AXTRI Race report

Think I'll do this one in English. For the bennefit of people that might want to know how the AXTRI is.
For a number of years now I have been building myself up. Going from 109kg couch potato to 94kg triathlete. Naming myself triathlete feels kind of funny, but yes I am one such. Last weekend I finished an half iron man distance triathlon called Aurland Extreeme Triathlon (AXTRI). This is my race report from that Triathlon:

The Swim: Aurland is a fjord with massive freshwater outlet. This means that the water is mostly fresh water. I knew that, but was not entirely prepared for it. The swim starts in an artificially made lagoon, and then enters the fjord.

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The weather was perfect. no wind, no waves, sun peeking over the edge of the very high very steep edges of the mountains making up the fjord. A proper "Kodak" moment. This picture from the day before conveys something of the fjord we swam in.

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The water temperature was measured to 14 degrees, I had bought a neoprene hood to prepare for that, but had not tested swimming with it. A risk, but a small one. The horn of the support boat at the first buoy was the start signal, and we were off. out of old habit I had placed myself in the rear and on the edge. This turned out to be a mistake. I had to pass a great number of slower swimmers, several who used chest stroke, and thus kicks sideways :( . The lagoon opening was also a bottle neck. come the open water everything was just perfect. I held back a bit out of experience to avoid panic when I go harder than I have oxygen for. The hod started to bother me a bit and irrational thoughts about being suffocated by it appeared. I cut back and they disappeared. THUNK something hit my head. a piece of wood floating in the water, not a problem. I increased the effort again and became aware that the goggles were taking in water. Kind of a problem. It's surprisingly of hard to convince your self that you'r, not about to drown when your face is under the water 90% of the time and your goggles are half full of water, so I stopped and emptied the mask. This happened three times during the swim until I got the mask just right. One more negative point about the speedo mask/goggles I have: The glass is orange, meaning that yellow buoys appear white, and does not stand out. However since I'm not an elite swimmer following the other swimmers was easy. At the far turning buoy we started to follow the shore. The water temperature dropped noticeably, and all of a sudden I was very glad to have the socks on (regular cotton ones but that helps too) Suddenly I put my hand in a large knot of seaweed floating about. I shook it of swearing and increased the effort to the sustainable threshold this time. When I'm properly warmed up going hard does not bother me, but somehow I never have time for that before a reace. We arrived at the lagoon where a friendly crew member unzipped me. To my surprise there were more blue caps around me than white. 35 minutes was shouted when I exited the water. 1900m in 35mins? yey! Not bad for me that.
BTC has an image of me coming into T1 I'm the guy with the hood still on.

The Bike:
After about 100m of flat ground it starts up. And it continues up for the next 16.5 kilometers, average grade is 8% (its very even btw). I had company with a nice guy from Hamburg. He did not like the hills. Kept mumbling something about not being accustomed to hills and yet he was tucked into the aero bars most of the time. This is us passing the photographer in one of the many hairpin turns. At about 600m height there is this very nice lookout point, that I highly recommend stopping at. You probably won't do it on the way down anyway. My friend Dan kept me company for a couple of hundred height meters, before finding a faster back to chase. I had more to go on, but was very uncertain about the wisdom of going to fast... I found an Englishman named Stephen to keep me company. He had done the bike part before and advocated respect for the mountain. I took it and we kept company to the top. The top was surprisingly easy to pass over. Hilly but easy. When I passed a water doing 44km/h on flat ground, I guessed that we had rather heavy tailwind. one glance at the lake confirmed my guess. BANG! No no no no no not that. A very sudden frost heave had done something to my rear end and rear wheel. The rear weel seemed to make an ssssssss sound. I prepared mentaly to change hose. Hang on! I have a tubeless setup. after comming to a halt I could see no singns of low pressure, no signs of leakage (you actually see that on a tubeless tire with sealant leaking out). Rather releaved I started pedaling again, but there was a rythmic tugg in the rear wheel telling me that the break pad was touching the rim repeatedly. This seemed to be the source of the ssss sound as well. I had to loosen the breake a bit to get forward. Still pretty decent breaking power. After a while I arrived at the Food stop just before the descent to Erdal. Two bottles of Sports nutrition and a flapjack, had been about perfect for the climb to the foodstation. They had potato chips, buns and prefilled bottles with squeezy. I have used Squeezy previously and stocked up on that rather than water. Then for the decent:

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Met lots of bicyclists going up, most of them looked in good shape, but not all. Some walked. One guy was sitting in the side of the road without his jersey on. I took it ridiculously easy due to the reduced brake power. I also started to smell a funny smell. That got me thinking about rumours about delaminating carbon rims on steep descents. Not Funny! Still I passed a few on the descent. Got to the turning point and started back up. The Erdal side is steeper than the Aurland side. A lot steeper. 10% mostly and a small section with 14%. but it lets up from time to time. Suddenly after a car passed me I smelled that smell that got me thinking about delaminating rims. And all of a sudden I know what it was. It was the smell of clutch. Cars going down have to use the gears to brake or the breaks will overheat. Doh. I could have gone so much faster down that hill. Oh well. I passed quite some people going up that hill, a couple of them had punctures. I lend one guy an inner tube and my CO2. One guy started off again from talking to a crew member when he saw me comming. He started walking again shortly after. Never saw him again. Stephen, me and two girls chased each other up the mountain in a sensible speed. We got to the food station again. My God that must be the best potato chips ever. It's actually worth all the height meters just to experience that. Re stocking and starting back across the plateau. Actually Plateau is a mis-nomer here. were talking jagged edges for 10k here with about 250 height meters to accumulate. Tailwind had now become headwind. And a powerfull one to. The girls seemed to have no scruples about drafting. A bit annoying that when the conditions favored them for this. Come to think on it; they claimed it was their first triathlon. Maybe thay did not know better? I have tremendous respect for anyone tackling a half Ironman as their first Triathlon. To do the AXTRI as your first is nothing short of astonishing. Plateu traversing became descent, and this time I was like a Kamikaze pilot. Stephen in front of me was a little faster/more reckles. No thinking about delaminating rims this time. Felt good all the way down. Passed cars in both directions. Comming to Aurland I realized that the head wind was almost as bad there. The 6km to T2 felt flat. There is actually about 100m ascend on those 6km. On the night before the crew had briefed us that the cut-off time for the bike portion would be at 16:00. That was later set to 17:00. I had originally been a bit incertain if I could make the cut-off for 16:00. Turned out I could :) I was out of T2 about 15:50, having spent 5:57:55 on the bike part. Fairly satisfied I set out on the run just behind someone I thought was Stephen and the girls.

I started running at once. I passed the girls who was walking. The route is spectacular. Whenever I felt a bit down on the run. I lifted my eyes to focus to the surroundings. Not once did it fail to bring me back up. This is a powerful mind trick. I advice you to try it. But in Aurland it was boosted a lot by the scenery. After 5k flat on tarmac and gravel along a lake on one side with a 800m cliff wall on the other side I came to the point where the trail starts. There was a cafe at that point and 50-60 people sitting there cheered us on the way. The GPS was useless from that point on and the HR-monitor was reduced to being a timing device for the time spent pr km. The route was well marked. one poster every km and the trail was self evident at all but a couple of points. As soon as I started the assent I knew this would be hard. One knee was giving me some pain. The tired muscles after a very long and hard bike session kind of pain. tip-toes up all steep hills is the answers to that. This suited my foot wear well. Brooks Green Silence are lightweight and fairly flat. The grip is decent even on wet stone but they are not meant for trails at least not this kind of trails. The sole is thin and soft giving you good contact with the ground, but also demanding a high degree of attention to where you put your foot. After a while the trail got steeper. Lots of tourists coming down the trail and every one cheering me along. Hot and fantastic conditions. The trail got ever steeper to the point where I had to use my hands on my knees. The pace was steadily dropping towards 16 mins pr km! But hey! It was beautiful! I got to Sinjarheim an ancient farm at about 10k. Why anyone would build a farm up there is beyond me. But man he would have become pretty darn fit after a while! Half way and just out of water in the camelback. Perfectly planned! I drank some sqeezy at the service point at Sinjarheim, but declined on the sports bar. I can not stomach sports bars when I'm running I thought. I'll stick to gels. Throughout the race I had been using one 50g gel pr half hour by the clock. This is by the book, and since I did not have enough long trips I did not feel comfortable with going by feel only. Come the first stream to cross the trail I stocked up on water. This is probably where I lost two gels. After a cople of k's it was time for one more gel. but the pocket in the camelback was empty! oooops. I knew I had enough to last me four hours at least when I set out. That morning I boldly stated that "anyone could walk a half marathon in four hours", so I could not possibly need more. Now I know better. This was no ordinary half marathon. Trail from Sinjarheim was just as steep, but now it was alternating up and down. runnable? Welll yes and no, not for me at the time anyway, and some places: not for anybody! I ran where I could although the pace was not impressive. I started to get hungry. The time had passed the 9 hour mark. I had not eaten proper food since the top of the mountain. My stomach craved proper food, but all I could offer to it was water and gels. Although I had to ration gels too. I sorely regretted declining the squeezy bar. The trail was increasingly runable, but the pace would not get better than 10m pr km. My foot soles started to hurt from not being accustomed to the thin soles and the brutal trail. I had to really focus on where I put down my feet. Also I got really tired in the feet. Probably also from the somewhat new experience of less support. All this contributed to slow pace. People had been passing me all the way, although not many. Suddenly I got passed by Stephen who was obviously not the guy in front of me when I set out on the run. I kept up with him a while but got stomach issues and had to take a detour of the trail. Note to self: bring toilet paper on long trail runs. Grass is itchy. Finally I got to the 1km mark and passed the last of a series of ridiculous(for me at least) signs that warned to go slow!?! because of danger. Going up I felt actually got a dizzy spell, but not one that would have been dangerous. The last hour on just water was taking it's toll. A poor marking of the trail cost me the 99th place as a fellow triathlete came up behind me while I was searching for the trail. I had to open a gate and he did not. We jogged, then ran, then sprinted to the finish. He was the better triathlete that day, it's that simple. But hey, as finisher no 100 I was awarded a gift certificate on triatlonbutikken.no. The support crew had the diploma ready with split times after just two minutes. 10:50:58 yey! Bergen Triathlo Club as a Finish Photo of me

