That's all, folks!

Some days ago I got the refusal of my application for Zürich 2014. The mail was generously written in Dutch, I believe with the intention to enhance my foreign language skills. But I took anyway the easy way and asked Mr. Google for a translation and as far as I understood, there were many, many more applicants as available places (20:1 or so).

And too be honest, I'm not in the position to compete with the best runners over 21k or with the swimmers in the pool. Insofar the decision is probably fair and correct. (Maybe I will change me mind if not all BeNeLux runners are under 1:25 over the 21 km)

Now, I could write some words about transparent decision taking processes, about qualification competitions, about a sufficient, well-timed information. But, of course, I don't do so, not in the Internet!

It would have been great to meet some or all of you in Zürich, who contacted me over the last four years via this little blog. And to write again about Allianz Sports. Instead I wish you all the best for your competitions in Zürich. Train hard, take it serious, expect a near professional level of competition and give your very best. Enjoy the international spirit, friendship and, of course, the party. Take some beers for me!

I will work this year on my cycling race come-back and have some great plans, not all is ripe for decision yet. If you want, you can follow me on Twitter, Instagram or via www.unterlenker.com.

Have fun - All the Best

Boris

Call for Results

Last week we got the "call for results" from the BENELUX team captain Edward. There is no qualification, the nomination will be a round table decision. There are 170 applicants and only 17 places. Due to my long lasting shoulder injury I have no swimming results since two years. And to be honest, I recognized that I'm a cyclist, not a swimmer, and if not a cyclist, than a triathlete, and if not a triathlete than I'm a runner.

I sent all my results from 2013, two sprint distance triathlons, one mountain time trial race and the last result from yesterday, a 10k road run.

My last Half-Marathon was some years ago, my best time 1:39 or 1:38 something. If I take in consideration that I weight less and that I'm in a much better shape and focus my training on the 21 km race, a time around 1:25 should be realistic.

It would be great to blog again about the preparation for and the Allianz Sports itself and to meet all the people who contacted me over this web site.

Now the only thing I can do is waiting. Keep your fingers crossed for me!

Be-Ne-Lux

A few days ago we got the information that Luxembourg doesn't get his own team, instead we will be part of the new BeNeLux team (Belgium, Netherlands, Luxembourg). 2010 in Hungary we (Vanessa and myself) have been the Lux part of the BeLux team. I believe we were eleven plus Edward, our team captain.

Now it seems, that the central organization team detected, that the team from the Netherlands was bigger than the usual rate of athletes per employees. I'm not 100% sure, but I think it works as follows: At a given point in time the organization team takes the number of employees of Allianz S.E. on one hand and the number of athletes allowed for the next games on the other hand. The ratio between both is the percentage for each country or region. That means that countries with a lot of Allianz employees can send a big team to the games (like e.g. Germany). A country with only a few employes can send probably only one or it will be aggregated with other countries in the region (like Luxembourg).

In the past, Netherlands sent 25 athletes. Much more than Allianz employes peoples in this country (probably). The new number is now 19 (!) for Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg togehter. 19 instead of 36! So you can imagine, the qualification will be very hard.

The only two sports where I have a chance not to stultify myself are swimming and running. But I have no results who can prove my competitiveness. This year I cycled and made Triathlons, but no Half-Marathons and no real Swimming. So it seems, I have to leave Zürich out.

But the hope dies last. I'll keep you posted.

Qualification for Zürich

Today I found out that the registration process for the next Allianz Games 2014 in Zurich is open and I registered myself immediately. Not sure so far how the process will be for the BeLux team and if there will be a joined BeLux team at all.

Unfortunaly cycling is again not part of the allianz games :-( . So I registered for swimming and the half marathon. 2014 I will celebrate my 40th birthday, that means I have to swim only 50m sprints. I checked for freestyle, breaststroke, backstroke and butterfly.

