The High Altitude experience has not quite been such a boost for my athletic career as I hoped for, but I believe that I can utilize being used to the altitude in the future. It is not, from my experience, ideal to stay in thin air for as long periods as I have (several months with only a few days down in between). My blood values have not improved significantly from staying at altitude, but my body has gotten stronger. You learn to handle more pain and my body can handle more mileage than in the past. If I decide to utilize altitude training in the future, I will stay on altitude for 3-4 weeks at a time. I get acclimatized quickly now, so I don’t “loose” days when coming up and can start training hard immediately. I still have a lot of goals for my life and I’m sure my chances of succeeding in my ambition of climbing Mt. Kilimanjaro next winter has improved from staying at altitude for so long. All in all I have to say that Altitude Training has extremely individual effects on athletes and I doubt it is needed to break world records. One thing I have learnt at NAU though, is running as a team and with a team and I will truly miss that feeling. Thank You fellow Lumberjacks!

What comes to my own career, this summer will most likely be the last summer I focus on track running. Therefore I want to try to break 4 minutes in the 1500m and fight for a medal at the Finnish Champs at a longer distance. I have done some orienteering too, running the last leg for my club, Lynx, at Jukola, joining 10000 other orienteers in Mikkeli. We didn’t perform as well as last year, when we got 4th, but it was fun whatsoever. I will be running around the woods quite a bit in the next few weeks too. We’ll see how far I can get this summer - at least I made it to the Finnish World Champs selection races!

I’m now in Phoenix and will return to the motherland tomorrow. The upcoming Jukola orienteering relay, which will be on next weekend, makes me boil with excitement. I have made a lot of friends in the US and have bittersweet feelings about leaving, but as Albert Einstein once said “Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance you must keep moving”.

My Achilles tendon was sore on the morning run of the 5k and I was not comfortable running on it. My mission would be to try to make the race a slow one, to give our top guns with a kick a shot for the top three. NAU lined up an impressive total of 7 runners on the start line on this sunny day. Snow topped peaks surrounding the track made this a fabulous venue for finishing my Big Sky eligibility and a great journey of four years. For most of the guys in the race this was the 2nd or third race for the weekend and so the fresh kid Nick Atwood forced a fast pace from the gun. He’s push only lasted for a couple kilometers and me and the rest of the pack caught up to the leaders. The pace picked up again towards the finish and seeing my teammate Diego Estrada overtaking the lead made my Lumberjack blood rush even faster. We finished strong as a team capping off the top 5(!) spots with David McNeill, Diego Estrada, Axmed Osman, Mark Fruin and myself. What a great team. Our finish secured the Win for the NAU Track and Field team and thus we got a historical Triple Crown!

Next up is the NCAA Regional Champs in Eugene in two weeks time. After this I will summarize my experiences of living on High Altitude and running on a college team for four years. The summer sun in Arizona is hot and I’m enjoying it all out as I know my time here is coming to an end.

I got honored with the Golden Eagle Top Scholar-Athlete of the Year 2008-2009 at Northern Arizona University today. I don’t feel like I have been putting too much effort into academics and definitely came to Flagstaff to become a better runner, not to excel as a scholar. I have thus yet to fulfill all my goals in athletics, but as I mentioned in my speech at the Award Reception Banquet, having an education to back one up feels great. It’s a pity it’s so easy to be a good student, but so hard get all the things right on the track. At least I know mom & dad will be proud of me for getting this award!

An athlete tries to find reasons to disappointing performances. I found out from a recent blood count that my iron values were lower than normal. This might be a reason to feeling a little behind on energy levels and not too alert. Different from previous races in the states, I tried to stay on sea level for an extended period of time before this race. I noticed my heart rate was normal in the run I did the day before the race, so it seemed like this strategy would work. One needs to learn from ones mistakes, so I will not try this strategy again nor will I settle without a fat stake at pre-race dinner. The next try at 10000m will come in three weeks time at the Mt. SAC Relays in Walnut California.

Costa Rica does deserve the Paradise nomination some give it. I spent most of the ten days in different Pacific beach towns and spend about half the time there cooling off in or under the water as the day temperatures were hovering around 36 degrees Celsius during the duration of the stay. This meant I ran in the mornings right when the sun rose and again in the evening at sunset. This worked out great and left me a lot of time to enjoy the nature wonders of this Central American jewel. I witnessed the Arénal Volcano spitting out lava and indulged in thermal baths on the flanks of the mountain, hiked in deep rainforests with gorgeous rainfalls, saw sharks, manta rays, monkeys, iguanas and birds one more colorful than the previous. But most of all, I relaxed. Didn’t touch a computer or use my cell for a single day and lived by the clock of my body - usually waking up simultaneously with the sun. Thanks to all the Ticos for letting me feel welcomed and share their precious piece of earth and return home rejuvenated, with a hammock under my arm!

