News
Tblog is the newest addition to my homepage.
The Tblog will be in English and is a result of several requests
to write in English. I think this is a fine compromise and in
case you prefer Danish please check out Presse
July 14th 2008
This past weekend was a busy one for the
European Ironman athletes with three great events going on at
the same time. I had quite a few athletes competing in both Roth
and Austria and they all delivered the goods. Everyone I have
trained for these two events can look back on a great competition
and a considerable Personnel Record. A great outcome and a big
congrats from me to them:-) Niels-Otto, who won his age-group
in Ironman Lanzerote this year, once again improved greatly and
went SUB-Nine for the first time. His time was 8.55 and he thereby
achieved his second goal of the season. Now, only a great result
in Ironman Hawaii is left to complete a perfect
season for him.
Also, congrats to Thunderbear for breaking
the Danish Record over the Iron distance, in 8.16 this weekend!
June 29th 2008
Ironman.com has an article on front page
right now featuring me. The reason is my age group win last year
in Hawaii. If you want to read more follow this link: http://ironman.com/fran-arfaras-profiles-2007-mens-30-34-age-group-winner-tommy-nielsen-of-silkeborg-denmark
June 28th 2008
While my swim and bike form is excellent,
I still can't run. It's obviously a bit frustration to be in great
shape and being able to compete due to an injury. I try to approach
this as constructive as I can and use my energy on both swimming
and biking. I hope this will pay off once I get to Hawaii (hopefully
injury free)!
June 11th 2008
I have not run a single step in the last
three weeks and I don't think I will run another step in the coming
weeks either. The achilles tendon is quite sore, however, I'm
still able to bike and swim. In the weekend I finished fourth
in a local bike race and further I won a local time trial yesterday.
You need something to do when you can't race triathlon:-) I hope
somehow to get ready to go back to Kona in October. Time will
tell if the achilles tendon will mend in time!
May 25th 2008
Late Wednesday night I decided to go to Austria
and participate in the 70.3 race. You can talk about misjudgement
there! The injured achilles tendon must have been a sign for me
to not go. I think just about everything went wrong in that competition,
not to mention further upsetting my achilles tendonitis! Well
the first wrongdoing was to start in the wrong start wave. That
has never happened to me before. It was my own fault, but in my
defence, I was given the wrong information upon registration and
I was given the wrong colour swim cap (indicating my wave). Anyway,
I swam well (leading my wrong start group) and exited the water
in 25.59 minutes. I swam the whole way alone but overtook maybe
200 people from the start groups ahead of me! Out on the bike
I realised my mistake as I kept overtaking plenty of people from
my age group. That didn't stop me and I kept pushing the pace.
The bike course was a lot hillier than I had expected but at the
same time it was beautiful and I enjoyed most of the ride. Well
perhaps except for the two times I had to get off my bike and
put the chain back on! The front derailleur had been poor adjusted
(by myself, nobody else to blame). I started the run in good shape
and felt fine. I did not feel my achilles tendonitis at all, however
after less than one k, I had to pay the porta-potty a visit for
the first time. Only 2 k's later I paid the porta-potty another
visit! Not the best of starts to a run! At 4k I started to feel
a little pain from the achilles tendon, but I kept going. At 5k
the pain was severe but I was encourage to continue after seeing
my spilt for the first 5k was 20 minutes incl. all the stops!
This meant I was running quite fast, however after 5.5k of running
I could not make another step to save my life. The achilles tendon
was bust for good! A terrible way to end a day, but I had no other
option left!
On the bright side two of my athletes had great days in their
respective competitions. Frantz Andersen achieved a new PB in
Austria and cut 16 minutes off his previous record. Check out
his website at www.tri-and.dk. Further Niels-Otto Silkjær
qualified himself for Ironman Hawaii later this year after a dominating
performance in Ironman Lanzerote. By far his best performance
ever with an AG win and a 16th place overall. Go get'em in Hawaii:-)
May 21st 2008
I was supposed to travel to Austria today
to participate in 70.3 Austria. However, that is not likely to
happen. I've injured my achilles tendon and cannot run. The injury
happened Friday last week and I don't think I'll be ready to race
in the weekend. It will probably be another 10 or 14 days before
I can run again even though I'm doing everything I can to get
well again. In fact, the achilles tendon injury is the second
injury I have had since Holstebro Triathlon. Along with the achilles
injury, I'm also fighting a minor groin injury that prevents me
from doing high intensity training...
