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