Patrick Lange’s key to staying at the top: the enjoyment is back
To get to where he is now the German star went "places in his psyche he didn't want to go"
Photo by:
Kevin Mackinnon
Heading into this year’s Ironman World Championship there was lots of talk about Patrick Lange and how fast he would run the marathon. With two 2:30 marathons at the end of full distance races over the last year, many were wondering if the German could possibly break the 2:30 barrier on the flat Nice run course.
Patrick Lange rips through 2:30 marathon to win Ironman Israel
In the end the two-time Kona champ ran his way to second, completing his medal collection at the Ironaman World Championship (he took the bronze in 2016 to go along with his wins in 2017 and 2018), running the fastest marathon ever at a world championship – 2:32:41.
“It wasn’t fast enough to catch this young man,” the 37-year-old said during the post-race press conference, pointing to Sam Laidlow.
As I started my post-race interview, I tried to tell Lange that he came pretty close to the 2:30 mark. While he was happy with his run, he was having none of the “close to 2:30” talk.
“2:41 is a big chunk of time at that level,” he said. “I was fading over the last little bit, and, to be honest, when I was starting the run, that bike course really stung my legs.”
“I was really happy with the run – for me, I couldn’t go any faster,” he did concede. “I extracted the maximum, because those guys really made me push all the way. I’m happy. I don’t see a 2:30 is possible on that run course after that bike.”
The race in Nice signalled that Lange is very much still in the picture as one of the world’s top long-distance athletes. As the two men who finished ahead of him at his Kona debut in 2016 – Jan Frodeno and Sebastian Kienle – bow out of competitive racing, Lange is very much ready to continue.
“I’m happy to have continued to develop over the last few years,” he said. “Out of my generation, I’m one of the only guys who is improving and continuing to get faster. That makes me proud, and gives me energy and motivation for years to come.”
One of the keys to his ability to continue to develop is a lot of work on his mental approach to training, racing and life.
“I got really anxious for races and really have that under control now,” he said. “I celebrated being here and had a really good week leading up to the race. Those are the things you can improve without improving your sporting performance. The mental part of things is really important, and that’s what we’ve worked on for the last few years. That’s brought the enjoyment back for me.”
That work hasn’t been easy though.
“You have to go places in your psyche where you don’t want to go,” he said. “That’s really hard. A lot of tears have gone into this, a lot of situation that weren’t comfortable, but I grew as a person. It’s not always just about sport. When you can be a happier person in general, that helps triathlon performance.”
Those aren’t just words. Lange was truly relaxed during race week, and was genuinely happy with his performance. He was quick to praise Laidlow’s amazing performance.
After coming out of the water just over a minute back, Lange put together a solid bike that saw hime come off the bike in seventh position, his best spot into T2 at a world championship. The gap to Laidlow, though, was 12:29.
“Right from the start I thought 12 minutes was a bit too much,” Lange said after the race. “I am super happy for Sam that he executed this day on the day when it counts the most. Seeing him pull off a bike ride like that, on a Canyon bike (Lange is also sponsored by Canyon), makes me happy.”
While he was happy for the man who beat him to the finish line, Lange is ready to do the work to move a step up the podium next year.
“I have proven that I am still able to compete with the younger men here,” he said. “I’ve improved my bike a lot, but it’s still not enough. So maybe I still have to work on that.”
When you’re the two-time world champion, you’re all too aware that the win requires a near-perfect day. Lange is ready to go for that again.
“If the circumstances are right, I think I can win another again,” he said.
