported and fed over the year.
lg
Thomas