First ride of the new year

Goals for 2009

A new year began today and as tradition requires it is time to look forward. There are several things I would like to accomplish in 2009. I would like to set new personal best times in the 10K, half-marathon, marathon, Olympic distance triathlon, 70.3 Ironman, and full Ironman and qualify for the Ironman world champs in Hawaii and 70.3 in Clearwater. Of course that is all a bit overly ambitious, so let's group them by priority.

A Goals:

• Qualify for the Ironman world champs in Hawaii
• 10K PB
  

B Goals:

• Full Ironman PB
• 70.3 PB
• Half marathon PB

C Goals:

• Qualify for 70.3 in Clearwater
• Olympic distance triathlon PB
• Marathon PB

"A" priority are the ones I will direct my training efforts towards. These are my main goals for the season and they will dictate my training plan. The dream of qualifying for the Hawaii Ironman is very much alive and my main goal for 2009. I only have one shot in August so I better make it count. The 10K will be a challenge, but I am hoping the speed work I have planed this year will make that possible.

There will be a lot of suffering and sacrifice to reach these goals but also plenty of reward to go with it if I succeed.

The year that was

Training totals for 2008:

• Bike - 218h54m
• Core - 8h35m
• Plyometrics - 45m
• Run - 168h07m
• Swim - 105h34m

Total 501h55m (just shy of 1.4 hours per day).

Turtle tri pic

Great photo of me on the bike taken by Eugene at the Turtle tri 2008.

Swim drills / focus

Swim focus the next three weeks:

1. high catch arm
2. focus on not dropping elbow when stretching
3. stretch/extend when taking a breath, but too much so elbow drops
4. lifted elbow
5. align hand with shoulders
6. enter water halfway to full extension
7. keep elbow high through pull stroke

How not to run a marathon

So you are just improving and improving and then it all caves in. Well, that is what pretty much happened to me at this years Cayman marathon. I started with high expectations, but ended up walking for a fair amount of the way and with a time that was far off my goal time. My final time was the slowest to date and even slower than the marathon split in my recent Ironman. I ran the first quarter marathon in 43 minutes and the half in 1h33, but then it got ugly time-wise. What went wrong? I think it is a combination of different factors.

First, I haven't been feeling at the top of my game the whole week. On several occasions I have had fairly severe headaches and generally felt a bit miserable.

Second, and potentially related to the above, I never felt good at any point during the marathon, even from the outset my stomach was giving me trouble and felt slushy, i.e. the feeling you get when running with a stomach full of water. Although I had breakfast at 3am in good time for the 5am start it was as if none of that food had been digested. The result was that I hardly had any fluids (water or Gatorade) or gels on the first 21 km.

Third, I have been pushing my body to new limits the whole year, with a half Ironman in May, an Ironman in October, an Olympic distance triathlon two weeks ago. The accumulated fatigue from these events may have taken its toll.

Fourth, my peak event this year was the Ironman in October and I have been doing no long runs since finishing that event. While you can get away with shorter distance running for a half marathon, going the full distance requires the long 2.5 hr+ runs.

A fifth and final reason could be pacing, i.e. going out too hard. However, I doubt this was the case, since my training has for the past 4 months indicated I could run at the pace I was going. I had actually planned to run the first half just under 1h30m, but even that didn't happen.

If I was to pick the main one reason, I think it was my stomach and lack of fluid and energy that caused the grief. After the race my stomach was seriously upset and I ended up vomiting and doing other nasty things for about an hour before I felt any better and could sleep a bit. I would have loved to be at the awards ceremony, but I was simply too ill and tired to even consider it.

My race disaster aside, my training buddies all did very well, Scott and Marius setting new course records (full and half respectively) and Russ and Beth both setting PRs. So we must be doing something right. Anyways it is time to relax for the rest of the year, train very little (if any), drink some beers and have fun with family and friends.

The need for speed

Another 12 days till the Cayman marathon and this year will be over from a sporting perspective and what a year it has been.

Nearing my late thirties one would think that the window of my peak performance potential as an endurance athlete would begin to close. But I just can’t see it happen at the moment. This year I completed my first Ironman distance triathlon event. Simply completing the event was major highlight and accomplishment for me, but I was also able to pull off a finishing time of 10h17m43s, which exceeded my expectations. Last weekend I set a PB in the Olympic distance triathlon, clocking-in in a time of 2h11m23s beating my previous best from 2 years ago of 2h17m38s. And I think I can go faster in both events.

