tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12416201164638414502024-03-05T07:39:19.785+00:00Riina KuuseloOrienteerUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger103125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1241620116463841450.post-68159299398326532052017-09-27T12:49:00.000+01:002017-09-27T12:49:54.246+01:00Berlin marathon<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I personally prefer trail runs over road runs but when it
comes to marathons Berlin is special. And it was great to be part of it,
especially this year when three of the world’s best marathon runners challenged
each other in attempt to break the world record. Kipchoge came close, probably
as close as one can get on a rainy day, but Dennis Kimetto’s world record time
from 2014 still holds. Surely there will be new attempts.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">There’s always hype around big city marathons but in Berlin
it gets into another level. It’s a city with deep history and a lot to see, but
yet, on the fourth weekend of September there were only two things: Berlin
marathon and parliamentary election. And definitively in that order. Despite
huge Angela Merkel posters staring at you in every corner, marathon took over
the elections in the street view. Runners were everywhere and the atmosphere
was electric. It was very difficult not to get overexcited. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Before I go to the race I must mention that it was a big
moment for me when I ran my first half marathon in Birmingham in 2011 and got
to run it together with Haile Gebrselassie (okay maybe not really together with
him but at least in the same event). Now, six years later, I got to stand on
the start line with Kenenisa Bekele, Eliud Kipchoge, and Wilson Kipsang, and of
course 43 852 other runners. What can I say? Definitively the strongest start
field I’ve been part of even if Simone Niggli and Minna Kauppi were not along.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Ok, to the race then… It’s a great race and a fast course.
Of course the rain made it a bit more challenging, but personally I prefer +13C
and rain instead of +25C and sunshine when it comes to racing. I didn’t mind
the rain; it was water on the road that was mildly disturbing. But still, the
external conditions were excellent. It’s a flat course that passes many of Berlin’s
famous landmarks. There were also all sorts of music and entertainment along
the way and we got to enjoy cheering of hundreds of thousands of spectators. I
have no words to describe the atmosphere. Right after the start, when I was
eagerly observing everything, we passed the huge Victory column and a bit later came Bundeskanzleramt and the Parliament house. Then the route went
around Spandauer Vorstadt before coming back to the south side of the river
Spree. A few kilometers after half way we passed Schöneberg City Hall but I was
already in trouble and more or less focused on myself. Kilometers from 25 to 35
went in a blur and all I could think of was quitting. The partially ruined
Gedächtniskirche at 35k I couldn’t pass without notice. I was in great agony at
that point but knew that there wasn’t much left. Next we passed the National
gallery and the Philharmonie but all I was waiting for was the Brandenburg
Gate, the gate that used to separate east from west before the fall of the wall.
It’s a massive landmark that waited for us just before the finish line. When I finally
saw the gate I knew I had made it.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">My race was very good up to half way and went according to
plan quite effortlessly until my stomach suddenly let me down. Everything had
been perfectly well but after two gels my stomach got so upset that I could
barely continue. It’s something that has been bothering me for some time and
got slightly worse recently but still it was hard to accept that my race was
over so early. I can handle pain and small niggles but bad stomach is something
that takes over and there was nothing I could do except slow down and jog home.
I was totally helpless in my battle and lost over 10min to myself on the second
half but at least I managed to finish. Thinking back now it was kind of
achievement per se and I most certainly worked on my guts (ha-ha!) and
persistence! After all, marathon running is so cruel that you have to try to find
something positive in your run each time to keep going.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Watch the highlights of the event </span><a href="https://vimeo.com/235350741" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;" target="_blank">here</a></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBmv2Berr4_JI5OxjqsQ7fqKPEhN9W6Tq8foVYfZ131JKZMAq5y1au_iy89lhCfEVCyG-L16OZwX6W89eYC_noebzvKnKF26wAEjDrlBiLjabi2B-By6KCg6rCVkAWWtGazJ6cUP0kVyCL/s1600/IMG_6548.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="960" data-original-width="1280" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBmv2Berr4_JI5OxjqsQ7fqKPEhN9W6Tq8foVYfZ131JKZMAq5y1au_iy89lhCfEVCyG-L16OZwX6W89eYC_noebzvKnKF26wAEjDrlBiLjabi2B-By6KCg6rCVkAWWtGazJ6cUP0kVyCL/s320/IMG_6548.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Made it!</span></td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-9F3wZwu4km0/WcteFjycIOI/AAAAAAAAIAs/VINJmuXMTRcXjpQG5No04iwX3oPlhwAHgCEwYBhgL/s1600/IMG_6538.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="320" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-9F3wZwu4km0/WcteFjycIOI/AAAAAAAAIAs/VINJmuXMTRcXjpQG5No04iwX3oPlhwAHgCEwYBhgL/s320/IMG_6538.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Victory column</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-9h_7YYgUjJI/WcteGmEaTyI/AAAAAAAAIA4/gf7No3Q97XwezqamnhiHsvZZgumhkm3YwCEwYBhgL/s1600/IMG_6553.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-9h_7YYgUjJI/WcteGmEaTyI/AAAAAAAAIA4/gf7No3Q97XwezqamnhiHsvZZgumhkm3YwCEwYBhgL/s320/IMG_6553.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Post race gathering in front of the Reichstag</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-9ubPcX1EDzU/WcteHP04y1I/AAAAAAAAIA8/hO4yzahA-_QXecMXtAZqZbe4hSP1Ni9BACEwYBhgL/s1600/IMG_6558.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="960" data-original-width="1280" height="240" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-9ubPcX1EDzU/WcteHP04y1I/AAAAAAAAIA8/hO4yzahA-_QXecMXtAZqZbe4hSP1Ni9BACEwYBhgL/s320/IMG_6558.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Cheering the last runners in front of the Brandenburg Gate</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-FuOmUa7RMs8/WcteFtgPSFI/AAAAAAAAIAo/AKYUWhzIAAQRa9U7Mk4OCzqVKcLNod-iQCEwYBhgL/s1600/IMG_6524.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-FuOmUa7RMs8/WcteFtgPSFI/AAAAAAAAIAo/AKYUWhzIAAQRa9U7Mk4OCzqVKcLNod-iQCEwYBhgL/s320/IMG_6524.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Angela watching over you</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-nIjep9u8x0E/WcteHZJyNnI/AAAAAAAAIBA/keFslfVdgLsZq13YER-fRucgGMDDQMUOQCEwYBhgL/s1600/IMG_6574.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-nIjep9u8x0E/WcteHZJyNnI/AAAAAAAAIBA/keFslfVdgLsZq13YER-fRucgGMDDQMUOQCEwYBhgL/s320/IMG_6574.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Best way to see the sights after the run</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-zNaaU-gfp5I/WcteHooHDaI/AAAAAAAAIBE/eG-mT99iTWkTmWfDPaaxCZnxRdQJ4gOQQCEwYBhgL/s1600/IMG_6576.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-zNaaU-gfp5I/WcteHooHDaI/AAAAAAAAIBE/eG-mT99iTWkTmWfDPaaxCZnxRdQJ4gOQQCEwYBhgL/s320/IMG_6576.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Berlin Cathedral</span></td></tr>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1241620116463841450.post-18282511735048911362017-08-31T17:27:00.000+01:002017-08-31T17:27:48.548+01:00Matterhorn Ultraks<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Matterhorn Ultraks is a mountainous trail race on alpine
paths around Zermatt, a lovely car-free village at the foot of
Matterhorn. There were three courses to choose from: 16K, 30K, and 46K. When I
entered to the event I pondered between the two longer courses but was quite
pleased to choose the 30K as it turn out to be 2K longer than reported. That
seems to be very typical for mountain races. So 30K meant 32K with 2000m
vertical climb. The course starts and finishes in Zermatt and goes through
three peaks: Sunnegga (2260m), Riffelalp (2222m), and Schwarzsee (2583m). <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">When I woke up in the morning it was raining and the
mountains were hiding behind dark clouds. I started to panic a bit and packed a
jacket and gloves with me but by the time of the start the rain had stopped and
the mountains looked less evil. But I didn’t mind carrying some extra weight, I
was just happy that it cleared up and we could enjoy the views. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">First climb to Sunnegga was fairly gentle and runnable. First
5K went on road and gravel and it wasn’t too steep. I took it on purpose quite
easy in order to spare my legs for the upcoming climbs. My plan was to wait
until the last climb up to Schwarzsee before I killed myself. Despite that I
ran almost all the way up to Sunnegga, except the final steep kilometer. I felt
great, took my first gel, and headed down. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Second climb up to Riffelalp started with a steep climb
where everyone changed to walking. It was a mutual agreement and no one
protested. Soon it turned more runnable and we started to run again. At this
point we had covered over 10k and people around me were running approximately
the same pace with me. I hadn’t seen many women after the start, but those few that
I saw I kept seeing for a long while. There was one particular who I ran with
the first half of the course. She was slightly better climber but slower in
descents and we kept passing each other back and forth. It’s always good to
have someone who pushes you further. When we came to Riffelalp I saw my chance
to pass a few runners if I skipped the feed station. So I did that and felt
good about it for a short while before I realized that it was the last feed
station before Schwarzsee. Oh no! <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We continued the hillside for a few kilometers before the
technical descent down to Furi. That was the only part of the course where it
got a bit packed and I was slowed down by other runners. I overtook some of
them but most of all I just tried to calm down and not to stress. There would
be plenty of chances to pass them later on… After the technical part there was
a more runnable stretch where I sped up a bit before the suspension bridge over
a ravine. Suspension bridge? Oh yes, I had almost forgotten it. For me it was
definitively the worst part of the course and I was absolutely horrified. My
legs felt like spaghetti immediately when I saw the bridge and I hesitated to
step on it but somehow I got over to the other side in one piece. What a
relief!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In Furi I filled my water bottles and headed to the last
long climb up to Schwarzsee. It was the toughest climb of the course with over
600m climb on a 3K stretch. But I felt strong and overtook a lot of people there,
among others a friend who was running 46K. For me it was nice to meet him just a few
kilometers before the summit and get some cheering. It worked just as well as a
gel without upsetting my stomach. I reached the top in 3:03 and started to
dream about a sub 4h time. Just 10K downhill, how hard can it be? Well, it was definitively
harder than it sounds and surprisingly undulating for a downhill but I'm very pleased that I kept
fighting and finished strong in just under 4h. On top of that I came 10th woman
overall and got a prize for my efforts. Very happy! After all, it was my first
podium in a bigger mountain race. </span></div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1241620116463841450.post-6811668360006996032017-08-09T07:00:00.000+01:002017-08-09T07:39:31.099+01:00Kia Fjällmaraton 43K<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Kia Fjällmaraton from Vålådalen to Trillevallen was my first
fell race in Sweden. It’s a beautiful course that goes through three peaks:
Ottfjället (1265m), Hållfjället (900m), and Välliste (1025m). Total climb on
the 43K course is 2100m. The profile is fairly gentle and nice compared to European
mountain races but this time the wet weather made it pretty tough and
challenging. Mud was expected but what surprised me was the amount of
duckboards. They may be okay to run when dry but awfully slippery when wet. And
the layer of mud on top of it acted as lubricant. I thought I had right shoes
for wet conditions but realized soon that it wasn’t the case. I had absolutely
no grip whatsoever on those wet wooden paths and chose to run aside in marshes.
It was definitively better but tough. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I had an ok start but could feel some tiredness in my legs
early on (that tempo run a few days ago wasn’t such a good idea after all). I
try to take the first long climb up to Ottfjället as easy as possible. There
are many other orienteers along and it's fun to meet with friends I didn’t know were
running. I climb up Ottfjället with Lilian Forsgren, a Swedish national team
orienteer from Tisaren. But then in the first descent she disappears
quickly. It’s wet, muddy, and slippery and I’m struggling big time while trying to
keep balance on the way down. My shoes have no grip in the mud and
I’m sliding wildly. For me mud is much more challenging than rocky alpine
paths. I fall a few times before I decide to take it cautiously instead of
risking. After all I want to run the whole thing and don’t want to get hurt. Elin
Dahlstedt-Tysk, a former national team orienteer and an old friend from Lidingö,
catches me on the way down and I continue running with her. It’s good to chat
with a friend. She reminds me why we are here and I forget my frustration over
the mud for a while. According to route description there should be nice views
on the way down but it’s so foggy that I don’t see a thing.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Down in Nordbottnen is the first drink station at 15,6K.
I’ve already taken one energy gel in the top of Ottfjället and here I grab a
piece of energy bar before I continue. Next we climb up Hållfjället. It’s
steeper but shorter than the first climb to Ottfjället. After the steepest climb
comes a plateau with another drink station at 19,2K before the last short climb to
the top. Here they serve air-dried meat and thin bread deli chips. I take a
slice of dried meet and it tastes heavenly. Lilian (who had stopped earlier to
help a friend) and Elin come right after and pass the station much quicker. I’m
still chewing my thin bread chip but try to hurry up and catch Lilian as she
runs off. But she’s fast and there are already a few runners between us. I
follow her from distance and reach the summit at 21K just half a minute later.
But then again in the descent she vanishes quickly and I need to focus in my
steps. It feels like the descent from Hållfjället down to Ottsjö takes all my
strengths. Downhill is supposed to be the easy part but I feel defeated. Once again,
there should be magnificent views over the lake Ottsjön but all I see is mud.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">After Ottsjö at 28K I more or less give up. 5h time goal doesn’t
seem to be within my reach anymore and it hits me hard. I continue but there’s
no drive anymore. I lose whole 20min on the last climb up to Välliste and a few
positions too. It’s unbelievable how much time you lose after you give up
trying. To my defense my legs and abs were cramping, making it impossible to
push. After reaching the top of Välliste at 38K I thought the worst was over.
Just 5K down, how hard can it be? But the last descend is the worst. The path
is ok and nothing compared to previous two descents but with cramping abs it’s nearly
impossible to run down. I lose 5min and one position on the way down but
there’s nothing I can do. I just have this awful pain in my tummy and it is
only afterwards I realize that it was my cramping abs. I finish 15th with the
time 5:10. Gutted to lose so much in the end. It leaves you with an empty
feeling. I had really hoped to go under 5h but the conditions made it quite
hard. Feels like I have still loads to learn and improve before I can call
myself a mountain runner.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Anyway, if I forgot to mention, Swedish fells are indeed
incredibly beautiful and on the top of Välliste the sky actually cleared up for
a while and the views were pretty nice. Even if I had a bad day the event
itself was great and the atmosphere was very nice and relaxed.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">Pictures taken from organiser's site (fjallmaraton.se).</span></div>
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-CzSl16u95gA/WYoRYpETyFI/AAAAAAAAH-I/Jb5NzDZ_pckk-I1PEiJZZkWQI39YXH22wCLcBGAs/s1600/20616794_1518718054840788_1297198347997521338_o.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1068" data-original-width="1600" height="212" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-CzSl16u95gA/WYoRYpETyFI/AAAAAAAAH-I/Jb5NzDZ_pckk-I1PEiJZZkWQI39YXH22wCLcBGAs/s320/20616794_1518718054840788_1297198347997521338_o.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Climb up to Ottfjället</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWBSirUJCTh54He8juWb6ujl9_eZHBix2rsuxqqrb2Ol3-lcpuUBTiyI8BXQ10qnYx41R6L7nObSW7fMmbixaTxO_C7NC7Cq1dF9Z5ssCInBhrAmHYNRZXoHXV2CBnQ-XSkndwIbqY7FDd/s1600/20643205_1518684618177465_3783457688051220339_o.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1065" data-original-width="1600" height="211" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWBSirUJCTh54He8juWb6ujl9_eZHBix2rsuxqqrb2Ol3-lcpuUBTiyI8BXQ10qnYx41R6L7nObSW7fMmbixaTxO_C7NC7Cq1dF9Z5ssCInBhrAmHYNRZXoHXV2CBnQ-XSkndwIbqY7FDd/s320/20643205_1518684618177465_3783457688051220339_o.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">One top reached, two more to go</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Z3rdsq1p9Lg/WYoRX46jWyI/AAAAAAAAH-E/E_aK1If3Re8zxHtQ65Gz1IIiHDYsnsbMwCLcBGAs/s1600/20615739_1518699108176016_1240483190981530230_o.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1068" data-original-width="1600" height="212" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Z3rdsq1p9Lg/WYoRX46jWyI/AAAAAAAAH-E/E_aK1If3Re8zxHtQ65Gz1IIiHDYsnsbMwCLcBGAs/s320/20615739_1518699108176016_1240483190981530230_o.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Body language tells it all</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-9tg7h68lqlU/WYoRZvWbazI/AAAAAAAAH-M/txOi535fuswnEDexHz8yA0slaww9jLZlACLcBGAs/s1600/20645171_1518703351508925_5784580419628353544_o.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1065" data-original-width="1600" height="211" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-9tg7h68lqlU/WYoRZvWbazI/AAAAAAAAH-M/txOi535fuswnEDexHz8yA0slaww9jLZlACLcBGAs/s320/20645171_1518703351508925_5784580419628353544_o.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Laughing to my own clumsiness</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-23zBLZt-BNg/WYoTjqO8ygI/AAAAAAAAH-Y/k6RBJ4sg0G0NEj4G4QB8P3mSfOL2V8sYQCLcBGAs/s1600/IMG_6182.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="320" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-23zBLZt-BNg/WYoTjqO8ygI/AAAAAAAAH-Y/k6RBJ4sg0G0NEj4G4QB8P3mSfOL2V8sYQCLcBGAs/s320/IMG_6182.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Not my best day on fells but still worth a smile</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<o:p><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></o:p></div>
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<o:p><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></o:p></div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1241620116463841450.post-72722008313151710192017-06-30T08:00:00.000+01:002017-06-30T09:16:57.846+01:00Marathon du Mont Blanc 42K<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">There's
something special with long mountain races. I can’t really put my finger on it
but they are unique, beautiful, and challenging races with very special
atmosphere and most often held in gorgeous places with amazing views. Once you
get hooked there’s no turning back.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Mont Blanc
marathon was my third mountain race but it was almost two hours longer than
those that I’ve done before so it was in another level and I really didn’t know
how my body or mind would cope with it. Also the week leading to it was far
from optimal and I felt quite weak and insecure before the race. I had flu
earlier in the week and hadn’t really got my strengths back. And then just a
few days before the travel I got news that my grandmother had passed away and
after that I felt like I’d lost all my mental strengths too. I was hesitant
whether to travel there at all but I’m glad I did. When you throw yourself into
something with full heart and then somehow find strengths to survive from it,
you realize that you are actually much stronger than you thought. It gives you
perspective, appreciation, and strengths to cope with whatever troubles you may
face in life. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Race
started at 7am in the middle of Chamonix. We were too many, the streets were
narrow, and it was quite chaotic. I was far back in the pack and there were hundreds
of slower runners in front of me but I tried not to stress. There was nothing I
could do before we came off from the town. After a kilometre streets changed into
a trail and I could pick up the pace and start to overtake slower runners. It took
while and quite a lot of energy before I found my place in the group and could
settle in before the first climb.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Climb to Lavancher
(1248m) at about 6k was still quite gentle. Some people started to walk but I
ran the whole way. After Lavancher there was a fairly nice flat stretch to the first
drink station in Argentiere (1257m) at about 10k. There I realized why I needed
to carry a cup. You don’t get anything if you don’t have a cup. <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Ecological, I understand, but no one told me
that!</i> My cup is deep down in my backpack that I have tied tightly around me
with no intension of opening it unless in case of emergency. But they have
strict ‘no cup, no drink’ policy, so I just pass the station and take a sip
from my own hydration pack.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Then we
climb up to Coldes Montets at 1465m before descending back to Vallorcine at
1260m. I’ve run the whole way but try to take it steady before the big climb
that is waiting for us after the second drink station at 18k. There I stop for
the first time, open the ropes of my backpack and search for the cup. Elated I
show it to the officials and get it immediately filled. I grab some food too.
