Weekly News Number 9

Sharing last week’s blog came a little late. So today, on Monday, I’m sitting down at my laptop ready to type and share what happened over the past week.

The rain here slows life down a little which I don’t actually mind from time to time. But the rain stories only really start towards the end of the week, when the rain actually arrived.

A calm start to the week

I start the week with a 40-minute Pilates session. This has become a bit of a routine for me because I feel much more activated for the day afterwards than if I start training right away.

When you train a lot, it sometimes takes a while until the body really finds its rhythm and I feel fully awake and ready to go.

In the evening I had a hard bike session planned. At the moment I’m doing quite a lot of tempo intervals. I’ve done this type of training before and it’s always surprising how comfortable threshold efforts feel when you occasionally push really hard.

But the real highlight of the day came later.

A birthday phone call

My grandfather had his birthday that Monday, so I gave him a call and for the first time in a while we had a longer conversation.

For me it’s always special to hear what he’s been doing on skis. At 86 years old he still goes skiing regularly and with great passion.

His enthusiasm for movement and sport impresses me every time.

The Joe story on the bike

One of the best stories of the week happened on Wednesday when Joe, one of our swim coaches, joined us for a bike ride.

The story actually started before we even began riding. At the start he asked me:

“Can we quickly stop and buy some gels?”

Right then I already thought: this could end up being funny.

So before picking up Holy we stopped at a supermarket. I already had my nutrition with me, but Joe didn’t.

When he came out of the shop with just a few grams of carbs, I knew it was only a matter of time.

And when he started attacking every hill, I was even more certain how the story would probably end.

After about 1.5 hours it suddenly became very quiet around Joe. When he took two gels within 20 minutes and asked for water, Holy and I knew he would probably suffer on what was supposed to be an easy ride.

We were really riding easy and controlled. Still, Joe eventually asked how far it was to go. When we told him the distance, he became a bit nervous.

About ten kilometres before the supermarket and still quite far from home he suddenly said he needed a cola.

At the supermarket he was very happy to sit down for a moment. He already had cramps. In the end Holy even had to drive him home because Joe said he probably wouldn’t have made it back on the bike.

When I saw him later in the afternoon at the pool, he still wasn’t quite back to 100 percent.

An unexpected massage

Thursday was originally planned as a relatively easy day.

Still, the day filled up quickly. Besides my own training I also wanted to plan the training for my athletes.

When Emma offered me her massage appointment, I of course didn’t say no.

So I had a massage for the first time in quite a while.

It was so good that afterwards I felt even more tired than before. All the trigger points were worked on and I felt completely worked through.

And that’s exactly how I still felt the next morning in the pool.

My body simply isn’t used to strong massages anymore. On one hand I felt completely relaxed, but at the same time somehow a bit tight.

Normally I stretch every day. If something feels really tight, I use a foam roller and roll it out. That’s probably also the reason why I’m no longer used to such intense massages.

A weekend full of rain

The most noticeable thing about the weekend and the days around it was definitely the rain.

It rained almost non-stop. On some days we had up to 80 mm of rain.

On Saturday I was therefore stuck on the indoor trainer. That’s something I only enjoy to a certain extent, especially when it’s just an easy ride. In those moments I definitely need good podcasts or something entertaining so I’m not constantly looking at the timer.

Indor Bike Ride

Still, rainy days also have something relaxing about them. Afterwards you usually don’t plan much else and it becomes easier to simply relax instead of going outside again.

Coffee in the rain

Sunday started at 6 a.m. Those were probably the last 1.5 hours until Tuesday morning where we were still able to run in dry conditions.

After the run we sat in a café and suddenly it started pouring down.

Of course we didn’t skip the coffee after the run. So we just sat there a bit longer, looking outside and hoping the rain might ease for a moment so we could walk back to the car.

The perfect end to the week

The end of the week wasn’t just good it was premium.

Holy has a BBQ grill, so we decided to buy some meat and fire up the grill.

He also explained to me the finger method that helps you check how cooked a steak is. I found that pretty fascinating.

The steaks were grilled perfectly medium rare. Absolute world class.

And of course something from the Austrian side couldn’t be missing: Kaiserschmarrn.

The baker’s son prepared an incredibly good dessert for us with everything that belongs to it. For a moment it almost felt like being in Austria.

One week closer to Geelong

And with that, another week in Noosa comes to an end.

It also means that I’m one week closer to the race in Geelong.

At the moment I’m going through everything again — equipment, material and race gear — making sure I have everything I need to be ready.

I’m really looking forward to this race and also to becoming a bit fresher again. The fatigue is slowly starting to build. Some trainings feel great, others are a bit tougher.

But knowing that I will soon be standing on a start line again reminds me why I do all of this.

So I’ll keep trying to make the most out of the time and keep working hard.

We’ll hear from each other again next week.

And after that, the race report from Geelong will follow.

Then we will find out where I stand — and what I can improve next.