Training - the integration of plans

Today I made some research about training: "Training = from Latin *traginare; akin to Latin trahere to draw; to undergo instruction, discipline, or drill" http://www.m-w.com/dictionary/training

"Training refers to the acquisition of knowledge, skills, and competencies (...) Physical training is more mechanistic: planned suites of regimes develop specific skills or muscles with a view to peaking at a particular time. (...) Training differs from exercise in that exercise may be a one of occasional activity for fun. Training is specific and done to improve one's capability, capacity, and performance." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Training

I bought a 6-month service of http://www.tri2b.com. There you can get a very nice training plan since it can be individualized. I enhance the trainingsplan with: a) the current plan from the "triathlon magazine" b) the book: "Trainingsprogram Triathlon", Huddle/Frey/Murphy and c) the book: "Ironman" from Ole Peterson. After integrating these plans, determing the goal of each week and setting personal goals I find myself with an exciting training-plan. I like the fact, that training should lead to a peak of performance. Somehow I can feel that with my own training plan. E.g. today I was at my personal best for 1.9 k swimming = 41 min. Still lame as a duck, but really fast for "where I came from". :- )

Other dimensions of training can be:
- autogenic training
- fartlek training = Swedish; meaning 'speed-play'
- learning to improve performance
- militarily: gaining the physical ability to perform and survive in combat
- religiously: purifying mind, heart, understanding and actions to obtain spiritual goals

Singapore-Weekend

Last weekend we travelled to Singapore in order to prolong my visa & to shop some triathlon-things. Singapore is nice - still warm, but clean air and very regulated traffic!

The Triathlonshop I went to was: Bike Haus International - 785 Bukit Timah Road - before 6 Ave. Junction - Singapore 269693 Telephone: +65 6468 -3908 or -3887. bikehaus@singnet.com.sg Open: Mondays to Saturdays: 10am - 7pm. Although they were about to close at 7 pm, they organized for me to be open until 8pm! Thank you guys! Great service! You find Orca wetsuits, triathlon bikes and water backpacks there. Well I bought:

1. A double water bottle system (since the old one was broken during the flight-transport) - from http://www.elite-it.com/jsp/c-Prodotti.jsp?ID=00.02120-2117-1210* (patao standard red):

2. Triathlon -bike helmet - Bell Meteor II 55-59cm - white:

Great stuff, now I am hungry to test my new toys. :->

Some more triathlon/biking shopping opportunities for Singapore you may find at: http://eteamz.active.com/anzacycling/links/.

91.2 km biking

The first time in my life I biked 91 km. Of course I had a flat tire at km 47. The hardest part was km 75-80. I really had absolutely no intention to go further. However, somehow kilometer added to kilometer and I just did it. By the way in an awful time of 05:10 hours. The course was hilly, agreed. Nevertheless the Swiss 70.3-Ironman bike-course will be hilly, too. So it will be exciting, if I make the biking in time.

Some nice (triathlon) quotes:

"THE ONLY EASY DAY WAS YESTERDAY" US Navy SEALs

"Pain is weakness leaving the body." - US Marine Corps

"If you're going to be a horse, be a horse." John Mclindon, quoting his father. 1998

"So What?"

"Some people consider the marathon the ultimate endurance event. We consider it a cool down." - SBR MultiSports Werbung

"Fidus Ultra Finem" ("Faithful Beyond the End") 2nd Air Defense Artillery Regiment

"You never know - until you tri"

"If triathlon was easy, they would have called it football"

“It doesn’t get any easier; you just get faster.”- Greg Lemond

"Life is Simple. Triathlon. Swim. Bike. Run. Eat. Sleep." - Unbekannt

"Ironman is a swim, a bike and a run. That’s what I do almost every day of my life."- Peter Reid

"Pain is about seeing how strong you are mentally."- Unbekannt

"If God invented marathons to keep people from doing anything more stupid, triathlon must have taken Him completely by surprise." P. Z. Pearce

"It's not a challenge until you're fucked up."- Unbekannt

"The answer is hard work. What are you doing on Christmas Eve? Are you riding your bike? January 1st - are you riding your bike?"- Lance Armstrong

"Don't be fooled by the calendar. There are only as many days in the year as you make use of."- Charles Richards

“A winner is a loser who was willing to fail and get up, fail and get up, fail and get up, fail and get up and win.”- Peter Zafra

“You can quit and no one will really care….but you will always know.” - John Colins