Now is the time to eat whatever you can get in because we are about to climb almost
1000 vertical meters during the next 6k. That is probably the hardest part of
the course and I approach the climb very humble. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I tramp
along in the line and settle in for the tempo that people around me are
keeping. I feel like I could push a bit harder but I rather spare my strengths
than put extra energy in overtaking others. I reassure myself that it’s better
to be in a group that is a little too slow for you than being in a group that
is slightly too fast. Climb goes well and surprisingly easily. It’s still foggy
and rainy and we don’t see much when we reach the top of Aiguilles des Posettes
at 2201m. I raise my hands in the air and yell aloud. Runners around me look
astonished but I think it’s worth a yell since it’s the highest point of the
course and the worst seems to be over. I get an SMS from Sami who tells me the
same. The worse is over now. I smile and continue.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Next comes
a long descent that is very rocky and technical, especially when wet, and our
line stops moving. Some of my fellow runners get really scared and </span></span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">start to
walk. I get a bit irritated when the line is not moving. It feels like a waste
of time. </span><i style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It’s downhill, it’s free, why
aren’t we running?</i><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> But since it’s foggy and wet, it feels like risking your
life in every overtaking. But after a while I get bored and gradually I start to pass slower runners whenever there’s a chance. There are a few stretches
between the groups where I can run freely and it’s amazing. I’ve never been very
good at descents but now it feels like I’m flying and I’m really enjoying it.
We come down to the valley again and I realize that I’ve forgotten to eat. I
don’t feel hungry but I try to follow my plan to eat something in every 45min
or so.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">We pass the
village of Le Tour and there are lots of people cheering on the streets. <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Bravo Riina! Super! Allez Riina allez! Hyva
Suomi! Yksi, kaksi, kolme.</i> It’s hard not to smile when you hear it. I’m
surprised how great I feel. After all, we’ve been out for 3,5h and climbed
about 1700m.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">We come to the
drink station at 30k and I notice that my hydration pack is almost empty. I
know that the rest is mostly upward and it’s hot so I need to stop and take off
my backpack once more to get it filled. It takes a while to do that but it’s
definitively worth it. I take a few pieces of banana, some crackers, and a
handful of salted cashews before heading off to another 300m climb. After climbing
up to Le Bechar at 1691m we descend back to the valley at 1400m before the final climb
towards the summit finish in Planpraz at 2016m. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">It’s
getting harder now and I’m feeling more and more tired but it I’m able to keep
going all the way up to the last drink station in La Flégère (1865m) at about
38k before my quads start to cramp. I’ve been surprised how well my body has
taken it all up to that point. I’ve felt strong and on the last climb I’ve
passed about 40 runners so I’m not ready to give up. At La Flégère I stop for
the last time, take some salted nuts and coke, and try to shake my quads a bit
before I continue. It works and I’m able to continue running. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-GB"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-GB">The last
stretch from</span><span lang="EN-GB"> </span></span><span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">La Flégère to Planpraz is fairly nice and runnable with beautiful views
of Mont Blanc range and Chamonix valley below. It’s been cloudy, rainy, and foggy
most of the way but just when we reach this beautiful balcony path the clouds
disappear and the breathtaking views open up. It’s hard to describe but I feel
incredibly good considering the exhaustion. Suddenly it’s all very clear. Not
just the view but my mind too. Obviously I’m tired and exhausted but I feel
alive and happy. I’m still a few kilometres from the finish line but I’ve beaten my demons and I know that I’m going to finish
the race. I’m even able to speed up a bit and pass a few more runners before
the finish. I reach the finish line far behind women’s winner Megan Kimmel but
I feel like a winner nevertheless. After all, I’ve beaten the course and I’ve
beaten myself. It’s just a bonus to be 17<sup>th</sup> among senior women and 22<sup>nd</sup>
overall.</span></span><br />
<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">If you read this far you may also want to check this <a href="https://youtu.be/IDD-w16ruqE" target="_blank">video clip</a> from the event!</span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-3jSmZAhkZ_8/WVTa11HbysI/AAAAAAAAH4s/CuKmSTBkx_EBbSWWdDLIy9btIInwfYUigCEwYBhgL/s1600/IMG_5529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-3jSmZAhkZ_8/WVTa11HbysI/AAAAAAAAH4s/CuKmSTBkx_EBbSWWdDLIy9btIInwfYUigCEwYBhgL/s320/IMG_5529.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Room with a view</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-7LlFUGlrAJ8/WVTal0CZ-cI/AAAAAAAAH4s/_SgiNZ4JI_AY3S83zf6Ho3RXQAarjPr9wCEwYBhgL/s1600/IMG_5514.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-7LlFUGlrAJ8/WVTal0CZ-cI/AAAAAAAAH4s/_SgiNZ4JI_AY3S83zf6Ho3RXQAarjPr9wCEwYBhgL/s320/IMG_5514.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Summit finish looming behind the clouds</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-snTpBCImkTw/WVTalUoJ5PI/AAAAAAAAH4s/yeDXytX_ydE1LWEgBQ2N88l989uKS42tgCEwYBhgL/s1600/IMG_5524.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="320" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-snTpBCImkTw/WVTalUoJ5PI/AAAAAAAAH4s/yeDXytX_ydE1LWEgBQ2N88l989uKS42tgCEwYBhgL/s320/IMG_5524.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Start of the race on the day before</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-LeLCKQe1xgA/WVTazJQnorI/AAAAAAAAH4s/bd3jZUHBbz8J71AuwHAtdS9Eid81UPVcgCEwYBhgL/s1600/IMG_5538.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-LeLCKQe1xgA/WVTazJQnorI/AAAAAAAAH4s/bd3jZUHBbz8J71AuwHAtdS9Eid81UPVcgCEwYBhgL/s320/IMG_5538.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">An hour before the start. Getting crowded.. </span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVsGisT3q4H8oMHcKNnerh4nu-RgZJ0cj0Bz0_GTMNi6SGJUTycqISTjECMTToyvFb_dSPeQRLZvKLoUuqk5Y0thhNf8Rd76Pe9S5A9uLfJlAr9jXhz80GpBDvj_M7OjUtni428bQ26_Gl/s1600/IMG_5541.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVsGisT3q4H8oMHcKNnerh4nu-RgZJ0cj0Bz0_GTMNi6SGJUTycqISTjECMTToyvFb_dSPeQRLZvKLoUuqk5Y0thhNf8Rd76Pe9S5A9uLfJlAr9jXhz80GpBDvj_M7OjUtni428bQ26_Gl/s320/IMG_5541.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Summit finish in Planpraz at 2016m</span><br />
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<a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-WanlobQa8n8/WVTbIq5103I/AAAAAAAAH4s/oqbY-z1qfSssjj26x6Ggt6m8eHcL-CJ0QCEwYBhgL/s1600/IMG_5555.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="320" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-WanlobQa8n8/WVTbIq5103I/AAAAAAAAH4s/oqbY-z1qfSssjj26x6Ggt6m8eHcL-CJ0QCEwYBhgL/s320/IMG_5555.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Long last kilometre...</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-xz_C4Kb4648/WVTbBU-06tI/AAAAAAAAH4s/6_EprrSUC4QTrJ9zQETEBbDRVeWkoIFrwCEwYBhgL/s1600/IMG_5545.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-xz_C4Kb4648/WVTbBU-06tI/AAAAAAAAH4s/6_EprrSUC4QTrJ9zQETEBbDRVeWkoIFrwCEwYBhgL/s320/IMG_5545.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Views in the finish</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-i5KtidonNr8/WVTbDb7o52I/AAAAAAAAH4s/SiC0NUp1rHY-xycexSuwDWSJwV2wyhHwQCEwYBhgL/s1600/IMG_5558.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-i5KtidonNr8/WVTbDb7o52I/AAAAAAAAH4s/SiC0NUp1rHY-xycexSuwDWSJwV2wyhHwQCEwYBhgL/s320/IMG_5558.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Made it!</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1241620116463841450.post-90580557410152557582017-05-23T08:46:00.000+01:002017-05-23T08:46:56.600+01:00Trail racing<span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">Last week I
ran my first trail races of the year. First Milspåret 10K race around
Djurgårdsbrunnsviken on Thursday evening, and then Lida Löparfestival 18K trail
race in Lida Naturreservat on Saturday morning. They both were wonderful events
in beautiful settings. Milspåret wasn’t really categorised as trail race but it
went mostly on undulating gravel road in beautiful milieu so it certainly felt like one.
And all of this in the hearth of Stockholm, just a few kilometres from the main
railway station. Pretty amazing.</span><br />
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I had just run
Kungsholmen Runt a few days earlier and didn’t know what to expect from Milspåret.
Usually you get very focused on your time in 10K races but it was obvious that it wasn’t going to go faster than in Kungsholmen, rather the
opposite. So I couldn’t expect a better time. But it was indeed a beautiful
course and a gorgeous summer night, so I just thought to have fun and enjoy it.
<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I started
off at my normal 10K pace but noticed quickly that the sand under the feet was
quite soft and loose and it was difficult to push hard without a good grip. The
undulating course profile didn’t help much either. I saw early on that I was
among the top three women but after a few kilometres I had to let those two
girls in front of me go if I wanted to survive the second lap. We did two laps
around Djurgårdsbrunnsviken and I wanted to do a faster second lap. At least
that was the plan. But it seldom goes as you plan. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">First lap
went fairly easily but already in the first hills of the second lap I could
literally feel Tuesday’s hill reps in my quads and had to slow down a bit and
let a lady who had been on my heels for a while to pass me. She was pushing really
hard and suddenly I was far behind her. I just wanted to spare my legs to
the end. After passing the hills on the second round I gradually picked up the
pace again and started to close the gap between us. I had just reached her at
9K when she glanced over her shoulder and accelerated. I was really struggling
to keep up with her at the end and it wasn’t before the final hundred meters
before I knew I could pass her. I crossed the finish line just a few inches
ahead but got the third place. I don’t know how I did it. It’s amazing how you
can find some extra power in your legs at the end of a race that you didn’t
know existed. I’m just grateful to see that I’ve found back something that I
thought I had lost for good.</span></span></div>
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/--7peFQk2h54/WSLXhs86l7I/AAAAAAAAH04/CLpJ0pcwyIsfF6N6RooyUF609GWajDH8gCLcB/s1600/djurga%25CC%258Ardsbrunnsviken.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/--7peFQk2h54/WSLXhs86l7I/AAAAAAAAH04/CLpJ0pcwyIsfF6N6RooyUF609GWajDH8gCLcB/s320/djurga%25CC%258Ardsbrunnsviken.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">Views along the route</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-QI3PBM2IEjw/WSLg3aGdADI/AAAAAAAAH1c/OhUk03hFSPAiIy1SLD3ptuYOHqfU8c7dwCLcB/s1600/IMG_5277.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-QI3PBM2IEjw/WSLg3aGdADI/AAAAAAAAH1c/OhUk03hFSPAiIy1SLD3ptuYOHqfU8c7dwCLcB/s320/IMG_5277.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Start and finish by the Maritime Museum </span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjs4slxOP37km_qlnDYqhVUCpcL3mztxVWpqxjE-1ObdjdEixLzaYM2-Ox9TOiyy46avIL1479vqoBLMz3dzB6_Evs2yL8djN8oJeNJnKmWy8T8_LlzXYm5DdmJPBqlTJl4uF-46xhxWwc8/s1600/milspa%25CC%258Aret+spa%25CC%258Arva%25CC%2588gens+fk.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="212" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjs4slxOP37km_qlnDYqhVUCpcL3mztxVWpqxjE-1ObdjdEixLzaYM2-Ox9TOiyy46avIL1479vqoBLMz3dzB6_Evs2yL8djN8oJeNJnKmWy8T8_LlzXYm5DdmJPBqlTJl4uF-46xhxWwc8/s320/milspa%25CC%258Aret+spa%25CC%258Arva%25CC%2588gens+fk.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">One lap to go (Spårvägens FK)</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">A few days
later it was time for Lida Löparfestival, a longer trail race in
Lida Naturreservat in Tullinge. You could choose distances from 8K to 89K. I chose 18K,
which was one long loop in the forest. It was very runnable and incredibly beautiful course on heavily undulating trails. Steep hills made it tough and I
could feel it early on in my quads but somehow I managed to ignore the pain and
ran a decent race very close to the men's winner. I started offensively and ran
the first two kilometres behind the two top men. But they pushed hard in the
hills and after a while I couldn't keep up with them anymore. Then I was on my
own for some kilometres until a third guy came and passed me just before the
half way mark. After the drink stop at 9K I perked up a bit and decided to push
harder in order to keep the third guy in sight. After a while there was an
easier stretch where I managed to close the gap between us inch by inch. At 13K
I caught up with him but he left me again in the next hills. I was able to close the gap
one more time but then he pushed hard the last 5K and I wasn’t able to follow. I kept seeing him until the end but had no chance catching him in
the hills. Anyway I was happy to finish as first lady not too far behind the
fastest guys. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">These trail
races were not only great confidence boost but also perfect steps in my
transition from roads to mountains. Especially Lida with its brutally steep
ascents. None of the hills were very long but they were definitively steep
enough to induce the burning sensation in my legs that I must be prepared to
endure for a long time in the Alps. It’s clear I need a few more rounds of
Väsjöbacken. Back to hill work then!</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-wQ6XkBBdqYo/WSLYtnA4YHI/AAAAAAAAH1I/4gDKjcnKUHsKVCdNhChDx-03Kr2lut_9wCLcB/s1600/lida%2Btrail%2Brace.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-wQ6XkBBdqYo/WSLYtnA4YHI/AAAAAAAAH1I/4gDKjcnKUHsKVCdNhChDx-03Kr2lut_9wCLcB/s320/lida%2Btrail%2Brace.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">18k of Lida wasn't as painful as it sounds like (lida=suffer)</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-T5yUIax06B4/WSLYu2eh1RI/AAAAAAAAH1M/ADNc51hBqgQA8zoGMkfBqmaSgAVu7LCsQCLcB/s1600/sauna.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-T5yUIax06B4/WSLYu2eh1RI/AAAAAAAAH1M/ADNc51hBqgQA8zoGMkfBqmaSgAVu7LCsQCLcB/s320/sauna.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Floating sauna and first dip of the year </span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-CeBujAc0-hc/WSLYn50CRRI/AAAAAAAAH1Q/KaXq1KtfxaEO5A_zSu1RPrWJZ3p01KxfACEw/s1600/first%2Bdip%2Bof%2Bthe%2Byear.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-CeBujAc0-hc/WSLYn50CRRI/AAAAAAAAH1Q/KaXq1KtfxaEO5A_zSu1RPrWJZ3p01KxfACEw/s320/first%2Bdip%2Bof%2Bthe%2Byear.JPG" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Thrilled about the swim</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1241620116463841450.post-9672710525691160902017-05-17T09:41:00.000+01:002017-05-17T09:41:27.646+01:00From road to mountains<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">After Paris marathon I just put my road shoes aside for a
while and tried to find my inner orienteer again. First I gave myself two weeks
rest and recovery but did a few jogs in the woods just for my soul. I really love
walking and running around in the woods and I missed that a lot during my
marathon training. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Three weeks after Paris was Tiomila, the highlight of the
spring for orienteers. I was probably more nervous than ever before since I
hadn’t practiced orienteering during the winter and only had time for a
few rounds in the woods with a map before the race. I had hoped to get a
technically “easier” leg to be able to maximize my running capacity and to get some
help with orienteering. However, I wasn’t convincing enough, and got a second
leg. I did a controlled run technically, with only a few small mistakes, but I
was far too defensive to match the best ones on my leg. I really enjoyed the
run and the beautiful terrain of Partille but felt like I did too little. I
just lacked the confidence to push hard and I was barely exhausted after the
run. My teammates Rebecka, Johanna, Julia, and Hilda were terrific and our newly
formed team had good chances to a top20 position but unfortunately we had some
bad luck on the last leg and had to retire. We’ll be back in Venla!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">After Tiomila I started my training towards Mont Blanc
marathon. The closer it comes, the more horrified I become. It will be like a
jump towards unknown. I have absolutely no idea how (or if) I’m going to survive there
and how to approach the race. It will be very different from everything I’ve
done before and I’ve never done a race that long and challenging. I did
Jungfrau marathon in 2012, which is probably the most challenging race I’ve
done and the closest thing to Mont Blanc, but the first half of Jungfrau was on
road, which made it significantly faster. Jungfrau was a bit over 4h race for
me, whereas Mont Blanc will probably take around 6h or more. I really don’t
know. But I do know that it will be more or less like an ultra race for me,
almost like a double marathon. It really makes me humble.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The crucial elements in my preparation will be hills and
overlong long runs. The more hours I spend on hills and in rough terrain, the
better. So now I’m back in my element again, running on trails and in terrain. I
just love it and it suits me better than the roads. However, in order to retain
some speed in my legs I decided to run a few shorter road races just for fun.
