Well, it's rest time now. ON the 14th I went up to Zelenograd to run the hour run that Boris Prokopiev was putting on in honor of the 20th anniversary of the running magazine Running and Us (pretty much the Russian equivalent of Runner's World). Boris always does a nice job when he is the RD and organizes things well because he does it from his heart. I just needed a fun place to go get in a speedy workout and have some fun too. Temps were 10-13C and sunny warm. I decided to go with my pink running dress worried at first the open back might be too chilly- nope I was actually HOT when I was running. The course was a 500m loop with 180 degree turns on each end that chewed up time. I finished just under 15k in 14k 690m would have been about 1:01 on the 15k good enough if I were running a half for at least a 1:25-1:26 worst case scenario.I was pacing easily 3.57-4 min /km on the straightaways but the turns slowed us all to a crawl and in my case there were 59 of them!!!!! So I was happy with my results given that bit of an obstacle. I was kind of surprised Boris did awards for top3. I just thought we were going to have a picnic after where everyone chipped in something they brought. I had brought sweets. We had the awards first then lunch. It was fun and I won, but was mostly looking for a fun place to do a speedy tempo run at what would be half marathon pace had I had the opportunity to run one.
Pix by Boris Prokopiev
Now the next story is truly one of sh!t or get off the pot. Yes, I declared my distance when it came to my turn in line to get a number at signup! I usually open my season with the Gagarin Half in Zvezdniy Gorodok. This year, I was heartbroken to see it was postponed THREE WEEKS Later than usual. That put it SIX DAYS before 100k Euros. I love this race. It's April before it gets hotass holy hell and it's a flat and fast course. I knew I'd have to sit out the half and just do the 10 which I really didn't want to do. Coach and I pondered what to do what to do and he said it would probably be harder to bust out some 38min ro so 10k than it would be to just sandbag the half at the same pace we had been doing 10 and 15 k tempo runs over the winter at track workouts. That's about 4.10/km or 6 .40 ish mile pace. My HR was nice and low in the 140s usually when I did that -working but not busting my ass pace. So that was the compromise-run the half but sandbag with the parking brake on like I did in Kirzhach last yr the week before the 100k. That was a tough pill to swallow because it was cool and WINDY -7-8C so not going to overheat and could run a solid time. The wind was an issue on the outbound on each of the 2 loops on the half marathon course. Coach also said that if that 4.10/km training pace was enough to hold off the next lady, then go for the win but don't go eyeballs out- just enough to get the job done while leaving gas in the tank. 4. 10 is about a 1:28 and that just exactly what I did. I went out at that and just parked instead of doing my usual pick it up in the second half and neg. split. I passed the woman who eventually finished second at about 5k into the first loop but just kept on my own pace not gassing it as I went by. I knew I was opening up a nice gap just by doing that so I just put the cruise control on there. I did throw down a couple 3.50s in the final 2k because I was feeling so lazy out there at that pace! The first loop was 11k the outbound being into the wind but I had some guys to tuck in behind til they turned off at the 10k turnaround which was 500m before the half turnaround. In the 2nd loop I was flying solo and into the wind too on that outbound 5k. I wasn't pushing pace though just keeping in comfort, but working zone. I just kept doing that for the win. Next lady was about 4 min back. I had considered running with her most of the way then taking off in the final few km but I thought that would be kind of rude and asshole like so I just decided to run my workout pace. The other issue is if I run slower than I am supposed to be, my calves get grumpy, I needed to run MY race at MY comfortable pace.
The prizes here for top3 are really good every yr. This yr I got a 25in flat screen/smart TV which is plenty big enough for my flat. I love being able to watch the stuff I torrent right on the TV either via the flash or just hooking up the computer to the TV. I used to just watch downloads on my computer which isn't as comfortable. 2nd lady got a similar TV just smaller. So now, I'm just going to spend some time chilling in front of that TV RESTING before the 100k. That's the secret, after doing the half last year, I ran very little in the final week before the 100 and was fine. Same thing before 50k World Cup-just easy peasy running and resting after I ran the 15k all out the week before and the half all out in 2011 pre 50k and both times I was fine. The weather gods are promising temps not even to 10C for the 100k which is GREAT but I'm not thrilled with the rain part of that. Still, it beats HOT! Well off I am!
tv interview pre race....where I confess I am not allowed to go all out because of the 100k coming up.
http://www.mosobltv.ru/?an=news_page&uid=33621
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