14/11/2011 

ITU...

During the 2 weeks I had been in Las Vegas preparing for the world champs, I had experienced a general temperature drop. When I arrived here temperatures were in the low 30’s during the day and would get down to 15-17 degrees during night! But as the race approached temperatures dropped, and the last few days before the race it was more like 5 degrees at night and 14-18 degrees during the day.

Since the race started 6 minutes before sunrise we were all prepared for a very cold race as we drove down to T1 on race morning, but as soon as we got to transition we realized that the swim had been cancelled due to cold water and air temperature. The race would instead be a 120 km time trial and a 30 km run. Athletes would start 5 sec apart based on their start number (I had number 20, so I should start 95 sec back if everyone shoved up for the race).

Huge disadvantage for me. We already knew, that the course didn’t work to my benefit with all the hills on the bike and run course (considering that I am one of the biggest guys in the race), and now they also took away my strongest discipline in the race…

Coach and I discussed tactics before the race start. Either I should race really hard on the bike and see where that would get me, or I should just do it as a training ride being part of my  preparation for Ironman Arizona in 2 weeks. We went for the “Go Hard” option…

As number 20 I was starting in between the favourites. Jordan Rapp and reigning world champion Sylvain Sudrie was starting as number 11 and 12 respectively, and Michael Raelert and Joe Gambles was number 36 and 37. My tactic was clear, just trying to catch Sudrie and Rapp at the front as fast as possible and then see how things would develope.

I caught Jordan within the first 10 km and then we caught the front with Sudrie and Massimo Cigana (former pro cyclist) about another 10 km into the bikeride. I placed my self at the back of the group and tried to stay with them. At the first turn around, app. 31 km into the ride, we could see that we had a few minutes down to the group with Michael Raelert and Joe Gambles.

Around 50 km we started the 2nd leg of the bike course with a big and fast descent. By then, I had noticed I had the biggest gear on the downhills (55-11), so I surged to the front and pushed 120+ rpm on the downhill… That was enough to establish a 50 m lead when I hit the uphill on the other side. Then I pushed 450+ watts on the opposite uphill trying to maintain my momentum. From then on, I kept them at a distance of about 20-40 seconds until we reached the turnaround at 67 km. Coming back from the last turn around was a very long slight downhill… Now it wasn’t as much about power/weight ratio but more about power and aero dynamics! I tucked my head down between the shoulders and surged away from the others!

At 90 km the lead was 2 min (+ the time I started after the other guys), and eventhough I could see my power numbers decrease significantly on the last 30 km, I managed to put another 3 minutes to the next guys…

I started the run with a actual gap of 5 minutes to Rapp and Sudrie but the actual lead was almost 6 minutes. Coming off the bike my feets were cold, but I was actually feeling good. I had done lots of laps on the run course, so I knew what was waiting.
Coach and I had talked about starting the run @ 4 min/km uphill and 3.20/km going downhill, and after the first lap I had 3.43/km avg so I was pretty spot on…

That’s when I thought it was my day!

I had even gained just a little bit more time on the others on the first lap, and I couldn’t imagine I would loose about 6 minutes on 22 km… That was until I started running uphill for the 2nd time! My legs were gone, and where I was doing 3.55-4.00 uphill on first lap I was now doing 4.20 going up! Going back down, I could barely run sub 4 min/km, and my lead was shrinking drastically fast! I took my last caffeine tablet, hoping for it to give me the power I needed to start pushing hard on the run, but nothing happened.

Quads were heavy and each step was an inferno of pain… Going up the last 2 laps, the pace was more like 4.30-4.40/km and downhill just over 4 min/km.

I lost 1st place just after 20 km into the run, when both Rapp and Sudrie ran by me, and on the last uphill, about 27,5 km, Joe Gambles also came by me (but he also started about a minute after me). I was completely gone – out of the medals, but in lots of pain!

Getting 4th place in a world championships is not a bad performance for me. Without a swim in the race, I am at a huge disadvantage, and still I managed to go out and have a big impact on the race! I’m extremely disappointed, because I was in a position where I could win the WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS and I didn’t manage to take advantage of that situation. This year, despite all my injuries, I was way better prepared than I was back in ‘08 when I also had a 6 minutes lead coming of the bike.

