time concept

as I am approaching my first half-ironman-race my view of time changes. time becomes more valueable. It is really interesting to see how my attitude changes. I constantly focus on more important matters. I just cancel unnecessary stuff out of my life. Triathlon is a great tool to become more effective and efficient!

Here are some Ironman Training online services for next year:
http://www.active.com/active/

http://www.markallenonline.com/maodefault.asp
http://www.trainingsmartonline.com/triathlon_training_programs.php#
http://www.tri2b.com/123-tri2bcom_Trainingsplan_Abo_2007_Auf_zu_neuen_Tat-,e_19731,r_3566.htm
Even free: http://www.beginnertriathlete.com/cms/article-detail.asp?articleid=441

Updated 2007.06.17: I think I found the best one with a "dynamic training plan": www.2peak.com - check it out - 2 weeks are free - you can even upload polar-data.

Psychcological Preparation - 3 days left

Now mental work is required - 3 days to go until my first half-ironman. I visualized the race a lot the last days and find it sometimes hard to follow the whole course only in the mind.

How can someone strengthen the mental abilities? Check this out at the NewScientist magazin: http://www.newscientist.com/channel/being-human/mg18625011.900
11 ways to a better brain. Sounds good, doesn't it?

... and here we are back to the basics actually everyone can avoid fatty foods, excess alcohol and sleep depriviation. This is also why triathlon makes you so healthy!

The other day I heard someone saying: "If I get a flat tire in the half-ironman-race, I quitt the race, since I don't like it mentally to be in the back of the field." This made me think. I would never stop only because of a flat tire, since it is my first race. Maybe I would stop at the 2nd or 3rd flat tire. Maybe I will stop also in two or three years, if it is my 20th race or so. Interesting - different levels, different views.

Here you may find very useful endurance videos (how to swim, bike, run, endure,...): http://www.endurancefilms.com/

Swimming with the ducks - 40 mins in the river / 5 days to go

to be prepared and hardened I decided yesterday to swim today in the cold (=16°C) water. No other swimmers, but the ducks were there. They funny enough sneaked up to me, when I slipped in my neoprene. Afterwards they joined me even swimming. Now I am feeling good. Let the competition come...



In the afternoon I did some readjustment to my sattle to get a better 90° angle. My actual bike position is the red line. The blue line shows how it would look like on a triathlon-bike. Much better for the back, for speeding and efficiency. The long distances really require the right equipment. On the left side you can see a nice graph with comments from the website: http://www.bikesportmichigan.com/bikes/karma/thumbs/famegeo.gif They have some good clues on the bike position at their website.

bike: 90k - 3:30 hrs./ 7 days to go

One reason for me to take part in triathlons is that you indulge your senses into the nature, into beautiful places and roads you would miss. To feel the elements of water/rain, wind, earth and sun is like energizing you feeling life.

Today I had the last long bike ride before the competition. It felt all right. 1st lap: 1:40 and 2nd: 1:50.

I have to stretch more!

new wheels 4 the bike - 45 min/ 15.6 km = 20.8 kmh

Today I got my bike back from the santa-monica tri-shop. everything was super adjusted. I got also new wheels: Erox ultra speed 600. With 1490 g really light and speedy. Even today on a ride it was chilly, but the wind didn't interfere with the motion.Tomorrow I will test them at the race course. I wondered before, why does anyone need such wheels - here the reasons:

1. they are more aerodynamic (less crossings and bulgy form)

2. they are stabilized because of the bulgy form, which means shortened crossings).

Today I discussed the topic: Truthfulness in the triathlon. For me, the moment of competition is very truthful. In competition there are no excuses, no I-do-it-later. It is there - fast and real. The truth is revealed.

to get to know the route - 9 days left

today I swam and run at the competition course. To know the course beforehand is very important to me. This might be a psychological thing, but boosts my confidence. I picked some guiding positions on the water to navigate well. Also I had a look at the "stairways to heaven" at the run-course. There are 60 steps to climb until you reach the castle (see foto). That really is no fun, since it breaks your running-rythm. As a reward for the training today I drove to the next tri-shop and bought a rudy-project sunglas. :- )

Limmat - Swimming 45 mins against the current

That's great! I have the largest endless-pool in the world directly in front of my appartment! The Limmat river has at the "Werdinsel" a very nice current to swim against. I got also used to the cold water after 10 minutes. I found also a trick: to spare some air to breathe it out of the nose. I don't know why, but after the 5th stroke I paniced sometimes. Now, breathing out of the nose takes this panic away. Great stuff! I want to be an Ironman.

I was also looking at the race course. Pretty steep bike course. The mountains in Bogor/Indonesia look like speed bumpers compared to that!

