August 28, 2024 • 45 mins
Welcome to The Business of Endurance Podcast! In today’s episode, we are thrilled to have Olympic gold medalist and Biathlon World Cup champion, Andrea Henkel Burke, join us. Andrea's remarkable journey from the challenges of growing up in a divided Germany to the pinnacle of athletic achievement offers a wealth of inspiring stories and invaluable lessons. She will share the pivotal moments that defined her career, insights into her rigorous training regimen, and the mental resilience that propelled her to success. Additionally, Andrea will provide practical advice on fitness, health, and nutrition, including her innovative approach to supporting recovery from Long Covid. Whether you're an aspiring athlete, a seasoned competitor, or simply someone looking to be inspired, Andrea's experiences and wisdom will offer actionable insights and motivation to help you achieve your own goals. Don’t miss this captivating episode!
Highlights:
- Andrea's Athletic Journey
- Doping in Sports
- Training and Competing in Biathlon
- Mental Resilience and Recovery
- Impact of the Berlin Wall
- Andrea's Long COVID Program
Links:
Click here for additional helpful content.
Connect with Anthea Henkel Burke on Instagram & Web.
Explore The Limitless Life Workshop
We are living in a time of abundance, where entrepreneurs have more opportunities than ever before. With the rise of AI, colossal advancements in technology and the scope to reach millions of people in seconds, it has never been a more exciting or easily accessible time for your business to thrive. But are you riding that wave of exhilaration, or are you crashing and burning in a downhill spiral?
Please Subscribe to Business of Endurance on Apple Podcasts, leave a comment, and give us a 5-Star review.
Launch Your Own Podcast:
ShoRunner is the leading podcast production and strategic content company for brands, organisations, institutions, individuals, and entrepreneurs. Our team sets you up with the right strategy, equipment, training, guidance and content to ensure you sound amazing while speaking to your niche audience and networking with your perfect clients. Get in touch with Jason on LinkedIn.
This episode was sponsored by The Trusted Team and 4th Discipline
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:04):
I'm Charlie Redding and I'm Claire Fudge.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
Welcome to the business of endurance.
Speaker 3 (00:13):
Everything we do what we don't do is based on what
the brain decides for us.
If you want to be confidentabout something, you just need
to be physically able to do whatyou need to do.
You just need to be physicallyable to do what you need to do.
Speaker 2 (00:27):
Welcome back to the Business of Endurance podcast.
In today's episode, we arethrilled to have Olympic gold
medalist and biathlon World Cupchampion Andrea Burke, or Nie
(00:48):
Henkel Andrea Henkel as she was.
So Andrea's remarkable journeyfrom the challenges of growing
up in a divided Germany to thepinnacle of athletic achievement
offers a wealth of inspiringstories and invaluable lessons.
She'll share the pivotalmoments that defined her career,
insights into her rigoroustraining regime and the mental
resilience that propelled her tosuccess.
Additionally, andrea willprovide practical advice on
fitness, health and nutrition,including her innovative
approach to supporting recoveryfrom long COVID.
(01:10):
In fact, this is the personthat Matt Fitzgerald, previous
guest, thanked and creditedrecovering from long COVID too,
so he worked with Andrea and shehelped him get back to running
whilst suffering with long COVID.
So, whether you're an inspiringathlete, a seasoned competitor
or simply someone looking to beinspired, andrea's experiences
(01:31):
and wisdom will offer actionableinsights and motivation to help
you achieve your own goals.
Don't miss this captivatingepisode, and one of the things
that Andrea talks about,particularly with regards to
long COVID, is this balance ofdifferent aspects of our lives
to overcome the difficultchallenges.
And if you hang around righttill the end of this episode,
(01:53):
I'll give you a tool that canhelp you assess whether you're
getting the balance in yourbusiness life, whether you're
ticking off the areas that canhelp you generate more business
as well as working less and aswell as enjoying more.
So I'll share with that withyou at the end of the podcast,
but for now, let's dive into theepisode with Andrea Burt.
(02:21):
So, andrea, welcome to theBusiness of Endurance podcast.
Thank you so much for joiningus.
I am really excited aboutchatting to you.
I think this is going to be areally interesting episode.
I always like to start off withthat inspirational story and,
as an Olympic gold medalist,there can't be any better place
to start.
So how did you find your wayinto the Olympics?
By the way, we haven't ever hada biathlete on the podcast, so
(02:44):
we're going to a little bit ofbackground about that how you
got into it, but then tell usthat gold medals winning story.
Speaker 3 (02:51):
Yeah, hello, dan, thanks for having me on the show
.
So I'm from Germany.
I grew up in the old Easternpart of Germany and their sports
, of course, was very from thegovernment.
Every kid had to be in someactivity, some outdoor activity,
and so I chose to be in across-country skiing.
I also was in gymnastics and ina choir.
(03:11):
The gymnastics was veryinteresting for me too.
But then I followed my oldersister's path.
She is three years older than Iand she was doing cross-country
skiing and then over her bedwas hanging like a ski pole with
a lot of medals on it, and Ithought this is the coolest
decoration ever.
I need this too.
What do I need to do forgetting it?
And so it was cross-countryskiing.
(03:33):
That's why I went tocross-country skiing training
and since she's older than I,she was delegated to the sports
school as a cross-country skierwhen she was 12 years and we
brought her, her to this schooland I thought this is the
coolest place ever.
I want to be here, I want to goto this school, but I want
every time so little.
So I'm five foot two or onemeter eight centimeters, so I'm
(03:55):
pretty short, and it always wasas a kid, I could not tell my
parents that this is my goal.
I just thought, okay, what do Ineed to do to get to this
school?
And I had to be good in schoolthat my parents allowed me to go
there.
And I had to be good in sportto actually be able to go there.
So I was nine years old, madethis decision I want to be in
this school and this was myinspiration, not like Olympics
(04:16):
or something.
I crossed my mind that, like,what I did is the same thing
than an Olympic sport.
But then I was 12 years oldenough to get to the school.
The wall came down andeverything changed and it just
it bought me another year.
I got one more year time tofigure everything out, get named
to the highest level of schoolin Germany, because there's
three levels of school and myparents only would accept it
(04:39):
like the highest level and I cando whatever I want.
And so I got to the school andthen from there on it was like a
journey.
But in 1980, boston, like it'scross-country skiing and
shooting Women, became anOlympic sport, like the guys did
it already.
It was a mid-sport, but theOlympics added this into the
program.
And then the government back inEast Germany decided all the
(05:00):
girls would train at a facilitywhere the boys do biathlon.
The girls now were biathletestoo, and I was one of them.
I said I don't care, I want togo to the school whatever, I'll
do it.
At that time I became abiathlete going to the school
and I was 13 as a biathlete andthen from there on it was a
journey because I wasn't anOlympic champion until I was 24.
(05:22):
And it took me, I think, twomore years to figure out that
what I'm doing is actually anOlympic sport and I just had fun
doing it.
And then I was doing the junioryears, the senior years, and
then, when it came to theseOlympics because I wanted to
know the story, I basicallymissed my first Olympics in
Nagano in 1998 because I didn'tqualify for it in my team.
(05:44):
Then I wanted, of course, to goto the next one four years
later, but I qualified for theteam the year after because
every year there werechampionships.
There's a whole World Cupcircuit.
It's just that the highlight isnamed differently instead of
the World Championships it's inthe Olympic Games.
It turned out I made my way upinto the World Cup team and was
named for it and it's the basicto actually qualify for the
(06:07):
Olympics and how my sister's end.
She was at the same Olympicstoo as a cross-country skier.
So it's harder for Andrea toqualify to actually get a spot
like a start, like a spot at thestart to be able to compete,
than actually to get a medal.
Because the team was suchincredibly strong German
basketball team we had to fightharder for the spot.
(06:29):
You still have to fight hardfor the medal, but to get to
this chance not really given inthe team.
So then I made my spot.
I actually had to discussmyself into it because I
qualified very regularly thatthe long distance is my distance
, four-touch shooting.
I was second in overall beforeNew Year's and then got sick.
(06:51):
Coaches were ensuring thatmaybe you should skip this race
and race the sprint in pursuit,because then we need you in the
relay again.
We had four different eventsand said, no, I do not skip this
event, I will go for it.
Maybe it was the right positionto get in my first Olympic race
because then I won and then Idid not have to discuss anything
(07:12):
else anymore.
Speaker 2 (07:13):
At this Olympics I could face all four races, yeah
and just for those people that,like me, that are beginners in
this sort of sport, can youdescribe what that Olympics
sport looks like in terms ofdistance?
You said four times shooting,but just explain what that sport
, how that format is.
Speaker 3 (07:31):
Yeah, back in the days, 2002 was in four different
formats, mean by the M1, likesix.
So there's a long distance forthe woman it's 15K and for the
20km, with four times shooting,and for each miss you have one
extra penalty minute, like youdon't have to go loops but you
get a minute.
And then there's the sprint,which is 7.5 kilometers for the
(07:52):
woman and 10 for the mid, andthere you shoot twice, one time
prone, one time standing, andthen you have to go in a penalty
loop for each miss and then,based on this result in the
sprint, you start the pursuitrace.
Now, I didn't have a goodsprint there, but then I had to
start there for the pursuit, onethrough one, started earlier,
(08:13):
and then it was like 10k, withfour times shooting, prone,
standing, and again you had togo to the penalty loop and
whoever crosses the finish linefirst is the winner.
But this is like the format.
And then there's the relay,then four athletes compete.
We have three extra sparerounds to avoid the penalty.
Speaker 2 (08:30):
Based on the fact that your coaches were
discouraging you from competing,I suspect to protect you, so
that you could be a part of theteam and that you didn't if
you'd been ill, which was thereason they were trying to
persuade you.
So how did it feel to win thatgold medal?
Speaker 3 (08:48):
First of all, the coaches had this problem that
they had so many good athletesand now they wanted to give
everyone a chance.
But I thought I deserve thischance and I take it.
And it sounds like a reallyinteresting sport.
Speaker 2 (08:55):
I'm just trying to imagine what it would be like if
somebody had asked me to dosome accurate target shooting
after I'd done that.
It would have been all over theplace.
So it must be a real finebalance between putting every
bit of energy in that youpossibly can and still having
the accuracy of shooting.
How do you balance that in thesport?
Speaker 3 (09:14):
at first.
It's a practice and you want tobe able to shoot with a high
heart rate and with someexertion, and that that would
make the advice read, becauseoften I hear when do you slow
down and how much do you need toslow down?
And slowing down is taking time.
So I don't have time.
