Ironman Vichy (France) – Ironman Kopenhagen (Denmark) – Agglo Tour (France) – National elite champs cycling and Half distance triathlon

22 augustus 202123 augustus 2021Een reactie plaatsen

A loaded weekend for our athletes, with finally the European Ironman races kicking off!
After last week’s race in Frankfurt with splendid results for Steven, Jeffrey and Niels the confidence among our athletes was high. I was confident about our athletes throughout the last 1,5year. Training is key, race output is a small % of the essence for endurance athletes. If they are cyclists, triathletes, runners, swimmers…training is key.
Balanced training is key.

Foto openen — Silence and focus for Tony before the start, at the starting line all 2500athletes are equal. Nobody is to underestimate.

Today Ironman Vichy for Tony, Kurt, Jurgen and Tim! Ironman Denmark for Bart and Wi(lle)m (Danish nationality for 1day).

A good swimming start for all of our athletes.
With swimming times of 57′, 59′, 1h03, 1h05, 1h06 and 1h24′ our athletes were in front of the race quite soon.
Tim and Tony rode similar paces on the bike and moved up strongly in their age group, picking up 2nd and 3rd position at the end of the bike course!

Geen beschrijving beschikbaar. — Wim and Bart first met on one of our winter group sessions, became good friends and now race together regularly, all relaxed at the start in Denmark

Jurgen made and makes huge steps as an athlete, likewise Tony and Tim not racing many races but well planned throughout the season in prep towards the A-races. This pays off very well and Jurgen enters the top 15 in his AG during this tough bike course. Hilly and a bit technical, 2combinations our strong bikers like a lot.

Tony riding the climbs around Vichy, moving up to 15th in GC and 1st in his AG at the finishline!

A tough racecourse in Vichy and regularly pacing on the bike made it work for Tim! Dropping off the bike 2nd in T2!

Kurt from his side paces wisely on the hills and moves up after his swim effort!

Kan een afbeelding zijn van Kurt Dhaenens, staan en buitenshuis — Kurt starting the run course after a well managed bike effort

In Kopenhagen Bart takes back Wim in the beginning of the bike and both athletes could start managing their own race. Both athletes had several experiences in overloading during the bike course. This time plans were very clear, pace correctly and wait to push until the very final of the run.

Tony and Tim were found in 1st and 2nd position in their AG very soon on the run course!
Tony has been running several IM runs between 3h05 an 3h15. Today, after a very tough course all was possible. Knowing he ran in 2nd position gave wings to him, and also Tim became the runner he wanted to be!
With the distances moving up Tony was making a bigger gap on most athletes, but was getting closely followed by a French athlete, who ran a 2h51′ in Vichy! At the finishline Tony is the final winner with a 9″ advantage!

Excellent job to be on top of the podium for the first time in an Ironman! His 3 Ironman world championships qualification!
Tony is an athlete not to underestimate. His resume is getting quite big and deserves big respect being an amateur athlete! But hey, then again…next race everybody is equal again at the startingline.

Tim on the other hand runs a 3h24′ marathon and takes 5th in this AG! A very consistent race and waiting for a possible Slot for the Ironman world championships!

With Javier, Vadim, Steven, Tony and maybe Tim/Jeffrey our athletes are astonishing race after race! These athletes head to Kona already. This is very nice to see, because we also notice a serious development of our mature and younger athletes!
And why wouldn’t there be even more athletes getting close to joining the World championships!

Tony 1st (15th overall) – Tim 2nd in Vichy

Another athlete that amazes himself in Vichy is Jurgen!
With a 3h30 run off the bike he takes 13th in his AG after 10h19′ of racing!
Kurt finishes a bit later, and finishes his toughest Ironmanrace so far, satisfaction was higher than the suffering. Good job!

Jurgen with a 3h30 run off the bike, keeping his place after the bike and finishing 13th in his Ag!

In Kopenhagen the athletes have a slightly faster bike course and Bart was aiming for his fastest IM race ever!
He realized this after a perfectly paced race, never going outside the planned zones and finishing in 10h36′. He had just enough time to recover a bit and see Wim crossing the finishline after 11h35′!

Bart and Wim having excellent racing conditions in Kopenhagen, Denmark. If you pace correctly, a smile is always possible.

In Belgium the national championships Half distance triathlon were held in Menen!
A very windy race in which hard bikers could unleash their legs!

Dimi, Alexander, Christophe, Georg, Michael, Emiel, Frederick and Raymond raced in this national championship!
All 5 strong bikers and putting down a result to be happy about!
Christophe heading to Ironman Italy in September, Raymond heading to Ironman Mallorca in October!

Half triathlon national champs in Menen today! An excellent race for hard bikers or lead up race to autumn Ironman races!

In cycling our riders were heading to the national Elite championships today!
Lars VC tried to join the breakaway but missed it with a little bit of uncertainty because of the wet roads, Dries from his side felt great and missed the breakaway because of the movement in the peloton. In chase he tried to pick up this breakaway and placed himself 12th in the pelotonsprint, finishing 23rd.

