Lightstrike

Monday morning with heavy skies and I have another shoe-related sin to confess. After watching Seth James DeMoor racing in a pair of Adidas SL20, I could not resist buying them at 50% for 599 SEK from Sportamore the other week. And, instant gratification, thanks to the super-responsive Lightstrike midsole, I was able to snag one CR from the same former elite runner as last time around by maintaining a 2:25 min/km pace through one Strava segment... let’s see how long it lasts.

Langhorne Creek

With thunderstorms and mosquitoes circling around me, I went for a lunch trail run down to Grössjön, feeling energized by the colder weather coming down from the Arctic. As much as I have appreciated the last weeks of extreme summer, houses up here are really not built for such heatwaves so it has been unbearably hot inside, especially at night (which is perhaps not that surprising considering that we get about 21 hours of non-stop sunlight this time of the year).

From Langhorne Creek outside of Adelaide, I found a shiraz called "Director's Cut" which seemed like the perfect way to end this week of video editing. If anyone is curious, here is a link to one of the lectures that I have been recording (in Swedish). Next week, which is the last week with daycare for the kids, I hope to be able to record another five videos about the different political ideologies before the summer “vacation” begins ;-)

Ekiden

While still not as extreme as 2014 or 2018, today has been one of the warmest days of the summer so far. Sadly, I could not join my colleagues for a swim in Nydala as I really need all the child daycare time that I can get to finish recording my lectures on political philosophy for the autumn semester.

On Strava, I just signed up for a Hoka “Ekiden” challenge consisting of a 5K run per week for the coming four weeks. Hopefully, I will be able to use one of these runs to beat my current (outdoor) PR of 21:05.

As for Japan and running longer distances, I now have my eyes firmly set on the 100k Lake Saroma Ultramarathon which takes place every year in June up on Hokkaido along the shores of the Sea of Okhotsk (names and geographies that on their own should be more than enough to persuade any escapist). And, I mean, if I have friends who have enough “pannben” to swim 10 km in a 25 meters pool, running 100 km should really be the next logical step for me.

Poles

With my Achilles tendons having to absorb a lot of force as it is, I have been a bit hesitant to go all in on the Bränteverest challenge without the support of running poles. Thanks to my dear mom, I am now in possession of a pair of “Distance Carbon Z” collapsible ultra-running poles that I plan to use if I ever get to run “Oman by UTMB”.

Long before that however, I rushed over to Bräntberget for five repeats and 301 meters of climb in the afternoon heat when I felt that I simply had had enough of talking to myself in front of that green screen for one day.

Trending faster

Shortly after 5 am, I went for a tempo run in my New Balance 1080v10. I was thrilled to see how much my fitness has improved and that I was able to set a new PR around the lake without killing myself completely. Now, another day in front of the green screen awaits.

Recording

Working my way through the history of ideas, I have finally found good use for my collection of Bond clothes. After wearing the Riviera Polo from Casino Royale last week, I have now progressed to the Moroccan Polo from Spectre. As for the recordings, I am positively surprised by how much I have been able to improve the quality over time through practice.

Today, I learned that, like the rest of the university, the Unit for Police Education will have to enforce the rule of a maximum of 50 people at the time and 1.5 meters of physical distance, meaning that my signature lecture that always starts the course will now have to be online as well. Clearly, it feels like I will get a lot of value out of that green screen before all of this is over...

Midsummer

For the first time in seven years, I am home in Sweden for Midsummer and not on the shores of the Pacific. Starting the morning with a swim in my new wetsuit, I almost had to laugh when I encountered a smiling German man in an otherwise empty Nydalasjön, wearing nothing but a black neoprene swimming cap. Staying with the German theme, I then had my morning coffee in my “Nord Coast” cup on the bridge before heading home for another day of playground bicycling with the kids.

Every year, Abba has a special limited edition herring. Among my favourite flavours over the years I would like to mention “gin and spruce shots”, “vodka and lime” and “elderflower and lemon”. In 2019, it was “Earl Grey with lemon and honey” which I never got around to try so, when I saw them on sale at COOP, I immediately bought two jars. Together with a #småparti West Coast DIPA from North Brewing Company in Leeds, I can say that it was an instant favourite.

Teaching excellence

While I have known for about a week, today the Faculty of Social Science officially announced the new group of teachers who have been awarded for their teaching excellence. Among them, I was very happy to find myself being promoted to distinguished university teacher (“excellent lärare”) which is the second, and highest, level. Beyond an additional 1,200 SEK per month, this feels really inspiring for the autumn when I will take part in the university’s teaching mentoring programme. Since returning from Korea in 2014, I have taken six pedagogical courses and worked hard to develop my teaching, especially online, so this is a most welcome recognition for the time that I have put into this.

Tomorrow is Midsummer’s Eve and I just wrapped up the last tasks of the workweek. For dinner tonight, I made a beetroot hummus plate with oven-roasted vegetables to somehow atone for my carbonara sins earlier in the week; hashtag #reducetarian. And, yes, thanks to Fredi, I have a new book about secret royal love between men.

