Valentine's Day? Whatever

This day has become increasingly more popular here in Russia over the years. I recently came across Phoebe Wright's blog posts on this whole topic and love her sense of humor. This pretty much sums it up-
http://phe800.blogspot.ru/2013/12/hello-my-name-is-phoebe-meet-my.html
http://phe800.blogspot.ru/2013/12/almost-endearing-talents-of-profesh.html

On a more serious note, I have just learned to accept that I'll likely always fly solo. I pretty much understood that years ago. I pretty much blew the "proper meeting years" in my 20s in Fairbanks, Alaska which is NOT really the place to meet someone. Alaska girls have a very true saying,"The odds are good, but the goods are odd." Anchorage had a bit better pickin's,  but at that time in my life, I had already planned to take a couple few years to take off and teach in Russia. NO, I WAS NEVER EVER supposed to be gone this long, but the economy went to hell in the US while I was away and it's looking more and more like I may never be able to return. Anchorage/Wasilla  has had nothing on the job front now for a good 4+ yrs. Now, I am to the age when all you generally get are the leftovers that usually come with baggage. So, if faced with choosing a relationship that will always play second fiddle to someone's issues with ex wives and kids, or flying solo, I'm better off solo. Some folks are keen to go that route, and to each his own, but I'd rather not make life more complicated than need be.

So the whole other half/ Valentines thing...I gave up on ages ago. On FB, I put in a relationship because I had disgusting perverts mostly from Turkey trying to contact  me and  resetting privacy settings seemed to take care of most of it. On vkontakte (Russian FB) it's been less an issue.   I can handle a 100k, but prefer to spare myself the drama of the other crap. Actually, A couple months ago, I was at a race (won't state which one) and some guy was clearly "interested". Whatever.....not really my type and seriously? I hate to be cynical, but are you interested in ME or my PASSPORT?! Yeah, sadly, I have to look at things like that seeing as I have been offered a crapton of $ over the years for said passport. I have always been keen to let the guys know in which orifice they can shove that money too! So, I had to come up with a way to pull a quick escape. I just felt uncomfortable. The guy was way too persistent. The classic go to the toilet and don't return seemed to solve the problem. I hate to do that, but I feel like more a jerk if I have to tell someone out flat to bugger off.

So- Happy Valentine's Day all, and remember some girls just are not meant to be tamed :-)

Demotivation

Well here we go again.I was going to post on the rest of my January racing, but not in the mood right now.

100km World Championships 2014 Cancelled in Latvia We regret to announce that the 100km World Championships 2014 scheduled to be held in Daugavpils, Latvia have been cancelled.   The Local Organizing Committee unfortunately has not been able to secure the sponsorships required to host the championships. We understand that the championships are of prime importance to our athletes. Keeping this in mind we have begun discussions to secure another venue for the championships. The discussions are still ongoing and we hope to come back with some more news by the end of next week. We apologize the inconvenience that the cancellation has caused our athletes and member federations. We request that you stay tuned to our website as we progress through the required steps in order to secure another venue for the championships. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact us. Nadeem Khan Director of Communications nadeem.khan@iau-ultramarathon.org Only this time it's happened to us. I had a hunch something was up when I hadn't heard from our team manager in January after asking a few questions on 50K dates and etc. He is always on top of things. I just knew something was up. So now, I am just flat out demotivated. When we got Worlds last yr I was going tospend 2014 training my ass off for our 50k World Cup that was supposed to be in June as a tune up before the 100k in August. I really wanted to go after my best performance on a familiar course where I was comfortable and had had success before. Doing a spring marathon is really not feasible. It's just flat out not in my budget to be able to afford a marathon somewhere in Europe March-April ish. Honestly, I'm not much of a marathoner. I do far better at the 50 and 100k and that's what I train for. That's my thing to do. The really shitty part of this whole mess is that I am actually in decent shape now just getting ready to tweak things before a few spring halves I was to use as stepping stone races before that 50k. I started upping the volume in January. The past few Saturdays, I've been doing short races then going out for a run after to the tune of about 25k or so then doubling back Sunday for 30-35 ish soon to do 40. My body has been responding well and lump I had on my left achilles is now gone for the first time in years. I'm not getting any younger and want to chase after another PR in the 50 and 100 while I still can. I don't have next year or whenever to put that off to. On the Daugavpils course I could have realistically done that.

2013 in Review and What's in Store for 2014

Well 2013 wasn't too shabby. I'd have to say it was pretty good until I trail crashed in late Aug and things pretty much went south from there. I had a PR in the 100k on a tough course at the Euros in April, so I can check that off my Bucket List. OTOH, I would call the 50k an epic fail. The trail crash in August a week before World Cup led me to the tough call to sit out and not risk making a bad situation worse. Chicago Lakefront was my chnce for redemption after missing one of my A races and that edned badly too finishing 2nd and running a time I'd rather not print. I was already on my way to getting sick just in time for that one. So the 50k this year was just dumb shitty luck. In August pre crash, I was going to try for a sub 3:40. This year, I'm not going to focus on trying for that because our 50k in Daugavpils is moved to sometime in June (awaiting the date) because we are hosting 100k Worlds/Euros. Although I may be in shape to go after that barrier, being JUNE means it will be totally in the hands of the weather gods as I am a polar bear. I doubt I'll do Chicago Lakefront in October because the 100k is on Aug 30th and I'll be spending a chunk of September recovering. So, as much as I'd like to chase a 50k PR this year, I think I missed that train in 2013 because this year's schedule is not 50k friendly. If I get lucky, I get lucky, but June is not a really good time to chase a PR. I would do the Chicago 50 in late March, but I have a half a million USELESS skymiles I can't ever seem to redeem at that time and I cannot afford to pay for TWO trips to the US in a year. One of them has to be on a mileage ticket for that to even be possible. The ultra scene in Russia is pretty sad race wise and the calendar is for the most part a black hole and even if there were a 50, I'd need to get out somewhere in Europe to do it. Any race longer than a half needs to be done outside Russia if running for a result. So the 50 is on the Bucket List if I have a good day in one but backburnered for now.

