My first business trip since the start of the Covid-19 outbreak. I knew that I would eventually have to travel again, and I has 100% aware that it was not going to be easy from being at home for the past five months working out on average 12 hours a week to nothing for upwards of six days. But having the last 3 trips cancelled or postponed I was kind of hoping that this one would be push up too.

Due to the limited access to public transportation and the roughly 1300km distance I had to travel to get to site, I wound up traveling by car for nearly 13 hours on Sunday the 3rd of May with two colleagues headed in the same direction. Everything in the town I was visiting had shortened hours. Most things closed between 1600 and 1800 daily. This limited my options for food and the hotel we stayed at had no fitness room.

After the long travel day Sunday I just grabbed a chicken burger and went to bed. Monday was a short day at site and a typical Swedish lunch, that finished with a Thai food dinner and a beer at the hotel. Tuesday and Wednesday were really long days. There was no real hotel breakfast, but we were given two small sandwiches, juice and yogurt in our room every morning. We did manage to leave site for lunch, and all my lunches were really good. But having to stay late, there was little options for smaller meals, so we ate hot dogs from the near by gas station. Another change for me was the lack of access to water. I usually drink lots of water and coffee during the day. But during my time at site I was limited to buying sodas. I did bring one large bottle the second and third day, but they didn’t last very long.

Thursday was also a long day, but it was a combination of work and travel. Luckily for me I was able to get in contact with two swimmers in Umeå and was able to plan my return trip with a stop there instead of in Stockholm. While in Umeå I managed to get in a well needed 60 minute swim in. But then Friday morning I was on the 0610 train that got me home at 1800. Only one long stop along the way in Stockholm, so I was pretty much sitting down for 11 hours.

When I woke up Saturday morning I was 5 kg heavier than I was the Saturday before. It makes sense, since I only got in 10 hours of training in the first week of May, and less than 5 hours the second week in May. But luckily for me by the 15th I had lost the extra 5 kg I gained the week before and even another kg. Being down to 97.1 kg for the first time since 1995.

The three missed pool swims will effect my ability to reach 83 km in May, but I had a big enough buffer through four months in 2020 that I am still ahead of my 1,000,000m target.

On a positive note, I have managed to swim in the lake four times so far this year and looks like I will be able to swim 2 times a week in the lake over my 4 Masters practices, and then easily be able to make the shift after the 4th of June when our pool practices stop for the summer.