New Adventures – Swedish Classic Circuit

It is a new year and I have spent a lot of time the last few months figuring out what my new adventures will be. The list of what I want to do is just growing. I have the possibility to join several friends all over the world to free dive, summit mountains, or just meet up after a long time without seeing each other in real life. The problem is that it’s impossible to do all at once. I don’t have the money for it and I don’t have enough vacation days to cover everything at once. The question then is, what should I start with?

At the moment I work full time at Qlik, as a software developer. This week I also started with a Personal Trainer online, called Andreas Linden(a well known triathlete), who will help me put up a training plan to prepare for the upcoming competitions I’ve signed up for. He will also help we with my diet so that I get enough energy to maximize my performance. The training scheme starts on Monday and I’m super excited! By having regular contact several days a week I think I will learn a lot about nutrition and health in relation to performance, but also in general. I’m looking forward to actually apply that knowledge onto myself, to see the difference when you supply your body with the energy and nutrients that it needs. He will help me at least three months and then I’ve said I will take an active decision to continue or not. The competitions I will attend are the ones included in a Swedish Classic Circuit. In June I will start with a 300 km bike race(Vätternrundan), in July I will swim 3 km in open water(Vansbrosimmet), in September I will run 30 km in terrain(Lidingöloppet) and finally in late February 2018 I will finish with skiing 90 km(Vasaloppet). All competitions must be finished within 12 months to receive the diploma. I felt I wanted to take help preparing for these challenges to minimize the risk of injuries, to prepare myself in the best possible way and to push and see how far I can get. Therefore I’ve decided that this year, my main focus will be these competitions.

On top of that I will of course continue with my yoga/meditation, free diving and climbing. I think I need to postpone the mountaineering until next year, maybe it’s possible to climb both Mt Elbrus and Aconcagua, having them as my main goal that year? We will just have to wait and see 🙂

Another 10 Days in Silence

Last week I booked a silent meditation retreat in January next year. The retreat is 10 days long and in complete silence. In comparison to the one I was in South Africa earlier this year, this one is much stricter and harder. The sessions are longer, one to two and a half hours each. The days are longer, for instance now we will start our days at 4 am each morning and begin directly with two hours of  meditation. There will be no mantras and we are not allowed to communicate at all with other attendees, not verbally or in writing or similar independently of the reason. On top of that we are not allowed to either write, read, exercise(incl. yoga) or similar during these days. We can go for a shorter walk though during our free time but not more than that. Each day we have the possibility to talk individually with the teachers if we have any problems with the meditation.

I’m very excited to attend another retreat. Every time I’ve felt a bit lost, stressed, absentminded or careless the last year I’ve urged for sitting on my mat meditating. I’ve urged for trying to understand my emotions and why I act the way I do and to be humble. The most emotional, and also the most rewarding, times during the retreat in SA were all when I accepted myself in terms of letting my guard down to be able to see and feel what I actually felt. To actually listen to myself which I’ve barely done before, so that aspect was very new to me. The timing for the retreat couldn’t have been better, it was about two months after a very though separation and I had many thoughts and worries on my mind. The nine days gave me time to really process what have happened and to be okay with that.

You can read more about the retreat I attended in SA here.

My Time in Dahab is Coming to an End

There are only ten days left until I sit on the plane back to Sweden. I have mixed feelings about going back home because I don’t feel I’m finished here yet. It’s similar to how I felt last time I left Dahab, that I just discovered the sport and how much I like it. I’ve been here for over two months now and I’ve just scratched the surface, literally. The two months are not enough for me to develop as much as I would like to, I would have needed a few more months to see how far I can get. At the same time it’s easy to say that. That one would have needed more time. When you’re having a good time you don’t want it to come to an end. I do realize that and I can for sure see many good things about going back home as well, for which I look forward to. However, I am sure about that I want to and will continue with the sport. I’ve looked things up and there is an advanced group training freediving in Malmö that I will hopefully join this autumn. Unfortunately I won’t be able to train any deep diving, the focus will be on other disciplines that you could practice in the pool. I’m certain though, that I will benefit a lot by the pool training.

