Christian Nitschke's Blog

The past 5 weeks just went by so fast. Incredible, how time goes by so fast. My last blog was about the late winter here in northern Germany. In the first half of April we went from complete snow cover to 20°C and sun within just 10 days! The weather was just perfect during the last 4 weeks with very little rain. Perfect conditions to collect a lot of K´s on the bike. Unfortunately I was forced to do most of my training in the beginning of April on the bike or in the pool, due to some foot issues. It appeared to be an inflammation in the arch of the left foot, which did hurt a lot while running. I had some help of a good physio-therapist (Physio Therapie Ulrike Holz) and my loved ON-cloudsurfer and could overcome that injury within less than 3 weeks.

And maybe it was just good to focus more on my weaker disciplines . Surprisingly my run is now within 3 weeks of solid run training better than ever before. I did a duathlon (9,7-62-9,6) race two weeks ago. A race nearby, which I use almost every year to get some race kilometers into the legs before the season starts. In both runs I was about one minute faster than last year, which was a little surprise for me. I could test my new race kit in that race as well and can truly say that it is the best I have ever had. The race suit is perfectly thought through with a front zip, little pockets and the tight part is extremely comfortable!

You can have a look at it in this Video:

Last weekend, in a half marathon race, I could set a new personal best of 1:13 on a course that was not flat at all and in most parts off-road and sometimes difficult to run due to cobblestone and sand. Conclusion: sometimes it seems to be good to have a little break in one discipline to get faster?!

No shame to finish a run behind this guy

Or is this the effect of the new ON-cloudracer?! Or the Ignite Nutrition?! Probably a little bit of everything. By the way, my hair is shorter now. Just for aerodynamic rasons of course !

The first real test will be Ironman 70.3 Mallorca this weekend. That race is going to be another hard training day for my preparation for Ironman Nice in 6 weeks time.

About three weeks ago I came bake home from the camp at sands beach resort on the island of Lanzarote. Normally the 2^nd or 3^rd week of March is perfect to end the first training camp and do some training here in northern Germany. Sun is shining more regularly, temperatures are rising above 10°C and the nature is flowering and getting green after the winter. I love this time of the year at home!

6^th of March when I came back home from Camp was a perfect day: 13°, Sun and almost no Wind. I thought everything is going to plan.

But just three days later it began to snow again, which is not unusual in northern Germany until the end of March. What is really unusual is the fact that masses of snow came and just don’t want to melt again and that the temperatures dropped as low as -15°C some nights ago! It’s the 29^th of March today and we still have complete snow cover outside! At least it is official since some day´s that it was the coldest and snow rich March ever since the beginning of weather monitoring, which actually is some time… But now I can tell my grandchildren in the far far future about the nasty winter 2013 like mine used to tell me some 100 times about the winter in 1962/63 and 1987 .

Since more than a week I desperately try to get a flight back to Lanzerote, but it seems like I am not the only one with that idea. Not even last minute flights are affordable right now and mostly the flights are just fully booked.

Therefore I just have to make the best out of my situation. I had some weeks of great training on the canarian islands that not even the snow can take away from me . In the first week back home I simply did some hard sessions on the turbo trainer, which can be a lot of fun with the right programs just to keep the fitness. But after all this is the time of the year where it is essential to get some longer bike rides into the legs and when the roads are clear of snow I try to ride outside. My personal outside record concerning the temperature is -6°C . I took a picture of the mass of clothes I need to keep myself warm. My first layer is a merino-wool tight and a long-sleeved merino-wool shirt and two pairs of merino-wool socks. Merino-wool keeps you warm even when you are sweating. I did multiple week back country ski-tours in Norway at -30°C some years ago. Not from hut to hut, we slept in a tent . Therefore I have learned what is essential to keep my body warm. Next layer is a short bike pant and bike jersey. Final layer is a long bike pant with wind breaker membrane and a warm bike jacket. At least two buff scarf’s to keep the head warm (the helmet should be big enough to fit over the scarf´s and very warm neoprene overshoes. Last but not least some very warm mitt´s because hands and feet are always critical…

After just 15-20 minutes I am dressed to ride my bike under Siberian conditions.

Running on snow is normally no problem. Just if I do fast stuff I either use the indoor track or a bike path nearby which is clear of snow within short time after it was snowing. Swimming is the least problem .

