“What kind of an evening did I have yesterday? It was great. I went swimming, cycling and then running,” says Nico with a beaming smile. It took him three hours. Couldn’t he maybe scale things down a little? A jog around the park, a few press-ups and then out to the cinema or for something nice to eat? “Well, I do enjoy doing those things, too, but it would hardly be the ideal preparation for a triathlon.” And when Nico says triathlon, he means the real thing: a 3.8 kilometre swim, a 180 kilometre bicycle ride and a 42.2 kilometre run – without a break. Preferably on Hawaii, where every year the world’s best triathletes compete in the Ironman contest.
Last year, Nico reached the finish line in the legendary Ali’i Drive in Kona in a time of nine hours and nine minutes. A fabulous time for an amateur sportsman. Place 169 in the overall ranking, one hour and 17 minutes behind behind countryman and professional Patrick Lange, who, in his second Hawaiian success was awarded the laurel wreath after setting a new record.
In order to be able to keep up so impressively with the top-ranking super athletes, Nico needs to train for 12 to 18 hours a week – in his spare time, it should be noted. Because unlike Patrick Lange, Jan Frodeno, Faris Al-Sultan & Co., full professionals who push themselves to their limits, Nico also has a demanding full-time job to do in addition to the triathlon.
Let’s look back. In 2006, after finishing secondary school at home in Sindelfingen, Nico began an technical product designer’s apprenticeship at EDAG. He came to stay. Today, he is a project coordinator in car body development, where, with his team, he carries out CAD design work for customers such as Daimler. EDAG’s CAD engineers in Sindelfingen focus on parts and components for body in white assembly.
“Even as a child, I had an affinity for technology, always enjoyed tinkering and making things, and in fact I still make all my furniture myself,” reports Nico. He also tackled the job of converting a VW mini-bus into a sport and travel mobile himself. “I just like pottering about and working things out for myself.”
It stands to reason, then, that he also produces made to measure parts for his triathlon bike wherever possible. Just recently (after training!) he designed a food box with a mount for his bike in CAD and then, in a 3D printing process, produced it to meet his requirements. “What I do is follow my curiosity, always trying to shift the limits of what we can expect just that bit further,” states Nico. “That’s also what I like so much about EDAG. In our projects, we have to pay attention to a great many elaborate details. We handle extremely sophisticated precision technology. And we are talking about projects the size of a car here, not Swiss watch dimensions.
But how do this enthusiasm for his job and passion for the triathlon go together? Is it at all possible to stay at the top of every field without somewhere along the way encountering “the man with the hammer” so feared by marathon runners? “In a triathlon, just like in any other challenging project, there are always those phases where you ask yourself: Why are you doing this? Are you even going to make it?” as Nico knows from experience. “Negative thoughts like this will get you nowhere. On the contrary; you have to set yourself positive targets and listen to your gut feeling, to find out what strengths you need to mobilise and how to pace yourself most effectively.”
Triathletes are absolutely mad, and can think of nothing beyond their training, perfecting their performance and remaining focussed. This is a common cliché, but one that has nothing to do with Nico: “Life in that kind of tunnel would be no good for me. I want to enjoy my sport. My limits are set by the way my body feels.”
If you are already working 50 hours a week during the peak phase of a project, your body cannot cope with the strain of extreme sport. “At such times, I never push myself, and would certainly never put my health at risk,” explains Nico. “For me, it is basically a question of finding a fun way to achieve my targets while pushing myself to the utmost – but always within the bounds of what is actually possible here and now.”
That’s why he doesn’t want to be marketed as an athlete. “I’m not interested in professional sponsoring. I have no desire to be dependent, and will always prefer to be free to do what I want. By that I mean being involved in a sport that satisfies me and helps me be at one with nature,” says Nico with great firmness.
And speaking of clichés, it is not enough to say that triathletes are just mad: they are mad loners who are quite prepared to use their elbows at the transition areas and the finish line. For me, it is all about team play – in sport and at work,” counters Nico. “At the end of the day, even individual records always have many fathers – mothers, too.” Recently, he and some sporting friends spent four days running over the Alps from Oberstdorf to Meran. Each carrying a light rucksack weighing just two kilos. “Doing something like that, you have to be able to rely on one another, with everyone accepting responsibility for the group. You can’t do it alone. Consideration creates community spirit. And that can move mountains,” says Nico.
He also profits from such experiences in his project work. “Only by working together can we achieve success. That is my mantra. If we each give our best, then things work out right,” as Nico knows. “If you are crossing the Alps and climbing to the pass proves difficult, putting the pressure on will do no good at all. What we have to do is work together to find a way to solve the task. Once you’ve done that, then giving it all you’ve got is fun and extremely fulfilling.” As an Ironman, he knows that the reward for the effort involved comes at the finish. Even if you don’t get a place on the winner’s rostrum.