Wetsuit

While it may not to be Lago di Garda, I do live by a lake and, with the kind of summer weather that we have been having (it has been like living in the Truman Show with blue skies every day), it seemed prudent to finally invest in a wetsuit, especially as I was able to get one at 50% off for 595 SEK from Simbutiken.

Jumping into the cold waters of Nydalasjön shortly before 7 am for a first test swim, it was such an unmediated feeling of absolute happiness. Even if Suunto’s “open-water swimming” mode may have given me an extra push as the GPS signal is easily lost under water, I did swim as fast as I could and now I cannot wait to get back into the water.

Carbonara and Teroldego

A year ago in March, I turned the perspective around when taking one of those pseudo-instagram food shots. Like then, I am making spaghetti carbonara with pecorino cheese and a red wine from the Dolomites that is relatively new at Systembolaget (although no #småparti).

Today at our online workplace meeting, we learned that we will be strongly discouraged from showing up at work also in the fall. Since I am already planning to give all my courses online (with the exception of that first day in August), this mostly means that I will have 10k less biking to do every day. In the long run however, I fear it may also lead to a loss of professional community and (what we in Sweden would call) "sammanhang".

The Truman Show

Sinful Swedes

The summer of 2014 was the hottest in Umeå since records began in 1858 with the thermometer reaching 32.2 degrees one day at the airport. Having just moved back from Korea, it was a strange and unexpected introduction to life in the High North. After working all day to get the new apartment in order, I remember how blissful it was to take the car down to Stöcksjö for an evening swim at Dragonudden. Given the strict puritanism of Korean society, skinny dipping in a secluded lake truly felt like being a world away from Seoul.

Today, it has been 28 degrees outside and even warmer inside in front of the green screen where I have been recording lectures on the classical world. Undeterred by how tired I was the morning after my Saturday evening run, I decided to lace up my New Balance 1080v10 for a 30k run across the river to that same lake as in 2014.

Passing by the dormant airport, I feel so fortunate to be “trapped” here and not in a Korean faculty dorm. Slowly, the countries of the world are opening up their borders but there is a lingering uncertainty and the knowledge how suddenly the freedom of movement can be revoked by political fiat. If there is a second wave of SARS-CoV-2, one can only hope that isolationism will not again be the default response.

Night run

As long-distance runners, sleep is essential to recover and giving the body a chance to absorb the training. With the kids waking up before 5 am every morning, I know very well that any evening activities come at a high cost. Still, with the evenings being as beautiful as they are this time of the year, I could not resist going for a long run up to Ersboda last night where I had located a Strava segment in the forest with a decent chance of setting a new Course Record. And indeed, speeding up to 3:34 min/km in my "high-risk red" Salomon Speedcross 5, I was able to replace the CR that I lost the other week...

Bränteverest

Among all of the different running challenges this summer, there is one very local here in Umeå called “Bränteverest” which I just had to sign up for. The idea is to run up the nearby skiing slope known as “Bräntberget” 124 times for a total climb of 8,848 meters, i.e. the official elevation of Mount Everest, before the summer is over.

Still feeling a bit sore after Tuesday’s 58k ultra, I took it easy this morning with just four repeats in my Hoka Torrents before heading home for some lovely Gringo coffee from Gothenburg. Today and tomorrow, the kids will have a mini-summer break before returning on Monday for “holiday club” (as the Brits would call it) until early July when the real summer holiday begins. As for the UK, Fredi recommended Siri Hustvedt’s new book “A Woman Looking at Men Looking at Women: Essays on Art, Sex and the Mind” which coincidentally opens with CP Snow and his The Two Cultures just like my own introduction lectures to political science. Later, on page 75, I found a few words that seemed very suitable for Rawls & Me:

"as if there is some precise measurement for the relation between a book and the world, as if the “world” can be fully known, and as if life as it is lived is not itself enmired in fictions"

Loop Rd

Few things seem more appropriate after a day like this than a glass of “Loop Rd” from Central Otago on the South Island of New Zealand. As always, there is an element of metafiction to all of this, like trains through the winter in Sweden, as if words could make the world whole.

While far from Manitou Springs and Colorado, I can definitely relate to the expression of Seth James De Moor. Bread. Buttered.

Ivarsboda Road Runners

Over the last year, I think I have fallen into some bad company on Strava, people who every so often run extreme distances. After watching a few Youtube documentaries about the Atacama 250 km desert race, my standards have become even more inflated. As such, I have not made a secret of that I have been dreaming of running further and faster than ever before. More specifically, I have been looking for a 50+ km loop here around Umeå that I could run in order to improve on my previous 50k PR of 5 hours and 55 minutes which I set during Umeå Ultra last year.

