ÖTILLÖ Training May 29 - June 4

Ironman Texas 2018. Photo Credit: Aaron Palaian

This September, I will be racing the ÖTILLÖ Swimrun World Championship in Stockholm. I can remember when ÖTILLÖ started in the 2000’s and my friends, Gordo Byrn and Jonas Colting, won the event in 2010 (they will be racing there together this year as well). I was always intrigued by the event and had hoped to race it one day. That day will come this September.

I wanted to share the training I will be doing throughout this summer in getting ready for the event. I retired from professional triathlon at the end of 2020 so I am a few years removed from high level training. Over the past 2.5 years, I have not been dormant, but I do not train anywhere near the levels I once did. Moreover, I only swam a little in 2021 and almost none at all throughout 2022. I have continued to run, but there are times where I run a bare minimum (10-15 miles/week) and other times when I run a fair amount (30-40 miles/week). Additionally, in the winter I snowboard a lot, but I also do fair amount of uphill splitboarding which is certainly aerobically demanding if you want it to be.

One area of training that has increased since I stopped racing is strength training. I do not do an excessive amount of work in the gym, but it is the one area where I have been the most consistent across the last two years. I typically do 2 x 1 hour sessions and will go fairly heavy at times. Last year I backed off during the summer months when I did the most aerobic training of the year and I plan to do something similar from now until September (likely 2 x 30-45 minute sessions).

From January to May, I had a target of doing 8-12 hours of aerobic activity/week with no constraints on the mediums (I was rarely above 10 hours as it turned out). What this ended up looking like was more uphill splitboarding in the winter that shifted to more consistent running in April and May. I also had a goal of starting to swim again with 2 sessions/week in the month of April followed by 3 sessions/week in May. I did manage to hit those minimums with the exception of one week in May.

Training from May 29 - June 4

Monday:

Bolder Boulder 10K on Memorial Day. Rode my bike to/from the start (about 15-20 minutes each way). 5K warm up then did the race in 36:12. This 10K is quite difficult with a net uphill. I tried going out at a controlled pace, but still lost my legs around 7.5-8K in to the race. Give it about a C-.

Tuesday:

Swim at North Boulder Rec (SCY)

600 easy
4 x 100 kick fins on 1:30
8 x 50 descend 1-4 2x on :50
Main Set
4 x 200 buoy only on 2:50 (2:30 avg)
8 x 50 kick on 1:05 (:50 avg)
8 x 125 pull on 1:45 (1:28 avg)
300 easy
4,000 yards

Wednesday:

17.4K run on the Switzerland Trail. The Swiss Trail is an old railroad bed that is now a dirt/jeep trail. The railroad used to link up the mining towns of Ward, Sunset and Gold Hill with Nederland. In the early 20th century it was turned into a tourist venture that was later abandoned once the Peak 2 Peak Highway was built. There are different sections you can run on the trail with varying difficulty. On this day, I ran the easier section which is a gradual uphill gradient to the turnaround, then a gradual downhill on the way back. This part of the trail is mostly above 9,000 feet and while the trail isn’t technical, the footing definitely is (and has gotten more so over the years). Total run time 1:23:14

Afternoon strength session:
3 x 12 Goblet Squats w/60,70,80
3 x 12 RDL with DB’s 100,110,120
Hex Dead Lifts: Working sets of 3 x 5 @ 275
Shoulder Press: 3 x 8 @ 85
Chin Ups: 3 x 10
Total time of 45 minutes.

Thursday:

Swim at Scott Carpenter Pool (LCM)
800 mix while some folks finished their workout
4 x 200 fins on 3:00
4 x 50 1-4 on :55
Main Set:
5 x 200 on 3:10 (2:50->2:47)
200 easy
2 x 500 pull, no send off
100 easy
4,100 meters. First Long Course swim since 2021.

Friday:
Track session
6K as
2K @ 130 HR (4:53/K)
2K @ 140 HR (4:34/K)
2K @ 150 HR (4:17/K)
4 x 100m strides and drills
Main Set
12 x 400 on 1:1 recovery
Times: 81,78,77,76,76,76,76,76,76,76,75,74
Short Cool down afterwards. About 14K of total running. Times were faster than I had anticipated, but it didn’t feel forced.
Went straight to the pool after running, but got kicked out because of lightening just as I was about to get in.

Saturday:

Swim at Scott Carpenter (SCY)
600 easy
4 x 100 kick fins on 1:30/25/20/15
2 x (50 kick on 1:00, 4 x 25 1-4 swim on :30)
5 x 100 descend 1-4 on 1:30, then 1 easy
Main Set
3 x 150 buoy only on 2:05
4 x 100 pull on 1:20
3 x 50 swim on :50
2 x 150 buoy only on 2:10
4 x 100 pull on 1:20/20/25/25
6 x 50 swim on :45
1 x 150 buoy only on 2:15
4 x 100 pull on 1:25/25/25/30
9 x 50 swim on :40
150’s generally in 1:50, 100 pulls about 1:08, 50’s about :35
500 mix cool down
5,500 yards. Longest swim since 2020.

The main set is a variation of a set I got from Magnolia Masters in 2015. I have mixed it up in a variety of different ways over the years, but the main point is always to be working pretty solidly on the closing 9 x 50 of the set.

Sunday:
Pouring rain in Boulder so had to adjust run to a more paved route. Did a run I call the “The Triangle” that is basically divided into three sections. No matter which direction you run, it finishes uphill for about 7-8K. It’s always a challenging run that’s hard to get very fast split times on. It was absolutely hammering rain for the first hour then backed off a bit, then hammered again as I finished. Total run was 22K in 1:36:37. 149 avg HR, 160 max.

Some photos from what I was up to over the winter/spring: