Triathlon at Retirement

It took me three weeks to recover from the flu. In early March, I finally felt good enough to take my dog to our weekly agility training class. I had at that time, not started my own training. I had forgotten about the previous knee problems, was just happy to have enough energy to go out. I do compete with my Miniature Schnauzer in dog agility at hobby level. Each dog agility run is less than a minute long but sometimes involves quite vigorous running with sharp turns. Second training run with the dog broke my knee injury up again. I now realize that the dog agility has probably been the source of the knee problem all along. There are too much sideways movements. Back to square one. I started swimming and biking with no problems but had to avoid all running. It was difficult to even walk. My shape was way below what I could do last year.  At the beginning of April, I started using an elliptical which seemed to help. I then increased the load on the legs to about 8 minutes run on a...

This year started well with me winning two national championships in winter triathlon. My form was good; despite getting older, I was improving my times, especially in running where I was getting very competitive. I was feeling good and was injury free. Then I caught covid in early July, followed by a nasty bacterial infection that took me almost three weeks to throw off. Training was down to a minimum during this time, it was mostly rest and try to recover. And recover I did, after about 6 weeks I was finally ok and I ran a competitive 10k in Stockholm, Sweden (Midnattsloppet). Despite the lack of consistent training, I was faster than the year before and nailed a 5th place in this hard field of runners. A week later I ran a duathlon and came 5th overall (including all ages and men) on two very speedy runs. I was planning for a half marathon in December. It was not to be. In early September my right knee gave in without warning, for no apparent reason at all. I have been to doctors, h...

I often say I would not do triathlon and other endurance sports, if it was not fun. Some people mistake that for not being really serious about my results. That I would stop for photo ops and let friend groups decide my training and other activities.  No, that is not what I mean. I am extremely focused on my performance, and I do (almost) everything I can to be my best. I do want to win, and I push myself very hard almost every day of the year. I research training methods, I eat well, I plan my life around the training and competitions. But I keep in mind that my sporting activity is a hobby and not a job. I have no income from the sport. I have no one expecting results from me, so in the bigger picture, it does not really matter where I place or what my time is. I choose to do sport because I enjoy it. I also make sure I don't injure or damage myself. I would never take performance enhancing drugs. What I mean is that I want to do the training and that it is meaningful, or you can...

It really is. Essentials are a racing bike and all the additions like helmet and bike shoes which will be 2000 dollars to stratospheric. Then we have regular access to a pool, basically a gym membership and on top of that several pairs of high-quality running shoes, tri suits, swim goggles etc.  Entry fees to races vary a lot but a regular minor race is often 100 to 200 dollars. Ironman races can be everything from 400 dollars (and that "cheap" is unusual) to about 1000 dollars depending on location and time of registration.  Now you need to get to the race, if it's local and you can drive, you need a car that can transport your bike, and often you need a night or two at a hotel in order to not arrive sleep deprived and exhausted.  If your ambition is national and international races, everything escalates, add on bike transportation (packing bag and fees), air flights, hotels and special race kits. For winter triathlon you may need to pay for transport of skis (another p...

That is what the podiatrist told me when he saw the recent X-ray of my left foot. It has a small chip broken off the fourth metatarsal bone.  It happened on the Kerrville triathlon September 25; I felt a sharp pain already on the swim. Maybe I hurt myself warming up, maybe someone stepped on my foot. I have had a previous injury at the same place, something called Morton's neuroma, so I thought it was the same thing. I have actually had pain right there on and off for about two years. "Forget Morton's," said the Dr., "this is a broken bone." In hindsight, I wonder if I have had a crack for a while. Bottom line: I don't know how it happened. When I told the podiatrist, I had completed a quarter distance triathlon with the broken foot he laughed and said I must have high tolerance for pain. There is no clear treatment, If I continue to have pain, removal of the bone chip may be the solution. For now, it is wait and see and NO RUNNING. After 5 and a half ye...

