Kesä training

Summer is always much better for the training than other seasons. My quality of training improves a lot and the volume goes up as well. That explains why my first races of the year are always a little disappointing. But now is when the fun begins.

After Switzerland I took it very easy for a week or so then began serious training again. I have also done two smaller races for training. First was our club's own Juhannus triathlon where I easily won with a strong run. Second event was last saturday in Kisko where I also easily won with a time under 2 hours for the 1500m, 45km, 10.5km event. Nice to have a 7 minute lead by the finish too, but some of that was due to the fact my coach Mika Luoto was using the event for a final tune up for Ironman Austria next weekend and really backed off the pace during the run.

Now my fitness is really coming up quickly and I will probably race Olympic distance national championships in a couple weeks for training purposes. Then see what kind of result I can get at the Jorioinen 1/2 distance nationals in three weeks. Two weeks after that is Ironman 70.3 Antwerp where I would really like to get a good result. I feel like anything is possible at this point so I will continue to push hard and maximize every possible training opportunity.

Swiss cheese

As usual, I am about a week or more behind in updating the blog. I apologize but life before and after an event is always too busy to get everything done. First you are running around trying to get everything ready for the race while maintaining training. Never mind normal working and family life.

Ironman 70.3 Switzerland was a success. The basic result was 12th place overall and 3rd fastest bike. And what a sweet course! I have always loved Switzerland ever since I raced there during my cycling days. Its one of the most naturally beautiful places I have ever seen. Plus the culture there is much to my liking. People are friendly but also give you space and privacy.

This trip was particularly fun because my wife and daughter were able to accompany me, which I always really enjoy. They got to spend some time in Zurich while I was preparing for the race. Then after the race we went for a car trip through the mountains for a day. Amazing place!

The swim was better than Austria and left me in contact with some of the major players. Of course I can and should be swimming faster, but everything comes when it is ready.

The bike course was made more me. Many steep climbs with very little flat sections. I was definately most comfortable going uphill and perhaps I could have even pushed harder on the uphills but then I would have lost the help of my group on the downhills and flats. Maybe next year I try to go all out on the uphills to see what happens.

My run time was something like 1:22 which is not so amazing by its self, but considering the tough bike before, and the fact the running course had a big set of stairs to run up! ... its not so bad. Actually the fastest guy ran 1:16 which is pretty slow for the fastest time. He (Massimo Cigana) was with me on the bike the whole day and ended up 5th overall, which shows if I can improve my run then I can really move up in the overall. And I am confident I have not even come close to maximizing my potential in the run.

Overall, I am very please with the result, especially because it earned me a spot to Ironman 70.3 World Championships again. Last year was a little dissappointing at worlds, so I am happy to get another chance to prove myself on the highest level.

Its been so long since my last post I will have to write a 2nd one right now to update how things have gone since Switzerland.

Ironman 70.3 Austria report

The first major event of the year took place for me last Sunday in St. Pölten, outside Vienna. This was my second time to the event and I really enjoyed it last year. My hope was to improve on my average performance of last year, but I knew ahead of time that getting an early season result is very difficult to predict.

So I entered with very little self-pressure to do a big result and only the hope to improve and have fun. This more or less was accomplished but my performance still has quite a lot of room for improvement.

The right from the start the swim was kicking my ass as usual. The swim being my big weakness, I am very used to this by now, but in this race it seemed like the pack was going faster than usual and I was going slower than usual. In the end I was about 4 minutes in back of the first guys and 1 minute behind my pace from last year.

The bike was very fun as the hilly course suites me well. But starting so far back from the swim made for a long lonely day on the bike. I passed many people when ever the course went up hill but the rest of the day I was going solo. The bike times were a few minutes slower than last year by everyone and I was no exception. I rode very conservatively and was able to keep a consistent pace the whole day, even if it was slower than I could maybe to at maximum effort.

