Race report: Raasto Kymppi in Turku: 10000m - DNF
Long time without a blog-post: The reason that I was out of Jyväskylä and visited Miikas home place in Parkano. We went there on last Thursday and on Friday we continued our journey to Turku to compete in a 10.000m race.
It turned out that Friday was not my day, because I dropped out of the race after approx. 4,5km. The splits until this point were 3:11/3:06/3:12/3:11. I never really found into the race and somehow I was not ready to push myself to the limit. Now, there would be a lot of reasons to explain this "black-out" (e.g. the late starting time of 21.25) but that doesn't change the fact that I dropped out. There were some good results, for example the big PR of Miika how won the competition in 30:11,83min so it can't be about the conditions. Of course I am asking myself a lot of questions now and you just think that you are doing everything wrong but I try to motivate myself by running a competition next weekend again (hopefully).
After the competition we stayed one night in Turku and then went back to Miikas house. It was a nice time and it's just so relaxing to think about nothing - no deadlines, no emails, no commitments. After a medium-long run on Sunday morning we went back to Jyväskylä by train. After all it was a nice holiday for me (except for the competition - maybe too much holiday feeling :) and it was nice to spend some time on Finnish countryside in a Finnish family.
Sunday, July 13, 2008
Thursday, July 03, 2008
Race report: Paavo Nurmen kisat in Turku: 5000m - 15:29,89
Facts first: kilometer splits were 3:01/3:05/3:07/3:13/3:04. Place was 21st and the weather and conditions were very good.
Yesterday I went to Turku to compete in a 5000m race. It was a real big competition with an international field and a lot of spectators. I just realised what I did when I warmed up on the track and felt the competition atmosphere - I was not expecting to run in front of such a big crowd and against the best Finnish distance runners (+some Kenyans). Well, the race unfolded quite as expected and also the time was just what I expected. Afterwards I just blame myself for "falling asleep" during the 4th kilometer (3:13) behind another runner and not pushing the pace myself. Anyway, I can't remember to be lapped after not much more than 3km in a 5000m race - that tells a lot about the quality of the field. The winner (Silas Sang/KEN) ran a 13:36 and with Jussi Utriainen and Matti Räsänen 2 Finns went sub-14. Mate Miika was the 3rd Finn and ran a PB of 14:28,11. Respect to all the performances achieved in the race.
What else happened in the last week? Germany lost the final in the EURO 2008 (if you haven't noticed yet) and I am working on the marathonscene-project. Besides there are a lot of other small things - mainly related to business or the question "How to survive without a fixed income" :).
Also training is going into the right direction again. Last week I could log 12 runs and ~150km.
Facts first: kilometer splits were 3:01/3:05/3:07/3:13/3:04. Place was 21st and the weather and conditions were very good.
Yesterday I went to Turku to compete in a 5000m race. It was a real big competition with an international field and a lot of spectators. I just realised what I did when I warmed up on the track and felt the competition atmosphere - I was not expecting to run in front of such a big crowd and against the best Finnish distance runners (+some Kenyans). Well, the race unfolded quite as expected and also the time was just what I expected. Afterwards I just blame myself for "falling asleep" during the 4th kilometer (3:13) behind another runner and not pushing the pace myself. Anyway, I can't remember to be lapped after not much more than 3km in a 5000m race - that tells a lot about the quality of the field. The winner (Silas Sang/KEN) ran a 13:36 and with Jussi Utriainen and Matti Räsänen 2 Finns went sub-14. Mate Miika was the 3rd Finn and ran a PB of 14:28,11. Respect to all the performances achieved in the race.
What else happened in the last week? Germany lost the final in the EURO 2008 (if you haven't noticed yet) and I am working on the marathonscene-project. Besides there are a lot of other small things - mainly related to business or the question "How to survive without a fixed income" :).
Also training is going into the right direction again. Last week I could log 12 runs and ~150km.
Tuesday, June 24, 2008
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.
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.
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.
Thursday, May 29, 2008
Disappointing 3000m (9:10,42 min)
On Thursday I ran a 3000m here in Jyväskylä as a track season opener and finished in ~9:10mins (2nd place, but that's unimportant). I am rather frustrated with this performance even if it was the first race on track for about 9 months and the marathon is only 3 1/2 weeks old.
