Danish Express – Charlotte Kolters

August 14, 2009

Charlotte Kolters finished right in between Chrissie Wellington and Yvonne Van Vlerken at the 2008 European Long Course Championships in Almere, and would be quite fine with a similar position in Kona later this year.

Slowtwitch: Do you still believe that you are better at the shorter distance?

Charlotte: No, definitely not. I'm not running fast enough and don't have the talent to ever learn to run as fast as the OL distance girls. And the funny thing is, that when I was doing short distance, I was always dreaming about trying to do a long distance. It was like I could just feel it in my body and in my training, that I would be better and more talented on long distance.

ST: A 3rd place at the European Championships doesn’t sound too bad, but you actually had problems during the race.

Charlotte: Unfortunately it didn't go as planned. I got cramps in my bum as soon as I got on the bike and it took a lot of power out of my legs. And when I started the run, both my feed was hurting every time I put one of the feet on the ground. After around 7 km I died, I don't know if it was because of my feet, that they were taking a lot out of me because of the pain or if I just was really tired. But luckily my boyfriend was there and he made me continue. The next 3 km was going really slow, but then my feet were getting less painful and I came into a good rythm again.

ST: Talk about your race at Ironman Brazil.

Charlotte: I was very happy about my race. I didn’t think I would do that well because my training didn’t feel good up to the race and I didn’t feel fit. One month before the IM I was in Lisboa to race a ½ IM and had to drop out because I was so tired that I couldn’t get any power out in the pedals. And the tiredness continued for some weeks, where I couldn’t train probably. So my day in Brazil was making me really happy.

ST: Considering how tired and sluggish you felt, it is pretty amazing that you actually started in Brazil. Or was that never in doubt?

Charlotte: Well, the flight ticket was bought, and it was not cheap. I also had never been to Brazil. I wanted to qualify for Hawaii and I was training for the race most of the spring. So all these things helped me to make the decision. Plus I sometimes I felt really tired when I was training and thought "how will it be possible to go hard today?" But I tried and often I made it and it was going well. And then I thought, if I can do it in training I can also do it in a race.

ST: Did you think you might catch Dede Griesbauer?

Charlotte: I didn’t think so much about it during the race. My goal was just to have a good race and to do my best. And I didn’t have anybody to tell me how many minutes she was in front of me, so I just followed my plan and raced the best I could. And another reason why I think I didn’t think to much about it, is that I’m not a very good runner, so I was more scared to be caught up from behind :o)

ST: Were you surprised when you found out that Lisbeth Kristensen had called it a day?

Charlotte: Yes, I was surprised. As I know Lisbeth, she is really tuff and she can normally eat herself no matter how she feels. I didn’t know she was dropped out before I was told at the finish, so on the run I thought, “Wow Charlotte, you are running well” because I didn’t meet her on the bits where we were running against each other. But I was not I running well but Lisbeth who was dropped out…damn :o)

ST: How long were you gone on your Brazil trip?

Charlotte: I was gone for 2 weeks. I came a week before the race and stayed to Friday after the race. So including the travel, I was gone for 2 weeks.

ST: What is next for you?

Charlotte: I will start training for Hawaii. Hawaii will be the last race this year. I have no races in between.

ST: Do you feel ready for Kona?

Charlotte: Not yet, but I will go to Fuerte Ventura, one of the Canary Islands, where there is a training center called Playitas. I will go on the 2nd of September and will stay there for 3 weeks to prepare for Hawaii.

ST: You are still a relative unknown for many of our readers. Can you talk about your athletic background and who or what inspired you to race triathlons?

Charlotte: I’m a former swimmer, but stopped when I was 13 or 14 years old. But luckily it’s with swimming as with biking. When you first have learned it, you don’t forget. So when I started doing triathlon when I was 21 years old, I didn’t have to start learning how to swim and could spend some more energy on the bike and run. The last years when I was swimming I was also horse riding, so when I stopped swimming I started spending more time with horses and it ended up with I got my own. I have actually had two horses. Then when I was 19 years old I stopped in the middle of an education because I hated to go to school and instead I started working and ended up having 3 jobs. But then when I was 20 years old I needed something to happen in my life. I was still living home at my parents, because all my money was going to pay my horse. I didn’t know what to do with my life, what I wanted to be. So after visiting a friend on Club La Santa on Lanzarote, I decided to go down there for 7 month to find out what to do in my future life. But after 7 month I still didn’t know what to go home to Denmark and do, and when I really like to live on Lanzarote I decided to stay. So I stayed one year more and in that year I started doing triathlon. I got inspired to do triathlon after I tried biking a little bit. A friend of mine got me on a bike and I really liked it. And after around 2 months we were getting closer to one of the triathlon events on Club La Santa and I decided to do that, and started running and swimming as well. But shortly before the race I was in a car accident and I didn’t do the race. And there was actually going ½ a year before I started again. This time it was a friend of mine who asked if I wanted to train with her for the IM Lanzarote. Why not I thought. I liked training and I wanted to loose some weight. So I started and have been doing it since December 2000. I never did the Ironman in 2001, because I was told that I was to young and I had more talent to do short distance.