Past-prime athletes frequently report that their top-end speed is the first thing to go. During the Pirate’s week 10k a few weeks ago I ran a 39m34s. I decided to pace that race very carefully and aim for sub 40. I can honestly say it was not until about 3 km to go that I felt any real pressure and even during the last 3km I was not killing myself. It is difficult to explain how much of a high that is, to run at a speed that is close to the fastest I have ever run over the distance (my PB is 37m58s about 10 years ago). Next year I believe I can quite possibly beat my 10 km PB and that at an age of 37.

Looking to world class endurance athletes there are actually many over the age of 35 that are more competitive than ever these days. Haile Gebrselassie set a marathon world record in Berlin this year at 35. The winner of this year’s Olympic Women’s Marathon was 38.

I’m not expecting to slow down in 2009 – no way. 2008 was an incredible year, but 2009 will be even better!

IM in Compass

A nice article on my recent Ironman was in the Cayman Compass today:

As a relatively recent convert to triathlon, local athlete Jasper Mikkelsen recently underwent what for many is a rite of passage – his first Ironman–distance triathlon.

Yet his results belie the fact that this was his first stab at the distance, as Mikkelsen ripped up the course to finish eighth overall in the Great Floridian Triathlon, held in Clermont on 25 October.

Although he might have made it look easy, Mikkelsen is quick to point out that it was a long hard slog.

“People must understand that it’s a long day,” says Mikkelsen, whose time of 10 hours 17 minutes and 43 seconds meant that he spent a lot less time out on the course than those who were merely aiming to finish the event under the 17 hour event time limit.

The win was taken by Vladimir Figari from Peru who blazed through the 2.4 mile swim, 112 mile bike and 26.2 mile run in 9:19:25.

Mikkelsen’s good showing in the Florida half–Ironman earlier this year had given him some hope for the distance.

Months of training had gone into the event, including training with some of the best proponents of each of the sports that make up the triathlon.

Yet all the preparation on earth cannot prepare for the challenges that race day may come up with.

Even though Mikkelsen positioned himself close to the front of the field for the swim start, he still managed to get kicked in the face, which dislodged his swimming goggles.

Fortunately he managed to grab his goggles and get them back in place and was able to continue his swim without further incident. The swim included a quick run around a marker on the beach before a second swim lap, but Mikkelsen took the run in his stride, having done a number of such training sessions in Cayman.

Once he exited the water for the last time, Mikkelsen took it easy through the transition, preferring to put on cycling shorts and a cycling shirt rather than cycle in his trisuit.

Although this cost him some time in transition, the additional comfort certainly paid dividends on the bike.

The bike leg did not start off quite as smoothly as Mikkelsen would have liked, with a sudden sharp climb catching him off guard just as he left the transition area. Caught in too heavy a gear, Mikkelsen had no choice but to jump off the bike and run to the top of the little hill before remounting and getting his bike off to a proper start.

The bike ride was much hillier than the 36–year–old Dane had expected, and since hills are not something one can train for in Cayman he was somewhat concerned. However, all the training paid off as he settled into a comfortable pace.

“Although it was tough to eat, I religiously ate my Powerbars and gels by the clock, making sure I had around 300 calories per hour. I felt fairly well energized all the way through,” says Mikkelsen.

“On the bike I was pretty much alone most of the time. I was all by myself the last 80km.

“The mind can wander – you’ve got to keep the pace. It was beautiful countryside though and although I was cycling hard I did actually take a look around.”

The bike leg represented Mikkelsen’s strongest discipline but far from attacking it with all his might he aimed to keep something in reserve for the final leg of the triathlon, an energy–zapping full marathon run of 26.2 miles.

Although it was not as hot and humid as Mikkelsen had become used to training in Cayman, he took a cup of ice at each aid station and poured it down his trisuit in order to stay cooler, which helped him through the marathon.

“I thought the run went really well in retrospect. At the time it was really tough, but in retrospect it went a lot better than I had anticipated. I was thinking around four hours, and ended up 3:43, which is really great,” says the economist.

However, never content with good enough, he believes that he has a 3:30 Ironman marathon in him, which he hopes to unleash during his next Ironman race.

Even though the pain of his first race has not quite subsided yet, Mikkelsen has already entered for his next Ironman race, Ironman Louisville, which is set for 30 August 2009.

It is an official Ironman race, with slots available for the Ironman World Championship in Hawaii. This remains Mikkelsen’s long–term goal and one for which he is more than ready to sacrifice another year to the sport.

So is Mikkelsen planning to take some time off from training?

“Of course I will be taking time off. Just not yet,” he laughs.

With the Turtle Tri and the Cayman Marathon on the horizon there is still much to accomplish before Mikkelsen can get his well–deserved rest.

The article was written by Eugene Bonthuys, an accomplished triathlete in his own right with two IM's under his belt and lots of very interesting IM experience to share.