Blog revival for a good cause

I have neglected my blog for 18 months. The last post dates July 5th 2010, reporting back on my first Ironman race in Frankfurt. I have now at least 2 good reasons to revive my blog: My recent registration to Ironman Western Australia that will take place on December 9th, 2012 and the decision the raise fund for Malaika Kids. What is it? Well, I did not know until I met the Chairman of this Non for Profit Organisation on a flight from Amsterdam to London in December 2010. He was just returning from Tanzania to see how the construction work of the new Orphan Village was going (hosting up to 320 orphans). He told me the story of the organisation, the way they operated, etc..and a week later I was sponsoring my first Malaika Kid.  

This was a start but I decided, I could do more. So, I am racing an Ironman in 12 months and I did my first Ironman in 2010 with a time of 11:38. The challenge is to race sub 11:00 this time. In the event I do not reach my objective I will double the amount of the total money raised. You can find the link to Malaika Kids as well as the Fundraising Website on the top of the side bar of my blog.

About the Ironman Western Australia: It takes place as mentioned above in December. The perfect timing if you think about it. I do not have to train during the long cold night of the winter in the Northern Hemisphere to get ready by July or August to race on or the other Ironman in Europe. NO! I can wait for spring, start training slowly, get tougher and faster with some Summer races here in Europe and as soon as the dark-long-cold-unfriendly days of the winter kick-in, I am off with the family into the sun of Busselton (near Perth) on the West Coast of Australia. I obviously was not the only one with this strategy. The IM Western Australia, scheduled filled up in record time – all it took was one hour and nine minutes for the event to reach capacity after registration opened today. A record 360 international entries were received for the event. The region’s crystal clear waters and iconic Tuart forests will play host to 1,400 athletes from across the globe as they take on an incredibly fast and scenic course.



The Course 

This race plays host to one of the most unique Ironman swim legs in the world. The 3.8km swim takes athletes on an out and back course around the famous Busselton Jetty. The Jetty stretches 1.8km out into Geographe Bay and provides a dramatic backdrop to the start of the race. The 180 km bike Leg is flat and fast and takes athletes through the incredible Tuart Forest. The three-lap course provides spectators with plenty of opportunity to cheer on their favorite athletes. The bike course record for the event is a super-fast 4:18:07 and, given the right conditions, another scorching time is possible on Sunday. Like the bike, the run leg is flat and fast. The four-lap, T-shape course takes athletes along the Geographe Bay foreshore and through the heart of the Busselton township on four occasions, allowing athletes to take in the incredible atmosphere created by thousands of spectators who gather in this area to support every finisher.

What can I say, I can’t wait!

 

Ironman Frankfurt: The Closing of a Long Chapter

My friends told me to race hard, to kick butts, so I did my best and enjoyed every minute. It was Ironman Day. I am over the moon.
I stayed the last 3 hours in the public at the finish line, cheering fellow competitors and I seldom felt such true simple joy, without any selfishness at greeting them with my guts and heart. I cheered every one of them, until the last. What a party. This distance is magic. I love it.

But back now to 07:00 on July 4th 2010 in Frankfurt.

It was a big surprise for all of us at the pre-race meeting. No wetsuit because of a high water temperature was one thing. But also, as of July 1st this year NO tri-race suit with any neoprene or plastic of any sort. And you know what: it WAS GREAT!!! The good old way, most of us, like in the early 90′s just with a Speedo. Apart from the fact that I had a great swim, taking all corners rather wide from the buoys to avoid contact with the other 2351 athletes, the most interesting thing about this swim was to realise exactly how much the difference a wetsuit makes. I exited the water after 1:14 in 827th position. With the same time last year with neoprene I would be 1550!!! Now, last year the 827th position swam in 1:06:35. (I had planned 1:07). So it is confirmed. I swim close to 2min faster with a wetsuit per km! For all who asked my how big the difference is, this is it. It is huge in my view.

And now to the bike after a rather lengthy transition. The weather conditions were perfect for the bike course. Heavy clouds, low 20C, light North-West wind blowing 10-15k. The course itself is a relatively hilly one with 1000 meters of elevation over 4 hills: the Beast, the Hell, the Hünerberg and the real bad one; the Heartbreak Hill). Two loops (8 hills and exceptionally, an additional 5K because of road works, hence 185 instead of 180. I had very good legs. I paced myself and stayed for the entire bike course at 144 avg bpm, NEVER going in the red. 31km avg over 185km is an excellent result for me BUT it was only the 1250th time. I lost basically 400 positions during the ride. OK, I derailed twice, went to the loo, had to unclip my front wheel due to a stone that was stuck between the wheel and the fork. But apart from that cycling remains my weak discipline and I need stronger legs. Morale was great all the way apart from KM120 to KM140, but I pushed through that too. I had excellent support from my former osteopath, who flew especially from Vienna and motivated me the whole time.

