Friday, February 10, 2012

Christian Stauffer - 15th July 2012 Ironman Challenge, in Switzerland

Note:

If you are keen and have queries, please contact Coach Rameshon at 9100 4369 or you can email him at m.rameshon@gmail.com or swift.rameshon@gmail.com. Please refer to website http://flexifitness.com.sg (for more information on him and his programmes)

By Rameshon
Bsc (Hons) Degree in Physical Education, Loughborough University (1992-1994)
Masters in Education (University of Western Australia, 2005-2008)

Christian Stauffer - Super Endurance Athlete Aiming for Ironman Switzerland on July 15.
 
When I wrote on Johnson Jacob's and Mika Kume's accomplishment of 250km Sahara Desert Challenge in the year 2009, I was frantically trying to contact Christian, another member who formed as a team-mate in this group. He was in overseas at that time. After a long time, recently, I got in touch with him and started asking him on his current big goal. He told me that his next challenge was the Ironman Challenge in Switzerland on 15th of July. I realised that it would be inspirational for the young and old to read about Christian's undying spirit in participating in super endurance sports like 250km Sahara Challenge etc. 

Picture 1 - (Left to Right) Dan Johnson, Christian Stauffer and Steven Lim

















An Interview With Christian Stauffer.

What is your full name?
My name is Christian Stauffer

Can you share with us on your country of birth?
I was born and grown up in the southern-eastern part of France in a small place. However, I became a Swiss citizen over time.

What is your passion?
I would say that aside from family and friends, Sport is my passion, I like all kind of sports. I found almost all sports in enabling people to keep themselves fit and is able to make people challenge mentally while giving the opportunity to be more sociable to people of all walks of life.


What made you participate in the 250km Sahara Desert Challenge?
As usual...it was a  "crazy bet with crazy people"! It all started at Evans Road when I was with Johnson (Dan Jacob) and Steven Lim. I guess Johnson and I, ran for MR 25 for a few years already and were quite "bored" by track sessions and road racing (I should not say that as it is not a good example for the young ones) while we still loved running. So around September 2007, we simply decided to give it a go at the 250km Gobi Desert race in March 2008. Steven was a track and middle distance school athlete, Johnson was a runner and long-distance triathlete whereas I have mostly been doing adventure racing and running. We trained a lot, without any form of experience and raced hard and we were able to finish as a team getting a good position. In 2009, to gain more experience, I ran solo the Namibian desert in South Africa. It was the hardest race that I had ever encountered. I completed and learnt from mistakes after the event. These kinds of races had to be run all alone and I ended starving with too little food to eat. I lost 7kg of weight in one week. It was also freezing cold at night where I was, in fact, using the wrong equipment to retain heat which made my legs too sore. The reason for this is in Singapore I don't get the elevation and rock terrain training to succeed in this. However, it went well over days and I came in first at the last short stage of the race. The next challenge I did was the RTP - 250km Sahara Desert Race and the reason for me to participate in this event is that Sahara is the king of sand desert races.

Who came up with the idea and how did Johnson and Mika came into the picture?
Back in Singapore,  my buddy Johnson and I had earlier on decided to train hard and send a competitive team for the Sahara race the same year. Mika, a female Japanese athlete living in Singapore, had shown great interest in doing a long-distance running race at that time. She was also our fellow club member and she was a good choice to join us for she had a long experience in endurance races. Our biggest challenge was the time allowance before the race. Somehow we managed to train hard and well. Our strength was, as usual, to take things easy, with high spirit and not to take things very seriously while keeping the fun (good teammates, beautiful scenery). On the third day of the race, we realized that our time was not too far from the first team so we started playing mind games and put pressure on them (we knew some of the guys from past races) and we kept it up until the finish. We came in first on the 4th stage and managed to secure our second position on the 5th day during the 87km long stage. Having been for a long time in Singapore, we were all very proud to bring the Singapore flag to the finish line and be the first team from Singapore to come in 2nd position in an RTP race.

How did you do your training for this?
In Singapore, we are very lucky, the weather is hot for training as this acclimatises us to the weather.  That is why we were able to race at Sahara. Although peak temperatures can reach over 50 deg around 11am, the lucky thing is that it is in dry condition. With regards to our training, we ran almost every day of the week but usually for a short time and we were doing easy or tempo. At the same time, we do training very long runs in early mornings or nights during the weekend by going out to the reservoir to run. The challenge for us comes when we have to carry the backpack which substantially affects our running gait to an extent. The body and joints had to adapt to both the weight and gait of the run/walk. It was known to us that even non-competitive runners will have to start with as much as an 11kg bag. We had to start with 5-6kgs on the back plus water. We also trained on the sand under the sun to acclimatise ourselves to the race condition.

Can you tell us on the ups and downs of training for the 250km Sahara Desert run?
I will probably be lying if I were to say that there were no downs at all but honestly speaking while you train with great teammates, in an environment like the natural reserves in Singapore or on the beaches around the regions there is little down that we came across. Our downs came sometimes from the load that we need to carry on our body and from seeing less of your family and friends.

How did you juggle your training with your work to train for 250km Sahara run?
It requires organization, time management and strong support from family and friends. We ran early morning to come back home as early as possible, sometimes at night to train for night vision. Perhaps a dedicated goal as well. We have always tried to use our runs to raise awareness for charities such the Singapore Children Cancer Foundation or NGO that were helping kids for education etc... so when I feel a bit down while racing I think about these kids and that makes my run quite an easy one. 

What is your best time for a marathon race ever, where was it held?
This is going to be hard for me to answer. I have never prepared or run a marathon seriously....my last marathon run was the Kuala Lumpur in the year 2007 which I ran with.....an 8kgs backpack as I was training for the Gobi. I ran around 3h 59min, I did not really time it but just remember sprinting to make sure that the clock will not go above the 4 hour time. I once trained seriously for 1/2M in Ang Kor Wat and ran in 1h35' which was way back in 2008. I admire marathoners as it a lot of time, money and effort to train and compete.  You need firm discipline and dedication.

When is your next big challenge?
I am injured at the hip right now and this forces me to reduce my mileage in running and is making me cross-train on bike/swim. I also enjoy triathlon now which I got interested in from the year 2009. I will do my best to train and compete in the Ironman Switzerland in July. It will be my first-time competition in my own country. I will then race at the Atacama Desert with Johnson. By the way, we are looking for a 3rd teammate....so you may consider :)?

Where will this be held?
It will be held in Zurich on the 15th of July.

What is your personal best time for Ironman and which year did you attain and the country that you had attained?
I finished Ironman France in 2010 with the intention of just completing the race. My best racing time is 5hr 45min plus for Half-Ironman race in Singapore.

What kind of time are you aiming for in the upcoming Ironman race ?
I would really like to run as close to 12 hours as possible.

www.runningcoachsg.com


Note:

By Narayanan
Rameshon has taught in Hwa Chong Institution, plus several schools, and Republic Polytechnic as well. He has won many accolades and he was awarded Merit Award for 1991 marathon performance in breaking the national record of Singapore, at that time. He has made 22 male athletes do a marathon in sub-3hrs. He has made 7 female runners do sub-4 hours for the marathon, as well. He was inducted to the ‘Roll of Honour’  by the then College of Physical Education, organised by Singapore Olympic Academy, in 1998, for breaking the National record repeatedly 4 times, till he did 2hr 24min 22sec).

He also has a Coaching group and he trains them on Tuesdays and Thursdays, 7pm at Botanic Gardens. Those interested can call him at 91004369 for coaching assistance, to improve performance. There is also personal training that he does for many in a week. You can e-mail him at swift.rameshon@gmail.com.