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2013 Challenge Roth 9:48

Roth: The most Amazing Iron Distance Race in the World! Simple as That!
Kona might be the race that started all (in this distance) but I can easily say that there´s no place that turns into a Triathlon town like Roth. I live in Kona and I´ve been there for then last 4 years plus the 2005 race, so I know what I´m saying... At least from my perspective, the way that each surrounding town takes part in the race is amazing, everyone in Roth loves the race, everyone ¨wants¨ to be a volunteer, I met a guy that works for DATEV (Main Sponsor of Challenge Roth) and he couldn´t be a volunteer this year. The feeling during the whole week is incredible, they all just like you to be there...and Race day?!?! Oh my god! It´s even more incredible, each town you go through in bike and on the run is like going into a different page of a fairytale (plus the incredible cheering) In each town they have a different announcer that knows your name, and the people on the side is trying hard to see your name and country to say something clever and help you, some are just standing there, some with their chairs, and others in places with tables and restaurant service. Then you have some special parts like the town of Eckersmuhlen that you pass 3 times, and each time you pass, the town seems to have consumed more liters of beer! Or the long hill of Greding, or the steep one called Solarberg.....

at the bottom of Solarberg

This last one is the cherry on the top of the Ice cream! That view when you turn and see a super steep hill completely full of people ¨Tour de France¨ style you definitely get goosebumps! I certainly did! I knew beforehand that you just have to pedal through and trust that the people were going to move in the last millisecond, even knowing that, it takes a lot of faith in people that you don´t know... It is very hard to describe and not sound exaggerated, but this is something that I know it will be up there in the memory playlist of the highlights of my life, is something that you have to be there to understand.

My race started a little weird, the whole week was little too exhausting, and more than a few days I couldn´t get enough sleep & the rest I needed. After the gun went it didn´t took me long to knew that it was not my day, I struggled the whole swim and never found rhythm, I came out of the water in 1:01 6 minutes slower that I expected and it felt a lot harder that I expected too...
On the bike I divided the 180k in 4 segments of 45k each. The first one went quite well, I was feeling relaxed and my watts where there, I knew perfectly the watts I could push, but in the second segment it became a little hard to keep them up, then in the 3rd segment I started to have lower back pain, the wind started to blow harder and the numbers kept dropping.... The last segment was very painful, I had to stretch my back a few times, and I was starting to be afraid, very afraid of what to expect when I started to run, I truly didn´t knew if I was going to be able to run even 1 kilometer....
Got to T2 in 5:05 (I had more expectations from my bike) and I took a little more time in transition than I usually do. I started to run and I was extremely happy to know that I left the lower back pain in transition with my bike, So it was a good start, I knew that what was coming was hard and that the mental game of negative thoughts battling the positive thoughts, so my first card was ¨You are at least healthy Jano!!! not like in the last race where you were dying and your head was about to explode¨ I also repeated to myself thousands of times ¨Just don´t screw it up by running too fast & Run by feel¨ ¨Keep a fast turnover¨ this were my weapons during the first half of the Marathon. The run is on the Canal Dirt Path, and it goes first to the left to the town of Schwand and the comes back the same way and now to the right and to the town of Eckersmuhlen. It was in Schwand where I had my first crisis, it lasted 15-20 minutes and it´s awful, you have to believe that you will get through, and I did....

Half way through the Marathon

Then right after I passed the 21k mark I started to feel this pain in the right thigh, I was afraid that the pain turned into a cramp so I made sure I took a few more extra salt tablets, so I was there, with my pain and in the middle of this mental battle when suddenly this idiot that was coming in the other way decides to cross to my side of the Aid station that we were crossing at the same time, and boom! we collide! Knee to Knee! I screamed at him and kept running thinking, crap! this guy might have destroyed my run, my knee hurts.. bla bla bla.... then I realized that the pain in the thigh was gone...Ha! I think it´s all mental! I made an extra effort to think that way, and it worked... Both pains erased from my brain, I even picked up the pace a little bit.... when I got to the town of Eckersmuhlen I had my second crisis, it took me again a couple of kms to get through, that was km 32.... after that I knew I was heading home and smiled a little, that smile disappeared when I got to Roth and I still had 4k to go, if I didn´t had the support of Paola in those last kms I know it would have been much harder, she was simply everywhere!
The last 2km are like magic, you enter the central Platz of Roth through this finish line style barricade to hold the spectators and there´s again an announcer that calls your name and everyone cheer on you, it´s mind boggling! I couldn´t do the times I had in my mind and that I know that I have in me, but still I shaved 20minutes of my PR and finished in 9:48 in my second Ironman distance event. Don´t get me wrong, I totally respect the distance, but I also have my goals.
Thank you to all of my friends, my wife Paola Obviously... to my sponsors, you all had been incredible!
Thank you and like I love to say......... Onto the Next one then......