racing scedule 2011

Hey,  I just entered all my races for this year and thought it was time to let you know what i'm up to. I've got a couple of shorter distance races, duathlons and half ironmans. the shorter distance will be mainly for training.

6th of March: sprint distance in Herderen, Belgium
20th of March: half marathon in Sluis, Holland
26th of March: aquathlon in Wachtebeke, Belgium

the sprint distance in Herderen is gonna be very interesting. 500m swim in the morning, so I can go all out, recover, and then ride 20km and run 5km in the arvo. And... i'll be racing on my brand new Moozes Mistral! check out the www.moozes.com website they got some pretty cool bikes!
for the half marathon in Sluis I would like to beat my pb 1:44:45 and I got the confidence I can do it.
and for the aquathlon in Wachtebeke: my mum is competing as well!!! I've been the mean daughter and entered her for the race. it's only 500m swim and 5km run so i'm sure she can do it.

17th of April: National and European championships duathlon in Horst, Holland
I'm a bit anxious about this one. my first duathlon and since running isn't my strongest discipline, and I have to run 15km at the start and 7,5km at the end of the race, i'm a bit nervous.. at least we got a 62km bike leg as well. After checking last years results i'm really hoping i'll be quite fit by then, the times were fast!

8th of May: Olympic distance in Geel, Belgium
Just a nice training race. hoping to do well and get some speed going for my first big goal this year:

5th of June: Ironman 70.3 in Rapperswil, Switzerland
I'm hoping to qualify for the worlds 70.3 in Las Vegas here, but I think the field will be quite strong. last years winner of the Worlds won this race! It will be my first time in Switzerland so that'll be fun. bike looks challenging but the run is pretty much flat so that should suit me.

19th of June: Olympic distance in Retie, Belgium
I was planning on competing in Brugge(Bruges) but I couldn't get in so decided I would race here. looks like a nice race as well, good training.

2nd of July: Clubchampionship in Vlissingen, Zeeland.
24th of July: Ironman 70.3 in Antwerp, Belgium

i'm racing Vlissingen because i'm from 'Zeeuws-vlaanderen' and as a real 'Zeeuw' I gotta race there. And it's gonna be a good training race for Antwerp.

Antwerp.. not really the race I wanted to do, but it's close to home and my 2nd chance on a Worlds ticket so, .. planning to go waaaay under 5 hours here ;-)

14th of August: Ironman 70.3 in Wiesbaden, Germany
European champs, which I loved last year! really good organized and great swim, bike and run leg. swim is just out and back in relatively clean water, bike is hilly and beautiful and run is pretty much flat. false flat on some bits but nothing too hard. last year I was injured at this race so not my best time still ended up in 3rd place.

If all goes well i'll race the worlds in Las Vegas this year. Clearwater was a great experience but because the course was flat and fast there was a lot of drafting. I had pelotons coming past me! Vegas on the other hand will be more like Wiesbaden, so hopefully I can get a top 10 or (if it all goes well) top 5 place.

Next week is my first race, i'll keep you all up to date on how things go. I am so happy the season starts again! :-) Ready to rock and rollllll