Chances to win world championships doesn’t come every season, so when there is a chance you have to take it! I propably went to hard on the bike yesterday, but that was MY chance. I took it – but in the end three guys were faster/smarter than me! That’s racing – and I’ll be back racing in 2 weeks in Arizona…

14/10/2011 

Traningcamp in US

Last week I made the move from Denmark to the US where I’m going to spend the rest of my season. My first training base is in Tucson, Arizona where I’m preparing for the upcoming ITU LD Worlds and Ironman Arizona.

Tucson has been known as a training Mecca due to the year round great climate and nice terrain for riding the bike, so I decided to go and check it out. I’m going to be here for about 2 1/2 weeks before I head up to Las Vegas where the world championships are being held on November 5th. I came in to Tucson late Thursday evening and was ready for training friday morning. The first day was easy with only a short bike ride and a run, but since then I have had two pretty solid training days.

Today is a recovery day, and I’m going to see if I can find an open pool (apparently it is Columbus day, so many things are closed for the day). In Tucson I live less than 20 km away from Mt Lemmon, which according to Wikipedia is a 2791 m high summit. It is the 2nd longest paved climb in the US with 40 km from the bottom to the top, and it takes about 2 hours to climb to the top of the mountain. It is used by many cyclists in the area for training, so you are never alone when climbing Mt Lemmon. I haven’t been to the top yet, but climbed halfway the other day – I’m pretty sure I’m going to climb all the way up in the coming week though!

10/9/2011 

Challenge Copenhagen

Søndag d.14 august skulle ikke være min dag. Jeg havde ellers en god svømning ifht. mit nuværende niveau og kom op af vandet i en mindre gruppe. Jeg havde i forvejen regnet med, at skulle svømme alene hele vejen, så det var dejligt, at have nogle til at pace og vise vej :-) Jeg tog mig god tid i skiftezonen og havde heller ikke en imponerende tid i T1.

Jeg satte mig op på cyklen og startede stille og roligt ud, fik lukket skoene ordentligt og følt efter hvor jeg var henne belastnings mæssigt. Svømningen havde været hård i starten, men dejlig rolig til sidst, så jeg var ikke presset pulsmæssigt. Jeg startede på min 0,5l dunk med energi knas i ( 1250 kcal ) :-) og det skulle næsten tykkes. I starten var jeg lidt oppustet og mæt på den klamme måde, men jeg vidste fra træningen af, at det kun var et spørgsmål om tid før det gik over. Planen var at indtage de 1250 kcal på de første 2 timer og så slå over på gel/vand, så der var noget i reserve, når der skulle graves dybt. Jeg får indhentet 6-7 stk og kører egentlig bare på den på forhånd aftalte pace.

Pulsen var lav, så jeg kunne optage energi ordentlig og det hele var i det hele taget great. Da jeg rammer 60 km, siger tiden på computeren 1.24.35 min - dvs. pæn fart og også det udlæg, som var nødvendigt for, at kunne køre tæt på 4.20 på de 180 km. Jeg befinder midt imellem 2 tidsmåtter, da jeg føler at baghjulet er lige hårdt nok... igen på den klamme måde :-) Jeg tager det roligt, for jeg er jo godt kørende og ingen panik. Hopper af cyklen, finder pit-stop frem, på med den og skum ud over det hele, men også i ringen. Pit stop plejer ikke, at pumpe nok luft i og da jeg tænker at den er god nok, fyrer jeg også min CO2 patron i. Og det virker da også i ca. 20 sek. og så er ringen flad og jeg er rendt tør for CO2 og gode tanker. Jeg får råbt og skreget lidt de næste par km, som foregår i strømpesokker med cyklen slæbende bagved. Der går 20 min inden jeg får hjælp udefra med lidt ekstra luft til den ekstra ring jeg også havde med .... Men der er jeg allerede stået af og et andet sted mentalt.

