Post-race: Kullamannen ultra

The morning after the Kullamannen and I feel surprisingly fresh in my legs, so hopefully I'll be back in training tomorrow. My only real niggle is an inflamed ITB in my right knee, but ice and strapping seem to be doing the trick! 

The early stages of the ultra - Photo credit: Kullamannen

The Kullamannen was quite an eye opener, as the event traversed all sorts of terrain, covering forest trails, sandy beaches, and near-vertical rocky sections, with a constant sequence of steep climbs and descents in the latter half of the race. I don't think I've ever done an event like this before!! Whilst I know the idea of running so far must seem crazy to most, for me it's a great opportunity to be alone with my thoughts, sorting through ideas and plans, as well as finding ways to push myself harder and further than before. All very character building... for me at least :-)


Aside from the obvious value of preparatory races for the IronMan later this summer, I'm also using these to build publicity for the fund-raising campaign. The short promotional film we shot last week is now live: www.youtube.com/watch?v=gveDhOIKycg and a press release has been distributed to some of the local media outlets. In the coming weeks we'll also make contact with potential industry donors, who we're hoping will see the merits of the campaign and feel it's a worthy thing to support. Never having done something like this before, I have no idea how this process will unfold, so I'm faithfully following the advice of the media people at Lund University!

56 km later - at the finish with two of my biggest supporters :-)

More travel coming up this week, with a quick trip to the north of Sweden to discuss progress on one of our largest population genetics projects based out of Umeå University, where I hold a part-time appointment. 
 

Pre-race: Kullamannen Ultra

It's a little after 7am and I've been awake for a couple of hours. Two hours from now I'll be standing on the start-line for the Kullamannen Ultra-marathon, which takes in the beautiful Kullan peninsula, a spit of land that juts out into the North Sea and marks the start of the Øresund shipping lane between Sweden and Denmark. The 56 km (34 mile) trail run starts with 27 km on the flat, but then soaks up 1250 m elevation during the last 29 km. My last ultra-marathon was almost a decade ago, when I ran rim-to-rim-to-rim at the Grand Canyon in Arizona (~80 km, with 3,000 m elevation). Whilst today's event is in relative terms a 'short-ultra', I must admit I'm feeling a wee bit nervous. Back in a few hours with my 'post-race' report!

And now on the start line

!

Chain-ganging

105 km!! That's how far my ride to work was this morning. I woke-up at 4.45 am with the sun streaming through the cracks in the curtains whilst the birds outside were proclaiming the wonders of another beautiful spring day in Skåne.  Unlike the birds, I didn't feel the least bit chirpy, having stayed up way too late last night!! Ignoring my desire to crawl back under the covers, I stumbled downstairs, crammed a bowl of oatmeal and a cup of tea down my throat and was out on the road 20 minutes later, still feeling zombified. 

Uncharacteristically for this part of the world, there was no wind this morning; and as I headed out of the village the sun was beaming through patches of fog rising up from the damp farmland and the air went from warm to cool and back again as the road dipped up and down. I'd arranged to meet a cycling buddy 10 km away, so I put my head down and cranked hard. It felt great to be out on my competition bike - an obscenely expensive, but very beautiful work of art made by Cervelo, which feels like a Ferrari on PEDs to ride!!

As with all the 'first rides of the season' I've ever done, I felt a little trepidation as I set out, not knowing how well the next 100 km would go, but luckily for me my legs and lungs were on great form today. So after picking up my buddy Ferenc in town, we chain-ganged (a biker's word describing the technique where two or more riders take their turn on the front of the group, rotating every few hundred meters, whilst the other rider sits in the slipstream behind) the next 60 km until we parted company north of Lund, with Ferenc heading off to his office and me carrying on to Malmö. The final 30 km went quickly and I arrived at work a little less than 3 hrs after leaving home, and 2 minutes late for my first meeting of the day (which I attended in my sweaty bike gear!). 

I run one of the largest research Units at Lund University Diabetes Center in Malmö, with 20 or so members. Monday's are usually the day when we meet to discuss the tasks for the week ahead. We have what we call the "board meeting" on Monday mornings, during which everyone present takes a few minutes to update the rest of the team on progress with projects, what's going well, what's not, and sharing ideas and solutions. The team's comprised of a remarkably multi-ethnic bunch, with 13 nationalities represented, and with roughly equal numbers of men and women. I have no hesitation in saying that my team is excellent. I'm an incredibly lucky person to have such talented, motivated and well-intentioned people working alongside me, which underlies the team's ability to produce a large volume of high-caliber diabetes research. 

Like almost all other academic research enterprises, my Unit's supported primarily by funds from either government-backed agencies such as the Swedish Research Council or the European Union, or charities such as the Swedish Diabetes Association. Some of our funding also comes directly or indirectly from pharmaceutical companies such as Novo Nordisk, which is probably the biggest fiscal donor for diabetes research in the region and has supported much of my research since I moved to Sweden in 2006. Because so much of our funding is derived from charities and from public taxes, spending our funding responsibly and ensuring that the research we do is of the highest standards is always front and center in our minds. So aside from the personal satisfaction of working with a great team, having very competent and hard working people working with me helps me ensure we do the best we can with the funding we're given.

