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Gobi March Blogs 2010

Arjan Roukema

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Gobi March (2010) blog posts from Arjan Roukema

19 June 2010 04:32 am (GMT+08:00) Beijing, Chongqing, Hong Kong, Urumqi

Next week around this time we`ll be in first camp. Really looking forward to it and last tuesday we had a small but great gathering of this years and previous years competitors. was a great evening, Sam thanks for organising.
Tomorrow will do some final test run with full equipment and see if some additional food can be added. Believe I stripped the rest already to its bare minimum. 
Read some last blogs on slippers and this may indeed be a good idea. Food wise its about 10 freeze dried meals, oatmeal breakfast, raisins, some gels and Nuun, muesli bars, cup a soups, jelly beans. Anyway will be a long day flying and looking forward to meet the fellow competitors.

Comments: Total (21) comments

Posted On: 03 Jul 2010 02:42 pm

Als je dit leest ben je klaar. Ongeloofelijke prestatie. En nu weer normaal doen voor een tijdje,

Posted On: 02 Jul 2010 04:58 pm

Hi Arjan, Goed van je! Nog even en dan ben je onze held.... Echt enorm stoer en we zijn sterk onder de indruk...... For recovery purposes only.... Feel the Power....all the way from L.A. Heggy & the BaBoons

Posted On: 02 Jul 2010 06:37 am

Hey Lief, je sttat nog niet bij de uitslagen maar was erg blij met je berichtje dat je het gehaald hebt. Je kunt trots op jezelf zijn. Knap hoor. Nu de laatste etappe nog en dan is het weer gedaan en op naar de normale voeding weer. Geniet nog even van de woestijn, voor je het weet zit weer in Fiji.

Posted On: 01 Jul 2010 07:24 am

hello woestijnloper zoals ik in de berichtjes lees gaat het erg goed laatste loodjes zet hem nog even op knuffel mam

Posted On: 30 Jun 2010 02:03 pm

Go Arjan. Hou vol, gedachten uitschakelen, blik op oneindig (dat is volgens mij ook het enige wat je ziet).

Posted On: 30 Jun 2010 07:31 am

Hey Lief, je staat 28e, niet dat het er wat toedoet, maar ik ben wel trots op je hoor. Volgens mij gaat het lekker met je en ben je aan het genieten van een weekje zonder ons. Hahaha. Morgen de zware klus, maar ik heb er echt vertrouwen in dat je het super gaat doen. Nu jij nog. Veel liefs van alle meiden van je. Dikke X en ook morgen en overmorgen gaan we aan je denken. NL-BRA kwartfinale voor het geval je opeens voor voetbal interessert.

Posted On: 30 Jun 2010 01:09 am

Yo Arjan,...Go Arjan,...Yo Arjan,...Go Arjan,....Yo Arjan,...Go Arjan,....Yo Arjan,...Go Arjan,....Yo Arjan,...Go Arjan,....Yo Arjan,...Go Arjan,...Yo Arjan,...Go Arjan, RANK 30!!! Dauuuhhhh Heggy & the BaBoons

Posted On: 29 Jun 2010 01:58 pm

lieve ar het gaat goed met mij en volgens mij gaat het ook goed metjouw zet lekker door kus mam

Posted On: 29 Jun 2010 10:24 am

Hoi Arjan, Zo te lezen ga je als een speer en loop je net lekker warm. Tussen het pakken van de koffers denken we aan jou en lopen we extra de trappen op en neer. Hou vol en we hebben er alle vertrouwen in! Feel the Power....from Heggy en the BaBoons.

Posted On: 28 Jun 2010 06:32 pm

Dag Buurman, Zet hem op. We zijn trots op je en weten dat je een diesel bent en de laatset dagen gaat toeslaan. Eddy

Posted On: 28 Jun 2010 06:18 pm

Hooi arjan zet hem op met sporten ik hoop dat je eerste word

Posted On: 28 Jun 2010 06:11 pm

heey arjan, ik hoop dat je het heel goed doet en dat je dit lang blijft doen de ironman, ga zo door groetjes daan

Posted On: 28 Jun 2010 06:07 pm

hup papa, zet hem op je kan het met de wedstrijd. Heb je het goed gedaan papa met de ironman? groetjes Bente

Posted On: 28 Jun 2010 06:03 pm

Hey lieverd, je bent weer binnen dus dag 2 is ook goed gegaan. Je bent 32e geworden en het gaat volgens mij super. Hou vol dat doen wij ook, we denken veel aan je. Veel liefs Saskia en de meiden.

Posted On: 28 Jun 2010 04:46 pm

Hoi ar, ik hoor dat de 1e dag goed verlopen is, fantastisch, nu nog 5 tegaan. Succes verder en ik hoop dat je het vol kan houden, groetjes Ilco

Posted On: 28 Jun 2010 10:02 am

Hoi pap, je kunt het wij geloven in je. oma zet hem op lieverd je kunt het.

Posted On: 28 Jun 2010 03:03 am

Hi Arjan, I'll follow your blog. Don't forget to keep the spirit up!!!! Good luck and enjoy!!!

Posted On: 27 Jun 2010 01:37 pm

Hey Smoppie, Hopelijk is je eerste dag goed gegaan. We denken aan je en hopen dat alles goed gaat. Heel veel liefs van de hele boerderij. Dikke x van ons allen.

Posted On: 26 Jun 2010 10:30 am

Hi Arjan, "Pain is weakness leaving the body" . The Dopjes will follow your endeavour and we look forward to reading about your succes and progress. Loop ze!! Joost

Posted On: 26 Jun 2010 02:37 am

Gotcha..! Hi Arjan, We will follow your Blog and give you mental support, all the way from Singapore to L.A. Stay focused and good luck with the preparations. How was the flight?...

