train more.. ignore my desire to lay down and sleep.

beer (Post race activities had beer and food..mmmm), food.. rest.. lots of rest...


sleep, jet lag, more training on bike... 200 miles in 1 day is quite a bit of training..


Moving time was 12hrs, 15 hours when you include the 3+ hours of eating, bathroom, and general collapsing on the ground for a few minutes.. aka the Depa (rest stops).





Swedish Paper





I was pretty shot at mile 135, but I managed to crank out another 51 miles afterwards. The last 50 miles were the toughest...maybe the toughest I have ever endured... its close with the first marathon I did... it was tough in both in terrain, wind, and by the mere fact that I had 2/3 of the race already done (i.e., whole body was quite tired.) Pain, accomplishment, seeing the 'country' of sweden, beauty, insanity.. (not me of course but others)... driven to the finish line... the last 20km were just pure and utter pain... i think this race in particular presents a glimpse of what will likely be a somewhat simliar experience at IM... its hard to see if it will be harder then and IM.. at least in a marathon you can walk at least.. walking with a bike.. isn't optimal.... The winds were so strong on the north side of the lake that a giant semi-truck was blown off the road. they moved the wreckage off to each side of the road.. all kinds of carnage... on the south side by Jonkoping( pronounced yorn chirping) the grade on the hills was high enough to cause several bike wrecks with several individuals being taken to the hospital.... I was spared.. thank God.

Since I started the race at 00:32 in the morning, I had a bike light and rear light for the first 2 1/2 hours of the race... (yes, the sun comes up at 3AM... ) watching the sun come up over the northern sky was brillant...I wished I had stopped to take some photos.. I took many others.. but missed those... stupid eh.. It was quite early... several people stopped at rest stops (Depa in swedish) and you could tell they were just flat out cold in deep sleep... around 4-5am many riders were looking pretty tired. Essentially, deprivation of sleep and

At several stops (since this wasn't a race, but a ride) we had full meals... I had hotdogs and potatoes in Jonkorping, Lasagne in Hjo, and Chicken Pasta and beer in Motalla (at the finish line.)

My Garmin collapsed at mile 145... so it is missing last 42 miles as my battery died on my watch at mile 145.. doh!! If I had pushed stop on the rest stops I think it might have made it... apparantly, it needed breaks too... lol.

I arrived in Motalla at 3:30 ..... pretty tahrd.. Slept great last night. Moving speed was avg 15.5 mph, factoring in breaks, it dropped to 12.5 mph... 300 KM done!! Been there done that... :-> . One guy actually said, onec you have done this... the next thing you can do is the bike tours in the swiss alps... I grimaced and considering the insanty of it.. but only for a moment! Momentary lapse of reason is what got me into this race... Heeehhhheee



Only 32 americans did this race, 1500+ germans... various countries including Denmark, Iran, China, Great Britain, etc. The bulk of the 18,000+ riders were swedes. Some of the craziest swedes have done this race 40 TIMES.. They gave special medals to those that did 5,10,15,20,25,30,35, and 40!! Holy crap.. what is wrong with some people? Lol. Once is likely enough for me... Too many other races and things to do in life I think.... Those swiss alps are calling.. or maybe the great wall marathon.. or perhaps a bike ride around Australias permeter...( I heard about this from one of the crazy swedes...)

All kinds of people in the race today... mountain bike.. single gear old bikes... at 71 year was in this race... Man... the boundaries of human behavior... seems bound-less some days doesn't it....

My weekly graph looks kindah of funny now... Typically, the weekly summary be around 400 minutes.. I kindah blew that away by biking all night and dayhuh..



Vatternrundan 07 Flickr


The Elevation and map milestones.