Frodeno: Cave of Pain: This is how the Ironman is completed at home

DThe best, especially the craziest things often come from crazy ideas. Simply said, not really serious, but somehow. On a whim, not infrequently from a beer or wine. We should rule out the latter in this case, but everything else definitely applies to the curious and daring plan of triathlon giant Jan Frodeno.

The 2008 Olympic gold medalist and the champion of Hawaii will cover a long distance on Easter Saturday. That just sounds unspectacular, after all, it’s exactly why it’s celebrated. Most recently, in October 2019, when he won the Ironman Hawaii for the third time, setting a new record time of 7:51:13 hours. But even someone like him doesn’t swim 3.8 kilometers swimming, 180.2 kilometers on a race bike and 42.2 kilometers on sneakers. And not as a training session in just one day.

But nothing is normal these days during the Corona crisis. Especially since Frodeno lives with his family in Spain and due to the curfew, he has a very small radius of action. So what is he doing? A full long distance at home, a “Tri @ home”. On its four walls and in the garden. By transmission, to participate in the bicycle course, and above all for a good cause. Saturday morning from 8 a.m. (live broadcast on bild.de).

“Definitely not for self-expression”

“At first,” says Frodeno in an interview with the sponsor, “it was a crazy idea. According to the motto: ‘Then I will do my race at home.’ ‘Because, like in other sports, triathlon races have been canceled or postponed since February Frodeno would have started at the DATEV Challenge Roth in early July.

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Once expressed, the funny idea slowly turned serious. “We think about how and why we should do this,” he says. “It is definitely not for self-expression. I am interested in attracting attention to raise money. I would like to support those who are currently running the real race for life and death in hospitals day after day. “

Frodeno wants to encourage, raise money and donate the proceeds for aid campaigns in Germany and in his adoptive home Spain from his adoptive home in Girona, about 90 kilometers from Barcelona (click here to see the donation platform). The time in the individual sections? For once it is not important. “It’s about showing that you can do a lot on your own four walls, despite the restrictions,” says the 38-year-old man.

Unlike professional and amateur athletes in this country, they are not allowed to leave their home in Girona, neither to run nor to ride a bike or walk. Just to go out or shop with the dog. “It is strictly controlled, but with reason,” he reports. “The situation here is quite tense.”

From the countercurrent system to the cave of pain

So how exactly does your Tri @ home do it? First of all: not necessarily in one piece as in a race, but from sunrise to sunset. Cycling and running is quickly explained. Because Frodeno has, like many professionals and also many ambitious amateur triathletes and racing cyclists, a so-called Cueva del Dolor at home. So translate a cave of pain.

And that’s exactly it: a training-oriented room at home. With a treadmill and roller trainer. Often also with small weights, pull ropes, and other training equipment, as well as a screen so you don’t have to look at the wall while running and especially when riding a bike. While most of them move to the basement, ceiling, or an adjoining room, Frodeno can also look outside through panoramic windows.

In his Pain Cave, he will complete the bike and the race route on the spot. It will start at 8 a.m. with a dip in your own pool. It is too short to pull the nets, because Frodeno would get a rotary worm for all the turns of the reels, but he made provisions a while ago and installed a countercurrent system. There he will swim 3.86 kilometers on the spot.

“I can use the speed of the counter current system to calculate how long I have to swim to get the route behind me,” he explains. “So: if the system is set to 1:10 minutes per 100 meters, I have to swim for 44:20 minutes.”

Anyone who wants can be there. There will be a broadcast program on various channels, including on bild.de and on Frodeno’s Facebook page. There is little point in imitating him, that is, doing a full long distance at home, and Frodeno advises everyone against such an effort. But if you want to travel the route by bicycle or part of it, you can accompany it and take a virtual tour. This requires the “Zwift” training platform. “We want to create a shared experience,” says the Hawaii winner, “and combine that with a charitable cause.”