Posted On: 24 Jun 2010 04:58 pm

Hi Arjan, I will check your blog. Good luck with your training. 7 days walking through the dessert is insane.

13 April 2010 12:19 pm (GMT+08:00) Beijing, Chongqing, Hong Kong, Urumqi

Being in between jobs, after a failed attempt to finish ironman China due to serious case of dehydration ending up in the medical tent...I have started to take a serious look at the mandatory gear list and wonder how this will all fit into a small backpack. Last week started to collect most of the stuff including the recommended 1 1/2 size to big shoes: a pair of Salomon trail runners. Training is now on and build further on the ironman base. I keep the swimming and biking in for aerobic work, avoidance of injury and differentiation. Doing about 3 or 4 runs a week with an increasingly longer one in the weekend now at 2 / 3 hours. Also trying various walk / running methods as suggested by some tri-collegues.

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27 February 2010 04:13 am (GMT+08:00) Beijing, Chongqing, Hong Kong, Urumqi

The last months main focus was to get ready for Ironman China. This will be my second full distance ironmand event. Its organised on Hainan, almost the most southern point of China. These last 2 weeks I will be tapering to give the essential rest to the body. 
Over the last weekend had a friend over, a militairy man. he just did 6 months in Afghanistan managing mobile hospitals. With a lot of experience in long marches in the heat he gave some, own experience based tips. Dry socks, pretty essential, preventive taping another one but try what works in training. Do some sessions with more weights but shorter and add gym work and pilatus to the routine to prevent injuries and increase strenght.

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13 December 2009 04:24 am (GMT+08:00) Beijing, Chongqing, Hong Kong, Urumqi

After a time of rest, doing other things and chasing other interests it feels good to get back into the rhytme. The first weeks tend to be "bumpy" as ones quickly adopted lifestyle to these "other things in life" will have to make way for the schedule. Typically disciplined, fixed workouts on fixed times: the only way to combine things with family first and foremost and work. I tend to pencil everything for the coming week in the family diary so everybody knows where I am, doing what and I can plan things around the activities of the rest of the team. This has worked very well. I have noticed that a "schedule" can be quite addictive and missing on planned workouts at some stage feels like dissaster struck. It takes some time to realise this is hardly the case.

The current schedule is a combination of 8 fixed sessions and 3 flexible. A week will typically look like this:

monday morning: 1 hr swimming
monday evening: strenght esp core
tuesday morning: flexible ( mostly bike ride of 2 hrs)
tuesday evening: short run up to 1 hour
wednesday morning: 1 hr swimming
wednesday evening: flexible (mostly running up to 90 mins)
thursday morning: bike ride
thursday evening: flexible
friday: strength
saturday: long bike (up to 5 hrs)
sunday: lond run (up to 3 hrs)
saturday or sunday: recovery swim

Running is at this stage evenly distributed with the rest. Tend to increase this when we move into February. Almost all sessions are at low intensity with a main focus on building endurance and strengthening the body.

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26 November 2009 09:36 am (GMT+08:00) Beijing, Chongqing, Hong Kong, Urumqi

Normally when the preparation starts for big event, motivation reaches alltime highes. Fortunately here in Singapore we are not battered by the low temperatures in Europe so the battle against the heat continues. The rainy season has kicked in big time last weeks so that brings some "colder weather" Singapore winters seldom reach lows of 24 degrees. Despite favourable weather condition the body thinks differently with a lung infection beating a serious hole in the first couple weeks of the schedule. Basically it comes down to resting whilst not tired at all. So some more reading on nutrition, checking out how to save weight and wondering how to stuff 6 days of food, clothing and other mandatory stuff into a 30 liter bag and keeping weight below 10kg?? For now i have not found the answer. 
So finally after couple weeks of waiting i got cleared and commenced the schedule. I use the ironman China as a endurance builder up to Gobi. This includes clearly next to running biking and swimming. I have always found this an excellent way to enhance general endurance capability and at the same time avoid injuries. Especially the swimming is excellent and can be used as a powerfull recovery tool for lots of running. So we move into the coming weeks with about 3 runs a week, 2 swims and 2 bikes. Keep the long run limited at 2 hours for now but do it offroad through the jungle up here. Everything is low heart rate though. Just getting in the miles.  

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09 November 2009 04:55 am (GMT+08:00) Beijing, Chongqing, Hong Kong, Urumqi

Allthough it is still a long time to go, my first 50 km race in Singapore weather and humidity learned me that some more work may be required to finish the Gobi march properly. Today is also the "official" start of my preparation for Ironman China, 14 March 2010. This is the first main goal for 2010; Gobi comes after that and IM China will be an excellent base to build from.

Living and racing in Singapore now for 2 years, one thing worries me most: the heat. On multiple occassions is ended up dehydrated, one time so severe an IV was needed to get the engine going again. I have "consulted" many experienced and seasoned athletes, some nutritionists and done tonnes of reading on the subject. The matter remains that for bigger athletes like myself (1.92 or 6.3 ft and between 81 and 85 kg) it is still a challenge. The sweat rate is higher and if the heartrate rises above certain levels it goes downhill even faster. So an extra case of salttablets and electrolytes are a must. I hope to get some insight info from past participants on their experience.

Comments: Total (1) comments

Posted On: 29 Nov 2009 08:33 pm

klasse arjan,een hele opgaaf en ik wens je heel veel succes en gezonheid,wij blijven je volgen en zijn trots op jouw en je gezin.opa piet en oma rina.