Ironman Coeur d'Alene - tough one, even for Murphy!

First off - how great is the people of America!  Never have I met such good people everywhere! From just people on the streets, our hotel staff, the volunteers and the crowds cheering us on the race. Everybody has been so great hosts and representing this nation and region in the best possible way, everywhere! Coeur d'Alene, Idaho.- thanks! A lot!!! 

So after a long lonely flight to Seattle, I met up with my good friends Karen & Ulrik - sweet company!  Just though my bike was lost again (3rd time this year??) but apparently just issues with US customs. Eventually the little fellowship was on the road, heading to little Coeur d'Alene - a 5 hour drive west into deep Idaho.

Five good (but wet), relaxed days just to focus and prepare - just ideal preps for this race, my 10th Ironman.

On race day the forecast was fair, the water was coldish, but the swim course looked amazing. I was right in the front line of this rolling start, where your own timing only starts when you enter the water - smart way to get people more relaxed and ease the fight in the water. Still though, had a rough start and came around in 1h02m a bit slower than expected, but I can see that quite few age groupers were below 60m, so the swim may have been a wee long. 

Good feelings on the bike over rolling highway hills, a few harder, short climbs - in the end around 1600m of climbing, so just a bit less than e.g. Ironman France. Felt really good all the way through and kept well to my goal strategy watt-wise. 

Mechanically the bike leg was a nightmare. Unbelievable that I have such bad luck, as I really feel I prepare the bike really well. First, problems with the front shifter had me climbing the fist hills on the big ring (would have made Sr. Lladó proud here, eh?). Second, the Di2 shifter on the aerobar got loose. Fiddling with that I went over the groves in the side of the road. Result: EVERYTHING ejected from the bike, bottles, gels and ... yes, again my SRM power meter computer. So had to stop and go back after that. During the last 20 miles or so, I even realized that I had been riding semi-flat on the rear wheel - not sure for how long... I peed 4-5 times on the bike - I was leaking like a river! 

Murphy was really in that mood on Sunday!   

Anyway - eventually riding happy, fueling well in the sun, no wind and with good feelings in 5h08m slightly better than expected!  Spot on 222 watts in Normalized power and pushing 288 TSS, which again is a good number, to run well off an IM bike.

Filled up my De Soto race suit with the needed gels and started the run with really good feelings. Here is why racing with a power meter, riding a bit more conservatively on the hills had a good effect. Easily kept my goal pace at 4:30 but 3 km into the run, something happened that I haven't experienced for 3-4 years now.  A massive cramp hit my left rear thigh. I was like getting a BIG nail hammered in and my first thought was indeed "Game Over". A few salt tablets, started walking and slowly came back into running. Felt OK so pushed back to around 4:40 then to 4:30 ... all fine... then OUCH:  Right rear thigh now had the second nail - came back running again, but from thereon it was just pure agony. For something like 33 km I was running with constant (though bearable) cramps everywhere in my legs, thighs, quads, calves and eventually even my arms.

Never experienced anything like this! Even now, two days post-race, my jaws are aching from gritting my teeth so hard - not cool at all. The last 5 miles was run/walk and finally made it to the last 1000m stretch of downhill, which were amazing. The roar of the crowd made me give in to a few tears (mostly from pain I guess) and made it through in 3h26m - my best IM run ever on a hilly run course.

Again - thanks to all who wished us good luck and cheered. To the great folks we have met on this trip, to Karen & Ulrik for amazing company. And then to my collaborators & sponsors:   De Soto Sports & Triatech.es - the race suit really worked wonders, to Argon 18, I AM ID and to OOB Coaching!

Next race will be Challenge Copenhagen the 18th August - stay tuned!  

8th at European Championships - Challenge Calella Half Ironman Race Report

So, this was the 4th time I did this race - actually it was in Calella that I had my debut in triathlon. First, this race is now in a completely different ball-game. Everything has undergone so many improvements, which is just great. I love racing, but I am also always very critical on race organizations - but for this edition I can say, that it is now as close to a flawless as you can ever hope for. I frankly did not experience any annoyances or surprises in the race. Even the post-race buffet is like a 5-star hotel :)

The new bike circuit is out of this world - its effin hard, beautiful on the Montseny climbs and this really benefits lighter and stronger riders. I had dropped 3 kg after ICAN Malaga, getting just below 70kg. That along with an almost 10% improvement in my cycling tests (FTP) during the months of spring, had me hoping that the curse of being a better flat-circuit rider, than a climber, was over.

I was sporting a brand new De Soto Forza ITU race suit in order to be able to compete legally in the ETU European Championships. Triatech even helped me printing my name and country on the suit - thanks a bunch, Hector. The fabric and quality of the De Soto gear is amazing - light and firm. The "compression" actually gave me a very steady feeling, especially in my thighs while running. The suit has a good cycling pad. Its nice to just be able to pick a suit off the shelf, put it on and race for almost 5 hours without anything bother or chafing. Great stuff.

