Well this is it. That sure crept up fast. It seems like yesterday I was just beginning to prep for this in December and lay the foundation over the winter for what I hope leads to a 100K PR. I've been on a steady diet of 100 mile weeks all winter dropping a little every 4th week. I have been sleeping again thanks to a consistent work/sleep schedule. I also have had time to eat better as a result. Hell, in January I gave up pop and started using my pop money to buy fresh fruit instead. I was just drinking way too much pop. Ok coke in an ultra or a long run is ok but 2+liters of pop daily just because is stupid.
On the 14th, I ran the Kirzhach Half as my last formal tempo run before the 100K. First off, I was categorically forbidden to break 1:30 much less pop a 1:25 (not to mention this course is hellaciously hilly). Second, I was to take the first half slow and easy at my hardly working effort...somewhere about 50k starting pace. I could work the second half as a tempo run, but I was not to burn down the barn even if I felt like doing so. I need to burn down the barn next week at the 100. Damn, that's a hard task. I began slightly tapering earlier in the week and my legs were fresh and raring to burn down that barn. "Don't you dare," said the little voice in my head,"Don't you even think of putting down a mid 1:20s smthg on this course today or you will be sorry next week!" Ok, start off easy then go medium hard.
This is a point to point course that starts at the site where Yuri Gagarin died in a plane crash and runs into the town of Kirzhach. Most of the big hills are in the first 10km then the course just rolls the rest of the way. This year, we were treated to an unexpected surprise at the start and actually the first 2km:
UNMELTED SNOW! Are you kidding me???? It's mid April and the road is still snowed under?! Spring breakup has been very slow to start this year. OK, no problem of being at risk of running a mid 1:20s time today even if I wanted to! Luba Morgunova was back again and also doing a workout. Scrap plans of winning this 3 yrs in a row but again my task was to get in one final workout at a controlled pace and no barn burning. I seriously hope Luba can kick some ass at a major marathon this year and maybe still go sub 2:30. I thought it was way kickass when at 40 she won Nationals last yr.
Off we were through the sloppy snow and slow it was in the beginning. Wow 5 min pace (8 min miles) on the snow, puddle,ice mix! Damn, that's pedestrian snail slow! Nice -if I were trying to actually race, I'd have lost over a minute just because of the course conditions here. Once I cleared the snow, I just settled in at 4.30-35km (about 7.15-20 mile pace). Wow, I really am screwing around and barely breathing barely working! This is like a training run! I screwed around until I hit 11km where the water stop was. Coach had handed off a bottle of Vitargo to one of the volunteers but somehow it didn't appear at the water stop. I got a bottle of water and drank it and began to start my tempo run. Ok I want to work here medium hard but not eyeballs out because I need to save that now. 10k tempo run at 4 min/km pace. So that's exactly what I proceeded to do.
catching the 10k runners(they start at our 11k mark 45 min after we do)
Some sub 4 a few just over and voila nice smooth tempo run over some rolling hills. I could easily have held that pace for the whole race (well save for the first part on snow) but busting that out on the hills for the half as opposed to just a 10k tempo run I'm sure would have cost me in the 100k so I just worked that part of the course. 4min /km nice and steady and soon I was off chicking all the guys in my path! I am surprised how many people start out too fast. Up and down the hills at 4 min pace we go ...well with about 2km to go traffic was a bitch. yes, traffic! They didn't shut the road into town and I had to meander my way between traffic...still sticking to pace albeit ! WTF! This is nice and safe...NOT! With about 500m to go I hit the final turn into the park which was completely underwater from meltoff. yeah it was ankle deep. I just ran right down the middle of it -screw finding somewhere in the snow off to the side to run. I came out of the flood zone and up the final hill to the finish. I finished 2nd behind Luba Morgunova and was just over 1:32. If not for the flood in the final km I'd have likely beat my 1:31 and change from last year. The irony is that last year and the year before I was actually busting my ass to run that 1:31 and in 2010 1:33 (this is NOT a FAST course). The funny thing is this year, in much worse conditions,screwing around and not pushing too hard, I was no worse off. Ok I sandbagged 6 minutes slower than my time 2 weeks ago, but I was not busting my ass at all! The scary thing is that yeah, I dropped over 5 minutes in the final 10k once I picked it up a bit and that pace felt comfortable. Yes, I could have run the whole thing like that and I probably would have been very close to the time I ran 2 weeks ago which is damn good considering the difficulty of this course and the unexpected snow that slowed things down. Yes, it took a LOT of self control to hold back when I knew darn well I could go. Doug Heron, 800m Alaska recordholder at 1:49, whom I used to work with helping the distance kids on the track team in Fairbanks once put it this way when we were doing intervals with the kids," Today, you want to take that hot pizza to the door and knock. On race day, the door opens up and you go in deliver that pizza ready to eat." Yeah, that's spot on. This run was about getting that pizza to the door. Next week I get to go in and eat it! The hay is in the barn and it's time to rest and do mostly nothing. There is really nothing more I can do. I'm either ready or I'm not at this point.