In France Agglo Tour (Elite Nationale) was held this weekend, strong race of Lars yesterday already. This morning a 8,3km hilly TT was good for a 373NP performance – 68kg. This put him in a good position for a strong GC with a strong performance in the queen stage later today! And so he did, finishing in the 1st group he moved up to 18th in GC in this high level race!
Up next for Lars are Pro stage races Flanders Tomorrow Tour (Belgium) and Tour de Moselle (France)!

Next week our athletes are heading to Ironman Hamburg, Germany, the Masters UCI cycling world championships in Austria, La Velomediane and much more 😉

Train smart, perform better!

Jesse

Top 10 and first win in new category for hans, Wim completing this AG podium in Caveman – Anthony in 4 man breakaway in Deftinge-Lierde

20 juni 202121 juni 2021Een reactie plaatsen

Caveman triathlon today! Strong field of athletes at the starting line for this 111 triathlon. For many athletes the season opener!

With especially in the AG40 and AG category some of our athletes keen on getting close to the podium!
Unfortunately 1week ago AG 50 athlete Raymond crashed and as his legs were still looking like a ‘sandwich martino’ DNS for him!
In GC both Tony and Hans could have ambitions for a top 10 result.
A pretty tough course also in this tritathlon, with the ‘slingerberg’ each cycling lap, but even a more demanding run course!

A good start for most of our athletes in this 1K swim with Wim VL first man out of the water in 16’39”! At that point leading the AG 40+!

Tony and Hans left the water close to eachother, Tony left T1 first, closely followed by Hans. Once ‘La Machine’ was seated on his Shiv he moved forward strongly and joined Tony.

Kan een afbeelding zijn van een of meer mensen en buitenshuis — Good start of Hans during the first climb in Kanne, ‘La Machine’ button was on.

Unfortunately for Tony he had a ‘chaindrop’ and bumped his knee hardly into his steering. Not a good thing to have in a very intense race format. So pain got him and his shifting device was problematic with sometimes kilometers on the small gear, chaindrops and sometimes able to put the chain back on. But he persisted despite these issues.
Very soon Hans closed down a 2′ gap with the guys riding for place 5-10.
A very consistent effort of Hans with 328NP at 50K and 324NP at 99K into the bikecourse. Despite that the riders on who he closed the gap had a stronger effort in their 2nd half. Or was there a tailwind? Perhaps in the eye of the tornado there’s a logical acceleration of objects? 🙂

Steady effort of Hans in Kanne with a 324NP at the end of the bike course. Passing halfway at 328NP. Steady to run off fast!

Behind those Hans, Tony and Wim VL our other athletes started to gear up. Steven DB, good swimmer, had a fearmoment during the start of the swim which all triathletes once have or had. On the bike he left this moment behind and took speed. Also Jurgen and Christophe were there, getting into top 10 in this AG40.

Kan een afbeelding zijn van 2 mensen, staande mensen, fiets en buitenshuis — Wim Van Linden was our first man out on the bike, steady bike effort followed by a good run made him finish 3rd in his AG

In the AG50 category it’s Bart who took place in top 10 very soon. His fellow Wim T chasing him down.
Also Bart T in his first race in Belgium, Christophe, Toon (back into the game!), Frederick, Thomas, Michael, Carles and Roel were keen on this bike effort. They settled their places to drop off their bike in T2.

Hans putting down his bike in T2 as the first of our athletes and ready to run towards a top10 today! With 8th place at the finishline and his first win in his new AG (H40) we can say…age is just a number 🙂 and he’s ready for a couple of race on more demanding terrain.

Tony, who thought of quitting the race with a severly swollen knee and annoying mechanicals on the bike.
Before the problems Tony was riding 300-320NP and HR 165BPM, once he bumped his knee the pain got into it. His cadence dropped, his NP dropped to 260 (small gearing) and HR dropped 15BPM. But as this is a B-race leading up to his Ironman and not so many racing opportunities this year…he persisted with a run below his capabilities…but still managing 22st in GC!

Kan een afbeelding zijn van 1 persoon — Bad luck for Tony today, but next Ironman races are key for him to once finish in Kona again! Today was a processrace, more to come!

Not so far behind Tony Wim VL was our man to run off the bike very well and taking his first podium in his AG in his first triathlon in 2years! FInally he’s at it! Good and strong job!
With Steven DB and Jurgen also starting the run with the eyes on the AG Podium this category was well filled! Steven taking 5th, Jurgen taking 6th and Christophe taking 10th place today!

Bart DB was aiming for a top10 in his AG and he managed! But also lesson’s learned! Racing in humid and warm conditions needs another drinking protocol than racing in dry and colder conditions. It’s about how much you drink, but also what you are drinking before and during the race!
Wim T his eyes were definitely aimed on Bart, but he stayed out of sight at the finishline!

Bart T had a strong bike effort and suffered on the tough hilly run course in his first race here! But a strong endurance brings you home, always!
Toon finished his first race again in 3-4years and can look back at a strong road to today during the past year!
Also Christophe, Frederick, Michael, Carles and Thomas did a good job towards the finisling.
Satisfaction is at its place, looking forward now to our guys on the Ironman and 70.3 distance in Frysman (The Netherlands) and Chtriman (France)!

