Triathlon at Retirement

Lots of events have been cancelled in Sweden due to corona, but 11 July, Mora Trail, a cross country running competition was allowed to take place. I signed up because it is such good training, and I always push myself harder running against other people.  I choose the 8km course, but longer courses were available. Starting at Mora cross country ski stadium, the trail was winding up and down little hills on mostly rough trails. It was hard, in the middle I actually walked up some of the hills but I still feel I had a good race at 50.02. I got 14th place amongst the women, all ages were in the same class and I was one of the oldest. My Garmin watch recorded the training effect at highly improving! It was probably correct, a week later I PRd on one of my training routes.  Mora Trail | 11 juli 2021

After a while, your workout routines will feel old and uninspiring. It is a good idea to change training environment every now and then. I am lucky to be able to be able to travel to Sweden every summer. I escape Texas hot weather and I get to test myself on new routes. The change gives me new motivation and energy to continue pushing myself.  My base is in the region of Dalecarlia (Dalarna in Swedish), a center for endurance sports. Here we have one of the worlds largest outdoor swimming competitions with the "Vansbrosimningen", and the worlds largest cross country skiing competition, the "Vasaloppet", just for starters. I find arenas and training opportunities for triathlon, outdoor swimming, MTB, running, trail running, orienteering and more.  It is fun changing routines. In the picture, I am mountain biking on the Vasa trail, it is 90 km long. The same approximate trail is used for cross-country skiing, mountain biking and distance running. Major competitions fo

The look of exhaustion... A few weeks ago, I was feeling more and more exhausted during, and after training. I still performed, but pain levels seemed harder. I really noticed it on the Fort Worth olympic distance triathlon, my legs were tired right at the start of the bike course. I pushed through in a businesslike manner, but it all felt hard, mechanical and uninspired. The run (10k) was not fun and it got worse along the way. After the competition, I was faint. At the time, I thought I had eaten poorly before the competition, compounded by sports drink not being offered on the run course. Not my best race. The following week I cut down on my normal training dose to about half, I wanted to recover. But training still felt harder than normal, in fact, it did not feel fun at all. Bottom was hit one day when I ran one mile at a fast pace, but just could not continue. My legs could not move at any decent pace. I checked my heart rate, max had only been 127 bpm. I regularly reach 170 bpm

An all female supersprint competition! I really enjoyed it. Distances were a little shorter, swim 500m, bike ride 10 miles and run 2.5 miles. While this was an opportunity for first timers to try triathlon, it was also a hard competition with nationally ranked athletes.  Because  it was a marginally shorter than a regular triathlon, I pushed hard all the way. I had a good race, my transitions were fast and I managed my energy well. I opted to swim without wetsuit (it was optional) and I think it was the right choice. Hardly worth the hassle to take it off for such a short course and it was going to be a very hot day. On the final run, I was head to head with one of my training friends; we battled each other for 2 miles, sometimes she was ahead, sometimes I was. Our final time was almost the same! She got first in her class, I got second place. I think this was one of my most enjoyable competitions for a long time.

Should you use socks in your shoes during triathlons? You come out of the swim barefoot, putting on socks takes time. Is it worth it? For sprint competitions, I skip the socks, every second counts. For Olympic distance and longer, I use socks because I am worried about getting blisters on the run and a bad blister can impact the performance. In cold weather, I always wear long socks in order to protect my achilleas tendons.

Rain and thunderstorms in the forecast for this Fort Worth Olympic distance triathlon. I had misgivings while driving five hours the day before; maybe the event would be canceled due to weather. But I had signed up, I had paid and I went. Good job, I did. It was a gray day, but hardly a drop of rain!  For the 1500m lake swim, I positioned myself in the middle of the field. I am not a great swimmer, and often I take a humble position in the back only to find that people are slow and blocking my progress. This time, I was not the slowest in my group, probably most people were faster. It made me feel like I had a bad swim when people passed, but I did what I am good at; swallowing my pride and push on. I could not believe my eyes when I came out of the water; clock said 33 minutes! That is fast for me.  Transition 1 included a long uphill, I ran all the way and started to peel off the wetsuit. The bike leg consisted of two loops of about 12.5 miles, I had almost the same time on both loop

This 2nd of May competition was a qualifier for the draft legal sprint World Championships in Bermuda later this year. Many hopefuls, including myself traveled to Virginia trying to capture one of the coveted Team USA spots, juniors and seniors included. Perfect weather and a fine location with smooth arrangements made this draft legal sprint a great competition.   My race was in the afternoon and wind had picked up quite a bit. I thought I did a good swim, I certainly pushed myself, but it was over a minute slower than the practice swim the previous day! I don't understand why it was slower. Bike course was 4 loops with a hairpin turn-around and a few tight turns. The only long straight stretch had headwind, and the tailwind was on the technical part of the ride so it was not that much of help. I pushed myself too hard on the bike course and got very tired. Starting the run leg, I hit my head on the racking tubing standing up after putting on my shoes, and felt very confused for a