So you basically have to learnhow to train hard for it, also
(09:35):
in combination with justshooting, to get the
fundamentals right.
But then also it's a learningmindset.
You can struggle.
Speaker 1 (09:42):
Just because of your head it should emerge because
everyone can shoot, shoot andjust thinking about that
training, and also you mentionedmindset, which I think we're
going to go into in a bit moredetail later on.
But what does training looklike?
Thinking about you, the amountof hours that you have to spend,
because, again, charlie and Idon't really have an
understanding of what thisbiathlon really looks like what
does training look like?
(10:03):
Training for the olympics,training for the world cup?
What does training look like?
Training for the Olympics,training for the World Cup?
What does that look like interms of hours?
And also, do you do that kindof mindset training to do the
shooting part?
So what do you have to gothrough from a training
perspective, from across-country ski, but then also
that mindset practice fortargets and things.
Speaker 3 (10:21):
First, you need to be a really good skier, because
just being a good shooterwouldn't bring you very far.
So the most hours and just likethe normal cross-pandemic
skiers train too is in skiing.
But then we add, I would say,an hour five times a week for
shooting and the physical hours.
It changes In the summer andspring.
(10:42):
It's like a lot of hours,sometimes six a day day,
sometimes four a day, and thenwhen it comes closer to racing
course it goes down to sometimesonly one hour a day for, like,
basically, recovery training andactivation training.
So this variates and usually six, six days a week and twice a
day shooting.
Not as much as skiing timevariance, but then also you
(11:06):
combine it and then you do itlike a bias run, like you ski,
you shoot, you ski, you shoot,just do it more often than you
would do it in a race.
And the mental part I think Imean I stopped competing 10
years ago there's way moreknowledge about it, how to do
things like this.
I like the challenge, so it putme on last in a way, and that's
where I was striving most.
(11:27):
If you want to be confidentabout something, you just need
to be physically able to do whatyou need to do.
Speaker 2 (11:34):
And do you think the fact that your coaches were
trying to talk you out of doingthat Olympic race actually
helped you win the gold medal?
Speaker 3 (11:41):
I'm not sure if this said, but it didn't disturb me.
There was not the pressure,there was kind of pressure I had
to know, proof that I was worththis spot, because I took it
from someone else who was maybealso going to win a medal.
Speaker 2 (11:54):
And we're obviously recording this at the point
where the Olympics is on.
It's the Summer Olympics, notthe Winter Olympics, but what
emotions do you go through whenyou watch other people winning
Olympic gold medals?
Speaker 3 (12:06):
So I have way more emotions for others than for
myself.
When you do something, that'smaybe scary for someone who's
watching from the outside, foryou not at all.
It's kind of the emotions aredifferently and sometimes gets
emotions out of me which I didnot have when I actually was
racing, which is really nice.
Then I feel what I had, or whatI should have felt, back in the
(12:26):
days.
It's just special and not justlike this moment to see someone
winning, but also there's everytime a story behind it and a
pathway, and it's a long one,such as it started a year before
it started in the past.
Speaker 1 (12:40):
Moving on from the Olympics as well.
Obviously you mentioned rightat the beginning about the
Biathlon World Cup, so tell us alittle bit about what's the
most challenges that you havewhen you're training coming up
to the World Cup but also thatlong training season and
competing season.
So what are the majorchallenges that you have in
terms of competing and trainingand keeping fit and keeping well
(13:00):
throughout that time?
Speaker 3 (13:02):
I.
I did have after these Olympicslike two years which didn't
went so well, because I wassometimes just ignoring the
recovery part at heart, I wouldsay, and then was sick every
once in a while, but maybe alsobecause of that, and then you
cannot train hard in what isreally necessary and that World
Cup is a much longer season,isn't it, whereas the Olympic
(13:24):
event is one race, isn't it?
Which meant the most to you atthe time, and also with the
benefit of now, many years later, Thanks for asking this,
because most people think thatthe Olympic champion title is
like the one, but like winningthe overall World Cup means that
you had a whole season like thebest one of everyone and like
(13:46):
you can put it together for morethan just one race, even when
it sounds maybe not right.
But you also need to put ittogether for just this one race
at the end when you want to bean Olympic medal winner.
But having it for a wholeseason together and I was even
like sick this season it soundslike I was sick one of the time,
but I wasn't this season I wonactually the overall.
(14:07):
I was again January, february,but I had a bronchitis and I was
like pushing it a little bittoo long, so I had to take a
little bit more recovery time,which is something.
Yeah, at least it happens tothem when they want to push too
hard.
Speaker 2 (14:23):
I think when you win something and you feel like it's
only one race, you feel likeother people could have gotten
there, and it becomes reallyapparent, like at the moment.
I was watching the bike timetrialing in the Olympics and the
British guy had puncture.
He actually came back to fourth, nearly got a medal, but that's
one incident and yet.
(14:44):
So the guy that then wins thatis going.
Would I have won the goal ifthe brit, if the team gb guy
hadn't had the puncture?
Speaker 3 (14:52):
so it's interesting, isn't it, that the world cup is
more important to you it's allimportant to me and I sometimes
feel lucky that I can say thatthe olympic medal is maybe not
at the same level than a totalworld cup, because I had both.
But the other thing is likeputting it together.
When the whole work is lookingat you and like when it counts,
it's totally not a mistake,which then comes through.
(15:13):
I was even in these two racesor in this one season.
There is no room.
When you start your Olympic racewith the Olympic grip around
your chest, it's maybe alsosomething different in the head
and it's like putting it alltogether.
If someone gets lucky andwinning a medal this person
wasn't far away from winning amedal before because you have to
(15:35):
be at a certain level to beable to use your luck that you
actually can win a medal.
If you're racing around 30thplace and then lucky, then you
may be 25th.
So even for the world to winthe medal, they are up there.
Maybe this day was somethingspecial and they were putting it
together, but you also need tobe able, even if someone else
has this struggle, to still putit together for yourself.
Speaker 1 (15:57):
It's amazing to hear about the World Cup as well and
the journey that you went on,and I guess there's a story
there around consistency isn'tthere that you really showed as
an athlete how consistent youcould be despite sometimes being
unwell.
And I guess that brings me onto the next point of what do you
think now, like sport andtraining has changed so much?
You mentioned about beingunwell, and obviously you know
(16:18):
high levels of training andbeing in cold increase our
chances and risks of beingunwell, but do you see anything
now that has changed in theworld of training, competing and
biathlon?
That really is helping athletesto be more healthy for longer
periods of time during training.
So has anything really changedcompared to when you were
training and competing.
Speaker 3 (16:37):
Things change all of the time.
I think you have to go with thetime, but at the end it's a
sport.
Probably like the life ischanging a little bit, or like
the technical part, but at theend the athletes need to work
with this tool and the skitechnique changes.
Or like also now we had a floorban, like still wax technicians
couldn't use certain materialanymore to prepare the skis and
(17:01):
so the ski companies producedifferent skis and the ski
technicians have to work withdifferent environments.
So this is a constant change.
And but for the training itself,I think it comes back to the
basic we need to have.
We need to work on ourstrengths and in our endurance
and our ability to recover andto use recovery tools.
(17:21):
The recovery tools may begetting like a new level.
Then when I stop competing,there's too much out, it's
almost like overwhelming, butit's always good and that's what
also athletes need.
They need to recover wellbetween training sessions,
between races, but in the endthe athletes need to train.
Sometimes like kids or youngathletes say tell me what I need
to recover well, betweentraining sessions, between races
, but in the end the athletesneed to train.
Sometimes, like kids or youngathletes.
They should tell me what I needto do.
(17:42):
Tell me this one thing whichmakes the difference.
The one thing is like, just doit and do it again.
Speaker 2 (17:47):
To your 10,000 hours as quickly as possible.
You mentioned that you were 12,I think, when the Berlin Wall
came down.
How big an impact did youperceive that had at the time
and, obviously, with the benefitof hindsight, how much
influence did that have on yoursporting career as well as,
obviously, the rest of your life?
Speaker 3 (18:03):
I mean what we heard now later on about the system in
East Germany.
I'm very happy that I've beenpart of the system and I don't
know really how it worked withall these regimes and spying and
all the things, but for mebasically it opened the whole
world by bringing down this wall.
It gave me another idea to getmy school and sporting activity
(18:26):
together.
My parents actually were behindwith me going to the school,
going away from home.
It was a boarding school andyeah, I just think was like it's
very nice to probably ways nowbe, just like be then just
having all the time like agovernment in your bag.
But again, I don't know theother sides really, I just know
(18:48):
my own version of it and Iwouldn't be living in America if
there would be a war.
Speaker 1 (18:53):
Thinking about kind of Germany and listening to your
stories around the wall as well.
Obviously, the use of doping insports has been something
that's been going on for thehistory really of from a
sporting and competitionperspective.
I guess it would be reallyinteresting to know your
thoughts around clean and fairsport, but also during your time
of competing, did you see anyof the remnants of doping within
(19:17):
sports?
Because I know there were anumber of controversies I think
it was in athletics actuallyaround sort of doping.
So I just wonder what yourthoughts are and what you saw
potentially, if anything, whenyou were competing.
Speaker 3 (19:29):
So I luckily never got in contact with any weird
situation, because when I cameto this foreign school it was
already like born in wholeGermany, I don't know, just
hearing.
The investment was more in thehigher international athletes
because it wouldn't matter onthe lower level at all.
So I'm lucky I'm in the agethat I didn't get really in
(19:52):
contact with them.
What the contact I had is likeathletes who were doping when we
were competing.
I personally every time like tobe naive in this way, because
if I can stand at the startingline and think about who else
was like cheating here, itwouldn't help myself.
So I had to do my own thing anddo my best.
But later on, when you hear thatthis person was positive, it
(20:15):
was well.
No, it makes sense.
Why was he so strong orsomething?
And I feel very lucky that Iwasn't asked to do anything or
triggered to do anything.
I'm all for a clean sport and Idon't think that at that point
there was a discussion aboutmaking things legal.
I said no, you cannot do this,because it's like when you don't
(20:35):
know what it does to thisperson, I think it's not fair
that you would push someone intosomething they don't really
want to do, for, like healthreasons?
Do they want to be living alife when they're 90 and still
want to be able to ski?
Do they want to risk anythingof that?
Speaker 2 (20:53):
You got mentioned in the interview we did with Matt
Fitzgerald and that was becausehe's been suffering and it only
came out randomly right at theend of the interview.
We hadn't gone in expecting toask about that.
It came out through thequestion of the previous guest.
