Nicola Spirig’s Blog

As always over Christmas and New Year, I am on my two weeks winter holidays in the snow. Whatever my plans were and are for the whole year, those two weeks are always set. I spend them with my whole family in the holiday house of my parents high up in the snow. It’s a completely different world as you can only get there with the cable car, no streets at all, no shops, just hills and forests of snow! When the cable car stops at 4:30pm, it’s very quiet and peaceful, no connection to the “civilisation” anymore, just a few holiday houses and two restaurants up here.
During the day we ski and snowboard a lot and my father and I go mountaineering. In the evenings I do my strength programm and whoever wants from the family can join in, which ends up to be pretty funny sometimes, depending on who decides to join…:-)
Now and then I of course go down to the valley to swim, run, and do some x-country skiing. But the peaceful surroundings up here in the snow are certainly one of the best places to recover from everything and having some family time.
and hopefully to go very motivated and with new energy into the New Year!
Wish you all a “good slide” as we sort of call it in Swiss into the New Year, I hope it will be a great one for everyone!!

On Saturday, we had our sports awards in Switzerland, where the best athletes, newcomers, disabled athletes and coaches get awarded. One of the few TV shows that get broadcasted live on the three Swiss channels in German, French and Italian. Reto and me always like to go there as it is the only event in the year where we really have to get dressed up (the women have to go in a ball gown and the men in a tuxedo or something similar). To do that once a year and get the hair done and all is quite exciting, we always enjoy it -even if in the end I am always glad I can remove the hurting high heels and get out of the stiff gown… training clothes are definitely more comfortable, hihi:-) This year I even was one of the ten athletes you could vote for, a little honour thanks to the team and doc who helped me get some good results:-)
the elections itself are pretty weird, we ask ourselves every year what the Swiss are thinking while voting. Some years ago for example they didn’t elect Roger Federer as athlete of the year but a guy riding a motorbike, not even competing in the highest class…!! This year they elected a ski girl who got third in a world cup as newcomer of the year, the Olympic bronze medal winner on the mountain bike had no chance against her…
The impressive logic of Swiss elections brings me to our election of the “Bundesrat”, our president, from today. Switzerland actually has seven presidents (so they can always blame the other six if something goes wrong:-)), one of them got newly selected today. Of course it’s not such a big thing as in the United States, especially no big campaign before the election. The funny thing is that they almost elected a person who explicitely explained that he would not accept the function of president. He was short of one single vote to get elected…:-) They elected a woman who didn’t even run for president already last time, hihi:-) So, at least there are always some nice surprises lately in our elections. The guy who finally became president told the press that under his command, Switzerland would get the “best army of the world” (very amusing for Swiss people as the country is not only incredibly small but 80% of the men try to avoid the compulsory military service, which is possible by just claiming that you are for example a vegan or now and then take some party drugs…)! Our new president will also be responsible for sports in the Swiss country, so just watch out for the Swiss in the future, hihi;-)

as I mentioned last week, Reto and me went to another city run race yesterday. Those races are also called “christmas runs” because the elite athletes and bigger categories only start in the evening when it’s already dark, so that we run through the dark streets lightened by all the beautiful illuminations that they hang up especially for Christmas! Therefore the atmosphere is very special and unique! Every Swiss city has a different “Christmas illumination”. The city we were is beautiful, at Christmas or anytime else, but they have a very ugly accent there, the whole rest of Switzerland agrees to that, hihi…
The race started at 8:15pm and I felt good for the first kilometer. Then the clearly best Swiss athlete increased the pace and only a girl from Poland could follow her. I tried to keep up with the little group behind the two and did pretty good. But towards the end we got overtaken by two flying lightweights and my group fell a little bit apart, so that the last lap running on my own was pretty hard and long… But I was working hard until the end of the 7.8 km and became 8th overall and 4th Swiss, not bad for a triathlete:-) So I was happy with my performance, even if the first Swiss showed me that there is still a lot of training to do until I can keep up with her a little longer than just one km…:-)
Next race will be another “Christmas run”, but this time Reto and me will only start in the categroy “she and him”:-) there are 5 laps of 1km, we have to run one lap alternatively against other couples. Sounds like a lot of fun, and it is, but there is much more competition in this category than it sounds like, we are normally not the only Olympians starting there… This was actually the only race ever where I saw Reto vomiting out of effort, haha:-):-)
So we prepare for a big fight…:-)

