Thursday, April 21, 2011

the other SA photos














































Parijs-Roubaix Awesome slow mo video

Wednesday, April 20, 2011

So what is next?

Trans-Portugal. The MTB stage race with 9 days, 1150km and more elevation gain that i can remember!!!

Yes, totally not triathlon but it is a awesome challenge in this super limited entry race. Hopefully it will give me enough bike strenght for the rest of the season ;)

I really dont have any real competitive goal, heck i have a handfull of MTB workouts this year. Im confident enough to say that i have good skills in off road but im sure i will be overwhelmed by the others, first goal is of course staying in one piece. Then its all about finishing and enjoy this race.

The other goal is to log runs and swims during this period.

race site can be found here

http://www.trans-portugal.com/

Saturday, April 16, 2011

African photos

Apart from the "small" glitch in the run that destroyed my race, i loved going to south africa for the race. The venue spectators and race are AWESOME.

here are some photos


early on the bike

lap 1

lap 3



lap1

around 10k into the run at cruising speed

uuups not looking good

oooh it hurts, i actually had to throw up after this one :(

arriving into T2




goning under 4min/km at the end of the run after all the S$#$ was kinda nice. i ran with the gel flask in one hand and 3 gels in another the whole run, i dont know why i didint just tossed them away ;)


more photos "off racing" coming :)

Monday, April 11, 2011

things got ugly

Here is a quick report of the race.

of course im not really happy with the final result but i was happy for several other factors.

Swim: Didnt felt right again, slugish and without that strenght that lets me go hard, was in the group at the end of first lap and lost it. i totally know that i have swimming skills to go low 50's but until i really do it (again)...

Bike: I felt good legs right from the begining, Mr vabrosek was 1:30 in front of me and i caught him right away at in the middle of the first climb. that should mean something right? i had him for 2 laps on my back. When i was about to get the special needs at km 120 they messed id up really hard and i was left with nothing in the poocket to eat. I didnt freak out that much, slowed down for the last lap and tried to eat everything i could grab in aidstations. this is the acquiles heel of this organization in my opinion, aid stations had Nothing and when they had, it was bloody dificult to get them. the special needs logistics was provided by a logistics company (or sponsored) i guess that was why it didnt work ;).

anyway, the last 10 or so kms i rode again in a good pace and was really hoping to get my stuff (calories) in my transition bag.

I starded the run slower so that the calories could make their way to my legs. 4 km into the run is started to run faster again, at 4min/km, i imediately got into the guys that left me until i melted in vomit and diarhea. it came really hard and all of the suden. i had to slow down so much with so much pain for so many kms that finishing had become the goal, wasnt easy...

I threw up 3 times, one of them was self inflicted to try and take something out and countless stops in bushes and toilets. At the end of lap2 things got really ugly, my belly looked like it was about to explode and i was so dehydrated that i started feeling nausea and defenetely wasnt running in a straight line. At that time i stoped and  standed still for a few seconds, the symphony of my belly was quite incredible in the occasion. then i starded running again slowly. until km 35, where after une last vomit period (the self inflicted one) i ingested my very first liquid for 25km in for if water, goosh it felt so good to actually feel that that small ammount of water was absorved by the body!!! with nothing in my belly i started feeling alright again and had more water only. i felt so much better that i went back to the 4min/km pace and ran 2 km at 3:50 pace... WTF

So yes, not very happy with the result but i believe that if this thing didnt happen i would have a great race because i felt fine when thing where normal. oh well, i got the tshirt ;)

WC164K won the AG in under 11h so that was a great finish for her, really proud :D

Wednesday, April 6, 2011

the Lions in Africa

i got here yesterday around 3pm.

Greeted by a faboulous wind and mild temperature i just needed a short taxi ride to get to my guesthouse.
Rode a bit and ran a bit and i was done with my first day or hours in SA

Today the wind was the same but temperature was waaaaay higher, well into the 30´s

I saw the first Lions in my ride with WC164k and they looked fast and hungry ;)
Ridind the whole loop was good to understand that this could be a 10 min faster course but surface just doesnt help.

People are very friendly and the "ironman" seems to be a very big thing in this period of the year here (end of summer). Great place to visit so far.