170 kg

While my training is obviously more about endurance than building muscle mass, I am sometimes surprised by how much strength that I have indirectly gained from all the running. The most extreme example must be the “torso rotation” machine that Eddie introduced me to the other week. Without any practice, I was able to do 3 sets with 10 repetitions at the maximum weight of 170 kg! Unfortunately, I am still not able to lift more than 30 kg when doing biceps curls so you can really tell what parts of the body that are activated by the running and what parts that are not.

After this brief #humblebrag, I am back to commenting on student papers, trying to help them identify suitable research puzzles. In my experience, this is one of the things that students struggle the most with, as it requires both deep knowledge of the existing literature and scientific creativity. As Karl Gustafsson, who was once my fellow student in Örebro but is now a full professor in Stockholm, wrote in an excellent article a few years back:

“One of the key challenges graduate students face is how to come up with a good rationale for their theses. Unfortunately, the methods literature in and beyond political science does not provide much advice on this important issue. While focusing on how to conduct research, this literature has largely neglected the question of why a study should be undertaken.”

Lat 42

At last, it is Friday night, and I have taught my last class of statistics for the autumn semester. Pouring up a glass of Lat 42 Reserva from Rioja Alta, a wine that repeatedly has received top marks, I was immediately transported to the other end of the European continent, and I can only agree with the enthusiastic reviews, this must be one of the best wines in its price range that I have ever tasted (it is currently retailing for 129 SEK at Systembolaget).

Yesterday at the gym, I made it to 300 kilometres of indoor rowing this year with a whole month to spare (a clear indication that I need to raise my goal for 2025), and then topped up with a massive climbing session on the treadmill for a total of 1,000 meters of vertical gain in just one day. As such, I feel that I have done this week's homework for the Bandolerita, and that I can now drink a glass of wine in good conscience and roast some polka beats. Next week, I will be alone with the kids for three days before taking the train to Kalmar on Friday morning to see my parents.

Proofs and pool time

Having raised my annual goal to 36,000 meters of swimming, I was making rapid progress during the summer months when I could just head up to Härlanda Tjärn with William and go for a swim. As the water got colder however, I started falling behind, yet, after swimming 1,500 meters all-out at Halmstad Arena this morning, I am once again back on pace with a little more than 3,000 meters left to go this year.

Beyond swimming, I have been busy teaching SPSS and proofreading my forthcoming book chapter with Edward Elgar, a chapter that I first submitted for review in August 2022. Being my first publication at the second higher level of the so called “Norwegian List”, I am happy to finally have it on its way to the printing press.

Every season

Over the last few days, the temperature in Gothenburg has gone from a freezing -12 degrees to a new Swedish heat record of +14 degrees, being the highest temperature ever recorded this late in the year. As such, my pancakes with ice cream from Saturday already feels like taken from a different universe and so does my relief of escaping into the gym sauna after biking in ice-cold rain on Sunday morning.

Today, with Anna away for work in Dalarna, I had to delay my morning run as I was alone with the kids. The delay, however, had the unexpected benefit of allowing me to run a bit longer while enjoying a sprinkle of sunshine in the brisk wind. Afterwards, I returned home to write comments on an unusually intelligent text by my colleague Tomas on ideology critique—a topic that led me back to reflecting on Adorno, Walzer, and, of course, Rawls. In an academic landscape increasingly bereft of substance, this was a rare treat and a source of inspiration for my own work on the limits of emissions sufficientarianism.

Coffee badging

With many people still working remotely since the pandemic, it is not surprising that the practice of briefly showing up at work, typically long enough to be seen by the colleagues next to the office coffee machine, has become a thing. Trending as “coffee badging”, with more advanced versions including things like keeping the lights on or leaving a jacket behind on one’s chair, it reflects the tensions that remain to be resolved about where we work and for what purpose. 

Unlike in Umeå, where almost everyone at the department of political science also lived in the city, Halmstad University is in a situation where many students and faculty members commute, often from Gothenburg and Malmö/Lund respectively. Arriving at work shortly before eight this morning, I realized that my own behaviour would very much fit the description of coffee badging as I would have breakfast with the colleagues only to leave immediately after as I was teaching a class in another building, something which, for all practical purposes, would neverthless be indistinguishable from returning home. 

At the end of the day, I think much of this comes down to culture and critical mass, that if enough colleagues show up at work regularly, others will see the value and start doing the same, and vice versa. Yet, with 130 kilometres one way, it takes a lot of effort and money to be the one spending three or four hours per day travelling only to be met by deserted offices.

