Triathlon kinda sucks.

Well, it’s not the actual sport that sucks. To me some of the competitors are just a bunch of weirdos. Taking the love for this beautiful sports to extends I personally can not relate to. Still there are so many distinctive races our there that I love to do. I love swiming in open water, I love riding my bike and I do love running.

Triathlon made me a runner and a fan of the outdoors. Triathlon certainly changed my life and my perspective towards it.

When I heard about the idea of a retro triathlon incorporated in the Ingolstadt triathlon I was hooked and loved the idea. So did Steffen and Hannes. We strapped the whole weekend into a birthday present for our friend Fabse and drove down to Bavaria for some all out racing the oldskool way. With beautiful facial hair and speedos!

After wading thru old running and bike gear we were more than prepared to sport the neon 80s Lycra and the plain and gracious steel frames.

The concept of plain oldskool battling is just great. Unfortunately not to many people took it to the extend we did. There have to be more people out there that lack the hunger for the sport and not the profilic touch! Get at it lovers!

It was a very positive surprise. I find a plane envelope in my post box. No sign of any familiar name on it. I rush to open it.

You might recall my post about the incredible IT’S THE LIMIT fanzine. Dom just did it again.

Again in grace. Again in such an candid and catching way. Again unadorned motivation. Again so much certainty. Again pure offline stoke!

Order it NOW. More than worth it!

Thanks a ton Dom!

With a unspoken promise to myself I left Zegama last year (You might be interested in my post about the Zegama-Aizkorri Mendi Maratoia 2013). I left it with added demand and admiration to the most distinctive and vast competition I ever took part in. I guaranteed myself to come back stronger. To perform better. I wanted to give the energy back to this community and to those trails. I will more than evidently never go for the win or the Top50 in this race. But that does not really matter. I fell in love with this place and the vibe it forms. I just wanted to give something back with a solid all-out show. I failed the 2nd time. Zegama got me again. What a course, what a race.

Credits: 42195.es

This event starts well before the sound of the gun. In the consequences of last year’s race Florian Reichert and I decided to run it again this year. Both of us were stoked and felt the need to come here again. The absurd excitement that surrounds the race around the Aizkorri national park just got bigger and bigger each day. Social media went wild the week before. Fresh pictures arrived day by day and transported the hype around the interweb. With the impatience to link in, we boarded the plane in Frankfurt joining Eirik and Stevie on the way to Bilbao to meet up with Mauri from Argentina. And when a Spanish speaking German professor tells you the incorrect direction based on a Norwegian sat nav, you know that you are on the way to experience something one of its kind.

Credits: Fotoiosu Photography

Sunshine is not something that comes across very often in this part of the world. The days before the race were perfect anyway. The weather forecast wasn’t. We had great fun hanging around the town and joining the INOV8 mob for some funky jogging and eating around our domicile. Superb vibe. Again. Only in Zegama.

Credits: Fotoiosu Photography

And as the weather forecast predicted, it rained. It downpoured a lot when I woke up to get breakfast on race morning. We warmed up in the rain gear and there was no sign of the mountains as they were covered in big grey chunky clouds. You never know what you get here. Once more. Only in Zegama.

Then we lined up. And this vibe just gets you straight away. Meeting so many old faces and getting to know new people. It felt a bit like coming home. The sociability of the locals is just incredible and exactly the reason why I wanted to deliver. The church bells rang and the countdown was on. Off we went.

Credits: Fotoiosu Photography

And straight from the start is was a tough one for me. I never really got the rhythm. I wanted to start easy but the easy pace felt way to easy. To easy for this race. To easy for the outcome I was aiming for. The heavy ground was tough to run and grip wasn’t really on my side. When I crashed the first time I did not really bother. After the 10th time slamming down in the deep and frosty muck I lost a good bit of self believe. I got even more alert but couldn’t avoid additional harsh crashes during the rock sections and on the downhills. Running technical downhill is something I can do. I liked it while running this race last year. Not so this time. I was totally out of pace and power.

Credits: myself

When German Salomon girl Romy joined me on my sophisticated trek just before the legendary Sancti Spiritu climb I was pretty pleased for some companionship. The two of us had a awful day and we fought the route together. Like last year, all the climbs were incredible. The spectators are out of this world. Even in the back of the field it is an incredible emotion to go up the Aizkorri (Video Evidence) and feel the power and craziness. With the weighty mist and the sinful light behind the clouds it shaped a thrilling atmosphere. Jointly we fought through the breeze along with showers and lastly reached the market square. Way too late.

