Lübbenau Halv marathon

Lübbenau Galb Marathon a 22,2K race, not 21,1. 

Lubbenau, is one of the most fantastic towns ever. Its located in former East Germany and carrys alot of history. My dear friend Jana escaped East Germany at the age of 17, and didnt get to see her family again until the fall of the Berlin Wall. This town is definiatly different. No Wifi anywhere, people actually talk to each other, people leave theirs keys in their apartment doors, most apartments have their own gardens and few speak English. Its Germanys Venice, with channels everywhere.

I have been speaking German..... You should hear me....I suck.. Hahaha. Okey... Good enough to keep small conversations going and I understood a little. People honestly enjoy that I try. Another observation is that I was the only brown person around... Weird feeling. I mean ONLY.. 

Jana a dear friend and my travelcompany is an intelligent fun-loving women that I enjoy being around. I thank her from the bottom of my heart for sharing her home town, experience, family and  interesting history of how it was to live in East Germany. Janas mom has cooked the best meals and she is spoiling us rotten. I feel like 15 again. 

This part of the trip was fantastic..... So the part I really dont want to talk about... The race...

I started this season with my worst race ever. Awful. I knew I was kinda tired still after Mallorca Training camp, but everything else was good. Nice weather, 23 degree celcius, fantastic company, sunny and the surrounding are amazing. I slept well the night before and breakfast was really good. I started out confident and kept a pretty good pace. My first hour I did 11, 5K, and knew that if I kept my pace I would do great, really great. They had 4 energy stops, with cider, coke and loads of candy. No sportsdrinks. At stop 15k I decided to eat my powergel. Very stupid Idea, after about 5 minutes I felt nausia, then I threw up. Disgusting. Luckily I was carrying a water bottle. At 17 K my calves started cramping. Both. I was about to give up. I had to stop and stretch constantly. I slowed down to a 6 - 6:30 minute per K pace. However, I wanted that damn cucumber. So I had to just keep on going. Lübbennau is known for its cucumbers. My mind was set. However I feel kinda dissapointed and I know I have to do much better If Ironman is going to be a reality. At this moment I have the need to talk with my coach. My confidence got hurt, bad. Just feeling not good enough. My watch stopped at 1:59:06 when I passed 21.1 which is okej, but the feeling of my body not being good enough.... 

Next race is planned for Thursday, Vasby Duathlon.... Feels very distant at this moment.... However I am not giving up, never..... ever... All I need now is my coach and some positive energy

Getting all fired up

Its all about the cucumber, worked for me... Kept me going

Might be the flatest Marathon but 21 bridges with stairs and 6k stone paths was pretty tough

Flowers, birds, nature, clean, everywhere. We Swedes have LOTS to learn

Castle of Lübbenau

And a celebration Champagne.. If course...

This is the scenery... Just beautiful

A summary of Mallorca Training Camp

This very moment, we are on our flight, on our way home, after a simply amazzzziiiing week.  I feel really good about myself, both inside and out. I had set one important private goal before my trip..... I wanted to shine (Like Spains sun) compared to last year. My goals are always my own and I never compare them with anyone else. Like I always say, I am David, an underdog, doing my own thing, my own way, my own speed and under guidance of my amazing coach Andreas Lindén. I overcame some personal doubts this week.

My first doubt, climbing those damn mountains..... The scenery is beautiful and its fun..... but really really tough. I have always had problems with going uphill. This year I did a fab job. The first mountain, the first day built my confidence (When my pulse blew max), so when it was time to climb mountain number 2, on our long biking tour day I had made up my mind in advance. You can do this Desiree and you can do it good. I wanted to do approximately 10K per Hour. A lot better than last years 7-9K per hour. My stupid thing (bike computer) was set on MPH which I forgot about, so while going uphill my computer didn’t go higher than between 7 – 9 (Mph). Feeling kinda low, but not giving up. When I finally reached the top, I was like 20 minutes earlier then my personal schedule, and thats when I realized that I had been doing about 11,2 -14,4 K/h which is almost double last years speed. For the first time in my life, I was one of those that got to rest a little while on top, waiting for other members in my group to show up!!! A new experience..... Before I was ALWAYS last (Every single mountain), so as soon as I was on top, it was time to continue, tired as hell. That really was a bummer.

My second doubt, open water swimming. This one I didn’t overcome completely this year. I was better and more confident then last year but still not good enough for Ironman. I kind of panic, hate salt water in my mouth (Feels  DRY..... like an old lady's mouth with dentures) and I still get a bit seasick. Madde did some swimming with me and she gave me invaluable tips. One perfect tip was to do the back stroke if I loose air for a little while until my breathing is back to normal. (I wont loose as much speed that way) Liked that one a lot .

