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Sam Gyde competed in his seventh Kona Ironman this year and has won his age group three times. On Saturday he finished a solid third in his M40-44 age group. The 41-year-old Belgian says getting to Kona is all about having the right perspective. Sam Gyde had no background in endurance sports before he started triathlon when he was 27. Until then, he couldn’t even swim. He completed his first Ironman in 2007, at age 32. Since, he has competed all over the world, and won his age group at the Ironman World Championships in Kona, Hawaii three times. This year, he achieved his fastest time ever (08h42m) at the Ironman Austria-Karnten. After competing at Kona seven times, he’s well qualified to explain how to get there. He says if you have “endurance genes” it’s fully possible for busy people with families and jobs to qualify. But you have to play it smart. Image by sportograf.com Slow and steady Long distance triathlon is something you should build slowly. It’s important you build a very solid base and capitalise on that. It's really important to listen to your body, to track your data, to have a good coach who can be objective about your training. You could get to Kona in your first year of training, but I think in the long term it’s better to build slowly and progressively. It will help you to keep enjoying the sport. Strength at home The training required to qualify is intense, especially if you have to balance it with family and work. Having a balance in life and getting support from the people around you is important. You have to find mutual goals with your family; if all the sacrifices come from one side only, then it doesn’t work so well. Don’t overdo it My personal belief is many people overdo their training. You don’t need to train more than 20 hours a week. If you have a well-balanced training programme of around 15 hours a week, with some peak weeks, it’s enough. Volume is important, but don’t obsess about it. The right focus with the right intensity is much more important. Focus on the right disciplines Spend time on training whatever discipline will give the most gains. Sometimes it really pays off to focus on the things you don’t like. And some things are time consuming and offer little gains. For example, I’m a weak swimmer and it takes lots of time to go to a swimming pool. You have to ask whether investing all of that time is worth it. These are decisions to be smart about. Work with a coach It’s important to have a coach who can look at things from a distance. If you’re slacking or if something happens in life and disrupts your training, a coach will stop you from panicking, and will find a work around. If things are going really well, and you have plenty of time to train, a coach will help you to hold back to avoid going into overdrive. Go with your strengths To choose a race to qualify at, follow your strengths. If you know you’ll lose a lot of time swimming in choppy, open water, then don’t choose a race with an ocean swim. If you’re a strong biker, go for a more challenging bike race. If you cope well with the heat, then choose a race that matches. Focus on your own strengths. Image by finisherpix.com Pick the right race The number of qualifying slots of a race is proportionate to the number of starters. There are some races with a lot more slots than others. There are races with a very limited number of slots that are very competitive. In the US, qualifying is usually less competitive than Europe. And races early in the year are usually less competitive, but it means you have to train during winter. Qualifying is harder for some For some people, and some age groups, it’s very hard to qualify. It’s especially difficult for women to qualify since there are less women competing in Ironman races. Usually that means there’s only one slot available for each age group. With some male age groups there are a lot of slots. If you finish second, third or fourth, you often still qualify. Whereas, as a woman, even if you come second, you won’t. Don’t be fooled People look at the history of qualifications to find out what the times were for a race in the previous years, but a race with a slow qualification time this year might have a very fast qualification time next year. The best bet is to look at your own strengths and weaknesses and select a race accordingly. Focus on one race For ordinary working people, it’s hard to combine different races in one year with normal job and family commitments. If you find yourself in this category, the best bet is to work on your base and focus on one peak qualification race. If it works out, great, if it doesn’t, try again next year. In my first two Ironman races I failed to qualify by 30 seconds. Click here for more information about how to qualify for the Kona Ironman. Main image by finisherpix.com READ MORE Talking training with sub-8h Ironman Patrik Nilsson Patrik Nilsson – Training for the love of it