Last weekend I took part to Kungsholmen Runt 10k run, which was absolutely
brilliant. It was beautiful weather, great atmosphere, and a nice course around
Kungsholmen. First half was almost flat and I clocked it fairly easily in just
under 20min. The second half was tougher with several climbs, sharp turns, and
gravel, which made it impossible to keep a steady pace. I lost a bit but
managed to run the whole thing in 40:50, which is one of my fastest 10k runs in
Stockholm. I was probably in better shape just before Paris but after all
problems with the pollen allergy during the past weeks I was very happy to do a
sub 41min 10k. Now t</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">ime for some hill reps!</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p></o:p></div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-FSLNsceLciY/WRrJtICBgQI/AAAAAAAAH0Y/rorT4NUnGbMe2n4EMqtc8WsfdpUbizPywCLcB/s1600/cows.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-FSLNsceLciY/WRrJtICBgQI/AAAAAAAAH0Y/rorT4NUnGbMe2n4EMqtc8WsfdpUbizPywCLcB/s320/cows.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Excitement of getting back to green pastures (Photo: Sami Takaluoma)</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1241620116463841450.post-57600123552016430992017-04-13T07:24:00.000+01:002017-04-13T07:24:04.177+01:00Marathon de Paris<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Ever since my first road marathon in <a href="http://riinakuuselo.blogspot.se/2012/11/maraton-divina-pastora-valencia.html" target="_blank">Valencia</a> in 2012 my aim has been to beat 3h. On my first try I didn’t have a goal, I
just went and run on feeling. No time goal, just running for the experience.
Plan was not to push before 30k and enjoy the race. That’s what I did and it
went ridiculously easy. I ran 42,2k in 3:01:11. My official time was a few
minutes slower (3:03:21) due to some zigzagging on the way and thus a longer
distance (42,6k). Anyway I was within sub 3h schedule up to 37k, which made me
think that with a bit of training I could easily run it some minutes faster.
Now I’m not that convinced about the easiness anymore.<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">After Valencia I’ve had a few tries and a few failures. A
year later I ran Florence marathon in 3:06:41, which was obviously a huge
disappointment. Maybe the route there was slightly slower due to sharp turns
and cobbles but I also went off too fast in the beginning. I was a minute ahead
of my target in the half way and ran out of energy much earlier. I managed to
run 30k within sub 3h schedule but lost loads on the last 12k. I realized that
the key to a good finish time on a marathon is a steady pace.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">After Florence I haven’t really had a chance to beat my goal
before now in Paris. Last two years I’ve struggled with injuries and haven’t
got to the start line uninjured, so getting there in one piece was already an
achievement. Training towards Paris wasn’t smooth and unproblematic but at
least I managed to get to the start line. I had some niggles on the way but reacted
fast and cut my long runs short when needed. I just tried to avoid risks at all
costs. My longest training run was 32k so I wasn’t sure how I would survive the
last 10k. Still, I was quite confident because I knew I had trained better and
more marathon-specific than before and I was in fairly good shape.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I did the preparations as well as I could but some things
you just can’t control. For instance, when I went to pick up my bib number the
day before, there was an unexpected stop in the underground and I got to walk
some extra miles just because the train wasn’t working. Not optimal, especially
when my morning run had already been a few kilometres too long, and the Italian
restaurant, where we went for dinner, was also further away than I had hoped. Nevertheless,
I was feeling good and optimistic when standing on the start line. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Starting at Champs-Élysées with Arc de Triomphe in the
background was pretty amazing. I ran the first half controlled and steady in
1:29:08, just as planned, with all four 5k splits within 10 seconds. I was
still feeling quite alright at that point but I was sweating heavily. The
weather was well over +20C and just getting warmer and warmer the longer we
got. After doing most of my training in sub zero temperatures I just couldn’t
handle the heat. I believe it became harder than it should have because of the
weather and therefore I burned more energy early on than necessary. I wasn’t
able to replace the liquid and salts I lost through sweating and I started to faint after 25k.
<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Sami was yelling at me euphorically at 28k, just before the
Eiffel, but it didn’t help. He was sure I was going to beat my goal but I knew
I wasn’t. I was just getting slower and there was nothing I could do. I was
able to hang in there for 30k but not further. The remaining 12k were really painful
with stomach cramps and empty legs. 3:00 pacers passed me around 35k but I
couldn’t accelerate. I tried but nothing happened. I just watched them to
vanish in the horizon. During the last 10k I was constantly thinking about
quitting so I’m kind of proud that I didn’t. I finished 52nd among 10339 women.
When you put it like that it doesn’t sound too bad. However, my time 3:06:37
was 6:38 slower than I had hoped for, but when you change to jogging the
minutes pass fast. I was really looking forward to not having to train for
another marathon but now I may need to postpone that. Oh dear.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Whether I continue with marathons remains to be seen but right
now I’m enjoying the recovery and looking forward to get back to trails and
forests! After all it’s there my hearth lies. I have learned to like the
simplicity of road running and the easiness of seeing progress and measuring
yourself but in my hearth I’m still an orienteer. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">For the vibes,
check out this </span><a href="https://youtu.be/29gCwocwJK8" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;" target="_blank">video</a></div>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ioODIOtS3JA/WO36H7Ouh4I/AAAAAAAAHz8/Oj5Enf-sZt88SPJcPLvWw_SktY4l_rxZACEw/s1600/pont%2Balexandre%2BIII.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ioODIOtS3JA/WO36H7Ouh4I/AAAAAAAAHz8/Oj5Enf-sZt88SPJcPLvWw_SktY4l_rxZACEw/s320/pont%2Balexandre%2BIII.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Pont Alexandre III</span> </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-w21RBsuDpvw/WO36NR9AzUI/AAAAAAAAHz8/grBoDyX0sgwRYOKt-44rfAgBVUpiKqVUACEw/s1600/sunrise.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-w21RBsuDpvw/WO36NR9AzUI/AAAAAAAAHz8/grBoDyX0sgwRYOKt-44rfAgBVUpiKqVUACEw/s320/sunrise.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Sunrise over Seine</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-IrBnLCi7oVY/WO36J-uwt7I/AAAAAAAAHz8/znCMOoGpVf4dKqGVzifwv7oew6RcMxZygCEw/s1600/breakfast.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-IrBnLCi7oVY/WO36J-uwt7I/AAAAAAAAHz8/znCMOoGpVf4dKqGVzifwv7oew6RcMxZygCEw/s320/breakfast.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">French breakfast</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-J_SbiyoVOWI/WO36IriML-I/AAAAAAAAHzw/Lj1AA2OcybsHiFdFDFCErD30vYra3b70gCLcB/s1600/eiffel.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-J_SbiyoVOWI/WO36IriML-I/AAAAAAAAHzw/Lj1AA2OcybsHiFdFDFCErD30vYra3b70gCLcB/s320/eiffel.JPG" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Exciiiiited!</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-h5J8EJoDLvU/WO36Cf2soRI/AAAAAAAAHzo/b-QQ0xxUXyEF8r_C0RMjZ8f0QDAoc3kqQCLcB/s1600/paris%2Bmarathon.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-h5J8EJoDLvU/WO36Cf2soRI/AAAAAAAAHzo/b-QQ0xxUXyEF8r_C0RMjZ8f0QDAoc3kqQCLcB/s320/paris%2Bmarathon.jpg" width="213" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Less springy legs today</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br /><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><br /><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-KJikiVYG0hU/WO35-SEFU0I/AAAAAAAAHz8/gXBNNAD4Qao_OsZldJ7512MBAg25_rz6QCEw/s1600/finisher.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-KJikiVYG0hU/WO35-SEFU0I/AAAAAAAAHz8/gXBNNAD4Qao_OsZldJ7512MBAg25_rz6QCEw/s320/finisher.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Finisher t-shirt!</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1241620116463841450.post-10697532186591145222017-02-09T12:13:00.000+00:002017-02-09T12:13:33.722+00:00A week in the sun<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Recently I
wrote about strategies <a href="http://riinakuuselo.blogspot.se/2017/01/winter-training-challenges.html" target="_blank">how to cope with the winter</a> as a runner and then escaped from it myself. Ironic, I know, but after a fair
amount of compromises and small niggles I just couldn’t stand it anymore and
headed to Fuerteventura for a week’s warm weather training camp. Our base was
at Las Playitas, a wonderful well-equipped sports centre in the southeastern
corner of the island, that I knew from previously would serve me well even if I
faced some problems. On holidays I seldom want to go back to places where I’ve
been before and rather seek for new places to explore. However, when it comes
to training, it’s different, and it actually feels good to go back to a place
that you know has got everything you need (see my comprehensive description of
Playitas <a href="http://riinakuuselo.blogspot.se/2016/02/tri-camp-in-las-playitas.html" target="_blank">here</a>)
<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-1Q1UCK0s398/WJurDSDuj8I/AAAAAAAAHyE/G0KEJ51vNyQmRB755hykmxePKHOkuwDTwCLcB/s1600/mountainview.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-1Q1UCK0s398/WJurDSDuj8I/AAAAAAAAHyE/G0KEJ51vNyQmRB755hykmxePKHOkuwDTwCLcB/s320/mountainview.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9oeSbOc4nRW8Z9icje99WFlaANQwcIffHzZ8D-oW2qOw-GRS2HM91CHz3i5rFwC6rvTjnds0WT0F_Lfl_zQXo30CCcGKpf8DKixw716hgItKXN14lQeERNtssIJ5mYkH8qaXaTB22mj7p/s1600/chilling.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9oeSbOc4nRW8Z9icje99WFlaANQwcIffHzZ8D-oW2qOw-GRS2HM91CHz3i5rFwC6rvTjnds0WT0F_Lfl_zQXo30CCcGKpf8DKixw716hgItKXN14lQeERNtssIJ5mYkH8qaXaTB22mj7p/s320/chilling.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">My week was
more or less a replay from last year. It was funny to see flashbacks from my
own Facebook updates from exactly the same dates a year ago. It was like a
tailored-made training plan. Just when I was about to go for a long ride the
pictures from last years’ ride jumped into my face. Again, I gathered about 20h
and 230km in a week, of which 80km cycling and nearly 150km running, and over
4000m vertical climb. For me it’s like two weeks training squeezed in one week.
And the best of it was that it all came like nothing. In addition to actual training
I took part to some morning yoga sessions and climbed about 720 stairs a day
(that being part of living in the upper most house of the resort).</span></div>
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<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-i88CT8K-NFw/WJuqxbBxxSI/AAAAAAAAHx0/A9T-MK2Qy7kTXp_m7qOk77p9WbGbXAYKACLcB/s1600/baanaa.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-i88CT8K-NFw/WJuqxbBxxSI/AAAAAAAAHx0/A9T-MK2Qy7kTXp_m7qOk77p9WbGbXAYKACLcB/s320/baanaa.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-QE75OirvEjQ/WJurJC0-06I/AAAAAAAAHyg/tYCTmstDH7UMkc61Dop3cQSFDnjAvbExQCEw/s1600/pool.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-QE75OirvEjQ/WJurJC0-06I/AAAAAAAAHyg/tYCTmstDH7UMkc61Dop3cQSFDnjAvbExQCEw/s320/pool.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So here is
roughly what I did. It was important for me to get a proper long run and I also
wanted to get a longer tempo run and long intervals. Hill reps were a nice
bonus. To play safe I took one day off from running and spent it in the saddle.</span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Day 1: A short
jog on the hills after a long travel. Can’t describe the feeling of running in
shorts and t-shirt again!</span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Day 2: Easy
off-road run on the hills in the morning with some strides and 5x1600m intervals
on the red carpet in the evening.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Day 3: 18km
progressive run in the morning and 2km swimming in the evening.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Day 4: 13km
tempo run in the morning, then an easy off roader on hills in the afternoon,
followed by a strength workout.</span></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Day 5: A
day off from running. Just a short morning jog to the nearest hilltop before
the sunrise, then a massive breakfast and a long ride on the mountains. Some
relaxing swimming in the evening.</span></span></div>
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<a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-BxD-lx7RitY/WJuq8Z_wvCI/AAAAAAAAHyA/gZ_09BTKXxwazgTnyS6Vmhb6vVEZ158FgCLcB/s1600/bmc.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-BxD-lx7RitY/WJuq8Z_wvCI/AAAAAAAAHyA/gZ_09BTKXxwazgTnyS6Vmhb6vVEZ158FgCLcB/s320/bmc.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Day 6: 5x6min
hill reps of varying length and steepness, followed by some short sprints. Quads
were dead from the ride and some of the climbs felt too steep. I dig in but it
wasn’t pretty. Some easy running and core exercises in the evening.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Day 7: Long
run. I had my doubts about 32km on top of the week but it was pure enjoyment.
