And now: Semper Barbatus

Salut les amis, venez nous suivre sur semperbarbatus.com. L’aventure continue !

Hi folks, follow us on semperbarbatus.com. The show must go on!

Some more numbers: Frankfurt run

This time I promise it's much shorter: a brief look at how Alain and I ran the marathon in Frankfurt.

First of all it seems that the organisers were honest in their measurement, even a bit too honest it seems: my watch showed 200m extra, Alain's 100 (but he had to start up his GPS first). After 9 hours every step counts, 200m is quite a bit in that case ;-P.

The run was a simple 4-loop affair along the river Main. We had to cross 2 bridges on each lap, giving a bit of an up- and downhill and there were a few cobbles to negotiate - but nothing dramatic. The weather was pleasant, the crowds awesome, so every reason to have a smile on your face :-).

Looking at the 4 laps (10.6km each, give and take a bit):

Lap 1:
Alain - 51:06 (4:45/km)
Nico - 49:47 (4:42/km)

Lap 2:
Alain - 51:37 (4:53/km)
Nico - 49:37 (4:41/km)

Lap 3:
Alain - 51:43 (4:55/km)
Nico - 49:34 (4:41/km)

Lap 4:
Alain - 51:03 (4:52/km)
Nico - 51:06 (4:50/km)

Very small differences overall in pace and both of us very steady throughout the lap. Alain and I were super happy to have avoided the dreaded bonk towards the end of the run and both managed to beat our optimistic targets - Alain to run sub 3:30 (3:27:43) and me to run sub 3:20 (3:19:57).

Thanks again to all for following our journey,

Semper barbatus ;-)

For the nerds: Frankfurt bike in numbers

To finish off our reports on Frankfurt I'm going to dig a little into the numbers of the bike and the run. Alain and I are both using Power2max power meters (thanks again for the support!), and so we can compare pretty accurately how the race played out.

Official winner ceremony: 2012 duel

33 semaines d’un duel acharné se devaient d’être couronnées par une cérémonie protocolaire digne de ce nom. Une cuisine de Painpalais a ainsi été minutieusement choisie et j’ai eu le plaisir de mettre mon plus beau costume pour remettre à La Grande son trophée de vainqueur du duel 2012. 

Bravo Nico.

33 weeks of furious duel had to be worthily celebrated with an official ceremony. A Plainpalais (Full Palace / Geneva quarter) kitchen was minutely chosen and I had the intense honor to take out my most beautiful costume to deliver to La Grande his 2012 duel winner trophy. 
Congrats Nico. 

IM Frankfurt: La Grande's race

Saturday night, 7 July, and I’m lying in bed to try and get some good sleep before the big day. It has been a very long build up – 33 weeks since November – and tomorrow is the day where everything comes together. Or not. I’m trying to focus on all the good training I’ve done, the laughs we’ve had in our “duel”, and the great support I have received from everyone around me (you know who you are :-)). But still there is that dread that always overcomes me before a big race.

33 weeks: Summary

After 33 weeks of training - here is all we did until the Ironman. A whole lot of work for a few hours of racing :-).