Bo Lenander has been inventing and exploring all his life. At the age of 70, Bosse joins the divers of the Bjurälven 2016 expedition and travels to the Polar circle with his gadgets. As the divers start their underwater journey in the 2-kilometer cave, Bosse tracks their movement with the equipment he has designed for the expedition.   In 1979, Bo “Bosse” Lenander was hiking in the Bjurälven natural reserve. He was enjoying the northern Swedish landscape with its lush green beauty of the summer, making his way along the river running through the limestone valley. Bosse arrived at the river source. Being a curious individual, he was soon in the water, freediving to the bottom of the pool. There he found a 10-centimeters wide opening, water flowing through it. There was a cave behind. The Swedish word 'dolin' describes a formation where erosion causes the ground to collapse into a water-filled cave. The cave in Bjurälven Valley originates in the lake Bosse dived, Dolinsjön (Dolin lake), and was therefore given the name Dolinsjö cave. For many years, Bosse's discovery stayed as a footnote to the Swedish cave exploration. Attempts were made to enter the cave, but the hard flow denied access during the summer months, hurling water out at tremendous speeds up to 20 knots. Exploring the cave in winter In 2007, a group of Swedish cave divers decided to make an attempt during the low-flow winter season, even that it meant hauling gear through the deep snow and making a hole in the meter-thick ice. On the other hand, the snow would protect the fragile nature reserve from being damaged by the expedition. The idea proved right. After transporting the gear through the snow filled valleys and forests, divers managed to dig their way in and map 50 meters of the underwater passage. The cave kept going. So the divers returned every winter, to add a few meters of line and discover what's behind the next corner. Signal seeker joins Expedition Bjurälven In 2011, the expedition team invited Bosse to join. A glimmering blanket of snow covered the Bjurälven Valley when he arrived on-site. This time, he decided, there would be no freediving for him. But Bosse had another idea. As he was an active radiolocation hobbyist, he had built a device that could detect magnetic pulses from underground. These, he figured, could be used to pinpoint the exact location of the divers and features of the cave. This may all sound like an easy task until you consider that the cave is surrounded by a thick sheet of marble and layer of gravel originating from the ice age, blocking most signals from passing. Bosse's concept proved to be working and is now used by the expedition to record exact locations of the cave formations. 244 hours of diving in a week The cave was re-mapped during the 2016 expedition. A new generation of precision equipment had become available, and a new map of the cave was soon created, including a full 3-D rendering. Suunto EON Steel compasses were the tool of choice for the underwater mapping. Also, fixed points were placed inside the cave and located on the surface using radiolocation and advanced satellite positioning. In April 2016, the Expedition Bjurälven team managed to extend the mapped parts of the cave to well over 2 kilometers. They found a massive collapse after sump five, and another sump after that. Longest exploration dives to the end of the line took 7 hours to complete. Divers spent 244 hours in the cave during the expedition week. Today, 37 years since Bosse's discovery, Dolinsjö cave is one of the longest water-filled caves in Sweden. Bosse is still an active member of the expedition team, regardless of his age of 70. Well, you know what they say about rolling stones.

