28 April 2016

Last year’s Costain 150 Challenge began Stephan “SVB” van Brummelen on a remarkable journey that’s set to culminate in the Maastricht Ironman in July this year.

Stephan, Framework MEICA Manager for Severn Trent, set himself the challenge of completing the Lanzarote Ironman 70.3 - a 1.9km swim, a 90km bike ride and a 21km half marathon - to raise money for the four Costain 150 charities. He finished the event in just under five hours 20 minutes and also completed the 150-mile Coast-to-Coast Cycle Challenge to raise a total of over £1500.

Now Stephan has now decided to attempt a full Ironman in Maastricht in his home country of the Netherlands. The course comprises of a 3.8km swim in the river Maas, a 180km bike ride around Maastricht and the Limburg area crossing the border into Belgium, and a 42.2km run through Maastricht finishing in the Markt market square in the centre of the city.

“I wanted to go beyond Lanzarote and become an Ironman to complete the journey,” said Stephan. “I was happy with my time in the event but wondered what I could have done differently to have performed better.”

So for the full Ironman Stephan has engaged a coach to give his training more structure and better focus in the limited time available between work and family life. “Looking back I realized that at times I had concentrated on the disciplines I enjoyed doing and neglected the ones that probably needed more work. It was hard at first to let go of planning my own training sessions but after the first few weeks I felt stronger and, being an engineer, I really appreciated the data on every aspect of my training my coach can give me.”

Stephan has also subjected himself to endurance and fitness tests at Worcester University’s Institute of Sports and Exercise Science. “I decided to carry out VO2 max and lactate threshold tests. The VO2 max is probably one of the most uncomfortable things I have ever done as this test pushed me to my very limit but it’s been a very useful tool for my training sessions over the last few months.”

Training currently consists of around 10 training sessions per week. It means a lot of early starts but Stephan’s not complaining. “Having discovered a passion for triathlon, I’m on a journey of discovery to see what I am truly capable of.”

 

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