I feel quite confident with my running, I feel relaxed and I know I have a pretty good pace, although I am a heavy runner……. I always gain weight when I am under a lot of stress or not feeling mentally relaxed. I have had some really tough weeks at work, which is right on my hips.... again. But I feel and know that everything is going to be okey. I had some amazing results this year. On our final race day,  I did a 1,5K run keeping a 4:24 minute per K pace!  The best compliment ever came from my dearest friend Madde: Desiree I wonder if its your indian blood, because your are a quite runner. (A very good thing) My goal is to keep my feet as light as possible to avoid to much stress on my knees and limbs.

My strongest recommendation to anyone who wants to go on a Tricamp with a personal touch, where your personal goals are taken into a lot of consideration, Mallorca training camp should be one of your alternatives. 

3 words that define my experience: Personal, unique and professional

So Andreas and Jeff, you guys are the best. You gave us a fun and challenging week (Don't think otherwise). I feel like a cocktail queen that just entered the next level of her triathlon carrier. Thank you guys!

A special thank you to all the cool endurance athletes, Ironmen (male and female) and other trialtheles during our boot camp. Thanks for all the laughs, pep, tips, stories and simply the best travel company ever!

Lena, Madde, Johanna, Björn, Happy, Snabba Ida, Snabba Emil, Mona, Olga, Mia, Johan, Martin, Jimmy, Ingvar, Patrik, Jeff, jennifer, Andreas, Inte lika snabba men tillräckligt snabba Ida. Hope I got everyone, cause you all made or trip memorable and painful (In a good way)

Ps

And I met Sofie, my first energetic and funny spinning instructor from Sollentuna, she actually started it all and Mathias W a inspiring friend/business contact that I met through work! Mallorca is a paradise for Swedes.... obviously....

Our 110 kilometer biking tour

Running intervals after a biking session 

We bike up these beautiful mountains, the view is stunning, but its hard to take pictures from up there

A swimming race the last day, that I avoided. I would have ended up doing a 180 degree turn, like Ida.

The water was unbelievably clear

Best girls/women/ladys ever, Johanna - half marathon and long distance bike competition, Mia - 4 times full distance Ironman, probably alot of other races I don't know about, me, Madde several long distance bike competitions, triathlons, long distance swim races, long distance cross country skiing, Lena really a lot of long distance biking like 14 years in a row... Amazing. Bike races are between 100 - 300K.

All the guys in the group have completed full distance Ironmans (except Björn, Ingvar and Emil, Emil however is a phenomenal cyclist (No one compares to Emil uphill), we are missing Johan who got food poisoning. Hope he is better... 

Coach Andreas and Ida, saying good bye, here with Emil and his speedy wife Ida, She completed a 100 Kilometer run... Yes you heard med 100 K running. It took her 11,5 hours. 

Old Alcudia, a beautiful little town

This is a female Ironman tan

Yepp, thats us! Best gang i da world

Bye bye

A Mallorca Triathletes diary

Sunday

After my blog Sunday night, I decided that my next blog is going to be a Mallorca diary. Ever day, before I fall asleep, I will add pictures, a training schedule as well as a short update on every days training sessions.  Good things, bad things and juicy details... If any ... (Nope, didnt happen, tooo damn tired)

Monday

First day of bootcamp was more then fun... it was amazing. Well.... when I woke up in the morning, I wasn't really sure that this was going to be the case... It started out with me not getting enough sleep. Stupid me had to have coffee after dinner Sunday night. Big mistake, huge mistake. So I was a bit worried that I wasn't going to be able to give the day my best shot. The day started out with a lecture about endurance. One important thing about endurance is getting the right type and amount of energy. Before we went on our biking session Andreas feed us with products from Umara sports. First a caffein drink that didn't taste That good (according to the queen, kind a like p...) but was effective. How ever, he had the best sport drink ever. We had a lecture about the importance of giving your body different type of carbohydrates, and Umara sports had that in their blend, and best of all, you could taste the salt. It wasn't as slimmy sweet as other sports drinks. Worked really well for me.

Every group has its clown, and this time it isn't me, its Jimmy

The peepee shot and beet shots, they really got this engine goinging

On the first day of biking we climbed the peak of Formentor. It was tough and my pulse was like way over max pulse, but I kept the flow going, and for the first time I really kept a good pace. It was fun and I felt strong and confident. (Oppps, little lie, I could hardly breath and had a near death experience... But yes I kept a good pace) After 40K of biking we ended our session with a 3K run. 

bikes bikes bikes

Mia, a new friend and inspirer, she has completed 4 full Ironmans and she has the coolest IM logo clothes. She might be missing some things after I have left.... :-D

I had promised a couple of friends (Christina and Teresa) that I would get in the freezing cold ocean, which I did, and It was kind of nice..... Happy was taking pictures so she made me stay in for a while.... I bet she was messing with me... :-D Picture turned out great.

