Triathlon at Retirement

I have been fortunate. For over 5 years, I have had no significant illness or injury forcing me off training. But since about August this year, I have had a string of setbacks. First a wonky knee, then Covid, then a broken bone in my foot, then a cold and now my only road bike broke. It can be mended; it is just another obstacle. Like the foot, it can be run on cautiously, the cold and Covid are gone, I am fine. Until now, I have seen a steady progression of my performance, despite getting older. But I have regressed quite a bit. Last year, I steadily ran below a 9-minute mile, the question was if I would go below 8.30 or not on a 5k. Now a 9-minute mile on my regular training runs are hard to do.  It was inevitable, I am getting older and the recent training breaks have had a negative effect on my performance. I am not sure if I ever can get back to the form I had in 2023. It was more fun when I was getting better, but it had to come to en end, aging always wins. But I am also in an o

I live in Kerrville, a small town in the Texas hill country. Every year, there is a triathlon competition here and I have been signed up for a long time. With recent illness from covid, it was a difficult decision if I should go through with it or not. The race was quarter distance, that is 1100 yards open water swim, 29 miles bike ride and 6.4 miles run, a significant challenge even for a healthy 65-year-old. Would it be too much for me so soon after covid, and would it be damaging for my recovery in the long run?  I had been covid negative for 2 weeks and I started light training. I had been off all training for 4 weeks since August 19, (with only light swim workouts the week before that, due to a knee injury). Once I decide to do something, I don't like to change so it was my inclination to go ahead, but I was uncertain. Five days before the competition, I did my only hard workout, a 5km run on max effort. The result was discouraging, I was about a minute slower / mile than befo

Mixed sprint relay is a competition form I really enjoy. There are two men and two women on every team. All team members do a super sprint triathlon each; 300m swim, T1, 5km bike ride, T2 and finish with 1.5 km run. First relay leg is always done by a male, leg 2 a female, leg 3 a male and a female finish. Start is communal, so first to finish line by 4th team member win. Age groups are done at 10-year intervals, so I compete with my team in the 60–69-year age group.  It is short, it is speedy, positions change all the time, it is exciting. This was my fourth relay competition and every time I have had mostly new team members which makes for new friends. I was on Team III USA 60-69; I think we had 6 or 7 teams in this age group. I had leg 2 and there was a lot of anxiety before we could enter the exchange area. Information of where to go was substandard, huge audience crowds and closed roads made it very difficult to navigate. I, and many other stressed athletes finally found our way a

It is a big undertaking to go to a world championship overseas, and I am not only talking about the training and sport performance. That is the part I can, and do, control. It is everything else; flights, bike transports, getting the right information, food choices in unfamiliar settings etc. This is the third time I am in a triathlon world championship, and it is following a familiar pattern of chaos and panic.   I got caught in a massive flight delay and had to wait in an airport for over 24 hours. After standing in a line for over 4 and a half hours in the middle of the night, I got another flight the next day, and I went to a hotel to rest. Most hotels were booked so I took what I could get. The hotel had no food. Lack of sleep, lack of food and on my feet for too long is not a good prelude to a big race. It is what it is. I flew early and recovered in time. I got my luggage and bicycle undamaged and on time, many did not. This has happened on every world championship. To make thin

This year, I participated in 3 national champion ship events: individual super sprint time trial triathlon, draft legal sprint triathlon and draft-legal mixed relay triathlon. I am now the youngest in my age group (65-69), and I hoped to place top 10, maybe top 5 in something. The first race was the super sprint time trial, which also was my first triathlon competition in 2023. I decided to use bike shoes for the ride (5k), and not try to save time by biking in running shoes as I did last year. I also swam the 250m in wetsuit, I have calculated that despite additional transit time to change, it is faster.  As this time trial has individual start, I had no idea of my position as the race progressed. But it felt ok, I passed people on the bike and on the run (1.2k), I shortened the gap to the runner in front of me. My time was 24.57 and it was enough for a second place in my age group! Way better than expected. Next day was the draft legal sprint triathlon (750m swim, 12-mile bike and 3.