So, the Catalan waters were really misbehaving the days before the race - almost 2m waves were pounding the beaches and I could feel people getting anxious about the swim. On race morning the sea had calmed a bit, but still very choppy - especially sighting and drafting in the water was a nightmare. Got in the first line and was one of the first at the first turn. Lost orientation a bit and had to stop to get back on track. Frankly I didn't feel I had the best pace. A french guy punched me so hard in the back of the head, but he was nice and checked if I was ok and said sorry .. Finished fairly OK in 30 minutes, swallowed too much water and got into T1 kinda cold and nausea.

I was excited to get going on the bike - I had setup my Argon 18 E118 with Zipp 808 front and back, whereas I saw some riding a disc here. Started getting comfy and pushed the planned 270 watts on the 3 climbs as planned, but I had to struggle a bit to maintain goal watts on the last climb. There was so much poplar fluff in the air, at times it looked like a snow-storm. I started feeling a bit of problems breathing - probably a bit of allergy or hay-fever.

Delivered the bike in T2 and felt ready to run. The run course is also updated, and we avoided the countryside, empty road that was dead boring in the previous editions of the race. I had been training really well, with many longer threshold sets the 4 weeks leading up to the race, after ICAN Malaga, where I ran in 4:05 min/km. I set off at 4:00 with the idea of dropping to 3:55, but quickly realized that this was not really an option. Legs actually felt quite good and even at 4:10 I passed many runners, who probably burned their legs on the bike. I had a bit of stomach cramps and every time I started pushing back closer to 4:00 I had problems breathing - probably my heart rate was going balistic. The last 7-8 km was pure survival and I dropped to running at 4:30-4:40 which is sub-par even for me. Finally did 4h47m and finished 8th in the European Championship - I guess I should be happy with that. However, I can see that I still need to work on hilly biking - I doubt I was even in top50 on the bike (compared to 2nd last year on the flat course)

Frankly it was amazing to race in Calella - I realize how lucky I am to know so many good people and being carried forward by the cheers of friends and having Blanca there was of course sweet <3

Coming up is the Ironman Couer d'Alene in Idaho, USA - the 23rd of June.   

New Collaboration with De Soto & Triatech.es

Happy to accounce the new collaboration with De Soto Sports and Triatech.es here in Spain. De Soto is a classic Californian brand with more than 20 years of history in the sports. I have been following the brand for long - the fabrics are top quality and the designs are really cool, almost with a classic Cali-surf style touch. 

For 2013 I will be training and racing with De Soto apparal, starting this Sunday where I will be sporting the red Forza ITU Tri-suit as you can see in the photos here. But also the really sweet cycling gear. As my friend Doof says: "To wear a pink jersey, you need to be skinny, tanned and faster than most of the pack" 

I will try my best to comply there Doof. Thanks

Check out www.desotosport.com and  www.Triatech.es for good deals here in Spain

Personal Best on Ironman - finally nailed nutrition!

So here´s the race report from yesterday´s Ironman race in Calella. All in all, I am very happy and proud about my finish and personal best in 9h23m!

The weather looked horrible on Saturday as it was raining cats and dogs the full day, and OOB Coach and pro athlete, Jens PB and myself got wet feet while picking up race bags. Spent the Saturday meeting a bunch of good Danish people, helping them getting race ready, a good chat and had an early and good sleep.

Sunday morning was dry, as I picked up Blanca and we set forth through Barcelona´s Sunday-morning-streets full of drunk people. Its always an interesting contrast, when you consider what you COULD be doing on a Sunday morning - and though Ironman is a hard start on a Sunday, I have no doubt what I prefer at this moment in my life :)

My mood was good and I was relaxed - the pressure was somewhat off for this Ironman, but I was indeed motivated. The preparations had been sub-par with a bit of stomach flu in Cairo, loads of travels and no race bike for approx 3-4 weeks, due to a warranty change of the E-118.

The sewers in Calella had been flooding due to the heavy rain, which brought back memories of Challenge Copenhagen 2010. But appears the Mediterrean is so polluted anyway that nobody took notice. Came well of the beach and was between the first 10 to round the first buoy - no fights and had a good pace and good found feet to draft on most of the way, so finished in 1h02m in a swim which is known to be 2-3 minutes slower.

