Dad visiting

Yesterday, my dad made a surprise visit to Gothenburg to the boys’ great joy. Despite working all night before (yes, despite turning 75 in October, my dad has a work ethic second to none), he was much more awake than I would have been, and we all had a nice dinner followed by ice cream and strawberries on the veranda.

Today, it is the last day of the semester, and I am on the train back from Halmstad where the third-year students had organized a memorable graduation lunch on the 22nd floor of the administration building. While it is sometimes easy to lose track of the human when grading pages after pages in Blackboard, it was heartwarming to hear how much the students have appreciated my feedback over the last year, and to witness how much they have grown through their studies.

Coming around

Maybe it was the heat, but Saturday’s ultra adventure definitely took its toll on me. Yesterday, I tried to go for four kilometres of easy paced jogging, but it was anything but “easy” with the legs feeling exceptionally sore. Luckily, my body seems to be coming around today as I was able to start the day with a thousand meters in the pool followed by three absolutely wild kilometres of running in the afternoon rain and thunderstorm with Anna and William.

Otherwise, I had my last doctoral supervision session today on Teams with Kalle and Magnus, ending five years of working together on the politics of automation. Now all that remains is to take that night train on Sunday evening for two intensive days in Umeå as Kalle will defend his dissertation and, hopefully, party the night away afterwards.

Borås Ultra Marathon

Taking a Ryde electric scooter up to Skatås shortly after 7 am, I met about fifty other runners ready to take on the 91 kilometres to Borås. While the trail turned out to be 94 kilometres in reality with 1,937 of elevation gain, and only 32 of us would make it all the way in the heat, I had an incredible day on trails old and new as we first followed Vildmarksleden to Hindås and then Sjuhäradsleden to Borås. For the first 42 km, I felt strong and thrilled to run in my new “Deep Atlantic” Salomon Ultra Glide 2 but, as always, there has to be a certain measure of hardship to every ultra. In this case, I started to feel intense nausea as the afternoon wore on. 

Sparing you the details, suffice to say that I had to walk much of the last 30 kilometres, before finishing well ahead of the cut-off in 13 hours and 54 minutes. Once in Borås, I had booked a hotel right in the middle of town with lots of loud partying going on outside, not that it mattered much as I could not really sleep anyway due to a wild hiccup. But, walking through Borås in the early morning hours, I felt so grateful for having yet another ultra in the books, and even more respect for all the people running those 100 miles mountain races.

Laröd racing

Inspired by Göteborgsvarvet, Anna and I have decided to run the HOKA Helsingborg Half Marathon together in September, which will be right in the middle of my most intense teaching block with three courses running at the same time.

Starting at Dunkers Kulturhus, the course will take us up to Slottshöjden, through Tågaborg and Pålsjö out to Laröd before returning via the sea to Gröningen and the finishing line. With each name and place already steeped in history, I could not be more jazzed up about the 21,097 meters that await us. As for Flashback Friday, I found this photo from 1987 taken in the port of, you guessed it, Helsingborg.

VO₂Max

VO₂Max is the maximum rate of oxygen your body is able to use during exercise and is one key indicator for measuring endurance fitness. For a long time, I have seen this value in different sports watch apps without paying much attention to it, but when I looked into it the other day, I figured that my value (around 50) is in fact quite good, and even among the top percentages of my age group. While Suunto goes as far as suggesting that my “fitness age” is 20 years, I think that is only because my watch does not know about the level of joint stiffness that I tend to experience (which makes it perfectly clear to me that I am no longer in my twenties).

In any case, understanding this value was exactly what I needed in preparation for Borås Ultra Marathon on Saturday as I have started to doubt my ability with everyone from my mother to my old-time colleague Sofie explaining to me over lunch yesterday that I am crazy doing these kinds of things. While they are probably right, long-distance running has given me so much over the years, both physically and mentally, that I simply want to go on challenging myself with ever more extreme undertakings. Today, however, I decided not to run as the race is less than 48 hours away. Instead, I went down to the pool for a quick swim followed by lunch at Café 77 over an old Runner’s World (it is the beauty of these magazines that a spring special from one year is almost indistinguishable from another year's, except maybe for the shoe reviews).

Intervals

After working for a couple of hours, I tried to run a few intervals in the sun, but it quickly became obvious that I still need more time to recover. Running the first 400 meter interval in 3:42 min/km pace and the second one in 3:50 min/km, I dipped below 4 min/km for the two remaining intervals. At least I got to try out the structured workout function in my Suunto 9 Peak which I look forward to using for my summer speedwork sessions.

