Diana Riesler's Blog

After this race on sunday here in Port Elizabeth all finishers are really allowed to call themselves real Ironmans. But what did happen on this day? Normally everybody who finishes such a race is an Ironman – but this race was a special one!

Last year when I came 3rd and I got my 1st podium ever in an IM I decided to race here again. Although I know that the weather can be tough here I would have never expected such a day! The whole night the wind was blowing outside the house and in the mornign we got heavy rain so that we were already wet before we have even seen the water! The sea became really choppy and there was a strong current which one didn’t see from the outside. On the last lap I missed a bouy and when I realized it I had to struggle back again. Finally after drinking half of the sea and getting really rough kicks I finished the swim. Unluckily 80 AgeGrouper didn’t make the swim cut-off – feel sorry for them!

I was so happy to be on the bike but then the wind became stronger and stronger till 65km/h and one was happy to cycle 15km/h against the wind. I almost was blowing away and when one was struggling really hard there came the referees and told one to stay on the right side! After my worst swim and cycling ever I was 3rd in T2 and started my marathon. The wind was blowing that heavy that I almost fell over my legs who were moving like being pulled. But at the end I became 3rd and run the 2nd fastest marathon behind Natascha Badman who is back in full pride!

My congrats to all the finishers! And the biggest thank you to all of the people who supported me before, during and after the race!

After AbuDhabi I was a little bit down because of my bad bike but Jo and I did a big reflection on our winter training and my doubts saddled down a bit. Then right when we want to get back into the normal training the weather became to be perfect and the temperatures climbed over 10°C! Although we still have sometimes minus degrees during the night we’re back on the bike and training was really going well. Then Jo caught a really bad cold 1 week ago and suddenly I had 3 sessions where my whole body broke completely down. After 1 hour of easy riding I weren’t able to move my legs up on the bike but I couldn’t explained it. The next sessions were great again and 2 days later in the pool I were not able to get my arms around. There I was considering what this could be and after a while I realized that I ate both times shrimps beforehand and maybe I had an allergic reaction. But the next day it was getting worse and the symptoms were the same as in Jo’s case: the cold had me fully:-( so I slowed down a bit. The boys Jo, Andrej Vistica from Croatia and Yves Moubayed were at home with me and we had coffee. Everybody was joking about everything, esp. about me because I sat there and was moaning that I can’t do the 30/30/30 with them on the bike. So they left for the bike and I was alone at home. I thought they’ll be back in 2 hours and till then I’ve some time do arrange some things and to prepare dinner. I was sitting in the kitchen with an ice bag on my knee (it was hurting, too) and suddenly my phone rang: Yves name was on it! I only thought: hopefully they have just wishes for dinner… but then Andrej was speaking and my heart sank down: “Diana, you’ve to come and pick up the bikes!”

“What? What’s going on there?”

“Jo and Yves were taking to hospital…”

Andrej couldn’t tell me much more and my thoughts were doing somersaults. I jumped up, crabbed my phone and run down. Then I realized I’ve no key – run back again. Then maybe I should take the passports with me. So I run back into the flat again. The 28mins drive to the accident place last an eternity… when I arrived there were still the police, Andrej and a few people – Jo and Yves were brought to hospital. Nobody could tell me anything about their status – even the police had no information, they weren’t even sure in which hospital they were brought. Then they said they were brought in 2 different ones and those were in completely different directions. After a while I asked if someone called Yves’ wife – no chance they haven’t even had the name of Yves – and he was wearing a “road ID wrist band”! I took Yves cell phone and were looking for her name but couldn’t find it. Then I had a look on the last calls and there was the name of his father-in-law and so I called him. Luckily his daughter was sitting next to him…

Andrej and I packed the bikes and drove to the hospital where Jo was. He is in the ambulance and there was a big sign “No passing”. 1st I stopped with Andrej but then I ignored it. Fortunately I found a nurse and she calmed us down and a few mins later Jo was brought in a bed with many tubes around the corner. We could talk to him and after a while we realized that he had more than one guardian angel! Then he was brought to the intensive care for the night and the nurse there watched at him and said: “What should do this guy here – he looks too great for my station!”

