Conference Presentation & a Long Run

My presentation this morning went well. Our slides and video were well-received. :) The networking was decent too, I made some good contacts.

Lunch had some white fish cooked in cream sauce. I just could not resist fish, and had two big servings of it. Oh dear....

In the afternoon, I went to a Russian travel agency to inquire about visa. I wanted to see St Petersburg over Easter weekend. They said they could not do it for a SGP passport and gave me another agency's address. That agency was able to process it for me, but it would be very costly. 55Eur for a base application, 10Eur for service, 65Eur for express application, and an unknown XXEur for SGP passport (could be 5-65, only to be known at the point of application at the Russian consulate). Gosh, that visa would easily be 150-200Eur!?! Darn, I should have made a 1-day express application before I left Singapore, which would just be about SGD200. Then there was the uncertainty of an unsuccessful application, and all logistics hinged on the visa.

I am having second thoughts about the trip. Too many uncertainties and uncontrollable factors, it might not be worth my brain cells to figure out contingency plans... I had 12hr to decide, tomorrow is the last day to submit my passport for the application.

So to clear my brain (and calories), I went for a run. The weather is fabulous now in Helsinki. The sun is shining and lakes starting to melt. The days are getting longer, sunset is about 8pm. I knew my way around enough not to need a map. I ran, and ran. Following the lake and away from my hotel. Cutting through the Senate Square and to the waterfront. Suddenly I was back at where I got 'lost' on Sunday! Ahh, so that was how the roads linked up. Slowly my thoughts cleared up and I was able to think through options and reflect on the conference. I headed back to the hotel. To clock the time and mileage, I went round, and round, and round the lake. A total of 4 loops to end the run. Total of 2:10h. It should be about 20-21km. :)

Conference Starts and a Mad Dash

The Innovation Conference started this afternoon. Now what is a conference without the food review? :)

Lunch was buffet and I was fascinated by the giant slabs of grilled salmon! Yoohoo, my favourite! Then a series of presentations and more presentations. And tea break - raspberry cream cheese cake, and sugared almond pies (with viscously thick caramel sauce). Die... calorie and sugar overload. The conference dinner had starters of bread, fatty slices of smoked salmon, cream cheesy stuff. Main course was veal (looked like steak until I took a bite) with potato crepes. Dessert was a traditional Finnish 'bread-cheese' pie, with cloud berries that could only be found in Lapland.

I managed to squeeze in a very fast run for 20min just before dinner. There was a lake opposite my hotel, each round was about 2ish km. I had to run fast, it felt like interval training, and did 2 rounds. But looking at the food I had been having,.... I needed many more rounds. :(

Running at 3degC

We left Leena's house in the afternoon and drove to Helsinki. I checked into my hotel and headed out for a run (because the gym charged Eur15 per entry!). I put on a long sleeved workout shirt, my micro-fleece, and my new Montane light shell. For bottoms, I had my 2XU tights and a pair of GTX Paclite pants to resist the wind and water. Then I tied my light weight down jacket around my waist and started running. My hotel was across a lake (well, there are many many lakes in Helsinki). It was cold initially.... My head was losing heat and fingers freezing. I put on my beanie, pulled up the hood, and stuffed my hands into the sleeves of my down jacket. It was a mistake to bring my normal Asics instead of the Goretex Salomon trail shoes. The roads and paths were sludgy - melted dirty ice and water. Soon my white-pink shoes were stained with blotches of dirt, and I had to take care where I stepped.

I sort of knew my way around since I had walked to many places during my last trip. The big display clock near the train station stated 6degC, bearable. After 10min, I warmed up and did not feel so cold. But I had to keep moving or else lose the heat. I explored the area, and took a few new routes. I ran to the cemetry grounds and lakeside, then back to the train station. The temperature was now 3degC. So far so good, I knew my way around. Then, oops! The last new path brought me to somewhere alien. I consulted the city map and found myself in the opposite direction from my hotel. It was getting cold and I wanted to be back in familiar territory before it got dark. I put on my down jacket and ran in it. I asked a few people along the way, and finally made it back to the city centre and train station, from where I knew my bearings and directions. It was 2hrs since I started on my run. I popped by the supermarket to buy some food and walked back to my hotel. Brrr....