From how to balance his training load to his favourite post-workout meal, Swedish triathlete and Suunto athlete Patrik Nilsson shares his approach to training. At this year’s KMD Copenhagen Ironman, winning 25-year-old professional triathlete Patrik Nilsson achieved the seventh fastest time in the history of Ironman: 07h49m18s. This smashed his best personal time by 20 minutes. Last weekend Patrik was at it again and crossed the line in Ironman Barcelona in another amazing time of 07h55m28s. We caught up with Patrik just before Barcelona and quizzed him on his approach to training. You must have felt amazing at the Copenhagen race? When we reached the mid way point of the bike ride, I started to think about what time I could achieve. I thought for a moment I had been counting wrong or something. I realised if I kept up the pace I could go under eight hours. But then it was even faster! Under 7h50m is amazing. Way faster than I thought possible! You’re working with a new coach, right? Yes, and she’s also my girlfriend. Teresa noticed a lot of things in my training and in my mentality that wasn’t as it should be. To do well in races, you need to have fun. You need to really enjoy it, to say, “I really want to win this”, and that’s what I didn't have before. Has your training changed? I’ve been focusing more on long runs and long bike rides to develop endurance and to push my threshold higher. I’ve been trying to work on my fat percentage to get my weight down and at the same time keep my muscles strong. As I say, one of the biggest changes was around my attitude – to have fun and really enjoy it. How much are you training? I’m training a lot! On a hard training week, usually between 30 to 35 hours. At the moment I’m doing a lot of riding, around 15 to 20 hours a week, and about 100 km of running and the rest swimming and core work. How do you manage your training load? I have a close connection with my coach, which is easy when the coach is your girlfriend! It makes it really easy for her understand how I'm feeling. We use Training Peaks, which makes it easy to see how tired I am, the training stress load and how I’m developing over time. How long do you usually taper for? Tapering is usually for one or one and a half weeks. The day before a race, I do one and a half hours of training. Two days before is just an easy jog or a swim. Three or four days before I do a hard three-hour bike ride. ©KMD Ironman Copenhagen Do you follow any particular nutrition plan? I drink a lot of chocolate milk. Since I’m training a lot, I need the carbohydrates. Chocolate milk makes it easy to get a little more energy. After a hard session I can drink between three to six litres of it. Apart from that, I try to eat healthy. I’m writing down everything I’m eating so I can see how much I’ve got through in a day. What’s your usual recovery plan? In the week following an Ironman I don’t do any running. I know that it’s easy for me to injure my calf if I do. During the week after the race I do an hour or two of easy riding or easy swimming each day. Then one week after the race, it’s back to serious training. I need that week off to recover mentally as well. Images © Carles Iturbe Read more PATRIK NILSSON TRAINS FOR THE LOVE OF IT

At the end of last month, on beautiful late-summer evening in Helsinki we hosted a group of runners to enjoy one of our favourite routes in our hometown. It was our first “Destination Run” and we loved it, and loved meeting all the runners who joined us! Members of the Suunto team – engineers, marketing folks, local runners (some just back from UTMB), and even those who happened to be traveling in the city from overseas (NYC) joined us for some invigorating seaside miles and we shared our passion for running, together. The runners were split in two pace groups to keep the going comfortable for everyone. After the 8 km route, the group soaked up the final, stunning moments of the day, and chatted about running, training, upcoming races and product. It was a great evening and we were thrilled to see so many join! You can find the route we ran as well as our other Helsinki go-to routes here Next stop: London We are continuing our Destination Runs in London on Thursday, September 29th at 7pm local time. The Run will be in Hyde Park and will start near Lancaster Gate beside the Italian fountains. You can sync the route we’ll be running to your Suunto Ambit3, Traverse or Spartan. More details will be shared on the Destination Run's Facebook Event in days to come, so if you are in London, traveling or otherwise, we hope you’ll join us for an invigorating 8 km run! Did you know that you can earn Finnair Plus points by running this summer? 10 million points are available. Learn more at finnair.com/beactive Find must-run routes in Barcelona, Helsinki, London, New York City, Paris and Stockholm & stay tuned for more! Images ©Teemu Maikkola