In a previous post, I touched upon doping and performance enhancing drugs. Recently, I have seen some blatant cheating on important races. I am talking about people cutting run and bike courses short, getting pushed up hills, drafting on non-draft races and receiving outside support. There is probably more, this is what I personally have observed. Why do people want to cheat? Some of them are accomplished athletes. For most age group athletes, there is no monetary award or even fame. If I ask a person on the street who is world champion in mens 50-54 draft legal sprint 2023, I guarantee that no one knows. I don't know who it is as I am writing this.  Even when I win a race (fairly and squarely) I am acutely aware that there are people better than me, that did not participate in this particular race for one reason or another. If you cheat, you know even less what your level is.  It's pathetic to cheat and you take away a position (a win?) and satisfaction from someone that ea...

This is a mountain bike race largely on the Vasa trail. This year I settled for 45km, which is half distance. Last time I did this distance was in 2019, my time then was 2h 26 min. In early August, I did several training runs on the trail and my splits were not anywhere near those needed for my previous competition time. Weather in Sweden has been the opposite of USA and most of Europe, with the rainiest July and August for at least 30 years. I have never seen the local lakes and rivers so high. Of course, that made the bike track really muddy at some parts. The organizers have made a good job of improving the track, so overall it was not too bad but there were difficult patches. Competition day was lucky with the weather, a rare day with little rain! This time, I knew my approximate finishing time and I was placed in start group 2. I got off well and raced past many bikers without extra effort. In the well-known climb "Lundbäcksbackarna" I felt I was doing well. But somethin...

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 ...

In 2019, Eliud Kipchoge became the first human to run a marathon under 2 hours. On his feet were a pair high tech shoes featuring a carbon fiber plate and air-filled pods. Since then, numerous long-distance records have been shattered by runners wearing these types of shoes. Strava data suggests that a change to carbon plated shoes improves running time over 5%! I have been wondering, is it just a fashion, or are these shoes really faster? Seems hard to believe that shoes could make a noticeable difference today. Can they help me to be faster or is it just for elites? Finally, these shoes are being made by various brands in larger quantities and are available in low enough price for the general public. As I like to try all new shoes in person, I went to town to buy a pair, any brand. That did not go well, all shops were sold out.  I decided to gamble and order on-line. I read a lot of confusing reviews and learned that shoes higher than 40mm mid sole just have been banned for compe...

Photo by Med Gadon In my last post, I was acutely suffering from an injury, probably a pinched nerve. I am relieved to report, I am doing so much better! My first action was to go swimming in cold water, and I right away felt so much better. After resting a few days, I thought I would try a bike ride with my friends. I told them I might not be able to follow them, I was tired and in pain before we even started. After half an hour I felt good, yes, a little pain, but not anything that would hold me back. The more we biked, the better I felt, and I pushed hard at the end. It is amazing how exercise is the best antidote to pain and inflammation. I admit I also had help by anti-inflammatory inflammation, but the bigger relief comes after hard exercise.  Friends and family agree, arthritis pain and inflammation are reduced by exercise. It is a story I hear time and time again, even with quite severe problems. It is counter intuitive, but please try it. It has helped me so many time...

Since my last post, I have not been competing, just training. It has been going well, I think I have improved my swimming a little bit by doing several sessions almost purely focused on speed. It has been intervals of 25, 50, 100, 150 and nothing longer than 200 yards, with the bulk in the shortest range.  But the last few days, I have hit a snag, a new pain in my left hip. At first, I ignored it, I always have pain somewhere, but it nearly always goes away after warmup. Last Saturday, I was going to run 10k in 4 parts of 2.5k, with two minutes rest in between. I warmed up on the treadmill, but the pain just got worse. Then at 9 min mile speed on the treadmill, my left leg gave in, and I almost fell over.  Ok, I thought, best not to push it on the treadmill where I can hurt myself, I will just run my 10k on the road and take it slightly slower than normal. But it was impossible, I was limping, and I had to stop after a few minutes. Ok, calm down, I told myself, no catastrophe ...

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...

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...