Basement Training
This post was originally published on d1db3k.blogspot.com on 2013-02-16. I migrated this post in January 2026.
After the Iron Man 70.3 last year in Zell am See / Kaprun, I was already feeling a little bit annoyed of endurance sports, especially endurance sports training. Nevertheless I decided to take advantage of the fitness level I had achieved over the last three years of training in the pool, in the saddle and in my running shoes. I decided to do my first marathon. “This one and that’s it. Back to fun sports.”, that’s what I thought.
Somehow I achieved this goal. I trained less over the last months. The only sport I continued to train was the swimming. Apart from that I went skating, skiing, spent some time on my MTB (but only in sunny conditions) - that was it.
However, at some point in Dezember I realized that skipping the training did not have the effect I was hoping for. I took the car instead of the bike to go to work. This saves me some time, but I feel bad for polluting the environment - because I know that it is not really necessary. I did not manage to invest the saved time for social and cultural activities, as I planned to do. In the end, I just worked more. And if you go to bad after a long working day and there was no training between work and bed, I cannot sleep very well. This is at least an impression I had.
As I kind of compromise I started doing some Yoga. I found a great only course. Bad weather outside, you’re in a hotel room “somewhere” - put up your laptop and do an hour of yoga practice. Perfect! I can absolutely recommend this.
Now it is February and even though it is cold and snowing, I am getting the feeling that spring is arriving. And now these thoughts are coming back: “Should I do another 70.3 IronMan? Maybe I can manage to finish in less then five hours.” and “What about another Marathon? With a little bit of specific training I should easy be able to make it in less the three and a half hours.”
So how to proceed?
Well, yesterday was the first training session on my bike in the basement. I was watching triathlon-szene.de as I did so often during the last winters. And I did my first running sessions again this week. They did not feel good actually, but for some short moment, that feeling was back…
