Triathlon at Retirement

Vasaloppet, a lifelong ambition of mine has been completed! Last year, I practiced on half distance and this year I did the complete trail; 90 km (56 miles). This is the world's largest cross country ski race, or rather it is a collection of various races over 1 week. My race, had almost 8000 participants, starting in Berga By near the village of Sälen in Dalarna (Dalecarlia) Sweden.  My group started at 7.40 am but my day began at 3.30 am when the alarm went. At 5 am, I took a bus from the town of Mora to the start. I felt good and excited. Weather was cool at about 14f, (-10C) but rose during the day to about 30f. (Just below 0C). My ambition was to complete the race, and not to worry about placing or time. Just to have a steady and comfortable pace and last the distance. Before start, I stayed in a heated area a little bit too long and ended up at the very back of my starting group. After leaving the starting field, there is a 1-mile-long hill and with all the skiers in front of...

My training has fallen behind a little bit lately. First, I took my dog to a dog agility competition over a weekend, losing out on two days of my own training (good training for the dog though). That would have been ok by itself, but right afterwards, we had an ice storm in Texas, and I could not drive anywhere for a few days restricting my training to the treadmill at home. I don't like running several days in a row due to risk of overuse injuries, but considering the circumstances, I did two days of quite decent workouts on the treadmill anyway. Then, my legs told me to take a rest from running and I was out of training options. On a Thursday, I was due to fly to Sweden for cross-country skiing, but I could not reach the airport because of the icy roads, so I had to postpone the flight one day. On the Friday, I actually took the long flight, travelling for three days! This was no training time of course. On the following Monday, I got myself to the ski track, and it was good. Aft...

What an experience! I am so glad I decided to participate in the original Swedish long distance ski race  Vasaloppet , together with 48000 other people. I had my race of 45 km (28 miles) yesterday, races are occurring over many days to accommodate the demand. Below is a youtube video from the race by Volvo cars where I feature in a yellow jacket. Gunilla Gard - VASALOPPET 45 2022 - 04:08:17 - YouTube The event is very well executed. It is all happening in the little town of Mora in the province of Dalarna (or Dalecarlia in English). Over 500 years ago, Gustav Vasa, a Swedish nobleman, was skiing away from Mora fleeing his enemies. The Dalecarlians decided to get him back and make him king and two ski runners caught up with Vasa in the village of Sälen, 90 km away. The return trip from Sälen to Mora became the Vasaloppet ski race that has been going for 100 years! I did half the race (45km), from the village of Oxberg to Mora because 90km is more than I can safely handle. As I wrote...

This year, at age 64 and at the upper end of my age group, I decided to do some sporting events just for the experience.  The Vasaloppet cross-country ski race in Sweden has been on my bucket list for a long time and now I have gone for it. It is the largest cross-country ski race in the world.  It is also a special year 2022, since it is the 100 year jubilee since the first race 1902!  The full race is 90 km (56 miles), but I worried this would be too much for me, so I signed up for half distance, 45 km (28 miles). To prepare myself, I have rented a hut in Sweden for 4 weeks in a location close to the race and I bought equipment, skis, poles and shoes. I did a bit of cross-country skiing when I was young, so I had an idea how to get decent gear that fits my ski style, weight and height. I have now been in Sweden almost two weeks and I am humbled. This is harder than I remember. My Strava segments are telling me the truth; I am slow, slow, slow. Not so impressive to be nu...