"I just want to look good naked"

Jonas Colting, Swedish triathlete and winner of the three-day Ultraman in Hawaii, on training hard, looking good, and the toughest race of his life.

Jonas, you’re an author, editor and journalist. What’s stopping you from earning money from those professions – rather than from superhuman extreme sports contests?

Well, I wouldn’t go as far to call myself a journalist, but I do a fair bit of writing, which includes two books and columns for Runner’s World and such, as well as a lot of corporate talking on health and fitness. But the thing is that I have my athletic career to thank for all of this. Seventeen years of triathlon and 12 as a professional has given me a lot of insights and knowledge that fuels my writing. It also provides me with a lot of credibility in this field.
But racing, training and living the lifestyle of an athlete has always been the bread and butter of my life. I still love it more than any other job in the world.

Your second victory at the Ultraman was one of the highlights of your career – and, as you say, ‘the most painful and exhausting competition of [your] life.’ How did this experience enrich you?

Like everything else that’s a long and hard struggle, finally getting to finish is a magic feeling! So, just completing every stage and doing it to the best of my abilities is very empowering.

How do you apportion your energy on a mammoth course like the Ultraman – and what tricks do you use to get your body to take one more step, make one more push on the pedal?

I try to use every trick in the book! But there aren’t any secrets really. The main thing is to always show up at the race in supreme condition and having done the hard work in training, and then charge the batteries during race week by resting and eating wisely.
During every stage I then have a thoroughly thought-out plan for nutrition as well as for immediate recovery post-stage. I normally drink about two liters of an electrolyte-drink every hour, as minerals and salts are essential due to the heat and humidity of Hawaii. Once I hit the final hours of every stage and the point where the going really gets tough, I down a few Red Bulls, as the caffeine and sugar stimulate the metabolism and help boost both my mental and physical spirits. Mentally, I try to break the course up into shorter and more manageable sections, which I go about completing one by one.

Which moment, which part of the course was the toughest physically and mentally?

The first day’s seven hours was without doubt my hardest ever in a race-suit! The first 90 minutes of the swim was hard but felt good. But once I hit the currents I basically swam in place, despite pushing myself well beyond my comfort zone. When I hit the shore after 2.25 I wasn’t surprised to see that I was 10 minutes slower than my record swim of ’04, but the conditions were way slower this year. Once on the bike, we faced a long climb out of the water and with a hot day on the horizon and the sun already beating down hard, I had difficulty getting my heart rate down below 160, with all the blood moving down to my legs again. And as the hours wore on the wind increased in strength and it was just devastating to ride through this. I was really forced to dig deep just to keep moving forward; I was struggling both physically and mentally at this point. My relief was the long downhill after 110 K when the course takes you past the south point of the island. But it was short-lasting, as the course once again turns uphill for the last 40 K. So you lose all the elevation that has been so hard-earned. And once at sea-level you have 1300 meters of elevation over the next 40 K to look forward to!
I can’t even begin to describe the misery of those last 40 K….I was fighting every known fatigue symptom known to man; muscle cramps, dehydration, mental distress, energy depletion and then some .... I took one mile at a time and it was a true relief to finally reach the stage finish!

And all this for one simple reason: ‘I just want to look good naked’ – going by the title of one of your books at least.

Ha ha! Not exactly … Looking good naked is just a bonus from all the swimming, biking and running. Honestly though, this book has a sincere message of health and fitness, and the title is kind of ironic. It’s about the fact that training today is often more a way of shaping different physical attributes than actually a method of achieving quality of life on a deeper level. The most important muscle in the body is of course the heart and that may not show on your abs or biceps. The title is actually a rip-off from the movie ‘American Beauty’ where the guy played by Kevin Spacey makes a 180 degree turn in life and begins to work out. He proceeds to ask his neighbors how to go about this and they want to know what he’s striving for – weight loss, conditioning, strength, endurance and so on. But his reply is ‘I don’t care. I just want to look good naked!’ Hence the title of the book …

What effort goes into looking the way you do in swimming trunks – and into being able to swim 10 kilometers, ride 280 kilometers and jog 80 kilometers on the side?

In a big week building up to a race I swim about 15-20 K in four workouts, I bike 600 K in four or five rides and I run 110-130 K daily. I love to run! I also do basic core work and stretching. In the winter I train less of the swim-bike-run but I do more strength work as well as postural therapy in order to stay healthy and injury-free during the season.

People like us get enough grief from our partners for training schedules much more modest than yours. How does your girlfriend Annika deal with your time consuming passion?

She’s great! She totally accepts and embraces my career and follows most of my races. And she’s been a great athlete herself with multiple national and Scandinavian titles in karate, and she was a swimmer as a youngster. So I’ve even got her doing some triathlons in the summer!

Is it true that during a simple bicycle-training session on Mallorca you caught up with a field of riders in a race and then left the whole field in the dust?

Well, as good as I am at riding my bike I’m still far behind the best bicyclist in the triathlon world, namely Björn Andersson of Sweden. He’s an awesome training friend and he’s actually equal to cycling greats like the Paris-Roubaix winner Magnus Bäckstedt on the national championships in time-trialing, which is a totally outstanding performance by a triathlete! I’m lucky that he mostly races shorter triathlons than I do, ha ha ha! But he’s the one responsible for the feat you’re describing. And it’s a totally true story!

Do you allow yourself a winter break after the Ultraman – or do you already start preparing for your next sporting goal?

I’m just basking in the glory of my win at Ultraman right now. I do a little bit of training every day but mostly in order to get back to normal again and work out the various kinks and stiffness from the race. Once I feel limber and agile again I’ll settle into my winter routine of strength training and postural therapy while maintaining a lower volume of my normal routine. I also look forward to some nice cross-country skiing if the weather permits!
Next year I definitely want to win the ITU World Championships Long Distance. I’ve been both 2nd, 3rd and 4th so I badly want to win. And the distances of 4 K swimming, 120 K of biking and 30 K of running suits me very well. It’s long, but speed is also required.
And if the urge is there, why not race Ultraman again!?