I really need a pedicure, but its a bit over the top to keep this cocktail look going.. (Can't afford it)

Jeff our amazing Swim instructor, he is too funny and he talks and talks and talks and talks... just like me...

We ended the day with a swimming session. The plan was to take our bikes to the pool, I got the feeling that it was close. But It wasn't and the bike ride wasn't slow. So it when we finally arrived I was happy that I hadn't broken out in a awful sweat. Coach Jeff gave us some great swimming exercises and tips in how to become better swimmers, and he was GOOOD. The quality of our instructors are indescribable, totally awesome.

I just love this girl, she is spending her easter holiday with training freaks, and not one single complaint. Happy and Ida has found a mutual interest, dancing

So after 3 hours and 30 minutes of training, I was hungry. Damn... I ate like, and as much as a city pig. Its like Andreas asked if anyone had trouble eating carbohydrates? Yeah, like this chubby women has problems with that... ehhhhh... NO... I have trouble avoiding them. This just might be the best motivator of becoming a Triathlete.... :-D

A picture a borrowed from Ida and MTC, Jeff clocking our 1,4K intervalls

Friday

The diary ended after Monday, I have been too exausted to write every evening, its little of the same every day so you have an idea what our days look like. I feel kinda sad that its over soon because it has been so much fun.  Yesterday was amazing, we did a 110k biking tour, that was absolutely fantastic. Our group did one 7,5K climb, other then that it was more like a hilly journey. The surroundings were beautiful. My mom asked me if I have time to enjoy the view? Answer is yes, the scenery keeps my motivation high! I am always wondering whats behind the next curve. This trip has given me loads of confidence and I have a ways to go especially with my swimming, but with the right training and staying healthy, Ironman shouldn't be impossible.

I just luv selfies

Beautiful Island

Once a cocktail triathlete always cocktail, no matter what.

It feels like this is going to be a fab week

Mallorca Mallorca Mallorca

I came here for the first time 3 years ago. I fell in love with this island immediately. It is an amazing island during spring. Flowers, oranges, lemons. mountains, blue ocean waters, and so on. And not only that, Mallorca is paradise for cyclists, April - June. The whole city of Alcudia is full of cyclists. (My cuz Audrey would love this place. After June however, it gets to hot.

I am here at Mallorca Training Camp arranged by my fantastic coach Andreas and his girlfriend Ida, together with Björn, Madde, Johanna, Happy and other new friends that are triathletes, cyclists, runners, both very experience and some like me, more amateur. That is one of the best parts about being a triathlete, its like this big family, and how ever experienced or not you are, you always feel welcome and everyone helps you. Several of them have done multiple Ironmans and listening to their tips, trixs and stories are invaluable

Our day started out, by getting up at 3:30 in the morning. Our flight was scheduled to depart at 5:50. Slots and air traffic control, delayed the flight until 7:15. My friend Johanna is a air traffic controller by profession and it was fun listening to all of her theories about why we were delayed. Once on board I had the pleasure to fly with Cabin chef, Lollo Modig, one of my all time favorite colleagues, when I used to work at SAS. The welcome was amazing. Her smile can light up the world. And it was nice to get a personal update.

So here we are... :-D We started out easy today by waking up our sleeping bodies. A short biking tour, testing that our rented bikes fitted us, and then a short jog, checking out the surroundings. A total of 1 hour of training. Tomorrow is the first day of boot camp. And the schedule is pretty tough. My next blog I will give you all the juicy details if I survive this week. ... :-D. Give me a thought when I am climbing these fab mountains. My mind is set to make it, and make it good. My personal goal is to do a better job than last year. I don't want to barely make it, I want to shine. Just like Spain's amazing sun.

See yaw all.

Fantastic lemons right outside of our apartment

The tri-gang, a really great combination of new friends

One of our rooms, a "garage" for our bikes

Even though its to cold to swim in the water without a wetsuit, the water is so blue its like... jump in, jump in, and I would if I knew it wouldn't give me a heart attack 

Happy looking cool in her sunglasses

Madde and Johanna are kinda like sisters, and great fun to be around! Luv these girls.

Best coffee, and my loved one looking all serious,  guess he is thinking about the week to come.