Amazed that my legs didn’t protest. Very happy. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Day 8: Last
run to the lighthouse, 13km. Had thought about taking the ridge back to the village as
suggested but it looked quite rough and I didn't have proper trail shoes. There
were also dark clouds hanging low so I started to hesitate. I was tempted but
at the same time it all looked very alarming and so I decided not to take the
adventure this time. Instead I just ran the road down and when the first drops
came I was quite happy about it. Coward, yes, maybe, but I just felt like
acting sensible for once. I had a long day of travel ahead and I kind of wanted
to feel reasonable fresh for it. Just avoiding risks at all costs. Next time…</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgiOcOgQH5awxE_Iwf151BT61C5jCVUYYsc0gJBLizOLNZ0uPoboKlySOS28jTNWznaWmee18rds1OJxgkk57bbW2f1lUsba1tJHv4CVy5aqVbzWS1374WWHf1Ba2KbZ8xaYoG7T206pHo1/s1600/lighthouse.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="245" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgiOcOgQH5awxE_Iwf151BT61C5jCVUYYsc0gJBLizOLNZ0uPoboKlySOS28jTNWznaWmee18rds1OJxgkk57bbW2f1lUsba1tJHv4CVy5aqVbzWS1374WWHf1Ba2KbZ8xaYoG7T206pHo1/s320/lighthouse.jpg" width="320" /></a> </div>
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<a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-w8i0dyxM56g/WJurUBpOckI/AAAAAAAAHyU/MpidP1Eqj5g1Vv6-rFHYXCoZRD_gbUqFACLcB/s1600/sea.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-w8i0dyxM56g/WJurUBpOckI/AAAAAAAAHyU/MpidP1Eqj5g1Vv6-rFHYXCoZRD_gbUqFACLcB/s320/sea.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1241620116463841450.post-30695862976814677582017-01-27T08:00:00.000+00:002017-01-27T08:00:21.255+00:00Winter training challenges<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">There are
many challenges with winter training. First there’s too much snow, then it’s
too cold, and finally there’s ice everywhere. Having a proper winter is not a
problem, it’s the constant temperature changes that make it unbearable. Like here in
Stockholm. There’s almost never enough snow for cross-country skiing and nearly
always too icy to run. What a perfect combination! Sometimes the weather is
indeed excellent for ice-skating on lakes but it seldom lasts very long due to
sudden temperature raises and rainy days. On the other hand the ice-cover seems
to last forever on roads and trails. So here I’ve gathered some tips how to
keep on the good work despite the nasty weather.</span></div>
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<span style="color: orange; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">Studded sh</span></b></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-GB"><b><span style="color: orange;">oes</span></b>. </span></span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">If you want to keep on training outside through
the winter you should at least have is a good pair of studded shoes. It’s the
only way to keep on running safely outside. A pair of skis or skates is a nice
extra, but seems like a waste of money if the opportunities are few. Getting
studded wheels to your bike is probably a better investment, especially if you
are commuting to work with a bike. Sometimes, when the conditions are really
crappy, the best idea is to stick with indoor activities.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"><span style="color: orange;">Indoor training</span></span></b><span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"> is not really my cup of tea but I’ve learned
the hard way that it’s a smart thing to do when the conditions outside are what
they are. To keep it interesting, plan your trainings in advance and vary them.
Do different types of intervals and hill reps and change between the sports.
That way it’s easier to stay motivated and get the work done.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-GB"><b><span style="color: orange;">Entertainment</span></b>.</span><span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"> Music and TV will help too. Some people watch
movies while they train indoors, I personally prefer music or sports on TV. For
me it has to go fast and have a good rhythm while I’m doing my intervals. Choose
your favourite songs in advance to fit in with your workout, just like on
spinning classes. It makes it so much easier! <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"><span style="color: orange;">Indoor track</span></span></b><span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">. Best option for indoor running is an indoor
track. Your stride on track is more natural than on treadmill. Track is at the
same time soft but firm and an excellent surface to run. Unfortunately it’s a
luxury that is seldom available for everyone. Many indoor tracks are only for
club runners and the rest of us have to settle for a treadmill. One way to get
a chance to run on an indoor track is to enter to a race. That’s what I did.
Never before have I had courage to race on track but now I was desperate to get
a good race pace tempo session done and there was no way to do it outside. So
I went and ran a 3000m track race despite the fact that I was far off from my
PB. Self-five!<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-GB"><span style="color: orange; font-weight: bold;">Intervals</span>. </span><span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">Good workouts on treadmill are intervals. My
personal favourites are short 30-60s intervals, for example 20x45sec. Longer
intervals such as 5x5min or 6x4min work too but longer intervals or continuous tempo
runs are just horrible and time seems to stand still. A minute on treadmill can
feel like an eternity. Two of my most hated treadmill workouts of the winter
have been 3km intervals and an 8km tempo run. On the other hand, a half-long
brisk steady run is definitively better than a sluggish long run because the
overall time is shorter and your posture and stride remains better at slightly
faster pace. Slow jogging on treadmill is just not worth doing. If you want to
keep it slow and easy then it’s probably better to jump on a crosstrainer or
bike.<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><o:p></o:p></b></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-GB"><b><span style="color: orange;">Combination workouts</span></b>. </span><span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">The remaining workout is the long
run. It’s definitively the most challenging workout in the winter. It’s
monotonous and extremely boring on a treadmill and outside in sub-zero
temperatures your legs start to freeze and grow numb at latest after 90min of running.
After that the risks overweigh the benefits and there’s no use to continue.
Also running on icy roads longer than 90min is definitively a risk factor. For
an orienteer or a trail runner I would recommend running in
terrain instead of roads and if there’s too much snow or too cold then I would
suggest 2h spinning or some other alternative training. For a runner training
for a marathon I would suggest combination workouts, for instance 90min
cycling, followed by 60min running. After the ride your legs are already slightly
fatigued and you get the benefits of a long run without the risk of getting crazy
or injured.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"><span style="color: orange;">Be flexible</span></span></b><span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">. Also, last but not least, be flexible. You
can postpone your workouts if required. Better to do it well than to force it
through the worst snowstorm. Remember that continuity overweighs any singular
workout. Look at the big picture.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"><br /></span></span></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-2eN2Xd0gFEg/WIkcUV8nlyI/AAAAAAAAHxE/w9EZlnhwZtImXHZCyZfknH2EHOVby35wgCLcB/s1600/winter.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-2eN2Xd0gFEg/WIkcUV8nlyI/AAAAAAAAHxE/w9EZlnhwZtImXHZCyZfknH2EHOVby35wgCLcB/s320/winter.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The day you had your long run scheduled...</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"><br /></span></span></div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1241620116463841450.post-26073949146916745452017-01-06T09:15:00.000+00:002017-01-06T09:15:14.114+00:00Training in Lanzarote<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">First training camp of the winter was in Lanzarote just
before Christmas. It was a typical last-minute thing for us but it was a great
week all in all. It was my first visit to the island and I had no
expectations. All I wanted was to get to sun and away from the darkness, ice
and slush. We surely got that and a lot more!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Puerto del Carmen</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Puerto del Carmen was clean and pretty and there were plenty
of nice boutiques and restaurants for regular tourists. But what I cared more
about were the conditions to train. And they were excellent. To east from
the village there was a paved road just for pedestrians (and cyclists)
that followed the coastline and stretched all the way from Puerto del Carmen to
Arrecife (about 10km or so). It was mostly flat and perfect for some faster
pace tempo runs. Although I must admit that on a windy day the wind can have
considerable impact on your pace (as mush as 20s per km). </span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Easy miles to east</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">On contrast, if you
go west from Puerto del Carmen there are beautiful never-ending undulating
trails leading to the mountains of the southwest corner of the island all the
way to Playa Blanca and Costa de Papagayo. It was a perfect playground for
longer off-road runs and hill runs. I just loved sprinting up and down those
hills with views over the ocean and a touch of sea breeze on your face! <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Trails to west</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Top views</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">To spare myself from injuries I combined running with
crosstraining and trained a few times at Fariones Sport Centre, a
well-equipped sport centre that offered everything from gym and swim to padel,
tennis, yoga and group classes. They also had a sauna, jacuzzi, and massage for
after-training treatment and relaxation. It was great and I can warmly
recommend the place. Although a serious swimmer might wonder why their
professional swimming pool has a shape of an amoeba… Trifle but if you want to do
your flipturn there you should probably choose the middle lane (the only lane
with a straight end).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-9vMVPXP5VSg/WG5LURAfi9I/AAAAAAAAHwE/51flsZfG8OAGehvoCuiFRLw9zCyGlFUUgCLcB/s1600/IMG_4612.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-9vMVPXP5VSg/WG5LURAfi9I/AAAAAAAAHwE/51flsZfG8OAGehvoCuiFRLw9zCyGlFUUgCLcB/s320/IMG_4612.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Companion of the day</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I also rented a bike for one day. There are several bike hires in the village but if you go there on holiday time and want to have a nice bike you should
probably book your bike in advance because it may get busy. I trusted on my good
fortune but got to wait a few days before I managed to get a road bike for
myself. My companions had rented bikes for the whole week and it was more than enough
for them to explore pretty much the whole island. On the day when I had a bike
we did a nice long mountain ride first along the coast to Costa Teguise and then
further towards Arrieta before taking a left turn and a climb up to the mountains
through Tabayesco valley. It was a 10k climb with 600m elevation. A fairly
long climb but very nice to ride as the climb comes gradually and with a growing
gradient towards the end. We stopped for a coffee and views on the top of it before
heading back to south through Teguise and San Bartolome. Apart from a few minor
climbs it was mostly downward all the way home. We had a few unfortunate
punctures on the way but otherwise it was a lovely ride with very little
traffic. And I was only a little annoyed to be 4km short off December Grand
Fondo ;)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Tabayesco village </span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-WD8KMHPO2Tk/WG5MBekLqKI/AAAAAAAAHwQ/G5RgqZQTsKArUzKPEa2Kog8dcu0xerb1gCLcB/s1600/FullSizeRender.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-WD8KMHPO2Tk/WG5MBekLqKI/AAAAAAAAHwQ/G5RgqZQTsKArUzKPEa2Kog8dcu0xerb1gCLcB/s320/FullSizeRender.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Coffee stop with a view</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">All in all it was a successful week in great conditions and I
was incredibly happy to get a good week of training without setbacks after all injuries
and compromises during the preceding months. Now I feel stronger and better
prepared to continue with my winter training back in snow and cold. It's a challenge but I will try my best.</span><o:p></o:p></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1241620116463841450.post-78693902026796430352016-12-07T10:27:00.000+00:002016-12-07T10:27:24.016+00:00Towards the unknown!<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It’s been a while but I’m back on track again. After a
mentally tough season and a decision to leave my orienteering career behind I
have finally climbed up from the pit, found my lost motivation and set up plans
for the next season. It’s still a question mark how much orienteering I am
going to do and what races I’m going to run but, instead, it has cleared up
what goals I have outside orienteering. Early in the spring I am planning to
run a marathon and after that I’m focusing on having fun on trails and
mountains. I’m just thrilled to have all these new goals and races coming up
and can’t wait to get into training. It’s a bit weird to have just a handful of
races waiting in the summer instead of normal 30-40 events but I like the idea
of getting to the start line feeling confident and fresh. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I started my winter training some weeks ago but have focused
mainly on strength and conditioning and kept running still at minimum. Now that
I for once have plenty of time for a proper build-up I don’t want to rush into it
but instead try to build up my weekly mileage gradually. To play safe and to get
some extra strength to my legs I just kicked off my base training with a ski
camp in Grönklitt. I’ve done lots of cycling and swimming while injured but I
still think that cross-country skiing is the best possible alternative training
form for runners. It is brilliant full-body strength training, you work
reasonably hard all the time (and especially hard in the climbs), and it’s easy
to get your heart rate up (in contrast to cycling and swimming). In other words
you can train harder and more without getting injured. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Grönklitt is a ski resort just four hours from Stockholm. I
have been there a couple of times in late January but never this early and I
was quite skeptical about snow conditions. But they had promised me snow and I
believed them. However, during the drive there there my suspicion just grew the
nearer I got. Finally I came to Orsa, a village just 10km away from the resort,
and there was still no sign of snow. Then I really started to get worried. 5km
later and some hundred meters higher up came the first white flecks, and then, just
a few kilometers later came winter. Suddenly, there it was, a beautiful snow
blanket and some 30km of perfects ski tracks. What else can you wish for? So I
had a great long weekend there filled with easy hours in the morning and harder
tempo sessions and fartleks in the evening. I finished each workout in
exhaustion but with a big grin on my face. It was so much fun and I really
enjoyed it despite the fact that every muscle in my body was aching afterwards.
What a wonderful feeling!</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Now I’m looking forward to getting back to running, stronger
than ever!</span></div>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
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<a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-CcKpzKItMN8/WEfhZgif59I/AAAAAAAAHvE/yj6ExLwbvX4N6KRmuV0bkcFTQJX3ezq3QCLcB/s1600/ski%2Btrack.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-CcKpzKItMN8/WEfhZgif59I/AAAAAAAAHvE/yj6ExLwbvX4N6KRmuV0bkcFTQJX3ezq3QCLcB/s320/ski%2Btrack.jpg" width="320" /></a><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-2lBrO5SSIQE/WEfhLlJzMaI/AAAAAAAAHvA/G86Rsn9ARTUSfCjKN5nsxx5J6Pc8lfuZgCLcB/s1600/sunrise%2Borsa.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-2lBrO5SSIQE/WEfhLlJzMaI/AAAAAAAAHvA/G86Rsn9ARTUSfCjKN5nsxx5J6Pc8lfuZgCLcB/s320/sunrise%2Borsa.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1241620116463841450.post-63942901339890806762016-09-08T10:55:00.000+01:002016-09-08T10:55:36.677+01:00Quiet withdrawal<span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">I had a dream. A dream to become one of the best orienteers
in the world. It was probably born some time after we had won relay gold in
JWOC with Hanna and Heli, a long time ago. It grew stronger after podium places
in Nordic Meetings and Euromeeting some years later. Then I was injured in a
car accident and my dream died for a while but, against all odds, I came back after a few years. In 2004 I surprised everyone and made it to WOC for the first time
and suddenly the dream got some flesh on the bones and became a bit more
realistic. After that I wasn’t just trying to get to the WOC team, I
also wanted to succeed there.</span><br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Y2Phbl8P5Ro/V8_331BhOTI/AAAAAAAAHrU/NRbTrohbsP89XYIC6mignIjv0JeXKC1XQCLcB/s1600/riina_woc2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Y2Phbl8P5Ro/V8_331BhOTI/AAAAAAAAHrU/NRbTrohbsP89XYIC6mignIjv0JeXKC1XQCLcB/s320/riina_woc2.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">WOC 2004, Sweden </span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">The following year I managed to get to a level where I
started to dream about podium places after an 8</span><sup style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">th</sup><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;"> place on the long
distance in NOC (Nordic Orienteering Championships) and some good results
in the World Cup. We also managed to win a World Cup relay with Anni-Maija and Minna. However, in WOC 2005 I faced a new kind of challenge and pressure
after I had finished 2</span><sup style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">nd</sup><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;"> in the qualification and got to start to the
middle distance final among the last 6 starters. Suddenly a podium place seemed
a lot closer – and yet so far. My expectations grew too high and I couldn’t handle the pressure in
the final and finished 17</span><sup style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">th</sup><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">. It was my second WOC and second year in
the national team but I never thought that it was my best chance. I was still
inexperienced and naïve and believed that I had many years ahead and many more
chances to try to reach my dreams.</span></div>
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<o:p><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-De8l9MyGkzU/V8SOb--X3DI/AAAAAAAAHnk/FoxDBQCQc483j3TUFLULIqRWBtDYeLKsACLcB/s1600/mc_england_3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-De8l9MyGkzU/V8SOb--X3DI/AAAAAAAAHnk/FoxDBQCQc483j3TUFLULIqRWBtDYeLKsACLcB/s320/mc_england_3.jpg" width="238" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">World Cup victory with Minna and Anni-Maija, England 2005</td></tr>
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<br />
</span></o:p></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-2AOm8FeKEEs/V8_6OiT4RYI/AAAAAAAAHrk/CncIy2H_kXoVHJNVj2n6JYR0_7GDDkwkgCLcB/s1600/mm_joukkue_05.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="211" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-2AOm8FeKEEs/V8_6OiT4RYI/AAAAAAAAHrk/CncIy2H_kXoVHJNVj2n6JYR0_7GDDkwkgCLcB/s320/mm_joukkue_05.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Finland's WOC team 2005 (SSL)</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">But the following years were tough. I was working hard for
my research project and didn’t have time to rest between work and training. I tried
to balance there the best I could but probably pushed myself too hard and got several injuries
and stress fractures that hampered my training for next few years. In 2006 I was 11<sup>th</sup> on the middle distance in EOC and 15th in the overall World Cup but didn’t make it to the WOC due to various injuries. In 2008 I made a comeback with some very good results but got sick just
before the WOC finals and that was it. I got one more chance in WOC 2010 but
felt like a wallflower there when running a distance that has never been my cup
of tea. I finished 21<sup>st</sup>, far below my expectations.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-GJNe6qsU0g8/V839VSc-O6I/AAAAAAAAHqE/GhXZWzIygeE31SA9ZD9eIj_qlQy56xFpACLcB/s1600/WOC2008LongQual_WorldofO.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-GJNe6qsU0g8/V839VSc-O6I/AAAAAAAAHqE/GhXZWzIygeE31SA9ZD9eIj_qlQy56xFpACLcB/s320/WOC2008LongQual_WorldofO.jpg" width="212" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Long qualification, WOC 2008 (WorldofO)</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-tDSKVtSQHug/V8_2ryR1USI/AAAAAAAAHrI/IfZttvutZ3EH3bJpijthUdA3_JoLyyiNACLcB/s1600/suomen_naiset%2B2010.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="147" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-tDSKVtSQHug/V8_2ryR1USI/AAAAAAAAHrI/IfZttvutZ3EH3bJpijthUdA3_JoLyyiNACLcB/s320/suomen_naiset%2B2010.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Finland's women's team, WOC 2010 (SSL)</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">After 2010 I really wanted to improve and made some drastic
changes in my life. For the first time I gave myself opportunity to train as a
pro and rest between the trainings. I just didn’t realize that I needed to
train orienteering to become a better orienteer. Spending three years in an
area with practically no orienteering maps, no club trainings and no national
team support didn’t make me a better orienteer. I became a better runner but
lost some of my technical skills. Retrospectively, I could have made more
progress as an orienteer if I had moved for instance to Halden instead of
Birmingham but, on the other hand, then I wouldn’t have gotten a chance to run
Inter Counties (cross country championships between the counties in England) or
to know what fell running is.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-KGdKDB0Nt84/V8SRMHsB7GI/AAAAAAAAHns/eNsVaYvEivUWXgtWSxlyHszcb6EARGZRACLcB/s1600/sprint%2Bqual%2B.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-KGdKDB0Nt84/V8SRMHsB7GI/AAAAAAAAHns/eNsVaYvEivUWXgtWSxlyHszcb6EARGZRACLcB/s1600/sprint%2Bqual%2B.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Back in action, World Cup 2013, NZ</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Anyway, I worked hard for five years to fulfill my dream and
to get to run World Championships for one more time but it didn’t happen. I
made some good results, such as a 6<sup>th</sup> place in the World Cup in Spain 2014, but I also screwed it up a few times despite good shape and preparations.
