Svenne taking the win in Lerinnes (Belgium) – Joséphine slamming down the hammer gently for the first time in Salon-de-Provence (France) – Jan pushing his body towards a 2h36′ marathon in good old ‘Pispot’ weather!

26 maart 2023Een reactie plaatsen

Our athletes didn’t miss the start of the season so far!
With multiple Ironman and Ironman70.3 world championships in the first IM Labelled races we can already look forward to summer and autumn 2023. But of course that doesn’t mean our athletes just lay down and relax on raceways untill then.
Very bad weather in Belgium and we tried to put in mind that this bad weather is always beneficial for the riders and athletes who are keen on performance. Making the races hard is and man-to-man what was going to happen!

Our triathletes/runners were racing in Ghent (Belgium), Venlo (Netherlands) and Madrid (Spain), in Spain it was Mick opening the raceday and running towards a half marathon PB in 1h21′! In Ghent several of our triathletes appeared at the starting line of the half marathon, with as a consequence that several of our athletes ran towards their PB in difficult circumstances such as Ruben diving sub 1h20 for the first time ever. A good start to enter spring and the start of triseason for these athletes in 4to6weeks. In Venlo our 50+ master Yves did another strong half marathon and finishes in 1h24′.

We also had 2 athletes racing the full marathon, and how! Sam VS (former national shorttrackchampion) is trying to turn into an endurance athlete in triathlon and outperformed already after his first winter. Running a 3h00′ marathon is a strong step to take.
And then Jan ‘Gianni’ M who, after taking a lot of 70.3 top 10’s, 7medals on the AG Duathlon world championships,…would run his first marathon (without cycling before or after :-)). Ambitions were to perform as good as possible and so he did! Before the cold rain was one of his worst nightmares…but he conquered. Running a steady 2h36′ marathon and finishing 6th overall!

The only right approach to pace long distance races is keeping track of HR, it’s your only measurement that tells you how deep to dig, as we can see it allows also to dig deep at the moment prizes are earned in the final of the race.

Running of course is all doable in every condition, our cyclists probably suffered the most in this terrible weather.
But the best thing to keep yourself warm is to get intensity high. So they did, Ronald had a 2nd good day this weekend and was able to take 5th place today! But surprise of the day came from our man with a plan Svenne, who promised to put a #TSPB tattoo after a victory this season (or am I kidding?). The plan seemed to be simple, break away in lap 1 and never look behind! He got the chance to do this and finally takes the win solo from start until finish!

Svenne taking his first win of the season in Lerinnes, extreme condition and extreme performance! Great job!

But with only one win a week isn’t complete for our squad, so a bit more South in Salon-de-Provence (France) it was time to fly for Joséphine for the first time in 2023. In this tough sprintduathlon with the climb of Val de Cuech immediately after the first run she was able to lead the race from start to finish and take her first victory of the season! Next up: Grand Prix Parthenay (Fr) and 70.3 Aix-en-Provence.

Joséphine winning the race after leading from start to finish!

Onwards to next weeks where we will shift from training to more back to back racing!

Train smart, perform better!

Jesse

Ironman 70.3 Marbella (Spain) – Cycling in Belgium – Half marathon in The Netherlands

27 april 201929 april 2019Een reactie plaatsen

Today another big racing day planned for our athletes!
With Ironman70.3 Marbella the day starty early!
For Sergio (Pro Licensed this season) a 1’25/100m seaswim made him get on the bike well. In front of him Brownlee, Dreitz, Rundstadler, the Dutch Brons brothers,…a tough field of competitors so determinations must be there! Sergio, not loving to climb a lot, was challenged by the difficult racecourse and did well before putting down the bike! With a strong run he takes 16th in this Pro -field.

Vincent from his side puts down a huge bike effort of 292NP which gives a mental boost and confirmation of his hard and good work of past months!
With this bikesplit he takes a top20 overall bike effort!

Strong racing also in Belgium, with Tibo (junior). A 93K bikerace today! Being the engine of an early breakaway in which there was no cooperation at all he didn’t hesitate and kept riding with the wheel’suckers’ behind him! As I always say to my younger riders, don’t hesitate to make the race. Being in the wheels all day long can make you a winner of the day…but not a real winner! Tibo took the lead for 55K of 65K being in the breakaway and finishes 7th today. But 1 day… he wins!

Tibo kept making the race today, but unfortunately the other riders had only an eye on his wheel.

Our elite rider Dries had the 3 BERGENPRIJS – E3 BINCKBANK CLASSIC, this race is one of the classics for Elite/u23 riders in Belgium. With a couple of continental teams at the starting line you know those 142K will go hard! Dries managed well between these riders and found himself sprinting for 6th place in a small group behind the leaders, finishing 29th.

Afbeelding kan het volgende bevatten: een of meer mensen, fietsende mensen, staande mensen, fiets en buiten — Dries in one of the earlier classics this season Gent-Staden

Also our female athletes got involved in some cyclingraces, Hannah raced among the elites, Inge took 7th in another race!

In The Netherlands Jan puts down a huge effort in his 3rd half marathon this season. A Strong wind, tough racing conditions but also a strong mind. Jan his focus is on running this season and it’s clearly he’s taking it serious by accelerating in the last part and taking 3rd place in 1h14′!!

Afbeelding kan het volgende bevatten: 1 persoon, buiten

In Spain David race the Madrid Half marathon, hilly course and nice weather! With strong legs he finishes in 1h20′! Ready to come racing in Belgium 🙂

Afbeelding kan het volgende bevatten: 1 persoon, staan — David running 1h20 in Madrid!

Tomorrow a lot of other races coming!

Ciao
Jesse

Hans saves Belgium’s honour in duathlon worlds with the AG world title and 11th overall position!

2 september 20182 september 2018Een reactie plaatsen

The ITU/Powerman world championships duathlon is a race that’s very close to our hearts, a race in which our athletes in the last 7 years got 6x AG silver, 5x AG gold and 4times top 15 in the Pro race (with fulltime amateurs 😉 ).

Today again it were Wim, Jan and Hans entering this race with for Wim and Hans high expectations and dying to simply confirm last year’s race. Showing that was not a 1day result. Jan, after a tough spring showed in his last 70.3 races that shape was getting there, despite some pain in the back.

The race had to change the run and bikecourses this year, so for every athletes the race was slightly unknow. But maybe also a good thing to change the racecourse of world championships from time to time…

During the first run Jan, Wim and Hans sticked close together but all on the right pace and showed already there that they belong to the better AG runners. Well paced and ready for a long day they stepped on their bikes. Jan was the first one, followed by Hans and Wim.

Jan takes it seriously from the start and gets into T1 very fast!

Only 1lap later Hans was already spotted riding very hard and moving up between the pro riders, who started earlier. Jan and Wim kept in battle for AG podium, this during the whole bike course. During this bikecourse Wim could accelerate during the 2nd half of it and put down the bike 3rd in his AG, Jan in 4th and Hans who now was totally in front put down his bike within the top 15 of the race and as first AG athlete. Meanwhile the Belgian Pro athletes unfortunately got DNF behind their names…so Hans also was first Belgian now. This in a discipline that was dominated by Belgians for years! (Vansteelandt brothers, Maris, Woestenborghs and Odeyn later).

A 293NP ride for Hans during these world championships, with a 10K hilly run before and 30K hilly run after the bikecourse! This is what you need to win all AG! Try!

Once of the bike our athletes mostly are on their best, the engine heated up and loaded for a good off bike run! Today this wasn’t anything other! Hans had an excellent run and was in full control of the AG race, he dominated and wins the AG race but above all comes very close towards PRO top10 with an 11th place!

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Hans lifting the banner, a beautifull moment in Zofingen!

Behind this Wim and Jan were running very fast off their bike and it was Wim who nearly closed a 10′ gap with the leader in his AG by finishing 2nd…only 30″ behind the winner in his AG! Wim had a FANTASTIC season with the AG Belgian titles on all distances, the AG European title and becoming AG vice world champion!

Jan was in fight with 3rd position in his (and Hans) AG, places were expensive in this AG and for more than 25K Jan and number 3 in his AG were within a 1′ range of eachother! In the end Jan also finishes 4th, only a good 30″ behind number 3!
Wim gets 23rd and Jan 29th in the overall race! All together races to be proud of!!

Wim in search of bronze, then silver and finally finishing at 30″ of gold in his AG! Great racing!

So once again Zofingen left us with a lot of emotions, The Kona for duathletes but then colder and a totally different environment! Results to be proud of, whatever… Well done to all!

Yesterday Jens (3rd in Olympic Distance Köln – Germany) prooved already end of the season is coming and that means A-races are coming also!

Today in Balen Bregt gets 10th, moving up from 15th to 10 on the run!

Bregt with a fast sprintdistance race in Balen today – finishing 10th

Tony had his last preprace towards the Ironman World championships in Kona, Hawaii today…in Köln (Germany). His races turned out perfectly…untill a flat tyre!! His tyre was totalle ruptured but fortunately he found a piece of cardboad to put inside his tyre and fixed the bike! A bit more than 7′ he lost in this action and for sure some energy. But this ‘MacGyver’-mentality made him come back into the race, put down his bike with over 320NP ~ 72kg. But that’s not all, during his run he came back into the top 10 with the 2nd running time to finish the race 10th…only5′ after 3rd position!
Another strong race after his 2nd place in Chtriman 2018!

Next stop: Kona, Hawaii. And this athlete is more than on his place overthere!

Afbeelding kan het volgende bevatten: 1 persoon, zwemmen, buiten, water en natuur

Tony swallowing the flat tyre, and pushing through to the finishline!

September has kicked off very well…and we still have 29days left!

Ciao

Jesse

Fast racing in The Netherlands and Spain today!

12 augustus 201812 augustus 2018Een reactie plaatsen

70.3 Medina de Rioseco (Spain) was one of David’s 3 A-races this season! An important one because loving to race there! And only 1 week after a trainingcamp in Frankfurt, he felt like he had to go fast!

Another strong performance of David in Medina de Rioseca

A good swim, with one of his faster paces and already rollin’ out of T1 after 33′ he unleashed his legs again! David is a strong biker and on the flatter racecourse he wanted to move up quickly to let the other guys chasing him! Averaging 40,6km/h made him put down his bike in T2 2nd!

David running to AG podium and overall top10 in Spain!

A tough run in the Spanish heat for David but still managing to get into the overall top 10 and becoming 3rd in his AG!
Strong season of our Spanish Bull with the motor of a German car!

In The Netherlands Leiderdorp was the battlescene for our athletes. Adrian and Vincent on the 1/4distance, Jan on the 70.3 distance!
Adrian, coming back from training camp, was more than ready to race at Leiderdorp. Winning here 2years ago…made him one of the favourites before the race of course.
A good swim of Adrian, but also Vincent coming out of the water not so far behind….

Adrian on his way to victory in Leiderdorp!

Both of our athletes moved up very quickly and at the moment Adrian took the lead he felt Vincent flying by…Vincent was busy putting down the best bikesplit today with a huge effort and at that point our athletes were 1 and 2 in the race. Not bad with +/-200 athletes behind them. This was also the order they put their bikes in T2. During the runcourse Vincent ran constantly and was already busy defending his podium, knowing Adrian was coming very strongly, a very consistent race over 3 discplines made him run towards another victory! Vincent defended his spot on the podium very well and realized his best 1/4 effort effort by finishing 3rd!

Adrian 1st, Vincent 3rd…both a athletes with a big smile after a tough race!

The 70.3 distance, with a 2.5K swim, was another LD test for Jan! Already done a good comebackrace to triathlon in Klazienaveen (Netherlands) he was keen on putting down an even better effort today! A good swim for Jan, followed by a slower T1 (dizzy because of the water…u all know the feeling) made him have to work himself forward. No riders overtaking him on the bike and racing very constantly during the 90K on his TTbike.