	Bibi	La Grande
Swimming
Sessions	84	123
Distance	332.3km	390.1km
Time	101h10	112h12
Biking
Sessions	80 (60 outdoor + 20 indoor)	107
Distance	4668km outdoor	6071km
Time	177h40 (163h45 + 13h55)	242h10
Running
Sessions	90	136
Distance	1048.9km	1450km
Time	87h55	116h38
Strength
Sessions	25	30
Time	35h05	19h45
Total
Sessions	294	403
Time	428h20	504h40
TSS	-	27812
Other	entre 68 to 73 kg 20 massages, 8 acupunctures, 4 ostéo, 1 physio 20h10 de ski de fond (12 sessions) 5h30 de marche (2 sessions) 2 camps d'entrainement: 1 sem. Majorque, 2 sem. Martigny	83-89kg Other: 17h14 (10 sessions) almost weekly massages 3 training camps: Teneriffe, Mallorca, Royan
Summary
Goal	Finir la visière à l'envers l'Ironman de Frankfurt... en moins de 10h	Learn from past Ironman races, get faster, have a great duel with Alain
The good	J'ai eu beaucoup de joies et de partages tout au long de ces 33 semaines d'entrainement. J'ai atteint mon objectif. J'ai encore envie de progresser.	I enjoyed the journey I got better at balancing life and training I learned a lot about myself and about sports I got faster without killing myself
The bad	J'ai perdu le duel et je n'aime pas perdre! J'ai rasé ma moustache et je n'aime pas ça non plus!	Alain has more facial hair!
Thoughts	Merci à tout ceux qui on contribuer à ce projet de près ou de loin, merci du fond du coeur car je sais que ça contribue beaucoup à la joie qui est la mienne ces jours. Nico: ne te retourne pas. Un pittbull moustachu arrive!	A huge thank you to everyone! Off to new shores now, expect to see more from the semper barbatus crew!

IM Frankfurt in pictures

Thanks to my "little" brother Julian for the pictures of our long day in Frankfurt. He has a most excellent blog with lots of interesting photography here.

IM Frankfurt: la course vécue par Bibi

6h43 l’hymne national allemand résonne au Langener Waldsee. Mais avant :

Cela fait 2 jours que le team Semper Barbatus est arrivé à Frankfurt et que la pression monte gentiment. J’avoue que je n’ai jamais ressenti autant d’appréhension que le soir avant la course où je tentais tant bien que mal d’avaler un plat de gnocchis. Le matin du départ a été particulièrement avare en parole et c’est avec Seb et Nico que nous nous dirigeons vers le parc de change après avoir quitté l’hôtel à 5h.

And the winner is...

With exactly 13minutes 23 seconds.
Amazing race! I loved that duel and I am very proud and happy to be part of this great human adventure.
Congrats Nico, you are definitively Le Grand!!!
Bibi


More to come....

Ready to race

Nerves tense as guitar strings? Pah! Every race is better with a moustache!

The duelers are ready to rock and roll. Rendezvous tomorrow 6:45am, Langener Waldsee!

Final preparations

The bags are mostly packed, the training is in the bag, now it's a question of doing the final preparations. Two key ingredients:

My pace sheet for the bike:

The timing sheet for my family and friends so they can have an idea where I should be when:

Of course I'm not revealing what I wrote down, it's a duel after all :-P

Semper barbatus!

Another Endurance Corner post

Again some shameless self-promotion. My second blog post on Endurance Corner got published today: race day nutrition for bigger athletes

Week 32 (W-1): Summary

Second last week. Alain relaxes whilst Nico keeps on training - whose approach will pay next week?

	Bibi	La Grande
Swimming
Sessions	2	5
Distance	5km	21.4km
Time	1h20	5h47
Biking
Sessions	2	4
Distance	115km	278km
Time	3h45	8h11
Running
Sessions	2	4
Distance	18km	35km
Time	1h35	2h35
Strength
Sessions	-	-
Time	-	-
Total
Sessions	6	13
Time	6h40	16h34
TSS	-	937
Other	69kg 1 massage, 1 accupuncture	83-84kg 1 massage
Summary
Goal for the week	Repos et retrouver des sensations	Last bit of peak work, start relaxing and sleep more
The good	Les jambes reviennent!	Feeling great, getting everything ready
The bad	Grosse galère avec les graminées.	Waiting for the race is tough
Thoughts	Les dés sont jetés!	The time is nigh...

Merci!

The last Sunday before Frankfurt: a bit of swimming, a lot of relaxing, and some preparations: the bike is cleaner than in a long time, the chain freshly oiled, and the tri top has received the Bike Passion and Power2Max logo.

A big thank you to Bike Passion, Velocite, and Power2Max for the support!