A few days ago I was selected to participate in the annual sportsmen of the year gala in Luxembourg’s biggest Casino. After a nice dinner I was elected number 3 male athlete behind the two Schleck brothers (Andy Schleck: TdF 2nd place and brother Frank: TdF stage winner).
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Where to start? As you might know, we sold our house in December 2008 and started spending more time on the road. As a quick overview of where we have been in 2009–here is the big travel blog post! Continue reading
I thought that it is about time that I shared some of my experiences at the race in Kona–so here you are–the official Kona recap!
I really have to say thanks to Gary T. For helping us out the last week before the race- we stayed at his place and had a very quiet and ideal race prep.
On the day of the race, I felt like I could give it all, but the nervousness was overwhelming. I wasn’t sure where to position myself for the start but I figured I should be fast enough to make it to the front right away, so I just took it out from the middle. Swimming out I was in the first pack but didn’t follow the first 4 guys- and looking back it was smart not to follow them. Continue reading
It’s about time to post some more details of what happened since Kona. The world has been a bit crazy for me lately but that’s actually a good thing. Just four days after my race in Hawaii, we left the beautiful island in order to go back home to Luxembourg, but couldn’t find a decent flight and so we got stuck in Phoenix for a bit. A nice spa hotel made our stay pretty enjoyable and we had some time for each other. Once we got back to cold and rainy Luxembourg, we were shocked about the weather. Slowly I started to realize that I have been chasing the sun for quite some time.<!–more–> It felt good to be back home for a short while and as it turned out, we had meetings and appointments nearly every day. Some stuff was actually pretty fun, as you have probably already seen on my posts. Some big changes will be made in our Triathlon federation, as there will be a complete new team in charge starting in December. I just wanted to thank the FLTRI for supporting me on my way. (Well, about this topic there is actually a lot to be said but lets just leave it like that for now. Some come and go, but in this case the problems aren’t actually solved or in other words some of the problem just stay…). As I decided shortly after returning to Luxembourg, I won’t be racing in Clearwater anymore. No real training, but instead some sauna and spa is on the menu since mid of October. The season has been long and I am pretty cooked now- and to be quite honest, since Hawaii, I did three 45 min runs and a 2km swim. That might not be enough to keep my head out of the water or even to finish world champs. As you might know, it feels damn good to have a rest and enjoy life for a bit. Man, I had some good food I was craving at for nearly half a year and believe me, I did some serious wine tasting. It was great to have some fun and no physical stress for a bit. Just a few days ago I read about the new race in Abu Dhabi- and as things look right now I might have to get back training pretty soon again… My 7th place in Hawaii even motivated some Luxembourgish companies to include me in their marketing strategy. So we are crossing our fingers to see what comes out at the end. I will definitely keep you posted on that! Since the 1st of November I am also representing my new club, C.A.E.G in Grevenmacher. It’s a nice club where some of my friends are as well- that’s a good motivation for next year- but it seems like it getting harder each year to top my results… Right now, I am sitting in one of those big birds that fly athletes but also some “normal people” around the globe to attend some more meetings. Next destination Tampa, Florida. I will be watching the race in Clearwater and then enjoy some more days holiday with the family. Is life good or what? Life as a triathlete is not easy, but those few days off give me so much back and that’s exactly what I need right now- big tasks are ahead of me for next year….so I better enjoy the moment.
Things have been pretty busy here in my world. I have had interviews and meetings nearly every day and all day since I have been in Luxembourg. Now I am off to Florida for a few weeks and then for some holidays before I head back to Luxembourg in December for Christmas.
To see a bit of what I have been up to lately–check out my latest interview on RTL.