I had a good transition, the helpers were fantastic and when the one that was taking care of me asked me, whether she should hand-over the Garmin watch to me, I said: “ditch it in the transition bag”. I had paced myself during the swim and the bike, now it was time to run and listen to my body and to feel how much it could take for the marathon. So there goes the heart rate, the pace, etc…I had never done that before and yet it felt just right to do that. The first 10K went very well. Slow and easy. I was still kind of checking how my legs would take the rest of the distance. Just as I wanted to accelerate, I realise with shock that I have lost my chip/transponder. Will I get a total time? will I get a DNF? what’s next? So I run (fast) to the closest penalty box. The ref tells me to stay cool. I just need to check-in at every loop, in the meantime they will inform the data centre, get me a new chip and will scan the bar code at the finish line behind my bib number (so…this is what it’s for, this little piece of paper attached to the bib number..). I “lose” about 10 minutes in the process…but you know what. Great break and plenty of time to rehydrate (very well organised those penalty boxes). By the 2nd round the sun is back. And it is pounding. 29 degrees (86F) and the trend is up. With all these emotions I am out of my rhythm and I try to concentrate. Just then, I see Andreas, my support taking pictures, and this of course, vain as I am, puts me right back on my feet . Now I have a good rhythm, I guess around 5:30 per km. I do not stop at the aid stations, just take every time water and ice to pour over my head and soak my entire body. The last round is the hottest one. the last 5K are hard, but I don’t stop, I have lost enough time in the penalty boxes and posing for pictures. No it is all about thinking of the red carpet, the people, the music, the finish line. I start thanking in my head all people who have helped me in the last 12 months, especially Isabel. I think of our daughters. I also see myself in the hospital and realise where I am now. Behind my cool Rudy Project glasses a few tears come out. But now it is time to go over the red carpet. The noise from the crowd is deafening, I start shouting myself, raised arms, I am overwhelmed by emotions, I jump around, slow down, enjoy the finish line. It feels I stayed for ever in the arrival arena. I cross it with the time of 11 hours and 38 min. Better than I thought I would do. I covered the marathon in 4:13. Not great but good enough to make up for most of the 400 positions lost during the bike. End result 913th out of 2351. I could not ask for more. The Catcher at the arrival said that I looked fresh, I told him that I just looked happy, (and to myself: happy to have never given up in the last 13 months following the crash). The IM Frankfurt is a day to remember as the closure of a long chapter. But it is also a day to remember because the organisers, the helpers, my friend as support where just unbelievable. I could start again tomorrow. Realistically though I think, I will only do another IM in 2012. I think Madison, Wisconsin.

7 Things We Did in The National Parks of Utah

I have not updated this blog last month. Life in an RV is quite… intensive especially when it is cold and rainy outside. In the meantime we have arrived in Vancouver and got rid of the big rig…due to acute RV-fever. We now live in a comfy house by Kitsilano Beach and I have some time again to update that site.

South Utah is a world of its own with a very high density of National Parks, State Parks, National Monuments etc… We decided to avoid basically National Parks with Big Canyons as activities with children are rather limited there. We did not see ourselves in a place where we would have to shout : “get down from that fence or don’t slide down the canyon”. So we decided to have look at The Big Sand Dunes (big sandbox for children…ok…it is in Colorado), Monument Valley (Marlboro Country and Horses), Glen Canyon/Lake Powell Recreational Area & Capitol Reef (Mormons Promised Land and Orchards in the middle of desert). We also went to some small Parks like Goosenecks State Monument and Natural Bridges National Monument. And yes..all these are in South of Utah just about 300 miles apart.

They all have in common the color red and we realised that we never had enough of it. These monuments of baked sand are just…well…earth shattering. When you are in South Utah, you just wonder why-oh-why people go to see that one big red stone in the middle of nowhere in Australia. In South Utah you have one Ayers Rock basically every twenty miles.

So here is a sample of what we did in the out-of-this-world area.

