BodyPump was pretty tough tonight. They changed a little bit to make it 'more fun' which means pure pain. My legs were burning through the knee bends and 'for fun' the lunges were with one leg on the step board and weight on your shoulders. The 12kg left me dying to scream FAAAANNNN but I resisted.

My new schedule of the week is this.
Monday: Spinning/trainer + core (home)
Tuesday: BodyPump
Wednesday: Core 45
Thursday: Sportlife running
Friday: Nothing
Saturday: Spinning/Core 45 or Running/Cycling
Sunday: depends on Saturday

Today was actually good enough to ride or run outside but I didn't get home from work in time to be able to enjoy it. And now comes the cold yet again. =(

I did a quick pass on the trainer...5 min warmup, 10 min high cadence on 50-13 and then 5 min cool down. That was plenty to give the legs a tingle.

I also did a few core exercises because I should do them more often and they are easy to do anywhere.

Do I need to say anymore?

Canada + Hockey = GOLD!

And when it involves beating the yanks, it can't get any better.

Now I have just signed up for my second Grenserittet which is scheduled for August 7. And this year I will respect the massive hill in the middle where I faced quite a nasty leg cramp last time.

I know that I am having many revelations lately when it comes to my training. But it just never ceases to amaze me what my body is capable of.

Today I did Core 45 and I have never felt so strong in my stomach and back. Everything went well today which means everything hurts like hell right now. I am just wondering why I never thought of this before. Yes, Core is core for running, cycling and many other things. So I think I will up this to twice a week instead. I noticed also that you can do 60 min spinning and this 45 min pass back-to-back on Saturdays. =)

Otherwise, all the bike paths or sidewalks in Partille are a crappy mix of water and ice so we will see what it is like tomorrow. I just need one good hill which is free from ice. Anyone know of any?

What can I say? The weather today has turned all the nice snow into a crappy mix of ice and water. Things are looking even worse for my weekend run or ride. Maybe I should just go and run around IKEA or something. Or better yet, why don't I take my cross bike and use the sofas for stair practice. Yes, that sounds perfect!

I forgot to mention that I ordered my Ridley X-Ride frame yesterday so the gang down there in Belgium can make me one before they switch over to LVG stuff. In three weeks it will be time for some pictures...

This morning it was +2C and the snow was melting pretty good. Could this mean that I might actually be able to ride this weekend? It will be wet and messy but I can live with that.

In other news, I am surprisingly stiff after last night's running. I haven't decided about BodyPump tonight but we shall see.

Now it is time for me to give a very good promotion for Sportlife because today's members benefit was well worth my 299kr/month. From v8-19 on thursdays down at Skatås, they offer some quality running passes. I know that GöteborgsVarvet has their sessions on the weekend but I found them less useful than tonight.

I had to run about 2km just to make it on time due to bloody Västtrafik so I was warmed up and ready to go. But tonight was about various types of strength training under the heading of Löpteknik/löpkoordination. So my arms and legs were getting all stretched and people walking their dogs got a nice look at our group hopping on 1 foot or other strange things. But this really helped. And unlike BodyPump, you could actually get it without 3 weeks of trying.

There was a guy from Hisingens CK there who heard I was from Mölndals CK and said 'So you ride with the fast boys...' Damn right I do! =)

Tomorrow I am working from home which is very good because the commute is short. It is only 3 metres from my bed to the computer so I should manage that in less than the 45 minutes it normally takes be to get to work. =)

Just dont tell anyone about the sovmorgon I have planned...not too long but at least until 08.00.

There are not many pictures here lately so rather than post one of myself, you can have this one of Anna Haag (left) and Charlotte Kalla (right) after their silver medal win...

Bild: Janerik Henriksson, Article GP

Haag competes for Mora IK when she is not advertising for Craft. She also represents yet another fine example of what I like about Dalarna.

