Trailrunning and the Vasalopps-track is now completed!

24 oktober, 201524 oktober, 2015Lämna en kommentar

Trailrunning and completing the last part of the famous Vasaloppsleden. The track goes from Sälen to Mora (located in Dalarna, Sweden) and has a distance of 90 km. You can do this track skiing, bicycling and/or running/hiking. The most popular style is skiing and the competition is always held the first sunday in march. The competition brings about 15 000 people from all over the world and the starting tickets get sold out very fast. Different kind of competitions are held during this week and they estimate an impressive number of 60 000 people to participate. So for us it was very convenient to do the track by our selfs.

Half and half the track

About one month ago I did half the track together with one of my class mates. I had never ran that long distance before so 48 km was a good start. Today I did the rest of the track (which ended up in 44 km) and together with my twin-sister Erika. The first part, from Sälen to Evertsberg is more difficult because of more narrow paths, bigger differenceses in altitude (more up hill) and many narrow foot-bridges. From Evertsberg to Mora is like an Europe-road but in the forrest and most of the time the track goes slightly downhill.

Do the track all in once or stay in huts along the way
Along the track you’ll find huts and if you want to stay over night you just pay a small fee and bring your own sleeping bag and mattress. Our father is very interested in skiing and one day we’ll hopefully do the track together. I guess it will be skiing or hiking.

Over and out!

Linnea

Ready, set and go! It’s around 10 am and we’re prepared to start the race.

Some stop for energy refill is necessary. Here we have bars, nuts, raisin, sandwiches and coffee. And water of course.

Putting our marks in a guestbook along the track.

WOW! Jack Sparrow in the middle of the forrest. But he looks kind of sad…

The paths are wide and good.

We did it! 44,5 km of trail running. Proud and a bit sore in our bodies. But our minds are shining and we’re feeling very happy.

Active time: 4 h 5 min. Total time: 5 h 28 min.

Erika is entering the finish-line as a zombie 😉

The whole vasalopps-track is completed. Linnea is raising her hands towards the sky – victory! Happy, proud and thankfull.

We got the best reception by Sam who picked us up in Mora and he had also brought coffee and sandwich.

Defeat every obstacle

11 oktober, 201511 oktober, 2015Lämna en kommentar

Ahead of the 40th and the last obstacle we stopped for a few seconds. We formed a circle, gave each other a big hug, said a few encouraging words, roared loudly and then gave full attention on the black giant ramp that we would run up on.

Team Katrinebergs PT, consisting of the prospective personal trainers Toste Danielsson, Adde Hammarberg, Oscar Detmer and I, Erika Nilsson Waara, were now ready to accept the challenge and defeat everything that came in our way. This is about Toughest and about being tough, brave and bringing out the stubborn bull in you.

Toughest is a competition on tour, this time in Gothenburg with about 2500 participants, which means that you run a distance of eight kilometers, while you’ll pass 40 different obstacles along the way. It is about obstacles such as climbing, using your arms and legs in various forms, crawling, tires rolling, carrying sacks and trees, balance obstacles, jumping, rolling and much more than that. Our start time was set at noon 2:40 and one of today’s finest moments was the reunion with my sister Linnea. We started at the exact same time as her team, aventyrsledarna.se, from Älvdalen. That we for once were in different teams didn’t actually really matter, as we urged, supported and helped each other on some obstacles. It was a very happy reunion, because it was about two months ago since we saw each other. In other words, there was room for a lot of love in all of the competition hysteria.

So how did it go with the final obstacle? Our bodies were now covered in smelly mud up to the stomach area. The shoes and gloves were totally soaked. The number tags had fallen off. Face and hair appeared to have had significant sand and mud pack. Not a dry or clean stain could be seen on the body. Suddenly thoughts flew off to the film The Fantastic Four. The crowd around us cheered intensely. The music pounded in rhythm of techno. We lined up and made us ready for the next battle. The stage is ours! Thirty-nine obstacles we’re completed. One remained. One by one we took off. We gave everything we had in the run-up and completely flew up the ramp. The adrenaline was pumping wildly and joy completely spread throughout our bodies. The Fantastic Four was standing on top and just roared straight out! We had conquered every obstacle. We had done it together, as a team, methodically and with toughness, passion and joy. All of us had grown a bit inside and no doubt we would all do it again!

Linnea and Erika are looking forward to the race.

Toughest in Gothenburg

The rings was one of the obstacles

Dirty and so much fun.

Carrying heavy containers.

The final obstacle; the ramp!

Victory! Together and completed the race Toughest 2015!

The Fantastic four aka Erika, Detmer, Toste and Adde have completed the run with a roar!

Katrinebergs PT are true heroes!

At aventyrsledarna.se you can have a look and see what Linnea is up to at her school.

Linnea and her class mates from Älvdalens utbildningscentrum. Äventyrsledarna (adventure and mountain leaders).

No kidding – Linnea needs a bath!

And the medal in my hand

A nice dinner and celebration after the race

So what’s your next obstacle to defeat?

Cheers!

