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Previewing my 2000 season

After my somewhat disappointing result at Ironman Hawaii, I took four to five weeks of rest (well, I have also been a bit ill in that time). Now I will start training for next season.

The results in Hawaii have led me to believe that your season should not be too difficult if you want to do well in Hawaii. Not that I did that many races, but I could have used a bit of rest mid season to recharge the batteries.

As a result of this, I already know for sure that I will do Ironman Lanzarote again. I was sooo close to finishing top ten last year, that I will try again. The minimum to aim for is qualifying for Hawaii again, because, I also want to take some revenge there, and show that I can do a good race in those lava fields as well. Apart from these races, it starts to get difficult. I would really like to do a third ironman distance race as well, but this might not be very smart in view of Hawaii. I guess it would be best to take some rest for a month or so after Lanzarote and then start again to prepare for Hawaii. But I am not completely sure, and it will probably depend on how I feel after Lanzarote.

As for my training, I think I have learned my lesson by now. After deciding on my training myself for a couple of years, resulting in my best season ever in 1996, I had trainers telling  me what to do for three years. The results of this varied, but I know that the best trainer I had was Paul Vandenbosch last year. However, it is not easy to combine a fixed training schedule with work with somewhat flexible hours, so I will decide on my training myself again. This will make it much easier to adapt to the demands of my work, and I can change my schedule at any time, especially when it seems I have to go to a customer when I planned to do my training.

There are some other reasons as well though. I have the impression that I am thinking a lot more about what I am doing when I am planning my training sessions myself. It allows me to incorporate the ideas I pick up which seem interesting, and I spend a lot of time thinking about what I should do and when. I consider this to be some kind of mental preparation which should be good. Quite different from looking at a page and just trying to do what is on it... like it or not.Which is another point. I have never  been over trained before my 1996
season, so it seams I must have been doing something right. I always rested when I was feeling tired, or didn't feel like it (I once read this is one of the first signs of over training) and never did a lot of intense training. After reading Phil Maffetone's book, I am reinforced that this is the way to go, so I will do it like that again.

There are some things I want to incorporate in my training this winter. I will focus on doing aerobic training. I will try to give attention to doing a proper warm-up and cool down, especially when running. The cool down bit is difficult, but I'll try.

Some other ideas are to use my PowerCranks for all bike training. I will have a CompuTrainer at my disposal, which should allow me to do some longer and better indoor bike sessions. For the run I haven't got that many ideas, but I will try running on soft surface a bit more again, and I will also be doing some hilly runs more often (thanks to my girlfriend). For my swimming I have plenty ideas. I will focus hard on my technique again. I have not done this enough last year, and I think that was the reason for my mediocre swims. I have cut off my fins, making them more useful, and plan on using them a lot. My focus will be on gliding through the water and rolling.

Time to get started, once the races start, we will see if it is paying off.

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