Next to our triathletes our cyclists prooved they started the season extremely well!
Almost all of our riders got into top 10 already this season and are riding very intense in front of the race!
Today Anthony (Deftinge – Elite3) was our man in the right breakaway of 4 that could race victory!
A late attempt in the last kilometer in which Anthony chased victory didn’t work out for the win, but with a good and strong race finishing 4th can mean a lot in the head of a rider! Great job again of Anthony!

In Meux (Masters) Svenne was keen on a new day of breaking away and suffering! He got himself into that dream scenario. With a 14man lead group it seemed tough to break away, at the end Svenne sprinted towards 7th place!

Next few days more cyclingraces and also the first Time Trial races are back to business!

ciao

Jesse

Ironman Switzerland – Swiss perfection!

21 juli 2019Een reactie plaatsen

Strong results today of our athletes in Ironman Switzerland, 3 athletes racing in Zürich: Tony (AG35) – Steven (AG45) – Cai (AG50)!

Zipping up before the start, in rainy conditions!

The race started with rain and a bit annoying weather conditions, but as the athletes approached their bikes…sun appeared!
Tony out of the water in 1h01, Steven 1h02, Cai a bit later in 1h22.
Knowing our athletes in Zürich are Pac-Man racers this was a good opener!

Tony immediately appeared moving up strongly and very soon was seen in AG top 10, in the 2nd part of the bikecourse he was able to maintain his rhytm and put down his bike 4th in his AG!

Tony going hard on the bike in Switzerland

Tony immediately appeared moving up strongly and very soon was seen in AG top 10, in the 2nd part of the bikecourse he was able to maintain his rhytm and put down his bike 4th in his AG!

Steven (AG 45) was keen on a good result, a perfect preparation of him and getting touch with the better athletes in his AG from the beginning. Being just within/just without top 10 in his AG during the whole bikecourse and finally putting down his bike 9th!

Cai from her side was also moving up towards top 10, and could maintain this untill T2! Cai, racing Switzerland only 40days after Ironman Boulder!

Before the running, pacing strategy for Tony was clear, HR XX and not running faster than 4’20-4’30/km. Strategy that worked fine, from start untill finish of the marathon!
Running a constant marathon at 4’29/km resulted in maintaining 4th position, for a short moment Tony was in 3rd but a 2h47′ AG runner (!) was simply too fast to get on 3rd spot!
This 4th spot, but above all 10th overall agegrouper and 20th with professional athletes included makes Tony confirm again after his strong performance in Kona 2018! The Kona slot he won this year, he leaves for another athlete who will be lucky with the rolldown!

Tony running a 4’29/km marathon off the bike!

Steven was doing a perfect race untill the marathon, for him this marathon was something to look forward to. Doing a good marathon would mean AG top10! And so he did, starting off probably slightly too hard, but never crashing down and keeping the pace and HR up to finish with a 5’01/km marathon and move up during the marathon towards 7th place in his AG! Stunning performance for Steven and after his strong results in Lanzarote 18 confirming again in Switzerland!

Steven, visibly happy with his fastest Ironman ever!

Cai was having a good start of the marathon, and after 15K she moved up from 10th to 9th position! Unfortunately during the run gastroproblems made her go easier in the 2nd part of the marathon, before finishing just outside top10, in 12th position in her AG! With 2 Ironman races in 40days she definitely earns the Iron(wo)man title!

After last weekend with 2 top 10 results in Ironman Vitoria, our athletes confirm again! 7Kona slots were gathered so far this season! 5 athletes will go and Perform!

Our athletes qualified for Kona 19:

Vadim Suraev (Can)
Javier Cepeda (Col)
Alejandro Casado (Spain – involved in a crash today, broken collarbone)
Sam Gydé (Bel)
Pirmin Christen (Swi)

Ironman world championships Hawaii – Bert taking 2nd and much more!

14 oktober 201814 oktober 2018Een reactie plaatsen

Yesterday Ironman World championships in Kona, Hawaii! Thé race of the year in triathlon. One day that the whole world learns to know what triathlon is about. The performance, the spirit and the lifestyle of sportsmanship.
Simply being able to get to the startingline means you are one of the world’s best athletes in your category.
The race always leaves us with big emotions before, during and after. Getting there demands massive smart preparation, sacrifice and a great willing to simply race in this strong field!

7athletes qualified for Kona ’18, on a rather small traininggroup of triathlons. 4 racing the championships! For years now, our athletes prooved this squad is among the very best AGsquads in the world. This because of training, determination and a good spirit

Before heading to Kona, our athletes all felt great. They picked up shape very well and were ready to travel to the other side of the world to race. Once arriving there, the heat fell down on all athletes but the athletes all managed fine, only Sam. One of or absolute topAG racers felt difficulty on the bike. But ok, still 1 week before the race and overall feeling was good!

