Сектор Газа -Half! City Run 27 July

What a heck of a walk or rather run down memory lane this morning. There’s a series of rock/ punk runs on the far side of Kuzminki where I used to slog out long runs in the winter . The summer trail over that way is rooty and rutty especially to get from my side of the park to the loop we ran today. I signed up for this last month after seeing they were doing this one to the music of Сектор Газа. I read on the site that 95% of ppl over 40 in Russia have them in their playlists- ok guilty as charged I started listening to them waaaay back in high school! I spaced signing up for the Виктор Цой/Кино one last month so I wasn’t going to miss this as the finisher medals are really effin cool and I’d get to run to the stuff I listened to as a kid and still do. I chose the half because of need a good long tempo workout for training now. I ran second til about 7 k in and caught the first girl. It’s a trail run so not gonna be super fast. I ended up winning the half and rocking to the classics from my teenage years. Ironically, years later in grad school at Moscow State I had a current events class where I had to listen to recordings of the news and summarized them. For me it was like listening to voicemail. I’d have to hear it once or twice and that was it. My professor said most ppl need 17-18 times before they can summarize the clips. I had a similar listening exam at grad school In Middlebury and had to listen/summarize/ fill things in I’d heard. It was easy and apparently I scored off the charts because they didn’t give it to me later in to gauge progress. I said well I’ve had a Russian rock/ heavy metal habit since I was a teenager and I watch the news and tv so I’m just used to hearing ppl talk fast I guess

 

25 July- 1000m

Thursday evening saw another win in the 1000m. I only did the 1000 because I had a half marathon coming up Saturday.

 

18 July 1000m and mile

This was another good Thursday night workout. I was still recovering from Nationals, but managed a win in the 1000 and mile. I also managed to win the May/June challenge for the Thursday night track series based on my time in the 1000. It's also age graded so everyone is even and I managed to score the most points.

 

Russian National Masters Championships Day Two-Sunday 14 July

 

The 'ol college try....

This was the third and final day of the championships. We had a rest day in between the 5000 and 10,000 and rest I did. I just did some light walking in the park and around the block to run small errands. Immediately after the 5, I took a cold shower and ran that cold water on my legs for 15 minutes. I repeated this when I got home, twice on Saturday, and when I got up Sunday morning. It rained early Sunday morning making for 32C and 85%humidity by the time we ran at 11. The humidity could kill a horse. I got to the track at 9:30 and there was not a cloud in the sky. I put my cap on and left it on and it ended up saving me from the direct sun during the race. As I was warming up, my legs were just not happy campers. I was still underrecovered and the heat and humidity....

I was a 10,000 runner all through college and the last time I had the opportunity on the track was when I won one in Serpukhov in September of 2008! I decided to just run this how I did in college-go out slow and controlled and move no sooner than midway. In this heat it was going to be all about tactics and this is how I used to win these years ago-go out slow then take off later. I sat in third until just after 4k and moved up to catch the leader. It was the Yakut girl that had finished just ahead of me in the 5. She's a strong ultrarunner and trains with a good friend of mine in Yakutsk that used to run 100K Worlds and Euros with me when he was still on the Natuonal Team. Actually, this race was stacked with ladies with ultra experience so I did not expect anyone to just drop  off. So sit and bide my time I did. At 5.2K I began to move and passed soon thereafter. Just like back in the day, I opened a gap and kept going as much as I could in these conditions. I fully expected both of these ladies to come after me. I ran the final 4k in the pain cave because I knew there was no room for error or letting up.  At this point I really wanted the win. I still cannot believe I pulled this off. I ended up lapping them both in my final 600m finishing with a good TWO MINUTE lead! I was done- just roasted-literally, but I got the job done and it was so classic how I did this so many times 30 years earlier it was surreal. I was dizzy and light headed and had to grab the railing after I finished. All of those days when it was snowing sideways and I wanted to shitcan my workouts but did not were absolutely worth it for a national title. 

Russian National Masters Championships-Moscow 12-14 July 5000m

 

Day 1-12 July 5000m 6pm start temp 32 C

This was rough. It's now been boiling and above normal for three weeks. By the time our evening start came, it was still 33C and sunny! The race walkers went at 1PM and it was 34! I had decided it was not a day for records and it was going to have to be a tactical race. I started out in back and moved up gradually by halfway, but just could not switch gears to pass the 1st and 2nd place ladies just ahead. It was so frustrating too because both of them were significantly slower than my previous two 5ks-yes it was hot and that did it. I was feeling overall crappy and ended up nearly a minute off my time from just six days earlier. I was not alone though, many others were in the same boat. So, a bronze it was and I was having serious doubts about my ability to come back on Sunday morning in this heat and do it in the 10,000m. Saturday was a rest day in between the 5 and 10.