KRISTIAN BLUMMENFELT - ROAD TO JAPAN

[Music] what i think people don't really understand is that when i was 10 i reckon i was as serious in my training as i am now [Music] i've been training with world champions since i were a kid it made the journey to elite a lot shorter and easier to understand [Music] back in 2010 i was asked by a national newspaper with my ambition roar and i said i'm going to win the gold medal in 10 years [Music] it's something i've been thinking about basically every day since [Music] personally sierra nevada is one of the most beautiful places in the world for training it's basically just yourself in the mountains this is what i really love twice a year we come to sierra nevada for training the first time is at the very start of the training season we try to build a foundation for the winter and second time is in the spring just before the season starts it's actually my 12th time coming to sierra nevada almost feels like home [Music] what i like is the simplicity it's just a training center in the middle of the mountain it's basically straight down and back again on the bike so you don't really have to think about route planning it's just climbing it looks like a prison but for me this is not a prison this is me versus the big mountain this is freedom for me riding down high speed playing with the bike playing with nature it's basically just training that's why i love it so what i'm looking for now in my fourth week here in altitude is that i can do the same times and the same power in altitude as i did before i came to altitude and to make sure that we get the respond that we want to we do a lot of testing my name is all of alexander or olaf i'm a sports scientist and coach for the elite athletes emerging physiology and technology to always look for new competitive advantages generally just see how far we can push the limits of human performance so the testing we do is world leading it's not just about having a high bragging number it's about understanding how the body is working so you can improve your results in competition the reason why we go here is that we are trying to increase the hemoglobin mass of the athletes in elite athletes getting enough oxygen out to the muscles is the main limiter for increasing their aerobic power in order to increase this what we have to do is to naturally try to do what everybody wants to do and that is increasing the mass of blood that is capable of transporting oxygen out to the muscles in the end the only thing that matters is performance what you do in the race we can talk about power but in the end speed is the only thing that matters speed over time what is speed what is speed composed of there are two different categories the psychological aspect the ability and willingness to really push and dig and the other part being the physiological part how you produce that speed over time in order to understand how this is coming together we need to measure we need to break all these things into small bits and pieces and see where do we have things we can work on everything from the oxygen mask to lactate to muscle oxygen sensors is basically to understand how do you go from energy to biomechanical power from biomechanical power to speed what makes christians stand out from other athletes is that he is extremely determined but he's pretty close to a machine where you can give him a task and he will execute them and where maybe somebody would give in he will still try to push a little bit more if he doesn't succeed the first time he doesn't stop neither my mother father came from an athletic background but i discovered triathlon because i grew up as a swimmer i used to swim with vasquez vermana i wasn't the best swimmer and i was always struggling to keep up with rest of the squad i was lucky to be in the same team as one of the best swimmers in the country who later become world champion going from seeing my teammates racing in europeans world championship and then being back in the pool and doing the same session made the journey to the very top easier to believe in back then i realized that i would never be able to become one of the best swimmers in the world the big change came when i started working with my coach other faith back in 2010 he transformed me from being a swimmer who competed in triathlons to become a triathlete i would say that i've always been willing to put in the extra work and i think because i didn't get the results from a young age i thought that i didn't have the talent it made me think if i should become one of the best i really have to work harder and for me training hard pushing myself every day is what i love doing [Music] stop caring about the results short term and start caring about the results long term even though my goal is to win the biggest races out there i think teamwork is built into my dna it's no secret that i train with other world leading athletes it makes it easier training with a group because it makes the work the most normal thing on the planet the chances to win the medal in the first place is quite small sharing the experience will actually increase my chances as well as increasing their chances it's quite stupid to worry about the athletes from my own town when i'm facing athletes from rest of the world as far as i care first i focus on taking on the world and then i focus on taking on my [Laughter] teammates [Music] so [Music] there is something very humbling being in the mountains the vastness the open space you feel small even lonely [Music] all you know is that you have two hours of climbing ahead of you so we have to knuckle down and take on the mountain waiting for this moment to begin [Music] this last year has been a test what athletes got knocked by the pandemic and which athlete stood up if i can take on the mountain then i can prove myself on race day the pressure is on to perform you

Channel: Trimtex

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Length: 8min 42sec (522 seconds)

Published: Wed Jul 07 2021