I am an Ironman!
Ironman Frankfurt 2024
My third Ironman with a time of 10 hours and 41 minutes.
By now, Ironman Frankfurt has become my favorite race. Once again, I made it to the finish line and finally joined the 10-hour club.
This season, I coached myself to this success for the very first time, creating training plans on TrainingPeaks. I listened to my body a lot, took training breaks when needed, for example, in case of pain.
Now, on to the race itself:
3.8 km Swim:
Since it was very dark at Waldsee and raining, I chose clear goggles for the first time ever. That turned out to be a very good decision. Unlike last year, I didn’t swim unnecessary extra meters. It was a moderate swim where I didn’t waste any energy. Despite the wetsuit ban, I clocked a time of 1 hour and 16 minutes.
177 km Bike
Then came the first drama.
Apparently, my arm pads had come loose overnight, so I ended up riding the first 30 km without them as both had fallen off. This was incredibly uncomfortable. Unfortunately, due to the rain, the shuttle bus arrived very late in the morning, leaving me only 15 minutes to set everything up.
I stopped at the bike service, where I taped Maurten gels onto the pad surfaces with duct tape. It held up for the entire bike split, but they burst after the first pothole.
With an average speed of about 32.5 km/h, despite occasional heavy rain, I was satisfied.
Run
After the bike split, I knew I had expended energy very moderately across the board and that only the rain had been mentally challenging. I was determined to finish with a 10-hour time.
Once again, the running course was phenomenal. Hearing so many people call out my name and cheer was truly incredible. Thank you for that! I managed to run the marathon steadily to the end.
Nutrition
Before the swim, I took a Maurten 100 gel. Throughout the Ironman, I consumed approximately 1 gram of salt.
On the bike, I quickly lost my race nutrition, but I still had another bottle with Maurten 320 attached to my saddle, which I steadily emptied. Additionally, I took Maurten 100 gels at every aid station. I believe I consumed about 80 grams of carbohydrates overall, just as I had trained for.
During the marathon, I took a Maurten gel at every second aid station, switching to cola for the final 10 km.
A huge thank you to my family, all the volunteers, and Ironman for a fantastic organization!