This has been a good athletic year for me. It started with Vasaloppet cross country ski race March 1 in Sweden, an old ambition of mine. Finally, I did it, and it went so well.  In mid-April the Tour de France organization came to Texas and I joined their amateur race/ride, placing 2nd in the 60+ age group on 60 hilly miles.  Then, the inaugural multisport festival in Irving, TX in late April - early May. Three races for me, two of them US national championships, resulting in a bronze medal in mixed sprint triathlon relay and a 7th place in draft legal sprint triathlon, and a 1st on the Olympic distance (non-championship). I hold the mixed sprint relay as the most fun race of the year. In June it was time for World Championship in Montreal, always exciting. A 28th place in individual sprint and 7th place in mixt sprint relay. I enjoyed every minute. Back to Sweden for swimming over the Arctic circle in the midnight sun, and an MTB race on the Vasa trail, both well worth doing.  I finis

I have started to use energy gels on longer competitions. I wish I had done that earlier; it really has helped my performance. Previously, I have only relied on energy drinks and apple juice, usually diluted with water. On advice from training buddies, I tested using gels during training a few times. I think it had some effect, but nothing really game changing. In hindsight, I can see I did not take enough. Recommended consumption is one gel every half hour during endurance events.  On my half ironman in April 2021, I only took one energy gel during the whole race, it was in T2. It probably helped me a bit, but the real game changer was Red Bull. On the run, I took a cup of Red Bull by mistake, I thought it was sports drink. The energizing effect was obvious, I felt it right away. Worried about too much caffeine intake, I swapped sports drink and Red Bull on every other drink station for the rest of the run. It was still hard, but the extra stimulant and sugar made it doable, and the r

Last Triathlon for the year for me was just for fun on a slightly shortened sprint in the town of New Braunfels, TX. This race had a lot of first timers. Swim was in the amazing spring water pool in Landa Park, crystal clear and perfect temperature. I was one of the few that choose to wear a wetsuit, because I am sure that even on shorter swims, it is faster. The swim was actually in two parts, first about 150 meters in the spring fed pool and then 150 meters in a regular pool. I swim about 10-15s faster per 100m in wetsuit, that is a 30-45s advantage by using it. Getting the wetsuits off takes about 15s, so I am still ahead and, on a sprint, every second counts! I should mention that there were two options to get into the water, jump in or a water slide... I judged the waters slide would be about 5 seconds slower, so I was boring and jumped in. Bike course is slightly undulating but has a steep uphill shortly after start. A few beginners were in the wrong gear and had to walk up. I ha

I always feel a lot of pressure at the Kerrville triathlon which is in my hometown. This year, I placed 2nd in the W60-64 division, quarter ironman distance (1100 yards swim, 29 miles bike and 10.4 miles run). The competitions are very well organized and set in a beautiful environment, but I have difficulty enjoying it.   On Friday afternoon, I volunteered at the sprint bike check-in for 5 hours, and it was hot, over 90f (32C). I already knew from my experience last year, that to avoid overheating on the run was the main challenge. I have spent most of the summer in much cooler temperatures in Sweden, and only about 3 weeks in Texas heat, so I worried that I was not fully acclimatized.  I prepared as much as I could, I did several bike and run workouts in the midday heat the weeks before the competition. On the morning of the event, I brought a small cooler full of ice and a water bottle to transition 2.  The Guadalupe River where swimming was taking place, was too hot for wetsuit and

Yes, Vadstena Triathlon August 27 in Sweden used the courtyard of a medieval castle for transition. It is probably the most beautiful triathlon I have participated in. This post will partly read like tourist information. The city of Vadstena is old, picturesque and pretty with a castle built by king Gustaf Wasa around 1545, and a nunnery and monastery inaugurated already 1384. I arrived a day early and walked in the city and then biked on small roads, looking at old churches and a stone age burial site. Would not mind returning and do a longer bike tour around lake Vättern. This competition also served as the Swedish Championship on Olympic Distance. I had signed up two years earlier for a competition in Stockholm, but due to covid, the event got postponed two years and new construction in Stockholm forced the event to Vadstena. Now I found myself at the top of my age group on a distance that is not my best. Well, I compete to enjoy, and although I was far from medals, it was one of my

