Happy New Year Swim!

Todays workout was inspired by HillaryBiscay, http://hillarybiscay.wordpress.com/ thougest IronChick out there. She uses this as a birthday set to herself and everyone else around here it seems. so it just had to be done. In late 90`s my club BK had a tradition of swimming 10.000 meters new year morning. So the now growing triathlon part (me!) of the club decided it was time to take it up again. Inspired by ms Biscay!

Program was like this, taken from Hillary`s blog: (except start times, they will make her laugh:-)

10x100 warm up (75free, 25back)

20x100 swim @ 1.55

20x100 swim hard @ 1.55

40x100 pull w/paddles and bouy @ 1.45

10x100 swim (25sprint,75easy)

5 of us started the show, 1 triathlete (me!) and 4 swimmers. Swimmers set out on starttime 1.45 from the gun. 2 of them blew big time after 40, and DNF`ed after 50:-)

We had booked the pool from 7am to 10am. It was pretty clear early I needed more time. Actually found the 100`s from 30 to 50 the hardest. It felt I was way over my head. But starting the pull set it all went buy fast. Had 90 in my belt after 3h, and the staff said the 3 of us still swimming could finish. So we did, in 3h 20min. The to youngsters og 13 and 15 yrs finished impressive 300m in front of me. Well done!

This was my longest swim ever. Previous record was 8000m. So going into 2010 optimistic. 3800m in the Hardanger fjord will be a sprint after this!

Thanks Hillary! And happy new year everybody!

Program

Halfway

3 finishers

Essential gear

OK week ended with Big trainer day

Week 49 2009 is in the books. A good training week that looked somewhat like this:

Monday: 40min morning run on treadmill + 1h master swim with 3x10x50 @ 55sec. Puked when finished
Tuesday: Off
Wednesday: 1h 15min with LT intervalls on spin bike + 30min brick treadmill run with 3x5min LT intervalls on 6% elevation.
Thursday: 1h master swim with 11x200pull @ 3.10
Friday: Early (0530) 1h trainer ride with 5x6min LT intervalls.
Saturday: 1h 20min master swim
Sunday: 3h trainer ride like this:
Hour One - warming up15 minute warm up (180 watts)
15 minute Single Leg Drill (1 minute left leg, 1 minute right leg, 1 minute both, repeat)
15 minute steady riding (180 watts)15 minute tempo riding (200 watts)
Hour Two - big gear, low cadence work4x (10 minutes of big ring, low cadence, 5 minute recovery)
Hour Three - 2x through:(1 minute easy, 1 minute hard, 2 minutes easy, 2 minutes hard, 3 minutes easy, 3 minutes hard, 4 minutes easy, 4 minutes hard, 5 minutes easy, 5 minutes hard).

Have also worked a bit on our team this week. We are getting closer to something, and hope to present a BK Elite Team for 2010 and 2011. Hopefully everything is in place before we enter 2010.

Train safe!

2010 preperation has started

So its going to be Norseman that i my big goal for 2010. I was planning on IM Lanzarote, but was to slow wntering the thing and now they have no spots left. So applied for a Norseman elite spot - and got one. Was a little surprised to see they seeded 50 in the elite category and to find myself seeded 48th!! I have higher hopes than a 48th place come august 7th;-)

I am focusing on swimming these days, and swim a lot with paddles and pullboey. Had some indication last year it made me a bethe wetsuit swimmer, and will try to push that even further in 2010. My goal is to get out of Eidfjord in less than 1h, and hopefully not longer than 1o min from thefront off the race. So about 60% off my swimming is with paddles/pullboey now.

And also some XC roller skiing has been done ass you can see in this video. Good for upperbody strength, and good from my first try at Vasaloppet, www.vasaloppet.se, in March. Still not enough snow in Kongsberg to ski, but it will soon be here.

Another hit out

For me it has been off seson since Tjørn last weekend in august. Not much training done at all. My 2010 season starts 1st october i guess. But have not decided what races to to yet. So I have some work to do, and stuff to schedule, before i start my 2010 season.

But last thursday I did get a last(?) race of 2009. The XC-ski part of my club has organized a duathlon for several years. But they have only done bike-run, which I dont find very interesting. But this year they changed it to a 4-21-2 duathlon. Done in the XC-ski slopes and on gravel road. So this year I just had to do it, even though I`m not at my best on thesse surfaces...

