Author Archives: Nick Martin

Sprint Triathlon 2011 4-18-4 Copenhagen Beach Park

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The day after my brother Julian competed in his 1st Sprint triathlon here in Copenhagen, it was time for me and for my triathlon friends to compete in today’s event. We were much better off with the weather, as it had dried up and there was no rain the entire day. To me this was really nice, as you can keep all your stuff dry.

Again this is a short Sprint triathlon weighing in at only 400 m swim, 18 km bike and 4 km run. This Sprint triathlon has been named 4–18–4 due to its distance. But it’s a great event, as it is held the day before the Copenhagen Challenge, which is the full Ironman distance where all the pros compete. This means that the facilities, timing and overall management is top notch. There are also a number of spectators out here which is kind of cool.

My friend Anders and I always compete in different sports. Most recently it has been badminton, karate and CrossFit. Now we also compete against each other in triathlons. It’s great fun and we seem to beat each other at various sports. On this day we were also joined by Trolle, Mads and Troy which are some of the other guys we compete with in triathlons.

I believe there was about 800 contestants this day, and we were among the first 50 to start. In this Sprint triathlon they start 50 people at a time with 60 seconds interval. It was really cool to be amongst the first, but if you’re not a strong swimmer, you will experience being run over in the water. It was chaos but it was still good fun!

I created a short video below to show how we all did that day:

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Julians First Sprint Triathlon

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I managed to convince my brother Julian to come out and try competing in a sprint triathlon here in Copenhagen. I had been telling them how cool it was to compete in a triathlon and I’m glad that he decided to try it out for himself. He had brought with him his friend Frank from work and it was also Frank’s first triathlon.

We had been incredibly lucky the past years with the Sprint triathlon here in Copenhagen, but this day which was the first day of a two-day event was absolutely horrible. It had been raining the entire day before and the entire day of the event. There was no way you could keep yourself dry. I was competing on the following day and I was just there to film and support. Even I managed to get completely soaked even though I had my huge golf umbrella with me.

I was afraid Jules would lose interest and not be bothered when the weather was this bad. However he was high-spirited and eager to get started.

apparently the swim was the worst part for him as he quickly got water in his goggles and nearly managed to drown himself a couple times. He was super quick on the bike though, and considering the weather conditions the clock a whopping 33 km an hour average. He looked pretty good going out on the run and mentors to speak Frank by a minute or two. They had been following each other all the way through to the run.

Take a look at this short video I shot on the very gray and rainy day at Copenhagen Beach Park.

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My New Inov8 Shoes For CrossFit

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Wow it’s been a long time since I posted here on NickMartin.com but I have been really busy creating other small niche websites and keeping them updated. However, I really want to share some new information with you, regarding a new set of training shoes I just got for my cross fit sessions. My new and favorite shoes for cross fit are called Inov-8 shoes.

It all started a couple of weeks ago, when I started searching for a new pair of shoes that I could use for cross fit. My Internet search quickly led me to the company called Inov8 shoes, since all the posts on cross fitting forums and other websites led me straight to them. I read a lot of reviews from extremely happy customers, and after browsing their designs, I was absolutely sold on the Inov-8 F-Lite 230 blue and white model.

Inov8 F-Lite 230 Azure White

Luckily for me, I could order these from the USA and have my sister bring them back to me here in Denmark. But of course, that meant I had to wait about 2 weeks after I had ordered them until she came home to Denmark again. Once I got them I had to wait another 3 days for my next cross the training! But the day finally came when I could try my new shoes for the first time.

I am extremely happy with the shoes and they fit perfectly. I even started a new website, dedicated to promoting the Inov-8 shoes, and maybe earn me a small side income from Google AdSense. You can check out the site here: Inov8 shoes.

If I just have to recap quickly the main features of the shoe, it would definitely have to be the incredible light weight design, the snug fit on your foot, the colorful designs, the incredible grip on the floor and the overall coolness of the shoe :-)

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Sprint Triathlon Copenhagen: Tri På Tyren

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June 5th the gang and I went a little north Copenhagen to compete in the sprint triathlon called “Tri på Tyren” which would be translated to “Bull Triathlon”. The name comes from the bike route which is filled with slopes. You are either climbing or going downhill. We had a GREAT day as it was sunny and zero clouds. It was a full days event, as a few of the guys were competing in the Danish Championship in sprint triathlon. The course today was 750m swim in a lake, 24km bike ride on the very sloped course and 5km run.

Trolle and myself were just competing in the standard triathlon (same course) but I really think he should had competed in the Danish Championship as he’s really fast. We were up in the morning and started around 9:30 am where Troy and Mads were starting later around 1 pm. It was a really good sprint triathlon and my first where I was wearing a wetsuit. It all went pretty well but I sure need to work on my transitions as I’m much too slow compared to the others.

The swim part of the sprint triathlon went well and I came in and managed to get out of the wetsuit okay. I won’t bother with socks next time as it just took way too much of my time to change. The bike ride was great all though my computer wasn’t aligned to the wheel so I didn’t know how fast I was biking. The run was really tough as it was hot and I had some pretty heavy legs. Normally I run under 23 minutes for 5km but I was a little worn out here.

