Training for IRONMAN

Back online!

2006-11-21T20:16:00.000+01:00

Okay, so it has been a while since I last updated my blog...Lots of reasons, lots of excuses, but the fact is that there wasn't much to write.

After the marathon, I took a few weeks off training - both to ensure that I didnøt get injured from training too hard after the race, but also because I didn't really feel like training. The Marathon was the last race of the season, and there is at least 6 month until my next race....I wasn't in a hurry to get back into training...

The training started for real again last week, and I'm slowly getting into the training rhythm. Spinning, running, turbo trainer sessions, swimming and core training... These are all slowly getting organised again.

It is funny how easy it is to loose form... While the running is okay, I'm finding the spinning sessions far harder than before the break...There is a lot of fitness that needs to be build again.

This break has also allowed me to have a good think about my race limiters, and the conclusions have surpriced me a bit. This also means that I will change my focus slightly in the spring to encompas these findings.

What I came up with was, that my two greatest limiters are: Swimming (no surprise) and Cycling endurance (this was a surprise). I have always considered myself to be a strong cyclist - and I still think I am. But, what occured to me was that I lack the endurance required to keep up the pace and form over 112 Miles - and that needs some work. The lack of endurance, I found have meant that I have been struggeling in the latter parts of the bike and on the run.

So, more longer distance - endurance training for me and more turbo training sessions. Swimming - more volume and more technique required.

I have also started looking more closely at what races to enter in 2007. Obviously, the overall goal is still a good performance at the Austrian Ironman, but this race is in July, and I need to find smaller races before that to fine tune the 'race enginee'. I have found a few interesting races - and I will update my racing calendar shortly.

Technorati Tags: Ironman, 2007, Racing Calendar, Turbo Training, Lost form, Swimming

Ironman Hawaii

2006-10-22T22:02:00.000+02:00

Yesterday, I spent most of the day and night watching the Ironman World Championchip transmitted live from Hawaii. The Ironman is probably not the most suitable sport for live television (with a race lasting over 8 hours), but luckily everything was transmitted live on www.ironman.com.

The 6.45 am hawaii time start meant that I had to stay up until 3am local to see the race finish. It become a very close call, with the winner Norman Stadler finishing unly a little more than a minute before the first runner up; Chris McCormack.

This year, I had no pre race favorite, as my usual favorites vere not racing this year (Reid and Sindballe), so it was interesting to follow the race as it unfolded. I enjoyed seeing McCormack finally having a successful race in Hawaii, but as a cyclist myself, seeing Stadler win was also enjoyable, as it proved (again) that the race can be won on the bike..

In the womens race, my pre-race favorite (Badman) did not have a good race and eventually finished outside the top-5 with Michellie Jones winnning (just as most people predicted).

The timing of the World Championchip coudn't be better. With Amsterdam Marathon last week, I had just run the last race of the season, and needed to start focussing on next season. And for this, watching the Ironman World Championchip was perfect.

The A-race next year is Ironman Austria, and watching the transmission yesterday got my thoughts away from last weeks disaster and onto the challenges of next year...

I'll be ready...I have set my sights on it..and is now starting focussing...

Technorati Tags: Ironman, World Championchip, Stadler, Badman, McCormack, Hawaii

Amsterdam evaluation

2006-10-20T00:10:00.000+02:00

:-( that's the best way I can describe my experiences at Amsterdam Marathon.

The plan was to run a marathon about 3:10, but I ended up in 3:37 !!

The first 25k(14M) it was going well, running well and looking at finishing well inside the time limit I had set upon myself. Then the problems started, and just before the 25k mark, I had to slow down dramatically. Within 1k, the speed dropped and I started running 50sec/km slower.

From there, the speed continued to drop, and I eventually ended walking 5 of the last 7 kilometers!! :-(

In the coming days, I will be evaluation more on this. I'm still not sure why this happened. This was my 10th marathon. I had been running more and longer in training then ever before. This time I had also been spared the injuries I usually suffer from.

Looking at the heart-rate dump, it seems that I ran a great deal of the marathon in the black zone - which would explain the problems. What I then need to find an explanation to is why the geart-rate was so high...?

The fitness is there, the training had gone well..what went wrong..?

