After listening to my body's signals the past days I have decided not to compete at Ironman Florida November 5th and instead end my 2011 season now. My left achilles tendon (I was operated in my right after IM Hawaii in 2009) has been sore since Ironman Hawaii and when I ran on it on this Tuesday for the first time since the competition it instantly became more sore and started to hurt a lot.

For me it does not make sense to try and fight my way through in Florida when I can feel that my body needs rest not to catch an injury. The achilles has been a little sore when pressing on it the past couple of months but it hasn't bothered me before in training or competition. I got a scan in August that didn't show anything but this type of injury has a tendency to evolve slowly and now Ironman in Hawaii has worsened it a lot. The week after the competition has not made it better even though I haven't been running and when I started feeling pain when running it's a good sign to stop the season.

No 'half in' on Ironman
I had the choice of trying to get my training done for Florida with a minimum of running and then hope for the best - but this is almost always a no go as the risks of being more injured, not finishing or making a poor result are too big. If it had happened before an Olympics or before Kona I would most probably have been on the start line, but the cons on my situation now is outnumbering the pros.

My initial goal for Ironman Florida was of course to get my full ironman done this year so I can plan 2012 without thinking in a WTC full distance race so I had the choice of either choosing a full distance event on my own or - like this year - not race at ironman distance at all before Hawaii.

Also - mentally it's good to be able to end a season with on a high note and not with a dissatisfying result as 14th in Kona was. I raced Ironman Arizona last year and got 2nd after Timo Bracht only six weeks after Hawaii and that is a good example on finishing off a season well. But it should not be at the cost or risk of an injury which will set me back in my off season - that won't do me any good either physically or mentally.

Reflections on Ironman Hawaii
I have spent a lot of time since October 8 reflecting on why I did not perform as I had hoped for. This year I had no accidents or mishaps like I had the previous two years.

My competition went according to plan but my body did not perform on the level I know it can. I had no accidents during the day, I didn't make any mistakes, I got my fluids and energy in and my equipment worked like it should. For some reason my body didn't have a good day and I'm of course disappointed to have an off day on a day like Ironman Hawaii.

My swim actually went well and my transition was good and sent me out on the bike in 3rd-5th position. I sat in the group as I had planned and rode with the other guys but right from the beginning on the bike I did not have the energy I had hoped for. After a few km I started to feel cramps sneaking in in my hamstrings and adductors.

It was nothing like the cramps I experienced in Abu Dhabi and Aarhus earlier this year but more regular cramps the came and went on the 180 bike ride.
I rode fine on the flat straits but the cramps came on the hills and when accelerating. About 10-15 km from the turning point in Hawi I had to stop pedalling for a few seconds and had to let the group go to get rid of the cramps. I got in a group with Frederik van Lierde and Pete Jacobs (the eventual runner up) and we had a more steady pace that suited me better but also meant time lost on the front.

Bad day on the run
Out on the run I did not feel I had the energy so I ran out in a rather defensive pace the first 10-15 km. After that my paced slowed down and the last 10 km home was a poor performance. I can run a lot faster than 3:08!

The cramps in Hawaii has to be some sort of salt/mineral unbalance when they came that early. Cramps have unfortunately been a theme for me in 2011 and now we have to get a close look on what the reasons can be. Other than that - my 14th place finish has to go in the book of off day performances - something you have to deal with as a professional athlete.

There is no reason to dwell much on it. Of course I was and still am disappointed and right after the competition I had the feeling that I didn't want to come back to Kona after poor performances the previous two races. On the other hand: I switched to ironman racing with the goal to try and win in Hawaii so OF COURSE I will come back to try to see if I can do better next year.

Book in Danish will be released November 9
I'm now back in Playitas, Fuerteventura until I will visit Denmark to promote my book that's being released November 9 in Denmark.

It is called 'Udfordringen' and is partly written as a diary from my meltdown at Ironman Hawaii 2010 up until the race this year. We are working on trying to get it released in English too with the working title 'Chasing the Dream'. I will be in Denmark for a few weeks promoting the book and hope to see a lot of my Danish friends while in Denmark.

Hi everyone,

I have raced a few races this late summer after I did the first half of the marathon at the KMD Challenge Copenhagen event - iron distance racing in Copenhagen on August 14. It was a great day where our team raised awareness on men and cancer through the information campaign Whoisnumber one. Former 3 time Olympic swimmer and World Champion, Jacob Carstensen did the 3,8 km swim (fastest time of the day in 44:07), 8 timer 24 hour Le Mans champion and race car legend Tom Kristensen did the 180 km bike in just over 5 hours - he even had a flat! I did the first part of the marathon in about 1:14 and then the real star of our team - Jacob Pallesen - a cancer survivor - did the last part of the run.

He did the last 21,1 km in 1:26, a really good time and it was a great experience to be able to support this great initiative. As we split the marathon between us, we didn't compete in the relay competition, but that wasn't the point for us. We did this to support Whoisnumberone and in doing so we gave Jacob Pallesen, a great guy, a unique experience and that was the highlight of the day.

Win at 70.3 Timberman

The following Sunday I raced the 70.3 Timberman which resulted in a good win where I had 8 minutes down to 2nd place. Two weeks later I participated at the Hy-Vee triathlon, a special place for me as I have won the two previous times I have competed there. It was in my Olympic Distance days in 2007 and 2008 and I actually hadn't raced that distance since the Olympic Games in Beijing in August 2008.

I got a 5th place finish which for me was a good result after three years with my focus in iron distance racing.

I won 70.3 Timberman after a breakaway on the bike. Even though this was a 'must win' race for me I was surprised that I was able to take an 8-minute lead with me off the bike. It was important for me to test my bike strength as it has been a key point in my training all year to find a high bike level. On the other hand I suffered a bit on the run but was able to keep my 8-minute margin to the finish line.

Training with Matt Dixon in San Francisco

While I was in the States I could stop at the headquarters of my coach Matt Dixon for a week in training camp. It was a great way to get to know each other and we talked through all kinds of details. We're really on the same page and get along great.

I'm impressed with his insight to not only training but also the other factors that make a complete athlete. Although his key area is training he has a lot of good approaches to equipment, nutrition, mental mindset etc.

I have different kinds of specialists around me in my setup but I as an athlete appreciate to have a trainer around me that knows the big picture.

Top 5 in Des Moines

In Des Moines I got a satisfying 5th in my first international competition on the Olympic distance since the Beijing Olympics. Luckily it was a non draft race which suited an ironman athlete like myself better than draft racing.

Unfortunately I was not aware that the swim rules were USAT regulation and not WTC as I'm used to. Even though the water was so warm it was a non wetsuit swim we could swim in the neoprene suits as most did. I swam in my textile suit. I can of course only blame myself for not knowing the rules but I was surprised about the legal neoprene suits in a WTC race. This way you get reminded to remember to check these things before racing.

After a rather difficult swim I kept my focus and concentration out on the 40 km bike section. I chose to take my position as a challenge because I was further down on the leaders than expected. I was able to bike my way up from 22nd position to a 7th place heading out on the run. When exiting T2 a thought crossed my mind. That it was actually a pity that we didn't get to go a few laps more on the bike as I was just getting warmed up after the 40k. That's ironman thinking, I guess.

Out on the first lap of the run I did not feel that good. The quick transition from the bike and then running fast was a feeling long gone and I could not run out in 3.00-3.10/km pace as many of the others could so I lost a bit of time on that first lap. On the next three laps I felt alright on the run and did not run mush slower than the fastest guys. I finished the race in a good way and took 5th.

At Playitas until the summer of 2012

I'm back at Playitas now training the last few days before I leave for the US. I leave on September 23 and will have 3-4 days in San Francisco with Matt before heading for Kona. It's nice to break up that long travel so I can get into the time difference more gently and don't have to fly for that long in one stretch.

My swim has suffered a little these past weeks so I will have to change that before Ironman Hawaii and I'm focusing on that at the moment.

My family and I have decided to stay at Playitas until next summer. The kids and Anita have settled in nicely here and we have our daily life working out just fine. Emilie and Caroline have started school again and they are thrilled about it and that is very important as a parent. This will make my winter training much easier without me having to battle the tough Danish winter so I'm of course happy about this decision.

I will get back to you before the big day on the Big Island October 8.

Best,

Rasmus Henning

Rasmus Henning is preparing for Ironman Hawaii in October and today he won the 70.3 Timberman race in New Hampshire with a 8 minute margin to runner up, Mike Caiazzo.

His finish time and splits of the day: 3:53:41 (1,9 km swim 23:54, 90 km cycling 2:07:11, 21,1 km run 1:20:17).

Especially the 90 km no so flat bike section went well for the 35 year old Dane:

"My new coach Matt Dixon and I had planned for me to go hard on the second part of the bike because my cycling has been a little off at some points in the season. My swim was not very good but I was first out of the water and when nobody followed me on the bike I just rode by myself the entire way and went hard on the last half of the bike leg. It took it's toll on the run but I'm happy with my result here today," Rasmus Henning says.

Test of form for Hawaii
"This race was a test of form for me regarding Kona and also to see how the effects of the training under my new coach Matt Dixon is in a race. We have had a lot of focus on improving my biking and it seems it's working. Of course it is a balance to be able to maintain my fast run but it feels that I'm on the right path," Rasmus Henning says.

It is his third 70.3 this year and Rasmus Henning now has two 2nd place finishes and a win.

The race was held in near perfect conditions with blue skies, nice temperatures and no wind.


Top 3:
1) Rasmus Henning 3:53:41 (1,9 km swim 23:54, 90 km cycling 2:07:11, 21,1 km run 1:20:17)
2) Mike Caiazzo, 4:01:30
3) Stephan Vuckovic (Olympic silver medallist, 2000), 4:06:36

Hi everyone

I'm back at Playitas and in full training again after my unfortunate DNF at KMD Challenge Aarhus on July 3rd.

I had really looked forward to the race and to show that I'm still the best triathlete in Denmark, but the cramps I also experienced in Abu Dhabi on March 12 got me again in Aarhus.

Both times the cramps came out of the blue in T1 running from the changing tent and to the bike. In  only a matter of 2-3 steps from I felt the first hint of cramping until the leg was completely stiff. They were different from a 'normal' cramps which you can usually shrug off pretty fast. These are very massive and they won’t let go. In Abu Dhabi it took almost 3 hours until the cramps were released. In Aarhus it only took an hour and a half with the help of my wife Anita and I think it only went quicker because I stopped and didn’t jump on the bike - that was one experience I learned from Abu Dhabi where I tried to go out on the bike.

The cramps had their offspring in the Vastus Lateralis muscle. They covered the entire front of the thigh and down over the knee and made the leg completely stiff. When a cramp like that comes across there is nothing to do - the race is over! This was the second time in a short period of time it happened and I had to have it checked thoroughly.

