Felt a bit better today than yesterday, but the poor legs were still too sore & tired from the two major climbs and runs Sunday, so no Cols (BIG mountains) today.

Did a ride out east towards St Girons mostly on small rolling country roads. Ok, there were a few fairly long climbs, but no mountains thank god! All in all a 4 hr 35 min ride covering about 77 miles and avg ca 16.5 mph. Lovely to ride small roads and only seeing 3 - 4 cars an HOUR.... There are lots of roads like this here and it is just awesome!!!

In the evening I went for a 45 min run, covering almost a full 10k. Incredibly stiff & sore first 10 min, especially going downhill, Aaaahhhhh..... Despite that I was able to crank up the pace to ~ 36 min 10 K pace when I tried for a few minutes!

the day after the big race or "my legs, my legs......", boy was I sore & tired.....

As this was also Dragana's last day here we forced ourselves out of bed early, 7:00 the day after a race!!! After a steady breakfast we rolled out towards Barbazan and east for som gentler roads than yesterday's race. All in all we rode 1 hr 25 minutes at a pleasant pace of ~ 24 km/h // ~ 15 mph.

I was in pain the whole time and kept on whining. Dragana on the other hand showed no ill effects from her 7 hr 52 min effort and felt fine. Unbelievable....

After the ride I drove Dragana to the airport in Pau ~ 55 min to the west. Had thoughts of a second ride for the day or maybe a very very short & easy run but the legs said NFD dude, so off to bed I went at 9 pm...

Sorry for being a bit tardy with the updates, but will try to spit o
out a few entries tonight...

This past Sunday Dragana and I did the "Duathlon Fos Val d'Aran" (http://www.duathlonvaldaran.com) which also happened to be the French National Long Course Championships this year. Ie. LOTS of VERY good athletes to compete with.

12.5 km run, 82.5 km bike & 10 km run. The distances themselves don't sound too hard when you look at only that parameter. BUT, if you factor in that the first run included ~ 400 meters (~ 1400 feet) of elevation gain, most in the first 5 k which was all uphill, then throw in 2185 meters (~ 7300 feet) elevation gain on the bike, climbing the Col de Mente TWICE, and to finish it all off you get just 220 meters ( ~ 735 feet) of climbing on the last 10 k run...

As the title of this post suggests, I was convinced that the Race Director is evil as this is no doubt the hardest course I have ever raced on!

All in all the race was good for both of us. Dragana hadn't really prepared for this type of race and hence just 'cruised' around the course in 7 hours 52 min. She still managed a killer sprint finish and a big smile when crossing the line (photos coming). That said she did admit she had thoughts of killing me when she was climbing the Mente the second tim. Thankfully the second run cooled the emotions a bit :-)

My race started out pretty OK. As planned I just 'cruised' the first 12.5 k run in ~ 54 min, out onto the bike i picked it up a bit and started passing people left and right. Felt great! Passed ~ 15 people befor the start of the first climb up the Mente and then another 7 or 8 going up. The first descent of the Mente almost killed me.... I overshot my breaking points for the two first switchback turns and almost went over the edge and into a big 'void........' Some how I managed to slow down and not run out of road but there was not more than an inch or two left, and into the first one I was sure I would crash as my bike was sideways under heavy breaking! It ain't no fun to lose control while going 80 km/h // 50 mph...

Anyways I made it to the bottom where I got a flat tire...... 5 min to change that & back in the saddle after seeing ~ 30 people going by :-( Up to the turning point I was starting to pass people again whn I had anothe flat, ARGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!! By now I was fuming...

Thankfully that was it as far as flats went. Losing ~ 10 min with the two flats I ended up losing 1 position on the bike, not something I am used to.... Without the 2 flats I would have gained ~ 45 spots instead.

Onto the second run I still felt pretty OK and went out as hard as I could. Even though the course is pretty tough I managed to dust of the last 10 K run in 39 min 55 seconds. Not bad for an old man huh?!?.... ;-)

In the end I got 3rd in my age group and 25th overall out of ~ 200 finishers (more than 150 dropped out incl. the reigning Long Course World Champ Joorie van Steelant of Belgium...) in 5 hrs 12 minutes which I am very happy with! Just too bad with the two flats as I just finished ~ 2 min down on the second place guy in my group, 1st was > 35 min ahead and 5th overall. No chance vs that dude ;-). Looking at the results I would have got 18th overall without the mishaps.... But, coulda woulda shoulda blah blah blah... I'll be back next year and then I will kick butt!!!!

Monday, July 7: 1 hr 25 min easy Brick. 50 min bike on trainer & 35 min easy run, Sickla runday. Still feeling TIRED & sluggish...