After a while we had connections to Yves and it seemed that he was hurting more but also stable.

From the phone call of Andrej to the visit in the hospital there were only 90mins passed but it was a feeling of many hours. I’ve never been that headless before. Then I thought when I would have cycled with them it wouldn’t has happened. Or when I wouldn’t have moaning they would have left earlier the flat… There were many thoughts in my mind but at the end I told myself that it’s senseless to say and think this because you never know what would has happened instead. Both of them had an army of guardian angels with them! With 45km/h you can be dead! Yves biggest Guardian Angel was his little son because from his birth on he began to wear an helmet! And if you saw the helmet after the crash you were sure that he wouldn’t have survived – it was totally broken in the middle!

The morning I got up with only 2 hours sleep and drunk a coffee – I normally drink no coffee! and Jo told me the day before to do the track session with Andrej before we visit him again. I still had this bad cold (was just my 3rd day) and I should do them easily. It was my best track session ever, the knee pain was completely vanished and I couldn’t feel the cold any more. But therefore I had to run to the toilet the rest of the day;-) If Andrej wasn’t there I wasn’t able to get to the hospital to pick up Jo – thank you Andrej!

That was a crazy 4 days trip: Joseph and I flew Wednesday night to AbuDhabi, arrived there in the morning and had to manage a little bit of pre-race things, do our training, eat a lot and try to sleep. So we had 1 and ½ night before the race in the Arabian Desert. It was very exciting to start in such a well-casted field. After the swim I was happy to sit on the bike and go hard but then the hammer fell after a few minutes: it won’t be my day on the bike. Added to my weak legs I made a wrong turn at km 40 and lost my group. From this moment on I was alone in the desert – I said to myself: it doesn’t matter – I’ve to go on because I need the kilometers on my cèrvelo tt-bike! OK, I managed it somehow – not really happy but I knew that my run shouldn’t be that worse: so on the run course I overtook a few girls and at the end I reached the 10^th place!

Now, a few days later I can hold my head a little bit more up: I realized that the performance wasn’t the worst. Not that I’m happy but it’s fine because over the last few months I only sit on the ergo-bike for 3hours per week and run on the treadmill…(despite 10 days on the Canaries) so everything is heading towards the right direction for the next big event: the Ironman South Africa!

The worst things of all that Joseph had to pull out because of an injury. It was his 1^st race after a big break and then he couldn’t move his leg after 80km on the bike. It was the same problem like I had: no tt-bike training and maybe he is getting older;-)

Here is the official trailer ofthe International AbuDhabi Triathlon – you can see all my team mates: Jo, James and Dan. Only myself is missing:-(

AbuDhabi Triathlon

Yeappiieee, away from minus 20°C and 2 meters of snow me, Jo and Chris flew to Cran Canaria and joined a few athletes from the team there. It was a great pity that we only saw Brett just a few minutes at the airport because he flew back home and we just arrived 1 hours earlier. But therefore the German head coach Jo Spindler was joining us and his training is as great as Bretts. So we shouldn’t miss anything;-) We came here because we had to do a few kilometers on the bike and in our running shoes for the upcoming season. Otherwise we still would train on the treadmill and on the ergo meter at the gym – and this can be boring. I already did it for 6 weeks! Luckily we had some snow and we skied a bit around;-) The best thing was our single afternoon off: we had heavy wind, big waves and the sand was blowing over the dunes. But we were happy like children because it was time to jump into the sea and do a bit of bodysurfing;-) Jo, Chris and me couldn’t get enough but the relatively cold water got us out after 1hour and our lips were blue. Sadly we have to fly back in a few days but then me and Jo looking forward to the Abu Dhabi Triathlon as a race-preparation for the Ironman South Africa! Hope to see a few of you down there!
Sunny greetings and best wishes from yours Di