Check up in Copenhagen
I was supposed to go back to Playitas with Anita and the kids Monday morning after the race but I decided to drive to Copenhagen instead, where I spent Monday and Tuesday looking through possibilities and get several tests done. Among them our Danish sports doctor and physiologists and physiotherapists. First a blood test - all minerals and salts were normal. Later an ultrasound scan and then an MRI scan. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magnetic_resonance_imaging


The only thing we could see from the scan was that an area of the Vastus Lateralis had a lot of small lesions but that most probably came from the cramps and did not cause them. I also got treatment from Linda Thorborg (a physio that has treated me in the past). She has an extremely developed sensation of unbalances in the human body and she found some minor unbalances, but nothing that would  have caused cramps like those.

In addition to the above the Danish sports doctor talked to other experts (doctors and sports physiologists) and no one had heard of cases like this or knew what could have caused them.

What's been done differently this year?
We also looked into what other factors are new to this year compared to previous years. What was similar between Abu Dhabi and Aarhus and not the other three races I participated in back in April. We concluded that it probably just coincidental that it happened in these two particular races and not the others.

Something that has been new to this year and perhaps the most probable reason is that I started using an electro muscle stimulator in January. The stimulator sends signals directly to the muscle and causes contraction. Several people we talked to believed that this could shift the salt balance in the muscle cells and make it less resistant to cramping. Although there is a chance it has nothing to do with the cramps I will not be using it anymore. Also my runner's knee injury has affected the muscles in my right thigh so some muscles has been weaker and others have had to compensate, which in turn could affect cramping. There is some probability that cold water contributes to the situation but I have been in cold water at other races as well (particularly 70.3 California) where it didn't play a role.

What now?
I have decided not to use the muscle stimulator and I will work on getting the knee back to normal. I have been doing heavy leg press exercises the last few months which I will continue to do to stabilize my knee.

A lot of people offered their advice over Facebook and email - from just regular people to different therapists. I haven't yet come across anyone that knew what caused the cramping - and that is what I need to know. So again - anyone out there with a solution as to what CAUSES the cramps I'd be happy to hear from you.

I returned to Playitas on Wednesday July 6 and I'm now back on the long term training for Ironman Hawaii. I was able to train normally 4-5 days after KMD Challenge Aarhus and I haven't felt anything at all.

World records
The past two weekends have seen a couple of really impressive performances by first Marino Vanhoenacker at Ironman Austria and then last Sunday from Andreas Raelert at Challenge Roth

The times of 7:45:59 for Marino and a week later 7:41:33 for Andreas have really raised the bar. They must be the big favorites for Hawaii and they will be hard to beat if they reach the same level in Kona.

All I have to try is to reach my highest level and then see where that will take me.

Best,

Rasmus Henning

Just a week after a great 2nd place at Oceanside Rasmus Henning is competing at the 70.3 in Galveston, Texas tomorrow. The Dane was happy with the good result after the disappointing DNF at Abu Dhabi a month ago.

"A good result for me at Oceanside was really important and it felt good to be able to perform at a high level again. When you have a bad experience it’s much about self esteem and confidence, and often it’s only small things that need to be corrected before you’re back on track. I had a good swim and felt strong on the bike and had the feeling that no one was able to ride away from me and my Shiv. My running was at a high level, but there’s still a way to go before I reach my peak level running wise. Schildknecht and Weiss were both running really well, but normally I should be able to outrun them both by more - so several things indicate that I have more in me," Rasmus Henning says.

The soreness in the legs is almost gone and the rest of the body feels really good, so the Dane is ready for another hard race.

Strong field in Texas
"The course here should also fit me better than in California. The weather is warmer, it could be a non wetsuit swim and the bike section is flatter which makes breakaways more difficult. It will be windy, but living on the Canary Islands you are not afraid of the wind. The field is very competitive. I hope to be able to stay close to the main pack on the bike and then have the power on the run to pull away. Terrenzo Bozzone is the defending champ here and although I haven’t raced him at half ironman before, I know he’s a tough guy to beat. The list of strong athletes is long: Tim O’Donnell, Sebastian Kienle, Frederik van Lierde, Sylvain Sudrie, Philip Graves and Chris Lieto are all top performers. It’s going to be an interesting day," Rasmus Henning says.

Hi everybody,
 
I've been on the go in the US the last couple of days since I finished 2nd at Ironman 70.3 California on Saturday. My host family from Ironman Arizona last year, The Fern family, came to support me in Oceanside, and we drove to Phoenix after the race. On Thursday I travelled to Texas to race 70.3 again on Sunday.
 
One of the cool things about the pro triathlete life is the people you meet when traveling the World. The Fern's are some of the best people I've met. They travelled to California to support me which I deeply appreciate.
 
Meeting people from other cultures than my own is a special part of my pro life. I've been used to the Muslim culture from growing up in Denmark which has many Muslim immigrants and I learned a lot from those differences in culture and background, and the considerations you take with other cultures.
 
The Fern family are Jewish and though I have travelled a lot I've never known any Jewish people before and it's been really interesting to get to know the Jewish culture while living at their house. With the Fern's I have primarily experienced differences with regards to food as they eat kosher - read more about kosher here.
 
The kosher laws mean no pork, and as I was shopping for groceries with Stuart I picked up a pack of ham to make sandwiches. He kindly asked me if it was alright with me to switch to chicken and of course I had no problem with that - I just didn't think about the kosher laws at that point. Another thing about kosher is that meat and dairy can't be kept in the same place or be mixed. This means different plates and cutlery for dairy products and meat, different storage and two dish washers. It's their tradition and I have the deepest respect for that - it just created some funny situations sometimes, which I wanted to share with you guys. I believe it's a gift to be able to get to know wonderful people and other cultures all over the World and luckily that's what the sport of triathlon is all about too.
 
California = well done
The time between Abu Dhabi and California was a time of reflection. It was a big blow to DNF in Abu with (still) unexplainable cramps. It was the race in the first part of the season I believed I’d have a good chance of winning. Almost all the best in the World were there and the course and heat suited me. In previous seasons I've always performed well in the first race of the season so the DNF hit me harder than I expected and I had to fight a stroke of low self esteem when I returned home.
 
A good result for me at Oceanside was really important and it felt good to be able to perform at a high level again. When you have a bad experience it's much about self esteem and confidence, and often it's only small things that need to be corrected before you're back on track.
 
I had a good swim and felt strong on the bike and had the feeling that no one was able to ride away from me and my Shiv. My running was at a high level, but there's still a way to go before I reach my peak level running wise. Schildknecht and Weiss were both running really well, but normally I should be able to outrun them both by more - so several things indicate that I have more in me.
 
The soreness in my legs is almost gone and the rest of the body feels really good. When Potts ran away in the end I suffered muscular problems. I felt a had energy left, and my heart rate was low enough to put in a final surge, but muscularly I didn’t have any more in me on that day. I hope I'll be ready again on Sunday for another big race.
 
Strong field in Texas:
Another strong field awaits in Ironman 70.3 Texas which is also the US Championships.
 
There will always be uncertainties whether or not you can recover in a week, but on the other hand I now have the advantage of having been in the States for a week longer, so I should be done with jetlag and travel stress. The course here should also fit me better than in California. The weather is warmer, it could be a non wetsuit swim and the bike section is flatter which makes breakaways more difficult. It will be windy, but living on the Canary Islands you are not afraid of the wind!
 
The field is very competitive. I hope to be able to stay close to the main pack on the bike and then have the power on the run to pull away. Terrenzo Bozzone is the defending champ here and although I haven't raced him at half ironman before, I know he’s tough guy to beat. The list of strong athletes is long: Tim O'Donnell, Sebastian Kienle, Frederik van Lierde, Sylvain Sudrie, Philip Graves and Chris Lieto are all top performers. It's going to be an interesting day!

Hi guys,

It's Thursday morning and I have a rest day that only consists of a run in the afternoon. I have already trained 18 hours in three days this week including hard bike sessions in the hills and mountains Monday and Wednesday, hard run Tuesday and hard swim Monday. So it's been a good week so far. Next week I'll turn down the intensity a notch before two hard weeks again the weeks after when the Danish national triathlon team returns down here.

I'm having a very consistant period of good training. My biking is on a good level again after all the work I have put in riding the hilly Fuerteventura and I can feel I have some of the same power on the bike as I had in the Olympic distance days and that was one of my purposes for moving down here in the winter period.

First non wetsuit swim for 2 months

The Olympic pool in Playitas has finally been fixed so it is heated again after that heavy flood we experienced back in late November. First the pool had to be emptied because of all the mud and then the heater had to be replaced. That means that I have had my first swim in two months without my beloved Blue Seventy wetsuit!

It does feel good to be able to swim in the pool in nothing but trunks and a blue sky as the scenery, though.

After two months of wetsuit swimming I just need a couple of sessions to find the rythm again. In a period like that I can clearly feel how much effect a wetsuit has on your swimming even when you are at a high level like myself. In the suit you are a little faster, don't use as much energy and you can get by with shorter breaks during the sessions and feel less tired.

When I started doing triathlon 13 years ago the quality of the wetsuits were not the same standard as now where they are very comfortable. I have really enjoyed my Blue Seventy Helix suit these two months where I have been forced into the suit in the cold water! You don't really think too much about swimming technique when are you swimmer, but these wetsuit sessions have shown me how important it still is to pay attention to those little things and how important it still is to keep the technique sharp. A piece of advice to all triathlon AG’s out there is to keep trying to work on your swim without a wetsuit. You never know when you need to do a race without it!

A group of Denmark's best swimmers from Elite Swim Esbjerg are in Playitas at the moment and I swam with them on Monday. Most of them kicked my ass but it was fun. One of them was participating at the Beijing Olympics in 2008 in the breast stroke, Chris Christensen and also one of the best open water swimmers is here, Mathilde Riis Sørensen.

My equipment is getting ready for season start

Right now I'm in my annual and difficult process of getting all my gear ready for the start of the season and this involves a lot of emailing with my sponsors. E.g. I have to order at both Specialized (my bikes), Zipp (wheels) and SRAM (components) and I'm having all the parts sent to Denmark to get it all put together by the mechanics at Heino Cykler. I have a set of bikes both in Playitas and then in Denmark for when we move back. It makes it easier for future camps that I can just have bikes stored in Playitas so I don't have to take the bikes with me every time.

Ecco is working on getting my bioms ready for Abu Dhabi in the Danish red and white colors so it matches my red/white race setup all the way. I'm also looking forward to seeing the Craft boys complete my race suit in Danish style! Specialized will be present at the competition in Abu Dhabi and that is great news for me as I've been working my Shiv hard these past months in training in the mountains, so it will get a good make-over before the race by the Specialized mechanics.