Swimming.lu

Seit Frühjahr diesen Jahres mit ich Mitglied bei Swimming.lu. Das ist der Schwimmverein hier in Luxembourg. www.Swimming.Lu

Ich schwimme bei den Masters. Masters sind über 25 Jahre und betreiben den Sport als Amateure und zum Spass. Es geht nicht darum neue Rekorde aufzustellen (Obwohl die, die Wettkämpfe bestreiten natürlich auch auf die Zeiten schauen).

Die Trainingsmöglichkeiten sind fantastisch. Training ist neun mal in der Woche im Wasser und zusätzlich ein mal im Kraftraum. Davon 4 x auf 50m Bahnen und 6 x in kleinen Becken. Dabei stehen uns mindestens 3 Bahnen zur Verfügung, meistens aber die gesamten Becken. In jedem Training ist ein Trainer dabei, der mit Rat und Tat zur Seite steht.

Daneben finden aber auch viele andere Sachen statt. Es werden grosse Meetings veranstaltet (und das perfekt), Schwimmschule, Leistungsschwimmen... schaut einfach mal auf der Internetseite vorbei.

Alles sehr zu empfehlen!!!

No Swimming

Not related to swimming, but nevertheless splashy:

German or English

Readers, following Google Analytics I have page views from around the world. The question I'm asking myself is now: Are the page views only page views or are behind the page views also readers? And if yes, should I blog in German or in English or in both languages alternately?

Pro German is:
- It's easier for me and much faster
- Cobbler, stick to your last!

Pro English is:
- A good exercise to improve my English
- A good chance to make you laughing
- To reach people around the world

You find on the right hand side a poll! Please vote!!

At the moment I plan to blog until the next Sports in Zürich and tell about my improvement in the water, the training, the masters swimming and ....

Bücher über Schwimmen

Wie immer wenn ich mit irgendetwas anfange kaufe ich mir Bücher darüber. So auch beim Schwimmen. Ich habe mir zugelegt:
- Schwimmen-Die-100-besten-Übungen von Blythe Lucero,
- Besser-Schwimmen-allen-Stilarten von Michael Hahn
- Schwimmen-Anatomie von Ian McLeod

Am interessantesten ist das Anatomie Buch. Für jeden Muskel / jede Muskelgruppe gibt es eine detaillierte anatomische Zeichnung die zeigt wie der Muskel arbeitet. Dazu wird gezeigt, wie der Muskel beim Schwimmen eingesetzt wird und Trockenübungen zur gezielten Kräftigung.

Schwimmen, die 100 besten Übungen sind auch sehr gut, allerdings ist es mehr für den Trainer am Beckenrand gemacht, der die Drills genannten Übungen überwacht. Aber ich werde es versuchen. Es gibt zu jedem Drill Feedbacktabellen, die einem auch ohne externe Hilfe erlauben, Fehler zu entdecken.

Besser Schwimmen zeigt ganz gut die Bewegungsmuster im Zusammenhang, wenn auch mit 150 Seiten für alle Stilarten nicht sehr detailliert.

Was ich partout nicht gefunden habe, ist ein Buch über Trainingsmethodik beim Schwimmen. Wie ist die Saison zu planen? Was ist am besten wann zu trainieren? Kraft, Technik, Schnelligkeit, Ausdauer?

Falls jemand ein gutes Buch diesbezüglich kennt, bitte melden!

So, dann fange ich mal an zu lesen, ......

Im Körper der Topathleten

Vor einiger Zeit ist in Arte eine mehrteilige Dokumentation mit dem deutschen Titel "Im Körper der Topathleten" gelaufen. Eine der Folgen hat Michael Phelps begleitet und gezeigt was ihn so besonders macht, wie er trainiert und wie er schwimmt. Sensationell.

Vielen Dank an Birgit für den Tip.

