Last fall I decided to attempt med third 21+6 race at Vidösternsimmet. I had recovered from my 2021 injury and my 2022 Vidösternsimmet swim felt good at 6:23 (8th place) and missing lots of winter swimming. But of course I got hurt again this past winter, and I missed out on nearly 7 months of training.

Being able to swim the 21km was a real positive for me, not swimming fast enough to join the 6km was not great, but probably best for my recovery in the long run.

The weeks building up to the race, I attempted to sell my spot in the 6km race. It seemed extremely unlikely that I would be able to finish under 6:30 to be able to start the second race at 14:00 (7hrs). But I was also concerned how my body and even my mind would react to a 21km swim. My first 10km swim for the year came on June 24th. Over 10 months from my previous swim over 5km. Because of poor weather and taking a late summer vacation my next long swim would be the 15th of July and my last long swim the 22nd of July. A majority of my OW swims this summer have been 3km with a few of them going up to 4.5km.

Friday afternoon I head to Värnamo for the pre-race meeting with Markus, the only other swimmer from Växjö healthy enough to attempt a long OW race. We arrive about an hour before the meeting so I have time to check into my room and get a nice surprise from the hotel staff wishing my luck for the race tomorrow.

After dropping off my bag, I have time to pick up a burger from Ribs ‘N’ Burgers. Took my burger, fries and Dr Pepper over to the location of the Pre-race, and order a beer from the hotel and have my dinner outside.

Nothing new from the meeting considering it was my 7th time attending the 21km pre-race. It was good to meet up with some Masters swimmer friends and others that have been at the same race for many years in the past. Most of the participants were concerned about he information that the lake water was 15-17C (59-63F). My only concern was if my body was ready for the challenge, if I had really gotten enough time in the water. Cold water, wind and waves is apart of any OW race. After the meeting Markus headed home and I make it back to my hotel room just after 20:15, and do what I can to relax and go to bed around 22:30.

Race Day

Alarm goes off 04:40, I make my way down to breakfast at 05:00. With 97 registered swimmers, not everyone could stay at the same hotel, but there were about 40 of us at breakfast. Swimmers traveling alone like myself sat quietly and if they others were like me, they were getting mentally prepared for the task ahead. After a large breakfast I make my way over to the buss at 05:40 and head to the start of the race. Every year it is the same thing, people how do not respect the pick-up time, so after waiting awhile the bus finally takes us to the start. Get a nice early morning visit from Hampus who had planned to race, but got injured just 2-3 weeks before. You can tell by the way people are behaving at the starting area if this is their first real long swim, or if they have been in this situation before. Around 06:30 I start to get ready for the race. I had gotten a hole in my Sailfish G-Range between the legs. I am not sure how I got, it but I noticed it about 2 weeks before the race, and since it was right at the seam between two panels I was able to sew it back together and then seal it up with some Black Witch neoprene glue. It was the first time I actually let the glue dry for more than 24 hours. This time it got 12 days to set. Extra googles and the GPS tracker in my safe swimmer, No 24 this year. I make my way to the starting line on the edge of the lake. Looking out I can see the waves rolling towards me, and realize that I am not going to feel good when I get the the finish line and I can see any hope of being able to start the 6km disappear.

For those of you that do not remember the race is split up into 5 sections. 3.7 + 3.9 + 5.5 + 3.4 + “~5”. I think the last 5 is a lot longer than just 5, but the race is called 21.5+ km

07:00 the canon goes off and we start out 100+m walk to the “deeper” water. One swimmer starts doing a dolphin like dives to get ahead of the rest, others start swimming when the water the just below the hips. Most of us walk until the water is about waist level. The first 2-3km felt forced. The waves were hitting hard, trying to find a good breathing pattern was not easy either. I was not looking at other swimmers, but noticed what looked like 20+ safe swimmers disappear off to the left. I kept my course. I get to the first depot which is a floating depot and take a cola and a gel. I see 2-3 swimmers that just left. I think I was there for 45-75s. My approximate time was 58:40 over 3.7km would be the equivalent of 1.35/100m. I felt like I was swimming 1:40-1:45/100m, but that was maybe the counter effect of the waves and me being stronger than I expected. I had planned on taking 1:00-1:10 so 58 was a good surprise.