So explain what's going on withLong COVID.
What do we know about LongCOVID, because my understanding
of it is fairly limited at themoment, and how are you helping
(21:14):
people like Matt?
Speaker 3 (21:15):
I always wanted to be healthy for myself.
But then when I stoppedcompeting I wanted to have
something, of course, anothercareer, and I started personal
training.
So I did a bunch of differentcertifications and some were
also like how the body workswith the brain in connection and
the body-brain connection, andthen I went even to
psychoneuroimmunology how allthe systems in the body are
(21:37):
working together, because it'sfascinating to me.
And then COVID hit and actuallyI started psychoneuroimmunology
when COVID hit because now Icould do it at 3 am in the
morning on my computer and formy personal training part I did
a Monday morning class.
Now my friend came and after awhile she mentioned to me that
(21:58):
she has long COVID.
She feels now better but all thethings I'm doing, like some
things I'm doing implementing inthose classes, helped her a lot
and it was like basically toolsshe read about she should use.
But now she had like moretangible things to use and she
came from an economic backgroundand worked for the National
Health Service in England for along time to improve healthcare
(22:23):
in the healthcare system forpeople with systemic,
multisystemic conditions.
So she used her background toresearch and then came to my
class and found tools and weconnected and then we created
this program for people withnon-COVID, based on the research
but also what I learned in mycertification.
And when we reached out to Mattbecause we read about his story
(22:44):
in New York Times, he was veryopen to it.
He also told me he doesn't openall the emails anymore because
some were also not helpful, andI was, I feel, very happy that
he gave it a chance and it waswonderful to see that he could
run again then stick with us forthe whole program.
Speaker 1 (23:02):
I'm intrigued by what you talk about in terms of
brain body connection, whichseems really simplistic, and we
should all know what that means.
Speaker 3 (23:08):
right, but tell us a little bit more about what that
actually means, okay we can useour body like a safety for the
brain, because the brain is ourgovernment.
Everything we do or we don't dois based on what the brain
decides for us.
So we want to, but we cannotsink our way out of pain, so we
need to do something.
So, using the body also tocreate new connections with the
(23:31):
brain like having weirdcombinations of movements, for
example we usually never do justto challenge the brain to
create new connections betweendifferent neurons, it's one
aspect.
Or just like giving geosignalsfrom the body into the brain so
the brain feels safe and then weare able to do more.
As long as it feels safe, itallows us to do more.
Speaker 2 (23:53):
I am not as well educated in the world of science
as you guys.
Can you explain to me what longCOVID is?
What do we know about longCOVID now?
Speaker 3 (24:02):
Long COVID is a post-viral condition, so it's
existing before, not because ofCOVID but because of other
viruses, and the body basicallygets in a state of fighting
something.
So it's like over 200 symptomsare now linked to long COVID and
like brain fog orpost-exertional malaise, when
(24:24):
people feel very bad after oneor even just the activity of
walking five minutes somewhereupstairs and then a day later
they totally crash.
It's a symptom.
There's over 200 symptomsrelated to long COVID and it's
basically triggered by the COVIDvirus or sometimes also
vaccination, and it makes peoplefeel like because it's such a
(24:46):
wide spectrum of symptoms it'shard to tailor.
Our approach is also gettingback into aligning the nervous
system, where the nervous systemis constantly on the spot in a
situation for the brain, andthen using the body to give the
brain safety, fear safety, toget more, to do more, and then
also guides for what activitiesmaybe not do, because it helps
(25:10):
with other injuries or like pastactivities and everyone had a
cold before and maybe peoplejust think I work the same way
out of this COVID infection thatI do with the cold and flu.
It just doesn't work anymorebecause the mechanisms are
different and there's a lot ofresearch still coming out.
Speaker 2 (25:28):
So what specifically are you doing to help people
overcome this?
What does a session look like?
What are you actually gettingpeople to do?
Speaker 3 (25:36):
We work people through at first understanding
what's going on in their body,because just this understanding
part is already very helpful.
We call it deep learning, whichhelps to already be also likely
to do these little actionsbecause they don't take forever
and that's like by purpose,because, again, like some people
with long COVID, they cannot domuch and then it cannot take an
(25:58):
hour a day to use some tool todo it.
So we do like nervous systemalignment with like breath work,
but also eye exercises,connected tissue stretches, like
specific stretches to open upthe body so that things can flow
again and to give again thebrain a safety that feels more,
(26:19):
can more know what's going on inthe environment, and then it
feels safer.
It's like people don't want togo out somewhere because it's
like unsafe.
And then it's like thefight-or-flight reaction and
then it's like having tools likewhich calm the system or
regulate the system, and that'salways calming.
And so we do also also likesome mobility work and stretches
(26:39):
and put it into a sequence likemuscle relaxation, using your
body basically to also calm yourbrain.
And then also diet is a bigaspect, like it's using extra
stressors for the body and usinglike really helpful
anti-inflammatory foods.
Speaker 2 (26:55):
Can you give me some examples on the nutrition side?
What sort of things are youadvising people to do on the
nutrition specifically to helpthem with long COVID?
Speaker 3 (27:04):
We work with what to eat, so basically
anti-inflammatory foods, a lotof vegetables and these things
and like also wolf juice Isometimes call it vegan with
chicken and fish and eggs.
It's not specific, but it'svery broad.
But we also want to keep itsimple and then when we have
cravings because of lack ofenergy, like you usually grab
(27:26):
something that's just around thecorner heavy nuts or just
taking half an avocado and we'regoing to this topic and hydrate
.
Speaker 2 (27:34):
And before we move on , what results have you seen
from this work?
How much success are yougetting with this and helping
people that have been sufferingwith long COVID?
Speaker 3 (27:43):
Yeah, so far we had good success.
People feel better, like after10 days.
It's just like getting a littlebit foundation in that they're
capable of getting to the nextstep, Like just knowing also the
self-assessment tools thatpeople actually find, like what
mobility exercise works better,like helps me the most, then can
(28:04):
put together their own toolkitthat can take anywhere, and
that's for us important and wehad for the ones who were the
program.
Then suddenly everyone got likesomehow like out of the world.
I was active again and it wasreally fun to see, and then
everyone came back and came.
We need to like still do thisand it's in the part of the
routine and that's the wholegoal.
And then the other things itneeds use For.
(28:26):
Even it doesn't have to doanything with long hair.
They used to be able to performbetter, Like these things doing
weird eye, foot movementsusually don't do just to trigger
the brain and create moreconnection.
So it's also not just okay.
Now I'm good, Now I don't havea use for this anymore.
Now there's a use for the nextlevel, and the next level I'm
just keeping up and that's whywe also call it Spive 90.
Speaker 1 (28:48):
You're welcome People spiving 90 and past, listening
to that fantastic insight aroundnutrition and immune system and
in relation to covid andathletes that I work with and
the professionals that I workwith we talk about how can you
support your immune system?
(29:09):
And if you'd like to know alittle bit more about supporting
your immune system, if youclick in the link below you, you
can download the immune impacthelping you to support your
immune system.
I love some of the simplisticpart that you talked about,
being simple, especially aroundnutrition, so that was really
good to hear.
And also love hearing you usingthat kind of world of sport
(29:32):
into kind of health and viceversa, how we can use health
into the world of sport.
And I guess, just on that topic, you were mentioning a little
bit earlier about mentaltraining when you were competing
in the World Cup and theOlympics and thinking about
resilience here.
So there's an element actuallyof what you were describing
there in the long COVID aroundresilience as well.
So could you tell us a littlebit about when you were training
(29:55):
and competing around, how youtrained yourself for mental
strategies and that resilience?
Speaker 3 (30:01):
So I naturally like challenges a lot.
So it's like being in theshooting range and having 30,000
people standing behind me.
It's like I benefit from itmore than it triggers me If I'm
in a situation that I know I canhold on my ski.
So that's why and again like Isaid in the beginning, I wanted
(30:21):
to be very fit and very fast, tobe fast, but also to have this
mental capacity and shootingrange, and so I didn't do much
of it Like a mental training andvisualizing.
I was really bad with that Inmy last season.
I thought I need to give this atry.
Not that I blame myself later onthat I didn't do any mental
training and maybe would havehelped me a lot.
(30:43):
I didn't want to blame myself.
This was like my credo actually.
Like after the three bad yearsI had after the Olympic champion
title, I said I do not want toblame myself and I'm 65, so I
didn't know what I knew I shouldhave been done.
Or when I'm 65, that I didn'tknow what I knew I should have
been done, what I did do, what Ishouldn't have done.
But that's why I reached out toa mental trainer.
It was almost too much, becauseI wanted to do it right away.
(31:03):
It's like with everythingtraining, it's building up on
each other when starting, whenI'm 35 to get something out at
36, it was just too short of aperiod of time to really
accelerate and I'm not sure ifit was actually a bit, hindering
me almost.
But I would recommend anyonebecause now it's out there and
(31:24):
it's useful to take it step bystep, everything, to not need to
blame yourself that you didn'tdo it and you can find out if
it's like helpful or not, or ifone maybe what doesn't help,
maybe something else can help.
But again, it's like veryindividual.
I guess some needed more, someless, but I think it's a big
component, especially when onerace counts, like at the
(31:47):
Olympics.
I actually because I didn'thave the emotions we talked
about earlier my goal was everytime I want to win one more
medal at the Olympics and I hadlike three more Olympics and it
didn't happen.
My last Olympics I got sickagain.
It was a bummer.
In my second Olympics actually,we were such a strong team just
to get a little backgroundbehind the accounts from this
(32:08):
team we had four spots, fourstarting spots and I was forced
in the individual range like ina 15K with four times through
the fourth in the Olympics.
But it was also myqualification race for sprint
and pursuit and since myteammate was second, I was not
qualified for sprint or pursuit,even being fourth at the
Olympics.
So it's because the othersthey're already named for the
(32:31):
other races.
It was between two of us.
When I won, she was seventh andshe couldn't qualify for sprint
and pursuit.
I had to order relay.
I at least had the relay inTorino and could win the medal
with the relay.
And then I was one more timesick.
It was so close.
But putting it together at thisone day is awesome.
Speaker 2 (32:49):
How did you frame competing as a team versus as an
individual?
Were you more motivated by onethan the other?
Were you more pleased with yoursuccess when you were
performing in a team, as anindividual?
What are your thoughts on thetwo?
Speaker 3 (33:02):
So I'm an individual athlete.
Barcelona is mostly anindividual sport, but as a team
I enjoy them.
For some it's like a pressurebecause we have to take care of
three others, and for me it waslike I do not have to compete
against those three anymore.
It even helped me to get on thepodium or win a medal.
For me it was like fun to be onthis team, but when you win
(33:25):
something by yourself, on yourown, it has probably the higher
value because you don't divideit.
But I do not want to miss anyteam wins.
We had a wonderful teamcompetition in Vancouver.
This was a very special relay,so the team is great, but
winning this by yourself is evenbetter, even better, brilliant.
Speaker 2 (33:45):
Now we always ask on the podcast for books that have
influenced you, books that youfound yourself recommending to
others.
So are there any books that youfound really helpful in your
journey, whether that's yourbiathlon journey or whether
that's more relating to the longCOVID stuff that you've just
talked about as well?
Speaker 3 (34:01):
into my eyes to.
I cannot play my coach orwhatever it's like.
Whatever happens, I have to bein the privacy because then I
can make adjustments.
And this was really powerful.
(34:23):
I don't know when I read it, Ijust read it and it's with me
forever.
Speaker 2 (34:28):
That's a great principle, isn't it?
It's a great principle to ownit.
A few of the people that we'veinterviewed have referred to
that term controlling thecontrollables.
You can't control what somebodyelse is doing, but you can
control how you perceive it andwhat you do about it.
So that's brilliant advice, andwe also get the last guest of
the podcast to answer thequestion of the next guest
without knowing who that is.
Our previous guest actually wasa fellow German, rico Bogan,
(34:50):
the 70.3 world champion, and Ithink, claire, you've got Rico's
question, haven't?
Speaker 1 (34:55):
you, Rico asks did you have a pre-competition
routine and if yes, what was itand why did you do it?
Speaker 3 (35:03):
So we had around 30 competitions one season World
Cup and Olympics and Champions,depending on what was in the
calendar.
And, yes, the discipline got upand usually we were racing
middle of the day.
So I worked backwards like twohours before I'd be in the
stadium for ski test.
One hour before was steeringthe rifle, and then sometimes
(35:26):
two and a half hours before Ithink you need to be ready.
Maybe the chaperonis come andget you for nut test control
before the race, because thishappened a couple of times and
it was like totally random, soyou'd be ready for it and make a
plan B If the setting that yourschedule is not good up.
It just like works in adifferent way Eating three hours
before and in the morninggetting up and go out and move
(35:50):
and do something light likejogging stretches.
And then I had every time ahuge backpack with me because I
changed the form the actual way.
So we see it, and sometimesit's really mad and you're lying
in this mat and then shootingit, then it snows on it and then
it's wet, and then I just hadthis habit to change everything,
including shoe socks.
Speaker 2 (36:10):
What's the right thing.
You did.
From a superstitious point ofview, that was a bit quirky.
That you did because, forwhatever reason, it put you in
the right place.
Speaker 3 (36:19):
And very practical to have something like that.
It was like my sister was likeyou need your socks and then
these socks don't doesn't matterwhat kind of socks they wear
Fantastic.
Speaker 2 (36:29):
Andrea, this has been really interesting and I love
the stories of your successesand your wins, but also what
you're doing around long COVIDand helping people recover from
a multitude of illnesses isabsolutely brilliant.
If people are really strugglingwith this sort of stuff, where
can they find out more aboutwhat you're doing and how they
can get your help?
Speaker 3 (36:46):
Yes, so our webpage is wife90.com, or we're also on
Instagram or on Facebook.
We are everywhere.
We are Wife90.
Speaker 2 (36:54):
I know Matt was singing your praises around how
much it's helped him get back torunning and everything else and
get through what was a verychallenging time.
So, andrea, it's been reallyinteresting.
Thank you so much for this.
Loads to take away from that,as well as inspirational stuff.
Thank you very much.
Speaker 3 (37:08):
Thanks for having me on the podcast.
It was really nice.
Speaker 2 (37:17):
So what did you make of that interview with andrea?
Speaker 1 (37:20):
it sounds like a super exciting sport that she's
been involved in.
It's not one that I'm reallyaware of, and certainly haven't
tried, so it was reallyinteresting to hear about her
actually how she really, I guess, got so much out of the world
cup title and having the olympas well.
So, yeah, I thought that wassuper interesting to learn about
her sport.
How about for you?
Speaker 2 (37:41):
I think it's a sport I've watched occasionally over
the years at the Winter Olympicsand I do find it fascinating
that it is that combination ofphysical endurance and the
delicacy and skill of shooting.
But it must be a fine battle.
I can't believe you canabsolutely bury yourself and
still be able to have any chanceof hitting the target, so there
(38:03):
must be a really interestingbalance.
So I thought that was reallyinteresting.
I really found the topic oflong COVID really interesting as
well, because obviously that'swhy Matt mentioned her and why
we wanted to get her on.
I just think there's obviouslya lot more I know of people that
have been suffering with longCOVID and there's obviously a
lot more of that out there thanpeople realize and it's dragging
(38:24):
on for longer than ever.
So I thought it was reallyinteresting that they'd come up
with what seemed like a fairlyrounded approach to alleviating
symptoms and getting people backto exercise.
What were your thoughts on that, because obviously you're from
a more science background thanme?
Speaker 1 (38:38):
actually the way that she described it and again, I
love, I love the simplistic.
I say simplistic in a term ofpractical solutions, so that for
me really sat really well interms of actually these are the
practical steps that you cantake.
Kind of that brain body bit Iwanted to delve a bit deeper
into and essentially what I tookfrom that is it's a little bit
like how you look at chronicpain, so really re-engaging back
(39:01):
with yourself and your senses,that kind of neurological loop.
So that was really interesting.
So I can certainly see how allthose very practical elements,
when you do all of those thingstogether, could really help.
And I think that kind of thatmarrying between her sort of
sports, resilience, mindset andtraining was coming into what
(39:22):
she is then doing with herbusiness partner in this long
COVID piece and their frameworksthat they have.
So I really like that kind ofinterplay between how, as an
athlete, you can use yourtraining and your resilience
into something else and viceversa, how we use health into
sports yeah, I, I agree, and Ithink what I took from it was
okay.
Speaker 2 (39:43):
So it's about improving the fundamentals,
isn't it?
It's about there was the mindstuff in there, so it's
breathing exercises, there wasbody in there, there was in
terms of stretching, there wasnutrition in there, getting all
of these different things, andif you improve all of them,
you're bound to see improvementsin in your health.
And so I thought it was.
I thought it was reallyfascinating and I also thought
(40:04):
it was interesting talking abouther, her childhood, growing up
around when the berlin war camedown, and obviously the we take
it all for granted, don't we?
And yet it's very easy to firstsay yeah, but actually I
couldn't have even moved to theUS in those times, so it really
was a stark reminder of how muchof an impact that would have
(40:24):
made on her life.
Speaker 1 (40:25):
Absolutely, I think.
Also, she was willing to talkabout doping in sports and I
know a lot of athletes don'twant to speak about that.
It was fantastic that she feltthat she could do that and it
was just.
It was interesting her again,her mindset on it, as in.
I don't actually want to knowif the people I'm competing
against are doping, and I can.
You know, we talk about mindsetthe whole time, don't we?
Like I can understand how thatcould actually derail you if you
(40:47):
start thinking I'm maybepotentially not the best because
other people are cheating.
Yeah, that for me was reallyinteresting.
She didn't delve too much intothe mindset behind it, but I can
see where she was potentiallycoming from in that she also on
that.
Speaker 2 (41:00):
I agree.
Really brilliant that she waswilling to talk about it,
because often people aren't.
What I also thought was reallyinteresting was she was very
aware of the.
If you do remove some of thebarriers, then people end up
getting forced to take stuff andthe long-term implications.
I remember reading a book Ican't remember which one it was
which talks about this wholeargument of do you remove the
(41:21):
barriers or don't you, andactually it's you think it's
going to suggest that you shouldremove the barriers and just
allow the drugs.
And then it delves deeper intowhat were the long-term
implications to some of thosegerman and russian athletes that
were doing having like seriousstate-sponsored doping programs.
And of course, years later,like the suicide rate is off the
(41:42):
charts, the number of sexchanges that the female athletes
were going through were off thecharts.
The health implications forthose people that were put
through that like massively hada huge impact.
So I thought that was a reallyinsightful comment that she just
happened to throw in thereabout the long-term health of
the athletes.
It had a huge impact.
So I thought that was a reallyinsightful comment that she just
happened to throw in thereabout the long-term health of
(42:02):
the athletes.
So, yeah, great interview.
I really enjoyed chatting toher and something very different
for us, both from a sport pointof view, and also the long
COVID conversations.
So, yeah, really good and, yeah, I hope all the listeners out
there took something from that.
If you know anyone that'sstruggling from long COVID, I
(42:23):
suggest you tell them to checkthis episode out and we'll put
the link in the show notes foryou to find out more about
Andrea's program.
But in the meantime, keep ontraining.
I mentioned right at the start.
I've got a gift for you if youhung around till the end.
If you're a business owner andyou want to know how you could
grow your business while workingless and enjoying more, I've
got a tool for you called theEntrepreneurial Happiness
Scoreboard and it'll basicallyhelp you see the areas you're
(42:43):
doing well and identify theareas that you aren't doing
quite so well in, and then giveyou some ideas around how you
can improve those areas withinyour business to help you grow
your business while working lessand enjoying more.
We'll put the link in the shownotes, but if you go to
wwwthetrustedteam, you can findthe Entrepreneurial Happiness
Scoreboard and you can see howyou're doing and whether you're
(43:05):
winning at the game of business.
If you want us to keep gettingamazing guests onto the Business
of Endurance podcast, we don'task for you to pay for us.
We don't ask for patronage.
All we ask for is that yousubscribe to the podcast,
ideally on Apple.
Give us a five-star ratingbecause it shows us you care and
(43:26):
, if you've got time, leave us acomment.
One word is fine, somethinglike inspiring or amazing or
something like that, but wereally do appreciate it and it
will help us to continue todeliver amazing guests on what
we hope you find to be anamazing podcast.
Thanks very much.
Jeff and Chloe from Big MooseCharity, who we featured in
(43:49):
episode one of season seven,made such a great impact on the
both of us, we decided to makethem our charity sponsor for
season seven.
Now, they really touched me inthe sense that I lost my
brother-in-law to suicide inWales and these guys are working
their socks off to help preventsituations like that.
(44:10):
Claire, why did Jeff and Chloereally make an impact on you?