Afbeelding kan het volgende bevatten: een of meer mensen

Sam was one of the favourites in the AG 40 race, together with Bert and a couple of other Belgian athletes.

At raceday the swim is not unimportant in Kona, massive groups you need to pass if you come out of the water late. So being capable of putting down a good swim can make your cycling effort be more relaxed!

Our athletes came out of the water in +/- the time they needed to come out!
For Tony, his first Ocean race, Alejandro, Bert and Sam already raced in Kona before!
Bert: 54′ – Sam 1h06′ – Alejandro 1h07′ – Tony 1h09′

Most AG athletes participating in Kona, swim +/-5-6′ slower than in their qualifying race, an Ocean will of course never have the same waves or current.

Once on the bike it became clear that Bert was in thé day of his life, moving up and also daring to take the lead within 60K on the bike! Risky of course, but he was in shape and prooved in Vichy and Lanza he can put down the 180K effort on his own.

Afbeelding kan het volgende bevatten: een of meer mensen en buiten

Sam from his side moved up strongly, Alejandro and Tony followed closely behind!
In Kona there’s always the drafting discussion, that’s why I really want to post the honest pacing of our athletes!
Bert had a very strong ride and put down 273NP ~ 72kg , Tony at 253NP ~71kg, Sam at 241NP ~75kg and Alejandro 72kg ~236NP

273NP ~72kg for Bert, riding himself to a 4h30′ bikesplit in Kona. World class ride!

241NP ~75kg for Sam, not in his best day on the bike and with a big drop in both HR, power when temperature (blue line) mounts to its summit after 2/3 of the bikecourse.

For Alejandro ànd Tony the message was clear, both athletes have a good run in their legs and are athletes who can grow into the race. Steady pacing and only looking at their own HR/watt monitor and ahead should be the best recipe to use their strong run in the end of the race! Both athletes followed the plan correctly, nutrition was spot on it.

Tony puts down the bike with perfect pacing, HR wise a ‘flat’ race in the right zone, powerwise he has a 253NP output for 71kg. The message to wait to the Hawi climb was followed perfectly, experts can get out this climb easily!

Alejandro had a very strong bikeride, and moved up during the whole bikecourse to put down the bike after 4h38′!

At the beginning of the runcourse, Bert (AG40) was followed with 45″ of Bruno Clerbout (a Belgian former Pro Ironman, finishing 12th overall 6years ago). This opponent surely was someone to respect and not to underestimate. For Bert message was clear, running a top top marathon to get on the podium. Clerbout came within 10″ very soon, but a few kilometers further it was Bert who surprisingly accelerated and made a +3′ gap before Energy Lab. Unfortunately it was Clerbout who had something left in his tank and overtook the race with +/- 6km to go and take AG victory, Bert takes a very well earned 2nd place!!

Bert finishing in 8h50′ and taking 2nd AG place in thé race of his life! What a great job and step up last 2years! Age is just a number?

Behind Bert it was Alejandro and Tony who ran very close to eachother during the marathon, but after 20K Tony made the difference and moved up from a spot just outside top100 towards 42nd at the finishline. With a marathontime of 3h15′ tactics worked out fine!

Tony finishing after 9h14′ of playing ‘Pac-Man’ with a 3h15′ marathon time!

For Alejandro, who had a zombie-experience last year in Kona, this also was the tactics and it worked out! A 3h21′ marathon made him move up during the whole marathon to finish 46th and raising the hand high!

Afbeelding kan het volgende bevatten: 2 mensen, staande mensen, schoenen en buiten

Alejandro on his way to finish the Ironman Worlds in 9h16′

Sam from his side put down the bike after 4h41′ and started running with the same feeling as he had on the bike. With a tough marathon ahead of him he litterally stopped his race after 8km…and as we thought Sam was dropping out of the race it was his girlfriend who ‘gave him some slapping to get him to the finishline’, as he described.
Sam is and stays a legend in Ironman, 2018 was not his year in Kona but Texas was with his recordrace! This also is Ironman, and Iron doesn’t bend easily!

I am very satisfied of the results of these athletes, Bert performed extraordinary to take silver in Kona, Tony and Alejandro prooved they own their spot among the very best IMracers in their AG and also that Ironmanracing is made how you get off the bike!
Sam bounced back, finished his 9th race in Kona and with some rest ahead he’ll put down another astonishing race in 2019!

Already looking forward to the following emotions…

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!

Afbeelding kan het volgende bevatten: 1 persoon, buiten

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

Massive weekend for our cyclists and triathletes!

20 mei 201820 mei 2018Een reactie plaatsen

Massive weekend for our cyclists and triathletes!

🇦🇱️ Tour of Albania (UCI2.2): Daniel in the first group yesterday with a good advantage on the 2nd group. This placed him 20th in GC, today he tried to break away in the last part of the 190K long stage. Finally it became a massive sprint in which he finishes 14th. Moving up in the GC to 15th and 3 stages coming!