Have a look at the video which we all helped film at the triathlon:

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Troy & Nick Flashing New Wetsuits

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New Wetsuits

Troy & Nick In Their Wetsuits

Yesterday Troy and myself were out swimming in the ocean in our new wetsuits. It was just an easy 800m stretch to get the feel of our new suits. Also the water was pretty cold for the feet and hands :)

Today we took another trip to Amager Strandpark where we did a 1100m stretch. It was (obviously) much easier swimming in the lagoon compared to open sea and we didn’t get anywhere near as “sea sick”.

I must admit, it does make swimming that much easier in a wetsuit. The added buoyancy from a wetsuit is tremendous. The only real force you need to apply is forward since you don’t have to struggle to keep yourself afloat.

We’ve got our first sprint triathlon of the year coming up in a few days (750m open water swim, 24km hilly bike ride and 5km run), and that wil also be the real test of swimming in wetsuits. I have to say it takes a real effort getting properly into one of these suits, and we will soon see what kind of stress levels we reach trying to get out of them asap and onto the bike!

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Jump Rope Worldwide

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I decided to bring along my jump rope for my vacation in the far east. I wanted to get a video shot in of me doing double unders on each beach that I visited. That turned out great, and I also decided to add a few other places that I visited.

It’s not a lot of different countries, but hey it’s a start :)

This is the short version:

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Beerpong UK Style

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Playing beerpong after a nice BBQ in UK :)

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Cebu Golf & Country Club

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I left Bohol and took the ferry back to Cebu where I had the full day as I was leaving for Manila the following morning. I had spoken with a few guys from Boracay and they didn’t think there was anything to see in Cebu. Maybe so, maybe no, but I had seen a golf course from the plane coming in from Boracay and wanted to see if I could play there that day.

Cebu Golf & Country Club

Turns out that the golf course I saw was Cebu Country Club and they were open for public play. So I booked a tee time and wen’t out to play golf in Cebu and 33 degrees celcious. Man that was HOT! But it was absolutely GREAT! I got a friendly caddy who had worked at the country club since he was 14 (and I believe he was around 50) so he knew the course very well.

Thomas My Golf Buddy From Cebu

After the first three holes an Australian gentleman named Thomas asked if I wanted to join him for the rest of the round and I hapilly accepted. He was a really neat guy who had been living in Cebu for 24 years so he had many entertaining and informative stories.

I finished the round with a score of 84 which was 12 over par. Considering all the factors like borrowed golfset, new greens, new putter, hot as hell and I lost 4 balls I think it’s an ok score (see how I’m finding all the excuses possible hehe).

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The Tarsier Another Beach And An Egg?

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I had a fairly long travel day leaving Boracay by plane to Cebu and then from Cebu to Tagbilaran (Bohol) with a fast ferry (2 hours). I started at 08:30 and arrived at Alone Kew Beach Resort around 16:30. I was tired and hungry so that night I had a quick swim in the pool, dinner on the beach and a few beers playing 4 in a row with the bartender.

Next day I went on a long trip to see various attractions on Bohol. That included a statue of the spanish making a blood pact with the natives, a 450 year old church, the tarsier, a dinner on a river boat, the chocolate hills, a man made forest and crossing two bamboo hanging bridges. It took us 7 hours completing all that and boy was I tired.

The Tarsier From Bohol

The tarsier is one of Bohols most famous attractions. This tiny nocturnal primate is so wierd you almost have to see it to believe it. The place where I met them was pretty much as I had expected it to be, but I was hoping to see them in a more natural environment. Would have been super cool if I had visited at night when they are really active cause they hop instead of crawl which looks really funny. But still it was a great experience.

Alona Beach Sunset - Panglau - Philippines

I also did some snorkeling of the Alona Beach which was pretty good. The water was really shallow so I did feel a little too close at times. I also got my 5km run in on Alona Beach which was a little painfull as there where lot’s of crustaceans, shells and stones in the sand. Allthough there was no sunset over the horizon it was still very pretty.

On my last night I got an hours massage on the beach and they even convinced me to get a manicure and a pedicure! It was great fun tho. Each night I had seen a man walking up and down the beach shouting something I didn’t understand. So I asked the girls giving me the massage and it turns out he is shouting “Balut”. Here is a description of this from the wikipedia:

“A balut is a fertilized duck (or chicken) egg with a nearly-developed embryo inside that is boiled alive and eaten in the shell.”

Well they convinced me to eat one and I must say it was absolutely horrible! Thank God I can say “been there, done that” now cause I very much doubt I’ll ever do that again. I did however get it on video and I’ll be posting the balut video dare when I get back home to Denmark.

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Boracay Boracay Boracay!

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I absolutely love this place and I don’t want to leave! The beach is breathtaking and the people hare are so kind and helpful. I’m staying at a place called Alice in Wonderland and it’s just perfect! I have a nice bungalow right down to the refreshing pool. It’s 19:22 and I just came up from a night swim :)

I forgot my brothers digital camera at Malcolms place in Singapore (don’t worry Jules I’ll pck it up on my way home ;) ) so I’m stuck with my iPhone 3gs camera. I still think it did ok with this picture of the sunset at White Sands Beach:

Sunset on White Sands Beach, Boracay, Philippines

It’s my last day tomorrow as I’m leaving for Bohol. Have a couple of days there for snorkelling, visiting the Tarsier (hopefully) and seeing the chocolate hills.

But I have to say Boracay has been GREAT! I’ve gone sailing, snorkelling and waterskiing. I’ve also had some really good nights out and met some cool people.

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