There’s a saying that an athlete doesn’t see a healthy day. I have been fortuned enough to avoid big injuries during most of my career, but I still now it’s important to stay positive throughout the bad times. After having a short but awesome indoor season I hurt my knee, which kept me from running for 3days and then I got caught a flu. I missed two days of running this week, but I can turn it around mentally and tell myself that I do well in a little bit after taking some down time. The 10000m at Stanford Invitational is my first race for the outdoor season and my goal is to break 29 minutes. As I was able to take off 15 seconds from my PR in the 5000m in February I should be able to down my PR also over a longer distance as my workouts have been mainly anaerobic threshold buildup. This time Finnish runners Jukka Keskisalo and Tuomas Jokinen, who are at the moment training in Flagstaff together with Matti Virén, will toe the line in Palo Alto next to me. During my four years of living at altitude in Arizona I have yet to try to spend an extended period on sea level leading up to a race. Now my backpack is packed and I’m taking off to Costa Rica to prepare for the race with similar oxygen conditions up until the race.

I ran the Phoenix Rock n Roll Half marathon (which I had won in 2007) a week ago. After running the first 10miles together with my roommate Mark Fruin as an Anaerobic Threshold workout my racing instinct awakened. At this point as we realized the leading runner’s back was coming closer I thanked Mark for the workout and started chasing for the win. My fastest mile splits came in the end of the half marathon and I got within three seconds of the win after being a minute behind at most. Not bad to get 2nd though, as 26000 runners toed the line on this sunny Arizona Day!

I have now gotten back to Flagstaff, Arizona and started what probably will be my last semester at Northern Arizona University. My plans are to transfer my studies to the University of Helsinki next summer. As we didn’t have any snow in Finland coming to a wintery Arizona has been a little weird. I chose to come to Flagstaff to escape the icy roads and the dark winters and in matter affect despite the snow on the ground it has been blue skies and sunshine every day with afternoon temperatures being around 15° Celsius. The trails will still be covered by ice for some time to come. Anyhow, it is quite fascinating that I can cross country ski in the morning up in the mountains followed by a workout shirtless on the roads in the afternoon.

My new season’s training got started on the shores of the Red Sea with only aerobic work and now upon coming back to altitude I can tell I still have a lot of work to do before I am ready for an attempt at the 10000m in sub 29’. The time for that will come in the end of March and before that I will race a few indoor races to sharpen up. 2009 will probably be the last season I will focus mostly on track before moving on to race on the roads a little more often. Now I just got to stay with my diet and loose a few kilos - gotta go out the door in trainers as many times a day as I eat a warm meal!

The muddy and hilly course was one I liked. I don’t mind getting dirty in the middle of a race and the toughness needed to keep fighting and changing rhythm suites my style of running. Sergey Lebid of Ukraine won his 8th Euro Cross title edging Mo Farah in the last 500m of the 10k race. I started out quite conservatively, but as we anticipated with fellow Flagstaff-runner, Irishman Martin Fagan the pace of the pack was controlled for the first few kilometers. My aggressive way of charging into the up and down hills and into the sharp bends started paying off after the halfway mark as I was picking up places left and right. I was up at 24th with 500m to go but wasn’t quite able to hold on to that in the finishing downhill even if that’s usually my strong area… I had fought well and will now probably have to continue my Cross Country career a little further, even though my collegiate XC experience is now solely a memory - but certainly a teaching and rewarding one!

My preparations for the Championships included only a few faster runs in the last two weeks. I did a PR in the 800m 10 days before the race, without having done any speed work and did some good workouts on lower altitude, but mainly, a fter wrapping up the semester at NAU early last week I have been extremely relaxed in my free time. The goal is to continue with that mood until Christmas home in Finland with my family!

I took a well deserved week off from school and put in some low-altitude training in Oceanside, SoCal following NCAA:s. I’m grateful for the Threw family for letting me stay at their house and experience a true American Thanksgiving while enjoying the sun and getting a couple runners highs during runs on the beach. I am looking forward to the European Cross Country Championships in Brussels, Belgium on December 14th as training has been going excellently and I haven’t represented Finland in a long time. Hoping to be able to wear white & blue with pride!

I have had some health issues last two weeks back in Arizona, so I have worked out on my own lately. On October 6th after a fine 6xmile workout I stretched and took an ice bath, just as after every other hard workout. When I got out of the ice bath I felt a little strange, and it was because my heart rate jumped up to over 250. After a couple minutes my pulse was down to 248, and that’s when NAU head trainer Ryan Pinson ordered me to stick my head down a bucket of ice water. After two head baths the heart rate dropped by 80 beats, so I repeated the procedure. A minute later my heart was pumping normally again. I have seen a cardiologist and we’ve done a bunch of tests but haven’t been able to find out what caused the abnormality in my heart. When discussing my issue with Dr. Jack Daniels I learnt that he had had something similar when he was a top level athlete. He called the condition Parachiasmal Atrial Tatrocardia and taught me how to deal with it as an athlete. I am carrying a heart beat recording device with me everywhere now to be able to record if I get PAT again, but nothing abnormal has happened and running is going fine!

