Alpe d´Huez Triathlon, and vacation in France

Last lap on the way to the finish

One month after Swissman, it was time for my second adventure-triathlon-competition for the year, Alp d´Huez Long Distance Triathlon. Not completely, but still somehow recovered after Swissman.... And at least, very motivated, and really looking forward to the triathlon. The weather was super nice, and the area around Alp d´Huez too! :-)

The day started with, somehow unusual, 22 km cycling to the start area, by Lac de Verney, a 14 degree cold "power station lake"at about 600 metres altitude. Not my favorite temperature by swimming (Yes, by bathing/cooling down it is nice, but for 2.3 km swimming it is too cold...) My swim wasn´t very good, but at least there were still plenty of bikes in the transition zone when I arrived, although plenty were already on the way cycling too.

On the bike, happy :-)

The bike part started with a long, slightly downhill, before the first mountain pass of 1000 metre ascent came. The whole bike leg was nice, sunny and warm. We went over two mountain passes before the Alp d´Huez climb started, and my legs were feeling really OK. Alp d´Huez is some of a mountain pass! 14 km, 1150 metres ascent and 21 serpentines..... And not really moving "forward" as by other passes, only upwards, you can almost see the top of the pass from the bottom.... Still, it is quite nice and motivating to cycle. Pretty steady steep, and all the curves are marked with a number, starting with number 21, and then counting down, so the time actually went pretty fast. After 115 km on the bike I arrived the town of Alp d´Huez at 1850 metres altitude, and with the 4th best bike time (in my age group), very satisfied. And still sick of gels and bars, I got energy from biberlis and dried apricots instead - mmmm, really enjoying that meal:-)

Still going strong... :-)

Then it was time for the half marathon, consisting of three laps, a mixture of asphalted roads and mountain paths, and with a beatiful view of the mountains!! It went up and down all the time, but not long hills and not steep. I ran a bit faster than expected, the course was also a bit easier than expected, not pushing too hard, and really enjoying the nice surroundings. With the 3rd best run time I finished as number 4, at a time of 7 hours, 53 minutes, finishing healthy and happy! :-)

Just finished

Alp d´Huez was a great competition, nice course, and good organised, to be recommended!

Nice after-race offers

Still, I didn´t went only for the triathlon, but I actually had a whole week of vacation in France, with a lot of great experiences, nice mountains and lakes, bathing, swimming, super weather,
good food and drinks and good friends!

Celebrating :-)

Before Alp d´Huez we were spectators at one Tour de France stage. That was fun seeing all the people, the atmosphere and so forth, and the cyclists too, although we didn´t see much of them...:-)

On the way to Tour de France

Knitting and waiting..:-)

Annecy - a nice little city

Afterwards I was visiting a good friend of mine and her family having a house by the lake of Annecy, very nice there too, and very nice meeting her and her family.

Breakfast on the terrace in
Alp d´Huez

Then we (Lars was joining me) went too Alp d´Huez, also a nice city, with great surroundings. And a very special city, an enormous amount of hotels and restaurants, but still nice:-) We stayed here for 3 nights, having a nice hike the day after the competition, and of course including a bath, in the cold Lac de Blanc....

Bathing in some degrees warm Lac de Blanc

After Alp d´Huez we went to Chamonix, hiking and running, and enjoying the view if Mont Blanc. And I even saw steinbock!! :-) Both male and female - really cool! :-) On the way back to Switzerland we stopped for a hike by the Trient glacier, and I ended my vacation with a bath in Lac Leman, ice cream (as each day on the vacation...) at Lars´ terrace, before I set of back to Zürich after a great week in France!!!

Hiking and recovering in Alp d´Huez

Hiking and running with the view of
Mon Blanc :-)

Mont Blanc area

Swimming in Lac Leman

On the way to Chamonix

Lunch :-)

  

Steinbock

Trient glacier

  

Restitusjon og trening igjen

Dovrefjell, med moskus
i bakgrunn :-)

Etter Swissman var planen feiring med familie og venner og et par korte fine fjellturer. Slik gikk det ikke akkurat. Det ble heller et par slappe, kraftløse dager, men formen var i det minste fort stigende. Mandag klarte jeg å spise igjen, og da kommer sakte men sikkert energien og kraften tilbake også. Onsdag, 4 dager etter Swissman dro jeg til Norge, for å treffe venner, noen (siden sist) nyfødte nordmenn, og ikke minst for å feire bryllup. Omtrent samtidig kom matlysten og apetitten tilbake også, og med stigende energi kunne jeg både gå trilleturer med barnevogn, leike med Aasmund, fadderbarnet mitt, og få med meg en gåtur med moskussafari i Dovrefjell. Perfekt restitusjon med rolige dager, bittelitt beveglse, god mat, og ikke minst mange gode venner, og et fantastisk bryllup!