/Erika

Climbing, safety and Green card!

30 september, 20151 oktober, 2015Lämna en kommentar

Learning how to climb and to be a trustful safety-person for the one who is climbing. There are many important things in the equipment you need to check both on your self and on your friend before entering the wall. Today I got a Green card in climbing, which certify my knowledges in climbing and especially safety.

Before you and your friend are ready to go you need to have said those following words (I write them in swedish): The safety-person says ”Säkring klar!”. Your friend answer with ”Jag klättrar!”.

Here are the safety-persons stitch-break. Check!

Also make sure the harness is tight and can’t be pulled down your hips.

You have to trust your safety-man downstairs when you climb.

The amazing feeling when you reach the top!

And the feeling when you can fall down and you know it’s safe.

Green card – check! Also look at the double eight which is a common knot to use.

Linnea

When the brain says stop and the heart says go

17 september, 201517 september, 2015Lämna en kommentar

When the lactic acid invades the body, when your legs want to trap you because of fatigue, when the brain says stop immediately – then it’s time to pick up the inner strength and passion, to want a little bit more and not to give up! This was my story yesterday. An incredibly supporting environment, tough opponents and a stubborn heart made me cross the finish line in the running competition Skoljoggen 2015. The final metres of the race were painful and afterwards I was very happy since it was my first running competition in adult life. Yeyyy and thumbs up for the whole competition today, especially the fun warm up!

/Erika

How is life for the Personal Trainers in school?

15 september, 201515 september, 2015Lämna en kommentar

Over the next 4.5 months I’m educating myself to a Personal Trainer in Halland. We are now into our fourth week and the education is quite amazing. Likewise the classmates and the school itself. There is so much to learn and so much that I want to share with you. Hopefully I can through this blog give you a little more knowledge about training and health; for example training methods and techniques, adventures and challenges, nutrition, equipments and how to prevent sports injuries. Through this blog me and my sister Linnea hope to inspire you to take a step (small or big) towards a healthier lifestyle which includes some kind of exercising or maybe take a step towards something else that you dream of or want to achieve in life.

***

This week turns into more practical elements in school, including posture analysis and Fysprofilen.

A good posture is the foundation for all kind of training and health. By analyzing the posture we get a hint of bone structures, muscle balance and centers of gravity. Through this we can influence and develop the training based on our findings. Yesterday we photographed each other and now we begin the analytical work.

Fysprofilen means that you test your physical abilities to get an understanding on where you are today to know in which direction you can work. Several sports have their own reference values based Fysprofilen and therefore you can find out the status of your physical abilities compared to others in the same sport. This day consisted of maximum efforts in squats, chins, dips, brutal bench and an anaerobic running test. It’s been a very inspiring day, in which the class has really given it all and encouraged each other in every way and all the way! The remaining steps will be done next week. An important thing to remember is that the tests should always be carried out with equal opportunities and preparation, because then we get the fairest result from time to time.

Finally, I want to give you some tips along the way. Start by reflecting on your posture when standing. Ask yourself if your shoulders are in the same level and the neutral position, how is the direction of your elbows, knees and feet pointing, if the trunk is rotated, and where to put the gravity on your feet, and if they supine or prone?

As for physical tests is suggested that you test yourself regularly to see where and how you are doing in your training. A light recommendation is to make the tests every six to twelve weeks. Also reflect on what type of test is the best for your specific goals and the sport or exercise that you exert. Test results can show if you need to make any change in your training schedule. They often act as a motivating factor when you see that you get the results you are striving toward.

Good luck!

/Erika Nilsson Waara

Chins in Fysprofilen

Halvvasan Plus

12 september, 2015Lämna en kommentar

Idag genomförde jag och min klasskamrat Ida Lindström Halvvasan Plus, från Sälen till Evertsberg + 1 km lite feljoggning. Total sträcka blev 48 km och vi tog oss igenom till största delen joggades! Ingen av oss hade tidigare ens sprungit ett marathon, så idag slog vi båda två distansrekord. Stolta och med en kropp som liknar status efter en hel helg med fotbollscup (dvs. mör, sliten och trött, men lycklig) har vi nu försett oss med taco-middag och två godispåsar vardera.

Eftersom sträckan blev längre än halva Vasaloppet diskuterade vi om detta kan kallas kort-ultra eller lång-mara. Same same and no difference 😉

Tack för oss!

Linnea

Nästintill identisk packning, men olika färg.

Jag och Ida gör oss redo. Vår skjuts Danne (och Samantha) är redan redo!

Checkar av Vasaloppets olika hållplatser. Evertsberg är målet.

Där allting startade.

Vattenpåfyllnad.

Vi suktar efter diverse godsaker och smider planer på att köpa godis efter målgången.

Lingon och blåbär fanns det gott om längs leden.

ÄNTLIGEN! 48 km genomförda till fots och största delen joggandes Obeskrivlig känsla av seger när vi dansar oss in över mållinjen i Evertsberg. Halvvasan genomförd tillsammans med grymmaste Ida Lindström! Följ henne på instagram: @1dalindstrom