From the gun my competitors ran very fast over the ski stadion, on some very wet and muddy slopes. "Damn! I`m already in trouble" was my first thought. But when we got to some harder surface, and uphills, I felt more comfortable and got back in the game. But it was hard running this first 4ks up and down. 2 guys got away from me with 30sec, so I was 3rd into T1. Had opted for my road tricycling shoes, to have fast transitions, so I overtook one guy in T1 and was 2nd starting the 21k MTB ride. 3 laps of 7k with 2 technical parts on trails, rest was on gravelroads. 1 long climb on each lap. I got company from behind on the first tecnical part (no surprise, I suck as a MTB rider) and we where 3 riders chasing the leader going out on lap 2.

I decided to play it cool on lap 2 and let the 2 others do the work to catch up to the front. It worked out well! One gouy had enough going out on lap 3, so we where now again 3 in the lead. I tried to break away on the uphill, but could not get a gap. Was a bit worried, cause 1 guy was riding in runningshoes, which would give him a very fast T2. The former runleader was in MTB cycling shoes, so I was not to worried about him. I made the decission to get out of my shoes, and ride barefoot on topp of them, before the last tecnical part heading to T2. Was a bit wooried how it would go, but managed to hold me feet on the pedals, and hammered into T2.

The guy with runshoes was quicly out, but I jumped in my Newtons and did not take time to tighten them. He was about 50m in front heading out on the last 2k run on the slopes.

It tok me about half way to catch him. And it hurt! He was a long limmed man, so I ran faster uphill, but he ran faster downhill. On the 2nd last steep hill I gave it everything, and dropped him with 10m. As I entered the stadium with 150m to go I could hear his breath coming closer and closer, but managed to hold him off by a meter or 2 :-)

First and only win of 2009:-)

Nice to have in my belt going into 2010 training.

Very windy season stopper!

Tjørn HIM in Skarhamn, Sweden, was my last race of 2009. Skarhamn is a small harbour town on the swedish west-coast. Its out on the island Tjørn. And it was very windy out there!

Traveled with my twinbrother, and we where going low budget - sleeping in a tent. Race office was at the local gym, and with a lawn outside, and entrance to the gyms showers/toilet, it seemed like a good idea. So we got the tent up, and headed out for a loop on the bike course (3 laps of 29k). Wind was prety strong, and last 5k we got pooring rain (just enough to get soaking wet shoes on race day. NICE!)

After a quick shower race organisers had a nice carbo party, and race briefieng. We could tell they where worried about the wind. And they had reason to, cause during our night in the tent it got worse. I did not get alot off sleep, it felt like tent was getting ripped from the ground numerous times. And eating breakfast in the gym reception roumurs said it was going to be a shortened swim cause, off the waves on the swim course.

And roumurs where right. Instead of 2x950m, we where to to 3x400m. Setting things up in T1 I had to laugh. Cause everythin was blowing away. Ted Ås, swedish pro and race favorite, was next to me. He had to strap his P4 (with Zipp rear disc and 1080 front wheel) to the barriers! If not, the poor light thing of a bike, would have flown away:-)

So myself I strapped my helmet and fuelbelt to my aerobars. Put a big heavy towle over my runningshoes, and my gels inside the shoes with my socks. I was ready!

Gun went off and i got a terrible start. Was way to far out on the first bouy and got angry with myself. After 400m my twin lapped on the beach with almost 10sec on me. I was detrmined to hawl him back, and lapping after 800m I was closer. But I was blocked again going ut, and did not get on his feet until we actually was finished swimming, and could get up running.

My transition started great. Got my suit off fast, but......where the f....... was my helmet?? It was gone! Could not see it anywhere. Blown away from my aerobars? New experience! Think I yelled ALOT, and finally a marshall came over. And he soon rediscovered my helmet, like 10 places down the road, hidden behind a discwheel:-) My brother was so disrupted by the frency he forgot to bring his energybars with him out on the bike:-) But he was now 40sec down the road.