Over the next 3.9km I have 1-2 swimmers a few hundred meters in front of me and two swimmers around me. Sometime to my left, my right, on my feet, crossing in front of me. I just kept my pace and my course. It was after all the 8th time I swam here (7×21 + 1×42) and I felt like I was swimming towards the next buoy in the shortest route. I must have gotten used to the waves, because I stopped thinking about them and was just swimming in my own little world. I get to the second depot, the first on land after another 1:18 which means a tempo of 2:00/100m. If I take away the resting time my average swim speed was still up around 1:57/100m. Total time roughly 2:16 (1:47/100m average) and I thought I would be here between 2:10-2:15, so I am still happy with my progress. Hampus mentions I am a little red on my neck, and ask one of the volunteers for some Vaseline. I then remembered that I had forgotten to apply any Vaseline at the start. At this depot the swimmer ahead of me goes out to swim as I come up. I have the same two swimmers that were around me from before at this station. As I am going back to the water I can see quite a few swimmers coming in behind me. Hampus tells me there is only about 10 swimmers ahead of me. I was surprised since I thought half the field was in front of me.

The third leg of the swim is 5500m, and this was for me very uneventful. I was expecting a dip in energy or motivation, but make it to the depot after 1:50 of swimming, again a 2:00/100m pace, and around 4:07 total swimming time. (1:50/100m average) I had predicted 4:00-4:10. So in my mind, the option to start the 6km race was still there. Again I have one swimmer going into the water as I came up, and 2-3 coming up behind me. I get more Vaseline, I drink more than usual and head back out for the shortest leg of the race. I noticed that my watch died. Which sucked because I like to have an idea of the time, but at the same time was good because it was depressing to see that slow tempo.

3.4km and the fourth leg of the race. The last portion of the race that the islands in the lake give some protection from the wind. During these 3400m I decided not to start the 6km. I still thought I would be able to make the start, but mentally I decided not to. I am really starting to feel the chaffing on my neck, my right shoulder is starting to get tight, and I notice that my hands are not pulling deep, but I am starting to pull up under my body, the path of least resistance. As I pass the starting location of the 6km, I reconfirm to myself that I am not going to swim it. I have to keep telling myself this so no one could talk me into it. I get to the 16500m mark at 5:17 meaning this section was 1:10 or 2:03/100m. (I know I am swimming faster, but I do not know how long I was at the depot, so my 2:03 pace includes the rest of the third depot. Even though it was the most protected section of the course I was losing speed. I am at the depot for at least 8 minutes, because when I asked someone what time it was they replied 12:26. To even have a chance of starting the other race I would have to swim this 5500 in about 1:04. That made making my decision not to swim even easier. No chance to change my mind now.

The last leg requires some skills when orientating the course. Buoy 18 and 21 require you to swim to the right and there are two sets of “cones” that you have to pass between. At this point in time I am comfortable with the knowledge I will be done swimming after I finish and not have another race to worry about. Instead I start to wonder if I have enough energy to catch the person in front of me, or if I am so tired that the ones behind me will catch up. Turns out I caught up to the swimmer in front of me with 6 minutes, only one minute behind her and the finish. The three swimmers after me were just as far behind after the last depot or more. I swam last 5500m in 1:45 and a pace of (2:06/100m including the 8 minute rest, so technically a 1:47/100m pace). Personally I would love to know my depot times, because if I was able to hold around 1:45/100m after the first leg it would really go a long way to motivate me in my winter training.

I finished in 7:02.34 (1:58/100m included rest) in 8th overall in the 21km, 7th male. Robert Bergs chip did not work and he finished 4th. My time was about 40 minutes slower than last year, but two places better.

Hats off to Helén Runger who not only was the fastest 42km swimmer, but also beat all but six of the the 21km swimmers (man & woman).

I hope to be healthier this fall/winter/spring so I can stop rehab swimming and potentially get back down to a six hour swim the next time I am in Värnamo, which looks like it will be 2024 so I can try to keep Hampus company has he was able to move his start to next year.