May 6th 2008
The first competition of the season is under
the belt. It would be the easiest thing in the world to write:
"Short triathlon will never be my thing" and thereby
neglect the fact that I was beaten fair and square in a race where
I finish 5th overall. It was a stellar field with most of the
fast guys from my region behind the start line. I swam surprisingly
well and more or less biked to my current level of fitness, however
the run was somewhat a nightmare. I'm still a 'bit' on the heavy
site and you just can't fake it on the run being 5kg overweight!
I knew well before entering the race that this would be a problem
and taking this fact into account, I'm actually quite satisfied
with my race. The next couple of weeks should see me loosing a
little weight and with some more solid training I expect to be
ready to race for real in 70.3 Austria in three weeks time.
By the way, this is how
a fat boy looks like in competition:-)
April 28th 2008
Finally I had a really good training ride
on the bike. For the first time this year I was able to come close
to last year's training results in a shorter TT. I averaged a
little over 340 watt. I was pleased with this as my CdA is much
better this year compared to last year = more speed. Further,
it's a 11 % improvement over the same TT two weeks ago. Not bad
for two weeks of training.
On Thursday it's
time for this year's first competition. It's a kind of equipment
test for me and a nice way to test my current form. I look forward
to the race. Last year the field was quite stellar and I hope
the race attracts a similar field this year.
April 21st 2008
It's been a lot harder getting back into
shape that I expected after my period of sickness. The fact is
that I'm still not at the same level of fitness that I was prior
to my sickness in March. The last couple of years I have been
injured in March and accordingly could not run, however that was
an opportunity to work on my bike fitness and it worked really
well. I had a big increase in bike fitness and by the time I could
start running again it seemed that my running fitness improved
along with my bike fitness. In other words I hit two birds with
one stone. This year I have realised that sickness impairs performance
a lot more than an injury. Common sense? I know, but often you
don't realise the fact of life until you have tried it and with
the first competition of the year only a week away I’m under
pressure.
March 30th 2008
March should be the month that brings spring
time, however, this year it brought winter, snow, wind and cold
weather. Accordingly, I have been ill a lot more than usual. I
had an amazing 12 days of sickness spread out over three weeks.
My training plan is pretty ruined after this. I'm currently in
recovery mode trying to get upright again with the help of penicillin.
Another couple of days and I should be alright again and ready
to once again push it in training.
The first competition of the season is going
to be on May 1st.
March 4th 2008
I did not write anything in
February for a good reason. I have been busy. I have been doing
a lot of coaching lately and at the same time I increased my run
volume. In fact, I went from 21 km of running a week to 100 km
of running four weeks later! Twice before have I run that much,
however, I have never had any success following that regime. Later
this season we'll see if I'll benefit from the volume or not.
It was a good test, though, and proves that I'm a 100 % injury
free now.
Since my last entry, I have
got a brand new time trial frame from Nishiki. I'm in the process
of building that bike and it looks very promising right now. It
the only one of its kind and I'm going to test it throughout the
year. I really look forward to that, although, it will be hard
to let go of the old bike. A bike that has served me well:-)
This week I was honoured
by my town. I have been awarded for Best Sport Performance of
the year because of my win in Hawaii. It was great and actually
the second time I had my name engraved on the trophy along with
names like golfer Thomas Bjørn, former mountain bike European
Champion Lennie Kristensen and Olympian gold medallist Eskild
Ebbesen.
January 30th 2008
Lately, I have been encouraged to turn pro
by friends and people I meet. (Unfortunately my sponsors have
not had the same encouragement). Kidding aside, I have not worked
along that pathway, anyhow.
In short, I have gone far beyond what I ever thought possible
within the sport of triathlon. I have come to the conclusion that
I would not have reached the level I have if I’d chosen
any other route than I did. In fact, I’m convinced that
what I have learned though work (in various branches) has given
me the ability to maximize my athletically performance. Vice versa
I know I’m hell lot better at work due to triathlon than
I would have been without. In short a great combo that lifted
me to a higher personnel level. When I think about it, I’m
quite pleased things have turned out the way they have.
Would I not like to race pro? Well, I have covered this topic
a few times in my Blog because I’m quite often challenged
from others on whether I should race pro or not? I would like
to race pro and make a living out of it; however, I don’t
want to do the volume required. If I train more than 18-20 hours
just for two weeks in a row, the training becomes boring. Further,
“making a living” in my book means earn as much as
I do today and frankly that would require a great deal of sponsorship
and a few IM victories every year. Does this mean that I don’t
like training nor enjoy the triathlon lifestyle? If it means healthy
training and a balanced life with space and time for others than
just me, yes indeed, then I’m hooked on triathlon. However
if this means high volume, endless miles of training, sacrificing
family to live off almost nothing, no then I would not enjoy it
so much. People close to me know I’m a tri geek in many
senses just without the high volume training regime.
