Ok, yes, I am behind in my posting as I still haven't posted February yet (will do soon), but figured I'd do a writeup on the trail marathon first. Again, like the Pioneer Camp Half back in January, this one was a lot of fun.....hehe for masochists looking for a non boring run.
The organizers had a 10k,half, and marathon on the menu and you could pick your poison :) I had originally signed up for the half, but decided to "upgrade" to the marathon as I was due for a long run in the 35-40k range. I asked the RD a week or so before if I could do that and he said it was fine. They do have a cutoff and limited number of slots, but as long as you were already on the start list, you could declare distance on race day. Wow, that's called being accommodating and runner friendly.
Spring breakup has started early this year with daytime temps hitting above freezing and thus begins the mess in the forest for the next few weeks. All week, we waited for the reportfrom the trail and those pictures of the course conditions. The evening before the race, this is what we were presented with:
Ok- that gave us a pretty clear idea of what to expect- definitely not childsplay and not a course I'd recommend to a newbie for their first trail run. The course itself was simpler than the hillier Pioneer Camp one, BUT the SURFACE conditions would compensate for that and give us a challenge. It was pretty clear than anyone attempting this course without spikes would be on a suicide mission! Even WITH spikes, there wasa deadly downhill (see above) that you really had to watch it on. Lots of people fell on their asses here.
Each loop was just over 10k. Marathoners did 4,halfers did 2, 10k ers did 1. The first 7 k or so were mostly flat BUT nothing much shy of ice ice baby the whole way. Slush and random puddles were in there too to keep it interesting. After about 7k into the loop, you hit the sand quarry. Translation: shoe sucking MUD you see above. At the end of the loop, there was a steep downhill covered in ice followed by a steep uphill on sand...nice sandbox, Given the 10 AM start, I figured the first 2 loops might not be so bad because they'd still be frozen from overnight , but the marathoners were in for fun in the second half as the sun heated things up and the mud would likely get muckier and muckier. I had planned on doing this as a 4 hr training run, but after seeing those pictures, decided I might really be out there 4:30 possibly 5 if that mud melted and got really ooshy. So, I decided to take enough food like I do for a 50k given the time Id' be out there plus the possibility of taking a "detour" and adding distance as what happened at the Pioneer Camp. BTW, the coolest thing was that after these pictures were posted, not ONE PERSON bitched and moaned about the conditions. On the contrary, we were looking forward to playing in the mud :) Everyone had a good positive attitude. I'm sure some pople saw the post and silently chickened out, but everyone knew what to expect.
Race morning, my ass had to rise at 6 (very painful for a night owl who works evenings), so thanks to the Fein http://getfein.com/shop/ I was able to do that. A friend running the half drove me and my coach outto the start in Kupavna (outside Moscowabout 20km) . I picked up my number without problems and a while late there was quite a line. Wow, look at how many other crazy people want to run in the mud and everything else today :)))) Originally, the race had a 300entry cutoff but the RD was able to add about 80 slots before finally closing it. That's nearly double what we had in January as word got out that the organizers did a decent job at the last race.
So off we were. My coach would be waiting at the top of the sandbox big hill at the end of each loop to hand me off a Vitargo bottle and after the 2nd loop a Vespa. I had my skirt stocked with Roctane gels for a 50k. I decided to fill each bottle full to grab and carry . There were 2 aid stations on the loop and well stocked. Coke from them and Vitargo would be the fluids of the day. The first loop I took it easy wanting to check out the course and make mental notes of turns knowing I'd likely be on my own for loops 3 and 4 once the half marathoners finished. There were not as many marathoners and we'd likely be spread out. Natasha was also doing the marathon. She can run pretty well on tough surfaces and in December at the 20k in Korolev, I hung 100m behind her in the first 15k before finally catching and passing her. I figured, she'd run most of the way with me. I wasn't planning on going super fast, but keeping things in control. Plus, I thought we would help each other out in the last 2 loops so as yeah, not to get LOST! Natasha and I ran the first loop together. I got to the end of the sandbox hill and coach was there with my first bottle. I drank half and carried the rest a couple more km before finishing it. About 12k in, the leaders missed a turn and took us all with them :( Natasha said even last time she didn't get caught in the "detour" because she was running the marathon and by the time she got to the tricky spot, a volunteer was there directing traffic. We both added about a km before we saw the crowd coming back in the opposide direction. SH!T! We both had so much more to go yet and now I was really worried about effing up in loops 3 and 4 when I'd be on my own. After that feck up, Natasha started dropping back and I could still see some half marathoners up ahead but I just knew I'd be on my own after loop 2. Damn :( After loop2, Coach was waiting with another bottle and my Vespa. I told him we had added a km or so. Loop3 and I was on my own. Ironically, when I didn't run behind the rest of the lemmings, I was more aware of the course markers. I saw where we had fecked up in loop 2 and thought, "how could I be so stupid?" The trees had markings, the logs had markings.....Actually, it's easy. If you are running fast in a group, you key off the person in front of you and it's easy to miss a turn if you aren't watching. There were markings roughly every 50-100m. Some of them were hanging off branches in the middle of the trail right in front of your nose! Yes, it was a relief to see them when I was on my own. They had also spray painted arrows in the snow in places.
