Athletics Joensuu GP live in Areena on Saturday at 17:55 and on TV2 at 19:10.
Hläna to Marjamaa (née Laihorinne)’s 100 meter Finnish record of 11.13 turned 40 years old last summer. He was asked to give a lecture on the ideology of his practice.
Marjamaa, 68 gave a lecture at the Kaleva Games in Lahti, and Lotta Kemppinen coach Mervi Brandenburg was interested in listening to it.
After the lecture, open-minded Brandenburg went to ask when Marjamaa would come to Helsinki and if he could come watch their rehearsals then. The situation was exceptional, as few coaches dare to ask for help from outsiders.
Marjamaa responded affirmatively to the invitation and last fall he was watching Kemppinen’s hill pulling training in Myllypuro, Helsinki. They got to know each other and the cooperation started.
Marjamaa now works as Kemppinen’s mentor and support person. The coaches are Mervi Brandenburg and Mikael Ylöstalo.
Marjamaa ran in the 100 meter final at the World Championships
In civil law, Marjamaa has a master’s degree in philosophy, an MBA degree in management and a CEO degree. He has also been on the Kokkola city council and board. Later, he graduated as a wellness coach and has given lectures on self-management.
In 1983, Marjamaa was still a top athlete and ran sixth in the 100-meter final of the first ever World Championships in Helsinki. It was a tough trick from the Finnish sprinter.
Just before the World Championships in Helsinki, he ran the still valid Finnish record of 11.13 in Lahti. During his career, he represented Finland in two European Championships and two Olympic Games.
In 1980 in Moscow, he continued from the preliminaries, but had to stop playing because of a leg injury. In the 1984 Olympic Games in Los Angeles, he missed the final place by only one hundredth of a second.
– Then four runners from both heats made it to the semifinals, recalls Marjamaa, who has 10 gold medals from the Kaleva Games.
At that time, runners did not have as many international opponents at home or competitions abroad as perhaps today. That’s why Marjamaa had to think about new training methods.
In his last years of practice, he developed his own imagery exercise and repeated it regularly. In training, he runs the race in his own mind.
– I myself have been able to correct technical errors with it and improve my readiness to run hard. The ability to concentrate also improves, but it must be done systematically.
After her career, Marjamaa worked as an athletics coach, but today she is only involved in the Finnish Sports Federation’s mentor program. In it, former athletes offer their help to today’s athletes.
– When these talented young people are found, it is important to give them all the help they can. So that they would have the opportunity to move forward and realize the dreams they dream of, says Marjamaa, who has been the captain of the women’s national team for a long time.
Kemppinen broke his record on Midsummer
Lotta Kemppinen, 26, who has a heptathlon background, only became a sprinter about six years ago. He made his international breakthrough in the winter of 2021 at the EC indoor competitions in Torun, Poland, by running the 60-meter smooth EC silver with a time of 7.22. In February of the same year, he ran the Finnish record of 7.16.
Before and after that, however, Kemppinen has struggled with various injuries and problems, and has not always been able to get his running to go exactly as he had hoped. Among other things, he had to miss the Olympic Games in Tokyo due to a leg injury.
This summer, however, the clock stopped at the record readings at the midsummer races in Kuortanene: Kemppinen got a perfect start and clocked a smooth straight at 11:20. It is the best Finnish time of the trip in 33 years. Ahead of him in the all-time statistics are only Mona-Liisa Pursiainen and Helinä Marjamaa.
Kemppinen thinks it’s great that Marjamaa is still interested in helping athletes.
– He’s played a lot and he’s gotten good tips when we’ve played and done imagery exercises. It’s been a really good addition to this pattern and yes, it can be seen on the track as well, says Kemppinen, who has always liked crunching statistics. In his opinion, Marjamaa’s Finnish record of 11.13 has previously seemed like an “ice-hard result”.
– I think it’s really cool that I’ve gotten this close. Let’s hope I can get a little closer, but we’ll see.
In the imagery exercise, you have to stay in the moment
This year, the communication between Kemppinen and Marjamaa has intensified. Especially during the competition season, the phone lines have been hot every week.
– First we talk about the news and then I ask what we need to pay attention to at the moment, where there are challenges and what is going really well. Then there is a short full-body relaxation and after that we start running a hundred meters, says Marjamaa and praises Kemppi.
– Lotta is good at analyzing performances. That’s why it’s important to talk about how you feel first.
Since Marjamaa lives in Kokkola and Kemppinen lives in Helsinki, the exercise was carried out by phone. At first, the imagery exercises guided by Marjamaa seemed difficult.
– I haven’t really done them before. I’m quite nervous and it was really difficult for me when everything is done in a kind of slow motion, says Kemppinen.
Little by little, Kemppinen was already able to do the exercise without the thought breaking off.
– This is not an easy exercise. Especially if you do it yourself, the thought tends to escape more easily compared to someone else saying it. You have to do a lot of repetitions, explains Marjamaa.
Kemppinen is looking for a perfect run
In the imagery exercise developed by Marjamaa, you run a hundred meters, just like in competitions.
– There are always the toughest runners by Lota’s side, but he always wins. I talk and he concentrates on listening.
In the imagery exercise, we search for an ideal run, and the goal is that at some point the run goes so well that the thought stays running every moment.
– Of course, Lota must know what his ideal performance is in the 100 meters, says Marjamaa.
– The most important thing in training is that it is always a perfect run. There are always two fierce competitors on each side, and I always finish as the winner. At the same time, it’s a kind of good mood exercise, Kemppinen describes.
In addition to the imagery exercise, Marjamaa has been able to help Kemppi with technical issues, for example. They have gone through, for example, the use of hands, relaxation and the end of the 100-meter race.
Good runs were already seen in the Kuortane and Vaasa Kaleva races, but he is still hunting for his own top performance.
– I wouldn’t say I’ve had a perfect run yet, Kemppinen says.
Marjamaa reminds us that imagery exercise alone is not a blissful thing.
– Of course, this does not replace physical training. Behind Lota, Mervi and Mikael are doing very important work.
However, according to Marjamaa, imagery training is an important supplement and form of support alongside other training.
Finally, we have to ask, does Marjamaa believe that Kemppinen will be able to break his Finnish record?
– I believe he can. Of course, it requires optimal conditions and success. It’s quite interesting that top performance can sometimes go completely unnoticed.