3 lap bike was hard in the wind. Angry for my time loss in T1 i went out hard. STRONG tailwind out meant 53-12 spinning all I could. 60km/h :-) But turning back was hard work! Reeled my brother in after about 25k, and after 1 lap he was gone. My bike was pretty strong, but faded a bit at the end. I miss my 2007 bike legs! And going ut on the run I felt flat. IM pace was all I could do. Ran down 3 guys in first lap, but lost some places on the last lap. Had one guy just in front off me last 4k, but could not pull him back. So I finished 9th in the elite category, in 4.32 something. Pretty average day, but its refelcting my training since Frankfurt.....I`m not bether. No excuses.

So this ends my 2009 season. It`s been a fun year. And I am ready to step it up for 2010. 2010 will be interesting...and even more fun!

14th Norwegian Champs

Yesterday was our National Championship over the olympic distance. It was held during Oslo Triathlon, the very same place i had my triathlon debut in 1990. Triathlon is on a roll in Norway, and they had to close entrys on 400. Over 100 in the National Champs with elite license is a new record!

Overcast and dry conditions with 16C in water at start, ended in a very wet and cold event. My plan was to race hard from the gun. No HR monitor, no watch, just go! Started behind Even Olsen. He has been just a little faster than med in the water this year, so I hoped to stay with him cause he`s a ultra strong biker, and I wanted to try his bike pace. But as soon we got going I lost track of him in the frency. Some idiot cut inside the first bouy, resulting in angry me pulling him back. But the ash..... came back, stole my feet and kicked my gogles of! Good for him I did not catch his racenumber!

My twinbrother Truls swam by while I was mending my loss and got my goggles back on. Barely hang on to his feet but he got a gap on me going out of the water after lap 1. Lap 2 and 3 was pretty uneventful, just hang on to some feet fraom Stavanger. But much to my surprise Even got into T1 right after me, and I still got the chanche to test his bike speed:-)

So after 1km he came flying from behind. I got onto his 10m and pushed as hard as I could. Held him for another km, but after the first climb my legs was toast and I had to let him go. But at least Truls was caught and with the bike of his life he stayed with me for the rest of the ride. going after Even made me feel bad for over 20k but on the 2nd lap my legs started to work pretty well again.

Out of T2 my brother did a kamikase stunt, an sprinted crazy yelling "I`m on fire" :-) Told him to slow down otherwise he wolud blow before 3k mark:-) I got a gap on him pretty fast, but was soon overhauled by Per Gunnar Mustad. And on lap 2 i lost another place or 2. Ran pretty wel and finished strong in 14th place. Winner was Øyvind Johannessen, 13min in front of me.

Ironman Germany RR

It`s been 3 weeks already, so time do write a RR from my Frankfurt adventure. If I remember anything after 2 weeks on a sunbed in Mallorca:-)

Got to Frankfurt without drama on thursday and had my base on Hotel Steigenberger close to everything.

Did a short run thursday evening, a 2000m poolswim in Rebstockbad on friday, and my usual 20+20+10min brick the day before race day.

Sunday started 0415 with breakfast and then bus to Langener Waldtsee. I was very calm. Knew exactly what to do and what not. If everything turned out normal I would finish somewhere between 09.45 and 10.00h. I knew I could not expect more. I was not as fit as in Klagenfurt 07 when I did 09.26.

Was in the seeded wave with the pros, and got in the water 10min before start. Very warm!! Must have been 25+?? It was SO GREAT to be in the first wave!! Some fighting for about 300m, then open water. Found some great legs to follow and swam pretty well. Strong and controlled. Sendt i big thanks to my TYR Catalyst paddles and my big pullboey. Got out in 1.02, and found I had made a mistake: Race numbers are not happy with 1h in water, even under a suit! Ripped it off my numberbelt pulling my suit down! Idiot! Should know bether in my 15th IM! Cost me about 1min I guess.

On my Plasma I felt awfull the first 60km. Back was stiff and hurting. Headache. Bad headache. Thought it was gonna be one of those days. 1 Ibuprofen saved me. Coming back into town I started to feel very good and strong. And my plan was to hammer 2nd lap. So I did. At least I tried.