I was quite close to get to the team in 2013 and 2014 but the places are few
and the competition is hard. I was often among top3 or top4 in the selections but it wasn't enough. I should have done better and I probably should have
focused more on the selections than the actual championships. It has been frustrating to work for something for so long and then not to get a chance to try to achieve your goals. This year I was
put aside early in the spring due to prolonged infections. It took me several
months to recover and there wasn’t enough time to get back in time. It hit me
hard in the spring when I realized that I had just missed my last chance. It
was bad luck but there was nothing I could do. I tried and I failed but it’s
better than not to try at all. Life will continue and I have other dreams and
goals to achieve. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">World Cup sprint, Finland, 2013 (SSL)</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">World Cup final, Baden, 2013 (Marc Streit)</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I want to thank you all who’ve been there along the way and
supported me! Even if I didn’t reach all my goals and dreams I gained a lot and
enjoyed the journey. As an athlete you quite easily become very focused on the results
and winning but with some time and perspective I’m starting to realize how much
more it has been than just the results. All the hard work, dedication, and
commitment. All the sweat and tears. Emotions. Continuous learning. Training
camps. People. Bond between like-minded people. Friends. Shared goals. Shared happiness.
Places. Amazing places. Maybe I didn’t get to run for some silly medals but it
wasn’t all for nothing. I learned a lot about myself, got some wonderful
friends and got to see the world. So many great moments and good memories! </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Some pics from the journey…</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Training in African savannas, SA</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Refreshing bath after a run, SA</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Sprinting in beautiful surroundings</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Marsh intervals in Norway</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><br /><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-EmaQEbo87cY/V8RIB--_uOI/AAAAAAAAHl8/Os27p4tlbskynUi2z_HUxIXEx1qObwkgACLcB/s1600/Sveitsin%2Bleiri%2B079.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-EmaQEbo87cY/V8RIB--_uOI/AAAAAAAAHl8/Os27p4tlbskynUi2z_HUxIXEx1qObwkgACLcB/s320/Sveitsin%2Bleiri%2B079.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Getting high in Switzerland</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Scenic runs in New Zealand</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Training in the French Alps</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Having fun in Italy</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Having tea in Japan</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Good times...</span></td></tr>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1241620116463841450.post-65984601972774475092016-05-27T07:00:00.000+01:002016-05-27T11:15:21.010+01:00What doesn't kill you makes you stronger?<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I guess I’ve always had the attitude to go through the walls
and believed that setbacks make you stronger. And quite often this has proven
to be the case. I doubt whether I’d ever made my way to Finnish national team
and big championships if I hadn’t lost it all for a while after a car accident.
Doctors doubted whether I would ever run again but I came back stronger than
ever. That incident got me to believe that anything is possible and what
doesn’t kill you makes you stronger. Sometimes that may be the case, sometimes that
attitude can drive you down. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">This spring I certainly had too much Finnish ‘sisu’
(persistence or determination regardless of costs) and fighter attitude when I
should have given up and slowed down. I pushed myself too far until the point I
got afraid of killing myself. When I got an infection I only allowed myself to
be sick for a week or so but after that there was no time to rest and I just ignored
all the signs my body was giving and kept on hammering regardless of costs. I convinced
myself that it was just pollen allergy and ended up extending a normal flu
(maybe a bit nastier one) up to seven weeks by my perseverance or stubbornness.
I was too tired to train but I kept on racing every weekend until the point
that my body gave up. After five weeks the infection got down to my lungs and the chest pain, high fever, and difficulties in breathing finally
outweighed my willpower and I had no other option than to give up. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Now I have finally beaten the infection and feeling
well again for the first time since early April but at the same time I’m weaker
than ever and literally out of shape. I have absolutely no idea when I will be
able to race again. I still get out of breath just going up stairs and my heart
rate is sky high as soon as I try to run. My big dreams for this season seem already
more or less gone but being stubborn as I am I still keep on dreaming to keep
myself sane. In reality I try to learn from my mistakes and be patient now. I know
I can only take baby steps and I cannot push my limits before I’ve reached some
kind of basic health and fitness. At the moment my calendar is empty from races
and I am not planning to run anything before Venla. Just taking things as they
come day by day and watching our garden to bloom...</span></div>
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ZL9b_Nv7O3M/V0b-P_G4AjI/AAAAAAAAHhs/KNQpTHq60X44A9XarE0nbSopW9Yzz51jACLcB/s1600/IMG_3143.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ZL9b_Nv7O3M/V0b-P_G4AjI/AAAAAAAAHhs/KNQpTHq60X44A9XarE0nbSopW9Yzz51jACLcB/s320/IMG_3143.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-N9ZbyErxXqY/V0b-Wa7K7AI/AAAAAAAAHhw/-dc5L_JEwlU1728gdDXBfZrzHRRHO-dtwCLcB/s1600/IMG_3269.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-N9ZbyErxXqY/V0b-Wa7K7AI/AAAAAAAAHhw/-dc5L_JEwlU1728gdDXBfZrzHRRHO-dtwCLcB/s320/IMG_3269.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Able to smile again after accepting things as they are!</span></td></tr>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1241620116463841450.post-6052630561379788702016-04-28T06:00:00.000+01:002016-04-28T06:00:00.219+01:00April's rollercoaster<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">April has been a true rollercoaster for me. From Strömstad’s high to Stockholm's low. At the end of March everything was looking very good. I had managed to battle against injuries and illnesses and was looking forward to the season opening. I had done good runs in small local events and was feeling optimistic. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">On the first week of April we did a great trip to the west coast with a few girls from Linné to prepare ourselves for the coming WOC. It felt good to get back to those heavy terrains around Strömstad and feel a flow(!) this time. Last time I was there it was really hard for me to get any speed in those terrains but this time it felt a whole lot easier. So something must have gone right during the winter. In the middle of all fun I sprained my ankle in one training and couldn’t run the races we had planned to do in the weekend. I went and picked up my race maps, got good practise in difficult route choices, and ran around the courses but couldn’t risk racing. My ankle wasn’t really up for that and I had more important races coming up, such as Swedish League and EOC selection races. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Apart from the sprained ankle I was very happy with the training camp and thought I had trained smart there, but conditions were wet and cold and I managed to pick up a flu when I got back home. It’s seldom I’m sick for over a week but this time it was a nasty infection that put me aside for several weeks. That meant no Swedish League races for me. A week after there was sprint and middle selection races in Finland. I wasn’t well enough for the sprint but was hoping for to be able to run the middle a few days later. Unfortunately I wasn’t 100% well on the day of the middle distance either and not really ready to race but since it was my only chance I decided to give it a go. Very stupid decision. I felt absolutely horrible and it took me a while to find a speed but I did a decent run technically with only a few small mistakes. I finished 11th, a bit over 3min behind Emily Kemp, but since my EMIT decided to die during the race, I didn’t get a result. So all effort for nothing. But hey, the good thing was that I wasn’t better than that. Had I been higher up in the results, the EMIT thing would have bothered me more. </span></span><a href="http://www.tulospalvelu.fi/gps/20160417siljaD21/" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">GPS tracking from the middle distance</span></a></div>
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">However, running the middle distance race as convalescent meant that I got sick again and wasn’t able to run the long distance a week later. Again, I was hoping for the best and travelled there for the race but my body wasn’t ready for a long distance. So, that’s it for my EOC dreams. On the other hand, after being sick more or less for a month now, and missing all training, I wouldn’t be ready for any championships anyway. So, obviously I’m gutted to miss all the fun, but also relieved that now I have plenty of time to get well and no need to deliver results when out of shape. I’ll be back when well again…</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Some motivational pictures from Strömstad...</span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Oblw9zcCbGQ/VyESn1WU7fI/AAAAAAAAHf0/QRyzecmPv1sEpciqqaBUePDBu7XDmSHMgCLcB/s1600/IMG_3109.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Oblw9zcCbGQ/VyESn1WU7fI/AAAAAAAAHf0/QRyzecmPv1sEpciqqaBUePDBu7XDmSHMgCLcB/s320/IMG_3109.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">My favourite gym</span>!</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">This is why I orienteer!</span></td></tr>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1241620116463841450.post-88528647892226824162016-03-21T12:47:00.000+00:002016-03-21T12:47:42.529+00:00Sunny Andalucia <div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">After an easier week at home and a quick weekend trip to
Tampere I decided to go back to Spain to get another good training week before the
season start. It was a last-minute decision to go there but I’m very pleased
that I made the trip. Not did I only get plenty of training in good weather,
decent amount of orienteering, and more than enough of hills, but also a nice tan, several
CR:s, and ridiculously easy completion of the Strava March Climbing Challenge within
only a few days. Mission accomplished.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I spent first some time in Barbate and then a few days in Fuengirola.
On the way to Barbate my first stop was in Playa de Bolonia on a map called El Lentiscal. Grassy meadows, detailed hillside, and endless beach. What a paradise! I finished the training on the beach and couldn’t
resist temptation to jump to the sea after the run. Just a perfect start for a
week!</span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-4MwycGMV2pM/Vu83Ve6hSkI/AAAAAAAAHeM/yAW-M_c59TwctBAhGU4YE7jaVAdQfUlmQ/s1600/IMG_2848.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-4MwycGMV2pM/Vu83Ve6hSkI/AAAAAAAAHeM/yAW-M_c59TwctBAhGU4YE7jaVAdQfUlmQ/s320/IMG_2848.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">El Lentiscal</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9KHnEELw0qLL2CFx2ppTu4p9OjJBCMENL_kheyEhLJ2TZnN9X3sGhe2h-BTPkJdQbwDiJfGXDhnQM4m_q_2lQZ8Wn5R9_Glrbk5KXAJHjAUUpJz7h-uxPpthO1q0MD15L4-sxgL8M5l2O/s1600/IMG_2929.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9KHnEELw0qLL2CFx2ppTu4p9OjJBCMENL_kheyEhLJ2TZnN9X3sGhe2h-BTPkJdQbwDiJfGXDhnQM4m_q_2lQZ8Wn5R9_Glrbk5KXAJHjAUUpJz7h-uxPpthO1q0MD15L4-sxgL8M5l2O/s320/IMG_2929.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Playa de Barbate</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">First day in Barbate included a morning run, an easy introductory session and hill reps followed by downhill orienteering with the Finnish
team in the afternoon. I was slightly worried whether I could keep up with the
girls in the national team but luckily I was able to hang in there (skipping
over the recoveries helped a bit). It was good fun and it was great to meet up
with the girls again. Next day I did long distance in the morning and sprint in
the evening on my own. Somehow the climbs felt a lot tougher than the day
before. Afternoon sprint I ran in Vejer de la Frontera, a cute little village on the top of a hill. Definitively worth a visit!</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-h0oGu1IjEbw/Vu83loIYgaI/AAAAAAAAHek/fcupuyLwHLkPHmHWjVypYPXoVm4KIY2oA/s1600/IMG_2950.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-h0oGu1IjEbw/Vu83loIYgaI/AAAAAAAAHek/fcupuyLwHLkPHmHWjVypYPXoVm4KIY2oA/s320/IMG_2950.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Hill training, Le Brena </span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh39KkTTmBnfZiAuBdbzv-sSEUgcwipYPkAhY2E8liO1X6qRQF4I10yZoKFm2opnujwmCDFr745srpLVukzP_9FtCO8TdKftdJMiQyuZjykylkesXfrbrXJ3r8bGkPPwHNU3F6bLietaM7O/s1600/IMG_2892.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh39KkTTmBnfZiAuBdbzv-sSEUgcwipYPkAhY2E8liO1X6qRQF4I10yZoKFm2opnujwmCDFr745srpLVukzP_9FtCO8TdKftdJMiQyuZjykylkesXfrbrXJ3r8bGkPPwHNU3F6bLietaM7O/s320/IMG_2892.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Sprinting in Vejer de la Frontera</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">On Saturday I had planned to do a
sprint training together with the Finnish team but I woke up with some soreness
in my foot. It was the very same spot that had bothered me over two months
before Christmas so I chose to play safe immediately and rented a bike instead.
To rent a bike was a funny little story itself but when I finally got one we
had a wonderful time together and I had no regrets skipping over the planned
trainings that day. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">had googled and found a bike rental in Conil, half an hour
drive away from Barbate. So I drove there first thing in the morning but the
hotel complex, by which the rental was supposed to be, was closed. I tried to
search around and got help by some local people, none of whom spoke any English
though. I tried words like ‘<i>bike</i>’, ‘<i>bicycle</i>’, and ‘<i>cyclo</i>’ while trying to
animate cycling at the same time. First gentleman I met nodded “</span><i style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">si, si</i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">” and offered to show me the way.
We walked a long way in silence until we came to a some kind of outdoor
gym. </span><i style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Muchas gracias</i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">,
but it wasn’t really kind of cycling that I had in mind. </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Luckily a woman who
was passing by stopped and understood the word ‘bicycle’ and guided me further until we met a next person who could walk with me to the bike rental. So finally, with
the help of three enormously friendly local people, I found my way to the bike
rental. It wasn’t anywhere near the hotel where I had left my car but it seemed like a
good bike shop and I got a nice road bike for only 15€ per day and went off for a wonderful
ride in the sun. My r</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">oute was Conil </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">–</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> Canos de Meca – Barbate </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">–</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> Vejer – and back to Conil
via El Palmar. Fairly easy route but with a few nice climbs, first one up
from Canos de Meca and another up to Vejer de la Frontera. Vejer was also a
perfect spot for a coffee stop with numerous of cafés on either sides of the
road. I just picked randomly one that I liked and enjoyed my coffee there in
the sun. Life was smiling. I continued my ride through the town and descended
on the other side of the hill towards A-2230. Views that opened up on the way
down were quite beautiful.</span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-2t4_qz4BZp8/Vu83WhTqs3I/AAAAAAAAHeQ/ue04Sy0uQs4JzV4HHy8xnQLu2dGMvuyOA/s1600/IMG_2913.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-2t4_qz4BZp8/Vu83WhTqs3I/AAAAAAAAHeQ/ue04Sy0uQs4JzV4HHy8xnQLu2dGMvuyOA/s320/IMG_2913.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Pure enjoyment!</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Nice views over Atlantic</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Surprisingly my ankle felt a lot better when I woke up next
morning and I went for an early morning run to test whether I could actually run
with it. Amazingly I didn’t feel a thing. I did just a short jog to spare the
foot for the main training, which was O-intervals on the map just a few
kilometers away. Funny coincidence that there was a trail race going on and the
runners were passing the start point of my first interval right there and then
when I came to the start. They had a drink station and a spectator point there so
I got my share of the cheering when I passed by. What a nice race feeling at
the start of my intervals! In the afternoon I did an easier session focusing on
some technical elements. It went well and it was only at the end of the session
that I could feel some mild discomfort in my foot. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Start of the intervals</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Next day I did only one run in the morning before I went back
to Fuengirola to meet up with my father. The day after we went to Mijas, a
lovely small white-washed village on the mountainside between Costa del Sol and
Sierra de Mijas. It was a beautiful village and the views from there were gorgeous.
But obviously it wasn’t enough for me, I wanted to get to the top of the
mountains. There were some trekking routes starting just above the village and I
followed a nice marked route up to the saddle between Pico Mijas and Mendoza.
