Eluding Tuonela

2022-10-10

Mon, 10 Oct 2022 14:46:28 GMT

Today was the last day of my second swim training course. I've now practiced swimming for about 6 months and I'm still a long way of my goal of being able to swim 400m effortlessly. I can swim 50m in about a minute but after that I either lose my composure or need some time to rest to do more. But the slow progress doesn't really matter that much as I've become to absolutely love my time in the pool.

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2022-10-05

Wed, 05 Oct 2022 00:00:00 GMT

In addition to my Monday training course swims, I've now found a rhythm of 3-4 total swims during the week. I'm still training in the 25m pool as it feels most comfortable but I no longer swim individual pool lengths but practice my flip turn and swim at least two pool lengths at a time. Outside of the training course I've tried to do at least 1k swim (consisting of several 50-100m lengths w/ rest between) plus a separate (Garmin) session of drills each time.

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2022-09-30

Fri, 30 Sep 2022 00:00:00 GMT

I've been focusing almost all my training on swimming, and this week I swam for the first time more than I ran! I'm still pretty slow and I don't have enough stamina to swim even 200m without being totally out of breath but I'm seeing small improvements still. Being in the pool at least three times a week helps to keep the momentum.

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2022-09-24

Sat, 24 Sep 2022 00:00:00 GMT

I've lost most my interest in running since it's become pretty lonely and also wet. I started yet another Garmin training program for triathlon but haven't been quite strict with it since some of the training has been overlapping with my swims and I'm much more interested in improving that than doing anything else. Would be nice to find some company to run with, tho!

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The Joy of Swimming

Thu, 30 Jun 2022 00:00:00 GMT

A friend of mine recently told me about the great feeling re-finding things you loved when you were young but somehow lost touch as an adult. Swimming has been one of those things for me. I absolutely love water. I like the feeling of weightlessness, the alien world of underwater nature, and of course the Finnish Archipelago. The nature hasn't been so much around recently when learning to swim freestyle at local pools but I'm slowly finding the joy of swimming again.

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2022-01-09

Sun, 09 Jan 2022 00:00:00 GMT

I started the first week of the new year with a rest day. It was a good call as my legs actually feel a bit better now.

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Cheap DIY Ice Studs for Running Shoes

Fri, 07 Jan 2022 00:00:00 GMT

As I just bought a new pair of running shoes I was not very keen to purchasing yet another stutted pair for icy winter conditions. Yet, as I found out last year, you really need ice studs if you want to go out on wet and icy conditions.

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2022-01-02

Sun, 02 Jan 2022 00:00:00 GMT

This was the last week of 2021. Not surprisingly I found it pretty hard to find the motivation to keep running at home after a productive week on a holiday far away. I only managed to get in two runs.

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2021-12-26

Sun, 26 Dec 2021 00:00:00 GMT

Feeling great after a full week of running in very cold but beautiful conditions. The small village didn't have many good routes for running as there were practically no pedestrian roadways, the ice on the lake(s) wasn't yet strong enough to safely carry a person without proper gear (full-body safety suit etc), and all the trails have been repurposed to skiing. So I mainly ran on roads / highways but luckily there were so few cars that it really wasn't a problem.

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2021-12-19

Sun, 19 Dec 2021 00:00:00 GMT

The cold weather has kept me off the running trails. It's just too cold to enjoy running outdoors at the moment.

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