Q&A with 2nd and 3rd in Hawaii

Wednesday night Andreas Raelert (2nd, Ironman Hawaii 2010), Marino Vanhoenacker (3rd in Hawaii 2010) and myself were in a Q&A-session in the sports bar at Playitas. The bar was packed and it was certainly more popular than the regular Wednesday night karaoke. In the picture, its Marino left, Andreas and a guy named Rasmus.

It was a nice hour of Q&A’s where we answered individual questions as well as sharing our thoughts on different things. I was asked about many things; why my race in Hawaii went so wrong, what I did right in Challenge Roth and where I like to train in Playitas. And then of course they wanted to know our thoughts on why each of us will win in Hawaii in 2011.

Competitor TV and Triathlete Magazine have had a couple of guys working here the last days and they taped the whole thing, so hopefully you guys will be able to see it at some point. They are also doing other stuff with me and the rest of the elite athletes currently residing in Playitas so be sure to tune in on Competitor TV <http://video.competitor.com/category/triathlon/>  the following days.

Star field at Abu Dhabi

The last four years winners of Ironman Hawaii, Chris McCormack (2010 and 2007) and Craig Alexander (2009 and 2008) have announced that they'll race Abu Dhabi International Triathlon <http://www.abudhabitriathlon.com/>  too. This makes the field the strongest (by far) outside of Hawaii. All of the 2010 Hawaii top-10 (minus Raelert) will be there, and so will fellow Dane Martin Jensen and myself. I think it's good to have this strong field of class athletes and that makes this race very interesting. You just can't predict who will end up on the podium in a race that is the first in the season for many and that has this distance of 3 km swim/200 km bike/20 km run.

Last year Eneko Llanos won the inaugural race with Bockel placing 2nd and a guy named Rasmus Henning 3rd. There was hardly any wind in 2010 but they say it might be windy this year and that will probably mean a hard day at the office with a 200 km bike ride. I just can't tell who will do well because the pre race favorites may not be able to perform well this early in the season.

Last year the überbikers didn't have the advantage everyone thought they would so at the end of the day, the one breaking the tape will be the man who can handle the tough bike course best and still run very fast. My favorites a month before the race would be Chris McCormack, Eneko Llanos, Marino Vanhoenacker, Dirk Bockel and myself. We are all capable of running fast after a long and hard day on the bike. Well, it will be very exciting to see who will run of with the USD 50,000...

Until next time - be well!

Rasmus

 After a nice and appreciated Christmas holiday back in Denmark (and lots of snow) the whole Henning family returned to Playitas on January 2nd. Since then the weather has been perfect. No rain, hardly any wind, only a few cloudy days and lots of sun. It's a bit chilly in the mornings (12-15 degrees celcius :-)) and up till 25 degrees during the day. Perfect for training.

Training has been going well lately and many of the European triathlon hot shots have either been here or are planning to come here to train. It’s long distance guys like the Raelert brothers, Vanhoenacker, Bracht, Raphael, Hellriegel, Stadler, Kienle and Ospaly and my training partner through many years, Marko Albert. Of the short distance guys are fellow Specialized athlete Javier Gomez, Daniel Unger + other Germans and Rudi Wild.

I've been swimming a little with the Raelerts and there is a good training culture among us pro's that we can train together if there is an opportunity and it doesn't conflict with our personal programs. It's nice to have such an array of raw talent around me and it makes up for an inspiring environment.

I stick to my own schedule but if it fits in I welcome the other pro's to train with me. As long as we're careful not to turn the sessions into races :-) I mostly train with Marko Albert who has been a long time friend, and the Danish national team when they are here.

Season plan 2011

My season plan for 2011 will be put on my website during this week, but a general thing for me in 2011 is that I won't be competing at the full iron distance before Hawaii on October 8.

After last year's race in Kona I've decided with my coach Michael Krüger to have an even clearer focus on Hawaii. I feel even more motivated to get out there and show that last year did not at all present to the World what kind of an athlete Rasmus Henning is. I didn’t feel that my big victory in Challenge Roth in July 2010 affected my build up to Hawaii in any negative way, but you can't rule out that it has meant something to both my physical and mental health and preparations either.

In 2011 I will focus on shorter races leading up to Hawaii in October and I'm hoping that this will make me extra sharp on race day. At least I will know that I'll be 101 percent fit and ready both physically and mentally fight for the biggest of all trophies.

It has been difficult to find a reason why it went as it did in Kona last year. It's a well known thing in elite sports - and especially in Hawaii - that the winner is often one without a big win earlier in the season. Jan Frodeno at the Beijing Olympics and now Macca in Ironman Hawaii last year are good examples. It's only natural to focus on the ones with big performances in the months leading up to a big event, but it's often the ones who have not performed yet in the season that ends up bringing on that little extra come raceday.

Raelert with all the pressure - Macca with no pressure

In the end it all comes down to who wants it more. Hawaii has since 2009 been my most important race and there is no doubt that I have been - and still am - very hungry for the win. I think that most athletes will tend to feel that their season has already been more than satisfying if they get that great win like I did in Challenge Roth in July - regardless of how things turn out later in the season. But along with big wins come expectations - both your own and those from others - and along with that comes pressure and stress, and I guess that was what happened to me at Ironman Hawaii 2010.

It shouldn't really mean the difference between success and failure, but there is a fine line between the two in Kona. And it could be a factor to keep in mind: The added pressure and stress can be things that make it go from bad to worse to disastrous when things don't go according to plan as it happened for me right from the gun.

It might also have had a role in the IronWar 2 between Macca and Raelert. Raelert had smashed the field (and Macca) at Ironman Frankfurt earlier in 2010, whereas Macca to his standards had a quite mediocre season leading up to Hawaii. This allowed him to fly under the radar while Raelert not only had to deal with the media pressure after his good season and his podium in the debut in 2009 - he also had to deal with the expectations of a nation. Macca, on the other hand, wasn’t the pick of too many people, including myself I’m almost embarrassed to admit! Not many thought he would be up there in front near the end, and the Aussies had a Three-Pete opportunity in Craig Alexander.

Focus on the shorter distances

This year I'll put more focus on shorter distances and I will have more races on the half iron-distance (and even shorter) to try to regain the speed and power I brought with me from short distance in 2009 and which I can feel I have lost a little. It is really important at Ironman Hawaii with the first hour of the bike being paced really hard. It's going to be close at the end as well, as we saw it with Macca’s win in October and I need to be able to run down the others and finish off almost like it was an Olympic distance race.

New Shiv ready in Playitas

I have finally received my new Specialized Shiv and it is ready to rock with Sram components and Zipp wheels. It has been under way for a month and was stuck in the Spanish customs in three weeks which was pretty annoying. Now this will be my Europe TT bike and the one from last year, which I left in the States after IM Arizona will stay there, so I can use it in the two 70.3 races I will compete in during April. (70.3 Oceanside April 2 and 70.3 Texas April 10).

At those races Specialized will be present with their support truck so I'll have the optimal setup when racing in the States. We have a very good team surrounding us Specialized athletes and I'm looking forward to racing in America and support the team and the team spirit we're all (athletes and staff) are such a big part of.

New core training

Last week I had a lot of testing done with two Danish physios from 4700fys <http://www.4700fys.dk/> . We had a lot of core and muscle testing and treadmill running to see how my abdomen and back muscles work. Too bad I didn’t have my TT bike yet so we could test on that one as well.

After a lot of testing we decided that I'll do my core and stability training on a swissball in the future. There could be a connection between my core stability and the back and pelvis problems I have had for many years, and I'm looking forward to seing how it all turns out over the coming months.

Abu Dhabi is the first race of 2011 - Best field outside Hawaii

Like last year my first race will be the Abu Dhabi International Triathlon <http://www.abudhabitriathlon.com/>  with a 3 km swim, a massive 200 km on the bike and a fast 20 km run. I finished 3rd in the inaugural race last year after Eneko Llanos and Dirk Bockel and the field is very strong again this year.

Other than myself there is a long list of top contenders: Eneko Llanos, Marino Van Hoenacker, Dirk Bockel, Timo Bracht, Martin Jensen, Faris Al-Sultan, Raynard Tissink and probably Pete Jacobs. It will for sure be the most competitive fields outside of Hawaii and I'm looking forward to it.

I was pretty satisfied with my performance last year. I probably had my best bike performance of the year while my running was a little below my usual level. My preparations this year have been far better with all the training in the good Playitas/Fuerteventura weather and I'll be doing a lot of longer rides before Abu Dhabi. Last year I didn't have that many long rides so I feel better prepared this year and I'm usually strong in the first part of the season.

Best wishes,

Rasmus Henning

Hello everyone,

My family and I has moved to my favorite training resort Playitas on Fuerteventura (Canary Islands) for the next six months. We moved on November 1 and we have not missed life in Denmark yet. We will stay here while our new house is being build in Denmark.

There are several reasons for this choice, and other than the obvious that it is much better to train here during the Danish winter, we will have more time as a family and we all need that very much. The first month here have exceeded all our expectations and we really like it down here.

The kids, Caroline (5) and Emilie (3) have done well on the big move and have not complained about missing 'back home' yet. I could feel that I was happy to go here and not Denmark after Ironman Arizona and we really enjoy the nice climate and the nice apartment we have here. I don't think I have been wearing long pants since we got here (don't worry I DO wear shorts).

We don't have the same packed schedule as in Denmark because Anita is on a leave of absense and does not work here. We have been able to get up in the morning when we want and then plan the day. The girls have some good friends to play with at our neighbours who also live here on a regular basis and we have already had many visits from people we know.

My good friend Brian Dåsbjerg (World Military Pentathlon Champion) was here with his family where 20 people celebrated his birthday on our terrasse, so we are enjoying it very much here.

Learning Spanish

If I'm training a lot our nanny Tanja will look after the kids if Anita has other plans so we are well covered when I start putting in the long hours in the pool, on the road and at the trails again (I have trained a minimum since Arizona, my second ironman race in 6 weeks.)

The kids might start school soon but it is in Spanish so there might be some challenges here in the beginning even though kids have the ability to quickly adapt into new languages. When they feel safe and secure in their new environment we will look into the school option.

Anita and I have startet taking Spanish lessons and have a private teacher two hours a week, where we do excercises (language ones), talk a lot (in Spanish) and get homework for the next lesson. I myself try to use it as much as I can with the staff here at Playitas and I can enough to make my self understandable - I guess. I'm sure I'll quickly progress and then Spanish will be my 6th language after Danish, English, Swedish, German and French.

Team Saxobank-Sungard was down here for the annual training camp and I had a chance to chat to mainly the Danish riders. Among them Brian Vandborg who just joined the team and who I haven't met before. He seems like a great guy and is very interested in triathlon and might want to do an ironman at some point.