I try to make the most out of the days that are left. Today we went to Ras Mohammed and the day after tomorrow there will be a desert dinner with all the new people at the dive center. I’m enjoying all the training and the amazing dinners(and some wine from time to time) with Martin and Peter. I’ll miss these guys when I get back home, I’ve really appreciated having them here.

Back to Egypt in two weeks

Today is 8 days left at work(including the weekend) and only 13 days until I leave Sweden to go back to Dahab. I will stay until mid of August and the upcoming months will be filled with training sessions in the water along with meditation, yoga and much more. I’m so eager to come back and to actually spend some time training where I don’t need to feel stressed about that I only have a week or so to train. It is okey if I happen to get ill, I can concentrate on getting better and then focus on training. It all feel a bit unreal but at the same time so good. I’m incredibly happy  to be able to go back there.

I’ve been home for almost three months now and I have worked alot during this period. Except for all the work I’ve still mananged to do quite alot of other things as well. I’ve started climbing on a regular basis, looked up where I can continue freediving when I get back after the summer, being outdoors alot, trained bikram yoga for a week(it was my first try and I loved it), got an apartment to move in to after the summer, got a job offer(which I accepted), met my friends alot, meditated and started to plan my future adventures and all the sports I want to start with.

It takes time changing your daily routine and to find out how you want to live your life right now. These months back home have been important in a sense to really feel the changes I want to make and to start making those changes. Right now I feel I’ve come a long way on that path but I don’t think there is a final destination to reach. I think that the idea is to be happy about the life you live and try to do the most of it, try to create a daily life in which you are happy and satisfied. Having ups and downs is all a part of it, it’s not possible to just choose the latter, but it is possible to change how to look at things and how you work with yourself and that is what I’m trying to do.

Lugn dag

De senaste dagarna här på Amphitheatre Backpackers har varit fyllda med både vandring, dagstur till Lesotho, övernattning i grotta, bouldering, jacuzzibad och trevligt umgänge med andra backpackers. Jag håller på att gå igenom bilderna från de senaste dagarna och förbereda inlägg som kommer läggas ut idag eller imorgon.

Dagen började otroligt bra då jag gick upp strax innan sex för en halvtimmes springtur följt av meditation, yoga och en lång frukost. Ända sedan jag kom hit den 14e har jag försökt få till en dag med klippklättring. Men det har tyvärr varit svårt. Jag hittade inte personer(man var tvungen att vara minst tre personer för att det skulle bli av) som hade en dag ledig för aktiviteten. En annan möjlighet dök upp efter att ha pratat med Lee(en av killarna som jobbar här) som tydligen har klättrat sedan många år tillbaka och som även skulle ha varit guiden på aktiviteten. Han åker nämligen ut och klättrar när han har tid och inte jobbar(vilket tyvärr dock inte är så ofta, han jobbar ständigt och jämt) för att klättra och han nämnde att jag kunde följa med om jag ville. Tyvärr var det dåligt väder eller för mycket jobb som Lee var tvungen att fixa(så han kunde inte ta ledigt), som satte käppar i hjulet för denna möjlighet. Imorgon åker jag vidare mot Durban så jag får helt enkelt skippa klippklättringen denna gång och klättra desto mer på väggen vi har inomhus här i baren istället.

Jag känner mig härligt mör i kroppen efter att ha tränat och rört på mig mycket de senaste dagarna och ser fram emot en lugn dag. Idag har jag inget speciellt planerat mer än att fixa inläggen, planera inför kommande veckor, boka biljett till Durban och även boende den första natten. Jag måste även tänka ut vad för mat(för fem dagar) jag ska ha med mig under Otter Trail och var jag kan lämna av saker jag inte behöver under vandringen. Flyget till Entebbe i början av februari måste jag även se till att boka. Det är skönt att ha en fixardag lite då och då för att få ordning på saker och ting!