Regeneration at the Cider House

Charlotte and I get to chill out with her parents in their beautiful home in Knole, Somerset. It is a fantastic place to relax, take stock, reflect and plan for our build up to Kona.


So after some good food, relaxation, a good solo recovery ride (Charlotte was sick) in the English country side and a quick dip in the English Channel, I feel revived and hungrier than ever to get back to it and to leave no stone unturned...

M.I.H

The Roth Experience

So the race wasn't a success but the experience of Roth is one we will be back for. The race is organised like no other. TeamChallenge are completely there for the athletes racing and make you feel so welcome.


Roth is beautiful and is a spectacular place to train and race. Everyone rides bikes here, yes even little old ladies! Car and truck drivers give you ample room when passing which is amazing. They have two great swimming complexes (Roth and Hilpoltstein) which are made out of stainless steel, numerous running trails and quite roads to ride on.

FYI most people look at the bike splits from Roth and think its a flat course... not the case as it is two laps and has many undulations and exposed sections. The road surface however is extraordinary.

If you like bakeries and bier then Germany has you covered. Very hard when your trying to eat well.


If there is ever an Iron distance race to do then I highly recommend the Quelle Challenge - Roth. Even in the rain there were still thousands of spectators. See the picture below of the Solar hill on the bike. This has to be experienced! We will be back next year and prepared for whatever the day throws at us.

Quelle-Challenge Roth

9:41 and 9:42 respectively was along way off the world class performances that Charlotte and I came to Roth for. Ironman distance racing readily serves out reality checks and we got what was coming from being underdone.

Yes the build up was a fractured one and it showed. The words I drill into my athletes constantly is consistency and I really believe in repeat, repeat, repeat because it works and we have the proof. Too many long rides missed due to choices made and the atrocious weather conditions on race day made matters worse.

It was pouring race morning and not much over 13 degrees. Swim was ok actually I think 54:34 is a PB for me, definitely need to work on the starts as that's where massive amounts of time are made. My day kinda went down from there. My T1 bag was not there so I lost 4 minutes while they searched for my bag!

Out onto the bike course and within about ten minutes my legs had purple blotches all over them, looked like they had been repeatedly hit by golf balls. I was that cold that when I passed Charlotte and heading up a small climb I rode off the road.



I got my reality check at approximately 110k into the bike and with teeth chattering I rolled into T2 in 5:15! quite a long way from a 4:45 bike split... Now I got a seat and went to put on my funny long socks and my hands wouldn't work, thanks to the two girls that helped me get both my sock and shoes on.



I didn't get far up the road before Charlotte flew past me and even though her bike had not been great she looked fantastic on the run. I think she put 15 minutes into me in the first 21k. I just kept at it and tried to bring it home as best as I could. Unfortunately Charlotte's legs started to cramp and I nearly caught her.



In the end I have to look at the positives, obviously not happy with the results but we are determined to be in world class shape come October 11 and we did get to be part of history when both Yvonne Van Vlerken and Erika Csomor broke PNF previous world record.

Boys the girls are really stepping it up.


Gib Niemals Auf!
Kristian