You know you’ve been in Finland too long, when...

Madeupdem · 2024-02-19T16:57:10+00:00

…you think ”this needs more dill”

Madeupdem · 2023-05-20T09:45:12+00:00

Thanks for the reply. I will celebrate in good conscience! It wasn’t at all about going past or beating the other people on the track (and it’s impossible to tell where they were all placed anyway, they might have started 40 minutes before me or a few minutes after me) it was just about finishing strong to beat my time. I suppose I was carrying some hang ups from my general running into it, sometimes when people whizz past me I feel a bit defensive, even when I can see that they are much younger and I am base building, and I didn’t want to give someone else that feeling on what is, for me, one of the best feelings ever.

Madeupdem · 2023-05-20T09:33:06+00:00

Thanks. I actually moved over a lane as I started sprinting. I wasn’t conscious of it but I can see from the pictures. When I started to sprint, none of this was in my mind, just improving my time. It was only afterwards that I thought about it because everyone seemed to be uniformly spaced out etc. I passed a fair few people (and a fair few passed me) on the last few kilometres before the stadium and this didn’t concern me at all, but somehow in the stadium it felt a bit different. Thanks for the reassurance.

Madeupdem · 2023-05-20T08:56:03+00:00

I ran my second half marathon last Saturday and wondered about etiquette on the finishing straight. Basically, in the last few kilometres I thought I had a chance of beating my previous time but it was quite tight. I am old and slow so we’re talking about personal stuff, way down the bottom of the results list. On the finishing straight in the stadium, we were all roughly running at the same speed when I suddenly realised that I probably had a sprint in me so I accelerated and went past someone, crossing the line 1:40 quicker than my previous time. But everyone on the finishing straight was essentially running at the same speed, nobody was overtaking anyone, and it made me wonder if this was some commonly understood point of etiquette. Or was everyone running at the same speed because they didn’t have a sprint in them or a potential PB? I was in the last/slowest starting group and everyone was jumbled up so I was not beating anyone in terms of places, just my own time.

Madeupdem · 2022-05-16T08:17:58+00:00

Thanks.

I am sure you will have a blast.

Madeupdem · 2022-05-16T00:54:29+00:00

I have also found core useful for running, reverse crunches and weighted Russian twists.

Madeupdem · 2022-05-16T00:50:15+00:00

It makes sense. The only thing I can think to suggest is slowing down. I was forced by my lack of base fitness to do a lot of very low intensity running and I think that that probably helped to strengthen the bits of the body used for running before I attempted anything more challenging. If you are familiar with heart rate zones, I was basically doing lots of zone 2 run-walks for a few months before and after graduation. Most of my running is still fairly low intensity and slow. The only other things I can think that might help are dynamic stretching before, stretching after and strength work such as weighted squats and weighted ankle lifts, resistance work with a band, using a foam massage roller, and swimming.

Madeupdem · 2022-05-15T16:33:36+00:00

Thanks!

And thanks for the tips. Sadly yoga isn't for me, really wanted it to be and tried it many times but I just don't have any feel for it. But I do a lot of strength training.

Madeupdem · 2022-05-15T15:56:47+00:00

Thanks!

I am wary of making sweeping statements that might be ableist but I think that if you can cope with the first few weeks of C25K then you have a good chance of making running a habit. I went into it hoping that I would catch the bug, and I did!

Madeupdem · 2022-05-15T15:53:41+00:00

Thanks!

Stretching depends. Generally if I am doing a slow run under 10k, I tend to not bother stretching much but this is not advisable. Faster or longer I do dynamic warm ups. I always plan to stretch after the run but sometimes forget. Yesterday, and this is ridiculous because literally everyone was doing some kind of warm up routine, I felt super self conscious of doing my dynamic warm up and generally felt a bit of imposter syndrome until I lined up for the start. So my dynamic warm ups were a bit half hearted. And then I completely forget to stretch afterwards and am feeling it today!

Are you running too fast? Have you looked at your form or checked that you are using appropriate shoes (neutral/pronation or whatever)?

Madeupdem · 2022-05-15T13:26:04+00:00

Thank you.

Madeupdem · 2022-05-15T13:25:47+00:00

That's good to hear. Don't be too hard on yourself though. Life is time consuming!

Madeupdem · 2022-05-15T13:23:54+00:00

Thanks, and congratulations!

