Like in the olden days

Today, I am back teaching on campus for the first and only time this semester. In the morning, I met my political philosophy class divided into two groups and, now in the afternoon, I will meet a new group of future police officers. But first, a Covid-19 self-test as part of the large prevalence study that is taking place on campus.

Giant steps

For long-distance runners, aerobic base building always remains the number one priority so, even if I have really struggled to find the time, I am very happy to leave behind another week with 70+ kilometres of running. Beyond widening the base of my aerobic pyramid, the plan going forward is to make a conscious effort to include more foam rolling, stretching and push-ups in my weekly training routine as part of Strava's "September Strength Training Challenge". And, without promising too much, I am tempted to finally confront my insecurities and throw in some organized yoga in the mix as well.

As for the more immediate race weekend, I will do my best to avoid all giant steps when going uphill and instead try to maintain as light feet with as high cadence as possible, eyes up while repeating “float it, do not fight it” for myself. Still, with 1,500 meters of climb over 43 km, I have no doubt that it will once again be a “historic effort” to speak with Strava. With this in mind, it feels good to spend this Sunday afternoon on the balcony marking student theses and drinking a glass of wine from Yarra Valley where I have not been since I was driving from Melbourne to Sydney back in November 2008.

The Masquerade

With masks becoming mandatory in Paris as of today and my own SAS flight back to Umeå coming up within a few weeks, I was happy to finally receive the topography-themed mask from Territory Run in Oregon that I ordered back in July. Together with a black “post-run” flannel shirt, I feel ready to take on the world outside Umeå.

On campus, there will be free mass testing for Covid-19 starting next week as part of a scientific experiment when the students return from all around Sweden. Considering that this region of Sweden has had very low levels of transmissions, the idea is to both counteract that the university becomes a new cluster and to study how fast the virus spreads in a university setting. 

Tempo Thursday

With William still waking up super early most mornings, I try to focus on the upside. After making him breakfast, I went for a 5k tempo run through the neighbourhood shortly after 5 am. While I ultimately failed to set any new CRs, I found a few promising segments that I plan to return to. Already now, the temperature is just a few degrees above freezing.

Mentor

The last days have been exceptionally busy with little time for either blogging or running as everything has to be organized before the fall semester starts on Monday. Today, I have spent all day in front of Zoom with the new mentor programme for university teachers which feels very promising.

For dinner, I returned to the Aeolian islands for another glass of Bianco Porticello which has become somewhat of an instant favourite. Together with some pan-fried salmon with green beans and tortellini, life could clearly be worse. In ten days, I am off to run the High Coast Trail 43k with Elin so the coming week will be mostly tapering even as I hope to squeeze in at least one more long run and maybe my own guerrilla version of Umemilen (as I will miss the real thing since it is on the same day as the High Coast race).

Last Sunday, Seth James DeMoor, who I have been following on Youtube for a few years now, won the Pikes Peak Marathon after an incredible performance. Reading the comments afterwards on Strava, it was heart-warming to see that many mentioned his wife (known as “True Love”) and that his victory, in no small part, also belonged to her. To be honest, I cannot even imagine what it must have been like to juggle their four kids while Seth has been out running his 160+ km weeks.

Biden

Ignoring the unnecessary anti-globalization rhetoric, I think Joe Biden gave an exceptional acceptance speech the other night, bringing some hope of finally reversing the slide into darkness that America is in. As much as I may be worried about what AOC and other Sanders fundamentalists will do with regard to climate policy, the overarching picture is unambiguous, Trump must be defeated in November.

Back in Tomtebo, Anna is turning 41 and her brother is here to visit. In the morning, I went for a quick interval session, including a 2:44 min/km dash down a bike path in Tavleliden, enough to set another CR to compensate for the one I lost the other day.

