Last night I took the car to a nearby parking just outside Järvafältet. I hade in mind to run with my GPS logger and as it has a map to be able to decide on the fly to go a longer or shorter route, take a short-cut or extend the running depending on the feeling.

Turns out the batteries however was depleted in it, although it looked like they where half-charged when I checked them at home so I left it in the car and started on a path I sometimes go by bike and I know fairly well.

Bodaäng-Kalkviken-8km

It was a magical night, a bit of fog over the open fields, the road was a little soft after the rain but that was great for the legs after doing a tougher round on asphalt the other day and I ran through the wonderful farm at Rocksta where I could hear the horses in the stable and there where cows in the fields. The air was cool, around 16°C and it was just lovely being out in this wonderful weather.

During the whole run I met two people. One lady on a bike fairly close to the starting point, maybe 1.5 km in to the run and then on my way back around 5.5 km I met this guy who was lost on his bike trying to get back to Jakobsberg. I gave him a road description since I know this area pretty well by now and he thanked me.

During the whole run I stopped the clock twice, once to check my bearings when I tought I had gone the wrong way (I didn’t but I ran back and forth a few hundred meters off clock to check) and then when I gave the lost guy some directions.

The path is a little bit hilly, one bigger hill close to the beginning and then some smaller ones and longer stretches of uphill/downhill. I kept a great pace based on my heartbeat trying to never exceed 150 bpm instead work on my endurance today and it worked great I felt so good the entire time it was a shame to stop.

The sun was setting in the long slow way it does up in the north in the summer time, we have sunsets from about 19-21 with the light slowly fading away and although it was pretty dark when I got back to the car it was just lovely from start to end.

This path can easily be extended to 10 km or even 12 km just by slighly changing the route. I think I might go for the 12 km next time. I hope my friend Jenny joins me then.

Tags: 8km, c25k, cool runnings, evening, experience, järvavältet, night, running, summer

This month was a record since I started with the running madness that I have actually kept up pretty well through bad and worse.

July statistics

I have never run so much in one month as I have in July. Seriously, this is really cool. On average I have done 3,4 km per day or been out for 30 minutes every day. Not bad considering that I have had three weeks of holiday as well in this time!

And now I have 15 days to run before I am entering the first competition in my life, the Midnattsloppet midnight race through stockholm south end, a 10 km run on asphalt.

And I feel good about it!

A nice week but a little slow on the training side because we went to our summerhouse for a bit of holiday and I did one 5k run there around the lake. They have built a new gravel road there in order to be able to run timber from the woods out of the area but this road is hardly worth the name, it was soft and difficult to run, lots of potholes and fist-sized rocks strewn about and it was also quite hilly, not surprising actually. After that we came back home to Stockholm again and I had a really nice run together with my friend Jenny.

Jenny who started running in 2006 and then had a couple of stops since she’s had two children since that time, runs at a tempo that is a bit higher than mine usually but this was really good, she could slow down and I could work on getting a little better tempo in to my run. Not to mention she’s just such a great person and nice to talk to so we had a really good run although we took a couple of wrong turns so the 6,7 km yellow track at Altorp became about 7,7 km instead, no problem there.

Tonight I am going for a run where I live so that will make it 3 runs this week.

Then I have less than two weeks before Midnattsloppet to train for it, I am not worried but I need to get a quality week of running in and then a long distance run and some rest the days before the actual race, I think that will be good.

And of course more runs with Jenny!

Tags: c25k, cool runnings, exercise, jenny, programme, running, training

Now when the Swedish wonderful summer is drawing closer to the autumn I need to share a real runner tip with everyone that wants to keep running in the woods even if there is a slight drizzle of rain or the darkness is hitting earlier than before. In not too long the darkness will descend upon us earlier and earlier and it is actually already starting to get really dark in the night.

So a light on the forehad and a cap to keep the light rain out of your face would not be a bad idea?

Well here it is.

49:- SEK at Clas Ohlson store

This is a proper cap in nice material with their logo on the side and which got 5 LED lights built into the cap rim that will show you the road in the darkness. It is powered by 2xCR2032 (wristwatch style) batteries and will light for many hours on the roads and in the woods while keeping your face dry (from rain).

And for the price, buy two!

The light switch is in the cap, easy to reach and hitten under the fabric. Turn it on and off as you please while never missing a stride!

Tags: autumn, c25k, cap, cheap, clas ohlson, clothing, Equipment, flash light, gear, hat, head, head light, keps, led, light, pannlampa, rain, running, torch

Week 28 started out with a good contiuation of the previous couple of weeks with a 5 km run on Monday before I left for the Summerhack meeting in Skutskär. While there I found this beautiful bike/jogging trail going all the way to Rullsand, one of the finest beaches in whole of Sweden so I started out on Tuesday by running almost all the way there and then back again, making some 6,5 km.

Then one day of resting the legs and hacking in the night (Carpe Noctum as we say) before setting off on my next run all the way out to Rullsand and back again completing a full 10 km if I include the warmup and cooldown walks as well, it was a beautiful run with loads of energy and the kilometers just ticked away as the legs moved. Not too fast either just a great running experience with the exception of the mosquitoes and flies that set on in the woodland parts of the track.

That was it for week 28.

