A great walker Aku Bearden has reached an altitude of 2,700 meters. A snowy mountain landscape can be seen in the background. Partanen puts on his sneakers and starts his training day.
Now, however, it is not in the mountains of South Africa. The place is Helsinki’s Mäkelänrinne, and the snowy mountain landscape is just a wall-sized poster.
A moment earlier, Partanen grabbed a key from the lobby of the building and after a couple of stairwells he entered a room in Urhea’s premises, into an artificially created mountain environment.
Partanen, who is one of Finland’s most promising hopes for success at the European Athletics Championships in June, assures that the room will work. The space looks like an ordinary gym, where you can find a treadmill and a few exercise bikes.
– Athletes have had their red blood cell mass values measured before and after the camp. Here you get exactly the same effect as at a real mountain training camp, even slightly better results for blood values than in real mountains, says Partanen.
This is because in the mountains you can’t change the height by clicking your fingers. Hard training is done at sea level.
The height can be changed quickly in Urhea’s premises: there is a meter on the wall that can be adjusted and the conditions of the room change.
It’s hard to notice being at less than 3,000 meters when you’re sitting still and watching Partanen walk at a fast pace on the treadmill. The thinner air is more noticeable when you leave the room.
According to Partanen, you feel the effect of the room better when doing the exercise.
The drops of sweat on Partanen’s face increase.
With the help of the mountain room, Partanen has been able to significantly reduce his camps abroad. The carbon footprint has been reduced when four high-altitude camps in South Africa have dropped completely from the annual calendar.
“This is my way of carrying my cards in the deck”
It took 16 hours one way to the mountains of South Africa. Urhea’s facilities are about 30 minutes away by tram from Partanen’s home in southern Helsinki.
My profession is a load factor for the environment.
Aku Bearden
Partane’s expression turns serious when the topic of climate is brought up. He says that he became aware of climate issues gradually.
– I have thought about how I could be involved in the talks and what kind of solutions and everyday choices I would make. This is my way of carrying my cards to the deck, Partanen refers to the use of the mountain room.
Partanen is naturally unable to completely give up flying. There are still competitions and camps abroad. In the winter, the walker went to camp in Spain.
– The treadmill becomes too familiar when it’s snowing here.
– I have noticed that my own profession, which involves a lot of traveling, is a load factor for the environment. It can’t be helped if the competitions are far away and you have to travel. Your own choices, which you can influence, are important, the walker emphasizes.
Partanen believes that even small climate actions matter. Partase has several of them.
One is, of course, walking.
Partanen likes to walk short distances even in his spare time instead of going by car or public transport.
– After all, walking is also an eco-act. If you travel by tram or bus, for example, you can get off at previous stops and walk the rest of the way.
By the way, the record number of steps per day measured by Partanen’s phone is no less than 59,188. In a month, the most steps have been 1,004,229, i.e. well over a million.
Almost 60,000 steps came in May 2018 during a hard workout.
“Athletes certainly share the same concern in general”
In Urhea’s premises, there is a canteen where you can see, in addition to Partanen, other top Finnish athletes, this time including the 400 meter rower Oskari Mörö sits at the next table.
Partanen takes a plate of salmon soup and side salad and rye bread from the buffet. Partanen says that he is a fan of vegetarian food.
Partanen says he is a picky eater, which means meat should also be put on the plate.
– I’m not quite a vegetarian. It should be ensured that all nutrients can be obtained with vegetarian food and that there are no deficiencies.
A top 20 kilometer walker trains really hard and the consumption is huge. Partanen says that his diet is precisely refined, as a top athlete should be.
– There must be sufficient energy intake for recovery and development.
– Surely I could just be a vegetarian. I don’t think there would be any obstacle to that. Maybe it’s simpler and easier to be a picky eater, says Partanen.
The concern caused by the climate crisis has become its own word for people: climate anxiety.
However, Partanen has not experienced that.
Partanen says that he hasn’t heard much about the climate crisis or climate anxiety in sports circles, where traveling and air travel are commonplace.
However, that does not mean that climate change is not of interest.
– Athletes certainly share the same concern as society in general. Certainly many top athletes are thinking about climate change at the moment.
Back to the mountain room.
You can also adjust the temperature in the room if you want to get your body used to the hot air before competing in hot conditions. The room also costs nothing for an athlete of Partanen’s caliber.
You can also set up a longer high-altitude camp on the premises, because you can stay there and live in cell apartments.
Paraikaa, a top Finnish walker Jaakko Määttänen is said to be somewhere in these rooms in his own high-altitude camp. The facilities have been in use for a few years.
The 32-year-old Partase is having the most important year of his career. Everything is aimed at the European Championships in June and the Olympic Games in August.
Partase has had minor ailments during the training season, but that situation is normal for a top athlete.
– SaiPa’s situation is worrying, Partanen says.
Partanen is from Lappeenranta. South Karelia does not shine at least from the Partanen dialect, but at the latest, upsetting the ice hockey team from Lappeenranta brings out the fundamental identity.
Already at a young age, Partanen from Lappeenranta made an effort to make the Finnish athletics public aware. He has several youth Finnish records and Finnish championships.
Partas has been expected to be successful in the value competition for a long time.
He qualified for the adult competition for the first time in his early twenties in 2013, and more than ten years later, Partanen is living up to expectations.
Last August, at the World Championships in Budapest, Partanen finished sixth in 20 kilometers with a new Finnish record of 1:18.22 and was one of the best Finns at the World Championships.
The first prize medal was only half a minute away.
– The difference in the medal was one that you can make up in a year if you succeed. I aim for medals from the European Championships and the Olympics. Fitness has evolved over the years to the point where it is realism.
Partanen’s Finnish record of 1:18.22 is over 3,000 meters Cooper’s test pace on average every kilometer. That tells every everyday walker how hard Partanen’s race pace is.
The most important year of a sports career must not be seen as trying too hard.
Aku Bearden
The exercise is done. Partanen packs his bag and leaves Mäkelänrinte towards the tram stop. Now there is no descent from the mountains and no car journey to the airport. And no flight.
Although the most important summer of Partase’s career has begun and every training session is important, the athlete reminds us of an essential point.
– You must not squeeze the racket too much. The most important year of a sports career must not be seen as trying too hard. At the end of the day, I will train this year in the same way as before, says Partanen.
When the world champion, Partanen’s coach Valentin Kononen used to do 40 kilometers of hard walking once a week, Partanen has learned his own training method with Kononen.
It now includes a weekly mountain room, which did not exist during Kononen’s peak years in the 1990s.
This time, Partanen chooses a half-hour tram ride instead of walking.
By walking, Partanen would be at home 10 minutes faster.
Aku Partanen will compete in the European Athletics Championships in the men’s 20 km walk on Saturday 8 June. at 19. Live broadcast on TV2, Areena and the app.