Because I will stay in Switzerland for the next few months and it is too cold (snowing at the moment…) that there would be some triathlons at this time of the year, I decided to do some more run races to have some goals and to spice up the training:-)
There are not that many really good Swiss female runners at the moment, but the Kenian and Ethiopian runners who do the races in Europe are a little bored at this time of the year as well, so you often see some of those incredibly fast little runners at the Swiss races doing a training session and getting some easy money for it. That’s why the bigger Swiss run competitions in November/December are never short of good athletes… Last Saturday there was a race where the first prize wasn’t money but a cow for the women and a bull for the men -the winners were from Ethiopia and Eritrea, I wonder how they get the cow and the bull back home, hihi…
There were over 300 five year old girls starting as well. It was no big surprise who won the race in the sprint finish, docs little girl Zali, congratulations Zali!!!

This evening there was another little city run race which I competed in. While the mens race was dominated by black runners, I only had to fight against an 800m runner from Tunisia. The start was pretty fast -as expected from an 800m runner- and after a few meters the two of us were already by ourselves. The first of five laps was tough as the Tunisian girl was endlessly surging and changing the pace. But when I got in front for a moment I could hear her breathing hard and I remembered that it was a race over 6.25km, not over 800m. After the first lap I took the lead and controlled the pace, and soon I had dropped her. So I was by myself for the rest of the long, windy way to the finish line (yes, even if the Ironmen surly can’t believe it, 6.25km can be veeery long:-):-)).
My father did the right thing and, instead of telling me the gap to the second one, told me the time I lost on the course record… So I had a new goal for the rest of the race:-) I missed the course record by 14 seconds in the end, but I certainly had a good training session and was happy with my run!
Next week end, Reto and I will go to one of the big Swiss run races. Even if it’s just a normal national citiy run race, there will not just be the best Swiss competing but athletes from more than 10 nations in the womens field, of course even more in the mens… I am looking forward to seeing how many meters I can keep up with the best until I blow, hihi:-) It’s great to have a look into the running scene, and I enjoy racing with the runners, even if my big arms and muscly legs always give away my triathlon background:-)

I thought I’d write a little blog before the interesting ones from the 70.3 Worlds will be posted:-)
The snow has been gone again here in Switzerland and we had some very nice autumn days last week. So I decided to compete in a little run race close to my home village instead of doing a fast training session by myself. A small 10km race, we call those races “forest and meadow” races. The way leads through whatever the surrounding offers, gravel roads, fields, forests. You come one hour before the start and register, if there is the sun shining like yesterday a lot of runners come, if not, then only a few start.
The race reminded me a lot of some run races I did 10 years ago. It’s still the same relaxed athmosphere, still fun to see the very lean older age group runners who take it very seriously in the middle of a lot of beginners and fun runners, and I met still the same people of my old triathlon and running club:-) there were no good women starting, but the good thing about those races is that men and women start together. So, as I was chasing the boys 10 years ago, I tried to chase the men yesterday, haha!
My father accompanied me to the race like in old times too, and he was standing at about 4 spots during the 10km, I wondered how he did it in a 1 loop course -he must have run almost faster than me to get there, hihi:-) And I had the loudest supporters of everyone -my cute four year old godson-twins!!
No wonder I had a good race. I could run a good pace and it was nice to always have some men around me. The first 8km went over gravel roads through the forest with some little up- and downhills. Then the “real” race began: 1km of a very steep downhill, then, with numb legs from the downhill, 400 stair steps up again…!! Those stairs were very tough! I decided I would never become one of those stairs-runners:-) But you could soon hear the crowd on the top of the stairs and I knew my little godson-twins would stand up there and cheer for me, so I tried to look fresh and not listen to my panting and the hurting legs. In the end I broke the course record which was still from the last century and was happy to have had an entertaining, fast training session done.

