Michelle's Main Blog: April 2011

Up at 5:15 for this one so I could have breakfast and get the first round of caff down to wake me up before I had to leave at 6:45 to meet my friend Dima from our running club who was picking me up. We left just after 7 so we could get to the start by 9 ish. the Bus that takes runners to the start leaves at 10. At 8:30 I downed a 5 hour energy. Despite falling asleep just past 11, I woke up at 4:30 and barely dozed before I had to get up. Caff was a must.
We got to Kirzhach just after 9, got our numbers and got the bus just after 10. The start is in the place where Yuri Gagarin's plane went down in 1968. We all went over to the memorial to pay respects. I pplaced 2 flowers on the memorial and was off to warm up.

The half start was at 11:15. This year, I decided to take the first 10k nice and slow because this is a hellaciuosly hilly course on really crappy roads and most of the evil big climbs are in the first 10k. Last yr those hills kicked my ass! Once I got through the 10k I decided to go to work- pace dropped to 4.10 and I just parked there til 17K when I decided to floor it and went3.58, 4.03,4.02,4.09(hill in last K) to the finish. Despite not having any water on the course this yr, I sliced 3 min off my time from last yr! I typically run this 3 +min slower than my flatland time which is a very good sign. I'm in far better shape than I have been in the spring for several yrs. I need to be smart and stay healthy touch wood before the marathon next month.

about to chick some guys toward the end:

I won this one again like last yr. Masha Milevskaya was the 2nd woman. She's also in our club and a very good runner and has run 17 min 5ks. She hasn't raced in a couple yrs and it was good to see her back!
On Sunday, i deliberately skipped the 20k and ran a 30k long run instead so my legs would be fresher for this race. 3 half marathons inside 13 days is just not where I cared to go. Below- kicking it into the finish.

Weather today was perfect at+5-7C and some clouds. I'll attempt a half for time on May 7th on a flat fast course if the weather in May is still cool. that will be my final race before Riga in the 22nd. Riga will likely be my only marathon this yr because of my ultrarunning obligations in July at the World Cup 50K Series then the 100k Worlds in Spetember.
Now it's just training til the end of the monthwhen I'll jump into a 10k on the 30th for speedwork.

Masha and I cleaning house today:-) ,1, 2 overall and in our age gp.

This is typically the season opener and the first good weather race of the season. The weather was excellent this yr looming about 10-12C sunny with little wind. The course was in excellent condition except for the 1600 or so meters we ran near the start finish that were under slush, melting ice, and puddles. Last yr, I ran this just over 1:30-but the course was measured correctly. This yr,I came up just over 1:30 BUT the course was over 300m LONG! These kinds of things frustrate the hell out of me and it's one of the reasons I run my most important high end races outside Russia. Last year my overall pace was about 4.20/km this yr 4.11 ( about 6.40 miles).

I had no idea how things would go as I pretty much sat out the winter by default. After the 100k, I spent over a month just recovering and that dragged on well into December. Usually, I race a hilly 15 k in early Dec. then 2 weeks later do a 20k (usually by then on snow) in order to maintain fitness in the offseason. Well, the 15 K was 3 weeks after the 100k- scratch that-no need to tear something not yet healed on the hills and it was unlikely I'd place so I sat that out. By week 6 the 20k approached-my legs were beginning to finally feel normal again but I wasn't sure I was up to being able to win that race (best prizes only for the winner in this one) as I'd done 3 times before plus, did not want to invite injury so that got sat out too. Well by then all that was left was to run the 3000 in the Russia Belarus Ukraine Moscow St Pete Tatarstan Masters Meet (oh yeah great after an ultra let me try and SPEED...NOT)that weekend. Sure, I won my division was 2nd overall but my time- a career worst! Oddly enough 6 days later my legs came around and I turned out a halfway decent mile. The next day I was going to race a 5k- we had an ice storm and many trains were not running and our driver also opted not to drive....God kept me out of that one. January, February, and March are dead months here with little to no action. I got in 2 more 3000s (one win at the Moscow masters in Feb and 5th in the University Championships in March) and just 2 mile runs in Jan /Feb. I don't consider this anything serious. I trained through the winter,yes, did speed, distance, sitting on roughly 80 mile weeks, but no racing. Well...there was the snowshoe....

