yo, it s been quite a while since i have blogged. to be honest, i kind of missed it. But i am very tied up with developing a new triathlon series for the region, TriStar, co-owned by Fabian Cancellara, being with my family and of course lots of training. TriStar is in fact not new, but a relaunched series. I think its bike centric format with short swim and run legs really is well suited for the region because cycling is so popular on one hand, and on the other hand it is an easier format to get into for novices. Supersports, which i am partner in, is operating the event, which launches in the UAE on 23.3.2018 and you can register now on http://www.premieronline.com

The bike course TriStar is amazing and the triathletes will also be delighted by the host venue, the well known and award winning Le Meridien al Aqah Beach resort.

We look forward to see you there on March 23rd! 🙂

I have changed a couple of things in my life. At almost 43 years old, i have realized that it is not beneficial for me to always behave like a caged animal. So far, i have lived my whole life pretty much having that attitude. Basically since i can remember.  The reasons that turned me into taking on that character trait, are not for public consumption.

But lately i have realized that it hurts the closest people around me that i behave like an animal. That’s when i realized i had to change something. With this behavior, outside of my family, nobody really wants to interact with you because, maybe they don’t know you well and it is not really conducive.

Now, i enjoy behaving like a human being for the first time in my life. I only am an animal when it is required from me: in a triathlon competition. The rest of the time i enjoy displaying normal human behavior. It feels really good and i feel liberated for the first time in my life.

I have not changed because i am now also a partner in SuperSports and i need to promote, market events. No, i have changed because my behavior has become unbearable to myself and my surroundings. It is a maturing of character really.

It gives me new inspiration to live more wholesome, new zest in sports and business and i have reinvented myself again in order to be able to grow mentally further and progress.

I don’t bite. You can talk to me and i will talk to you.

Peace out and enjoy your training

no more mass murderer A.K.A’s, just my name, Oli

🙂

yo, Whats hattnin? Hope all is well. I already gave a bit of an inside on how the race went but i think a full fledged blog entry is better suited to describe the race.

Bintan is my last prep race for Hawaii due to its realistic weather conditions simulation and undulating bike course, both of which i face very similar in Kona in ca. 1.5 months time.

Bintan is very close to Singapore and actually just a short ferry ride away. Very convenient but remote at the same time. Beautiful little island with a population that overwhelmingly works in tourism that is the main breadwinner for the island. The local population is very welcoming, hospitable and can cook up a storm. Food is absolutely delish. I love indonesian food.

the trip over from Dubai is a short one. Just one flight to Singapore and bum to the ferry which brings you basically straight to the hotel. I stayed in the Sanchaya, which was very classy but reasonable with a high service standard. plus it was located only 400m from the transition so you gotta love that.

The Sanchaya and its staff made me feel totally at ease and that helped me focus on the race. The race was scheduled for Sunday, which is a rest day for most islanders so therefore the roads were quite empty. Overall the road quality for such a little island was very good.

The race itself had ca. 10 male and 10 female pros of good quality. Total field was 1500 participants and as usual in Asia most of them first timers.

The start was logically scheduled at sunrise to escape the tropical heat and the humidity. But there would be no hiding.

Gun went off for the first at 0600 and the 40 44 had to wait until 0624 to go off. Once off, i felt good straightaway. I swam all the way in the lead and was able to finally produce a good fast swim start. The training is paying off. I had to swim through all the women, the 35 39 and caught some of the tail 30 34, who went 12minutes ahead of me. Swimming through traffic breaks your rhythm a little bit and makes you swim detours, so i think my time does not really reflect the good pace i had. But it was the same for everyone.

The bike felt good right away and i managed to put good power out there in a smooth delivery with a compact advantageous parcel position. I rode really fast and did not spend more than 75% of my energy at any time. Riding alone and past others however does not push you mentally or gives you a marker because nobody is able to keep up and therefore you have to create your own game. But that’s ok. If I had someone with me surely i could go faster with the same amount of exertion. The bike course had a million hills and some technical parts as well. Very good bike course in my opinion as it also was safe which i was surprised by a little bit.