Good transition and tucked well into aero-position, only to feel the consequences of not having my TT bike for the last few weeks - pains in shoulders and neck. My aim was 215 watts, which felt easy now and pushed by a few hundred bikes, happy about my new Zipp disc and wide front - no wind and around 90 km into the bike leg I averaged 38.7 km/h - fairly more than expected. The wind picked up, which sent me back to around 37.7 km/h. The Calella Challenge is known for intense drafting and this edition was no exception. Bikes like pearls on a string with 2-3 meters apart, makes it hard to pace well. Anywho, finished in Personal Best bike split at 4h48m - stomach and nutrition had been well, so felt good when running out to the marathon.

A new (to me) strategy was to bring all my own nutrition for the 42.2 km run - which meant 8 GU gels or 200 grams of carbohydrates, a gel every 20 minutes or so. For the first time ever I had no GI problems so finally nailed this issue, that has been haunting and stopping me in every of the 7 other Ironman races before this one! I kept a steady pace of 4:40 until around 25km, which felt bearable. Around 30-32 km I started feeling somewhat tired but kept up as well as possible. I dropped my last to salt tablets just as I started feeling small cramps, but Jens was on the spot with a bucket of fast Saltstick tabs - all good. My homie Marc Lopez gave me splits and told me I was 3rd in the Age Group with 2 minutes up to number 2, which at that time felt impossble to push through. Pace fell to 4:45 and then at 36km I started getting in some more trouble, dizzy and hurting legs - but stayed around 5:00 for the last 5km and finished the marathon in 3:28 - probably loosing 10-12 minutes on the last 7-8km. But the closest I have ever come to a perfect execution on the mother of triathlon distances and as always, a bunch of new things learned.

Cheers and thanks for checking in!  Thomas

After the rain comes sun! Ironman Frankfurt

So, I think its fair to say that preparations for this race was as close to perfect as it will ever get. Legs felt good and rested, mind felt positive and the days before the race I was just confident that the parameters that I could influence in preparations had been optimal. But as you know, this is not always the full equation in Ironman racing - I have all the respect in the world, to the outside parameters. And I am learning to improve how to cope with this in every training and every race i do. Ironman Frankfurt was about to becore a big lesson learned on this!

The swim was amazing - dark clouds lured above us, the lake was hot (almost 24 degrees which is warm in a wetsuit). I started with the pros and 300 age groupers which was definitely an advantage. Not even one fight in the water, but I also had a hard time finding feet to draft on. Hence, ended up swimming most of the time by myself. Exiting the water, I was quite certain that I did not reach the expected goal of sub 60 minutes. Running in to T1 I asked a German about the time and he shouted "FIVE NINE" which made no sense to me until I was a few kilometers into the bike and saw that I had swam in 59.30 minutes - my best ever.

Quickly found a good and planned pace of 218 watts on the bike, legs were on fire and I overtook many athletes going around 42 km/h on the flat first 30 km. Then came the rain ... and the wind. I recall the stings of raindrops hitting my arms, but it was quite "hyggelig" and still had a good time and kept pace well. Hitting the first cobble stones in a small village and had to hold on to everything, bottles and gels which were jumping up and down. Midway through this cobbled village, I realize in horror, that the screeen for my power meter is gone. Break and start to run a few 100 meters back and a nice lady had picked it up. Chain fell off. Shit!  Back on the bike and I started regaining the lost terrain again. Rain now really got bad and for the first time ever, I had to pee badly - and so I did ... 5 times in all on the bike, like a race horse. Not a big issue as the rain quickly washed everything clean. Nutrition went really well and I felt good in stomach and body.

Around 80 km, going fast downhill into a roundabout, a pony-tailed gentleman in front of me, realize that he is coming in too fast - he blocks his breaks, slides and crashes like 2-3 meters in front of me. I have the option to go over him or try to find a "soft" landing, BUM!  Later in the goal area, a German guy called Marcus told me he saw me crash and said "it reminded me of a MotoGP crash" I think I was sliding like 10-12m on the wet asphalt - but to my surprise I had only little pain and only small scratches on the right elbow - pfew, lucky - keep pushing!  Still heavy rain and so, like around km100 I am going at a fairly slow and controlled pace into a turn and my front wheel just disappears, without even touching the breaks. BUM again. Same elbow, but now also the hip and I hear the helmet slamming hard into the asphalt. This time I am in big pain and stay on the ground until some nice spectators come over to help. I am shaking in pain and cant even answer their question "Are you OK?" - wait, I am not OK ... not at all, but 25 years of skateboarding, you slam a lot. So back on the bike. Now the elbow is bleeding badly and its painful to be in the aerobars on the bad asphalt and going over bumps, so I took a painkiller, which relieved  the pain slightly.
Finally, 5 km before T2, the disaster completes itself, as I have a rear wheel flat. I cut up the tubular with a small cutter, but struggle too long to get the tubular off - it´s glued so hard. This was probably the moment where I gave up the fight, be it wrong or be it right. But struggling 5-6 minutes with the tire, I could see that this was just not my day. So rolled down to T2, changed and started the 42 km run.