Not sub 10 as I had secretly hoped to achieve, but I'm happy and proud to have finished at all, even though I never had any doubts about that during the race. My first half ironman distance triathlon and no field trip version of it either with 4200+ accumulated meters height. Some of the Norseman contestants from one week previous did AXTRI also, they claimed that in many ways AXTRI was harder. Been there, done that. Have got the Tee-shirt :)

Verdict:
Perfect Route, Perfect crew, Perfect or nearly so weather ;) All in all a fantastic race. Highly recommended!

Bokanmeldelse: Born To Run

Born to run av Cristopher Mc Dougal kostet meg mye nattesøvn i sommer. Løp og kjøp, eller bestill fra amazon: Born To Run
Handler om en journalist som får en av de mange standard løpeskadene. Doktoren sien han må slutte å løpe... Så får han se et bilde av en mexikansk indianer som løper og det ser så rett ut at han starter å overtale Runners World til å få lage en artikkel om dem. Dette er starten på en reise både i seg selv, løpingens historie, løpeskadenes historie (som er ca like gammel som den moderne løpeskoen...) og en bortgjemt indianerstammes historie. i tilegg er det historien om et 160km ultra løp. Dette viser seg å bli ikke så mye en konkurranse mellom verdens ledende ultra løpere og indianerene, som en fantastisk men kanskje noe slitsom måte for dem å bli kjendt.
Her er et bilde fra blikjendt løpet deres:

Scott Jurek og en Indianer ved navn Arnulfo Quimare. Same,same, but different. Sjekk de smilene Disse gutta simpelthen elsker det.
Jeg fikk et ekstra lite kick, når jeg kom over "bare foot Ted" sin blogg her om dagen. Først da gikk det opp for meg at dette ikke er fiksjon og at folkene i boka er virkelige og artiklene som refereres også. her er en av artiklene som ikke er snill med produsentene av løpesko.
Fantastisk bok som for tiden er på utlån hos Dagfinn. lånes villlig ut til folk etter at den har kommet meg i hende igjen. Etter birken i år, så blir det minimalist fottøy på meg!