While almost all of my squad mates are still training somewhere warm or hot, we had the first snow day here in Switzerland. It has been snowing before in the mountains of course, but today was the first day of the new winter when it snowed in whole Switzerland, even in “flat land” how they call the place I live:-) First snow day is always very funny, as it ends in a complete chaos!
I think Switzerland is the country with the most exact weatherforecast in the whole world (ok, we are a very small country, so it might not be as difficult as in bigger ones:-)). So we knew already 5 days ago that it would probably snow today. And of course we know that the snow comes every year around this time. And still, everyone was absolutely surprised this morning when looking out of the window and only seeing white!
I got up and went out to get the newspaper, in my crocs as always. NOT a good idea, as the very wet snow on the path of course found a way into my crocs-holes… But at least that was my only “accident” (I was wise enough this time not to run in the snow and so I got away without an injured knee…). It was much worse for others… There were over 50 car accidents and endless traffic jams! The Swiss trains and busses that are normally ALWAYS on time, and on time means they leave exactely the second they have to, came 20mins late, if they came… Some couldn’t even drive as trees broke down and lay on the railways. Everything was out of order in the normally so well planned Swiss life!
As I said in the beginning, the complete chaos! And all this because of about 20cm of snow, right in time for winter and foreseen by the weatherforecast, hihi:-) At least there was one person who enjoyed it today, me! I love the athmosphere when it’s snowing, the smell and the white soft blanket over everything. And since I have a treadmill, a windtrainer and a pool in the village that is heated up to 30 degrees so that you can swim outside even when it’s snowing (absolutely great feeling!), I can still train and enjoy wintertime:-)

with the Toyota U.S. Triathlon in Dallas two weeks ago I finished my season and finally went home for a longer time. On one hand it is good to be at home for a longer period, not having to organise journeys, pack my bags every few days and wearing the same few things (not much choice of clothes if you travel by plane and you have already too much weight with the bike…) for several months, not having to travel around for days and being jetlagged anymore, not being able to see your family and friends at home much. I don’t miss that part of the season, but this is only a very small part!
On the other hand, I already miss being in training camps! I miss the other athletes in the squad who make training so much easier and have become friends over time. I miss the coach making me do things I am way too lazy to do on my own… I miss the different countries and places that I could visit during the season. And I miss the races, being nervous and excited before the start, trying to give everything and to fight and to win during the race and feeling very good afterwards when everything is over. Shortly said, I miss the whole triathlon season with all it’s specialties!
During this time of the year I normally try to catch up with everything that didn’t get done during the season and that was just lying at home waiting for me to have time to get some order into my chaos… And Retos and my flat which asks for a little bit of attention once in a while as well. It’s also the time to meet my sponsors, tell them from the season, thank them and discuss how the future will look like. And I finally get to spend some time with my 4 year old god sons, with my family and my friends here at home, that’s very good. So even if I don’t travel around the world, I am pretty busy.
In all those other things I am working on at the moment, it was great to watch Hawaii and cheer for all my team mates who were competing there! I am always a little bit proud to say that they are my team mates, hihi:-) Well done to all of them, it was just awesome to see their performances! And thanks to everyone, the team, the coach and everyone who helped me to have a very, very interesting, successful and unforgettable season!
cheers Nicola

The last race of the Fitness Lifetime series here in Dallas today was most certainly also my last triathlon of the season. So I once again tried to give everything and finish the season with a good result.
I first had to get used to the sometimes a bit special american rules. For example that you are not allowed to use a helmet that doesn’t have a certain sticker in it about American security tests (which, of course, european helmets haven’t!), even if you are allowed to use the helmet all over the world otherwise… Or that you not only have to keep a gap of ten meters to the next athlete but that you also always have to ride staggered from any athlete you see in front, even if he is 100m away -which is an interesting thought, but it gets difficult when they let the age groupers start in front of you with the knowledge (and the purpose!) that the pros overtake them (Rei knows well about the rule now….).
Anyway, I mastered to follow all the rules and finally stood at the start line. As a short distance athlete I didn’t think of taking a speedsuit with me, but I still had a pretty good swim and hopped on the bike with the first pack, only Sarah Haskins was in front. I was riding my normal drafting bike as it is, maybe not the best choice for a flat non drafting course. But I don’t think this was the reason I couldn’t follow the pace the first ones set, they were simply riding stronger than me today. I tried hard to keep the gap to the first four athletes small, but in the end I couldn’t really see them in front of me anymore.
Surprisingly, I felt I had some good run legs coming off the bike, so I gave everything again, could overtake Julie Dibens and Becky Lavelle and got third in the end. With this I could finish the season on the podium in a strong field and am pretty happy with it. I learned a lot at my first race of the Fitness Lifetime series and found it interesting, so the trip was certainly worth it.
Now I am looking forward to fly home tomorrow and spend some time in Switzerland.

