The year did not start off great, but is slowly getting back to normal for me. I recovered from my broken elbow and sprained wrist in December 2022, only to get pneumonia in January and again about a week after my last dose of penicillin.

I switch jobs on March 1st, struggled with the long term effects of being sick with pneumonia for the better part of three months. I was sent to Texas to work for 3 weeks before I had even been employed for a full month. I think being in the dryer Texas weather helped my lungs recover, and it gave me a reason to rest from all training. I returned home in time for Easter and since then I have been biking to work, and was able to swim the entire workouts with masters, even if it was with either slow, or a little faster with fins or paddles, or sometimes even both.

On the 12 of April I had a planned contrast x-ray. It was only to follow up any scaring that might have accord because of had back to back cases of pneumonia and a stroke on documented in my journal. On the 19th I was called up and asked to go to the hospital asap to talk to a doctor about changing my medicine. The results showed blood clots in my lungs, as well as a reduce opening. I was then put on Eliquis and will have to take it for the rest of me life. One pill in the morning and one in the evening…

Work has been going well. I understand our product, I know the work that is expected of me, and I have been able to find a really good work/life balance. I get to the office around 0700 and leave around 1630, earlier on Fridays and longer if needed.

Going into May I started to add OW swims to my week. I noticed that it was easier for me to swim OW than in a pool. I think it connected to having to hold my breath during flip turns in a pool and not having to hold my breath at all when swimming OW. During the month of May I collected just under 200km on my bike, and last got gas for my car on the 26th of March. Swimming went up from 6-8km/month in January-Feb to 38km in April and just over 51km in Maj. well below the 60km/month I was averaging in 2020-2021.

June was a good month. The girls all finished up the school year. We had a successful Karl-Oskarsimmet Open water race. The girls and I survived 9 days with out mommy who went on a girls vacation. I added a “distance” bike ride once a week during the midsummer weekend. It took me 2:05 for a 43km ride (207km/h). 9-10 years ago I was biking that under 1:30. My second attempt was slightly faster with an average speed of 22.5km/h. I was also able to swim my first 10km since august 2022. I finished June with 291km on the bike with 73km in the water.

July’s weather has not been that great, but it has not stopped me from biking to work. I am starting to feel comfortable a my bike again. I switched biking with sneakers to using my bike shoes on the 9th and was able to speed up to 23km/h. My time was 1:47 and I have a new goal to get back under 1:30. I am not sure I can get there this summer. Swimming has been shorter 3km swims partially because those I swim with had races to consider, or are also coming back from injury. I am hoping that I can start swimming a minimum of 4.5km every time I put my goggles on. Half way through July I have 184km on a bike and 33km in the water with a long swim planned for tomorrow.

Today I have my follow up contrast x-ray. I won’t know until next week what they see, but I am really hoping that the images are clear of any clots. I go on vacation now, so I am looking forward to swimming daily (when possible) and biking more. I am actually going to turn in my both of my bikes (cyclocross & tempo) for service on Monday (or Tuesday). The cyclocross I hope is ready by Saturday so I can bike around Växjö again. Once the tempo is ready, it will be interesting to see if I remember how to ride it. I will test it for a 20km ride. If its fun I will continue to build up to a 40km time trial. If its not fun I will try to sell it since I have not used it since 2016 after my stroke.

Only four weeks left until my 8th #vidösternsimmet.