.... and Ben and Stan go Madagascar

15 december 2010 till 1st of January 2011.

Only 2 months after our two boys arrived, we packed our bags, 6 kilo milkpowder, over 300 diapers included and set off to visit Anneke’s parents in Madagascar.
We left in the middle of the night driving through the snow to catch our 7 am flight. First to Paris and then to Antananarivo (Tana).

It was all very exciting to travel with our boys, but the advantage of having little ones with you on board is that you don’t have to wait anywhere! In Paris they even dragged us out of the cue! All went very smooth and Ben and Stan behaved very well. Once on the long flight we installed ourselves and made a cosy little bed for the kids. They slept the whole flight…. They even asked us if we drugged them since they didnt cry… It was freezing on the flight so we were happy we had brought extra blankets. (see picture). And Anneke was happy with her winter jacket! Only to arrive in 30 degrees…which was a big shock to the system, especially for Ben and Stan, they were paralysed with the heat at the airport, it was very stuffy and humid…. And it took ages to get our visa and our bags…. We hadn’t really prepared ourselves enough for the long wait once we had arrived.

So there we were, safely arrived in the busy little city of Tana. Anneke’s dad and sister, Maartje, were at the aiport. We arrived home at 3 am and sleepy family members came to welcome us. We made the little beds and hung up our mosquitonet and layed down. Here we were…. Tired but content.

Two and a half weeks Madagascar. We mainly spend our time at home with the family, but of course we took the chance to spend a night away and visit the country. We went to Andasibe, and spend the night in a small lodge, close to the Analamazaotra Reserve. The first evening we made a night hike, after the afternoon monsoon rains had passed. It was a 1 ½ walk through the rianforest. We didn’t spot many lemures put plenty of fancy looking chameleons which were very good to spot with the torch (no pictures…). We slept early in our not so comfortable bed, under a mosquitonet which was taped together….:-) The next morning at 6 am we had a 4 hour hike ( read very very slow walking) through the national park and saw many many lemures, all types! After we went to drink a coffee at the Vakona Lodge, 9 km further tucked away in the forest. The main reason to go was to be a real tourist and visit the lemures island… where they hop on your head and eat of your hand. Its very silly but makes great funny pictures! Around noon we drove back…. to find our boys!

The last week we enjoyed time at home, played pool, went swimming and drove through the busy little city. Dirk went on many bike rides. X-mas was spend in the sun with a lovely breakfast and great evening meal...and above the traditional family picture, starring my dads 4L. On the last day we went for a small walk outside of town, with only 20 km you are really out of town. Rice paddies, people drying their clothes, small villages and people walking everywhere.

New Years even we spend with the family in Café de la Gare in the style of the 1920s. And as a big surprise my dad walked in clean shaven… it had been 36 years ! We had never seen him without beard. It was just the bravest action of 2010!!

We had to fly out that night, but as Air France was 3 hours delayed we left only at 5 am instead of 1:30. So we were off to 0 degrees and a final week of Annekes leave.
link to photo album

Ironman 70.3 Wiesbaden

Time for our sporting holiday break! Only 10 days but, packed with activity. And fun stuff we want to share with you.

The first stop was in Germany. In Wiesbaden, close to Frankfurt. Here I, Anneke, was going to undertake my first real Half Ironman, the Wiesbaden 70.3 Ironman. I picked this half at the beginning of the year for several reasons, far away in the season (plenty of time to train), a hilly course, and well organised. It was a good choice, if not perfect for me to have my debut.

We left on a Friday morning to Wiesbaden, where the race was on the Sunday, we have a cute little hotel close to the start of the race. From the Tri team (Hellas) there were a number of other participants, all staying close by, so that was good. I even had my own cheer squad, my sister with the little one, Sven and a good friend of my sisters Linzy came down to cheer me on. They were camping just outside of Wiesbaden. The first night, Friday, we had dinner with them a the campsite. Saturday was the day of registration and getting organised and familiar with the course. As there were 2 transitions (one swim bike) and one bike run, we have to put our bikes in transition overnight. It was well orgnised; we were given bags to put our stuff in and assisted with friendly only German speaking volunteers! I was start number 511, first wave after the pro’s, so bike was raked all the way at transition entry. Then I gave away my white bag with run gear, which they took to the city centre for transition. It was the first time I didn’t get to set up my own transition, but I trusted the experience of the organisation, and all went smooth. Sat night we had dinner with the tri team and slowly the nerves were starting! I had done a bit of the bike course that afternoon, and the temperature had been warm, it was going to be a hot race! The expectations were, feel strong on the swim and ride really well… ! The time expectation wasn’t really there. Of course close to 6 hours was something in my head, but I wasn’t pinned down to it. It was expected for me to swim 45 min, ride 3 45, and run 2 hours or more.

