Ultraman

The Ultraman World Championships

After still being on a high from finishing Ironman Switzerland just over 5 weeks ago I cannot help but wander what the next event or challenge would be.

Fellow triathletes here in the Cayman Islands have been asking me when I will be doing my next Ironman and I do not really have an answer to this question at this stage. I find that training for an Ironman requires so much time and dedication that it just works better for me to do an Ironman once every two years while doing olympic distance and half ironman events in the years I do not compete in an Ironman event. In this way it also give me adequate time to focus on my weakest discipline or areas identified where I can further improve for my next Ironman event.

I came across two Ultraman websites this evening and cannot help to wander what it would be like to compete in this event. I definitely still have to do some more reading up about the Ultraman World Championships and how to go about being invited for this event. Here are two good websites on the Ultraman event I have found:

Ultraman official website

Ultraman - Wikipedia version

Definitely an event to ponder and think about for future years.

My Ironman Switzerland - Official race photographer pics

I was rather excited this morning to finally order and receive the download link for my Ironman Switzerland race photos taken by the photography company Finisherpix.

Here are a couple of my favourite pictures from the race:

Getting a pic taken at bike checkin the day before the race

Out on the bike course on my new Felt B2 pro 2011.

The end product after 15 weeks of hard training. Getting the race splits I more or less wanted on the swim and bike and a much better than expected race split than expected for me on the run.

Bellagio, Italy

Staircase in Bellagio, Italy (Lake Como)

After Jana and my recent trip to Switzerland and Italy I have picked the picture above as one my most favourite pictures taken with our Nikon D3100 SLR during the Italian part of our trip in Lake Como Italy. As one sets foot in the harbour in Bellagio there are a couple of staircases leading to shops and restaurants in Bellagio but really liked this staircase as it definitely plays the part of a staircase in a quaint but very popular Italian village.

Stroke and Stride Series - Race 1

Tomorrow is the first Race of the Stroke and Stride Series.

Event details:Stroke and Stride - Event description (Click on the link for a description of the event)

A video describing the race series can be found here: Stroke and Stride video explaining the race series

After taking a month off to recover from Ironman Switzerland on the 10th of July I am expecting that tomorrow's race will be very challenging as the race intensity is totally the opposite of how I raced at Ironman Switzerland.

Racing the Ironman a month ago required a much slower and consistent pace than what is required for tomorrow 's event.

I am expecting to redline during the run portion of tomorrow's event as first race consists of a 400m all out swim followed by a super hard 2 mile run.

A write up of the action expected at the first Stroke and Stride series tomorrow can be found in this week's Cayman Islands Compass newspaper: Athletes gear up for the Stroke and Stride challenge  (Click on the hyperlink to be taken to the news article.)