In the real world, the ICC chief prosecutor Karim Khan has decided to seek arrest warrants for both Netanyahu and the leaders of Hamas. While Biden suggests that Khan is guilty of a “false moral equivalence”, I think it is often a good indication that you are doing the right thing when both sides of a conflict attack you for being biased against them. To me, it rather shows exactly the kind of moral integrity that the office calls for and I can only wish more people would see this.

Espresso tonic

After a 13k morning run around Skatås and then the excursion to Slottsskogen for William’s big race, I felt like retreating to the veranda for an espresso tonic and my book by Mbougar Sarr. However, since my life is not a lifestyle magazine, I ended up installing a “Hoppvals” darkening blind, vacuuming William’s room and hanging the laundry instead. And now it is soon time to make dinner.

Nevertheless, it has been a perfect weekend and I am very much looking forward to the coming weeks which will feature Borås Ultra Marathon, a trip to Umeå where Kalle will defend his PhD, and the end of my first academic year at Halmstad University.

Lilla Göteborgsvarvet

Waking up to another day of blue skies and warm temperatures, it was William’s turn to race. After a few rough races, he was more than eager to run those 1.3 km around Slottsskogsvallen with thousands of other kids his age. 

Starting in group 7, he was off to a fast start with perfect running form in his new Saucony Endorphin. Sadly, the technology was not on William’s side as his result somehow did not register. Nevertheless, he got a shiny medal and he is already looking forward to his next race.

Göteborgsvarvet

Often as a runner, you become blind to your own improvements over time. As such, it was an incredible feeling to run Göteborgsvarvet yesterday with Anna, to feel so light and strong. With an average heart rate around 130 and a perceived exertion of maybe two out of ten, it felt completely unfair as everyone around me seemed to be struggling in the sun and the heat.

Starting next to the finishing line in Slottsskogsvallen just as the winner, Moses Koech from Kenya, was finishing his race in an incredible one hour and two minutes, Anna was off to a tough start with a headache and a side stitch but, with her enthusiasm never failing, she took on her first running race in a way that deeply impressed me. After all, racing is really about overcoming, about accepting that conditions on race day may be very different from your training and that so much comes down to your own mindset.

Passing Älvsborgsbron, which always reminds me of past River Runs across Kolbäcksbron, the wind gave some relief from the afternoon heat, but it was evident from the beginning that my decision not to run any faster was the right one. Later in the race, I could see runners collapsing and being transported away in ambulances so, even if conditions were less extreme than I was doing Malkars 21k back in 2019, racing in the summer heat will always be a high-stakes game.

Having run next to each other for almost 18 kilometres, I lost track of Anna as we entered Vasaplatsen. Not knowing if she was ahead of me or behind me, I started running intervals, stopping and searching for her. Looking at my watch, I was suddenly pacing 2:55 min/km as I flew by the other runners before stopping for a long time near the 20-kilometre marker, yet, Anna was not to be found which was kind of stressful as I knew about her headache. Ultimately, I decided to finish in 2 hours and 17 minutes, only to discover that Anna had finished her first half marathon race six minutes ahead of me.

On the vintage tram back home, I could see the white salt lines on my Devold running shirt, making me slightly fearful for next weekend when I am running the 91k Borås Ultra Marathon, but for now, there was just happiness and relief that everything had gone well and that macro-level endurance development is really a thing.

Midsummer Common

Listening to Anna telling me about her Cambridge trip certainly made me feel nostalgic. Though I was back once in 2007 and then again two years later, more than twenty years have now passed since that long summer of bike rides, international phone calls and history being woven into the medieval lanes. 

However, instead of a cold lager on Midsummer Common, I am enjoying a glass of sparkling Italian wine and an open-faced prawn sandwich with my dear friend Gabriel as the perfect kind of carb loading in anticipation of tomorrow’s race ;-)

Grilled zucchini

 

Considering that last summer was one of the wettest ever recorded here in Gothenburg, I am trying to make the most of these precious sunny days by working on the veranda in the morning, sipping iced latte, and ending the day with a barbeque. 

Making grilled zucchini with chèvre and pine nuts, I think I will have one of the most pretentious food containers ever (not that there was necessarily anything wrong with the house paella) at work tomorrow in Halmstad. On the train back, I can also look forward to spending some time with Gabriel who will be joining Anna, me and 50,000 other runners for Göteborgsvarvet on Saturday.

