My first half Iron Man

A few years ago, I did not even know what exactly was entailed in a triathlon, more so this thing crazy people did called Iron Man. My world was about decathlons (ten track and field events) and if you had asked me then if I would do something like this endurance sport called "Iron Man," I would have said you were insane.

What is a half Iron Man? Well, is' half of a really long swim (1.2 miles), half of a century ride (56 miles), and half of a marathon! All in all it is 70.3 miles of going as hard as you can! For me this took 5 hours and 55 minutes.

September 12, 2010 - the alarm clock went off at 4 AM, as if I really needed an alarm to wake up (I could not sleep due to being nervously excited). I had my usual breakfast - granola with milk, and packed the last few things in the car. The drive down to Santa Cruz was very uneventful, no cars (and no deer...LOL). When I arrived at the boardwalk, it was still pitch black. Athletes were already fighting for prime position in the transition area. I put my things down on my towel - it's amazing how the competitive spirit takes over when you see other like-minded people around you - I started to arange things as if I was planing on sprinting in and breaking some sort of transition record. After all was set for me in the transition area, I went for a mile jog as a warm up, and then off I head to the beach (where the first event, the open-water swim, would begin).

A thousand athletes all lined up on the beach is quite a sight! As usual - the Santa Cruz water was on the cooler side (56F). I jump in for a "warm-up", take a couple of strokes and try to breathe.

My age group is the 6th to get in the water. The gun went off, and then mayhem!!! My game plan was to walk down to the water and get in a groove as fast as possible. I pretty much executed that flawlessly. After 36 minutes of frantically waving the arms, I got out of the water with a smile on my face. I made it! For the first time I had crawled the whole way without stopping.

A short jog later I filled my mouth with Gu blocks and got on the bike. The water, Gu and salt pills were waiting for me on the bike. After 10 miles I hit a giant pot hole and I heard a loud noise. At first I thought I had blown a tire! I looked down and the tire was still intact, but the water bottle was hanging like a sack of potatoes. I had broken the bracket that holds the bottle in a drinking position. Oh well, a minor inconvenience. 2 miles later I hit yet another pot hole, and this time I lost my only food source, the Gu bottle. Onwards! The ride was pretty uneventful after that.

Because of the lack of food (lost Gu bottle) I started to cramp after about 30 miles. I had told myself before the race to take it easy just so that I wouldn't cramp but here we go again! After 2 hours and 53 minutes I was back in the transition area for the last part - the run. The cramping was a thought behind needing to find a porta-potty!

After what felt like the longest porta-potty visit ever, I set off for the half-marathon. Because the cramping started on the bike, I knew that the run was going to be tough. The cramping forced me to walk a big part of the race. As if the the cramping wasn't enough, I got a blister 4 miles into the 13.1 mile run. Armed with bananas and Gu, but no bandaid (race organizers, you should really have some first aid kits at the rest/aid stations!), I slowly made my way toward the finish line. As a cruel joke they had us run the last 200-300m on the beach dodging waves & kids playing, while trying not to have a cramp attack.

To the roar of the people (and Rowe & Christine's cheers) I sprinted (12 mi/hr pace...by this time, that's a sprint to me) over the finish line. I had done it!!! 5 hours and 55 minutes of swimming, biking and running 70.3 miles. I'm now half the Iron Man I want to be!!!!

Stay tuned for the next blog about the day(s) after....LOL.

Talent and hard work.

When I was young(er) and dreaming of standing there at the top of the podium with a medal in my hand, I had no understanding for people who said: "I don't have time to workout". After having 2 kids and job, I still don't understand it. The hardest part is just getting started, finding that plan to follow. My wife is a prime example, she has a lot less flexible job than I do and injuries that I have been spared, yet she finds the time to run, bike and exercise more than I do. There are amazing people out there that make things look easy. How do they do it? I remember when people said that I was talented, and I thought to myself: you have no idea how hard I have worked to become this talented. I have met huge talents that didn't do anything to develope their gift, and those with less talent who have gone far beyond probabilities. This one person (who was better than Carl Lewis at the same age), decided that partying and girls were more rewarding. He trained 3 days a week when everyone else did 6 or 7. After a few years of living on his talent he started to have injury problems and finally became nothing. On the other hand, I have a friend who I have seen throughout the years, and he had very little talent but a great determination. When I first saw him I laughed and said, "that guy is never going anywhere". After years of hard work he ended up with a medal at the Swedish Championships and a spot on the national team.

