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!

This picture shows my Blue Triad SL enjoying the view halfway up Mt Lemmon.

The weather since I came here has actually been a little disappointing, as it has only been between 20 and 25 degrees, but in a few days it should be back up at 30-35 degrees… Luckily I have brought lots of sunscreen as it will be needed for the many long bikerides I will be doing.

Cheers

Martin

It is time to get this blog going again. So please, leave a comment if you have any requests as to what I should write a blog about? To give you an update on the training situation, everything is going as planned. We are slowly building the run back up to form, where as cycling and swimming are looking pretty good.

It gets harder to do long quality sessions on the bike as the weather in Denmark gets worse from now on, but in less than 4 weeks time I’ll be leaving to the States to do a big block of training before the last two races in the season: ITU LD Worlds and IM Arizona. We are a big group of athletes going to Las Vegas for ITU Worlds, so that should be a lot of fun… Wonder if there will be any prize money left when we go home?

Happy training!

Since my decision not to start in Challenge Copenhagen I have had some very easy weeks. I’m going to participate in Ironman Arizona on November 20th, so it was a good time for a little break in the middle of a very long season.

By the end of my 4 week break I was supposed to give a speech at Silkeborg Triathlon, during their Pasta Party the night before the race. At the same time, I had been running without any pain for the last 3 weeks, so I also decided to give their 1/4 Ironman a go – with a very clear decision about not running fast at all!

So – if I should have a chance of winning this race, I had to make the difference during the swim and bike portion of the race. But with the very little training I had been doing in the previous 4 weeks I wasn’t too confident that I would be able to do just that.

Well – long story short: my biggest competition to the victory, a young Danish talent named Thomas Strange, unfortunately crashed within the first 2 km of the bikecourse (and was unable to finish the race), and from then on it was just a cruise for the win. Had about 7 minutes lead of the bike and jogged the victory home on the 10,5 km finishing run.

Silkeborg Triathlon is a beautiful event, and I can definitely recommend everybody who likes a good challenge to enter the event in 2012! Their slogan is: “The prettiest triathlon in Denmark!”

Now I’m slowly back in training, and will do a 5 week block in Denmark before I head over to the states to prepare for World Champs in Vegas on November 5th and Ironman Arizona on November 20th…

Happy training

See below for English.

Det er med enorm ærgrelse at jeg er nødt til at melde afbud til Challenge Copenhagen d. 14. August på grund af en skade i min lægmuskel.
Skaden er opstået i den sidste træningsperiode op mod Challenge Copenhagen, og betyder desværre at jeg ikke er i stand til at løbe i øjeblikket, og slet ikke et maraton på 42,2 km.

Afbuddet er en kæmpe skuffelse for mig, da Challenge Copenhagen var udset til at være sæsonens store mål ovenpå sidste års DNF i Challenge Copenhagen, og træningen frem mod stævnet har virkelig været lovende i forhold til et godt resultat.

Forhåbentligt er jeg i stand til at påbegynde løbetræning igen inden for de kommende uger, hvorfor resten af sæsonen ikke bør blive videre påvirket af denne skade.

Med sportslig hilsen,
Martin

Withdraw from Challenge Copenhagen

It is with extreme sadness that I am forced to pull out of Challenge Copenhagen on August 14th due to an injury in my calf muscle.
The injury has happened in the last training towards Challenge Copenhagen and means that I unfortunately am unable to run at the moment – and nowhere near able to run a marathon of 42.2 km.

The cancellation is a big disappointment to me, as Challenge Copenhagen was supposed to be the biggest race of 2011 after last years DNF in Challenge Copenhagen, and training leading up to the race was very promising in regards to delivering a top result.

Hopefully I will be back in training within the next few weeks, and the rest of the season should not be at risk because of this injury.

Best regards,
Martin

Challenge Aarhus is 2 weeks behind us, and Challenge Copenhagen is approaching on the horisont. These two biggest Danish triathlon races will be the topic in this blog entry. First things first…

Challenge Aarhus didn’t quite go as I hopes 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.