Despite pain in his lower back on the TT bike, Jan moved up strongly during his bike effort!

Once off the bike it’s Jan’s strongest point: Offbike running. Running several times an overall top10 time off he the bike in the world championships duathlon made this his specialty! In the first lap he had take time for a ‘cioccolato gelato’ but he flew towards top15…and approaching top 10 at the finishline! Finishing 11th just a few seconds behind number 10!

A very fast run again for Jan, just missing top10 at the finishiline…finishing on a nice 11th place!

In La Gileppe, the yearly duathlon was held. A hilly course and quite some strong athletes at the starting line with for example U23 world champion Arnaud Dély. Both Robby (19th) and Wesley (24th) did a very good race and enjoyed racing these fine roads!

Wesley and Robby doing well in this tough race!

Cold weather, hot results!

4 maart 20188 maart 2018Een reactie plaatsen

Splendid weekend for our athletes this weekend with several top 10 results in cycling, duathlon and road running races!

This morning, early race for Jan, Wim, Jeroen and Arne!
Jan raced 10K in Lembeke after a loaded trainingweek and went home with the win and a lot of fruit 😉
Our other athletes had to race the 26K and this went totally according to plans, Arne takes the win in this long race while Jeroen was in for the podium all race long. In the he finishes 5th! A few minutes later it was Wim who finished in his PR on similar distances!

Later that day our tri/duathletes were ready to race in Nossegem, near the Brussels airport. A tough and muddy racecourse, a perfect test towards the first roadtriathlons within a few weeks.
For Inge this was a final test before the Belgian championships next week! A test in which she succeeded in style taking the win with over 4′ of advantage. But feet on the ground, this was a smaller regional race. Next week it’s time for her first national champs. Our othere ladies performed well in Inge’s footsteps. With Hannah (6th-3rd AG), Judith (9th) and Els (11th).
Our male athletes could make a fist and kept a very positive feeling after the race with Robby and Kristof fighting eachother and a battle for the podium in the Masters +50 category between Bart and Raymond. With Bart finishing 4th, Raymond 5th.

Inge winning the overall race in Nossegem

Our cyclists didn’t miss their season at all!

Our elite riders are going hard at the moment,
in Vollezele (Elite/U23) Anthony, Dries and Robbe were at the starting line. An earlier breakaway on this tough racecourse with in it…Robbe (U23-rookie). In the head of the peloton Dries and Anthony trying to get in the front. For Anthony the race ended with a flat after 80K. Robbe didn’t manage to stay in the breakaway untill the finishline but showed his guts to immediately make it in this breakaway in his 3rd race as U23. Dries tried for 120K to close the gap with the front and managed in it within the last kilometers. Finishing 23rd but closing down a gap on 20 riders…then you may conclude you missed the right train!
Shape is there, and next few weeks these riders won’t be just filling the peloton.

Anthony heading up front in Vollezele – Elite/U23

Svenne from his side had and important race in Nivelles, 75K – 1050D+, 3smaller climbs each lap and 22 laps. Yes, then you count 66 (!)smaller hills to race on. From very nearby we saw Svenne break away several times but he didn’t get a big gap on his opponents. Rain in the last hour made the course quite slippery, not easy to manage and heading to the last climb he finished 6th! A strong race in a peloton that was very difficult to control for him! Upcoming weeks, more climbing races will be on these riders programs!

Strong athletes, they didn’t miss the start of the season…they didn’t miss winterpleasure!

#jessevnsportscoaching #TSPB

A prepweekend….with need for speed!

28 januari 201828 januari 2018Een reactie plaatsen

Past weekend our athletes went into races, particulary to prepare the spring and summerseason coming up!

But first of all our cyclocrossmen Xtof, Klaas and Kev who went into one of their last races this season!
For Xtof another top5 in the masters race and close to podium in GC!
Kevin, one of our younger athletes who is coming back from serious back injuries, slowly refinds himself and gets 12th and 7th this weekend!

Klaas, our man in front of the cyclocrosscup classification was defending his 3rd spot in this GC this weekend. He did this on a great way and finds himself at the end of the cyclocrosscup in 3rd spot on the podium, together with the defending national champion.
This was a maingoal for him to reach and halfway the season we really started to believe in this! He worked, he succeeded!

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In Westrozebeke (Flanders) the annual Crossduathlon was held, with some of our triathletes at the starting line to pick up some rhythm and anaerobic impulses in a period of a lot of variety in other sorts of impulses. With very good running results in first place and steady performance on the bike our athletes could look back happy towards their first multisportrace of ’18!

Bert, in another format and another type of bike pushing away his limits! On his road to Ironman Lanzarote ’18 and of course Hawaii!

Nice result of Björn, mountainbiker and soon racing in South Africa…but meanwhile he got himself the national duathlonjersey for the fire Department!

The last weekend of January traditionally has quite some half marathons in Belgium, the way our athletes crushed these races is quite astonishing! 4 athletes who ran 1h16 or faster in full prep towards their season. None of these athletes had anaerobic impulses on training within the last 4months! Still…some of them even broke their PR. Approach your prepraces as prepraces and use preparation as a real preparationperiod. Not by being lazy…but by working smart and hard to be ready at the beginning of the season….just like Tony did on saturday by getting 3rd in Lier in 1h15′, on his way even to go sub 1h14’…but a little cramp in the end made him go a bit easier in the last 2K.

First preprace of ’18 for Tony, on his way to Kona, World Championships Ironman 2018

On saturday our other athletes went into a half marathon in Genk (Belgium).
All our athletes found themselves sub 1h30′ today and it were Jens, Adrian and Jan who had top10 ambitions in this race. With Jens having the best start (what did the coach say?), Adrian and Jan following closely behind. After a few kilometers places were shaked and it was Jan who finished 2nd in the race in 1h12′, Jens 5th in 1h13′ and Adrian 8th in 1h16′! A bit further our 50+ athlete Raymond finished in a nice 1h29′.

Jens and Jan running towards 2nd and 5th today!

Adrian putting down a fast run in 1h16′

Furthermore our athletes also were present in the Houffatrail, where athletes dared to challenge themselves on this extraordinary racecourse!

A bit more to the South then, in France, the Liévin Crosstriathlon was held!
For Johan and Hans a first triathlon, both athletes are entering Ironman Lanzarote at the end of May and after already racing a few Xduathlons and Run and Bikes now it was time to see where the swimming part was…. For Hans, the North of France always means a bit of joy because of a significant part of his athletic CV is built on his French successes!

Both athletes had a very good swim, and they came out of the swimming pool with 1’24/100m splits. For both athletes, this is close to their best level at this distance. Once on the bike Hans immediately dropped his opponents…and Johan, who only swam 3″ slower had a good example in his sight to move up in the field! Halfway the race it was Hans who took the lead, Johan at that point was in battle for top 10 (and podium in the masters race).
‘France and Hans’…became a success again and Hans manages with his good running legs to run towards victory! For Johan the race also ended successfull, by getting 8th overall and 3rd in the masters race!

Hans wins the race in Liévin (France), next race is at the Belgian coast in Sandman Inferno…beachduathlon!

https://www.facebook.com/plugins/video.php?href=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2Flievintriathlon%2Fvideos%2F1988073407871332%2F&show_text=0&width=267“>Hans winning crosstriathlon Liévin (France)

A good last weekend of January for our athletes, good and steady tests in first place…towards the real start of the season within a few months! But meanwhile, yes…we can and must enjoy very battle that’s won!

Ciao

Jesse

Recap of another “Grand-cru” year in 2017!

28 december 201729 december 2017Een reactie plaatsen

A long year is almost behind us, our athletes performed like bosses, from January till the end of December the one performance after the other was made!
This year was a year that personally wasn’t my easiest, with the loss of out mother. But as we learned to stand tall in difficult times…we kept going….and stood up again. Personally I must/will thank all the people who gave even the smallest word of support. Without the small or bigger supports maybe 2017 wouldn’t have been like it became…at sportslevel!

In January our athletes just drunk their last glass of champagne and the first races were there already, our athletes were involved in some road running races with for example the half marathons where we had 6 of our athletes crushing the 1h20′ and even some guys below 1h15, that already was a good sign towards the season. At that point our athletes hadn’t had any hard sessions yet. Base was good, strength was good…and then you can be already at 90% of your PB…if you approach training with a good periodisation. Laziness is never rewarded in sports, being creative and being a silent worker is!
Klaas, our cyclocrossrider even took an unexpected podium on the regional championships cyclocross!

Klaas heading towards the podium on the regional champs!

In February

our Canadians woke up and the first road races (running) were held overthere, with the Boularderie half marathon for example where Corey, Allan and Andreas took an exceptional clean sweep!

In Belgium the tough Sandman duathlon was held, with the win of Inge and very strong Hans in the male race. Both, at this point, were far from peaking period. With the results we knew in spring there would happen something…and it did!

Meanwhile the French speaking part of Belgium had its championships duathlon. There also our athletes got podium and even won the masters race.

La Machine has to explain how he dropped his opponents

At the end of this month our cyclists turned their engines on, immediately followed by big results! There was Svenne who already got podium and Anthony who was on for a S U P E R – Season who got 4th in his first race in Lens-Saint-Rémy.

March traditionally is the month where all sports cross eachother…road cycling, mountainbike, duathlon, triathlon, marathons,…but it’s also the month where you show what you’ve been up during winter.
March began with a duathlon win in Ashford (United Kingdom), Anthony who rode himself from the one podium to the other and wins in Tournai (Belgium). There also was the resurrection of Guillaume, who turned back into cycling and came back…stronger than he ever was before! There was also the trailrun on Ballon d’Alsace (France) where Arne got an unexpected podium and of course the duathlon in Hilversum (Netherlands) which closed the month!

A lot of fighting spirit for Anthony, with strong racing and wins already at the beginning of the season!

In April the cycling season continued with wins in Couvin (Belgium), Mariembourg (Belgium) and Frankfurt (Germany). While our duathletes won races in the Netherlands (Ter Idzard), Germany (Eschweiler) and France (Douai). In Douai it was Hans who was able to put down an extraordinary result by beating former Pro world champion Koen Maris. Not so far behind it was Jan who, with the fastest 2nd run, could move closely to the front! In Spain it was David who did a great race in Orihuela early in the season and in Florida (USA) Allan won his race!

A bit more to the South Ironman South Africa was the first Ironman planned, with Pierre, Cai and Sam we had 3 athletes being capable of qualifying for Kona.
What happened there went just perfect! Pierre realised his best ever race and qualified for Kona for the 2nd year in a row, while Cai (5th in her AG) just missed the slot but managed to do a race perfectly as planned.

Sam from his part, once again took an IM podium by finishing 2nd AG overall (after former PRO Godart) and ran for the 4th time in his career a sub 3h marathon! Also his ticket was in his Bioracer-suit pocket!

Sam running a sub 3h marathon in Ironman South Africa

Guillaume towards his solo-win in Couvin!

3rd overall spot, but the win in his AG for Hans on Silent Saturday

Guillaume getting out of the tunnel…approaching the finisline

Jan racing towards 1st position!

David after his race in Orihuela (Spain)

Victory for Hans in Douai (france)!

Jan and Hans during the first run in France

Yes, April was the first peak for some of our athletes…and it was spot on it!
For the others…May became the first peaking period … and that promissed to be at least as surprising as April!

May was the month of duathlon championships,

with Jan becoming AG European champion and Wim losing his 3rd AG spot in the last kilometer we had success and learning in 1 race towards the world championships in September! Only 6 days after the EC the Belgian national championships were held in…Holland. In Almere Jan took top 10 overall and Wim managed himself to get his first medal on a national championships and got 3rd (masters).

Jan and Wim racing the European championships Long distance duathlon

In Mallorca (Spain) Adrian raced his first main goal of the season and in the 70.3 raced he not only got 2nd (AG), but also took a nice overall ranking and qualified for the 70.3 world championships.