The common denominator is, hard work! Find ways to make it fun, and don't put it off until tomorrow.

The summer is over and schools are starting again. Now is the time to start reaching for that new years goal! (In this case, the after-summer goal.)

What is it with waiting to start to get serious and work out? Why is now not good enough? For as long as I have been a trainer, people have avoided the most obvious thing when it comes to working out: if you don't start, nothing will happen! Today is always the best day to start reaching for that goal!

First, you should find out what your goal is.

Second, set some partial goals that you can enjoy along the way. This will keep you motivated and accountable.

Thirdly, make a realistic workout plan. With realistic I mean: don't look at a professional and mimic what they do. There is a reason we call them professional, they do this all day every day.

Finally, find friends with similar goals and team up. It's much easier if you have someone to share your stories of pain and grit with.

Short and "Fast".

I'm driving to my second triathlon for the year, the Santa Cruz Sprint Triathlon, with temperatures dropping to 49 and it's drizzling. I can't help but wonder: why did I choose another "thlon" sport? I remember my decathlon in Finland, 39 F. and rain, and the 100 F in France. Why am I doing this to myself again? For you who have never felt the fantastic sensation of completing one of the hardest events in Track & Field, a Decathlon, it can never be justified. However, I will always look for that high you get from pushing yourself to, and beyond, the limit of your capacity.

As I got closer to Santa Cruz the weather got much better. In fact, the cooler weather was much better than the 80+ F. I had at my last triathlon. Everything went smoothly in setting up for the transition, and the warmup felt good. After my last swim workout a couple of days before, I felt confident that I would have a good swim. Having had some goggle trouble last time I had now switched to my old ones to avoid the same mishap this time around.

We are all lined up on the beach, and the gun goes off! It was my first start from land, and it was mayhem. I ran to the water as if I was Usain Bolt and dove in. The cold water didn't faze me and I started to wave my arms like a true swimmer. This lasted for the next 50m, then reality set in (worry) and I started to look for the surf boards around me. "I'm not going to make it" I thought. Finally I calmed down and started my usual slow and steady pace. That was the most eventful part of the whole triathlon. I got back to the beach, and after that horrible swim I started my fight back into the race again. I passed several people on the run back to the transition area, and even more on the bike. The ride was pretty eventless. I made one wrong turn and had to turn around and ride back for a bit, but nothing too bad.

I have always thought that my running would be my best event, but it turns out that most people are good at that. In other words, I'm not as good as I thought. This time, however, I had a good run and it turned out to be my best event for the day. I finished the 5k in 23.07, and got 11th place in my age group.

Now I look forward to the "Big Kahuna" September 12th! My endurance is coming along, and I believe that I'm ready. Follow my blog, and my quest to conquer the Iron Man!!!

Sprint tri this weekend!!

After my triathlon on July 18th I have been training really well and the body is feeling great. This coming Sunday I'm doing a sprint triathlon in Santa Cruz. I have not done much speed training, so this will be interesting. However, I did a 22 mile ride the other day and had my fastest average to date, 20.4 m/hr. I also managed to get a good 1500 yard swim in today at 27 min., and 8x400m running with 90 sec. rest at 81-83 sec. this past Monday. However, my big test will come in September when I will do the The Big Kahuna (half IM). I know that it's a big committment to train for triathlon, and Rowe has been so supportive the whole time, THANKS!!!

I have already started to look for possible Iron Man races for next year. The thought of doing a full IM sounds so far away at this time, but time flies. I never thought that I would enjoy this whole long distance thing, but it's growing on me. I find myself looking around while I'm riding my bike mesmorized at the beauty around me. I have found that you have to find things to do to make time pass. After all, 2-3 hours of sitting on a bike can be a bit boring. I can only imagine what it will be like to train for the real thing. I will be an Iron Man!!

