As soon as school was out, I hit the bricks. Our summers are short because we finish later and start sooner than the rest of the schools because of the number of holy days off during the year. So, I wanted to scoot and make the most of said summer. The first thing I did the next morning after I got to Moscow was hit the lab for a blood draw. I wanted to rule out anemia and or chronic fatigue/Epstein Barr similar to what I had in 2007-08. Honestly, with my history of low ferritin and falling off the cliff back then so bad I was sidelined for 2 years before I was able to make a comeback, I need to be doing lab tests every 4-6 weeks to prevent this from ever spiraling downward again. Well, yes, Anchorage has a lab where I can just order the tests I need, walk in no drama and get it done. There is no such animal near me and it's a big hassle of going to a crapton of doctors just for a damn referral to get the tests I damn well know I need. Yes, the US medical system is least to be desired at times. So, needless to say, my last blood tests were in January before I left Moscow. Not surprisingly, things did come back on the low side but not the basement bottom low I had in 2007. Ok - I have ferrochel to take for a couple weeks, no need for injectable iron. Ok, this is under control...
First weekend in June, I run what they call a hilly half. I finished top 10 but yup, my speed is just in the gutter where it's been all spring. Coach says I may need up to 20 days to adust after being in the mountains for so long-I'm not buying that one simply because I've had years I've run good races very soon after coming in from Alaska like the year I popped a 1:26 in Zelenograd the day after hauling ass over from Fairbanks!
Tushino Half-
Two weeks later, I hit the track for a 3000....oh dear and it was in 30 degree heat!
A little side note-
Still on antibiotics and four days after having a dental implant put in , I decided to race anyway. I didn't have any complications from the surgery, but antibiotics do screw with your running. Back in February, the night before the 50k as I was falling asleep, I felt the crown on my molar come loose. less than two weeks later, the tooth underneath cracked and the crown came out. Now,, because everything in Homer shuts down by 5pm, I had the pleasure of writhing in pain from a severe abscess for FOUR DAYS before I could get help and have the tooth pulled! It cracked Thursday eve and by Friday at lunchtime, I was wondering if I'd make it through the school day. A couple of dentists in town don't work Fridays and the other quits at 3 so there was no way I was getting help until at least Monday! Yup, no one works weekends, not even Saturday! I even called Soldotna and Kenai but the nearest dentist with weekend hours was in Anchorage so I was completely screwed! OMFG! Insurance covered the tooth pull and bone graft, but no shocker here, I'd Just do the rest here in Moscow where I won't go broke. I have been doing major dental at my dentist in Moscow for cloe to 14 years now as it's just not an option in the USA where it's insanely overpriced. My coworkers go to Mexico for the same reason.
I skipped this race last year as it ended up the weekend before I had to fly out in July. This one has always been well organized and there was a huge turnout. Over the years this one has attrcted national team types a d top men and women. Most immpressive performance of the day I'd say was Vyacheslav Shabunin's 8:38 for second place at age 45. He recently set the 1500 WR in the 1500 at 3:50 for that age group.
The winner in the pic is on the 100k national team. We do need to do a bit of the shorter stuff from time to time :)
First weekend in June, I run what they call a hilly half. I finished top 10 but yup, my speed is just in the gutter where it's been all spring. Coach says I may need up to 20 days to adust after being in the mountains for so long-I'm not buying that one simply because I've had years I've run good races very soon after coming in from Alaska like the year I popped a 1:26 in Zelenograd the day after hauling ass over from Fairbanks!
Tushino Half-
Two weeks later, I hit the track for a 3000....oh dear and it was in 30 degree heat!
A little side note-
Still on antibiotics and four days after having a dental implant put in , I decided to race anyway. I didn't have any complications from the surgery, but antibiotics do screw with your running. Back in February, the night before the 50k as I was falling asleep, I felt the crown on my molar come loose. less than two weeks later, the tooth underneath cracked and the crown came out. Now,, because everything in Homer shuts down by 5pm, I had the pleasure of writhing in pain from a severe abscess for FOUR DAYS before I could get help and have the tooth pulled! It cracked Thursday eve and by Friday at lunchtime, I was wondering if I'd make it through the school day. A couple of dentists in town don't work Fridays and the other quits at 3 so there was no way I was getting help until at least Monday! Yup, no one works weekends, not even Saturday! I even called Soldotna and Kenai but the nearest dentist with weekend hours was in Anchorage so I was completely screwed! OMFG! Insurance covered the tooth pull and bone graft, but no shocker here, I'd Just do the rest here in Moscow where I won't go broke. I have been doing major dental at my dentist in Moscow for cloe to 14 years now as it's just not an option in the USA where it's insanely overpriced. My coworkers go to Mexico for the same reason.