Felt very fresh coming to T2, and after a potty stop I was ready to run a marathon. Was very determined to run well, after 2 bad races on this course before. First lap in 50min was on schedule, so was 2nd lap in 55min. Then I started to suffer on lap 3 (surprise). But hang in there and did it in just under 1h. Going out on last lap I had just about 1h to go sub 10h. It was going to be close, and I knew I had to dig to make it. And so I did. And made it with 45sec:-)

Pretty happy with the race. It was what I was good for with my training. Solid and controlled. A nice comeback to IM racing.

Sprint Training race yesterday

I did a sprint tri training race in Oslo yesterday. Weather was awsome, with 28 degrees and sun. This race is held every 2nd thursday on the same course and is hosted by the great club Oslofjord Triathlon. It has been the same course for 4-5 years, so it a great place to test fitness.

My best time on this course is 57:00 from july 2006. Yesterday I was egaer to have a great swim, and get some feedback on how countless hours in the pool with paddles/pullboey had paid off. got off to a great start, and felt super strong. Had my brother on my toes for almost 300m, but dropped him a litthle before halfway. In Holmestrand in the pool he beat me with 12sek:-)

I was 5th out of the water in 11.30. My best time here from 2006 was 11.51. Oh yes it HAS PAID OFF! :-)

My bike was not good yesterday. Never found my rythm, and the great weather ment pretty heavy traffic in Sørkedalen where we biked. After almost crashin in a cars front after 500m i decided to not risk anything. My bike was over 1min slower than my best here. After one DNF in front off me, I was 3rd into T2...but 5th leaving it! My tranistins was really rusty, not even on IM pace!

Quickly retained 4th, and had contact with number 3. But on a long steep descent Magnus came back from behind, and almost ran away from me. I caught him once more, and tried to get rid of him on the last k. But with 500m to go he outsprinted my and I had to settle for 5th. time was 57:58...not to bad

On track. I think.

Ironman Germany is only 10 days and 15 hours away! Not many posts here last 2 weeks - cause they have been very hectic. After 2 weekens of racing, I did get 2 pretty good training weeks in. Last weekend (12th-14th june) was very good. Did a long bike up to the cabin in Telemark on friday (110k), a laong 26k run on saturday, and then my favorite bike ride on sunday. It is a scenic ride in telemark on the route Brunkeberg-Vrådal-Dalen-Aamodt-Morgedal-Brunkeberg. 124k with over 2500 climbingmeters:-) Will try to post some pics from it later.

But last week everythin went off track. Guess beein a husband, dad, running local Hertz/EuropCar office alone, personal trainer for 10 persons, race director for a olympic distance race in august AND training for IM Germany got to much. So from monday to friday I was really toast, just running around fixing things. But things calmed down over the weekend, and I did get a 30k run in on saturday and a 86k ride in on sunday. Actually felt pretty strong on the bike sunday.

On monday I did my first wetsuit swim in 2 years. Finally decent temps in our local lake, gues it was 17-18 degrees C. Did time my regular "triangle" 800m(ish) lap. A bit to early to say, but I think all my paddle/pullboy work in the pool will pay off. Yesterday was intervall day on treadmill. 3x10min (12,6kmh)on 6% and 2x3min on 1,5% (15,5-16kmh). Felt pretty good!

With my week "off track" I have decided to take a risk in my lead up to Frankfurt. I gonna stick to regular training all the way until wednesday in race week. Will do a sprint tri tomorrow in Oslo, a long 20-25k run on saturday in Kragerø, and then bike 180k home from Kragerø on sunday. then som swimming and short intervalls monday/tuesday and a 85k rinde on wednesday before I leave for Frankfurt thursday. In Germany it will be relax, relax and getting ready to race hard on sunday.

A bit risky, but worth the shoot.
Will keep u posted about my race tomorrow.

2 races done

It`s been very hectic since Denmark. Have already 2 races in my belt, one tri and one bike TT.

Last saturday was my first tri since Kona 07. Norwegian Cup opener in Holmestrand. A 750-20-5 sprint. Swim was in pool, and in 4 heats. Everyone stopped after swim, and bike was a persuit after the swim times. I was in lane 1 in heat 3. There where some discussions in days leading up to the race on swimsuits. It ended with Norwegain Federation not banning any suits for this race. Si i wore my BlueSeventy Point Zero. Had a descent swim in 12.01. As espectet. 3min 17sec begind the 14old leader in the youth category. He swam 8.44!! 3min gap to the main contenders. Around 30th place....