Everyone helped during flooding

In late November Fuerteventura and Playitas was hit by heavy rain and floodings at some parts of the resort. A couple of apartments was trashed when the water hit, leaving the interior knocked over when the water breached through the ditches.

The olympic pool, receptions, fitness gym, bars and restaurants was also somewhat flooded but we weren't hit at the hotel.

Those living in block 7 where the apartments were flooded had a big scare and was evacuated but the most of us weren't in any danger to our health or belongings. The worst case for the most guests was that they might get a little less out of their vacation.

I saw a really positive thing when all this happened: Everyone helped bringing it back to normal. The solidarity with the staff who couldn't be blamed for this force majeaure was amazing. The morning after practically all the guests on the resort was ready to help mopping out water and cleaning up. It was nice to feel everyone backing the resort up when something like this happens that no one can expect and it actually brought everybody close together. And it was to the benefit of us all that things got back to normal as quick as possible.

Parents startet cleaning up the children's club and even our girls on 3 and 5 years started cleaning the isles with their little beach shovels. I helped in the sports bar, pool bar and the gym and on a positive note it meant that I got to know the staff much better, which is nice when we stay here for that long.

Everything is back to normal now except for the Olympic pool which was emptied after the rain and mud. The pump was ruined and until it is fixed or they get a new one we swim open water at the beach.

Ironman Arizona was an optimal race

I finished second to Timo Bracht in Ironman Arizona on November 23rd - only 6 weeks after Hawaii - in the time 8:10:58. Swim was 47:58, bike (including a 4 minute penalty) 4:30:35, and the marathon 2:48:35. I was a little under 4 minutes after Timo Bracht, who finished 6th at Hawaii this year, at the finish line. My race went according to plan - except for that 4 minute stand down penalty on the bike...

On the swim I got away with Matt Redd as I had hoped. I had decided to put the hammer down on the other favorites in the swim and I/we managed to split up the field and at T1 me, Reed and a few others had a 3,5 to 5 minute gap on the other favorites Bracht, Rapp and Lieto. This was perfect for me. The gap was bigger than in Hawaii and similar to Challenge Roth, where I got away with Pete Jacobs and Eneko Llanos. I had hoped for an advantage of 2-3 minutes, so it was a great swim for me.

Out on the bike Reed and Everett was - in my book - riding a bit too hard in the first 20-30k. I kept in the back and held their pace and after 30k they dropped the pace a bit so it suited IM pace much more. It was the first ironman race for both, so they were eager to get out there and have a good race.

At some point the pace dropped a bit too much for me and I took the front and pushed a little harder to make the strong bikers Rapp, Lieto and Bracht work some more to catch us.

They caught up on us after 100k and they set a solid pace dropping Reed and Everett. My plan was to stay in the back and get as easy a bike ride as possible, and I could ride with them without getting out of my comfort zone. I felt good on the bike and felt that I was able to outrun them on the day.

It was good to see Jordan Rapp back racing after his serious accident in March where he was hit by a car and he seemed pleased to ride in the front as he probably didn't think he could run away from me and Timo anyway.

4 minute penalty for drafting

Rapp also had the advantage of less trouble accidentally riding into the draft zone when he was out in front. We rode three loops of 60k each and there was a LOT of AG-traffic on the second and third loop: Only one lane each way and 2,500 athletes out on the course makes it very difficult riding when you have to pass a lot and ride in and out of both motor cycles with cameras and officials and large groups of age groupers. 

None of us in the front are drafting on purpose but with that amount of traffic you can easily be sucked into the draft zone unintentionally if the athlete in front sits up straight - which means a bit of slowing down - or if he reaches down to drink. You might not react in time to fall back and accidentally end up in the draft zone for a few seconds even though you do everything you can to avoid it.

It was bad luck that I received a stand down penalty with around 20k to go on the bike and had to stop just before T2 to serve. I didn't think it would be that critical for me because I felt good on the bike and the others had worked hard to catch us. I thought that I would be able to run the four minutes in anyway and I used the time to stretch and get my body ready for the run.

Good running performances

Timo had a really good day and was running very good. Even if I hadn't got that 4 minute penalty it wasn't sure that I would have beat him, but it would have been fun to race him shoulder to shoulder. I had a good run on a cool course. It got very windy and rainy during the run but I managed a solid 2:48 on the marathon. I'm satisfied with that when you think of my form 6 weeks after Hawaii and the fact that only two weeks prior to Arizona I was about to call it a season with all the mental challenges I have had after my bad race at Hawaii.

On that note I think I gave a really good performance and it was actually close to being an overall near perfect race as I had when winning in Roth, had I not got that penalty. If I was in my best shape and the weather had been better this is clearly a sub 8-hour course. The course record in Arizona before was 8:13 and all of top-3 beat that record. Alone the weather might have been a factor in the 7 minutes Timo needed to go sub-8.

Tom Lowe was the big surprise to me with his 3rd place finish. I never pictured him as other than being Chrissie's boyfriend before Arizona. It was his ironman debut and he rode 8:11, so I'll keep my eye out for him from now on. He even passed me on the run but I was running smoothly at my pace and thought I might catch him later on. I kept focusing on myself and passed him again and ran away from him. It wasn't easy and he was pushing me all the way to the finish line being only 20-30 seconds behind me on the last part of the run.

I reached my goal of finishing the year with a good performance, I probably have the points I need for Hawaii next year and I showed that I'm a good ironman athlete.

All the best,

Rasmus Henning

Danish ironman Rasmus Henning was among the favorites to win the title in Hawaii not two weeks ago. His preparations was optimal but on race day everything went wrong and Rasmus Henning ended up a long way from the podium. That leaves him not only with disappointment and mental bruises but also with a qualification problem due to the new points rules. Rasmus Henning wants to end the season on a high note and is racing in Arizona on November 21 for two main reasons. To show the world that he can race well and to get enough point so the qualification for next year's Ironman World Championship seems secure here in 2010.

Although the disappointment and frustration filled Rasmus Hennings thoughts the days after the race, he turned his attention into next year with an aim of doing the kind of race averyone knows he can. His ability to get back in the game is unique. Just remember last year in Hawaii, where a crash and broken hand didn't stop the Dane and he managed 5th in his Hawaii debut. The Dane has the ability to come back from defeats and disappointments like no other and he believes that he will be stronger and better after the experience at this year's Ironman Hawaii.

Will be back stronger and better

"I have now had a few days to bounce back and recover both mind and body after the race in Kona. It was a huge disappointment because I feel I have a good race in Kona in me. I've searched everywhere for explanations both physichally and mentally for why the day ended with the result it did. A lot of things went wrong on race day for me and the accumulated sum of mishaps, misfortune and mistakes from my part just made this a disastrous day for me and it ending of being one of the worst races of my career. I will try to make this a turning point of my career. I have now had that bad race in Hawaii which many of the greats in this sport have had before me and Macca who won this year have surely had problems here as well and still have ended up winning twice. Hopefully Ironman Hawaii 2010 will be the race I can look back at a few years from now saying that this is why I bounced back stronger and better and ultimately was one of the reasons that made me win the race," Rasmus Henning says.

"I hope to get the qualification for next year's race in Arizona and I probably need a podium to do so. If I get enough points in Arizona I can put complete focus on the 2011 season and maybe do a couple of 70.3 races to secure the spot at the start line in 2011. I hope to prove to myself and everybody else, like I did in Challenge Roth in July, that I am one of the best ironmen in the world. I'm looking forward ro racing in Ironman Arizona on November 21 and hope to come out with a good result so I'll be ready for the challenges of Ironman Hawaii 2011," the Danish athlete says.

Rasmus Henning is moving to the training resort Playitas on Fuerteventura on the Canary Islands on November 1. He and his family will stay there all winter so Rasmus can focus on training, family life and his new company Trips4tri which arranges training camps for athletes.

Everything that could go wrong went wrong for Rasmus Henning who was never in the mix for the win or podium coming out of T1. A bad misunderstandig of where to pick up his bag after the swim resulted in a stressed and confused Rasmus Henning who had a transition from hell that left him off the main pack heading out on the bike and with his swim suit still around his waist the entire bike section.

"I had a really bad day and I feel sad to hit such a low point after my hard and very good preparations the past months. Everything goes wrong today, I didn't feel strong on the swim but it was decent, and then I was on the moon in T1. I somehow thought that my bag was in the back of T1, but when I realised my mistake I had to go back and suddenly found myself in the back of the large group. That made me so confused that I never got the swim skin off, but it didn't seem to bother me on the bike. I also lost my gloves, couldn't zip my top and had problems with my shoe on the bike making this the worst transition of my career. Then I had to work hard on the first 10-15 kilometres on the bike to catch the group and I had really bad legs on the bike. I had no watts up the hills and the first time I started feeling good was in the strong winds with 80 km to go," Rasmus Henning says.

"I was counting on my run legs which have been good every single brick run even after bad bike splits since before Roth. I had a lot of ground to make up, but my legs just felt heavier and heavier. From Energy Lab to the finish line I could barely run 5:15-5:30/km and every time I tried to pick up the pace I cramped up. At that point I was already so far behind that it didn't really matter anymore and I was so disappointed when I crossed the finish line. It was important for me to reach the finish line so I earned points for next year, but that hardly seems to be enough with just one more race after finishing 24 here. Now I need to figure out what to do next year to qualify, and Arizona in 6 weeks is in the mix even though it seems hard to race again that fast right now," says the Dane.

Hi all,

This will be the last blog before the big day on Saturday and I feel ready for a shot of the Ironman World Championship title. My training has been pretty ideal the last many weeks and opposed to last year I've been able to follow my schedule 100 percent without interferrences. My bike has still not been optimal but after my physio Bjørn came to Kona and got to work on me it's been better. I'm sure I will reach my level on Saturday. My swimming and running is still according to plan and I feel as well prepared this year as I was last year before my accident with the broken hand. The big difference this year is that I have been able to train all the way up to the race.

Training with the rivals

I have been training over here in a group of fellow Dane Martin Jensen and Dirk Bockel - a long time friend and training partner, but the group have also on occations teamed up with Macca, also a Specialized athlete, and Terenzo Bozzone from New Zealand.

We randomly met some of the other pro's down at the swim start one day and Dirk asked Terenzo and Macca if they wanted to join. We have trained a little with them and also crossed paths with Crowie during swimming but the past week everybody minds their own business and puts on their poker face. Everybody looks really lean and fit so I think it os going to be a really cool race on Saturday.

High expectations after Roth and Hawaii last year

I usually perform well in the heat and I know that many expect me to do well this year and I feel fine about the pressure. Most of it comes from myself anyway as it is my dream to win here and I think I have it in me to be the Ironman World Champion. Everybody who dreams of winning this must be able to cope with the word 'favorite' sticking to them and if you want to win you deal with it automatically. I'm just looking forward to getting out there and race my very best and to show that I'm capable of doing what I and others expect me to do.

