Powerman Zofingen race report: The Race
Headed into race day I was fairly confident. Everything during taper had been trending positively and I’d adapted to the time zone changes well. . The weather forecast had also become for favorable as the week went on. I had a few chat with good friend Stephan Leuendorff in the final days leading into the race. I was more than ready to get through this.
Powerman Zofingen consists of a 2 lap 10.5k first run, a 3 lap 147km bike and a 4 lap 26.5k second run to finsh the race off. It’s also not flat. There’s approximately 190m elevation gain on run 1, 1700m on the bike and another 400m on the second run.
On the start lines the standard nerves kick in then the gun went off. Little did I know it but this would also be the last time I’d be pain free for the rest of the race. I honestly don’t know what caused the next thing that happened. The only thing I can think of is nerves. As I took my first steps I had sharp pain in both my quad tendons above the next and there was zero elasticity in quad muscles. You can see in the video of the start, I’m not exactly moving freely, even by my standards.
I slowly tried to get them to loosen up which they did slightly over that first km or so. Running with that altered gait however did cause an issue further up the chain. My left lower back/hip/glute tightened up and started getting sharp pain in the area. This is something that’s happened before and has resulted in DNFs before. I was no longer able to run up hill as I couldn’t produce any force.
I knew I was in trouble and the head space started turning negative. I managed to get into transition and struggled to get my cycle shoes on. I had a quick stretch hoping that it might loosen up and got on the bike. Straight away I couldn’t produce any real power as I struggled up and over the first climb. By the time I got to the Wiliburg for the first time, about 19km into the race I was thinking this is it my day done.
I knew I just had to keep on suffering until I got time cut out of the race. At least then I’d done what I could do on the day. I should point out that I basically refuse to race on any form of painkillers such as paracetamol or ibuprofen. Not only are there health risks associated with using them during extreme exercise, it also goes against my own beliefs. If somethings hurting so much that you require them, you probably should be out there. We all draw our own imaginary lines of what of what we are willing to do in races and this is one of mine.
Once over the top of the Wiliberg, I decided to roll the dice for the first time of the day and started taking my caffeine gels. This was a bit earlier than planned but was hoping the positive impact caffeine can have on cognitive function, mood and pain. I also stopped to have a stretch towards the end of the first lap.
I finished the first lap of the bike in 1:51:48 and with around 2hrs 7min to finish the 2nd lap before the first time cut. This is when I started thinking “maybe I’m a chance here to be time cuts”. A slight positive thought, the first for the race. The caffeine appeared to be working.
I hit the first climb of the second lap and power output was marginally improved thanks to loosening up a touch. It was still down on where I’d expected it to be and I was still in pain, but there was something else that became a positive. This is where I rolled the dice again. I knew it was only a matter of time before I tightened right up again and power would be reduced. It was time to make hey while the sun shined and to get as much time up my sleeve as possible against the time cuts.
It was towards the end of the second lap that the body started to tighten back up again. The extra effort had seemed to pay off though as I had just over 2hrs 20min to finish the 3rd and final lap on the bike. Lap 3 on the bike was pretty miserable. The temperature started to drop and the rain came. Both didn’t really help my situation but I kept on focusing on trying to be positive. It was as simply “you’re going to be off the bike soon, that’s going to take some pressure off your body” and “this rain is good for you on the run. The colder the better for you there”
I reached T2 16min ahead of cut off. I was pretty confident there that if I could get out of T2, I was going to finish. Getting on my shoes wasn’t the easiest but got it done and was out of T1 with 1hr 13min up my sleeve before the end of lap 1 time cut. On the second run, the cut off at the end of each lap was at hour intervals on the hour, 5pm/6pm/7pm/8pm.
As I jogged out of T2 I started formulating my plan on how to get the job done. I was feeling ok but I wasn’t able to run with an “open” gait. I was however able to use more of a shufflely gait. I thought time to pull out the “Cliff Young Shuffle”. The plan was then simple, walk the climbs, walk the aid stations + the 100-200m post them, then run the rest of the lap where possible without pushing too hard. It needed to be as controlled and measured.
Just before the step section of the first climb of the lap, I was passed by Stephan going the opposite direction. His message was direct and reinforced what we had discussed Friday night. I can’t remember exactly word for word what he right now but it was along the lines of “you are going to finish this, even if you have to walk the whole way”
The rest of the first lap went well. I completed the lap in 44min. This meant now I was 30min ahead of the next cut off and had 2hr 30min to finish the run. “70min a lap, you just done a 44min lap, you got this”
Early on the 2nd lap, I felt a sharp pain at the back of my right ankle between my Achilles and the ball of the ankle. I thought “this isnt great but it’s definitely not you Achilles, so keep going with caution”. Other than some more pain and a little more walking, the rest of lap 2 went well. I had slowed marginally but continued to put time into my competition, the time cut.
Through half way, I was 40min ahead of the time cut and the end of lap 3. “Right you now have an hour 20 a lap to get it done. The fatigue started to pile up on this 3rd lap but I was still moving fairly well. I took extra walk breaks made sure that while I kept push on forward, it was calculated and not an effort that would leave me unable to finish.
Around 2/3rds of the way through the lap I pashed on of the volunteers on course. He continued the positive reinforcement. “It’s just gone 6pm, you have 2hrs to finish you’re going to make it”. This was a volunteer going above and beyond standing in the pouring rain. I started the final lap with an hour and 45min to get it done.
The last lap was a bit of a blur. I knew as long as I didn’t fuck it up, I was finishing. That lap I walked even more, including some of the steeper down hills, not wanting to take extra risks and have my body give up on me. I made sure to thank the volunteers on course during that final lap. Events like this don’t happen without them, and here they were giving up their Sunday afternoon/evening to stand out in the cold rain to help athletes they have never meet. The last k is a complete blur. I just remember thinking “how the fuck have you done this”.
Crossing the finish line I was physically broken but I had done it. I don’t really know how. I wrote all this trying to work out how. Looking back now, that second lap on the bike is what allowed me to finish. Thats where something changed and I was able to capitalize on it. It brought me valuable time and more importantly it helped me change the narrative in my head. In previous races I would have still been down with that second lap as it was off the pace I knew I was capable of. Outside of finishing, this is what I’m most proud of on race day.
It’s still a result I’m both happy and disappointed with. My body let me down on race day and it’s the first time finishing outside of the top 10 in my age group. On the other hand, I managed to finish this race at a weight I don’t anyone thought was possible, produced probably one of my best mental performances and managed to break the streak of DNFs at this race.