Tridudes Triathlon Blog

Ok, fair enough - we have been a little out of touch lately but boy did the last year suck. Moved a couple of times, switched jobs twice and the performance went down, down, down.

A 5:37 with brutal cramps and a 1:55 half marathon at the Challenge Kraichgau Half Distance is not exactly a race to brag about. At least I screwed up my knee properly so I had to cancel the entire season now.

Whilst I am spending most of my time at the gym Lutz is at least trying to improve his running performance to run a personal best marathon at Berlin Marathon in September.

I know, I know, it all sounds a little depressed but hey - it's all about what we make out of it. It gives me a lot of time to analyse last years training, work on my base and strength for at least 6 months without the pressure of racing for personal bests and even more time to try and test cool new gear and gadgets.

I just recently switched over to Tri11 Wetsuits - and hell boy - they rock. Super fast and even more comfortable. (Admittingly, in a world in which rich tourists can fly to the moon it kinda sucks that I still have to swim myself rather than pushing the 'auto pilot button' on my wetsuit - but nothing I can do about it :-))

Well, basically wanted to say hi again and let you know that we are back - don't forget to check back in. I will be posting a couple of test reviews here over the next few days and get you ready and rocking for the ITU World Championship Race in Hamburg.

Rock n' Roll folks.

Till

Hi folks,

It has been a while since the last post and there is a definite need for some updates.

As announced I took a flight to Germany in early September - what an experience to fly with Air India. Whatever stereotype you can come up with, it's true. I am still not sure how I made it but I got to Germany and of course I forgot to focus on my anti-jetlag diet which made me suffer for a couple of days.

Still I was able to keep up my training fairly well and I really enjoy not having my road bike with me and hitting the trails on my mountain bike instead. Even though I have to admit that for the first couple of rides I hated most parts of it. It is sooooo slow in comparison to a TT or road bike and I made my legs spin like crazy since I felt I had to go faster all the time.

With the right attitude even the colder and much more wet weather over here can be a lot of fun as you can see in the picture.

Running through the vineyards and completely forgetting about any energy gels or whatsoever for your long runs, because there is fresh grapes and apples everywhere, is a dream come true. I definitely had one of my best 3 hours runs ever here in the mountains. The trails, the black forest and the look over the Rheinebene when the sun is setting and you are coming down the mountains gives you a real kick.

To my surpirse I even lost 5 pounds since I got here. And that's although I am eating so much stuff I would never eat at home. Having 7 nephews and nieces around who all want to play, swim, throw hoops and nick grapes in the vineyards, working in a Tuscany restaurant 5 days a week - sometimes until 2 am - and training for a marathon double with Cologne and Munich - makes for some really stressfull time and it is hard for me to keep up with my nutrition. (Yeah Julie - I know you would be kicking my butt if you were around)

Now it is 2 days until Cologne Marathon and I was not able to do most of my leg activation during this week cause my immune system finally gave in to 7 little ones having a cold and being around you all the time. I hope I will manage to get fit within the next 36 hours. With lots of water, tea, vitamin C and stuff like that.

And of course in addition to all that there is also the work on www.trinited.com that needs to be done. We just started an awesome compression sock test which we will be conducting over the next 8 weeks at all kind of races and distances. So don't forget to check out www.trinited.com for updates on that.

Now I gotta run and quickly check with Jenna Shoemaker how here move to Australia was. Ever since she is over there it is hard to catch her online!

Later folks and enjoy training.

Till

We are two brothers, living on different continents but training for the same 'simple' goal. To qualify for the Ironman World Championships 2010 on Hawaii.

Lutz, the older brother is living in Hamburg, Germany whilst I am (Till)living in Los Angeles, USA.

At the moment we are interacting every day, talking about training, goals and dreams and trying to push each other as good as we can from across the globe.

We have set this challenge up along with an international social networking web page for endurance and multi sports athletes. www.trinited.com which will be going live at the end of June 2008. Whilst hunting for sponsors and advertising partners for the network we talked to some companies about our personal goals as well and as a result our very own Kona Challenge was born.

This web page will keep you updated about our progress, training schedules, race results and what else is going on in our lives.

We are thankful for everybody who stops by, sends us some words of encouragement and refers his friends to our blog.

Keep rocking and see you at the start!

Till & Lutz