Joseph Spindler's Blog

After my last blog I got a lot of questions of what I learnd during my camp with the Germans and the Spanish matadores. Well, most of it is not explicit, it’s their attitude, their approach to training. First of all, I was astonished of how easy and relaxed they go for it. They simply love what they are doing. They are much more relaxed than the average athlete who is so much determined to his targets and high work ethics that he often misses to simple enjoy himself. The really good guys simply have a lot of fun. Big boys playing! But dont be foold: They joke all the time, but they do a ton of work! And they are not afraid to suffer. It’s part of the game, completely normal to them. A 5 hour ride with lots of hills, a fast run after that, then a good swim? They don’t make any noise of that. Just a daily habit.

Real pros ride their bikes differently. The average athlete always tries to prove how tough he is. He descends like crazy. Real pros risk nothing on a downhill during a training ride. They have the ability to descend fast, but they don’t if they must not, - just smooth, easy, controlled… and wait for the next hill to blow the group apart…

And training-wise? What about their magic sessions? Well, we talked a lot about training. But after all, there is nothing like a magic session. You would be surprised of how less the top end guys care about magic sessions. The secret is that they train a lot, train hard and with lots of fun. Ironman is for iron people. Or as Lothar would put it: Every rest day is a lost day. A lot helps a lot. More is better. Too much is only half enough. Running comes from running. And pain is weakness which leaves the body. Hehehe. Shut up and go hard!

During the first week of my campe here at Lanzarote, I covered roughly 850k on the bike, 100k on the run and 16k on the swim. As you can see, pretty normal numbers. I did nothing extraordinary, no crazy sessions, just very consistent training. My body is responding quite well to the load and the sessions in the second week are (up to now) much faster. I am joining my room with Lothar Leder and Michael Eisenkolb, a long training buddy, with whom I did most of my first sessions starting back 10 years ago in Berlin. We are a good team, have lots of fun an laughs.

As I normally do all my training alone, I am enjoying training in a group very much, although it means that I have to change my normal riding rhythm (SRM paced) completely. For some rides, Ivan Rana, Eneko Llanos and some other Spanish pros are joining in, ensuring that the pace does not slow down too much ;-). The group forces you to push your limits. Every day there is someone who has good legs forcing you to give more than you would have on your own or thought possible. On the other hand, group riding is dangerous as well - you have to control your ego closely and stay calm to not mess up all your base fittness by doing lots of sprints and power spikes. However, it is great fun, to ride and learn from the best. Train healthy and enjoy!

Currently I am for a 2 week training camp on Lanzarote. I love the island: Lot’s of wind and hills and monotony! Weather is good, 20 degree, but quite chilly when you have a lot of wind. Today I finished my first 30k run this year. Maybe, over Chirstmas I forgot a bit how hard triathlon can be… Very happy to be back to the real triathlon training thing again.
It’s a great thing to be able to escape the heavy winter in Germany now. Nevertheless, I am a bit worried what happens if I go back again to -20 degrees and mountains of snow. Maybe I will squeeze in a big swim week and then head off to our team training camp in Thailand as soon as possible.

Well, let’s better start with how you endend the last year? For me, I did a 2 hour swim and a 3 hour bike - with rain, 3° Celsius and the last hour of the ride in the dark. As I like it, nevertheless. Thankfully, that training earned me the right to join the New Years eve party with my family. In Germany we usually have fondue or raclette for years eve meal, this year we had raclette. (By the way, for Christmas eve we Bavarians traditionally have sausages as the preferred meal - Weißwürste, sweet mustard and pretzels, don’t ask me why exactly).
It was a cold and clear night, but we lacked the discipline to wait until midnight and headed to bed at 10 or so. Nico would have made it till midnight, that’s not the problem. But the problem would be that he needs a week to get back into his normal sleep pattern after such an escapade. Me too, by the way (getting older??). Basically, I don’t like to start a new day feeling tired and sick anyway. So no drama here.

Now back to my first question. How did you start the new year? As far as I’m concerned , we started early, I put Nico in the baby carrier and we headed out for a long run (unfortuneately, pool was closed today). I love the morning of the first day of a new year very much. It is probably the most quiet morning of the whole year. Empty streets, no people around, everybody still sleeping. Clean, fresh, untouched light and air. Lot’s of good energy. Gives you the funny feeling of beeing both the last and the first warrior on earth at the same time…

All the best for 2010, keep on moving!

A good friend of mine sent me this video. Thanks a ton Doris!

That are exactly the dreams I am dreaming during winter time. Reminds me a lot of our bike rides in Leysin :-)).

Enjoy!!

Yesterday, we did a family trip to Munich. We go there by train, it’s a scenic trip along the mountains of approximately an hour. It was a beautiful day, lots of sun - in fact the warmest 28th of November since 120 years. Christl went to the shops, Nico and me to the birthday party of a friend. He turned 50 today. We had good talks and a delicious lunch. And there was a women, Helena, with a wonderful soft and deep voice who was singing Spanish songs from time to time, accompanying herself with an accordion. She stood there, alone in the middle of a big saloon, singing, her eyes closed. Nico listend to her, motionless, mesmerized.