My season is more or less planned. Frankfurt is off the table
and I’ll do Austra 70.3 instead. Well that’s a starting
point anyway. We’ll see what follows next?
December 24th 2007
Merry Christmas to everyone. I hope you'll
have an enjoyable time.
I have finally found time to sit down and
relax after a very busy schedule the past week. I had the great
fortune to have 7 days of one-on-one sparring with Michael Maxwell
from www.somaticsenses.com. Michael was the guy who got me to
the start line in Kona after several treatments leading up to
the race and thereby helping me to win in Hawaii. I was immediately
impressed by his huge knowledge and his ability to get me straighten
out. When the chance to invite him to Denmark appeared, I grabbed
it. We have worked on several things throughout the week including
talks for one of my sponsors and the creation of a personalized
strength and mobility program. I am convinced that the program
will break new ground for me and I'm excited to get started for
real.
December 9th 2007
In the off season and in the winter time
most of my bike training takes place indoors. Since I started
training with Ergvideo on my Computrainer, I have to admit that
training has been a lot more fun. It's not only fun but it's very
efficient as well. I have often missed the stochastic nature of
cycling when I have trained on the Computrainer, but with Ergvideo
it's as stochastic as I want it to be. Great stuff. I can do Criterium
rides, base rides, VO2Max intervals or hill repeats exactly as
it would be out on the road. I had the cr*p beaten out of me this
weekend doing a Level B Criterium ride in my off season. It'll
be a while before I do that ride again:-) If there ever was a
wonder tool for indoor riding this is it!
December 2nd 2007
The injury that held me back on the bike
when I raced Ironman Hawaii this year is still there. I have decided
that it's an unacceptable situation and I have invited Michael
Maxwell, who I worked together with in Hawaii leading up to the
race, to come and visit me before Xmas. He is in Europe with the
Canadian Oplympic bobsleigh team and he'll take some time off
to come and treat me. I am very graceful that this is possible.
One thing is the pain in everyday life, however much more painful
is the fact that I cannot perform to my best. I hope the cooperation
with Mike can improve my performance next year.
November 29th 2007
As much as I like time off from training,
I really enjoy getting right back into some unorganized training
again. I took four weeks completely off from training and in the
last couple of weeks I have increased the training load to about
5-6 hours of training a week. It's funny that I always seem more
busy in the off season than in the triathlon season, however that
probably a matter of perspective. Anyway I had a sensational training
session today on the Computrainer. I tried ErgVideo for the first
time and man did I have fun! I rode for a little over an hour
on a hilly course and I never had such a great training ride on
the Computrainer. This is really promising for the future. My
training is going to be so much more fun from January till March.
I provide more information on this later. I have several courses
that I'm going to try out in the coming month. If you want to
see more about Ergvideo try this www.ergvideo.com
I still have not decided what to do next
year. Quite a few of the athletes that I coach are going to Roth
in Germany so I might go down there to support them, but I'm not
likely to make another start there next year myself. Well I still
have time to finalize my plans...
October 22nd 2007
I have arrived back in Denmark again after
a great trip to Hawaii. I caught a flue on the way back and I'm
in bed. This provides a good opportunity to reflect on the whole
Kona experience.
It's funny I could not have written the story
any better myself no matter how hard I would have tried. The whole
event just unfolded in such a perfect way that it's hard to believe.
So many years ago I started in this sport not even believing that
I could qualify for this event. I remember seeing Mark Allen beating
competitors like Dave Scott, Pauli Kiuri and Christian Bustos
back in the late eighties and the early nineties. I was hooked
by the drama and couldn't believe how anyone could battle it out
over such a long distance. I had to try myself.
It didn't look like I had any talent for
the sport in the beginning. (Now I see clearly that it was probably
more a question of poor training rather than lack of talent.)
However, in 1996 I qualified for Hawaii for the first time with
what I at the time thought was a breakthrough performance. I improved
my personnel best over the ironman distance with an hour and finished
in 9.14. I was 23 years old and ready to take on Hawaii. That
race was incredible and got the Ironman Hawaii bug. Watching the
winners up there on the stage receiving a trophy could make any
23 year old envy. I wanted to be up there one day.
After two Kona Tours, in 1999, I realised
that Ironman Hawaii was not only tough but also a runner's competition.