Like mostof the triathlets who competed in the Olympics, I found it not very easy to focus on training again after the Games. But with the title at the Swiss national Champs and the win at the 70.3 Monaco I still achieved some good results.
The World Cup races however are pretty brutal: As soon as you only perform at 80 or 90% instead of 100% you easily find yourself ten places further back than normally! Not really to compare with some Swiss Champs or a 70.3…
In addition, the World Cup in Lorient (France) las Saturday had a surprisingly good field for the late season.
So I very soon got to feel the training sessions I had missed in the last weeks, also because I had some smaller problems with my knee in the end. I suffered almost from the beginning, gave everything in the swim and could just stay at the back of the first big pack behind the three leaders. But I was so exhausted that I managed to have a pretty average transition instead of a super fast one -average enough to miss the pack and pay my fault with two bike laps riding flat out to get back to the leading pack!! Even after my chase the bikeride on the windy, hilly course still felt hard and I couldn’t really recover again.
Starting the run, I tried to stay with the leading group of nine athletes, but had to realise quite soon that the pace was too fast for me this time. Together with Anja Dittmer I had to let them go, but I forced myself to stay on Anjas feet, and we fought hard to not let the ones in front get too far away so that in the end of a very hard 10km, we could overtake one or two of them again.
I was very glad when I finally got to the finish line. It’s funny what your mind starts realising and keeps thinking when you are constantly at the limit. The pain of course is always there, always present and hard to shout out of the mind. But then I also know exactely if it is worth to cut a corner over the boarding walk or if the step up is harder than running around it, where to avoid holes in the street to save energy, on which side of the feet in front of you you have to run that you get the most drafting, and I fully counted on the tailwind on the last 300m to get me to the finish line, haha…
I finished in 8th place in the end. I think it was the best I could do on that day. But of course it’s not the same like standing on the podium, so I guess I have to do something to get back there:-)

Last Friday Reto and me packed our race gear again and sat in the car to drive to Monaco. The preparation for the Half Ironman there was far from perfect as the focus clearly lay on short distanc until the Olympics, and in the two weeks at home afterwards we were very busy and couldn’t train properly… But we still were looking forward to the little adventure in Monaco!
The most important first: I just loved the bike course! There were three long, tough climbs with 500 metres of hight which made the course very hard. The downhills were very technical, partly on rough road and with very angled, almost 360° corners. At the same time, the view on the course looking down to the sea and Monaco was absolutely breathtaking and the nature we were riding through very beautiful!! All this made the bike course to one of the toughest but also to one of the most beautiful and interesting courses I have ever ridden in a race!
So, after a normal race (except the beginning, were pros started together with all Age Group athletes and I seriously feared I would get overswam by hundreds of athletes before I could take the next breath…) I hopped on the bike as the first woman with a lot of respect for the bike course but also looking forward to this ride!
I had surprisingly good legs and enjoyed the first up- and downhill. On the second one there was suddenly a weird noise on my back wheel. I waived to the motorbike-guy who had to accompany me and asked if a spoke was lose but he shook his head and guessed that it was the gears. The noise got very loud and nasty sometimes, as if my whole nice bike would brake down, and irritated me a lot, but every time it got better again, so I rode on… Only on the third hill I felt something on my leg and finally saw that it was a broken spoke. But I was very lucky, the wheel was still ok and I could also ride the last downhill without problems.
Relieved, I changed to the run, this time without cramps but again with stitches… At least I heard the speaker saying that I had about 7 minutes on the next woman, so I had the luxury to start a bit slower and let the stitches get better. Only in the last lap I saw Catriona Morrison on the way back and wasn’t sure how much of the 7 mins I had left… So I discussed with the boy on the bike that had to accompany me as the “first woman” how far back she still was, that I maybe should hurry if I didn’t want a sprint on the steep hill to the finish and that he would warn me as soon as he saw her behind me. In the end I saw that I still had a bigger lead than I thought, and I could enjoy crossing the finish line as the winner for the second time in a 70.3 race!
Of course I was very happy to win this race, to see Reto becoming 9th in spite of a bike crash and in a good field, and to contribute to the amazing week end of victories from team tbb!! Great job to all my team mates, also the ones who didn’t win but were fighting and showing a good race!
Next will be a short distance race again:-) Most certainly the World Cup in France.
cheers nicola