Back in town, we met Christl again at the Marienplatz. It was getting dark. Lots of people. Lots of Christmas stars. And there was a hughe Christmas tree in the middle of the place illuminated by literally thousands of bright lighting candles.

On our way back home, sitting in the train, eating some foods, we suddenly heard a hushed noice, like a small bird flying against a window. Engines switched off, the train stopped, somewhere in the nowhere before the next station.

Soon we were surrounded by dozens of ambulance men, police men and firemen as it turned out that someone decided to end his life with help of our train. The vehicle was not allowed to move for a long time. We sat there more than 2 hours. Talking our talks, thinking our thoughts. After we arrived home, I searched the internet for titan bikes.

Today morning, a poem came into my mind. Written by Rose Ausländer, it tells us to put things into the right perspective. Keen and gentle at the same time, her words fill me with solace, quivering confidence and an idea of unlimited freedom. You are everything. You have nothing to loose. Be what you are. Give what you have!

It’s in German. I tried a translation, however.

A constant smell of chlorine is what I carry with me these days. Doc set me on a heavy swim program, hitting the pool two times a day. And whatever I do, the chlorine smell stays with me. Now, doc says, this is a good thing, since chlorine kills almost everything instantly. Maybe the best way to get through all those swine flue epidemies right now. Much better than having an inoculation anyway.

Now, swimming two days a time was really something I had to get used to. Initially, it took a lot out of me. But I kept going, and now, after 4 weeks or so, it’s not a deal that big anymore.

To the time before I startet this swim program, I considered a 4k session as a lot of work. Now, with swimming 8-9k on some days, a 4k session almost qualifies as a recovery workout. OK, depends, doc has some sessions which kill your arms with less than 2,5k - hehehehe.

Sometimes I look at all that training and racing I did throughout the last year as getting ready for this now…

Healthy training!

Cheers,
Jo

With a 17th place and 8:48 hours, Challenge Barcelona was nothing than a very hard earned finish for me. Indeed, the race started to get tough way before it began. I started my trip on Friday and the first thing was that I lost my credit card at the train station. I noticed this at the airport when checking in my bike and luckily had still some cash left to pay the bike fee. Next thing, plane late and because of that delay I missed my train at Barcelona. I had to wait for the next one. Still no drama since I would arrive at me hotel at 10:30 pm or so, enough time to get a good sleep. When I left the train at Calella (a little town 50k north-east from Barcelona, where the race is located) and entered a taxi to bring me to my hotel, the driver looked funny at me. But he didn’t speak English, I didn’t speak Span, so I really was not sure, what he wanted to say. Finally he started his engine and got the car moving. And rode… and rode… and rode… It turned out, that my booked hotel was not - as ensured by the travel agency - in the middle of the center of Calella, but in another little town at the coast, about 15k or 3 more train stations far from Calella.

In the meantime, I was really tired, and just happy, that we finally arrived. So I checked in, carried my stuff to my room. And encountered the next problem. There was music. Loud music. Very loud music! Down below my window, the hotel guests were celebrating a party. There was a live band and it literally was like they were playing in my room. So I went back to the reception and asked to change the room. They told me that probably tomorrow, but there is no chance this night. So I went back to my room and tried to find some sleep. But it was impossible. I really had a band in my room! Finally I went back to the reception again: No, room changing not possible, but the band will stop in 15 minutes anyway. This was true. But when they stopped, I had the bum, bum, bum of a close disco in my room… and the snoring of the guy in the next room. It sounded like he was lying besides me in my bed… I finally could find some sleep…

The next day, I managed to change in a more quiet room, but it took me 3 hours and several talks with different head receptionists until I finally was allowed to change. So, as you can see, not the easiest way to get into race mode. I still was quite positive, tried to be not affected too much by all those detractions, was quite happy about my new room and was loking forward to the race.

Swim felt ok, but when I jumped on the bike I immediatly knew that it would become a tough day. I felt not fresh, had no good legs. In an Ironman there normally always is some period where you enjoy your speed, enjoy your body operating at it’s limits, time flies. Not so this time, I literally had to push me every single minute. On the run it wasn’t better. I had to push me forward from the beginning on, suffering a lot. Still hoped to catch some more guys during the last hour, normally my strongest part in an race; I just had to focus all my energy to get me to the finish line.

After the race, the struggle was not over yet, since my body really hurt. I was happy that I had booked a flight for 3 days after the competition. The first 2 days I wouldn’t have been able to make the trip.

The race itself was very well organized, especially since it took place for the first time. The atmosphere was very friendly and familiar. I enjoyed this very much.

So what can you take out of that story? Watch out when you book your hotel the next time! Don’t loose your credit card when travelling! And if there still is some trouble, deal with it and get your job done!

I always wondered, how these hills in Leysin are easier to ride. What is the ultimate hill training method?

I did a lot of testing: Long intervals, short intervals, steep hills, less steep hils, high intensity, less high intensity, big gear, fast spinning… I really tested everything!

Now, after 6 weeks or so after my last camp in Leysin I discovered the ultimate hill training method.

And because I am so a nice guy I would like to share with you.

Try it, nothing beats that! You will fly next season!

Thought I share since it is so cute.