Viglek

Last night, Viglek Viking took us back to Umeå and to two kids singing Christmas carols. Having gone slightly soft after our vacation at the Med, we decided to use the carpool Hyundai to take the kids back and forth to school today as well. At least, I was able to go for a recovery run around the lake shortly before lunch which was absolutely blissful and also brought me above 300 km of running in November.

Swiss

Yesterday, I ran for a few kilometres with a Swiss-Maltese guy, one of many who have had their international lives torn apart by Covid. With the Omicron variant now making headlines, and a fresh wave of travel bans coming into effect, it is again uncertain to what extent international travel will be possible in the months ahead. Due to the strict lockdown in Austria, I have already had to cancel my award night at the Andaz in Vienna. Instead, I will now fly directly to Stockholm after Cyprus Marathon on Sunday.

Despite all of this, Swiss onboard service was as delightful as ever as we crossed the Tyrrhenian Sea on our way to the Alps. Once on the ground in Zürich, we had a chance to check out the newly reopened Senator Lounge in Terminal A for some “Nockerln”. Then, on the second leg up to Stockholm, it was time for the grand finale as we got to fly the brand-new Airbus A220 (formerly known as the Bombardier CSeries) and were served a traditional Swiss “Holzbrätchen” which I think will magically reappear at home any day ;-)

Reviewing the results from yesterday’s race, I was reasonably happy to see that I ended up as number 72 of the 109 runners who finished the race with an official chip time of 7 hours and 42 minutes (despite those four bonus kilometres). After all, these kinds of extreme trail races are more about finishing at all than anything else. Still, the guy who won the race did so in 4 hours and 29 minutes, a time that is quite difficult to comprehend considering how slippery the trails were and the 1500+ meters of elevation gain.

Xterra Malta

Under heavy rain clouds but with a light heart, I set off from Għajnsielem together with 140 other ultra runners shortly after 7 am for a 50k circumnavigation of Gozo. Though daunting with many technical sections and plenty of slippery rocks, this race will go down the books as one of my most memorable, up there with South Devon Ultra and Trail Kuršių Nerija. With the rain giving way to sun halfway into the race, the views were absolutely incredible, and I even got to swim in the Med in my trail running shoes. Sadly, I listened a bit too much to a very confident guy who seemed to know the way towards the end, so I missed the markings and ended up doing an extra 4 km detour but, ultimately, all fine and well.

Back on Malta, SAS made a surprise cancellation of our direct flight tomorrow so instead of sleeping in and enjoying the pool one last time, we are now scheduled to fly through Zürich with Swiss already at 9 am. Anyhow, I can wholeheartedly recommend Xterra Malta 50k in case you are looking for a fun, technical race in the sun. Now time for sliders and the local Cisk lager together with the best support crew ever.

Wied il-Għasri

After three days on the main island, we took the ferry from Cirkewwa to the island of Gozo this morning across stormy turquoise waters. Trading the Hyatt Regency for a small B&B in Għajnsielem, we stocked up on supplies for tomorrow's race and had a great lunch at Giuseppe’s next to the impressive parish church.   

Afterwards, we went hiking across the Gozitan heartland (did anyone say Carcassonne?) until we reached the scenic valley leading to the sea in Wied il-Għasri. Passing orange and lemon trees on our way before jumping into the Med, we were as far away as one could possibly be from those -16 degrees back in Umeå.

Come rain or come shine

Thunderstorm

Waking up to a massive thunderstorm, the blue skies of the last two days had turned all dark and ominous. As such, instead of heading out, I took the elevator down to the basement for some gym time and indoor pool swimming. Running flat out on the treadmill, I was able to do 3 km in 11 minutes and 58 seconds which felt great. Now I just need to stop taking embarrassing gym selfies. Mid-life crisis much?

Seven hours

Today, Sweden got its first female prime minister. Sadly, it only took seven hours until she was forced to resign when the Greens, who were the junior partner in the coalition government, decided to withdraw their support.