ST: Do you train at all with Rasmus Henning?

Charlotte: I’m training a lot with Rasmus. We are both on the Danish National Team and live really close to each other. More or less all the athletes on the National Team are living really close to Farum, which is the city/village where we have our training center.

ST: Besides Rasmus Henning, which other athletes come from that training center in Farum?

Charlotte: Torbjørn Sindballe was training in Farum as well, but he stopped because he has some problems with he's heart. I'm a bit sad about that, because we were going on really well together. Then there is Jimmy Johnsen (long course), Helle Frederiksen (OL distance), Jens Toft (OL distance – young guy), Rasmus Petræus (OL distance – young guy), Søren Binderup (OL distance – not on the national team) and Ole Vinnergaard (OL distance – not on the national team). But all triathletes are welcome to come and train with the national team, which I find really good and motivating Often there are for example more people training who are not on the national team than are on national team. But we are also a really small team. We are only 8 athletes and one is not living in Denmark.

ST: Do you spend time with the other Danish athletes socially too, or is it all about training?

Charlotte: I'm mostly just together with them when we are training, but that is also many hours a week. :o) We all have family or work to take care of, so none of us have much time to spend together when we are not training. But we have a really good social relationship on the team and we also have a few training camps per year where we enjoy the company of each other.

ST: Could you describe your training in general for us?

Charlotte: I swim 4-5 times a week. In the winter, spring and fall all the sessions are inside in pool. In the summer 1-2 of the sessions are outside in a lake. 3 out of the 5 sessions are hard. I also bike 4-5 times a week from 1 ½ -5 hours (on training camps up to 7 hours). 2-3 hard/IM pace sessions. Running is mostly 5 times a week from ½ – 1 ¾ of an hour. Unfortunately I often get injured, so the last years I haven’t been doing much hard stuff in running and not many long runs. Hope to be able to run fast and long for a long period one day, so I can improve my running.

ST: How are things going for you in terms of sponsorship?

Charlotte: Hmmm…I have some good equipment sponsor, but I don’t have any economic sponsors. That’s quiet hard some times, because then I have to work and I’m only earning so that I can live. No money for fun. So the prize money in Brazil was doing good.

ST: How do you typically spend the off-season?

Charlotte: My off-season I spend home in Denmark. I’m working to safe up some money for when the season is starting again.

ST: Do you follow any other sports?

Charlotte: I like to watch cycling and swimming. But it’s not very often I can see it on TV, when I only have two channels to watch.

ST: Can you share with us some of your food likes and dislikes?

Charlotte: I like food with a lot of vegetables in. It gives a good and variety taste and then it’s healthy. So it’s not a bad thing to like. But I also really like sweet things. Dry fruits, candy, dark chocolate, cake, ice cream…you name it :o) But I try not to eat to much of it. I’m actually good at not eating it very often. I like it a lot, but I don’t have a hunger after it. And something I really love after have been in Brazil is Papaya. We don’t have it in Denmark and that I’m really sad about. It was so good. I couldn’t stop eating it.

ST: What music do you like?

Charlotte: I don’t listening very much to music. And when I feel like listening to some I turn the radio on. They play a little bit of every thing.

ST: What was the last book you read?

Charlotte: It was a book written by the Swedish writer Camilla Läckberg. The book is in Danish called “Tyskerungen”. Translated to English it will be something like “The German Kid”. It’s a detective novel.

ST: Where do you see yourself in 5 years?

Charlotte: If I still find it great to do triathlon I will probably still do that. But one day I would also like to have kids. It’s not a problem now, but maybe in two years time I feel more like having kids than doing triathlon and maybe it won’t happened before in 6 years time. Some times I also find it hard to live on a rock (not having any money) and maybe that will make me stop the sport and start working in stead. It’s a tricky question :o)

ST: Is there anything else we should know about you?

Charlotte: I have a great boyfriend, who I hope to live the rest of my life with. I came second at the ITU world long course world championship last year and got beat by Chrissie Wellington and came in front of Yvonne Van Vlerken. They were first and second in Hawaii 1 ½ month later. I’m the 2007 European Long Course Champ. IM Brazil was my second IM. I’m educated masseur. I work with handicapped people.