57K last week, this week the same in 3 days…

Last week totalled some 57K. Sunday produced an ok 10K with a 1000m at 3.01 in Otaniemi. Monday 17K, tue 20K with 5x1000m in Otaniemi (first 4 in 3.18-3.20, last 3.10 / 2 min breaks). Yesterday had to take off since both knees signalled they were taking hit. This morning 19K in Espoo central park for the first time of the year. Still some ice on ski routes, otherwise the weather is very nice, all sunshine and +15 celcius.

Handball victory to my hometown!

My hometown team Riihimäen Cocks finally won the national championship in handball tonight. Unfortunately I couldn’t get to see the game since my wife is sick and I’m taking care of the kids. Too damn bad.

Ok, I don’t know this team and I’m reading it’s based on Estonian purchases. The team I knew had local guys like AP Tuomi in the lead. I think it’s over 5 years I’ve seen their match for the last time.

Anyway, this is a remarkable night! The city of Rihimäki used to have two national-level sport teams: one in handball and one in Finnish version of baseball. Some fifteen years ago the baseball francise was “sold out” and pretty soon it was all bankrupt. But handball had a different philosophy and the game lived on. It had roots. I can still remember Cocks trainees doing these recruiting visits to our school every year back in the days… and the deep-voiced principal of our high-school was well-known for being a leading silver-winning player back in the 70s…

The kids are asleep. My only option is to be awake and check the summary on national TV2 after mignight.

An exhausted 8K test

Today a 8K club test in Sjundeå. I clocked in c. 27.30 losing 1.5 minutes to guys I thought I could tally till the end. So… what went wrong? Possible reasons include I’m getting a little cold, there was an unreasonably fast first K without warm-up (I arrived just 3 mins before the start) and despite all this I took the lead at c. 1.5K against the wind. At around 2.5K my test was practically over.

Running strong…

This week 15K mon, 11K tue and today an especially nice 21K at 1.20 meaning c. 3.50 / km if iPod is correct. In other words, the same result I achieved 1.5 years ago in a competition. Now it’s a day’s pay.

Weather conditions are very good. It’s early spring in the Helsinki region. Today almost +10 degrees. – This night we’ll start a one-week family vacation in the north. Hope I can get quality-miles there as well…