Half way

Today in the morning I read the blog of the "Eigenwijzerman" that it is already half time to Frankfurt. Damn, he is right! I checked directly what did I do so far, am I still on track of the "self made free to change training schedule". Yes, I am. Fortunately it is a free to change training schedule ;). But seriously, it sounds like not a good training schedule but I believe that the training schedule I am following at the moment is pretty good. Free to change sounds like you are not following a red thread but I am otherwise I could leave the schedule away as well. I call it free to change because I take the plan and switch the days how it suits best (for me and the weather conditions) but in overall I am following it.
After some starting problems I have found the trainings rhythm including the resting days :). By every week it is getting closer to the D-day I have less problems to stick more consequent to the plan. I have a 2 hour swim training Mondays. Running with a running body, who is a much better runner than I am, on Tuesday. On Wednesday I try to cycle. On Thursday I run again but just alone and a less intense program than on Tuesday. Friday and Saturday are the days on which I run and swim.
Sundays it is most of the time a nice long ride on the bike which is not that easy all the time because I love to go out on Saturday :S. So then it is just spending time on the bike. The big advantage is that I get surprisingly fit back home. Actually most of the times I come back home fitter than I left. So I am reminding myself every time of the positive outcome for motivation.

I decided to run on Tuesdays and Thursdays because I think that I have a lot of catch up to do with running since I was injured for almost 2 years. For 3 months I am completely injury free and can run as long as I like. Then you actually know how much you missed running. I cycled a lot instead but I cannot catch up with the feeling which running gives you.
I love all 3 parts (swimming, cycling and running) that is why I am so addicted to triathlon but it has to be in a good balance and this gives me the good feeling which I was missing a little in the last years.

Now half way the road, 6 months to go. What can I say? What do I expect for the next 6 months
I can say that the training goes quite good and I am very happy that I can notice progress in running again.I am confident that I will improve my marathon time from the last time. Swimming goes good as well but I never had problems with this part. I will try to improve it though so I can get more relaxed on the bike. Cycling is the key part at every triathlon according to me. It is the easiest way to improve you time and you find very fast many people who love cycling. The only problem is that you need to train very specific once in a while...

What do I expect from the upcoming half year? That the training will be more intense and that I might see better progress than in the last years when I trained for a full triathlon, at least I hope so :). Since I started with buying a trainings plan so I could not too much and just be able to finish. Because of the good experience I continued with this planned but the planner did not planned around my injury and I am somehow stubborn (believe it or not I am :))) so I followed the plan whatever it costs which actually cost a lot! First not the time I wanted to finish (but I was still happy with the time I had) and one year I really had to slow down the training intensity so I can and could start a season good and fresh - which I did so far I can see and judge!

First month in the Winter mode

The first month of the season end has almost passed by.I participated at the first running competition in a triathlon team (Triambla) as well and actually it am very happy with the outcome. It went very well and without any pain, I do not really know if I could have gone any faster. The legs felt pretty much at the limit but the heart beat was in the right zone but what can I expect with hardly any running this year. It is good to come back and can pick up some speed in the winter.
At the moment I am checking the information for a new home trainer because my neighbours do not like the noise of my actual home trainer but I still want (actually have to :)) cycle through the winter and want to stay on a neutral friendship with my neighbours. Thus I have to buy a new one which makes less noise.
The weather changes a lot in this time of the year so I am observing the weather forecast to cycle at least a little outside until I have found a good home trainer. Instead of cycling I picked up swimming. I have bought a year subscription for swimming and go swimming whenever it fits best. The only problem is actually that I have more trouble to go to the normal training because it is quite late and since I am swimming in the morning hours I prefer to stay on the couch and relax. Nevertheless I miss the social part of the training and think how I can manage it to go there again.

The upcoming 2 month I try to build up a strong basis, more training in low intensity and a little bit of maintenance. A lot of endurance and technique training plus the mountain bike tours and the running competition here in the area. Since I have been on Ameland I am already looking forward to the mountain bike tours. It is every year the same, with Ameland I am really looking forward to the mountain bike season and then after couple of months (mostly in February) I cannot wait to cycle on the street again. Actually it is a perfect timing and I think that it is nice to have some changes in the year and that it is also good to do some different things.

The Season's end

Long time that I have posted something, it was really busy.

After the unplanned competition I actually planned to just keep the time as a marker for next year and set the focus back on the season 2013. BUT the competition was so much fun, I really enjoyed it and it showed me that I actually was missing to compete.
Veenendaal was my Dutch premier league competition with allowed drafting. Before I thought that drafting takes something away of the 'real' triathlon competition and kind of avoided it but after doing it - I LOVE IT :). I think that it really gives something to the triathlon sport (just the opposite that I thought before). It is great for the audience and it is exciting for the triathlete. So sometimes you just need a little push and you see and learn something great's new. 
The race, with allowed drafting, is all about to stay in the pack. You have to see that you get out of the water with a good group cyclists and then it is just staying with a pack. What I loved  - was actually the many speed changes the two 180 degree turns and the possibility for the teams to act with tactics, which our team has to learn for the next season (according to me). Team for Talent is a perfect role model for the tactics. They get almost together out of the water and start cycling and I have seen that they really do their best to keep all team members (there are 4 per team) together in the cycling pack. This is something which is to train and set up a team who will be able to swim roughly the same times and then help each other to cycle as fast as possible.
In Veenendaal I have seen that it is a huge advantage when you are used to cycle in a group with a lot of speed changes. In Dutch there is a nice word for it "Koersen", it means nothing else than to race but "koersen" with friends is actually all about getting the highest possible average speed. I did this a lot with friends this year and I have seen the advantage during the race in Veenendaal.
The last part (running) was actually the reason for my time out in 2012 so I was really curious how it will turn out to be. I had four rounds to run of 2.5 km. So I decided to go every round a little faster and stop when the Achilles starts hurting (too much :)) but I could run every round and speed without any problems (during and after!!! the race). So let the season 2013 come. Now I 'just' have to get back and establish some speed in running again. By the way, even though the running went well I was not happy about the running time but want do I expect with hardly any running training...