Want to run?

Are we born to run, or do we have to learn how to? Most people take it for granted that they can just start running when they want it.

There are so many running programs out there telling you how much and how far you should run, but not many to tell you how to acually run. There is a reason why we get shin splints, bad knees, bad hips, bad backs (list goes on and on). Then there are the questions of what shoes, does the suface that I run on make a difference, how does my eating and drinking play a role in setting me up for a better run and recovery. What about stretching, what does stretching do for me, before or after or both? There are so many qestions out there, and on Saturday July 31st, I'll do my best to answer them.

I have run since as far back as I can remember. I played soccer like every other Swedish kid, and then I ran track when I got tired of soccer. Running has been a big part of my life, and I worked hard on improving my running form. We all "can" run, the question is can you run properly? If you think that you could benefit from some of my many years of running experience, please join me for a running "talk" on Saturday. I look forward to seeing you at Sports Basement in Sunnyvale. Come for the chat, stay for some shopping (20% off for all of the MichRoFit registered guests) and stay further for some snacks and beverages!

Tri and tri again!

And then the day of the big race was here. All the things were neatly packed and ready to go. If you have ever done an early morning race before, you know that you don't want to mess with things when you wake up. Everything went just as planned, no traffic, parking was easy, and set up was fast. I was ready to go!

I started my warm up and then the nerves kicked in. My stomach got a bit upset, but nothing too bad. After all, it was more than a year since my last triathlon. I got my wetsuit on and got into the water. I swam for a while just to get used to the water. The moments before the horn sounds are nerve-wracking. Your hwER is racing and you start thinking, what if .... and then you hear the horn and you start swimming like you are Mike Phelps. After the first 5 strokes my goggles filled with water and I had to stop to empty them, and then again and again. I tried everything to make them work like they had done every other time, and nothing worked. Water kept splashing in my eyes, and I kept cursing. The water level in Almaden lake was very low so we had to do a 2 loop swim of 750m each. After I got out of the water from the first lap I had somewhat given up on the swim, but tried one last time to fix the goggles, and jumped in the water for the second lap. To my amazement, the goggles didn't leak! I finished the second lap strong. The transition to the bike went well except that my timing chip broke off. I tossed it inside my suit and kept going. The bike ride felt very good. I had told myself before the race that I was not going to burn all of my legs on the ride, but actually save some for the run this time. My biggest enemy has been cramping in the past, and this time was no different. At mile 11 on the bike my right hipflexor started acting up. After spending 30 minutes tucked down on the areobars, my poor hipflexor had had enough. I slowed down and did some stretching while on the bike, and eventually it got better. I finished the ride without any animal attacks this time (see blog about the deer), and went on to have a pretty fast transition. With plenty left in the tank I took off for the run. My body felt better than ever after a bike ride, and now it was just a fight against the sun and my cramps. I made sure to drink a lot on the bike, but after 2 miles the cramps started to tickle. I only stopped once when my hamstrings got really bad. I streched for a few seconds and was able to divert a potential hamstring seize. After that I ran like the wind, at 15 min. mile tempo. Not really! I ran the whole way after that, and as a reward Rowe greeted me at the finish line with a big smile! I finished!!!

So, what's next? I think a few days of rest is in order, and then... The Big Kahuna! The body held up and I felt good. The only logical step is a half IM in September :) Follow my journey to my ultimate goal of becoming an Iron Man!!

One week to go!

Next Sunday at this time I'll hopfully be sitting with my feet up and a big smile on my face. With only one week to go I feel ready to give it all I got. My times have shown that I'm going in the right direction. The other day I had the fastest 22 mile ride of my life, and it felt easy. This week will be light with some test races to get the body ready to swim, bike and run fast. Last year I did it in 2.42.59, so that is the time to beat. For you who want to be there and see me getting really "challenged", I'll finish around 10:30 AM July 18th at lake Almaden. See you there!