Race Report Norseman 2022 - An Unforgettable Experience

Norseman 2022 - An Unforgettable Race 

Preparation and planning

In 2019 I had finally come to the step where I was ready to sign up for a full distance triathlon race, and Ironman Italy was the choice. Nice sunny and warm weather, salty cozy Adriatic Sea for the swim, flat and fast bike course and easy run in Cervia to round it off. Combining it with Italian wine and food and some family fun at the same time, it felt like a perfect choice. When I got the message from my brother Peter shortly after mentioning that I had won an entry into Norseman and that the debut would be earlier, I was flabergasted...

Eidfjord - it looks so nice and innocent!

Biking in Puerto Rico – or at least the Northeast corner!

It was time for family vacation again over Christmas, this time to visit family in Puerto Rico. This year I happily obliged as I saw an opportunity to get in some high volume training under the sun, so I decided to bring my bike with me on the trip. Actually, I brought my wife’s bike. Even though the frame is a little bit too small for me, I figured out that the Scott Addict XS should work fine for two weeks. On top of that, my wife had nice Di2 shifters and most importantly disc brakes and sturdier wheels compared to my road bike. This was good to have on the steep and often wet descents from the mountain regions, and the sturdier wheels were great to have on the rough patches of pavement to minimize the risk of punctures. Not to much problems getting the bike on the plane, had to argue a little to not pay extra fee as United has bike “FoC”, but ended up paying one way fee due to the overweight - the bag was stuffed with all training gear on the way back as we needed space for Christmas presents received…

Biking by the beach. Hot...

Race Report Ironman 70.3 Buenos Aires

With my wife being born and raised in Buenos Aires, I had eyed the 70.3 Ironman there for a while, thinking it would be a cool thing to compete there. Now in 2018, several things combined to make me sign up for the raise. First of all, the the early triathlon season had been a disappointment as I came out from the Boston Marathon really burned out, and had difficulties finding motivation as well as form for triathlon. The 70.3 in Jönköping was a disappointment in the bike segment, and although the WC 70.3 in South Africa showed a very good progress on the swim and run, my biking was still not satisfactory – I still wanted another go at an IM event to see if I could perform better. This year, the date had also changed from the normal March date to early November, as the Bariloche 70.3 is now held in February they moved around the agenda in Argentina. The BsAs 70.3 was also designated the South American Championship, which meant that they had a lot more slots to the WC 2019 event and qualifying should be easier in BsAs compared to many other places. Lastly, the new date coincided with the autumn vacation of the kids, and even tough in the end they didn’t join us on the trip it made logistics a little easier for us. So, I signed up for the event and planned on how to extend the season with another two months after the WC in South Africa.

On the bike.

Boston Marathon Race Report

Two weeks have gone since a very memorable Boston Marathon, so time to sum up the race!!! Overall, I have mixed feelings about the race. On one side, being part of this iconic event – it is the oldest yearly Marathon in the world, running since 1897, with so much history, prestige and ambiance – and making it to the finish line in the conditions we had, made me very proud. On the other hand, I had trained so hard and focused for six months for this race, and the end result was far from what I should have been able to perform, which made me somewhat disappointed. But I have decided that I will look at it from the positive side and set results aside, and more than anything be proud that I made it to Boston, and finished the race. That is enough of an achievemnt in itself!

The end results - a cool medal!

Ten days to Boston - race plan and final reflections

Only ten days left to Boston Marathon, my first A-race of the season and the focus of the last six months of training and life. This means that tapering has started and race planning is coming to a closure with its final details. Time to reflect, and in my case adjust my race goals...

Getting closer...

Training has progressed well. I have basically followed the marathon program to the letter, which has meant three months of record volumes of running, topping out with 300km during March. The long runs have continued to be my Achilles heal, always being nervous ahead and not being able to fulfill them all. For a while I bonked out every two weeks needing pick up from my wife to make it home. This has probably been due to a combination of over training, stress and cold temperatures during the run, and sometimes I have not had the mental motivation to finish of the last few kilometers as I got tired. Despite this, I have finished seven runs over 30km, compared to only three 30km+ runs last year. Feeling in my legs is also better, last year I tended to get really tired in my quads after 20km, this year I have been able to push it to 30km without to much pain, which I take as a good sign. Pace on the long runs have also been slightly faster compared to last year, varying between 4:45-5:05 minutes per kilometer, some 5-10 seconds faster compared to 2017.

Less than 50 days to Boston

Less than 50 days until Boston…

Marathon training is in full swing, and actually I have started to count the number of long runs left in my program. Of all the trainings I do, it is the long distance run that I find most difficult, and I am kind of looking forward to April 17^th when the longest run for the rest of the year should be longer than 21km… I have now managed four 30km+ runs in my training cycle, twice as many as last year, and “only” have three or four more ahead of the marathon. Yes!!!

Overall, volume of running remains high. I had a record January with 279km, and February will end up around 240km. This is about 75% more compared to similar period in my training ahead of last year’s marathon, so it is very clear that the training set-up is different. It is mainly the biking volume that has decreased in favor of running, as I maintain about the same total volume of training per month – 35 to 40 hours. This is the volume that I am able to squeeze in considering work, family and managing the training load itself. Considering how the weather has been now in January and February with cold temperatures and snow, I am extremely pleased being able to follow the marathon program.

Good progress on the running volume

Boston Marathon Training - 8 weeks done, 13 to go...

Boston Marathon post card finally arrived!!!

Training towards the Boston Marathon is progressing well, despite the set back of the unsuccessfull heart surgery just before Christmas. I was obviously disappointed that they couldn’t pinpoint the source of my extra beats and get it fixed, and as a result I will have to continue up to - and beyond - Boston, with a non-optimum heart beat. The cardiologist gave me assuring info that I could continue to train as before, and just be careful to not overexerting myself (a 3:10 marathon shouldn’t be too hard, right?). The main risk with the arrhythmia I have is that the reduced blood circulation during an “attack” can lead to clots if you’re prone to this, and once the heart resumes normal pumping capacity, the clot can cause a stroke. However I am not in the risk category for blood clots, so I don’t have to worry about that. It will impact my maximum and optimum running capacity – if I have prolonged arrhythmias I get more tired, especially during maximum efforts. As the marathon is more about endurance rather than maximum capacity, the impact is hopefully less, but I will have to train and execute Boston with this in mind. I will go back to the doctor in June, and then we will see if we make another attempt at fixing it, but that will then likely take place during fall, after the Ironman 70.3 World Championships in September. So it seems I will have this issue the whole season. Kind of made me bummed out, but now I have decided to just push through. It is what it is, and I will have to adjust and adapt to my situation.