This is what I had to say about my race in Norway.....
I had tired legs but a strong heart and a happy face during my hardest Ironman ever on Saturday; Norseman Xtreme Triathlon, in Norway! This race has all the right attributes to call itself "the hardest Ironman in the world". A point-to-point course with about 5000 metres (approx 18000 feet) of elevation gain, a personal crew required, various sketchy weather, rugged terrain with a mountaineering finish and a 04.45 start which is quite a caffeine-challenge for those who usually never works out before noon (me!)
As beautiful as Sweden is in the summer, and it really is, Norway and the surroundings around Eidfjord, where the race begins, is something special. Mountaintops, green pastures and valleys and fiords with bright and green water makes it a postcardperfect environment to start a triathlon in. I was lucky enough to have Björn with me who won here last year and together with my girlfriend they made up my crew for the race. As I´m focusing on the ITU World Cup LD with the European Champs in Almere (Aug 27th) as a priorityrace I ´ve been hitting it pretty hard with good training. I really didn´t slow down until Wednesday afternoon when we drove out there. I knew I would be facing potentially tired legs and I was comfortable with that as I really considered this to be a hard distanceworkout, a beautiful trip and a memorable experience. Since I don´t mind to grind the gears I didn´t change my gearing either as I figured 42-21 would be enough. Not!
After a few days with R&R, great food and watching my crew race the mini-triathlon it was time for me to face the music come Saturday morning , e.g in the middle of the night... I don´t think I dozed of for more than maybe 30 minutes during my attempt to sleep as the knowledge of a 3 AM wake-up call wasn´t really comfortable. Well, there´s nothing quite like the smell of neoprene in the morning and I had a realitycheck at 4 AM when the ferry left to take us out 3.8 k into the fiord. To say that spirits were high on deck would be an overstatement and I for one took the chance to do a little stretching while we were chugging along. I may not be awake when the gun sounds but at least I´d be limber and agile:) First thing first though and one needs to get into the water before starting a race and here we were treated with a nice jump of the ferry. The jump was preceded by lowering the ramp, accompanied by a sound that oddly made me think of the moonlanding, X-files, ET and other sci-fi relics stored in the back of my mind. The water was a nice 20 degrees and the forecast promised a perfect day, nothing like last year when the racers were facing rain, cold and downright snowfall! When the ferry sound its horn we all started swimming toward the lights of Eidfjord. I soon tucked in behind a swimmer who didn´t mind starting his day at the front. It was nice to follow in his wake although I seriously doubt his navigationskills. We still made good time and came in little over 49 minutes and after a swift T1 I bid farewell to Eidfjord and went on my merry way to the nearest mountain.
First climb went up 1250 metres and after 40 k we rode on top of the Hardangervidda and after first negotiating a flock of sheeps I was mildly disturbed by the flock of horses who all of the sudden decided to make the road their personal racetrack. One can only hope they soon became hamburgers. Already this race was proving to be totally unique! After the initial climb we faced another four on the bike with lengths of four to seven k´s with a 7-10% grade. I´m not a good climber even in favorable conditions (what would that be btw, a hill without a grade..?) and halfway through the third one I remembered that and started to wonder what the hell I had been thinking.. After hitting 1100 metres for the final time on the bike it was a fast a bumby ride down to T2 with a bittersweet feeling of having to loose all the ascent I´d been working so well for.
I sped out of transition in order to make good on the flat running that was offered initially. I actually felt pretty good although my legs were screaming uncle, I covered the first 20 k in 1.20 as I was chatting with Björn on the bike who was serving up drinks or toiletpaper, whatever was in demand at the moment. Coming up to 23 k a mother of a mountain was sighted! The top was at 1850 metres and we were still running at 200 metres. I could hardly fathom us running up that. With 17 k to go and entering the climb, I was in 2nd and gaining fast but I was hurting to the point of injury in my right calf. I went into survivalmode and walked a bit when entertaining the thought of running some more....soon. I actually did though, and pretty good too! Björns Ergomo read 260-270 watts on my runs, too bad they only lasted for a k´or so at the time. A 60 kilo mountaingoat soon passed me, Dane Ole Stougaard on his way to an unchallenged win. After 35 k my legs had given in and I was reduced to a walk, not that it mattered really since we soon came upon the mountaincheckpoint where we entered the alpine phase of the race. Goodbye triathlon, enter Tibet. Or something.... On with the backpack and than it was a nonstop game of balance and not-trying-to-fall-and-get-myself-killed-or-mauled. After what seemed like an eternity I started to see the end of it and could sense the finish. I was in 3rd but didn´t really care and was more than happy to feel at least semi-solid ground to stand on. Well, happy about that and a waffle with strawberry jam! I was at the top, no more climbs to conquer!
After some great food, long sleeps and high-quality candy, I´m back on track incredibly fast. Already 36 hrs after finishing my musclesoreness was gone and yesterday I swam and biked easy and have hopes on getting back in the saddle real soon in order to put the hammer down in Almere in a few weeks.
Had I known how to post pic´s I would have. But I don´t. So visit www.nxtri.com for that.