We had an extraordinary team effort at Pre-Nationals with all our top seven runners placing in the top 70 and the team placing 2nd in the Men’s Blue Race. Watch the race video at FloTrack and see my post-race interview. I wasn’t able to contribute to my team with as good a time as I had hoped, running 24’02” over the grassy 8k, but improving my placing from previous years means we’re moving the right way. I guess the rain earlier in the week slowed down the course as runners across the board ran slower times than before. I was happy to run a race without trouble with my heart – now I know it works and don’t need to worry about it anymore…

Our next race will be Big Sky Conference Champs in Portland, Oregon during the Halloween weekend, but the Lumberjacks will certainly train through this meet in order to get ready for NCAA Regionals and Nationals later in November. I’m going to run beyond 110 miles for a couple weeks now, so you won’t hear from me a whole lot. When I’m back I hope to convince and get a go at the European Cross Country Champs in Belgium.

I did not feel like I got everything out of myself at the finish line, so I’m thinking I wasn’t mentally strong enough when I let the lead pack run away from me. I will run with a slightly different tactics at Pre-Nationals in Indiana two weeks from now as I have promised coach Heins not to take an early lead. I usually like to be in control of the race up front, but it will be a good learning experience to try a different strategy and try to run even splits over the whole 8k.

Dissimilar from my normal summer routine, I took a short break from running this July, and have thus only been back running twice a day for a little over a month. I must have been doing the right things since then as I am already in a decent shape. Or is it the break that has made my body ready to accept workouts better? Sometimes it’s hard to explain why the body feels a certain way, but I’m definitely taking pleasure of the way mine is working now. I enjoy running in Flagstaff a lot and my schoolwork is only a good counter weight to the physical exercise. Having a good time with what you are doing is halfway to success!

I started out on my leg relaxed despite having all the eyes of the orienteering world set on me through the GPS unit on my back and managed the first three kilometers without trouble. After a denser part of the terrain the pack including OK Linné’s Mathias Millinger, Vehkalahden Veikot’s Tero Föhr and Delta’s Valentin Novikov caught me and the pace increased significantly. I hanged on for the next few kilometers, but since this was to be my longest run in the terrain in a year my muscles and my coordination was lacking the strength to run the pace of the world’s best. By the time we reached the end of the unforked part of the course I had already fallen off the pack and knew that I had a chance to catch the opponents again without mistakes on the short forked legs. I managed to handle the rest of the course without mistakes, and totaled less than a minute of mistakes for the whole 14 K. Even with such a good performance I could not catch Föhr and Millinger who I occasionally saw in the end of the race. Novikov kept his superb pace to the end and brought Delta to victory while I was able to secure Lynx a fourth place finish in front of Halden SK’s Anders Nordberg and Kalevan Rasti’s Thierry Guergiou. A total of 13,681 orienteers with more than 25 different nationalities partook in this years Jukola relay. I am grateful to my teammates Juuso Metsälä, Aleksi Leskinen, Antti Parjanne, Ville Koponen, Aapo Leskinen and Roman Ryapolov for giving me this extraordinary opportunity and I'm extremely happy to improve the all-time best in Jukola of Lynx from a 17th to a 4th place.

After a relaxing midsummer in Finland I will now head south, to Italy and the Adriatic Sea for some snorkeling and scuba-diving. Don’t expect to see me too serious within the next few weeks – I’m on vacation!

Doing two sports seems to rise to a problem in my career once again. I was trying to qualify for the Olympics in the marathon while the orienteering season had already started in Europe. As my time in the Ottawa marathon was not fast enough for the Olympics I decided to shift my focus to orienteering, but obviously too late. The Finnish orienteering federation does not give the third fastest runner in the country even a chance to run in the WOC qualification races. Whenever I partake in running in Finland I am known as the “orienteer” and have never been a part of a permanent national squad or training group. It seems to be an easy excuse for national team coaches to put the blame on the other sport. I have learnt that I have to be good enough so that there's no way they can bypass me in selections.

I am still in the process of recovering from the marathon, but think I will be fit enough to run the anchor leg for my club, Lynx, in the Jukola relay this upcoming weekend. With 30 000-40 000 friends of orienteering gathering to this orienteering fest a buzz will be certain. My plans for the rest of the summer will include some travelling and enjoying the endless northern sunshine without the stress of getting enough sleep and performing the next day. I’m sure I will run some fun races, but relaxing is the main goal.

Sunday morning was warm, with hardly any wind and the 2.15’ -pacemaker I had decided to follow did an excellent job. My group hit the first 5K splits right on pace in 16’08”, 15’51”, 15’53” and 16’07”, but after reaching halfway in 1.07’35” the pace slowed down significantly for a few K’s. My 25K split was 1.20’27” and then I reached 30K in 1.36’55”. At this point I was still hurrying along with six other runners but at about 33K in a slight uphill the group started breaking up. I did not want to increase my effort in order to save my tired leg muscles and had to let a few of the contestants go. At 35K my pace had slowed down, as I reached the mark in 1.53’49” after a 16’56” 5K split. The last fight home was going to be lonely and indeed tough. I fought the next 5K in 17’07” and still believed I could reach the finish in sub 2.18’. When I passed my family members who were cheering soon after 40K I was shouting “Berlin - Berlin” to myself, to keep up the hope of a sub 2.18’. (That time is probably going to be the standard to get in to the World Champs in Berlin in 2009.) My focus was on trying to get the signal from my brain to my quads to lift up my knees. That was not quite working as my pace slowed down to a 3’35”/km -pace on the last 2,2K to the finish. I did not go down at the finish line because the organizers caught me right away and took me out of sight in a wheelchair. My watch had stopped at 2.18’50”, but it wasn’t until 20 minutes later I was able to open my eyes to see these numbers. I had a slight fewer of 37,7° Celsius and a significant blister on the outside of my right foot, but those were all just details – I had just made a new PR!

