<?xml version="1.0"?><rss version="2.0"><channel><title>JoerieVansteelant - Duathlon247</title><link>http://www.duathlon247.com/index.html</link><description>Latest articles submitted by JoerieVansteelant on Duathlon247</description><item><title><![CDATA[A final win for Team Mulhouse]]></title><link><![CDATA[http://www.duathlon247.com/article_5644.html]]></link><description><![CDATA[Last Saturday the French Team Championships were held in the South of France in a beautiful little town called Gruissan. For my team Mulhouse, this was a very special race because the team will no longer exist next year due to financial problems. We hoped to be able to win one more time in order to have a great closure to the season.
 

The distances were a 5km run, followed by a 20km bike and then a 2.5km run to finish. Our strongest opponents were the teams of Marville, Les Sables D&rsquo;Olonne and Gonfreville. Each team consists of a maximum of five athletes and three have to finish. I arrived at the start together with my teammates at Mulhouse, Sergio Silva (POR), Toumy Degham (FRA) and Roger Roca (ESP). Roca and Silva are usually the better runners, while Toumy Degham and myself are the better bikers.


The first 1km of the run was lead by Toumy Degham, because if Sergio Silva had taken the pace we would all have been tired after 1km, not a particularly ideal start to the race! We were running a very consistant pace which was more than fast enough for me after my three weeks of very easy recovery training after Powerman Zofingen. We started two minutes after the team of Marville and the gap remained the same during the first run, but we lost 15 seconds on the team of Les Sables.


During the bike I pushed the pace together with Toumy Degham. Sergio Silva kept up with us, but Roger Roca had to let us go after a few kilometres. Toumy and I were taking strong turns at the front and after 5km we were leading. We came into the second transition with a lead of approximately one minute over the team of Les Sables. The team of Marville suffered some bad luck on the bike leg and were not able to finish the race.


This meant that we didn&rsquo;t have to run all out on the second run, although our coach made us a panic just before the finish by telling us that we had to sprint! We finished with a comfortable lead of 50 seconds over Gonfreville, who were followed very closely by Les Sables.


It has been a fitting last race for the team of Mulhouse. This was my seventh season racing for the team and it will be very odd to race for Gonfreville who I have signed with next year.]]></description></item><item><title><![CDATA[Powerman World Championship race report]]></title><link><![CDATA[http://www.duathlon247.com/article_5618.html]]></link><description><![CDATA[Last weekend Duathlon247 columnist, Joerie Vansteelant, followed in the footsteps of his legendary brother, Benny Vansteelant, when he won the Powerman World Championships. An incredible result considering it was his first time racing over the distance, but, even more outstanding is the fact he broke the world record by a whopping eight minutes and 25 seconds. Joerie sent us in this report on his Powerman World Championship debut.



Last weekend the 21st edition of the Powerman World Championships took place in the Swiss town of Zofingen. This race was my main goal for the year and has the reputation of being extremely hard! Although this was the first I&#039;d participated in, my hopes were to win the event. The distances were a 10k run followed by a 150k time trial and a last run of 30k. Because the very long distance is new to me, my preparation has been very different, and I didn&rsquo;t feel as confident as I usually am pre-race. The field was very strong with amongst others the Swiss winner from last year, Andy Sutz, the New Zealand triathlete Richard Usscher, Jason Spong (RSA) and Anthony Leduey (FRA). The start was at 8.48am, exactly 48 minutes behind the women&#039;s start time because there is also the extra competition called &#039;the battle of the sexes&#039;. There is an extra prize for the first male or female across the finish line.

The first run comprises of two 5k laps with a total of 250 metres of climbing, and this is considered a warm-up for what was is to come! I must say that I found the pace of the first run quite fast, so I sat back a bit and allowed the other athletes to set the pace and do the work so to speak. We came into the first transition with a fairly big group and all the favourite athletes were present. On the bike there were three laps of 50 kilometres, each lap included three hills making a total of 1600 metres of climbing over the total distance covered. During the first bike lap no one wanted to take the initiative and so the pace wasn&#039;t particularly fast. Because of the very big group it was difficult to respect the 10 metre drafting rule. I was afraid of getting a penalty, so I put myself in first position at the foot of the second hill of the day. I was riding my own pace and once over the top I could see that I had a small lead. I didn&rsquo;t know what to do, because this was a bit earlier to take off alone than I had planned. But my legs felt very strong, so I decided to give it a try without over-exerting myself. I continued to extent my lead and meanwhile the group behind me fell apart. During the bike I felt like I didn&rsquo;t have any weak moments and that showed as I came into the second transition with a lead of nine minutes over Andy Sutz and Josh Beck (SUI).

Before the race it was the second run I was most apprehensive about. Not only because of the distance, but mainly the hard running course. More than 500 metres are climbed during the 30k course, most of it off-road, spread over two laps of 15 kilometres. Loudly encouraged by the spectators I began the second run. Things were going very smoothly and according to plan, but I was still a little worried, wondering if I was running fast enough or not, and waiting for confirmation that the other competitors weren&#039;t gaining on me. After 5 kilometres I caught Erika Csomor, the first women, and halfway around the first lap I got the news that I had extended my lead. I also got to hear that I was running and biking record times, but records weren&#039;t really on my mind at that moment. After one lap I was a few minutes under the old record time, but I was still afraid of hitting the wall during the last lap. I kept taking my nutrition, which my coaches handed out perfectly, and my energy levels stayed up. The muscles started to feel very tired over the last 10 kilometres making it feel extremely hard, but I expected nothing less at that stage in the race.