In wk 29 I started on Monday with a tempo based run with lots of hills, the ordinary long track at home 3,5 km one lap and did a pretty good time despite being intervals and kept a 7:23 tempo on average. On Tuesday I did my second 10 km PLUS warmup/cooldown (Kallhäll-Ängsjö-Kallhäll) so in total about 12 km actually but the running part was 10,9 km. This was asphalt for the full length with the exception of the first and last km that was gravel road.

This run was also a really good one, I even though parts are extremely hilly on this run but I managed with a few walks to get the pulse down again to jog at a really steady pace most of the time. Tempo was about 9:07 min/km which is slow but still, for being me not bad at all, I was really happy but very tired when I got back home. A bit overtraining here if I believe the training watch I am using.

On Thursday I tried jogging again but it was terrible, I just went home after 2 km that felt terrible. Bad sleep from the heat and not enough fluid as well as the 10 clicks from 2 days earlier was still in the system, it was better just give it a rest actually.

Saturday I visited a friend in Täby, Jenny B and “borrowed” her usual track. Took a few wrong turns there so her 5 k run turned out to be a 6 k run for me but did well and it felt really really good!

Sunday was another first for me, running trail! I have heard much about it so I did myself a map over the trails in the area and laid out a 7 km run on them. It was not fun. It was just BRILLIANT! I have never really had so much fun running. Roots and fist-sized stones, slippery boulders, wet pine needles and loose branches as well as mud, cold water streams to jump across, a little bit of old forgotten gravel road and then back into the woods again.

There was a mist all through the woods, permeating everything and the really tricky parts I had to negotiate half crawling but it was challenging, hilly, technical, lovely and just something I really really enjoyed doing.

Challenging is an understatement. Compared to running on even ground this is so much more difficult, you got to keep a cool head and THINK all the time in order to not put yer foot in the wrong place and slip leading to a sprained ankle or even breaking something. When you get tired you have to be even more careful of the footing but it was just great.

I am going to keep doing trails more often now that I know how fun that is!

Tags: 5 km, c25k, condition, cool runnings, couch to 5 km running, exercise, gps, jogging, logging, löpning, motion, outdoors, running, shape, springa, training, workout

Irina är en arbetskamrat till mig på SL, hon arbetar som testledare och vi brukar ibland ta samma tunnelbanetåg till arbetet.

I det här programmet pratar om mat från f.d. Sovietunionen.

Podcast här

Tags: download, gratis, irina dovgoborets, lyssna, mat, matlagning, MP3, nedladdning, öst, P1, podcast, Radiokorrespondenterna, SL, soviet, SR

Updated 2010-07-17

Tags: 2010, sommarhacket

Allting har blitt så dyrt här i Sverige
Sanna mina ord det blir bara värre
Det ser inte ut som om det skulle finnas nån gräns
Krascher på börsen och dåliga omen
Skatter på skatten och inflationen
Ränta på ränta och svångrem och TV-licens

Och bil’n den är trasig, den det gör det samma
Bensin de e ändå för dyrt för å handla
Och den ska va millionär som skall ut på nån krog
Ultravioletta strålar och växthuseffekten
Och snart kommer deklarationsblanketten
Och grogg har blivit så dyrt att hälften förslog

Folköl och dunkadunka
Hip-hop och becquerel
Lågtryck och influensa
Måndagar, mygg och mjäll
Kalhyggen, punk och djupgas
Knott, hemorrojder och moms
Folköl och dunkadunka
Bandy baciller och broms

Och vädret det blir vara sämre och sämre
Men skulle det bli nån hejd på regnet
Då blev det väl så hett så man inte stod ut
Annars så blev det kyla och svallis
Och skare och snö i drivor, grattis!
Och svettis och friskis och blommor som aldrig slog ut

Vägsalt och valfläsk, flugor och fartgupp
Köer och bakhalt, yuppies och utsläpp
Och sommaren e för kort, men vintern den e jämt för lång
TV1, TV2, TV3. TV4
Och virus från Hongkong med hosta och snuva
Och minst fyra fel på varenda stryktipskupong

Folköl och dunkadunka…

Tags: folköl och dunka-dunka, svenne rubins

Swappa variabler är ju något som kan vara användbart i flera sammanhang. Det klassiska exemplet brukar ges med att man har ett värde i A och ett värde i B (som kan vara likadant men inte nödvändigtvis) och sedan gör man följande operationer:

C = A
B = A
A = C

Detta sätt kräver dock extra datalagring i form av variabeln C och kan eventuellt undvikas med diverse trick. Det man bör tänka på är dock att vissa av tricken inte är helt rumsrena och har problem i vissa fall, antingen när någon av A eller B är noll eller om A = B.

Variant med addition/subtraktion:

A = A + B
B = A – B
A = A – B

Man kan vara uppmärksam på vad som händer när talen A eller B närmar sig MAX_INT det största talet som kan hanteras. När A eller B är > MAX_INT/2 kommer man få en överflödniong vid additionen och ett lån vid subtraktionen. På de flesta system fungerar detta men inte nödvändigtvis alla, det finns säkert system som är trasiga i den aspekten.

Farlig variant med XOR:

A = A ⊕ B
B = B ⊕ A
A = A ⊕ B

Men, det här blir inte så bra om A = B och det bör man i så fall försäkra sig aldrig händer.  Sker det förstörs innehållet i båda registren. Därför bör man villkora att man inte utför operationen om båda registren innehåller samma värde. Det innebär dock fler operationer.

Muahaha

World domination in 12 easy steps.

Tags: programmering, swapping