The Challenge

And here I am again. Ready for Challenge Wanaka 2015. Even though it is European triathlon offseason I signed up for this event quite early. Training was actually going well until November when some strange knee pain started. Espacially the run training was cut down. After some checks, my doc gave a full-ok for any sports activities, I should just focus more on stretching. Well, thats what I did but the pain never really disappeared.

The Swim was actually fine, no wind, no waves and less than 300 starters on the full distance (3,8k swim, 180k bike, 42k run). I came out of the water after 67min and was happy that the temperature has risen to about 20 degrees (from 11 @ 5:00am). Sun was shining, weather was sweet as I made my way into Mt. Aspiring NP.

But soon, after 30k into the bike, me knee issues came up again. As there is actually nothing really damaged, I continued on a 30km/h+ average but this was suddenly cut down after I hit the 100k mark. For some reason I just couldn't push hard anymore, despite a very low average heart rate: 142bpm on the bike and 137pbm on the run. Something was wrong.

The run mad it even worse. I was terribly slow, but no issues on my endurance. I just couldn't run faster nor was I able to increase heart rate..

But, at least the finish ended with an awesome Selfie :-). However, this day was a struggle, a nightmare.. Judgement day. Thanks to Ines for supporting me with this GoPro-Selfie-Stick :-)

And all of it is on tape:

Challenge Wanaka 15 Finish-Selfie from Alex B on Vimeo.