It's been a while since I posted. Truth is I've been busy-training! I recovered pretty quickly off of Belochka. Ijust treated it like a long run. By early August my speed was back in full force. On the 6th, I ran the Luzhniki 15K which for whatever reason, my time was a good couple 3 min shy of where it should have easily been. 2 days before the race, I was really sleepytired and overslept nearly missing my morning class! I woke up 15 min before I was to be out the door. I have a very loud and obnoxious alarm and was baffled as to how I did not hear it.I went to bed on time the night before and slept some 8 odd hours too. I'm not sure what it was. I have been cranking 90-100 mi weeks since the late spring taking a rest week after every 3 weeks of high volume and dropping to 60-70miles sometimes less if I feel cumlulative effects of tiredness. So yes, I still ended up 6th in the 15k good enough to place, but my times was worse than my 15k splits in my half marathons. I then had 3 weeks to just train-high mileage, long speed sessions, and long runs in the 35-40km range. I cold not find a marathon to do as a trainng run this month. Solnechnogorsk was 3 weeks before the Worlds and I did not want to risk going too hard that close to the race and opted for a long run the week before instead.
25-August I ran in our club's annual 1000m run for fun. It was a busy week. I had a hard speed session on Tuesday,ran the 1000m on Thursday, and then a hellaciously hilly "half"(22k400m) on Saturday. I won the 1000 on the women's side. I was glad to do this. It's always fun hanging out w/ friends after the run and chatting.
The 1000 was a nice little pickup before my last hard tempo run which I would do Saturday at the Adidas "Half" Marathon.
Which brings us to the said"half". I had registered for this online a couple weeks ago and long since received a confirmation. I had been told the course was hilly. I needed one final long-ish tempo run before the 100k and this was it.
Nothing prepared me for the horrendous organization of the event. I thought after the mess I experienced with horrific disorganization at Belochka, that it couldn't get worse....careful what you wish for! I arrived a couple hours before my start at 2pm. The 5 and 10k was earlier. The line was like nothing I have ever seen at any race EVER! It was several hundred meters long and not moving. A friend met me and another person from our running club and quickly escorted us to the tent where you get your number effectively bypassing the bullsh!t. It came down to following my friend or not running as that line was not moving and ppl later said they waited over 2 hours. I had already registered online so it was just a matter of finding myself on the list and getting my number which I did. I figured at first the line was for people who had not registered online but it seemed to be a mix of some who had and others who hadn't.
OK, next. It's hot as hell and of course they have our start in the MIDDLE OF THE DAY. Hey, that's pretty intelligent...NOT! To boot, we were delayed a good 45 min!. Everyone stood 45 min in the sun with little or nothing to drink(after about 30 min they started handing out water) waiting to enter the starting area. What a mess! Ok the course-was rather hilly. it was 8 loops of up and down. The organisers did provide water on the course which was there while I was out there. Some of the slower runners said it ran out before they finished. I had crew out there to give me my Vitargo every other lap-appx. every 5k. The course was long-22k 400+m so my finish time was worse than my actual half time. I ran pretty evenly throughout despite the hills and my true half time was right at about 1:30 which wasn't bad given the difficulty of the course and the fact we had sizzled in the sun plenty of time before the race. I was running at about 85%-90%effort just as a true tempo run. I did not want to risk not being fully rested/recovered in 2 weeks. I had originally wanted to run this one for time, but when one of the guys in our club told me it was going to be a difficult course, I figured best to sandbag it and run sane. I need to taper now. Ok after the finish, we got our medals then went to stand in yet another line where they were giving out nice tech shirts. Actually, they were very nice and they had my size too.