Like I’ve advised a few days ago – I want to give you a short preview on the upcoming season. Like 2011 I’m proud to start for the most successful longdistance triathlon team in the world: our teamTBB. There were a few changes within our team but a fact is that I start with Christian Nitschke and Joseph Spindler for TeamTBBGermany. Guys – I’m happy to train and start with you! Joseph and I live both in the South of Munich and after a little battle we got our own swim times in the city pool – big thank you to the Stadtwerke Bad Tölz! We want to create the German base here in Bad Tölz. Jo and I will train together and he is pushing me in the run and bike while I throw him into the water and we both learn to swim, bike and run. Big thanks to Brett who showed me how to swim properly and now we build it up to a good speed. It might be a laugh for all swimmers but we both get our 100m from 1:23 up to 1:14 within 6 weeks of common training! Although there exists no detailed race plan for the upcoming season yet but I hope that we both can transfer this to our races and don’t have to close the big gap on the bike and in the run;-)
In this meaning winter greetings from a white Bad Tölz!

First of all I want to wish you a great and good new year 2012! After a few months of silence I’m back now! There have been many changes in my private life and the last months were more a roller coaster ride than a professional triathlete life. But sometimes you have to take such hurdles. My new home is Bad Tölz right now. It’s in the south of Munich and belongs already to the Alpenvorland. I was admitted greatly here. The upcoming season I start for the WSV Bad Tölz as the based triathlon culb. You need one home club – otherwise I couldn’t get my pro license and start for our teamTBB. The last day of the year 2011 I started at the Geraer Silvester-Run in Thuringia. Originally I only wanted to visit my parents in Jenalöbnitz (near Jena) but we wanted to submit a fast run session. And it wasn’t a flat course which was a big surprise to me! But all in all it was great fun although the sore muscles should make the running tough the upcoming days. With 1:21 over 20kms + 350m of altitude and partly a big mud-wrestling I was satisfied with this time. The crowning end of 2011 was the invitation of my 2 friends Claudi & Steffen Warias – he is the best chef I know and he has 14 GAULTMILLAU-Stars – to a 5 course meal in their hotel and restaurant Ritters’ Weinstuben. A big thanks to you both for this wonderful eve – it was delicious!

The upcoming days I give you a short forecast to 2012. Many things stay like they are – but a few little changes will be made. Take potluck;-)

… when I wrote my last blog here on our webpage. I’m really sorry for that but I had personal reasons for the delay which aren’t that great. But that’s not the time to talk about it. Fact is that there were big changes in my life. I tried to put my family life together with the triathlon but it wasn’t that successful. Therefore I had some really great results in some races. After I had to quit the Ironman Frankfurt because of the weather I went to England and got 2^nd after a really tough and thrilling race because I was in the lead till 5k’s before the finish line. But that’s the sport. Then I went back to Leysin to prepare for the next Ironman distance in Germany: the cologne226 which was the German championship to the same time. Before the race I was almost going crazy because I weren’t able to run and had to stop run training 10 days before the race. Every morning when I woke up I felt a terrible pain in my foot. Till the day before the race I thought I won’t be able to run the marathon. But then the race day came and like a wonder I felt no pain any more… You can’t imagine how happy little Diana was!!! I knew that I had a lack in running therefore I gave everything on the bike and cycled 4:50 which was 5mins faster than last year. The 1^st half-marathon was pretty good but then I felt the hammer on the last 10k’s… Luckily I could manage to hold the gap to the 2^nd woman and won cologne226 and got German Champion on the long distance like my team mate Georg;-)

After the race I needed a break – not because of the training and races but it was too much over the last 6 months in my life which I had to organize somehow. After a few weeks of organizing and 5 days of hiking through the beautiful landscape in the Alps while sleeping on 2000meters I’m ready to start again with the training and looking forward to upcoming races!!!

