Tjolöholm Swimrun 2017 Race Report (by Hanna)

Just a little over a week until the big one! About a month ago I finally started seeing form on par with last year so as long as I avoid any illnesses for another week my body will be up for the 75 km challenge on Sept 4th. When the form is good, it is fun to race so since we DNS’d at Ten Island Swimrun last week in favor of a romantic weekend the Norwegian mountains, we were both keen on fitting in a last practice race.

Galdhoppigen, Norway (2469 m) Scandinavia’s highers point

Besseggen Ridge Norway

There were three swimrun races within a one hour drive from our house this weekend, but we chose Tjolöholm Swimrun because it has a great reputation, was a good length (11 km), and proper terrain to prepare for ÖtillÖ. Johan wanted to do a race with his good friend Christian who introduced him to swimrun back in 2012 so I scrambled for a last minute partner and ended up finding the strong Peter Oom. We are both in simcoachen’s Fastlane group, but had never exchanged more than hello before meeting 45 minutes prior to race start.

Peter and I before start

We both knew he was a much stronger runner than I, but we were unsure of who would be the faster swimmer. We determined that we both swim approximately 1:30/100 m in OW so it would be the day’s form that would determine who was faster, but though that it was best that we start out with Peter pulling the swim so that I could be rested for the run. On the first 540 m swim drag lines were not allowed so we decided to just go out each on our own and meet up out of the water. Peter took off with quite the speed in the mass beach start and my first thought was that he was going to have to wait minutes for me on the other end of the swim. I fought the best I could through a chaotic swim with lots of sea weed and testosterone even losing my paddle and having to dive down to get it. To my surprise I caught sight of Peter next to me with a couple hundred meters of swimming left and felt a huge sigh of relief. We got out of the water at the same time, hooked our line up and off we went into the forest!

Peter flying during the start of the race!

Peter is a monster in the terrain, especially on the downhill. I had warned him ahead of time that I am timid on technical sections, but that he should just keep going unless I say otherwise. After the first run we just had Eva and Adriel ahead of us, but once we started wadding through the water we saw that Martin and Catariona were right behind us. Once we started swimming Martin pulled ahead of us with super speed and I got impatient as I often do and thought that maybe if I go up ahead of Peter and pull we can catch up to Martin. To Peter’s surprise (and frustration when he first thought it was another team tangled in our line) this is what I did, but even if it went slightly faster I had no shot at catching up to Martin.

Picture by Linda Dahlhöjd

We fought on as best we could through the next 3500 m run and then it was time for 500 m of wadding through shallow water. Here we could see all of the teams ahead of us, but my short legs and high pulse from the run didn’t allow us to come any closer to them. I asked Peter to pull the next 300 m swim so that I could rest and get my pulse back down. Then it was time for the parts that I had dreaded the most, cliff-running! I think Peter took it a bit easy on me (even retying our line while running!), but it went much better for me than it typically does on these types of sections. We kept the drag line in place so I had no choice, but to keep moving at the pace he set. My pulse was back in control so I pulled the last two swims and fought the best I could to close the gap to the other teams, even though I knew that I certainly wasn’t pulling us faster than Adriel and Martin were pulling.

Coming out of the water on the last swim with one male team ahead and one behind

Last run was 2200 m and Peter took off with incredible speed and had many kilos of me hanging on the line! Especially on the downhills my legs were having to move faster than they have ever moved before!!

Picture by Linda Dahlhöjd

We went into the finish in a solid third place mix (full results here). We discussed a little about the ifs of how we could have saved the 1:30 needed to come in ahead of Martin and Catriona, but nonetheless we put in a strong effort under the given conditions. It was a great race from every angle and one that I would highly recommend for beginners to elit. Varied and beautiful terrain!

Picture by Linda Dahlhöjd

I love being a part of this west coast swimrun family! It is always such a treat to come to race starts and see so many familiar and happy faces. On Tuesday we all meet again for GBG Swimrun and then next weekend we even get to meet with our swimrun friends from the rest of the country and the world for ÖtillÖ weekend. Amazing people, amazing athletes, amazing experiences! This sport is an amazing lifestyle!

Pictures of Johan and his partner Christian. Pictures by Linda Dahlhöjd

Öloppet 2017 Race Report (by Hanna)

Öloppet is for many the definition of swimrun, it was one of the first and it is one of the biggest in terms of participants. It contains approximately 34 km of running, lots of which is through technical cliff-terrain and 6 km of swimming in salty and sometimes rough water.

2015 we raced the sprint versions (23 km) which resulted in a win. 2016 we started the long course, but DNF’d about half way through due to illness. So this year we are very happy to have completed the full course and to finish on the podium! Our time of 4:35 was enough for the bronze against an extremely strong field (full results here)!

This year’s race was an eventful one! It included our drag-line snapping during the start, me almost crying in fear and frustration while running on the rocks, Johan’s legs cramping in the water, me pulling most of the running on the non-technical sections, plenty of yelling at each other, and a finale of Johan shitting in this wetsuit to save the team’s podium spot (more about that later!)!

While I am very happy that my body felt physically strong throughout the race, I am less happy with how frustrated I was at times. I get competitive tunnel-vision while I race and my already lacking patience sometimes goes to zero. This race was a good example of that. I was frustrated from start to finish with our decision to use fins. And my frustration over my fear of the cliffs made me even slower on the cliffs as I got more and more angry with myself with each step! However, I am happy to have had this race to remind me of the importance of keeping things in perspective while racing going in to ÖtillÖ. Those 10 hours of racing will be a lot nicer if the tone between us remains happy and calm.

During the start someone dropped equipment and when they turned around to get it they ran right between Johan and I resulting in our drag-line snapping in half. So our complete focus during the first 500 m run was to try to repair the line. When we got to the water, we still hadn’t succeeded, but at this point during the race I was still calm so when we got to the water and Johan was putting on the finns I was able to place a knot that held the entire race. Johan did a monster job of pulling the first 1000 m swim. We flew by hundreds of people! Johan pushed so hard so that we wouldn’t have to cue behind too many teams on the first island as we have experienced during our previous times on this course. Unfortunately, this effort may also have been the reason that Johan struggled with the running throughout the race. Unfortunately, the fins only fit Johan so he is stuck pulling the swims, which means that I am well rested and ready to go for the runs, but he isn’t.

 

Picture by Linda Dahlhöjd

Picture by Linda Dahlhöjd

Throughout the race we fought over position with our friends Johan and Anna. They are much faster than us getting in and out of the water and on the technical sections, while we are faster in the water and on non-technical running. When Johan’s stomach started cramping during the 8 km run we knew that they were right behind us and if we stopped they would catch up. Generally, it is always better to stop in a bush if you are having stomach problems since you typically just lose a minute, but can then accelerate 10-30 sec/km in the running afterwards. In this case, Johan took alternative three, go while running! An experience that he does not hope to repeat! Please contact him if you want more details 😉

By the time that we got to the last 1000 m of swimming, Johan’s legs were so cramped that he couldn’t swim with the fins anymore so I ended up wearing them and pulled the swim with my upper body and kept my legs still. The combination of him emptying his stomach and resting on the last swims, allowed him to be able to run the last kilometers without too much problems. Anything for a podium-spot, right!?!

I love Johan and I love racing! Despite what probably was quite the sight to observe, we had a great time racing together and Öloppet is a wonderful race in every way 🙂 Now time to mentally and physically prepare for ÖtillÖ in just 4 weeks!