Last swim in 2011

winter swimming

Above is a photo from my last swim session in 2011. I haven’t gone crazy (yet), sea temperature was 16C. Quite unusual for this time of the year.

2011 in numbers

Swim: 318h, 1136km

Bike: 602h, 17212km (58h on a trainer)

Run: 206h, 2853km

Total: 1127h (almost 47 days)

Last year was the most successful year so far for me. During the year I’ve spent 47 days training which probably helped. I hope the next one will be even better.

I’d like to thank everyone that helped me during the year and I’d also like to wish happy and successful 2012 to all my readers.

Trainer riding and the theory of relativity

He rode so hard he made the evolution go backwards

A lot of people complain the time is going by too fast. I may have a solution for them.

They should start riding on a trainer.

Time slows down considerably while on a trainer. If I have a stopwatch at my hand I can clearly recognize every hundredths digit and watching a movie seems like watching a slide show.

Time slows down even further with the increase of intensity. Perhaps there’s an intensity at which time stops or it starts going backwards. I haven’t ridden so hard yet. Who knows, maybe one day I start training at 5 pm and finish at 3 pm the same day.

If time runs slower maybe riding the trainer can slow down aging? Or it could have the opposite effect as every 1,5h seems like 15h?

Maybe Einstein rode the trainer?

 

 

Chasing the sun

The sun is gone and we probably won’t see much of it until spring in this part of the world. While I was growing up in the sunny south I never realized why are people living in continental part of the country so happy when the forecast calls for a bit of sun. After my first winter here I got an answer. Fog sets in around November and there’s not much sun until March. Besides the fog, last week the weather got a lot colder as well. That’s why I decided to use mountain bike for my training rides during weekend. Hoping I’ll see some sun if I go high enough I went riding in the hills.

For a long time it looked like this

But then the sky changed its colour

It was -3C at the bottom and +7C at the top (1000m above see level)

After some riding above clouds it was time to head back into this

I don’t know who placed the concept of heaven somewhere above the clouds, but I wouldn’t be surprised if that person lived in a place like this.

Sponser

Those who read this blog during the summer know that I had some issues with race nutrition early in the season. In previous years I always consumed too few calories during races, but the races were too short to really pay for it. I planned an Ironman this season so I knew I had to change that.

First few races served as a test for Challenge Roth. I took products that I used before but in much higher quantities. I experienced some stomach cramps during the run in Graz (Austrian 1/2 Iron), but they didn’t slow me down much and I thought hard bike ride was the cause.

Cramps got back on the run in Challenge Kraichgau, but this time they were much worse and I was forced into a jog. My coach suggested the cause could be my race nutrition and suggested I try Sponser products. Turns out he was right and I had no issues for remainder of the season.

One of team TBB’s main principles is not to change what works. That’s why I’m glad to announce Sponser will support me next season. You can read more about them and their products here.

 

 

 

Autumn

Offseason went by quickly. As usual, as soon as I realized what could I do with the extra time it was time to get back to training.

At the beginning of the month I spent a few days in my hometown on the south. The weather is great down there. Sunny with 20-24C and even the sea temperature still hovers around 20C. Quite a bit different from grey weather in Zagreb. At least it’s not too cold so I’m trying to do some longer rides outside while I still can.

I started to increase my pool time. Since swimming is still my weakest discipline I’ll have to spend another winter smelling of chlorine.

The injury that forced me to DNF in Barcelona is almost healed, but because of that “almost” my runs are still short and rare.

I’ve also started to plan my race schedule for the next season. I’d like to spread out my season a little bit and do 3 Ironman distance races. It’s not easy to do it within Europe and traveling overseas might be out of my budget so we’ll see.

Here’s how autumn looks on the south of Croatia:

Challenge Barcelona

As said before I had some leg problems going into the race. The condition was getting better every day and on the race morning I felt like I would be able to run a good marathon.

The race was held in Calella, a small tourist town 50km north of Barcelona. There are not many tourists left in this time of the year and the weather is a bit milder than during the summer. There was not a cloud in the sky during my stay there, daily temperatures were around 27-28C and sea temperature was around 22C. Finally a race for which I don’t have to pack a jacket.

The start was scheduled for 8.30am which made for a more relaxing morning. We swam one big lap along the beach. My swimming is not where it used to be last year so I had very modest expectations for the opening leg. Those expectations proved to be right and I exited the water with 8min gap to the leaders and 4-5 min to the big chase group.

Things got better once I reached mainland. We had 3 loop bike course (2 big and 1 small loop) along Costa Brava. The surface is excellent and it’s almost completely flat. I felt very good on the bike and passed a lot of people early on. After one hour I was already at 42km mark. That’s the pace for 4.17h bike split, so probably a bit too fast. Stefan Riesen was with me for a while and except for that I was on my own. I covered the first half in 2.11, still an excellent pace. In the second half of the ride wind started to pick up. Costa Brava means “windy coast” in Spanish so that was not unexpected. Somewhere towards the end of the 2nd loop I caught a big group with most of the pre race favorites. I tried to break away but couldn’t do it so I decided to sit in and save something for the run. At the end I had second fastest bike split (4.29h).

I was in an excellent position in T2. Only Alonso, Bayliss and Blokhin were ahead of my group. But, from there on things turned south once again. First few steps in T2 indicated that my race is going to end sooner than I planned. I was hoping the pain would eventually ease up but it was getting worse after each step. After 5km of limping I decided to call it a day.

DNF leaves a bitter taste but my confidence went up after this race.  I’m getting closer to the front and I’m looking forward to the next season.

Garmin file (bike)

results

DNF

There was one thing I haven’t mentioned in my last post that had big influence in the race outcome. During the last hard run, 10 days before the race I felt some pain in my leg. I could barely walk after that session but it got much better as the race approached and I thought it won’t affect me much. Well, it did. From the first step in T2 I knew I wouldn’t be able to run a marathon. There’s a first for everything and this was my first DNF.

Once again I had a terrible swim. Things have turned to better when I jumped on the bike. With second fastest bike split I got myself into a great position in T2. But then things turned south again.

I’ll write more detailed race report in coming days.

Another Challenge

Few more days before I toe the line for the last time this season. Another Challenge is on the menu, this one in Barcelona.

This will be my second Ironman distance race. I was a little bit scared of the distance first time. That fear is gone now, but that can be a double edged sword.

There are 67 professionals on the start list so it should be an interesting race.

I’ve had another solid training block and feel fitter than ever. Let’s hope I’ll be able to show it on the race day.

Finland

They call it the land of thousand lakes. According to Wikipedia Finland has 187,888 lakes and 179,584 islands. Looking from the air it looks like mother nature couldn’t decide if this part of the world should be water or land.

water or land

The hotel was interesting as it didn’t have a reception. It proved to be a good concept. You make a reservation and payment online and they send you room number and door code. Door code is valid from 16h on your arrival date until 12h on the day of departure. This enables them to run a bit cheaper. Actually it can be a lot cheaper if you’re traveling with a company. Prices are per room and not per person and each room has enough space for 4 persons.

The downside was that Tampere has a rich night life and my hotel turned out to be in the heart of the action. Not something you’re looking for before a race.

The nature is beautiful. I only had a few hours after the race to explore it and this is what I saw:

sandy beach in finland?

looking back at the city