Ich habe es nur noch auf Youtube gefunden. Hier Teil eins der Phelps Folge:

Lux Open Masters 2010 - Ergebnisse

Ich habe drei Bronze und eine Silber Medaille gewonnen! Ist das nicht unglaublich? Es müssen eben nur wenig genug Starter sein und schon ist man vorne dabei. Gut, das macht die Zeiten auch nicht besser. Immerhin war ich jeweils etwa eine Sekunde schneller als in Budapest. Wenn ich dann das nicht ganz so umfangreiche Training seit Ungarn berücksichtige, war es ok.

100m Kraul - 1:10,66

100m Brust - 1:31,57

Dazu bin ich noch in der 4x50m Mixed Lagen und in der 4x50m Männer Staffel die Bruststrecke geschwommen und mit der 4x50m Freistil Männer Staffel an de Start gegangen.

Alle Ergebnisse hier.

Das Meeting fand übrigens im "Schulschwimbad" auf dem Campus Geesseknäpchen statt. Vom Feinsten, olympisches Becken, elektonische Zeitmessung, 25m Becken zum Ein und Ausschwimmen.

In dem Becken findet übrigens das Training der Masters von SL (Swimming Luxembourg) am Freitag Abend statt.
 
Medaillen gibt es bei 250 Starten, verteilt auf Altersklassen von 20 bis über 70 (alle 5 Jahre eine Klasse), je für Männer und Frauen und 40 Rennen natürlich ne ganze Menge:

In den nächsten Tagen werde ich beginnen mir über das Training über Winter Gedanken zu machen und wie ich das nächste Jahr abgehen werde. Qualifikationszeiten für die Masters Weltmeisterschaften wären ein Ziel. Müsste ich rund fünf Sekunden schneller schwimmen. Werde berichten.

Lux Open Masters 2010

Last posts are a few weeks ago. But I'm still in training and the next competition is in October the Lux Open Masters 2010. I'll start over 100m freestyle and 100m breaststroke. And maybe with a relay, I don't know if someone else from SL (Swimming Luxembourg) wants to start with a relay.

More in the next days...

VI Allianz Sports against XIII Fina World Masters Championchips

To give you an impression how high the level at Allianz Sports is here the promised compare between the Allianz Sports (AS) results of the under 40 year old mens and the World Masters Championchips (WMC) in the 35 to 39 years class and the rang of the Allianz Sports result.

 AS (=WMC rang) / WMC

100m Free: 55.32 (6.) / 54.94

200m Free: 2:04.55 (5.) / 2:03.45

100m Breast: 1:11.84 (13.) / 1:05.38

100m Back: 1:03.55 (4.) / 1:01.33

100m Fly: 1:05:53 (17.) / 58.85

Fina World Master Championschips

Time to say Goodbye!

Four really amazing days come to an end.

I have to say, that the Allianz Sports here in Budapest is one off the things I will never forget in my lifetime. I hope, I could give you an impression how fantastic Allianz Sports is, but also how high and how professional the level off the competitions are. It's real sport, real fight, not a fun-event.

And I'm part off it!! Yeaa!!!

Time to say goodbye.

Goodbye Edward and goodbye team.
Goodbye Willem and Claus from the Nedderlands.
Goodbye Mary from Chicago and Michael from Wisconsins.
Goodbye Eduardo from Brazil and C.B. Green, it was nice to meet you.
Goodbye Katarina from Executive Events, very nice talk!

Goodbye Allianz Sports, goodbye Hungary, goodbye all others.

Cu 2014 in Zürich !!!!

Time to say Thank You!

Thank you AGI Lux that you incurred the widely predominant part of the travel costs and thank you for the extra day off!

Thank you Edward, our Teamcaptain and the whole BeLux team for the warming welcome, the support and the great friendship!

Thank you again Edward and thank you, Mr. Franssen for the great equipment and the assumption of the costs for the extra night in Budapest. That`s really generous!