Kongsvold i nydelig sommervær

Brudepar og gjester fredag kveld

Gornergrat

Og i Sveits kom jeg tilbake til en fantastisk sommervarme. Sakte men sikkert, godt ladet opp med solenergi, er jeg blitt klar for litt mer aktive dager igjen. For eksempel en bitteliten svømme-/bade-tur hver dag i utebadet over gata:-) En og annen liten sykkeltur, og to flotte dager i Zermatt med løping og gåing i fjellet der, samtidig med heiing på Lars og andre deltakere i Zermatt Marathon (Ja, det funker fint å være tilskuer også....:-) ). Nå syntes visst akillessenen at det blei litt i meste laget...., men da er det jo bare å nyte finværet til bading, svømming og sykling og soling! :-)

Løpetur ved Zermatt, selvfølgelig med
Matterhorn i bakgrunn, Matterhorn
"er overalt" her... :-)

Løpetur ved Zermatt - flott! :-)

  

Og en velfortjent, tror jeg, is i
Zermatt etterpå!

Kan det bli bedre...? :-)

Og om en drøy uke bærer det avgårde til Frankrike, da for en kombinasjon av heiing, litt trening, bruke litt krefter i en konkurranse igjen, og fjelltur!

Swissman - an extreme triathlon.....

I am a Swissman-finisher, but not quite without suffering..... But lets begin with the start. At 04.30 the boat left Ascona. And some minutes later we arrived the Brissago Island, the start of Swissman. It was still dark, but soon the sun was going to rise.

The swimming is over

At 05.08 the race started with a big cow bell ringing. After some minutes I was swimming quite alone, and so it was the whole swim course, except for a "stand up paddle surfer" following me the last part. I thought this could mean two things; I was far in the back or I was swimming too far left, making a longer way. But it turned out (The GPS data from my Garmin showed afterwards) I had a quite straight line, and my swim time was better than expected; a little bit below 1 hour, 15 minutes. Some minutes before 06.30 I was on my way on the bike course.

Up he cobblestone, on Tremola

After about 30 km two other girls came from behind; Trix and Julia, and we three were close to each other the rest of the bike course. Short after Biasca, the rain started, but there was still warm down here, so the only thing that happened is that I turned wet.... Lars, and my parents supported me well with cheering, giving me clothes and food and sport drink. The old road up Gotthardpass, Tremola, had opened this morning (Or friday evening), and so we could drive the "original" Swissman course.

Dressing on the top of Gotthardpass,
quite wet...

At the  top of Gotthardpass, more friends and family met me:-) Really nice! I got some clothes on before going down to Hospental. It was raining heavily and I got really cold... At the bottom in Hospental, there was a red light, so me and Julia had to wait quite some minutes, having the opportunities to shake the arms and legs, getting some warmth back, having something to eat, and talk a little bit, before we could cycle further towards Furkapass. Until now, everything was very good, although hard, and I was a little bit faster then estimated. The whole course from here friends a and family supported me and cheered at my the whole time; the best fan-club and supporter-club one can have!! :-) Going up Furkapass, by the way much harder then in the training tour last week, it was still raining,but it was getting better. And on the top, it was good weather, with great view towards Grimselpass.

Furka- and Grimselpass

And up the last pass, the weather was so good that my brother could drive the Cabriolet as a cabriolet :-) After Grimselpass, it is almost only down and flat. On the way down, more friends came to cheer at me, great! I arrived Brienz about 40 minutes before the estimated time. 180 k, 3660 meters ascent. Now the run could start.

Ready for the run :-)

Down in Brienz, the weather was nice and warm, and the running course was really nice, going through forests, on bike tracks, through small nice towns, and along the see. The run went very well, and I was running faster and easier than expected. Lars followed me, also running, the whole way.

Still going strong....

After about 2 hours however, I was starting getting a bit sick.... I t didn´t really slow me much down I think, but I couldn´t drink very much or "eating" gels, afraid of throwing up.... If it had only been 1-2 hours left that wouldn´t have been a problem, however, it was more left in Swissman.... And it didn´t get better, so I was drinking and eating less the whole way (And I knew it, and that it wasn´t really very clever, but still I didn´t want to stop, to wait for getting better). The run course from Wilderswil towards Grindelwald was still very very nice, but I couldn´t really enjoy it that much due to this sickness, but still I didn´t feel lack of energy in the body.

