Professional blog in Finnish.

This is not a real update as such, more an informative message.

I started a professional blog regarding to my studies in performance psychology. If you are, and I hope so, interested (and Finnish speaking), please follow the link!

http://suorituspsykologia.blogspot.com

Cheers,

Anton

About running.

As I last time mentioned, I've taken up a bit of running. The very first revelation was that I didn't hate as I was used to. Then, in fact, I've started to like more and more. Some seem to think, that running is harmful for cyclist, but this far I've not seen any effect.

Then again, there are some gains from running – at least so I think. It keeps the ligaments etc. in shape, as cycling where there is not ballistic stress whatsoever tends to leave them weakening as time goes by. Secondly, running is time effective. Thirdly, time effectiveness is good in unfavoring weather. Fourth, it brings variation to the ordinary regime. Fifth, I've read that some sort of an idol for me has been doing some running – therefore, it can't be that bad. Sixth, it actually is enjoyable.

Though, I've created a rational(ish) for my enjoyment when it comes to running. Admittedly, I am complete novice of a runner and thus, not sharing my pace – eh. Saying that, the enjoyment comes partly from the pace. Doing something I've not done at all has brought me feelings of development in something more than baby steps. I mean, my running pace has improved time after time after time during the couple of runs I've done. And as I am a numbercruncher by nature, the quick gains have brought good feelings and enjoyment as in cycling major those steps require more and more work to be taken. Hopefully, the curve in running remains upwards for some time to come.

I guess, what I'm trying to say is that trying something new has been highly motivating, fun and brought so much already into my training, even though it may not have had direct effect to my riding. By this I'd recommend anyone to take up new things, if not for direct gains on the performance, but for overall physical or mental gains or sheer for sheer fun.

As last mention; the actual training on bike is also going well. And so is things at university. All good!

Back in Edinburgh.

Holiday times are more or less over now. This blog, is written from my cosy sofa next to Easter road stadium. Edinburgh seemed the same as I left it. Gym at CSE was still there. And I managed my way around Sainsburys – despite the magazine shelf had moved.

The camp in Spain carried on a very positive note until the very last couple days. One day I bonked – quite totally and after that I never recovered. The overall load was high as expected, but resulted in temporary overload (or overreach) as became rather clear when I got to Finland. As a concluding remark, the camp was good; riding, riding and riding until I couldn't do it anymore. The end just came two day too early.

Our flight to Finland was on 23^rd – not a single day too late. Over Christmas I just tried to relax and rest the overload away (and acknowledgedly, eat it away). Either way, after Christmas I slowly got back to training, which went okay from the beginning. To my great surprise, I found myself running and what made the surprise even greater was the fact that I didn't hate it. And after two miserably slow runs, I actually found that I liked running – only to some extent, though. To be clear, there are no plans whatsoever of changing sport, definitely not.

Then came the new year, which ended up being the most memorable. I spent with some good friends to begin with. We had quality time with the guys – training first, then having a good dinner, and having good time. That night I met someone very special, who turned my life around quite a bit – if not totally.

Training is starting to get proper again after taking a careful couple of weeks with the temporary overload. The weather here is fairly unpredictable and with all the uniwork, we decided to do some more intense stuff to wake up the power a bit, which we haven't really done for ages. In fact, it all started today with at test. It is unbelieveable how nervous can one be about couple of minutes on turbo trainer – I was comic more than anything. A grown-up bloke staring at the bike almost shaking – way to go, eh? Anyway, the test was eventually done and done okay. Nothing was really in our expectations, but just to clarify a baseline for the coming weeks' workouts. Now we have it, and I'm relieved the test is done. I mean, it seems just a personal issue I have with tests. The tests just stress and thus, annoy the heck out of me – without a rational reason.

But hey, it was a solid start after what was a little worrying time with my physical recovery. We are taking steps to the right direction again - leading towards the racing season and graduating with a MSc degree. Busy months to look forward to.