From there my plan was to follow a line or a border that looked like a path on
the map but in reality it was something else. There was no path, just endless stone
field. But since I had already come that far there was no way I would go down
without actually reaching the summit. After climbing just a little bit further
I was able to see the mountaintop. There was still a kilometer to go and about
a billion stones. But I didn’t mind, I was determined to go there no matter
what. It was a good adventure but I chose to follow a path down.</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Morning in Costa del Sol</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-3P0dVneQtHI/Vu83mjvIHCI/AAAAAAAAHeo/GVyepNiAE4w7-DMqUaNrKuKUqpYPtMfzA/s1600/IMG_3042.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-3P0dVneQtHI/Vu83mjvIHCI/AAAAAAAAHeo/GVyepNiAE4w7-DMqUaNrKuKUqpYPtMfzA/s320/IMG_3042.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Pico Mijas </span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I came back to Sweden just in time for season opening in Nyköping. First
a long distance race on Saturday and then Måsenstafetten on Sunday. I won the individual race and did solid
runs in both days but wasn’t really up for racing twice in the same weekend
and felt extremely tired on Sunday. It was first time I got to run last leg for
Linné and even if I was slightly horrified when I heard about it I really appreciated to get the chance. Hilda and Lisa did brilliant job
on the first two legs, giving me the best possible starting point. I had almost
forgotten how exciting it is to go out in the lead! IFK Lidingö with Anna
Bachman and OK Ravinen with Helena Jansson gave me some hard time on the last
leg but I was still proud to bring us home as third. Two podium places was an excellent way to start the season! </span><o:p></o:p></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-xiFeJKixn6o/Vu83tVd8n1I/AAAAAAAAHew/kGvsE6cJtGgYFlCkl3MW_o_0zD94PcwNA/s1600/IMG_3061.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-xiFeJKixn6o/Vu83tVd8n1I/AAAAAAAAHew/kGvsE6cJtGgYFlCkl3MW_o_0zD94PcwNA/s320/IMG_3061.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Nice way to start the season</span></td></tr>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1241620116463841450.post-56173124872646305382016-03-04T11:45:00.000+00:002016-03-04T12:16:46.014+00:00Fight against larvae in Alicante<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">On Monday I came back from a training camp in Alicante.
According to Thierry it is one of the best places to spend winter as an
orienteer, so at the last minute I signed up to Linné’s training camp in
Guardamar. I have been there on training camp twice before in the late 90’s,
although back then in Torrevieja, but all I can remember (in addition to some
funny incident in a local restaurant) is a burning rash and itching. This time,
the thing that I most likely won’t forget any time soon, is a burning rash and
itching. I still have red dots all over my body and skin is just starting to
smoothen after being like a burning potato field. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Apart from the larvae and burning skin, the training camp
was terrific and just what I needed. A week filled with technical training in
otherwise perfect conditions and relaxation in good company. I feel like my
shape is getting better and better after just a few months of training but my
orienteering is still far behind. It can be irritating when your legs go faster
than your brain but mostly I just enjoyed it. It’s definitively better that
way. It took me some days to find a good pace and rhythm to my orienteering but
it was great to see day-to-day improvement.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Albin had planned us a full schedule with three trainings a
day and with fair amount of high-speed quality sessions included. I skipped
most of the night sessions but still got 18 orienteering trainings in eight
days, half of them in full speed (or at least high-intensity). I call it a good
week. It was also a good mixture of dune terrains, sprints, and hill terrains, to
get some variety into your training. It was a great week and without the larvae
I would love to go there again. Maybe worth mentioning is that only a few of us
got serious problems with the rash and just one of us needed a hospital visit
due to anaphylactic reaction. Most of us didn’t get anything or just a mild rash.
So it’s probably fine to go there but take some antihistamines and
hydrocortisone with you.</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">On the way back I picked up a flu probably due to massive
sleep deprivation (impossible to sleep when you’re itching all over) so I have
spent most of the time at home sleeping and recovering before my next visit to Spain.
This time I will head further to south, to larva-free zones. Adios!</span></div>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-oqQRRSzM6wY/VtluHlMJNFI/AAAAAAAAHcI/0kAWBkseO9w/s1600/IMG_2741.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-oqQRRSzM6wY/VtluHlMJNFI/AAAAAAAAHcI/0kAWBkseO9w/s320/IMG_2741.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Sprinting on the streets of Caravaca de la Cruz</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Early birdie training on the dunes </span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-rHbC3wuSQy4/VtluHA6ssvI/AAAAAAAAHcE/bcBPdLkKLNY/s1600/IMG_2775.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-rHbC3wuSQy4/VtluHA6ssvI/AAAAAAAAHcE/bcBPdLkKLNY/s320/IMG_2775.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Breakfast in the sunshine</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Tricky sprint around Atalaya castle in Villena</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Morning runs on the beach</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ydlBQ0zIm8U/VtluTNpWjtI/AAAAAAAAHcU/KBpUqnTac3A/s1600/IMG_2811.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ydlBQ0zIm8U/VtluTNpWjtI/AAAAAAAAHcU/KBpUqnTac3A/s320/IMG_2811.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Typical training terrain, Guardamar Sur</span></td></tr>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1241620116463841450.post-51641978407390316322016-02-08T07:00:00.000+00:002016-02-08T12:02:14.133+00:00Tri Camp in Las Playitas<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Usually
I’ve been in Portugal on a training camp this time of the year but after all
injuries last year I chose a less risky alternative with plenty of cross-training
possibilities and went to Las Playitas in Fuerteventura. I knew its popularity
among triathletes but I didn’t know it was such a perfect place for an injured
orienteer. There was not only a 4km stretch of perfect cycle lane to run but
plenty of trails and paths in undulating milieu, lots of hills to climb on,
hundreds of kilometres of perfect tarmac for road cycling, fine MTB routes,
Olympic swimming pool, fully equipped gym and variety of different group
training sessions. All that combined with sunshine and temperature around +20C
made it pretty nice for training. The only single disturbing thing was wind,
but even that was bearable in otherwise perfect conditions. It certainly added
some extra challenge to cycling but didn’t bother much in the swimming pool.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Cycle lane of perfection</span></td></tr>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I wasn’t
sure how much running I could do so it was great to have lots of possibilities
for alternative training. Luckily it went better than expected and my body
adapted well to 2+1 day rhythm. That meant two days of running, combined with
strength training and swimming, and then one day of cycling. Having those run-free
days I was able to cover over 20h of training in a week, including over 100km
running and about 200km cycling. First evening after arrival I used exploring
the hills just next to the resort. There were plenty of nice paths to run up
and down and along the hills and the views were great. What else can you wish
for?<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Hills around the resort</span></td></tr>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The
following day I used to take a wider look on the surroundings. I ran up to the
lighthouse, supposedly a run you have to do when in Playitas. It’s a single
road route from the resort up to the top of a mountain queue, with a massive
lighthouse at the end of the road. It’s about 13km back and forth with 270m of
climbing. The last kilometre up to the lighthouse is brutal with its 100m
vertical climb. Otherwise it’s a fairly nice and easy route to run. A bit
boring but works fine for a tempo session. And the views up on the top are
definitively worth the climb! Rest of my runs I did on trails and paths, except
the last day, when I took part to the actual lighthouse run, a weekly race
arranged at the resort. To run it after a week of heavy training was tough but
I couldn’t miss a chance to try to run a race when feeling absolutely dead and
exhausted. It’s seldom you get an opportunity to train your brain to push
through that wall. I’m quite happy I did that. Although next time I will most
certainly plan my arrival time better…<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"><o:p><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></o:p></span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-mbyNqjbiqBU/Vreu4dQQ4pI/AAAAAAAAHYw/oPQ6PzMnVO8/s1600/IMG_2637.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-mbyNqjbiqBU/Vreu4dQQ4pI/AAAAAAAAHYw/oPQ6PzMnVO8/s320/IMG_2637.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Faro de la Entallada</span></td></tr>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I was
surprised to find that there were also many nice gravel roads and trails to
run. In the sports centre you can get a map with several marked routes of
various lengths on it. The map itself was very accurate but, being such a
pedantic orienteer, I couldn’t help noticing that some routes weren’t drawn
correctly on the map. However, there are painted stones in terrain to follow,
so you can go and run without a map. Just knowing which colour to follow will
do. The lengths of the routes were approximately right.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"><o:p><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></o:p></span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2DVfJiFLJiHlgxfQSERdzVXx9_itu_y8n1_ESqpYfVyJk_FgSIuVvoZQzX41aGnSqaav7J93_hTk9L5SSEetxC-B3mhvU4tsigichsvT8wskrZpCsWrYi5mi8QUqO2hlY8UxnfLDAzsBn/s1600/IMG_0791.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2DVfJiFLJiHlgxfQSERdzVXx9_itu_y8n1_ESqpYfVyJk_FgSIuVvoZQzX41aGnSqaav7J93_hTk9L5SSEetxC-B3mhvU4tsigichsvT8wskrZpCsWrYi5mi8QUqO2hlY8UxnfLDAzsBn/s320/IMG_0791.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Never-ending trails</span></td></tr>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Cycling in
Fuerteventura is great too. Roads are mostly very good and the attitude is
friendly. After riding a bike in Sweden it was great to see Spanish drivers
being so respectful. I’m sure that road signs advising drivers to give space to
cyclists helps too. I joined Sami for a few longer rides in the mountains and
it was just terrific! Fuerteventura is perhaps not as mountainous as Gran
Canaria or Mallorca but climbs are still long enough to put you through some
great suffering. I would say that the headwind we met on our first ride on the
way to Tuineje and further to Antigua felt almost worse than the biggest climb
of the ride (the mountain top between Antigua and Betancuria). But the great
thing with the wind is its payback time. On the way home we got to enjoy
tailwind and our 16kph headwind speed turned suddenly to +40kph without an
effort. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"><o:p><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></o:p></span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-euGC3Rl4xkY/Vre1FsvfeeI/AAAAAAAAHZU/MJpVJLqnKe4/s1600/IMG_2704.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-euGC3Rl4xkY/Vre1FsvfeeI/AAAAAAAAHZU/MJpVJLqnKe4/s320/IMG_2704.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Roads like velvet</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-gqgIDD0edo8/Vre1Bm8Hc4I/AAAAAAAAHZM/F8dMitAoE4c/s1600/IMG_0809.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-gqgIDD0edo8/Vre1Bm8Hc4I/AAAAAAAAHZM/F8dMitAoE4c/s320/IMG_0809.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Lovely café worth a stop in Antigua</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><br />
<a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-m-rbx08sYyg/Vre1FYh0hiI/AAAAAAAAHZQ/3R-Ti9uStmU/s1600/IMG_2663.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-m-rbx08sYyg/Vre1FYh0hiI/AAAAAAAAHZQ/3R-Ti9uStmU/s320/IMG_2663.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Beauty that took me around January Gran Fondo</span></td></tr>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I also
enjoyed having a full-length pool just on our doorstep and used swimming to
flush my tired legs after long rides and runs. The only downside was that the resort
was full of professional swimmers and triathletes, which meant that I got to
share a lane with some serious swimmers. I like to use swimming as easy recovery
workout but it didn’t really fit in in the picture. Even with my swimming
background and decent technique (for a runner) I felt like the slowest swimmer in
the pool with my 2min/100m pace. Sure I can swim faster than that but then I’m
out of breath quite soon. So I felt a bit pressure sharing the pool with some
serious swimmers but maybe it’s only good to get out of your comfort zone once
in a while and push a bit harder. I didn’t drown and I felt great afterwards. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">All in all
what a great week!<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ad2JqaUvN20/Vre3uq_Sr_I/AAAAAAAAHZg/gsobJrvc3MQ/s1600/IMG_2656.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ad2JqaUvN20/Vre3uq_Sr_I/AAAAAAAAHZg/gsobJrvc3MQ/s320/IMG_2656.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Fancy a swim with pros? Absolutely!</span></td></tr>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1241620116463841450.post-5957661740896325222016-01-26T14:01:00.000+00:002016-01-26T14:27:05.148+00:00Hot and cold therapy<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Hot and cold therapy is widely used method to treat and
prevent sports injuries. Cold reduces pain and swelling after an injury whereas heat relaxes tight muscles, opens up blood vessels and increases blood flow and oxygen supply to the site of injury. Usually it means applying a warm gel pack or warm
water for hot therapy and an ice pack or cold water for cold therapy. I used slightly different
approach. First I flew to Thailand and spent the Christmas holiday there in
over +30C heat to give myself whole body hot therapy and then came back to
Sweden to -20C for true shock treatment. I have to say that over 40 degrees’
change in temperature was quite a shock and took a while to adapt… Anyway, as
horrible as coming back felt, it worked, and I got rid off my injuries. Nothing
to do with the fact that didn’t run for 6 weeks…</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I believe I was very near to develop a tibial stress
fracture in the beginning of November but for once reacted fast enough and took
the needed precautions before I was quite there. Tibialis posterior tendon reacted
first but I could also feel pain in the lower tibia when I stopped running. I
skipped the marathon that I had planned to run at the end of November and
cross-trained most of the December too. Then, at the last week of December, I
started gradually to run again. Some gentle jogs on the beach in the sunrise before
my daily yoga session. Sun, warmth, yoga, swimming, massage, stretching, and
relaxation provided my body and soul everything I needed for coming back from
injury and getting back to training.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">First week of January I used for acclimatization to a
climate change, in other words I stayed mostly indoors on a spinning bike. I
had no desire to start running on icy roads in freezing temperatures but then I
realized that there was fair amount of snow outdoors and discovered that I
could go cross-country skiing. In Stockholm skiing is very different from the
places where you actually have snow but as soon as there’s a few centimeters
snow, classic ski tracks will appear on almost every meadow and golf course
around Stockholm. Conditions are mostly poor and in Northern latitudes no one
would want to destroy his/her skies on that kind of tracks, but here people go
nuts of little snow and those few grassy kilometers of ski tracks get packed in a flash. It is
unbelievable how popular skiing is here and how many enthusiastic skiers there
are despite very limited skiing possibilities. I went along to that movement
and gathered about 100km of double poling in a week on nonexistent ski tracks before
Linné’s annual ski camp in Grönklitt.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Weekend in Grönklitt was very different from skiing in
Stockholm. It offered great tracks for both classic and skating and plenty of
snow. Skiing there was pure pleasure, despite my somewhat rusted skiing and
waxing skills. Classic racing skies that I remember working perfectly fine for me
five years ago suddenly seemed too stiff and I just lacked technique to get a
good grip on them. It meant only that I had to work harder. But the good news is
that I got much better training. Training something that your body is less used
to do makes you work harder than when you train something that you are used
to do on a daily basis. What a wonderful feeling it was to sense soreness in every muscle
after the last training there! Feels good to be back on track and able to train
again! </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Adios winter, time to move back to summer!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-DCE4S5XsYTA/Vqd2H5U1mII/AAAAAAAAHYY/xZlOQeq8TeI/s1600/IMG_2417.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-DCE4S5XsYTA/Vqd2H5U1mII/AAAAAAAAHYY/xZlOQeq8TeI/s320/IMG_2417.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Hot therapy at its best, Beyond Resort, Khao Lak </span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-2876Qv-k9vQ/Vqd2EjZe8zI/AAAAAAAAHYI/DouEpptZkJY/s1600/IMG_2453.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-2876Qv-k9vQ/Vqd2EjZe8zI/AAAAAAAAHYI/DouEpptZkJY/s320/IMG_2453.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Magical moonlight run before sunrise</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-U4tAgGH7Iao/Vqd2EzVqSHI/AAAAAAAAHYM/nSX_dAUOI58/s1600/IMG_2609.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-U4tAgGH7Iao/Vqd2EzVqSHI/AAAAAAAAHYM/nSX_dAUOI58/s320/IMG_2609.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Sunrise in Orsa Grönklitt</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-i0fh4tOrf7c/Vqd2KOC8hsI/AAAAAAAAHYg/TL2BVqPgsVw/s1600/IMG_2618.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-i0fh4tOrf7c/Vqd2KOC8hsI/AAAAAAAAHYg/TL2BVqPgsVw/s320/IMG_2618.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Cold therapy at its best, Orsa Grönklitt </span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1241620116463841450.post-22767569052346623062015-11-21T08:00:00.000+00:002015-12-09T15:51:26.977+00:00Failed Attempt<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I knew that the marathon project was a bit of risky
business this year with so little running in the past 6 months but the fact
that I survived Lidingöloppet kind of gave green light to the project. I admit
having too few miles in my legs when I started off my marathon training, and yes,
I was forced to increase my weekly mileage a little more than appropriate according
to schoolbooks. But despite all that my legs felt strong enough for training after
spending hours at gym and on the bike. The biggest problem was of course the long
runs. I hadn’t run more than 15k at most and I needed to get a few 30k runs. So
doubling the distance of my long run in a short period of time was a risk I had
to take if I wanted to get in good marathon shape. Otherwise I was trying to
follow a minimum input principle and do<span lang="EN-GB"> only the necessary. No more, no less, just what was needed. My strategy was very simple and it was based
on three key workouts: intervals, marathon pace runs, and long runs. Rest of
the days I used mostly for active recovery. I trained only once a day and only
6 days a week. So it seemed like a pretty safe approach.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I took it
very cautiously in the beginning, listening to my body carefully, and
increasing the mileage of my long runs (as well as pace runs, and number of
repetitions in the intervals) gradually. The fact that my build-up was just
about 6 weeks made it hard to plan in an easy week in the middle. Ideal would
have been a 2+1 week rhythm. Instead I used a gradual 4-week build-up, followed
by 2 weeks’ tapering. It looked alright on the paper but meant three
high-mileage weeks after each other and three 30k long runs in three
consecutive weekends when I probably would have needed an easier week in
between. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Accumulated fatigue or inadequate rest, that’s what hit me
in my tibialis posterior tendon. The weird thing about it is that the injury came
only after I had already overcome the worst. It appeared just when things
started to look better and I was getting used to the increased mileage and long
runs. In the beginning everything was hard and I was walking on a narrow line
all the time but week-by-week I started to get stronger and more and more
accustomed to my marathon specific workouts. The last long run felt almost ridiculously
easy and I had no problems increasing the pace at the end of it. Finally things
started to look good and I was feeling happy and confident. I had covered my
peak weeks and it was time to taper. I was done with the long runs and had only
two hard workouts left. But then, right then, at the top of everything, my
ankle stroke back and put me aside. I’ve taken now 1,5 weeks off from running but
there are no signs of recovery (at least not enough considering the time
perspective). So at this stage the only smart thing to do is to throw in the
towel. I hate to do that but it’s most probably the right thing to do.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Aftermath<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">It’s easy to say it was stupid or too much at this stage. On
the other hand it’s sports and injuries are part of the game. It’s always
delicate balancing between the training load and recovery. Sometimes you step
over the line but that’s life. Would I do it again? Absolutely! (Obviously with
some minor modifications). So what were the pros and cons about the project?