Ad Fjelltur med Fatter'n

Lovte vell å si to ord om hva jeg mente med "Fjelltur med Fattern" i langtidsplanen. Saken er nemlig at det er sannsynlig at fatter'n har gått sin siste skikkelige fjelltur. Han og mamma hadde en kollisjon i en tunnell for litt over et år siden. Det førte til at han har fått droppfot (nervene har ikke kontakt med musklene, slik at han ikke kan heve fotbladet) i tilegg til at han har problemer med å løfte beinet skikkelig også. Selvfølgelig er dette tragisk, men han lever! Det var nemlig på håret det også. Derfor velger jeg å være ydmyk og takknemlig.
Så til planen om fjelltur med fatter, eller drømmen om en slik i alle fall. På og i Gaustadtoppen er det en heis. Drømmen er å ha med fatter som langer på en Norseman, og at han kunne få ta heisen opp til toppen, mens jeg går/kryper opp. Alt dette måtte selvsagt bli koordinert med arrangørene, da det jo må være veldig sannsynlig at heisen er i drift den dagen.
Jeg vet jo heller ikke om fatter er interessert i noe slikt, men det hadde vært fint. Kanskje er det bare min egoistiske søken etter anerkjennelse fra pappa?
Når jeg var hjemmom sist, så snakket vi såvidt om fjellturene som fatter og et par kompiser brukte å ha til Pilteri. Jeg ville selvsagt være med hvert år, men var "for liten". Jeg har etter at jeg selv ble far skjønt at det sikkert ikke var så om å gjøre at jeg skulle være med for fatter's del heller. :)
Nå har jeg altså lyst til å ta med pappa på tur. Jeg holdt på å spørre han sist jeg var hjemmom, men motet sviktet. Vi er ikke veldig flinke til å snakke om ting som er litt vanskelig, vi mannfolkene i slekta. Jeg var vell litt redd for å bli avvist tenker jeg, og litt redd for å fornærme han på noe vis.
Jaja, den som intet våger bare drømmer

Tordenskioldløpet 2011

Lars U,Chris, Bjørn, Pål reine klubbmøtet jo. Fantastiske forhold. Litt varmt kanskje, men hvem tør si det høyt i Trondhjem i mai? Også Bjørka da, men hva pokker. Alt kan medisineres ;) satset på at arrangøren hadde alt på stell siden de hadde gjort dette 32 ganger før. Dumt skulle det vise seg. Startet friskt ned mot 4 min pr km. Hadde tenkt å bruke Dette løpet som et slags sikkerhetsnett for å finne ut hvor grensa mi går. Etter hvert måtte tempoet ned. Ikke spesielt åndenød, bare ikke noe gass å gi. Rett før vannings hullet ved 5km trykte Jeg inn en halv gel. Jeg hadde da nådd å angre på at Jeg ikke hadde med drikke et par ganger allerede. Ved drikkestasjonen var bordet tomt. Det tomme bordet vår betjent av en lettere panisk herremann med en vann mugge i ene handa og en stabel kopper i den andre. Han såg ikke helt ut til å skjønne hva han gjorde galt... Etter ca 10 sec skjønner Jeg at her er det bare å brette opp armene skal det bli noe Jeg løper rundt bordet og tar en mugge, fyller den og skjenker i til meg og en fire fem andre. Deretter drikker Jeg et par slurker mens jeg løper tilbake rundt bordet. Og søler selvsagt ut mesteparten på meg selv i prosessen. Minnes der og da vagt noe om at man bør ha i seg minst en dl vann pr gel. Ja,ja. så var det opp til Ringve museeum. plukker rygger rimelig jevnt og trutt, men blir da også forbiløpt av noen. Sist jeg løp fikk jeg en boost av neddoverbakken fra Ringve som jeg klarte å holde helt til mål(som riktig nok bare var 1,5 unn den gangen) Håpet og prøvde på det samme denne gangen. ingen boost, ingen fart, ingen mål. Derimot lufttrøbbel. Kvitter meg med lufta og løper videre.
Håkon den 7 gt. er laaaang, jeg er tørst, lukker øynene et lite øyeblikk, og er nesten uttafor asfalten når jeg lukker dem opp igjen. hm.. ikke bra. Henter meg inn. en stund... Magekrøll igjen. biter det i meg, lukker øynene et øyeblikk, åpner dem og.. HVA FA..!? hopper akkurat tidsnok til å ungå en fillete palle med stygt utseende spiker pekende rett opp, som ligger rett i traseen. Jeg banner og ønsker meg en arrangør å kjefte på. Veldig tørst nå, og det går ikke så fort. Pulsklokka sier at jeg ikke har puls, men jeg lar meg ikke lure, jeg lever. Jeg er ikke i tvil om akkurat det. Puls klokka forteller meg at jeg neppe klarer 50 min. Svarte.
Opp mot Ringve igjen. Denne gangen skal jeg heldigvis ikke helt opp. Får opp farta nå, finner en rygg, han skal jeg ta. plukker han, plukker en til. inne på banen. Anstendig tempo nå. Mål er rett rundt svingen. En rygg forran, men han har like mye "målrush" som jeg, lar seg ikke plukke. Mååååååååååååål.

