Welcome to Sweden!! (...how Loli swam across the Arctic Circle)

Hello everyone…

This blog has been closed for a while; a lot of things had happened since the last time I’ve written in here. Some of those were good ones and other not that good but the most remarkable is that we’ve changed our location. From Vigo we came to Göteborg (Sweden). Here is cold, rainy, windy…well, at the end I don’t see that much difference from where we were before :) and we still being the same swimming club, of course!

This has been a hard winter, long, painful, full of setbacks, recoveries, setbacks again…but now the summer has come and with it, the sun is coming too, in this case the Midnight Sun!

The fact that I’ve moved to another country doesn’t mean that swimming is over, actually is the other way around. Now it’s time to look for new and fresh challenges ;) so taking a look I’ve found…”Swim the Arctic Circle” a couple of months ago. This is an amazing swim in the Torneälv river between Sweden and Finland, crossing the border, the time-zone and the Polar Circle under the Midnight Sun!!  All in the same race! What??? Let’s go then! 

My coach Mr. Joshua Rosillo had prepared some good training sessions for me during the winter so, why not? In the meanwhile, Mr. President Java is wondering where this crazy girl is going to be involved this time with the water temperature not going over 13º.

Two weeks before the race, the water in Sweden doesn’t want to warm up so it’s necessary to try something intermediate in order to acclimatize. After a quick look at the Swedish open water calendar…tadaaa!! “Vansbrosimningen 2015”, this is the swimming part of the “Svensk klassiker” (Swedish classic). It’s supposed to be one of the coldest races in the country, 3000 m  swim with an ending of 1 km up stream. Without thinking too much, in order to avoid the logic to appear here, I register and call Mr. President Java who says: "let’s go! You’re the brave one!" 

So, picked up the car and drove 400km north Göteborg to show those Swedes of what Galicians we’re made of…whitout wetsuit!! Acclimatization to the Arctic is needed!

Cold and kicks between the 15.000 swimmers registered for this race but an excellent organizing and amazing environment (thinking on going back next year). The best surprise was crossing the finish line in less than 1 hour (despite of the upstream and going without wetsuit). Good, good, good! I’m still a swimmer, I was just sleeping :)

Fibromyalgia Awareness Blue Ribbon, not-wetsuit and smile

Back in Göteborg there is not that much time to think because in 3 days the trip to the Arctic begins. Yes, the Polar Circle is in Sweden but this country is more than 2000km long o_O. My tent, the wetsuit, the swimsuit, goggles, earplugs and 18h train until Lulea (200km south of the Polar Circle). There, I decided to do the first contact with the water in the Baltic (12-13ºC) without wetsuit…BAD IDEA!!! One afternoon and one night in the bed and pain in almost all the joints (sometimes I forgot I’ve something called fibromyalgia :( ) Forbidden to swim or even touch the water with such a pain.

Finally Arctic Circle!! Do not trust the sun in the picture...was not warm

Arriving at the Polar Circle the organizers tell me that there is a possibility to shorten the race from 3000m to 1500m because of the cold…Nooooo!!!  With that scenario I decide to register also for the half swim starting at 13:00 next day. It will be then 1500m at 13:00 and 3000m (or 1500m) at 00:00. Two races in the same day? Come on Loli! You don’t swim here every day! Take the chance!

The village where they organize this crazy swim is called Juoksengi (half Swedish, half Finnish), their residents don’t speak English and they are some of the best persons I’ve found in this Open Water Swimming world…not only in Sweden. It’s a magic place, I cannot describe with words how I felt there, 4000km away and it seems I’ve found my home :)

I still having such a pain that the best is try to sleep but…24h of daylight don’t help that much. I get up, go out from my 1000 star hotel and they bring me to the starting point. Organizers ask me to stay inside the car in order not be cold before the swim starts. They measure the temperature of the water: 12,5ºC!!

 This time I have to use the wetsuit...better not to take the risk

Let’s go to the water! This is downstream! A kick in my bad hand in the first 10m, and the legs don’t work in the first 500m, is it because of the cold? Is it the pain? I don’t know and I don’t care that much, they don’t work! That´s the point!. I think: Loli move! MOVE!! Those will be 1500m giving the best I could. The result is a 5^th position just 3:40 behind the first one O_O

Now rest time. At 00:00 Midnight Sun is waiting! The kick in my hand worries me, I’ve a lot of pain which is spreading all the way to the left shoulder (the strong one by the way) but…finally the pain focused just in the hand! A little bit of good luck was needed here. 20:00 and they call us : Let’s move to the Finnish shore.

I’ve been in a lot of buses all these OWS years but they never have had to stop because of a reindeer :)

We are the intruders here...not him 

We arrive at the Finnish shore and they confirm us that the race will NOT be shortened as the water is 16ºC there, in the Swedish shore we’re now at 14ºC so during half of the race we will have a pleasant 16ºC!!

Midnight Sun

So…let’s go! Swedes, Finnish, Australians, Germans and a Spaniard that no one knows well from there she comes but, if she finish, she will be the first Spaniard crossing the Polar Circle swimming in a competition.

I cannot say anything else coherent about this competition…just one word: AMAZING. Swimming at midnight but plenty of light, calm water, incredible clean and in the north of the world! How the hell I ended up here? 3000m of pleasure. When I see the finish line I would start again.

We’ve made it! We’ve gone to the Polar Circle, we’ve swum two races in one day in an incredible place, clean, lonely, amazing people, amazing swimmers and of course the Midnight Sun!!

Fibromyalgia Awareness Blue Ribbon and #IMHEART team bracelet

I wanted to end this re-open of the site saying thank you to all the ones helping me, because I never swim alone!

Thanks to the #IMHEART team for all the support and the work you do for the fibromyalgia awareness.

Thanks to Mr. Joshua Rosillo because without his training I’d never make it.

Thanks to Mr. President Java because he's always on my side, supporting me even when I know that he is worried about my health.

Thanks to my swimming team, CN. Alcobendas, because you keep on training me not only to swim but to reach dreams.

Kisses and hugs to everyone (Puss och kram!!)

See you all in the water!