Since the competition in Veenendaal went so good, I decided to subscribed for the national team competition in Rutbeek (Enschede). Everything went really good. It was the first time to participate in a sprint triathlon for me. It was really tough because I have never practice to go on full speed from the beginning but it is definitive what I will do more often next year :). Our team got 4th out of 17 other teams.
And even there I have seen the notable point to improve during the winter - running...

For the coming weeks there are some more events scheduled. This week, on Friday, (1st week of September 2012 ) there is a team relay of a mini triathlon planned (250meter swimming, 6km cycling and 2km running) in premier league and I would like to try myself as coach but it seems that I will have to fall in for somebody because the fourth member had a pretty tough cycling accident a week ago and will not be able to start coming Friday. At the moment I am trying to convince somebody else to start because I think that he will receive much better results than I do and this competition will decide if we will stay in in  premier league or if we will be relegated. According to me we have the potential for the premier league. We just underestimated it. On Saturday I will participate in a 100km (http://www.runwinschoten.nl/) relay divided by 10 runners.

The week after is the best every year, THE Triambla on Ameland. It is a weekend on a island combined with a cross-triathlon and a great party. Every year I participate there just for fun in a team, this time I will be the runner in the team. I really enjoy this weekend because since last year the student club Tritanium and GVAV are renting a little farm to stay together and there was and most probably will be a really great atmosphere.

I just say, let the games begin! I will write as soon as I can.

An unplanned competition

A couple of weeks ago I was asked if I am interested in participating at the Dutch championship Veenendaal. It sounded good to me and I thought (and still am thinking) that it is a good idea to have a look at the end of a ‘rest’ season how fit you are. So the last weeks I try to get back some of speed for the Olympic distance, which is in about a week (18 August).
Do not get the wrong impression, I have not been just chilling the all season and summer (which summer?) long. I kept on training but without a certain objective to train for which I definitely will not do again; or had I an objective without knowing – to get rid of my injury. Probably that was my objective J.

This year I pretty much did whatever I liked and sounded good when I have been asked and that was awesome. Of course, there have been some events which I could not skip, e.g. the Noorderrondrit, the UT Triathlon or the Pieter Wenning classics in Surhuisterveen.

Since my last blog I somehow got into the right mode, probably the post itself helped me and that the competition is getting closer. So last week I finally could follow the trainings plan for at least most of the parts. I still got trouble with the fast switch from cycling to running. I tried it for couple of times now and will keep trying because I think that is a good point to win some extra time during a race without spending too much time in training. I am happy with the cycling and running part itself. Running goes well and I have no pain (or at least not long lasting pain) after the training so I think this year was needed and good for my body.

What do I expect from the triathlon in Veenendaal? I actually expect just a finishing time to set a marker somewhere for 2012 and for the start of 2013 to beat. Pictures will follow...

Getting out of the fun mode

The Ironman Frankfurt winner of 2012 has been decided and now the focus is back on 2013. Easier said than done because after the Ironman Zürich  last year I decided to take a little break of serious training. Voluntarily? More or less... After the 4 mile in 2011, the first time in my life, I had a running injury (overstressed Achilles heel). Nevertheless I kept training (not that smart I know by know). So at the last part,the marathon, in Zürich I had a pretty tough time and even considered to step out because the pain was getting almost too much.

For the Ironman Zürich Richard and I tried to make a combined fan page on Facebook, it was fun to see how different we two approach to host such a page and of course how different we thought we train but at the end it was not that different.

Richard started an own blog in Dutch which I really like (http://eigenwijzerman.blogspot.nl).

At the present arrived Richard, Jan Willem and I subscribed  for the Ironman Frankfurt 2013 ( the same group of Zürich).

For the Ironman Frankfurt I tried to write my own training schedule and here I will try to document my ideas and set backs of an own training schedule on a weekly basis.

The last two years I bought a training schedule, for Almere and the Ironman Zürich. For both triathlons it was good but I never had the feeling to have gone as deep as I think I can go. I have looked at different plans and books; eventually I decided to try it my own way.

At the moment I have the problem to get in the trainings mode again, find your rhythm. I even have taken this in my schedule 4 to 6 weeks getting started :). The plan started like 3 weeks ago, so half time. Looking back and looking forward I have not found a thing looking at the mode or rhythm. But on the bright side I still have 3 weeks to find it - according to the plan :).