I´m back home from the canarian islands since more than a week now and did a little video blog about our training at Sands Beach Resort in Costa Teguise. The conditions were great, except the last 2 days were we had storm and heavy rainfall. But I guess that was quite unusual for Lanzarote.

I was so happy that my family could come with me this time. It made it much easier for both me and my wife. For her, because normally the kids got sick right after I left home and she could therefore not work anyway. And for me because they gave me so much additional motivation to train hard! Mostly I did not even have to buy food or do the cooking because everything was done before I got back from training. I guess I am a very lucky guy .

The kids simply loved the warm weather conditions and the pools all around. My son´s favorite word is water, and there was a lot of it . His next favorite words became “nana” and “ooo” what means Diana and Jo. Both kids insisted every morning to pick up “nana” and “oooo” at their apartment and go to breakfast together, were “ooo” finally was beleaguered from both sides because he could magically peel an egg that had a “peel-hat” left after peeling .

My daughter watched our swim sessions sometimes and sometimes when we were resting more than some seconds in a swim set she was yelling on us “You won´t get faster if you just stand there! Go!” She would make a great coach …

My next blog will be about training under really cold conditions. Because today is the 66^th day with snow here at home this winter… Its mid march and in some years we don´t have snow at all!? I think this is pretty unusual to!

It is lousy cold outside. Just above 0°C. It starts to rain. After some minutes wet snow mixed with ice cold rain is pouring down and the wind, which never really stops in this region, is blowing strong from the west or cold from the east. Our child is asking: “Daddy, why are you always running in the dark?” Christian tries if possible to keep the afternoon free of training to spend some time with his kids. To read a book, play with the ball, go cycling outside, paint or just to romp in the children’s room. At 6 pm its time for our children to have their dinner and go to bed afterwards. Now its time for Christian to go out for a run. Which is not that easy at times. And sometimes inner temptation is huge to do more nice stuff than a self sacrificing run in the shit weather…  But I have got a well working gimmick. Turn on the PC and click at the link below. It always works . Sometimes I get the answer: “Originally I intend to run easy.” But he´s off for a run within minutes .

http://www.clipfish.de/musikvideos/video/3898593/the-script-hall-of-fame-feat-william/

I wish everybody a happy and healthy new year 2013

With sense of detail,

but enough overview,

with a big gulp of selfconfidence,

and to take much pleasure in life and triathlon.

You can’t deny any more, that it’s autumn in Germany now. The leaves are falling. The temperature is dropping below 0°C sometimes allready and the wind has really picked up. At this time of the year it´s not very cozy to ride on a road bike on wet and dirty roads. Since I´m going to stay at home at least until christmas I have to accept the conditions as they are and make the best out of it. Therefor it is just the right time to make some changes in the dayli workout. I am having some more sessions in the pool and a lot of runs too. Instead of sitting on the turbo inside all winter long I do some bike sessions on the mountain bike. The area around Rostock is quite flat but there are still some nice trails for running and to ride a mountain bike. Its a fantastic change of the position compared to the road bike and it feels much warmer in the forest than out on the roads.

I filmed my favorite mountain bike trail last week. The first part (0:00 – 3:09) is just the trail to the loop I use to ride. Its a 8 to 10 minutes loop, depending on the conditions. The first part (until 5:30) is a not very technical downhill (my skills are not realy good…) followed by a short and steep uphill (5:30-6:20) section and a short and more technical downhill afterwards (until 6:40). The rest of the loop is a uphill passage that gets steeper and steeper. I think the last part is about 20 % and for me almost impossible to ride when its wet.

Yesterday I was riding that loop and had a flat tire. I had a spare tube and everything needed to fix it. Unfortunately I did not think about that the wheels on my MTB don´t have a quick release…

Finally I ended up in a not planed brick session since I had to run home the entire 15K with my bike. It reminded me somehow on Haile Gebreselassi who ran to school with his books under his arm as he was a school kid .

After my victory in Cologne I spend some time with my Family in Norway to recover a little bit from the recent races.

We had some very relaxing days, moving our bodies as less as possible. I tried to fish some trouts but was not very successful (lost 3 lures and had not one single bite). We picked 10kg of cowberrys, which are very delicious in combination with all kinds of meat, and about 4l of blueberrys. I love blueberrys!

