nadine bacher - my gigathlon adventure

We have had brilliant training days and I did my 165 km. It was a brilliant experience to find out that I could have gone even further. Iron man maybe I already come 2007 ;-) The inspiration of all these people here having done up to 25 or training for their first one is tremdendous...

Ich koennte heute von endlosen Trainingseinheiten im Pool, auf dem Rad und am Strand (laufen) schreiben, doch schlussendlich gibt es zwei ganz besondere Highlights, die ich Euch erzaehlen moechte:

1) Nachdem mir jemand aus der Schweiz abgesagt hat, habe ich hier im Triathloncamp einen super Mann kennengelernt, der mit mir den Gigathlon macht. Er und seine Freundin wollten sowieso beide mitmachen, (jeweils in 5er Teams) und so hat er seine Ambitionen eben ein bischen hochgeschraubt. Ich finde es super, weil er nicht der Top-Biker ist, mir aber die Rennradstrecke "laesst" und wir somit beide zu unseren Herausforderungen kommen. Micha ist aus Berlin und super Laeuffer. Es koennte also nicht besser kommen und als Couple fallen wir sicher nicht auf den letzten Platz.... hihi.

2) Ich bin am Freitag die 165km und des Gigathlons gefahren - Hoehenmeter haben mir noch ca. 500 gefehlt. Also natuerlich nicht die richtige Strecke, denn ich bin ja noch auf Mallorca, aber es war enorm wichtig, die Distanz einmal abzufahren. Ging ohne Probleme, was bedeutet, dass ich die naechsten 9 Wochen dazu verwenden kann, schneller zu werden.

So, es ist mal wieder an der Zeit, auf Deutsch zu schreiben. Wettermaessig hatten wir bis jetzt wirklich Glueck, wenn der Wind auch wahnsinnig heftig ist. Aber da will man nicht klagen, schliesslich traegt ja alles zum Trainingseffekt bei!!! Gestern sind wir endlich in die Berge gefahren. Je mehr ich radle, desto mehr entdecke ich das als meine Staerke. Beim stundenlangen flachen Rollen fehlt mir die Oberschenkelkraft, bzw. schmerzt mein Oberschenkelbizeps - habt Ihr Tips???

Heute sind fast alle aus dem Camp ausgeflogen, um umliegende Maerkte und Doerfer zu besichtigen. Ich muss zugeben, dass ich nach vier Tagen (die meisten haben ja nur 3 bisher) ziemlich faul bin. Am Wochenende werde ich dann sicher erkunden gehen. Die Mehrzahl der Teilnehmer bleibt leider nur eine Woche. Die meisten sind wirklich supernett. Altersmaessig ist es recht gemischt, ebenso was das Leistungsniveau anbelangt. Ich habe mir die Leute verbissener vorgestellt, als sie sind. Auch diejenigen, die nach unseren Touren nochmal 3 Stunden weitertrainieren, sind entspannt und nicht verbissen.

Mallorca erstrahlt momentan mit Mohnblumenfeldern - ein Traum. Und wenn man statt Trittfrequenz Schafe zaehlt, ist man gut bedient!

So, morgen geht der naechste Trainingszyklus los. Aber jetzt werde ich mir erst einmal die Beine kneten lassen. Und heute goenne ich mir das erste Eis. Die Fettpoelsterchen schwinden langsam, aber sie schwinden...

17 triathletes training together is an entirely new experience for me. I am close to the weakest in swimming, right in the middle with the cycling and running. I am admittedly proud to cycle in the medium group after such a short time with this sport. On the other side, it is an inspiration to have persons who have been to Hawaii, who have done close to 10 iron man under 10 hrs, who compete among the world elite... none of them are condescending, and most of them still have a lot of fun and do not mirror the negative image of triathletes who see nothing beyond their training plan.

So my bottom line - keep going, because this sport is absolutely right for me!!!

On the other hand, after four intensive days, I felt in the water today as if the arms move through mud, the movement is steady but there was almost no feeling of covering a distance. I have a massage booked today and will spend a lot of time recovering on near the pool. Working the tan lines from the tighs up a bit ;-)

After the next potential gigathlon partner cancelled on me, I am searching again... sad story!!! Christian, a nice guy I met here in the camp and I, will cover the gigathlon distance on Sunday together. If I feel fit, I will try it on Friday as well. Slow speed, but I want to cover the distance... so, send me good thoughts...

These are the facts...