🇪🇦️ Emakumeem Bira (UCI WT): The best female cyclists in the world currently race in Spain. Yesterday a tough 1st stage with Demi finishing 31st, today Time trial in which he kept some reserve for upcoming races. Astonishing win of Van Vleuten averaging 46,9km/h for 27K. 2stages to come!

🇦🇹️Tour of Kärnten (Austria): Anthony had a good ITT yesterday, finishing 11th. Today first stage with a lot of climbing in it. Anthony sent me a message yesterday in which he said he felt good. I know this rider only does this when he really feels good! And so it was, sprinting for the win with 9riders and finishing 4th. After today’s stage he’s 4th in GC…but a lot to come and a lot can happen in a 6day stage race!.

🇧🇪️ Dries (UCI1.12) had a virus a month ago but that didn’t avoid him from working hard towards upcoming races! With a very competitive race in which he threw himself into the battle he finishes 6th!

Svenne (UCI1.18 ) had the nice opportunity to race on a super nice location and racecourse in Jemeppe-Sur-Sambre. Breaking away with 2other riders he sprinted for victory and finishes 3rd. Good to know the national champs within 4weeks are close to this racecourse…

🇹🇭️ The great Mekong Bike ride was a success for our riders WTT and W2W team! In the 2nd stage a great succes for Phonthep, with a helping hand of his teammate Olé who put in massive training efforts past winter and now harvests the fruits of his hard work. Congratulations!

Many triathlons also in Belgium with 70.3distance in Leuven!
Happy athletes before and after the race, which was nice to hear!
But next to this, the results were there also!
Tony, in full preparation for Chtriman2018, had his first longer triathlon of the season and managed perfectly. With 5′ behind on the lead he started cycling to put down the bike in 14th and move up during the run towards 9th place!
Looking at the cyclingtimes and swimmingtimes of Leuven it seems to be right that there was quite some ‘legal drafting…’
Our other athletes at the starting line are all in preparation of Ionger distance racing!

Also triathletes racing in the shorter distance races in Koksijde, Sente and Seneffe. For some athletes the first race of the season, always exciting to look forward to. The fact that all athletes were happy with their results shows the self-knowledge of these athletes but also the honest result of training smart and enjoying it!

Next week Ironman time in Lanzarote and national Long distance championships!

#TSPB

Vertaling bekijken

Anthony started well in Austria and currently is placed 4th!

HR file of Daniel towards the final sprint in stage 2 in Albania

Many smiling faces in Leuven today!

Tony Goossens riding 309NP in Leuven to move up towards the top 10!

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

Tony qualifying for Kona – Bert 5th in Chattanooga (70.3 WC)

10 september 201710 september 2017Een reactie plaatsen

Tony going to Kona!

IRONMAN Wales was cold, rainy, hilly and tough! That was the recipe for all participants…and honestly…except for the rain and cold that was what he hoped for! A tough race, tough conditions…and good legs!

Tony and Stijn were our athletes participating in Wales, for both athletes their very FIRST Ironman!
With Tony we had an athlete who I thought was capable of taking a slot for the Ironman world championships 2018 today in Wales, despite he entered his first race!

With a good swim, a perfectly paced bikecourse with patience to keep moving up with a good run in the end and finally getting 4th in his AG and 32nd overall!!
Tomorrow Tony can decide whether he takes or takes not the slot for the Ironman world championships 2018 in Kona, Hawaï!
His decision is made already…Tony was a bit afraid I said him to enter this race as his first race…but the natural interval on the racecourse fitted him well and that’s what we hoped for…

Stijn from his side had a tough seaswim but managed well, on the bike he started moving up strongly to finish of on the run and finish within the first 12% of all competitors (256th /1800 – 36/250 AG) . Nice note: Stijn didn’t swim till 2years ago and picks up well now!
Congratulations!

Stijn entered his first Ironman, and finished great!

In the 70.3 World championships (Chattanooga – USA) Bert tried to astonish again after Vichy, 2 weeks ago, he did and put down a very good race finishing 5th in his AG and a good overall result in the end! A great season of Bert, who can already droom of Kona ’18 together with Tony!

Bert 2 weeks ago 2nd (overall) in Ironman Vichy finishing 5th AG in the Ironman 70.3 World champs!

Fantastic that 2 athletes already qualified for Kona ’18…while ’17 only starts in a month!

22nd overall for Tim in Ironman Maastricht!

6 augustus 20176 augustus 2017Een reactie plaatsen

IRONMAN Maastricht-Limburg today, the closest Ironman to Belgium. With Tim we had 1 athlete who registered for this Ironmanrace. And that, for his first ever Ironman!

Before the race tactics, as well as nutrition were spoken and he promissed to keep the right heart rates during the whole race. Tim has no powermeter, just legs, a bike and a heartrate monitor. But even with a powermeter….never put HR aside. Your heart tells you the right things…always. But you have to learn to listen to it properly.
Pacing was clear, on the flat and on the Limburg Hills.
With a 1h01 swim Tim had a slightly better swim than we expected. (IN May he came out of the water with Hans in Seneffe, so we knew he was capable of swimming around this level). But never swam so far during a race before.