Facebook updates

During the race my Facebook fan page  will be updated by my press agent Brian Martin Rasmussen, both with comments, links, videos, pictures and stories from the people around me on race day in Kona. I'm sure that many Danish and international triathlon fans will be there to discuss and comment on the race, the tactics, the contenders and so on. My website  will also be updated during the race.

See all the information you need to be able to see the race live in the press release on the website and on Facebook. Game is ON on October 9 2010 and I'm ready!

All the best,

Rasmus Henning

Hi everyone,

I just arrived for Kona, Hawaii for the last two weeks of preparation for Ironman Hawaii. Two weeks of getting used to the heat and humidity and train on the course as well as getting the body into that 12 hour time difference from Denmark.

I was at home for a week after my two week training camp in Playitas Fuerteventura – a really good camp where I trained for about 40 hours a week.

It was great to see my family again, but it is difficult to get home for such a short period of time after two weeks of being able to focus completely on training 6-8 hours a day and my recovery. And eating.

The weather also turned from sunny and nearly 40 degrees celcius in Playitas to only 14-15 degrees in Denmark with lots of rain. It was back to reality and not the optimal situation, so next year I’m thinking that I’ll stay in Playitas for last week and then go directly to Kona and then bring my family down to Fuerteventura the last week.

Lots of happy training

I really entered the zone and had a nice rhythm in training from morning till evening. In my few rest days (where I only did hard swimming and core/fitness training) it was difficult keep my good focus from the long days. The less hard days obviously have a physiological function, when you put your body under such intense pressure as I do. But it is hard to keep motivated on the rest days as I felt they interfered too much with the good flow I felt on the long days.

It is actually quite interesting that you enter a zone where it feels good to train hard for 6-8 hours a day. My recovery was working well during the night so I felt ready the next morning. The demand for being fully focused on the long days is big and you need to be on top of your game mentally. The demands are smaller on rest days, the intensity and motivation drops and it gets harder to concentrate and thus more difficult to get through these days.

Especially last Monday, which was the last rest day before two long and hard days and then departure, was tough. I felt it did more harm than good. In the big picture it will probably the best to have those rest days, but my legs weren’t too good on the last two days of the camp and I felt it was more difficult to get back into the zone with training long days.

Luckily I finished off with a good brick run. No matter what I know that I got that brick run down at any time. We biked 200 km pr day the last two days where I felt tired and with heavy legs. The temperature also reached nearly 40 degrees Celsius so it was good Hawaii specific training. My bike level was not too stable and of course we had to drink more that last couple of days so we were hydrated and ready for the run sessions. Out last brick run was a good Hawaii specific exercise.

Brick run in Hawaii conditions

Fellow Dane Martin Jensen who will also compete in Kona, trained with me the last week and fellow Specialized athlete Jimmy Archer joined me both weeks. Jimmy and Pete McCrory from Trips4tri assisted Martin and me on the last brick run of the camp so that we could train fluid intake under very warm conditions.

We had arranged an aid station on our 1,4 km lap (a little less than a mile) where we had first energy drink, then ice and then cold water handed out to pour on ourselves. It was a good exercise in receiving and effectuating fluids quickly as well as feeling the cooling effect from ice and water and putting the ice in the cap and in the ice pockets on the race suit. It was nice to test it and as it was warm and the aid stations are located at every mile in Hawaii, it was very specific training towards a quick entrance and fast exit at the aid stations in Kona.

I learned last year that it is imperative for me to lose as little speed as possible going through the aid stations. I would rather be able to get as much in me as possible without losing speed so I will grab one cup with my right hand, make a swift pass to the left hand and drink it while my right hand grabs another. Then I will be able to grab 2-3 cups every time when you go through fast as I do.

Can perform in competitions even when training is a little off balance

Even though my biking hasn’t been optimal in training I know that I can perform well in competitions. In Challenge Roth I had the second best bike split and my training has been pretty much the same as leading up to that race. And I’m not one of the über bikers like Chris Lieto is or Torbjørn Sindballe was.

I know that many has to feel they reach their top level in training to be able to perform well when the gun goes off, but I know by now that I can race really good without feeling I hit my highest level in training.

My race mentality is very strong and I can always mobilize what it takes in the races so I’m not letting a non-optimal training get the best of me. As long as I train the kilometers I need to and I get my time in the aero bars, that’s the most important thing. I know my strength isn’t to train fast to be able to race fast, but as long as I can race fast when I need to I’m happy.

Overall it was a really good camp. The feeling this year was the same as last year, where I was in pretty good shape until I broke my hand in a bike crash. My body feels good and I’m able to absorb the many hours of training. I can train hard and still be ready for the next day

I had a good run in Challenge Roth and I continue to have faith in my running abilities. My swimming is also at a good level and I have been swimming a few times in my new Hawaii Blueseventy suit and it’s great. It is a non-sleeve suit with short legs. It is made of textile as the rules for neoprene has been altered in triathlon as well as in swimming. It is really cool and it feels great swimming in it.

I will return with another blog before the big race with the latest updates on training, my competition and where to follow the race live on race day.

All the best,

Rasmus Henning

Hi all,

It's now been a week since the Challenge Copenhagen ironman distance race - an absolutely great race in the heart of Copenhagen. I was very proud and delighted to be a part of it. I did not participate at the full distance but I swam as a relay athlete in the morning and then I was in the finish area for a big part of the afternoon greeting a lot of people that I know, watching a lot of happy faces. It made me really proud and shows that this sport is something people can really enjoy. There were so many spectators out there that must have had a great day - the official number is 125,000 at the marathon course alone, and this is absolutely fantastic.

A good day for the sport and for Copenhagen and Denmark.

Now I have started the serious build up for Hawaii which is 7 weeks away now. I just got my Specialized Shiv TT bike ready last week so I have been out doing the first rides on it and it feels great and gives me a lot of motivation towards Hawaii that I have even some slightly better material than before and it's just enjoyable to ride so I think it should give me a little advantage on the bike.

My training is going really well too. I'm definitely feeling better than I was 7 weeks before Challenge Roth which ended up quite well, so I'm guessing that I should be on the right track.

In 10 days I'll be going down to Playitas on the Canary Islands where I also did my Hawaii preparations last year. I know that it is an ideal place for me to be. It's a vulcanic island just like the big island of Hawaii, so it is very similar terrain, a lot of hard wind and crosswinds and it is quite hot as well in september, so I should be well prepared after a couple of weeks there.

Then I will be back home for a week and my primary objective there will be NOT to fall off my bike and break my hand like I did two and a half weeks before last year's Hawaii. I need to stay healthy this time because I feel I have a good shot at one of the top spots in Hawaii so I shouldn't blow it this time.

I'll go out an enjoy to be in Kona two weeks before the race and hopefully be ready when we get to race day!

Aloha!

Rasmus

This Sunday I made my big impression into the history books as I won Challenge Roth in the time 7 hours, 52 minutes and 36 sekunds - the fifth best Ironman ever and with a finishing marathon of 2:39:43 on a day where I could run like the wind.

The 2:40 barrier is rarely broken in an ironman marathon and almost never for a winner of the race, so I'm truly satisfied and proud that I can perform like this and make such a result.

Before the competition I had hoped to be able to break 8 hours, a performance only 11 other athletes had reached. The fact that I was able to get that far under and even close to the 13 year old world record is amazing.

Challenge Roth is a fantastic competition with a world class venue. There is up to 200,000 spectators in a city that normally has 40,000 inhabitants. The organizers do their utmost to make the stay as pleasant as possible for both the pro's and the age groupers.

I had a great time in Roth, and I hereby send my great appreciation and thanks to the Challenge family for all their hard work making Challenge Roth a spectacular ironman event, the spectators that supported us all with the greatest enthusiasm, my home stay family who made my stay perfect and all the athletes who competed in this event for making this such a memorable day for me.

Award ceremony Monday

I attended the award ceremony on Monday - a couple of hours in the middle of the day. After that I ate a late lunch with some of the other pro's and the boys from Challenge Copenhagen, who were down here.

Then home and pack and a quick 15 minutes on my back before the volunteer party where some of us pro's was on stage. Later in the evening we had a great party with the organizers etc, so I had a nice day again Monday.

At the award ceremony the top-10 in all age groups were presented on stage, with the pro's coming on at the end. I held a short speech where I talked about how impressed I am with the Challenge concept that emphasizes the importance of us all being one big triathlon family, that I admire all the age groupers who in spite of having a full time job and a family to attend also finds the time for the hard training it takes to do an ironman (many of them in splendid times!).

And for this they earn my deepest respect. Training for an ironman often has great sacrifices. Even though I myself can have doubts in the proces when training is bad and you miss the wife and kids and they miss you, you find out that it is worth it when you reach your goals.

I am proud of the age groupers who can manage this balance in a tightly packed family/job life.

In the city of Roth, the people in the city was so kind to put new plates on their cars so they all had my initials 'RH' on them. In my speach I told them how impressed and honoured I was by this gesture, and that I really felt welcome. But now that I was leaving is was okay by me that they put the regular plates back on the cars when I left :-)

Happy about the great result

I am as satisfied with my performance as a man can be. I might have a really tiny regret that I was so close to the world record without getting my hands on it, but it is not even close to put a shadow on my win and performance. It feels great to put my mark on triathlon history.

I was only the 12th athlete in the world under 8 hours, I now have the 5th best ironman time of all and I was the first in 11 years going under both 8 hours and 2:40 on the marathon. I would call that a fairly reasonable day at the office!

See a list over all who have gone sub 8 hours here.

http://www.tri247.com/article_7187.html

The competition

I had an optimal swim exiting the water just behind Pete Jacobs. Eneko Llanos was a few seconds behind, but we managed to get a 20 second advantage over him when exiting T1, so we made him work on the bike.

The swim was fine but times in general was a little slower than last year.

Pete and I maybe hit the bike leg a little too fast the first 40 km. At the beginning we even gained more time on strong bikers as Kienle and Stadler so I said to Pete that it might be a good idea to slow down a little so we didn't blew up later in the day.

My plan was to delay the time where they caught up as much as possible, so when we had a 5 minute advantage at the 40 km mark, we would still not be caught up until the 100 km mark if we slowed the pace a little. I could live with that as I knew that my running was really good.

Out on the run I immediately felt good and my legs felt fantastic. I could ease into a steady and comfortable 3:45/km pace and could hold that pace throughout the marathon.

When I hit a small hill at around 39 km, I could suddenly feel my legs though. If I ran shoulder to shoulder with another guy for the win on the last 3 km, I'm sure I would have more in me, but that hill killed my legs and I eased off a little heading for that fantastic finish line.

I can still get better on the bike (it was quite windy and I biked alone the last 50 km) and this result makes me more confident that I have what it takes to win in Hawaii.