1. Playing Desert Survival in the Great Sand Dunes of Colorado

2.  Horse Riding in Monument Valley

3. Getting dizzy on the rim of Goose Necks State Monument

4. Maneuvering the RV on Not-For-RV-Roads

5. Hiking & Riding  in the Natural Bridges National Monument

6. BBQ on the shores of Lake Powell (Glen Canyon) and cruising with the RV on water.

7. Feeling like Mosis arriving to the Promised Land in Capital Reef

If you liked Santa Fe – New Mexico in the 90s’ try Taos now…

It was less easy than we expected to get to New Mexico via the Rockies of Colorado. People tell us: “it is a Nino year” (pronounced of course ninio…but I don’t have the spanish wavy thingy on my keyboard). By that, people mean that 2010 is a bad weather, stormy year. We drove on the I-70 through Silverthorne, Breckenridge (beautiful ski station – forget Aspen -) and then Buena Vista and Alamosa. On the passes we drove through snow storm and strong winds, quite a change 10 days after Kauai and another excuse to go shopping for warm clothes.

Taos was a welcomed change. No wind, no snow and a shining sun. That meant we could get out of the RV! And I soon as we got out we met some real good people who invited us to put our big rig in their alley. Tim & Geneviève did not only accepted that we block their main entrance, they also invited us for dinner parties, sport and cultural activities in town and Tim ended up even riding his bike with me a showing me some good roads around town.

For those who liked Santa Fe in the nineties this is how Taos looks now. You can find Spas, Yoga places, alternative cafes, alternative arts & crafts, some ayurveda shops and more than your average quantity of adult Peter Pans. On top you find the most ancient continuously populated pueblo of North America: The Taos Pueblo.

Personally, I found that indigenous people could have done more of this place, to make it more…thrilling. But the rest of the family just loved it as it is and told me that I should not expect a Disneyland. So I won’t say more.

Overall we spent a very relaxing week there. And it was difficult to leave. But we knew, South Utah was waiting for us.

FATWorld 9th Destination: Rving across USA & Canada…and Another Dream Come True

In December 1997, I wrote from Gulu, Uganda (while I was still working for the International Committee of the Red Cross)  to a friend, that we should take a year off  in 1998, buy an RV and cross the USofA and Canada while training for triathlon. In the end, it did not happen. I left alone for a year in South East Asia and he joined me for a month in Bali. 13 years later: Another Dream Comes True. I am riding a time trial down the US255 direction the Great Sand Dunes Nat. Park in Colorado and Isabel is driving ahead with the RV!

This cruise with the RV is the last episode of our trip around the world. It takes us from Denver, CO  to Vancouver BC, via New Mexico, Arizona, South Utah, Wyoming, Montana & Washington.

We are all excited and fear this episode with the RV. On one hand it gives us unmatched flexibility and children have always the same home where ever we are. On the other hand, although we have rented a 10 meter long rig with slide-out, it still is nothing more than a sophisticated shoebox.

After 10 days riding this monster, we have learned the following: RVing is a great way to understand what we, as a family, consume daily in terms of Propane for heating, Gas for cooking & Driving and Water for Washing (all kind) and Dumping (all kind). RVing is a great way to build a hands-on knowledge of sewage and waste management. (A small note here on waste management; there is one thing you do not want: a leaking sewage hose…Well, I have now that one sorted). RVing is also a great way to keep things tidy at their right place. RVing is therefore great, right? Well, it is great as long as all those things do not start to go on your nerves.

Our first joint crisis comes after 8 days. Shoebox Fever! Very, very luckily we make contact at the same time with a wonderful French-European-American family in Taos. Their boundless hospitality and generosity gives us a unique opportunity to breathe outside the RV and discover the “Not-For-Tourists-Taos”.

So far so good. we have now crossed the cold, snowy but utterly beautiful Colorado and its famous Rockies and are relaxing in “springful” Taos, New Mexico. So far, so good…

Introducing Ramona – Our New Travelling Family Member

Yes, we have a new travelling family member! and this since April 4th, when she landed to join us in Kauai, Hawaii. We love our kids so much that we do not want them to have us around 24/7 . So, for the last three months of our travel we have decided to have a new member to break the “square relationship” and built a more creative “pentagon relationship”. And we struck super lucky. Ramona is on one hand a friend-of-the-daughter-of-my-second-cousin-in-law, on the other hand a down to earth, no-nonsense, Reto-Romanic, first of six pearl. Ramona is also Ski Teacher in St-Moritz and a free soul the rest of the year. Manon, Zoé and we are so fond of her and very happy to have found such a good travelling companion. Ramona, Welcome to our FATWorld*.

*Family Around the World

Mahi Nani’s Farm – Anahola Kaua’i – Our Home Away From Home

We spent the first 2.5 weeks in a vacation rental at the end of the road on the North Shores of Kauai: Wainiha. It rained 18 out of 19 days. I will therefore not spent too much effort describing the toilet-bowl-with-continuous-flushing in which we lived.