How could the organizers have done it better? It's hard to say. Every turn needs to be cordoned off with tape, which I think was the case in the first loop and things were still ok. People walking in the forest during the day can knock them down and then, yeah, we are screwed. It's a problem with some of the ultras in the US too. It might have helped to have signs on the turns with arrows pointing where to go. They had a few of them at Pioneer Camp. In the summer, they definitely need to use flour to lay arrows on the trail several meters before the turns. You are not always looking at the trees but looking down watching for roots and ruts and things. I never got lost on trail races 10 yrs or so in Alaska, and all they did was lay flour on the trail itself(sometimes spraypainting tree roots so we'd see them), mark the trees every 50 meters or so, and put signs and flour arrows (summer)spraypaint the snow arrows(winter) on all the turns. The courses were also marked with tape on the turns too. On the Susitna 100 course, the markers are metal permament markers in the gorund every 20-50 m or so that reflect off a headlamp at night making it impossible to get lost as this is how the dog mushers stay on course on the Iditarod Trail. We actually ran on much of the Iditarod Trail and I trained on it a lot as I used to live 5km from the official start in Wasilla.
On loops 3 and 4 I passed a few marathoners up ahead along the way, but was left to my own devices for navigation and watching for course markings. AMAZINGLY, I did NOT get lost! WOOT! Loop 4 featured really shoe sucky mud and I was waiting for that to happen, but luckily it didn't. I finished with even pacing in 4:01:02 which was much more optimistic that I had predicted after seeing the course conditions. Each loop got mushier as the sun warmed things up, but I held pace. The weather gods were kind and temps were up to 10C and sunny by early afternoon. Natasha finished in 4:27. This was definitely not the course to PR on LOL! At the finish, there was still plenty of kasha left and tea-thanks for saving some for the marathoners!!! So, I didn't go home hungry!!! Seriously, i really like what these guys are doing by offering trail racesand a friendly atmosphere. It's a great alternative for those of us not interested in these mass road races (where entry fees BTW are double or more and they sure as hell don't feed you at the finish ) that have cropped up over the past 2-3yrs.
For the win, I got a new pair of Salomon speedcross and they even had my size! They are a cool special issue done in the colors of the Russian flag. They are a sweet model for summer and work well in mud. I won a pair at the Zelenograd Marathon a few yrs ago and really liked them for the non snow/ice trail months. I'm just glad we are FINALLY getting trail races in Russia. Plus the organizers are trying to keep costs and entry fees to a minimum to make their races affordable for everyone. With the ruble in the toilet, I can't afford to get out now, so will race locally this year until 100k Worlds and Euros in September. I'll deliberately do these longer trail races as part of training for that. Actually, I was invited to represent Latvia at the IAU World Trail Championships 85k in Annecy, France in 2 months. Yes, I'd love to go and things on site are paid for so I only need to pay to get there, but I just can't spring for the airfare to Geneva now because with the ruble devaluation alone, I've had a 50%paycut combined with 3 slow months of little work until February, it's just not happening :(. The cost of getting there is the only thing preventing me from going. I'm in shape to do it too and the course is beautiful, so the whole situation is just really shitty and depressing to have to miss this especially being 40 and not knowing how much time I have left to compete on this level!
