Triathlon at Retirement

I have to confess, I look at Strava way too much. What really has my attention are the "segments" where my time is compared to other people. A big incentive is to appear on the list of top 10 of all times. As I am older, this is rare, but then there is the top 10 in my age group, or in my training group... Not on a Strava segment.. . If you are out biking with friends  and suddenly one person sets off in a mad pace, recklessly passing parked cars and loose dogs, you can be sure it is a Strava nerd that just entered a segment. Must have that record time! Recently, I did a longer run up a mountain in a rural area and my smartwatch lost contact with the GPS for part of the run. Consequently, Strava did not credit me with the segment. Grrr, I had a really good time... I tried for hours to fiddle with the settings on Strava to see if the program could understand that I had not been teleported from halfway up the mountain to the top, but I could not change the result. Then it happe

This was the biggest triathlon competition ever in the USA, maybe the whole world with over six thousand competitors over two days. The athletic village and transition area dominated the pretty sea front near the Art Museum and Discovery Center. I did the sprint distance. Women's age group 60-64 was completely full at 100 qualified athletes! I did not feel particularly nervous, I knew I would not have anything to do with the top. I did a business like swim at 16.50 for 750m coming in at 32nd place. Swimming is not my forte, and if I try too hard, I just get tired without swimming faster. Getting out of the water, I was not exhausted and I passed several people on the run between water and bike.  Rather than pressing the leg time button on my smartwatch, I pressed finish. On the bike, I fiddled with the watch trying to restart, and I was not totally focused on the ride from the beginning. I passed people on the uphills, and they passed me on the downhills, even though I peddled like

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.