Finale

With a record of 105 activities over the last four weeks, my legs were perhaps not super fresh but, yesterday, Elin and I wrapped up the spring running season with a maxed-out interval session around Tomtebo. Taking an unbelievable ten CR on the same run, Elin certainly made it a finale worth remembering, all followed by some Briska cider.

As such, the summer vacation is off to a flying start and, already tomorrow, Eddie and I are on a night train to Kalmar. Our plans for the rest of the summer are still a bit hazy though with a few exceptions, such as a return trip to Lycksele on the 10th of August to get our second shot of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine. The fact that we now have an appointment for the second shot means that Trondheim Marathon is very likely to actually happen.

Porch

For many years, midsummer use to mean uplifting intellectual conversations and muddled mint drinks on the porch of Cavallo Point. Last year obviously marked a break with tradition and, this year, the Dialogue has been moved to August (not that it matters much as I cannot attend anyway due to the closed borders). Right now, there are some indications that the US will open up for international travel after Labor Day (6 September) but I would not bet my last money on it. So, instead of the Bay Area, this midsummer has been spent at the shores of Nydalasjön with lots of strawberries and wet suit swims. 

Intervals

In my running, I very rarely do structured intervals or even fartlek-style runs. Unless on the track, the only time that I really speed up is when trying to set a CR on a segment in Strava. However, with Kalmar half marathon just around the corner, I thought I would run some 1k repeats around the lake about 15 seconds faster than my target pace for Kalmar to get a sense of what I can possibly expect. Running in the afternoon sun to make it as authentic as possible, I must say that it definitely counted as a “quality workout” :-)

Pace bunny

After a morning of Zoom meetings, I got to practice my pace bunny skills as my colleague Elisabeth set out to break the magic two-hour barrier for the half marathon. Running two classic River Run loops, she really impressed me with a strong and consistent performance that felt very controlled throughout. Something tells me that my Kalmar half marathon in ten days will be slightly less dignified...

Back home, I am excited to have the printed version of my newly published article and also the Lonely Planet guide for the Baltic States which will come in handy in October when I am heading over to Lithuania for the 70 km Trail Kuršių Nerija.

Comirnaty

Today, both Anna and I managed to get our first shots of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine. Considering the deep global inequalities of vaccine distribution, we certainly recognize how fortunate we are, especially now with the more contagious delta variant spreading through Sweden. The fact that not one, but several, vaccines were developed in less than a year is incredibly promising for the future and should be powerful corrective to those who doubt the problem-solving capacity of science.

The vaccination process itself felt super professional at the town clinic in Lycksele. Located about 135 km upstream along the Ume River, Lycksele is otherwise mostly famous for its zoo which we, to the delight of the kids, visited during the rainy morning hours. The drive back and forth on the E12 also gave us a chance to stop in Granö and its tree hotel which brought back many fond memories from Tvåälvsloppet.

The June Crisis

Waking up early after the shortest night of the year, I am preparing for a supervision meeting with my PhD student this morning. Around the same time as our meeting, the Swedish parliament will vote on a motion of no confidence which may spell the end for the centre-left government of the last three years, possibly leading to a very rare snap election in the fall.

In what may become known as the “June Crisis”, the Left party is playing a very dangerous game right now, one that could very well end up opening the door for the far-right Sweden Democrats. While the nominal issue behind the crisis has to do with rent control, I think it is fair to say that it is also a reaction to the broader market-liberal agenda that the current government has been pursuing.

While I am actually in favour of more liberal housing policies, I am, just like the Left party, deeply troubled by the privatization of education and health care that has taken place over the last decades. Still, given that what is at stake here, I think all of this is exceptionally irresponsible by Nooshi Dadgostar and the Left. If the Sweden Democrats would ever come to power, it would be a direct threat to the “liberal democratic basic order” of society (to borrow the German term) with possibly irreversible consequences.