Fortune cookie

As the morning sunshine gave way to the first snowfall of the season, I was happy that I had found the time to go for a tempo trail run in Skatås earlier in the day, adding another 232 meters of elevation gain and earning the following fortune cookie praise from Strava’s recently added generative AI:

With a new Cuban missile crisis potentially brewing in the waters just outside Gothenburg as the Danish navy now considers boarding the Chinese ship that (most likely) cut the Internet cables a few days ago, I again felt like retreating from the outer world with some comfort food, in this case a risotto with Västerbotten cheese. In other and happier news, I should perhaps also mention that I just accepted being on the committee for a PhD dissertation at a Spanish university, a task that I am really looking forward to, especially as the dissertation is on ecomodernism.

Absolutes

Waking up to slippery roads and stranded trams, it took me forever to get to the railway station this morning but, with two minutes to spare, I made it aboard train 481 which delivered me in time to my quantitative methodology class in Halmstad. Now on the train back home, I am eating another “lussekatt” and pondering the very normality around me. The Dutch tourists taking in the scenery along the coast, the kids asking how much longer the ride will take, and the many tasks on my list of things to do before the Christmas holidays.

Meanwhile, it has been a thousand days since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, two internet cables have just been cut in the Baltic Sea, and everyone seems to think that the only way to defeat nationalism abroad is by becoming equally nationalistic at home. Whereas the Cold War was about defeating an undemocratic ideology, today’s conflicts seem to be about absolute identities, with no serious conversation about how it will all end. In today’s discourse, the mere thought of regime change is made fun of, as if the only thing certain is that Russia (or China for that matter) will remain an enemy for decades to come.

Silverfloretten

Today, I took the train to Trollhättan with Eddie and William where the latter had his first ever foil competition. Winning two games and losing two, William certainly impressed me with his laser-sharp focus, and it was incredible to see how much he has learnt in such a short time.

And now it is Sunday night, and I just topped up this week’s running with a headlamp run through the forest for a total of 60 kilometres this week, or about 90 kilometres less than last week.

Train 422

Writing comments on a new round of thesis drafts, I am on SJ high-speed train 422 this morning with William as we head up to Stockholm to see my sister and her family. Unlike in July last year when we took the same morning train, it was dark and rainy when we boarded in Gothenburg but, fortunately, the weather forecast promises abundant sunshine once we get to Stockholm.

Catch and release

Though perhaps cynical to pair with a bouillabaisse of all dishes, the “Catch and release” white wine from Languedoc still proved the adage true that less is often more. In any case, with snow around the corner, a culinary escape to the south of France seemed like the best way to start a busy weekend which will include both Tekniska Museet in Stockholm and William’s first fencing competition, “Silverfloretten”.

As observant readers may already have noticed, I recently invested in Lonely Planet’s “Best in Travel 2025” which features so many travel dreams, from Launceston in Tasmania to the national parks of Kazakhstan. Having promised myself to visit at least one new country every year, I am hopeful that at least something from its pages will pop up here on Rawls & Me in 2025.

Two years ago today at Copacabana

Post-marking

Before attending to more intellectual tasks, I felt like I needed a break, so I went out for 16 kilometres around Delsjön, passing my favourite swimming spot and the long wooden bridge across the bogland that always reminds me of Norrland.

Unfortunately, my heart rate was a bit higher than usual, and I suspect that I have yet to fully recover from last week’s half marathon festival. As such, it is probably for the better that I will have a natural break from the running as I am going to Stockholm with William on Saturday to see his cousin.

Light at the end of tunnel

Though I took a moment off to compile this year’s Gold List, the last three days have otherwise been one long marking marathon. With more than 150 handwritten exams to go through, I could hear Jon’s joke “this is how we defeat AI” in the back of my head, but hopefully this is the last time that I will have to do this as Halmstad is finally transitioning to Inspera, the same digital assessment software that we had in Umeå and, with that, I will be able to focus fully on the content rather than on deciphering handwriting.

2024 Gold List

With no more international travel planned for 2024, I am ready to sum up this year in travel even if it is only mid-November. Having flown a total of 46,585 miles (about 20k more than last year), I have visited two new countries, Argentina and Uruguay, which both were fascinating in their own right, and flown one new airline, Aerolíneas Argentinas. However, this being the Gold List, there is little doubt that the return flight from South America on the upper deck of the Queen of the Skies stands out as the most memorable experience. As for the rest of the list, here we go:

Best coffee, hands-down: Lot61, Amsterdam

Best views after take-off: Vancouver International Airport, BC  

Best speakeasy: Florería Atlántico, Buenos Aires

Best revenue-ticket value: KLM economy light (which still gives you one free checked bag as a Skyteam Elite member)

Best award-ticket value: Gothenburg – Buenos Aires round-trip in business class with Turkish Airlines and Lufthansa for 80,000 points per person using one American Express 2-4-1 voucher 

Running is life

Two weeks ago, William ran his first 10k along the Vltava River in Prague. Running on cobblestones and over the 16th century Charles Bridge, we stopped for a brief photo-op before completing this major milestone for William. And today, I finally finished my challenge of running a half marathon every day for seven days straight.