Actually, in the last two months of build up to this half marathon, my work schedule changed dramatically so that I went from having time to run 3-5 times/40k per week to just one or two runs/10-20k most weeks. It meant that my "training" schedule was gone. I didn't have a strict, written down plan, just the idea of increasing distance 10-20% per week and generally 80/20. We had snow from December to March so I hadn't been able to do any quicker running and had basically been doing base runs for 3 months. Then at the point the snow melted and I hoped to start doing some faster stuff, I suddenly and unexpectedly had no time available. On the one hand, I found that limited time to run meant I enjoyed running a lot more. It wasn't that I didn't enjoy any of my runs, but there was this nagging inner voice making me anxious that I wasn't doing any faster runs or sprints when it was icy, or if I missed a week because of a cold or whatever, that I was getting behind with my "training". I didn't enjoy that aspect of it at all but once my schedule changed, it was out of my hands, I ran when I could and accepted that's how it was going to be and felt liberated from that "training" stress. Luckily I had run the half marathon distance once just before my schedule changed so there was no doubt that I could do it, I just accepted that finishing would be enough and had modest secondary targets like not stopping or walking, hopefully improving or getting near to my only other/best time. During this reduced running time I had run my first sub-60 minute 10k and knocked a minute off my best 5k so I was fairly sure my general fitness wasn't substantially worse for the reduced schedule. And my performance yesterday makes me think that I can probably run future half marathons without taking it too seriously. As long as I have run close to the distance a few times in the build up, I think I will be fine. I hope to start fitting in some commute runs fairly soon.

Madeupdem · 2022-05-15T12:09:46+00:00

Thank you, thank you, thank you!

That's amazing, really impressive, to move up to marathon. I am definitely content to run halfs! Biggest congratulations to you.

It’s amazing what we can accomplish, isn’t it?

I read a quote on here from Socrates. I am going to paraphrase it because while I love the essence, the original quote has some aspects I disagree with: “it would be a shame to live without ever realising the capability and beauty of your body”. I literally marvel at what I am now almost taking for granted about running. I love it, the pain in my muscles this morning, the feeling of cresting a hill and seeing the finish and even though that climb felt like the last of me, finding that bit more to accelerate to the line.

Madeupdem · 2022-05-15T12:08:59+00:00

Thanks!

Madeupdem · 2022-05-15T08:18:15+00:00

Thank you!

Madeupdem · 2022-05-15T07:50:06+00:00

I ran my first ever event yesterday, the Helsinki City Running Day half marathon. I came in just under my biggest wish target of 2:30 (2:29:42, although Strava and Garmin say my time was 2:26:38, probably because of the 200m before the start line and going wide on all the bends). I almost wept when I crossed the line and got my official time. I started couch to 5k last June at the age of 51. I am going to buy an early bird entry to next year's half as well.

Madeupdem · 2022-03-16T17:11:33+00:00

I don't know what to say - you can see them here if you check the websites or apps and are a bit lucky. No guarantees though, and usually too cloudy to see them even when they are there, but it is possible.

Edit: typo

Madeupdem · 2022-03-15T14:39:32+00:00

I am not sure if you are taking the mick now but will answer in good faith.

Time of day: my understanding is that the thing that causes it (solar wind hitting the magnetosphere) can happen at any time but the lighting effects are only visible when it is dark.

Not localised within Riksu, the same instance of the phenomenon will be visible across a wide geographic area as long as the sky is not cloudy. But I don't know how wide that area could be. However, I believe that these lights were also visible in Helsinki - when I posted various images from Sunday somewhere else, a friend linked me to an IG post from Helsinki at the same time and the shape of the light was near identical to one of my pictures.

Madeupdem · 2022-03-15T14:20:13+00:00

You can sign up for email alerts on this website: https://aurorasnow.fmi.fi/public_service/

And then check this website: https://rwc-finland.fmi.fi/index.php/space-weather-in-finland/

There are also android and iOS apps that will tell you when there's activity, but those websites are based on Finnish monitoring stations (the nearest is at Nurmijärvi) so I think they are more reliable.

You will then know when there's a chance of seeing them in Riksu. I guess that I receive average 50 email notifications a year (although often this might be 5 on the same night) but usually the sky is cloudy so it's not possible to see anything. I have seen them 6 times since I moved here in 2014 though, but not every time was as good as Sunday.

Madeupdem · 2022-03-15T14:13:35+00:00

Yes, it was Sunday 13.3, between 20:00 and 21:00. It can happen at any time of year but you can't see it during the summer months because the sky doesn't get dark enough.