Started out very hard on bike. Wanted to try to get in contact with Even Olsen, starting 15 sec in front. He is a strong biker, and was a podium contender. But he got away, while I was busy passing slow bikers on the narrow roads. The hard start cost me, and I had to slow for a while. Found my rythm again after 10k and biked really well from there to T2. Passed alot of people, and started run in 12th position. Ole Richard Holm Olsen was just in fron of me, and I caught him after 200m. He is also doing IM Germany, and has been reported in great shape, training 20h+ weeks. So I was in for a great fight I thought. He surged going up a long climb, and I barely stayed with him. But he was breathin hard, and with a "uhhhhh!" on topp of the climb he slowed dramaticly. I kept my pace over the topp and he was gone:-)

At turn-around I found my self prety isolated. To big a gap to nr. 10, and pretty good control on those behind. So I kept a steady, solid pace, and pushed it a litthle on the last climb to finish. 11th overall, 9th in men elite, beaten by 1 junior and 1 agegroup M40-49.

So today it was time for a local 94k TT. I was eager for a good training day today. So started with a 2400m morning swim with 8x300m pull with paddles. Race was a point to point race down Nummedalen, starting in Rødberg and finishing here in Kongsberg. My always supporting dad drove me all the way up there, while mum watched the kids. Thanks!!

I got to start as nr. 2, and qickly passed the woman in front of me. Very strong headwind made it hard all the way down the valley. Have done this race twice before, once in mild headwind in 2.24.26, and once in VERY strong tail/cross wind in 2.08. It was only me and the lead motorcycle out there. Felt lonely. Kept wishing someone would come up from beind, so I could adjust my pace. It was a mental test, but a relativly modest opening made me have fuel in the tank for the last 30k`s. Kept imagening it was a tri, and i was leading the damn thing:-)

Finished in 5th place in 2.28.56. Pretty happy with that. Beat the local cyclists, thats always nice:-) Winner time was 2.15.03. Damn fast in that wind!

Headed straight out on a transition run after finishing. Got 47mins in, but legs was toasted from the ride. A bit different to run after an all out TT, than in a triathlon:-) All in all a great training day!!












My favorite rides; Scott Plasma Ltd and Ford S-Max














Ready to start in Rødberg

Denmark Camp day 4

4th day of camp i woke up feeling pretty fresh considering i felt very tired on yesterdays Brick. Guess it was smart to cut the Brick a bit. We where scedueled to do a olympic distance race today. So after 1000m warmup in the pool, we did a timed 1500m. We where 3 in my lane, starting with 10sek intervals. I hit the firt 100 as hard ass I could to get up in Gerhards feet, and managed to do it:-) He then pulled in Erik, who started first, so I sat in a perfect position with 10 and 20sek on them.

After 400 or 500m Gerhard swam past Erik, and I decided to go with him. Erik then sat on my feet for the rest of the 1500. Last 300m got pretty hard, and I struggled to stay on Gerhards feet, but managed, and then had a 8 sek lead heading out on the bike after breakfast. Erik was 20 sek behind. My time for the 1500 was 23.56

So after breakfast we headed out for a warmup lap in our 2 loop 40k bike course. We then started the race as a persuit, me in the lead and the rest close behind. I started hard, and my legs felt way much bether than yesterday. Was expecting to get company from Erik pretty fast, and was sure he was going to blast by me. But it took almost 10k for him to get up to me, and he seemed happy to stay 15-20m back. I just kept pedaling as hard I could, and it stayed like this for the reminder of the bike. We could se after lap 1 that everyone else was far behind, so it was going to be a 2 man battle on the run.

We ran out together and once again Erik seemed happy to stay behind me. He usually is a bether runner than me, so I was a bit surprised. We did a 3 lap 10,5k run, mainly in the forest on very nice paths. The lap had 1 climb, and on lap 2 Erik opened up a big gap on me. But he then slowed down and waited, so i figured he was much stronger than me, and was just playing. So we ran out on last lap still together, and same thing happened on the climb. Hen the slowed down again on the flat stretch to finish, and I ran as hard I as could to get a descent finish to the camp. I caught him, and we decided to cross the line toghther. Nice of him, cause he could have beaten me easyliy with over 1min i guess.

