Beginning of December I packed my bags and said farewell to Galicia to spent the winter in Fuerteventura. After I purchased my Half-Ironman-Professional-Licence, I had to prepare my legs and
especially my mind for this project.
Three weeks in December and four weeks in January with a short Christmas-break in Germany.
The main focus was obviously on the bike but I also spent lots of hours in the gym, to get the strength for the later training intensity and the races.
Very nice at the Playitas Resort is that every year I meet many friends again. Although everyone pulls through his own daily work out, the gym is the main meeting point after the training is done and the newest news get spread while stretching or doing Pilates.
Fuerteventura translated means "strong wind" which is maybe the negative point of the island. It often happens that I fight against the wind with a 20-22 km/h average and on the way back easily pedal with 50 km/h and do the same distance in half the time. But exactly this strong wind and the sandy roads which makes every step difficult, increase the efficiency of my base training. At the next race, in which I run on asphalt, I will have the sensation as if someone let go an elastic band.
And the next race is coming up soon. I will be in Germany now for ten days, to have a short rest, change my bike and repack my bags. The 10th of February I fly to Panama, where on the 16th, the 70.3 Half Ironman takes place. From Pananma I fly directly to Neuseeland. In Wanaka, close to Queenstown on the South Island, I will keep working on my shape and fulfil a long time dream to spent one month in one of the most beautiful places in the world.