The way I felt in my legs at km 39 on the marathon in Challenge Roth was the way I felt at Hawaii last year when I reached 10 km.

Now I have a couple of weeks with family time and only little training so the body can recover. I look very much forward to spend time with my girls.

I will  also be building up my Specialized Shiv (rode the Transition in Roth) so it will be ready for the months of training leading up to Hawaii.

On my Facebook fan page you can see pics from the competition. Just press the 'like'-button.

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Rasmus-Henning/164915450173

My first big goal of the season is coming up - Ironman Roth this Sunday July 18. Roth is one of the fastest courses in the world and I'm looking forward to compete. See more at: http://www.challenge-roth.com/en/index.html.

I started my tapering in this the race week. I trained relatively much this weekend; four hours both Saturday and Sunday (1 hour in ironmanpace on the bike on Sunday followed by a brick run.) Tuesday I had 3,5 hours of training and the same Wednesday before I left for Roth in the afternoon.

Even though I still trained a lot it is part of the tapering as I train much less and at lower intensity than the week before. The most important thing is to focus on recovery so you will get the energy you don't neccesarily have when you are in heavy training.

The last three days in Roth, Germany

I arrived Wednesday afternoon. Thursday I have a little bike and run - 15 mins in ironman pace. It is important that the body doesn't forget how to perform.

Thursday is also press conference and briefing day, and that is all the official duties I have so I can focus entirely on the race. Friday I have a bit of swimming and running and Saturday a bit of swimming and biking, but in an easy tempo these last days before the race.

Rest, rest, sleep and rest

Rest is very important the last days to be able to have the most optimal recovery on the last weeks of heavy training. I always try to get into a rythm and go to bed earlier when you need to get up in the middle of the night on race day. (We start at 6 o'clock, which seems a bit early and means that I need to get up at 3 in the night.) I generally try to get as much sleep as I can the last days leading up to the race. But it is a balance, because it is no use getting up at 4 in the morning the last days if you are not well rested. For me it is more important to get my rest before the last night and then accept that you don't get to sleep much the last night.

Personally I never sleep that good on the last night before a big race. I stil believe that it is better just to stay in bed and relax, than it is to try all sorts of methods to sleep. The tension in the body is at such a high level that it can be difficult to calm completely down. And then when you are almost asleep some thought pops up in your head and you need to start over again calming down. I'm betting that most athletes feel this way on the last night and it is something I have learned to accept.

Some nap in the middle of the day and still fall quickly asleep at night. I usually don't nap, but rather just relax or read, so I am able to have a solid sleep at night.

Carbs are important

I make sure to carboload a lot in the week before the race. I then cut back on protein a copule of days befora and my last meal the nigt before the race consist of carh rich products such as pasta, rice, bread, vegetables and fruit. Maybe a little fish but no meat other than that. And it is really important to make sure that I get enough fluid and salt.

The focus is on me

The time leading up to a competition professional athletes try to shut out everything that has not to do with the race. Everything else in our lives can wait if it is not really important. What the surroundings must understand is that this competition is the most important thing in our life at the moment. You need to stay focused and make sure you get your rest, energy and fluids.

It may be difficult for the nearest family and friends to understand that everything is about me these important days. Everything in my life is optimized so I don't waste time, rest and energy on things that aren't important to me. Personally I step inside me own little space and shut everything else out. This is what I seek and what has helped me perform and peak at the competitions I have performed well in an won. You must accept that you can get on the nerves of the people close to you because you can get a littte demanding and expect a lot from the surroundings. You can only hope that they accept this short time of you being demanding as it is a neccesary part of being one of the best in the world. It may be difficult for my surroundings but it works for me and helps me perform my very best.

For those age groupers that competes in an ironman for the first time, e.g. in Copenhagen on August 15: This situation can be difficult to handle so make sure that you let your family and friends know, that they can expect a person that the last week has full focus on themselves and their race. Everything you do that last week is about yourself and the competition. Maybe it can help prevent frustrations etc.

The favourites

Eneko Llanos, Spain, bib 5. He has beaten the Danes this year: Me at Abu Dhabi and Martin Jensen at the European LD champs in June. He also won Ironman Lanzarote with a marathon finish of 2:50 on a difficult course. He was 2nd in Hawaii in 2008 and is one of the most complete ironman athletes in the world.

Normann Stadler, Germany, bib 4. Ironman Hawaii winner in 2004 and 2006. Will be fast on the bike.

Pete Jacobs, Australia, bib 2. Has a profile that is similar to me. He will be in front efter the swim and I think I will see a lot of him out on the course. He was second in Roth the past two years and third in 2007.

Rutger Beke, Belgium, bib 7. Has two second place finishes in Ironman Hawaii. Also young German Sebastian Kienle, who has shown good results on the half ironman will be someone to look out for.

Last year German Michael Göhner won in a super time of 7:55:53 and with an impressive marathon of 2:41:17.

I myself have bib number 6.

That is all for now before Challenge Roth on Sunday. Be sure to check out my fan page on Facebook 'Rasmus Henning' as well as my website which will be updated throughout the weekend.

All the best,

Rasmus Henning

On Sunday June 27 I won my 18th Danish title when I won the Danish champ at my 'old distance' - the Olympic distance. Every time I compete at the shorter distances I feel that the longer I have been away from this type of competition, the harder it is to perform at my best. You loose a lot of explosivity when going long.

The these recent Danish champs I especially noticed two areas where I can now feel a big difference after switching to the longer distances:

Details concerning the transitions

I have become a little rusty in the transition area on short distance racing. The speed with which I can run in transition and take of my wetsuit is slower than before and this is primarily because I don’t do these races anymore. We usually spend more time in T1 and T2 in an ironman.

Also I have lost some speed in taking on/of my helmet and shoes. At the Danish sprint championships in early June I lost 18 seconds in total in the transition area. I was better at my transitions at the OD champs on June 27, but there is still some way to go before I would reach the lightning fast OD transitions. Well, not that I need them when doing ironman.

Accelerations on the bike

On the bike it is the accelerations and constant difference in pace after e.g. turns that cost a lot of energy for me now. I don’t train the hard intervals with 600-700 watts of pedaling anymore and I can feel an effect in the leg muscles in shorter competitions now. At the Danish OD champs I could get away with biking 95 percent when I was leading our small group whereas in world cups I would go much harder to get some distance to the really fast runners. I am used to pacing along at a more even pace now, so I had to work on the bike to stay in the front going out on the 10 km run.

My swimming was pretty much the same as in an ironman even though the pace of course was a little higher. But I hung on and exited the water without getting into trouble.

Once out on the run I felt strong and I thought that I would go out hard to get rid of the others and show who was the boss.

I quickly reached my race pace and was within 15 seconds on each of the four 2,5 km laps, so I had a pretty steady run. I was able to control it from the front and ran the 10 km in a respectable time of 31:56.

Heavy training

I am still in my most hard training leading up to the first big test of the year, ironman at Challenge Roth July 18.

I think that it is still useful to train and compete at the shorter distances, as the ironman training usually doesn’t reach the same speed as in short distance racing. So my plan is to keep trying to race at shorter distances to get the speed and intensity into the ironman training.

I will blog again before Challenge Roth. Hope to see you there!

Best,

Rasmus Henning

Hi everyone.

I just got back home after a week in training camp at Playitas, Fuerteventura. I'm training my most hard ironman sessions at the moment leading up to Ironman Roth on July 18.

I was joined by a group of athletes that challenges Copenhagen - www.challengecopenhagen.com  - at the big ironman event in downtown Copenhagen on August 15. Among them my team mates at my Danish club, Sigma Tri Nordsjælland, Ulrik and Andreas Schaarup. I will compete in a relay team with the two brothers from my club: I will be swimming, Ulrik is on the bike and Andreas will run the marathon. We hope to be able to get under Luc van Lierdes world record from 1997 of 7:50:27.

The the former Danish professional athletes, cyclist Rolf Sørensen and golfer Steen Tinning, are also training for Challenge Copenhagen, and I have coached them since this winter. They both look good and have had a solid training week at Playitas.

I have also biked with Hans Nilsson, a young and promising long distance triathlete and the young guys from the Danish development team, Andreas Schilling and Thomas Strange were able to push me in the swim.

My training in progress

It felt good to train as much as I did this past week. I am progressing again after a difficult start to the season with

 the hip/back/pelvis problems and

  results that doesn't reflect my usual top performance level.

My running is now on a reasonable level, my biking is improving all the time and I am very stabile in my swimming.

I'm in a very hard training period now leading up to Ironman Roth on July 18, and I am looking forward to a high level competition race before my big goal: Ironman Hawaii. Roth is primarily a part of the build up to Hawaii, but I hope to perform well and to be pushed by the high level competition that races in Roth.

At the bottom of the blog is my training done at Playitas the past week.

Trips4tri is well under way

I also spent time on planning this coming winter where my family and I will live at Playitas a large portion of the winter. 

My new company www.trips4tri.com  is well under way, and each time I get down to Playitas I get more and more enthusiastic about the resort. I have a good feeling about the company and the camps we will be arranging, and I think it will be a success.

Danish champs on Olympic distance

This Sunday i will compete at the Danish champs on the Olympic distance. The big favourite must be Jens Toft from the Danish national team who competes primarily at this distance and who beat both Martin Jensen and myself 3 weeks ago at the sprint champs (750-23-5). 

I can't expect to deliver a victory when I'm in my hardest ironman training and on a distance I haven't raced since the Olympics in 2008. I'm gonna fight to be at the top and I hope to be able to win team gold with my team mates at Sigma Tri, Rasmus Petræus and Jacob Petersen-Bach.

I finally got my new Specialized Shiv TT bike, and I'm looking very much forward to ride it these coming days! So far I have rode the Transition model this year.

Training in Playitas:

Arrived Thursday at 1PM.

3 km swim and 1 hour and 40 mins run.

Friday:

6 hours on the bike including one and a half hour in my ironman pace at the end of the session. 30 mins brick run and 4 km swimming in the afternoon/night.

Saturday:

2 hour easy bike. Physichal workout. Afternoon: 5 km hard swim and 75 mins run.

Sunday:

6 hours on the bike including one and a half hour in my ironman pace at the end of the session

. 50 mins brick run in tempo 3:50/km.

Monday:

Rest day. 1,5 hour easy bike. 5 km open water swim. 

Physichal workout.

Tuesday:

5 hour bike including 1 hour in ironman pace at the end. 45 mins brick run in tempo 3:35/km. 4 km swim 

in the afternoon/night

.

Wednesday:

5 hour bike at steady pace. 1 hour easy run

. 5 km hard swim, open water.

Thursday:

1 hour morning swim. Departure at 9AM.

