Welcome 2023!

 

I had many interesting moments during the 2022. Both high and low as every year.

 

The difference is that this year I learned to learn from tough situations as well. I had nice moments, lovely races and nice experiences, but I had to experience low moments as well, huge falls, pain and sorrow, disappointment and that depressive emptiness as well.
I learned to cope better with challenging situations, those low moments and to push somehow forward. The light is there.... somewhere to be found. It's up to us to decide if we want to fight for a better result or if we want to surrender to something else less worth living for.

 

Being a person that loves the sport of ultra-running I leaned that I had to embrace the "pain cave" sometimes, that I have to love and embrace the pain.... the same situations happen in life as well. The ultra-long races may be seen as short versions of an emotional roller coaster of life.
This year when we were searching for a nice house to buy, after incredibly many houses that we visited we started to loose the idea of finding our place on earth just for us, the whole idea started slowly to fade. But I had a need to move forward and a nice day before the summer holidays we managed to find that place!

 

 

The 2023 will be for me another kind of a year. A different one. We have a few interesting projects with the house and we have now something to look forward to with a smile....

 

My running passion did not fade - at all!

 

I just changed the priorities. I needed those falls in 2022, those injuries and crappy situations to show me what needs to be done in order to b a better athlete and perform better. This doesn't necessarily mean winning races, I am happy with a strong finish with a smile on my face.
In 2023 I just hope for a positive draw for the UTMB. I really need to do that race one more time and be happy with the performance. If not everything is open, I did not apply for a single race.... well, apart the Sandsjöbacka Trail race 90k that will happen in a few weeks. That race is the one that I usually in some form (racing or not) open the running season. Let's have some fun! 😄🤙

 

I might do some fine local races and/or choose something completely new.... we'll see. It's kinda nice not having any pressure on me with races or the need to do any.... this is good! 😍
Despite the difficulties, the challenging situations, the injuries and all during the whole 2022, I managed somehow to mantain a cetain level of fitnss and competition the entire year. It was not my best year, not any decent rsults, but I had a pretty awesome year indeed. A good year with decent consistency and volume in training.

 

This year ended with the following numbers:
- Total Time: 547h
- Total Distance: 4497km
- Total Elevation Gain: 100983m
- Total Activitis: 397

 

I was actually active for 268 days in 2022. This was possible due to many days with double training sessions. This was something that I'm very happy about. I was able to increase the weekly mileage during certain periods of training without breaking. I was actually able to find a decent balance with the training volume, a proper vegan nutrition that supports that volume and a good timing that usually consisted of a run to and from work.
I will most definitely continue to commute to work. This is the less stressy form of training. The only stress factor that affects me is the lack of sleep hours that I need to work with. This is something that I need to be better with during 2023.

 

It's not that hard to be passionate about this sport. At the end of the day all you need to do is to take care of the following things:
- proper training that consists of a huge amount of miles and some speedy sessions
- some core/gym training in order to balance the whole body - a proper amount of food: good natural nutrients, minerals and liquids to support the effort
- good sleep routine
- a balanced life without much stress

 

On paper the list above is a short and quite easy one. In practice the list has many hidden "under categories" that pop up when least expected usually causing massive damage/severe trauma or simply chaos in our complicated life scheme.
I guess that a proper balance is unique to each and every individual. You simply need to find what works best for you and take it from there and apply tiny changes if and when possible in order to gain some improvement. Changes can be done but the results will come in time. There are no "quick fixes" in this sport... or any sport I guess.

 

Anyhow, I wish you a awesome 2023 and I hope that it brings you many blessings. Be stronger and better! See you all in 2023! 🤙😍

 

Happy New 2023!!! 🍾🥂🎉😘

 

Kind Regards,
Aramis