Adrian running towards his AG-podium in Mallorca 70.3

Next to these races our athletes also managed to perform in Belgium and Canada in several cycling and triathlon races

Of course after a period like April and May, in which many outstanding performances were set by our athletes a coach silently hopes this can inspire the other athletes to perform at their verrrry best in the rest of the season. And it did!

In June this list of podium spots were reached:

SWIKE Harelbeke: 3rd
Half Irondistance Troyes (France): 2nd
Rev3 70.3 Quassy (Canada): 2nd
Half Irondistance Terheijden (Netherlands): 3rd
Duathlon Baddeck (Canada): 1st
Duathlon Baddeck (Canada): 2nd
Duathlon Baddeck (Canada): 3rd
Ironman 70.3Luxemburg: 1st AG Inge
Ironman70.3 Luxemburg: 3rd AG Steven
Cyclingrace Zomergem: 2nd Guillaume
Mamer Duathlon (Luxembourg): 3rd Jan
Cyclingrace Zottegem: 2nd Guillaume
Time trial Zolder: 3rd Jef

Next to these results, multiple top10 races were made by our athletes!
In the triathlonraces of Meer, L’eau d’Heure, Oud-gastel, Couvin, Alpsman…our athletes performed very well.
In Ironman Klagenfurt (Austria) we saw our athletes stepping up a level with athletes going sub 10h and sub 9h30 for the very first time!

Fast swim of Pascal, and bringing some salad home!

Inge…unbelievable month for her, with AG win in 70.3 Luxemburg and 2nd place in Troyes!

Steven 3rd AG in 70.3 Luxemburg!

Unfortunately for Bert in Challenge Poznan (Poland), he was sent the wrong direction…being in 2nd position and having to quit the race. Bert was approaching the leader at that point and ready to take a full distance win! This made him keen on performing at least as hard later on this season…

July, the first month of summer…traditionally a loaded month with Ironman races in Frankfurt (Germany), Zürich (Switzerland), Santa Rosa (USA), Lake Placid (USA), Nice (France) and Whistler (Canada), but also the full distance races of Gravelines (France) and Challenge Roth (Germany). In all of these races our athletes gave the best of themselves with some extraordinary results in the end!
Each Irondistance also is a learning process, that’s what a few of our athletes experienced. The way you enter the race is crucial!

Sam heading to the end of the race, controlling his AG victory!

Enjoying Ironman Nice!

Robbe 2nd in Leuze!

Nice race of Bart in Nice, focussed!

Bart and Wim with biggest supportcrew in France!

Cai chasing the podium!

Bronze medal on the national MTB championships

In Roth for example, Hans was our 2nd AG athlete getting SUB 8h45! With a win in his AG and a top overall ranking this was certainly his best full distance ever!

hansvdb

In Lake Placid (USA) Cai came very close again to qualifying for the World champs after a strong race on this tough racecourse, while Same managed an 11th place (overall) and another AG win!
A very strong performance again, and much more to say and reflect about it then just ‘eating chicken soup’ ;-)!

In Aarschot it was Bert who took his 2nd masters victory of the season, Inge who took the AG win in Xterra France, Anthony just outsprinted for the win in Rad am Ring (Germany), Corey getting 3rd in 70.3 Saint-Andrews, Allan winning the Aylesford triathlon (Canada) and Robbe (junior-cyclist) getting his first ever podium!

Next to all of these races it was Jan who was the 2nd Belgian in 2017 winning a Long distance duathlon (only 2 will win a LD road duathlon in 2017) in Gravelines (France)!

August is known as harvest period in Europe, the end of the road seasons approach and time for those who built a good base to finetune towards the last races!
Our athletes wer on the pdoim tri/duathlonraces and multiple cyclingraces in Belgium The Netherlands and Roumania, while in Spain David got himself on the podium in Medina de Rioseco (Spain).
In Belgium it was Bart who astonished in the tough Belman race by finishing 9th, where he found a racecourse that fitted him perfectly!

Perfect race in Kopenhagen for PJ!

Andreas and Corey 2nd and 1st in Portshood!

Wim with podium in the Flemish MTB cup

Anthony continues an excellent season

David 1st AG in Medina de Rioseco (Spain)

Jan 3rd in Borne (Netherlands)

Anil racing 70.3 Zell am See

3rd overall for Wim

But Augustus also was a month of quite some Ironman racing!

With 70.3 races like Zell-Am-See (Austria) and Vichy (France), where our athletes performed very well. On the full distance in Maastricht (The Netherlands) Tim got 21st overall, and missed his slot by 1place after a 3h00 marathon which was the 6th overall (Pro incl) running time! Later that month our athletes also raced in Ironman MT where Allan got very close to a slot, Ironman Kopenhagen(Denmark) and then we had the Ironman in Vichy!
A magical day for one of our athletes, who flew and was in the lead of the race for a very long time!! Bert came through on the bike as 2nd very soon, with nobody around him and chasing groups behind him. With the rolling start it’s difficult to see where you are in the race, and the packs behind him of course were not easy to manage. With a fast bikesplit he put down his bike and started on the run course! Soon it was clear that former Pro and strong performing Clerbout came closer and approached him (timewise) . But nobody could avoid that it was Bert crossing the finishline 2nd!

Bert crossing the finishline in Vichy (France) finishing 2nd in Vichy

A magical moment for our athletes to have one of our athletes crossing the Ironmanfinish like this! In the end it was Clerbout who won (faster time by +/-5′). Bert was our 3rd amateur athlete within a year who finished in 8h45 or faster! A performance to remember, and to be very proud of!

With his fantastic performance in Vichy, Bert already qualified for the 2018 World championships!

Only 1 week after the adrenalinerush in Vichy, our athletes registered for the World championships duathlon in Zofingen (Switzerland) were ready…to rumble!

Hans, Jan and Wim had their chances on the AG podium and were keen to get on it!

For all 3 of them the race turned into something fantastic, Hans (1st AG 35-39), Jan (2nd AG 35-39) and Wim (2nd AG 40-44) found themselves on the podium after the race!

With Hans who became first overall amateur and Jan who became 3rd overall amateur our athletes had their place between the Pro’s!

AG world champion Hans!

Jan getting ready for his ride!

Hans riding towards first overall AG position on the bike!

Podium with Hans (1st) and Jan (2nd)

Ultra trail du Mont Blanc leaves its traces for Ciprian!

Tony qualifying for Kona19 in Wales

Van qualifying for Kona 18 in Chattanooga!

Inge outstanding in Damme 70.3

Only 2weeks after his 2nd place in Ironman Vichy it was time for Bert to enter the 70.3 world championships! With our well known Dan Stubleski at place number 1, Bert his 5th place was well earned! What a season for him!

Later in September we had 2 athletes ready to qualify for Kona 18 with Tony, strong as always and approaching his first Ironman in Wales! In Wales he got the company of Stijn, also racing his first Ironman! Both athletes did great and on this tough and very cold racecourse, where pro-athletes like Romain Guillaume had to leave the race because of the cold, Tony was capable of qualifying himself for the Ironman World championships 2018 in Kona, Hawaii!

In Chattanooga (USA) it was Van, our Californian trailrunner/Ironman athlete…with a super fast run of the bike he won the AG (45-49) and got 15th (!!) overall in his Ironman! With his slot in the pocket he is flying into 2018!

With several races like Gerardmer XL, Knokke, Damme (with another OUTSTANDING win for Inge) , the national duathlon title (masters) for Wim and victory for Andreas in Canada (Fiddlers half marathon) road season was topped off!

At this point our cyclocrossriders already had don their first races again!
October approached and Kona 17 came closer!

But first there were the Ironman race in Barcelona(Spain), where Jens was on his way to go Sub9 and take a Kona-ticket also! Only in the last kilometers his race got really tough finishing 4th(AG) and just not enough for the AG podium! But a magnificent race for one of our younger athletes in the Ironman circuit! Jens did a super season with quite some races all the way in the front of the race and finally closing his season with a fast race in Barcelona!

Also in Barcelona was Sem, a big step forward for him….finishing the race just above 9h30!

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Jens in Ironman Barcelona on his way towards 4th AG place

In Ironman70.3 Turkey Adrian astonished once again by getting another Ironman top10! Another good season for him this year with some nice goals to look forward to!

But not only Ironman has races in October, Vincent and Arne went to Empuriabrava to race their half irondistance and finished 21st and 22nd in this beautifull race in the north of Spain!

Of course there’s only 1 ‘all-eyes-on’ race in October and that’s the Ironman World Championships in Hawaii! With Sam and Pierre racing this year we hoped for the very best! And all was going perfectly, with both athletes having a good swim and immediately heading forward on the bike…untill Sam got a penalty…5′ of STOP for him!
Despite this penalty he went as hard as before the penalty for the rest of the racecourse and managed to STILL have the fastest AG 40-44 bikesplit and the 4th overall time….how fast were his legs! On the runcourse Sam couldn’t make the difference anymore and after being in the battle for the podium untill almost the end he finally got 7th! Pierre finished a bit later and completed his 2nd Kona-race!

The week after Kona our athletes already came together to have our first groupsession, a relaxed fartlek run and groupride were on the menu :-). The begin of a good season is where the past season ends!

In November it was clear that our cyclocrossriders got stronger and stronger, with Klaas getting several podiumplaces and move up towards 3rd overall in the Cyclocrosscup!

Kevin from his side amazed by getting the 2nd place in the regional championships, a nice step up in his comeback year!

KEvWM

December, the last month of the year and also a month in which many athletes enter their first prepraces towards ’18 with nice results in Run and Bikes, Offroadduathlons, trailruns and the continuation of our cyclocrossmen in a season full of suspense! Also a crucial month for training towards spring season!

But above all…there’s Kasterlee. A LD duathlon only known in Flanders, BUT with a great atmosphere and something special about it! A main goal for a couple of our athletes!
A main goal that was more exciting even than predicted, and finally one of our athletes won the race. Inge dreamt about winning it and she did! After mechanical problems she fought herself back into the race and won! That’s the mentality you need as an athlete, never give up!
In the masters race it was Wim who won, with his 11th overall place and super fast run off the bike! Marvellous season they both had!

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In Thailand the riders of the WTT/W2W are also keen on starting their season and already in December the first races ar on there! With 4podiumplaces and 1 victory they immediately show what’s possible if you work smart!

Extra goalsets for the next year are simple – evaluation within 12months:

getting our 10th world championships medal
win a continental championship
win a pro cycling race (UCI)
At least 5 selections for the Ironman World Championships 2018, Hawaii
win our 5th Irondistance race
selection for UCI Gran Fondo world championships Varese (Italy)
selection for the European championships cycling (UCI-PRO)
Selection for the 70.3 World champs in Nice 2019
Get a 100% ratio start/finish in all Ironmans
Race with a lot of determination and beat yourselves physically and/or mentally during each race.
Train smart, perform better (in real-life races, not on Strava, Zwift or on other Instagrams ;-))!

The page of the book of 2017 will be turned on December 31st, then we only look forward again! First date to meet…January 21st, group session ‘Jessevnsportscoaching-classic’. Be there, or be square!
Have a good party!

*The full list of podium places in ’17 , but with 3days to go and knowing our athletes this can still change!

Ciao,

Jesse

World Championships Duathlon ITU/Powerman: Silence is golden!

3 september 20174 september 2017Een reactie plaatsen

Today the first of several world championships in multisportsracing was coming up!
With the ITU world championships duathlon in Zofingen (Switzerland) this day was marked in red already months ago! With Jan (defending and multiple) AG world champion, always keen on performing in Zofingen. But this year our newborn duathlete Wim and du/tri/cyclatlete Hans we also had some other wolves in the battle!

Goals were set, both Jan and Hans their focus was on trying to get on the AG podium and take a medal. Easy said, not easy done. Wim from his side was convinced by his coach with the words ‘You will be capable of getting close to the podium, don’t let your chances get wasted’ and he registered. No way back!

