Triathlon at Retirement

As Vasaloppet went fine, I thought I take a few days off and I would recover quickly and be in amazing form. Strava is saying I am in the form of my life, although fatigue factor is quite high. It has not been so straightforward. I rested completely while travelling for two full days. I arrived back in Texas, and on the third day, I thought I do a slow 5k jog to start up again. It was slow, really slow, but my body told me it was racing speed. Afterwards, my legs were dead. It was worrying and I thought I may be getting sick. I rested another day and agreed to do a slow bike ride with my friends. It was slow, too slow, how slow can it be? I took off with a faster group and I felt fine. Great! I am back, I am recovered! Not so fast. After resting one day again (just to be careful) I decided on a bike and run brick repeat, 5km bike and 1 mile hill run, 3 times over. I have done this exercise several times before, and I quite enjoy it. It is hard, but the constant transitions give a bit o

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

The anti-inflammatory medication was strong and quickly gave amazing results.  I soon went running, just for a mile, but it felt so good. Life was valuable and urgent.  I was sent to a merry-go-round of various doctors and diagnostics, all with their own tests. Not much came out of that, results were diffuse and mysterious except a back MRI that showed a slipped disc, some degeneration of the spine and pressure on the sciatic nerve, but nothing extreme. I was also sent to physical therapy which did not help. All the medical efforts were time consuming and expensive; general inflammation and back pain is difficult to diagnose and treat. I soon stopped going to specialists. I loved my work as a geologist in the oil industry, (but I am not sure my work always loved me), and I was soon back at full schedule and more. A high manager had heard about my collapse, and he personally contacted me with his own back pain story and advice: to self-treat with McKenzie exercises.  It worked   and I s

Almost 10 years ago, I was carried out to an ambulance in a sheet by four firemen, unable to move and with excruciating pain in my entire body. The condition had escalated fast, mild back ache in the morning got rapidly worse despite ibuprofen and in a few hours, I got completely stuck, unable to move, leaning against a wall at work. Ambulance was called and relief came when a nurse administered a Morphine injection. Blood sample came back: very high levels of C-reactive protein - a marker of inflammation. There had been warnings signs, maybe for years, maybe even since childhood. Powerful headaches on sunny days, lumbago during stressful periods, occasional ulcers in my mouth and nose, body aches and days without energy and excessive sleepiness. But nothing really consistent, and I had sometimes been overexerting myself, I had not always eaten well, life is just stressful with work and children, and this happens to everyone, I reasoned. To be a competitive athlete was not on the map o

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

Back in early October, the triathlon season was almost over, and some of my friends and I decided to take a challenge with an off-season running competition. We signed up for the San Antonio Rock 'n' Roll race. I committed to the 10k, and my friends to the half marathon, (they are a lot younger than me). It looks like I have a hat! Since then, I have focused more on the running doing weekly10k workouts. In order to not get injuries, I only run about every 4th day, alternating the long run with a shorter and faster workout. In October, it was still very hot, so I did 4 loops of about 2.5km from my house, and I kept drinks and gels on a garden wall to pick up as I was lapping. I am realizing more and more how important it is to stay hydrated, but I don't like to carry anything when I am running. Every week, I was a little faster than the week before, going from about 1 hour to 56 minutes in a few weeks on the slightly hilly loop course. Mid November, I tried the local river t

Smart Watch, Fitness Watch, Pulse Watch, Exercise Watch, Health Watch ... there are many names for watches that track your steps, workouts and health parameters.  So far, I have used three different brands: Fitbit, Garmin and COROS. They all have their advantages and disadvantages, and in this post, I will explain my experiences using them. I am not paid by any company to do this. Fitbit I got my first smartwatch about 2016. My regular wristwatch was broken and when I looked around for a replacement, I realized that I would like a watch that could do more than showing time. I settled for a Fitbit, the price was not too high, and it had an alright look. I can't remember the model's name anymore, but it was a fairly simple version, I think it costed about 120 dollars. It tracked my steps, heartrate and automatically sensed when I was walking and running and gave distance and speed. It also monitored my sleep and gave a daily sleep score.  It was a big help to get this watch, I di

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

I guess we all know that it is harder to perform in hot weather, but I am coming to realize that the difference is bigger than I imagined. I keep statistics of all my training and competition, and the evidence is clear: hot weather is disastrous for me.  All my record times are in the winter season. The trend is clearest in running. Below is a comparison of my times on a 3.1 miles flat run course, and a 2.8 miles hilly run course. I also show temperature and heart rate. Best times are in the colder weather, and on top of that, my heart rate is lower despite the record time. Heart rate is increased in warmer weather. On many occasions during warmer weather, I think I have done really well, I pushed harder than normal, and the feeling of exertion is almost unbearable. Then I see the time, not good and I am disappointed. Thinking back, it has been a pattern my entire life, winter training is going really well, I am doing good times, but when temperatures rise, performance drops like a roc

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

This summer, I have strayed quite a bit from my core sporting activity - Triathlon. August 12, I did it again when participating in a 94km (58.4 miles) long MTB race called Cykelvasan in Dalarna, Sweden. It is a very popular race in Sweden that draws several thousand participants. The trail is fairly easy, lots of gravel road and broad forest trails following the classical Vasa cross country ski race for the most part.  The distance is very respectable, and I was entered into the open race. My tactic was to last the distance and never over exert myself. It worked out, I had an even pace and plucked quite a few places on the second half of the race. My time was 5 h 18 min and 34 seconds which gave me a 14th place out of 67 women in my age group. I really had no problems during the way. As usual, Volvo cars did a video of the performance if you wanted to participate. It was fun! Volvo movie

I realize there are several "worlds largest" sporting events in Sweden, and I think O-ringen is one of them with over 16 000 participants. It is a classic orienteering competition and a "must do" for most dedicated orienteers. I am so impressed, entry fees are not that high and there is so much complexity in organizing an orienteering event.  There are classes for everyone, from the littlest doing intro orienteering, play orienteering or just going to the free child minding, to the class for 80+ and everyone imaginable in between. There are full length courses, short length, and easy courses, in every 5 year age group! Then there are elite classes and courses that are age-less. Basically, there is a suitable course for everyone. All of this demands many checkpoints in the woods (many in difficult to reach places) and a specially produced highly detailed map. The arena has several finish lines to handle the complex class system, (handily named by sponsors to the even

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

I am back in Sweden enjoying the lower temperatures in comparison to Texas that is having a heat wave. The trek over the Atlantic is always fairly tiring, so I take it easy the first days. My first training was to be a mountain bike ride on some easy trails (mostly gravel roads) around my log cabin in the province of Dalecarlia, or Dalarna in Swedish. Well, after 4 miles I had a chain drop in an uphill and in my desperate attempts to free my feet, I peddled and twisted until I got the chain stuck. At least I got my feet off and avoided a fall. There was nothing to do but to walk back. Four miles, but I was able to roll downhill! A quick trip to the nearest town where I found a very nice bike shop that fixed the problem by the next morning. Then, I managed to ride 27 miles without problems. But I realize, I will have to tackle harder trails if I am going to have a good time on  the race "Cykelvasan" in August. It is more or less on the same trails where the cross country ski r

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