Speaker 1 (44:14):
coming from a background in clinical nutrition
and working in mental health,to me also it hit a spot in
terms of the charity and howthey are building therapy to
help support people with mentalhealth difficulties, and they've
saved over 50 lives now andalready met their first target
of a million and their newtarget, 15 million, that they're
trying to get to.
Speaker 2 (44:35):
It's absolutely incredible and 15 million is a
huge target they've setthemselves, but they're speeding
up help that people indesperately in need get, and
this help is needed more thanever and I know how problematic
mental health issues are intoday's world.
So if you think you can helpBig Moose Charity and they're
particularly looking forcorporate partners to help them
(44:58):
raise that £ million, if youthink you can help them or link
them into a company that canhelp them, the best place to go
to is bigmoosecharityco, or youcan find them on Instagram as
bigmoosecharity, or you can evenemail Jeff at jeff at
bigmooseco.
I'm Charlie Redding and I'm Claire Fudge.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
Welcome to the business of endurance.
Speaker 3 (00:13):
Everything we do what we don't do is based on what
the brain decides for us.
If you want to be confidentabout something, you just need
to be physically able to do whatyou need to do.
You just need to be physicallyable to do what you need to do.
Speaker 2 (00:27):
Welcome back to the Business of Endurance podcast.
In today's episode, we arethrilled to have Olympic gold
medalist and biathlon World Cupchampion Andrea Burke, or Nie
(00:48):
Henkel Andrea Henkel as she was.
So Andrea's remarkable journeyfrom the challenges of growing
up in a divided Germany to thepinnacle of athletic achievement
offers a wealth of inspiringstories and invaluable lessons.
She'll share the pivotalmoments that defined her career,
insights into her rigoroustraining regime and the mental
resilience that propelled her tosuccess.
Additionally, andrea willprovide practical advice on
fitness, health and nutrition,including her innovative
approach to supporting recoveryfrom long COVID.
(01:10):
In fact, this is the personthat Matt Fitzgerald, previous
guest, thanked and creditedrecovering from long COVID too,
so he worked with Andrea and shehelped him get back to running
whilst suffering with long COVID.
So, whether you're an inspiringathlete, a seasoned competitor
or simply someone looking to beinspired, andrea's experiences
(01:31):
and wisdom will offer actionableinsights and motivation to help
you achieve your own goals.
Don't miss this captivatingepisode, and one of the things
that Andrea talks about,particularly with regards to
long COVID, is this balance ofdifferent aspects of our lives
to overcome the difficultchallenges.
And if you hang around righttill the end of this episode,
(01:53):
I'll give you a tool that canhelp you assess whether you're
getting the balance in yourbusiness life, whether you're
ticking off the areas that canhelp you generate more business
as well as working less and aswell as enjoying more.
So I'll share with that withyou at the end of the podcast,
but for now, let's dive into theepisode with Andrea Burt.
(02:21):
So, andrea, welcome to theBusiness of Endurance podcast.
Thank you so much for joiningus.
I am really excited aboutchatting to you.
I think this is going to be areally interesting episode.
I always like to start off withthat inspirational story and,
as an Olympic gold medalist,there can't be any better place
to start.
So how did you find your wayinto the Olympics?
By the way, we haven't ever hada biathlete on the podcast, so
(02:44):
we're going to a little bit ofbackground about that how you
got into it, but then tell usthat gold medals winning story.
Speaker 3 (02:51):
Yeah, hello, dan, thanks for having me on the show
.
So I'm from Germany.
I grew up in the old Easternpart of Germany and their sports
, of course, was very from thegovernment.
Every kid had to be in someactivity, some outdoor activity,
and so I chose to be in across-country skiing.
I also was in gymnastics and ina choir.
(03:11):
The gymnastics was veryinteresting for me too.
But then I followed my oldersister's path.
She is three years older than Iand she was doing cross-country
skiing and then over her bedwas hanging like a ski pole with
a lot of medals on it, and Ithought this is the coolest
decoration ever.
I need this too.
What do I need to do forgetting it?
And so it was cross-countryskiing.
(03:33):
That's why I went tocross-country skiing training
and since she's older than I,she was delegated to the sports
school as a cross-country skierwhen she was 12 years and we
brought her, her to this schooland I thought this is the
coolest place ever.
I want to be here, I want to goto this school, but I want
every time so little.
So I'm five foot two or onemeter eight centimeters, so I'm
(03:55):
pretty short, and it always wasas a kid, I could not tell my
parents that this is my goal.
I just thought, okay, what do Ineed to do to get to this
school?
And I had to be good in schoolthat my parents allowed me to go
there.
And I had to be good in sportto actually be able to go there.
So I was nine years old, madethis decision I want to be in
this school and this was myinspiration, not like Olympics
(04:16):
or something.
I crossed my mind that, like,what I did is the same thing
than an Olympic sport.
But then I was 12 years oldenough to get to the school.
The wall came down andeverything changed and it just
it bought me another year.
I got one more year time tofigure everything out, get named
to the highest level of schoolin Germany, because there's
three levels of school and myparents only would accept it
(04:39):
like the highest level and I cando whatever I want.
And so I got to the school andthen from there on it was like a
journey.
But in 1980, boston, like it'scross-country skiing and
shooting Women, became anOlympic sport, like the guys did
it already.
It was a mid-sport, but theOlympics added this into the
program.
And then the government back inEast Germany decided all the
(05:00):
girls would train at a facilitywhere the boys do biathlon.
The girls now were biathletestoo, and I was one of them.
I said I don't care, I want togo to the school whatever, I'll
do it.
At that time I became abiathlete going to the school
and I was 13 as a biathlete andthen from there on it was a
journey because I wasn't anOlympic champion until I was 24.
(05:22):
And it took me, I think, twomore years to figure out that
what I'm doing is actually anOlympic sport and I just had fun
doing it.
And then I was doing the junioryears, the senior years, and
then, when it came to theseOlympics because I wanted to
know the story, I basicallymissed my first Olympics in
Nagano in 1998 because I didn'tqualify for it in my team.
(05:44):
Then I wanted, of course, to goto the next one four years
later, but I qualified for theteam the year after because
every year there werechampionships.
There's a whole World Cupcircuit.
It's just that the highlight isnamed differently instead of
the World Championships it's inthe Olympic Games.
It turned out I made my way upinto the World Cup team and was
named for it and it's the basicto actually qualify for the
(06:07):
Olympics and how my sister's end.
She was at the same Olympicstoo as a cross-country skier.
So it's harder for Andrea toqualify to actually get a spot
like a start, like a spot at thestart to be able to compete,
than actually to get a medal.
Because the team was suchincredibly strong German
basketball team we had to fightharder for the spot.
(06:29):
You still have to fight hardfor the medal, but to get to
this chance not really given inthe team.
So then I made my spot.
I actually had to discussmyself into it because I
qualified very regularly thatthe long distance is my distance
, four-touch shooting.
I was second in overall beforeNew Year's and then got sick.
(06:51):
Coaches were ensuring thatmaybe you should skip this race
and race the sprint in pursuit,because then we need you in the
relay again.
We had four different eventsand said, no, I do not skip this
event, I will go for it.
Maybe it was the right positionto get in my first Olympic race
because then I won and then Idid not have to discuss anything
(07:12):
else anymore.
Speaker 2 (07:13):
At this Olympics I could face all four races, yeah
and just for those people that,like me, that are beginners in
this sort of sport, can youdescribe what that Olympics
sport looks like in terms ofdistance?
You said four times shooting,but just explain what that sport
, how that format is.
Speaker 3 (07:31):
Yeah, back in the days, 2002 was in four different
formats, mean by the M1, likesix.
So there's a long distance forthe woman it's 15K and for the
20km, with four times shooting,and for each miss you have one
extra penalty minute, like youdon't have to go loops but you
get a minute.
And then there's the sprint,which is 7.5 kilometers for the
(07:52):
woman and 10 for the mid, andthere you shoot twice, one time
prone, one time standing, andthen you have to go in a penalty
loop for each miss and then,based on this result in the
sprint, you start the pursuitrace.
Now, I didn't have a goodsprint there, but then I had to
start there for the pursuit, onethrough one, started earlier,
(08:13):
and then it was like 10k, withfour times shooting, prone,
standing, and again you had togo to the penalty loop and
whoever crosses the finish linefirst is the winner.
But this is like the format.
And then there's the relay,then four athletes compete.
We have three extra sparerounds to avoid the penalty.
Speaker 2 (08:30):
Based on the fact that your coaches were
discouraging you from competing,I suspect to protect you, so
that you could be a part of theteam and that you didn't if
you'd been ill, which was thereason they were trying to
persuade you.
So how did it feel to win thatgold medal?
Speaker 3 (08:48):
First of all, the coaches had this problem that
they had so many good athletesand now they wanted to give
everyone a chance.
But I thought I deserve thischance and I take it.
And it sounds like a reallyinteresting sport.
Speaker 2 (08:55):
I'm just trying to imagine what it would be like if
somebody had asked me to dosome accurate target shooting
after I'd done that.
It would have been all over theplace.
So it must be a real finebalance between putting every
bit of energy in that youpossibly can and still having
the accuracy of shooting.
How do you balance that in thesport?
Speaker 3 (09:14):
at first.
It's a practice and you want tobe able to shoot with a high
heart rate and with someexertion, and that that would
make the advice read, becauseoften I hear when do you slow
down and how much do you need toslow down?
And slowing down is taking time.
So I don't have time.
So you basically have to learnhow to train hard for it, also
(09:35):
in combination with justshooting, to get the
fundamentals right.
But then also it's a learningmindset.
You can struggle.
Speaker 1 (09:42):
Just because of your head it should emerge because
everyone can shoot, shoot andjust thinking about that
training, and also you mentionedmindset, which I think we're
going to go into in a bit moredetail later on.
But what does training looklike?
Thinking about you, the amountof hours that you have to spend,
because, again, charlie and Idon't really have an
understanding of what thisbiathlon really looks like what
does training look like?
(10:03):
Training for the olympics,training for the world cup?
What does training look like?
Training for the Olympics,training for the World Cup?
What does that look like interms of hours?
And also, do you do that kindof mindset training to do the
shooting part?
So what do you have to gothrough from a training
perspective, from across-country ski, but then also
that mindset practice fortargets and things.
Speaker 3 (10:21):
First, you need to be a really good skier, because
just being a good shooterwouldn't bring you very far.
So the most hours and just likethe normal cross-pandemic
skiers train too is in skiing.
But then we add, I would say,an hour five times a week for
shooting and the physical hours.
It changes In the summer andspring.
