My Sports Diary 2017
Dec 31st, 2017: 48th San Silvestre Race, Gijon, Spain
Visiting friends in Gijon I took the chance to race in the 48th edition of this Silvester-race in Spain. I finished the 6 km in 0:27:56, althouhg it was difficult to run during the first 10 minutes because of the many runners participating (nearly 4000).
Nov 4/5th, 2017: 14th Parktherme 24-hour-Swimming, Bad Radkersburg, Austria
For the third time I toed the startline of this 24-hour swimming event. After a four-person relay a couple of years ago and a single start two years ago I was swimming together with Miriam Aigner and Robert Lintner in a three-person-relay team. Each one of us swam for an hour and then took a two hour´s rest, in total we swam 72,8 km, my contribution was 24,4 km.
Oct 29th, 2017: SSETriCity Dublin Marathon, Dublin, Ireland
Visiting my good friend Orla in Ireland and running the Dublin marathon was a highlight of the autumn season. I had not specifically trained for this very well organized event (with more than 15.000 athletes), all I wanted was to finish in less than four hours. So I really was happy with my final time of 3:45:05.
Oct 22nd, 2017: Fairness Run, Linz, Austria
A new race in Linz organized to create awareness about environmental problems worldwide. Runnning 5,8 km along the Danube was nice, and I finished in 0:26:27.
Oct 15th, 2017: St. Wolfgang Lake Race, St. Wolfgang, Austria
One of the all-time classics in Austria, the 27-km race around beautiful Lake St. Wolfgang. For me it was the first time, and I had previously heard about the steep climb at the beginning of the race. It was a hard bit of work, but I enjoyed this race a lot and could finish in 2:26:36.
Oct 1st, 2017: Heart Run, Traun, Austria
This race is organized annualy in benefit of children with heart deseases. I participated for the first time and was quite happy with my time of 0:47:06 for the 10 km.
Sep 28th, 2017: 7th City Night Run, Linz, Austria
There is always a nice atmosphere at this 5,2 km night race with nearly 2000 runners at the starting line. I finished in 0:23:48.
Sep 24th, 2017: Halfmarathon Perg, Austria
Since I had nothing else to do and my wife was working abroad, I signed for this race in Perg. A 7-km-loop which had to be run three times gave me a final time of 1:46:51.
Sep 16th, 2017: 6th Shadowman, Zwettl, Austria
Together with my friend Robert Lintner we took on the Shadowman - a partner triathlon where both athletes do the whole race together.
After each section (swim, bike, run) there was a rather long break, the weather was not really good (it was raining heavily most of the time), but we finished in 2:21:05.
Sep 9th, 2017: P 3 Vienna Sprint Triathlon, Vienna, Austria
The triathlon bug was in my head - another sprint race, this time in Vienna, swimming in the Danube and cycling on a closed cycling track.
Funny that I forgot my triathlon suit at home, so I raced in my .... underwear! I finished in 1:23:47.
Sep 2nd, 2017: Triatlono Taure Sprint, Druskininkai, Lithuania
Adrenaline was still high after the Double so my friend Laurynas convinced me to take part in this sprint race. It was very well organized and I enjoyed it a lot.
I finished in 1:27:47.
Aug 25/26th, 2017: The City of Tri Double Ultra Worldcup Race, Panevezys, Lithuania
This was meant to be the highlight of the 2017 race season: my second double long distance triathlon. Lithuania is a far way from my hometown Linz in Austria, and we decided to take the car to get there. We went to Kiel in Germany and took a ferry straight to Lithuania, where I took a week of taper on the beautiful Baltic Sea. Race day came nearer, and we took residence in Panevezys.
The swim was a breeze in a small artificial lake in the middle of the City park. The bike course was a 4 km loop on a newly paved and illuminated cycling path, and the run course was also in the same recreation area.
Swimming went really well, the bike part was hard because night time temperatures dropped to 6 degree, but I was happy to start the run and the first marathon was really good. During the second marathon the suffering began, and suffer I did. Fortunately my head was strong enough and I finished in 32:55:41.
Aug 5th, 2017: 7th Lake Hallstatt swim marathon, Steeg-Obertraun, Austria
Last year I had signed up for this long distance swimming marathon (10 km), but unfortunately I could not compete due to my shoulder injury. So this year there was no excuse. I was very much looking forward to this event. Fortunately we had a lovely summer´s day and I I finished in 3:28:44. I was happy with my result.
July 27th, 2017: 1st Aquatlon, Gmunden, Austria
A relatively new format in Austria is the sport of Aquathlon for adults. We had to swimm 800 m before we had to tun 6 km. I finished in 0:45:59 an a real beautiful sunny day.
July 26th, 2017: 1st Lake crossing, Gmunden, Austria
Choppy waters waited for competitors for the 1st lake crossing of Lake Traun in Gmunden. I finished the 3 km in 0:54:47, this time with wetsuit.
July 21st, 2017: Trumer lake crossing, Seeham - Obertrum, Austria
On the way back from our holiday in Croacia we stoüüed at beautiful Trumer lake for this 3-km-swimming event. I decided to do it without wetsuitand finished in 1:01:59.
July 8/9th, 2017: 24-hour cycling Marathon, Grieskirchen, Austria
Preparing for my second double long distance race I thought it was a good idea to try out this cycling classic: I took it "easy" and cycled 516 km in the 24 hours. It was a good experience for both legs and head!
June 24/25th, 2017: Swim Festival on Lake Neusiedl, Austria
Lake Neusiedl was again the venue for several swim races. I took part in three of them: The lake crossing (3,5 km in 1:10:22), The Sundown-challenge (1,9 km in 0:41:47) and the Swim around the island (5,4 km in 2:08:35). Especially the last event was hard - maybe I was tired from the races before.