Thank you Willem from the Nedderlands for organizing the 4x50 freestyle relay. It was my personal Allianz moment off the games. Thank you Mariona for swimming with us amateurs, it was great! And thank you Mary from Chicago for giving your very best, it was an impressiv effort, no warm-up, start and go!

Thank you Birgit, you had hold the line in the Office alone during the Allianz Sports!

Thank you, Allianz Hungary and Executive Events for the perfect organization and the amazing experience!

Thank you Michael for paying for that all!!!

Thank you Sabrina for your support and your patience for all the training over the last months. I love you.

Many thanks you all!

Viva Colognia

Das müsst Ihr Euch ansehen, Viva Colognia ab 1:20

Charity

"Together, we celebrate. As a community we help.
As a community, we want to help others, who are not as fortunate as we are."

The employees of AGI Lux gathered 384,20 Euros and the company doubled to 768,40 Euros. Thank you all!!

At the end 100.000 Euros were collected for the two charity projects:

Party Time!!!

The closing ceremony was superb. Great show, great food from the Four Seasons Hotel Gresham Palace Budapest, great music, live and from a DJ, smoking Cohibas, trinking alcohol, dancing the whole night, made a lot of aquaintences.

Some of the Allianz Sports veterans told me, that it was nothing compared with Munich, Mailand or Paris. But for me, I participated the first time, I can only say:

BOOOOAAAAAHHHHHHH, WAS FÜR EINE PARTY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


UNBELIEVABlE - TREMENDOUS - AMAZING - INCREDIBLE

So,  I have to leave the hotel room at 10:00, try know to sleep a few hours. We will later today visit Budapest. .....

 

Hop Swiss !!

Die VII Allianz Sports 2014 werden in Zürich ausgetragen!!

Hop Swiss Hop Swiss Hop Swiss

Watching Sport

After a late breakfast I toke the bus over to Alfred Hajos Swim Stadium and watched the finals. The level is really high. I will search for the results of the last masters world championships and I think the results here are not much worse. I'll tell you.

After the last relay I jumped in the pool and made a few lanes, but it was not the refreshment I expected, even the water is to warm, if you go out of the water, five minutes later you are again total sweaty.

Then I watched the final of the soccer tournament, Swiss against Croatia. After the first half the swiss was in front with 2:0, but at the end Croatia won.

The last competition was then the mixed swedish relay. That's 1000, 800, 600, 400, 200m and at least two women. It was very impressive to see the french woman who ran the 200m. She is a former professional sprinter and she ran like a motobike. Unbelievable.

Tonight is the closing ceremony. The shuttle busses will start at 5:00 at the hotels and the end of the journey is still a surprise. But we expect a great show and a fantastic party afterwards. Three cities / countries are traded actually as the next hosting cities for the Allianz Sports 2014, but pssst, it's still a secret: Vienna, Madrid or somewhere in the Suisse. Or, but that's more a wish than a real possibility: the USA 2015. 2015 are a few jubilees for Allianz, also in the US. So it could happen, that the next games are 2015, one year later then usual but then in the US.

Here a few impressions from today, more in the slide show:

Bootstour

Gestern Abend waren wir auf einer Donau Bootstour der Allianz Versicherung, zu der Mr. Cucchiani, der CEO von Allianz ex Deutschland, Nordamerika und Asien eingeladen hat. Einige Konzerngesellschaften veranstalten für Ihre Mitarbeiter im Rahmen der Allianz Sports eigene Events. Vanessa und ich haben dort also gar nicht hingehört und wurden sozusagen von unseren belgischen Freunden an Bord geschmuggelt. Es gab ein Buffet und einen tollen Blick auf Budapest bei Nacht. Seht selbst:







Die Mitarbeiter von Mondial Assistance und Euler Hermes aus unserem Team waren ebenfalls auf Veranstaltungen Ihrer Gesellschaften.

Hey, Herr Faber! Warum gibt es keine Allianz Global Investors Party??!