10K run – 150K bike and 30K run, that are the distances on the menu, hilly…. together these distances reached the running distance of what our Roumanian athlete Ciprian did in Ultra Trail du Mont Blanc :-), and he had no bike!

Survival of the fittest in Ultra Trail du Mont Blanc for Ciprian, and he survived !

Confidence was there for our athletes, Hans had a super Challenge Roth (Germany-8h44), Jan got the win in LD duathlon Gravelines (France) and got 3rd last week while Wim won the SD in Gravelines (France) and got 3rd in La Gileppe duathlon (Belgium).

The first run was directly clear, our athletes ran for what they were worth and held some fuel in the tank. After the run all 3 were close to the podium in their AG and Jan was already among the Pro athletes mounting his bike 1st in his AG.

Fastest running split in 1st and 2nd run in his AG for Jan!

On the 150K hilly bikecourse it was Hans ‘La Machine’ that immediately took the AG lead (35-39) before Jan. In AG 40-44 Wim kept contact with the podium and was spotted 4th for a long time. During this bikecourse it became more and more clear that Hans was taking the overall AG lead. Slowly but surely he moved up in the profield also and got close to the top10. Jan from his side kept the podium in his sight putting down the bike, as well as Wim did. In the final end of the cycling course Wim joined Jan and they could start running close to eachother.

Hans rode 298NP during the world champs, with a very fast first lap to immediately get rid of possible wheelsuckers. The watts are the NP watts on Bodenberg

Opening the day with a paced first 10k

And than that run…Zofingen is also about running fast of the bike. If you can’t run fast off the bike you can’t win…and so they ran fast! Hans did what some sideliners (and they are called ‘sideliners’ because they belong there of course) didn’t expect him to do and that’s surviving and winning the overall AG race in Zofingen on the running course!

Jan getting ready for his ride!

Hans riding towards first overall AG position on the bike!

The overall 2nd AG athlete after the cycling part took the lead on the run, but Hans…took him back in the end! With a 13th (pro included) place and 1st (AG 35-39) he can call himself the AG world champion. Tot spijt van wie het benijdt!

Jan from his side is a fighter as we described him a few days ago and he fought himself from 4th to 3rd…and from 3rd to 2nd! With a 6th (!) overall running split he takes silver in his AG (35-39) and joins Hans on the podium! His words after the race ‘I get my results because I never give up, they can knock me down…but I will never give up, I wanted that 2nd place and that was the highest possible goal. Hans was outstanding.’ Great words of Jan!

Jan 2nd – Hans 1st and company of another Belgian on 3

In the AG 40-44 Wim was on his way to 4th place for a very long time, but then again. Winning is something you always do on the run…Wim moved up to 3rd place and even to 2nd place! Before the race I told him:’ focus on the podium, Laurent Martinou (France) is too strong, he is an overall top 15 athlete. Don’t focus on him!’ But then…Martinou collapses and Wim came close in the end finishes only 1′ behind Martinou…getting 2nd in his AG (40-44)! Or how things can evolve sometimes!
After losing his 3rd place in the European championships in the last kilometer, Wim learned a lot when it comes to racing strategy and nutrition 😉 Well earned silver for him!

AG silver for Wim – only 1′ behind the AG world title (40-44)!

With 3 athletes in this World championship and taking 1*Gold and 2*Silver home, all athletes within the top 28 (Profield included) we can’t say anything else than we’re proud! Zofingen and our athletes have a commitment since years, with several top 15 and even top 8 places overall, 4*AG gold and 3*AG silver we are keen on performing in this ‘mother of all duathlons’ every year! CU next year ;-)!

Wim made huge steps forward as a duathlete which brings him to silver in AG 40-44

Next few days these athletes can, may and must relax and have a bit of rest!

But this is not all what happened this weekend, our athletes inspire eachother. That’s clear!
After Bert’s 2nd place in Ironman Vichy last week I thought: ” well THIS was a great summer”… but the summer lasts untill September 21st it seems!

Today Wim and Bjorn raced Flanders Cup in Langdorp,

Wim, currently leading this classification got 3rd, only 5″ away from first place…and will need to finish at least top 3 in the next race to keep the lead in this GC! Winning this GC makes him Flemish champion XC 2017! Björn took 8th, and is ready for the World championships Firemen next week!

Another podium for Wim in Flanders Cup Langdorp

Belman triathlon, probably the toughest racecourse in a triathlon in Belgium (1,9K swim – 90K Bike – 21K run) was Bart’s last goal of the season, after Ironman Nice he put all effort on this race and with success! An astonishing result even, finishing 9th overall !
A nice way to end your season and start looking forward!

Bart finishing 9th in Half Belman!

In La Charly Gaulle (Luxemburg) Niels and Anthony were both in the race to perform at their very best. In preparation of the Rothaus Ridermann (Germany) for both.
Anthony, who got hit by a car yesterday, was a bit sore at the beginning but still managed to be in the right breakaway in Luxemburg. 4th place in the end in La Charly Gaulle, but still feeling super well and in shape. Anthony is on a very high level since March (winning already at the beginning of the season) and feels ready for the upcoming races!

Anthony

Ciao

Train smart, perform better!
Jesse

World Championships Duathlon and Swimrun – Roundup!

29 augustus 201729 augustus 2017Een reactie plaatsen

Our athletes approach the World Championships, upcoming weekend the first of 4weekends of world championships is planned!

Here’s a roundup of our athletes having the honour to participate in Switzerland and Sweden!

World Championships ITU / Powerman Long Distance Duathlon Zofingen (Switzerland):

Jan Meysmans(AG 35-39):
- Multiple AG world champion, current AG World champion and AG European champion
- Strength: Fast run off the bike – determined racer who always goes full gazz – massive experience
- Weakness: Had some sugarlevel problems in the past – can’t stand cold weather
- Remarkable facts: In 2017 only 2Belgians won the overall classification of a LD Duathlon, Jan is one of them.

Wim Decoene (AG 40-44):
- First timer in Zofingen – First Powermanseason – 4th European championships Long Distance Duathlon (AG)
- Strength: Steady runner – Proved in his last races to have put a big step forward on the bike and closed the gap on ‘shorter’ distance with the Amateur topfield.
- Strength: Strong runner – has a final in his legs – Aerobic talent
- Weakness: First race with a +80K bikecourse – forgot to eat enough in past LD races.
- Remarkable facts: Wim as a master won the overall classification in the sprint distance in Zofingen and shared the podium with current PRO world champion Odeyn in his last race leading up to Zofingen.

Hans Vandenbuverie (AG 35-39):
- 2015 AG European champion – Kona Qualifier – 8h44′ Irondistance PB – Irondistance winner
- Strength: Cycling and paced run off the bike – experienced on long bikecourses – can stand all weather conditions
- Weakness: First timer in Zofingen – too much choice in wheelsets
- Remarkable facts: In 2017 only 2Belgians won the overall classification of a LD Duathlon, Hans is one of them.

HansVDB

World Championships Swimrun (Ötillö-Sweden)

Raphaël Amato (mixed teams):
- Multiple World championships 70.3 qualifier – got 2nd place in his last triathlon – won his last Swimrun with Sophie
- Strength: Will be the motor of the team on the run – prooved he can dig deep when it goes tough in a race during his last IM
- Weakness: Cold water might affect his muscles
- Remarkable facts: In 2017 he won Amphiman with Sophie in cold water which can give a mental advantage.
Sophie Drofiak (mixed teams):
- IM70.3 2016 qualifier – won her last Swimrun with Raphaël
- Strength: Topswimmer – got in La descente de la Lesse last weekend which may reassure her for the run
- Weakness: First time racing such a long race
- Remarkable facts: In 2017 she won Amphiman with Raph in cold water and with limited running kilometers in the legs. Last 8weeks put her 2 steps forward!

Hammers on the performance block! Ironman Vichy (France) and more!

27 augustus 2017Een reactie plaatsen

A weekend to remember with our athletes going strong, going strong from January 1st till December 31st! Last weekend of August and a big racing weekend for our cyclists and triathletes!

The weekend started perfect with one of our cyclists who went in the breakaway in ‘La Velomediane’. After 165k Anthony took 3rd place in this tough Ardennes cycling race.!
Anthony is doing a massive season (again)! Taking enough rest, pushing enough load at the right time results in performance on D-Days.
With a month to go there’s still something left in his tank this season!

Anthony 3rd in La Velomediane

In Zoetermeer (Holland) the best MTB’riders of Belgium, Netherlands and Luxemburg raced eachother in another stage of the Beneluxcup. For Wim a race to defend his 2nd place in the GC. Finishing 4th he defends his 2nd spot and is now ready to attack the Flemish championships.

Wim 2nd in Beneluxcup and currently 1st in Flemish Cup!

Austria is Anil’s 2nd homeground and for that he raced 70.3 Zell-Am-See today, finishing his first 70.3. Leading up to…

Borne (Netherlands) was racing territory for the duathletes. Current Dutch long distance champion Alexander Picard won the race, Jan got third only a few seconds away from 2nd position!. Who had a first short taper off phase after a big block of training leading up to the World Championships Duathlon of next weekin Switzerland!

Jan 3rd in one of his favourite sprintraces in the Netherlands!

In Vichy (France) our triathletes raced the 70.3 race in warm conditions but enjoyed it. Our oldest athlete finished the race as he hoped for and Kenneth put down 4h44′ in his 1st half triathlon. This race was lead-up event towards the full Ironman event on sunday!
With 2 athletes in this race we were looking forward to it!

Bert and Bart went into this Ironman with different expectations. Bert was chasing a good race ànd a slot to qualify for Kona 2018, Bart was chasing a sub11!
The non-wetsuit swim didn’t play in Bart’s cards as swimming is not his favourite discipline. But for Bert, steady over the 3 disciplines and a good swimmer, this could make an early gap. And so it went. Very early in the race Bert was in the front of the field. He got out of T2 in 5th position after a 56′ swim. With a rolling start, you don’t really have a view on the athletes who start later in the bunch. Rolling starts are definitely becoming a solution for the drafting. But also may play another tactical role in the future, more about this in a later blog. For Bert this race was also a revenge race for Challenge Poznan, where he was sent in the wrong direction in2nd position.
The hard training period he had last months would pay off…that was the purpose.

Bert didn’t miss the start on the bike and moved up to 2nd position after a couple of kilometers into the bikecourse.

With a low extensive steady HR and an avg speed of +/-40km/h Bert could finish the bikecourse with quite fresh legs. Ready for a good run under the sun. With 36°C a hot day in France, hoping heat wouldn’t affect performance too much.

Putting down the bike 2nd overall in T2 gave wings to Bert and soon he moved up towards 1st overall position! Behind him, a few athletes (of which former PRO Bruno Clerbout – multiple Ironman top5 results) who started the race a bit later in the bunch were chasing Bert and the livetracker and positions in the race were a bit misleading.
Halfway the bikecourse it was clear quite some athletes were getting close and were catching up on him. Clerbout took the lead, to never give it back again and crossed the finishline of an IM first for the first time in his career.

Bert from his side had a good run, a steady run and was capable after losing his 2nd place to fight himself back into the race for silver and took it with style! 2nd place in 8h45′!

With a 3h15′ run Bert paces towards the 2nd place in Vichy, qualifying Kona happens after hard work!

Bert is our 3rd AG athlete in 1year who finishes in 8h45 or faster in an Ironman!
For him this also means he has his qualification to Hawaï 18 in the pocket! And I am very curious to see which one of our athletes could already join him…let’s see ;-)!
A challenging next 2weeks for Bert despite his rocket-race, within 2 weeks he races the IM70.3 World championships.

The overall podium in Vichy was conquered by Belgians, with Bert as a proud 2nd in 8h45′

A bit later Bart who put down his bike in 5h15 was on schedule for his sub 11 and he did. With a well paced run he finishes in 10h58′! Mission accomplished and 2 weeks of 100% rest coming 😉

Next week our athletes wil race the World Championships duathlon in Zofingen and the Swimrun World Championships in Sweden. Later this week we will present you our athletes heading in to these 2 races!