Since my last blog many things have happened… I travelled a lot and made almost 3 races where I underwent ups and downs of emotions. My 1^st big race was the Ironman Austria. There I flew over the bike course and set a new bike record with 4:43 and at the end I finished in 8:53 and with this time I’m the 11^th fastest woman in the world:-) After this race and my 3^rd place I looked forward to the European Championships at the IM Frankfurt. But this day became to one of my worst races ever… Those who have followed this race maybe know that there was a big cold snap. It started to rain after 20km of cycling and the temperature felt like 5°C and I couldn’t take out my bottle and switch the gears. So I decided to drop out with tears in my eyes… I was a little bit down and knew that I need a new plan to get not that upset. Sebastian wrote me a message on Tuesday that it might be good to start at the IM UK. My 1^st thought was: oh no… But then this idea kept me and I had a look on the weather. Then I booked my flight, hotel and rental car;-) So I flew on Friday to Bolton and tried to organize my 1^st Ironman without any help from the side. And England wasn’t the best place for it: different start and finish point (maybe 30kms apart) and 2 transition areas (30kms apart, too) and the best: there were no signs! When you were in Bolton it didn’t look like having an Ironman there! But I love such challenging things – even if they don’t have to be before an Ironman;-)

The race itself was fantastic and almost a storybook race till 20mins before the finish. I was 2^nd woman out of water with 53mins – but had therefore a very bad transition: I couldn’t get my shoes on and had to stop and fix it. Then I was on 3^rd position. But on the bike I tried to go hard and could take over the 1^st position after 30kms. From then on I didn’t give it away till the marathon. I leaded till kilometer 37 and then Kristin Möller were passing me like a rocket although I run a 3:02 marathon but it didn’t help. I knew that the 3^rd woman was far behind me and only tried to get to the finish line and claimed my first 2^nd place in an Ironman and set a new bike record on this difficult course again.

Now I have a slowly week and a cold:-( I prepare myself for the long distance cologne226 in September.  I have my qualification for Hawaii but Brett and myself decided not to go there but it’s always good to have the choice;-)

Foto:Ingo Kutsche

After my race in Austria I’m back in Leysin! I don’t want to write that much about this race: it was my best race ever and from now on I belong to the really small circles of women who finish SUB9h;-) For a few days now I’m back in camp and really enjoy my life here…

3 tired triathletes, 1 half-sleeping baby, 1 sleeping dog, 3 cervelo bikes and 6 campagnolo wheels

That’s the exact description of our triathlon living here in Leysin. All those human beings and other things are together on 40m² in an apartment. And there are still things missing: 1 wife and another little child belonging to our team mate Christian. And the best is our big boy Georg: the whole time he repairs his bike and tries to get new things in the right place – like you can see in the pic;-) He has his new 3T bar in his hands, Laika is sleeping, I’m tired, Christian can hardly open his eyes and next to him the white bundle is his little baby which can’t fall asleep.

And of course there is my “poor” little dog Laika – when she isn’t with us on the couch she has to sleep in her basket which is embedded by bikes, air pumps, clothes, wheels and many other things;-)

Who wants to say that triahtletes aren’t crazy;-)!!! All in all life is really enjoyable here in Leysin;-)

Cheers

Yours Di

I had to leave our team camp in Leysin for 4 days because I had a race in Germany: the Half-Challenge Kraichgau. The way towards this area took me almost 9hours! Laika and me got into a really big traffic jam which lasted 2,5hours and we had no air condition in the car which turned it into a very nice sauna;-)

This was on Friday and the race was on Sunday… all in all I have to be satisfied with the result. I could close the big gap between me and the first swimmers who gave me 4min! Then on the bike I put the turbo on and hammered over the course. At the end I had the fastest bike split and was 2^nd in T2, only 10s behind Yvonne van Vlerken. But my legs said that I did too much on the bike and they had to struggle and I lost my 2^nd position. On the last 10kms I felt much better but then all the others had run away:-( So I finished 4^th – and it was a very exciting race because all first 4 women finished within 2,5min! And when I look on my times it is a step forward and we look confidently towards the Ironman in Frankfurt…

Tomorrow I go back to Leysin. Meanwhile I stay with my husband and dog Laika one more day in Germany before he has to go back to work. You’ll hear news from Leysin! Cheers Diana