Västerbotten cheese

After my morning of UTMB running, I have spent all day in front of Zoom attending the virtual version of the department kick-off meeting. As such, I was in need of something more substantial for dinner and, when it comes to comfort food, few things beat a hearty risotto, in this case with chanterelles, crispy smoked bacon and our local “Västerbotten cheese” from Burträsk, all served with a non-alcoholic IPA from Brutal Brewing.

Meanwhile, the situation surrounding Covid-19 in higher education continues to evolve and it is becoming increasingly clear that all my exams this semester will have to be online like in the spring. However unfortunate this may be for pedagogical reasons, it would simply not be possible to decide in an ethical way who would be exempted and who would not. With hundreds of students, the situation would quickly become unmanageable. Right now, I am planning for a fall semester with only a handful of meetings on campus and everything else online. Sadly, many borders remain closed and the kids have to go to school, otherwise this would be the perfect time to get moving to warmer latitudes to speak with Monocle...

UTMB Finisher x 2

About a month after I started my (unintentional) dual challenge of running both the 100k and 170k version of the UTMB race, I finished both races this morning with an accumulated climb of 6,810 meters. Now my only fear is that I would actually win the sweepstakes and gain entry into the real race next summer as it is still so far beyond my ability.

Trail break

Close to the school in Innertavle, there is a 2.5 kilometres trail which is mostly used for skiing during the winter season. Trying to find the last kilometres needed to complete the UTMB Virtual 170 race, I decided to spend the time before William’s first break with running a couple of loops. As basically everywhere else in the neighbourhood, it is the same former elite athlete who has the Course Record, in this case 8 minutes and 48 seconds which equates to a psychotic 3:40 min/km pace.

On my second loop, I was able to run the trail in 9 minutes and 48 seconds, earning me a place on the podium as number three of all times. Coming back afterwards for one of the hills, I was even able to set a new Course Record by racing a few hundred meters uphill in a 3:17 min/km pace, in no small part thanks to all the elevation gain that I was able to get up in Kiruna.

However, the big event of the day was of course William’s first day in school...

Unmistakable chill

This morning, there was an unmistakable autumn chill in the air. My colleague, who lives a few hundred kilometres inland, even had minus degrees so when I jumped into the waters of Nydalasjön for an afternoon swim I was prepared for something akin to the Norseman Triathlon. Thankfully, my wet suit turned out to still be sufficient to keep me warm so in the end it was not traumatic at all.

Back ashore, I made another chanterelle toast for dinner with some Spanish red wine. Tomorrow, I will spend all morning in Innertavle with the boys but hopefully I will be able to sneak away for a quick run around the local trail...

Asus

After travelling everywhere from Australia to Zanzibar over the last six years, my faithful Samsung laptop finally gave up on me two days ago, leaving me with no choice but buying a new one. While perhaps not the fanciest of designs, I was able to pick up an Asus laptop with a 512 GB SSD drive for 4,990 SEK at El Giganto which felt like a real bargain.

Today, I recorded my first lecture after the summer in Adobe Premiere and I must say that the differences in both overall performance and screen quality are stunning compared to my old laptop so I am a happy bunny.  

55 activities

The last four weeks have been some of the most active in my life as I have climbed Kebnekaise and ramped up my training volume in anticipation for my two big races in September. Fortunately, it seems as if all the training is already paying off because, this morning, I was able to set not one but two new Course Records around Nydalasjön.

With the department kick-off on Wednesday and lots of exams to mark, I doubt I will be able to add another week like this so I thought I would document it here on Rawls & Me as a memory of a crazy summer...

The sum of small things

Last year at the Breakthrough Dialogue, several people independently of each other mentioned Elizabeth Currid-Halkett's book “The sum of small things” which triggered my sociological curiosity. While maybe slightly cynical, the world has clearly changed since the days of Thorstein Veblen, and status is today more often expressed in being able to afford seemingly anti-capitalist activities like studying “sustainable agriculture” in Ecuador.