On Saturday June 25 I did the individual sprint race in F60-64 and next day mixed team sprint relay 60-69. It was fun and intense, but I did not feel much pressure, as I knew I would have nothing to do with the podium.  Pre-race On Thursday before the races, it rained a little while we had a USA team photo and parade of nations. Elite races scheduled for Friday had their swim cancelled due to water contamination from the rains and their competition reverted to a duathlon (run-bike-run). By Saturday and age group races, water quality got restored and we did a normal triathlon. On Friday, it was bike check in and I looked over transition areas and course. We had not been allowed to swim or bike the course, only the run was available. This was because swim was in a harbor and obviously, it is not a place that normally allows swimming. Bike course was on busy roads, at times against the normal flow, so that was also a no-no. Instead, they provided videos, which I reviewed several times, bu

I was matched with Andrea on the Mixed Team Relay in Irving in early May, and it was fairly humbling. I am used to think of myself as an achiever, starting triathlons at 60, completing a half ironman, placing at nationals, being part of Team USA etc. All this because I was lucky to be able to retire at 60. Andrea will be 76 in 2022 and she started triathlon training at 72.  She completed a half ironman at 74. I thought I was tough to do three events on consecutive days on the multisport festival; Andrea did 5 and placed on the podium in most of them. She is still working full time as a data scientist. By the way, I noticed that she earned a master's in data analytics at 68, that on top of a long and distinguished career in health care. Hats off to you and way to go Andrea!

Fun, Fun, Fun and more Fun. Two men and two women made up teams for mixed relay and get this: all team members had to race three disciplines! Swim was 250m, bike 5km and run 1.2km. It was fast paced and exciting. Transition speed was important. I had no team, but I put in my name for the organizers to find members from the pool of available athletes. I was placed in team KatDaddy with Curt and KC from New York and Andrea from Georgia. Our combined ages were 270, which made us one of the oldest teams, but Curt and KC are absolute top athletes in their age groups. First leg was for guys and Curt started. Less than 20 minutes later he changed to me, and I jumped into the water. Wetsuit was allowed, but I decided to not use it for such a short distance. In T1, I skipped biking shoes and went straight for running shoes to save a few seconds in T2. I got a good draft on the bike, and as planned, I passed people in T2. Run took only 4.30, and then KC and Andrea completed the relay. Despite be

This year, USA Triathlon collected several multisport national championships into a multi-day event. Great for efficiency, no need to travel all over the USA to different venues, but it also makes for a tight and exhausting competition schedule. April 28 opened with Nationals in Super Sprint Triathlon and a non-championship open water swim competition. April 29 had Nationals in Draft Legal Sprint Triathlon and Aquathlon. April 30 Nationals in Duathlon and Age Group Mixed Relay (a first!). May 1 Nationals in Standard Aquabike and Draft Legal Duathlon and a non-championship (but qualifier for the World Championship 2023) in Olympic Distance Triathlon. Wow, a lot! If you signed up for 5 races or more, you received a special award, and many people did. A few signed up for the maximum possible: 8 events (2 a day). I restricted myself to the Draft Legal Sprint Triathlon, the Relay and the world qualifier in Olympic Triathlon. There was so much going on, I will make several posts of this fest

It is not great to be old and find your physique declining every year. On the other hand, with time, I have gathered some helpful experiences.  For one, I am convinced that our environment and relationship to people around us shape our success far more than most people think. Too many setbacks and put downs make us shrink, mentally and physically. Yes, physically too. We grow on success. I guess too much success can destroy people, it is not something I have personal experience from. I have noticed that easy early success for children can be negative for them, they do not value what they can achieve and throw their talent away. How can it be valuable, it was so easy, right?  photo by George Becker (Pexels) Here is a scenario I have seen time and time again: A slower cyclist/runner falls behind in a friendly training session, the gap just gets bigger and bigger. It is not fun for anyone, but especially not for the person behind. They are struggling and suffering on the edge of their cap