(10:42):
It's like a lot of hours,sometimes six a day day,
sometimes four a day, and thenwhen it comes closer to racing
course it goes down to sometimesonly one hour a day for, like,
basically, recovery training andactivation training.
So this variates and usually six, six days a week and twice a
day shooting.
Not as much as skiing timevariance, but then also you
(11:06):
combine it and then you do itlike a bias run, like you ski,
you shoot, you ski, you shoot,just do it more often than you
would do it in a race.
And the mental part I think Imean I stopped competing 10
years ago there's way moreknowledge about it, how to do
things like this.
I like the challenge, so it putme on last in a way, and that's
where I was striving most.
(11:27):
If you want to be confidentabout something, you just need
to be physically able to do whatyou need to do.
Speaker 2 (11:34):
And do you think the fact that your coaches were
trying to talk you out of doingthat Olympic race actually
helped you win the gold medal?
Speaker 3 (11:41):
I'm not sure if this said, but it didn't disturb me.
There was not the pressure,there was kind of pressure I had
to know, proof that I was worththis spot, because I took it
from someone else who was maybealso going to win a medal.
Speaker 2 (11:54):
And we're obviously recording this at the point
where the Olympics is on.
It's the Summer Olympics, notthe Winter Olympics, but what
emotions do you go through whenyou watch other people winning
Olympic gold medals?
Speaker 3 (12:06):
So I have way more emotions for others than for
myself.
When you do something, that'smaybe scary for someone who's
watching from the outside, foryou not at all.
It's kind of the emotions aredifferently and sometimes gets
emotions out of me which I didnot have when I actually was
racing, which is really nice.
Then I feel what I had, or whatI should have felt, back in the
(12:26):
days.
It's just special and not justlike this moment to see someone
winning, but also there's everytime a story behind it and a
pathway, and it's a long one,such as it started a year before
it started in the past.
Speaker 1 (12:40):
Moving on from the Olympics as well.
Obviously you mentioned rightat the beginning about the
Biathlon World Cup, so tell us alittle bit about what's the
most challenges that you havewhen you're training coming up
to the World Cup but also thatlong training season and
competing season.
So what are the majorchallenges that you have in
terms of competing and trainingand keeping fit and keeping well
(13:00):
throughout that time?
Speaker 3 (13:02):
I.
I did have after these Olympicslike two years which didn't
went so well, because I wassometimes just ignoring the
recovery part at heart, I wouldsay, and then was sick every
once in a while, but maybe alsobecause of that, and then you
cannot train hard in what isreally necessary and that World
Cup is a much longer season,isn't it, whereas the Olympic
(13:24):
event is one race, isn't it?
Which meant the most to you atthe time, and also with the
benefit of now, many years later, Thanks for asking this,
because most people think thatthe Olympic champion title is
like the one, but like winningthe overall World Cup means that
you had a whole season like thebest one of everyone and like
(13:46):
you can put it together for morethan just one race, even when
it sounds maybe not right.
But you also need to put ittogether for just this one race
at the end when you want to bean Olympic medal winner.
But having it for a wholeseason together and I was even
like sick this season it soundslike I was sick one of the time,
but I wasn't this season I wonactually the overall.
(14:07):
I was again January, february,but I had a bronchitis and I was
like pushing it a little bittoo long, so I had to take a
little bit more recovery time,which is something.
Yeah, at least it happens tothem when they want to push too
hard.
Speaker 2 (14:23):
I think when you win something and you feel like it's
only one race, you feel likeother people could have gotten
there, and it becomes reallyapparent, like at the moment.
I was watching the bike timetrialing in the Olympics and the
British guy had puncture.
He actually came back to fourth, nearly got a medal, but that's
one incident and yet.
(14:44):
So the guy that then wins thatis going.
Would I have won the goal ifthe brit, if the team gb guy
hadn't had the puncture?
Speaker 3 (14:52):
so it's interesting, isn't it, that the world cup is
more important to you it's allimportant to me and I sometimes
feel lucky that I can say thatthe olympic medal is maybe not
at the same level than a totalworld cup, because I had both.
But the other thing is likeputting it together.
When the whole work is lookingat you and like when it counts,
it's totally not a mistake,which then comes through.
(15:13):
I was even in these two racesor in this one season.
There is no room.
When you start your Olympic racewith the Olympic grip around
your chest, it's maybe alsosomething different in the head
and it's like putting it alltogether.
If someone gets lucky andwinning a medal this person
wasn't far away from winning amedal before because you have to
(15:35):
be at a certain level to beable to use your luck that you
actually can win a medal.
If you're racing around 30thplace and then lucky, then you
may be 25th.
So even for the world to winthe medal, they are up there.
Maybe this day was somethingspecial and they were putting it
together, but you also need tobe able, even if someone else
has this struggle, to still putit together for yourself.
Speaker 1 (15:57):
It's amazing to hear about the World Cup as well and
the journey that you went on,and I guess there's a story
there around consistency isn'tthere that you really showed as
an athlete how consistent youcould be despite sometimes being
unwell.
And I guess that brings me onto the next point of what do you
think now, like sport andtraining has changed so much?
You mentioned about beingunwell, and obviously you know
(16:18):
high levels of training andbeing in cold increase our
chances and risks of beingunwell, but do you see anything
now that has changed in theworld of training, competing and
biathlon?
That really is helping athletesto be more healthy for longer
periods of time during training.
So has anything really changedcompared to when you were
training and competing.
Speaker 3 (16:37):
Things change all of the time.
I think you have to go with thetime, but at the end it's a
sport.
Probably like the life ischanging a little bit, or like
the technical part, but at theend the athletes need to work
with this tool and the skitechnique changes.
Or like also now we had a floorban, like still wax technicians
couldn't use certain materialanymore to prepare the skis and
(17:01):
so the ski companies producedifferent skis and the ski
technicians have to work withdifferent environments.
So this is a constant change.
And but for the training itself,I think it comes back to the
basic we need to have.
We need to work on ourstrengths and in our endurance
and our ability to recover andto use recovery tools.
(17:21):
The recovery tools may begetting like a new level.
Then when I stop competing,there's too much out, it's
almost like overwhelming, butit's always good and that's what
also athletes need.
They need to recover wellbetween training sessions,
between races, but in the endthe athletes need to train.
Sometimes like kids or youngathletes say tell me what I need
to recover well, betweentraining sessions, between races
, but in the end the athletesneed to train.
Sometimes, like kids or youngathletes.
They should tell me what I needto do.
(17:42):
Tell me this one thing whichmakes the difference.
The one thing is like, just doit and do it again.
Speaker 2 (17:47):
To your 10,000 hours as quickly as possible.
You mentioned that you were 12,I think, when the Berlin Wall
came down.
How big an impact did youperceive that had at the time
and, obviously, with the benefitof hindsight, how much
influence did that have on yoursporting career as well as,
obviously, the rest of your life?
Speaker 3 (18:03):
I mean what we heard now later on about the system in
East Germany.
I'm very happy that I've beenpart of the system and I don't
know really how it worked withall these regimes and spying and
all the things, but for mebasically it opened the whole
world by bringing down this wall.
It gave me another idea to getmy school and sporting activity
(18:26):
together.
My parents actually were behindwith me going to the school,
going away from home.
It was a boarding school andyeah, I just think was like it's
very nice to probably ways nowbe, just like be then just
having all the time like agovernment in your bag.
But again, I don't know theother sides really, I just know
(18:48):
my own version of it and Iwouldn't be living in America if
there would be a war.
Speaker 1 (18:53):
Thinking about kind of Germany and listening to your
stories around the wall as well.
Obviously, the use of doping insports has been something
that's been going on for thehistory really of from a
sporting and competitionperspective.
I guess it would be reallyinteresting to know your
thoughts around clean and fairsport, but also during your time
of competing, did you see anyof the remnants of doping within
(19:17):
sports?
Because I know there were anumber of controversies I think
it was in athletics actuallyaround sort of doping.
So I just wonder what yourthoughts are and what you saw
potentially, if anything, whenyou were competing.
Speaker 3 (19:29):
So I luckily never got in contact with any weird
situation, because when I cameto this foreign school it was
already like born in wholeGermany, I don't know, just
hearing.
The investment was more in thehigher international athletes
because it wouldn't matter onthe lower level at all.
So I'm lucky I'm in the agethat I didn't get really in
(19:52):
contact with them.
What the contact I had is likeathletes who were doping when we
were competing.
I personally every time like tobe naive in this way, because
if I can stand at the startingline and think about who else
was like cheating here, itwouldn't help myself.
So I had to do my own thing anddo my best.
But later on, when you hear thatthis person was positive, it
(20:15):
was well.
No, it makes sense.
Why was he so strong orsomething?
And I feel very lucky that Iwasn't asked to do anything or
triggered to do anything.
I'm all for a clean sport and Idon't think that at that point
there was a discussion aboutmaking things legal.
I said no, you cannot do this,because it's like when you don't
(20:35):
know what it does to thisperson, I think it's not fair
that you would push someone intosomething they don't really
want to do, for, like healthreasons?
Do they want to be living alife when they're 90 and still
want to be able to ski?
Do they want to risk anythingof that?
Speaker 2 (20:53):
You got mentioned in the interview we did with Matt
Fitzgerald and that was becausehe's been suffering and it only
came out randomly right at theend of the interview.
We hadn't gone in expecting toask about that.
It came out through thequestion of the previous guest.
So explain what's going on withLong COVID.
What do we know about LongCOVID, because my understanding
of it is fairly limited at themoment, and how are you helping
(21:14):
people like Matt?
Speaker 3 (21:15):
I always wanted to be healthy for myself.
But then when I stoppedcompeting I wanted to have
something, of course, anothercareer, and I started personal
training.
So I did a bunch of differentcertifications and some were
also like how the body workswith the brain in connection and
the body-brain connection, andthen I went even to
psychoneuroimmunology how allthe systems in the body are
(21:37):
working together, because it'sfascinating to me.
And then COVID hit and actuallyI started psychoneuroimmunology
when COVID hit because now Icould do it at 3 am in the
morning on my computer and formy personal training part I did
a Monday morning class.
Now my friend came and after awhile she mentioned to me that
(21:58):
she has long COVID.
She feels now better but all thethings I'm doing, like some
things I'm doing implementing inthose classes, helped her a lot
and it was like basically toolsshe read about she should use.
But now she had like moretangible things to use and she
came from an economic backgroundand worked for the National
Health Service in England for along time to improve healthcare
(22:23):
in the healthcare system forpeople with systemic,
multisystemic conditions.
So she used her background toresearch and then came to my
class and found tools and weconnected and then we created
this program for people withnon-COVID, based on the research
but also what I learned in mycertification.