Mid-afternoon I had a meeting scheduled with the media people from my Institute who're helping me with this fund raising campaign. Sara and Tord showed up with a film camera and microphone in hand, just as I was wrapping up a meeting with one of my doctoral students Dmitry. Never one to let an opportunity to crack a joke at my expense pass, Dmitry pounced on the opportunity to poke fun at the idea I'd be the star of a short promotional film about the campaign, highlighting that the camera was far too small to do my ego justice... how I love these guys... grrr!! If only we'd done this a few weeks earlier I thought, I would have been the talk of Cannes ;-) More to follow.

Back in the saddle

The sore throat I had during the marathon deteriorated into a full blown cold last week. It's 6 months now since I took more than 3 days off running and I'd planned to have just one day off after the marathon last weekend (it was only ever meant to be a training race), but after running 9km on Tuesday, I realized I needed a few days to recover. Taking time off is always difficult for competitive athletes, but if there's one thing I've learned with age, it's that a few days rest can save being knocked out for a few weeks. So rest I did until yesterday, when I headed out for a 'steady' 22km run. 

At the turnaround point during yesterday's run.
The 254m high Kullen peninsular just visible in the background

The past week had two key work objectives; the first was to finalize and submit a funding application to the Heart Lung Foundation. The Foundation is one of the largest Swedish funders of cardiovascular and cerebovascular research. Together, these diseases kill roughly two thirds of men and women in Sweden and abroad; although the diseases are being treated better than ever before, because most Western societies are living longer, more and more people develop cardiovascular disease and eventually die from it. The Heart Lung Foundation works hard and plays an incredibly important role in Sweden to help fight these devistating diseases. They also provide patient education and advocacy. I've been lucky enough to be funded over successive years by the Foundation, which has supported all of my key research on the genetics of cardiovascular disease. So as each grant cycle draws to an end, I make a big effort to ensure my next funding application is highly competitive. 

Our application this year focuses on studying genetic and lifestyle determinants of long term deteriorations in blood pressure and blood lipid concentrations. Fortunately we've just had a major paper accepted for publication outlining our most recent research on lipid genetics in one of he top genetics journals (PLOS Genetics), and we've had several other major papers published in the past few months, which all help support the new application for funding. 

The second key task last week was to attend the Swedish Research Council's information day for grant reviewers. For the past two years I've been invited to sit on one of the panels that evaluate research funding applications for government money from Swedish medical scientists. So on Thursday I headed up to Stockholm to meet with other members of the evaluation panels to discuss how the process would be run this year. It's a ton of work reviewing grant applications (something that will take most of the summer), but it's also an important aspect of my work, as any well structured research funding mechanism requires rigorous peer review.

So back to the run yesterday. Having felt rough all week, I needed to test my legs and lungs to see if I'd been able to shake the bug. It was great running weather so I headed out on my seafront trail route into a slight head wind. I usually hold a 3hr marathon pace on my long runs (4.15 mins/km), but because I've been sick I focused more on settling into a comfortable pace, regardless of how fast or slow it might be, and not coughing and spluttering too much. At 11 km I got to the turn around point on 4.16 min/km pace, and with the wind behind me on my way back I cruised through half marathon distance bang on 1hr 28 mins (4.11 min/km pace), without feeling too worse for wear. A relief, given that it's now just over 5 days until my next event, the 54 km ultra marathon on Kullen!! I also got back in the water today after nearly 4 months off swimming. We live close to the sea and it's now just about warm enough to train. So I knocked out 1500 m before dinner. Tomorrow I'll get up early for one of my first bike sessions this spring, a 96 km ride from home down to the diabetes center at Skåne University Hosptial in Malmö, where I work.

Copenhagen marathon - Sunday 18th May

I've been laying down a lot of running miles since returning to Sweden in January, clocking up 80-110km each week, with one long run each weekend of 30-40km. May was a busy work month with trips to Cambridge (UK), Reykjavik (Iceland), Washington D.C., and Frankfurt (Germany), so I've had to fit training in around travel, which means doing a lot of running in the dark! 

Out running along the bay in Reykjavik (May 2014)

It's more than 10 years since I raced a marathon (one that wasn't part of an Ironman or just for training that is), so I decided to enter the Copenhagen marathon last Sunday. The race covers much the same route as the IronMan event later this year and the Danes have a great reputation for organizing great events and supporting them with thousands of supporters. True to form, the Copenhagen marathon was a fantastic event!!!

I arrived home from Germany last Thursday to a house full of sick kids, so I did may best to help Camilla take care of them without picking up a bug myself! My plan had been to stay in Copenhagen the night before the race, but instead I decided to sleep at home Saturday night and drive down early Sunday morning. At 5am I hopped out of bed with a bit of a sore throat (which I ignored), ate breakfast and jumped in the car, arriving in Copenhagen at 8am. 