Ciao and have a cold drink, our day was hot today 😉

Jesse

Our athletes in the front in Canada, Spain, Holland and Belgium

13 augustus 201713 augustus 2017Een reactie plaatsen

Quite an extraordinary weekend this weekend, the ONLY non-Ironman weekend of the summer for our athletes but not at all a weekend without races!

Saturday the weekend start grey, wet and cold in Belgium. Not a lucky moment for the La Gileppe Trophy Duathlon. Our athletes at the starting line would race against current Pro world champion Odeyn. Last year it was Tom who won this race with a super fast bikesplit, which wasn’t touched at all this year. Jan and Wim were directly in the front of the race and keen on a good performance. Both athletes are in full preparation of the World Championships on Sept 3rd. Jan could mount his bike 4th but the rain and cold took over his body and he had to let go his concurrents a bit on the top of the most important hill. Jan is an athlete who is used having a fat% between 4,5 and 7,5%.

Jan MEYS.jpg

Not a lot for racing in such conditions. With a fast offbike run, he warmed up a bit and could run towards 9th place. Wim from his side did (in my eyes) maybe his most astonishing race, because of the difficulty of the racecourse and race towards 3rd overall behind strong cyclist Lafourte and Odeyn. Wim wins the masters race of course. After his win in Gravelines (Sprint) another hammer on the block.

wim DC LA GILEPPE

That said, we can say this motivates. Surprising results, are always nice to see!

David was ready for his last Half Irondistance of the season, in Medina de Rioseca (Spain) he raced this triathlon. With a good swim, a T1 where’s room for improvement and a super bikesplit he could put down his bike in….2nd position!

40,5km/h was David’s avg pace in Medina de Rioseca

He was closely followed by a chasing group and quite soon he found himself comfortable in 5th position. But David paced well and ran his 2nd half of the runcourse as fast as the first half which made him took over 4th place and finish 4th!

In Canada Andreas and Corey were ready to race in Porthood (1/4 Triathlon), for Corey the first race after a short break after his first half of the season with 2Xpodium in 70.3races of Quassy (USA) and Saint-Andrews (Can). While Andreas had his first post-Ironmanrace.
Corey took the lead of this race very early in the race to not let slip away victory! Another win for this strong athlete. Andreas from his side did a good swim and rode 1/4distance records to mount to 2nd position…the run is definitely his strength and like this he took 2nd overall place.

Corey (1st) and Andreas (2nd) took their secret weapon for today’s race. Aerostyle, faststyle!

Earlier this week we had Adrian with an infection at his foot, antibiotics were needed to get his foot back to normal. A little wound that gets infected can give a lot of misery…fortunately Adrian got the right treatment in time.

Only friday Adrian’s feet fitted in his runningshoes again after a little infection got worse.

But shape was good and he was race-ready, with adapted training and some good sessions on the turbo on wednesday and thursday confidence came back and we decided to not cancel the race and see what would happen. His first run on friday went ok…so I was quite confident this would be for 90% OK on raceday. And so it was. Motivated to defend his last year’s title in Leiderdorp he defended his title well by finishing 3rd today!

3rd place for Adrian in Leiderdorp, continuing a very strong season so far…with 2 big goals waiting!

On the day Usain Bolt quits racing, our athletes just keep going strong!

Train smart, perform better!

Jesse

Magic May episode 3

21 mei 201721 mei 2017Een reactie plaatsen

May is hot, our athletes strong…and only getting stronger!

Today the European Championships were held in Sankt-Wendel (Germany), if you are a duathlete…you were there today? If not…be there next year!

The classic distance was chosen for these championships (10-60-10). And for Jan, Wim and Steve their first A-race of the season! Ambitions were simple for Jan and Wim, trying to aim for the AG podium. Steve was starting in the Open category and was curious to what’s possible….
Being a championship, the only importance to this race is where you end up in your category and try to aim for the best that’s possible…

Jan was hungry, he’s a young guy (AG35-39) and directly took the lead in his AG, Wim wasn’t so far behind and ran on 4th place in his AG. So both could get on the bike in the battle of the medals. On the bike they both could hold their pace and after first being passed and on 2nd position it was halfway the bikecours that Jan attacked and took the lead…to never give it back again! Wim first fell back to 6th, but than step by step moved up to 4th and both could put down their bike…for an exciting and tough run course.
Jan kept his first place and for the first time (after 4x AG world champion) he got himself that European Gold medal (better than that lousy silver we have here in the closet ;-))!

Jan ‘Gianni’ Meysmans after the 2016 AG world title, today he takes the 2017 AG European title!

For Wim it became battletime, not the luxury of Jan with a 2′ advantage. But running down on number 3…taking 3rd place and in the end on a steep climb…’parcheggio’ and having to let go number 3. Wim was their for his first European Champs, his first full duathlon season (has been a runner) and we can say he won 4th and didn’t lose 3rd! Congratulations!

Wim came close to Jan at the beginning of Run2, but Wim had to let go the younger Belgian in search of his 1st place. Wim finally takes 4th.

In the open race Steve suffered, an underestimated run course but full of experience in trailrunning. And once he put down his bike he was able to get 3rd in the Open category!

3Participants on the Europeans duathlon…almost 3 medals…I can not say I’m not happy 😉 Great job to our duathletes. Duathlon is NOT dead, it’s alive…only NOT in Belgium 🙂
Next week National championships are held in The Netherlands…that’s like…weird?!?!

In Leuven then again the first Half Irondistance of the season in Belgium was planned,

for a couple of our athletes this race is the most important race of the season. As Leuven is their hometown. For our other athletes a first big test…leading up to more!

First real warm weather and a citycenter…not an easy combination for most athletes. But hey: IF u want to qualify for Kona, you must be capable to deal with the heat!
Our athletes all had a good swim, better than they had last year…the watertemperature might be the cause for that. And of course the fact that they were ready for it!

We had Bert coming into T1 first, followed by Tony and a bit later Sem, Peter and Wim!

Bert, alone in the chase of the leading pack…difficult to pace and nothing to aim for of course. But he managed a good cyclingpart and could start running 5th. Tony a bit later, ready to show the flexibility in his legs. Those 2 athletes were on for the top 10!

Tony pacing his race by HR and poweroutput, a steady bike-ride and coming off the bike with a fast run! 290NP is classy for a +-72kg athlete!

Bert alone in chase of the leaders in Leuven

Bert had to pace his race alone, no competitors in his sight and no powermeter. On a hilly bikecourse not easy to pace right. And despite a very strong bikesplit you notice the decrease in HR during his ride. Mostly a sign of slightly overpowering in the beginning of the bikecourse.

Triathlon is a mechanical sport, the gear has to be fitted all just right. For Wim in his ‘homerace’ this wasn’t the case…his frontderailleur fell down and he could spin himself to T2…bad luck. But nice not to give up and continue the race!

Wim had bad luck having some mechanical issues, but still managed his fastest racetime…

During the run Bert could hold his top10 spot despite stomach problems and had to fight it against some rockets with runningshoes on…Tony was one of them and just passed Bert in the last meters.
8th and 9th in the end which is great in this race! Our other athletes all finished a bit later and felt strong towards their full distance races coming up!

Tony with another fast run in Leuven and managing his first top 10 in this Half triathlon

These were not the only races our athletes got into the top10, Hans managed 8th in the 1/4 triathlon Seneffe and in Ghlin one of our comeback cyclists managed his 2nd top10 in a row…keen on more!

Magic May…isn’t over yet ;-)!

Ciao

Jesse
jesse

The heat is on…astonishing around Europe!

30 april 20175 mei 2017Een reactie plaatsen

Our athletes are known for not working hard, but working smart and correct…we race hard, we party hard (and correct ;-))! It’s all about fun, no?

Today was marked in my agenda since October 1st, because of some fine races this weekend. Not necessarily for winning them…but for putting a good result, the rest follows from that point.
Not so long ago someone asked me why are athletes are capable of being good around the year, the answer I didn’t give and I won’t give. But I might say this about this: ‘Never train in panic, never train as being someone frustrated to perform…and always keep your cool’.

Jens, an athlete (as so many others…) which I started working with in May ’16 after having severe injuries and underperforming the level he has in his body had his first Multi-event coming up…the Eschweiler duathlon, a sprintduathlon in Germany with over 200participants. Duathlon, a great sport, is alive…only not in Belgium. In Belgium it’s dead. Dead as never before. A good proof are the ETU Short distance championships of past saturday. Ridiculous Belgian results for a country with a great past in this sport. (OK, critics I can handle…no worries, my back has become strong past years…let it come to me). Whatever, in some countries this sport is alive…at least in Eschweiler it is! 201finishers for sprintduathlon…and in the end one of our athletes winning the race!

Jens wins this race after running personal records, but also cycling personal records!

Jens running to victory in Germany!

Still I would like to give a small point to work on, 2nd transition was slightly off 😉

JenRoegiers uitslag

And that duathlon is alive abroad also shows the 200registrations for the famous Duath’long and 100 for the Sprint duathlon in Douai (France).
In the sprint duathlon our master Wim, working towards the national and ETU (European) championships long distance takes the win in the masters race by becoming 5th (!) overall among some explosive youngsters!

The Long Distance duathlon…promissed fireworks. Maris (Pro World champion 2007) and Neyrinck (8th World championships Duathlon 2012 – Pro’s) definitely were the 2 athletes who were to beat today. Behind them, outsiders such as De Paula (Fr), Thesse (Fr), Billemons (Bel) and our Jan and Hans. Jan, last week winner in the Netherlands and Hans both are in shape. Ready to deal with the Douai-winds and putting down a good performance. For Jan this races leads towards the National and European Long distance championships. For Hans this race was an A-race, topping off his spring.

Further in the peloton a few of our other athletes had gotten the mission to race this tough duathlon in preparation towards their Irondistance coming up!

The first 12K went super well for our athletes, Jan and Hans and got into T1 almost together within 1’30 of the leaders, not losing too much energy and ready for a steady bikeride.

Jan in his first 12K, running 3’30/km pace, Hans following shortly behind and both already in the game for a nice result!

The racecourse in Douai (Fr) is full of variation: Road, gravel, grass…all in it!

On the bike Hans immediately layed his card on the table, ‘La Machine’ (his nickname in the North of France) went hard immediately and was capable of taking the lead already after 25km! It wasn’t a possibility to wait and see. Every mile had to be focussed and hard to upgrade the advantage. It went so hard that other athletes had to take risks…going in overdrive, or losing terrain.
Unfortunately Neyrinck (Bel), already on 2’30 after lap1 crashed later in the race and broke his collarbone. The wind, roads and turnings make Douai a very demanding racecourse. We wish our friend a good recovery, and he’ll be back in shape for the World Champs later this year. Jan really feared this bikecourse, not his cup of tea…but he knows he needs to work on these kind of races to take advantage in his A-races. And it’s obvious his Italian training camp and the race in the Netherlands last week did well for him. Jan could manage to keep up with the top 10 and putting down the bike ‘relatively’ fresh!

Hans only focused on his strengths during this race and builded up his race, he normalized a +300watt powerfile and it was enough to make a gap with former world champion Maris (Bel)…but was this gap big enough. Or does Hans can run?

The focus we give our athletes to kill it on the off-bike run, because yes…once again I will say ‘you don’t win a race on the bike, you always win it on the run…always’, seemed to pay off again! Hans was capable of keeping an advantage of Maris, definitely the better runner, who suffered a bit from the hip at the end of the race. Jan was closing down mile by mile on other athletes and was fighting himself towards 6th position!

Hans practicing his French again, La Machine takes it all!

Jan cycling towards 6th in France!