Best,

Rasmus Henning

Hi everyone,

As I described in my latest blog, I have had problems with my back, hip and pelvis during this year's competitions. After Wildflower in California a month ago I was bike fitted from the Specialized specialists and they found out that my left femur bone was a cm longer than the right one and that that fact could have an effect and cause my problems. After the fit my left cleat on the bike shoe was moved a little back so my pedaling should be more stable and even.

I had a cat scan on the private hospital Hamlet in Denmark on May 18 (see video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0T6RKss5PFU).

The scan showed that my left femur bone was a little longer and it was important for me to get that clarified. This could be a cause to why I have had these problems all these years. It is not nescessarily the only cause, but it means a lot to get this clarification and it backs up my belief that there still is something more I can do to reach my dream goal of winning Hawaii. Because - if I could have this high a level as I have had all these WITH the problems, what would the outcome be without them when I am 100 percent fit and in top shape? That is a scary thought - for my competitors :-)

Good training at the moment

I have felt better in my back and hip/pelvis area this past month since the fitting and I hope that is has something to do with my improved position on the bike, where the changes primarily is under the left shoe. I'm progressing in my training and I have been better the last month than before this year.

My swim is back on a good level and I can now sometimes even outswim the rest of the national team, and in my cycling and running I'm consistently better than the other guys. I have especially lacked stability in my running and I have that now.

I often train in ironman pace both in cycling and running, and I've started training 100 percent under my coach Michael Krügers command again after a year and a half of partly self-coaching. 

I did a good time on a bike loop in Denmark called 'the Bull' this Tuesday. It is a 11,6 km section with hills and turns and I rode 16:47 on a rainy and windy day. A time under 17 mins in normal circumstances is a good time, so I was happy about that.

In my running I have started running down to 3:10 to 3:40/km pace and I can do that again without problems. When I run that speed it is usually 6-8 km progressively or with tempo changes. 

Danish sprint champs Sunday

Sunday June 6 I will compete at the Danish sprint championships, which I won last year. It is a time trial with a 750 metres swim, two rounds on 'the Bull' (23 km) and a 5 km run. I can win my 18th title under the Danish Triathlon Federation, and my toughest competition is Martin Jensen who has had a solid progression the last couple of years and finished 1 minute behind me in Wildflower. So if someone is going to beat me, he is the man. I have the advantage of starting last, with Martin starting third last, and my chances of winning again is pretty good. There is over 500 athletes registered, so it is going to be a good and sunny day at the Danish sprint champs.

Best,

Rasmus Henning

After Wildflower May 1 I had five days of vacation with my family in California. It was nice to spend time with the family - we stayed in Santa Monica and visited Disneyland, Santa Monica Pier and Hollywood Boulevard.

We suffered a bit from jetlag after the long journey home, but is quickly got better after a rough first night with wide awake kids. On Thursday I had a good 4 hour bike ride with the national team and former pro cyclist Rolf Sorensen who I am coaching to compete at the Challenge Copenhagen Ironman in August. Is had been raining hard in Denmark the past day so we suffered numerous punctures do to all the dirt and rubble that was washed out onto the streets and bike lanes.

5th at Wildflower

May 1 I competed at the famous Wildflower long course triathlon on the half ironman distance in the hilly terrain of central California. I finished 5th.

I had a good swim where I led the whole way. About 200 metres before transition Michael Raelert (the later winner) and one other athlete came up on my side, but since I had been leading the entire way I wouldn’t accept that and pushed the pace so I could exit the water in first position. I had a couple of seconds into transition and collected the swim prime of USD 200. I again swam in my new Axis suit from Blue Seventy which is really good and actually seems better than the ones I have had in the past.

Raelert was on a level on his own the rest of the day and took off on the bike. I biked with Graves, Andersson, Llanos, Martin Jensen and Joe Gambles until I got a staggering penalty after about 30 km. I apparently was too much in a straight line behind the guy in front of me even though I held the appropriate distance and therefore didn't draft. It is difficult to enforce this rule on a course like this with curvy roads and lots of hills and I lost contact with the guys on the bike that I wanted to bike with by this two minute penalty. Fortunately I could bike the rest of the way with an athlete who had a good tempo, but I lost contact with the favorites, which was a bit demoralizing.

On the run I was in pursuit and I did not feel too good the first half of the run where there were a lot of hills. Fellow Dane Martin Jensen was in front of me and I suddenly spotted him going up a hill, so I could hold my pace and slowly reel him in. I passed him at about at about 12-14 km but he hung on for some time 10-15 meters behind me. Then I speeded up a bit on one of the hills and he could not hold my pace. At the finish I was about two minutes from Llanos in bronze position. Raelert was unstoppable but I posted the second fastest run of the day behind him. It is of course difficult to speculate in my possibilities if I hadn't got that staggering penalty but I felt that I would be able to compete for the bronze without the penalty. 

Martin ended up in 6th about a minute behind me. He also got a two minute penalty (for littering) so he might have beaten me if not for that. He had his chance to beat me but I'm sure that he will have his major break through this year as he can perform on a much higher level than he did at Wildflower.

Llanos has now beat me twice this year (Abu Dhabi and Wildflower), so I am eager to compete with him again in Roth (July 18) where I am certain I will get the best of him.

Problems with my back/pelvis area during Wildflower

I have suffered from back and pelvis problems at both 70.3 California and at Wildflower which especially caused pain and problems during the bike legs. After Wildflower I had a bike fitting session with one of the experts at Specialized Bikes - the same person that has done fitting with Fabian Cancellara and Alberto Contador.

Both he and Dr. Andy Pruitt (who fitted me in Copenhagen a few weeks back) thinks that the reason I am compensating when I am on the bike because min left Femur is 1 cm longer than the right one. This means that the distance between the back of the buttock and my knee is a little longer on the left side.

If my pedaling has been like this all those years it is no wonder that I have had all those problems. We decided that the cleat on my left shoe should be moved back a little so it compensates for the difference in the length of the Femurs and that I therefore will be able to bike with the pelvis in a more neutral position.

Tomorrow I will have a scan to measure the length of the Femurs to see if there is a difference. It will be exciting to see and I hope that the solution with moving the cleat will be possible as this it easy to fix. My physio Bjorn and I still think that it could “just” be a matter of tightness in the pelvic area and that it gives me problems after long flights especially. So when I am competing after long flights I will need to bring Bjorn to get treatments before the race to get everything loosened up.

Those problems have bothered me a lot in the two races in California and it hurt and I felt restricted on the bike and the run. It surely has an effect on the power on the bike. I will also be able to run better without these problems. On the hilly parts of the run in Wildflower it was hurting a lot while the last flatter part with a more even surface suited me better and I wasn't as restricted. It would be nice to find a more permanent solution to the problems, though.

Specialized team together for two days

The Specialized long course triathlon team was gathered two whole days (with training) after Wildflower.

It was really nice to spend time with the team and it was an interesting few days. We were guided through the products as well so we know them the best possible way.

We have some good people working with us and Bobby Behan who is in charge of the team is a really good guy; Emphatic, appreciative, always in a good mood and with a positive mind and is a key figure to this team. The athletes are other than me: Chris 'Macca' McCormack (winner Ironman Hawaii 2007), Philip Graves, Jordan Rapp, Ben Hoffmann, Jimmy Archer, Conrad Stoltz and Melanie McQuaid, Kristin Peterson and Desiree Ficker on the women side.

Specialized are very serious and there is a very nice atmosphere at the headquarters. You can really feel that they live and breathe for cycling and sports, there is a lot of innovation in the air and the interesting people working here are both experts and eager to listen to the athletes.

Back in training

On Wednesday I had a very good tempo run. I ran down to 3:10/km pace and I have had difficulties running that speed the last couple of months, when I had the back/pelvis problems. Now waits some weeks of basic base training with more focus on the length of the sessions than intensity.

Best,

Rasmus Henning

Hi everybody,

After Ironman 70.3 California I flew directly to the training resort Playitas at Furteventura where I had a two week training camp with the national team. My main focus was on high intensity in my sessions, so I have had two hard weeks.

Here is an example with hard sessions in all three disciplines in the same day:

Morning: 3 km pool swimming with a hard endurance set. Straight into the wetsuits and about 2 km ocean swimming including mass starts and fast laps. It was a very intense swim session and it took about 1,5 hours.

At 11 o'clock we biked. We had four laps of 5,7 km with 5 minutes active rest between each lap. The first 3 laps were time trial on 95 percent and the last lap was together with Martin Jensen – soon to be known as the Dynamic Danish Duo! It was all out on the last lap, and I could really fell how it must be to sit on the wheel of Fabian Cancellara in a team time trial! On the last lap it was full throttle when I was in front and then it was difficult just to hang on when sitting on the wheel of Martin. 

Afternoon: Run with 5 times 1.000 metres interval and 2 minute jog in between and of course a warm up and cool down. I ran 3:05-3.10 pr/km pace which is a bit off what i used to be able to run in the past, but still one of the hardest sets I have run since before the Olympics. It feels good to have done some very serious high intensity training where I have pushed the system even more than I am used to. It did however cause a little problem with my hip at the end of the training camp and the first few days at home.

My physiotherapist Bjørn Dan Andersen, who has worked on me a lot on me the last years, and also been with me to several big races. With all my travel activity the last weeks I haven't been able to see him, and he said after my treatment this Tuesday that my body needed to be corrected. I will have two more treatments before I go to the US for St- Anthony's on April 25 and Wildflower 70.3 on May 2nd.

St. Anthony's www.satriathlon.com

Wildflower 70.3 www.tricalifornia.com

Martin Jensen in fantastic shape

It’s been a while since I have been challenged as the best Danish triathlete, but now I can feel Martin Jensen (World Longcourse bronze medalist in 2008 and 2009) breathing down my neck. He had a very good camp in Playitas, where his running now has reached the same high level as he has had on the swim and bike. We were room mates and trained together every day and with the form he is showing this spring I wouldn't be surprised if he manages to beat me for the first time in competition this year. He is also going to St. Antony's and Wildflower and can cause a threat to me as I am not in my best shape yet. I still feel that my top level is higher than Martin's, but his current form is better, so he might get the chance to beat me in the coming races.

Perfect camp for Danish Development Team

I am in charge of a Danish Development Team which is supposed to work as food chain for the Danish National Team in the future. They were at Playitas the first week and did a really good job. We have built up a very solid training culture which means that nobody complains about the sessions being too hard or that they are too tired. I am truly happy about the group and they all performed very well. This was also the first time I could see some of them on the bike because of the hard Danish winter. The prospects are really good for this group and I am excited about my work with this group of fine talents.

Danish triathlete used doping

During Easter Danish triathlon had a very unfortunate case with a Danish triathlete, Bjarne Møller, being caught using epo. He then turned himself in. This case is extremely sad and I must emphasize that doping is not a regular problem in Danish triathlon. We have a healthy culture in our sport and that is why a case like this is very unpleasant.