Yep, I'm a bit slow. Accordingly I saw my chances of getting on
that podium vanish as I only (at best) ran a 3.30 marathon at
the time. With serious training and a big self-confidence boost
from winning the 2001 ITU Long Course World Championship and breaking
9 hours for the first time, I was ready to give Kona another try
the following year.
In 2002 I was in great shape but two punctures
and a penalty for blocking on the bike added 12 minutes to my
finish time and I ended up 5th in my age group and 50th overall.
That year and the following three years in Kona were very tough
on me. I had one spell of bad luck followed by another. Injury,
sickness and a broken off arm pad in the 2004 race were some of
the problems. I was close to give up on my dream and leave the
sport for good. However, I hung in there and worked harder than
ever to get the details right, improve my pacing skills and work
on my running economy. The 2006 race was a kind of turn point
as the race went flawless for me and I ended up third, very close
to my ultimate goal. Especially my running seemed to move in the
right direction and with another lesson learned on mental aspect
of the last 10 k of the marathon, I was ready for one last shot
at the Ironman Hawaii World Champ's title!
To finally get it right this year was absolutely
amazing and a great feeling. Not only did I win in what I thought
would be my last Kona performance, but I won the darn thing on
the run - my weakest discipline (this could probably be debated
now) ! Further, I really excelled in the last 3 miles where I
so often in the years before have lost ground to the competition.
If you can't lead from start to finish this was probably the best
way to win.
A sensational finish to an outstanding season.
Three ironman competitions in 4 month including a 8.33 finish
in Roth a victory in IM UK and finally a 9.05 win in Kona really
begs the question - What now?
Difficult to answer right now. Maybe more
on this later. The people I have coached this year have all had
brilliant seasons and as I stated I'm pleased with mine. In other
words now it's time to enjoy and relax. Stay tuned.
October 14th 2007
Yes! Yes! Yes! Mission acomplished. I won
my age group and can call myself IRONMAN WORLD CHAMPION.
It didn't start too promising. I had a poor
swim due to a poor start. I swam way too easy and when I thought
I was going to make up time on the bike an old injury held me
back. I have had an entrapped nerve in my behind for a long time,
however, with competent help from Mike from ART I was able to
race. Although, I could not bike at my usual strenght, I was able
to put distance on some of my main contenders.
Back in T2 I was 50th overall, but only 5th
or 6th in my agegroup. This meant that I had to make up ground
in my weakest diciplin, the run! Not the best of situations. I
ran fast in the beginning but I hardly gained any ground on the
competitors. Finally in the lavafields things started to come
around my way and I caught one competitor by the other and just
before Natural Energy Lab I took the lead in my agegroup. Nice!
I keept racing to the end and passed several other agegroupers
in the 2 miles. Eventually I ended up as 3rd agegrouper overall.
On top of this Torbjørn Sindballe
made the best Danish result in Hawaii to date. All in all a very
good Danish day.
October 11th 2007
It's time to target the whole mental game
and get that head right. The next up-date will follow after the
race. I feel ready to race and the ART treatment has helped a
lot, but it will not rid all my problems before the race. However,
I feel better than before Ironman UK. On Saturday we wanna see
the red white Danish Vikings rock the course. A perfect senario
would be two CRAFTed Danes placing first among the Pro's and the
amateurs. Go Thunderbear and Torpedo:-)
(I'm the little guy on the right:-) )
See ya on Sunday
October 10th 2007
It's getting really busy in town. I mean
it's crowed everywhere and I don't recall Kailua's ever been so
crowed. I remember the first time I competed in Kona, well not
really "competed" but participated in Ironman Hawaii.
I found the course very crowed already back then with less than
1500 participants. Now, more than 1800 people with toe the start
line and I tell you, it's a mess! I'm happy that I usually escape
the whole drafting situation by being on the top of the field,
but if you leave the swim after a little over an hour, you're
caught in the stress!
I attended "Lava of the Legends"
today, which was put on by the Triathlete Mag. Mark Allen, Dave
Scott, PNF and a few other former guns gave their words of wisdom.
The reason I mention this is that 'The Man' announced that he'll
do Ironman Hawaii next year!! How old is he now? 51 or 52? Man
he is cool. The whole thing was highly entertaining with The Grip
and The Man teasing each other throughout the "show".
I didn't pick up any new tips, but entertainment was top-notch!
My training is improving - a lot! I have
received ART (Active Release Technique) treatment the last three
days, because I have a nerve in my right leg that's causing problems.