So that hard race ended a great camp in Denmark, with 21h training in 4 days.

Denmark Camp day 3

After dinner yesterday I spent all evening and night in bed. Tired. Very tired. It was hard to get out of bed this morning, but one cup hot chocholate on the way down to pool made me wake up. Did another pull session today; Warm up:400cr,300pull,200kick.Main set(with pads and buoy):400+2x200+400+2x200+400+6x75. Cool down: 250kick(fins) and 200easy crawl. Total:3800m

After breakfast we got in the car and drove out to the coast and "Casa Grande" Øysteins parents was hosting us in their summer house, which was a perfect place for transition on our planned "Tripple Brick" The brick was going to be 3x 36k bike + 5k run. We did 1 warm up loop to get to know the 18k bike course, then got going on what was supposed to be slower than IM speed on first brick, IM pace on 2nd brick and faster than IM speed on last brick.

From the start ijust felt awful. Legs was sore and with no power. Rode with my CEP`s for the first time (yes I know I said I was never going to do that) but they did not help at all. (looking back I think they made my legs feel worse, but I dont know). 1sr brick went on planned slow pace, but heading out on 2nd I did not have anything to make me go IM pace. So I just plugged along in same speed ass 1st brick. Run did not fell any bether, so I decided to only go 18k + 2,5k on the 3rd brick. My body was really breakin up, and knowing and wanting a good training day on sunday also I think it was a smart move. Actually mnaged to bring my speed up a notch on the short 3rd brick, but was very,very tired when finished.

Tired but happy with another 5h + training day:-)

Denmark Camp day 2

Friday on camp in Denmark started with a 630am swim. And this morning the life guard was awake to. Did 3500m like this:

Warm up:

300

6x50
300pull

Main Set:
3x500
3x200
6x50

200 cool down.

After a big breakfast we headed out for a looong ride. 3 gruops where organised, I joined a 8man group to ride 200k. Our map showed a route almost all the way around North Jylland so we got started. We got seperated with 2 riders for a while going left and right all over the danish small roads but group got back together down almost down in Aalborg.

We battled a pretty bad head wind going up north again, and had a great lunch stop on a typical Danish bakery in Branderslev. Mmmmmm!

Got back in the headwind all the way up to Hjørring, and around 170k I was getting very tired. Our route was a bit back an fourth, and up and down going south to Sæby again. I was struggling to stay with the group who was now down to 6 after one trashed tire, and one severe bonk. so I let them go, and headed straight south to Fredrikshavn, then straigh south along the shore back to Sæby. Very tired, and already 15min late for dinner I got my Newtons on and did a 4k tranistion run. Puuuh! 8h 30min of training:-)

Denmark Camp day 1

Me and Vegard, who is also doing Frankfurt travelled from Kongsberg 2pm wednesday to join Norway`s largest and best tri club, Oslofjord, on their camp in Denmark. After 3,5h on Color Line SuperSpeed 2, and 1h drive we arrived in Sæby around 10pm. Straight to bed to get ready for thursday early morning swim

Got up 6am only to find a closed door to the pool. But things where quickly sorted out, and swim rescheduled to 3pm, after bike.

So after breakfast we headed out on a 130k ride. It included 1h warm up then 3hs like this: 40min Ironman intensity + 5x3min LT threshold with 1min rest. Then 20min easy back home. A front group of 5 soon established, and we did the 3min intervalls ending each hour as TTT. Got pretty hard, and my legs was toast when we came back.

Some went for a transition run, but I stayed in bed until swim practice. Did 1h 20min like this:

300 warm up
6x75 pull
Pull main set:
2x200
100
2x300
100
2x400
100
6x75
300 cool down

Totals of 3600m and 5h 10min training day 1

Running on water

Thursday, Friday and Saturday morning this week was spent on MS Color Magic, one of 2 ships trafficing Oslo-Kiel.


Was there for this the anual Hertz Licensee meeting. Intresting and fun. Got a bit late on thursday night though.

Did get one work out in. Going in beautiful Oslofjord in great sunshine saturday morning I headed to the fitness centere and ran 3x10min hill intervalls. With great view over the fjord.

Rest of week has been normal. Got a nice long ride in sunday morning, in rain.