Onto the run I kept the same rhythm of a conservative pace for the first 10km and then began to push harder for the final 10km. Unfortunately I maybe ate a little too much the day before and started to need a toilet very badly in the final 5km. By the last 3km my stomach was a total mess and cramping very badly. It became not possible to push hard anymore and my pace slowed substantially. On a positive note, I still managed to do my best 1/2 marathon time in a triathlon! It's a shame i could not have kept my pace the full distance as it would have been even faster by a couple minutes at least.

After the race I felt positive about the results despite not being as fast or high placed as i had hoped. This leaves me very ready for the next event in Switzerland in less than two weeks. The course there is similar and I feel like my form is starting to get more ready for a better result.

First need to rest up and kick this little head cold I got from travelling. But overall, things are going well.

A big thanks to all my sponsors including Felt Bicycles, BBB components and accessories, Huntteri importers, and DeSoto wetsuit and triathlon gear. They have helped get me to this race with the best possible equipment. Posted below is a quick picture of my new Felt DA... please remember to wipe the drool off your keyboard after seeing this picture. I keep a role of toilet paper handy at all times just for this reason ;-) I will do an in-depth story on this bike shortly when I get some better pictures and time to write. But damn.. this is a fast fast bike!

Round one...

The season has really started now with a number of running and cycling races during the past month. After my first 10km event in Turku, I did another small 10km race in Salo but was greeted with much better conditions. Although the course was a little hilly, or very hilly actually, I managed to run 33 minutes even. Not my best time, but season is still very early and that was a tough tough course.

Unfortunately a few days after that I got nailed by a nasty flu virus that kept me out of training for almost a week with fevers and overall bad feeling. The time I was sick was also supposed to be my "spring training camp" over the Easter holiday. But instead of hitting the road for 5 hour bike rides, I was sleeping for 5 hour naps to try and get healthy.

Disappointing, but not much you can do when a virus comes. Just wait...

BUT... time moves along anyways. After a careful week of training to get back into things, I did my first bike race in four years! Crazy... when I left cycling I thought I would never race again. Too much stress, too much negative pressure, etc. But now here in Finland it is a different story. I can do what ever I want in a race and no one cares. No angry team directors. No pressure to win. Just ride the bike and try to make others suffer... well almost. I found out I have lost all power and acceleration needed for cycling. So I am able to attack in races all I want, but usually everyone has no problem catching me. So much for making people suffer! But at least I am able to get into breakaways and try to help my Chebici teammates. If there were any REAL hills (anything over 1km) in Finland, I could actually do something but I have never been so strong on flat terrain.

So, for bike racing I did the Turku road race (can't remember the name right now) as well as the Sipoo RR. Both were excellent training even though I got my ass kicked. I was pleased to at least be the person who started the key breakaway in both races.

In running, I managed to get healthy enough to compete at the Finnish 1/2 marathon championships. However, I learned a hard lesson or two about being properly prepared for that tough an event. I felt very good before the race so I planned on doing 1:10 pace. I started well but the problem came when I went through the first 5km time check in almost exactly 16 minutes! Voi ei... after that i knew it was going to be tough. I had completely blown my engine in the first 5km and after that only got slower and slower. I guess also that my body was not really recovered from the nasty virus I had only two weeks before.

During the last week I put in 20km of racing with the regional xc running champs and also a small 12km road race in Turku. Both went well and I am feeling positive about my progress in running. Maybe the cycling races have helped in this area as well.

Now onto my first block of triathlon competitions starting in two weeks. First up is Ironman 70.3 Austria where i competed last year with below average results. This year I will use it more for training purposes and try very hard to control my pace instead of max effort the whole day. I have some feeling that I will actually get a better result this way.

Only two weeks after Austria will be my 2nd large event with Ironman 70.3 Switzerland. I have been hoping to do this race since I began triathlon a couple years ago. Now I have the opportunity, I am hoping my fitness will be strong after the past few weeks plus the race in Austria.

Of course it is risky to try two 1/2 Ironman races within two weeks, but the courses are very similar and if I do my recovery properly, a good result in Switzerland is very possible.

Oki... now I have to get back to my normal job... gotta pay the bills some how!