And when we reached out to Mattbecause we read about his story
(22:44):
in New York Times, he was veryopen to it.
He also told me he doesn't openall the emails anymore because
some were also not helpful, andI was, I feel, very happy that
he gave it a chance and it waswonderful to see that he could
run again then stick with us forthe whole program.
Speaker 1 (23:02):
I'm intrigued by what you talk about in terms of
brain body connection, whichseems really simplistic, and we
should all know what that means.
Speaker 3 (23:08):
right, but tell us a little bit more about what that
actually means, okay we can useour body like a safety for the
brain, because the brain is ourgovernment.
Everything we do or we don't dois based on what the brain
decides for us.
So we want to, but we cannotsink our way out of pain, so we
need to do something.
So, using the body also tocreate new connections with the
(23:31):
brain like having weirdcombinations of movements, for
example we usually never do justto challenge the brain to
create new connections betweendifferent neurons, it's one
aspect.
Or just like giving geosignalsfrom the body into the brain so
the brain feels safe and then weare able to do more.
As long as it feels safe, itallows us to do more.
Speaker 2 (23:53):
I am not as well educated in the world of science
as you guys.
Can you explain to me what longCOVID is?
What do we know about longCOVID now?
Speaker 3 (24:02):
Long COVID is a post-viral condition, so it's
existing before, not because ofCOVID but because of other
viruses, and the body basicallygets in a state of fighting
something.
So it's like over 200 symptomsare now linked to long COVID and
like brain fog orpost-exertional malaise, when
(24:24):
people feel very bad after oneor even just the activity of
walking five minutes somewhereupstairs and then a day later
they totally crash.
It's a symptom.
There's over 200 symptomsrelated to long COVID and it's
basically triggered by the COVIDvirus or sometimes also
vaccination, and it makes peoplefeel like because it's such a
(24:46):
wide spectrum of symptoms it'shard to tailor.
Our approach is also gettingback into aligning the nervous
system, where the nervous systemis constantly on the spot in a
situation for the brain, andthen using the body to give the
brain safety, fear safety, toget more, to do more, and then
also guides for what activitiesmaybe not do, because it helps
(25:10):
with other injuries or like pastactivities and everyone had a
cold before and maybe peoplejust think I work the same way
out of this COVID infection thatI do with the cold and flu.
It just doesn't work anymorebecause the mechanisms are
different and there's a lot ofresearch still coming out.
Speaker 2 (25:28):
So what specifically are you doing to help people
overcome this?
What does a session look like?
What are you actually gettingpeople to do?
Speaker 3 (25:36):
We work people through at first understanding
what's going on in their body,because just this understanding
part is already very helpful.
We call it deep learning, whichhelps to already be also likely
to do these little actionsbecause they don't take forever
and that's like by purpose,because, again, like some people
with long COVID, they cannot domuch and then it cannot take an
(25:58):
hour a day to use some tool todo it.
So we do like nervous systemalignment with like breath work,
but also eye exercises,connected tissue stretches, like
specific stretches to open upthe body so that things can flow
again and to give again thebrain a safety that feels more,
(26:19):
can more know what's going on inthe environment, and then it
feels safer.
It's like people don't want togo out somewhere because it's
like unsafe.
And then it's like thefight-or-flight reaction and
then it's like having tools likewhich calm the system or
regulate the system, and that'salways calming.
And so we do also also likesome mobility work and stretches
(26:39):
and put it into a sequence likemuscle relaxation, using your
body basically to also calm yourbrain.
And then also diet is a bigaspect, like it's using extra
stressors for the body and usinglike really helpful
anti-inflammatory foods.
Speaker 2 (26:55):
Can you give me some examples on the nutrition side?
What sort of things are youadvising people to do on the
nutrition specifically to helpthem with long COVID?
Speaker 3 (27:04):
We work with what to eat, so basically
anti-inflammatory foods, a lotof vegetables and these things
and like also wolf juice Isometimes call it vegan with
chicken and fish and eggs.
It's not specific, but it'svery broad.
But we also want to keep itsimple and then when we have
cravings because of lack ofenergy, like you usually grab
(27:26):
something that's just around thecorner heavy nuts or just
taking half an avocado and we'regoing to this topic and hydrate
.
Speaker 2 (27:34):
And before we move on , what results have you seen
from this work?
How much success are yougetting with this and helping
people that have been sufferingwith long COVID?
Speaker 3 (27:43):
Yeah, so far we had good success.
People feel better, like after10 days.
It's just like getting a littlebit foundation in that they're
capable of getting to the nextstep, Like just knowing also the
self-assessment tools thatpeople actually find, like what
mobility exercise works better,like helps me the most, then can
(28:04):
put together their own toolkitthat can take anywhere, and
that's for us important and wehad for the ones who were the
program.
Then suddenly everyone got likesomehow like out of the world.
I was active again and it wasreally fun to see, and then
everyone came back and came.
We need to like still do thisand it's in the part of the
routine and that's the wholegoal.
And then the other things itneeds use For.
(28:26):
Even it doesn't have to doanything with long hair.
They used to be able to performbetter, Like these things doing
weird eye, foot movementsusually don't do just to trigger
the brain and create moreconnection.
So it's also not just okay.
Now I'm good, Now I don't havea use for this anymore.
Now there's a use for the nextlevel, and the next level I'm
just keeping up and that's whywe also call it Spive 90.
Speaker 1 (28:48):
You're welcome People spiving 90 and past, listening
to that fantastic insight aroundnutrition and immune system and
in relation to covid andathletes that I work with and
the professionals that I workwith we talk about how can you
support your immune system?
(29:09):
And if you'd like to know alittle bit more about supporting
your immune system, if youclick in the link below you, you
can download the immune impacthelping you to support your
immune system.
I love some of the simplisticpart that you talked about,
being simple, especially aroundnutrition, so that was really
good to hear.
And also love hearing you usingthat kind of world of sport
(29:32):
into kind of health and viceversa, how we can use health
into the world of sport.
And I guess, just on that topic, you were mentioning a little
bit earlier about mentaltraining when you were competing
in the World Cup and theOlympics and thinking about
resilience here.
So there's an element actuallyof what you were describing
there in the long COVID aroundresilience as well.
So could you tell us a littlebit about when you were training
(29:55):
and competing around, how youtrained yourself for mental
strategies and that resilience?
Speaker 3 (30:01):
So I naturally like challenges a lot.
So it's like being in theshooting range and having 30,000
people standing behind me.
It's like I benefit from itmore than it triggers me If I'm
in a situation that I know I canhold on my ski.
So that's why and again like Isaid in the beginning, I wanted
(30:21):
to be very fit and very fast, tobe fast, but also to have this
mental capacity and shootingrange, and so I didn't do much
of it Like a mental training andvisualizing.
I was really bad with that Inmy last season.
I thought I need to give this atry.
Not that I blame myself later onthat I didn't do any mental
training and maybe would havehelped me a lot.
(30:43):
I didn't want to blame myself.
This was like my credo actually.
Like after the three bad yearsI had after the Olympic champion
title, I said I do not want toblame myself and I'm 65, so I
didn't know what I knew I shouldhave been done.
Or when I'm 65, that I didn'tknow what I knew I should have
been done, what I did do, what Ishouldn't have done.
But that's why I reached out toa mental trainer.
It was almost too much, becauseI wanted to do it right away.
(31:03):
It's like with everythingtraining, it's building up on
each other when starting, whenI'm 35 to get something out at
36, it was just too short of aperiod of time to really
accelerate and I'm not sure ifit was actually a bit, hindering
me almost.
But I would recommend anyonebecause now it's out there and
(31:24):
it's useful to take it step bystep, everything, to not need to
blame yourself that you didn'tdo it and you can find out if
it's like helpful or not, or ifone maybe what doesn't help,
maybe something else can help.
But again, it's like veryindividual.
I guess some needed more, someless, but I think it's a big
component, especially when onerace counts, like at the
(31:47):
Olympics.
I actually because I didn'thave the emotions we talked
about earlier my goal was everytime I want to win one more
medal at the Olympics and I hadlike three more Olympics and it
didn't happen.
My last Olympics I got sickagain.
It was a bummer.
In my second Olympics actually,we were such a strong team just
to get a little backgroundbehind the accounts from this
(32:08):
team we had four spots, fourstarting spots and I was forced
in the individual range like ina 15K with four times through
the fourth in the Olympics.
But it was also myqualification race for sprint
and pursuit and since myteammate was second, I was not
qualified for sprint or pursuit,even being fourth at the
Olympics.
So it's because the othersthey're already named for the
(32:31):
other races.
It was between two of us.
When I won, she was seventh andshe couldn't qualify for sprint
and pursuit.
I had to order relay.
I at least had the relay inTorino and could win the medal
with the relay.
And then I was one more timesick.
It was so close.
But putting it together at thisone day is awesome.
Speaker 2 (32:49):
How did you frame competing as a team versus as an
individual?
Were you more motivated by onethan the other?
Were you more pleased with yoursuccess when you were
performing in a team, as anindividual?
What are your thoughts on thetwo?
Speaker 3 (33:02):
So I'm an individual athlete.
Barcelona is mostly anindividual sport, but as a team
I enjoy them.
For some it's like a pressurebecause we have to take care of
three others, and for me it waslike I do not have to compete
against those three anymore.
It even helped me to get on thepodium or win a medal.
For me it was like fun to be onthis team, but when you win
(33:25):
something by yourself, on yourown, it has probably the higher
value because you don't divideit.
But I do not want to miss anyteam wins.
We had a wonderful teamcompetition in Vancouver.
This was a very special relay,so the team is great, but
winning this by yourself is evenbetter, even better, brilliant.
Speaker 2 (33:45):
Now we always ask on the podcast for books that have
influenced you, books that youfound yourself recommending to
others.
So are there any books that youfound really helpful in your
journey, whether that's yourbiathlon journey or whether
that's more relating to the longCOVID stuff that you've just
talked about as well?
Speaker 3 (34:01):
into my eyes to.
I cannot play my coach orwhatever it's like.
Whatever happens, I have to bein the privacy because then I
can make adjustments.
And this was really powerful.
(34:23):
I don't know when I read it, Ijust read it and it's with me
forever.
Speaker 2 (34:28):
That's a great principle, isn't it?
It's a great principle to ownit.
A few of the people that we'veinterviewed have referred to
that term controlling thecontrollables.
You can't control what somebodyelse is doing, but you can
control how you perceive it andwhat you do about it.
