Triathlon – Finally Raceday again

07. July 2021 6 minutes reading time

Sophia Ibert

Hello dear KickAss friends, Dani and Fia here. We’re writing to you together today to tell you about our first races of the season. The two of us have been at the start line of a triathlon together twice in the past few weeks. You can read about how we fared after a fairly long break from competition in our race report.

Start at the Challenge St. Pölten

St. Pölten, 06:30, 8 degrees outside temperature, 16 degrees water temperature. Nervousness, tension but also a lot of anticipation are in the air. The starting gun is about to go off for the first triathlon of the new season, albeit under strict corona conditions, but we both don’t really care. The main thing is that we can race again.

Swimming in before the start is not permitted, so we try to warm up with dry runs and easy jogging. To equalize the field of participants, we jump into the lake with a rolling start. Dani and I position ourselves quite far in front so that we have to overtake as few participants as possible. The special thing about the swim course in St. Pölten is definitely the approx. 200 m long shore leave between the two lakes in which we swim. I come out of the ice-cold water after 33:41 minutes, Dani follows me into the transition zone after 36:15 minutes.

KickAss Women, Challenge St. Pölten, Triathlon
Challenge St. Pölten, Dani
KickAss Women, Challenge St. Pölten, Triathlon
Challenge St. Pölten, Fia

To avoid getting completely chilled on the bike, we both decided to put on another layer over the one-piece. Unfortunately, I couldn’t find my usual rhythm on the bike due to the cold and had to reduce the watts that KickAss Sports coach Flo had given me. Dani, on the other hand, really got going on the time trial bike and picked off one competitor after the other. Including yours truly. As she overtook me, she shouted an encouraging “Let’s go Fia” and the fast little girl from Munich was gone. But that was not to be our last encounter in this race. On the last third of the bike course, Dani had to serve a bitter five-minute time penalty and I passed her again. She quickly shook off her frustration about the time in the penalty tent and flew towards the transition zone. She parked her bike after 2:38:53. I’m happy with my time of 2:41:11 in these weather conditions, but I also know that I have more potential.

But first we continue with the half marathon. The course is fast and the weather is now 18 degrees – perfect for running. Dani started her run in first place and finished in a fabulous time of 01:18:29. With this performance, it is not surprising that she won her age group 18-24, became the second fastest age grouper ever and also had a faster finishing time than some professional women. My final run also went much better than expected and I was able to improve my previous half marathon best time from 1:43 to 01:36. I can clearly attribute this huge leap in performance to the training at Kickass Sports to this. Above all the work on the running technique has paid off. In the end, I came 7th in the 25-29 age group in the results list and 14th among all age group women.

What a great day in St. Pölten!

Next stop: Challenge Walchsee

Inspired by the euphoria, we both signed up for the next Challenge race without further ado. The Challenge Kaiserwinkl-Walchsee took place exactly four weeks after St. Pölten.

The conditions for the two races could hardly have been more different: 30 degrees outside, 23 degrees water temperature. One lap of swimming in the crystal-clear Walchsee, two laps of cycling on one of the most beautiful courses in triathlon with lots of narrow roads and a few meters of elevation gain. The run course is also very different from the course in St. Pölten: Four laps, frequently changing surfaces, two climbs per lap. Definitely not a fast course, but a damn nice one.

As the ETU European Championships were also held at this middle distance, there were many different starting groups. It started with the men’s and women’s professional field at 08:30, followed by the participants of the age group European Championships on the middle distance and the Aquabike competition. Only then were the participants in the open classification allowed into the water. It was somewhat questionable why all the men were allowed to start first and only after a short break all the women. In our opinion, it would have made more sense to divide them according to ability. The clock was now almost 10 o’clock and the sun was blazing down from the sky. After just 10 meters of swimming, the first breaststrokers had to be overtaken and the swim turned into a slalom course. Dani and I both had a relatively good day in the water and were able to jump on our time trial bikes after 30:24 minutes (Fia) and 33:51 minutes (Dani). The technically demanding bike course with lots of small climbs suited us both perfectly and we were able to catch up with many of the men who had started ahead of us ☺. Dani worked her way up to second place in her age group and I was still in a good third place.