Perhaps it was the illness that had taken its toll on my body...Perhaps it was the stress leading up to the race (just started a new job and doing a lot of travelling = lack of sleep), or perhaps it was something else...

I'm not quite sure...

I'll upload the heart-rate dump over the weekend and some more thoughts.

Technorati Tags: Running, calves, massage, Recovery, Amsterdam, Marathon

7 days to Amsterdam Marathon

2006-10-08T22:35:00.000+02:00

It has been a quiet couple of weeks on this blog and for a good reason.

I have had a very persistent cold/flu, which has prevented me from training. The last couple of weeks, I have done next to no training at all. This is bad, as there is only 7 days left to Amstredam Marathon - my last race of the season!

The good news is that I managed to get all my planned long runs in before this happned. 4 weeks of long runs between 23-28 kilometers were completed - all with good results. The plan was to taper the last few weeks before the race anyway, but not stop training completely. The runs I missed were shorter, high intensity runs. Hopefully, this won't affect race performance too much, but we'll see.

On the bright side, it seems that the break has enabled my calves to recover from the training. I have been getting calf massages every week, fot the past month - and the calfs have always been very sore. This now seems to have cleared up. Perhaps, this is a sign that my body needed the rest, and is now ready to perform...again, we'll see.

My race number is 118 and the race can be followed on: www.amsterdammarathon.nl

Technorati Tags: Running, calves, massage, Recovery, Amsterdam, Marathon

Less than 300 days to go

2006-09-15T16:09:00.000+02:00

It is already more that 45 days since I entered the Ironman Austria. That means that there is now less than 300 days left until I need to be in top-form! Scary! I haven’t really started focusing on the Ironman yet…the 2006 season is not quite over yet.

300 day status:

Swim: I still haven’t started swimming seriously – I decided that I wanted to wait until after the Marathon. I have done a bit of swimming – but mostly unstructured training with the aim of just getting used to being in the water again.

Bike: The speed towards the end of the season has been satisfactory – although it has sometimes felt as if I had to work harder than usual to get to that speed. Looking at the training plan, I suspect this is due to less mileage early in the season – and possibly also because the training have been easier than in previous years. I did a 40K bike leg with 38.2 km/h in a Triathlon in August on a course with lots of twists and turns.

Run: Running speed is good – I have more mileage in the legs than ever before. The stress fractures that have bugged me for the past 5 years seem to be gone. I’m a little worried about he Achilles inflammation, but it doesn’t seem to be something that will stop me from running. I went out for a short (10k) run yesterday – I could occasionally feel the injury, but not much. I’m going for a long run this weekend – and if the problem doesn’t get worse after that – I’ll be ready for Amsterdam. I comfortably run at speeds above 15km/h, so if I get the long runs in, and pace it correctly in Amsterdam, it looks as if I could be heading for a new pb…

The triathlon season is over – and only a few races remain: A ½ marathon (1. October) and Amsterdam marathon (15 October). After that, the winter comes and I will be forced to move most of my training indoor. Hopefully, this will not affect the training too much, but let’s see….

Technorati Tags: Swimming, Running, Cycling, Triathlon, Ironman, Amsterdam, Marathon

Ironman Doctor

2006-09-13T22:17:00.000+02:00

I rarely visits the official Ironman website - as there is rarely anything interesting to read. The only time I visit is to log-on to the live streaming of events and to check results. I logged on a few days ago to check the results from Madison, and noticed a hilarious article.

It is an article filled with racing and training "advise" - like the following:

Q: I've been riding 5-600 hundred miles a week for nearly a year now. Everything within 18 inches of my groin is completely numb and we're having trouble starting a family. Any idea what could be wrong?

A: Yes. You're not putting on enough miles.

That numbness you're experiencing is a cry of protest from your muscles that you're not giving them enough time to warm up. Just when they're starting to loosen up a little, you get off the bike and shut them back down. That's worse than never having gotten started at all.

As for that failure to start a family, well, that's just anxiety. Happens to a lot of guys, so don't worry about it. Double your bike mileage, work some of that tension down, and everything will be fine.

Q: I was recently diagnosed with multiple stress fractures in both of my tibias. What's the best way to deal with this?