The first 2 kilometers were still ok (2:59,9 + 3:02,9min) and it would still have been possible to run sub 9 minutes. However, this shouldn't happen and the last km was 3:08. Especially the last round I was thinking I am standing and the lactate took it's toll. It seems that 2 speed work-outs are not enough to prepare a "short" track race. The positive thing is, that I have an aim of improving this time by a big margin throughout the season (there are few more 3000s I am planning) and should accomplish this aim pretty easily - assuming a good training and more specific speed work on the track. On the other hand I'm a bit scared, because it won't be easy to run the 5000m somewhere close to 15 minutes (that's one of the main aims for the track season). Now I have 2 weeks time before I run the next track race. When I'm running in spikes (today I ran in my normal training shoes) some faster times should be in reach. Talking about shoes: in the 3000m race today there was a guy running barefoot (as you can see on the pictures) - and he was really running fast (~9:15). Respect, Respect.
800m into the race - trying to find a rhythm but never found it (all pictures presented by Jaakko Nieminen)
after 2000 meters: I had contact with leader but on the last lap I was dying and had to settle with second place and a bad time
On Thursday I ran a 3000m here in Jyväskylä as a track season opener and finished in ~9:10mins (2nd place, but that's unimportant). I am rather frustrated with this performance even if it was the first race on track for about 9 months and the marathon is only 3 1/2 weeks old.
The first 2 kilometers were still ok (2:59,9 + 3:02,9min) and it would still have been possible to run sub 9 minutes. However, this shouldn't happen and the last km was 3:08. Especially the last round I was thinking I am standing and the lactate took it's toll. It seems that 2 speed work-outs are not enough to prepare a "short" track race. The positive thing is, that I have an aim of improving this time by a big margin throughout the season (there are few more 3000s I am planning) and should accomplish this aim pretty easily - assuming a good training and more specific speed work on the track. On the other hand I'm a bit scared, because it won't be easy to run the 5000m somewhere close to 15 minutes (that's one of the main aims for the track season). Now I have 2 weeks time before I run the next track race. When I'm running in spikes (today I ran in my normal training shoes) some faster times should be in reach. Talking about shoes: in the 3000m race today there was a guy running barefoot (as you can see on the pictures) - and he was really running fast (~9:15). Respect, Respect.
800m into the race - trying to find a rhythm but never found it (all pictures presented by Jaakko Nieminen)
after 2000 meters: I had contact with leader but on the last lap I was dying and had to settle with second place and a bad timeSunday, May 25, 2008
Kettuhölkkä: 1st place in 45:28 (~13,3K)
On Saturday I had the first running competition in Finland following my marathon debut 3 weeks ago in Mainz. It was a rather small, local competition with only a handful of competitors, so it was not the biggest challenge to win the competition but rather to get a good workout. I ran the ~13,3km (it was supposed to be 14km but the last 2km would have been in an impressive 4:23min) all on my own and could set my own pace all the way. The kilometer splits were between 3:20 and 3:33 minutes if the kilometer signs were right and the final time 45:28. Team mate and driver Kimmo aka. skylark took second place and secured the double of the Vaajakosken Kuohu runners.
Today was "long" run (~20K) with Kimmo and Timo in the morning plus a short evening run (6K). The Sauna afterwards was great and I can feel that Sauna improves my recovery a lot.
On Saturday I had the first running competition in Finland following my marathon debut 3 weeks ago in Mainz. It was a rather small, local competition with only a handful of competitors, so it was not the biggest challenge to win the competition but rather to get a good workout. I ran the ~13,3km (it was supposed to be 14km but the last 2km would have been in an impressive 4:23min) all on my own and could set my own pace all the way. The kilometer splits were between 3:20 and 3:33 minutes if the kilometer signs were right and the final time 45:28. Team mate and driver Kimmo aka. skylark took second place and secured the double of the Vaajakosken Kuohu runners.
Today was "long" run (~20K) with Kimmo and Timo in the morning plus a short evening run (6K). The Sauna afterwards was great and I can feel that Sauna improves my recovery a lot.
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