Winter training... and some opportunities

This year we have lots of snow around where I stay in Germany, so there are lots of possibilities for alternative training. Cross-country skiing is a perfect way to provide a new impetus for the body as it uses nearly 90% of all the body’s muscles. The work you do with the arms will improve your swimming stroke with amazing effect.

So, the perfect work-out for this time of the year involves not too exhausting cross-country skiing plus a swim session where you can still focus on good technique. When you combine these you will feel your swimming stroke becoming longer and the push will have more effect than usual.

For “Norsemen and Norsewomen” even walking in the snow (i.e. with snowshoes) in hilly areas is a good way of gaining lots of power for the final run at your favourite race next August, because the leg lifts you do will help build strength and stamina.

If you don´t like outdoor training in the snow or live in a warmer climate, the studio or gym also gives you a few options for training in a good and specific way. Workouts using machines should be part of your training all the year anyway, but if you are planning a race with some uphill parts there is a specific training method you should definitely incorporate. Men normally leave it out and call it “the women´s workout”, but it is better known as “the step”.

You should start the step session with a short sequence (five to seven minutes) and build up carefully. It is very important to always have a straight back and always tension your core muscles. When you get used to the machine you can stop supporting yourself using your hand grips. You are then not just treating your legs (especially the calves) you are also building up a very strong core. It is this element that is so important when perfoming for ten or 11 hours, or more. You will need that core support – you can be sure of that.

Busy but sunny spring

The things I normally do in the spring include alternative sports, workouts and core training. But after sitting down and doing my yearly schedule I found out that I will be (for work reasons J ) spending about 12 weeks in the sun in the Canary Islands and Mallorca. So... quite hard to motivate yourself to train in wet and cold weather in comparison.

I will leave on the 8th of January for my first four weeks in Fuerteventura leading two training camps one after the other for our business partner Hannes Hawaii Tours. I am taking my mountain bike as well so I have an alternative to the few roads on Fuerteventura… I’m looking forward to be able to ride on parts of the island I’d never be able to reach with a normal road bike. The second camp of these four weeks is in the name of Challenge Roth - my hometown race.

I will return home for 10 days to get some things sorted, before leaving again for the next two and a half weeks on Fuerteventura leading the second Challenge TriCamp, together with Hannes Hawaii Tours. The camp is already fully booked... quite happy about that. Then… another 10 days home before returning to the island for the final two and a half weeks to lead the last camp there in co-operation with Magic Sportfood, my main sponsor.

Not that it is done then. I leave my mountain bike behind and fly from Fuerteventura directly to Mallorca for three days to get a camp started and to discuss training, before flying back home to have 10 days rest. Then I return for another two and a half weeks for the last camp in the south for this year.

In my next blog I will tell you a little more about training for this time of the year, especially if you go south to do some basic work for the season.

Busy time awaiting me but I certainly don´t want to complain. OK – I’m going to the Canary Islands to work but my training plan (about 50-60 athlete schedules) will have to be run the same way as I would at home. But still - I´m in the sun, sitting on my bike and have some flexibility with my time. So I can promise I’ll be working hard for my third Norseman and my bid to defend my title.