Race day
A reasonable start at 8:10. Woke up at 6 for breakfast! Down at transition at 7 to set up the bike. Taped my gels and bars, the whole mission was eat and drink plenty and more! :-) . The Swim was out and back. 300 girls at the start, all in pretty pink caps. I found the start remarkable calm, not as much turmoil as I had expected. I got a good rhythm and to my surprise I was constantly close to other swimmers. I started to fell my shoulders are the turn around, but as I was on the way back, keep the arms going. I got out the water feeling great! Transition went smooth no problems and on the bike. I had done the swim in 41 minutes, to everyone’s surprise! One the bike my whole focus was eat, drink and don’t go to hard! Within the first 5 min I had eaten my first bar, and in the first 15 km, had finished my first bottle. The km were flying, I was surprised and just kept going. It was uphill for the first 15 km, and from there down to the first feedzone, it was like a supermarket! And there was my support crew! Nice to see them. The course was up and down, with some real down hill, with sharp turns and bouncy tarmac. It was still feeling good, the point between 60-70 got harder, but still feeling good. The temperature was rising as well. At the 70 km point was the hammer, 10% climb. Not too hard, but filled with support! Which was great, crazy men with swords and all dressed up giving the Tour de France feeling! Then I saw my support crew again, and had the last 20km to go. This was hard, lots of long slow climbs, real up and down. Then a turn right and 8km down hill! Over 70 km/h. The last energy gel and getting focused on transition and the run. I had done a great time, 3 17, way faster than anticipated! Transition was well organised, off the bike, which someone racked, a friendly lady who go my bag and set out my gear. I took my time, so I could refocus. As for my mental preparation I had always kinda stopped after the bike, thinking if I get there I am there. This is of course not true, and the 20 km were a long way to go. It has become hot, over 30 degrees, close to 36, which I didn’t train in much, as it never gets that nice and warm in Holland. The run was a 5 km lap, which we did 4 times. The first lap I almost cried! But I go through, decided I need to eat and drink, which I did and that helped. On the second lap, all went better, I decided I didn’t need to go fast, I just needed to go. I was so relieved to see my sister and Dirk at the side! Something to look forward to every lap! Every lap we were given a coloured bracelet, this became so exciting, that I never new I could get such energy from thinking I have 2 bracelets and you only 1, HA! This was how it went each lap, and once I had all 4 colours I felt like the queen! I had done it! Just the last lap! And I did! I did do it, in 6 17 total with the urn in 2 12…. Indeed no flying time, but good enough for me, and there should always be something to improve for next time :-)


In the athletes area, showered, found my fellow team friends! All had had a remarkable race, saw some out on the bike course and some on the run! A true effort for all. It has become hot and my support team deserved some attention, and I had a shower, picked up my medal! I am now an official 70.3 finisher. We went to the hotel to relax and that evening enjoyed pizza on the campsite of my sister!

A wonderful experience. Sport is great, when well prepared! Don’t worry I was sore the next couple of days, but recovered great on the holiday to Switserland which followed.

Holiday Swiss

Monday after the race we drove down to Switzerland and camped out near Le Landeron, where my family used to live. We had 2 quiet days. Did my recover ride in the hills!! And Dirk got to get some hills in his legs for the race in Verbier, which we were heading too.
We arrived in Le Chable, at the foot of Verbier, where we had a studio, with the Family Gaillant. A lovely spot on the hills, with the cows across the road and beautiful view of the valley and the mountains. It was all very steep, so a real effort on the bike!
We arrived Wednesday and Saturday was Dirks race. These days were filled, with our tradition ride up to verbier, (yes as the Tour did this year). Which was fun, with all the names on the tarmac! At the top I enjoyed a coffee and dirk continued. We also like always visited the Patagonia store and the icebreaker outlet, to get some good discounts! As the weather was still great, Dirk’s race was still planned for Saturday! Which he has written about himself… ! A great day, with for me lots of driving up and down winding roads!
(Photo Link)