Got off the bike and lapped all of the field including most of the pros so that i was already in a comfortably leading position off the bike. I could have let up there right away but i want to push myself and reach new heights. So that’s what i did. At first during the first couple of minutes I did not feel so good because i mean it was really hot and especially humid. The body just can’t cool down. But then after 2 or 3k i felt ok and marched on clicking of the k’s all of them below 3:40 pace. I run on form and just let that form carry me on. I don’t really do anything or try to force the issue.

The whole weather situation felt very realistic, sticky and humid, hot as well just like Kona. I had overall the fastest run of the day 1:16:55.

In the end i ended up in 4th overall, 40sec behind Freddie Croneborg. I won my AG and overall amateur plus a new amateur course record as well.

Another race that shows to me that consistent long term planned preparation correctly executed is key for good results in races on the highest level.

Some guys from Dubai Jamie Ben and Stef were racing as well and seemed to enjoy it as well. Well done to them and to everyone who finished this tough test.

Time to focus again and prepare some more. Bomboclat. Lot of mercy.

Peter Tosh

Yo, the tiger quickly came out of the jungle and now will disappear back into it. But before that happens, a couple of words for yesterdays race here in Prague. My yearly fixed appointment racewise has now changed from independent race to the Challenge brand for the better of the event. Well organized and heebs of spectators in the middle of Prague. Personally i also a race this event because my inlaws get to see me race and that is a special motivation for me as well to do good.

Good weather predicted and good weather we got. 30C on degrees with a good breeze once you got out of town into the open valley of the Vltava river. A valley that has been been formed by glaciers moving over the area during the last ice age. The swim is quite a tight affair lets say because you have ca. 800 competitors who want to squeeze underneath a bridge that is ca. 50 m wide. Lots of Greek roman wrestling in the beginning and i got a couple of knocks here and there, but that is part of the game. Got on the bike and immediately took off very efficiently towards the lead which I wasn’t far off. At km 60 i was in the lead group with Petr Soukup, who i thought that the both of us will fight for the overall AG crown, next to myself. And so it was the case. We stayed together on the bike put out some good power and got off the bike together and never left each other out of sight with more than 30sec.

The run in Prague is always difficult as the overall surface is very uneven to say the least plus the got a 1k cobble section in there to make Roubaix style. Both Petr and I had the best runs of the day and finished both in the top 10 overall in a good quality pro field. I finished off with a 1:18 run off the bike, next to 25:00min swim, 2:14:00 bike to give me 4:05:00 with a huuuuuuuge T1 of 4plus minutes. Naja what to do. I m happy with top10 overall and 1st in 40 44 AG. The density and quality of performance in AG’s get better every year.

My family supported me very enthusiastically and big up to them. Thanks to Superschmu Petra, my dad and Lubos Bilek for preparing me for this comp.

I feel great and thankful and look forward to my next challenges.

Peace out

Macchiavelli

yo, back in Dubizzl. Straight flight from Durban on EK with my favourite plane of them all, the 777 300 ER. So much space. Really tight plane. Durban is a cute airport, really small. I love South Africa and have a soft spot in my heart for the place. The people are very hospitable, straight forward, humble and know sports. Also the Ironman events held in SA are operated on a very high level. It is fun to race in South Africa, no matter what distance or race. Durban has revamped their 70.3 a little bit different swim in a better place, less exposed to the big waves which make Durban a rather cool surf spot as well. Last weekend also happened to be the SA open of Surfing. So cool. So tight. So fresh. So clean. I arrived on Thu and stayed at the Hilton in Durban next to the cricket stadium. Tight hotel. Durban has a good vibe about the city. It is quite tropical with a lot of Asian influence. I like it personally. The race was on Sunday so i had good time to check out all the sites. What i always like about SA is, when you check into the hotel, they got all the channels with all SuperSports content you want, so you get all the sporting events going on live and in HD. For someone who doesn’t have a tv at home that’s pretty tight. So i watched US Open Golf and followed some of the cricket as well.

