13 August 2017 I finished my first triathlon on the distance of 140.6 miles.

Ironman triathlon is combination of 3.8km (2.4 mile) swim, 180.25km (112 mile) bike and 42.2km (26.22 mile) run. Exactly in this order, followed directly one by another.

It was tough experience, but definitely the one really worth hard work and commitment.

SWIM - 1:10

Swim happend in Hamburger Binnen Alster and Alster, which is lovely lake in center of the city. Below you can see photo of Binnen Alster by night.

Below video from the swimming start.

After swim part in T1 I consumed:

• half of banana
• one powerbar apple gel with caffeine

BIKE - 05:42

The bike course was a two looped course. The vertical total climb was approx. 1.000m (approx.. 500m per loop). I really enjoyed the ride. Average of 32kmph is OK. I ate and drink a lot on bike.

While bike leg I consumed:

• 60% of 590ml (20oz) mixture of 6 agisko gels and 2 powerbar green apple gels with caffeine
• two toast bread sandwiches with butter and ham working extremly good for my stomach as some diversity to the diet based on gels and isotonic
• about 2 liters of isopower from powergym
• about 0.5L water
• two powerbar energize bars

RUN - 04:36

At the photo me after first out of 4 loops.

Till 20k I was estimated to finish the race in about 10:30h Yeah men, but marathon is about some 42k 😂

Since 24k to 37k I was mostly walking. Legs just stopped to work with me, and were not intrested in any cooperation. Even fuckin Galloway was not a choice. Very humiliating expirience. Last time I had to walk was 2016 on marathon, but it happend because of contusion.

Never expirienced need of walk in any of 70.3 triathlons. Yeah men… but this is an IRONMAN. I manage to force myself for last kilometers to run, and it worked again. This was a miracle.

Some questions to consider:

• Maybe I pushed little too hard on bike? Although avg of 32kmph does not sounds crazy fast.
• Maybe more cushioned shoes will work better? Choose clayton2 from hoka one one instead of more cushioned cliftons.
• Maybe some better running technique? stronger core?
• Probbably none of this would make signiffciant difference. I was not right prepared in terms of endurance. Too little long brick sessions.

Hopefully next year I come back to Hamburg for a revange!

This year running a marathon took me really loooong 4:36 hours

While run part I consumed:

• about 4 powerbar gels, 1 agisko gel
• drunk water
• drunk cola
• ate some orange and bannana

Average pace (min/km) of each of 5k splits:

• 04:54
• 05:25
• 05:46
• 06:13
• 06:53
• 08:39
• 08:57
• 07:18

11:43:54 - I done it!

After 11:43:54 I reached the finish line.

Ironman debut done. A bit of disappointment with my performance still in my heart. Learned an Ironman the hard way.

Still in love with swim, bike and run 🏊🚴🏃

Your first Ironman should be about fun and main goal “complete” rather than “compete”.

Don’t plan your time goals. Just enjoy the moment!

Big THANKS !

last but not least I would like to say THANK YOU to few people supporting me on the way to becoming an Ironman.

Kasia

My wonderful grilfriend (btw my fiancée now 😍 got engaged after passing the finish line) Kasia Hutny - swimming coach.

• Thanks for being so much understanding every day.
• Thanks for your patience.
• Thanks for swimming tips. I know I could do better, but we both know that being coached and being in relationship isn’t easy :)
• Thanks for founding me a sport nutrition consultation, and support in changing my eating habits
• Thanks for being great 1-person support team at Ironman Hamburg

Others:

MKON - Marcin Konieczny (polish triathlon guru, extremly talented age grouper, Ironman sub 9h, IRONMAN World Championship Hawaii qualifier)

Thanks Marcin for mentoring, and answers to plethora of my questions regarding training, logistic, and races

Mikołaj Luft polish pro triathlete, triathlon coach

Thanks Mikołaj for sharing with me a lot of swim-bike-run tips and tricks during Luft Tri Team camp in Szklarska Poręba. It was really productive time.

Damian Witkowski ex pro runner, running coach

Thanks Damian for sharing your deep running knowledgewith me

Jagoda Podkowska sports nutritionist

Thanks Jagoda for helping me eating as I should The provided by you and your team suggestions and menu were easy to apply and just worked! Reduced my weight by feeling even better and more powerfull on the trainings.