Powerman Zofingen Long Distance?

Triathlon Forum
1

Hi everyone!

This fall I’ve become obsessed by the Powerman Zofingen long distance duathlon, because I’m interested in how it feels to finish such a beast. Before I take the plunge for 2014, I’d like to hear whether you guys think I have a snowball’s chance in hell of finishing it. :slight_smile: I mean, there are plenty of stories on the Internet about people finishing their first full Ironman 140.6 after just two years of any kind of training. There aren’t stories like that about Powerman Zofingen…

First of all, I’m a 3:05 marathoner. So, it’s clear I’m not a pro, but more like an enthusiast looking to continually improve year by year. I’ve run 12 marathons so far, all in the past four years. The toughest one so far has been the Zermatt Marathon in Switzerland last summer with a total of 1940 meters of climbing meaning I already have an appreciation for mountain running and steep ascents.

Road cycling is an important part of my training. I’ve been to Alpe d’Huez for some cycling there. I’ve done the 21 hairpins and a ride with 1800 meters of climbing. Wasn’t easy, but manageable. I’ve also taken part in a couple of 150km cycling events on mostly flat courses.

Also, to get a better feeling of what Zofingen’s parameters mean (10+150+30km), I did a test run with 75km of cycling followed by 20km of running. Half the Powerman distance albeit with only 600 meters of climbing. My total time was 4:40 including 10 minutes for my “transition”. It wasn’t too bad, but it highlighted the importance of managing my calorie intake during such efforts. I intentionally forgot about nutrition on my test run to make it harder. Of course, this doesn’t prove I can finish Zofingen, but it would have proved something had I not finished this test. :slight_smile:

So, I figured I’ve got experience on all of the parts that make up Zofingen… the distance, the amount of climbing when running and cycling… it’s just that I’ve never experienced them all in a single event like the Powerman Zofingen. Based on my experience I would probably target the ten hour mark. Of course, that’s pretty close to the race time limit, but I’m not sure something like 9 hours is realistic within this timeframe. Don’t really know for sure.

If I take up this challenge, I know I’m going to have to invest a lot of time into my training, but I don’t have a problem with that. I’m going to do that anyway. I think whatever your main goal for the year is, it better be inspiring if not even a little bit scary (in a good way). Being excited about it makes you train all the harder for it.

What do you people think? There must a lot of experienced folks among you. Am I clearly out of my league even dreaming about Powerman Zofingen for the year 2014?

Cheers.

2

Its doable but not easy. I did it this year.

I was in your position last year and tried to come up with a good plan till December, then stuck to it till September.

My target time was between 7:30-8:00 but I have a similar running ability in an open marathon as you.( I targeted 2:55in my last Mary and blew up to a 3:10…lol).

Anyway…I didn’t have an ideal day and finished in 9:47. See my blog for a report.

It’s a great race and very understated. The organizers are awesome and the beauty of the course is a nice distraction from the climbing! If u have any specific questions, feel free to ask away…

3

I think the next 10 months of my life would be a lot less complicated training for only 2 sports instead of 3, training for a little over 7 hour race instead of a nearly 10 hour race, and a 150k ride instead of a 180k bike leg.

It seems to me that the challenge is that the run overall will be distintly faster than a IM run, but still a lot slower than an open marathon and the nutrition strategy changes since it’s shorter and you can consume nutrition the first 45 minutes. Sounds pretty cool. Might be a fun race some year if I’m tired of swim workouts and want ot scale back my racing without backing completely out of Ultra distance. I must admit, lately I’ve been liking running a lot more and swimming a lot less.

4

Zofingen is never easy, but that’s the beauty of it. It’s hard for everyone. Your marathon time will help, but the running there is unlike any other race I’ve done. The first 10k really softens your legs up so that by the time you get to the last 30k run it’s like you are at mile 20 of a marathon! Great fans and a beautiful course.
The second run is difficult because it’s so up and down. It’s not a course where you settle in and just run. There are steep hills, shallow hills, uneven grass, and just a little bit of pavement. I’ve done it 8 times and the feeling it leaves in your legs is unlike any other race I’ve done!

5

Is it open to anyone who wants in? I was under the impression you had to qualify at another Powerman Event. What is the time cut-off for this race?

6

There’s an OPEN category where anyone can register, then there’s the ITU category where you have to be selected by the duathlon/triathlon organization of your country.

It makes the ranking a bit complicated but its worth it.

7

Is it open to anyone who wants in? I was under the impression you had to qualify at another Powerman Event. What is the time cut-off for this race?

The time cut-off seems to be 11 hours: race start at 09:00 and end at 20:00. For the open category it’s 10 hours 58 minutes… :slight_smile:

A lot less time than in Ironman 140.6 events. The IM cut-off is 17 hours, right?

8

How many calories did you burn during the event? How many calories did you originally plan to consume?

9

Is it open to anyone who wants in? I was under the impression you had to qualify at another Powerman Event. What is the time cut-off for this race?

The time cut-off seems to be 11 hours: race start at 09:00 and end at 20:00. For the open category it’s 10 hours 58 minutes… :slight_smile:

A lot less time than in Ironman 140.6 events. The IM cut-off is 17 hours, right?

Yes, but why would you get 13 hours if you came under the ITU umbrella but just 11 if you were open? Seems like it should be the other way around. Is there any rule of thumb that an IM of X time would finish Powerman in Z? I.e., can an old 11 to 12 hr IM finisher make the Zofingen cut-off?

10

Is it open to anyone who wants in? I was under the impression you had to qualify at another Powerman Event. What is the time cut-off for this race?