The treatment is very painful but it helps and my training has
been on a whole other level since the first treatment. I look
forward to raceday.
October 8th 2007
It's getting hot here. I'm always quick to
forget just how hot running on Alli Drive is. The pulse is just
uncontrollable and once your core temperature gets up you can't
get it down again. I feel my acclimatizing is coming along rather
slowly this year and I really hope I adjust a lot better to the
heat in the coming days.
The town is changing right now. The advertising
banners are popping up everywhere and new shops with the latest
triathlon equipment open on every street corner. It's easy to
spend a lot of time checking these new things out but it's basically
a waste of time as you've (hopefully) already finalised your equipment
for raceday.
My training did not go particular well today
so I'll do another semi recovery day tomorrow with a little morning
swim. Then Tuesday hopefully I'm back on top again. Stay tuned:-)
October 5th 2007
Today was a tough training day with 110 k
bike ride in 3 hours followed by a 10 k run. The bike included
2x40 minutes with ironman intensity and the rest was easy. Those
two sections went well. I rode my ironman watts with a lower heart
rate than normal. Considering that it was a warm day, the numbers
make me feel quite confident.
I've tried to keep out of the sun as much
as possible to not damage my skin too much before the competition.
I need my skin to work optimally if I'm to run a reasonable marathon
here in the hot and humid climate. Unfortunately the sun was really
tough on me today! Although, I've avoided a sun burn, I've unfortunately
"won" a "nice" sun tan.
My taper really starts tomorrow and I have
a semi day off. I'll do a little swim in the morning and stay
in my room for the rest of the day!!! (What a way to spend a Saturday...)
October 3rd 2007
I'm back and it's nice to be back in Kona.
Everything looks the same and the local community is getting ready
for the big event in 10 days. The flight here went well. It was
a little over 20 hours of flying.
This morning I went for an easy swim in the
sea. The sea was calm and I swam well. After a quick asembly of
my bike I was ready for a short ride on my bike. The bike ride
was great. I rode along the Queen K highway and although the road
is a little boring, the first ride is always great. The CeramicSpeed
bearings are absolutly great and my bike rolled better than ever.
I'm really happy with my bike.
Upon returning from my bike ride I saw Macca
on his new red Spezialized almost beeing run down by a 4x4 vehical
driven by a blonde girl. In the last the moment Macca was able
to escape a coalision, securing his race as well as his red hot
Spezialized bike. As you can imagine he yelled as had he just
seen Stormin' Normann or Faris...
Anyway, I'm getting ready for my first visit
to Lava Java. See ya...
October 1st 2007
I'm leaving for Kona in a few hours. I feel
in reasonable shape but it's really hard to tell exactly how good
my shape is until I have trained a few times in Kona. My next
update will be from Café Lava Java once I'm on the magical
island. What can I say? Alohaaa.
September 20th 2007
Yesterday I visited my newest sponsor, Ceramicspeed
in the Danish town Holstebro. Ceramicspeed makes the best ceramic
bearings in the world and is very involved in cycling. The new
SRAM group set "RED" will have ceramicspeed bearings
so watch out! I had a factory tour and was able to witness the
accuracy of the work they do. I was very impressed with what I
saw. There were several samples from the competition and honestly
with the prices the competition charges for their stuff they should
be ashamed! Enough said!!
One thing that I did learn was that grade
1 bearings do not exist at all. The best you can get today is
a grade 3. I then wonder where the competition gets its "grade
1" bearings from?? (and why they felt like grade 5 or 7 compared
to grade 3?)
I had all my bearings changes including the
ones in my four Zipp wheels. I'll soon be able to comment on the
difference, if any! One thing I will say here is that the bearings
in my Zipp 808 were totally warn out and I have biked less than
700 k with that wheel set!
We talked about watt savings and Jacob who
owns the company estimated that I could save between 8 and 12
watts during Ironman Hawaii if I hold 250 watts avg. I find this
is a very high number I have my doubts about it. However, it is
very clear that the ceramicspeed bearings are a lot better than
what I had. I'm looking forward to my first ride.
As background information: Several of the
PRO tour teams in this year's T'd'F used ceramicspeed instead
of standard Shimano and Campa components. Among these teams were
T-Mobile.
September 14th 2007
Right now I think about Lava Java and a big
cup of Kona coffee, dark roast, and of course two scoops of ice
cream, cookies and cream flavour! Ups! Did I forget to mention
the most beautiful sunset in the world right in front of me painting
the Kona coast in all sorts of pastel colours? How could I?