In the end both Jan and Hans told me they suffered on the 2nd run, at that moment just after the race they didn’t know the runsplits yet. And if we look below, it’s clear why they suffered. The plans worked, races were build up well and they took 1st and 2nd runsplit overall ;-)!

Hans winning the race, after winning Belman, Chtriman, Half Iron Roeux, EC AG Duathlon he wins the biggest long distance duathlon in the north of France and Belgium.

Hans wins this beautifull race and puts another big race everyone would like to win on his resume!

Maris and Hans, 1st and 2nd in France! Maris being 2nd makes this win even better, our deepest respect for this champion.

People know I’m quite a maniac when it comes down to analyzing races, and knowing full results of races out of the head…(and maybe thinking the opposite of the common sense sometimes…but this might be making our >150wins/year) well I want to share this thought: ” Hans always, over and over again…is looked at as being an athlete winning or making his races on the bike” I TOTALLY disagree with this. I will not write too much about this, but everybody can count 1+1…so make the count of the top 10’s RUN1 + RUN2. Tell me…who are the 3 fastest runners of the race? T1 is part of the race, but there NEVER is a finishline at T1…Also tell me whose bikecourse affects it’s 2nd run the less in % to run 1 (min/km)? I know the results, it are FACTS.

Hans en Jan 2e run

That being said, duathlon is alive among Belgians…only not in Belgium 😉

Our cyclists today were racing a bit across the country and it’s Svenne again who takes his 5th podium of the season by getting 3rd at Les Bulles (Belgium). Arne, on trainingcamp in ‘Les Vosges’ could top off his trainingcamp (5H bikeride yesterday) with a 23K Trailrun on Grand Ballon, and despite a full box of chocolates yesterday, he managed to get 3rd in the mountains! Future is assured, our athletes are alive.

In Germany Anthony raced in Frankfurt and could win the race around the Feldberg (11K climb), with a breakaway started on the Feldberg and a final attack in the downhill…Anthony could ride towards his 2nd victory of the season!! A great victory!

Anthony wins the race by hitting the pedals on the Feldberg and its downhill, giving it all lead to victory in Germany!!

arne

I would like to close with a proof of A. Einstein that one of my athletes posted on the internet last night: “All is relative to your own point of view, changing that point of view brings a big insight with it”.

A message maybe to not loose feet from the ground the moment you win or succeed towards your point of view, but keep the passion and spirit to train smart, and if possible to even perform better ;-)!

Ciao, and be aware…tomorrow once again RACEDAY, and I feel it in my fingers some are keen on…!

Oh, and Jan and Hans…what are they training? Well, tomorrow they have a 200K bikeride planned…nothing comes easy 😉

Jesse

Not just an ordinary weekend!

23 april 201723 april 2017Een reactie plaatsen

Not an ordinary weekend past weekend, a few races planned…and this resulted in much more than ever expected!

It was yesterdaymorning Jan went to Holland for the Duathlon in Ter Idzard! A race which is dominated by wind and wind. 10-40-5 distances, so a high intensity race, with no time to waste from the beginning. Jan had a good period behind him with 3rd place in Hoorn (Netherlands) and a trainingcamp in the Italian mountains where he stays in his appartment on high altitude. The perfect recipe towards this race it seemed, with a nice win as a result!

A well earned win in The Netherlands for Jan

Jan racing towards 1st position!

In the afternoon Svenne was ready to race hard in Mariembourg (UCI1.18), a bike course which fitted his TT-qualities well. The only difficulty of course is to get rid of the peloton…Svenne isn’t someone with a hard sprint at the end and needs to get rid of his concurrents earlier by making the race as hard as possible. This time it worked!

Svenne wins his first road race of the season after multiple top10results!

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Tough racecourse and the first win of the season for Svenne in Mariembourg!

The weekend only had begun, because today our athletes were race-ready in Germany, Spain, Canada and Belgium!

David was the one to get up first, start in Orihuela (Spain-70.3 Triathlon) was early at 8.30 am!
At the Costa Blanca the athletes had to swim a one way 1.9K distance in choppy water.

Knowing the pro field was quite high-level with for example the current ITU world champion Sylvain Sudrie (France) at the starting line.

A good swim for David made him mount the bike within touch of the concurrents in his AG (30th AG). On the bike the racecours was quite difficult with 1300D+ for 90km. David unleashes his legs and is capable of riding full of energy towards T2. With a 275NP he moves up quite a lot and puts down the bike…2nd AG and 22nd (Pro included).

Quite a tough bike course in Orihuela (Spain), perfect to get rid of the ‘legal-drafters’, David puts the bike in T2 2nd in his AG.

Time to run now and David manages well, with a 4’15/km in the first half of his race and 4’28/km in the 2nd half of his race he paces quite regular. As this race is being the first of his season we might say we didn’t miss the start of it!

The top5 of the race was amazing, with current ITU world champion Sudrie on 4!

Till the last 2K David is in battle for the 3rd spot in his AG but the other concurrents played smart and could take him back just before the finishline…David thought they had 1lap behind… A good lesson to keep racing till the end, if u need to run multiple loops on the run course.

Well done, Spanish bull!

David didn’t miss his start and ends up 6th in his AG – 40th overall!

In Germany (Göttingen) Anthony was ready to ride the first race of the season for his German team. With already quite some top10, a win and Arden Challenge in his legs we knew he was ready to race hard in Göttingen. Anthony tried several times to get rid of the other riders and ended up in the main group. The last kilometers towards the finisline this group stayed together and sprinted for victory. Anthony got 5th and once again comes close to victory!

Anthony is in good shape these days, today again he gets 5th in Germany!

Our athletes weren’t only racing outside of Belgium. Also in Zaventem (Triathlon) and Spa (Offroad Triathlon) our athletes did well!

For Steven Spa meant his 3rd podium on 3 du/triathlons this season and astonishes himself! In the female race it’s Hannah who takes 2nd place, which must be a mental boost toward her first Ironman in August! On thursday she got some working points after her lactate test…and obviously she took this very well 😉

Later today our triathletes Tim and Allan both go succesfull in Zandvliet, Belgium (10miles) and Canada (8K) in runningraces! Allan currently is getting the one podium after the other…Tim is getting strong towards his first tri in Seneffe within 4weeks and wins the 10miles.

Tim averages 3’36/km in his 10miles and takes the win on this race with 50% offroad course.

This was not just a weekend, April is grand cru already…and isn’t done yet!

Ciao
Jesse

Surprising results in cycling and duathlon!

19 maart 201723 maart 2017Een reactie plaatsen

A weekend full of surprises!
With races in Germany, Holland and Belgium this weekend would be full of lactic acid…the national championships Xduathlon were marked in our agenda. Tony (Elite) and Wim (Masters) started with ambitions. Unfortenately for Tony the race lasted only 20m, tackled in the start he fell and done was his race. His concurrents of last week all ended within top 10…not fun, but more to come upcoming months!
Wim from his side came into T2 in the battle for the podium and win in the master’s race. New in this technical discipline het lost a lot of time in the more technical part of the race and had to let go the podium. Finishing with a splendid 2nd run he shows in road-season they will have to take count of him…let’s see.
In the same race Wesley finished his first national champs in a positive way!

In Eschweiler (Germany – Half Marathon), Dendermonde (Bel – 10K) and Cadzand (Holland – Half Marathon) our triathletes showed themselves to be ready for tri-season. In Germany Jens got 4th overall and is improving towards a steady – strong athlete. To be followed in 2017. In Cadzand our athletes got the honour to fight the wind, 5Beaufort in the face made them ‘work’ towards the finishline!

Our cyclists are having a great start of the season and Anthony today put the cherry on the first month of racing already by winning in Doornik/Tournai after another race in the front! With the last kilometer solo he could ‘enjoy’ this victory a lot.

Anthony

In The Netherlands, the national duathlonseries were held in Hilversum, Jan competes in one of these topseries-teams this season, and could help his team to 6th overall place despite a litte search to his shoes in T2 in which he lost quite some time.
Adrian surprises again…by not only doing a good race, but even finishing 2nd in the open

Adrian 2nd in duathlon Hilversum

Fast start in Hilversum

race in Hilversum! Another podium for Adrian who slowly but surely is becoming a collector of metal!

A good and honest weekend, with honest and satisfying results!
#trainsmartperformbetter.com

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Maze runners, the path to success!

4 september 20165 september 2016Een reactie plaatsen

The first weekend of september would be loaded with races and not the least!

3 world championships ( Ironman70.3 – ITU/Powerman Duathlon Long distance – Cycling Amateurs UCI) and many other important races!

Let’s begin with the world championships races, in Australia Raphael and Sophie found themselves among the top of the triathlonworld. The racelocation was splendid and that always gives wings!

Raphael had to start first and we were focussed on doing better than his place on the world champs last year! He was in shape, ready! All went to plan, a very good swim and a fast bike…but then a card and a 5’penalty. This would be an expensive one..We asked Raphael how he could get this penalty and clearly he got blocked. He had no need to draft, because he prooved to ride this pace easily in former halfs! A pity, but he went through and with a very strong offbike run he finished in 4h19′ in Australia! Because of the highly densified level of this race the 5’penalty costs him a 16th-17th place! That would be even better than expected!

Our athletes in Australia managed their races well can look back at a great adventure!

Sophie from her side needed just 1h longer than Raphael, and managed a solid race!The goal was to swim well, cycle below 3h and put down a 5’00/km run, we can say he managed all! Being part of the world championships is an honour in IM(70.3) racing, only the very best get this opportunity!

On a World Championship the best come around, our athletes had the honour racing them!

A bit further in Australia, in Perth, our Canadian master cyclist Ambrose rode his world championships. With good legs he got closed in at an important moment and had to chase the head of the race. More was in it for him, but cycling is more than pushing the watts of course. Some good luck and being at the right place at the right time also makes part of it!

In Switzerland, Zofingen, the ITU/Powerman World championships duathlon took place! As we have an honour to defend with 3 AG world titles, 2 AG vice world champions and an 8th place in the 2012 PRO race (with a fulltime working amateur ;-)) we were focussed on this for months. Jan was ready, more than ready. All duathlons so far this season..he raced in the front. Knowing Zofingen has a 30K run in the end, this is his race! He was keen on getting back there after a severe bikecrash last year! Already in the first run he placed himself just behind the profield. 18th he was coming out of T1. The 150K bikeride was hard, but he defended his position well and put the bike down in 25th position! The 30K run in the end would be tough and he was moving up place by place! The race was won by another Belgian (Odeyn) with a strong progressive race. A long Belgian tradition goes on in Zofingen!

Jan becomes AG world champion duathlon, finishing 14th overall among the pro athletes!

Going deep till the finishline in this tough race made Jan lost conscience 15’after the race, but after a good meal he’s already the old him again!

In the short distance race JanG got a 19th overall place and 2nd in the masters classification! All signs were good in advance and this is a nice confirmation of his summer!

Jan Meysmans, BACK at Zofingen!

Except for the World Championships a few other international races were held, in Xterra Denmark Joeri was keen on the AG podium and so he did. “A nice racecourse and 2nd in my AG, super satisfying to pick another slot for the Xterra worlds and to show I am worth it”

A wet and muddy race in Denmark for Joeri!

Joeri looking for the AGpodium!

In Gerardmer (France) they had a classy field at the starting line, with Andi Boecherer (Ger) and Van Lierde (Bel) it would be a absolute triathlonstar to win! Boecherer was the strongest, Van Lierde 2nd! Behind that 2 of our athletes gave the best of themselves!

Sam did a good race, that totally fits into his Hawaii preparation, with I think his fastest swim ever there. On the bike he simply was strong and on the run he kept moving up towards his final spot. 17th at the finishline and 2nd in his AG!

Gerardmer is not an easy bikecourse, the irregularity in bikecourses demands a lot from athletes. It’s much harder to pace this right and not explode during the race.