ING Ottawa marathon was the right choice for me this year, but I wouldn’t recommend this course as a fast one. The first half had a lot of rolling hills on it, while the latter part is pretty leveled. Whenever the route came close to downtown there was good crowds, but especially on the second half more cheering would be desired for the already tired runners. The conditions for running fast were pretty good, even though the temperature rose pretty high by the end. Now, two days after the marathon the pain in my legs is the worst. I am taking some time of serious running this week, while road tripping around lake Ontario, but I wanted to try to do the recovery weeks from the marathon a little different this time. I have jogged both mornings following the race and running actually feels easier on my legs than walking. I won’t be representing Finland in Beijing, so I have to start figuring out what to do this summer…

Following is a few relaxing days in Sedona and Flagstaff before I depart for Canada’s capital on Friday. I will be running in the early morning all week, but after yesterdays 10k time trial I won’t need to do anything to toughen me up before the marathon. I have run in both a snowstorm and a heat wave this week so I am ready for whatever conditions Ottawa will offer in a week.

Distances are always given in hours, since the average American drives his big car everywhere. Even with “these crazy gas prizes” that you hear complaints about every day – gas still costs only half of what it costs in Finland! Breakfast can without a hindrance be consumed until noon and even as long as until 2 PM on weekends. Maybe because of this the most popular lunch among students is the famous peanut-butter-and-jelly sandwich. It’s quick, easy and quite nutritious but I had never seen one before I stepped onto this continent. Back home we would eat our sandwiches for breakfast – unheard of in the US. Probably due to their diet the American people have the largest percentage of obesity, but why does all free t-shirts have to be huge? E.g. when NAU is giving out representation t-shirts to athletes, there are seldom any small enough for distance runners, unless you are looking for a full-body dress. Another item I had not used before entering the US, but nowadays always carry in my back pocket is a check. Instead of paying with bills and coins you write the sum you owe on this piece of paper which the vendor then takes into his bank to make the money utilizable. A tedious system, but at least the banks are kept busy handling these pieces of papers. Now when Finals week is coming up the library must be jam-packed, as students tend to study at the library. I don’t have a problem sitting in my own room studying and I’m getting the best grades of the people I’m around. Academics in the US are on a lot easier level than I was used to from my two years at the University of Helsinki. At Helsinki I would barely pass my classes, here I'm in the top end of my class. Did a suddenly become smart when starting my studies in a foreign language?

My running has been excellent lately which has upped my confidence on my chances in the upcoming marathon contest. I have focused on long marathon paced workouts and tried to keep a clear rhythm between easy and hard days. From today on I am lowering my mileage and starting adjusting my body to the early morning racing schedule I will be facing in Ottawa. I have run more than 150km for all except one week since February, so my body should appreciate the extra energy that will be available. I have a feeling I will also get some extra energy from relaxing in the creeks of the picturesque Sedona between runs.

I was able to keep my heart rate above 175 for more than 55 minutes and reached a max of 191, which tells me that my body is able to work hard for an extended period. During a marathon my average heart rate is considerably lower, but at the second half of the 42,195k the heart rate curve resembles that of a faster paced half marathon. I still have to do some hard long runs to be ready to upkeep my goal pace of 3'12"/km for the full distance in the end of May, but being faster than ever before over half the distance helps the mind. This was the best short visit I've ever done to Finland, but now it's time to head back to the montains to focus on the goal - Ottawa Marathon.

Is there a physical barrier set that regulates how fast I will ever be able to run over 10000 meters? Is the limiting factor my heart, the limited availability of fast twitch cells in my body or my VO2max capability? On the last two kilometers in last night’s race I was able to hear the fight in my brain, often shown in comics, between the devil and the angel. One voice was telling me to slow down and not go with the runner in front of me; the other one was reminding me of my goal and urging me to push through the pain. Due to the stressful situation I'd put myself in I was unable to determine which voice belonged to whom. Did the devil want me to gain pain or not fulfill my goals? I know I can train some of the factors limiting my performance, but it’s hard to accept the fact that some I was already dealt when I was born. I have committed to try to find the borders of my athletic capability and I think the marathon is where the trained factors matters most. After running less than 150km this week I’ll go back up closer to 200km again next week to stay on the chosen road.