Tuesday, July 8: 1 hr 40 min moderate ride. Felt better than yesterday, but opted for a ride rather than the usual Tuesday night interval run. Started out relatively easy for the first 25 min until a dude in CK Valhall team gear blew by and thought he'd left me in the dust. Game on Moth******er... I quickly caught the dude and for the next 25 minutes I was following his every move albeit about 10 meters back so he couldn't claim I was drafting him. Just wouldn't be prudent to draft someone... Apparently he didn't like it either way as he was upping the pace by the minute and hitting the first hill he stood up and hit it hard. Only to find me closer than before & sitting down when we reached the top ;-) A little bit of fun that prompted me to ride a bit more briskly on my own once we parted ways!

Wednesday, July 9:  1 hr 5 min run;  5 min warmup then 40 minutes hard run on semi hilly trails @ about 6:20 min / mile pace. Cool down after that.  Felt much better than past few days.

Thursday, July 10:  2hr 15 min moderate ride @ ~ 18 mph out to Saltsjobaden,  Gustafsberg & Na lagno.

Friday, July 11:  2hr 5min moderate ride @ 17.5 mph out to Gustafsberg & Na lagno.

Saturday, July 12: 1 hr moderate run.  ~  7:20 min/mile pace.

Sunday, July 13,  2 hr ride around Tidaholm. Avg.  ~ 17.5 mph.  First time in 20 something years that I have ridden around the town where I grew up.  Nice and quiet roads with almost no traffic, light rolling hills.  Not much has changed.... 

Total for the week:  11 hrs 30 min

Monday, July 14:  no training. drove from Sweden to France...

Tuesday, July 15:  38 min run around Luscan France.  Easy warmup then ~ 3 miles @ 6:45 pace before cool down.

Wednesday, July 16:  2hr 55 min ride at medium to hard effort for 44.6 miles avg 15 mph.  Rode 'Col de Mente' loop around Luscan.  in Total 5000 feet of climbing and hairy descents with carbon race wheels and a 11 - 21 cassette...  wrong gearing....

Thursday, July 17:  2 hr 45 min same loop with Clive Cooper + 15 min run.

Friday, July 18:  2 hr 30 min flat, easy ride for 40 miles with Dragana to Luchon.  Drank Cafe Blasco, which alost sounds like 'Kaffe Blask..." ie. bad coffee in Swedish ;-)

Monday, July 7: 1 hr 25 min easy Brick. 50 min bike on trainer & 35 min easy run, Sickla runday. Still feeling TIRED & sluggish...

Tuesday, July 8: 1 hr 40 min moderate ride. Felt better than yesterday, but opted for a ride rather than the usual Tuesday night interval run. Started out relatively easy for the first 25 min until a dude in CK Valhall team gear blew by and thought he'd left me in the dust. Game on Moth******er... I quickly caught the dude and for the next 25 minutes I was following his every move albeit about 10 meters back so he couldn't claim I was drafting him. Just wouldn't be prudent to draft someone... Apparently he didn't like it either way as he was upping the pace by the minute and hitting the first hill he stood up and hit it hard. Only to find me closer than before & sitting down when we reached the top ;-) A little bit of fun that prompted me to ride a bit more briskly on my own once we parted ways!

Wednesday, July 9:  1 hr 5 min run;  5 min warmup then 40 minutes hard run on semi hilly trails @ about 6:20 min / mile pace. Cool down after that.  Felt much better than past few days.

Thursday, July 10:  2hr 15 min moderate ride @ ~ 18 mph out to Saltsjobaden,  Gustafsberg & Na lagno.

Friday, July 11:  2hr 5min moderate ride @ 17.5 mph out to Gustafsberg & Na lagno.

Saturday, July 12: 1 hr moderate run.  ~  7:20 min/mile pace.

Sunday, July 13,  2 hr ride around Tidaholm. Avg.  ~ 17.5 mph.  First time in 20 something years that I have ridden around the town where I grew up.  Nice and quiet roads with almost no traffic, light rolling hills.  Not much has changed.... 

Total for the week:  11 hrs 30 min

Monday, July 14:  no training. drove from Sweden to France...

Tuesday, July 15:  38 min run around Luscan France.  Easy warmup then ~ 3 miles @ 6:45 pace before cool down.

Wednesday, July 16:  2hr 55 min ride at medium to hard effort for 44.6 miles avg 15 mph.  Rode 'Col de Mente' loop around Luscan.  in Total 5000 feet of climbing and hairy descents with carbon race wheels and a 11 - 21 cassette...  wrong gearing....

Thursday, July 17:  2 hr 45 min same loop with Clive Cooper + 15 min run.