Bikes and stuff

Biking season at last, even if a bit cold

Today, we had a 3 hour biking session on our schedule. Björn and I agreed on setting our alarm at 7 am. If we don't bike early, Its hard to get the most out of the weekend. 3 hours is 3 hours. My alarm went off at 7 am, but I was tired. It took like 50 minutes to get out of bed. Björn is never any help at this stage... If I go to bed, he goes to bed, if I get up, he gets up. In all of our 17 years together I can count on one hand the times he has gotten up earlier then me on our days off.  I started with opening one eye, then the other eye and eventually I threw off my blanket. That part worked fast cause when I start to freeze, I am up. (Get some warm clothes on)

Today was a beautiful day! Not a cloud in the sky. But cold and windy. (3-4° Celsius, about 37-40° Fahrenheit). I had 2 layers of bottoms, 4 layers of tops, 2 pair of socks, shoe warmers, winter gloves and my favorite winter Scarf. I know, Its not biky to wear a scarf, but I HATE to freeze. There are certain things that a triathlete should never ever wear. Lucky me that a scarf isn't one of them... :-D See newbee NO NO list below:

Wearing any of the things on this list is a no no: Underwear under cycling shorts, a visor on your helmet, knee-high compression during a casual group ride, shorts with a worn-out backside, a jersey that exposes your midriff, or sunglasses not intended for athletic use. 

Read more here

Anyway, we got on our bikes and we were off and away. My legs felt good and I had a good cadence. Tried to keep a constant rapid cadence (90RPM) and we had a nice tailwind on the first half of our ride. Everyone knows what happens when its time to turn around and go back. That lovely tailwind turned into a a wall. I really didn't mind, except that I started to get cold. I had strong legs today and even if I had a great deal of lactic acid in my muscles going uphill, I recovered quickly.

Björn said that today was the best he has ever biked with me. A part of the distance he did in his own pace, and I didn't get as far behind as I usually do. (I am always last in my group of friends, I am David my friends are Goliat) So with that in mind, this has been a great day. Even though I had to stay in the shower for more than 30 minutes to thaw..... I was like a chocolate popsicle when I got back. Cold to the BONE.

Tomorrow I have the ambition to run a half marathon. Well, Its on my schedule, so we will have to see how that goes. But I am going to take it very easy tomorrow.

Have the best day!

My coach Andreas would not agree on this look, I am most certain of that, but damn It felt good. (Luv my Scarf)

Björn looks more professional then I do, and he complained that he froze more too. Its costs to look goooood.

I was supposed to bike for 3 hours but I was to cold. 

Happy and warm after a fantastic tour.

Nervs of steel... Or not really

OMG... I am starting to realize what I have gotten myself into. How was I thinking? I have the toughest competitions ahead of me, starting out with the easiest one, Lübbenau half marathon. April 26th. It sounds weird calling a half marathon easy, because its not, but if I compare it with the challenges I have ahead of me it is.... Shit..... Just got a reality attack... Dear God, if I survive this year I promise not to get so bigheaded in the future. Well lets just hope all these early mornings have paid off.

Went to see my physical therapist yesterday, Martin, the best therapist ever. I go once a month just to assure that my body is doing okey. He is funny, he always says the strangest things and he doesn't even realize it. Once he said I was stiff as a corpse (I think I have mentioned it before) and yesterday he told me that a women's butt starts to hang as we grow older, but that I have good muscle tone on my upper butt under my fat. So my butt doesn't hang as much as it should considering my age. And gave me thumbs up. Like this was going to make me Happy. :-D. Who can see muscle tone under a load of fat? All I see is cellulite... 

His office is in the best crossfit box in the world, Crossfit Solid. I saw Kalle as well, one of the owners, and  he said Desiree, I try to support you on your journey! (Likes and pepp on FB) My answer: Kalle I feel it, see it and I thank you. ( All of you that support me are very important to me, without you guys, how fun would it be?) And to have Kalles support, one of Sweden's finest Athletic personalities is huge. Warms this women's heart. All of you warm my heart. I need yaw and and thank yaw for doing this with me. If I make this happen, you will be medalists too.

I had my first biking session outdoors last Saturday and it was fab! Boy, It felt so nice to be outside, to feel the power of my bike, the air and the speed. WOW! I LUV my bike. We did a 42K in circles, I didn't mind, I was just happy to get out. I felt like a dairy cow, being let out for spring, leaping with joy...:-D

So for many reasons, this going to be a very interesting year if I stay healthy.  50, Ironman, more grand children, Mallorca, Berlin, Nice, London, Paris, Audrey Allen, Party, work, "maybe instructor course" and the list goes on. At this moment I really feel fortunate, I have decided to embrace every single day! 

Luv on you

One of the fun parts about triathlon is all the cool gear you can buy! I admit that I am a gear junkie

I honestly luv my bike! We are soul mates

Once a cocktail triathlete, always a......

Athletes need a lot of sleep, especially on weekends, and there is always a little monster awake (Happy) taking pictures

Even if Crossfit isn't my thing for now, I miss the worlds best box and the fantastic feeling of being a part of the family