Kleine Scheidegg, and the finish...

I arrived Grindelwald acouple of minutes after 18 o´clock. Much earlier as estimated, seeing the third woman in front of me, being almost  sure, I would manage the third place, and finish at 19.30, in a total time less than 14 hours 30 minutes.... My family had taken the last train up to Kleine Scheidegg, waiting for me at the top. However, apparently, now there was not much energy left in the body. The way from Grindelwald to Kleine Scheidegg became hard, I became more sick, and didn´t have much energy, and it didn´t go very fast upwards, the part normally being one of my strength (The last upwards in long triathlons). And it was also more kilometers from Grindelwald and up than what I thought. Some 3 km before the finish line, I could see the hotel at the top, at Kleine Scheidegg, but the last part of the way was soooo long....

My brother following me the last metros

At least I managed a smile,
crossing the line

But finally, short after 15 hours racing, I arrived Kleine Scheidegg (Or maybe collapsed over the finish line is a better description), after some 45 kilometres of running (according to my clock), and more than 2000 metes climbing. Totally exhausted (logically). 5th of the women, about 25th of all men and women.

I´m in there....

The doctor took care of me, giving me intravenous water and sugar, after measuring a blood sugar value of 2.2, normally meaning unconscious.... I decided to stay at Kleine Scheidegg over the night, but I had no energy couldn't eat and couldn´t drink the whole saturday and sunday, and had to visit the hospital in Thun on sunday. Very nice and kind nurses and doctors took care of me there, giving me more water, sugar, salt and paracetomal, and taking hundreds of blood test. (It appeared that I had an infection in the stomach, but it is unknown if I become that before Swissman, being the reason for my sickness at the end, or after the competition, because of my exhaustion and everything...) And, now, a couple of days later, things are starting to getting better, still some lack of energy and appetite, but it will come! :-)

A beautiful sunday morning
on Kleine Scheidegg

And, nevertheless, I finished, it was extreme, but Swissman was a great and very nice race (Although I couldn´t really enjoy the last part of it, unfortunately) Alittle bit annoying though, that it didn´t went exactly as "it should", knowing that I was pretty fit, and that the course and the race suited me very well.... But with such race, you never know, and it´s not only being fit tat counts. Greats respects to all finishers!

And last, but not least; A big thanks to friends and family supporting me!!!
(Photos: My mother, Tone Nørstebø)

Swissman pre-race report

In 16 hours the start signal will go for the first Swissman ever. I am already in Ascona, the place where the Swissman will start, I arrived here thursday afternoon. A nice city, with a great view from our balcony, looking at the island where the start of Swissman is (See picture below). One the way down here from Zürich, I have had a nice "vacation-travel" with my parents through Switzerland, over mountain passes (Where all I wanted to do was taking a loooong run in the mountains, they where so nice, but I had to taper for the race....), through nice small towns etc.

The weather is very nice here, and I hope and think I am ready now, for the competition tomorrow. And I think my support, family/fan club are more or less ready too :-) Hopefully, the weather will be OK, so we all can have a nice trip through Switzerland!

The race can be followed here : http://www.suixtri.com/, and in Facebook;  https://www.facebook.com/suixtri.
And also all the athletes can be followed by a click on the tracker-link that will be published on facebook and suixtri.com saturday morning by 4 am.
(Tracking)

It is very difficult to make a plan or a program for the Swissman race. However, to make it easier for my support and "fan-club"/family, I have made a try. It is probable that the plan is very wrong...., and PS, it is not a goal, but only my best guess, and it looks like this :
05.00 Start from the island Brissago, swimming to Ascona

06.30 Cycling from Ascona towards Bellinzona and Biasca
08.00 Biasca (43km). Now, the climbing starts
09.45 Airolo (79 km), here Gotthardpass begins, the first mountain pass. On cobblestone (if the snow is gone), 12 km, 900 meters ascent.
11.00 Top of Gotthardpass. 2091 metres. (92 km)
11.15 Hospental (101 km), bottom of Gotthardpass, (alsmost) start of Furkapass, 12 km, 900 meters ascent.
12.35 Top of Furkapass. 2436 moh. (119 km)
12.50 Gletsch (129 km), end of Furkapass, start of Grimselpass, 6 km, 400 metres ascent.
13.50 Top of Grimselpass. 2164 moh. (139km)
14.30 Innertkirchen
15.00Brienz (180 km) Transition to running

