Blog: Project Superman – From Average Age Grouper To Elite Athlete (11/03)

It’s a funny thing how, every time you move to the start box of an Iron man race, you get that feeling “I’m going to amaze friends and enemies today…” You know it’s not true of course. It couldn’t be. Not with the preparation you’ve had, the sleepless night, the crying kids, the overtime you had to put in at work and all the training that you missed for one reason or another… But still, there’s that ‘what if’-itch. Every single time …

Photographer: Tony Mussche

I had never taken Ironman training and racing too seriously. Sure, it was the best and most glorious sport I had ever done. I thoroughly enjoyed it. But I also thoroughly enjoy writing and playing in a band, I enjoyed photography a lot, I liked being on a film set, screenplay writing and directing music videos, I liked wine tasting and I loved to go out and party. Until, last year on only a few hundred kilometers of bike training, recovering from a broken elbow and with no swim training at all, I posted a 10:15 Iron Man Distance result and a 4:56 bike split.
Right there and then, I decided to pursue that ‘What if’-feeling. I dropped the ‘What’ and started making a list: IF I want to get serious about triathlon, I’m going to have to …, IF I want to go fast on the bike, I need, …

Shortly before that, with my arm still in a plaster cast, I had been watching an IM Lanzarote DVD. There was in interview with Luc Van Lierde on it, in which Luc explained how, after a down period, age groupers inspired him. He said that when he saw them invest so much into their sport, saving for their registrations, for their bikes, struggling to get their training fitted into their professional-, social-, and family lives, he felt almost guilty. So he decided to pick himself up and get focused again. Luc finished second in Lanzarote that year. And I got inspired by his motivational words. Suddenly I felt that I owed it to myself, to this sport and to every other age grouper to stop messing around and get with the program.

I needed to set some goals. And I needed to stop being content so quickly. Rather than aiming for a 10:15 after 5-week training period, I needed to commit. Start training in November and stày dedicated until October. I needed a big goal. And it was easily found “As a middle-aged age grouper, with a 50 hour a week job, get as close to the pros as you can by the end of the season”. And in the process try and leave at least some of the pros behind me in some of the races.  Finding a goal proved not to be difficult at all.

Next up was finding the right people to help me achieve that goal. Rather by coincidence, I met former elite cyclist Dave Bruylants. He was now CEO at his own company, named Concap; I was interviewing him about his life after cycling. Dave had started producing high-end food supplements for athletes. After the interview he told me that he had picked up duathlon, just for fun. Of course, I told him that I was a triathlete and I told him about Project Superman. Dave immediately loved the idea. He gave me names, introduced me to the right people, gave me my first coaching advice, and gave me food supplements and dietary coaching. He led me to professional bike fitter John Meuleman from Retul, who in his turn, told me he thought the best bike for this project would be the Scott Plasma.  Because it was very light and extremely aero but even more because it was a bike that would treat on my weak and tortured back with kindness. Next thing I started sending e-mails and faxes to companies with little or no hope of them getting involved with an unknown nobody from Belgium with no prove athletic potential whatsoever.

But to my astonishment, most of them replied almost instantly, all telling me that they thought this project was a great idea. The thought of combining the heart and soul that defines most age groupers with the ambition and sheer hunger of a pro-athlete really appealed a lot to them. Florian Brugger of Scott-Sports put it this way: “If you really think of it, an age grouper pushing himself and doing punishing work-outs in spite of a 45 hour/week job is closer to our core audience than those few, almost unique athletes who are the symbol of our brand. The elite athletes are our Formula-1 drivers. But the age-groupers are the people brands like Scott produce bikes for”.

Next thing I know, I was in Fribourg, at Scott’s  European’s headquarters signing  a contract as ‘goodwill ambassador’ and an ‘opinion leader and picking up my Scott Plasma 10. Which is not the most expensive triathlon bike in the market, by the way.  Not by far.  It’s just a fast yet affordable bike accessible to most age groupers. And that’s the way I wanted it for all all my gear and equipment. I will be going head-on with some very serious athletes, with nothing but gear that you can buy off the shelf. No prototypes, no ‘specials’.

After Scott, the others followed quickly: Bioracer, Vomaxine, elite swimmer and bobsleigh Olympian Bieke Vandenabeele as my swim coach, Belgian tri-coaching legend Filippe De Borger, Zoot Wetsuits (Jaje Jansen from Zoot simply replied: “great project, Peter, great promotion for the sport, we’ll support you”, and two weeks later, the new Zenith was in a box on my doorstep) even former Astana- and US Postal osteopath Sasha Becquart, who also treated Magic Johnson and Dennis Rodman offered me their knowledge and services. With such a team, how could I do anything but shine? So now there is a new factor at play: pressure. All of a sudden, failure is not an option anymore. The team would like me to do well especially in two races: Limburg 226, which is a new Iron Man Distance race in Belgium and the almost brand new Barcelona Challenge in October. In those two, we are aiming for top-5 and top-10 overall. The rest of the races, my coach says, I will be paying learning money. Trial and error.  For myself, I would like to perform really good in Zürich. But who knows what will happen?

In the 8 months to come, I will be talking to and training with the likes of Ain-Alar Juhansson,  Luc Van Lierde, Mark Allen, Marc Herremans, … I will share every bit of knowledge I get from them with any fellow age grouper who asks for it. Don’t hesitate to send me all of your questions, doubts, remarks. And your encouragements. I’ll need them.

Follow Peter Lissens on his journey at www.projectsuperman.be

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