"It becomes almost addictive. Once you’ve done it once, you wanna do it again."
- Peter Reid

“To give anything less than your best is to sacrifice the Gift.”- Steve Prefontaine

"Triathlon doesn't build character. It reveals it."- Unbekannt

"There is no can't in Ironman."- Unbekannt

"If you challenge yourself to finish an Ironman, you can do anything."- Unbekannt

"Triathletes have the capacity to propel their body at high speeds, through wind and weather over long distances. I call that flying." - Unbekannt

"There’s no better sense of accomplishment in life than finishing an Ironman."
- Unbekannt

"Desire is the most important factor in the success of any athlete."- Willie Shoemaker

"Our greatest weakness lies in giving up. The most certain way to succeed is always to try just one more time."- Thomas Edison

"A champion is someone who gets up, even when they can't"- Natalie Rogers

"STABILIS VICTORIA"(Support the Victory)103D CHEMICAL BATTALION

“Obstacles don’t have to stop you. If you run into a wall, don’t turn around and give up. Figure out how to climb it, go through it, or work around it.”- Michael Jordan

"This is about limits. Reaching them, exploring them, exceeding them what you thought yours were. Coming to the conclusion that there aren't any limits."- Unbekannt

"...you'll do it the way you do anything - start at the beginning and continue to the end by way of the middle (to quote Alice)", Alison http://www.throughth3wall.com/2007/05/wildflower-pep-talk.html

Marathon, Olympic Distance & Speed-Work

It just came to my mind the other day: it is time for a marathon. Strange was the idea to me. Am I ready? Do I have the means for the grueling 40.195 km of running? Let's find out. So I signed up for the Berlin Marathon on September-30th. http://www.real-berlin-marathon.com/events/berlin_marathon/2007/
At the same day I also registered for a local Olympic Distance Triathlon at Sempach in order not to become too lazy during the summer while the other Norminators, Farrises & other guys are preparing and sweating for Hawaii. :- )
http://www.sempacherseetri.ch/
http://www.triathlonclubsursee.ch/home.htm


Signing up for an event is really exciting & motivating. Besides that I go on with the necessary speed training. One tri-guy in the net recommended short, intensive units: http://columbiamotriathlon.blogspot.com/2007/04/need-for-speedtraining.html. I go for a try, since I really need to become faster and loose more weight. Last sunday I had the last beer before the competition. 41 days to go!!!

Marathon, Biking & Race-Sign-up

Thanks to a colleage I enjoyed an amazing biking route on sunday. It is close to Sentul City - a 30 min drive from Jakarta! Great to escape from the city-dust. Just drive in the direction: "Bogor". Take the second sentul-exit called "Sentul City"(not the first one "sentul curcuit" - the next one) after the Autobahn-Service Station. After turning left you find a sweet little caffee called "Teranai" where parking is possible. Than enjoy your 16.5 km bike ride forth and back the main street into the mountains and back to the highway.

training endurance

Now I have to become an endurance-animal. Websters says: Latin *indurare, from Latin, to harden, from in- + durare to harden (http://www.m-w.com/dictionary/endure).

transitive verb

1 : to undergo (as a hardship) especially without giving in

2 : to regard with acceptance or tolerance

intransitive verb

1 : to continue in the same state

2 : to remain firm under suffering or misfortune without yielding

Best endurance quotes I found:

"Enjoy when you can, and endure when you must." Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749 - 1832)

"He that can't endure the bad, will not live to see the good." Jewish Proverb

" VALIDI DURANT" - the strong endure (Latin)

Why triathlon? - 15 reasons

During a triathlon race it happens that you ask yourself, why are you doing this. Here is my answer:

1. It is healthy & you loose weight
2. You experience yourself
3. you look sexier
4. it balances your body and health
5. You have time to meditate during long distances
6. it gives you motivation to move
7. it enhances your general knowledge, how to swim, bike & run
8. it balances the consulting job & makes you more productive
9. You see the nature
10. it is great to compete and to finish
11. you are forced to train & leave the office
12. It is relaxing
13. you meet great people
14. personal records are also records
15. during training you go to places where people hardly have been

training routine - hang on

Meanwhile I get into the training routine. Others recognize my training, I lost now 10kg in 1.5 months and I am training almost every day, twice a week in an eazy-going-way. Now I have to hang on and get into the "speeding up" level.

