5th place EC IRONMAN Frankfurt

A 5th place on the IRONMAN European Championship, not good but not bad either. I’ve been able to compete for a podium place for a long time, but at the end of the marathon I could not win that one position and in the end I lost a position. The fact that I have battled until the end to get everything out of it still satisfies me after my race analysis. It is clear that I was not having a great day and today that was exactly what I needed to compete for the podium.

During the first straight line of the swim, I was able to follow the leaders but then already I felt that it wasn’t going very well. A little later I had to let 3 men go and I took the leading role in the following group. Once I sat on the bike I could start the pursuit on the 3 faster swimmers.

I was able to catch up with Dellow and later Boecherer pretty soon, but on Frodeno I could not come back at that moment. After 25 km, Kienle found his connection to our group. Due to the size and the strong cyclists in our group, the first round was played rather tactical. Many accelerations, but also moments where that went still. At a certain moment, we approached up to 1min15 of the leader Frodeno, as from here the distances grew bigger. I could not respond to a counter from Kienle and Boecherer which made me start the run with respectively 11 and 5 minutes on Frodeno and Kienle/Boecherer.

During the first 10 km of the marathon I could retain a nice and comfortable pace but from then it became a marathon with too many ups and downs. Some moments I was looking at the 3rd place, other moments I had to try to keep followers Diederen and Raelert away. Finally I ended 5th, not the result I was hoping for but still I am proud that I have successfully completed my heaviest race ever. To run a marathon in such heat was a true survival and inner fight for every participant.

Now I have a week off to be able to gradually start preparing for IRONMAN Hawaii.

On the KPR ranking I've moved up to 3rd spot:
http://eu.ironman.com/triathlon/triathlon-rankings/kpr-men.aspx#axzz3f9D...

A Belgian regional TV (Focus/WTV) was following me all weekend which resulted in next 3 interesting reports (only in Dutch):
http://www.focus-wtv.be/video/gemotiveerde-frederik-van-lierde-blikt-voo...
http://www.focus-wtv.be/video/5de-plaats-voor-frederik-van-lierde-op-ek-...
http://www.focus-wtv.be/video/van-lierde-blij-dat-ik-finish-heb-gehaald

See you soon.
Frederik