Sometimes you can end up in a situation where you definitely are the least able athlete. In every event, someone is last. It does not have to mean they are out of their depth; they can be the slowest person in a strong field. The world championship for example, even the lowest place competitor is a great athlete. As I am older, I have to accept that I may be the slowest athlete sometimes. But I have a rule; I never sign up for anything where I think there is a risk I will become a burden to the organizers or other competitors. I make sure that I am adequately prepared for every event I enter. Noone should for example sign up for an Ironman without a long period of training beforehand. But still, an Ironman may be in your capacity, you just know that you will be far behind the winner. Maybe they don't offer your age group and you have to compete against younger athletes. Don't let the worry about being last stop you. I have seen people being so worried about being last that they

It is now the tail end of winter, and I will write about what I did to complement my training last summer in Sweden:  orienteering.   Orienteering is fairly popular in Sweden. It is so important to enjoy the workouts, and orienteering is perfect for longer runs. Running through forest and on rough trails is hard and demands stability in the ankles. A lot of small muscles are used in the constantly varied terrain. During my last orienteering, I had an average heart rate of 147 and topped at 172, during the 40 minutes race.  Being focused on the map and finding checkpoints, I did hardly notice how hard the body was working.  Of course, if you are a beginner, you may be walking more than running as those controls are hard to find... It is interesting that an average orienteering race in Sweden only costs about 20 dollars to enter. For that you get a professionally drawn special map, a course set in the forest designed for your age group and ability (there are hundreds of different checkpo

What works for best performance in a long run or bike ride? Start hard and push it as far as you can, or start in a more comfortable speed and increase at the end? It's the latter, when your mile (or km) times are getting faster as you go (negative splits), you are more likely to reach your best time. This is well known, and I have also tested it for myself on the treadmill.  To the left is an example of negative splits on a recent training run. Starting too hard is always a mistake, you cannot will yourself to keep it up to the end, your body is actually  unable  to respond. I am not going into the physiology of why, but I have enough experience to say that a too ambitious opening will fail to make a good time and it's not a lack of willpower. When I did my half ironman earlier in the year, I was just focused on completing the course, not to reach a specific time or place. I managed the energy well, holding an even pace, and the final run ended up as my best performance for th

The year went more or less as planned. The highpoint was probably that I completed a half Ironman in April on a decent time without incident. In May, I qualified for the World Championships in Bermuda, but it got cancelled in the last minute due to Covid. US Nationals in Milwaukee in August went ok, but not great, I was too slow on the bike. Did a better race on the draft legal championship in Tempe and ended up in 4th place. I had fun on several local competitions, so overall, I am happy with the year. I think my swimming has improved a little but not as much as I had hoped for. My technique is better but my upper body is just too weak. The running is holding more or less steady, biking is difficult to assess, but approximately the same as last year. I am more or less as fast as 2020, despite being a year older, so actually, I am getting a little better. Year 2022, I am 64 in January so I am the oldest in my age group. There is a little loss of ability every year, so my expectations f

For the first time, a US National Championship in remote racing was held during a week in November. Remote racing is not the same as virtual racing, key difference is that all results are being converted to a standardized course. Software by RaceX is applied in an attempt to take away real differences in the participants various courses and conditions.  It is a bit confusing, but   Remote Racing is powered by  RaceX  which  is a division of   Predictive Fitness , which uses data to improve training efficiency, and is in turn used by   TriDot , a company that offers triathlon training. For those who want to learn more, I attach links at the end of this text. I saw the invitation on my Facebook feed and for 50 dollars signup fee, I decided to give it a go. First, I thought carefully about where I could race safely at full speed. Swim had to be in a standard-length pool, and bike and run starting and ending at the same spot. After I had chosen my location, I did a trial where I also mappe