The next trail race the Salomon guys are planning is in May -25 and 50k. I'm tentatively saying 50k for me but need to see what's on tap the first 2 weeks of June before deciding.
The organizers had a 10k,half, and marathon on the menu and you could pick your poison :) I had originally signed up for the half, but decided to "upgrade" to the marathon as I was due for a long run in the 35-40k range. I asked the RD a week or so before if I could do that and he said it was fine. They do have a cutoff and limited number of slots, but as long as you were already on the start list, you could declare distance on race day. Wow, that's called being accommodating and runner friendly.
Spring breakup has started early this year with daytime temps hitting above freezing and thus begins the mess in the forest for the next few weeks. All week, we waited for the reportfrom the trail and those pictures of the course conditions. The evening before the race, this is what we were presented with:
BARE ICE downhill
Ok- that gave us a pretty clear idea of what to expect- definitely not childsplay and not a course I'd recommend to a newbie for their first trail run. The course itself was simpler than the hillier Pioneer Camp one, BUT the SURFACE conditions would compensate for that and give us a challenge. It was pretty clear than anyone attempting this course without spikes would be on a suicide mission! Even WITH spikes, there wasa deadly downhill (see above) that you really had to watch it on. Lots of people fell on their asses here.
Each loop was just over 10k. Marathoners did 4,halfers did 2, 10k ers did 1. The first 7 k or so were mostly flat BUT nothing much shy of ice ice baby the whole way. Slush and random puddles were in there too to keep it interesting. After about 7k into the loop, you hit the sand quarry. Translation: shoe sucking MUD you see above. At the end of the loop, there was a steep downhill covered in ice followed by a steep uphill on sand...nice sandbox, Given the 10 AM start, I figured the first 2 loops might not be so bad because they'd still be frozen from overnight , but the marathoners were in for fun in the second half as the sun heated things up and the mud would likely get muckier and muckier. I had planned on doing this as a 4 hr training run, but after seeing those pictures, decided I might really be out there 4:30 possibly 5 if that mud melted and got really ooshy. So, I decided to take enough food like I do for a 50k given the time Id' be out there plus the possibility of taking a "detour" and adding distance as what happened at the Pioneer Camp. BTW, the coolest thing was that after these pictures were posted, not ONE PERSON bitched and moaned about the conditions. On the contrary, we were looking forward to playing in the mud :) Everyone had a good positive attitude. I'm sure some pople saw the post and silently chickened out, but everyone knew what to expect.
Race morning, my ass had to rise at 6 (very painful for a night owl who works evenings), so thanks to the Fein http://getfein.com/shop/ I was able to do that. A friend running the half drove me and my coach outto the start in Kupavna (outside Moscowabout 20km) . I picked up my number without problems and a while late there was quite a line. Wow, look at how many other crazy people want to run in the mud and everything else today :)))) Originally, the race had a 300entry cutoff but the RD was able to add about 80 slots before finally closing it. That's nearly double what we had in January as word got out that the organizers did a decent job at the last race.
So off we were. My coach would be waiting at the top of the sandbox big hill at the end of each loop to hand me off a Vitargo bottle and after the 2nd loop a Vespa. I had my skirt stocked with Roctane gels for a 50k. I decided to fill each bottle full to grab and carry . There were 2 aid stations on the loop and well stocked. Coke from them and Vitargo would be the fluids of the day. The first loop I took it easy wanting to check out the course and make mental notes of turns knowing I'd likely be on my own for loops 3 and 4 once the half marathoners finished. There were not as many marathoners and we'd likely be spread out. Natasha was also doing the marathon. She can run pretty well on tough surfaces and in December at the 20k in Korolev, I hung 100m behind her in the first 15k before finally catching and passing her. I figured, she'd run most of the way with me. I wasn't planning on going super fast, but keeping things in control. Plus, I thought we would help each other out in the last 2 loops so as yeah, not to get LOST! Natasha and I ran the first loop together. I got to the end of the sandbox hill and coach was there with my first bottle. I drank half and carried the rest a couple more km before finishing it. About 12k in, the leaders missed a turn and took us all with them :( Natasha said even last time she didn't get caught in the "detour" because she was running the marathon and by the time she got to the tricky spot, a volunteer was there directing traffic. We both added about a km before we saw the crowd coming back in the opposide direction. SH!T! We both had so much more to go yet and now I was really worried about effing up in loops 3 and 4 when I'd be on my own. After that feck up, Natasha started dropping back and I could still see some half marathoners up ahead but I just knew I'd be on my own after loop 2. Damn :( After loop2, Coach was waiting with another bottle and my Vespa. I told him we had added a km or so. Loop3 and I was on my own. Ironically, when I didn't run behind the rest of the lemmings, I was more aware of the course markers. I saw where we had fecked up in loop 2 and thought, "how could I be so stupid?" The trees had markings, the logs had markings.....Actually, it's easy. If you are running fast in a group, you key off the person in front of you and it's easy to miss a turn if you aren't watching. There were markings roughly every 50-100m. Some of them were hanging off branches in the middle of the trail right in front of your nose! Yes, it was a relief to see them when I was on my own. They had also spray painted arrows in the snow in places.