I have been fortunate enough to not feel any pain when running those 150 kilometres, maybe a slightly tight left calf but that has really been all. Obviously, I am most grateful for having a body that lets me do these things and for the sense of freedom that it brings. Nevertheless, I will try to finish the 361 kilometres that remain of my annual goal before taking the train to Kiruna on 20 December. This will allow me to take some time off from the running to prevent injury and instead focus on cross-country skiing and swimming over the Christmas holidays.

Blueberry risotto

Though only the future can tell how wise it was, I felt like picking up the speed a bit on my half marathon this morning, running in 1 hour and 53 minutes or about half an hour faster than my usual LSD-lull. With five half marathons done and two to go, I am optimistic that I will be able to finish this crazy challenge even if its net benefits remain uncertain (given the lack of recovery time).

Yesterday, I learnt that the Swedish Research Council had rejected my project entitled “Trolls or truth-seekers: Towards productive disagreement in Swedish climate politics”. With an approval rate in the single digits, I know I should not take this personal, but it was still a disappointment as I really believed in the project. To help me cope with the outcome, I had a lovely lunch with my former colleague and friend Sofie at Sorellina. Seeing a "blueberry mushroom risotto" on the menu, we were both immediately intrigued and, luckily, it turned out to be a great choice.

Corduroy and half marathons

Having spent much of the last 24 hours reading election commentary and marking exams, I am happy that I picked this week for my latest crazy challenge, to run one half marathon every day for one week, as it gives me a lot of time to digest what has just happened. Today is Thursday, which means that I have now completed 85.5 km of running with 1,218 meters of elevation gain with three more half marathons to go until I can finally take a rest day on Monday. For all my runs, I am sticking to a Long Slow Distance-regime to avoid injury, mostly pacing around 6:30 min/km.

In another expression of escapism, I invested in a sand-coloured corduroy overshirt, accompanied by a white polo neck shirt, for my upcoming methodology classes, and some Fiat 500-driving in Spain if the world is still there in March.

San Fransicko

It is 7 am on the day after this monumental election and, by now, it is all but certain that Donald Trump will win the presidency for a second time. If not before, this should warrant some serious soul searching among progressives about what has gone wrong. Though some will keep insisting that it is all due to the spreading of “fake news”, Ruy Teixeira published a very insightful piece on Substack a few weeks ago entitled “The Progressive Moment is Over”. While I may not agree with everything that Teixeira writes, I share much of his analysis.

Likewise, Svenska Dagbladet has picked up Michael Shellenberger’s book San Fransicko, seeing that democratic cities have become screeching symbols of government failure and lawlessness. From my latest visit to San Francisco in 2023, I was surprised by how rapid the decline had been over just a few years.

While a Harris victory could potentially have triggered a civil war, the prospects for American democracy under Trump look bleak indeed. As in 2017, the future of the republic very much hangs in the balance, and with no John McCain or Mitt Romney in the Senate, there will be very little holding Trump back this time around.

Staropramen

In Prague, our Airbnb was located just a block from the Staropramen brewery. Going for our morning runs, it felt pretty cool to pass the street sign “Pivovarská” and the overpass above, reminding me of seemingly simpler times. Now, as I am making a French-Italian potato gratin with chicken for dinner, I am thinking that it will take a lot of comfort food just to make it through the coming week with the US presidential election on Tuesday.

Water slides

As an adult, it’s all too easy to get stuck in one’s comfort zone. Three weeks ago, our family was in Mölndal at the new Åby swimming hall, which has some pretty wild water slides. The kids, of course, challenged me to join them on a raft but I was too much of a chicken to immediately accept, even though I knew deep down that I should have. After all, sharing these kinds of moments is one of the best parts of being a parent.

Returning today, I got some mental coaching from my dear wife, and soon enough, I found myself going down those 130 meters - to the delight of Eddie and William. As is often the case, my doubts seemed pretty silly in hindsight. Still, it was a good reminder of the importance of remaining open to new challenges.

As for that, Kullamannen is happening this weekend, with several friends from Strava running. Having sold my own registration for the 100k race, I am still tempted to one day give the full 100-mile version a shot, but I will not commit to any longer races until I have finished the Bandolerita in March.

The Tiber

Google Photos just reminded me that two years ago today, I was out running along the Tiber in the afternoon sunshine. Waking up to dark stormy skies, my morning run out to the airport in Halmstad certainly had a different feel to it but that is also very much the charm of all-year running, to fully embrace the seasons and the elements.

With track work along the West Coast this week, it made little sense to head back to Gothenburg to sleep for a few hours before going back so instead I decided to book a hotel in Halmstad and wake up refreshed to a full day of seminars on the different social insurance regimes in Europe.