Ironman Sweden aka, Paul's Scandinavian Adventure!
Short Version – I finished in 11:52:30 for my slowest time ever on a course that is supposed to be one of the fastest. It was a windy, windy day and it showed. I died on the run but the fantastic finish line experience completely erased the pain.
Long Version - Last year was the inaugural Ironman Sweden replacing the Kalmar Triathlon that had been in existence for almost two decades. The Ironman brand more than doubled the number of participants and perfect conditions resulted in extremely fast times that I hoped to experience myself in 2013. Plus, I had promised my wife 15 years ago that I would one day take her to Tivoli Gardens, a 170 year old amusement park in Copenhagen that was part of Walt Disney’s inspiration for Disneyland.
My wife, daughter and I flew from Tampa, FL to Copenhagen a week before the race and spent a couple days touring the sites before taking the train (3.5 hours) to Kalmar. This is a relatively small town but the oldest settlement in all of Sweden. There is tremendous history in this venue and the locals are extremely proud of the race. Ironman banners were flying everywhere and at virtually every store.
Kalmar is very similar to other European races, which is to say, a lot different than the way they are run in North America. Here are a few:
- Top rate SWAG. An awesome finisher’s polo shirt, real backpack with race logo, etc.
- Silicon swim cap with race logo instead of latex. I kept this one!
- 16 versus 17 hours time limit. Great fireworks at the finish.
- Full size plastic bike covers supplied to athletes for use on bike in transition over night
- Special needs bags only upon request…a concession to U.S. entries
- Outdoor urinals for men in transition…I saw these in Holland in 2008. Unique!
- No wetsuit strippers. You have to do it on your own…it’s an individual race right?
- Zero body marking. You had to ace your race and not worry about who is in your age group.
Swim – after setting up my bike, we walked about 1/3 mile to the swim start area. We knew we were in Europe because at 6am sharp the horrendous techno music started. Yeah, by the time the race started you were practically begging for relief from this noise. This was an in water start in the Baltic Sea and the official race temperature was 18.2C = 64.7F, perfect for anyone from Florida…NOT! However, I was glad it was cold because a week before the race started; they posted an article about the testicle munching Pacu fish in the Baltic…a cousin of the Piranha. Yes, you got that right. These fish are known as “ball cutters” or “nutcrackers” and men were expressly warned not to be skinny dipping in the Baltic Sea.
Before the race in my Xterra protective armor!!
Turns out that was the least of my worries because we had been warned that it was going to be a windy day. There was already a chop when the cannon went off at 7am for the in-water start on a 2 loop + course that was extremely spectator friendly but not so hot for the swimmers. We didn’t have to go very far before we hit back to back turn buoys back and it was a melee for over a half mile. Then to give the folks on the dock a real show, the course loops back behind the jetty we started from into a very narrow channel where the real beat down began. It was utter chaos for over 200 yards before you headed out for a 2nd loop. By this time, the open sea chop also included some serious swells, but I was just happy to finally get a little open room…then we hit that channel cage match again…pow, wham, bam. …goggles knocked off, kicked by breaststrokers, etc. And some guy starts treading water in front of me yelling up to his family while the rest of us are dog paddling for lack of room and crawling up each other’s back. After this pass, we turned into an inlet to swim about ½ mile around the back side of the town, and under a narrow bridge where more beatings were to be had, then finally out right behind transition. I’ve done six different IM mass starts to date and this one easily had the most physical contact despite a small starting field of just under 2000. My goal had been 1:15 and I finished this swim in 1:18 thinking that I had done pretty well considering.
The bike course is relatively flat with only a few significant hills, but the wind was going to be the challenge. At the race briefing, they told us they were still going to allow disc wheels, but they encouraged folks to reconsider using them and to drop back to a lower profile front wheel. My front wheel is only 45 mm deep so I wasn’t worried about the tug and I left on my disc covers. Race day, we had a constant, life sapping, vicious wind on a course that provided very little protection. About 70 miles of the course was on the long, high bridge and the island of Oland which means isle of sun and wind. Well, I didn’t see a whole lot of sun, but yeah, the wind moniker is well deserved. I had read rumors of mega drafting in year one as one of the reasons for the fast times, and right off the bat, I saw large packs forming and blowing by me. Amazingly, Kalmar had more refs than I had ever seen at any race of any distance, so I was hopeful they were going to put a stop to this. No such luck. Time and again, packs were going by me and I would see a ref come up on them, then some hand waving, but never a card. I even watched a ref catch a guy passing over the center line … no card though… it looked like the ref just wanted to tell him it was illegal. I thought maybe they were just calling verbal warnings until the field had time to spread out, but the three penalty tents I passed had no customers. So I just rode my own race and hung on for the segments where the wind was in the face or at your side. Going across Oland was like one of those scenes from Kona where the bikes are all leaning at about 60 degrees. A number of people were blown off the course or lost control during these segments. Coming back over the bridge was very scary, but it was a relief to be on the mainland and riding through little towns with lots of crowd support. By about 90 miles I was just getting tired of fighting the wind even though I was riding my watts and ended up with an IFF of .725. That netted me a 5:45 split which was 20 mins slower than I had hoped for. And by now, the weather had warmed up to the low 70’s which was the warmest we had seen all week.