I got caught from behind around 10 or 12 km by Petræus, and we ran together until 14 km, where weo caught and overtook Björn for the lead of the race. Suddenly, at 16-17 km my legs just didn’t function anymore, and I had to let Petræus run away for the win, but still managed to secure 2nd place pretty comfortably.

That wasn’t the result I was hoping for, but considering how injured I was in February and March, I can’t really complain after finishing on the podium in 4 half-challenge or 70.3 races during the spring. A lot of consistency, but I would just like to get that win…

Right after Challenge Aarhus I went into Ironman mode, and as the headline indicates, that involves a lot of biking to get the totalt training volume up. The first week after Challenge Aarhus was solid with 561 km and this week has been one of my longest ever with 734 km. Both weeks has been record-breaking, as I did my longest bikeride ever with 235 km last week and broke that record yesterday with 257 km over 7hrs 50 minutes on the bike…

Garmin Connect file…

Those over-distance rides are really good for working with the mental part of triathlon, as a 257 km ride makes a 180 km ride seem kind of short (LOL). Secondly it takes a lot of mental effort to do intervals way above ironman pace when you have done 200 km warm-up…

Next week will be even longer in total distance on the bike, eventhough I propably won’t try to brake my one-day record! I’ll save that 300+ km ride until next year

Only 6 days to go before the first edition of Challenge Aarhus kicks off. I have spent the week training and recovering from 70.3 UK, and I have actually felt really good since that race. I only had 1 easy day before I was back in full training, and by the end of last week I had some great sessions that indicates I am right where I want to be before Challenge Aarhus.

Last week I had the chance to spend a few days in Copenhagen doing some testing with Team Denmark. I had a blood test done as part of our altitude training project and a heart test done to make sure I don’t run around with any serious heart problems. The tests went fine, and my heart looks great!

I’ll be arriving in Aarhus Thursday evening and be ready for the press conference Friday before the race. Besides from that, I’m also working with one of my sponsors about making an event at the expo, so stay tuned here or on Facebook for more information.

I already got back to Denmark last night after racing 70.3 UK earlier in the day. It was a tough day in the British countryside, as both the course and weather was a bit challenging.

The race kicked off at 7.00 yesterday with a 1.9 km swim in the 14 degree cold water at Wimbleball Lake. The PRO field was not very big, so managed to get out of the usual fights and immediately settled in at the front of the swim. Came out of the water in 2nd place, right on Daniel Hawksworth feets, and was ready to start the 400 m uphill run towards T1… The combination of uphill run and very cold weather made my calfs cramp running towards T1, and gave me a bad start to the transition.

Since the air temperature was even colder than the water, I decided to put on a cycling jersey and arm-warmers before I started the bikeride. That little trick cost me a bit extra time in T1, and I lost contact with Hawksworth and Bayliss and came on to the bike in 3rd position.

On to the bike I felt like crap right from the start, and despite the extra clothes, I was still freezing. I lost a about 2.30 on the first 45 km to the leaders, as I was barely able to hold 300 watts, but found slightly better legs on the 2nd lap of the bikecourse and started to reel both Hawksworth and Bayliss in.
I didn’t catch the guys in front of me, but was about 1 minute down on Hawksworth starting the run, with a very fast riding Mikel Elgazabel (ESP) more than 4 minutes ahead in the lead.

I put on my new ECCO BIOMs in T2 an started to chase down the guys in front of me. The run was a 3 loop course with 2 turn arounds  per lap, so I had lots of opportunities to see where the other guys was. I overtook Hawksworth for 3rd place around 9 km and kept pushing the  pace trying to catch Bayliss as well. The run course was very challenging with some very long and steep hills, small muddy trails and grass-running, so despite trying to push the pace, I didn’t run very fast. At the last turnaround, 2 km before the finish line, I was still just under a minute from Bayliss so I settles in to a comfortable pace for the last km’s and secured my 3rd place.