Saturday, 22 April - 15' muscle work, 30' swimming, 3 hrs 45' cycling, avge 22.4, max 57, distance 85.5, vertical 590 meters - CAP FORMENTAR, 15' running

Sunday, 23 April - 15' crunches, 2x30' swimming, 3 hrs 4' cycling, avge 26, max 49, distance 70.0, vertical 320 meters, - INCA, 25' running

Monday, 24 April - 60' team swimming, 3 hrs 30' cycling, avge 24, max 50, distance 85.0, vertical 380 meters - INCA, 30' running

Tuesday, 25 April - 60' team running, 5' intensive (non-stop) crunches, 4 hrs 9' cycling, avge 25.7, max 63, distance 107.0, vertical 980 meters - LLUC monastary, 15' running

Wednesday, 26 April - 50' team swimming... rest day....

Thursday, 27 April - - 2 hrs 5' cycling, distance 58.0, vertical 150 meters, 10km run - 53'

Friday, 28 - 6 hrs cycling, avge 25.8, max 65, distance 165.0, vertical 1500 meters - ORIENT, CAP FORMENTOR, 15' running

Saturday, 29 - 5' intensive (non-stop) crunches, 1 hr strength training, 45' swimming technical training - went to watch the triathlon in Porto Colom

Sunday, 30 - 10' intensive (non-stop) crunches/back muscles, 30' swimming technical training, 3 hrs 25' cycling, avge 28.4, max 58, distance 102.0, vertical 400 meters - PETRA, 45' swimming technical training

The graph on the right shows the gigathlon profile... until the run begins, which I will not do. Just an inspiration to myself as I look at my blog...

Morn flieg ich uff Mallorca - juhuu!!! S'Wetter söll jo schlecht werde do, also isch es mol wieder super timet, jetzt z'go. Mir tuets natürlich leid für Euch, aber das isch eifach nur e Härtetest, ihr überstönd ihn sicher!!!

Off to Pollentia tomorrow. I always said I meet the men of my dreams in this camp - so, I will keep you posted ;-) With the new thought of also swimming at the gigathlon, I will swim and bike and run only a little bit. Two weeks should really get me ahead in a lot of ways... I look forward to improving my swimming, losing some more weight, hanging on the beach, seeing my beloved bike again after four weeks... As much as possible, I will blog from there! With pictures.

Training
19 April - 90' run in the most beautiful spring-time weather
20 April - 45' run and massage ( I could have ran for hours today, if only it wasn't "just" a lunch-break run!
Tomorrow I will rest, and then full-speed ahead starting on Saturday.

Link:
http://www.balearreisen.de/wcms/index.php?id=9

Rolled 40km today, ran 60' and I feel great. I am back in inline spirit and happy with how I could push the distance today. I can really feel the difference the training has made over the past 6 months for this discipline. It was probably good to let the skates rest for such a long time, and now feel, how strong I have grown since last August.

Celebration food: banana ;-)

Changed a tire under 5' today. I have been pushing this one off (yes, I AM a woman) for months, and I always got lucky. Today, I did it twice, and the goal is to do it under 4' tomorrow. I can't wait to tell my dad!!!

Happy Easter for those of you who celebrate,
Nadine

Easter Sunday, one should be interested in other things I guess, but since this blog is not about Christian holidays but rather about my sports days, I have to be honest and tell you how tired I am of continuous rain!

I am with Pascal in the Zürcher Oberland and I finally got my act together and pulled out the inline skates for the first time since August. After my traumatic experience during the last Gigathlon, I was never interested, but since I have to do 44km in 3 months... Pascal is a bit of an inline freak, so I got some really good tips to improve my technical skills.... I just realized today that I did everything with strength, and nothing with skill ;-)

I am sure he will drag me out there again tomorrow!

Training since the last time I blogged:
Thursday- 60' running, massage
Friday- 120 km road biking, 27.6 average
Saturday - 90' strength, with a lot of legs...
Sunday- 60' inline, but the important part was to get the wheels under the feet again!

152 lanes, 3.8 km in 1 hr 55... I know it is slow, but this was about completion, not speed! Now that I know that I can do it, I am highly motivated to train to get the time down! Is this my mission? To swim the Gigathlon 7.5 km this summer? In a river? Hard to believe, but I guess I have gone crazy... A year ago, I couldn't freestyle for 20m... Exciting! Fantastic!