I had tired legs but a strong heart and a happy face during my hardest Ironman ever on Saturday; Norseman Xtreme Triathlon, in Norway! This race has all the right attributes to call itself "the hardest Ironman in the world". A point-to-point course with about 5000 metres (approx 18000 feet) of elevation gain, a personal crew required, various sketchy weather, rugged terrain with a mountaineering finish and a 04.45 start which is quite a caffeine-challenge for those who usually never works out before noon (me!)
As beautiful as Sweden is in the summer, and it really is, Norway and the surroundings around Eidfjord, where the race begins, is something special. Mountaintops, green pastures and valleys and fiords with bright and green water makes it a postcardperfect environment to start a triathlon in. I was lucky enough to have Björn with me who won here last year and together with my girlfriend they made up my crew for the race. As I´m focusing on the ITU World Cup LD with the European Champs in Almere (Aug 27th) as a priorityrace I ´ve been hitting it pretty hard with good training. I really didn´t slow down until Wednesday afternoon when we drove out there. I knew I would be facing potentially tired legs and I was comfortable with that as I really considered this to be a hard distanceworkout, a beautiful trip and a memorable experience. Since I don´t mind to grind the gears I didn´t change my gearing either as I figured 42-21 would be enough. Not!
After a few days with R&R, great food and watching my crew race the mini-triathlon it was time for me to face the music come Saturday morning , e.g in the middle of the night... I don´t think I dozed of for more than maybe 30 minutes during my attempt to sleep as the knowledge of a 3 AM wake-up call wasn´t really comfortable. Well, there´s nothing quite like the smell of neoprene in the morning and I had a realitycheck at 4 AM when the ferry left to take us out 3.8 k into the fiord. To say that spirits were high on deck would be an overstatement and I for one took the chance to do a little stretching while we were chugging along. I may not be awake when the gun sounds but at least I´d be limber and agile:) First thing first though and one needs to get into the water before starting a race and here we were treated with a nice jump of the ferry. The jump was preceded by lowering the ramp, accompanied by a sound that oddly made me think of the moonlanding, X-files, ET and other sci-fi relics stored in the back of my mind. The water was a nice 20 degrees and the forecast promised a perfect day, nothing like last year when the racers were facing rain, cold and downright snowfall! When the ferry sound its horn we all started swimming toward the lights of Eidfjord. I soon tucked in behind a swimmer who didn´t mind starting his day at the front. It was nice to follow in his wake although I seriously doubt his navigationskills. We still made good time and came in little over 49 minutes and after a swift T1 I bid farewell to Eidfjord and went on my merry way to the nearest mountain.
First climb went up 1250 metres and after 40 k we rode on top of the Hardangervidda and after first negotiating a flock of sheeps I was mildly disturbed by the flock of horses who all of the sudden decided to make the road their personal racetrack. One can only hope they soon became hamburgers. Already this race was proving to be totally unique! After the initial climb we faced another four on the bike with lengths of four to seven k´s with a 7-10% grade. I´m not a good climber even in favorable conditions (what would that be btw, a hill without a grade..?) and halfway through the third one I remembered that and started to wonder what the hell I had been thinking.. After hitting 1100 metres for the final time on the bike it was a fast a bumby ride down to T2 with a bittersweet feeling of having to loose all the ascent I´d been working so well for.
I sped out of transition in order to make good on the flat running that was offered initially. I actually felt pretty good although my legs were screaming uncle, I covered the first 20 k in 1.20 as I was chatting with Björn on the bike who was serving up drinks or toiletpaper, whatever was in demand at the moment. Coming up to 23 k a mother of a mountain was sighted! The top was at 1850 metres and we were still running at 200 metres. I could hardly fathom us running up that. With 17 k to go and entering the climb, I was in 2nd and gaining fast but I was hurting to the point of injury in my right calf. I went into survivalmode and walked a bit when entertaining the thought of running some more....soon. I actually did though, and pretty good too! Björns Ergomo read 260-270 watts on my runs, too bad they only lasted for a k´or so at the time. A 60 kilo mountaingoat soon passed me, Dane Ole Stougaard on his way to an unchallenged win. After 35 k my legs had given in and I was reduced to a walk, not that it mattered really since we soon came upon the mountaincheckpoint where we entered the alpine phase of the race. Goodbye triathlon, enter Tibet. Or something.... On with the backpack and than it was a nonstop game of balance and not-trying-to-fall-and-get-myself-killed-or-mauled. After what seemed like an eternity I started to see the end of it and could sense the finish. I was in 3rd but didn´t really care and was more than happy to feel at least semi-solid ground to stand on. Well, happy about that and a waffle with strawberry jam! I was at the top, no more climbs to conquer!
After some great food, long sleeps and high-quality candy, I´m back on track incredibly fast. Already 36 hrs after finishing my musclesoreness was gone and yesterday I swam and biked easy and have hopes on getting back in the saddle real soon in order to put the hammer down in Almere in a few weeks.
Had I known how to post pic´s I would have. But I don´t. So visit www.nxtri.com for that.