Yesterday, my club Esbo IF once again won the local qualification for the SFI-seriefinal by a clear margin to the second; 147 points against 119 by IF Sibbo-Vargarna. My task was to do high jump, 800 m and in the Swedish relay 400 m. This was the first time I competed in a field event this summer. I started high jump at 165 and cleared still 175 on the first attempt (see the video below) but I started to hassle too much at 180. There were couple of showers during the evening. It was not the best place to run the 800 m behind another runner since all the water felt quite cold. But, it was good tactics as I was able to overtake him in the last 100 m. Time 2.03,65 is once again a new record. The relay run felt okay and I got to chase my team-mate Oki, which made the run easier. My lap time was 52,2 so not too bad.
Enjoyed competing today. Already the fact that it did not rain as was forecasted made me feel good after spending yesterday evening coaching under an umbrella. I had two targets for this evening: 100 m under 12 s and new PB on 1500 m. I met both the targets with clear margins. First I run 11,84 (-0,5) on the 100 m heats and half an hour later 4.30,63 on 1500 m. Most likely I could still do a lot better on the 1500 m if I started faster. Today the first 1000 m was 3.04 while it could well be 2.58, it was that easy today. After the 1500 m I had some 15 minutes time to recover for the 100 m final. I did surprisingly well; meaning 12,12 (-0,4) and it felt like I had the run better under control compared to what I had in the heats. This gives me confidence to aim for good times in the competitions still left this summer…
I was supposed to run my first 400 meters this year yesterday but instead got my career’s first disqualification. I moved in the starting blocks before the starting shot, which caused the disqualification. Should have had a bit more patience. Funny that it happened on 400 meters since I rarely took false starts even when they were still allowed. Luckily 400 meters was not the last event they had yesterday so I went to ask if I could run the 800 meters. I got the permission and a moment later run new PB 2.03,95. So, four more seconds to go to the target. The 400 meters came a bit faster than previously, meaning exactly 60 seconds, but still need to run faster.
Arrived to Kajaani on Friday just in time to see the last two events of the decathlon. My teammate Antti Miihkinen put up an awesome sprint in the 1500 meters and took bronze. A well deserved medal for him!
Heptathlon started on Saturday. My athlete lost the game on the most unexpected event, namely on the 200 meters. She fell some seven meters before the finish line and had to kiss goodbye to the medals. I am happy that, despite the bruises, she did continue the heptathlon and finished fifth. She said that her legs simply did not hold any more due to the amount of lactate. Be the reason whatever, falling on 200 meters certainly is not just bad luck. The way she runs is still far too anaerobic, which is in my opinion the main reason for the accident. I do not know how much one can change in one year, but I hope to see a totally different kind of image next year on both the 200 and 800 meters. She cannot afford to loose so many points in those two events.
Picture below is taken a moment before the unfortunate 200 meter heat. Pole vault final ongoing (Jarno Kivioja 525 X) while heptathletes run 200 meters.
Different year, different athlete but Hannu, the physiotherapist, still remains the same. Last year I got treatments to my right achilles tendon before the Kalevan Kisat. Well, we got the pain to go away from the right achilles, but the left one got hurt in the high jump during the Kalevan Kisat decathlon. This year I had to call Hannu again to see what is causing the pain in Miia’s knee. Seems to be all the training done during the years that is now causing the pain. Luckily Hannu was able to relieve the knee from most of the extra strain and Miia is back on the track without pain. We had a month long pause in all the fast running, hurdles and long jump, but as usual, rest is not enough in these cases where the pain is caused by strain that has lasted for years. Heptathlon starts Saturday and target is to improve the PB once again.
Went to Turku yesterday to follow my athlete’s last competition before Kalevan Kisat (Finnish championships), which will be held next weekend. I thought, why go that far just to watch one run. So, I myself run the 800 meters. Unluckily there were two heats and I was in the worse one. I won it, but the first 400 meters were far too slow; around 62 seconds. Time was 2.05,90 while I was hoping to run 2.02. Running did not feel too bad at any point, so I must be able to run faster. Still hoping to break that 2 minutes barrier one day…
Had a quick trip to the European Championships in Barcelona. Barely long enough to follow the decathlon from start to finish. What a great competition it turned out to be. Naturally, we had our little competition as well in the night time…
Could only attend the first day of the area championships, so I thought I take all the running events. Schedule was a bit too tight after all, especially 10 minutes after 200 meters before the 5000 meters was not enough and I abandoned the race after 3000 meters. However, 200 meters felt really good. On hurdles I should have put just a bit more effort in the end to get under one minute and on 800 meters the first 400 was far too slow (69,5 s) to make a decent time. Results: 1.00,16 23,80 (0,0) DNF and 2.14,97.
My competition season continued today in Riihimäki. It almost felt like starting a new season after a such a long pause. After weeks of sunny and warm weather today it was suddenly cold, cloudy and windy. Luckily the wind was favourable for 200 m. I aimed below 24 s and succeeded with 23,78 (-0,3). Muscles start to feel finally okay now that six weeks has passed from the marathon. One hour pause and then I run 1500 m. I really did not know what to expect since I should be in better shape than ever but I have not trained too much after the marathon. First 800 m went rather well but then my pace slowed down too much and time was 4.35,36. That is just worse than my PB 4.34,60; so I think I will try to run it again and aim under 4.30. Next competition on Monday: 400 m hurdles, 200 m, 5000 m and 800 m. Let’s see how that goes…
What would a summer be without a 400 m relay in the Finnish relay championships. This year had to drive through half the Finland to get there. Unlike last year, this time the weather was perfect on Sunday for the 4×400 m relay. I spent the week in heat in France and was a bit unaware whether the speed would already be there after the marathon and orienteering. Luckily running felt pretty good. Still, we could not repeat our last year’s excellent performance and had to satisfy with fifth place. Time 3.21,52 with the team Robert Rotkirch (50,7s), Matti Vesterinen (51,0), Oki Vuonoranta (51,0) and Tobias Öhman (48,8). I think I will start looking again for competitions…