The last few kilometres were downhill and I began to realise that I had produced an impressive performance. I crossed the finish line very, very happy in a new record time of 6.11.35, more than nine minutes faster than the old record. Last years winner, Andy Sutz, was second 16 minutes back, shortly followed by Anthony Leduey. This might just be the strongest and most impressive win of my career so far, so I will make the most of it and enjoy it!
]]></description></item><item><title><![CDATA[Victory comes to those who wait...]]></title><link><![CDATA[http://www.duathlon247.com/article_5603.html]]></link><description><![CDATA[Hi everyone,


Since the middle of July I have been staying at my flat in the French Pyrenees. It&rsquo;s a little town called Font-Romeu at 1800m altitude. There is also a big training centre and a lot of top international athletes come here such as Paula Radcliffe. 


My first three weeks on the training camp were very heavy. I had a lot of volume and I felt very tired when I went back home to compete in Powerman Geel (BEL) on 9th August. The first run was still okay, but on the bike I felt completely empty and I had no power at all. I finished third behind Anthony Leduey (FRA) and Lino Barruncho (POR). This was really the maximum I could achieve that day. Of course I was disappointed and a little worried, but somewhere later I knew the hard work would give its results.


After Geel I came back to Font-Romeu, together with my coach. The weekly volume was a little less but the intensity of the workouts was higher. However, after a big running day of 38 km, spread over two workouts, I started having problems with my back. I was very worried because I was not able to run at all. Thankfully, my coach is also a physiotherapist and after a few days of treatment the pain was almost gone.


Last weekend the beautiful town of Weyer played host to Powerman Austria. This was the fourth time I have competed in this race. The first three times were a success and I hoped that I could win this time as well. After a not so great race two weeks before at Powerman Belgium I hoped that I could show that my current form is good. At the start there was a very strong field, with among others Andy Sutz (SUI), Jason Spong (RSA) Anthony Leduey (FRA), Karl Prungraber (AUT).


The first run was two laps, which made 15,6 km in total. Leduey took the lead from the start and we were quickly seperated from the rest of the field together with Spong, Sutz and myself. Spong had to let us go after approximately five kilometres and a bit later Sutz was also dropped, after an acceleration from Leduey. It seemed that Leduey took off a little to fast because after eight kilometers I took the lead and he was not able to follow me. I continued at my own pace and came into the first transition with a 40 seconds lead on Leduey, shortly followed by Sutz and Spong.


The cycling course was changed this year, and this made the race quite a bit harder with the total distance longer at 82.4 km spread over two laps, and more testing hills. Immediately after transition I felt really powerful and I used this to extend my lead. Shortly after transition there was a steep climb of a few kilometres with some parts at a gradient of 18%. Once over the top my lead was almost two minutes. The bike went very smoothly for me and I came into second transition with a very comfortable lead of eight minutes.


I could afford to take the second run of 7.3 km very easy and enjoy my win. I reached the finish very satisfied after 3h27min, seven minutes in front of Anthony Leduey and Andy Sutz. In the evening I had a drink with the people from the organization and  the very friendly homestay family.


After the race I came back to Font-Romeu to finish my preparation for Powerman Zofingen. A lot of people wonder why I come back here, because there is not so much training left to do. This is just because I almost always feel at my best when I do a race immediately after altitude training.


Tom Lowe joined me here for the last two weeks. We have done a lot of training camps together in the past, lets hope he is able to race again next year, because he has been injured for too long now.


So my next race is the Powerman World Championships in Zofingen on 6th September, and this is my main goal for the season. This will undoubtedly be a very hard and tough race because it is the first time that I will have competed over this kind of distance, which comprises of a 10km run, followed by 150km on the bike, and a 30km run to finish. But the dominating win in Austria has given me a lot of confidence.


Good luck to all racing in Zofingen!

Joerie]]></description></item><item><title><![CDATA[More than just training!]]></title><link><![CDATA[http://www.duathlon247.com/article_5567.html]]></link><description><![CDATA[Some time ago Annie Emmerson asked me if I wanted to be involved in some way with the Duathlon247 website. Of course I couldn&#039;t say no to this great idea, it is what duathlon has needed for some time! I do hope you will enjoy my column each month. I will be updating you regularly about my races and training camps and will be discussing different ways on how we can  help grow the sport.

So for the time being a short update on what I have been up to and what lies in-store for me over the next few months: 

The last few weeks have been very quiet for me. At the beginning of the season I set two main goals which were the European Powerman Championships in Horst, Holland and the World Powerman Championships in Zofingen, Switzerland. After my win at the European championships Powerman I wanted to do the European Championships Short Distance as well, but unfortunately I was ill for two weeks and had to cancel this race. Because of the long season it seemed like a good idea to take a little rest, before the heavy work. Rest for me means one short training session a day and spending some time with my friends. The 21st June was my 27th birthday and the weather was perfect to organize a nice BBQ at home. As you can see we had a lot of fun!

So, being a full-time athlete isn&#039;t always about training hard, we do have some fun times as well. I&#039;ll write again soon, in the meantime happy training to everyone.]]></description></item></channel></rss>