I am trying to swim 4km today, hoping that I can prove to myself that I will manage to also swimm at the gigathlon - a condition C. set to partner up with me!!!

What a glorious Saturday! After struggling through a lot of traffic and detours, I hit the black forest and was immediately amazed how little traffic there was. Much fewer bikers than on the Swiss side as well. For the first time, a fellow bike rider actually stopped to talk to me and we ended up riding up the hill together for about an hour. Perfect for chatting, anyway. He gave me some good tips about where to go, sent me up a nice 1100m hill and gave me his phone number if I was in the area again. Judging from his legs, he could be wherever I was within two hours ;-)

Then I met an older guy from Switzerland, who had a 190km tour planned for the day and may have stretched his stamina a little bit on his first tour of the season. We had great fun riding the 40 km home together, and we got some pretty nice speed. My legs were very, very strong on Saturday and if I hadn't promised my cousin's kids to take them to Ice Age, I would have done the 160km ride I will have to do at the Gigathlon.

The first hour was tough though, I am not used to the drinks I had on Friday night...

Why come rain come shine? To motivate me because of this DREADFUL weather. It is supposed to snow again tomorrow.

Training Summary:
Thursday: 60' run home
Friday: just the "commute" by bike, since I had to be in time to drin champagne for my friend's hen do
Saturday: 112 km road bike, about 900m vertical, average 24.1 with tremendously windy 20km on the way home. Beautiful black forest trip!
Sunday: 1 hr technical training, swimming, 1 hr weights (I know, funny combination, but it didn't stop pouring down today... and it actually feels good to work your upper body this much).

Some days go a bit worse than others, some weeks are heavier than previous ones...this week is such a week. I don't know how much training I will be able to do today, after a pretty tough day, but we will see...

yesterday - rest day (thank God, because it snowed for 8 hours straight! did anybody mention we are close to sea level here?)
Tuesday - 55km, 24km/hr average, 700m vertical.... sunny, nice ride!

I asked a good friend if she would like to do the Gigathlon with me. We are still struggling with the swim. We were told it is 7 km, but now it is 7.5 km.... in a river, but it still ads up to at least iron man distance... and I am NOT a swimmer...

Well, R. also said "no" to my offer to do the Gigathlon together. I think in the end, the 7km river swim gave him the push to decide against it. I will continue my search... I know I will find somebody, but it is a little bit frustrating, because I would have loved to do with with Torsten... he got me started, and I would have liked to finish it with a successful competition!!!

Yesterday, I discovered a beautiful, slightly longer run home along the Birs... great to run all the way along a river, on soft ground, then along the rhine and finally through the city. I had to do some shopping so I couldn't run all the way home, but for the future it will be a nice once-a-week run.

3.4.2006
70' minutes running
4.4.2006
took my road bike so that I can train after work.

Hey, finally blue skies! I hope it lasts till I am done with the day job!

Without you, I wouldn't have a blog! Thanks for kicking my butt on this one! Nadine

(David writes a really nice one - check it out: http://galipeau.blogspot.com/) No need to agree with him, but worth reading if you care about the internet and what it does to society, such as weird people writing blogs about going from 0 to iron man in 3 years ;-)

Phew! How about biking for two hours in one direction without wind... turning around and after a couple of km, the wind picks up!!! Grrr...struggled the entire way home and asked myself why I train alone.... no way to split the pain. After about 20km, I saw a nice pair of calves which I hooked my eyes onto and enjoyed the ride... until I couldn't keep up with the handsome stud anymore. Still pleasurable!

I am starting to love my TREK. Just not the saddle. Tomorrow, it is forest/dirt day. I can't do another day of cycling on the road, oh no.

3hrs10', 80 km, average 25.6 plus 15km warm-up and cool-down.

I am taking a nap now. My body is tired after four days....

Lovely day - had an early start in the morning (for all local readers: Laufen, Röschenz, Chall, Metzerlen, Burg, Rodersdorf, Metzerlen, Basel) and enjoyed the sun on my bike. Having changed the whole geometry today, I felt perfect on my Trek Foil 66. I heard yesterday that it is in the Museum of Modern Art in NYC. Gotta check that out. They have the gold one, I have the blue one!

no average pulse measured, 160max, 62 km, avge 23.6km/hr, ab. 700 m vertical... tough ride up the hill because of the limited gears.

Wanted to go swimming, but met a friend I haven't seen in ages on the road and ended up chatting too long. So tomorrow is a busy, busy day ;-)