Technically it is nine days out, but by this time next week I will be done with all my training.  The only thing left will be to register for the race, check out the Ironman store and expo area, practice swim around the course Friday morning, drop of my bike Friday afternoon, eat, sleep and then block out the fact that I am not the person I was last year, and do what I can with the person I am now.

Last year I went all in.  I watched what I ate, I got down to a stable 86-88kg and I concentrated on biking and running.  I allowed myself to swim less, woke up at 4:50 am 4-5 times a week to get my workouts in.  Lots of time and km spent alone on my bike or running around Växjö.  This year, I well basically I took this year off.  I started drinking more during the week, and not just on the weekends, I slept in until after 6:00am every day.  I had zero pre-work workouts. But what I did manage over the past year is to spend more time with my girls, and more evenings at home with my wife.

This first picture shows the difference in the number of kilometers I swam, biked and ran month to month during 2014 compared to this years. As any one can clearly see I have only trained a fraction of what I did last year.  And looking at me you can see the results.

But I am proud to say even with all the extra family time, and work travels I have been able to train consistently. So I might not have the kms on a bike or in my shoes, but I am far from untrained.

Thankfully I had two swimrun races early in the summer that forced me to start running again. Thanks to Jonas and Fredrik that where there to push me out the door and get my butt moving again. Thanks to TYR Sverige for helping TYR Warriors Swimrun team with equipment.  Even though we are just two regular guys we got awesome Hurricane C3 wetsuits, goggles, paddles and pull buoys. We’ve learn a lot this year about racing and the importance of running off road and training like you race. We improved so much from our first race to our second with just 3 weeks in between.  I can not wait until we start our next race.
Running a marathon is hard enough.  Add biking 180km before and it gets even harder. But I feel that if I can just keep calm on the bike and accept that I will be slower, a lot slower than last year, and I keep on top of my nutrition plan I think my body will last the 42km run. After all, it’s easier to run in triathlon clothes than a wetsuit with soaked shoes 😉

A special thanks to Fredrik Björn a Masters teammate & swimrun partner for getting me in the door of the Crossfit Växjö Box. I was in a dark place last fall. Fredrik gave me a three month membership to Crossfit and I slowly started to get my motivation back.  Crossfit reminds me a lot of swim practice.  You show up early to talk, it’s quiet during the sets, lots of joking around between, and then talking after the workout.  I never got that with all my running and biking last year.  So the picture below clearly shows that I am officially a crossfit swimrunning triathlete. Too bad I could not get the swimrun and running to merge.

A few months ago I wrote that this years Ironman would be my last.  Well thanks to Jonas I have decided to keep my tempo bike and just take a long break from Ironman races. So instead of selling my bike I will just hide it in the attic. So if things go according to plan, I will be starting another Ironman in 2023 😉 But for the next 7 yrs I will focus on having fun with my training, getting lighter, faster and stronger.

I also need to give a shout out to Leon Hobro.  He is one of the reasons I have been able to workout consistently. Helping my body feel good and active.

See you in Kalmar.  If you want to follow me during the day my start number is 1839.  I will be the participant that gets to see the highest number of participants on the course.  Swimming into the top 50, then dropping back 200+ places on the bike and another 400+ places during the run allows me to see almost everyone on the course 😉