Training Log Archive: W

A real light ski with a friend who is not quite as good at skiing. Hard to know if I would count it as training, I was definitely moving, but, not very quickly. No matter, it was still exercise, however light. Basically a recovery workout. I have more time during the week so I should be able to make up for it with some double-downs during the week. Let's call this a rest week.

I'm trying to get Rdio to find me some Finnish music I might like. Its been a tough search.

A real cushy chilled out run around half the Jyvasjarvi in my Hokas. I'm just looking at my pace, and thinking about how this run felt. I remember about two years ago I had really resolved to pick up the pace a little on my easy runs, just subtly, but enough to make them more meaningful. My Polar has my average pace at 5:01/km, and when I think back to this run, I really don't remember anything about it. It was just another light cruise recovery run. That pleases me a lot because that its nice reminder that my average pace and fitness has drifted up slowly so that this increased pace doesn't seem like an increased pace anymore, its just... my pace.

Now its time to think about thinking about subtly increasing that pace a little. I think that as the pace gets faster its easier to go overboard with just a few secs/km, so I'm not going to be quite so aggressive as I was this last time, but if I were to just adjust to, say, 4:55, for instance, I think that would be manageable, especially in winter conditions. We'll see.

The only thing left to do? See. Oh yes, we will (to_the) see.

Because I missed yesterday's tempo torstai, I went out and did it by myself, which is TOUGH. It seems like an awful long loop when there's no one to teach you Finnish words.

I do notice, however, that I ran a bit faster than with the boys. To be fair, the snow was a bit firmer this week, but I averaged 4:01/km today, whereas the week before we averaged 4:10-ish.

So, either I'm getting fitter, or it was the conditions. Let's go with fitter!

These workouts are tough, but I think they're going to be great in the longer run and I'm really happy afterwards.

A simple easy ski to Ladun Maija in really nice firm conditions, while nerding it up with a retro gaming podcast. Yes, I do listen to podcasts sometimes now. Its been a mere, like, 4 years since I learned they were a nice thing to listen to while training. The skiy was quite easy, according to my HR, and it sure did feel like it too. I can tell that my back is still not quite right from two weeks ago, but getting better.

As in... I can generally stand up without groaning like an old man.

Its been a long week. Some really long seminars, some late nights (relatively) working on projects, some frustrating office stuff. I did the longer route at Mustalampi which, despite being longer, has appeared to now take the same amount of time as the shorter loop. Wha....? It could be because the snow has gotten quite a bit firmer. It got really warm the last few days with the sun coming out so now the world is an ice rink.

I was skeptical in the fall when there was a little bit of frost because the city proceeded to gravel the hell out of all the sidewalks. Yet, all of a sudden, that gravel seems to be poking through the sheet of ice and being very effective!

Those Finns are a clever bunch. If a tad grumpy.

Another track workout at Hipposhalli. I didn't have my GPS on so I don't know how long I actually ran. At this point of the season I didn't really have intention to go quite as fast as they seemed to be going, so I jumped in and did some of it. It was 8 x 800m getting progressively faster, but at 6 I didn't go faster, and just scaled it back for the last few. Each one had a 200m interval afterwards, which I just tried to stretch out and stay smooth but not sprint-y.

I've been using my Adidas Boost shoes for the track, and I think I officially really don't like those shoes. The cushion was supposed to be the bees knees, but honestly my feet feel significantly worse after wearing them than, say, my Pure Connects, which are light, if not lighter, than Adidas. They're basically brand new, so I'm not really sure what to do with them, though.