Last few weeks I've been feeling like Bradley Wiggins after
Athens Olympics - without his success though. Just lounging, relaxing, drinking & partying and not
training. What an awful life! I can't remember having such an off period for a long
time (and in contrast to Wiggo I'm not intending to go on for months). I've been off from training before but I've always tried to live otherwise
like an athlete during that time. And I've never partied several days in a row.
But that's what traditional old-fashioned academic promotions are all about.
You have to be able to stand in high heels three days in a row with barely any
sleep and go through dignified festivities that in some point turn into less
dignified celebration that goes on until dawn. And next day you should be fresh
and ready for sailing! It's hard. But certainly an experience of its own class and
a lot of fun too! However, I feel much better if I get my 8h sleep, two
trainings a day, and regular meals.
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| O-reunion. What do these
doctors have in common? Blue dresses, yes, but they are also Venla-winners. |
So in order to feel "normal" (however you define
that) again, we took a car and drove to Vuokatti for a short training camp in
next year's WOC terrains. I even managed to persuade Sami to come with me,
which totally saved the day. Driving there alone (6-7h) would have killed me
and we also got some nice quality time together (not everyone counts running in
the woods with a map quality time but it's seldom we get to travel together, so
we enjoyed it). We stayed there only three days but I was able to put together some
proper technical training and get a good overview of the terrain type. Thanks
to Eva Jurenikova and her comprehensive map archive I
could make pretty good plans where to train in advance and make a list of
trainings I wanted to do. I could even do some post-training route choice
analyses by comparing my routes and times with Eva's. Almost like I'd had a
training partner there.
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| Team mates & Tiomila-winners 2011 (photo by Janne Märkälä) |
I had heard numerous praises about the long distance terrain type before we got there but I was still surprised how well the terrain matched its
high expectations. I was stunned. It was totally awesome! I was pretty tired
when we got there but still felt like flying when running in those terrains.
Autumn colors, blueberries, and lingonberries made it even more beautiful. Middle distance terrain in contrast was said to be rough, stony and challenging but I fell in love with
that terrain too as soon as I got there. I don't know if it was because of my
low expectations, tracks or my state of mind but for me it really felt like a moss-covered
fairytale forest. I was happily surprised how easy it was to run in.
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| Promotion sailing (and a typical autumn day?) |
One of the highlights in staying at Vuokatti sport centre (in
addition to great meals) was sauna and dips into lake in the evenings. What a great place and just
what my Finnish blood longed for! Only downside was/is the distance from
Helsinki. Can't anyone drag it any nearer?
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| Post-training chilling, Vuokatti |