From Bali back to "smoke city"

The last week I have been in Bali. The air and the water is so clean - unbelievable! I had some good swimmings in the oceans, runnings at the beachside and we had also a short bike trip on an old rusty bike. :-) Bali is definitely a great place for training. They will have their first olympic triathlon even in June 24th, see: http://www.balitriathlon.com/.

Of course I did also some surfing, body-boarding & I got a temporary gecko-tatoo. Great stuff!

New Zealand

The last two weeks my wife and I have enjoyed the parklike island New Zealand downunder. I had some training opportunities. Specially to run or to ride the bike. That was brilliant. The water was really "freakin' cold" for the swim.
The competition in Wellington I had to skip due to harsh conditions. That would have ruined my training the next weeks.

Since three days I picked up training in Jakarta again. My first 3 k swim in 1:36 hrs. I am happy. Next goal is to ride the bike for 90 k.

Today: 89.3 kg!!! :- )

Thanks to the virus infection I lost 3 kgs and reached an important weight goal on my journey to the race in summer. Today I hit the pedalls the first time after a week off. I still feel weak, but good.

4 days knocked out - virus infection

I got a virus infection, which knocked me literally out for 4 days. The only things, which helped: diet, hydration and rest. Even now, feeling better, I am still so weak, that I prospone training to next week. At least I lost about 2 kg. So I am very close to 90 kg now: 90.3. :- )

http://www.commoncold.org/undrstn3.htm

Resting and Transition Training

Today I used the time to fill up the energy batteries (sleeping, carbo-loading by eating noodles, massage). Besides that I just tried to get out of my neo-swimming suit and on the bike fast. It never came to my mind to practise transitions.

Stretch it!!!

Little I knew how important stretching is for triathlon. I am doing so badly to stretch. Due to the intensified training over the last weeks some of my muscles got shortened, which I have to bend now in order to re-gain flexibility. In case you ever like to buy a stretch mat, beware of the size. It should at least be 2 m long, 1 m wide and 1 cm thick.
Otherwise I am able to follow my training plan pretty well. Yesterday: 1 hr. running with sprints every 10 mins for 30 secs; today endurance-swimming: I just made 1.6 out of the 2.7 km. Still have to work on endurance.

Visit of the olympic stadion

No training today. I am not in the mood at all. Nevertheless I visisted the olympic stadion and tried to contact some local swim-, run- and triathlon-clubs. The senayan swimmin pool (50m) is open from 7:30 am - 4 pm.We will see, what is going on. I got my first blogg-comment in a parallel blogg. Someone said, Jakarta might be a good preparation for Hawaii: tropical heat, ... now I feel better. ;- >

Swimming like flying - watched by batman

Training again: 45 min swim 1km. The lower-back-pain is fading away, so that I could do some legs swimming. After the forced break swimming felt like flying through the water. All the power released. Interestingly a bat would watch me crawling in the house-pool.

Besides the swimming I integrated all training-plans I got -from a professional triathlete, from the "triathlon-magazine" & from http://www.beginnertriathlete.com. I put everything in one excelsheet. Hopefully it will do some good.

New next race in Wellington (New Zealand)

In 1 month is the next race - Sat 31st Mar 2007 - Standard Distance National Champs. I was registered for an Olympic Distance Race in Wellington- New Zealand. :-> I need to get rid of this back pain.

Jakarta - the traffic city or "rushin' roulette"

Here is the summary of the last week:

Feb-21/22: Zürich-Frankfurt-Singapore-Jakarta

Feb-23: Got used to the heat & started the training (1hr leg-forward-movement on bike & on X-trainer)

Feb-24: After a bad gym-move with leight-weights I suddenly suffered low-back pains

Feb-25: The low-back pain still hurt, got a massage with sauna, which was great

Feb-26/27: Recovering. Hardly moving. Swimming. More to come...

Biking will be a challenge in this city. :-> I read an article in the "Jakarta Kini" - the ex-pat newspaper: in Jakarta there are 80 deaths a day on the streets due to accidents. In comparison: there were 29 deaths per day in Germany back in 2000, Source: http://www.unece.org/stats/trends/ch6/6.9.xls. Considering the number of people living in Jakarta the risk might be even higher in Germany.

Swim Training / Free Radicals Zürich - 2k/1 hr.

Swim-training in the swarm of free radical sharks. I need to train swimming in a group. The trainer was really good, he said, I have to kick more with the legs, to improve my swim position (legs are to deep in the water). When I kick at least once a stroke I maintain a flat position and minimize water resistance.