My outdoor season started off with a 14’36”12 5000m at the Willie Williams Classic in Tucson last Friday night. The heavy training I have been doing lately, including a 200+km and two 170km weeks, did not leave me chanceless in the race. Me, Joseph Simuchimba and Craig Curley switched off laps frequently over the whole distance and battled all the way home the last stretch. I finished in a close second behind Simuchimba, but amazed with my finishing speed. I cannot quite find an explanation why my faster running, such as two 200m:s I did in 28” at the end of a longer track workout today gets faster from high mileage. The high mileage improves my running economy over longer runs, but obviously also for fast stuff!

The Stanford Invitational 10000m on the first weekend of April will be my first high level race for the season. Having already raced 100 laps on that track and feeling strong in the past workouts I can go into the meet feeling pretty confident. While on the weekly bagel-run on Wednesday morning with Mo Farah, Reid Coolsaet, Jan Fitschen and about 30 other runners I started counting how many of the guys training in Flagstaff at the moment could break 30 minutes in a 10k? The number would probably be somewhere around 40. Considering that only 5 Finns broke that barrier last year I am pretty content to be residing surrounded by these people now. Last year my 29’24”41 from Stanford Invitational was the fastest time by a Finn for the year – in 2008 the time will be faster.

With a constant sunshine over Arizona my mood has been high and my workouts excellent. I have started to do some workouts on sea level or at a slightly lower altitude than Flagstaff to get used to the feeling and pace when running with plenty of oxygen. My Big Goal for the season will be to run a fast marathon in Ottawa, Canada on May 25th and therefore I went down to Phoenix to run a half marathon last Sunday. The course at the Valley of the Sun Half Marathon was hillier than expected, so it was a challenge to keep the effort as even as a marathon run in the end of a 169km week. Me and my roommate Jon Little, who is going to pace me at Ottawa, finished hand in hand in 1.09’24”, so without the hills on a good marathon pace.

While we were down in Phoenix we attended a Phoenix Coyotes NHL game against the Ottawa Senators. When I grew up in Finland it was every little boys dream to one time see the stars on the collector cards we were collecting play for real. Even if the weather permitted running in shorts twice yesterday, totaling 37km for the day, in Flagstaff, I was able to acquire some great vibes up at Snowbowl Ski Area during the afternoon while slaloming down the steep slopes of Agassiz Peak. One has to set up stunning emotional experiences like this while training hard to beat off the mind-numbing sleep-train-eat-sleep-train-eat -cycle.

My mile splits:
5’37”-5’14”-5’13”-5’11”-5’14”-5’03”-5’12”-5’12”-5’22”-5’26”-5’24”-5’13”-5’19”-
5’23”-5’25”-5-19”-5’15”-5’13”-5’15”-5’20”-5’21”-5’20”-5’22”-5’28”-5’29”-5’34”-58”
1.09'14"+1.10'17"=2.19’31”

My energy level was fine in the end and after the race so I know that its my muscles that need strengthening. My respiratory system is strong enough to reach the times I have as my goals in the future. Maybe Beijing was a dream that will not come true, but I still have years ahead of me. I know as a fact that the marathon is my distance. I also know that I don't want to run solo next time.

Just to take the recovering to the extreme I went even beyond the sea level – beneath it – to finish my PADI scuba diving certification while diving among green sea turtles, dolphins, octopus and sharks. It is hard to describe the feelings one gets after a day with a good morning run in the rain forest above Honolulu, two dives with turtles and octopus encounters on the reefs and a smooth sunset on Waikiki beach. As a certified scuba diver I can now dive together with a buddy and have access to an undisclosed world underneath the surface.

All my workouts where I was recovered were successful. Only when I did back-to-back harder sessions did I not quite reach my targets. My training has been mostly around my anaerobic threshold level lately but being on sea level has helped me maintain a faster pace in all my workouts. My quads that have created problems in my past marathons are definitely now used to pavement that usually gives them a shock in the latter part of the race. The last two weeks before my marathon in Houston I will be in Flagstaff concentrating on keeping my muscles in shape and ready to get hammered. The work is done, now patience is the key to success.

I had the chance of doing a treadmill test with Jack Daniels earlier this week and was really satisfied with the outcome as a blew a 69,6 VO2max ml/kg/min on 2100m in Flagstaff. With the altitude conversion that results in a 78 on sea level. I have to thank Jack and Phil Wharton for making me concentrate on my breathing rhythm for achieving this level. I now know I can comfortable and economically keep up my pace for 42,2Ks.

A snowstorm rolled over Northern Arizona last weekend and Flagstaff got a total of 40cm of snow. This made the trails inaccessible and thus I went up in the mountains to teach my roommate Jonathan Little how the Finns managed to fight off the Soviet troops on skis 90 years ago. I had not skied for 3 years, but I still had the skills in the back of my head. The 90th Finnish Independence Day itself on December 6th was celebrated in a small circuit party at my house. As the trails are still snow covered I am now heading to Hawai’i and will enjoy the oxygen rich tropical air on Oahu and the Big Island until Christmas.

I went out hard, as I am used to and lead the way at 1K, coming through 5K at 15’12”. At this point I was still coming through the outrageous crowd in close contact with the leaders in 44th, but started fading soon after. I reached 8K still in huge never ending pack in 24’30” at 53rd. The pain was obvious but I was still able to pick it up and improve to 47th over the last mile. My time 30’40” over 10K of cross country.

