Cross country running
Although I'm not the best cross-country runner and enjoy much more to run on flat roads, I took part in a 9K-cross country race last weekend. The race - which was held in Pajulahti - was at the same time the qualification for the Nordic Championships (international contest between FIN, NOR, SWE, DEN and Iceland). So I was lining up with a selection of the best runners in Finland. Considering this fact I'm satisfied with my 9th place.
I took it somewhat easier this week with only one medium fast session on Wednesday; thus my legs were feeling much fresher than last week and I could push harder for the last third of the race. Still I lost the final sprint against two other guys - 5 seconds faster would have been 7th place. Anyway, now I know where I am and have some more motivation. The national team is only one minute away and my best training mate Miika got the last spot on the Finnish team, finishing 4th - Congratulations. Funny thing is that last year he was running the same time like I did this year (on the same course of course). It will be his first time in the dress of the national team and that's why he changed his plans and doesn't run Frankfurt marathon next weekend because the Nordic Champs are just one week after that - crazy guy. Also the two other guys of JKU (the local athletics club from Jyväskylä) finished well with Juha taking 3rd and Henri taking 5th place. I'm looking forward to having some good workouts together with them this winter.

In the University we had the International Degree Students Come Together, which I was organising together with some other guys from the Student Union board. It was a nice evening and once again a good opportunity to make some contacts.

Here are also a some (quite old) pictures, taken at the Finlandia (half) marathon and the German Nationals in halfmarathon.

yes, the weather was really horrible, the muscles were cold and I was lucky to cross the finish line (though it might not look like that)
2 lucky guys: Miika & me after a hard 21,1 km in German Nationals

Pieksämäki Osmon Super Hölkkä
That's the name of the competition I was competing today (October, 14th). It was the 3rd time I ran 10K in that race but this time the course was changed a bit compared to the last 2 years. Nevertheless, the 32:36 I was running this year (2006: 34.26, 2005: 32.51) means a personal course record. I took "only" 3rd place, but considering the last week with a lot of tough training I am really satisfied. My aim was to run around 33mins, so I am indeed glad I did it. In fact it's the fastest time I was running in a road race in Finland. If the legs would have been fresher I could have been more competitive for the first 2 places, because after 8 km I was lying in second place and only 20meters behind the leader Mikko. However, I couldn't hold on and the tank was empty, so I lost around 1oometers and one place (to my teammate Marko) during the last 2 kilometres.
After all it was a good end of the training week. I was running around 150-160km in 13 running sessions, including 3 fast sessions (18x100m sprints on tuesday, 14K crescendo on thursday and race today) and one long run (~27K on saturday). Furthermore, 2 cross-training sessions took place this week. One on the spinning bike and one combined session in the gym/swimming pool with Minna, a tough girl making her way towards a professional race cycling team. It was really nice having her company and time went by so fast.

The last and the following week are not too busy, so I work on my plans for next years. I'll let you know when they are ready. So much can be said: If everything runs normal Erik will give a debut.

New (training) season started
After Finlandia (half)marathon I took it easy with training for 2 weeks and enjoyed the student life by going out almost every second day.
However, now the first week of the new training season is already over and I completed some promising workouts (a flat 10K in just under 35mins and a lot of good-feeling mileage). On last Sunday I went to Helsinki to run the "tunnelijuoksu": A strange 5 km-race in Finlands longest street tunnel. The course was quite challenging, because the first kilometer declined around 30meters which meant that I was running 25meters under sea level! The second kilometer climbed back to sea level and after 2,5km there was the turning point. So on the way back the same amount of altitude difference. My performance (8th place in 15:52) was ok, considering the facts that 5K is a sprint for me and most of the best Finnish runners + some Kenyans were running for the price money.

Another reason why I will never forget this week is the birth of my nephew. Yes, I'm an uncle now! Unfortunately I will have to wait until Christmas holidays until I can see the little man.