After an average T2 (3:39), I headed out on the run and was pleased that for the first time ever, I did not have a single leg cramp. I think it was due to the fact that it was not exceptionally hot and I have improved my nutrition and sodium uptake over the years. So I started out trying to go “stupid slow” since the course markers (every 2km) did not mean anything to me. We had 3 laps to do, each lap going up and down the cobblestone streets of Kalmar in a short version of the Augusta 70.3 run course. I’m told that Kalmar has a slight inferiority complex compared to the major cities of Stockholm to the north and Malmo to the south, so the town is very proud of Ironman and they were out in force. All day long, I heard Heja, Heja, Heja, Paul (go-go-go) and less frequently Jobba, Jobba, Jobba (work it?) or Stampa, Stampa, Stampa (stamp the feet??). Despite all the encouragement, my mojo up and died on the 2nd loop of the run course. I was walking and jogging; feeling very old; and probably gave up Ironman several dozen times on this lap. And to rub it in, each lap runs right by the finish line…right in between the grandstands, right next to somebody one lane over actually finishing. Total mental torture!
Below - the Kalmar Cathedral next to the finish line 2 days before the race.
But after the 2nd lap, I realized that if I picked up just a little, I could at least crack 12 hours, and I actually felt better on the final lap than I did in the middle 8 miles. Coming in the last half mile, across the original moat through the city gate and down the cobble stone road into the town square next to the Kalmar Cathedral with screaming crowds all the way down was unparalleled by any other race I have done. Although I managed to jog only a 4:40:45 for the marathon, the pain of the effort was instantly erased as I crossed the finish line and proved for the 6th time, that I am an ironman!
It is expensive to race in Europe, and the logistics of getting to a destination race are complicated. But it was definitely worth it. The different history, culture, language and architecture all combine to provide an experience you will remember the rest of your life. If I had to rate the 6 IMs I have done to date for finish line excitement and overall race experience it would be:
Finish line: 1) Kalmar, 2) Regensburg, 3) Coeur D’Alene, 4) Cozumel, 5) Florida, 6) Arizona
Overall: 1) Kalmar, 2) Regensburg, 3) Cozumel, 4) Coeur D’Alene, 5) Arizona, 6) Florida
There’s no surprise in my mind that the 3 races I’ve done out of the country have all topped the cookie cutter plain vanilla races in the United States. Below - Kalmar is not your garden variety venue!
Comments
Sounds like another awesome Hough adventure across the seas. I'm wondering about your race, though. We know you can run a LOT better than that, so have you given any analytic thought to what happened? Do you have bike power files?
A couple of initial thoughts:
I'm wondering if you worked a bit too hard on the bike somewhere in the middle of the course, and especially in the windiest spots?
The cool part is, your enjoyment over the venue and trip overshadowed the beat down in the swim, the incessant wind on the bike, and the slower run than you'd have liked. You still reached back and brought it in under twelve hours, as well.
As for your race, as I read the report I was thinking along the same lines as Al with respect to ovecoooking the bike. The IF seems pretty high relative to the TSS tables, even if your running history is extensive as we all know. Also your bike split seems pretty fast relative to your expectations given very adverse conditions.
In any case congrats on continuing your endurance race tour of the world!!!!
Al, Matt - I appreciate the insight. To show my ignorance, I had no idea that there was some IFF/TSS table in the wiki, nor would I know how to use it. I rode higher IFF in my 2 race rehearsals so I thought I would be OK. I will have to download the power file when I finish unpacking but I suspect variablity of power may have been an issue...the wind did not make for a steady ride, and I often found myself riding awhile before I would look to see if I was within my watts target.
I also wonder if over the past year that I've just slipped more rapidly than others due to age. Regardless, I intend to rely on the base I built for Sweden and train with less volume but more intensity for Cozumel in a few months. Then I am thinking of stepping away from Ironman in 2014 and focus on short course to help regain some speed.
Hi Paul,
I remembered that you did Sweden and I went back and read your race report. Awesome race report!
I am thinking about trying to get into Sweden or Copenhagen.
I was wondering if you could recommend a place to stay in Sweden? Also, when you flew into Copenhagen and took the train, did you have your bike with you? Was there any special considerations to get you bike on the train such as additional fees or did it travel separately from you? Could you have your bike in your hotel room?
Any travel lessons learned that you took away from the race would be appreciated!
cheers and thanks!
Jim Cornell