Its memories like that, that keeps my training
alive right now. It's cold and rainy in Denmark and if it wasn't
for Ironman Hawaii I'd be enjoying my off season right now. At
the same time I know how hard it's going to be, being away from
the family. There's always a trade-off somewhere...
I have recovered well since Ironman UK at
least in terms of swimming and cycling. However, I find it difficult
to find my run rythm. This is of great concern right now, but
at the same time I'm really happy that my Achilles tendon is really
well. I think the reason my Achilles is doing fine, is that I
have been running with compression socks since Ironman UK. This
seems to help a lot and I expect to use'em in Hawaii.
I still intend to train seriously for another
two weeks before I begin my taper. With a bit of luck I'll come
close to training 18 hours this week. It's a fragile balance,
however, having just finished an Ironman and then ramp up training
that much. I'll monitor my body closely this week and I'm prepared
to reduce the load if necessary. We'll see.
August 22nd 2007
This wasn't supposed to happen! Amazingly
I crossed the finish line in front of Sherborne Carstle as the
first age-grouper and in 8th position overall. As if that wasn't
enough I went sub 9 hours on an incredibly hilly course and finished
off running a 3.01 marathon! Maybe I should also mention that
the old course record in the 30-34 age-group was improved with
some 16 minutes... I'm speechless. You just can't help wondering
what would have been if I'd showed up in form and closer to my
normal race weight?
The race kicked off in the usual manner.
The lake in front of Sherborne Carstle was so dirty that you couldn't
see anything. This made it impossible to draft on other competitor's
feet. You simply couldn't see them. Visibility was less than 10
cm! I left the water in just under 48 minutes, which led me to
believe that the swim possibly could be short? I couldn't feel
my feet because of the 16 degree cold water. I took a long time
to get dressed in T1 and I lost contact with the guns. They were
gone for the day! On the bike I had difficulties finding my own
pace and probably started out too fast. The three loop course
certainly had it in it! With 2200 meters of climbing and a strong
wind I was drained from energy and just before the completion
of the bike course. Cramps were starting to emerge and I was looking
forward to the run - NOT! I feared the run course. I have never
seen a run course with that many steep and long hills. I started
the run as slowly as I could. The cheering from the spectators
and the speaker was amazing. Everyone seemed to be enjoying the
fact that an agegrouper was inside the top 10 after the bike.
I don't know what to say about the run. It
was supposed to be 'relaxed' and laid back(!), but in 7th position
overall it just seemed wrong to start walking! And walking would
have been the only way to complete that run course somewhat relaxed.
I don't have to say how I felt. I think everyone can imagine!
With 12 Km to go and a lot of changing positions from 8th to 6th
and back to 8th I was as cooked as any red lobster. My pulse dropped
30 beats within a minute. I couldn't get my pulse to beat any
faster than 125 beats/min. Funny enough my pace didn't suffer.
I kept it going for the remainder of course to finish first and
securing my Hawaii slot for October. Did I just write, see you
in October?! Uhhhm, that's in what? 7 or 8 weeks? Ohh no.
August 15th 2007
I'm in the middle of my taper. I've had two
weeks of reasonable training, not outstanding, but reasonable.
I look forward to my 20th ironman and I'll be in the UK to have
fun. After Roth it's time to relax a little and just let things
happen the way they happen. Maybe if I can stay out of trouble,
I'll be able to place in the top 20. However, any finish is good
this time. See you after IMUK. Cheers.
August 1st 2007
Bummer! I’m down with a cold. Just
as I hoped it would be possible to carry out some solid training
in the last two weeks before my one week taper this happens! It
must be the wet and cold Danish summer that is getting to me.
Hopefully, I can be up and about again in a few days.
July 30th 2007
The Danish summer has been cold and rainy.
I have been very unfortunate in terms of punctures in the last
three weeks. In fact, I have had to abandon three key sessions
in the last three weeks due to punctures. In other words since
Roth my longest ride has been ca. 100 km. It’s a bit on
the short side. On top of that I am fighting a strange injury
in my right leg. The backside of my right leg is not working properly.
It seems that somehow there is a delay of the signal from my head
to my leg. This makes the muscles in my right leg contract slightly
later than in my left leg. In effect the left and right legs are
out of sync when I run. Accordingly, I’m sort of limping
when I run. What effect will this have on Ironman UK?
