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So this vacation comes to an end as well. Rather enjoyable it was.

First stop was a prelude to the the ever so fantastic DaFlo. Lisa and I went up to Dala-Floda and spent the weekend kayaking in Lissfors and Kärrinforsen. Loads of fun with heaps of boats in the water. Monday came and that meant on day of work during my vacation, but that’s the way it goes. Tuesday was laundry day. Wednesday came, and that meant departure to DaFlo, again to Dala-Floda. This time Maggie came along as well, keeping us company until Friday, attending different workshops while we were kayaking. Again loads of fun to be on the water. Well, appart from breaking my paddle, close call there. Saturday meant Master of water 2010, kayaking event consisting of Speedster race, freestyle and boater-cross. I did rather porly in all of the events but had great fun so I absolutely didn’t mind. On Sunday Lisa and I ran Kärringforsen five times or so, heaving a blast on the water all by our selves as most of the remaining kayakers opted Lissfors. All in all, great days on the water.

Maggie and I spent a few days at home, doing the laundry and such, spending some time at her country place prior to embarking on out little road trip, third year in the row it seems, though this one being the shortest so far.

We spent a few days with my parents in Linköping, playing tennis and eating good food. I also managed to put up some gates in the city and have a work-out in the canoe. Then we drove past Borås and my sister before heading down south to Skåne and Torekov, our base for three nights. In Borås we mostly socialized with the family although we did work out once as well, I had to get at least one workout in the canoe. Why i insisted God knows, as I haven’t paddled since, and this was two weeks ago. In Skåne We did a one day excursion, walking 35 km to Båstad and back. That made us rather tired and we did pass out in our beds that night, no doubt. We also went to se Nimis, rather impressive heap of driftwood on the beach on the way to Mölle, where I was looking for surf, but it eluded me so we went to Copenhagen to see the sights. Rather marvelous city it is. Love the bicycles all over the place. As our vacation was coming to its end, we drove by Gothenburg and visit Maggies aunt, had a nice dinner with Maggies cusin and aunt along with the family. We also managed to ride the wheel in Gothenburg in the harbour and also go on a little tour of the Eastindia ship Gothenburg. Day after that we went to Universeum and spent some time with the fish and wildlife there before heading back to Linköping and my parents, driving past Borås once again for a cup of coffee at my sisters place. On Sunday we were home and on monday I was back to work.

Well, that about sums it up. Pictures coming this weekend, hopefully.

/D

It’s Wednesday evening, and I am nearly all recuperated. Vasaloppet is over, for me it was over 15:24, Sunday afternoon. That is the time i crossed the finishing line.

Water, Water

Was I tired? Was it rough? Why I did it? Well, yes yes and for the hell of it. Well not just for the hell of it, during past winters, since my basketball days, I have always collapsed with my training. Since most of the water access is cut off by ice usually, that means no kayaking, and pumping weights is not as much fun as it was when I was younger. So I really needed something to keep me in line and also something to train for. Vasaloppet filled in that blank superbly.

I don’t really feel the need to write how I felt during the race or that I was running on fumes by Evertsberg as I didn’t eat properly at Mångsbodarna. It all happened. It reflects my time across the finishing line, 7h24min. Time i hope to demolish next year by at least 45 minutes.

The event itself was magnificent and I would love to thank all of Dalarna for making it happen as well as my local ski club, IFK Västerås skidklubb for making it possible for me to train in the great conditions that were during the whole winter, preparing tracks nearly every day as it never seemed to stop snowing. I am hoping for equally great conditions next year.

But now I am fed up with snow and I just want to be out kayaking and canoeing. As it seems to thaw rather fast, it might just happen in few weeks from now. And competition season will be kicking of soon, hoping to see good reasults from they guys I help out training when time arises.

NOw I need to find another challenge to stay in shape for, I have heard of Lidingö loppet, might want to take a look at that one too

More of me from the TV-coverege

Only 90 km to go!

/D

OOOOH that was fun in the sun! But it depleted every little bit out of reserves in my body. But let’s take it from the start.