By the way: profound Ironman information you may also find at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ironman_Triathlon. There you can read also a list of all the Hawaii-Ironman winners and their times down to 1978.

back 2 Zurich - run: 8 k, 50 min

After an awful flight from Jakarta back to Zurich I had a nice sleep. The bike-air-transport went well. The box got some scares, but nothing serious. After sorting the mail I started running the first time at the Limmat again: here the route. It felt great to breathe fresh swiss air and to look into the green nature! And the best: you are not sweating like in the tropical heat!

Last time riding Jl. Sudirman Bike: 2 hrs, 50 k

This time some triathletes met at the Sudirman and we rode some rounds with the bicycles. Nice workout. Lesson Learned: contact triathletes the earliest time you are at a new place! I got the contact from the ITU Triathlon Federation.

It would have been nice to do more together. Now there is even a website: http://www.triathlonindonesia.org/

=> I am really looking forward training with the free radicals again! :- )

Core strength

The last days I learned a lot about the core-strength muscles. Especially if you are doing the repetitions too fast or with the wrong breathing or posture, it doesn't help anything. So here are some hints:

1. breath in by expanding the longues to the side! No "stomach breathing".

2 breathing out by pushing the belly button in and to connect the abdominal muscles.

3. Do every excercise very slowly to get the muscles working! The muscles used to give you a good posture are more static than dynamic.

On About.com there is a pretty good list of core-muscles:

Transverse Abdominis (TVA)-The deepest of the abdominal muscles, this lies under the obliques (muscles of your waist). It acts like a weight belt, wrapping around your spine for protection and stability.Target Exercise: Plank
External Obliques-These muscles are on the side and front of the abdomen, around your waist.Target Exercise: Arm Sweep
Internal Obliques-These muscles lie under the external obliques, running in the opposite direction.Target Exercise: Crossover Crunch
Rectus Abdominis-The Rectus Abdominis is a long muscle that extends along the front of the abdomen. This is the 'six-pack' part of the abs that becomes visible with reduced body fat. Target Exercise: Crunch
Erector Spinae -The erector spinae is actually a collection of three muscles along your neck to your lower back. Target Exercise: Back Extension

Use a gym ball!

Transition Training

IRONMAN 70.3 SWITZERLAND, Rapperswil-Jona, Start + Ziel / Start Area + Finish Area

I never thought about to train the transition. However, in the literature I found several advices to train transitions. One reference stated even to train 8 transitions at a time. Today I just could make two "mini"-triathlons with all the transitions in between. It is quite exhausting.

webster says about "tran·si·tion": Etymology: Latin from transire = go over

a : passage from one state, stage, subject, or place to another : CHANGE

b : a movement, development, or evolution from one form, stage, or style to another

Lessons learned:

* prepare for rain (bike shoes, cloths, etc.)

* pre-roll socks already to slip in more easily

* train to slip in the bike-shoes

* get better shoe-lifts for the bike shoes

* use socks for the running shoes!

Clebrity fitness goodbye

Yesterday I had the last two stretching-sessions with my personal trainer Susan at the celebrity fitness studio in Jakarta. Thanks a lot Susan! You really helped me to gain flexibility and made my muscles burn with the core-strength-training! The fitness studio itself is very good in terms of equipment and extra-programm. While being there I tried also pilates, RPM, etc. However, watch your contract terms closely! I was there for three months and paid actually for four. The business staff was absolutely not flexible to change that. On the other side the personal trainers can be very good for reaching your fitness goals faster.

Rest, Research & Training swim: 2.7k 1:34h | run: 7k 0:42h

My body feels still weak after a workout. I guess it is because I had the major event (full 70.3 distance) last week. Besides training at the borobudur-hotel yesterday, I found a very good triathlon website ("tri gators" - university of florida) posting a training pyramid and explaining nutrition cycles.



Quote: "This is Bob's training pyramid. It defines how long one should spend in each period of training. For our training plan it means we should spend 2-3 months doing overdistance and endurance training, 4-6 weeks of tempo training along with technical and tactical work, and 4-6 weeks of lactic acid threshold (LT) and V02 max (maximum volume of oxygen) training."
And here is the picture of the nutrition cycle, quote: "Nutrition can also be optimized by periodization":

planning 4 tappering

After the last two hard weeks I am planning for reduced training. It's the cooldown-ready-for-action phase. No weight training at all. Slimming down another 2 -4 kg (weight now: 86.2 kg). Getting the feeling for the speed & intervall training. Here we go. Actually it is kind of hard to reduce the training intensity, since I started to like the long swims, rides & runs. I am trying also for some different sports. Yesterday 2 hrs. indoor-soccer (6-8pm) at the "planet futsal" at the festival pazar in kuningan. Was great!

What does it mean to triathlete? = Swim, Bike, Run, Diet, Core, Strength Train, Stretch, Sleep, Read, Blog, Transition, Race-travel, Mental-training, Repair, Adjust, Research, shopping gadgets, ...