Friday, July 18:  2 hr 30 min flat, easy ride for 40 miles with Dragana to Luchon.  Drank Cafe Blasco, which alost sounds like 'Kaffe Blask..." ie. bad coffee in Swedish ;-)

We're now down in Luscan in the heart of the Haute Pyrenees since three days after a day and half in the car.

Wednesday, the Tour de France came through the neighboring village of Barbazan.  Went out for a ride in the morning and did about 10 miles of the Stage 11 course and already 5  hours before the race was due to pass through people were out in force.  Only time I have ever had people applauding when I go out for a recreational ride :-)

We had positioned ourselves midway up a hill going through the village and just as the peleton came by, a French rider went for a break and the crowd went nuts!!!   See pictures above!

Aaarrrrgggghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!   ...........

Sometimes seemingly easy things can be soooo difficult & so frustrating....

While I was running some errands at lunch today I thought I'd pop in to the SE Bank  office in our local shopping center and get some Euros for our upcoming trip to France.

Withdrawing Euro from their ATM is NOT a problem, just as easy as local currency!

I then stepped into the bank to exchange some USD to Euro.  Should be simple enough right?  Wrong!!!!

I courteously greeted the teller and dropped my $130 on the counter.  I was not greeted by a welcome or a hello or anything.  Rather a very BITCHY "are you a customer here"???

I am not, and hence I was told that the "it is IMPOSSIBLE to exchange your money...."   

 I asked why not?  All I got in return was an angry glare and a repeat of "it is IMPOSSIBLE.... "

Thank you very much BIT*H!!!   You really made me want to consider becoming a customer of your bank...  NOT...

Unbelievable to get not just such poor service and on top of that a  really bitc*y attitude from the teller.  Who do you think you are ???

There is a reason why I have retained the same bank account which I have had my entire  life in a bank in the small town where I grew up where this would not have happened....

OK, that's anough venting for now!

Be positive, the summer vacation starts in 90 minutes!  On to France on Monday!  Will try to make it down to the Pyrenees by late Tuesday to see Stage 11 of the Tour de France on Wednesday.  Can't wait! 

Last week's training....:

Monday, June 30: 2 hrs 3 min moderate ride down to Gustafsberg then to the Norra Lagno ferry stop (very pretty place, just gotta bring the camera so i can show y'all...). Broke down and bought a big bag of candy after the ride which I promptly finished while watching Wimbledon with Dragana. Weak character.....

Tuesday, July 1: 47 min run / ~ 10 Km. 10 min warmup then 12 x 400 meter intervals on treadmill, 1 min jog in between. Started out at ~ 80 sec pace for the first two, then down to 76 sec's for intervals 3 - 7, then 75 for int's 8-10 and finally cranked the treadmill up top max, and ~ 72 sec pace for the last 2. 7 min cool down. Felt very strong and could easily have done another 5 reps but as this was a lunch work out I had to cut it short...

Wednesday, July 2: 2 hr 20 min moderate ride, Saltsjobaden, Na Lagno & Gustafsberg. Very pretty early evening ride but a bit chilly... Felt OK. Avoided the lure of candy after the ride today ;-)

Thursday, July 3: 1 hr 5 min Brick workout at the Gym. 10 min bike & 10 min run repeated 3 times plus 5 min jog cool down. Bike efforts were at medium pace focusing on good cadence, run efforts were at good fast pace below lactic threshold, 3:45 min/km / 3:40 min/km & 3:35 min km (6 min/mile down to 5:40 min/mile) respectively.

Felt OK but no more. Very tired before the workout, better after....

Friday, July 4: Bruce @ Ullevi Gothenborg. No time to train.

Saturday, July 5: VERY Tired & Bruce again...

Sunday, July 6: Travelled home from Gothenburg. No time. Crap wetaher w rain & temps in the 50's.....

Total for the week: 6 hrs 15 min

Monday, July 7: 1 hr 25 min easy Brick. 50 min bike on trainer & 35 min easy run, Sickla runday. Still feeling TIRED & sluggish...

Tuesday, July 8: 1 hr 40 min moderate ride. Felt better than yesterday, but opted for a ride rather than the usual Tuesday night interval run. Started out relatively easy for the first 25 min until a dude in CK Valhall team gear blew by and thought he'd left me in the dust. Game on Moth******er... I quickly caught the dude and for the next 25 minutes I was following his every move albeit about 10 meters back so he couldn't claim I was drafting him. Just wouldn't be prudent to draft someone... Apparently he didn't like it either way as he was upping the pace by the minute and hitting the first hill he stood up and hit it hard. Only to find me closer than before & sitting down when we reached the top ;-) A little bit of fun that prompted me to ride a bit more briskly on my own once we parted ways!

Adding a few pics from the route I ride during the weekdays

out to Norra Lagno.