Chickened out

Today at COOP, I discovered that they had a firesale on Dutch plant-based chunks for 5 SEK per package. Known as “chickened out chunks”, they were just perfect for lunch after a morning of trail running around Klasmyran with Anna. Otherwise, the last days have been surprisingly busy as the semester is quickly coming to an end. On Tuesday, we are all off to Lycksele where we were super fortunate to find a slot for Covid vaccination, meaning that I will (hopefully) be fully vaccinated in time for the autumn semester and Trondheim Marathon.

Shore leave

Next week, the kids will be back in school for “holiday club” as the Brits would call it, but for Thursday and Friday this week we decided to take some time off together. After the first swim of the season at Umelagun, we took the ferry over to Holmön where we had book a night at the hostel next to the wooden lighthouse in Bergudden.

Like a subarctic version of Ven, Holmön is a cyclists’ paradise with a very distinct island-atmosphere with lots of sheep, tiny red houses and abandoned cemeteries. Despite not having been away for a year, the kids still loved their new bunkbed and slept like babies for once. Once back home on the mainland, I took my rowing to 25 km this month and made an old-time favourite dish: chicken with fennel, saffron and tomatoes.

Trail Kuršių Nerija

Long on my radar, today I signed up for a 70 km beach trail ultra on the Curonian Spit, a UNESCO world heritage site opposite of Kaliningrad. Taking place in the middle of October, I was able to redeem the last of my SAS vouchers which covered all of the flights (which were an incredible 1,200 SEK r/t from Umeå). Most likely, this will be my first trip abroad since the beginning of the pandemic. 

As things stand now, it is increasingly unlikely that I will be fully vaccinated in time for Trondheim Marathon in early September so I am sort of counting on this race replacing the one in Norway. With this, I nevertheless have a jam-packed racing schedule to look forward to:

3 July: Malkars 21k

7 August: Fjällmaraton 100k

4 September: Trondheim Marathon

18 September: Umåker Trail

25 September: Obbola Backyard

2 October: Gotland Ultra Marathon, 52 km

16 October: Trail Kuršių Nerija, 70 km

27 November: Xterra Malta, 50 km

5 December: Cyprus Marathon

Manuscript acceptance

That was quick. After working on the revisions over the weekend, I resubmitted my manuscript and within a couple of hours I received a notification of acceptance. After all the covid teaching turbulence, it feels good to finally be back to publishing again and now I am eager to finish my book chapter with Palgrave on the politics of Nuclear-powered Direct Air Capture (N-DAC).

As for the running, Malkars 21k in Kalmar is now less than three weeks away so I plan to throw in a couple of quality workouts before I begin my taper, starting with 10 km on the treadmill this morning at USM. Keeping a controlled 4:25 min/km-pace with an average heart rate of 156 bpm, I could feel that I still had more to give, something that would have been completely unthinkable a couple of years ago. Once back home, I made a decadent Italian lunch with the last sip of Geheimrat J.

Forest Friday

Taking the bus up to Hissjö, Elin and I got to spend a couple of hours in the forest along Tavelsjöleden today. Unlike last year, we did not have time to run the whole 39 km long trail but limited ourselves to the southern half of the trail. Stopping at Hamptjärnsstugan to enjoy the view of the river valley, I discovered that I had received “minor revisions” on my latest article which felt fantastic so, once back home, I immediately got busy in front of the computer.

Brick Lane

Whenever I am in London, I like to go to Brick Lane and have one the best bagels in the world. Made in the same store for generations, it is one of the few remnants of the Ashkenazi Jewish community that used to live in the East End before being replaced by Bangladeshi immigrants in the 20th century (the street is now mostly famous for its curry houses).

A world away from the multi-layered history of London, I went for a slow lake jog this morning followed by a visit to the outdoor gym and some plyometrics. Back home, I had a toasted bagel with cream cheese and black coffee in the sunshine. Have to say that life is quite okay right now.

Geheimrat J

Of all the wines I did not expect to find at Systembolaget, Geheimrat J from Rheingau was quite high up there on the list. 

