Lent Term 2024 Round-up | S7 Episode 4

My PhD is still going well, but this post is about personal updates.

My 2024 started in Madrid. I tried to make the most of the warmth and sunlight there. For good reason. On my return to Cambridge in mid-January, I was met with negative temperatures and 4 p.m. sunsets.

At the end of January, we had two fairly intense storms in the UK. Causing many flight cancellations across the country and northern Europe, storm Jocelyn almost ruined my first travel outing of the year. I should have checked the weather forecast when I spontaneously booked my flights. A couple of days later, under 50mph winds, I landed in Billund, Denmark. I took a bus to the city centre and walked around the main tourist attraction there: LEGO House. An hour later, I was back at the airport. The main purpose of my trip -other than having fun- was to buy a collector’s item at the airport’s LEGO shop. It’s a LEGO set of the airport itself, which is not sold in any other LEGO store in the world. Unfortunately, the airport store had sold out all of its stock, and because it’s a special edition, they don’t make more of it…This trip was a reminder to enjoy the journey (literally), even if things don’t go as planned. Plus, I had a full row for myself on both flights, which was quite comfortable to work in.

In early February, I spent a week in Lisbon at a conference. With temperatures about ten degrees higher than in the UK and longer days, I hardly needed reasons more reasons to be excited. I had plenty more. Given all the travel I do, it’s surprising I had been never to Lisbon before: it’s relatively close to Madrid (my hometown) and I’ve been to (the south of) Portugal almost every year of my life. Anyway, Lisbon was gorgeous. Fun fact: it’s the Westernmost capital of the EU (and continental Europe). I couldn’t avoid the temptation of the westernmost point of continental Europe and the (continental) Schengen zone. Taking a bus from Cascais -the westernmost terminal rail station-, I arrived just before the latest sunset in the continent.

In March, I was back in southern Europe. My third time in Italy, albeit for less than a day. In my previous times in Italy, I didn’t visit Milan. When I was in Bologna in November, train tickets to Milan were inexplicably expensive. With my knowledge of Ryanair’s pricing algorithm, it was cheaper to fly there from Stansted, so I promised myself I would do it. Including train tickets to and from both airports, the whole trip was 52 pounds. Of course, this wouldn’t be sustainable -at multiple levels- to do often, but albeit tiring (my day started with a 4:44am train), it was definitely worth it. I changed a day of continuous rain and less than 10C in Cambridge for 20C degrees sunshine at the rooftop of il Duomo.

Luckily, the days in the UK are now getting longer and warmer, so hopefully, I won’t have to travel as far to enjoy good weather.

Training updates

Unlike the last two terms, my conference schedule didn’t clash with the main college rowing competition of the term, so I was back in a boat. Due to the flooding in the UK, we didn’t get to race outside of Cambridge. On the bright side, for Lent Bumps, we were luckier than last year (when one day of racing was cancelled due to high stream). Indeed, now being a “sandwich boat”, we made up for last year’s missed day by rowing five days and more (we raced twice in one on the third day…).

The morning after the bumps, I ran the Cambridge Half Marathon. It was less painful than the Helsinki Half because, well, I actually trained properly for a half marathon. Although I really enjoy(ed) my Sunday long run each week, it wasn’t easy to fit in enough overall miles. Most of the runs came as commutes to and from the boathouse, before and after rowing training. This saved me the time of the cycling commute, and it prepared me well to run with tired legs. However, the overall training volume and 2+ hour combined sessions probably lead to overtraining (and thus getting ill often). Despite my best attempts to avoid respiratory viruses, I got a cold while in Lisbon. Less than a week after recovering, I got a very similar infection…I barely recovered in time for bumps.

After the rowing season, I want to train for a sub-2 half marathon (with fresh legs). However, for the next few weeks and months, I’m focusing on my VO2max. Mainly on the erg, but also running shorter distances.