Well, It's been a busy month indeed. I pretty much spent it racing myself back into speed shape. After that 1000m run, I joined the parkrunners 2 days later on Saturday morning for a 5k xc run on my daily stomping grounds. I figured, why not? They are meeting up 1500m from my door so I don't have to go anywhere; I'll just run to the start and then take my handheld so I can refill after the run and finish my 25k that was on the menu. The parkrunners organize 5ks every Saturday in various parks in Moscow and Kuzminki (where I train daily) was the site for this run. These guys do a nice job of organizing the runs and it's a nice alternative to my secondary speed workout on weekends I'm not racing.
more pics here-
Pictures were taken on the only paved section of the course. :) Ducklings are swimming in the ponds.
...And then there was the Kremlin Mile four days later on the 12th. This year was very different from last. After about 300m, I was all alone and Lena didn't challenge me this year. She actually ended up 2nd and 18 seconds back much to my surprise. I never ever imagined I'd win this. I've been running the Kremlin Mile off and on since 2000 and ended up 2nd or 3rd a couple few times, but never won. It's not my distance after all. So this was really nice!
2nd 800 all alone
Four days later... It was the Zelenograd Half. This year, Boris Prokopiev was back in the driver's seat so I knew this would be well organized. Honestly, after last year, I had no longer planned to run this race because since Boris had not been in the driver's seat the past few years, it had only gone downhill. Actually, had Boris not stepped up to the plate this year, it would have been cancelled since the new organizers refused to hold it simply because it was "not profitable"! This year's half was hot as holy hell with temps hitting 32C by the finish! Needless to say, just ran for place not time since top 6 got nice prizes from Saucony.
Here is a big shout out and thanks to Boris for not letting one of the top half marathons in Russia die off. Nice job! Oh and super nice job measuring the course accurately to the meter!!!YAY for good organizers!
6 Days later on the 22nd- 11pm we had our Night Run 10k. Honestly, the weather was perfect- 15C and a little rain. It was cool during the day too. I really truly felt the strength in my legs at full throttle for the first time since the 100k during a set of 16x200repeats three days earlier. I was nailing them mid upper 30s with ease for the first time since I did that workout before the half in Zvezdniy 2 months ago knowing it would be a while before I could again. I was ready to run a FAST half. There was a half 2 hours out of town and supposedly with a prize purse. So before planning to drag my ass up at 5:30 to travel over 2 hours by train to the start, Coach called to get info from the RD. Well, I've never been afraid to speak the truth and call a spade a spade, but they are just a bunch of sexist a-hole PIGS! Sorry, but seriously, WTF???Prize $ for MEN ONLY? Eff you and your sexist perspective. So, what for the same distance men get paid and women no???? I skipped that race just out of principle. They don't deserve to have ANY women race out there if that's the case. Screw the whole damn thing! I really didn't want to run the 10 to be honest. I recovered quickly off of Zelenograd and felt up to a FAST HALF! So, I got stuck doing the 10. I am a night owl so felt much better racing at 11pm. I started out a little slower in the first 5k then picked up to finish with an overall pace of 3.55/km or moreover my first decent speed sine April to be honest. 10k is more where it should be and 3 min faster than it was when I was still very much recovering in May. The weather also helped big time.
Midnight Run anyone?
The next day I went out and eeked in 35k because the weather forecast was for hellhot heat to begin the day after that. Midweek I did a bitchin long workout that included a crapton of 800s (15). Saturday the 29th, I joined the parkrunners again for my secondary speedworkout of the week at the 5k. This time it was on the riverfront path. I needed to get in 25k with a 5-6k pickup in there and this would get me started by 9AM to avoid the low 30s temps by lunchtime. HA by 9AM it was already very HOT and HUMID! The humidity could kill a horse! Sooooooo I just did this as a nice tempo run. I had 3 guys just a little ahead of me to pull me along this time too.
So what's on the table for July? How about getting back to training normally?! This time of year it's hot and I just need to maintain fitness so I can run FAST again when temperatures drop off again in the fall. I'll do the 2 mile xc run on the 6th then maybe a 10k the 13th (we shall see as a 1PM start in the heat of JULY is really not smart), and the last Wednesday of the month I might run the 15k xc run as a tempo run 10 days out from the half the first weekend in August where I'd like to run well it it's not 30C which it very well could be.
Oh and we have yet another monkey wrench again. I wasn't planning to run 100k Worlds in South Africa simply because the trip is way beyond my budget (or yes, I would go). Well, now it's in question again which is really getting ridiculous because athletes need to PLAN THEIR FALL SEASONS usually months out! If by chance Worlds get moved to Europe or even somewhere in North America though unlikely, I will go. Here is the latest from IAU:
IAU 100K World Championships South Africa October 2013. Don’t buy cheap flights yet!
We announced on May 13th that the IAU and the IAAF Road Running Commission had confirmed the IAU 100K World Championships would be held in South Africa on 26th October 2013. However,
since then some local actions have led to issues being raised with Athletics South Africa (ASA). ASA have full IAAF support for dealing with these but it does mean that we might need to move the site for the IAU 100K World Championships either in South Africa or elsewhere. So we recommend to our Member Federations that they do not try to get extra cheap deals to South Africa until this is sorted.
Watch out for further news.
Hilary
Hilary Walker
IAU General Secretary
Hilary Walker
IAU General Secretary
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