Feeling the pre Ironman World Championship vibe all the way from Kona Hawaii

With Ironman Kona around the corner….

Not much longer, the worlds toughest one day sport even in the world is about to happen, and the count down for the remaining y three weeks has already started. I guess this time of the year will always stay special to me. I can feel the tension and the nervousness of the athletes from all over the world in my little writing room here in Luxembourg. Even though I am retired now, my heart is jumping to the beats of the pre Kona count down.

Right around that three week mark before the race, I used to wrap up my altitude camp and made the trip to the Big Island. Once you arrive there, that’s when it gets real. I miss it. Every. Single. Year. I might still make a last minute decision and fly over. Why not?

I think today might be another training day for me where I will imagine running up and down on Ali’i Drive. Glad that foot of mine is much better these days and I am able to run when and how I want. By now I have managed to forgive my left foot for the injury causing my career to end, but I will never forget. I guess by now we are friends again…

Since that day in 2015 I spend a lot of time on my desk to finish writing my book. The lessons I learned from racing but also from being injured are worth sharing to make it easier for other athletes to deal with it.

Even walking away from racing and dealing with the loss of identity and lots of soul searching is worth sharing, as there are many athletes dealing with the same ups and downs along their own journey.

That was the reason to not just write one book but to put in the effort to target all the main topics in more depth to make the book package as complete as possible in order to provide guidance and structure for everyone to follow. No matter if you are a first timer or an experienced athlete.

This is so important to me that I decided to provide a FREE EXCERPT of the book for you to check out. Just click HERE to read up on it.

For MORE DETAILS about all five books, read more HERE.

On October 1st I will officially launch all books here exclusively on my blog.

You will love it, check it out!

Yours,

Dirk

How to recover from your race in Kona.

The race is over and is now history. Every single athlete learned a valuable lesson out there, ranging from good to very bad. The body is sore and cries for rest now, but don’t forget that your mind is as exhausted as your body if not even more. So now it is key to refuel your body with the foods that you have been craving and do the things that you postponed up until now. Continue reading →

How to increase your Kona Performance: The Final Countdown

The final few days leading up to a world championship event are a serious test of discipline. You are starting to feel race ready and fresh, but also a bit overwhelmed by the atmosphere and the hype around the race in Kona. It becomes a real challenge not to walk around too much and to participate in all those events offered leading up to race day. The pros have to engage in PR meetings which is a must but also a double edged sword. Being smart and being able to say no when you need to is certainly the smart thing to do in this situation. I personally love that I have my team and manager to be the “bad cop” and to be the ones to accept or deny obligations. Continue reading →

Trust me, I’m the Coach.

I just got back from a fun two weeks in Mallorca with the Uplace BMC Pro Triathlon Team. Plenty of miles were accumulated and fun was had by all. Some of the athletes took part in the Mallorca 70.3 at the end of the camp and ended up doing pretty well, which lets us know that we are doing something right, and keeps the team management happy as well. The team’s big summer racing calendar is filled with many highlights and every other week we will be battling it out for the win someplace around the world.

I decided to spend a week in the Austrian mountains to get some specific bike workouts done before I head into the sun in Italy. My favorite place to hang out, Hotel Mohrenwirt am Fuchslsee, gives me the best support for a healthy mix of hard training and, stunning surroundings, great mechanical and physio support, and good food and company once I am done training. Austria has a special place in my heart, that’s for sure.

The only thing is, I have had a problem with my hip flexor since I crossed the line in Melbourne. Continue reading →

Mental Training Series Part 1: Ultimate Intention Statement

I happy to finally announce that I am starting a new Mental Training Series on Live & Let Tri that highlights techniques that I use to mentally prepare for races!

I have some great stuff in store for you guys that I am sure will catapult your results to the next level (I know it did for me)!

This is the first part of the series–and focuses on the Ultimate Intention Statement (UIS)–an extremely powerful tool that I started using last year in order to qualify for the Olympics Continue reading →