Kilian Jornet is returning from Mt. Everest without having been able to make a final attempt at the summit. Poor weather conditions during the final stage of the expedition forced him to abandon his climb of the world’s highest mountain via it's North Face. Though it was a difficult decision for Kilian and his team, he is as passionate as ever to continue to seek adventure through his Summits of My Life project.  “During the first few weeks we were acclimatising well and the conditions were good. However, when we were getting ready to prepare the attempt the weather began to change. There were some heavy snow storms and a large accumulation of snow. As a result, although we were in good physical shape, there was a high risk of avalanches and in the absence of good safety conditions it was impossible to climb,” Kilian explained.   In spite of not being able to complete the challenge, Jornet was happy with the experience. “There’s a sense of frustration because we’re well acclimatised and we feel good but it would have exposed us to too much risk. Nevertheless, we’re happy because it’s been a very positive experience in which we’ve learnt a lot. Being alone on Everest is incredible as there was no one else there. Now we’ll go home to recover and plan the future. I think that if we come back there are some things we would change but it’s been a great experience and a good lesson for next time.” So, having spent three weeks at base camp on the North Face of Everest (6,000m) acclimatising and preparing for the challenge of climbing the world’s highest mountain, Jornet and the Summits of My Life team postponed the the Everest challenge until a later date. With this challenge, Kilian Jornet intended to complete the Summits of My Life project in which since 2012 he has broken records for the ascent and descent of mountains around the world.    READ MORE KILIAN JORNET’S GAME PLAN FOR SPEED ASCENT OF EVEREST THIS IS HOW KILIAN PREPARES FOR EVEREST Main Everest image: © Daniel Prudek/Shutterstock.com

The GORE-TEX Transalpine Run across the Alps demands just as much mental toughness as endurance. For those who have what it takes, an unforgettable adventure awaits. Suunto-supported trail runner Philipp Reiter has competed in and photographed the GORE-TEX Transalpine Run four times, including the 2016 edition that finished in September. He and teammate Iker Karrera won the 2012 edition. The seven-stage, 247.2 km race was the 12th edition and followed a new route. It included 14,862 m of vertical ascent, rocky trail and a glacier crossing. All participants must compete in a two-person team. Due to injury Philipp couldn’t compete this year, but he was there to photograph its beauty and intensity. He tells us all about it below. Stage one: Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany to Lermoos, Austria Distance: 36.7 kmVertical ascent: 2088 mVertical ascent: 1791 mHighest point: 1634 m Experiencing the cultures of the Alps is part of the fun. © Philipp Reiter I’ve seen the same thing every year; some of the top teams start too fast and push too hard and bomb out because one team member becomes exhausted. It’s important to remember there are six more days after the mountain run on the first day. It’s best to hold back. Stage two: Lermoos, Austria to Imst, Austria Distance: 33.8 kmVertical ascent: 2009 mVertical descent: 2237 mHighest point: 1742 m © Philipp Reiter A lot of teams from north Germany, the Netherlands and Denmark compete. Maybe they’re good runners, but they underestimate the terrain – the rocky trail and the ascent. They don’t move fast enough to meet the cut off times of each stage. It’s more like a speed hiking race than a running race. You have to train your muscles to climb day after day. Stage three: Imst, Austria to Mandarfen-Pitztal, Austria Distance: 47.9 kmVertical ascent: 3037 mVertical descent: 2144 mHighest point: 2292 m © Philipp Reiter[To properly prepare] you have to get your body used to doing endurance workouts many days in a row. Usually people work so they only have the weekend. But you need to try to do long sessions six or seven days in a row. Your body has to know what that feels like. Stage four: Mandarfen-Pitztal, Austria to Sölden, Austria Distance: 25.7 kmVertical ascent: 1887 mVertical descent: 2214 mHighest point: 2982 m This year's race included a glacier crossing. © Philipp Reiter [My mental strategy] is to cut the course into smaller pieces and objectives. For example, I focus on going from food station to food station or from stretch to stretch, climb to climb. Getting to that next location becomes the only goal. Stage five: Sölden, Austria to St. Leonhard in Passeier, Italy Distance: 33.3 kmVertical ascent: 1453 mVertical descent: 2111 mHighest point: 2492 m © Philipp Reiter Everyone goes through ups and downs. If you and your race partner get along well then he or she motivates you and the other way around. Usually one is up and the other is down and you can help to pull each other along. If you work together you can equalise the weaknesses of each other. Stage six: St. Leonhard in Passeier, Italy to Sarnthein, Italy Distance: 33.6 kmVertical ascent: 2440 mVertical descent: 2153 mHighest point: 2683 m © Philipp Reiter This year a lot of people struggled during stage six. The mood was at a really low level, with a lot of tired faces. One team took a taxi and went home. Stage seven: Sarnthein, Italy to Brixen, Italy Distance: 36.4 kmVertical ascent: 1934 mVertical descent: 2348 mHighest point: 2440 m © Philipp Reiter I enjoy this race because for the seven days you live in your own little world, with hardly any influence or contact with the outside world. You can switch off and focus on this one simple undertaking.