A few hours after crossing the finishline I had packed my bike in the car and was driving back to Gatwick for my evening flight to Aalborg. Tomorrow I’m leaving for Copenhagen to do some testing before I do the last training for Challenge Aarhus in 2 weeks… I look very much forward to the first edition of what I think will be a fantastic race!

Results are not yet online, but a short article can be found at Tri247.com

I have lots of things going on right now. Next Sunday I’m racing 70.3 UK, and I’m feeling very confident after my performance in Challenge Barcelona 2 weeks ago. My running is really improving at the moment, as I am starting to add more intensity to the training. Both my speed and run-form is coming along nicely, and I’m sure that I will soon be flying…

Last Saturday I was in Århus to test the bikecourse for Challenge Aarhus, and eventhough the course is both hilly and technical, I think that it is a course that suits me well. The field in Århus will be very tough with athletes like Rasmus Henning, Jamie Whyte (winner of Challenge Wanaka 2011), Björn Andersson (über biker), Emil Dalgård (Danish sprint distance Champ) and almost every other Danish triathlete… Yet I still think that my chances are good, and I will put everything on the line on July 3rd, going for the win!

Recently I have also partnered with Hypoxico and invested in an altitude training system.

In 2010 I was on several altitude training camps, where I saw and felt the benefits of using altitude as a performance booster. Yet, it is not always possible or ideal to live and train in high altitude, so I decided to get a altitude training system. This allows me to “live high, yet train low” which is good because you can get the benefits of the altitude and still keep the intensity in the training. The only challenge is, that to have the optimal effect of the altitude you need to spend around 16 hrs/day in altitude, which is a whole lot of time in the tent:

Right now I’m trying to get used to the tent, and then I plan to “go all in” on the altitude training leading up to Challenge Copenhagen in August. Imagine if it can boost my performance with 1-2 % in a competition that lasts over 8 hrs…

Over and out from the Alps in Aalborg

A lot has happened since my last update. I’ll try and start with the beginning and work my way up to date…

After Challenge Fuerteventura my injured leg was quite sore, and I actually didn’t run the following week. Therefore it was decided that I shouldn’t compete in 70.3 Mallorca, but since I already had booked tickets for Mette and myself, we decided to go anyway and have a bit of vacation/training camp (Mette doing the vacation part and me doing the training part).
It was a few nice days in Mallorca, and on race day I was ready to test myself on the bike course. After a decent swim I escited the water in first pack but lost a little bit of time to the front guys during the almost 1000 meter long transition and had to chase for the first 10 km. After about 23 km we hit the climb towards Lluc and some of the guys attacked as soon as we hit the climb. I tried to push as hard as possible, but wasn’t able to keep up with them despite keeping as much as 349 watts avg. the first 35 km.
I did the rest of the bike course riding alone, and had by far the fastest bikesplit on the last 20 km, almost bridging up to the group consisting of Andreas Raelert, Sylvain Sudrie and Philip Graves. The bikesplit was my best ever @ 333 watts average.
I also did the first 11 km of the run course, just jogging around for the sake of training

After 70.3 Mallorca I was able to continue my training, and improve my run. Together with Coach we decided that I was capable of competing in the Challenge Barcelona. Between 70.3 Mallorca and Challenge Barcelona I also managed to squeeze in our annual club Time Trial in the “Fusion Cup”. It’s a 42.2 km TT just outside Aalborg. I won the TT very comfortably and managed 370 watts avg. for 59.02 on a very windy day.

Leading up to Barcelona I was feeling very strong on the bike during the training and I was very excited for the race in Barcelona as I knew that the bikecourse would be very fast and suit me well.