GerardmerWattage Sam

Cai from her side did a very strong race and that resulted in her AGwin! After becoming 4th and 5th (AG) in Ironmanraces this season…now she takes it all.

These shirts is what the AG winners get in Gerardmer, they race hard for it. Everybody wants one the closet!

Cai and her fan Frederik Van Lierde

In Brugge, our ‘sub50 Jeroen’ won the swimrun. He experiences the use of training smart!

Svenne, 10times podium in the road cyclingraces this season. Always just not winning kept fighting all season, believed in it…and yesterday he won! This morning he sent me a message :”Alles op alles” or “all on it”…well, today he won again! Svenne is no sprinter, and this makes it difficult to win. But on the tough race courses he’s always in the main group, if he’s not in it…he closes the gap later! This is an athlete with an absolute positive spirit. The season he is riding is fantastic, and not done yet! More to come!

Our other cyclists had less luck this weekend, 2of them crashed (bad weather) and Anthony who was in the leadgroup of 10 in Luxemburg had a flat tyre and no immediate backup! On to the next race!

There is NO other Svenne than this Svenne, giving it for 100% 2wins in a row for this rider!

And last but not least Tom who became ‘The Beast 2016’, in Lynmouth UK Tom was ready for his 2nd Half triathlon of this season! This time it was a race beyond tough. It was extreme! The THE BEAST TRIATHLON is a half triathlon with extreme bike and run courses. The run course for example has 800D+ in it! On Tom’s site you will soon find more about the course! This race was the maingoal for Tom in this part of the season. Not knowing who the other athletes were it was difficult to predict the outcome! Earlier this week Tom let me know the percentages on the climbs would be very steep.

With 324NP Tom could pace himself to the front of the field and save enough energy for the 800D+ run!

My answer was simple: “It cuts the crap”. And so it did, the strongest man in the races lasted in the end and Tom was capable of winning his first Half Triathlon! Only, because of the wild sea…there was no swim. So it became a duathlon, which turned into his advantage! 1big race to come for Tom within a few weeks. But now, coming home and take a few days of active recovery. I think, he’ll need it 😉

Tom, turned from cyclist into duathlete, and last season into triathlete. With 3 Triathlonwins of which ‘The beast’ and a top 10 in Monts de Guéret…this has become a super season for him!

Oh yeah, Maze Runners…yesterday I looked at this movie and a group of people had 2 choices. Keep on living in a circle of complaining or getting out of it, moving forward, live and explore what’s out there and not having to “what if..”. Today I thought about that movie again…;-) #TSPB

Ciao

Jesse

Ironman 70. World champs – Powerman/LD duathlon ITU world champs upcoming weekend

30 augustus 20161 september 2016Een reactie plaatsen

Let’s have a quick roundup of our athletes going into the Long Distance Duathlon/ 70.3 Triathlon world champs this weekend!
Making it to the World Champs is already an honour, racing it must be fun with determination!World championships Ironman70.3 – Australia:

*Raphael Amato – Belgium
AG 25-29
Qualified in Ironman70.3 Turkey
Strength: Races consistent and has a good final in his legs, has done a very good season so far!

*Sophie Drofiak – Belgium
AG 25-29
Qualified in Ironman70.3 Barcelona (Spain)
Strength: Strong swim , in Barcelona she pulled out a good run and prooved to be capable of dealing with hot weather conditions. Prooved in the 1/4 triathlons she can battle.

Long Distance Duathlon World Champs – Switzerland

*Jan Meysmans – Belgium
AG 35-39
Strength: Fast off the bike, had good results in his springduatlons and was 4th in a sprintduathlon last week among the best Dutchies…knows the racecourse as no other, but missed Zofingen 2015 due to a severe bikecrash of which he needed a lot of time to fully recover.

Jan Meysmans ready for the WC!

How fast can Sophie swim among the very best!

Raph is a consistent racer, he’s ready for it!

When the hunger is there, you can do it everywhere…

28 juni 201628 juni 2016Een reactie plaatsen

Here you have one happy coach, the biggest tri-weekend of the season…with many athletes getting involved in races! We knew our athletes are in great shape, but every raceresult depends on how an athlete gets up and goes into the race!

With big races coming we mentally load to the race and look really forward to what’s going to happen. You win some, you lose some…but winning some sure is much nicer.

Saturdaymorning I was in Holland and could witness the raise of Tony (Young duathlete transforming to triathlete) who was able to do a very good swim followed by a super 40K TT and 10K cruising @3’30/k pace to finish the day. He won with >5’advantage on his concurrents. He won his first ever triathlon and confirms the Half distance results of Leuven and Bonn! Great to see the development of this athlete.

Tony won his first triathlon ever, now having a (short) resting period and then full speed ahead to a good summerperiod!

A bit further in Holland the Run-Bike-Run series in Amsterdam were held, Jan was invited there to do this race and he did great finishing just before former European Champion Vandersmissen! Building towards the World Championships now for Jan!

Saturdayafternoon we heard some of our athletes who messaged or called, with lots of energy to go into the race. Every athlete has its own mental approach, but I felt concentration and willing to do well everywhere.

Early in the morning on sunday the Ironmen were ready to enter the water in France and Austria! Meanwhile I went off doing a short spin to get down my stresslevels…I was out with somebody and said: “who knows, maybe 2 sub9’ers…if that happens it would be great!”

In France Hans swam a good race and could enter transition with a reasonable gap on the fastest swimmers! It was one of our athletes Seb, who lives on the racecourse, who messaged us that at Watten (K35) Hans had only 26″ behind the first athlete. At that moment I knew he would get into the lead. For a good cyclist that’s an advantage. Especially in a race like Chtriman where you don’t have pelotons (you do have these in IMlabels). Being in the lead also means you’re in control of the race and don’t have to accelerate to catch groups or ‘legal-drafters’.

Hans getting on the bike and starting the bike bikecourse!

Pacing your own race is more comfy for a decent cyclist than having to get around groups

The advantage on Julien Boulain (Fr) seemed to be growing fastly in this man-to-man battle. Hans never could be sure, because Boulain his status and former IM results. But this was no Ironmanlabel, so the cyclingpart only got more important. Pacing was done on exactly the wattage we talked about before the race, so if nutrition was ok…

Again I am not posting any wattagefiles of Hans, just because I want to express the great swim and run he did!

He sure should be capable of battling for the win by doing a good marathon. And he did!

Racing the IM marathon steady like Hans did is the best way to approach your IM marathon. Starting to fast is just good if yo want to be knocked down somewhere!

His last kilometers must have been great, he kept on running and found his best legs to close the marathon after 3h05′!

Our first Irondistance overall winner of 2016 is Hans! Knowing he did the racecourse in 9h07′ with a 186k bikeride…it seems he has the legs for finishing sub 9h in a full soloday!

The greatest feeling an LD-triathlete can have is crossing that finishline, a personal ánd an overall victory! Great vibes!

A full moviereport of Chtriman 2016 A full moviereport of Chtriman 2016

In Ironman Austria we had Cai and Sam and 2 rookies (Jorn and Peter) starting the race! Bad weather also was predicted so some tension was felt there.

Bad luck for Jorn before the start, going to the toilet and not finding back the guys with his wetsuit. Some panic before the start, but above all he had to get into a starting box that was too slow for him. The whole swim long he had to make his way through the field, but still entered T1 after 1h00! Sam followed close behind him, while Cai and Peter also came out of the water shortly behind each other. At that moment Cai was already in 11th position in her AG!

Despite some troubles before the swim, Jorn still managed to get out of the water in 1h!

Once on the bike everybody got his recommendations to follow…

During this Ironmanrace you have a totally other impression about the cyclingpart than u have in Chtriman. Ironman is too much loaded with athletes and strong cyclists don’t get the full benefit out of it (especially in AG-racing). I was already disgusted, really disgusted after seeing IM70.3 Lux racepics.

Ironman should stop tolerating these kind of acts. It’s becoming a normal thing to do. But it’s disgusting, far away from the real Ironman spirit. But it also let’s me understand how some pussy cyclists can ride fast…while they are not able to do it solo…Epicfail of these athletes! (Photo Ironman Lux 2016)

Well, in Austria you have a rolling bikecourse which is perfect for moderate cyclists to cheat. Groups of >20 in front of the AG race, wheel to wheel….that’s not nice. The speed is hard and the watts are low. The guys pushing their own pace should be respected. I say: Ironman, stop acting this way but give more penalties, for the love of this sport!

But ok, that said…back to the games, Jorn and Sam went out there very fast and it was Sam who moved up during the bikeride towards 21st overall and came off of the bike in 1st position (AG). Perfect circumstances to get his Ironman Hawaii qualification!

Jorn got into T2 a bit later and was on track to be another surprise today!

Another 0,9″lost during his race by playing with the camera for Sam

At the moment Sam came off of the bike, I calculated that with a good run he would be capable of finishing sub9h! What happened then…nobody could predict. He realised his fastest Ironman ever and reached the finishline in 8h42′ after a 2h57’marathon!

Sam is not racing a lot, but within the last 14 months he took 3 AG victories, and now breaking his speedrecord! He took his qualification for the Ironman World Champs in Hawaii and can join Pierre (Bel) and Heather (Can) in Kona!

Just like Hans in Gravelines (Fr) Sam realised a perfectly paced marathon! 4’13/km after 21K, 4’16/km after 42K!

A nice fact to know is Sam could beat the powerrecord on a full distance among our athletes, I think he was stimulated by Hans setting the new Half distance record in Troyes ;-)! But once again, I won’t post the powerfile, just because you wouldn’t believe it…

35_m-100724638-DIGITAL_HIGHRES-1311_063744-1934095

Behind Sam, it was Jorn who did everything to finish sub9h30. From the moment he saw it was possible he pushed his body to the limit and ran his last km sub 3’50/km which was his fastest of the race! If you pace well, you are capable of growing during the race! Super glad for this athlete who was involved in an accident exactle 7days ago, his bike was totally wrecked so had to ride on the bike of a friend!

Cai did a perfectly paced bikecourse, and ran a good marathon. It made her move up towards 5th place in her AG and just missing a ticket to Hawaii. This 51-year old lady finished twice top5 in an Ironman within 10weeks!

Peter was the most unknown factor in the race, how would his body react on this long effort. Clearly he was ready and the taste of reachint the finishline is sweet! Becoming an Ironman deserves the deepest respect!

Top15 male athletes of Ironman Austria 2016! Legenday result!

Cai on her way to set a good marathon and finishing 5th!

Peter is an Ironman after a perfectly paced race, eternal glory!

Jorn has prooved being a topathlete, finishing in 9h29’in his first Ironman! Great!

The winner takes it all!

How much inspiration did our other athletes need to compete later that day? Not much more I think!

In the half Irondistance at Gravelines (France) it was Raphael who was extremely motivated to get into the top 10 of this regional championship half irondistance!

He went out hard on the swim course, but just missed the 2 main groups. So it would be 93K solo against the wind. Raphael got stronger past years, and I was sure he could manage his own race! He did, he raced 90K solo and kept the gap around the same! But he moved up to 11th and then his strong offbike long run came! It had been a tough race for all athletes and some totally were knocked down, while Raphael moved up! He finishes 4th! And that was even better than we hoped for! Also in the top20 overall Steven also got 4th in the masters race! Our other athletes all had a good race and fun, Wim for example was very proud on the fact that Hans (winning Chtriman) supported him during his race! Working with these athletes I can only be happy that our athletes have this kind of spirit! Healthy positivity is what an athlete needs!

Raphael in full effort heading towards 4th place! Supernice result and it’s just a matter of time before we see him into the foodsteps of our Irondistance athletes…

In the female Half Irondistance at Gravelines Inge surprised,by circumstances not sure being able to compete in this race earlier this week, she got out of the water in 5thposition. Once on the bike she moved up to first place and she won her first Half Irondistance! One more race to go now for her before a short and well earned resting period!

Hans and Inge on the podium in France, 2winners!

