Training far from Åre

When surfing around Swedish adventure racing websites it is easy to get stressed reading all long training reports from Åre. Strong guys taking weeks of from work to go training on the race course for Haglöfs Åre Extreme Challenge. While many others are up in the mountains training in the hills, I am still stuck by the flat coastland catching up work and trying to get paint on our new house… After a tough month coming back from the Expedition Africa race I finally got some desent training last week. In the lack of mountain, those of us living by the coast have to use our imagination… No rapids to paddle in, paddle in the ocean when waves are good. No big hills? Use the small ones several times. The biggest hill in Umeå takes 1 min 10 sek to climb. The hill in Åre takes a bit more than 50 minutes… And when you do not have the time to bike away to find a good hill, get on you excersise bike directly after commuting back from work for a 30 minute suffer fest!

Luckely, when my friend Anders invited us to his and Lindas wedding tomorrow, he made us travel 400 km north to Kåbdalis. Plans for midsummer includes not only their wedding party but also a tough session in the probably best hill along the whole road E45!

Happy midsummer!