Once on the bike, he directly looked at his own pace, despite getting tempted and frustrated by PACKS OF 20-30riders passing him and kept the words in mind to focus on his own race, not on the race of others. 2Motocycles he saw on 180K of racing on the bike… IRONMAN Maastricht-Limburg, get your work done properly please. Hearing such things sucks.

After 5h15′ of cycling on the hilly racecours of Maastricht he put down his bike and was ready to run. The purpose was to run off the bike fast, a thing our athletes are known for. Because without running fast of the bike…no wins!

Tim felt good, and relaxed when he came off the bike. Getting in his 4’20/km pace he never got in difficulties. The food plan was perfect, and nothings else than hunger towards the finishline. At 30km he came into the top 50 of the race. And as we spoke to not accelerate before that point he waited and had a good last hour of the race in his legs. Moving up from 48th to 22nd place overall in that last hour and running the 4th AG and 10th overall running split in 3h03′!
A great race for Tim, and he prooved patience and self-control means all during a long race! For sure the packs always bring up ‘some’ athletes in the fronts that don’t really belong there. But in the end…most of the athletes trying to follow packs above pacing strategy crash and burn in the end.

Tim was an athlete who came at first to our practice with the words : ” I can’t run a lot because I am very sensitive for injuries”.
My answer was clear (and maybe not what he wanted to hear): “You are sensitive for injuries, because you don’t run enough, we will run a lot more”#getstrong
And it took out well, not 1 single injury and a lot of running. Forrest Gump the next generation!
Super proud of this result and as I spoke him after the race he already drunk his first beer and was waiting for another. Is it a coincidence that our IM athletes appreciate a good beer after an IM…?

#Duathletebecomingtriathlete

Tim wasn’t our only athlete going for the long distance today,
In Eupen (Belgium) the national championships triathlon were held! With Tony and Bene racing this toug

Stunning race by Tim, finishing 22nd overall in Ironman Maastricht

h racecourse we had 2 athletes in the game.

Tony is in full preparation towards his first IM and with a good season so far we could be quite confidient in this championship.
We really have some tough weeks behind us, Tony’s workload is a real strength of him and he adapts well to it.

After a 321NP on the bike in search of others (with in front of him a group of 8athletes…) he was able to still move up during the run and run a 4’00/km pace on this very hilly racecourse!
#Duathletebecomingtriathlete
A bit later Bene finished happy in 5h04 on this hilly course.
Judith got 2nd in the Half Irondistance relay. But relay has nothing to do with tri, it’s a prep. But a good prep 😉

Frankfurt is known for its Ironman race, but this weekend the Half Triathlon of Frankfurt was held. A good organisation http://www.frankfurt-city-triathlon.de/ and maybe nice to think about in future as midsummer possibility (not so many nice half distance triathlons in July/August).

321NP ~ 72kg for Tony in the national champs Half irondistance, solo pac-man ride chasing a group of 8 drafting eachother.

Georg (Ger/Bel) took his chance and went for his best ever half triathlon, with a good result in the end he finished sub 4h30 on this fast race course!

A fast day today,
and more fast weeks are coming!
Maybe we have the luck of qualifying an athlete for Kona ’18 already? Maybe…let’s see! Whatever comes out…it will be earned in style!
#jessevnsportscoaching #TSPB

Fast race for Georg in Germany today!

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

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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A weekend with multiple wins in cycling and triathlon!

11 september 201611 september 2016Een reactie plaatsen

A week full of variety!

Challenge Almere-Amsterdam Half Irondistance,
Our athletes were hypermotivated before the start and were keen on setting a nice performance!
Adrian continues his grand cru season and finishes 9th (24-39), whilePierre finishes his last race before the IRONMAN World Championship in Hawaii and finishes on a very nice 12th place (24-39), now recovery and the last trainingperiod towards the World championships in Hawaii!
Nico finishes a bit further after having to stop because getting stung by a wasp. But restarted and went all the way in the end!

In Chamonix Sebastien and Bart finished the Evergreen Endurance triathlon!

After the swim they rode very close to each other and once of the bike they realised they could better do the very tough runcourse together! Finishing in the front of the field in the toughest European triathlon is very memorable!

The swimstart at Challenge Almere (Netherlands) for Adrian, Pierre and Nico!

Seb and Bart finished the Evergreen triathlon in exactly the same time after 19h and still in the front of the field!

Triathlon La Roche: Our athletes are entering their last races of the current triseason with good results. Remarkable performance by Tony confirming again and in his last race of this season he gets 4th behind Heemeryck, Goetschouwers and Sylvain Denis!
Pacing strong on the bike on this tough racecourse. In his first full triathlonseason he took a win on a 1/4triathlon and did splendid results on the half irondistances!

Tony did a remarkable season with wins and a big step forward! Training smart results in performing better. As u can notice it’s all about training the right intensity, the right amount at the right time!