Far from all political turmoil, Anna and I have had a wonderful day in the sun, exploring the old town of Valletta with its Christmas decorations and eating a most authentic Italian dinner at Zero Sei.

Sol Invictus

Waking up around 5 am as per usual, I made a Nespresso coffee in the hotel room and went for a 7 km run around the Pembroke seafront just as the sun rose from the sea, Sol Invictus, like the Roman sun god. Followed by a rooftop swim, I feel immensely privileged to be here as we are told that the winter has Umeå in a firm grip.

Last night, Anna and I went for a long afternoon walk through the narrow streets of Paceville and Sliema, ate some Lebanese street food and took in the views of the Med. Today, the plan is to pick up my bib for Saturday’s race and take the ferry over to Valletta.

Airborne

Just like when travelling to Lithuania in mid-October, I could not quite believe that the trip would actually happen until the wheels were retracted and Nokve Viking began its climb out over the dark waters of the Baltic. With the mask mandate recently removed on all intra-Scandinavian flights (who knows for how long though?), the flight down to Stockholm felt almost like any other pre-pandemic hop in the sky. After a quick breakfast in the SAS lounge, Anna and I then boarded the very same aircraft for the four-hour flight across the Adriatic Sea and down to Malta. Being my first visit to this tiny EU member state, I am already fascinated by its Phoenician past and the Knights of St John who built so many grand fortifications that the order went bankrupt in the 17th century. Though posting may be slightly delayed as I intend to make the most of the vacation, I look forward to sharing my island discoveries and, of course, report on Saturday’s 50k-trail race. 

Winter fun

Kicking off the morning with an airport run, I found an old duck from Hilton Beijing Wangfujing that made a surprise guest appearance on my Strava. With the temperature firmly below zero again, I then took the kids ice-skating in the cold notherly winds. Joined by Eddie's friend, I even got to experience being a parent of three for a short while but, luckily, the ice held so no big drama.

American Chocolate Cake

After submitting the paperwork for the Malta trip to the pandemic-era SAS Travel Centre, I went over to our neighbourhood café “Crosta” to buy some American chocolate cake.

Equally oversized, I then opted for my Snowspike CSWP for a long-awaited “reflexbane-race” with Elin here in Tomtebo. Sadly, she did not take the women’s CR but at least we were able to run this very technical trail without any injuries which I guess counts for something, especially with Xterra Malta 50k coming up next weekend.

Tu Felix Austria

After a record rise in new cases and comparatively low vaccination numbers (although those are finally starting to increase), Austria decided on a ten-day hard lockdown for everyone, including those already vaccinated. Though only a stop-gap measure, it shows how desperate the situation has become in many parts of continental Europe.

By luck, or simply because many “high-risk individuals” got infected last time around, Sweden has so far steered clear of this new wave but I would be genuinely surprised if it stays that way. Many countries with higher vaccination rates (such as Iceland) have seen a recent surge in cases, although, importantly, not in deaths, giving further evidence that vaccination is great for protecting against severe illness and death but does very little to stop the spread of infection in the community.

With the Austrian anti-vaxxers now advocating Ivermectin, I was reminded of this tweet from back in August which sort of says it all:

Considering that I will pass through Vienna myself in a little more than two weeks, I also have a personal interest in how the situation unfolds and whether the lockdown will be extended or not. For the moment, however, I am still in Umeå, biking to work and making lasagne with Chianti for dinner.

Outstanding

After struggling quite a bit with my climate policy research this fall (more on that in a future post), I was thrilled to learn that the paper that I have been co-authoring with my PhD student Kalle received an instant accept after peer-review with the journal Learning and Teaching in the Social Sciences. Of the twenty or so journal articles that I have published, it has only happened once or twice that a paper has been immediately approved without having to go through a process of revise and resubmit. In the referee reports, the manuscript received “outstanding” on almost all of the assessment criteria by both reviewers, reminding me again of why I should focus on my pedagogical research rather than banging my head against the same wall of irredeemable Malthusians. Now time to celebrate with some more apple glögg :-)

Skating

After another night with the temperature below -10 degrees, the ice felt safe enough for some near-shore skating with the kids. Though I guess NHL is unlikely to call anytime soon, we had great fun. I only recorded the first couple of minutes but both Eddie and William were skating for well over an hour.