Naked in the snow!

Leena invited me to stay at her new house for a night. John picked me from the airport and we drove to a place further up from Porvoo. It was snowing, the wind was strong and it was cold. Porvoo was about 45min drive from Helsinki city centre, and colder. It was about 0degC today.

Their house was a lovely wooden lodge by the lake, still sort of under renovation-construction, but habitable. The place was warm and cosy, built with lots of wooden logs in a traditional Finnish way. There was a huge ceiling to floor glass window that offered a picturesque view of the lake. It was frozen now and everything outside was white. In summer, the view would be equally spectacular, deep blue waters with a floating wooden jetty and rowing boat. They had a little sauna house as well next to the main house. Most Finnish houses had their own sauna. Leena kept it traditional - ie. for easy access between sauna and the outdoors/ lake. After a short stroll in the old town of Porvoo, we headed back for a sauna experience.

The sauna room was heated up, so Leena and I wrapped ourselves in sheets and sat down. Males and females usually had separate sauna rooms so that Finns could enjoy their saunas in the traditional way - naked. When we felt hot enough, we went outdoors to sit by the bench. Just sitting quietly, enjoying the silence. Very tranquil and calm, the white and the silence. Then we went inside the sauna again. We did that a few times. Then Leena suggested we rolled in the snow. Gasp! In the nude! The lodge was relatively far and shielded from neighbouring houses. So I gamely followed her. We did not really roll, because the snow was rather hard. But we smeared snow over ourselves, it was surprisingly not too cold. When our feet started to feel numb, we ran back into the warmth of the sauna room. :) The next time, I should try going from sauna and jumping straight into icy cold frozen lake, then dashing back to sauna. *shivers*

We had a lovely dinner of creamy fresh mushroom soup, potatot & cheese salad and grilled salmon. That was followed by a mixture of traditional Finn desserts - something called Mammi - a choc-malt like mousse with vanilla sauce, and another thing called Pashpa (I think). That tasted yoghurty. Plus we had a very rich chocolate cake, really awesome. I could not stop dipping the cake into vanilla sauce. Oooh....

Yellowfish Swim

Last swim before a long long break. I had barely regained some strength and conditioning after my previous trip, ops and climb. Now I would have to break the momentum again for 3 weeks.... The excitement of a long trip is weighed against re-conditioning for training.

We did some drills - catchup, side kicks, sculling. Then 2x 100m, 400m, 300m, 100m, (I think....), then 4x 50m sprints. One of my sides was stronger than the other. Both sprints on that good-side were 57sec. Best timing ever! :) But the weaker side took 1:04min, quite a huge difference. Hmmm....

Off to airport soon. Looking forward to the long haul flight, in comfort. Finally I could get some decent rest and sleep. And finish up the Slumdog Millionaire movie that I watched midway on my last trip! Haha.

Last Safra Run Before Trip

We did Kent Ridge Park today, 1.5 loops, and then back via Kg Bahru. I started off with super heavy legs, which eased somewhat when I reached KR Park. The loops were ok..... I was distracted. As usual, which was the case for the past 1-2 weeks. Today my thoughts were on packing - how to best pack for 3 weeks and still fit into a single manageable luggage. I liked my blue Samsonite case that had followed me for the past trips. I had to lug it up and down steps, trains, slopes, snow etc. And it shouldered on. ..... Before I knew it, the loops were done and it was downslope to Pasir Panjang, and then back to Safra.

Argh, my laptop died on me today. 5pm. Bad move, bad attitude. I was 1 day away from the trip, and had to retrieve various documents etc. IT-colleagues took it away for emergency resuscitation, hopefully it would work. Or else I would have to waste time trying to retrieve recent documents from all over the place. Oh bummer!

Recovery Swim

I was extremely sluggish in the pool today. I was way below par per lap and per set of 10 laps. Tsk tsk. Maybe it was a lack of sleep, and spillover from last night's hill run. :( Swam 30 laps with aching arms and shoulders. Nonetheless it was good. I needed the personal space to clear my thoughts and mentally run through my packing list. 3 weeks! and still unpacked! *nail biting*

I got my new toy today! Yippee! Very cool. :)