And then the night fell…so the Canadians woke up… and started in their first triathlon of the year! Corey was very keen on the Inguish triathlon, he wanted to win this edition and went out very hard! But it was Andreas who seemed to be the runner-up in this race!

Andreas did better than his Swiss national soccer team the day before and kept his 2nd place till the end! Corey took the win with much determination!

Corey Deveaux running out of the water

On the run course Corey felt great…and he’s looking sharp!

In the sprintdistance we had Allan, who had a light muscle rupture earlier that week…by doing something he promissed never doing again!!! A wise decision to switch towards the sprint race, and with his current shape he was able to win and take his first triathlonvictory! More about this on his website!

Now looking forward to next weekend with the European champs Ironman at Frankfurt and the National Champs team time trial! It’s fun being on the run!

These athletes performing now are just enjoying the efforts they put in months ago!

This was an extraordinary weekend, with many races. Our youngsters and older athletes performed like bosses!

Train smart, perform better!

Jesse

Not just à weekend, but a week of joy and being fast on and off the bike!

6 juni 20167 juni 2016Een reactie plaatsen

Some weekends I remember forever, past weekend is a weekend that will be such a week !

Let’s begin with Ocean Lava Aranjuéz (Spain), David Tovar is doing a great season and in his 3rd A-race of the race he amazed everybody by getting a 3rd overall spot!

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With a good swim, a well dosed bikecourse he ran himself towards a spot on the podium!

A little confusion by girls in bikini in the last K made him make an extra loop and loosing 2nd spot by 1second! (Focus David!!!)

Later that day we had Jan racing in racing the national Championships Long distance Duathlon in Holland, and everybody who knows Jan…knows he can do special things. Well, this first. If did his race a bit slower he now had a son with Dutch nationality…

Only a few hours after the race Jan became father, congratulations champ!

A flat and fast race course, only 5gears were enough, who needs 11speed?

Jan did a superrace and on a flat race course he could limit the gap with the TTbikes and discwheels. Jan races with a froadframe and no aerowheels. It’s no coincidence his former employer is named Eddy Merckx. In true flandrienstyle he put the bike in T2 and runs the best 2nd run split and becomes 3rd! His 3rd duatlonpodium this spring! Now a short competitionbreak till summer because…his pregnant girlfriend, who went with him to Holland gave birth to a son 12hours later! Congratulations to (J)an!

Belgium got its first triathlon ‘fun-event’ with a Swim-Bike/finish in Harelbeke. Not yet a great succes when it comes to participants but certainly this can be a good intensive workout! A few athletes tested this event and liked it except for the ‘no rules, everything allowed policy’ during the race.

If you balance right between intensity, strength and endurance you get high performance. With 363NP at the end of load block someone is ready to shine at least once.

While in Canada tri-season is slowly starting up our athletes are getting ready another podium for Corey and Allan on a road race and looking forward to their first tri overthere!

Alexander on the swim

PJ aka ‘The Hulk’ out of the water

Tom finishing 20days of tough training with a TT-win on saturday and his first swim longer than 500m followed by the best bikesplit!

I would be happy if the weekend stopped there, but then there was sunday. While some athletes suffered in Almere (Holland), L’eau d’Heure, Jona-Rapperswill (Switzerland) and Meer we had athletes racing in Troyes (France) who did a fantastic race. Hans finished 9th in a strong field of athletes, while Inge…became 2nd behind French Pro Isabelle Ferrer. Being first year of Master, she is stronger than ever!

Her husband Steven did behind them a very good race finishing 34th and is now getting closer and closer to Norsemann!

I just could post the powerfile of Hans, knowing he’s a strong biker. But I won’t, because he ran fantastic! The focus for Hans is on Long distance (non-drafting) triathlon and if you can’t run, you’re done.In Douai (France) he prooved to run fast off the back and in Troyes once again he realised his performance by putting down his bike strong…but he ran to his 9th spot. Triathlon ends with running, if you can’t run…you can’t get big results!

The only thing I can say about his powerfile is that he has beaten the Half Iron power record of our athletes.

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In Germany and Luxemburg it was time for some cyclingraces! Anthony is doing a very nice season, but getting on the podium wasn’t too easy till now! In Schleiz (Germany), there was the next manche of the German Cycling cup. He didn’t miss the right breakaway and sprinted for victory, finishing 3rd we can be very happy with his result!

Anthony finishes 3rd in Schleiz (Germany) and is ready for more!

In Longchamps Svenne raced the way we talked about the day before. It was very simple, the bike course was super tough with a lot of climbing…so tactics were “Attack at the starting line”. He did , and it was the right breakaway. Svenne finishes 3rd! No further comment 😉

Our female athletes run fast off the bike, but even faster without a bike. Pas sunday regional Championships Half marathon were held in Ieper. Gwendolyn went for the podium and got back home with a podium! The winner was outstanding, and Gwen got 2nd in 1h21′!

Gwendolyn running with a lot of determination towards 2nd place in 1h21!

Last but definitely not least, Ironman Nice (France) was a big challenge for Bart and Bjorn! Both followed tactics, and finished within their dreamgoals and had a super experience.

The bike check-inn, no way back…but Bjorn could happily check out after the race!

Train smart, perform better!

Jesse

A weekend with plenty of surprises!

12 april 201613 april 2016Een reactie plaatsen

Past weekend was a very loaded weekend with Ironman South Africa, Ironman 70.3 Florida, 111Portocolom, Regional Champs road Cycling, Duathlon Ter Idzard and of course Marathon des Sables!

In Ironman South Africa we had 3 athletes going for their first race of the season: Sam, Cai and Pierre. Halfway the bikecourse Sam and Cai were close to get on their first Ironmanpodium of the season, while Pierre was pacing like asked.

Earlier in the morning Sam woke up with GI-issues and slowly he ran empty. Once off the bike he decided not to run and overload his body. In Klagenfurt Austria he gets another chance which he will fully take!

Unfortenately Sam woke up with GI issues, which slowly emptied his tank. His HR shows us how he ran empty after 130k

And so chances to get a podium or a slot for Ironman Hawaii for one of our athletes got smaller, BUT both Pierre and Cai were well trained and in shape to race hard. Cai came off the bike as 3rd, Pierre put his bike in T2 as 18th. So both were in the game for their ticket.

Sam testing his new bike, but having GI issues, now he knows how to finetune he bike

Cai paced her race very well, and once on the run she could keep fighting for the podium. Unfortenately she missed the podium by 1 spot. Knowing this was her agegroupwinner, we can say she earned the podium!

Cai – Mum, doctor, triathlete,…and raw- may be very proud of her performance, we’ll get her an earned bronze medal ourselves!

Pierre ran a consistent marathon – build up your race, don’t crash!

Pierre ran out of T2 very fast, we knew by his prepraces his shape was very well. But how would his body react on running off the bike after 180K? Well, he kept on going and ran a consistent marathon, which resulted in a great performance. Pierre who chased his slot for years now became part of the Ironman Elite winning his Slot for the Ironman World Championships Hawaii! Well Pierre, you can book your flight to Kona!

Pierre was a bit nervous before raceday, big waves in SA! But this never took his mind away of chasing a dream: Qualifying for Kona!

Sam:”I tried but it was not going to happen. I came for the win – no other race plan, so it would be silly to waste more energy.” Sam started his road to Ironman Austria yesterday!

Here he is, the CondrozMan…winter is much more severe over there than in the rest of Belgium and still…he qualified for Kona,Hawaii! A relaxed, stressless 2016 towards Hawaii is left! Enjoy!

In Portocolom 111 Arne and Stefanie took part of the game! Arne had an irregular winter behind him and it would be hard to push back the 100hilly kilometers. Halfway he was doing well, but then he felt u can’t fool the basic principles. An early spring race is a good way to think and work from towards the rest of the season.

Stefanie went out with ambitions, but after the national Xduatlon championships she suffered of some kind of virus, with only 4 weeks left after these nationals,a long nighttrip to Mallorca and of course studying things weren’t always easy. But still, the date of the race stayed the same: 10th of april. During the last 10days slowly she started feeling better. Stefanie didn’t ride her PB wattage on the bike and that must have played in the head. But with only 14watt NP

Powerfile – bikecourse Portocolom ’16

less than her victory rides last year she did what was possible that day. Emma Bilham sure was a deserved winner, Stefanie at the end of the race took a nice podium again and got 3rd. An athlete with ambitions and sure tough and beautifull races coming!

Stefanie gets 3rd at the 111Portocolom behind E.Bilham as a winner. And look who won the men’s race 😉 Congratulations MVC!

In Florida70.3 Ironman Allan and Andreas, both hungry like wild wolves towards their first race of the season, had a great racing location. They left cold Canada behind them and chose for the heat of Florida! Both were well prepared, a lot of their sessions were done indoors and feeling the road under their wheels must have given inspiration.

Allan took off very well on the swim and immediately was in the front of his game during the bikecourse. Before the race we targeted a certain amount of power to ride which he could maintain without blowing up his body. With a good off bike run he could keep his spot and finished 13th in this IM70.3

A hilly bike course – but a steady ride, the perfect recipe for a good off-bike run

Andreas did what u never must do before a race, forgetting to bring a wetsuit! So it was a non-wetsuit swim for him! Still he did well, but lost 1-2′ and got more stuck between the slower bikers.So chasing was his option…and so he did! Once off the bike he also felt great and with a 1h26’run on this hilly course he moved up to 17th position!

The hills around the run course in Florida make the race a bit more challenging

Earlier on saturday Jan realised his first overall win in one of his favourite Dutch races at Ter Idzard. This 10-40-5 non-drafting duathlon came after a good 10 days in the Italian mountains! This is a race that’s very satisfying, last year he crashed very hard and now he showed that an athlete is only defeated when he gives up! Fight back, don’t play Calimero, and try to be the best you can! Jan did…everybody can!

“Fight back after your crash, fight back and try to win (and stop eating Snickers)!” is what we said to Jan. He did! Look how proud a man can be!

Also our cyclists are doing great, we saw Maarten and Svenne always in the breakaway at Diest (1.18) and this resulted in another podium for Svenne! He is doing super this season, and already very early in the season. While Dries and Anthony had regional championships road cycling, both did a good race and seem to get back on track after their crashes!

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Svenne is about cycling and smiling in one sentence, he loves to train…and loves to make the races! 3rd and a lot of healthy fruit to eat – aged 41 he’s only getting stronger it seems.

Think positive,think forward…and fast forward a lot of nice things will happen!

Jesse

High performance coaching & Sportsconsultancy Trainingsbegeleiding en coaching Triatlon, Duatlon, Running , Cycling, wielrennen

Train Smart, Perform Better !

Tag: Jan Meysmans

Svenne taking the win in Lerinnes (Belgium) – Joséphine slamming down the hammer gently for the first time in Salon-de-Provence (France) – Jan pushing his body towards a 2h36′ marathon in good old ‘Pispot’ weather!

Ironman 70.3 Marbella (Spain) – Cycling in Belgium – Half marathon in The Netherlands

Hans saves Belgium’s honour in duathlon worlds with the AG world title and 11th overall position!

Fast racing in The Netherlands and Spain today!

Cold weather, hot results!

A prepweekend….with need for speed!

Recap of another “Grand-cru” year in 2017!

World Championships Duathlon ITU/Powerman: Silence is golden!

World Championships Duathlon and Swimrun – Roundup!

Hammers on the performance block! Ironman Vichy (France) and more!

Our athletes in the front in Canada, Spain, Holland and Belgium

Magic May episode 3

The heat is on…astonishing around Europe!

Not just an ordinary weekend!

Surprising results in cycling and duathlon!

Maze runners, the path to success!

Ironman 70. World champs – Powerman/LD duathlon ITU world champs upcoming weekend

When the hunger is there, you can do it everywhere…

Not just à weekend, but a week of joy and being fast on and off the bike!

A weekend with plenty of surprises!

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