I have also made a change in my schedule right on the page. Have decided to not go to Hove triathlon June 13th. I really need all training weekends before IM Germany, so I`m staying at home to train that weekend. Ringhaugsdysten is still in the air, but it`s only 1h travel so I might do that race to get some speed. But will have to see how things develop coming month.

Great view from treadmill going in Oslofjord

Pieces in a puzzle

Beeing an age group triathlete with full time jobb and family means every week is a puzzle. And every week i seem to loose a piece or two. 2 weeks ago it was a trainer LT workout. Last week it was 2 swims. And this week it was my anual tuesday treadmill hill intervall. But guess thats what its like to be a triathlete. Not everything goes acording to plan. Some pieces in the puzzle just get lost.

But I did find one very important piece today. After starting training again I have not been comfortable in my aero position on the Plasma. And I found it strange, cause in 07 it felt great, and nothing has been changed since then (at least I thought). I have been strugling to hold my position more than 10 mins, but has been telling myself its because I did not use it at all (almost) in 08. But on my long ride this morning I hit a big hole HARD with my front wheel. BAM! Aerobars tilted down maybe 0,5cm. My first thought was: "Damn! I did not bring tools!" But then on next long flat I just felt super comfy. And a lot stronger! Stayed in aero position for the reminding 2 hours. Pushing big TTB style

gears:-)

So some pieces are coming together. But I still need to get some more to get the pictured feeling in Frankfurt july 5th

Week 17

Not to much to report from last week. Got some good training in. Week looked like this:

Monday: 1h swim with 10x100 + 10x50 + 3x100 medley main set.

Tuesday: 1h running on treadmill with 4x10min AT intervals on 6% elevation + 30min weights

Wednesday: 45min morning run + 1h 15min spinning clas with 42min total of AT intervals.

Thursday: 1h swim. 8x400m pull with paddles/bouy

Friday: 1h 20min morning long run

Saturday: Rest

Sunday: 4h long ride

Went to our "cabin" in Telemark for the weekend. Finally got tires changed on car. And picture on topp is from my long ride on sunday back to Kongsberg. Nice view down the valley when i got to topp of the "Nutheim" climb.

And on Friday i finally found i decent place in Kongsberg to get a good sushi lunch:-)

My new friends

Well it`s been 3 weeks since my last update. My training is ticking along, and I am finally a litthle optimistic about toeing the line in Frankfurt July 5th.

Easter was spent in Telemark. Not to good weather, but I got some good long rides in, and also a nice 20k long run and a 6x10min threshold workout on the trainer. Trainer was located on our cabins porch, with a great view down the small valley.

My new friends are my new CEP compression socks. They are awsome, but look dorky:-) Got some strange looks when i ran intervals on treadmill at the gym on tuesday. But the are so comfortable to run in, I have not run without them since i got them. Thinking of getting some more pairs, so I also can use them when not running. But I will never ride with them! Promise!

This week has been my best training week since 2007. It would have been awsome if i had not gotten a sore throat on saturday. Guess I have been alitthle sloppy with how i dress in the spring weather. Decided to take saturday of, not to risk my long ride on sunday. I really need all the long rides I can get now. But I am starting to feel strong on the bike again, but still a way to go to my 07 bike fitness, which was awsome.

Paris-Roubaix last sunday stil pisses me of! We where SO CLOSE to get a Norwegian lift the cobble stone on the podium! If it had not been for that crash I am sure Hushovd would have followed Boonen into the dome, and crushed him in the sprint. But we have to wait 1 more year for a Norwegian to win the coolest bike race on planet...

And congrats to everyone finishing IM China today! 45 degrees C had to be awfull running conditions. Puuuh!!

BK Triathlon 2009 race suit just arrived:-)

We opted for DeSoto from Trisports.com. The navy/white matches our club colours perfect.

New Newton`s for me to. No more getting wet on feet.

And some CEP compression socks to. Cant wait to try that.

Week 13

Another hectic week is done. The star of our family this weekend was Ida, celebrating her 2nd birthday on friday. And ofc she needed a bike, so mum and dad bought her a brand new pink 3 wheeler:-)

Have finished up my march testing this week. Did my bike test (lactate profile) 2 weeks ago, and it showed my AT is 242Watts and 151bpm. Not to happy with that, and have already stepped up my threshold training on the bike...

