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The start of phase II was windy. Monday and Tuesday SW Finland was hit by severe winds. Tomorrow will be something between Monday and nice Summer breeze. Anyway, on Tuesday I chose to run Q1 by getting aid from tailwind. Not a bad choice...
Tomorrow morning I know that 5xmile is waiting for me but the weather status is bit uncertain. One thing is for sure - it is not winterish.
Oh, and I did skip weekend's tempo run. Instead, I ate lots of candy.
Workout Wednesday was awesome even if a strong headwind tried to kick my butt. I did 5x3min with 2 min recovery jog at 6 AM. No one sane was around running in that weather. On Saturday I expected that I will join a large(ish) group of triathletes in their threshold run but it turned out that there was only two guys and lot of icy roads. I ran 5-miler by accelerating the last 3km which weren't that easy because of the slippery conditions.
Yesterday I accompanied youngsters while they were doing their long run, and ran a 15-miler. Roads were again better.
This morning I noticed already during the morning jaunt that roads are again bit icy but it didn't prevent myself of getting a face plant while I was biking to work. And it happened at the last turnout before reaching the University. Actually, I can see that place from my window right now. In addition, I broke my glasses and even had to visit a doctor in order to check out the status of my thumb, shoulder, and right cheekbone. Stupid Monday.
Tomorrow is the last day of the current 3 weeks rotation so next week will be easy. Oh well, last week was easier than planned but I was really really tired. Today I ran an awesome pyramid workout (1/2/3/4/3/2/1). This short pyramid is relatively easy but it made me run faster than I believed was possible for me anymore. Tomorrow I'll join youngsters while they are working on their long run. And it is supposed to shine, too.
Yesterday's bike ride (68 miles) was half pleasure, half pure pain. I totally hate head wind which continues 35 miles in a row. HATE!
But I like the fact that this week I have done two 6-milers without the pain in butt/hamstring. That's extremely nice. There's a feeling but no pain. LIKE!
And then I have two days summer vacation coming up tomorrow and Tuesday. Screw you work, I'm going the distance!
The weather and roads were sick today. Therefore, morning's long run was pure evil. I shared this joy with Joonas, 1500m bronze medalist from yesterday. Our jaunt lasted about 2 hrs during which we travelled 15.5 miles. Not too fast that is. But at least we did it. I almost freezed both of my cheeks but luckily "almost" does not count. The rest of the day was spend at the Indoor Nationals. Good times.
Weekly mileage 62.
Last year's last race was different. Not bad, but different. Due to really gusty winds some of the power lines were fallen down so the course was changed into 4 loops instead of one 4 mile loop. No worries with that. However, the biggest "problem" was that when 1.000 runners (in inaugural race, good job!) run the same loop, surely somebody gets lapped. So after the first lap race started to feel more like slalom rather than straight forward pushing of pace. But that didn't matter so much after all. Basically, it was just unexpected for a sucker like me. During the second lap I also lost the touch with my arms due to really tough and cold wind. What a rookie. I finished 6th (TWO minutes after winner) timing 21.27 (5.21/mile). Year 2008 in numbers: 2993 miles (58 per week, 249 per month / 4816 km (93 per week, 401 per month). I happy. Now we will start 2009 with a race, Resolution Prediction Run. The aim is to run slow, but to finish close to 11.00.
