And again.

A tear in my right calf.

I went out for an easy run the week after Sydney. I woke up with a sore calf.

Unfortunately I recognized both the feeling and place – after my tear in November last year.

A ultrasound up at the hospital in Flagstaff showed a 18mm long tear.

And I pulled my name off the start list in San Diego.

This is not a big drama for the olympics.

But it was a set back, it wasn’t ideal and it’s been a testing couple of weeks for me.

No athlete ever wants to be injured. 

There is really only two things to do when those things happen. You sulk and feel sorry for yourself – or you get on with life and focus on things you can do. And to get your injury healed up quickest possible.

For me this meant a lot of time spent solo on my bicycle. Layering on my endurance base, and spiking my time trial abilities. I had the pleasure of swimming fresher, which for me equals faster. And I have been able to tick off some nice sessions in the pool.

So the time has not been waster.

As a matter of fact, I expect I’m quite a bit fitter now than when I arrived two weeks ago.

And my calf is healing as per best possible scenario.

Instead of leaving for San Diego today – I’m staying behind here at the camp in Sedona.

I’ll use the extra days of training in the best possible way.

Altitude, mountains, heat… I like it.

I have never been to this part of the country before. I didn’t realize it was a proper wild west. Like a movie setting with cactus’s, red rocks, snakes and an occasional cowboy.

Sedona is on a similar altitude like our European base in Davos. With the lack of snow and steep mountains.

But as much full of surprises.

After four days of temperatures in the 30′s, blistering lips and burnt arms I was caught out today.

Riding up the mountain towards Flagstaff the rain rolled in and the temperature dropped to 11 deg. My shorts and thin rainjacket wasn’t much comfort and my body temperature sunk with every mile ridden.

I got to the stage where I could no longer change gears,

but I figured that as long as I still cold break I’d be ok.

It definitely made my top “coldest experiences in life” list,

It was the first time I’ve been served a peanutbutter and jam sandwich by the coach while caved in to a huge mountain of blankets and towels.

Have a look at the “warmer” photos in my Sedona album.

I finished a somewhat disappointing 17th in todays ITU Sydney World Triathlon Series race.

There are no excuses – just an honest lack of racing fitness.

I’ve been working on my base over winter. And I guess it has taken me longer than expected to regain my former running form.

Slowly but surely, I’ll keep working away.

Next race coming up is the ITU San Diego World Triathlon Series the 11th of May.

The firts phase of 2012 has come to an end.

The winter base.

The superlong camp down here in Canberra.

All my belongings now have to a) fit into a 23kg max weight suitcase b) be posted back home c) recycled to Canberras junior girls or d) thrown away.

The bin ended up filling, and so did my bags.  I believe the junior girls were pretty happy too.

Rolling out of Canberra with a car full of athletes and a trailer full of nice bikes was the end of the 2012 wintercamp for me.

My 8th winter spent in Australia.

The ITU World Series is kicking off in Sydney this weekend. My racing legs needs to come on in the near future. The next step on the big adventure called London is starting.

It was definitely an OK start of the ITU season.

I messed up early in the race. Didn’t get out to the first buoy as quick as I should, and got stuck in the middle of the pack spending to much time fighting for space, – and air.

The choppy conditions made it very difficult as people were being pushed back and forth by the waves, as well as negotiating currents and winds. I came out to far back in the pack to do anything about the group of 10 girls that had gotten off the front.

We lost a bit of time on each lap as our group failed to get organized and start working. Into T2 the gap had opened up to 90 seconds.

As my major goal for the race was a solid hit-out and a check on where my fitness was at. It didn’t really matter so much that the medals were well out of reach. 

I ran well, or at least according to my fitness. I have worked on re-establishing my base this winter and I can feel I have more running in my legs than for quite some years.

But that running now needs to be taking up a notch, and my body needs to get adapted to the harder work racing requires. 

So in all – things are on track.

Now three weeks to sharpen things up before the ITU Sydney World Series Race.

This is what a balcony view in Mooloolaba should look like.

The sunshine is back – the streets are drying out. 

And it looks like we will get some really nice racing conditions this weekend!

The boys are off tomorrow at 3pm – girls Sunday at 12.45.

My body has been enjoying some easier days, finally being able to soak up some of the winter training.

I don’t expect any superlegs by any means.

There are girls out there needing to prove a point, needing to qualify for their respective Olympic team.

I’m still building.

So Sunday will be one mean speedsession for me.

Photo from the Sunshine coast daily

I’m not quite sure “Sunshine coast” is a fitting name for this place.

Since arrival today the rain has bucketed down non stop here in Mooloolaba. If anything the wind has picked up and being outside is very unpleasant.

There are warnings out for driving through flash floods and people are being stuck out in there cars needing rescuing.

Athletes competing in the World Cup this weekend being no exception.

A tweet from fellow athlete Hollie Avil said;

@lisanorden I was with @natdillo! Had to abandon the car and walk 8km home! An interesting experience…

My coach cancelled today’s afternoon session, as swimming in the ocean would have been borderline stupid. Instead I got to rest up and have a longer stretch in my room. Works quite well on heavy flight legs too.

I think we are quite a few athletes doing the sun-dance tonight,

hoping that things will calm down before the races starts on Saturday.

A picture gallery with the wet from the Sunshine coast daily.

There is a lovely change on the ITU program this year.

Stockholm is taking over the hosting of the August event of the ITU World Triathlon Series.

And I will get to race on home soil – with a home crowd!

This is a career first, and something I’m very excited about.

Stockholm is a beautiful city surrounded by a body of water. The course will take us past the castle and through parts of the Old Town, more downtown than so is harder to get.

It’s a completely new experience for me to have a big race in my home country. The be honest it is a bit scary, suddenly there will be so many people knowing me watching me race. But I’m hoping this will work to my benefit…

I’m also aware of the well added media interest it will attract, something well needed for this small, but growing, sport in Sweden. I would like to believe, that hosting this race, bringing all these world class athletes to my country. Things will start to stir, and it might be the start for many future little stars.

And last, I’m super happy to [finally] be able to invite my coach,  training partners and support crew to a true Swedish lobsterparty.

None of my friends will leave Sweden without that experience…

I guess you could argue if this was a race that counts, or not.

Yes I did wear a number (790) I did get a time (26,59) and I earned a place (3rd female).

But it was used as a part of the training plan with the emphasis on getting a good hit out and getting readjusted to a race pace effort. There was no resting, or taper or specific race preparations done prior.

In training we go hard, sometimes long other times fast. But it’s all under controlled formats, specific routes or laps being executed at certain heart rates or effort levels. There is some rest between each effort, we get advice on form or pacing and the session is weighed against pre fatigued legs or upcoming sessions.

But when the gun goes and the time is ticking, it’s different. The game has changed and the comfort zone is long gone.

It’s you vs. time and distance.

How fast can you go to run as quick as possible for the remaining distance.

This is a skill. And just like all other skills, it needs practice.

The best possible way to do so is during a race, like the Stromlo Running Festival‘s Cross Country race last weekend.  A 7,5km long race with handicaps for your age and gender.

It was fun, it was hard and I beat myself up a bit.

Then I backed it up with 1h45min long run the following morning. And a regular training week.

This Friday I’ll run a 5km track race up on the AIS stadium.

Again, a number and a clock. And a great opportunity to get the system going.