Well sort of....
I deliberately went off the grid most of August so I could just train and not be bothered. If training went well and I felt I could possibly do decently in Valmiera at the end of September, I'd go if not, forget it. This has been an awful enough season as it is and I'm not up to making matters worse. A month off the 100k, I tried a half. Actually, I signed up for it before I got sick back in May and before I decided to run a 100k. Honestly, going into it , I still didn't feel ready and yeah, my time sucked. I wanted to give my number to another runner, but this lame organization does not have a system set up to do that unlike the Grom events do. I would never allow anyone to run under my name, so I would only pass my number if it could be reregistered in the other runner's name. That half ended in a torrential downpour and high winds so much so that my number fell off with 4km to go:)
10 days later I ran the 15k xc final in the summer 15kxc series. I actually ran stage 2 only 9 days off the 100k just to hold my place in the standings-holy crap not fun at all on unrecovered legs! it was after that race I just disappeared. It did however feature a large bull MOOSE on the LOOSE!!!
That was definitely an I miss Alaska moment! The xc final was the day I was able to carry the pizza, knock on the door, but not deliver. I held on until the final few km which included some wicked crazy fast surges in the midsections at 3.45/km pace. I ended up 4th overall still over 2 min off my best on this course from last yr. Yes, the course was wet and a little slick in a few spots from all day rain, but I'm not letting myself use that as an excuse. My legs still were not 100% and nearly 4 months since being sick at this point, I wasn't sure they ever would be again. Nope, still not putting myself on the list for Valmiera! I did however jump from 5th overall to 3rd in the final standings. The final standings are AGE GRADED so with world record holder Rimma Vasina in there, no one has a chance. She is 74 but can still run 13 min 3000s on a good day and sub 7 in the mile! I also not only won the 30-39 category as I have in all 3 events, but ended up 3rd for this race in the age grade standings. I got a nice pair of compression sox for that :) I was surprised. I know I'm nearly 40, but I get much less a "discount" than the other ladies and many of them are 50 smthgs who were top class athletes in their day like one who was a world class race walker. She still is in the masters world class!
Then something happened 2 weeks later. I signed up for the Grom 10k on purpose because I needed a DAMN good ASSKICKING HILL workout before Valmiera since Valmiera is a slow and hilly course. I returned to the hillllly course on the cycling track I trained on all the time as a grad student to keep my legs strong for my Alaskan mountain running. I ran my Equinox Marathon PR after a summer on this course! I thought those hills would kick my ass. They didn't! For the first time in FOUR MONTHS I actually felt strength in my legs again. I wore my polka dots for "Queen of the Mountain" haha! They had a race within this race to see who was the best climber on the difficult 800m steep climb between 2-3km. I didn't push it knowing I could really pay for that in the end and just climbed at my normal effort- I ended up a second from 3rd in the climbing division- who would have known!!!! ???? Maybe I should have pushed it! I finished 5th overall 1st old fart...aka masters.Yup here it's by birth yr not day....
Ok...much better but still not officially on the Start List for Valmiera.....
Oh I should mention that this 10k was a DAY TWO race- I won the 2 mile the day before but didn't run all out. It was enough to get me the win in the summer standings and sadly, my last race in the 20-39 group. Time to let someone else win now. Unless we get some regulars in the 40-49 gp , things are going to get lonely now :-( Highlights from the summer 2 mile:
Six days later, I ran a 7.5k on a course I last ran a week off WC100k in 2011. This is a great race but always seems to conflict with Valmiera-not this yr!!!! In 2011 I surprisingly won this running 4 min/km pace only a week off a 100k ( I did LOTS of resting after). I was able to pull it off this time at 3.45 pace! WOA- I can hardly remember when last anything smelled of 3.45-50 pace. I think it was the 5k in early April before the shitstorm hit. Things here are done strictly by age group and I managed a win in the 30-39 category. I got myself a sweet soundbar to boot :) Ok- I guess I will put myself on the list for Valmiera and get a plane ticket.....