With the time flying, I realized that I had to cut short my afternoon run so, in the end, I was only able to run 70 km this week. At least, I was treated to a beautiful waxing moon over the lake as I returned home for some pre-seasonal glögg.

Catching up

Apparently, it has become somewhat of a tradition for me to do November runs down to Holmsund in order to make up for lost kilometres. Today, I did exactly that in my new Salming iSpike shoes. After a very American second breakfast, I set off along the beautiful winding road to Holmsjön and then all the way out to the coast guard station. The weather could not have been more beautiful with sunshine and crisp blue skies.

While my mother is back swimming every Saturday morning and some have been able to record 80,000 meters of swimming this year despite that all pools were closed during the first nine months,  I am falling further and further behind with my own swimming. With a bit of luck, I will be able to catch up a bit once on Malta but it remains uncertain if I will be able to reach my annual target of 24,000 meters.

As for hot water, the city of Pevek on the shores of the East Siberian Sea is becoming one of the first places in the world with nuclear residential heating, in this case from a small modular reactor. By using heat directly from the reactor, rather than first putting it through a turbine to generate electricity, much more of the thermal energy can be captured, reducing overall waste heat. So, while I am thrilled to have 100% certified nuclear electricity from Kärnfull, residential nuclear heating would be the killer app, making possible a true decoupling from the burning of biomass and fossil energy.

Tierra de Cádiz

Today, I finally made it back to the gym for 6 km of rowing, 6 km on the treadmill and some strength training. With the gym staff taking a photo for their Instagram feed, I thought it was only fair that I asked if I could use the same photo for my Strava.

Otherwise, I have spent most of the day preparing for our research seminar next week when I will talk about teaching portfolios and our educational qualification system. And while my parents get to go to Bretagne for real next week, I was at least able to wrap up a camembert salad, Pontus-style, with a cider vinegar, served with an excellent #småparti wine from Andalusia that brought back memories from when I was hanging out at Astilleros Españoles in Cádiz two decades ago.

57 km ahead of pace

Thanks to all the running I did in the spring, I am still 57 km ahead of pace with regard to my goal of running 4,000 km in 2021, despite having taken the last three days off. Sadly, my throat is still sore, and William is still at home with RS-like symptoms, so this week did not turn out at all like I had hope for.

The good news is that there is sun in the forecast, I have plenty of Lavazza coffee and Anna will be back from Gothenburg tomorrow morning. Right now, I am trying to put together a syllabus for a new online course that I will teach in the fall of 2022 and also going over the paperwork one last time in preparation for tomorrow’s long meeting with the faculty hiring committee. Having been appointed for a period of four years, I am already learning a lot about the university recruitment process and how candidates are assessed. 

As for the picture, it is one that I took on this day in November 2008 when I was living in Melbourne. Time travel at its best.

RS

Respiratory syncytial virus (or RS for short) has been spreading at record levels this fall as kids have returned to their daytime activities. Remember how rough RS was for William when he was new-born, I have felt really bad for all the parents and kids out there. We too probably just had another bout of RS with William struggling again with his breathing. While he will probably not be back to school tomorrow, I remain optimistic about the rest of the week so, hopefully, I will be able to attend all the meetings I have scheduled even as Anna is away in Gothenburg.

In a little more than two weeks’ time, Anna and I are off to Malta for some autumn vacation in the sun which feels both unreal and well-deserved after all the work that she has put into her PhD.

Can I have this bus in Umeå?