On the 14th, I ran the Kirzhach Half as my last formal tempo run before the 100K. First off, I was categorically forbidden to break 1:30 much less pop a 1:25 (not to mention this course is hellaciously hilly). Second, I was to take the first half slow and easy at my hardly working effort...somewhere about 50k starting pace. I could work the second half as a tempo run, but I was not to burn down the barn even if I felt like doing so. I need to burn down the barn next week at the 100. Damn, that's a hard task. I began slightly tapering earlier in the week and my legs were fresh and raring to burn down that barn. "Don't you dare," said the little voice in my head,"Don't you even think of putting down a mid 1:20s smthg on this course today or you will be sorry next week!" Ok, start off easy then go medium hard.
This is a point to point course that starts at the site where Yuri Gagarin died in a plane crash and runs into the town of Kirzhach. Most of the big hills are in the first 10km then the course just rolls the rest of the way. This year, we were treated to an unexpected surprise at the start and actually the first 2km:
Off we were through the sloppy snow and slow it was in the beginning. Wow 5 min pace (8 min miles) on the snow, puddle,ice mix! Damn, that's pedestrian snail slow! Nice -if I were trying to actually race, I'd have lost over a minute just because of the course conditions here. Once I cleared the snow, I just settled in at 4.30-35km (about 7.15-20 mile pace). Wow, I really am screwing around and barely breathing barely working! This is like a training run! I screwed around until I hit 11km where the water stop was. Coach had handed off a bottle of Vitargo to one of the volunteers but somehow it didn't appear at the water stop. I got a bottle of water and drank it and began to start my tempo run. Ok I want to work here medium hard but not eyeballs out because I need to save that now. 10k tempo run at 4 min/km pace. So that's exactly what I proceeded to do.
Some sub 4 a few just over and voila nice smooth tempo run over some rolling hills. I could easily have held that pace for the whole race (well save for the first part on snow) but busting that out on the hills for the half as opposed to just a 10k tempo run I'm sure would have cost me in the 100k so I just worked that part of the course. 4min /km nice and steady and soon I was off chicking all the guys in my path! I am surprised how many people start out too fast. Up and down the hills at 4 min pace we go ...well with about 2km to go traffic was a bitch. yes, traffic! They didn't shut the road into town and I had to meander my way between traffic...still sticking to pace albeit ! WTF! This is nice and safe...NOT! With about 500m to go I hit the final turn into the park which was completely underwater from meltoff. yeah it was ankle deep. I just ran right down the middle of it -screw finding somewhere in the snow off to the side to run. I came out of the flood zone and up the final hill to the finish. I finished 2nd behind Luba Morgunova and was just over 1:32. If not for the flood in the final km I'd have likely beat my 1:31 and change from last year. The irony is that last year and the year before I was actually busting my ass to run that 1:31 and in 2010 1:33 (this is NOT a FAST course). The funny thing is this year, in much worse conditions,screwing around and not pushing too hard, I was no worse off. Ok I sandbagged 6 minutes slower than my time 2 weeks ago, but I was not busting my ass at all! The scary thing is that yeah, I dropped over 5 minutes in the final 10k once I picked it up a bit and that pace felt comfortable. Yes, I could have run the whole thing like that and I probably would have been very close to the time I ran 2 weeks ago which is damn good considering the difficulty of this course and the unexpected snow that slowed things down. Yes, it took a LOT of self control to hold back when I knew darn well I could go. Doug Heron, 800m Alaska recordholder at 1:49, whom I used to work with helping the distance kids on the track team in Fairbanks once put it this way when we were doing intervals with the kids," Today, you want to take that hot pizza to the door and knock. On race day, the door opens up and you go in deliver that pizza ready to eat." Yeah, that's spot on. This run was about getting that pizza to the door. Next week I get to go in and eat it! The hay is in the barn and it's time to rest and do mostly nothing. There is really nothing more I can do. I'm either ready or I'm not at this point.
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