Jeg ruller tilbage til stævnecentrum og bruger resten af dagen på, at følge de andre og få fat i min ejendele i div. kulørte challenge poser. Det var en stor oplevelse, at se stævnet folde sig ud og slutte af på så drabelig facon som det gjorde. Det var et flot flot arrangeret stævne og jeg er helt sikkert tilbage næste år! Det er også én af grundende til, at jeg vælger Challenge Barcelona, som sæsonafslutning. The Challenge is on!!

/Chris

17/07/2011 

Challenge Aarhus

Challenge Aarhus didn’t quite go as I hoped for, as I simply didn’t have a very good day. My swim was decent with the front pack, and the bike was not the best or the worst half ironman bikeride I have done this year, and neither was my run. Put 3 average performances together and you don’t get victories…

After the swim, Rasmus Henning was already out of the competition with crampings like he had in Abu Dhabi, and I got on to the bike in 5th position. During the first 20 km of the bike course I lost a few places before my legs started to fire on all cylinders and I moved up into 2nd position after a fast riding Björn Andersson. I reached T2 in 2nd place together with Emil Dalgaard, about 2 minutes after Björn and 1,5-2 minutes ahead of 4th place, Rasmus Petræus.

07/06/2011 

Mallorca 70.3

Så er det blevet tid til årets første stævne. Ikke fordi jeg på nogen måde er klar, men fordi jeg er hernede med min bror. I slutningen af april begyndte tingene at gå lidt bedre i forhold til min skade. Efter en Skanning uden betændelse, var jeg i fuld gang med træningen igen, og følte egentlig ikke jeg var så langt fra min form på cyklen. Men for at være sikker på ikke at gå for hårdt igang, ventede jeg stadig med løbet. Efter ca. 10 gode træningsdage skulle jeg så på træningsweekend med nogle kammerater, hvor jeg lagde mig syg.

Normalt ligger jeg kun et par dage med feber, men efter at cykle til Sverige med lidt ondt i halsen, fik jeg en ordenlig omgang der kostede 6 dage i sengen, efterfulgt af pencillin, pga. bihule/pandehule betændelse. Så i dag, 2 dage inden stævnet har jeg taget det sidste pencillin og stille igang med træningen igen. Langt fra hvad der er optimalt i forhold til et stævne, men eftersom det var en aftalt tur med lillebror siden vinters, valgte jeg at tage med herned. Jeg står også på startlisten, så for at få en god træningsdag, står den på hård svømning og jævnt cykling på lørdag til stævnet. På løbefronten var jeg for første gang i 2 mdr. ude og løbe en tur. 

Det blev til 10×2 min løb med pause imellem. Fantastisk at løbe igen. Forhåbentlig forløber min genoptræning uden problemer, så jeg snart kan komme ordenligt igang igen. Men ellers er lillebror klar og rimelig spændt på weekendens race (er i øvrigt yngste deltager hernede). Som han siger alt under 7% stigning er fladt, så det må være en hurtig rute på trods af den første opkørsel på 5,5% over 7,7 km. Der er 1800 deltagere så der bliver mange mennesker på ruten og forhåbentlig en fed stemning.

01/06/2011 

Challenge Barcelona

Race morning, when I was walking down to the transition at 6.15 in the morning I had another experience with Calella. I was approached by a very drunk Englishman that couldn’t find his hotel. He wanted me to give him directions to the hotel, but didn’t want to tell me the name of his hotel. Since I couldn’t help him, he got very aggressive and started pushing me and wanted to start a fight. He kept following me for a while, but ended up going another as we got closer to transition. Nice start to the race day…

The race was as most races in Spain. They claimed that there would be a 12 m drafting zone, but they meant that they wouldn’t do anything even if the distance was only 2 meters.

I started the run comfortably about 3.38/km on the first 5 km. Slowly the pace moved in to the 3.40-range, and at about 13-14 km I was overtaken by Stephen Bayliss (GBR) and Faure Herve (FRA).

I tried to hang on to them, but at the same time I didn’t want to push myself too much, as I was a bit worried about how much my leg was capable of. Around 17-18 km I could see that Bayliss was hurting up the road, and I quickly caught him and moved back in to 3rd place.
I held on to 3rd place to the finish line and managed to get on my 2nd podium in the season. Next time I’ll be going for victory!