The Blog of Dirk Bockel

Liger vs. the Beast- St Croix race report.

This will be one of my last blog posts before my new webpage will be uploaded. We are finally close to the launch so my next post will be from there.

I am very happy with my race in St Croix, the whole trip was a great experience. I chose to have a home stay and that turned out to be such a great experience- we met lots of super nice people and I know for sure that I will return to the island at some point.
The build up to the race was pretty good, my swim and bike sessions went really well, so I knew I would be up there with the best guys. The last three running sessions before the race were the first in a long time without having any pain in my foot- how cool is that, after having trouble since early January? The only open question for the race was which pace I would be able to hold in the run- it turned out to be quite good considering the circumstances.

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Reflecting back on Beijing–and getting ready for a big racing month.

It’s time for some more news. After the trip to Austin, we continued our trip to Tampa, Florida, where we have been staying with our good friends Vanessa and Simon. We had a really good time so far and training is going pretty good again. The time in Austin was planned to get me back into shape and since then I have gotten my feet back on the ground here in Florida. My swimming and especially biking is on a very high level and I am very surprised about how big the steps are that I take- cause, hey I am 32 and I have been doing this for a while already. But I have never before focused so much on riding–and man–I can only say: bring it on. Simon is a great help, he has so much knowledge from his past pro cycling career so we have a lot to talk about every day. I also did my first triathlon clinic here in Flroida with him and that was lots of fun for all of us.

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Training in Lance Armstrongs’ Territory

After a well deserved week off in San Francisco, I travelled to Austin, Texas for a two week “getting back into it” training camp. My buddy Brant Speed, a former college runner who now turned into a strong cyclist, accomodated us at his place. We did several rides together and he showed us the crowded but amazing SXSW music festival that was going on last weekend. I really like the city of Austin but also need some time to get used to the many stop signs and traffic lights around here.

I was also very sad to hear the news about Mr Lance Armstrong crashing- he is back here in Austin, so my dream of going for a ride with him has to wait a bit longer…

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A long day at Ironman New Zealand

After a pretty stressful last week in taupo it all came down to a great race.

My bike arrived a few days before the race and as you can see on youtuibe- we made it work in the shortest possible time. Also my suit from Santini came right in time- to be honest pretty late, but having it hand delivered Friday night at 8pm works for a early Saturady race, right? Last but not least, we had to move out from the place where we stayed in 2 Mile Bay and found a more quite place where there were no distractions for the race. All of that wasn’t really helpful, nor was my ongoing plantar facia issues leading up to the big day in Taupo.

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The Night Before my First Ironman

The adrenaline is pumping and I am very excited to step up and race my first Ironman tomorrow: All is well and i am feeling really good and relaxed at the moment. There are quite some changes compared to ITU racing but it should be no problem to adapt here. Some rules are strange-but its the same for everyone.

The past days went by fast and the training effort has been on recovery mode for some time. We just changed our accommodation in a more quiet place and that will give me the necessary space I need before the competition. My friends Chris and Natasha came all the way from Germany/Luxembourg to support me and give me a hand in the days leading up to the race. Alicia is doing all the organization and planing every day, which turns out to be quite a bit of work.

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