Sub-zero

After a week with so many shades of grey, the sky finally cleared, and the temperature dropped back below zero. With Anna back from her hotel stay, I laced up my Hoka Mach 4 daily trainers and went for my favourite 16 km countryside loop at a slightly higher pace than usual despite that only five days have passed since my Monday Marathon. As such, I was happy that my legs held up really well for the first 10 km, especially since I have only taken one day off after the marathon. Still, with only one week between Xterra Malta 50k and Cyprus Marathon, resting will clearly be paramount. 

Meanwhile, down in Uppsala, my colleagues at work are taking on Uppsala Marathon and, on the other side of the pond, Seth James DeMoor is getting ready to run the 50th edition of the New York City Marathon tomorrow.

For those wanting to run further yet, Kullamannen 100 miles has been quite captivating to follow with two Strava friends running. When it comes to these extreme distances, time is obviously secondary, and just to finish is in itself an incredible achievement. Though still beyond my present ability, I am confident that, as long as I can avoid any serious injuries, I should be able to do these kinds of ultra long races in a couple of years from now. As much as I like speed, I would say that developing that physical ability is really my main goal going forward.

Winter mojito

On a day like this, one may be excused for dreaming a bit about Stöcksjö and summers past. While William is really under the weather, the rapid Covid test turned out negative so at least we are not all in for endless home quarantine. Even if blogosphere reviews have been mixed, I decided to celebrate with some “Winter mojito” alcohol free “glögg” before returning to the hundreds of pages of documentation that I have to review in preparation for the next meeting with the faculty hiring board.

5 x 400 meters

Considering that this weblog is ostensibly about "climate and energy policy", I thought it would be worth mentioning that there is some potentially very good news out of China which is planning a $440 billion nuclear buildout over the next 15 years. If these plans come to pass, which is obviously a big “if”, it has the potential of making a real dent in emissions while delivering affordable and reliable energy for China going forward.

Meanwhile in Sweden, SAS has entered into an agreement to produce the world’s first synthetic aviation fuel. Unlike biofuels that only further entrench the forest-industrial complex, synthetic fuels could enable real decoupling and help making flying more sustainable. While high-speed railways are clearly the way forward in densely populated countries like Germany, building them in Sweden may be less clear-cut given the massive amounts of concrete needed and the barrier effects that the new lines create. As such, my own position has slowly shifted in favour of upgrading the existing rail network in Sweden and limiting new construction to some key sections such as between Stockholm and Linköping. In any case, aviation will always be needed to bring the wider world together and, even if the sector’s total contribution to global carbon emissions is only a couple of per cent, it has become highly symbolic with “fly shaming” etc.

Back here on the ground in Umeå, William has come down with another nasty respiratory bug so it remains uncertain if he will be able to return to school on Monday. Unwilling to leave the kids for too long, I thus decided to skip my usual lake run and instead go for 5x400 meters intervals near the house.

Salming iSpike

Though the last week has been all rainy and mild, winter is clearly just around the corner. As such, I have been looking for a new pair of running shoes with carbide studs to take me through the icy months and the thousands of kilometres that lie ahead. After some research, I was finally able to locate a pair of Salming iSpike in size 47 at an affordable price from a Spanish retailer.

While I am hesitant to buy running shoes that are not in size 48, Salming does not seem to make them any bigger, so this was simply my best bet. With a warm upper and a reinforced “IceShield” area at the front, they seem just perfect for the -20 degrees runs that await me in Kiruna in two months' time from now. Beyond the functionality, I also think they look kind of awesome with the grey ripstop fabric and the red insoles.

Studio photos

Last Thursday, we took new staff photos at work, leaving me with the existential challenge of deciding which one to go with. Ultimately, I picked the one below. Exhausted by this executive moment, I went out in the rain for a marathon on my own, exploring the westernmost parts of Umeå, including the new bridge that fell rather dramatically into the river when under construction last year.

3,342 calories and one CR (!) later I made it back home just in time to make some hamburgers with extra mayo for dinner. As for food, I should mention that I was able to stop at Circle-K on my run and have the first “lussekatt” of the season so, apparently, I am also an aspiring Christmas junkie.