Fortunately, we had booked a pavilion on a farm in the community of Anahola, a large indigenous homestead. We immediately liked it. The back is “protected” (in the Feng Shui lingo by a nice row of exotic fruit trees (lemon, grapefruit). There is a large well-maintained open garden in the front with two giant palm trees. Further away the ocean. The house itself is a traditional but artsy Hawaiian home. The kitchen is well designed and we feel immediately like doing some creative cooking. The vibes of the living room are very good and calming.

There are many things to see on Kaua’i but we felt so well that we often prefer to spend the day at home. One of the favorite morning activities is to go pick some ripe juicy pink grapefruit and do about 2 liters of juice for breakfast.Another activity is to go in the garden and play with the hose. Manon and Zoé often spend the morning with Ramona (our new travel companion, new post coming up) doing handcrafts. They also put their running shoes on a go for a short jog with me around the property. But the biggest highlight is preparing and celebrating Easter!

Instead of going out, we invite sometime a friends of ours for a good dinner and some late night chat in the living room.

And there is Sissy, the owner’s dog. A very affectionate sheep dog that would play with kids and come to me regularly to check, if I have some left overs to give.

We spend 3 weeks in the quiet haven and it is very difficult to leave it behind us. Here some impressions of our stay there. I highly recommend this place for every one who wants to get away from the commercial side of Hawaii and its vacation condos.

Lavaman Triathlon – Hawaii: A Liberating Moment

I waited (and trained) for that day since December 20th, day of my registration for the Lavaman. This triathlon is the second biggest tri event on the Big Island after the Ironman World championship. It is an Olympic distance and happens every year at the end of March. Chris McCormack describes it as follows in his last entry of his blog (April 2nd) “It is a tough, windy bike course and a super hot and difficult run. The entire bike course takes in the most difficult section of the bike course at the Ironman World Championships, and the run is mostly off road and through the thick Lava flows. It really reminds me of some of the early races I did in my career, when these ingredients seemed to be a prerequisite of a triathlon” . 1020 athletes coming mostly from Hawaii and the West Coast of Canada and the USA were gathered for this event. Chris McCormack, 2 times IM world champion was also at the starting line. The race starts at the Waikoloa Beach Resort onthe west coast and the bike course is a segment of the World Championship on the famous Queen K. Highway.

This race was for me the big test whether I had trained enough and done enough rehabilitation after the accident on June 8th the previous year. It would tell me, whether I was ready to train for longer distance and be able to be on the starting line of the Ironman of Frankfurt later this year.

I thought the race would be hard, but it turned out that it was getting there that cost me most energy. My family and I are currently staying on Kauai and I had to take 2 planes (via Honolulu) to get there. The first plane had 4 hours delay, the second was cancelled and the company had lost my reservation…In the end, I just made it in time to retrieve my starting packet, to put my bike together and to test it before sunset. I nonetheless could go early to bed and have a surprisingly good night sleep.

I wake up at 5:00 AM and take a short breakfast in bed. The weirdest thing after taking a shower is to put sunscreen when it is still pitch dark outside. I do that nonetheless, because I know that today’s forecast is 30 degrees, low wind and 86% humidity. I get out of my hotel room, the sun greets me and I take a picture of it in return. Coming to the transition zone, most of the athletes are already there… loud house music is blaring through big loudspeakers and a commentator repeats with eagerness the do’s and dont’s of the day. I get myself ready in the transition zone, get body marked with the No480 and walk slowly to the start at the A-Bay, a beautiful little cove. I enter the water at 07:10 and swim 4o0m to warm-up the shoulders. At 7:36 I start in the 3rd waves (that are Male Athletes 40 and Oooolder). I don’t pace myself. Feeling strong I aggressively make my way to the front of the pack. The real good swimmers are ahead and I can keep a good pace (around 15:30 per km) for the entire 1500 with the pack. I exit the water after 23:20′ and make a 300m dash to the transition zone. The enter of T1 comes at 15:24. I exit 1:31 later to start the bike. At this time, my position is in the  first 75 or 80 athletes. The bike leg starts very well with a 37kmh for the first 8km and suddenly the wind changes. Everyone gets it strong in the face for the next 12km. The average speed drops to less than 32kmh and legs are sore. The mid-point turn comes at the right moment. From then on, it is tail wind and I finish the bike leg in 1 hour 11 minutes, which is above 34kmh avg. I run through transition very fast. So fast that I forget my helmet and have to return to deposit it next to the bike. In the end it is 1:41 in T2. The first 500m run go well and suddenly stomach cramps are coming. Strong ones. I immediately know that it comes from a new sports drink I had during the bike. I work through these cramps for the next 3km. It is hot, I cannot breathe regularly. I am smiling thinking that my knee would hurt, but no, it is my stomach that slows me down. I finally find my rhythm after 5k and start running at a 4:45 pace between km 6 and 8.5. The last mile: it is not hard surface but all lava stones and broken corals. Worse, the last 400m are in soft sand but at this point I see the 2 athletes in front of me pick up the pace and I decide to hang on, which I can and do until the finish line. 20 meters before the finish line, I raise my arms, fist closed, throat thightened. It is a great liberating moment. At this point the total time does not matter anymore. It is the knowledge that my knee held the shock of the race, it is the knowledge that I can race again, that my sports days are not over. I do the run in 50:12′.