On a related topic, it would be very nice to have a girlfriend from Dalarna or one with a summer house there. When I look at all the races up there this coming season, we are talking many expensive nights in hotels. =(

Yes, welcome to Tuesday. And on this bitter cold day you get to sit twice as long on the bus because people are driving in the bus lane. Excellent. I could have walked to work faster today.

In other news, I will take a vilodag today because my body is far too pumped for BodyPump. Återhämtning is also training. =)

I have already had to change my training plans for the week. But work is important since I need to buy a few bike parts.

This double pass felt so much worse today than the first time I tried it, probably because of my stupid run yesterday. The only real challenge in the spinning is the last song with 3 sets of 2 min/30 s intervals at a pretty high tempo. And you can always choose how jobbig it is so I made sure it was torturing. And then they tried to squeeze everything from Core 45 into the 30 minute version which makes it too rushed.

I can understand why triathlon is so tough. Passes back-to-back are always more challenging than each on their own. Now it is sofa time for me...

I will not get upset about any of the following things:

1. It is snowing yet again here in Göteborg.
2. Canada lost to the US in OS hockey which is actually way worse than if Sweden loses to Finland.
3. People honestly believe that all cyclists cheat, cross-country skiers are the finest athletes ever born and that Swedes would never think of doping.

Okay, I will not get upset about #1 and #2 but #3 pisses me off. At first I thought like you Peter in that maybe Saturdays ski race would bring more interest to cycling. But now I doubt it.

Cycling is one of the few sports that everyone can do no matter which level they are at. If you want to ride 20km in a race, you can do that. If you want 300km, you can do that too. No one is going to make you sit on a bench in cycling while the 'better' players get to play.

In 2005 when I decided to try my first ever MTB race, Långa Lugnet in Falun, and thought I could make it 110km on a hybrid, no one stopped me. (I stopped myself after 40km.) In fact the people in Falu CK were very encouraging. And now for 2010, my 4th actual season of racing, I am still welcome to grow and improve my skills. How many other sports would give me the chance to race in an SM after 3 years?

Cycling is the finest sport we have and I am more than fed up with having to defend it. Its no wonder why I will race a lot in Norway this season. Norwegians get the point of cycling.

After Göteborg receives the worst snowstorm of the year, running is not the first thing one would think of. But what the hell...it is Sunday. The sun was shining.

This was pure torture running in uneven footprints in 20cm deep snow. Like running 5km in sand. I had no grip at all and my feet and legs were getting so twisted that I could have joined Cirque de Soleil.

Time: 59:44.3
Energy: 838 kcal
Hr peak: 189
Hr average: 164

Distance? Good question. I took the short route around Furulund forest because I could hardly run. But on the way back down the Landvettervägen hill which was ploughed, I kept going and took a loop around Allum. This was mostly to untwist my body and to see how many people would stare at me for running. The answer? Many!

Basically everyone on SVT was in tears after Hellner's gold and Olsson's bronze after a magical 15km classic/15km free last night. But for a cyclist, this seemed perfectly natural.

I wonder why they constantly said that this was the first time the team worked together as a team. Most Vasaloppet I have watch were like this. But I supposed this was the first time where it was so obvious that Hellner and Södergren were trying to slow the rest down.

If the average Swede loves this, why do they always criticize cycling so much? Watching cycling would give the same excitement every time. I say one thing alone...Spring Classics! Okay, I say two things...cyclocross gives this excitement and you can actually cover it on TV.

Speaking of cross, don't miss the final of GVA Trofee today. Last chance to see cross until next season.

Because of the pretty hefty snowstorm which is still going strong, Västtrafik (public transit company) declared 'force majeure'. In other words, they were not even going to try to keep to their timetable. So obviously I had to hop on the bus and head på stan to see the chaos myself. Here are some pictures from my Galaxy Spica. They are a bit grey but it was grey out.


Avenyn looks quite peaceful for a Saturday.

The trams had it tough today although a few were rolling still. I heard an announcement that none were going to Hisingen at all.


No delays on the E45. No cars either. =)



Yet somehow the ferry Älvsnabben was working fine.

It goes without saying that SJ was reporting delays on the trains. But they have just as many delays on a perfectly sunny day in July.

