Jimisola.com - keepin’ on

My groin and, especially the abductor tendon, is still not ok. It was actually going in the right direction - again - up until a few weeks ago when I slid on the floor in my dorm room and stretched out the abductor. It felt typical since I was doing pretty ok. I ran 3-6km a few times a week, did weights (cleans, squats, lunges etc) and rehab.

I met with the doctor who performed the last surgery and he said that there is nothing more he can do other than shooting me up with cortisone again. I’ve already had three shots and I’m therefore very reluctant to having yet another one. Now that I have three weeks of school one of my main priorities - other than resting and enjoying life outside Ljungbyhed - is to have a good flow of training.

This season is not to think of, so my aim now is to be ready for fall training in September.

People have told me that my body is done. I would have thought the same thing if it would not have been for those really good 5-6 weeks of training that I had last fall - I was rollin’… If I can get back into that gear again then it’s all good. I’m willing to give it a real chance just to know that I’ve done everything I can. It has I’ve always felt is important to me is that I want to decide for myself when I quit. The dream of running at the Olympic Games lives on and 2008 is an Olympic year…

Finally, SUMMER BREAK!!” It’s only three weeks long but it’s needed - badly. The last couple of weeks have been really hectic. Did not get a chance to shutdown 50 meters from the finish line. No, had to run to the finish line - like I always do

I’ve been studying General Navigation (GEN NAV) and Human Performance and Limitations (HPL) like a mad man. None of the subjects are really hard. The challenge is more the amount of information that has to be consumed - and remembered - in the short period of time.

This week was theory week and included two progress tests (PT) and a CAA (Civil Aviation Authority) test in VFR Communications - all of them Wednesday and all of them went well. ATPL Block 1 with GEN NAV, HPL, ALW  (Air Law) and Meteorology (MET) is up a few weeks after our summer break as well as the practical test for my PPL (Private Pilot License).

The first four months of the education have passed by incredible fast. It only feels like a few weeks ago when I packed up, moved and started school. After the summer break five months will have passed by which means that one fourth is out of the way (20 months total)

Another week of flying has been entered into the pilot log book and I know have a total hours of 24.5 flight hours.  This week’s exercises consisted of:

• #201 TGL Progress check
• #202 Repetition exercise #103-#108
• #204 Slow speed, Advanced turns, stall
• #205 Max gross mass
• #206 Power off landings

Exercise #202 was my first solo flight leaving the CTR (control zone). It felt more like a solo than the actual first solo. I guess because my flight instructor (FI) could not keep an eye on me like the FI could when I was doing TGLs. I did some previous exercises on the western coastal part of Scania (around Helsingborg, Höganäs and Kullen for those of you that know Skåne). It’s not that I let the responsibility over on my FI when I fly dual, but I felt that I was way more sharp when I flew solo than when I had an instructor.

#205 was a really bad day as I mad a quite big mistake and it naggeg me until the next day. However, I came back strong on Friday’s exercise which was real good. My FI actually said that one of my power off landings was “Perfect!”

Week 24 is theory week. Lately, I’ve felt that I’m behind with the theory - there just is not enough time - and apparently other in my class feel the same way. So, this week I’ve been studying quite a lot and things are finally starting to move.

I have a confession to do. I’ve always said that track is exercised on the track and that I’ll never be one of those long distance runners or a “kotte” (Swedish for “cone” - don’t ask me how that came up as I have no idea). I am perfectly capable of getting tired, exhausted - call it what you want - in “just” one lap aka 400m. Nonetheless, a so-called friend signed me and a bunch of retired track athletes up for my track club’s (Malmö AI) long-distance race, Swedbank Malmö 10km, Saturday next weekend. Until about a month ago I’d never ran longer than 3km and that was a looooong time ago. Anyway, I thought that it might be a good thing to have a goal with training; especially since my physiotherapist told me start jogging again.

To cut a long story short, I ran 6km on 27 minutes yesterday!

I must say that I am very pleased with that. Especially since I almost felt stronger the longer the run progressed. The only problem is that my stomach has been hurting for 12 hours straight and the only thing I can think of that caused it are those 6km. Anyway, now 10km does not feel impossible any longer and I’m actually looking forward to get that race out of the way before people start thinking that I am a long-distance runner or worse - a “kotte”.

Each class at LUSA have had their own emblem/symbol and of course also class of 07:1!

The emblem/symbol of class of 07:1!

Many thanks to my classmate Rikard Tyllström who spent numerous of hours trying to please all of us. Great work!