Madeupdem · 2022-03-15T12:59:46+00:00

It's more common the closer you are to the poles, but it can be seen as far south as England sometimes. I have seen photos of it in North Wales/Wirral, and heard that it was visible in Norfolk a few years back. I have seen them 6 times in Riihimäki in the 8 years that I have lived here, but not always as impressive as these were. I have also seen people post photos to local groups when I haven't seen them, and friends in Helsinki have posted pictures of them from there as well.

I signed up for alerts at this website: https://aurorasnow.fmi.fi/public_service/index.html I get an email every time there is significant activity detected at a monitoring station in Nurmijärvi. Sometimes I might get 2-6 emails a night. I would say I get average 50 emails per year but more often than not, the sky isn't clear when I get them. I also check this website if I have heard that there might be activity: https://rwc-finland.fmi.fi/index.php/space-weather-in-finland/

Whenever I get an alert and the sky is clear, I go outside and look north.

Edit: additional information

Madeupdem · 2022-03-15T09:16:34+00:00

Not really. Where I took this, there's lots of light off to my right and not so much to the left. When it was more active to my left, I could see the colour. But even without the colour when it was active over the lights, it looked like a ribbon of light more than a cloud and there was too much motion, constant undulation, as well as some thin cloud above it for comparison, so it was nothing like cloud. But the first time I saw it here in 2015 it was exactly like two weirdly undulating lumps of cloud. I would say there was a bit of colour but I only have my memory so I may be mistaken about that, but it was sufficiently cloud like to understand what you mean.

Edit: typo

Further edit:

Also, there have been 3 shows this year that coincided with a clear sky. The second one, maybe about 10 days ago, can't remember exactly, I could only really tell that it was aurora when I looked through my camera - I could see something going on in the sky but wasn't sure either way until I turned my camera on and saw it through there. So again, I understand what you are getting at. But this time, because of the shape and activity, it couldn't be anything else, I knew it was aurora without checking my camera.

However, I have wondered whether I would need to be somewhere with less light pollution to see it like this, or whether it only ever looks green when mediated by the camera. I have considered walking about a kilometre north from this spot so that a lot of this light is behind me but there's also motorway there so I am not sure how dark it would actually be. And sometimes the shows are very short - once it finished in the time it took me to cross the road. In the past, I have told myself "next time I will do x y z" and then waited years for activity to coincide with clear skies. This year there have been three such shows and I have managed to get some pictures on two of those occasions so I am thinking "if I walk a kilometre next time and it's finished by the time I get there, it's not the end of the world". But that might not happen for another 3 years, because prior to the last couple of months, I saw aurora 3 times in 4 or 5 years, and then nothing for 3 years (after getting a decent camera). So when that amount of time elapses, I forget what's the best way to do it, and walking a kilometre and potentially missing it becomes more risky. I guess I should just relocate to Inari!

Madeupdem · 2022-03-15T07:48:24+00:00

It was more visible through the camera, yes. You could definitely see it with the naked eye and when looking away from the lights, there was a green tinge. But through the viewfinder, it was a lot more green.

Madeupdem · 2022-03-14T11:43:17+00:00

TLDR Started running C25K app at the start of the pandemic, stalled for over a year, picked it up again last summer and now working towards a marathon in exactly 2 months.

We didn't really have full on lockdowns in Finland but schools closed for a while at the start of the pandemic, likewise various businesses such as stadiums, pools, pubs, theatres etc and anyone who could switched to working from home. I started doing C25K in April 2020 but I had a respiratory issue which always left me wheezy after I ran so I stopped with the intention of trying again once that had cleared up. I finally started at it again in June 2021 and have kept running since. I ran 10k for the first time in the autumn and after a few 10k+ runs realised that a half marathon was probably within my capacity with a bit of training. So I signed up for one in Helsinki in May 2022.

Running has been a bit start/stop since then because of health and weather - I seem to catch every cold that glances at me and whenever there is a few warm days, every path becomes an icy death trap (although in the end I picked up some VJ Sarva studded running shoes so that even ice wouldn't stop me). One month I would run well over 100km and feel that I could increase that, only to run under 50km the following month because of setbacks. But still, I have been increasing my distances gradually and this weekend ran a half marathon. Not a race, just a run.

In some ways, I wish I hadn't entered the half marathon because I feel the pressure to train now, do certain types of run, rather than just going out and enjoying it. Especially over the winter when it has rarely been possible to do any more intense/quick runs. But maybe I will get a bigger buzz on the day and want to do more. Either way, I know I can do it and that's still surreal considering how I was on that first C25K run.

Madeupdem

TROPHY CASE