Well the cons are quite obvious. It is very upsetting and frustrating to be
injured and not able to race. Pros? There are plenty of them! First of all I
found my lost motivation to train again. I also got much fitter during the
process and found easiness in running fast. I was happy to see that my injured calf
had healed properly and could handle the workload. And it was very encouraging
to see fast improvement during the process. I believe I got quite near the
fitness level I was trying to achieve. It will certainly be an advantage when I
get back to training again.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-RoNgQs0OKPw/Vk7z5sJBtWI/AAAAAAAAHCw/vM0xwD-pcfY/s1600/supergirl.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-RoNgQs0OKPw/Vk7z5sJBtWI/AAAAAAAAHCw/vM0xwD-pcfY/s320/supergirl.jpg" width="259" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="text-align: start;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: small;"><i>Playing Supergirl has sometimes a high price…</i></span></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1241620116463841450.post-48029127111305151342015-10-23T11:24:00.000+01:002015-10-23T11:24:25.997+01:00Training is on!<div class="MsoNormal">
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I’ve trained a few weeks now with marathon in my mind. That
has meant a couple of marathon pace runs, track intervals, and a few longer
runs. Long runs haven’t been that long yet, but I’m trying to increase the
mileage gradually. Right now every kilometer feels like a milestone. </span><o:p></o:p></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Anyway, after a few weeks of training I wanted to run a half
marathon. More or less like a training run, just to get half of the distance
covered at my target pace. I’m not too thrilled about doing long pace runs on
my own, so entering to an organised event seemed like an easier option.
Initially I wanted to do Birmingham half but after checking the price of the
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Lucky enough I managed to find a half marathon on the west
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afternoon start. From Göteborg I took to a local train to get to Varberg and
from the station I walked to the event centre. Plan was to follow a stream of
runners from the train but I saw none. After 20min walk towards the start I
still hadn’t seen any fellow runners and got slightly worried whether I had
looked the date wrong. But eventually I found some signs and got to the club
hut. It was a local orienteering club who arranged the event and their club hut
was a natural gathering place. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It was a small event with less than 300 participants but with
a beautiful undulating course running through the parks and forests of a nice
little town named Varberg. Route was only partly on tarmac, partly on gravel,
which meant less impact but slower times. Fine with me. My favorite part of it
was a path running along the coastline with views over the sea. It was
beautiful.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">My plan was to run at gentle 4:15 pace. However, first 5k was
very easy and went effortlessly in 19:57. Then tarmac changed to a coastal
path. View was great but maintaining the pace was getting harder. After 7k came
a bigger climb and the pace dropped. 10k in 41:15. Still in schedule. After 11k
came a few more climbs and I also got problems with my stomach. <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Was it the ryebread? Or the third cup of
coffee at Espresso House?</i> Whatever the reason I was afraid to take my gels
or sport drinks. I had to go on paniagua, or merely just aqua. I also had to
slow down a bit. After slowing down I wasn’t able to pick up the pace anymore
and lost about 4 minutes on the second half. Gentle pace oh yeah… To my excuse the
undulating course on soft trails was certainly not the fastest. I wasn’t too
happy with my run but at least I got a good workout done and some prize money
for the effort. Although staying there for the prize giving meant a quick warm
down back to the station in order to catch a train home (had about 15min to
cover 3km). That was tough.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">At this stage I’m definitively quite far away from my goals
and where I’m hoping to be in a month. I mean if I can’t run a half marathon at
my marathon pace, how an earth could I run the whole distance at that pace?
Luckily I’ve got a few more weeks to train. Although I think I may need to
adjust my paces a little. But the good news is that my legs are doing much
better and getting used to the increased mileage. After only a few weeks of
training I’m recovering much quicker and barely felt that half marathon in my
legs afterwards. It’s a huge improvement from where I was after Lidingöloppet!</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-2CmD7KIp4uw/Vikb6v1iLNI/AAAAAAAAHBw/qjEnE-OiixY/s1600/start_ifkfriskus.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="213" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-2CmD7KIp4uw/Vikb6v1iLNI/AAAAAAAAHBw/qjEnE-OiixY/s320/start_ifkfriskus.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Start of the race (FK Friskus) </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-IgTYNeODiqY/Viknf55UHXI/AAAAAAAAHCA/jKB6-v5WVJY/s1600/fotoalbum_237_108_1_friskus.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="213" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-IgTYNeODiqY/Viknf55UHXI/AAAAAAAAHCA/jKB6-v5WVJY/s320/fotoalbum_237_108_1_friskus.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">2nd woman (FK Friskus)</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1241620116463841450.post-67887738447491757712015-10-15T14:28:00.000+01:002015-10-15T14:32:10.497+01:00Minimum input, maximum output<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 150%;">Sounds like a lazy athlete’s
approach to training or just lazy person’s way of coping life in general but
there might be something in it. In business world it is a way to </span><span style="line-height: 24px;">maximise</span><span style="line-height: 150%;"> productivity. Why to do more than necessary and strain yourself? If there’s a
certain amount of training needed for improvement, why to train more? It just
increases the risk for injuries. Or if you can achieve something by doing the
minimum, why to bother to do more? Of course if the doing itself is more
important than the outcome and it makes you happy, then go ahead, keep on
hammering. As long as you can cope with the load mentally and physically and
don’t get burnout or injured.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This year I’ve certainly followed
the concept above, at least the minimum input part of it. I’ve trained
absolutely minimum due to my long-standing injury but still raced reasonably
well considering my non-existing input. Looking back the season with some
perspective, my coming-back-from-injury-run at Venla was indeed quite alright
at that point, I just compared it to my normal level and wasn’t satisfied. And
the long WOC selection race in Kainuu, which was my most important race of the
year in order to get to run WOC, was probably my best run of the year. I wasn’t in
top shape but got the maximum output when it mattered. I was 5<sup>th</sup> in that race (if not counting Svetlana Mironova) – way better than in any other
individual races in Finland this year. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Coming to Swedish Champs I was
balancing with my input and output. I had just started to train again and maybe
going to races a little too tired. I wasn’t able to reach my maximum of the day there,
except in the middle qualification and in the relay. Well, I’m very happy that
I got the best out in the relay. It paid off.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Only a week after Swedish Champs it
was time for another kind of endurance challenge: Lidingöloppet. A 30km trail
run. I had just survived Swedish Champs but felt that I was walking on a thin
line. Running 2-3 races in three consecutive weekends was just about what my
legs could take. My longest training run had been about 15km (the longest my
injured calf could take). So going to LL I was very doubtful whether I could
run the whole thing. How could I with so little training and practically no
real long runs? Last year I had aimed for 2:15 but finished in 2:20. This time
I didn’t have a time goal. I would just go easy and see how much my calf could
take. After 15km my legs were all empty and I was sure to quit the race by
20km. Sami was cheering me there and shouting that I was ahead of my last
years’ time and that I should continue. <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Nice
try, </i>I thought but then I realized that he wasn’t bluffing. I was indeed
within that schedule. <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Oh crap, I guess I
have to try</i>... My legs were absolutely killing me on that last loop and I
could barely jog the hills up but somehow I took myself around the whole thing
with a very slow last 10km but still with a new PB 2:20:43. Time is no way
brilliant but definitively a maximum output with my training background. I’m
still amazed how I did it!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">After seeing how much you can gain
with very little training I've decided to try this same approach for a marathon.
For a marathon?!? Have I lost my mind?!? Nope, I just try to get the best out again with minimum input. I mean I intend to train but I have to keep the mileage as
low as possible to spare my legs (which I still think are injury prone). Running
a good time on marathon without training is not possible, but after my
race experiences from this year I’m hoping to find a way to reach my goal with
minimum effort. Well, most probably I won’t reach it but stay tuned and I’ll let you
know how it goes. Purpose is to blog about it even if it doesn’t go. Just
getting around may be a challenge itself...<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="line-height: 150%;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-OoIe9jrsnf4/Vh-P15DVdcI/AAAAAAAAHBM/Vi43VPobhH0/s1600/IMG_2095.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-OoIe9jrsnf4/Vh-P15DVdcI/AAAAAAAAHBM/Vi43VPobhH0/s320/IMG_2095.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></span></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1241620116463841450.post-27755998089725305562015-09-22T09:38:00.000+01:002015-09-22T15:45:38.014+01:00Gold at Swedish Championships<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We did it! Won the relay at Swedish Championships. Amazing.
I still find it hard to find words to express my happiness. It just feels so
big. It’s a huge victory for me personally after a miserable season. And also it’s
big for the club since it was 12 years ago since OK Linné won the women’s relay
last time. It’s never easy to win. Until you actually do it.
Even if you have a good team, you all need to do well on the same day. We have a
strong women’s team in Linné but we’ve been more or less unlucky in the relays
this season, so it really felt good to get it right at the end of the season.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Dryx_cXVcM8/VgECOYoNFcI/AAAAAAAAHAY/PftIMBzPT9E/s1600/242764194.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Dryx_cXVcM8/VgECOYoNFcI/AAAAAAAAHAY/PftIMBzPT9E/s1600/242764194.jpg" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Swedish Champions (Photo: Peter Ridefelt)</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I ran the first leg. Not my favorite but I knew it was the best
set-up for the team. I remember running a good opening leg for Tampereen
Pyrintö in 1999 when I won my first senior gold at Finnish Championships. I just don't recall much of that run anymore... Then I have vivid memories from running first leg at 10mila some years ago and taking my own route choice
right from the start all alone while the main group and other top teams went s</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">traight.
Not a good strategy in a big relay if you’re not 100% sure to be faster than the
others.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Anyway, my tactics was to stay awake (that is orienteer
actively all the way) and avoid idiocy (can be pretty hard when exhausted). I
was seriously tired after the middle distance and doubted whether I could run
fast enough. I could feel the two races in my legs already after the first
acceleration on the field. Not going to be an easy day... I look at the <a href="http://www.dxdeluxe.se/linnekartparmen/show_map.php?user=Riina&map=4336" target="_blank">map</a> and want to go straight to the path on the right. Yellow-green area under the
red line looks horrible and there’s no way I’m going to go there. I just hope
some of the others would choose the same route with me. When we climb up to the
start point I go through the options in my mind. <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Am I ready to make my own choice this early? Is it smart or is it
stupid?</i> Then I see one of the girls turning right at the top of
the hill and I follow. I intended to cut it sharper to the path but end up
running with the pack further north before reaching it. But no major
time loss and now there’s good time to read ahead and get a
smooth start. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I find a nice rhythm in my orienteering and take my controls
without problems. Just before the arena passage the girls in front of me take a
different route but I try to be in control of my own orienteering and make my
own choice. After the passage the same scenario recurs. Those in front of me turn
down to the hillside before reaching the top. My control is at the top of the
hill and suddenly I’m alone. Following three legs I’m on my own but then just before
the long leg back different forkings gather together. I see Järla, Lidingö
and Domnarvet there. Looks like the main contenders are still together. I take slightly
different route out from the control but we are nonetheless closely together
the whole leg. Just before the control I hesitate a little and a few teams pass
me. I just want to play safe. I know I’ve done a good job so I
don’t want to screw it up at the last meters. On the last climb towards the
second last we are all pushing hard but instead of rushing to the control I try
to read the details carefully. Control sits high up in the open hill and is
actually much easier than it looks on the map. For just a short moment I regret
taking it maybe too carefully but at the same time I’m very relieved that I
managed to hold it together and do well despite growing tiredness. Maybe I
eased a bit too early and lost some valuable seconds to Järla on the way to the
last control and in the run-in but I’m just incredibly happy to be able to send
Cat to the second leg in such good position. She has a big smile on her face
when I hand her the map. I just know she will do well. I have two most amazing teammates
and have 100% trust on them. Cat does a solid run and comes in in the lead but
Järla is right behind and it looks like to become a tight duel between Järla
and us. There were some dramatic turns on the last leg but Annika kept her head
calm and we were over the moon to see her come first to the last control and
join her in the run-in. Unbelievable, we had really done it! </span><a href="http://eventor.orientering.se/Events/ResultList?eventId=10271&groupBy=EventClass" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Results</span></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></o:p>
<o:p><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Läs mer på svenska i <a href="http://www.unt.se/sport/efterlangtat-linn-guld-3886542.aspx" target="_blank">UNT</a> eller <a href="http://www.orientering.se/---produkterarbetsrum---/skogssport/nyheter/linnevanndamstafettendetharvikampatforimangaar/" target="_blank">orientering.se</a> </span></o:p><br />
<o:p><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Suomenkielinen reportaasi Ruotsin mestaruuksista <a href="http://www.kestavyysurheilu.fi/suunnistus/11096-riina-kuuselosta-suunnistuksen-ruotsin-viestimestari-marten-bostrom-kuudes" target="_blank">Kestävyysurheilussa</a></span></o:p><br />
<o:p><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-pHig_PGQ6lg/VgEFy_-cl7I/AAAAAAAAHAw/RqqveElHbrc/s1600/martin%2Bla%25CC%258Ang_svensk%2Borientering.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="213" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-pHig_PGQ6lg/VgEFy_-cl7I/AAAAAAAAHAw/RqqveElHbrc/s320/martin%2Bla%25CC%258Ang_svensk%2Borientering.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Picture tells it all (Photo: Mårten Lång)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</span></o:p></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-IXqDp4ZGUVs/VgEFpZ8N_1I/AAAAAAAAHAk/TZ168GliMAc/s1600/IMG_2069.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="223" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-IXqDp4ZGUVs/VgEFpZ8N_1I/AAAAAAAAHAk/TZ168GliMAc/s320/IMG_2069.jpg" width="320" /></a></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Gold in the relay was really the best possible way to finish
the season. But the whole project towards SM, starting in August after my calf
finally got better, was successful. Gold at the end of it was obviously
the best you can get, but also getting back in competitive shape in such a short
time felt great. It was kind of necessary too if I wanted to be part of a
winning team. At the time of my last blog I had reached a decent regional level
but I was still far from fighting top positions at Swedish Champs. In the
winter I may have dreamed about a medal but at the end of August I doubted
whether I would even make it to the final. Top10 felt definitively unrealistic.
And yet, at the time of the champs, it wasn’t out of reach. In fact in the
middle 10<sup>th</sup> place was just 7 seconds away. I made mistakes in both finals
and wasn’t too happy with either of my runs but two 12<sup>th</sup> places at
Swedish Champs is not that bad after all… <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In the long final I got really bad start to the race: I lost
about half a minute on the first control, made an idiotic route choice to the
second (losing over 3min there), and missed the third about a minute. So on the
3<sup>rd</sup> control, very early in the race, I was 30<sup>th</sup> and over
5min behind the lead. But after that I pulled myself together and turned it to
quite a decent run finishing 12<sup>th</sup>. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://eventor.orientering.se/Events/ResultList?eventId=10914&eventRaceId=11570&groupBy=EventClass" target="_blank">Results long</a></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.tulospalvelu.fi/gps/SMlangD21/?v=m3" target="_blank">GPS-tracking</a></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In the middle final my expectations were slightly higher
since I had a very good qualification run and a 2<sup>nd</sup> place in my heat
(<a href="http://obasen.orientering.se/winsplits/online/en/default.asp?page=table&databaseId=38748&categoryId=3&ct=true" target="_blank">results</a>).
