The Blog of Dirk Bockel

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 →

How to increase your Kona performance: One Week Out

Now there are only a few days left before it’s time to race. The work is done and tapering is in full swing. The body is starting to slowly recover and each day will bring with it a bit more fitness and give you that “ready feeling”. Sleeping and eating the right meals are some of the main goals for this week. So that means, no experiments in the food department. The final week should be standardized and practiced in training and it should consist of a real pre-race routine for the pros and the amateurs. Continue reading →

Clean Machine: My 10 day juice cleanse.

You may have read a few of my tweets or comments on my Facebook page about my latest adventure–a master body detox and cleansing experiment. So, let me fill you in how that all turned out and why it actually even started.

It all began my wife’s idea to get her body 100% back to health. So while I was still in Denmark working on my injury and seeing various specialists, she was already back in lovely St. Augustine, doing her thing. She started with the juice cleanse and that’s how I got the bug. When I returned I first enjoyed a few days of reward food since I was finally back home, and then got started pretty much cold turkey. My goal was to do a juice cleanse for 10 days, followed by a liver cleanse on the last day. Continue reading →

How to increase your Kona Performance: Two Weeks Out

There are less than two weeks till the big dance in Kona, and this is a specific and crucial time. Every athlete is now in taper mode or about to start the real tapering before the race. Fatigue is still pretty strong and the body is crying for more rest and sleep. Most athletes are in Kona or starting to travel to the island now. Training in race like conditions is an absolute by this point. Many athletes are getting a bit tense and starting to seek privacy. I believe this is pretty normal given the stress that the body is going through at the moment. Not to mention, for the pros, several media requests will be rolling in and race week will already be jammed packed with appointments. Continue reading →

How to increase your Kona performance: Three Weeks Out

Now is the time when everybody is counting down the days till the real taper starts, but you should still be far away from bringing the engine down to an idle. This time in your race countdown is crucial and it hurts, both body and mind. I advise you to really pay attention out there on the roads as fatigue sets in. This is when many little accidents can occur. So be smart and aware of all the little things around you. It has been a long training and racing year for most of the athletes and now it is getting tough to keep up the big workload. Continue reading →