Reset finished
After 2-3 weeks of recovery and having a relaxed down-time to recharge the batteries I am feeling fresh again now. I hope the mental and physical reset helped me in preparation for the autumn marathon, even though I had to change my plans about running a track season. Now I will run only a few races on track and try to build the basics and some speed.
Monday I had the 3rd track session of this summer season and it was great to run in a group of 5 guys - just hanging on makes it way more easier than running alone. The program was pretty short (4x600m in 1:44/1:43/1:42/1:43 and 3x300m in 48/49/49) but rather fast. In fact raw speed for me. :)
Also midsummer is over now and the days are finally getting shorter again - I guess the long daylight times were one reason for my tiredness. Otherwise the weather is quite ok - not a real summer though: almost every day some rain and temperatures between 12 and 18°C. I don't complain because I don't like the heat and the Finnish weather is perfect for running.
Tuesday, June 24, 2008
Monday, June 16, 2008
A weekend in the forest - Jukolan viesti
Some time I haven't posted, but there are some good reasons for that: Most of all the training was really bad in the last week, because I felt tired all week and thus made only 10 training sessions last week. Then on the weekend I was in the Finnish forests close to Tampere to participate in "Jukolan Viesti". For me it was a good way to brake my current rhythm of life and to get some motivation for training again. Jukolan Viesti is the worlds' biggest orienteering relay and this year there were altogether more than 14.000 participants in nearly 1500 teams.
If you ever have the chance to watch this event or even participate in it, you should use your chance, because it's a great way to experience the nature and the forest! This year it was my second appearance after 2005 and once again it was a truly unique experience.
The relay is composed of 7 runners and starts in the dusk at 11pm on Saturday night and continues throughout the night, with the winning teams finishing on Sunday morning at 6am. For all the teams that have not finished the race until 9am, there is a restart with all the remaining runners at 9.15am. Since I had the (questionable) honour of running the last leg, I knew quite early that I am starting in the restart at 9.15, because the team I ran for, consisted of recreational hobby orienteers. Anyway, I had to run the last (7th) leg - which is also the longest - because one of the other runners (Vaajakosken Kuohu clubmate Kimmo) was injured and he ran the shorter 4th leg.
The orienteering went quite well, considering that I orienteered only once this year. After approx. half an hour I went for a "swim" in a muddy swamp because I underestimated the ground and couldn't jump over this wet obstacle but that's orienteering. Altogether the 13,7 km (air-line distance) took me 2:25:51 h - that's almost exactly the time of my marathon debut :)
Some time I haven't posted, but there are some good reasons for that: Most of all the training was really bad in the last week, because I felt tired all week and thus made only 10 training sessions last week. Then on the weekend I was in the Finnish forests close to Tampere to participate in "Jukolan Viesti". For me it was a good way to brake my current rhythm of life and to get some motivation for training again. Jukolan Viesti is the worlds' biggest orienteering relay and this year there were altogether more than 14.000 participants in nearly 1500 teams.
If you ever have the chance to watch this event or even participate in it, you should use your chance, because it's a great way to experience the nature and the forest! This year it was my second appearance after 2005 and once again it was a truly unique experience.
The relay is composed of 7 runners and starts in the dusk at 11pm on Saturday night and continues throughout the night, with the winning teams finishing on Sunday morning at 6am. For all the teams that have not finished the race until 9am, there is a restart with all the remaining runners at 9.15am. Since I had the (questionable) honour of running the last leg, I knew quite early that I am starting in the restart at 9.15, because the team I ran for, consisted of recreational hobby orienteers. Anyway, I had to run the last (7th) leg - which is also the longest - because one of the other runners (Vaajakosken Kuohu clubmate Kimmo) was injured and he ran the shorter 4th leg.
The orienteering went quite well, considering that I orienteered only once this year. After approx. half an hour I went for a "swim" in a muddy swamp because I underestimated the ground and couldn't jump over this wet obstacle but that's orienteering. Altogether the 13,7 km (air-line distance) took me 2:25:51 h - that's almost exactly the time of my marathon debut :)
Sunday, June 08, 2008
Looking outside the box
Today no running post, because football is taking on Europe again with the European Championships, that started on the weekend in Switzerland and Austria. Germany won the first game against Poland 2-0 and we played ourselves in role of a favorite with a really good game. However, polish-born Lukas Podolski shot both goals :) Somehow it's a bit of a pity that I'm not in Germany and can't feel the atmosphere. As you can see from the pictures, people are going totally nuts for football.
Today no running post, because football is taking on Europe again with the European Championships, that started on the weekend in Switzerland and Austria. Germany won the first game against Poland 2-0 and we played ourselves in role of a favorite with a really good game. However, polish-born Lukas Podolski shot both goals :) Somehow it's a bit of a pity that I'm not in Germany and can't feel the atmosphere. As you can see from the pictures, people are going totally nuts for football.
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