The 2008 Ironman Hawaii runner-up Yvonne Van Vlerken talked to slowtwitch.com about her recent coaching change to Mark Allen, her 2009 race calendar, doping and lots more.


ST: Yvonne, it seems that changing coaches is contagious. Chrissie, Belinda, Hillary and now you. Tell us about your new coach.

Yvonne: First of all, my decision to change my coach has nothing to do with other people changing their coaches. To switch from one coach to the other as an elite athlete is a big thing to do. I trained with my first coach Frank Senders for seven years before I changed to Mario Huys. It was a hard decision to leave my old trainer, the same now with Mario. Mario is a great coach and has that feeling to build up athletes on the long distance like he proved with Kate Allen and Luc van Lierde in the past. I had two great years with him and he guided me through that very difficult time of switching over from duathlon to the long and half distance in triathlon. The last two years were a time of getting myself ready to build up for a career on that distance after a good start at it. We will have a new start in this season 2009 with Mark Allen. I was second at my first attempt in Kona and I would be OK in improving only one more little place (laughs…). I am thankful that I have got the talents to do that and Mark has so much knowledge and feeling what it's all about to win there. Even when you have a competition that looks unbeatable, he proved that in 1989.


ST: Then why the change from Mario Huys? It appears that he has guided you to some very fine results.

Yvonne: As I mentioned before Mario did a great job and is a very good coach. I was just looking for something and didn't know what, until I spoke to Mark! I just had a feeling and sometimes you should really listen to your inner self and follow that little voice inside that's screaming for something. It is more that we now have the feeling that there is a new step to make. For me Mark as a person fits to me perfectly and at the same time he is that coach for us that knows the most about how to prepare for Hawaii. I am very fortunate that he agreed to work with me.


ST: Were you at all worried that the discussed coaching relationship between Mario Huys and Irondoc Andreas Zoubek might look bad on you and your boyfriend Thomas Vonach with whom you reside in Austria?

Yvonne: We were not worried as we know what we are doing and not doing. There is a problem in public of making up connections and possible relationships when it comes to the topic of doping. When we heard about the suspicions regarding Andreas Zoubek we were shocked but somehow couldn't believe that he did all this. I know that Mario would never be involved as he has a strict policy with his athletes and is a very correct person. Dr. Zoubek started training with Mario a couple of months ago. Thomas trained with Mario for six years and I for two. After I joined Mario it looks like he got more interesting for some others and they joined the bandwagon. On the other hand Mario coaches more than 35 athletes and simply can't be responsible for what everybody is doing behind his back. I know Andreas Zoubek from Ironman 70.3 Austria, pretty everybody knows him in Austria as we are such a small country and a family of triathletes there.

ST: There are all kinds of doping allegations floating around, but very few seem to get caught. Do you think enough is done to catch the cheaters?

Yvonne: No, definitely there has to be done much more to get people that cheat. I don't want to start at races where they don't have doping-tests. Besides that I think it is absolutely necessary to standardize blood testing as the common test-method at every race. The anti-doping system of the Frankfurter Sparkassen Ironman Germany called the "Iron Transparency" was one of the reason why I choose to race there. I wanted to be in that program. I heard the Austrian Federation thinks about adopting it. It would be the right system to have in the whole Ironman & Ironman 70.3 series. We are professionals that earn our money within that system and it is crucial everybody knows they are monitored and there is no other way than to play true. I have raced at an Ironman and an Ironman 70.3 that carried no testing in 2008. This is not good.


ST: Let's talk about coaching again. There were many coaches to pick from, how did you decide on Mark Allen?

Yvonne: We met Mark in Kona and just had the feeling that he's not only the right person for preparing me for Hawaii, his energy also fits great to mine and I just feel like as he already knows me for a long time. He gives me the feeling that I don't have to say or tell him a lot, because he seems already to know what I'm thinking. Thomas approached Mark and they talked about if he could imagine helping us. First Mark was not sure as he usually doesn't coach pro athletes personally. He found a way to utilize the MarkAllenOnline platform and so we can communicate our workouts. If it comes to our most important race, which is definitely Ironman Hawaii, there is nobody that has more knowledge and feeling how to get there in full potential and race at your best. And when I mean full potential I am talking about both body and mind in harmony ready for the ultimate.


ST: What else is new for you?

Yvonne: It is the first time I will spend my whole winter away from home. That is mostly good but sometimes we miss our people back home. It is a great time to live like that and we enjoy every day as Thomas and I are not built for cold weather. Further I will have some new partners besides my existing sponsors in the upcoming season as I will work with Biestmilch, Zipp, Xterra Wetsuits, Alacritech and there are some more that we are in progress of finalizing the negotiations. I will approach the new season in another way than I did the last eight years and will only focus on the two main races being Frankfurter Sparkassen Ironman Germany and the Ford Ironman World Championship Hawaii.


ST: But you will plan to race some other events?

Yvonne: I plan to race at Ironman 70.3 Singapore, Half-Challenge Barcelona and the Sparkassen Finanzgruppe IRONMAN Germany 70.3. All this wraps around the major races that I mentioned before. We sat down with Mark and carefully went through that plan that we made. He did shorten my schedule as I would have been keen on racing another early Ironman. But if he says it doesn't fit to our goal I better listen


ST: Are you ready to take on Chrissie or anyone else who wants to contend for the Hawaii crown?

Yvonne: I'm not ready yet, but I have ten months to get really ready and I will be prepared much better than last October. We are actually in Kona at the moment. In these five weeks that we are here I try to remember every detail from the course and will be able to recall that in the race. It's the way I prepared myself for the world record and it is the usual way for me to prepare for a major race. While we are here, we are in contact with Mark frequently. He tells us how to approach the workouts, on which part of the course we should do them and so many more interesting details. I also should be much fresher because I will do fewer races. Also I don't have to qualify for 2009. The race here will have a 100% focus and it will be my main goal together with the Frankfurter Sparkassen Ironman Germany and not like this year as it seemed to be the last course of a 4 course dinner. I already had 3 major long distance races and the preparations for those in my legs. I don't have any fears of the race anymore, I feel great here and I know the Island will help me on October 10th. There is an energy here that you either work with or you might feel what it means to work against it. Mark will help me in any way he can and he knows the way.


ST: Anything else we should know?

Yvonne: I want to thank the people who voted for me as the "Breakthrough Female Triathlete of the year 2008" in Triathlete Magazine. I was very honored to get that title as I know that there are so many young and great female athletes growing at the moment.