Race was held in Norberg, about 80 km or so from Västerås, so finally it meant no long drive back home. It is absolutely il-advised to be driving after these races, unless you get to recuperate, and that is something I am extremely thurrell with. Two hours of rest at least, lots of water and beverage, coffee and walk it of. Now back to the story!

So race-day meant a short drive to Hallsta and there picking up Hasse, who was going to race as well, getting to start 15 minutes or so behind me with the rec. skiers. After the short drive through magnificent winter Västmanland covered in snow, we got to collect our starting info and bibs and get ready for the race. If you have read about my previous races you may notice that I generally don’t get to the race site prior to the start it self. This time we had more than hour and a half. And that was just as well, spent half an hour waiting in line to go to the bathroom.

Race preparations went perfect. Skies were prepped night before (meant little sleep), I’ve been careful with intake of carbs, proteins and fluid. Training went well too so I was well prepared. One thing I did miss was to go to the start early with my skies and place them in an advanced starting position. As I did now, I got to the start 20 minutes before and by then the stating area was full, and that meant I got to start yet again from the back. And that also meant 20-30 minutes of getting past slower skiers and finding my pace. Looking back, I don’t know if that was good or bad, it just took too long. But yeah, going out hard in the beginning of the race could have meant power-outage too early, the race was 60 km so a lot could happen along the way. And a few things did happen, mostly nose-dives.

The start of the races is set up in the middle of the little town of Norberg, which is cool as most of the races start somewhere in the woods outside the towns races are held in. Downside of starting in the middle of a town is that the quality of the snow is quite low. You are basicly skiing on gravel, which my skies got to experience. Following the start we were going to ski two 25 km loops before heading back, for the finish, so 5 km to the loop, 2×25 km and then finaly 5 km back.

The race progressed rather uneventfull for the first 25 km, apart from the occasional stop and svurve due to someone eating the snow infornt or due to the fact that someone slower was in front. If there was something I learned in Norrbärke skimaraton and Bergebo skimaraton is not to be in a to much of a rush, as I am not too good of a skier and that means eating the snow to often when in hurry. So I simply relied on the engine, and that I was strong enough latter on.

It is rather seldom one gets to enjoy the scenery when racing, but this time I thought I would have a look around if there was possibility to do so. And on such a glorious day as race day was, I soaked in the sun as much as I could and the scenery as soon as there was something to see, or something I noticed. Ok, so I basked in the sun, didn’t see too much.

The course, or the loop rather, had one hellish upp-hill climb that just sucked nearly everything out of me, and a few steepers in the woods. Other than that there was also a steep downhill in Klackberg, at the ski stadium. It was extremly difficult for a skier like me, and I was not the worst one out there so I am assuming there were a lot of nose-dives there. I myself had one on the first lap, I landed litteraly on my nose first. Nothing broken though so it was just to get up and get going. Fortunately I knew what was coming second time around so correcting speed prior to the downhill was not a problem.

Keeping regular liquid intake was an absolut must, so I had my watch set on 2o min countdown, and stoping every 20 for intake of liquid. As the organasiers had watering holes, as I call them, set up every 10 km or so and with my avarage of 40 min/10 km ment that I got to replenish every 5 km. After 25 km I had to start taking energy gels too, which were boosting me and keeping me fresh. That and Taichamn, Taichman-mantra I used when I felt everything was falling apart as far as my skiing was concerned.

After the last loop, and last watering hole, I found some extra power in me and starting to sprint toward the finishing line, that I thought was much closer than those 5 km it turned out to be. And those last 5 km drained more out of me than those 55 prior to the sprint. I don’t know what I was thinking of, I was empty already.

Crossing the finishing line after 4 hours and 26 minutes was still good enough for me, huge bonus was the fact that I maintained good speed over the longest stretch I have ever skied, meaning that it looked rather good for the Vasaloppet, and a personal goal to ski below 7 hours 30 min. And yeah, I get to start from the 6th starting grid, so the first upphil at Oxberg should be over and done with rather fast, and then its mostly downhill all the way to Mora.