Grand Raid Cristalp 2009

It has been a busy year until now with not too much time for some decent competition mountain biking. Some where in July I decided I wanted to compete in my 10th anniversary of the Grand Raid Cristalp. I really had to motivate myself to train because of the weather, rain seems to be coming down on me especially when I had to do my endurance rides. I don’t know how many times I had to go out with my rain jacket. On one day I went out for 5 hours when it started to rain after half an hour and it didn’t stop for the remaining 4 and a half! At least it made me tough!
Anneke had her half ironman the weekend before mine, so we packed the car and left for her race in Germany first, after which we drove to Switzerland where I still had five days to prepare myself for one of the toughest mountain bike races in the world. Summer was full on by now with temperatures between 35 and 40 degrees, really warm for this part of Europe, but nevertheless good for me to do some descend riding uphill. After a week of perfect warm weather the prediction for the race was cooler and cloudy weather with a chance of a shower. Race day we had to get out early 4.30 or so with the race start at 6.30. When we came to the starting area the temperature was really mild, I think around 14 degrees instead of the 5 degrees last year which meant the temperature on the first mountain top was below zero. After the start I went for a steady good pace and did overtake some riders on the wide starting road which leads to the upper part of the town of Verbier. From there I maintained my steady pace all the way to the top where I did arrive between place 20 and 25 or so. In the first descend I was expecting to be overtaken by some really fast, crazy riders as always, but that didn’t happen and I noticed I was the one going faster down the hill than the rest. So I picked a wheel and stayed there for the 16 minutes of fast down hill. After the descend I was together with 4 riders to set a pace. I felt the strongest of the 4 and after half an hour I had to leave my group behind to make sure I didn’t lose too much ground on the group in front of me. In the village of Nendaz, down one of my favorite parts the ski-slope which leads in to town, with at the end a sharp lefthander which brings you straight on to a steep staircase.

2.25 hours:
After some more ski-slopes I arrived in the village of Hérémence where I got some fresh bottles from Anneke who was following me by car. From here you have to keep your head cool and make sure getting over the next mountain named the Mandelon fast with not too much energy loss. I was only 10 minutes behind the leading group so still on a good pace. The top part of the Mandelon is a bit tricky with fast single tracks along the edge of the mountain and rocky parts up and down. Most of the time it is wet up there, which makes it more slippery, this year there were dry and wet parts. My ride went smooth.

4.10 hours:
After a fast descend I arrived in the town of Evolène, Again fresh bottles and some lube and I was feeling better than ever before. From Evolène it is up hill again, the last one but also the toughest, it goes up to almost 3000 meter. With this pace it would probably take me 3 hours to get to the other end. This last clime is a bit tricky with moving obstacles on the track, called slower riders! There are two shorter distances to compete in, where the competitors start in the villages of respectively Hérémence and Evolène. So eventually the faster riders from Verbier will bump into slower riders of the shorter distances. A free pass is most of the times guaranteed by shouting “VERBIER“. Reactions of rider on hearing “VERBIER” are really different, you have the ones that jump to the side to let you pass, than there are the riders who want to go to the side but are already so tired they go to the side reeeeeealy sloooowly, and there are the ones you have to tell three times and then have to push to the side.

5.45 hours:
I arrived in La Vieille at 2400 meters which is the last post before this horrifying clime to the Pas-de-Lona (2800m). I just got passed by two riders, but was able to keep one of them in sight. The first bit after La Vieille it is still possible to cycle, but soon after you have to get off your bike and push it up hill, this climb is fighting against gravity, lack of oxygen and steepness! I felt really good fighting my way to the top, and just before the top I got a really fast push by this sporty lady.

6.19 hours:
Pas-de-Lona. A short descend and then again up to 2800m, but this one you can cycle. I had never felt this good so far in the race and on the top of the climb I did overtake a rider. From here it is 25 minutes down hill to the finish. I was flying and finished in 7 hours and 4 minutes, almost 40 minutes faster than my second fasted time ever. So the next edition of the Grand Raid is already on my agenda.
(Photo Link)

SPRING TIME IN CRETE

Spring time in Europe is living up to its best! Especially on our 2 week holiday to Greece.. already seems like a long time ago now. We thought it would be nice to take this opportunity to share with you!


It has been over a years that we have now been living here in Utrecht, and a year that Anneke is back from Australia. It feels like an eternity, but at the same time our Australia experience has everlasting impact! Which is good thing. Dirk still studying away at his masters, which he hopes to finalize end of this year and Anneke has started to work from home, which makes her mobile but at times also very frustrated to be stuck home-alone. So on the look out for greener pastures.