This cross country season has been blissful and it is sad to end it. I might get another year of intercollegiate eligibility, but my close teammates Justin Langdon, Lopez Lomong and Jonathan Cardenas will not be beside me another season. Thanks to all my teammates and coaches for making such a great season!

The US Olympic Trials in the marathon was held a week ago in New York’s Central Park. The race was hyped well in advance and it was even broadcasted live on TV across the country. Ryan Hall ran to an astonishing victory, but that performance got a huge shadow on it as the news of Ryan Shay passing away 5 miles into the race reached the world. Ryan was living in Flagstaff and his loss is a big tragedy for the running community here – it is weird how someone in such a good shape could die without even pressing himself hard physically(as the pace was easy early on). Ryan had an enlarged heart and the mishap could have occurred anywhere, without physical stress being present. The sorrow about losing Ryan is hard to get over, but he would have liked us all to reach for our goals despite his passing away.

The day before the long run I did a good Anaerobic Threshold/speed workout on sea level in San Diego with teammate Lopez Lomong (1500m 3’37”), followed by some boogie boarding on Mission Beach. Running on sea level felt amazing but other than that Flagstaff, Arizona feels like the place to be for me. I’m living on the altitude of 2150m with some teammates, training under new NAU distance coach Eric Heins, the sun is shining and my mileage is back up.

I found the first control without problems, but shot out in the wrong direction from there. After finding controls 2 and 3 okay I had to slow down coming towards the 4th control as I couldn’t see the trails in the terrain. Controls 5-8 were good, but then I lost the trails, again, going towards the 9th. I found myself at a garbage dump and went up into the wrong gully – there would have been a trail leading to the control, but I made it slightly challenging here. After this mistake I knew I’m in a hurry, but my time was good enough for the Final. I was 1'19", behind Thierry Guergiou, the winner of my heat.

Now I’ll spend a couple days on the beach by the river Dnepr, then some faster O-intervals on Tuesday and a workout on the trails on Friday. Cheering for my teammates is on the program later in the week and then I’ll be ready to challenge 44 other Sprint finalists on Sunday morning under the huge Victory statue.

I have kept on training with a high intensity until yesterday and I am not yet physically recovered for the World Orienteering Champs in Ukraine. The Sprint qualification race will take place on Saturday 18th, followed by a whole week of free time in a sunny Kiev before the Sprint Final on August 26th. Coming home as a World Champion, would make life a whole lot easier, but I’m satisfied even with less than that…

I’m going to run the Finnish World Champs selection race in sprint distance tomorrow, Saturday and then start in the 10000m contest at Finish Champs on Sunday. In these races I will pursuit to start in a relaxed mood and to enjoy myself. That could be a key to get a good result out of World Champs too. I was already selected to the Finnish team, so from now on until August 26th, my focus is towards Ukraine, but I won’t forget to relax either.

I have, however, accomplished to boost my sprint performance level, which resulted in an 8th place in yesterdays World Cup race. I was rather satisfied with that, even though there’s seldom an sprint orienteering race where you can be 100% satisfied with your actions on the course, due to the high stress level. I have probably lost some time on my route choice over the longest leg 6-7. My decision to go left was based on making things uncomplicated, but I was already on the leg before I made the final decision, which caused an S my route. I was so thrilled when punching on the second last control in the spectator crowd that I ran past the last control – thanks to the passionately cheering crowd I turned back and got my punch in. I must say, I enjoy being back in the O action and I look forward to World Champs!

My navigation flow this summer has surprised many, including myself. Even without any orienteering training for nine months since last august I am now among the elite in Finland, again, and a candidate for World Champs later this summer. Running has definitely been my number one sport this past winter, but perhaps the lack of O-stress has released my navigation brain to perform. The next few weeks will dictate the schedule for the end of the summer.

Sprint races in Finland are rare so I try to enjoy every one of them. I started out in a pace typical for me – slowly. Even without mistakes I was lagging almost half a minute at halfway, compared to Petteri Muukkonen. At this point we had just climbed a huge ski jumping hill, and due to the lactic in my body I made an approximately 10 second mistake on the top. From there on I guess my routechoices have been pretty ideal, as have my pace. I finished 1st, tied with Muukkonen. This was fun, and the enjoyment at Kainuun Rastiviikko continues over fast terrains over the next few days.

I continued the 2007 World Cup with a middle distance race in the fells of southern Norway. Middle not being among my favorite orienteering distances I was satisfied with my 18th place in this enjoyable race over open, sloping marshes. After a 1 minute mistake on the second control I was able to stay concentrated over the next 15 controls before a slight problem at the end of the course, right after the spectator control. I’m now ranked 6th in this year’s World Cup and will probably continue representing Finland in the World Cup’s at O-ringen in Sweden at the end of July. I am enjoying orienteering, and all the feelings it gives me.