Saturday I did a run test, also a lactate profile. Did it on 6% on the treadmill. That is the elvation I`m running my intervals on. I`m still 1km/h behind where i want to be in july. My AT speed is 12,4km/h with 168bpm HR.

From run test i went straight to the pool and did a 3x300m swim test. Put my BlueSeventy PointZero on for the first time since Kona 07 (yess it stil fits:-) and did a 600m warmup. Test is done with 30sec rest between each 300m, and is not corect if difference is more than 30sec from fastest to slowest.

I did 4.53 - 4.55 - 4.58

That makes for an 1.38 average, which is not to far away from my PB of 1.35. Really think my swimming is coming around again, and hopefully all those meters with pullboy/paddles will pay off in july

Winter hit us hard again this week. Almost 20cm more snow on friday! After last sundays nice ride om my Plasma, I was not very tempted to do my long ride on a MTB with spikes. So I opted for my close friend, the CT. 3h is pretty long in the garage, but thanks to Linsey Corbins post on her blog, 3h is not that long anymore. She has posted a great 3h trainer workout here:

http://www.linseycorbin.com/node/342

I did it sunday morning. It`s pretty hard, but very effective training. Intervals in last hour was done on AT watts.

So it`s been a pretty good training week; 3 swims, 4 runs, 2 rides (indoor) and 1 weight session.

And hopefully winter is done now?

A great weekend!

My plan was to finish up some testing this weekend, but incredible weather changed my plans. So my testresults have to wait for next week.

Saturday started with a great 4400m swim. 200warm up, then 10x400 pull with paddles (alla Linsey Corbin & co). Then 200 cool down. A great strengt workout that really make u feel your lats!!

Then home for a second breakfast and og to Kongsberg skislopes to do some alpine skiing with Stine (4). She`s really getting the hang of it, and we did 5 rounds from the topp. Of course with a break in the cafeteria with some coke and cake...

Sundaystarted 7am with this years first ride on my Scott Plasma TT bike. Actually my first ride outside since january. we still have plenty of snow as you can see. Was som icy spots and 1 degree bellow freezing when i left home, but it got warmer quick and last hour was nice and warm in the sun. Then home, some breakfast again and of XC skiing with Stine. She and a friens did 3,3km today, longest she ever did.

So now its time to sleep to get ready for another hectic week. Starting with work 6.15am monday morning.....

Getting back into it all

Well. It`s been a while since Hawaii and october 2007. In 2008 i did not train very much at all. And I gained 12kg from my race wight in Kona. Thanks to bad eating habbits, and not to much activity.


This atum I did start some training again, swimming with my master group 2-3 times a week, and a 75min spinningclass every wednesday.


We have had a massive winter here in Kongsberg, and still have almost 1m snow on the ground. So in january me and my twinbrother made a bet to be tha fastest at "Grenaderløpet" - which is a 90km long XC ski race through the forest north of Oslo. Guess my brother, also a triathlete with 11h IM pb, thought I was in so bad shape that he finally could beat me:-) So from then on I was really focused on ski training. Did 2 intervall workouts a week, and some 3-4h sessions. Race went pretty well, and I finished 1h 10min behind the winner. Weather made it a pretty tough one though. It snowed like h...... all night and all day, som my finish time was 50min slower than in 2004. But same timeloss to the winner, so guess my fitnes was not that bad. And I did beat my brother with over 30mins. Ha! He should realise I am, and has always been, a bether skier than him;-)After the race i got a stomach flu and did not eat properly for 3 days. Nice way to lose some weight:-)

So now I have 15 weeks to get in Ironman shape again. I do have som benchmarks that needs to be met to toe the line come july 5th;

• My wight stil needs to come down 4-5kgs. It is now 75kgs
• Anaerobic Threshold (AT) running on treadmill on 6% elevation should be over 13km/h. Just before qualifying to Kona i ran 13,4km/h.
• AT biking on my CompuTrainer should be very close to 300Watts.
• And swimming my 3x300m AT test I need to average 1.35 pr/100m.
• And of course I need some big miles in my saddle and on my Newton`s

I am doing some testing this week. AT bike test has already been done, so I will let you know how I am doing come next week. And then you hopefully can follow me all the way to the startline in Frankfurt on july 5th