In Canada it was Andreas who entered the XTERRA Canada race in Woolastook and finishes 3rd overall in his first Xterra race. Big step forward past season for Andreas and it still seems to match between Swiss athletes and mountainbikes! And maybe it will be tough choice one day whether Andreas races the Xterra world champs in Hawaii or the Ironman World Champs in Hawaii 😉

Andreas realisesa topperformance, finishing 3rd overall in the Xterra Woolastook (Canada)

A bit further in Halifax (Canada) Heather was more than hungry for her last pre- IRONMAN World Championship . Heather is a strong swimmer, she came out of the water as very first (before every male athlete!) and kept her first position in the women’s race!
Now 4weeks left before Kona, Hawaii.

quinten

Our young cyclists are doing well, Q did a very nice race yesterday and Robbe tried to go in all the breakaways he could today which made him suffer in the end. But that’s something what makes you strong in the end. Today Dries (U23) raced in Overijse, hilly course, and got 11th in this Elite/U23 race after being in the right breakaway he had a small technical incident which made him lose contact with the main group. Still he was strong enough to handle his position!

Heather is a strong swimmer, but it lasted for 30K before the first male athlete could take her back after outswimming the male field!

September, the month in which many athletes have the end-off-season-blues, but not among our athletes, battling till the end of the very last race of the season!

www.trainsmartperformbetter.com

The heat became fire!

28 augustus 201628 augustus 2016Een reactie plaatsen

On friday and saturday our athletes performed already astonishing, I had that little feeling that on sunday our athletes wouldn’t perform less. And so it was!

Jan started his crosstriathlon early that day (Watrissart-France) ,in his first triseason it’s clear this discipline is something that will fit him as the best. A good technique, strong cyclist and fast off-bike runner as he is, he got 2nd overall! For Joeri the race ended with a broken chain and alternative training!

The looks of a rockstar, but the legs of sportsstar, Jan on his first overall crosstri-podium!

In Viersel(Belgium) it was Tony who entered the densified field of the quarter triathlon. With specialists as Goetschouwers, Jammaer,…we knew the swim would be important on a totally flat racecourse with almost no turning…just pushing. Tony did a good swim, and moved up a lot on the bike followed by a top8 runsplit he managed 11th overall in the end!

Former duathlete Tony gets 11th in a fast 1/4triathlon with a high level of athletes at the starting line.

In France Séb did the Castleseries Half Iron in Chantilly, this was a top off of a big trainingperiod towards the toughest Irondistancerace in Europe, the Evergreen Triathlon in and around Chamonix. Food for challengers!

A bit further away in France the Ironman athletes showed determination! Michael reached the finishline in this Ironman with a non-wetsuit ! But it was Alex, who astonished. Alex came with us after an Ironman Frankfurt where need more than 13h to get to the finisline!

1year later he realises a great effort with a magnificent swim and a bik and run in which he kept his spot in the overal field! One day Alex will swim a sub 50′ IMswim, not sure about this…but very sure!

Alex cuts off 2h30 of his Ironmanrace-time and now enters among the top15%, a big step forward!

6years I never would have thought I could be celebrating 40 (!) wins with an athlete, today it became reality! Tom “deamon on the bike” Vandenbussche won the individual time trial in Torhout and is having a supersummer! 2wins in 1 weekend is double champagne for breakfast tomorrow! Super proud to work with this athlete, who came from far and started stepping up the podium and winning as soon as we focussed on the positive side in an athlete. That’s still my number 1 approach to athletes!

A Time trial is a real specialty, do not mix this up with being able to ride long at moderate intensity. Tom pushed his body to the limit and ends up with 396NP, that’s hard! This athlete weighs ~74kg

They call him ‘deamon on the bike’, but today he’s called Mr Fourty!

Late in the afternoon it was time for our Canadian athletes to go into the 70.3 triathlon in Maine, USA! Heather, Corey and Andreas were very motivated towards this race.

For Heather this race is her last step up towards the Ironman World Championships in Hawaii! Coming out of the water with migraine she managed the bike but then wisely skipped the run, being first in her AG. A good recovery now and then only the big Island waiting!

Corey and Andreas went into this race quite different, this was their main objective this summer. Corey was not far behind on the swim and managing a 280NP ride he came off the bike within a position that was possible to reach the podium. This must have motivated him to get off the bike fast and set the best runsplit only 33″away from 2nd position at the finisline! I repeat, if you can’t run off the bike..you can’t win!

280NP on this half Iron for Corey made him put his bike down well at T2. The fastest runsplit made him step up the podium!

Corey having a good swim in Maine, and directly moving up to the front on the bike!

Andreas from his part definitely did his best ever triathlon. You could say this was his breakthrough race, finishing 7th overall in Maine! Andreas realised a fast bikesplit and moved up even more places than Corey. Question was, what could he do on the run? Well, he smashed it…running 4th running split and entering top 10 on place #7!

Next week we have 3 World Championships,

with the Ironman70.3 WC in Australia, Raph and Sophie are at location already. The race will be very fast and the level densified.

There is also the World Championships cycling for amateurs with Ambrose, also in Australia and the World championships duathlon in Switzerland with Jan!

Train smart, perform better!