The race had a consistent weather forecast with quite a bit of wind on the bike course but not so much waves on the ocean. The weather held up and we just got that. I was in the leading group in the swim, and now with these self seeding starts you really don’t get to warm up no more. So it was cold turkey bum bum from the gun and i had a good swim start. My work is paying off. Held the leading group all the way, and of the guys was sprinting away a little bit near the end, but that was okay i took over in T1. Got out of the water in just over 26:00. Still need to work on technique and rotation though. Not totally happy, but ok. Long Beach run. T1 was quite something, ca. 800m long, and it took about 3.30 for t1 to get through that. Very very long and it added up on the time in the end. The first 4K was a non overtaking zone in no aero position. Then i got lost for ca. 30 sec 1min on the bike course because the signing was not there at all, didnt know where to go. Once on the highway put the foot down so hard, took the turn at 45k in 1:02 very fast indeed. Wind helped a bit on the way out. Very hard bike course indeed total of 1100m of climbing over konaesque rollers in quite a bit of wind on the way back. Clocked 2:15:00 with getting lost a bit. On a course like that with such wind inclusive of getting lost, that’s tight riding. I am quite happy but pedaling technique over first 35k was fucking horrible. Sort of got better on the way back. Looking for improvements on the bike. Got on the run and already had an 8min lead on 2nd place. Tough to stay motivated. First 10.5k in 38 min but no real motivation to push super hard after that and then cruised a little bit home but still increased the lead to almost 13mins in the end. My stride was good consistent but could improve on some other technical elements. The Ironman IT department is not the best, they added T2 time to running time, which i find very weird. I ran in 1:20.00 for a total of 4:08.00 with monster bike course and transitions.

All in all a good race, leading from beginning to end to take overall win in 70.3 Durban which was an age group only race, which i didn’t know until i got there. But it don’t matter. A win is a win. Congrats to everyone who did this race. Met some cool South Africans as well.

Looking forward to training and improving to be better in the upcoming races. See you guys out there and enjoy it because that’s what i do.

So tight.

Peace out

James Bulger

Yo, it s been quite an intense time in the last 2 months. My usual highly dedicated, disciplined solitary training regime, which has taken me now to a different level in consistency and performance output is going well. I am really looking forward to the competitions to come. But really at the end of the day, i just want to follow day by day and be the best triathlete i can on a daily basis. The rest will take care of itself.

Also, at the same time i am very busy building my new business as being partner in Super Sports and that is super exciting. Super League Triathlon is coming along great and our team at Super Sports fully supports it.

Normally, people would be maybe get tired out of this, but i feel highly energized by all of this. It makes me happy and fulfills me.

In the meantime, i continue to mature and take things with a grain of salt, but at the same time still the same old Vader.

I will compete in Durban on the 18.6 and then 2 more 70.3 before Kona. Dubai is the place to be for training in the summer. High temps and humidity require a lot of dedication and mental toughness to get through plus it has similar effects than altitude training on you.

So, as you can see, all is where it needs to be.

peace.

Mahatma Vader

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yo, whats hattnin. hope all good. all is good with me, thats for sure. now there is a full circle: overall wins from sprint distance, olympic, offroad, half, and now with the overall AG win at IMSA in overall AG course record time i have put the last notch in the belt.

But there are still 2 things left to be done, on one hand be the best possible Oli that i can be in Kona and get as close to 8h mark as possible.

With the overall AG win at IMSA, i have qualified for Kona as well, and i really look forward to that. Now i feel i have the confidence to prepare, train and compete toe to toe with the best.

Honestly, i have forgotten about IMSA already. When i sat in the anti doping piss check to give the urine sample 10mins after i finished, i already thought about where i am going to train, who i am going to train with for Kona. no need to rest on past accomplishments.