Running in a pair of Nike Pegasus 36 that I was able to get at an Intersport fire sale for 799 SEK and my Salomon running vest, I first dropped off Eddie at his school in Innertavle before continuing out to the ferry landing at Norrfjärden (which is not Tiburon). In total, I ran a record distance of 58 kilometres, indeed setting a new 50k PR with about 30 minutes even when factoring in a short technical stop at the ICA convenience store in Sävar to pick up an icecream and some more fluids. Unlike when running Tavelsjöleden though, I focused on keeping my heart rate down and maintaining a stable easy pace around 6:00 min/km.

After the heavy weekend rain, the forest and the fields were all early summer green and, as the sun was blazing down, I was happy to have my white reflective racing cap and plenty of sunscreen. Considering that I was just “dethroned” from my Strava CR by the same runner who previous held the record, it at least feels good that I was able to complete this rather epic run. Now time for another “filtallrik” and a long shower.

No excuses

Halfway into Tavelsjöleden, my phone, all by itself, started playing a recent vlog by Seth James DeMoor entitled “no excuses”. Clearly appropriate as I was already making excuses for why Elin and I were falling short of setting that FKT, I of course had to watch the full episode once I got home. Its mad FKT attempt and very visible red shoes definitely succeeded in putting a smile on my face.

Thus, with heavy rain expected later in the afternoon, I laced up my old and trusted Nike Pegasus 35 for an additional 10.77 km of relay running as part of the MA RA TH ON challenge, bringing my total volume this week up to 90 km. NO excuses.

666

Last month, I took part in the 555 challenge with Médecins Sans Frontières in which runners around the world helped raising more than 3,200 EUR. Now in June, the challenge has been extended with one more kilometre to 6k but, in light of yesterday’s wild trail adventure, I decided to turn the race into a recovery jog up to the white “China bridge” and back.

Afterwards, I found that I had one more racing event on Strava to complete today, namely one mile with the New York Road Runners which I did more as proper race in my New Balance 1080V10 before returning home for some well-earned dark roasted coffee and scones with Scottish orange marmalade.

Tavelsjöleden

After spending the whole day yesterday in front of Zoom, it was finally Friday and time to head out along the 39 km long Tavelsjöleden. Meeting Elin shortly after 7 am, we took her car up to the starting point a bit south of Selet (which is otherwise world famous as the home of “Glassbonden”).

Maybe it was the weather, maybe it was the previous weeks of high volume training but already a few kilometres into the run we could both feel that the men’s FKT of running in under three hours was not within reach today. Instead we settled for a slower pace, enjoying the grand forests and all the small lakes along the way. Despite this, I became increasingly dehydrated as the kilometres began to add up. Expecting grey skies, I had only brought along a litre to drink which proved dangerously inadequate. To my great relief, there was a water tap at Hamptjärnsstugan which saved me, allowing us to finish in 3 hours and 53 minutes. With a total climb of 492 meters, I am feeling quite happy about our effort even as we fell short of setting that FKT. Strangely enough, our run also turned out to be two kilometres shorter than the official distance, despite following all the signage. For next time, I guess we need to take another of the four alternative paths around Tavelsjöberget to get to the full 39 km.

When your friends are on the right side of history

Dog Point

After spending the day preparing for tomorrow’s thesis seminars, I found a very summery recipe in the June issue of Monocle which just made it up to Umeå from Switzerland. Not only does pistachio always remind me of that backstreet baklava when I was a student in Örebro, the mix of sundried cherry tomatoes, pecorino cheese and basil definitely lifted my spirits after reading all the sad news from the US and witnessing the resurging localism at home. As for the latter, history unambiguously shows that, far from being a solution, national stockpiling and trade restrictions will always come at someone else’s expense and, ultimately, only weaken us all.

Apparently, Ivan Krastev has written a new book called “Is It Tomorrow Yet? Paradoxes of the Pandemic” which highlights the disconnect between the globally shared experience of the pandemic and the closing of borders. In Monocle, there are a further fifty interviews about the pandemic and what the world that comes after may look like. For one thing, I guess there will be fewer homeless dogs around as more people have found a new homebound and more canine-friendly existence.

Course Records

With all races cancelled, my great game plan for the summer was to run different Strava segments in the neighbourhood and try to set at least one CR or Course Record. However, my plans were dashed when a former elite runner appeared out of nowhere and captured every single segment within a 15 km radius more or less.

After studying Strava in detail, I found one road nearby that seemed to be at least slightly within reach. With the segment measuring a mere 270 meters and a 2 per cent climb, the current CR was 57 seconds or a 3:26 min/km pace, thus being at the very limit of my anaerobic capacity. However, having little to lose, I laced up my Adizero Boston shortly after 6 am and headed out to make history.

Although at the expense of a slightly strained left calf, I was indeed able to set my first ever Course Record by running half a second faster than the previous record, leaving me in no doubt about how hard it would be to set some of the other records around here. Now I plan to take two days off from the running in preparation for Tavelsjöleden with Elin on Friday. Hopefully my calf will be fully restored by then.