July 24th 2007
I certainly got out of shape quickly after
Roth. It was partly planned and partly because of laziness (sorry)
:-) It got me worried about Ironman UK, however right now things
are moving in the right direction fast and I feel confident that
I'll do decent in Sherborne. The nice thing about having been
in good shape recently is that it is fairly easy to reach some
85-90 % of that same level. It's the last 10 % that is always
so bloody difficult to realise in practise and competition. My
initial goal was to do Ironman UK at 85 % of my 'normal' level.
The next two weeks are dedicated to training and then time will
tell if I have enough in the tank to do well in Sherborne.
July 19th 2007
The return to structured training is always
a challenge for me. This year reality struck me quite hard when
I finally got out the door to do my first real session last week.
I went for a run with my local club and somehow I ended out running
with the guns! After less than 20 minutes of running I checked
my pulse going up a longish hill. The pulse was 183, which is
quite high for me but not unusual after a break. However, close
to the top of the hill the pace was increased and instead of letting
the guns go I upped the pace further. On the top of the hill my
pulse was 194, which is unusually high for me. No doubt my endurance
had vanished since Roth. Anyway, this was a good kick in butt
and a clear signal to get back into training if Ironman UK is
going to be any fun...
July 3rd 2007
It’s close to two weeks since I competed
in Roth. The body is slowing getting back on track and subsequently
I have started to train some 30 minutes everyday. The idea is
to get the stiffness out of the body and slowly get it used to
training again.
I have received a bunch of e-mails with congrats.
I would like to express my joy over receiving these e-mails. It
has been a great encouragement for me. Thanks. Basically the e-mails
can be divided into two categories. The first is primarily written
by people who don’t know me very well and who apart from
passing on their congrats also would like to know how much I train.
The second category know me a whole lot better and are much more
interested in knowing how on earth it’s possible to race
that fast on limited training. I mention this here because I run
into these two questions all the time. Let my therefore give you
a little insight on everyday life.
We are a family of five. The three kids are
6, 7 and 8 years old. I have the great privilege to prepare the
kids for school everyday and subsequently drive them to school.
I continue on to work where I work until about 4 p.m. I pick up
the kids again from school and as soon as we are back it’s
time to do the homework. Sometimes between 5 and 6 p.m. I am able
to a little training before dinner is served. Other days I do
my training after 8 p.m. when the kids have been sent to bed.
Finally on weekends I tend to do about 6-9 hours of training depending
on the time of year. Totally it sums up to about 8 hours of training
a week from January to March and 14 hours of training from May
to June with highs around 20 hours in a week! I do very little
training in my recovery weeks. Recovery weeks are to extend family
time and get the practical things out of the way! In short, there
is nothing exceptionally about my everyday training, however,
I do get my training done on a continuous basis.
Apart from family and training, I have studied
two coaching courses the past two years simultaneously. Currently,
I am finishing both of these educations and use much of my spare
time writing the last essays and cases. Not to mention that I
am a race director of Denmark’s oldest triathlon www.silkeborgtriathlon.dk
Visit the web site and have a look?
I have been coaching people for years and
I am contemplating bringing it to a higher level. It seems logical
to use my knowledge on combining training and everyday life. I
currently coach 6 athletes around the world (I had to cut down
this year) but as soon as the house renovating is complete I’ll
have an opening for more athletes. On top of this I supervise
workouts on a weekly basis in the local triathlon club.
I think, I covered most of the tings
I do but I might have missed a thing or two (lectures, training
workshops and football practise with the kids) Anyway, the challenge
of bringing it all together is a major inspiration. I suppose,
I’ll keep getting my energy from exactly this fact –
the challenge of it all! In other words, I don’t use a busy
everyday life to excuse my results nor claim I would do any better
if I trained more. I think I’m able to optimize my performance
pretty well because of the challenges of everyday life.
June 25th 2007
YES! New personnel record (8.33.47) and an
improvement of 10 minutes compared to the old record. What started
out as a day with lots of frustrations, a SRM not working the
first 40 minutes, chain problems and a sub standard swim, was
turned into a great day of celebration. After a lot of trouble
the first two hours of the race, I found my rhythm and raced really
well. I was pleased to see that the course wasn't too crowded
at the front and it was possible to ride fair. After a 4.36 bike
ride (new personnel best), I was ready to run. I toppen a great
bike leg with a 3.02.59 run, which also is a new personnel best.
The surroundings in Roth are exceptional.
About 140.000 spectators making all the noise you can imagine,
cheering you on to do your best. No doubt I had a brilliant day
in Roth and I will remember this day for a long, long time.
I think I'll just sit back, relax and perhaps
enjoy a cold, cold beer from Weltenburg, Cheers:-)
June 22nd 2007
It's almost party time. Two days left before
the big day and I'm as ready for action as I possibly can be.