A: Aggressively. Run through the pain.

Look, let's be honest with each other here. Ironman isn't a round of lawn bowling at some seaside resort in Brighton. It's the toughest endurance event in the world. Of course it's going to hurt. It's supposed to hurt! And you need to get used to looking past pain.

The full article can be found here.

Technorati Tags: Doctor, Running, Training, Triathlon, Ironman, Advise

Doping in Cycling?

2006-09-13T09:47:00.000+02:00

New allegations have surfaced after two former US-Postal riders admitted using EPO just prior to the 1999 Tour-de-France. The 1999 Tour was the first Lance Armstrong won. One of the two riders is Frankie Andreu.

This comes at a time when Floyd Landis is fighting to prove his innocence. Personally, I think it is a real shame that drug allegations get so much media attention – as every time something new surfaces, more people loose interest in the sport. It could be argued that “where there is smoke there’s fire” – but many people seem to forget that people are innocent until proven otherwise. The public opinion is quick to convict based on allegations and rumors – and often we only hear one side of the story…

Personally, I think that cycling must be the hardest sport in the world. What these athletes have to endure during a season is unimaginable for most of us. Whether doping is involved or not, I still think cycling is the greatest sport in the world and I have the utmost respect for the athletes.

Technorati Tags: Cycling, US Postal, Lance Armstrong, Frankie Andreu, Floyd Landis, Doping, Tour de France

The Injury

2006-09-11T13:36:00.000+02:00

After surfing the Internet for more information about this potential injury, I realized that the injury could also be Plantar Fasciitis.
With this information I visited a physiotherapist, who quickly put my worries to rest. After examining me, he diagnosed it as a minor inflammation of the Achielles.
This was a relief. This - is his oppinion - is not a showstopper for Amsterdam. He treated it with laser and massage and gave me a few exercises to do.
After the examination, I asked him, wherther it would be okay to go running this weekend. The plan was to run long 25-28k - and he found this to be okay - as long as I remembered to stretch.
So I did. Yesterday, I went out for a 25.2K run in the nearby forrest. I could feel the injury the minute I started running, but after having stopped and stretched, it disappeared.
With only 4+ weeks until the Amsterdam Marathon it is very important that I'm not injured now, as now it the time for the long runs. My feet felt fine after the run, and I haven't felt anything unusual today...so fingers crossed
I am going back to the physiotherapist tuesday for a checkup.

Technorati Tags: Injury, Running, Training, Triathlon, Ironman, Physiotherapist, Marathon, Amsterdam

Injury lurking...?

2006-09-05T22:40:00.000+02:00

The trip to Spain not only allowed me to watch the Tour of Spain, it also allowed me to get some swimming done as well as a bit of warm weather running.
As I haven't been swimming much in the past year, every minute in the pool helps me getting used to the water again.

I got a total of 6 hours in the pool. Most of it can best be described as "unstructured training", but it is a start.

I also got a bit a running done - although I think I might have an injury lurking.

My right foot has started to hurt and I fear that it is the Tarnel Tunnel Syndrome that has returned. It is an old injury I was treated for last year, and that I thought was gone. It could be a showstopper, with the Amsterdam marathon so close.

Looking at my training schedule, I don't understand why I git it now. I haven't increased the milage or the speed - quite the opposite. The shoes are the same, and the routes I run are relative flat.

Today, I was at the local gym, doing interval training on the treadmill with a friend. 7*1 Km @ 16.8 km/h. A hard session. After the session, my foot was hurting, and it is getting more and more likely that it is a serious injury. I think I need to contact a physio to get some ultrasound or something...

Technorati Tags: Injury, Running, Training, Triathlon, Ironman, Ironman Austria

La Vuelta A Espana

2006-09-03T21:32:00.000+02:00

I'm now back from Spain, where I have been on holiday for the past week. The holiday was planned, so that I had the opportunity to see the first two stages of the Tour of Spain. The first stage was a team time Trial (TTT).
In total, I took about 160 pictures of the two stages - whereas a lot of them had to be deleted afterwards as they were out of focus etc. I did manage to get some good pictures, though...all of which can be seen here:

http://boengel1.smugmug.com/gallery/1844585/1/92438002

The TTT was won by TEAM CSC - who completed the 7.3 km in 7:36. That's close to 60km/h !!
I would love to be able to do that :-)

I find the Time Trials to be the most interesting part of the large tours - so I was fortunate to be able to watch one live. I guess it is beacuse they use the same gear as we as triathletes do..(well almost)

My favorite to win the Vuelta is Valverde from the Iiles Baleares team.