Brattklevs udde

In the end, the train was so delayed that I missed my research seminar in Halmstad. As such, I only spent a couple of hours in the office before heading back to Gothenburg. With Anna in England, I do not want to be too far away from the kids if something were to happen.

 

Once back home at Ängtegsgatan, I took my old Salomon Ultra Glide out for a run around Delsjön, this time with a detour up to Brattklevs udde for a bit of cold water swimming. To my surprise, the last week of sunshine had made wonders to the water temperature, and I could swim for maybe ten meters without feeling too much discomfort. Afterwards, heading home to my laptop, I felt magically refreshed and ready for a few more hours of writing student feedback.

Mbougar Sarr

With the temperature picking up here in Gothenburg, I decided to skip any PR attempts for Saturday and instead enjoy Göteborgsvarvet to the fullest with Anna who is doing her first ever running race. For the moment however, Anna is in Cambridge, and I am on a delayed train to Halmstad with a newly translated book by the Senegalese author Mohamed Mbougar Sarr, a book which has the most beautiful title in Swedish. Not that I can fully appreciate the tone of “La plus secrète mémoire des hommes” but I would still say that “Fördolt är minnet av människan” has a magic of its own. Unfortunately, rather than sinking into one of those hammocks in Accra and reading the day away, I guess have I to go back to work.

Meanwhile in Umeå

This afternoon, my PhD student Kalle ”nailed” his dissertation to the university library wall in Umeå as the last symbolic step leading up to his public defence on 4 June.

Skatås Parkrun

Almost two years after my first parkrun in Umeå, I was happy to race five kilometres once again with people from all around the world. With Anna and the kids also running, it was a great family activity in perfect weather conditions. For the first couple of kilometres, I even briefly entertained the idea of attempting to run under 20 minutes in my new Salomon Pulsar Trail Pro 2 but once the hills started, I decided to simply enjoy the race as much as I could, ultimately finishing in just under 22 minutes which I was happy with considering the 65 meters of elevation gain.

After cleaning the house during the afternoon hours, and topping up with seven recovery kilometres around the block in my Hoka Cliftons, it was time to lit up the barbeque on the balcony. Though actually against the "Rasmus Rules", I have invested in a box of Italian red wine for the summer since I found the notion of a fox in Tuscany simply irresistible (those who know, know).

Schienenersatzverkehr

Today, my commute to Halmstad took twice the usual time as I had to change from train to bus in Kungsbacka Hede and then back to train again in Falkenberg. In retrospect, it would perhaps have made more sense to rent a car but, in this way, I was at least able to get a bit of work done on the train.

Once in Halmstad, I had 2 x 2 hours of seminars on International Relations theory which was a fun flashback to my life in Asia when I used to do all my teaching in English. With the students coming from all over the world, it really felt a bit like being back at HUFS again.

Radish

While Elin gets to spend two full weeks on Mallorca and even becoming a local legend on Strava, I decided to recreate the meal served in SAS Plus on my return flight from Palma two years ago. Despite the proximity to the Koster Islands, I could not find any Koster kelp, but the result was nevertheless delicious, and a perfect match to the house Sauvignon Blanc as I look forward to an evening in front of Blackboard marking International Relations assignments...

Pulsar Trail Pro 2

As the expression goes, when it rains, it pours, and I guess that is true for buying trail shoes as well. With Outnorth having an additional 30% discount, I topped up with a pair of Salomon Pulsar Trail Pro 2 for shorter and faster runs, such as Finalloppet or Parkrun in Skatås.

After making pancakes for Eddie, I went for my usual 10k loop around Skatås only to set a new PR with more than ten minutes. Despite the 243 meters of elevation gain, I was able to run well below 5 min/km, with the energy blade propelling me forward just as advertised. Though probably not suitable for ultras, these will definitely be my go-to-shoes for trail racing and CR chasing.

Atlantic Deep

Having run more than one thousand kilometres in the original edition of the Salomon Ultra Glide, I decided to invest in a pair of Ultra Glide 2 which comes with an improved upper and an irresistible colourway called “Atlantic Deep”. For someone who always dreams of past encounters with the Atlantic, be it in Cornwall or the Canaries, I think these well-cushioned shoes will be just perfect for the 91 km ultra that I have coming up in less than three weeks from today.

