After a snowless winter and a successfull season ending at the Engadin Skimarathon, it was time for my first race this year. Similar to last year, the first event on this year’s running season was the Länsiväyläjuoksu. Last year, I underestimated the last few kilometers (or basically I just forgot that there are actually two islands to cross) and suffered in the end. This year I was better prepared as the whole Laajalahti-area is now so close to my new home, that I had the opportunity to testrun the round a few times.
On the day of the race the weather improved and it was actually a fairly sunny day. Choosing my short summer running gear was definitely the correct choice, and already at the start I suspected that I might see on or the other later who will suffer at these temperatures.
As I had not been focusing on running lately, I decided to pace myself at the usual pulse rate and only increase my pace towards the end (now knowing exactly how the final stretch looked like).
2014 (left) vs 2013 (right)
In the end my final time was 1:28:50, which compared to my previous year is an improvement of roughly 6 minutes… Comparing the two activities in Garmin Connect also showed some nice differences. Maybe my general fitness is finally improving, and also my stride length/cadence seems to be slightly better than last year… All in all a good race!
Finisher photo at the Länsiväyläjuoksu 2014
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