Still two and a half months to train and prepare myself
for the race. On one hand this sounds like a lot of time, on the other hand it
will pass by quickly. The last couple of weeks were mainly focused on cycling
and at the moment on running.
Trois Ballons
In the Vosges in France, a race over 219 km. (although
the organization speaks about 213km), racing over 7 “official” climbs covering
4300 altitude meters. This is the short description of the race I rode two
weeks ago. Together with Beuk, Michiel and Manasse, I went to la Haute Fourche
(http://www.lahautefourche.com/) in
the Vosges in France. This accommodation is hosted by a Dutch ex-pub owner and
focused on cyclists. It was a very nice and relaxed place to stay, with proper
cyclist’s diners and breakfasts and good ambiance. Definitely recommendable if
you ever need a place to stay in that area.
The race, or so called “cyclo-sportive” was held on
Saturday, but we arrived already on Wednesday to do some rides in advance. The
Vosges is absolutely magnificent for cycling activities with its beautiful
nature, easy to ride roads through the valleys and climbs varying from nice and
steady (up to 14km long) to short and nasty. So it gives fun for everyone so to
say. I lost quite a lot of weight the last couple of months, and this was the
first time I really experienced the benefits from this. We did three rides in
advance, first day a small round through little Finland. Second day we did a
100+ km ride covering the Ballon D’Alsace, the Plance des Belles Filles the
Ballon Servance and les Croix. Especially the final push up to the Plance des
Belles Filles, in combination with temperatures of 28 degrees, where quite
challenging. Friday was an easy ride at which we took our time to have a cheap
but good lunch.
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| Official Results |
Raceday: Waking up with the sound of rain. Bummer, you
would think, but rain was likely to stop around 07.00 in the morning and the
temperature had dropped significantly. Our host had prepared a good breakfast
buffet, available from 05.00 in the morning. Together with Michiel we went to
the start early to get a nice spot so we would be able to have a good and fast
220k ride today. For me, the race was great! We took off with speeds of
40-45km/h for the first 20k or so. At the first climb I felt much better
compared to two years ago and could climb with some easiness over the steep 19%
passages. Rain had stopped but with wet roads we proceeded with careful
descents. The next climb, the Ballon D’Alsace, went fine, in the first part a
lot of people overtook me. But that stopped after 2km of climbing. The day went
on and on, up to the summit of the Grand Ballon. I climbed this one just within
1 hour, which I was quite satisfied about and even better, with a little over
80km to go and around 5 hours of cycling, it might be possible to finish within
8 hours – where the goal initially was set to 9 hours for the gold certificate.
So I went off for a fast descent and a place in a good group for the last parts
between the climbs. The Col d’Oderen is a very nice running climb and I was
bloody fast – in my opinion and overtook a lot of other riders so I had managed
my energy over the da very well. Although I was still not at the finish of
course and I knew about the last climb, which is not mentioned in the road book,
but is very steep and ongoing for 3 times a few 100 meters. Arriving at the
beginning of the climb, I was prepared, still I was suffering a lot for about
10 minutes to finish this last hurdle. On the top it was a km of 6 till we were
back at the main road to the finish and I had to push everything to keep the
wheel of a small but fast group. Then when arrived at the last long stretch of
9km’s almost flat, the speed went up again to around 40-42 km/h. 2 strong
riders in the group, 1 semi strong rider and myself took the responsibility for
keeping the speed high. The four or five other men could not or where not
willing to take over. The result was absolutely great, I finished in a total
time of 7.51.and some seconds, with an average driving speed of 28.15km/h.
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| Strava record for the ride |
Nootdorp running ½ marathon - Strava Record
End of June I ran a 21.1km race together with good friend
Mark vd Burg. The event was held close by in Nootdorp and the course was
through the nice green area between Delft, Pijnacker and Nootdorp. We agreed to
start with a speed of around 05.00 min/km to get to a target end time of around
1 hour and 45 minutes. Which for Burg would be quite easy, but he was allowed
to accelerate in the second lap (first lap was around 14km, second lap 7km). We
had a good pace from the start of km times between 4.50 and 4.55 per km. After
10km we speeded up a little already, and continued this into the second lap.
Burg was not running away from me and up until 800m before the finish we kept
together. Pace was down to 4.30 per km for the last 4 km’s and with this strong
finish I finished in a time of 1 hour, 39 minutes and a couple of seconds. This
is a new personal record by over 21 minutes and an indication that pace and
endurance for running is good as well. Especially the first 17km’s which we did
between 4.55 and 4.40 per km, is very promising for the Iron Man.
Swimming
Swimming in a pool is good for the technique training but
with Ralph as a trainer it is also a very hard training from time to time.
Well, swimming is improving and around 1 min 50sec per 100m is quite steady
doable (in a 25m. pool). But swimming will be outside in the sea, with a wetsuit.
First experiences with that are passed as well, with no idea about speed but
with an idea about what it will take to swim the 3.8kms. Moving costs more effort
because of the wetsuit, but the legs keep higher in the water as well. Swimming
in the Noordzee, with high wind and current is very difficult! Which I
experienced with the beach challenge last week. Luckily it is most likely that
Mallorca will have quite calm and clear water. At the Kijkduin challenge, the
idea was to swim for about 700 to 800m into the sea, and then come back. The
course was triangular shaped which would lead to a total distance of around
2km. From the start it was a hard swim with the large waves and salty water.
But things increased, with stronger and stronger current resulting in a finish
after ~ 50min. I came out of the water some 2kms away from the intentional
finish. With me, around half of the competitors stranded over there at the
naked beach… Afterwards, the organization came with a news item stating that
the current went up to 4 to 6 km/h just after the start, while around 2km/h
should be the maximum.
Next
For the coming weeks, I will try to increase my running
volume up to 2, to 2,5 hours of training. Week 30 will be cycling the alps and
watch the Tour de France to see the real work. Sunday 12th of July a
7km swim in the Rotte (010Swim event) and end of August 2 times a ~4km swim event in Utrecht (Zwemanalyse) and Amsterdam (Ij-swim). On the bike I will work on my TT setup and getting used to
cycling in that position. And to combine everything, I subscribed for a 70.3 triathlon end of August in Klazienaveen (70.3 Klazienaveen), so I will do half of the distances I need to do in September in Mallorca.