Technorati Tags: Vuelta A Espana, Tour of Spain, Valverde, Pictures, TEAM CSC,

Looking forward

2006-08-23T23:15:00.000+02:00

With Hillerød now done, I can start looking ahead. Next scheduled race is Amsterdam Marathon in October - although it has been suggested that give Blovstrød Triathlon a go (3 september). I'm not sure about that, though..It is a very short distance and I usually prefer then a bit longer.

Evaluating a bit more on Hillerød, I have come to the conclusion that I'm fairly happy with the result. The swim - of course - was a disaster..but that was expected. The bike was okay..In the wet conditions, I managed to cycle the 40'ish kilometers with an average speed of 38.2 km/h (according to my heart rate monitor, as the official results include transition). The 10k run was run with an average speed of 4.18 min/km - without it feeling especially hard - and that is on a course with 51 meters of climbing.

The fact that the run went so well, is a definate confidence builder before the Amsterdam Marathon. There is still a lot of work that needs to be done - and a marathon is very different from a 10k in a triathlon, but the run felt easier than previous years - and that is important.

Next week, I will be in Spain and hopefully find time to do a few longer runs and a few wetsuit swims. More on that later..

8th Place!

2006-08-20T19:55:00.000+02:00

I finished in 8th place today- and not as hoped in the top-3! A bit of a disapointment, but the competition was fiercer than usual. My total time was faster than previous years, but not as much as I had hoped.

This was my 4th consecutive year racing in Hillerød. 2003 was a DNF and the results from the other years are listed below.

So, my time today was the best ever, but not as good as I had hoped for. The plan was to place in the top-3 and race finish the race in exactly 2 hours.

My swim was the slowest ever. Not surprisingly, as I have only been in the water a few times in the last year. The bike was the fastest, but not as much as I had hoped. My position is more aerodynamic, and I have bought a disc wheel. Considering this, the bike split was too slow! (note the bike split include both transitions). The run was the fastest yet, which is good - especially considering that I didn't feel the run as hard as I remembered it :-)

On the bike, I felt that I was doing okay - except that I could feel that I didn't have 100% legpower. My heart rate was reasonably low (averaging 87% of max), compared to 90% last year.

Note: the graph does not include the swim.

So, overall I got the best position yet (8th overall) in a field with stronger competition that usual. Still, I would have like to place better - and to get under the 2 hours. I had hoped that my disc wheel could have helped here, but I just didn't have the leg power on the day.

Another thing was, that I started as one of the very last in the 400 person field. This was on purpose, as that would give a lot of people to chase down on the bike and run. Unfortunately, the ones I caught (perhaps 50 in the bike and 25 on the run) were all 'caught too easily'. I would have prefered to have a person with similar abilities a few hundred meters ahead of me. This would have worked better for my motivation - and muight have meant I could have pushed a bit harder.

This conclusion also leads me to conclude that I wasn't 'hungry' enough on the day, as I shouldn't need something like that to motivate me. I was just too comfortable on both the bike and the run..Should/could probably have pushed myself harder.. :-)

Lesson learned..

Ready for Sunday

2006-08-17T08:54:00.000+02:00

Took the bike out for the final test yesterday. The bike was tested in full race configuration – meaning it was set-up with the disc with the new cassette etc.

This will be the first time I use the disc in competition – if weather permits, that is. I opted against using the disc at the World long Distance Duathlon Championchips, as I found there was way to much wind, and a increased risk of flats (due to rain).

It looks as if there might a bit of rain the weekend, but hopefully not too much.

Yesterday, the bike performed well – and there seemed to be a lot of free speed with the disc. The cassette on the disk is also a 12-25 – where I’m used to a 11-21 – so hills also seemed easier J

The last two years, Hillerød has been quite windy. The route is flat, but also features a number of very sharp turns, making it a bit slow. I’m hoping for a bike split very close to the 1-hour mark.