Andy Raelert Crashing in the same corner at 10 km/H

I can only say I was not too motivated, now this was my 4th Ironman  (St. George, Zurich & Calella) in a row, where I was not doing too good - but at least I wanted to take some lessons on running and nutrition. Must admit it was harder than expected to maintain the planned 4:40 min/km pace, maybe slightly due to pains after the crashes. With 10 km to go, I could see that I could probably sub the 10 hours if I kept a pace just around 5:00 min/km. And so I did, finally finishing in 9:55, around 4 minutes from my personal best.

Good mood though - you win some and you loose some. Motivation is already back!

Cheers - Thomas

Last few weeks before Ironman Frankfurt

So now less than 3 weeks until I am racing Ironman Frankfurt and a few words on what I do differently than other years.

In training: 
I have definitely seen a increase in training volume the 3-4 weeks a I am now close to 20 hours a week. But its not as last year, where 2-3 very long weekly bike rides would dominate and make me dead tired. Along the "Progressive Adoption" methodology, I am still doing harder sets, with higher quality (more watts, higher heart rate), just a slight increase in hours per set and a few more sets. Now close to 14 sets per week or averaging 2 sets a day. Last week the distribution was 3 swim, 4 bike, 4 run and 2 core sets.

Again, planning the week like this, I get less tired overall and recover faster than after the very long runs (above 1.5 hours) or bikes (above 4 hours). It´s easier to fit this into a daily schedule, I normally do one set early morning before works and then another set in the evening, unless its a brick set.

Have agreed the tapering will only really commence about a week before the race - another positive effect of not tiring one-self with load of volumen and dead long sets.

Rest & eat: 
I am almost afraid of putting this on paper, just out of fear of loosing my current good "sleeping mojo", but I am sleeping like a champion at the moment. Goint to bed no later than 22.30 apparently just has a good effect on my sleeping pattern and I easily hit 8-9 hours, which is needed for better recovery. Weekends I even do a little siesta, which of course is important to show my surrounding how well I integrate to Spanish customs :)

As mentioned, I dropped weight by following a strict diet some 2-5 weeks ago and was at steady 69 kg last week.With the volumes I am putting in now, I can still remain at racing weight (70 kg) while eating more carbohydrates (rice, quinoa & some pasta) and just maintaining the engines going in a healthy way that supports fast recovery. I totally cut out alcohol, which is potentially also has a positive effect on my sleep. It´s dead boring to live like a monk like this, but I can feel that it´s worth the sacrifice - so will stick to this until having a well deserved "Weisse" in Germany after the race.

I have decided to opt out of going to Ironman France to cheer for many friends racing there this weekend. Its a tough call, but getting on a 9 hours exhausting tour bus ride there just seems to risky in terms of staying well in above patterns. 

Other:
Not much more going on really. I will race on and in same gear as in Challenge Calella. Will change tires and have a final bike tune-up before it gets sent directly to T1.
Have been discussing potential race plan with Coach Aleksandar. In short I will aim for 215 watts on the bike, which should then get me safely below the 5 hours. And run around 4:35 or 4:40 to finish the marathon (theoretically) below 3h15m.

Cheers and let the count down begin!   Thomas

The Coffee Trick!

Our old friend Ronnie Reagan said: "I never drink coffee at lunch. I find it keeps me awake for the afternoon"

I have very few real dependencies;  one would be that I like a glass of splendid Spanish red wine, but that´s beaten by far, by my addiction for a good, solid coffee in the morning. Not latte, not an espresso shot or any other fancy stuff - just a plain biggish black coffee, like the Americans like it. It´s actually difficult to find a good coffee bar in Barcelona, so I use a french press and have a grinder for the whole Starbucks beans I can get just on the corner. Or just a plain Nescafe can do the trick. 

I am certain that you can find loads of studies on the goods and the bads of Coffee, but for sure coffee has a medical proven positive effect on performance, both mental and physical -  useful in training and racing. That´s why many products that we devour during races, such as gels and energy drinks, holds some amount of caffeine - in short it gives you a good kick to perform better.

However, when you are a coffeholic like me, the effect of the caffeine-based products are somehow lessened, as the body is just too used to getting this little extra kick. 

Now, here is a little trick that will get the coffee and maybe caffeine-pills make you fly on race day:  The week before the race you cut off or dramatically cut down your coffee intake. Now, that is VERY hard in the beginning. I suffered insomnia and headaches, which just again proves that I am highly addicted. You may even feel that your legs are slow and dull the week leading up to a race. But once you get that longed-for coffee on race morning it will fire you up like nothing else! 


Try it before your next race, or even better, try it in training and see if works for you too! 


Happy weekend - wake up and smell the coffee!   Hugs T