The Copenhagen marathon is a medium-sized event as big-city marathons go, with about 12,000 entrants. It starts on the waterfront close to the city center and winds around the city for 42.2km, with crowds lining most of the streets in their thousands. We stood bunched tightly together 50m from the start line, with the smell of Deep Heat muscle rub hanging in the air, and athletes jostling from one foot to the other in nervous anticipation of what was about to come. Then the gun fired and we were off. 

I raced the London Marathon back in 1997 and set my best time ever of 3hrs 02mins. 17 years later, and my goal was to better this and dip under the illusive 3hr barrier - call it an age-neutral attitude if you will ;-). My race started well and I soon slotted into a comfortable pace, on track for a 2hr 55min marathon. My throat was still sore, but kept my fingers crossed it wouldn't affect my performance. At half-way I was well inside 3hr marathon pace, but things were getting tougher. I focused on staying on pace until 32km with the hope I could hang in their for the last 10km. At 32km, I was still running just under 3hr marathon pace, but the writing was on the wall; my legs were tiring and the last 10km proved a struggle. With 5km to go I knew it wasn't going to be my day, so I decided to save my legs and cruise in for a 3hr 07mins marathon. Not exactly what I'd hoped for, but good preparation for my next event on May 31st, the Kullamannen Ultra marathon, a 54km hilly trail race on the Kullen peninsula!!   

 

Preparing for IronMan Copenhagen 2014... day 1 and I'm on a tropical island!!

The lagoon at Escambron, San Juan (Jan 2014).
Photo credit: C Franks ©

Training started just before Christmas in Puerto Rico, a small tropical island in the Caribbean, located about 700km north of Venezuela and 1500km south of Florida. I help run a clinical trial called PEARLS in San Juan, the capital city of Puerto Rico, that's designed to help overweight and obese pregnant women maintain healthy body weight during pregnancy, with the hope that this will be good for their health and the growth and development of their unborn children. The clinical trial is designed to test this idea.

Despite being a US jurisdiction and feeling very much like America in many ways, Puerto Rico has enormous health disparities. Infant mortality, pregnancy diabetes, adult (type 2) diabetes, and cardiovascular disease are all very common. Because these outcomes are often made worse by unhealthful lifestyle choices, there is a real opportunity to intervene and improve health in Puerto Rican women. So we've been hugely motivated to work with this population over the past three years and we really feel we can make a difference.

My role on the PEARLS Study is as a co-principal investigator (the person responsible for making sure the study runs according to plan) along with my colleague (and co-principal investigator) at the University of Puerto Rico, Dr. Kaumudi Joshipura. The study is part of a new initiative organised by the US government (National Institutes of Health) to conduct several clinical trials of this kind throughout North America. Whilst Dr. Joshipura is the driving force behind the PEARLS Study, my presence in Puerto Rico working alongside her and the rest of the PEARLS team has been an important part of my role in PEARLS. So, every few months for the past three years, I've traveled out to San Juan to work at the field center and to Washington D.C. to meet with the senior investigators from the other North American centers. 

My work on Puerto Rico and elsewhere around the globe means I travel a lot. I hate being apart from my wife and kids for more than a few days, so on my latest trip to Puerto Rico we decided to head there together. Logistically it was challenging, arranging home-schooling for the kids and finding a place to stay, but the trip turned out to be a great life experience for the whole family. When I went to work, and the kids had finished home school, they hit the beach, the museums, and the parks!! What a life!!

Puerto Rico has a wonderful tropical climate that stays fairly constant year round. It also has an excellent triathlon club called TriSpot! So at 4am, 6 days a week, my wife and I dragged ourselves out of bed and headed down to the Olympic standard pool at Parc Central, the lagoon at Escambron (see photo above), or the running track to train with the local triathletes. Training sessions typically comprised 100km of biking at the weekend, 5km of swimming Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, and 10-15km of running on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Once training was done, a quick shower, breakfast and I headed down to University Hospital to start work by 8am!! A tough routine, but by the time we returned to Sweden in early 2014, Camilla and I were at the peak of fitness and ready to get stuck into stage 2 of our IronMan training programs :-)   

Why do an IronMan triathlon?

Me and my son Hunter (Photo credit: K Joshipura)

I used to do a lot of triathlons and other ultra-endurance events but when we had kids I stopped. My wife decided to take up Ironman a couple of years ago and has quickly become very good (she was on the Swedish women’s team last year, finishing 9th at the world championships in her age-group and placing top 10 at a couple of other major international ironman events). I felt very inspired by this and thought I’d also start racing Ironman again, so I’ve done a few half and full Ironman events in the past couple of years.

I primarily study gene-environment interactions in type 2 diabetes, obesity and CVD. I also study early life risk factors for type 2 diabetes, obesity and CVD (from a genetic and lifestyle perspective). Therefor I wanted to take the opportunity to raise money for diabetes research with this campaign.

More about my research at Lund University Diabetes Centre