Summer break in blogging...

There has been a long break in my blogging for two reasons: I have been travelling in the Arctic of Scandinavia and largely been without reliable internet, and I have been sick for over a month stopping any interesting training. These two events are related.

In late June, I flew to Sweden where I prefer to spend the summers rather than overheating in Texas. I have a log cabin in the area called Dalecarlia (or Dalarna in Swedish) which is a rural area, hilly and a center for culture and endurance sports. 

It started out great, June 29, I did the Vansbro sprint triathlon and had some very fast times for my age. Weather was great too!

Then the cold fronts started to move in. This year, I had company with a good friend and triathlete from Texas, and she wanted to do the 3km Vansbroswim, which is one of the world's largest open water swimming events. We braved the cold weather and trained diligently in the local lake with our wetsuits. I also wanted to show my friend the cultural side of Sweden and we went to the Bingsjö folk music festival and luckily the weather brightened up for the day! It was a great day and evening, full of music and dance. Unfortunately, I think we caught Covid during the dance.

We both woke up the next day feeling little off and with a slight rasp in the voice, but we thought it was due to too much singing. I went mountain biking, unfortunately I got caught in a cold rain shower and I was freezing when I returned back to the cabin. Still feeling ok, the next evening, we went to a music performance in Dalhalla, an old limestone quarry that now is a performance stage, all outdoor of course. More down pours, but we survived fairly well in our raingear.

Next day, a week after the triathlon, we participated in the Vansbro open water swim. I was worried that I maybe was not totally ok, so I took it fairly easy but still had a decent time, only two minutes slower than the year before so everything seemed fine. 

The day after, we were signed up for the Mora Trail run. My friend said she felt a little off and did not participate. I did feel something in my throat, but otherwise I seemed good. To be cautious, I took it fairly easy and interestingly, I had more energy toward the end than previous years and my time was about the same as last year.

The day after, we both were clearly ill with a sore throat and cough. We had a little panic, my friend had come from Texas to Sweden to swim over the Arctic circle, and the race was only 6 days out! We stopped training and rested as much as possible. After about 4 days we were a lot better and on competition day, we were totally ok.

The night was beautiful with clear skies and the water was still and not very cold. I felt I had a good swim and was a little disappointed that it was slower than two years ago. My friend also had a great race and was happy! She was completely recovered and flew home to Texas and has not had more symptoms. 

But I took a turn for the worse and I have been ill for another three weeks. I was travelling around 

northern Scandinavia, mostly above the Arctic circle doing little hikes and excursions and I never really rested completely. This was planned for a long time with my family. Probably the initial cold developed into a bacterial infection. Being away from home and in an extremely rural location, doctors were not easy to see. Most of the time I was not in stable internet range. It felt like I would never get better, but just when I was about to do anything to contact a doctor, I improved. 

So, this is what has happened while I was not blogging. I am now free from the cold. Maybe.