I skipped this race last year as it ended up the weekend before I had to fly out in July. This one has always been well organized and there was a huge turnout. Over the years this one has attrcted national team types a d top men and women. Most immpressive performance of the day I'd say was Vyacheslav Shabunin's 8:38 for second place at age 45. He recently set the 1500 WR in the 1500 at 3:50 for that age group.
The winner in the pic is on the 100k national team. We do need to do a bit of the shorter stuff from time to time :)
Midweek, I jumped into a 15k xc run. This is the second to last race I did this year before I left in July as I had to back out of a couple others simply because I needed the time to pack up and ship stuff out. Sadly, I won't be around for the 2nd and 3rd races in the series. I have really been struggling in the heat. The temps shot up into the 30s C mid June after nice mild cool temps. I had this issue in grad school coming out of Alaska and then getting slammed with high heat for the summer season. It seems really profound this year though. I've never done well when it's hot, but I'm really feeling it now. I was training in temps rarely hitting much about 10-15C til late May and was having serious concerns about how I'd deal with getting slammed with hot weather I haven't seen in a year.
Off for another 2 week time out to prepare for the next one.....
Well ....I did jump into our 1000m run at Moscow State 7 days after the 15k. I haven't raced a 1000 since January of last year. Our running club has put this on since 2004. Speed still not there totally yet but it was good enough for second. It was a good excuse to see old friends and hang out for a bit :)
Off to train until July 3 for the 30k Moscow Trail held at the snowboard/ski hill in Yakhroma. Now I've always wanted to snowboard here, but if you don't have a car it's a royal PITA to get there with your gear so I never got to go. The total elevation gain over the course is about 1000m . I'm actually pretty used to that except, yeah once again it was hot as holy hell. 11 AM start and 33C in the flippin' SHADE. I was actually trained and prepared for the terrain. The hills and logs, and sticks, and devil's club and nettles on the course really didn't bother me. It was a 3 loop course with no shade and I actualy was doing fine until about 2 km into the final loop I started losing vision in my right eye. I knew damn well I was overheating. I even went out slow in the first loop to see what the course was like and picked it up a bit in the 2nd. I had been drinking like a fish over the past 3 days and before and during the race as well. Despite that, I ditched 3 kg! That's too much. The dizziness and lightheadedness ensued and I ended up finishing a dismal 4th. Epic fail on that one. I missed this race last year to stay home and pack and ship stuff to Alaska.
Up and down the hill we go-
Six days later, I did a trail 10 (actually closer to 11 k) in Dzerzhinsk which is a 30 min bus ride from home. This was at a place I hadn't trained or raced since 2007.I'd have gone more, but there is nowhere to leave gear if you don't have a car. It wasn't insanely hot but the sun did come out for this one. My legs were actually ok after the 30k. The organization of this one could have been better. I had picked up my number a couple days before at the store that was one of the event sponsors. Many did not and a huge queue resulted on race day delaying the start by an hour. Well, Leonid (coach)had come out to watch and then had planned to leave after the finish as he had to be in town by noon for a training session. Thanks, to the delay, he never got to see the start. The course had NO km markings or course markings and very few volunteers and often none at many turns. !!! I was lucky I got to run with a group of guys who knew where the hell they were going as many people in bothe the 10 and half marathon got good and LOST! Water happened only 8km into the loop! It was getting warm in the sun....My legs felt good and I did manage the final km in 3.55. I finished 5th overall and 1st master (geezer). However, I'm still waiting on word from the RD who told me earlier in the week I could collect my prize before next week......hmmmmmm
check out the queue of the day
That's what I've been up to the last month and a half or so....six races in less than 2 months. That's more than I've done since LAST AUTUMN! The fact I'm doing now what should have occurred March- May if I were to rate it on a frustration scale of 1-10 :15!
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