It's nice to be back in Roth. I have not been here since 1999
where I qualified for Ironman Hawaii for the second time. This
time there is no Hawaii slot at stake, however, I'm hoping for
at new personnel best. Of course the conditions on race day will
have an impact on my ability to reach that goal but certainly
my level of fitness is good enough for a PB.
I took some time off today and visited Kloster
Weltenburg. It's a beautiful church based close to the river Donau
and more importantly the best beer in the world is brewed right
there. No other 'Kloster' in the world has brewed beer for as
long as it has been the case in Weltenburg. The first beer was
brewed here in year 1040 by the monks and in 2004 the beer was
awarded 'best beer in the world'. Anyway, it's was worth the ride
and a good way to relax.
Yesterday I rode about 40 k on the course
and although I held myself back I was blistering fast! Even the
long hill in Gredingen didn't seem hard at all and on very low
wattage I was able to ride just under 37 km/t including two stops!
June 17th 2007
Roth is only one week away. It has been a
busy time since January 1st and it's funny now to look back on
the past 6 month. Early this year, in the middle of January, I
did a 2 hour ride with my two soul mates this year, Jesper and
Niels-Otto (both competing in Roth as well). On this particular
day I was drafting on their rear wheel, deispite only averagring
26 km/h I had an average pulse of 164. It was hard to believe
that only 3 month after doing really well in Ironman Hawaii I
had no fitness left whatsoever. In contrast, a week ago I did
a 180 k on my own in the rain and with full race set-up. It was
a hell of a ride! I kept my pulse under my projected ironman pulse
and rode the 180 k in 4.37 minutes. It's personnel best. Then
the day after I topped that performance with a 15 k flat run in
52.22 minutes again with a low pulse. Although, I know I have
trained well, this is insane. I'm in such a great shape that it
almost freaks me out. Of course I'm kidding; however, there is
a certain amount of presure on now. What if I won't convert this
great fitness into a great result? I like the presure and I am
sure the presure will help me perform well in Roth.
May 12th 2007
I have been busy in the last couple of weeks.
My training load has increased and I am again running. My running
speed has not suffered from the injury, however, my endurance
is lacking quite a bit. At the same time I have done a few lectures
on training which has been a lot of fun. Further, I am currently
educating myself as a licensed personnel coach under Danish Triathlon
association as well as under the Danish Sports association. I
will have completed my exam by the end of August. That raps up
18 months of studying and should leave me with more time for the
family and perhaps for training who knows? Anyway, right now it's
high priority to increase my run endurance and get ready for Ironman
Roth. Also, I am contemplating competing in a small triathlon
next week, just to taste the real thing again:-) More on this
later...
April 21st 2007
Well where to start, it's been a long time
since my last blog? I'm training more consistent now than a month
ago and my swimming and cycling form has improved a lot. In fact
last weekend I did a longer bike session with my Ironman pulse
and averaged 284 watts. This is a very high number for me at this
time of the year. Surprising especially because I only bike 5-7
hours a week!
At the same time I have to admit that I have
run into a small injury in my calf and am uable to run. I hope
to begin running again next week after three weeks without run
training. I had hoped to do one or two competitions early May
but it is not going to happen with my current run form! In the
comming weeks I aim for at least 11 to 13 hours of training. If
this is possible I should be on track for a good race in Roth
in June.
March 20th 2007
The house project is comming to an end, well
at least the first part of it:-) The second part will not start
for another month or so. In other words I have increased my training
to about 9 hours a week. I hope to see some benefit of the increase
in training some time soon.
Februar 5th 2007
It's been a long time since my last post.
So long that my life does not seem quite the same anymore. Firstly,
I have purchased a new house that needs severe renovating. Although
it's a time consuming project with no visible end to it, I still
find time to do a little training. I have ramped up my training
from two hours in week one to six hours in week five. Despite
the low volume in terms of triathlon training I'm still beaten
pretty badly when I go to sleep. Bringing down brick walls is
no easy task at all:-)
Anyway, I signed up for Ironman Roth last
fall and I have just signed up for Ironman UK so don't accuse
me of bowing for challenge. I love'em :-) Yesterday I rode for
just over two hours with two friends. The ride really exposed
my bad form. I had difficulties finishing the ride and we did
not ride any 28 km/h. Oh boy, this will be a season to remember.
See you out there.
November 26th 2006
Welcome to my new website.
One of the new elements on the website, are this blog. I will
be writing my blog, 'Tblog' in english.
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