15.30 Giessbachfall
16.45 Bönigen (ca 16 km)
17.05 Wilderswil (ca 20 km)
17.45 Zweilütschinen (ca 26 km)
18.30 Grindelwald Grund (Ca 35 km) Here the real climbing starts up to Kleine Scheidegg, my support has to run/walk with me up, my family takes the train..:-)
20.00 Finish at Kleine Scheidegg. Tired and happy, ready for talking, eating, drinking and resting....:-)

And here is the short version of the Siwssman course:

And the finish area, where I hope to be at somehow daylight saturday evening:

Kleine Scheidegg, Swissman-Finish-Area

The last preparations in the mountains before Swissman

On the way up Gotthardpass.....

Since I will more or less only do competitions in the mountains this year, what could be more relevant than training in the mountains...? :-) Last weekend was great in that way. On friday, in great weather, I decided to cycle the Gotthardpass, one of the three "mountain-pass" on the bike course in Swissman. Of course, just cycling over the pass and back, was not an alternative, so I had to do a roundtrip... So, since all the other mountain-pass in the region wasclosed due to much snow, it had to be Obralppass-Lukmanierpss-Gotthardpass. 156 km, 3400 meter ascent...:-) What I didn´t think about, was that the bike route over the Gotthardpass goes on the old road, and of course, the fact that the road had opened for the summer only applied to the new road, where the cars are driving.... Well, so the round trip ended with 4 km hiking up in the snow, carrying my bike (It is however not very heavy:-) ), alone, with half a bottle of water and a third of an energy bar, maybe somewhat crazy, but at least the weather was very nice (I had forgot the sunscreen....), and I was really, really happy when I saw the hotel at the top of Gotthardpass.... Everything, went well at the end, and I did really have a great and nice tour:-)

Very happy to have reached top of the Gotthardpass :-)

At Pilatus

Saturday and sunday I ran (jogged) up Pilatus and Grosse Mythen, with Lars, my Swissman-supporter, two nice mountains with very nice view, about 2000 meters high. Two great long-jogs in the mountains!

My always-present-supporter-

in-xtreme-triathlons, 

Lars

On the way up to Grosse Mythen

And finally Furkapass and Grimselpass have opened too, the two other mountain-pass in Swissman. So this sunday, I cycled these two "mountain-pass" with some friends, again in perfect weather :-) And they have a lot of snow!!!

Up Furkapass

At Furkapass

  

Grimselpass, seen from Furkapass

Grimselpass

  

The curves in
Grimselpass

So I guess I´m prepared for Swissman now.... Hopefully not too prepared, I mean hopefully I haven´t been doing too much/long training (in the mountains) the last time. But I feel good, so I guess it should be OK :-) And I guess I´m more or less prepared for Alp d´huez Long Triathlon, Inferno Triathlon and Jungfrau Marathon too... :-) I love the mountains!!

And have apparently a lot of self-confidence for the moment:-) Swissman is on the 22nd of june. 1-2 days before a last update will come, with startnumber, tracking opportunities, time plan etc, but the goal is mainly to have a nice day! :-)

Rapi "post-race"-report....

My strangest Ironman 70.3 ever... The post-race-report will not be exactly as expected.... because the day didn´t go exactly as planned and expected....So here is the race, Ironman 70.3 Rapperswil 2013: 1. decision (3 days ago); swim is cancelled, 2.decision, this morning; running is shortened due to flood, 3. decision, at the start line; start is delayed, due to bad weather on the bike course, 4. decision (my own) decision; coffee break while waiting..., 5. decision; race cancelled! 6. decision (me and 2 friends); run training, another coffee break, cycling back home....(strong rain and wind, landslide, trees lying on the bike course, flashes, I have heard... There was nothing else to do, delaying it until tomorrow however, that would suit me well, not a problem for me:-) )

Somewhat disappointed right now, yes. But anyhow, it was not my main goal for the season, I didn´t have to travel thousands of kilometers, others races will come.... But at least, for the first time, yesterday evening and this morning I really felt motivated again, and for the first time in a pretty long time, mye legs and body felt really fit tomorrow morning at the warm up.... So I was really believing I could do a good race (However, of course, that´s impossible to know). And therefore, somewhat dissappointed. I was ready! But the tapering period was probably good for my legs, so no I am ready for some really good training this week!! :-)