I have now increased my mileage and will keep on running a lot throughout most of the rest of the summer. The end of this week will be spent on a training camp in Joensuu, with the Finnish Orienteering Team, followed by a week in Vuokatti, where Kainuun Rastiviikko -orienteering week is run. The last week of my northern campaign will take place in Ruka, with lots of running on trails in the wilderness, among reindeers and bears.

The final race was mostly ran in the woods and felt very challenging for me. I was kinda running with the handbreak on as my legs felt powerless right from the start. That might have prevented me from making mistakes though as I only lost 20 seconds in mistakes on the way. It would have been a lot in a typical sprint race, but today was different - difficult. My pace was rather good then compared to the rest of the field, and I know now that I have one less stress factor than my competitors - I don't have to worry about running hard enough. I could not have won the race today, with the legs I was given to use, but when I have a good day... watch out!

My orienteering season started 16 days ago after a 9 month break. Today I ran the Finnish Sprint Orienteering Champs in Seinäjoki – and lost 7 seconds to the winner, Mats Haldin. A pretty good come back, I would say. I am pretty satisfied with the race, even if I have made a couple bad route choices. The O confidence is restored as I have lost time on longer control distances, not on tricky navigating challenges.

I will now relax for a few days by the sea and then do some orienteering to get ready for the World Cup Sprint race in Lapua, Finland 11 days from now. Right after that follows Jukola – the highlight of the summer for the whole orienteering world.

Now I’m back in Finland and looking forward to some races here; the Finnish Cross Country Champs on May 20th and the Nordic 10000m Champs a week later, on May 27th. I completed a 10000m & 5000m double at Big Sky Track & Field Champs last weekend in a hot Pocatello, Idaho, to score for NAU and be a part of the winning Lumberjack Team there. Conference races are always fun, as the goal isn’t necessarily a fast time, but sporting tactics to score as many points for the team as possible. This time wasn’t any different, and with high altitude and warm weather times were insignificant in my races. After a short celebration after the championships I sat on the plane for 22 hours and can still feel that traveling and some jet lag in my body.

It’s great to be back in Finland, and even if I grew up here, having sunlight at 10 o’clock at night still fascinates me! It’s fun seeing people I have been away from, but apart from the light, also strangers keep on fascinating me – we Finns are a rude kind.

I’m currently ranked 26th on 10000m of the collegiate athletes in the U.S with my time 29’24”. This Sunday I will try to improve that rank, to secure my spot at Nationals in the beginning of June. Payton Jordan Cardinal Invitational at Stanford should be a good race for me, with a few guys from other colleges trying to achieve the same task as I. I have now finished all the speed work after yesterdays 10 x 400m at race pace. After a threshold workout on Friday I will get a rubdown by Phil Wharton and then head off to San Francisco. My grandpa passed away last Saturday, at the age of 93, and I will dedicate Sunday’s race to him. He had enormous durability, still doing whole-day hikes and fishing trips when past 80 years of age. I believe I have inherited some of my grandpa’s qualities and want to unveil my limits in running in the honor of him.

In addition to the race I did a couple other magnificent runs while in L.A. One on some outlying hills behind Diamond Bar and another one on the most popular running spot in L.A., the San Vicente boulevard between UCLA and Santa Monica. I have planned to do a different run every day of this month, without repeating the same loop twice. Now I will be back on the trails in Flagstaff for two weeks again and I will continue executing the goal of the month – here, running on different trails every day shouldn’t be a great challenge, as the selection is nearly endless…

I have had some busy times in school lately, but having the company of some friends from the Old Continent has been fun and refreshing. A Finnish orienteering buddy, Pentti Iso-Markku and German runners Jan Fitschen and Alexander Lubina have been in Flagstaff training along with several other world-class runners. I have taken Pilates-classes twice a week throughout this spring and have discovered it to be a splendid way to work on the for-runners-critical hip area muscles. Pilates has been about the only non-running exercises I have done, so something about it must be working, as I am running pretty fast.

I don’t know where I’m going to race next, but I don’t think I need a whole lot of speed workouts to improve my capability of running the 10000m. The toughest part in tapering for me has been to stay as lean as when running 100 miles a week. The appetite is the same, but without losing all those calories on the trails I gain weight. Now, I feel like getting back out on the trails and enjoy getting aerobically fitter.

In case you are interested in knowing how the intercollegiate sports system in the US works, you should check this last episode of Sportmagasinet. The Finnish National Broadcasting company - Yleisradio - made a documentary about sports in Arizona colleges in swedish, featuring myself and ASU diver Joona Puhakka.

I had a TV crew from the National broadcasting company of Finland (Yleisradio) here last week which made a documentary about student-athletes in the US. The athletes in this episode of Sportmagasinet include my former high-school class mate Joona Puhakka, who is diving and finishing up his degree at Arizona State University, and myself. The documentary will be broadcasted in Finland on March 20th at 9PM on FST5 and I can assure you that the scenery will astonish you – at least that’s what happened to the TV crew!