June 6nd, 2017: Keszthely Triathlon in Keszthely, Hungary
On the beautiful lake of Balaton this half distance triathlon was a nice change to my training routine. I liked this race a lot, maybe also because of my no so bad finishing time of 5:32:51 (which meant 4th place in my age group).
June 2nd, 2017: Bike tour Linz - Villach, Austria
Not a race but a nice two-day-training session was my bike ride from Linz to Villach where my sister lives. I did the 300-something km in about 13 hours.
May 27th, 2017: Linz-Triathlon, Linz, Austria
My local home race, organized by my triathlon club. I used it as preparation for my big event in August, so I cycled 100 km and did a bit of running the day before. Needless to say I was tired during the event, especially during the run. So my slow finishing time for this half distance triathlon was 6:13:47.
May 19th, 2017: Time trial swim in Pucking, Austria
Last Friday I did my 12th race of this year: A swim-time-trial in the small lake of Pucking in Upper Austria. It was the sixth time that I participated in this race and I had a new PB with 0:17:48 for 1 km.
May 7th, 2017: Sprint triathlon in Braunau, Austria
First (sprint distance) triathlon of the season. Braunau was the venue, the distances were 600 m (pool)swim, 27 km bike and 6 km run. Rather cold and windy, but dry. I finished in 1:39:02 - nice to get used to triathlon again, but sprint races are definitely not my sport.
May 2nd, 2017: Bike ride to Vienna and back, Half marathin in Langenzersdorf, Austria
Over the last (long) weekend I was very active. On Saturday I cycled from my hometown Linz to Vienna (about 200 km), on Sunday I ran a half-marathon in Langenzersdorf (close to Vienna) in 1:49:13 (3rd place of my agegroup) and on Monday I cycled back home again. I loved every minute of it!
Apr 15, 2017: Cycling week in Porec, Croacia
Easter week I spent in Croacia cycling. On the way home I stopped in Tar to participate in a 10-km-cross race. After cycling more than 500 km with about 6000 meters of altitude I was glad to finish in 0:51:31.
Mar 25th, 2017: 12-hour-race in Berlin, Germany
My first real highlight of the season was my first 100-km-race. I chose the 12-hour-race in Störitz / Grünheide close to Berlin in Germany. I hoped to cover 100 km in 12 hours or less, but reality (and definitely lack of experience) made me run for a little bit more, so it took me a total of 13 hours and 10 minutes to finish. Needless to say that I was proud of my effort.
And for the first time I really had to accept that I am an ultra athlete now.
One thing (amongst many others) I learnt from this race: Hoka definitely as a shoe for me!
Mar 19th, 2017: Winter triathlon in Villach, Austria
After having tried to participate in Winter Triathlon several times I was "lucky" this year. Unfortunately my earlier attempts were not successful for lack of snow, this year our national Austrian championships were held in Villach / Austria. After a snowy cross country race of 6 km it was onto the mountain bike for 10 km, to finish with an 8 km cross country skiing finale. It took me 1:57:51 to finish a really hard race, which also meant that I was in 5th place of my age group.
Mar 12th, 2017: Popular biathlon in Hochfilzen, Austria
After trying it out for the first time last year, I took part in another Biathlon again this year (Biathlon is cross country skiing and shooting). This time the venue was Hochfilzen / Austria, and the event was the 8th Volksbiathlon (popular Biathlon), which is more like a fun event. I had to run 2 km, then shoot five times, run another 2 km and shoot again. My total time was 0:17:35.
Mar 5th, 2017: 4-hour-race in Marchtrenk, Austria
After swimming for 4 1/2 hours yesterday today I participated in the 8th 4-hour-race in Marchtrenk / Austria. I wanted to try out a slower pace as preparation for my first 12-hour-race in a couple of weeks. I ran a total of 41 km.
Mar 4th, 2017: Charity swim in Linz, Austria
Today I participated (for the second time in a row) in a charity event in aid of the so called "clinic clowns" - doctors who wear a red nose to cheer up their little patients in children's hospitals. It is a 5-hour-swim-event in one of my local swimming pools (Schörgenhub-Bad in Linz / Austria), and for every length you swim in the pool a certain amount of money is donated to this organization.
I covered 12 km in 4:34:17.
Feb 11th, 2017: Ice-Half-Marathon on Lake Lipno, Czech Republic
For the first time I ran on a frozen lake! When I heard about the 2nd Lipno Ice Marathon in the Czech Republic I just had to sign up (for the half marathon distance). The Lipno lake is an artificial reservoir right on the border between Austria and the Czech Republic.
It was a tough race, because naturally frozen ice, combined with some heavy snow, is not easy to run on. Nevertheless it was a great (and cold) experience. I finished the race in 2:08:25.
Feb 5th, 2017: Time trial run in Linz, Austria
My first running race of the new year was the 5th edition of the "Einzelzeitlaufen" (= time trial race) organized by my triathlon club TriRun Linz / Austria. I covered the 8 km in a not so fast time of 40:26 which was a little faster than last year, but three minutes slower than three years ago. But then what are 8 km to an ultra triathlete?
Jan 17th, 2017: 24-hour spinning event in Wolfrathshausen, Germany
For the first time I participated in an indoor 24-hour-Spinning marathon. I sat for a total of nearly 19 hours in the saddle, slept for one hour, had 12 Ensure and read one complete book. I definitely enjoyed it. Great exercise for the brain!
Oh, yes, I covered a total of 583 km, according to my Garmin.