On the way home I seemed to be getting a SORE THROAT?! F#CK NOT AGAIN! I just went home took 2000mg of vit C and started the Zicam and went to bed early and slept long. By the morning, thank the gods, all was clear. I was a bit tired though. For fun, I ran the Nike 10k in the evening since I was near the start at Moscow State anyways with a student who had asked if we could study Sunday instead of Monday this week because she was uber busy. That worked out better for me too. The plan was to run it easy like MP in about 43 or so min. I went out and legs felt like they hadn;t done much the day before and parked out at 4 min pace. finished a hair over 40 min just screwing around. That was a shock as I have never been a day 2 racer. Objectively speaking , I did have about 36 hrs between races which for me makes a big difference as opposed to 12-24. Evening race day 1 and morning race day 2 DOES NOT WORK which is why I almost never get to run the 1500 anymore at Moscow Championships. It's always about 6PM and the 3000 is the following morning.
Nike 10k:
Ok- after seeing the startlist in Valmiera, I knew that even if I had returned to form, I may not even make top 6 this yr! Still not sure if this will indeed be my last season of competitive running, I decided to head to Valmiera one more time...
report to follow....
I deliberately went off the grid most of August so I could just train and not be bothered. If training went well and I felt I could possibly do decently in Valmiera at the end of September, I'd go if not, forget it. This has been an awful enough season as it is and I'm not up to making matters worse. A month off the 100k, I tried a half. Actually, I signed up for it before I got sick back in May and before I decided to run a 100k. Honestly, going into it , I still didn't feel ready and yeah, my time sucked. I wanted to give my number to another runner, but this lame organization does not have a system set up to do that unlike the Grom events do. I would never allow anyone to run under my name, so I would only pass my number if it could be reregistered in the other runner's name. That half ended in a torrential downpour and high winds so much so that my number fell off with 4km to go:)
10 days later I ran the 15k xc final in the summer 15kxc series. I actually ran stage 2 only 9 days off the 100k just to hold my place in the standings-holy crap not fun at all on unrecovered legs! it was after that race I just disappeared. It did however feature a large bull MOOSE on the LOOSE!!!
Then something happened 2 weeks later. I signed up for the Grom 10k on purpose because I needed a DAMN good ASSKICKING HILL workout before Valmiera since Valmiera is a slow and hilly course. I returned to the hillllly course on the cycling track I trained on all the time as a grad student to keep my legs strong for my Alaskan mountain running. I ran my Equinox Marathon PR after a summer on this course! I thought those hills would kick my ass. They didn't! For the first time in FOUR MONTHS I actually felt strength in my legs again. I wore my polka dots for "Queen of the Mountain" haha! They had a race within this race to see who was the best climber on the difficult 800m steep climb between 2-3km. I didn't push it knowing I could really pay for that in the end and just climbed at my normal effort- I ended up a second from 3rd in the climbing division- who would have known!!!! ???? Maybe I should have pushed it! I finished 5th overall 1st old fart...aka masters.Yup here it's by birth yr not day....
Ok...much better but still not officially on the Start List for Valmiera.....
Oh I should mention that this 10k was a DAY TWO race- I won the 2 mile the day before but didn't run all out. It was enough to get me the win in the summer standings and sadly, my last race in the 20-39 group. Time to let someone else win now. Unless we get some regulars in the 40-49 gp , things are going to get lonely now :-( Highlights from the summer 2 mile:
Six days later, I ran a 7.5k on a course I last ran a week off WC100k in 2011. This is a great race but always seems to conflict with Valmiera-not this yr!!!! In 2011 I surprisingly won this running 4 min/km pace only a week off a 100k ( I did LOTS of resting after). I was able to pull it off this time at 3.45 pace! WOA- I can hardly remember when last anything smelled of 3.45-50 pace. I think it was the 5k in early April before the shitstorm hit. Things here are done strictly by age group and I managed a win in the 30-39 category. I got myself a sweet soundbar to boot :) Ok- I guess I will put myself on the list for Valmiera and get a plane ticket.....
Nike 10k:
report to follow....