How could the organizers have done it better? It's hard to say. Every turn needs to be cordoned off with tape, which I think was the case in the first loop and things were still ok. People walking in the forest during the day can knock them down and then, yeah, we are screwed. It's a problem with some of the ultras in the US too. It might have helped to have signs on the turns with arrows pointing where to go. They had a few of them at Pioneer Camp. In the summer, they definitely need to use flour to lay arrows on the trail several meters before the turns. You are not always looking at the trees but looking down watching for roots and ruts and things. I never got lost on trail races 10 yrs or so in Alaska, and all they did was lay flour on the trail itself(sometimes spraypainting tree roots so we'd see them), mark the trees every 50 meters or so, and put signs and flour arrows (summer)spraypaint the snow arrows(winter) on all the turns. The courses were also marked with tape on the turns too. On the Susitna 100 course, the markers are metal permament markers in the gorund every 20-50 m or so that reflect off a headlamp at night making it impossible to get lost as this is how the dog mushers stay on course on the Iditarod Trail. We actually ran on much of the Iditarod Trail and I trained on it a lot as I used to live 5km from the official start in Wasilla.
On loops 3 and 4 I passed a few marathoners up ahead along the way, but was left to my own devices for navigation and watching for course markings. AMAZINGLY, I did NOT get lost! WOOT! Loop 4 featured really shoe sucky mud and I was waiting for that to happen, but luckily it didn't. I finished with even pacing in 4:01:02 which was much more optimistic that I had predicted after seeing the course conditions. Each loop got mushier as the sun warmed things up, but I held pace. The weather gods were kind and temps were up to 10C and sunny by early afternoon. Natasha finished in 4:27. This was definitely not the course to PR on LOL! At the finish, there was still plenty of kasha left and tea-thanks for saving some for the marathoners!!! So, I didn't go home hungry!!! Seriously, i really like what these guys are doing by offering trail racesand a friendly atmosphere. It's a great alternative for those of us not interested in these mass road races (where entry fees BTW are double or more and they sure as hell don't feed you at the finish ) that have cropped up over the past 2-3yrs.
For the win, I got a new pair of Salomon speedcross and they even had my size! They are a cool special issue done in the colors of the Russian flag. They are a sweet model for summer and work well in mud. I won a pair at the Zelenograd Marathon a few yrs ago and really liked them for the non snow/ice trail months. I'm just glad we are FINALLY getting trail races in Russia. Plus the organizers are trying to keep costs and entry fees to a minimum to make their races affordable for everyone. With the ruble in the toilet, I can't afford to get out now, so will race locally this year until 100k Worlds and Euros in September. I'll deliberately do these longer trail races as part of training for that. Actually, I was invited to represent Latvia at the IAU World Trail Championships 85k in Annecy, France in 2 months. Yes, I'd love to go and things on site are paid for so I only need to pay to get there, but I just can't spring for the airfare to Geneva now because with the ruble devaluation alone, I've had a 50%paycut combined with 3 slow months of little work until February, it's just not happening :(. The cost of getting there is the only thing preventing me from going. I'm in shape to do it too and the course is beautiful, so the whole situation is just really shitty and depressing to have to miss this especially being 40 and not knowing how much time I have left to compete on this level!
The next trail race the Salomon guys are planning is in May -25 and 50k. I'm tentatively saying 50k for me but need to see what's on tap the first 2 weeks of June before deciding.