So now, I'm down to less then a week to go before the 100K. The whole irony now is that on my way to training my ass off for this 100, I have gotten into really good marathon shape but sadly will not run a marathon for time this year. I have mixed feelings about this. I have pretty much sacrificed my season to prepare for this-never really focusing on putting down fast times at other distances although I did have a very fast mile in June followed by a 21 minute PR in the 50k. One of my very good friends back in the US who has been on the US 100K team told me when you train for a good ultra you have to forget about speed for the shorter stuff. Sometimes it's still a tough pill to swallow when you have a solid track background. So, the hay is in the barn. I need to focus on rest rest rest and more rest now. The fact that I have given up my entire season to make this my goal ought to be motivation enough to get my ass out there and put down a solid time in the Netherlands next week...I hope. Coach and I planned to run for time at only 2 races this yr the first being the 50k, the second being the 100K Worlds.
Final monkey wrench- hurricane irene nearly ruined my 100k. I have decided to run the 100 in the Nike Lunarracers. They worked for the 50-no blisters no major toenail casualties. Last yr, I noticed guys on the US Team wore them at the Worlds. I was shocked as they are 150g shoes! I only have my standard guy's 9 (42.5)here that i usually race in and Leonid is in NYC for the World Police Games. Sooo I had the shoes sent to him there in a half size up to bring back to be. He just sent a message saying he got the shoes---YESSS. I worried the mail wold be delayed because of the hurricane. He got my Vespa last week so I should be good to go now.
25-August I ran in our club's annual 1000m run for fun. It was a busy week. I had a hard speed session on Tuesday,ran the 1000m on Thursday, and then a hellaciously hilly "half"(22k400m) on Saturday. I won the 1000 on the women's side. I was glad to do this. It's always fun hanging out w/ friends after the run and chatting.
Which brings us to the said"half". I had registered for this online a couple weeks ago and long since received a confirmation. I had been told the course was hilly. I needed one final long-ish tempo run before the 100k and this was it.
Nothing prepared me for the horrendous organization of the event. I thought after the mess I experienced with horrific disorganization at Belochka, that it couldn't get worse....careful what you wish for! I arrived a couple hours before my start at 2pm. The 5 and 10k was earlier. The line was like nothing I have ever seen at any race EVER! It was several hundred meters long and not moving. A friend met me and another person from our running club and quickly escorted us to the tent where you get your number effectively bypassing the bullsh!t. It came down to following my friend or not running as that line was not moving and ppl later said they waited over 2 hours. I had already registered online so it was just a matter of finding myself on the list and getting my number which I did. I figured at first the line was for people who had not registered online but it seemed to be a mix of some who had and others who hadn't.
some pics firends got of me on the course...
So now, I'm down to less then a week to go before the 100K. The whole irony now is that on my way to training my ass off for this 100, I have gotten into really good marathon shape but sadly will not run a marathon for time this year. I have mixed feelings about this. I have pretty much sacrificed my season to prepare for this-never really focusing on putting down fast times at other distances although I did have a very fast mile in June followed by a 21 minute PR in the 50k. One of my very good friends back in the US who has been on the US 100K team told me when you train for a good ultra you have to forget about speed for the shorter stuff. Sometimes it's still a tough pill to swallow when you have a solid track background. So, the hay is in the barn. I need to focus on rest rest rest and more rest now. The fact that I have given up my entire season to make this my goal ought to be motivation enough to get my ass out there and put down a solid time in the Netherlands next week...I hope. Coach and I planned to run for time at only 2 races this yr the first being the 50k, the second being the 100K Worlds.
Final monkey wrench- hurricane irene nearly ruined my 100k. I have decided to run the 100 in the Nike Lunarracers. They worked for the 50-no blisters no major toenail casualties. Last yr, I noticed guys on the US Team wore them at the Worlds. I was shocked as they are 150g shoes! I only have my standard guy's 9 (42.5)here that i usually race in and Leonid is in NYC for the World Police Games. Sooo I had the shoes sent to him there in a half size up to bring back to be. He just sent a message saying he got the shoes---YESSS. I worried the mail wold be delayed because of the hurricane. He got my Vespa last week so I should be good to go now.
