Olympian Marten Van Riel shares his hardest Christmas Day training session

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With most of the triathlon community preparing to enjoy some rest and relaxation on Christmas Day, the training doesn’t stop for the best in the world, as Belgian triathlon superstar Marten Van Riel can attest to.

The recently crowned IRONMAN 70.3 Bahrain champion, who in a glittering short course career has also finished fourth and sixth at the Olympic Games, shared his own plans for Christmas as he builds towards a final shot at Olympic gold in Paris next year.

Whilst this year he has a slightly easier schedule given he is still enjoying his off season break, the WTCS medalist revealed one of the hardest training days he had done on Christmas, which ended in a memorable but painful manner.

“A memorable Christmas-Bonk”

Having struggled with injuries during much of this season, Van Riel is only now enjoying his off season, having raced late into the year with wins at IRONMAN 70.3 Fortaleza and Bahrain. As a result, the Belgian has a more relaxed than usual Christmas Day schedule.

Marten Van Riel wins IRONMAN 70.3 Dubai 2022 (Photo Credit: James Mitchell / IRONMAN)

“This year [for Christmas] I will just do something very easy as I am still coming of my off season period so the plan is just to do a short ride and a run.”

Whilst a ride and a run is still more than what most will be doing, this workload pales in comparison to last year says Van Riel, who put himself in a hole with a long ride with little fuel this time last year.

“Last year I did a five hour gravel ride and I was running low on fuel during it, but of course I didn’t think of the fact that even gas stations aren’t open on Christmas day! That turned out to be a memorable Christmas-Bonk!”  

Written by

Tomos Land

Tomos Land is a triathlon & running journalist whose expertise lies in the professional world of short course & long distance triathlon, though he also boasts an extensive knowledge of ultra-running.

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