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Triathlete Alexander Bleffgen wants to fulfill his dream of Ironman Hawaii in 2022. He only started running seven years ago.
Marzling – It is the long-term goal of many endurance athletes: to start in Hawaii one day and to finish the world’s most famous Ironman in the Mecca of triathlon. 3.8 kilometers swimming, 180 kilometers cycling and last but not least 42.195 kilometers running – it is a long and hard road to the triathlon Olympus. Alexander Bleffgen from Marzling will be preparing to climb it in October: The 30-year-old from TSV Jahn Freising bought the ticket for Hawaii at Ironman Italy in 2021 as fourth in his age group. He only started running seven years ago.
Placement was always secondary
Alexander Bleffgen describes himself as a hobby athlete. “It’s just great fun for me. The atmosphere at these events is unique, which is always something very special for me,” explains the 30-year-old. The only thing that counts for him is the Olympic spirit: taking part is everything. “It was never just about placing in triathlon for me. I was never sad when things didn’t go well in competition. I want to have fun – and I’ve had it every time so far.” It was the same last year at the long distance in Italy: “I never expected to finish fourth in my age group.” That was the qualification for Hawaii 2022 – and the decision quickly matured in him: “This is a great opportunity, I won’t let it pass. So I signed up.”
Running makes the pounds tumble
That he would one day make it this far? Alexander Bleffgen would never have dared to think about that before. The 30-year-old, who grew up in Sauerland, then moved to Baden-Württemberg to study and finally ended up working in Bavaria, was anything but a sports cannon when he was young. “The low point was during my studies. I broke up a bit physically, had a few kilos too much. After that I said to myself: It can’t go on like this.” That’s why he started running in 2015, “because it’s the easiest sport”. And Bleffgen quickly acquired a taste for it: the pounds tumbled, the distances became longer – only two years later he ran his first marathon.
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A friend finally convinced him to try a triathlon. Bleffgen started in 2017 at the Karlsfeld Triathlon over the sprint distance. “The atmosphere grabbed me right away, it was really fun.” And with the fun, his ambitions also grew: In the same year he dared to take part in the Olympics in Beilngries, in 2018 in Ingolstadt and Nice at the Central and in 2019 in Copenhagen then approached the long distance. “Although I was well prepared for Copenhagen, I had absolutely no feeling how the competition would go. I didn’t care about the time, I just wanted to have fun.” He had. Of course, the fact that he came twelfth in his age group and 78th overall was “a great thing”.
New home at TSV Jahn Freising
The pandemic year 2020 was poor in competitions, but TSV Jahn Freising gained a strong athlete: Bleffgen moved to Marzling and quickly made friends in the triathlon department. “Whether you make progress in this sport depends a lot on the environment,” says the 30-year-old. “And here at TSV Jahn everything just fits.” Here he found the opportunities and the right training partners to be able to take the next steps in 2021 at the Ironman events in Frankfurt and in Italy.
This year, the complete season planning is of course geared towards building up form for the Ironman Hawaii at the beginning of October. Bleffgen’s daily routine is a tightly timed mix of training and work. “I’m a fan of morning training,” emphasizes the 30-year-old, who works in the prototype scheduling department at MAN Truck & Bus SE in Munich. “I like to get up early so that I can do my units before work.” The training and competition planning is coordinated with his triathlon trainer Sophie Binck from Augsburg. An important part of the preparation is also the start at the Challenge Roth at the beginning of July.
Bleffgen wants to tease everything out of himself
“Well, it’s going to be a really exciting year,” the Marzlingen native looks forward to with anticipation. His goal is clear: He wants to cross the finish line in Hawaii. Placement and time are unimportant. “I just want to be there, absorb everything, have fun, get everything out of my body and do a good race for me personally. And then I’ll see what comes out of it in the end.”
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