I left for Barcelona – actually the race in Calella, about 50 km north of Barcelona – Thursday so that I had plenty of time to prepare for the race on Sunday. The trip would wound up being very eventfull, with one of the highlights being when I had my carry-on bag stolen on Barcelona train station. I managed to run down the thief and reclaim my bag, so that was a good start to the trip!
In Calella I checked in to the race hotel that the organization provided to me. Besides being the official race hotel, it was also the official hotel for the German “Jugend Reisen”, which meant that the hotel was full og German teenagers visiting Calella for the night life. Off course, they would make a lot of noice during the nights, making it very difficult to get a good nights sleep! Besides that, the hotel was the 2nd worst hotel I have ever stayed in, only surpassed by a hotel that I once stayed in in Egirdir in Turkey for a European Cup race. The food was terrible, no internet connection in the hotel (besides 2 desktop computers in the lobby), 12″ TV, and a terrible bed! The hotel name was “Hotel Catalonia” – don’t ever go there!

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.

For the first time this year I didn’t have a good day in the swim, and about 2/3 in to the swim I lost contact with the first 3 guys. I managed to keep the gap at about 20 seconds, but that was enough for Sylvain Sudrie that took off right from the start of the bikeride. After about 20 km I was in 2nd place riding alone and chasing Sudrie. I pushed the pace as much as I could, but I didn’t make up much time (despite keeping 345 watts and 46.1 avg speed from 23 –> 43 km). I then realized I hadn’t brought the best legs to Barcelona and started to fade a bit on the bike. My avg. power ended being about 15 watts lower than in Mallorca, but still I had more than 2 minutes in 2nd place to the next group entering T2.
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!

After returning to Denmark I took a little roadtrip to Holstebro to visit one of my sponsors: CeramicSpeed! They make the best ceramic bearings in the world, and my partnership with CeramicSpeed gives me confidence that I’m riding the fastest equipment out there…

2nd place! I’m very excited about my performance in Playitas last Saturday. The race was as tough as it gets, with a brutal bikecourse and a runcourse that took us through the trails and hills around Playitas.

The swim started at 8.00 AM from the beach at Playitas and was a 1-loop course of 1900 meters. I had a good start and was swimming in the front side by side with Rasmus Henning until around 800 meters when I decided to get on his feet and let him do the hard work in the swim. I excited the water in 2nd, right on Rasmus’ feet.

21.44

On to the bike I lost a bit of time in transition because I was having trouble getting my Blueseventy Helix wetsuit of. Once on the bike, I used the first 10km to finding a rhytm on the bike and getting a feel of the other guys in front of the race. At around 15 km I launched my first attack, and only Rasmus was able to follow. We rode together for most of the ride, but at 65-70 km the two other guys from the initial front group bridged back up to Rasmus and I.
After the last climp from Pajara towards Tuineje I launched my final attack and got away. The last 15 km into transition was mainly downhill in a headwind, so it was really just a matter of putting power into the pedals and staying as aero as possible.
On the last 15 km I put a 90 seconds gap to other guys and entered T2 first.

2.29.43 (92,69 km – 1355 altitude gain)

Second transition went way better than the first one, and I quickly got on to the run course. The first 6 km was on trails, and due to my lack of run fitness i started out pretty slowly and build the pace during the run.
At around 6 km Rasmus caught back up to me, and I increased the pace and tried to run with him. At that time Bayliss, who would end up in 3rd place, was running 2-300 meters behind.
Rasmus and I ran together until the last uphill at the 18 km mark, where he launched his attack and ran away from me. There was no way I was able to keep up with his attack, and since Bayliss was now far behind, I released my foot from the gas pedal and jogged comfortably the last 3 km. After high5′s down the finishline I crossed the line in 2nd place, very tired but very happy with my performance on the day.

1.19.00 (20,94 km)

I’m very happy with the overall result, since I’m only just getting back from my injury, and I’m sure I’ll keep improving over the next few months and I will definitely be in peak fitness condition when it all matters in August for Challenge Copenhagen.

As you can see on the picture, I look pretty tired after the race! You can find many more pictures in my gallery…