No running for me today, in other words. Hopefully I can get out tomorrow.

And now for something different...I would like some tips on a cheap bike. I will start riding to work and need a decent commuter bike. I know that I could use my old Trek MTB but it looks like something worth stealing and my plan was to offer this as a 'vuxennybörjare' bike for MCKs new MTB focus.

Some type of hybrid around 4000kr would be ideal and it has to survive flying along the grusväg passed Skatås. Nishiki is pretty popular where I work so that would blend in.

If you know of any super deal on a quality commuter bike, write a comment. Tack tack!

Finally a miracle happened. Tonight, in the middle of another massive snowstorm here in Göteborg, I figured out BodyPump. Instructor Helen explained things in a way that made me finally get it. Or, like she said, it was probably because this was my 4th time. But I think she should take my compliment in this case and forget the jantelagen stuff.

Once you have the technique you can just keep increasing the weight when you get stronger, like the Nautilus method. So I went to 12kg for the knee bends/legs and OMFG that hurt. 7kg for everything else was respectable because of the 5 minutes of repetitions which hurt more and more.

Now I have earned a pizza and a night of OS. Trevlig helg!

This morning it was actually raining a bit on the way to work. For the first time in my life I was happy to see rain! But it has stopped already. Instead we are left with a pile of new snow from last night and even more sloppy slushy roads.

Running in the forest should be interesting this weekend. I will need a lifevest with all this wet snow.

I got my phone back from Telia and they seem to have updated the whole operating system and actually set things up to work here in Sweden. Before when I pressed something, it would sit there thinking 'nja, maybe later'. Now it just works. Although why they installed a game where you throw penguins at polar bears is a bit of a mystery.

So I guess this is like Microsoft or Toyota...lets start selling a half-finished product and we can fix things later on.

Time again for S Core 45 and this was the same feeling as yesterday. Some strength things I am doing at a level equal to or better than the instructor but other things are just hopeless. Why can't I seem to do a situp? What they expect are crunches but even that I end up pulling my neck while my stomach just sits there checking out the women. Yes, 2 guys and 30 women.

Despite the fact that there is zero cardio in this at all, many of the exercises are for the stomach. And it is good to make some attempt to shrink my growing gubbmage.

Träningsvärk is one of those strange things. I woke up this morning feeling rather blää and a bit stiff everywhere yet last night I had far more specific pain in my legs and biceps.

This feeling is the same I get after a good CX race. I don't really understand how I am using every muscle in my body but apparently I am. Interesting. One could perhaps argue that I am so out of shape that no matter what I do will be useful. But if that was true I would not even be able to run up the Furulund hill without dying.

Another day another gold, kan man säga. This time in biathlon with none other than Björn Ferry. Races are so much more exciting with jaktstart because then you have some idea of who is leading. Plus you can also ignore silly SVT commentators. Same in cycling...how exciting is it to watch a tempo race on TV?

I was getting very frustrated at BodyPump tonight. After 3 times, I would expect to get some kind of technique but it just wasn't coming. Each 4-5 minute song is one muscle group and when done right, this should be plenty of torture. I figured out the biceps technique and the stomach but the rest was just rather confused. I felt nothing at all in the chest song. But on the positive side, I did do my 15 proper pushups and the plankan thing plus the tricep dips. In other words, I did all the things which require no timing and that I could just as well do at home.

So I asked the instructor after and hopefully that will help. Friday I will know.

After some experimenting, I have come up with my super excellent training schedule which will make me a super excellent fast cyclist in no time at all. Or?

Monday: BodyPump
Tuesday: vilo
Wednesday: S Core 45
Thursday: Sportlife's running night
Friday: BodyPump
Saturday or Sunday: A nice long run

No matter what the result, this is what I can manage with work schedules and stuff so this is my plan for the next 3-4 weeks. Then I can switch over to more cycling.

Billingeracet, my first 'real' race of the season, is 16 maj so I am not too worried that it is snowing right now...still...