I am sure that this is a unique case and this is also backed up by the fact that his room mate caught him in the act and told him to turn himself in. Doping and cheating is simply something that we don't want to accept in our sport. I would have done the same if I had caught someone using doping. Bjarne Møller is not a top athlete and he has done some bad things before so when we do have a doping case in Denmark I am not surprised that he is the sinner.

Openening of Specialized store in Copenhagen

Today is Friday and I am invited as a test person for a bike fit seance at the new Specialized Concept store that opens Saturday in Copenhagen. The two highly estimated American professors', dr. Roger Minkow og dr. Andy Pruitt will be in charge of the bike fit which is unique for Specialized and the Danish media is invited.

The store will open for the public on Saturday. 

Best,

Rasmus Henning

Hi everybody,

I was 3rd in my first career attempt at the 70.3 distance after a somewhat off day, especially on the bike. The winner was Ironman 70.3 World Champion Michael Raelert and last year's winner Matt Reed came in second. With acceptable swim and run performances, but cycling way under my usual standard, I am quite satisfied with another podium - although I'm eager to win something soon!

Before the competition I was told that it would be cold during this race. The water was only 15 degress celcius (about 60 Fahrenheit) but I still had a decent swim. I had my first swim ever in the new Blue Seventy Axis (http://www.blueseventy.com/products/detail/axis). Even though I didn't have the chance to test it before the race, it felt really good and I exited the water only 10 seconds behind the swim leader.

Off day on the bike

I had a bad first transition where I fumbled a lot with my helmet because my fingers were so cold and numb. That left me chasing the leaders on the bike where I was stranded on my own for a long time. After a while on my own, super biker Andrew Yoder came past me and I was able to follow him going up to the front. We just caught up with the leaders when he blew past them on a short steep hill and tore the field apart and I was left on my own again. After an hour on the bike I felt the heat coming back to my body, but I still had no power in the legs and I couldn’t get my heart rate up. I was shivering the first 40 or 50 km on the bike because it was only 10-12 degrees Celcius and the first time I got the warmth back in my feet was 2-3 km out on the run.

My run was ok, but not super impressive. I ran a 1:14:10 half marathon (3:30/km), and actually out ran both Raelert and Reed. But I'm sure that I can run 1:11 or less on a course like this. I was able to pace it good all the way and held a stable pace.

Abu Dhabi in the legs

I am really satisfied with the result but not with my performance. I had hoped to be able to battle it out for the win but when I had i mediocre day like that I am glad to get on the podium in a strong field.

I had expected that the Abu Dhabi race two weeks earlier might still sit in my legs and with an 8 hour time difference on top of that I was in for a hard day in the office. After 200 km on the bike in a competition the muscles were tired and it definitely affected my biking in California. On the run I decided to use my short distance shoes and that worked out fine. I had a good run where I was able to hold the technique during the race.

Raelert has been training in Florida the past four weeks and was well prepared. When he was world champion in Clearwater this November he destroyed everebody on the run but this time he put the hammer down on the bike, and it looks like he has found his favourite distance. Reed is one of the best in the world in both the non draft Olympic distance and on the 70.3, so it ended up being a strong podium.

Structure in the training next two weeks

I had a great time in California and Oceanside is a really nice place. The area is filled with small hills and a good variety in the terrain. The atmosphere is very nice and the weather is also good even though it is cold in the morning.

I headed straight for Playitas to train with the national team the next two weeks. I will take it easy the first days after the race and then I am looking very much forward to have a good block of steady training for the next weeks.

Top-3:

Michael Raelert, Germany: 3:58:27

Matt Reed, USA: 4:01:17

Rasmus Henning, Denmark: 4:02:07

I kicked off my season in Abu Dhabi with a 3rd place podium finish. It is a new competition hyped all over the triathlon world because of probably the strongest field outside of Hawaii, it was the first race of the season for many and in exotic surroundings and high temperatures, and the distance seemed to favour the strong cyclists (3km swim/200 km bike/20 km run). On top of that the first prize was USD 50,000 - i big prize in triathlon.

The über bikers never got into the game and no one had a big lead off the bike, so it ended up with three alround athletes on the podium = good swimmers, almost as good on the bike as the specialists and good runners. 1: Llanos, 2: Bockel, 3: Me.

I didn't have enough long bike rides in the legs before the competition, so even though I felt good during the race and had a solid chance of winning, I cramped up at the end of the bike and never found my rythm on the run. In all I'm satisfied with my performance and podium finish.

Hope to return next year

I hope to be able to return next year and step up a few steps on the podium. This is a very ambitious race in beautiful surroundings and riding on the Formula1 track on the bike was just fantastic and nicely spotted by the organizers. Even though the F1 circuit was empty of spectators you got a good impression on how the setup for a Formula1 race would be. You could even see the tire marks on the ground.

It is fascinating to be in the United Arab Emirates. Luxurious hotels and large constructions sites all over the place. They have big ambitions so of course the race and the course is too. I had a very positive experience with the locals as well - always smiling and happy to help.

Debut on 70.3

My next race is this Saturday where I will compete at my first 70.3 of my career. Ironman 70.3 California is pretty legendary and my former team mate on the national team, Torbjørn Sindballe, won the race in 2002 and 2005. I have been in the game for over 10 years but this is my first attempt at this distance and I think it will be a good distance for me. I should be able to bike with the best and if I run at my top level I should be the fastest in the field.

Normally I would have more recovery time between competitions than two weeks, especially after a long race like in Abu Dhabi. But it is still early season so hopefully I will be on top of it on Saturday. I have had tough training sessions after the race but it's been better since Saturday where I have had more normal sessions again.

It is difficult to predict what I can do on race day, because I have been told that the weather conditions are somewhat bad and the water cold. I have competed under conditions like these many times before but hotter weather is more to my advantage. I am confident that I can do a good race if I am on top Saturday.

Racing the world champion

I think that my biggest competition is the two Americans Andy Potts and Matt Reed who I have raced many times on the Olympic distance. They are both very strong swimmers and cyclists while they are a little heavier on the run. German Michael Raelert was a surprising world champion in Clearwater this November when he raced in world record time - 3:34:04 with and amazing run of 1:09:06. That is 3:16/km and a very, very good performance on the run so I will look out for him too.

Also the former Ironman World Champion Tim DeBoom (2001 and 2002) is one to look out for while Tim O'Donnell who I have raced many times in the Olympic distance days has developed into a very strong athlete on the 70.3 distance.

Here is a link for the results at the Ironman 70.3 world championships which have been held since 2006: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ironman_70.3

I'm looking forward to the second race of the season!

Best,

Rasmus Henning

www.rasmushenning.com

The inaugural Abu Dhabi Triathlon (3-200-20) is under 24 hours away and I am really looking forward to race the first race of the season!

My build up has been a little unusual when the race is in hot conditions like here. Most of my competition has been here for several days or even weeks to adapt to the heat. I on the other hand have yet again been to Italy for a serious patch of cross country skiing.

I usually perform very well in the heat, so I am not that anxious about having only a couple of days to adapt to the environment here. I took some training sessions on my Specialized on the turbo trainer inside wearing more clothes and a rain coat just to get into the mind set of 200 km in the heat in Abu Dhabi.

So my usually good heat adaption combined with the cross country training which also always gives my form a good boost and that I usually also performs good in the beginning of the season makes me confident in my chances.

I haven’t trained as much on the bike as I would have liked to, but have had some good long sessions and I must admit that my Transition works like a charm. I have high expectations for this bike throughout the season and I am already loving it.

This long 200 km bike section combined with a relatively short run (20k) makes it very difficult to predict a winner. Both Triathlete Magazine and Slowtwitch has me as one of the favourites along with Faris Al-Sultan, Eneko Llanos and Philip Graves.

I am one of the best runners in the field and if some of the uberbikers don’t get too much on me before the run, I think I will be able to run them down even though it is only 20 km.

I will get back with a post race report.

Best,

Rasmus Henning

Hi all,

I’m currently staying in 1.800 meter’s altitude in Italy. I’m with the rest of the triathlon national team and actually also the Danish national team in rowing. It is the second year straight we are on cross country skiing camp with the best Danish rowers. I’m skiing and I’m in the zone!

I have kept a high, stabile level in my training and it feels great. I train hard and long and I’m recovering well and I’m ready for more every day. I had half a rest day on Wednesday with only 2,5 hours of training early in the day but I didn’t really need the rest even though we have trained for 5-6 hours for five days straight.

It seems that I can take the pressure I put on my body, and I haven’t felt fatigued yet. Some of the others have been really tired from the training and have also been sick, but luckily I haven’t dealt with that yet.

Formidable recovery

Here in this training camp I have had great focus on my daily recovery. The past six months I have used a nail mat from time to time and here I have spent 20-30 minutes lying on it every night, usually before I go to sleep. It loosens up my back and also speeds up different processes in the body that are good for recovery. I have also got a device sponsored called NormaTec . Click the link for a picture, it makes it easier to understand what it is.

I brought it with me to Italy and I’m using it one hour every evening. It feels really good for my recovery and my legs haven’t been fatigued in spite on the heavy load of training so the effect seems to be really good.

Lots of skiing

In training we have focused a lot on the cross country skiing and have skied about 200-250 km the first five days. E.g. on Tuesday we had 44 km of skiing with a lot of altitude meters. I love to ski and I know that it’s amazing for my form, so I really enjoy working the tracks down here.

Swimming is kept to about 3 sessions a week. The transport is too long since we have to go to the valley to swim, so I’m just maintaining my swimming form.

The weather changes a lot. We had a blizzard one day with almost zero visibility where we both went out skiing and running with snow directly into the face and eyes. Not my favorite. The next day I was out on my bike in good weather and 8-10 degrees Celsius. What a contrast.

Super Specialized

I have chosen to make my bike training a priority so I will be ready for the Abu Dhabi race on March 13 where the bike segment is 200 km.

I’m happy to have my new Specialized TT Transition bike with me to Italy. I have rode it twice on the turbo trainer and also took it out for a 4,5 hour spin at the valley where I could spend a lot of time in the aero position to make me all set to go for Abu Dhabi.

So far I have the Transition model but later on I’m supposed to get the Shiv model (the one Cancellara won the world TT championship on last year) which should be even better. I’m quite happy about the one I have now though, it runs really smooth and everything about it is perfect. So I look very much forward to racing in Abu Dhabi.

It is kind of an experiment to come almost directly from skiing camp and to 30 degrees Celcius racing but it is interesting to see what happens. I don’t think it matters not to be heat adapting for several reasons: Usually I’m in good shape early in the year, my form gets a big boost from skiing and I don’t have problems with racing in heat at all. My coach Michael Krüger and I will head for Abu Dhabi Wednesday before the race which is Saturday March 13.