Having said that, i was so happy that my wife was there and totally enjoyed seeing here being happy for me as well. Lets face it, she has to make huge sacrifices to endure the constant training and competing from my side. I dedicate this win to her as well and love her very much. I wouldn’t be anywhere without her. Her love is a huge motivation for me.

having analyzed the race, i have seen huge fuck ups from my side. I slept through the swim start, the first half of the swim was shit, the second half of the swim was good. The bike was mostly quite good, the last 10k of the bike were not so brilliant. The run was ok, but had some dark side Darth Vader moments between km 26 27 and 31 32, the last 5k of the run were pretty ok. It was pretty hot on the run, 32C with some wind. The bike was not that windy this year only in spots, but the road is so bumpy like there is no tomorrow. I thought the swell in the ocean was quite hard but hey it is a real ocean swim. We fought it out pretty hard between the Norwegian Lars Stormo and the Brazilian Cid Barcelona. We stayed together for the 180k on the bike in a fair, gentleman way. Lars and I did most of the work, Cid mostly spend time at the back, but in a fair way. That is his choice. Ryan Christian was also with us for ca. 60k in the beginning but then fell off. Off the bike, i overtook Lars straightaway and then Cid overtook me and put a gap on me but never more than 30secs. The usual slug begins and then finally at 35k i overtook him shook his hand, wished him good luck and took off. and thats that. i realized at 39k i can run under 3h, and thats why i accelerated one more time to get under the mark. which i fortunately did. crossed the finish line in a new amateur course record time in 8:48:00, which is quite an honour.

back in Dubai and back at the gym yesterday for some light training to get better and plot the next steps. i still feel like a beginner. i know fuck all.

at the awards it was great to see that TriDubai won the TriClub div 1 championship. super stuff, that. Also congrats to my man Andy Mac and Andy Edwards on their Kona slot. you guys are great. fantastic. Triathlon in Dubai is doing well. Congrats to everyone from Dubai and everywhere who finished this brutal test.

peace out.

Bumpy Johnson

Yo, just got back from Hammo this morning. Hammo is the aussie word for Hamilton Island. Hamilton Island is a private resort island owned by the Oatley family and part of the Whitsunday Island, QLD. It is located just 1.5h north of Brizzy. Brizzy is short for Brisbane. I think the aussies like abbreviations.

Man, it is so cool up there. Sort of tropical, hot as hell, very humid, beautiful, super hilly and secluded, and also a little bit expensive. Very clean and posh resort island with a very high service level.

Super League Triathlon could have not picked a better spot to launch the race than this island. Absolutely picture perfect back drop to show the world the new triathlon league.

I got to the island on Thursday, a day before the race, after a long long travel from Dubai and was very tired, jet lagged as hell. But the anticipation for the launch on Friday kept me awake pretty much all night. I must admit i was very nervous and anxious to see how the product would come out and look live and on TV and what everyone would think about it.

On Thursday, i attended a function with the whole SLT gang and the vibe was really good from the get go. Great energy. Before the function i checked out all the courses. All of it in close proximity of each other, tight turns, tight lines, hardcore racing ahead of us.

Then Friday afternoon came. 1630 local time. Gun start. SLT was born. Riveting action from the start for the first day format, triple mix. it was 3 x 300m swim, 6k bike, 2k run with a 10min break between each leg. totally crazy hard on the system. i have never seen so much pain on faces of athletes than during that format. Also Hammo’s heat and humidity might have had something to do with it. Murray prevailed in front of Birthwhistle. These young aussie kids Birthwhistle, Bailie, Fisher were super impressive.

Second day had the equalizer on the program as a race format: very interesting also. the day started with an individual 6k time trial that set the pace and the chasing order for the afternoons race that started at 1630 with a 300m swim 2k run 300m swim 6k bike 2k run. absolutely balls to the wall here as well. Cam Dye had the top time of the tt in the morning, so he went off first and the others chased him and Richard Murray from South Africa prevailed again here. He looked totally in control the whole weekend.

The final day was to bring major drama. An absolute super tropical rainstorm hit the island over night and there was a lot of water on the course and the rain continued throughout the day. But as God wanted it to be, the clouds cleared and made way for the super dramatic final with the Eliminator format. That meant with every leg, the last 5 finishing competitors would be eliminated and could not go on. So much drama. So much entertainment. In the end, for the day, Birthwhistle prevailed in an absolutely nailbiter of a finish against Mola and Murray. Murray got the whole pot for 100k USD Mola second and Birthwhistle third.