After a long Dutch winter, with some good winter day and the opportunity to go ice-skating it was time to go and have a holiday. It was Crete where we ventured, because this is where Dirks parents have a house and we were invited to spend our holiday with them. They live in Livada which is on the south-western side of Crete, just north of Sougia tucked away in the mountains. It is a small village, which is reached by winding roads and still gets its water from the spring. As most villages on the island, it is inhabited with mainly elderly people as most young folk go to the city. So a tranquil, when the winds didn’t play up, spot to explore from. Of course we brought our bikes, but mountain bikes!:)

The first days we spend home and made a few small rides around the area. Early in the week we went down to the sea and dared to dip our toes in, but the water was still fresh. We enjoyed walks along the coast, amongst the plenty of goats and sheep. We had plenty of dinner with friends of the family and indulged in the Greek food and Cretan specialties. We did one long ride with Dirks parents to a plateau at the entrance of the Samaria Gorge. Which was 30km up.. and yes 30 down as well! :-) Luckily the roads are good and traffic is light so a safe place to be on a bike. We also did some off road biking and Anneke had her first real experience with riding, all this triathlon stuff (straight and paved roads) isn’t half as hard. We also had access to a nice little car and did some exciting road trips, we went to elafonis, which has lovely beaches. We also drove up north to the Gamvousa Peninsula and stayed a night in Kissamos. With Dirks parents we visited Hania and its old quarters. Besides all the activeness we had plenty of time sleeping in, reading and making a puzzle, which became an addicting and we would sit past midnight!

We met lots of lovely people and romantically contemplated the idea of staying.. but I am afraid that reason and especially Dirks realistic-ness have set those ideas aside for … a while… but you never know.

For those interested attached photos from our adventures.

We hope you are all well and safe.

WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP RACE DAY

5 am.
quick jump out of bed and run around the block to wake up the senses.
5:15 am
breakfast. Auch.. that was more difficult than I had expected, the nervers were there.
5: 45 am
taxi down to transition with Mia. 3 bags ready, pre-race, transition bag, post race.
6:10 am
at transition area. The bike was still there… with all the others. It stayed overnight, covered in plastic, to keep sort of dry. Lay out all my gear, helmet, glasses, runners, number, run-cap, gloves, arm warmers.


6:50 am
Time to get ready. Wetsuit on. Lots of oil and Vaseline to get the wetsuit of quickly and to keep the feet warm. Timing belt on the ankle. Two swim caps to keep warm.
7:05 am
Last energy gel before the race and time to get in the water to get COLD! Water temp just around 12, 4 or something. It was freezing.


7:15 am
All the girls were gathered together to be ready to go. We had to line up on the beach on mats with numbers.
7:25 am
START

SWIM:
We ran in the water and I started swimming straight away. I had cooled down enough that I didn’t notice the cold so much anymore. All went well for the first 200 meters, then I got a kick in the face, which made me realize… there are more of us and ☺ I am not yet at the back! While I was out there the water became choppier and choppier. Navigating to the buoys was become difficult, every time you looked up you were welcomed by a big wave of water, taking your breath away. It only got worse and worse, the wind had picked up and the waves became bigger and bigger. Sometimes you tried to lift your arm out, but it never came above the water. The 1100 meter were long. From the last buoy to the exit, I kept being drifted off, and tried to start to focus on sending blood to my feet. I tried to move them, but there was no feeling from the ankles down. Nothing was happening.

I was so thrilled to come out, I think I have overcome my fear of ocean swimming, because this was ruff!

TZ 1
I ran undid my wetsuit, found my bike. Here I took it easy, I had to. Got the suit of, but was shacking. Arm warmers on, helmet, glasses, and gloves. I had some feeling in my hands, but non in the feet or ankles. We had to run on the grass (mud…!) and on the bike path to get on the road and mount. I just took off and put my feet in the shoes. Which was easy, but well! I was happy to be on the bike.

BIKE:
4 laps of 10km.
I had decided to take the first lap easy, to get the blood going and to warm up. This never really happened in the legs and feet, the upper body was fine. I didn’t have a clock so just keep going. Lap 2, picked it up a bit and had a gel. It was going well, and could do the climb steady, keeping the legs turning over. Lap 3 and 4 were the same, although now the course was getting busy. I gave it all in the last laps especially down the hill, were they tried to tell me to slow down! ☺ not happening.

TZ 2:
I had decided to keep the shoes on and run through transition, as we were coming down the hill so fast, didn’t want to undo the shoes down the hill and run in the mud. Took some time get rid of the bike, but all done. Helmet off, cap on. Then came the fun part. Socks! Thank God I had feeling my fingers and was able to force the socks over the ice feet. Shoes on, race belt and off I went.