Trivelig prat med kollegaer og Triatlonklubbfolk etterpå. Fant drikkestasjonen, gjett hva som ventet der: Tomme bord... Fant en kopp som jeg håper ikke var brukt. fant ei vannmugge sjenket til fire fem andre og meg selv. Mens jeg drakk lovde jeg meg selv at jeg skulle skrive et syrlig innlegg på bloggen min om dette, heller en å gå og kjefte på en av de frivillige. De gjør så godt de kan, denne feilen sitter hos arrangement komiteen.

Ærlig talt Freidig: 32. gang dere gjør dette,også klarer dere ikke sette nok folk på drikkestasjonene? Eller å rydde traseen for planker med spiker i? Ikke imponert. Alt annet var totalt på stell. Resultatene ute samme kveld og gode greier.
Terningkast 3. Dere kan bedre, det har dere vist før.

vann, vekt og trening

I det siste har jeg veid meg med ei fitnessvekt. Man går på og holder i et par handtak med ledning ned til vekta. Deretter utsettes man for ymse elektriske målinger. man kjenner ingen ting. etter dette vet vekta, som i tilegg til å få vite alderen min har fått vite hvor høy jeg er, hvor "gammel" kroppen min er. hvor mye energi jeg trnger for å "eksistere" og hvor mye av meg som er bein, vann, fett og muskler. dette kan den vise frem for arme og bein. For meg som liker ting og tall, så er den finfin. Denne målingen gjøres nesten hver dag.

I går gjorde jeg noe veldig interessant. Jeg veide meg etter morgen toalettet, så syklet jeg en tur etter å ha drukket et glass vann og spist en bannan. På turen (Heimdal-Ila-Skistua-Ila-Heimdal)inntok jeg en hvetebolle på ned kjøringa fra skistua, og drakk totalt en flaske sportsdrikk 750ml. Da jeg kom inn igjen, så inntok jeg litt proteiner og karbohydrater i forma av en shake også dette 750ml. Etter dette tøyde jeg litt og gikk ned for å dusje. For morro skyld så veide jeg meg en gang til, og fikk sjokket. Jeg veide 100g mindre enn tidligere på morran. dvs at på min 1,5timers tur hadde jeg svettet bort tilsammel 1,8l vann + tilsvarende vekta av en bannan og en hvetebolle i svette. la oss si ca 2l. dvs: for meg er 1,5timer med ok trøkk, på en kald dag lik 2liter vesketap.
Minn meg på det neste gang jeg tar en tur på en skikkelig varm dag...

Ai Caramba: PulsStep!

I et annfall av Kjedsommelighet (eller Examenslesevegring + treningsrastløshet og værsjuke) gikk jeg hen og meldte meg på pulssteptime på 3T i dag. Dermed var det klapp sammen laptop med øvinger, på med tights og joggesko og beine til trening. Lett forvirret kom jeg etterhvert inn i salen og fant den siste ledige plassen: borterst i hjørnet. Det skulle vise seg å bli interessant. Timen begynte, og hui og hei. Kanontrening! ble grundig anpusten og svett. Det er klart, man blir sannsynligvis ikke god til noe annet enn å hoppe opp og ned og vifte med armene i takt med musikken av å gå på disse treningene, men det var gøy. I tilegg til seg selv og en sånn errrr: skammel? Krakk? Step? (sånn man hopper opp og ned av på step timer...) så trenger man en matte og en vektstang på disse timene. mellom dragene (hvor man hopper opp og ned) så tar man bla annet biceps curl, dips og pushups. Jeg har ikke gjort noen av delene på ca 20 år. var i grunnen morro at jeg måtte på en "østrogen-time" for å ta opp det igjen ;) Så da, mens jeg hopper og spretter og prøver å finne ut hva "gyngehest" "opp på 4" "strekk" og "dobbel" går ut på (og ikke minst mestre det) med puls på 170 ser jeg noe morro. Et par stooooore gutter på vei opp trappa til styrkesalen skotter inn på damene(og meg) mens de går forbi. Han ene blir faktisk så overrasket over å se en mann der inne at han tar et steg ekstra etter at trappa har sluttet og trappe avsatsen begynt. En slags sympati step kanskje? Jeg kom til å tenke på Jocke i Pondus når han såg de homofile naboene sine gå inn på en aerobic time. Hm... Vell i det aller minste klarte jeg det bedre enn Jocke. Kom meg gjennom timen uten å spy på meg selv og bli liggende i et hjørne. Jogget glad og fornøyd hjem og har faktisk fått gjort to øvinger og sett "Kick Ass" etterpå. Alt i alt en prima dag.