(based on a nice blog-entry: http://neoprenewedgie.blogspot.com/2006_06_01_archive.html

).

Speed training and real endurance/ "put the sword to the heart"

Today I did 1 h run- speed training. Several intervalls (2-4 mins running at high speed at around 4:10 - 4:30 min/km. I found some nice hints at: "Running even faster".

Than I did some research about the chinese character for endurance. I qoute: A brief discussion of the chinese character Ren: "The character "Ren" (忍, forbearance) is composed of the element "xin" (心, heart) which represents the meaning, and the element "ren" (刃, knife blade) which represents the sound. "Ren" means to endure, to forbear, and to tolerate. It also contains the connotation of self-restraint and self-control. The character "Ren" (forbearance) is formed by placing the "knife" over the "heart," as if implying "Ren" (forbearance) is not easily achieved by ordinary people, but requires a higher level of cultivation, discipline, and will."

At last I researched about better and more effective training. I ended up with detailed body-mechanisms and movements. One website stated: a better training can be accomplished by a closer look at correct body movement during excercises. The need of a trainer becomes more and more evident to get it right. Correct movement one can accomplish by: theatre, dancing, or tai chi classes. Tai Chi might be a real important way to maintain the energy during a competition. I found several swim (total immersion), bike, running and breathing methods focusing on "core strength". Trying to move more efficient is very close to the idea of tai chi. There are even "mental strengthening" elements in both concepts. Further investigation will be done. http://www.willamette.edu/~jlaronge/principles.html

http://www.thewalkingtiger.com/Forms.htm

test 70.3- triathlon

4 weeks before the competition I tested out the full 70.3 distance. I took a Silverbird-taxi to Bogor (180.000 Rp.) to a Golf club named "Sentul Highlands".

The swim

First surprise: a "only-20-m" pool. :-( Okay, somehow I coped with that and counted 95 laps. 40 mins. in neoprene for the 1.9k. I felt like a hamster in a treatmill.

The bike

It was really hot, so I made two breaks to cool myself down and to buy literally all water bottles from a small shop at the street. 91 k in an awful time of 05:13 (breaks 0:50 mins included).

The run

The street in Bogor was too busy, so I went back to Jakarta on the treatmill to finish the 21k in 2:49 hr.

Lessons learned:

> start workouts earlier to avoid the heat

> a headband is needed in order to prevent sweat running down my sunglasses while biking.

> I still need to work on my speed. Hopefully I make it in the time-limits in Zürich-competition.

> Don't eat too much during the run.

bike: 1:17 h/33 k & run 1:30 h 14.1 k

here we go - another time on the Jalan Tamrin & Jalan Sudirman from "Pizza-man" (see picture on the left) to the great mosque. In the evening I moved my tired legs for another 14 k running on the treatmill. What a sunday!

swim 1.9k 0:42 & run 1hr 8.8k - I am tired

Today I was swimming again in the Hotel Borobudur Pool (50m lag). http://www.hotelborobudur.com/ The water is quite clean there and it has a nice jogging trail (700m) with not soooo much "Polusi udara" (=air pollution). Right now - on the peak of my training load - I feel really tired. Training while feeling (& being?) tired is good for some reasons: 1. during the triathlon one might also feel tired 2. you have to motivate yourself to get up and do the training 3. the body learns to take it. Like the marines said: "the only easy day was yesterday!".

resting day.... VO2max-Research

today no training, but some stretching. time for some paper-work & "VO2max"-research in the office:

VO2max is one of the most important success factors for endurance sports such as triathlon. A very good website about VO2max I found at: http://www.brianmac.demon.co.uk/vo2max.htm
There it is stated: "Fitness can be measured by the volume of oxygen you can consume while exercising at your maximum capacity. VO2 max is the maximum amount of oxygen in milliliters, one can use in one minute per kilogram of body weight." I did a test with my polar equipment showing an ownindex of 58, which should be very good according to polar.

bike training again - 90k - 4:17

Still not on peak performance with my biking, but about 1 hr faster than last time. Today it was raining at sentul city, so I really got dirty - even after showering my legs are still brownish from the dirt. However, I enjoyed the cooling rain. here is the link to a map: http://wikimapia.org/#y=-6577516&x=106866503&z=15&l=0&m=a&v=2
Find the recent photos and the profile:

Running - approx. 20 k in the jakarta zoo

The air was nice in the Jakarta Zoo at Ragunan. Since I went there during the week, there just a handful of people strolling around. I enjoyed running in the free very much and took some breaks to take some pictures. The downside was: every second cage I thought about birdflu and every third cage I had the feeling the cages are too small for the animals. The way from Menteng to Ragunan was too long, too. So I have to try another jogging trail. Maybe I check out the stadion on day.