Running in the rain

2006-08-12T16:58:00.000+02:00

The weather has taken a turn for the worse - with lots of rain and wind. Hopefully, this is only temporary. I have also been ill this week, but that seems to be clearing up now.

Because of my illness, this week hasn't been good - trainingwise. So, this morning I decided to go out for a run - in pouring rain. I don't mind running in the rain - as long as the weather and the rain is warm - so I don't get cold while running.

The run ended up being 20.2 kilometers - mostly in the nearby forrest. While running, I noticed something interesting:

I always give fellow runners and cyclists a nod when meeting them while training. Most of the time, people give a nod back - although not always. Today, while running in the rain, this seemed to be different - everybody returned the nod - as if to say: "yes, we are members of the same club of nutters - choosing to be running in the rain when we really should be back home enjoying our saturday morning"

Just an observation while running around in the pouring rain on an early saturday morning.

The Disc!

2006-08-11T22:31:00.000+02:00

Yesterday, I installed a new Shimano 10-speed cassette on my disc wheel. The disc will be used for the first time at the Hillerød triathlon next weekend (if weather permits).

Funny, you'd think a disc wheel was heavy, but according to weightweenies my disc is actually lighter than my normal Dura-Ace (WH-7700) wheels.!?!

The fact that I have just changed to 10-speed cassettes means that I have a number of 9-speed cassettes for sale. 11-21, 12-23, 12-27 (Dura-Ace (11-21, 12-23) and Ultegra (12-27))
Any takers?

I haven't used the disc much as it uses tubulars - so it will be interesting to finally get to use it in competition.

Last year at Hillerød, I won my AG (30-34) and finished 10th overall. My ambition was to finish in top-5, but a wrong turn on the bike and a poor swim prevented that.

This year, my aim is to finish top-3. I figure I can cut 21/2 minutes off the bike with the new disc and not making wrong turns. I have also done more running this year, which should benefit me on the tough Hillerød run course (very hilly forrest run). Hopefully, I can cut a further 2 minutes there - making the total time 41/2 minute faster than last year.
The distance, BTW, is 500m. 39,6Km, 10km - an odd distance - but one that suits me and my poor swimming well :-)

Ironman DVDs

2006-08-10T20:47:00.000+02:00

The latest Ironman Lanzarote DVD arrived in the post today. I started collecting in 2002m when I bought the 2002 version to help me train for the 2003 event. I also have one from Ironman Germany and one from Ironman Hawaii.

The Lanzarote DVDs are usually very good as they are quite long, and give a good idea of what the Ironman is like. I much prefer these to the ones from Germany and Hawaii.

The latest one, however, is differnt then the other. I have just seen it, and I don't think I will see it again any time soon. It does not have the same "magic" as the other years and it would not work as a motivational tool through the winter months (like the others will).

Where the others have shown the course and included speak about the course and the competitors - this did not. It just seemed like it was made in a rush.

A real shame - especially considering that the others have been so good.

Can anyone recommend some good motiovational Ironman DVDs?

Spinning in Helsingør

2006-08-08T16:22:00.000+02:00

The 10-hour spinning marathon is now over. It turned out that only 4 persons (including myself) choose to spin for the entire 10 hours. The rest of the group (maybe 60 persons) chose to spin in either 2, 3 or 5 hours. Overall, the spinning marathon was a good event, and a good workout. In total I burned just under 7.000 kcal.

During the 10-hours, there were 8 different spinning instructors – all with different music and focus. This was both good and bad. Good because it means a bit of variety and bad because it means there was a lot of unnecessary waiting between the different instructors. Furthermore, not all of the instructors were equally good, and some of them even used a program which included warming up….not really what you need when having spinned for 5-6-8 hours…

One of the instructors (and the best one) were Kim Greisen, who recently won Silver at the 10X Ironman World Championchips. His classes are always good and the same was the case this day. He had the hour between 8-9 in the morning. After that, he spinned with us for a few hours and then started taking pictures of us...It is from his website that I have found the pictures from the event. www.decatri.dk

Looking at my heart rate all the waiting periods also meant that of the 10 hours – almost 2 hours were ineffective as training…The heart rate was simply too low. Ideally, I’d want it to be in the blue zone or alternatively the green. This was also the case for most parts, but two hours were in what I call the “junk” zone… I.e. no training benefits.