Before the start the guys were asking what I planned to run-had no idea been off basically since november as far as I'm concerned-probably a mild tempo run and that's it. Well, I figured just shoot for 4.20s it's still early in the season. I went out 4.37 first km mostly because I was focusing on not busting my ass on the snow/ice slop in the first 400m. After that, I dropped to 4.10+-1-2 sec. I thought I'd gone out too fast but I felt comfortable at that pace and wasn't getting lactic buildup so I figured I'd try and see if I could hold that. that was pacing to come out roughly1:28 smthg though and I had doubts I'd be up to that this early in the season. At 4k I was 4th woman just chucking along at my 4.10 pace feeling ok. At 5k I passed number 3 and kept going. I saw number 2 just ahead and caught up and ran with her a bit between 6-7k but it felt too easy. I saw the pace dropped off to a slacker's effort at 4.19. I decided to risk it and go back to 4.10 and pass her and hope I could hold it the rest of the day. I did. I just parked in autopilot at that pace pretty much the whole race. The rest of the day I just kept moving up, catching the next group, running w/ them til they dropped off then going after the next group of guys to chick ( I'm not very nice:)) and soon it was a little game of how many guys I could chick along the way. First lap after running back to that 400m ice /slop stretch I see it's nearly 10.7km(bloody effing hell...the course is LONG goddammit anyways and I'm pacing for a decent time too)lap 1- 45 min. Ok 400m back out the slop path for lap 2. Ok 4.19 between 10-11km thank you poopy slush then it was back to cruise control in the 4.10 neighborhood. Coach was out there w/ my drinks :) and off I was to the 3rd turnaround. Along the way i cought more guys and we ran together between 4.06-12 pace til just past 15k then they fell back and i was getting lonely. With just over 5k to go 3rd woman was about 80 seconds back so I hauled ass to open up a bigger gap and got within about 50m of the next guy group.I knew I wouldn't be able to go balls out into a nice kick at the finish because of the slop in the last 400m so I decided to push the pace while the opportunity was there. I had about 3k to go when i really could have used a swig of my drinks but Coach could not get that far down the course so I decided to just suck it up and push the pace in the last 3k. Hell, after running a 100k 3k is nothing. Actually, the half seemed very short. Paced even all day and probably would have been up to a marathon in the 3 hour neighborhood because my legs were fine. I've been doing 30-35k training runs nearly every weekend during the winter to build endurance and compensate for lack of racing and alleviate boredom. I then hit the track midweek. It's still early to be doing 40-50k long runs but those are coming in the late spring early summer!

running along the course
Coach said it looked like I was just taking it too easy though. LOL I didn't kow what to expect but running in the 4.10 range this early in the season has never happened. I hit that or better uauslly only in May before the marathon. In 2009, I had an even split day like that in the half 2 weeks before my 3rd palce finish and near PR in the Riga Marathon (which I neg split that day). So, knock on wood, I need to stay healthy and would like to try and chase down that 2009 performance before I get too damn old to beat it. Last yr my halves sucked in the spring because my right ass still hurt from my priaformus and back issues. Still light yrs from my half PR though grrr.
Next weekend I go to Kirzhach for the Half but just to get in a good workout. This is a hellaciously hilly course that you don't run for time. Last yr I won, but this yr we will see. Coach is having me carefully select races to allow for proper recovery and maximise results in prep for the rest of the season. Most of my work will be in the 2nd half of the season this yr.

Finished 2nd woman and got a nice TV/DVD player to take w/ me on all those long boring train and plane rides:) Prizes here are always good for the top finishers. When I won in 2009, I got a new plasma TV.

finish

Here is a link to pix and video. They got me in the end of the video at the finish. The lady recording results at the finish commented on my "scary shirt" -I was in my RUN OR DIE gear and I said," Well I have to scare off the competition somehow!"