RUN
3 laps of something!
My feet had no feeling, nothing, it felt like my toes were double in my shoes and I could barely roll my feet. I just though keep going, keep going. It was great course, many people and lots of cheering! Go the Netherlands. Go the Dutch. Here come the Dutch lady with the beautiful smile. Hup Holland. Rennen! So this was great especially as you did the same lap 3 times. I must say the last lap got very hard. I was trying to pick up the pace, but everything had been so cold that it was resisting a bit. The one good thing was that in the last 3km my feet were warming up, so I got pins and needles for a while…
I ran strong and was very happy to have pushed and pushed! I finished under the 2:30 mark and I wanted, and the individual legs were all very good! Official results not yet there, but it should be around 2:27: 33. I think around 1:08 on the bike, 49:33 on the run, not sure about the swim and then of course transitions.

A very happy Anneke (with now an extremely sore back)

And of course the biggest thank you to Dirk and Mia for the great support all week here and for taking the great pictures.

Tonight we will party like its 1999 in the MG down town.

Some photos, please click the link and have a look

Photos

14 Degree Water!

Monday
Dirk and I arrived, 2pm Canadian Time.. while we had left Amsterdam 2 pm as well… we were prepared for a bit of a jetlag. Mia was there to pick us up, which made everything easy. As it was middle in the night for us… we didn’t do very much. We visited the local shop and were amazed with the number of choices, much more and varied than back in the Netherlands.

Tuesday
We had no plan, and took the bus down to Stanley Park, where the event is, around 10 km from Mia’s house. A bit of a shame that it was raining, and cut our visit short, to a couple of hours, after which we went home, and had a nap… which ended up in 2 hours!
That evening, we went to a local Sushi bar and had great sushi, which were spoiled with in Australia, but isn’t yet around in Europe.

Wednesday
This was going to be a busy day… and it was. There was a swim familiarization at 7: 30 am, where I saw all my Australian friends, which was great. But back to the swim… it was so cold! I got in and my feet almost fell off, I submerged myself and realized that this was impossible and got back out.. I thought to myself.. how do I do this on Saturday?! I stood on the beach for a while and said to Dirk. This is too cold. Jo had advised me to let everything get really cold and go on. So I tried and it worked, I had a decent swim in the end… and got my confidence up for Saturday. After that Dirk and I walked across Stanley Park; to the Women Breakfast! The b’fast was great… but a bit overpriced… After that I had to register myself! Mia got into action here! ☺ the best volunteer so far. After that we upgraded Dirk to my Team Manager.. giving him access to everything! We went home and had a quick lunch and rest, to get back at 3pm for a bike ride familiarization. It is a very exciting course, lots of up and down for the first 5 km, than a decent climb of around 900 meters, after that a nice down section. And this 4 times! There are going to be some fast time. ☺ looking forward to it.

After that I found Dirk and Mia and Mia took us on a mad chase home!

Tomorrow, the morning will be easy and after that we have the country presentations and we will have the opening dinner.

So far so good.. now we just hope that the weather picks up and we have a dry race day.

Anneke and Dirk.

Anneke's World Championship Triathlon

It is hard to believe but there is less than one week to go before I participate in the World Championships for the Age Group athletes in Vancouver, Canada!
(http://www.triathlonvancouver.com)

As strange as it sounds, yes I am going to participate; which being a Dutch national isn’t all that complicated, but I believe still very rewarding. It has been strange to start doing some triathlon training and racing here in the low-lands. The structure and approach is very different from what I had been used to in Australia, but I must admit I was very spoiled there with the highly experience coach and an excellent squad!

After return in NL, I started training again, having recovered from a serious stomach bug. I struggled with the flat roads and missed the hills straight away! I actually wasn't able to get average speed up as I was used to. I started swimming on my own because the swim lanes with the club were so crowded that it was like one big traffic jam. So overall it took a while to get accustomed to the new training schedule. I did some great rides in the south of the country, getting some hills in there, it was gorgeous and there will be some more hours down there! I did one race to see where I was at, and despite a rather poor time, I was happy with the progress I had made.

As Vancouver started to come closer, I had to start organising my entry, my race suit, which now has NED across the stomach! It’s a great suit, but of course made for the man…. and is extremely see-through…anyway.. I have managed to solve that!

The last weeks I have started to focus a bit more on speed work (sitting behind Dirk!) and some block session (bike-run) which has been going well, so all in all I believe I should be ready for the big race!

It will be great fun, as I get to catch up with all of the Tridents from Australia, see a good friend Mia, where we get to stay, and have a rewarding holiday with Dirk, who has been the great support through-out this long season..!

For those who are interested, the race is on Saturday the 7th, and I have to start Canadian time 7 25. There will probably some sort of live cast from the follow site:
Live TriCast

I think they might only show the finish, which should take all in all around 2 1/2hours.


Until next time

Anneke and Dirk