The time cut-off seems to be 11 hours: race start at 09:00 and end at 20:00. For the open category it’s 10 hours 58 minutes… :slight_smile:

A lot less time than in Ironman 140.6 events. The IM cut-off is 17 hours, right?

Yes, but why would you get 13 hours if you came under the ITU umbrella but just 11 if you were open? Seems like it should be the other way around. Is there any rule of thumb that an IM of X time would finish Powerman in Z? I.e., can an old 11 to 12 hr IM finisher make the Zofingen cut-off?

How did you come up with 13 hours? :slight_smile: I believe it’s 11 hours for men in ITU categories and 2 minutes less in open categories, but of course you’re right. Open cat should have more time than ITU. But this is how I interpret the race schedule (http://www.powerman.ch/en/schedule) and regulations (http://www.powerman.ch/en/competition-rules). Those pages haven’t been updated for 2014, but I’d imagine the time limits don’t change much from year to year.

11

Not sure how many calories I burnt…I’d imagine if I had an ideal race I’d have used up about 5000kCal. The 2 hr wait for a replacement wheel probably cost me an extra 500kCal or so…

I planned to eat roughly 2500 kcal, mostly on the bike. It was a bit conservative since I felt fine after the race nutritionally and didn’t dig too deep into my reserves… So could’ve done with a bit less than that. I’m 6’0" with 150 lbs FWIW. obviously this is highly personal and may not work for you.

12

I had a serious case of head up my ack! 2000 became 2200 in my mind leading to an erronous conclusion that someone was getting 13 hours!

13

Thanks for the info!

Yeah, I’m just looking for some initial ballpark figures and guess-timates. I’m your height, but about 30 lbs heavier than you are, so I’m going to need an extra table for my sandwiches. :slight_smile:

14

One more less obvious advice:

In your run find some hills and run DOWN them hard on tired legs! This is dangerous for injuries so you need to be careful, but they helped me a lot. I improved my downhill running way more than my uphills.

15

One more less obvious advice:

In your run find some hills and run DOWN them hard on tired legs! This is dangerous for injuries so you need to be careful, but they helped me a lot. I improved my downhill running way more than my uphills.

Thanks! I’m definitely going to do that. There will be a lot of hills on the menu for next year.

16

I just registered for 2014 long distance! What an exciting challenge!

Anyone else considering?

17

Good luck!

Keep us updated and pre ride the course if possible!

18

I am planning on it assuming it’s confirmed on the ITU schedule. Powerman originally told me early November…

19

Hi everyone!

This fall I’ve become obsessed by the Powerman Zofingen long distance duathlon, because I’m interested in how it feels to finish such a beast. Before I take the plunge for 2014, I’d like to hear whether you guys think I have a snowball’s chance in hell of finishing it. :slight_smile: I mean, there are plenty of stories on the Internet about people finishing their first full Ironman 140.6 after just two years of any kind of training. There aren’t stories like that about Powerman Zofingen…

First of all, I’m a 3:05 marathoner. So, it’s clear I’m not a pro, but more like an enthusiast looking to continually improve year by year. I’ve run 12 marathons so far, all in the past four years. The toughest one so far has been the Zermatt Marathon in Switzerland last summer with a total of 1940 meters of climbing meaning I already have an appreciation for mountain running and steep ascents.

Road cycling is an important part of my training. I’ve been to Alpe d’Huez for some cycling there. I’ve done the 21 hairpins and a ride with 1800 meters of climbing. Wasn’t easy, but manageable. I’ve also taken part in a couple of 150km cycling events on mostly flat courses.

Also, to get a better feeling of what Zofingen’s parameters mean (10+150+30km), I did a test run with 75km of cycling followed by 20km of running. Half the Powerman distance albeit with only 600 meters of climbing. My total time was 4:40 including 10 minutes for my “transition”. It wasn’t too bad, but it highlighted the importance of managing my calorie intake during such efforts. I intentionally forgot about nutrition on my test run to make it harder. Of course, this doesn’t prove I can finish Zofingen, but it would have proved something had I not finished this test. :slight_smile:

So, I figured I’ve got experience on all of the parts that make up Zofingen… the distance, the amount of climbing when running and cycling… it’s just that I’ve never experienced them all in a single event like the Powerman Zofingen. Based on my experience I would probably target the ten hour mark. Of course, that’s pretty close to the race time limit, but I’m not sure something like 9 hours is realistic within this timeframe. Don’t really know for sure.

If I take up this challenge, I know I’m going to have to invest a lot of time into my training, but I don’t have a problem with that. I’m going to do that anyway. I think whatever your main goal for the year is, it better be inspiring if not even a little bit scary (in a good way). Being excited about it makes you train all the harder for it.

What do you people think? There must a lot of experienced folks among you. Am I clearly out of my league even dreaming about Powerman Zofingen for the year 2014?

Cheers.

Listen to legends of triathlon this month :slight_smile:

20

Listen to legends of triathlon this month :slight_smile:

Thanks for the tip! Are you by chance referring to this “Mark Allen, six time Ironman Hawaii champion, has been quoted as saying Powerman Zofingen is the hardest race he ever participated in.” (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duathlon) or this “The World’s premier duathlon is Powerman Zofingen, in Switzerland. It’s a hilly 10 km run, mostly on trails, followed by a very hilly 150 km road bike consisting of three 50 km loops each of which feature the Bodenburg ascent (scene of Kenny Souza’s DNF in a snow storm when he raced in a neon Speedo and small tank top)…”

:slight_smile: