Upcoming German talent Horst Reichel recently finished second at Ironman Western Australia and now after a long season he can focus on Lebkuchen and other Christmas cookies. But that is surely not all we need to know about this teammate of Timo Bracht.
Slowtwitch: Welcome to Slowtwitch.
Horst: Thank you for the interview. I'm pleased that I caught your attention, since I have been a reader of slowtwitch for many years and appreciate your stories.
ST: It must be nice to be back home in Germany after that long Ironman trip.
Horst: Home sweet home. Yes, I'm really happy to be home again after traveling around the globe within short time.
ST: Your main late season goal was Ironman Cozumel, but it did not go as planned. What happened?
Horst: Unfortunately Cozumel was a big disaster for me. I arrived in good shape and hoped for a podium finish. However I struggled already at the swim and finished the first discipline 2 minutes down on the lead. I closed that gap within the first 30 kilometers, but at that time Dirk Bockel was far away form the rest of the chasing group in the lead. Working together with Luke McKenzie we tried to catch Dirk but our efforts didn't pay off. In the end I had the second fastest bike split, but I felt totally knocked out. During the run I got bad stomach issues and my body went on strike.
ST: Valuable lessons learned?
Horst: Ironman is not like Half Ironman and I am not Sebastian Kienle who can race hard like that! Going too hard in the first hour on the bike can kill you for the marathon.
ST: How did you decide on Busselton?
Horst: In preparation I worked really hard for 5 weeks in Clermont, FL and the race result at Ironman 70.3 Miami with a 3rd place and the fastest bike split reflected that my shape was really good. After Cozumel I was very disappointed and just wanted to show my shape with a great performance. Furthermore I needed some more points for the KPR to save the qualification for the next year in time.
ST: With Timo Bracht there, how much pressure was actually on you?
Horst: I felt no pressure at all. I just wanted a solid finish. In addition I didn't know how my body would handle the long trip of almost 45 hours from Mexico via Germany to Australia. But maybe exactly this was my secret of success. The media focused on the last year's winner Timo Bracht and the strong Australian athletes, and I flew a little bit under the radar.
ST: I guess the same could be said for Jimmy Johnsen. I don't think he was mentioned at all in the pre race talk and he also did Cozumel.
Horst: Yes for sure. But Jimmy is known there because he already started a couple of times in Busso and he had a great Australian season also.
ST: After a good swim in Busso you had taken the lead and were up front for quite a while. Were you at all worried that you had pushed it too hard?
Horst: After the swim I had an almost 3 minute gap on Timo and the other top guys but I didn't know that until the turnaround. It surprised me that the gap was that big and I forced myself to ride a constantly fast speed but I didn't want to over pace like in Cozumel. Besides the temperatures got higher and were over 30 degree Celsius.
ST: When did you find out that Timo was in trouble?
HorST: At km 40 I saw Timo riding with flat tires and than I knew what happened to him.
ST: Mitch Anderson rode quite hard and ended up with the fastest bike split. How long were you able to stay with him when he came by?
HorST: Mitch stopped my solo trip at km 100 with the other guys of the chasing pack. After another 20km he increased his speed and my SRM showed of values over 300 watts. At that time I knew that I have to let him go. But I was quite sure I would catch him on the run.
ST: You led the marathon for a while before falling back to third place. How tough was it mentally to not let go completely?
Horst: Really tough. The constantly changing positions and the Australian summer demanded everything of myself. At a certain point the exhaustion is so big that your mind plays a much bigger part. When Jason Shortis flew by I forced my self to stay confident.
ST: Did Matty White come back to you or did you get a second wind?
Horst: The key to success was Timo who had to quit the race. During the last lap on the run course he said to me: Horst, you have two options either you save the 3rd place or you push yourself to the limit and catch the 2nd or maybe even the 1st place. I decided to take the more painful second option.
ST: That must have been a nice way to close out the season.
Horst: I'm totally happy with the result. Now I'm with 2345 points ranked on place 17th in the KPR, and that is a very good starting position for 2013. Maybe next year it will work out with a finish on top of the podium. I'm motivated more than ever.
ST: What other races are on your calendar to get the needed points for Kona?
Horst: I will probably start at the Ironman European Championship in Frankfurt. Furthermore I plan to race some European Ironman 70.3 races.
ST: Busso in 2013?
Horst: I had a great time in Australia und definitely want to come back. Maybe I will unpack my surfboard but merely if there is no shark alarm.
ST: So what are you doing for the holidays?
Horst: This year I'm spending my holiday at home with my family after a year with a lot of traveling. Daily visits to the Christmas market in my hometown Darmstadt with Glühwein and Lebkuchen are planned for the next days. Apart from that I'm looking forward to visit friends and family and to have the typical German Christmas dinner with goose, dumplings and red cabbage.
ST: Typical in your region of Germany?
Horst: In our region around the Odenwald many families celebrate their Christmas evening with this kind of dinner. My family gets a goose from a local farmer just a few minutes away from my parent's house.
ST: Do you have to limit the amount of Lebkuchen you are allowed to eat, or is this pre Christmas time a bit of an exception?
Horst: In December there is no limit on my daily intake of Lebkuchen and Christmas cookies. After a long season this is a nice way to recover.
ST: In addition to the sponsors you currently have, is there a sponsor out there who would really make you happy?
Horst: Nurnberger Lebkuchen as a lifetime sponsor would be great. Lebkuchen all year long - that's one of my childhood dreams!
ST: Anything else we should know?
Horst: If you are interested in following my triathlon adventure, you are heartily invited to visit my website horst-reichel.com or my twitter account @HorstReichel.
And I wish all readers of slowtwitch a happy Christmas!