In my early teens, I remember being completely absorbed by the Hamilton spy novel series, in particular the novel The Democratic Terrorist. Set in West Germany in the 1980’s, it was a novel about the limits of democracy and the radicalization of German society. On a visit to Sankt Augustin, Hamilton drinks this particular wine and speculates about the etymology of its name. Ever since, I have been curious to taste it myself.

Making the same mint and melon salad as I did after getting back from California in 2019, I can report that Geheimrat J is a perfect summer match full of pear and smoky minerals.

Drop

On yesterday’s run, the pain in my left Achilles tendon was back with a vengeance so, today, I went looking in the wardrobe for the orange box with my Pegasus 36 to get a slightly higher drop (10 mm). In general, running with a higher drop means relatively less pressure on your feet and more on your knees, and indeed, today’s 16 km felt much better even as I ran significantly faster.

Expecting to reach 2,000 km of running this year by the end of the week, I know I am very fortunate when it comes to injuries overall. I also know that I need to take more rest days, especially now when I am also biking and swimming. It is just that Strava is so addictive ;-)

Karakuchi

The last time I was in Japan was in 2013 when Eddie was not even a year old, and we were checking out Okinawa together with Sofi. Since then, I have dreamt of returning to Hokkaido, maybe for the 100k Lake Saroma Ultramarathon that I learned about from Murakami, but with the pandemic that has obviously not been possible. Luckily, a shipment of Asahi “Super Dry” still made it from Osaka to Umeå in time for some balcony sashimi as I look forward to a week of book chapter writing and course planning for the autumn.

LSD

Waking up to loud psychedelic music shortly before 5 am, I was surprised to discover that I was the only one awake so instead of going back to sleep I took my Hoka Torrents out for a Long Slow Distance run around lovely Stadsliden. Ignoring my watch throughout, I was able to keep an average heart rate of 136 bpm despite 413 meters of climb, all in keeping with Extramilest philosophy.

School is out

Taking a day off from the running, today has been a day of thesis seminars. Despite being on Zoom, I could feel how nervous the students were at first but, in the end, all went really well and everyone passed. With the grades submitted, the spring semester of 2021 is officially over, at least for the university students. Our own kids still have another ten days of school which feels a bit sad since there is no way of knowing how long this incredible blast of summer will last.

Still remembering once in Berlin when I was sharply reprimanded by an Italian for ordering wine with my pizza, I went all in with a bottle of Peroni Nastro Azzurro, which in turn brought back fond memories from a very different part of the world. Anyhow, pizza with yellow beats, ricotta and chevre it is!

One mile

Every year in June, New York Road Runners are organizing a virtual one-mile race on Strava. With almost continuous daylight this time of the year, I woke up super early and started grading theses in preparation for tomorrow’s seminar but, after a couple of hours, I thought I would get the day started and race those 1,609 meters in my red Hoka Rincons. While running 17 seconds faster than last year, I think I would have been even faster on the track so I remain optimistic about finally running 5k in under 20 minutes this summer.

Norseman

The Norwegian version of Ironman has an intimidating website that basically says that the race is not for you. Considering that it took me until 2 June before I got into the water for my first swim this year, I beg to agree that I am simply not cut out for cold water swimming. 

Returning the rental car shortly after 6 a.m., I was however able to swing by USM for 5k of indoor rowing and some strength training before biking out to Innertavle with both boys for the very first time. While not for the faint-hearted, it feels like a giant leap forward compared to the Thule Cougar regime.

And when it was time for my afternoon run to pick up the boys from school, I rediscovered my old Asics Nimbus 20 that I used when racing both Marrakech and Stockholm marathon so, with that, the triathlon season of 2021 seems to be off to a flying start.

Skramla

With only a trijet contrail dividing an otherwise blue sky, I set off south in my red rental car to Öre. On my radar for some time, the newly restored Öreälvsleden offered a most charming trail experience. Running with the same elite orienteer as when exploring the Nydala “reflex trail” in half a metre of snow back in January, conditions could not have been more different. Finishing with a swim in “Skramla”, the Baltic was not even that cold, telling me that the time is definitely ripe to take on my wetsuit and go for a swim in Nydalasjön.