Swim and Run Cologne 2016

 
The "swim and run Cologne" is the first swim event I ever entered. My first "swim and run Cologne" was in 2009. I didn't join every year, but almost.
Like every event, I only do it for fun! There is no real training beforehand. So sometimes I wonder why I do it anyway...
This year my sister Annika and my friend Amanda took part aswell. Annika had extra motivation, because of the charity she supports with every swim. (more about #nikaschwimmt) 

Doing an event like this together is definitly a nicer experience and a motivation boost. We had a small facebook message group to chat about our training - our lack thereof ;-)
We had nice dinner with proper sportsfood the day before the event - in a brewery with isotonic beer ;-)
The whole week before the event was filled with thunderstorms and heavy rain overhead the Cologne area. So the two days before we all had this "I wouldn't mind if it is cancelled"-thoughts... you see, we are not taking this serious. 

The sunday looked good enough when we arrived at the Fühlinger See. After a short stop at the registration office, we went down to the water to feel, if it was wetsuit weather or not. The Fühlinger See is a clean and calm lake and wetsuits are not compulsory.
I have a personal comfort point around 19 dregree celsius where I decide with or without wetsuit. After my two short splashes in Helsinki and Stockholm the week before, the water felt warm. It was 20 degress, so good for me.
Whenever I can, I go without a wetsuit and as little gear as possible. (see also wildswimstories "needful stuff?")

Even though I really like the fit of my suit, it still interfers with my shoulder mobility and gives me too much bouyancy.
And this day was a swim and run, so I could save time in the changing area. I just had my swimsuit with longer legs, googles and the event hat. In the changing area I only put on socks, shoes and a tshirt with my number on it.
My sister decided on going without the wetsuit aswell for better changing. We were the only two without a wetsuit, but the water was nice, it was only 1k to swim and I enjoyed the direct contact of the water on my skin. 

Some triathletes use the wetsuit for extra bouyance or believe it is faster. We had to discover soon, that in this event -even in our race with the everyone-distance of 1k swim and 7k run- only triathletes or at least trained persons participated.
I lost Annika and Amanda right after the start signal. As I was overtaken by more and more people even though the race wasn't that big, it became a little frustrating. I kept in mind, that I had still 7k running to do (with no training) and tried to finish the swim easily. The time of 25 minutes were ok for me. In the changing area I met Amanda, who was struggeling with her shirt. I wasn't really able to have a chat so I put on socks, shoes and my shirt and went off. I knew Amanda would soon find me... and she did at the 1 k point. I had my pulse watch with me, which showed 170 beats and wouldn't come down. I tried to relax, take it easy, but it didn't work. I still felt comfortable enough to keep my pace and at kilometer 5 thought "what the hell with pulse" and got faster even to a small finish sprint at the end.
For me 25 minutes for 1k swimming and 49 minutes running for 7k were good - yes, I know, that it is not fast at all. 

In the finish area I found Amanda, who was always a minute ahead of me. We both felt exhausted, but happy as finishers can be!
We grabbed a Erdinger alcohol free beer and went to a small bridge to wait for Annika running on the path below. She was quicker than estimated and we cheered, than turned around to cheer again as she run past on the finisher track. 

We all were happy and cheerful at the finish. It was great to be over with it, but also that all three of us had finished and had finished in good times. A look at the results showed us, that we were at the bottom of the list. That wasn't so bad, but we found, that they are just too little people taking part for the fun of it. The event became more professional in the last years and is still fine for hobby-traithletes, but the atmosphere was just a bit too professionell for us ;-)
And I look more sporty than I really am.


Afterall I enjoyed the "swim and run Cologne 2016" ....
and you never regret a swim ;-) 

http://www.swim-and-run-cologne.de/ 
http://www.koeln-fuehlinger-see.de/ 

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Cologne heart

I posted that photo on instragram without a swim, just because I liked it. It was an spontaneous shot with my iphone.

There is a small story behind it of course.... otherwise how realistic is it to stand SPONTANEOUSLY at the rhine river at sunset with a heart balloon?!

My friend Laura visited for a friday night in Cologne. Instead of going to the Center we stayed in Porz. The annual Porzer Inselfest was on with a fleamarket, foodmarket and live music. We strolled around the market and had a few Kölsch (beer). For some reason Laura wanted to play "pull the cactus" at one of the booth, which brought us two purple plastic aliens to carry around as a price...
Speaking of which, perhaps you would have liked that picture even more ;-)
Or that picture after we coaxed the guy at the piglet-train to let us have a ride...

We finished another few beers and noticed that we still hadn't bought a present for Lauras boyfriend who was coming back from his USA trip. The booth with the balloons was still open and we bought a heart with Cologne city flag on it.

We strolled further down to the river bank and Laura stood on the ferry jetty. I took the first photo as a snapshot and then we tried some more poses with the sunset background.

I didn't have my DSLR-camera with me and the iphone has it's limits with little light, but I like the way the photo was taken.

Sometimes an evening with your best friend is as much as you need.

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Rhein river splash

Normally I don't like going by bike, but yesterday a friend of mine suggested a small bike tour along Rhine river.
I live on the southern edge of Cologne in the district of Porz-Zündorf and the Rhine river is just a 2 minute walk.

Yesterday it was a 1 minute ride by bike ;-)

We headed along the river to the south, but didn't get far.

I saw a small "beach"  (if you want to call it beach... it is really just a bit of sand on the river bank between two groynes, so it looks like a small bay...) where children were playing in the water.

So we stopped for the first picknick at the beach and watched the action in the water. The kids were splashing about and two boys even dived. So I thought "challenge accepted" and walked into the river to find out that it was freezing cold.
It was 22 degrees outside, but the water had only 15 degrees  (I looked up the water temperatur online). Nevertheless I was already in the mood to make a quick splash. I went further in and the two boys came up to ask, if I believed that they even had their heads under water and dared me to sit down. It tooked some time, but I went in splashing and swimming for a few seconds.

You never regret a swim!

I changed into my jeans and we continued the bike tour, me being already very happy with the adventure of the day.

In the evening we found a small open air cafe with deck chairs. You can either sit on the "beach" Patio or at the river bank with your feet in the water.

Spots:

51143 Köln Porz Langel

the next street is "In der Aue"

just walk along the foodpath next

to the river to find the "beach"

Mondi Beach http://www.rheingold-hotel.com/7.html

Please notice, that swimming in the Rhine river can be dangerous! Swimming is at your own risk! Wildswimstories expresses personal experience and gives no advise on the safety of the swim spots.                                

                                                                       

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