As for running-related updates, Anna and I followed Bohusleden south today to the lake Långevattnet and then onwards to Gunnebo Slott which apparently is undergoing an extensive renovation right now. I do not know what it was but something with this trail reminded me a lot of Västerbotten (even if the spelling of the lake should probably have been "Långvattnet" for it to be authentic). 

Unnecessary

The other day, William mixed up the keys to his bike, so he ended up leaving his bike that he liked so much overnight at the school. Sadly, that meant that someone decided to steal his front wheel, the handlebar and the saddle.

Schlepping what remained of his bike to the bike shop, they estimated that repairs would be more than 2,000 SEK so it is probably better to simply buy him a new bike. Things like these make me so sad about other people, that someone is willing to do this to a child.

Moroko mash

Yesterday, Sarah Place posted a highly inspirational video about her experiences of running the Comrades Marathon last year. As readers of Rawls & Me already know, those 89 km between Durban and Pietermaritzburg in South Africa have long been on my bucket list but, for the moment, I will have to contend with making mashed potato from Lesotho with kale which is another super-simple yet delicious recipe from that recipe book by Zeina Mourtada. As for Monterey Monday (which must be the most decadent alliteration in a long time), I am having a glass of District 7 Chardonnay to go with the oven-roasted salmon.

Considering the amount of rail engineering work going on along the West Coast for the moment, I only plan to travel to Halmstad once this week, a journey that will take almost twice the usual time. Thus, instead of commuting, I spent my morning in front of Zoom before going for a 14k lunch trail run around Delsjön where the forest is almost fluorescent green right now.

Djagacida

Thanks to my mother-in-law, I have come in possession of a new cooking book by Zeina Mourtada with a lot of inspiring recipes, including the rice dish “Djagacida” from Cabo Verde which I made for dinner last night. With Anna’s dad Harald visiting us from Kiruna, it feels great to be able to cook something different from my usual fare.

Having Harald here also means that Anna and I were able to check out the bar on the 27th floor of Jacy'z Hotel in Gårda last night for some Japan-inspired drinks as well as going for a few longer runs together in the mornings. Given that I did all of Gotaleden last Tuesday, I did however decide against running the 30k “Nordens Ark Trail Run” yesterday despite the allure of earning one additional ITRA point. However, I hope to give it another shot next year, especially as they also organize a shorter race for kids which I know William would love.

Beaverland

Today, Anna and I took the kids back to Floda for a short hike along Gotaleden. As I was walking rather than running, I had time to see all the trees that showed signs of beaver activity and the ponds full of tadpoles. Stopping for a cup of extra strong coffee, Canaries-style, along Säveån I have to say that I felt surprisingly recovered from yesterday’s ultra adventure, possibly thanks to the relative low intensity. Hoping to run 100+ km this week, I will nevertheless try to limit myself in the weeks ahead as I have both Göteborgsvarvet and Borås Ultra Marathon coming up now in May.

Gotaleden

After a couple of failed attempts, the conditions were just perfect yesterday as I took on the 75 kilometres long “Gotaleden”. Running in sunshine, I made it to Jonsered in about three hours, feeling excited about the upcoming section to Lerum which I knew would be quite technical. 

Right there, however, the zipper in my running backpack tore which gave me a few moments of panic. Luckily, with the help of a friendly car mechanic and a bit of metal wire, I was able to fix it within minutes and was soon on my way again. With the steeper ascents having red ropes attached to the cliffs, parts were more climbing than running but once I got closer to Lerum, I could pick up the pace again.

After a brief stop at Hemköp in Lerum for a cinnamon bun and some drinks, the most beautiful trail followed along Säveån for nine kilometres to Floda. With the valley filled with wood anemone flowers, it was like a spring fairytale. In Floda, I once again stopped for a snack as I knew there would be limited service for the remaining kilometres up to Alingsås. Passing the white Nääs estate where Selma Lagerlöf spent a total of eighteen summers with Sophie Elkan, I decided to return later to see more of the lovely grounds but, wanting to register a FKT for my run, I hurried on towards the northeast.

 

Approaching Alingsås, I was thrilled to see road signs saying that only a few kilometres remained but, unfortunately, Gotaleden took a different turn, heading into the woods again for some exhausting technical trails. Once in Alingsås, I lost my way a couple of times, adding a few extra kilometres for a total of 80 kilometres, 1,507 meters of elevation gain and just above 12 hours all in all.