What I think they should have done, was to make the shifts faster…have better coordinated music/themes and have someone there to give us water/energy drinks so we didn’t have to do this ourselves between the sets. This would have made the training more effective, I think.

But, apart from that, a good day, and I would probably do it again.

As for the Time Trial, Cancellara won as I predicted – he also ended up winning the entire race – which finished Sunday.

Spinning Marathon

2006-08-04T13:25:00.000+02:00

Tomorrow I’m participating in a 10-hour non-stop spinning marathon in connection with the Tour of Denmark pro cycling Time Trial. 150 Spinning bikes will be set up outdoor right next to the Time Trial finish line.
I’m quite looking forward to this. I like spinning, and it is good training for the upcoming triathlon. Hopefully the weather will be nice.
I’m coming down with a cold, but hopefully this won’t affect me too much tomorrow. The plan is to keep the heart-rate reasonably low and push the big gears for as long as I can. It will be hard, but it is very effective training.
I have previously participated in a similar spinning marathon (6h indoor). The start is at 7am and I’ll finish 10 hours later.
For the Time Trial, I would tip Cancellara from Team CSC as the winner. He is currently in the yellow jersey and is a very good time trial’er. The Tour of Denmark is not a member of the Pro Tour, but still attracts a lot of the big teams. Although few of them have brought their big profiles http://www.postdanmarkrundt.dk.

Training run

2006-08-03T22:15:00.000+02:00

Have just been out on a training run with the local runnning club. About 15K - easy pace (76% heart rate - 13.6 km/h).

Running form seems to be okay - slightly worried about a nagging in my shins, though...Hope it is not an injury on the way..

Amsterdam is about two month's away and wekely volume is just short of 30K. Speed when I run on my own is about 14.3 km/h - which would make the marathon time close to 3:00. Ambition is currently sub 3:10 - whether that will change depends on the success of my long runs. The long runs have previously been a challenge due to me being very injury prone.

We'll see - so far so good

Registration closed

2006-08-02T14:13:00.000+02:00

With 341 days left to the Ironman Austria, the events has closed for registration. That means that around 2.500 athletes have signed up for the the event in July next year.

Good thing I managed to register last week.

From the Ironman Austria website:

Registration 2007 closed!

The Kärnten IRONMAN Austria is fully booked! Waitinglist is opened!

The registration for the IRONMAN Austria 2007 is closed. You're having the possibility to applying for the waitinglist. When somebody is withdrawing waitinglist-athletes are getting the slot for the race 2007. Just download the form, fill it out and send it to the IRONMAN Austria office.

Being on the waitinglist is not a guarantee for getting an IRONMAN Austria 2007 slot.

The swim challenge

2006-08-01T22:48:00.000+02:00

I haven't done any serious swimming for about a year now. I am a poor swimmer and I find it extremely boring doing lane after lane of swimming.

For that very reason I have been focussing on duathlon and short distance triathlons for the past year.

This will be the big challenge for 2007. Getting my swim sorted and finding the motivation to do the miles in the water. My two previous Ironman swims clocked in at 1:41 and 1:43 respectively. Not very impressive, and for me to be where I want to be, and to avoid the the after effects of the long swim, I need my swim time to be somewhere around 1:10 - 1:15 in Austria.

We'll see...I plan to contact a swim coach next week and start swimming with a masters class.

343 days left

2006-07-31T16:34:00.000+02:00

343 days left until IRONMAN Austria. I have just signed up for the race - together with about 2.500 others.

With that, I have made the commitment to do another Ironman. It will be my third. The others were in 2002 (Lanzarote) and 2003 (Frankfurt). My ambitions for the next is way higher than for the other two, but that will require a lot of work to be done before race day. I have 343 days left to get everything sorted...I will be ready.

It is still way to early to start focussing the training on the Ironman. I'm still in the middle of the 2006 season, and I have a few races that I will need to focus on before looking at 2007.

Still, I will start mentally preparing me for the Ironman, and for the training ahead. The swim will require a lot of work - and the swim training will commens next week with some unstructured training.