So that's brilliant advice, andwe also get the last guest of
the podcast to answer thequestion of the next guest
without knowing who that is.
Our previous guest actually wasa fellow German, rico Bogan,
(34:50):
the 70.3 world champion, and Ithink, claire, you've got Rico's
question, haven't?
Speaker 1 (34:55):
you, Rico asks did you have a pre-competition
routine and if yes, what was itand why did you do it?
Speaker 3 (35:03):
So we had around 30 competitions one season World
Cup and Olympics and Champions,depending on what was in the
calendar.
And, yes, the discipline got upand usually we were racing
middle of the day.
So I worked backwards like twohours before I'd be in the
stadium for ski test.
One hour before was steeringthe rifle, and then sometimes
(35:26):
two and a half hours before Ithink you need to be ready.
Maybe the chaperonis come andget you for nut test control
before the race, because thishappened a couple of times and
it was like totally random, soyou'd be ready for it and make a
plan B If the setting that yourschedule is not good up.
It just like works in adifferent way Eating three hours
before and in the morninggetting up and go out and move
(35:50):
and do something light likejogging stretches.
And then I had every time ahuge backpack with me because I
changed the form the actual way.
So we see it, and sometimesit's really mad and you're lying
in this mat and then shootingit, then it snows on it and then
it's wet, and then I just hadthis habit to change everything,
including shoe socks.
Speaker 2 (36:10):
What's the right thing.
You did.
From a superstitious point ofview, that was a bit quirky.
That you did because, forwhatever reason, it put you in
the right place.
Speaker 3 (36:19):
And very practical to have something like that.
It was like my sister was likeyou need your socks and then
these socks don't doesn't matterwhat kind of socks they wear
Fantastic.
Speaker 2 (36:29):
Andrea, this has been really interesting and I love
the stories of your successesand your wins, but also what
you're doing around long COVIDand helping people recover from
a multitude of illnesses isabsolutely brilliant.
If people are really strugglingwith this sort of stuff, where
can they find out more aboutwhat you're doing and how they
can get your help?
Speaker 3 (36:46):
Yes, so our webpage is wife90.com, or we're also on
Instagram or on Facebook.
We are everywhere.
We are Wife90.
Speaker 2 (36:54):
I know Matt was singing your praises around how
much it's helped him get back torunning and everything else and
get through what was a verychallenging time.
So, andrea, it's been reallyinteresting.
Thank you so much for this.
Loads to take away from that,as well as inspirational stuff.
Thank you very much.
Speaker 3 (37:08):
Thanks for having me on the podcast.
It was really nice.
Speaker 2 (37:17):
So what did you make of that interview with andrea?
Speaker 1 (37:20):
it sounds like a super exciting sport that she's
been involved in.
It's not one that I'm reallyaware of, and certainly haven't
tried, so it was reallyinteresting to hear about her
actually how she really, I guess, got so much out of the world
cup title and having the olympas well.
So, yeah, I thought that wassuper interesting to learn about
her sport.
How about for you?
Speaker 2 (37:41):
I think it's a sport I've watched occasionally over
the years at the Winter Olympicsand I do find it fascinating
that it is that combination ofphysical endurance and the
delicacy and skill of shooting.
But it must be a fine battle.
I can't believe you canabsolutely bury yourself and
still be able to have any chanceof hitting the target, so there
(38:03):
must be a really interestingbalance.
So I thought that was reallyinteresting.
I really found the topic oflong COVID really interesting as
well, because obviously that'swhy Matt mentioned her and why
we wanted to get her on.
I just think there's obviouslya lot more I know of people that
have been suffering with longCOVID and there's obviously a
lot more of that out there thanpeople realize and it's dragging
(38:24):
on for longer than ever.
So I thought it was reallyinteresting that they'd come up
with what seemed like a fairlyrounded approach to alleviating
symptoms and getting people backto exercise.
What were your thoughts on that, because obviously you're from
a more science background thanme?
Speaker 1 (38:38):
actually the way that she described it and again, I
love, I love the simplistic.
I say simplistic in a term ofpractical solutions, so that for
me really sat really well interms of actually these are the
practical steps that you cantake.
Kind of that brain body bit Iwanted to delve a bit deeper
into and essentially what I tookfrom that is it's a little bit
like how you look at chronicpain, so really re-engaging back
(39:01):
with yourself and your senses,that kind of neurological loop.
So that was really interesting.
So I can certainly see how allthose very practical elements,
when you do all of those thingstogether, could really help.
And I think that kind of thatmarrying between her sort of
sports, resilience, mindset andtraining was coming into what
(39:22):
she is then doing with herbusiness partner in this long
COVID piece and their frameworksthat they have.
So I really like that kind ofinterplay between how, as an
athlete, you can use yourtraining and your resilience
into something else and viceversa, how we use health into
sports yeah, I, I agree, and Ithink what I took from it was
okay.
Speaker 2 (39:43):
So it's about improving the fundamentals,
isn't it?
It's about there was the mindstuff in there, so it's
breathing exercises, there wasbody in there, there was in
terms of stretching, there wasnutrition in there, getting all
of these different things, andif you improve all of them,
you're bound to see improvementsin in your health.
And so I thought it was.
I thought it was reallyfascinating and I also thought
(40:04):
it was interesting talking abouther, her childhood, growing up
around when the berlin war camedown, and obviously the we take
it all for granted, don't we?
And yet it's very easy to firstsay yeah, but actually I
couldn't have even moved to theUS in those times, so it really
was a stark reminder of how muchof an impact that would have
(40:24):
made on her life.
Speaker 1 (40:25):
Absolutely, I think.
Also, she was willing to talkabout doping in sports and I
know a lot of athletes don'twant to speak about that.
It was fantastic that she feltthat she could do that and it
was just.
It was interesting her again,her mindset on it, as in.
I don't actually want to knowif the people I'm competing
against are doping, and I can.
You know, we talk about mindsetthe whole time, don't we?
Like I can understand how thatcould actually derail you if you
(40:47):
start thinking I'm maybepotentially not the best because
other people are cheating.
Yeah, that for me was reallyinteresting.
She didn't delve too much intothe mindset behind it, but I can
see where she was potentiallycoming from in that she also on
that.
Speaker 2 (41:00):
I agree.
Really brilliant that she waswilling to talk about it,
because often people aren't.
What I also thought was reallyinteresting was she was very
aware of the.
If you do remove some of thebarriers, then people end up
getting forced to take stuff andthe long-term implications.
I remember reading a book Ican't remember which one it was
which talks about this wholeargument of do you remove the
(41:21):
barriers or don't you, andactually it's you think it's
going to suggest that you shouldremove the barriers and just
allow the drugs.
And then it delves deeper intowhat were the long-term
implications to some of thosegerman and russian athletes that
were doing having like seriousstate-sponsored doping programs.
And of course, years later,like the suicide rate is off the
(41:42):
charts, the number of sexchanges that the female athletes
were going through were off thecharts.
The health implications forthose people that were put
through that like massively hada huge impact.
So I thought that was a reallyinsightful comment that she just
happened to throw in thereabout the long-term health of
the athletes.
It had a huge impact.
So I thought that was a reallyinsightful comment that she just
happened to throw in thereabout the long-term health of
(42:02):
the athletes.
So, yeah, great interview.
I really enjoyed chatting toher and something very different
for us, both from a sport pointof view, and also the long
COVID conversations.
So, yeah, really good and, yeah, I hope all the listeners out
there took something from that.
If you know anyone that'sstruggling from long COVID, I
(42:23):
suggest you tell them to checkthis episode out and we'll put
the link in the show notes foryou to find out more about
Andrea's program.
But in the meantime, keep ontraining.
I mentioned right at the start.
I've got a gift for you if youhung around till the end.
If you're a business owner andyou want to know how you could
grow your business while workingless and enjoying more, I've
got a tool for you called theEntrepreneurial Happiness
Scoreboard and it'll basicallyhelp you see the areas you're
(42:43):
doing well and identify theareas that you aren't doing
quite so well in, and then giveyou some ideas around how you
can improve those areas withinyour business to help you grow
your business while working lessand enjoying more.
We'll put the link in the shownotes, but if you go to
wwwthetrustedteam, you can findthe Entrepreneurial Happiness
Scoreboard and you can see howyou're doing and whether you're
(43:05):
winning at the game of business.
If you want us to keep gettingamazing guests onto the Business
of Endurance podcast, we don'task for you to pay for us.
We don't ask for patronage.
All we ask for is that yousubscribe to the podcast,
ideally on Apple.
Give us a five-star ratingbecause it shows us you care and
(43:26):
, if you've got time, leave us acomment.
One word is fine, somethinglike inspiring or amazing or
something like that, but wereally do appreciate it and it
will help us to continue todeliver amazing guests on what
we hope you find to be anamazing podcast.
Thanks very much.
Jeff and Chloe from Big MooseCharity, who we featured in
(43:49):
episode one of season seven,made such a great impact on the
both of us, we decided to makethem our charity sponsor for
season seven.
Now, they really touched me inthe sense that I lost my
brother-in-law to suicide inWales and these guys are working
their socks off to help preventsituations like that.
(44:10):
Claire, why did Jeff and Chloereally make an impact on you?
Speaker 1 (44:14):
coming from a background in clinical nutrition
and working in mental health,to me also it hit a spot in
terms of the charity and howthey are building therapy to
help support people with mentalhealth difficulties, and they've
saved over 50 lives now andalready met their first target
of a million and their newtarget, 15 million, that they're
trying to get to.
Speaker 2 (44:35):
It's absolutely incredible and 15 million is a
huge target they've setthemselves, but they're speeding
up help that people indesperately in need get, and
this help is needed more thanever and I know how problematic
mental health issues are intoday's world.
So if you think you can helpBig Moose Charity and they're
particularly looking forcorporate partners to help them
(44:58):
raise that £ million, if youthink you can help them or link
them into a company that canhelp them, the best place to go
to is bigmoosecharityco, or youcan find them on Instagram as
bigmoosecharity, or you can evenemail Jeff at jeff at
bigmooseco.
Popular Podcasts
Bookmarked by Reese's Book Club
Welcome to Bookmarked by Reese’s Book Club — the podcast where great stories, bold women, and irresistible conversations collide! Hosted by award-winning journalist Danielle Robay, each week new episodes balance thoughtful literary insight with the fervor of buzzy book trends, pop culture and more. Bookmarked brings together celebrities, tastemakers, influencers and authors from Reese's Book Club and beyond to share stories that transcend the page. Pull up a chair. You’re not just listening — you’re part of the conversation.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!