For my part, the kids really behaved on the train down to Umeå and now we have a few days together before everything gets going. Yesterday, I was able to go for both a 13k trail run and return to USM for some strength training before picking up a very nice bottle of wine from the Aeolian Islands at Systembolaget.

This autumn, I will take part in the university’s teaching mentoring programme which unfortunately, due to the pandemic, will translate into long days in front on Zoom and already next week, we will have our department kick-off online as well. As such, I was relieved that the fabric of my white sofa chair survived being washed so now I am truly ready for another semester.

Home turf

Trailmester

Elin coined the term “trailmester” to describe what I have been up to here in Kiruna over the last three weeks. Ending my sojourn where I started it, on the Ädnamvaara trails, I was able to complete the roundtrip from the parking to the peak in 1 hour and 34 minutes, enough to secure a place among the top ten on Strava. Had I skipped my running vest and drinks, I think I would have been able to shave off a few more minutes but I am still very happy with this finale.

Now I will take the train down to Umeå with the kids who are both back to school on Tuesday. As much as I look forward to going running around the lake, I will surely miss these trails.

Esrange

This morning, I had a lot of black coffee in the Esrange cup before heading out to set another Course Record in the Strava universe. While I can definitely feel that I have had 5000+ meters of elevation gain over the last ten days, I am surprised by how well my legs are recovering. Like after previous trail adventures, it is more the rest of my body that is struggling to keep up with the training load so I am really looking forward to coming back to Umeå on Wednesday and spending some time at the gym.

Kungsleden

Today I ran the first 19k of the legendary King’s Trail from Abisko for a total of 38k and 500 meters of elevation gain. Trying to keep my pace more even than last time, I still had time to take in the majestic landscape and stop at some of the Dag Hammarskjöld meditation signs. However, as on many previous runs, I again drank too little, despite the many small rivers with crystal clear mountain water, something I seriously need to think about for my upcoming trail ultras.

A year of running

Two and half years have now passed since I started running in earnest. To celebrate that I have kept going through all those icy cold mornings, I made a photo book documenting the last year of running, mostly around Nydalasjön. In that way, the book also takes the reader through a full year at the lake. In retrospect, I slightly regret not including either Angel Island Half Marathon or my Kebnekaise Ultra but maybe there will be a second edition, who knows?

Otherwise, I have been busy preparing the autumn semester and all the lectures that I will have to record once back in Umeå. Tomorrow, however, I will take the train towards the Norwegian border.

Splashing down

The other night, SpaceX Dragon capsule splashed down in the waters just south of Pensacola, like a reminder of that bright future that still beckons. Slightly inspired, I went for a mad race down the new winding bike path in Kiruna, setting a new CR by 25 seconds, before returning home to book two award tickets to India over New Year's.

While reality is likely to catch up with both the CR and the flights, I think such acts of defiance are still important. On the same theme, I plan to take the train to Abisko on Friday for another trail run in the mountains.

Active recovery

After sleeping for ten hours straight, the physical misery of yesterday was all gone and I was able to go for a recovery jog with Anna up to Luossavaara. Surprised by how good it felt, I just had to repeat the same run in the afternoon but this time in my Hoka Torrent 2, bringing my weekly total up to 91 km and an insane 3000+ meters of elevantion gain.

Grateful

Like after my two previous trail ultras, I feel pretty wrecked today. Still, I am immensely grateful that I was given the opportunity to run up Kebnekaise yesterday. The skies were just as blue as when running South Devon Ultra back in February and that definitely added to the Yosemite-style magic. It feels a bit odd to think that, prior to this run, I was more familiar with the mountains of California or Austria than of Sweden but now I am definitely eager to explore more, including the area around Åre with its annual mountain marathon.

Sadly, I was not able to record the whole run as one single Strava activity since the batteries of my Suunto Spartan ran out but otherwise I felt like I had just the right equipment, including my new Hoka Torrent 2 shoes in size 48 that were simply perfect.