At the weekend of my 26th trainingsweek I finished the half-Ironman distance (2,2km swim, 84 km cycling and 20km run) in 5:41:29. With that time in the agegroup 64-69 I came in 2nd place.
The swimming time 00:48:34 was what I normal, because there was a problem with my nose clip, then the lake was undulating, but  I hope  the next race will be better!! I could improve my cycling time compared to the Spreewald Duathlon by 5 minutes, needing 2:44:15, because the weather was slightly gusty with random showers. The last part is always the difficult part and we had to run 4 laps each 5km. On the first 3 laps I did well averaging 6min/km. But on the last lap I had to reduce speed and could not keep up my performance. The run time stoped at 2:08:40.
That was my second preparation race on my way to Kona. Reporting to my coach Susanne about my result shes said that the overalltime is very good, that was a very  pleasent answer.  She added that training will continue as planed until the Berlin Man, a half-Ironman in Berlin on August 24th.

The Spreewald Duathlon was a first conerstone on may way to Kona, Hawaii. Covering 19km run, 84km bike and an other 5km run I was able to complete the race in 5h:16min:49sec finishing 1st Place my Agegroup. I felt very comfortable throughout the whole event. The results of the previous trainingweeks showed especially during the run sections, which were partly under crosscountry conditions. I completed the first 19km in 1h:55min and finished strong on the second 5km with 32:min:32sec. On the 84km cycling the conditions were fair enough with slightly adverse winds. With an average of 30km/h I was able to go on from my preformance at the Ironman Florida in Oktober 2007 completing the two rounds on the bike within 2h:49min:17sec. Looking forward to Kona I feel confident that I can, based on this first cornerstone, further improve my time.
During my second week of training after the Spreewald Duathlon the intensity will rises to 18h/week. I try to achieve another augmentation of my power until the second prep-competition in four weeks (a mid-distance triahtlon). After 90 km and 3h:30min on the bike this morning I am off to a 30min regenerative swimming session.

Aimig for a personal best at the Ironman World Championship in Hawaii, Kona 2008 I chose a two week trainingcamp on the Island of Lanzarote (Febuary 28th to March 8th) to kick off my preparation. There I and the other triathletes put the focus an cycling, having almost the perfect match to the conditions in Kona, Hawaii. Back at home I continued to practise according my schedule prepared by the Professional Endurance Team, who also guided me through my 2007 season and had took a great part in my success at the Ironman Florida. Weekly my sessions ad up to at least 15 hours at this time with focus on the first of three prep-competitions. This will be a Duathlon in the Spreewald at May 24th covering 19km run, 80km cycling and another 5km run.

Currently I feel optimal, physically and psychologically, with my trainings plan. Therefore I am highly motivated to complete my training week after week and push my limits further, looking forward to the

first test at the Spreewald Duathlon.