So I think I have go back once again with a another promise. With the promise to run this race better. After two awful performances it won’t be hard to run it better. Still the vibe and the ambiance left me with pleasure and happiness. Having made the journey down here was worth it. There is no other race like this. There is no similar vibe. Zegama in fact is Zegama. Until next year.

Gear
Shoes: Brooks Cascadia 9
Shirt: Brooks Infiniti SS
Shorts: Brooks Sherpa VI 5″ 
Sleeves: Brooks
Head: Buff Euskadi Design
Hydration: Inov8 Tace Ultra 0.25
Watch: Garmin Fenix

Yes, okay, of course kids. Something fresh. Something out of the bizarre corner. Joggers watch out. Development? Improvement!

Somewhat essentially innovative in the running market raises the eyebrows. Whilst Triathletes appear to jump on every trend pretty easy, the general running community watches for a while and then decides pretty old-fashioned.

When I had the chance to snap a pair of the much discussed adidas Springblade I did not spend to much times wondering about clichés and mythologies. The whole thing looks way to extreme and way to diverse to not try it out.

The response is pretty much the same everywhere you turn up with these kicks. People look at this shoe and smile in mistrust. I was the same. Seeing this massive plastic blades on the bottom of a shoe is certainly something you are not used to. But saying that. Everybody who smiles and joked finally wanted to experience them.

I received the box and took ‘em out straight away. Just the resonance of the clapping spring makes you wonder quite a bit. The feeling of this shoe though is not essentially unusual. I anticipated more rebound, more mechanism and more… more… news, I guess. While running with a forefoot stride there is not too much of a new feeling towards it. The sole with its pattern does the job very solid. There is no sentiment of not feeling safe and safe with this new technique.

Then i just jogged around. More less I ended up doing a fartlek around the local route and the forest trails. I tried to hit the ground with different parts of the sole and different speeds. A solid forefoot strike, a middle one, a hit on the back. Pretty obvious you feel a new stride feeling once you run “middlefoot”. The bounce back though is not overly heavy by any means. Adidas pretty much did a good job balancing the plastic and the resistance of these blades.

In general a great publicity stunt and a enjoyable shoe to train in. Technical trails is not really the biggest friend of the springblade but other than that it is a good adding to the shoe collection. I’m not sure if the shoe is IAAF permitted but it definitely is by myself. Good fun for a lot of money, though.

Together with my good friend Fabian I will be competing at this years version of the notorious Ö TILL Ö.

Under the title THE GERMAN SPARKLE PARTY we are teaming up for some swimming and running in Sweden as well as the Engadiner SwimRun.

Make sure to track our training and racing via our Instagram teamsite @yourgsp and give us a follow.

Weather conditions over here are severely fine at the moment. That fundamentally cuts down my time in front of this PC thingy. And that is a good thing. Anyhow, now it is time to swiftly catch up with the last few weeks of working out and racing.

Two weekends ago I ran my home marathon. A couple of months ago the idea came up to win the relay contest. The heart of my lunchtime jog mates and I decided to go for it. The 14th running of the local “Trollinger Marathon” is a biggy around here. Trollinger is the local wine and Wikipedia knows that it is “…almost exclusively cultivated on steep, sunny locations in the Württemberg wine region of Baden-Württemberg.” Enough pride for my home area for now!

Matthias, Steffen and I are working out on the track every Friday. It was a fastidious thought to condense the team-spirit of this little “Lunchtime Track Session” collective into a proper race. Nothing better than a Ekiden to do so.

And as besieged we won the whole thingy. Steffen ran the first, pretty hilly part, I ran the windy middle section and Matthias brought us home with a great effort on the last demanding part. The whole day was good fun and running in a team brought a nice essence to the egomaniac running racing. We are already planning to come back and confirm the win. Until then it is time to run fast around a 400m loop at lunchtime every Friday.

As I write down this post I get sorted for the yearly pilgrim to the Basque country. I just cannot wait for my return to this astonishing place and its sincere and divine community. The marathon around Zegama is something unique (Preview HERE). More than ever, checking the current weather forecast, this year’s version looks like another edition to remember. Friday Flo and I hit the road for yet another outing. I’m counting the hours.