A few months training, strong health and to be keen on racing. All those things man has to face the challenge at the famous IRONMAN race at this time in Barcelona. Kopos has such a person in its ranks. He is a sales representative Artur Kaczorowski from Polish subsidiary.
Meet up with those courageous individuals, for which hard work is just a word, was a big challenge for Arthur. Among the 3 000 participants competed in the 30-34 age category. Swimming, bike and run beat in total time 10:44:21.
1. Have you ever raced the Ironman before?
Yes, this was my debut in the full distance Ironman (3,8 km swim, 180 km bike, 42,195 km run).
I started my preparation for the Ironman over a year ago. I have been competing in Triathlon's for over 5 years but none of my previous Triathlons compared to the Ironman. I have competed in 5 marathons and several shorter triathlon distances.
2. What was the hardest for you in the race, I mean bike, run or swim?
What makes the IronMan difficult is the distance of each discipline. The first stage is swimming in the Mediterranean Sea, where there are sea currents and waves. This was not easy, but when I got out of the water I knew that I would finish because I trained for the swimming the most since I was the weakest at it. In the last year I have improved my bike riding the most and I knew that I had the greatest progress here. The first part of the cycling stage was calm and I had a lot of strength until the winds picked up and started to blow. At that time, it was really hard work riding against the wind and I felt quite tired after the bike. Even with the wind the time I got on the bike was better than I expected. My average speed for 180 km came out to 34 km / h. I was excited when I got to the running stage because this is my strength. At first the run was very easy for me and I felt great. Between 7km and 16 km I had a crisis, I had to slow down. At this moment I remembered the words of my friend: "Remember, you are going to Barcelona to finish IronMan race, do not focus on your time, put your head down keep going and you will get a good finishing time". During this time I also used the hydration stations that were set up every 2.5 km. There I ate bananas, oranges and drank isotonic, coke and redbull. When my strength returned, I began to run again at my pace, controlling my optimal heart rate and speed. At 5 km before the end of the lap, I pulled my pulse rate belt from my chest and started to accelerate rapidly at 4.50 min / km and even faster. By speeding up at the end I ran the marathon under 4 hours as I planned.
3. How did you feel after the race?
After the race I really felt very tired. I did not have the strength to walk to pick up my bike and other items from the changing area. After picking up the items I barely made it back to the hotel. However I was very satisfied and proud of myself because I finished the full distance of IronMan. One year ago this was just a dream and I made that dream come true.
4. Do you want to try the IM in Hawai in a future?
IM in Hawaii? To compete in Hawaii IronMan is my new dream. If I would be lucky enough to get a slot for the IronMan Hawaii I would not even take a second to say YES. I hope that one day I will have the chance to compete against the best IronMan in Hawaii.
Good luck Artur!