KickAss Women, Challenge Walchsee, Triathlon
Fia

Subscribe to the Kickass newsletter now

No mercy in the half marathon

There were 160 meters of elevation gain to conquer on the final 21.1 km and there was hardly any shade on the course. However, none of this prevented Dani from putting in another great performance and with her split of 01:23:23 she put all her competitors in their place. The final time of 04:22:31 meant.

  • 1st place AK 18-24
  • 1st place Agegroup Overall

For me, the final half marathon turned into a real duel. I started the run in third place after the bike. There, I was impressively overtaken by a fellow runner on the third of four laps. I’m proud that I didn’t bury my head in the sand and kept trying to maintain my pace. I was rewarded for this 2 km before the finish. I could see from the start number that the person currently in third place was running ahead of me. So I bundled up all my strength again and passed the Italian on the last climb of the day.

At the finish line, I was pleased with my half marathon time of 01:40:11 hours and 3rd place in the 25-29 age group. The final time was 04:42:40 hours.

What’s next?

With a good tailwind, we are starting our preparations for the next races.

Dani’s schedule includes:

  • Challenge World Championships in Samorin in August
  • Ironman 70.3 World Championship in Utah in September

I have a small training camp in St. Moritz coming up before I want to attack the podium at my home race, the Rothsee Triathlon.

Until then,

Your KickAss Women

KickAss Women, Challenge Walchsee, Triathlon
Dani
KickAss Women, Challenge Walchsee, Triathlon
Fia

Subscribe to the Kickass newsletter now

Keine Gnade beim Halbmarathon

160 Höhenmeter galt es auf den abschließenden 21,1 km zu bewältigen und zudem spendete die Strecke kaum ein Fleckchen Schatten. All das hat Dani aber nicht daran gehindert wieder eine spitzen Laufleistungen zu zeigen und verwies mit ihrem Split von 01:23:23 all ihre Konkurrentinnen in die Schranken. Die Endzeit von 04:22:31 bedeutete.

  • 1. Platz AK 18–24
  • 1. Platz Agegroup Overall

Bei mir entwickelte sich der abschließende Halbmarathon noch zu einem echten Duell. Ich ging nach dem Radfahren auf Platz 3 liegend auf die Laufstrecke. Dort wurde ich in der dritten von vier Runden von einer Mitstreiterin eindrucksvoll überholt. Ich bin stolz, dass ich den Kopf nicht in den Sand gesteckt habe und weiterhin versucht habe, mein Tempo zu halten. Dafür wurde ich dann 2 km vor dem Ziel belohnt. An der Startnummer konnte ich erkennen, dass vor mir die aktuell Drittplatzierte läuft. Ich bündelte also noch mal alle Kräfte und zog an der Italienerin am letzten Anstieg des Tages vorbei. 

Im Ziel konnte ich mich über eine Halbmarathon-Zeit von 01:40:11 Std. und einen 3. Platz in der AK 25–29 freuen. Die Endzeit betrug 04:42:40 Std.

What’s next?

Mit ordentlichem Rückenwind gehen wir in die Vorbereitungen für die nächsten Rennen. 

Bei Dani stehen auf dem Plan:

  • Challenge WM in Samorin im August
  • Ironman 70.3 WM in Utah im September

Bei mir steht erst mal ein kleines Trainingslager in St. Moritz an, bevor ich bei meinem Heimrennen, dem Rothsee Triathlon, das Podest angreifen will. 

Bis dahin, 

eure KickAss Women

The latest posts by Kickass Sports

06. February 2025 3 minutes reading time
Long-term success with the right triathlon training

Triathlon is a complex sport. Cleverly combining the three sports of swimming, cycling and running in training is a real challenge. However, with an effective training plan, this is possible …

06. February 2025 3 minutes reading time
Ironman training – The right training for a sub 10 finish

Swim 3.8 km, cycle 180 km and run a marathon. Anyone who completes the total distance of 226 km in under 10 hours can not only feel extremely proud, but …

16. January 2025 3 minutes reading time
Triathlon training for beginners – how to get started

Triathlon is a very demanding sport because it is made up of three sub-disciplines – swimming, cycling and running. If you want to start triathlon, you are well advised to …

Back to overview