In the final I tried to find the same flow and confidence that I had had in the
qualification but it didn’t really work out the way I wanted. I had a good
start but then didn't see the flag on the second control, which caused some
additional stress and affected my orienteering on the following legs. All in
all it was a bit shaky run and I just didn’t find the same flow I had had the
day before. On the long leg I missed a few features that I had expected to see after
climbing up the big cliff and thought for a while that I had got lost. It took a
while to relocate but then it went well until the map exchange. After the map
exchange I wasn't focused enough and made a half minute mistake to the
next control. The rest was fine and I finished 12<sup>th</sup>. Disappointing
to lose 2-3min on mistakes on a middle distance but encouraging to be just
2,5min from the bronze. Certainly a proof of improvement!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://eventor.orientering.se/Events/ResultList?eventId=10915&eventRaceId=11572&groupBy=EventClass" target="_blank">Results middle</a></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<a href="http://www.tulospalvelu.fi/gps/SMmedelD21/" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">GPS-tracking</span></a></div>
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<!--StartFragment-->
<!--EndFragment-->Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1241620116463841450.post-72313399267668892062015-08-31T19:11:00.000+01:002015-08-31T19:22:47.657+01:00Autumn is approaching<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">After summer comes autumn. It's an inevitable fact, happens every year. But autumn is not just the end of the summer, it's also a new start. Schools start, works start, and autumn season starts. I like to see it as a fresh new start to something better. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">After Kainuu I took a little break from orienteering and
ambitious training. Instead I did everything else and enjoyed the summer the
way normal people do: swimming, boating, cycling around archipelago, spending
time at summer cottage, gardening, visiting friends and relatives, and sightseeing.
How strange.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Anyway, the calf injury that had bothered me since March and
destroyed more or less the whole season, was happy with the break too and
started to co-operate again in the beginning of August. I gave it some hard
time by running a <a href="http://riinakuuselo.blogspot.se/2015/08/tallberg-half-marathon.html" target="_blank">half marathon</a> and doing a <a href="https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/856801306" target="_blank">5h hike in Halden</a>,
much more than it could take, but after only some days’ recovery it was better again.
Since then I’ve been smarter and not trained more than 60-90min in one go. I
still don’t run daily and I’ve kept my weekly mileage low.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">First week of August I spent in Halden. I could call it a WOC 2016
training camp because we did train hard in WOC 2016 relevant terrains but for me
it was more spending the week in excellent company and having a wonderful time
with good friends. Like mental recharging. Girls were in good shape and we
pushed each other hard in intervals but outside trainings it was fun and
relaxed. A lot of laugh, gossip, cakes, wine, chocolate, champagne,
strawberries and candles. What else can you wish for?</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">After returning home from Halden I was full of energy and
decided to start a project called SM (Svenska Mästerskapen), a 3-week build-up
to the Swedish Championships. Three weeks may sound like a short time in terms
of getting back in shape, but the least I could do was to fine-tune my technics
so that I could do my best at my current shape. The plan was very simple: 1
hard O-training during the week and 2 relevant races on the weekend. I have to
admit that without a good base these three weekends with two races in a row were
quite tough and included a fair amount of suffering, especially on the second
day. But I made clear progress during the process and at the end of it got
decorated with two medals at our district champs (not going to mention Helena
Jansson or Stockholm in this context). Anyway, now I’m happily at the end of
that block and looking forward to some tapering before Finnish Championships in
long distance (next weekend) and Swedish Championships in long, middle, and
relay (week and two weeks later). It will be fun!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Summer in pictures below. Answers to my tweet are found in them.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-dtsRv_6QFZA/VeQiiGOxZ3I/AAAAAAAAG-I/vY7uNI8nsPU/s1600/IMG_1406.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-dtsRv_6QFZA/VeQiiGOxZ3I/AAAAAAAAG-I/vY7uNI8nsPU/s320/IMG_1406.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Määääh! (means 'me' in Tampere dialect) </span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-R13SkT0_P88/VeQiWMJYClI/AAAAAAAAG90/nt_Xt_wqnp8/s1600/IMG_1676.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-R13SkT0_P88/VeQiWMJYClI/AAAAAAAAG90/nt_Xt_wqnp8/s320/IMG_1676.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Dog catching a fish (yep, he's a bit weird guy)</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-feEKOXnKuOM/VeQ8odDfT2I/AAAAAAAAG_4/0xxJ0aaRruo/s1600/IMG_1746.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-feEKOXnKuOM/VeQ8odDfT2I/AAAAAAAAG_4/0xxJ0aaRruo/s320/IMG_1746.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Utimate and Domane on their way to Rindö</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-28CH3gtcvxk/VeQ8osXo_yI/AAAAAAAAG_0/SeGYBA5tbY4/s1600/IMG_1752.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-28CH3gtcvxk/VeQ8osXo_yI/AAAAAAAAG_0/SeGYBA5tbY4/s320/IMG_1752.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Archipelago round Vaxholm-Rindö-Värmdö-Gustavsberg</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span></div>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-YrGgsPGT94o/VeQi18ED9xI/AAAAAAAAG-0/0U0Jha6UHZU/s1600/IMG_1920.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-YrGgsPGT94o/VeQi18ED9xI/AAAAAAAAG-0/0U0Jha6UHZU/s320/IMG_1920.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Hike in Höiås marka</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Wt1fQ4GQ5d4/VeQisdacDJI/AAAAAAAAG-c/kCF58nct92c/s1600/IMG_1949.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Wt1fQ4GQ5d4/VeQisdacDJI/AAAAAAAAG-c/kCF58nct92c/s320/IMG_1949.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Smiles & cakes</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-HN6v87kO-AI/VeQitpHuUWI/AAAAAAAAG-k/SX3PTLNlcrA/s1600/IMG_1954.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-HN6v87kO-AI/VeQitpHuUWI/AAAAAAAAG-k/SX3PTLNlcrA/s320/IMG_1954.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Boats & ice cream</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-sLi_g60v3HU/VeQiuWpD5rI/AAAAAAAAG-o/TKrEKQXd0Bg/s1600/IMG_1956.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-sLi_g60v3HU/VeQiuWpD5rI/AAAAAAAAG-o/TKrEKQXd0Bg/s320/IMG_1956.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Cycling selfie</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-sJiRc0c3CYE/VeQi4oj1mjI/AAAAAAAAG_E/uJ-32dz7uhQ/s1600/IMG_1973.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-sJiRc0c3CYE/VeQi4oj1mjI/AAAAAAAAG_E/uJ-32dz7uhQ/s320/IMG_1973.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-jt9YpdlEkUg/VeQi2FBf59I/AAAAAAAAG-4/jjcTQokcc-o/s1600/IMG_2018.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-jt9YpdlEkUg/VeQi2FBf59I/AAAAAAAAG-4/jjcTQokcc-o/s320/IMG_2018.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Stockholm archipelago</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-aIlrC9SSqQA/VeQi6-9l85I/AAAAAAAAG_U/m709KV55chk/s1600/IMG_2046.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-aIlrC9SSqQA/VeQi6-9l85I/AAAAAAAAG_U/m709KV55chk/s320/IMG_2046.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Die games</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-RRYT0tHBkYU/VeQi4hLoQmI/AAAAAAAAG_I/xBEp_z9rn8s/s1600/IMG_2048.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-RRYT0tHBkYU/VeQi4hLoQmI/AAAAAAAAG_I/xBEp_z9rn8s/s320/IMG_2048.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Some runners are like quality wines...</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1241620116463841450.post-14234287247934820272015-08-10T09:34:00.002+01:002015-08-10T09:34:53.290+01:00Tällberg half marathon<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">While most of the others are blogging about their big success or
failure at WOC (mostly it’s about success or failure, there’s no room for a
mid-thing there) we recreational runners can write about small idyllic summer events that
no one knows about. One of these was Tällberg half marathon. During the WOC
week I made a little road trip first to Dalarna and then to Strömstad and
Halden, area where WOC 2016 goes. Nice to get started with preparations already
before this year's champs were even finished. Early bird catches the worm and so
on… But first to the run, then more about the training camp later.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Tällberg half marathon is said to be the most beautiful half
marathon in Sweden. After running the race I find it hard to disagree. Well I’ve
only run two half marathons in Sweden but this was definitively the prettiest
half I’ve run. Tällberg is a well-hidden and incredibly cute little village in
the hearth of Dalarna, by the Lake Siljan. Pretty as it is, the route is tough.
You really need to suffer a great deal to explore all the beauty – but don’t
worry, it’s definitively worth it!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I had a bit mixed feelings before the run because I had
absolutely no idea if I would and could finish it. I mean who goes and runs a
half marathon if your longest run in four months has been only 14km (at 6min/km
pace) and if you haven’t covered any fast miles on hard surface?? No wait, I
had done one sprint O race, but that was just about 15min. So basically
no long runs and no fast runs in 4 months. I had run in terrain a few times but
that doesn’t count really (impact and pace pretty far from road running). In
other words I was terrified before the race. <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">What the hell was I thinking about when I entered myself there?!? Okay, I can
always run 5km and quit</i>, I thought when we kicked off.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">1km – I like to start gently and take the first kilometre easy. Like 3:40. Actually it goes downwards and it’s easy to get a fast start without pushing hard. I can
already see groups forming. A few really fast guys up in front. Then a group of
semi-fast recreational runners, probably sub3 marathoners. They are slowly
pushing away from me. There’s also one woman amongst them. I should probably
let her go...<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">2km – Around 2km starts the big climb. I try to keep my
running relaxed (as relaxed as possible in that gradient) but to my surprise
I’m gradually reaching people and closing the gap to the leading lady.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">3km – Somewhere here I pass the woman in front of me and
suddenly I’m the one in the lead. But I’ve done it all wrong. I hear Sami’s
voice in my head blaming me for that. You don’t pass your rivals slowly inch by
inch so that they have time to react and set themselves just behind you. No, you
should accelerate and smash them (not literally) once you pass them so
that you get a gap before they have time to react. But I follow the first
scenario and the next thing my rival is breathing heavily in my neck and I can
hear her steps as if they were my own.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">4km – She’s still there, glistered in my back, and has no
intension to let me go. Suddenly the climb turns steeper again, the second part
of the big opening climb, and we are approaching the mountain prize point. I
feel I’ve failed. I should have stayed behind her and attack if I wanted to win
that polkadot jersey. Now I’m the one doing all the work and she has the
advantage to sprint from me just before the mountaintop. <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Idiot.</i> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">5km – Near the finish of the climb now. Initially I had
thought to take an easy start and definitively not to push before after the
first climb. It would be essential to have fresh legs after the climb for the
remaining 16km:s. The actual race wouldn’t start before after that climb. But
when suddenly there, in a position of taking the glorious mountain prize, my
legs refuse to listen to my brain and accelerate in order to win that prize. I
explain to myself that this irrational attack is just because I’m not sure
whether I will run the whole thing. If I’m going to quit early I should at
least make an effort to win the mountain. I take that but I'm pretty
exhausted at the top of the climb and start to doubt how I will survive the rest
of the race. Just 16km to go… <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">5-10km – It’s mostly downhill and goes easily, we pass the
arena around 9km and I get a lot of support and cheering. I feel pretty good. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">11-12km - Starting to feel less great. Getting seriously
tired and cannot keep up with the guys who I’ve been running with. My endurance is used. Also my calf
(the healthy one) starts to cramp and running gets more and more difficult. (Actually
it’s great news that it’s not the injured calf that is causing the problems.
This pain is normal, part of the game.) Then I see David Andersson coming across, walking. I’m having my weak moment right
there and seeing that David has dropped out doesn’t help. Just
the opposite, it gives me an excuse to start to think about quitting. I’m deep in
my gloomy thoughts when the woman who I passed earlier suddenly hurries past
(fast and from distance, like a schoolbook example how to break your rival’s
backbone). The only thing that had kept me going was my chance to win the race.
No that it’s gone I don’t have anything to hold on to. The distance between us
keeps growing and it’s over half a minute when we hit another major climb.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">13-14km – One more climb. I’m dying but when a second woman
passes me I get some extra strength and accelerate. By the time we reach the
hilltop we have almost closed the gap to the leading lady. This second girl has
run her race smart, saved her strengths and she’s able to push harder now. I
have no chance keeping up with her – but I’m determined to catch the other girl.
A moment ago I had almost given up and now I’m able to find yet another gear. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">15km-17km – Tarmac turns into a path and I’m in my element.
I catch a few runners, including the girl I’ve been fighting with the whole way.
Just when I’m about to pass her, her personal supporter turns up with special
drinks and stuff. <i>Unfair.</i> He follows us with his bike, giving her his support all the
way home. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">17-21km - We are running side by side and I get slightly
irritated by the situation and decide to push away from her. I can’t remember
pushing myself so close to limit but somehow I manage to accelerate, keep her
behind me and finish as second lady. Also the time is quite alright. The
course was seriously hilly and I didn’t think I could finish it in 90min. But I
do, almost.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1241620116463841450.post-12724108111718044312015-07-16T12:56:00.000+01:002015-07-16T13:02:22.882+01:00Two steps forward one step back<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;">It’s been a while… Where should I begin? The thing is much hasn’t happen since my previous updates from April and May when I was hoping to recover from the calf injury in time to run 10mila. It didn’t happen. World Cup didn’t happen either. Next goal was Venla.</span><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;"> </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">April and May were shadowed by numerous setbacks but then in the beginning of June my calf started finally show some signs of recovery and I could gradually start to run again. My shape was a big question mark after two months more or less off from running but through a hard selection I got into Linné’s strong first team. At Venla I did what I could but I was still in recovery phase and far from my top form. I did ok run technically but hated the fact that I couldn’t do better. We had lost 6,5min on the first leg and a top performance was needed. I caught about a minute on my leg but was frustrated that I couldn’t do more. Nevertheless I managed to pick 29 places and then Annika took another 21 places on the 3rd leg and suddenly we were 10th and back in the mix. Things started to look very promising in the beginning of the last leg but the rest didn’t go as smoothly and we finished 18th. We’ll be back next year…</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">After Venla I had 3 weeks to get in shape to our WOC selection races. But my calf was still not fully recovered, so it was pretty ambitious task. Three weeks meant 5-6 quality trainings. That was max what my calf could take in addition to physio exercises and treatments. I chose to prioritise running in terrain and did a few a few O-trainings, gentle trail intervals, one short training race and one longer race on the fells. Both races went well but I knew that there would be much harder competition waiting in Kainuu.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">First day at Kainuu O Week was just an easy opening before the selection races (days 2 & 3). I took it fairly easy but orienteered well. Still it became clear to me that my pace was too slow for top positions. But instead of admitting and accepting it I just decided to try harder. So, next day I forgot all about orienteering and focused only on running. Normally running comes kind of automatically and you only need to focus on orienteering, but this time it was different. Just running in terrain felt difficult since my calf is still weak and I’ve lost ability to run in terrain. My motor coordination is like I had never run in terrain before. That combined with an effort to run faster than your shape or orienteering skills allow wasn’t a good combination. I made almost 3min mistake on number 3 and a couple of smaller mistakes after that. My focus was on wrong things and to make it even worse I sprained my ankle at the end of the course. After that I stopped reading the map and almost got disqualified after punching on the wrong last control. Half way in the run-in I noticed that I was heading into wrong finish and turned back. What a race.</span></div>
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<a href="http://www.tulospalvelu.fi/gps/20150707krvD21/" target="_blank">GPS-tracking</a></div>
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<a href="http://online4.tulospalvelu.fi/tulokset/fi/2015_krv/d21e/tilanne/2/0/" target="_blank">Results</a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">After such a disastrous race it was even harder to focus on the next one. But then I realised that I have to accept the facts as they are (that my shape is what it is and my legs are what they are) and try to make my best in the current situation. It gave me calmness to do my own race at my own pace on the long distance. It paid off. I didn’t make it to the WOC team but I did my best at that day, finishing 6th (5th among Finns). I had dreamed and hoped for better but after struggling 3 months with an injury this was really the best I could do. </span></div>
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<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;">
<a href="http://www.tulospalvelu.fi/gps/20150709kainuuD21/?v=m3" target="_blank">GPS-tracking</a></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;">
<a href="http://online4.tulospalvelu.fi/tulokset/fi/2015_krv/d21e/tilanne/3/0/" target="_blank">Results</a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The long selection race was 30min longer than any of my previous runs but I was happy to be able to run it through. I could feel it in my calf afterwards and wasn’t sure whether I could run the last race of the O week. Also, my new fancy Garmin said that I would need 3 days to recover from the long race (3 days!!!) but since my calf felt better in the following morning, I ran even the last race. But my legs were weary and it was a tired run. After a good start my pace dropped dramatically on a long leg over the marshes and I also made one bigger mistake. I was still happy to finish 7th overall. It was more than I deserved after my disastrous second day. And the best of all, it seems that my calf is getting better and better and I can MAYBE finally start to train again… I’m really looking forward to that! Still plenty of cool races coming up later in the autumn!</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Training with reindeers</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Look, it's Norway!</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Race terrain, Idre fjällorientering</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This is Kainuu. Never-ending marshes.</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Finnish summer night, Hyrynsalmi</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Re-charging</span></td></tr>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com