Jesse

A weekend with ups and downs!

2 augustus 20162 augustus 2016Een reactie plaatsen

Past weekend began great, but it had a big down also….

but first the positive news!

On friday our athletes had the right feeling and were capable of racing for the medals!

In Lommel (UCI1.18) Jef was the first to go into a breakaway, the peloton didn’t let them go and so it was Svenne who once again went in the breakaway! They were off and averaged almost 44km/h on this 85K criterium. In the last loop it was Svenne who went for the win, but some of his concurrents came back and so he was outsprinted and got 4th in this fast race! Hans and Tony, both in full preparation for the national triathlon championships did a short preprace. Hans got 2nd in the Lakeparadise triathlon with his team and Tony raced for the win in duathlon Herentals and finally got 4th. Meanwhile Gwendolyn became 2nd in Wenduine 10miles!

Hans vdb

On Saturday Germany was the place to be,
Joeri did a very good race in the XTERRA German tour, Schalkenmehren by getting 11th overall!

Anthony was riding on the Nurnburgring (Rad am Ring) and was out for a topperformance…till he flatted and had to chase the main groupe. After a soloride of 100K he managed a 26th place! Now getting ready for the Tour de Namur (UCI 2.12 – stagerace)!

Guydb Our young cyclists also had fire in the legs today!
Dries (U23) could ride the post-Tour criterium and was outsprinted by John Degenkolb (Ger) and Giacomo Nizzolo (Ita)http://uitslagen.dewielerbond.be/Kalender_Uit…/Uitslag.aspx…

DriesM

Robbe and Quinten (Juniors) have both made a long way already to where they find themselves right now. Both were in the breakaways and dared to‪#‎attack‬. Robbe was in the right breakaway and finished 7th in Tourinnes, Quinten was in a little group behind the leaders and took 16th! Both are first year juniors! Already looking forward to next season!

Junior Robbe is putting a step forward, making the race and finishing in the front (7th)

Joeri did a magnificent race finishing 11th in German XTerra Tour

Meanwhile our oldest male athlete Guy realised again another Ironman70.3 finish! In Hungary he was capable to get his revenge for the flat tyres in Ironman Luxembourg! Now looking forward to Ironman Vichy and Turkey!

Sunday had to become another beautifull day, and it was…only it ended with an accident…

Our athletes are hammering hard, we get used to it…despite that, we don’t forget it’s no evidence! Dedicated and hard work comes before the output and visibility!
In Ironman Maastricht (Holland) Patrick (25 AG – 10h02), Pieter (18AG – 10h14) and Toon (12h05) realised each for themselves their best IM result ever! The road towards a long race is also something to remember and be proud of!

A strong offbike run for Patrick, running towards his 10h02 in Ironman Maastricht!

Toon is an Ironman and after Ironman Vichy now it was Ironman Maastricht!

In Bridgetown (Canada) it was Heather who astonished on the olympic distance by coming into T1 as first overall athlete, she left all male athletes behind her! Heather could hold her spot on the bike and during the run and took the win back home!

On the long course (Half Iron) Corey advanced Allan during the swim and they both came out of the water in the front. The swimcourse was in a river into the current!

COrey NP

Corey and Allan both did what they had to do today and paced the race well. The weather was not easy as it was a warm day and drinks were not always easy to grab !
On the run course our athletes are fast enough to fight till the end!
Corey won the party, and it was Allan making the day complete by finishing 2nd and once again confirms his high level he’s on for the moment!

Corey is doing a massive season ! Thumbs up is the least we can say!

Corey, Heather and Allan in Bridgetown! A clean sweep once again in hot temperatures!

In Oostende (Time Trial) Jan did 2 races, first he did the 13K ITT with racebike and later that day he rode the 26K ITT with Time Trial Bike! It resulted in a 3rd and 8th spot in the Masters race!

JanG

After all these great results we checked our phone and saw less prettier news…Hans was involved in a frontal accident during a Timetrial…a broken shoulder has ended his 2016 season. Once again it makes us realise we must enjoy every moment of training and racing. Also the tough ones, also the flat tyres,….always look forward and fast forward!

Hans vdb.jpg

www.trainsmartperformbetter.com

Jesse

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

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

Train Smart, Perform Better !

Tag: Tony Goossens

Ironman Vichy (France) – Ironman Kopenhagen (Denmark) – Agglo Tour (France) – National elite champs cycling and Half distance triathlon

Top 10 and first win in new category for hans, Wim completing this AG podium in Caveman – Anthony in 4 man breakaway in Deftinge-Lierde

Ironman Switzerland – Swiss perfection!

Ironman world championships Hawaii – Bert taking 2nd and much more!

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

Massive weekend for our cyclists and triathletes!

A prepweekend….with need for speed!

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

Tony qualifying for Kona – Bert 5th in Chattanooga (70.3 WC)

22nd overall for Tim in Ironman Maastricht!

Magic May episode 3

Surprising results in cycling and duathlon!

A weekend with multiple wins in cycling and triathlon!

The heat became fire!

A weekend with ups and downs!

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

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