I m not going to lie to you, so far in my career watching a triathlon was never much fun. I mean you popped out after 10 minutes because you know the outcome, even in the ITU. The SLT is different. It is riveting. symetric. compact. consistent.the production for TV really shows the faces of each athlete up close. The uniform look is great and keeps the package very telegenic and organised. All shapes, banners, barriers are standardized uniform. Normally triathlon broadcast is crap, but this is another level. the SLT looks like a real sporting league as the F1 or the NFL. I think triathlon’s top performers and their athletic capabilities deserve a better looking production, as triathlon has become mainstream. The SLT has realized that: It puts the athletes performance, and not the event, in the spotlight. It is real sports entertainment and the athletes and their stories are the center of attention.

During the whole weekend, there wasn’t truly a dull moment and i was fully consumed by it as a high level competitor as well as a true fan and student of the sport. Met a lot of cool people and we shared great stories and laughter over a few good glasses of our fine champagne, Alice Hartmann.

Also i realised that a lot of the triathletes in the Middle East also followed the live broadcast, shared the social media and enjoyed this great new movement in triathlon. Thank you for that. awesome of you.

booyah and i will keep you posted. goin swimming now. no jetlag for this guy.

Sam Rothstein

Yo, another UAE season comes to an end. Since January, i am back in the age group and my love for competitive high performance triathlon is a strong as ever. I have done a couple of changes to my nutrition and nutritional habits which in term have boosted my power to weight ratio which subsequently makes you faster at the end of the day. But most importantly, i still have the same vigour and fun, passion, drive than i always had for triathlon. I still smile about that because that is what its all about: fun.

Result wise, with the exception for Bahrain 70.3, where i did not deliver a top performance, just a mediocre one, i had a good season where i improved again over the years before and it also marked a return to the short course. I was very worried about that because i was not sure how i would perform, but to my surprise i still have some speed.

I had podium performances at Ironman distance ( 2nd in Slovakia ), win in Olympic distance in Doha, sprint distance wins, and 2 x 70.3 wins at IM Dubai and ITU Abu Dhabi, where i repeated my win from 2016, which is special. that what i want to be: a versatile triathlete, who is competitive on every distance. with the amount and the way of my training plus the results i achieved, i look forward to the other races i have planned this season. but i still need to improve.

Speaking of the race yesterday, a couple of things came together: wetsuit swim which i do not overheat in anymore, an improved power to weight ratio on the bike which improves performance and lighter weight during the run, which i had an reasonably good one yesterday. I am happy for the result, and also congrats to everyone else who did the race yesterday. i loved the bike course, that was cool. fast and twisty, very grippy on the f1 course. well done ITU. two thumbs up.

Now its the last prep for South Africa IM beginning of April. that’s gonna be cool and i look forward to see some of you there as well. its gonna be a cracker.

good luck and see you there.

Frank Lucas

Yo, a lot people have been asking me: yo, why have you lost so much weight? like i am Kim Kardashian or some shit.

well, i have not lost any weight, i have reduced the amount of muscles in my body to make myself more nimble on the middle and longer distances, especially in hot weather.

but it was not my intention to do that. it just came. the real reason behind this is the fact, that since i was a child i always used to eat waaaaaay to fast waaaaaaay to much. and i kept going with that until 2.5 months ago when i decided to change the habit of eating fast.

you see, when you re eating fast, your stomach cannot grasp what is coming in and gauge to tell you when it has had enough and also it is not able to extract the nutrients so well from the food.

when you eat slow, then your portions will automatically become smaller because your body is able to tell when it has had enough. the nutrients are extracted optimally.

i have realized that being 42 and a high performance athlete training a fuckload i do not need that much food anymore. my system is very efficient. plus my doctor has told that for guys over 35, 40 beer does not make sense as it has to much liquid and is too caloric.

i am very satisfied that i have made this change and was able to correct this lifelong mistake. it is such a relief to be able to overcome a hurdle that you struggled with for such a long time. i wish everybody that they face and address their own hurdles and overcome them.

as a nice side effect it has made my swim, bike, and run faster. in very hard circumstances in Yas, i was able to go faster than 2 years ago and that is testament to the fact, that you can always improve and race and compete with the specialists on that distance.

i wish you the same kind of change.

booyah.

Charles Manson