NAU Lumberjack & teammate Lopez Lomong won the NCAA national indoor 3k championships yesterday in Arkansas with a time of 7’49. The current distance coach at NAU, John Hayes, has been very successful with milers, and from Lopez’s race and from the workouts I have done lately I believe NAU will see some astonishing results also in the longer distances soon. I have done a couple of really good VO2max workouts, one of which a graph is shown beneath. I did 5x2km (6'31, 6'27, 6'21, 6'17 and 6'15) on a dirt road at Ft Tuthill this Friday and felt like I was really able to push through the wall of pain. Just a few more quality workouts and we will see what the last winter have made of me. The weather in Flagstaff is summerlike, and I am rolling.

Jack Daniels tested me on a treadmill this morning. He measured a VO2max of 67, which converts to a 73-74 at sea level. Those numbers are similar to ones I have gotten before, but something interested Jack noticed during the test was in my breathing. During the tougher workloads towards the end of the test I was breathing about 48 times a minute and as I am taking 180 steps a minute that puts me at a breathing rhythm of 2/2 (in/out). I am breathing 3 liters of air with every breath, which means I am breathing extraordinary deep. Keeping up this rhythm into my max running capacity I am using 146 liters of air a minute. I have already tried to change my rhythm to 2/1 – it will be interesting to feel if times in workouts will be affected by this change.

The conditions during the race were not ideal, as the race day was the coldest day in Phoenix in 12 years! Perhaps I, as a Finn, was able to handle the freezing conditions better than my contestants. I definitely believe that I have achieved a significant amount of Sisu being raced in the hostile climate of Finland. Anyway, Lopez Lomong was supposed to pace me through 10 miles, but after helping me out on the 2nd and 3rd miles he had to slow down due to an ankle injury. From there on it was thus just me and Kyle Goklish who ran side by side most of the race. Our splits for each mile were 5'02-5'12-4'59-4'56-5'04-5'03-5'05-5'05-5'05-5'15-5'25-5'01-5'21. We kept the pace pretty well until the 10th mile, where the course included some slower sections. I surged a few times during the last 2 miles, but did not get my final lead before the last few hundred meters. Not knowing the course exactly I though we were closer to the finish than we were. I reached the finish line banner 2 seconds before Goklish surrounded by I fantastic crowd in Tempe on the campus of Arizona State University.

My average heart rate during the race was 185 with a maximum at 191 during the sprint to the finish line. It felt great being back on the streets and road racing is definitely what I want to do after graduating from college. The numerous Rock bands along the course were fun too, even if I was so focused I could’t remember a whole lot of that after the race.

Currently I am back home in Flagstaff at 2100m altitude and it is snowing. Right now this might not be the best place on Earth to train then. I still did over 170km last week which included a new Personal Best on the mile: 4’30’84, run at high altitude. Training is fun and life is relaxing!

I had a good semester academically and thus I needed a stunning break to make up for that. It all started out in Las Vegas, where I went with some buddies of mine from Flagstaff. Soon after recovering from that me & Matleena headed for California – experienced the Magic of Disneyland and the hypes of Hollywood. After the city-life we were ready for the wonders of Yosemite National Park. A different Christmas in the wilderness included climbing atop Yosemite falls – the third highest waterfall on the planet (740m); running around among the enormous Giant Sequoias in Mariposa Grove and just marveling the nature all over Yosemite Valley. Soon after Christmas we headed over back to the coast, and had some good eventful days in San Francisco. If one is ever forced to live in a major city I would suggest moving here – there are numerous parks with great trails in them and the vegetation include some small wonders to wonder during runs here.

Now it was time to continue our journey south – to Sao Paulo, Brazil. The city itself with its 25 000 000 people was not anything too special, but the largest new years race in the world, the São Silvestre which was run for the 82nd time was definitely worth the sweat. The conditions at this time of the year are pretty darn humid by the Tropic of Capricorn, so when the champ from 1977, Domingo Tibaduiza, (a training partner of Lasse Viren) that I know through a teammate, heard that the race is in the afternoon he said it will be like running in hell. The heat as it turned out, was not too bad at all, as it rained through the whole 15km race. It rained and rained and I have never run in a rain like that, but splashing through the streets of Sao Paulo and finishing 34th in this race as the best European and satisfies me.

The next few days we experienced some other parts of Brazil, namely the beach life & the rainforests. We amazed the South Atlantic archipelago staying in Paraty for a few days before heading to "The Marvelous City" – Rio de Janeiro. This is not a huge city but a spectacular one in several aspects: fabulous beaches, the hills surrounding the city, the host of the Samba Carnival and some famous astonishing sights. For runners visiting the city, runs along the measured and marked sidewalks of Copacabana (4km) and Ipanema (4km) beaches will not easily be forgotten! By this time our minds were fulfilled with mind-blowing stuff about the carioca way of life. Even if we could see the Amazon rainforest being scattered down in the north part of the country, citizens refuel their cars with ecological alcohol and there is almost no litter to be seen anywhere. We were warned about thieves, but did not experience anything criminally suspicious during our visit – perhaps we were just lucky. I you watch the movie "City Of God" you might get a different picture of the favelas (slums) of Rio. After one more quick stop in Mexico City I was ready to get back to digest everything that I had seen and settle in to a normal daily rhythm in Flagstaff.

I have posted a few photos from the tropics on the Photos page.