Michelle's Main Blog: December...Getting My Legs Back

Mile-1 Dec-

Just as suspected the bug I had in November doomed my performance in the opener in the indoor mile series. Sure it was under 6 but that is such weak sauce for me. Worst mile time since 2010....when I had a nasty ear infection that worked its sweet way into my throat just in time for the Riga Marathon late May and was doomed for the rest of June. I started out sane as usual- not fast only when I tried to go and make a break for it after 800m I couldn't open a big enough gap to drop anyone. My legs were still flat :-( The ladies dropped off a little but it wasn't enough and I ended up finishing 2nd. After that craptastic performance I decided to skip the Zelenograd Marathon 6 days later since I had obviously not returned to 100% after the crap in November.

trying to break away

On the 7th, I ran the 2 mile instead on fresh not so fast snow as a workout. I won that one but my time was not so great. Sitting out the marathon was probably best. I looked at the times and I likely would have been 2nd , but did not want to dig myself into a hole I'd take longer to recover from later.

2mile :)

After the 2 mile, the indoor track was shut for painting for a week. This forced me to do workouts on, yup, the snow in the park. ALASKA STYLE!!! So, I figured why the hell not just go run the 20k Carnival Run on Sunday for a tempo workout on the 15th? I have skipped this one since 2009-won it 3 times been top 3 the other 3 times I have done it.

The course was on packed snice since we had had some freeze-thaw to make things nice and slick. Temps were about -12ish C but none of this was a problem for me or my icebugs. Not knowing how my body would react, I just went out with the other 2 top ladies. I knew they'd be good and we all went out sane. Vera is 50 but still a damn good marathoner. Her halves are about 1:30 and her marathons 3:14-15 ish in good conditions. Luba is also a fast masters runner soon to be 48 and I predict she will break 3 hrs in 2014 in the marathon. After 7k or so Luba and I pulled ahead but after about 12 she pulled a faster 2nd half. My 2nd half was also better than my first and I dropped almost 4 min from my previous best snow time on this course but still not good enough for the win- the cat finished 2nd..That 2nd half I was cutting 4.15 /km on average which for snow and snice is hauling ass. I had some 4.10s in there too. My typical handicap on snow-good snow is 30 sec/mile. If you figure that out, that would put my half about 1:27 ish which is fine considering I'm just starting to get my legs back again Yes,I decided to have fun and join the many running in costume and went as a leopard because theya re supposed to be fast!!

meowing it

Indoor Mile Take 2!!

After the 20 in Korolev, legs felt good and my midweek speed session looked more like it should speed wise. I'm still not doing big workouts since the goal now is just to maintain fitness so it was an EZ peasy 12x400 Wednesday workout.

By all means, this mile should have looked more like my miles did last winter did once I got the guts to just break away after a lap or so. Well, yes, I hate to be the one to lead from the get go. I'm not always sure how far back the next lady is or if I've opened up a big enough gap when I do that. Plus, after the crappy mile on Dec. 1st, I wasn't particularly in a hurry to break away early. Actually, I was downright lazy in the first 700! First lap, I just tucked right in behind Nadya who went to the front. Ok...one lap....then I'll move....no maybe one more....after 3 laps I saw this was clearly NOT my pace and if I did not move my ass, I was going to step on Nadya and the other girl next to me. So I went. Nadya can kick in the last 200 so I had to go now and try to open a nice gap. After a lap, Coach told me at the 1000m mark, I had 50 m on the next 2 girls. Jeez, I should have gone after 2-300m like I did so many times before but still wasn't sure I'd hold up. I ran the rest of the race alone for the win this time.Time wasn't my best, but that's because I ran tactical and held back the first half and lost quite a bit of time, before I went on my own. I'll call it the laziest win in recent memory! On a more fun note- I DID get my new pink hearts kit just in time for this race :-)