Triathlon at Retirement

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 si...

That's right, there is an open water swimming event that crosses the Arctic Circle. To make it even more exciting, the swim goes from Finland to Sweden and starts at midnight under the midnight sun! Open water swimming event - Swim the Arctic Circle (swimac.eu) Swim the Arctic Circle takes place on the Tornio River (Torne Älv) that separates Finland from Sweden. Start is in Finland 5 minutes past midnight, and finish is in Sweden, 3 km downstream in the village of Jouksengi. For the slightly less adventurous, there is a 2km event as well that occurs on the Swedish side during the day. Year 2019, I did the 2km event, at the time, I was unsure if I could handle crossing the river which has a strong current. It was cold, about 60f (16C) in 2019, or even slightly colder, but the 2km went fine and I decided to come back and do the real thing next time! Well, Covid made me wait until 2022 as border crossings were almost impossible with all the restrictions and the organizers were forced ...