Time overall is 2:30’10”. Position 122 out of 1020. Chris McCormack wins the race for the 2nd consecutive year.

The Lavaman triathlon is the best organised and most scenic tri-event I have done. Compare to Europe, I found many athletes very relaxed ready to enjoy the race. The quota of female athletes was incredible, something I have never seen in Europe. All in all, this triathlon is maybe not worth the trip from Europe, but it is a must do, if you are around in March in Hawaii.

No one is too old or too young to surf

We land on Kaua’i On March 3rd and drive to Hanalei, our place of residence for the coming 5 weeks. We knew we could get some rain on the “Green Isle” but we did not that we would be getting downpours 18 out of the first 19 days. Least to say that it lowered slightly the fun level. We actually became downright cranky.  The two things that gave us joy was a great yoga centre and the opportunity to get better at surfing. At first Isa and I thought we really were too old for that sport.  But when the only thing you can actually do outside without getting bothered by the rain is surfing then you start just doing that. And that’s what we did. We were wise enough to take at first lessons with an instructor. The attempts to learn by ourselves in Australia were frustrating enough not to make the same mistake twice.

Hanalei Bay is known as being one of the 10 most beautiful beach in the world. That did not strike home during the first two weeks as we could actually barely see the Bay due to low clouds and yes…you guessed it….rain. This beautiful beach is not only shaped into a perfect circle, it also provides very regular waves of all sizes. You therefore meet local stars as well as professionals next to first timers. Surfing is the life in Hanalei and we soon got the hang of it. The person that left us all in awe though was Manon. Courageous enough to go out with Chris, the Instructor and standing alone on the board after only a few attempts. A few days later, Zoe accepted to be lifted on a long board too, but stayed on her belly while riding gentle waves. After Isa and I had emptied the battery of the Nikon taking pictures of our little loved ones on the board, we also went in turn and could soon celebrate some success.

It is now the 4th week of our stay in Kauai and we now love this beach above all others around the island. When the sunshine, it is the most incredible beach we have ever seen. It will be, yet again, difficult to leave this place for a new destination.

FATWorld 8th Destination – Family Time in Hawaii

The only reason we left Wanaka and New Zealand was the planned family reunion on February 17th on the Big Island in Hawaii. We had planned this in August last year already! 2 weeks of vacation with Isa’s sister and her family as the only fixed point during our year around the world. It took us 3 days to get the from the South of New Zealand. No need to mention that M. & Z. were quite disoriented, confused and cranky for the first few days.

The Big Island is something like Lanzarote at first sight, just bigger. But after a while one discovers that it has  multiple climate zone and that it encapsulates all climate and geographies of an entire continent. Deep waters, high mountains, green pasture with huge ranches, lava fields, lush sub-tropical forest, lush English rainy regions, etc…

The best for me was of course to be on THE triathlon Island, the place where the Ironman World championship takes place every year. Not necessary to mention that I assembled my TT-bike on the first day to hit the mythical Queen K. already on the second day! What a feeling to ride on this highway where all the best triathletes in the world have sweated their guts out.  I feel very motivated, all the more that I will be competing in the Lavaman Triathlon on March 28th on the very same road. It will be my first race since May 2009.

Apart from Training and Sightseeing, we spend most of the time at the pools of the vacation resort. It is the best family friendly pools I have seen, with small beaches for kids, 4 different water slides for kids and adults, hot pools, pools with Dolphins, protect natural lagoon, etc, etc… amazing. Perfect to spend 2 weeks with the family with 4 young children. The other great thing at the resort is the BBQ place. We have already used it a couple of times to sear delicious american steaks and others treats. Will I lose any weight during this period? I think I have trained 12 hours this week and increased my belly buoy by an inch!

Anyway, that’s part of family meets. You talk, you eat you drink and you start all over again….and you celebrate birthdays! That’s right we took advantage of this reunion to anticipate Zoé’s 3rd birthday…but that is a different story.