I gained 3-4 kg in 10 days . That’s for sure a new personal record too!

My car did not like the Norwegian dirt roads. Probably the roads where designed mainly for quads and that stuff of cars and not for a Ford Focus…

I ripped of the bottom panel, punctured a wheel and the shock absorbers and some other parts need some repairs. Hope it´s not going to get to expensive…

But when you want to be at calm places you need to go to hardly accessible places . Since my Childs are still too young to walk long distances, this was the method of choice.

I got the opportunity to help a friend training his sledge dogs. That was really amazing! The unbelievable power of the dogs stunned me! Since there was still no snow (but already late autumn with frost nights) he trained his dogs by hanging a 700kg quad bike behind 15 dogs and they just pulled it away like there was no resistance at all. Even the brakes of the quad need to be renewed every now and than!

These animals are in many aspects quite comparable to triathletes, eager to run/train as much as possible. Even the training is comparable in many aspects. Sometimes the sessions are short sometimes long, sometimes fast and sometimes slow.

It was very inspiring to see these dogs. To run or to pull something somewhere meant everything to them.

Now it is time to restart the engines for me and prepare for some races in the close future !

Basically an Iron distance race is a long issue.

This time I am going to make my race report short and simple (simply faster):

Swim:

• with my 2XU V:2 – Wettsuit
• great first half and lonely and powerless secound half

1st Transition:

• I need to practise the transition a little bit more often

Bike:

• with my Cervelo P4, Campa compounds, 3T Aerobar, Cobb Saddle, Ignite Naturals nutrition and Cratoni Helmet
• it was damn cold, took some time to thaw , some stiff muscles but close to the lead all the time

Secound Transition:

- oh boy how I messed up this one…

Run:

• with On-Running shoes and Ignite nutrition
• at the end of the first loop I took the lead
• maintained the lead in the secound loop
• enjoyed the amazing crowd on the last loop
• love racing in a megacity

Secound win within 4 weeks!

Where is the „like“ button?

My Jo Spindler fitted Cervelo P4 (in Thebikeboutique Bad Tölz) with Campagnolo record groupset, Campa wheels and 3T Ventus aerobar and Cobb Saddle and Cratoni helmet for a super fast Bike split on the flat course.

2XU V:2 Wettsuit for a fast swim.

The On-Running shoes to take the victory ! Hopefully ?

And last but not least to get the nutrition right some ignite naturals products:

Looking forward to race Cologne226 (3,8-180-42,2) this weekend!!!

The day after an iron distance triathlon is kind of weird. I feel like I am able to move mountains. Like I could achieve everything I want in my life. Like I could change the world. I feel very calm, almost easygoing. Kind of unburdened. Everything seemes to be perfect. But why?

I have not done this iron distance triathlon. I did not swim, bike and run. I had the same feeling after the german iron distance championchips in cologne last year. And now this feeling is back after the Ostseeman triathlon. I have been present from 3:40 in the morning until the end of the awards ceremony at 30 past midnight. Is this the reason? That I have been as tired in the morning? Sleept as bad during the night? That I stood freezing and nervous in the transition zone in the morning as well? That I took times, cheered for all the athletes? Stood there in every loop, waited, shouted time differences at him, gave him gels? That I jittered of excitement until he finally finished the race? That I welcomed the last athletes at the finish line in the evening with him and enjoied the awards ceremony late at night after the race?

Maybe.

But I think there are other reasons.

While waiting beside the course I heared storys about people that were doing there first triathlon

here in Glücksburg! Which effort they put into their goal during the last 365 days. But for excample left the race at the first buoy because of a panic attac. She sat there crying because her dream ended so soon. I saw overwhelming emotions of family members supporting there athletes with funny phrases and encourageing words. How they, like me, ran on adrenaline. How they did hope and tremble for there athletes and suffered with them. Like me.

I saw people moving mountains all day long. How they exceed there limits. How they suffer. But also how happy and proud they are. I think these reasons, these efforts of a lot of different people makes me belive that I can achieve any goal in my life. This is it what I love so much about this amazing sport. What the fascination triathlon is all about! I would like to thank all of the athletes of the Ostseeman triathlon, their familly members, friends and of course the race director Reinhard Husen and his great team for this great feeling. Thank you.