The 100k is at the top of the 2014 Bucket List and I'm going to train at 200% spring/summer since it's on the home course in Daugavpils. It was on the top of the List in 2013 and it's not getting backburnered anytime soon. I want to PR there in August.

2013 also saw random visits from the PR Fairy not only in the 100k but in the 1000m on the track about a month and a half after the 100k! The PR Fairy is always welcome to visit! I also ran my fastest ever hot weather 10k in July in temps pushing 30C. I can easily run 38 39min+- on a cool day but I have never been able to do this much past 20C- my body just never works in the heat. Again, I'm a polar bear. I also had lots of fun runing races up to the half over the summer and fall. I discovered that I still like to speed and can still be damn competitive placing and or even winning  :-) That is someting I would like to keep doing this year and those shorter races usually work their way into my training plans for longer stuff anyays since I need the speedwork to keep my legs sharp especially when I'm on  a high volume training cycle leading into an ultra.

So, while the 100k remains at the top of the Bucket List, I would also like to add Do Something Different to the List. Go out to a race I haven't done yet. I up and went to the run in Orekhovo Zuevo last week and had a blast. I have known about that race for years, but never dragged my butt out to do it. I am going to need stepping stone races, when training for the 50 and the 100,so why not try smthg different? On the 7th, I'm planning a 15k some 2 1/2 hours out of town as a friend of mine is organizing it and it is more fun than slogging out the same workout on an indoor track (which has limited access til the 8th anyways over the holidays). Plus, the death of the Luzhniki Summer Cup series has left me looking to other well organized events in and around Moscow...ie. road trips may be involved. Our calendar is still forming now. I am hoping that Spring and Fall Thunder events will still be on. The 10k and half marathons at those events are well organized and the organizer tries very hard to listen to feedback and improove on his events every time. Moscow International Half in early May is also one to do. I skipped it in 2013 because it was right after the 100k. Zvezdniy Gorodok in April is also a MUST. That is an awesome event. I am still pissed off that the Luzhniki Marathon is no more. That is a spring marathon I would have done. It's quite possible 2014 will be my first yr w/o a marathon. Valmiera is too soon after the 100 this year and doing one in September or October would probably not be FAST and just a cooldown similar to what I did in 2012 at Luzhniki after 100k Worlds. My window for a FAST marathon is March April, and although there are good options in Europe, the price tag would be akin to that flight to the US if I did the 50 so, unless I win the lottery or something, it's out of the question. I don't see Belochka Marathon on the calendar and that would have been a nice training run midsummer for the 100. Any Russian marathon is just a glorified training run- for a fast time, I need to go somewhere in Europe. Soooo the marathon is backburnered. I have been more focused on the 50 and 100 since 2010 anyways. I sort of see Riga 2009 as my "swan song" in the marathon after which I changed my focus to the ultras.It's a bummer there isnt anyting in the Baltics mid-April just after the snow melts ans it's still cool weather.

Finally, in 2014 -up top on the Bucket List is to have fun and stay HEALTHY...HA and not eff myself up trail crashing at the wrong time! Knock on wood, I've been mostly niggle free the past few seasons, but I have had achillies-bursitis for over 4 yrs now such that I have just learned to live with the lump on my left heel. I underwent prolozone treatments in the US in October and am shocked to say, that the lump is gone! Eccentric dips and other exercises were only working with limited success. Prolozone promotes healing and regeneration in the tendon, and the stuff works. Thank you again Dr Rose for saving the day!

One thing in 2014 I am NOT looking forward to is turning 40 in December. Honestly, that just sucks. I run each season anymore like it's my last and try and bust my ass to the fullest when I race. I plan to race as long as I can still be competitive, but when old age starts to slow me down, I will retire from racing. I'll keep runnning so as not to morph into the stereotypical heifer American who sits and grows a bum all day, but I'm too damn competitive to resign myself to "slow" racing. For now though, I'll keep competing with the "young bucks" while I still can!

Ending the Year With a Win and Starting off the Right Way.

29- December 4.4km in Orekhovo Zuyevo-

I have known about this run for years. I have never made it though for one reason or another. It's a nearly 3 hour haul from door to door for one. It has also conflicted with the indoor mile for several years. One year it didn't; I believe, it was 2010 when I packed my bag to take in the morning and head out. I woke up, looked out and saw nothing but freezing rain and went back to bed. Good thing I did because I would not have made it to the start line anyways since 90% of the commuter trains were cancelled because they were iced over! So, this year, I decided to finally get my butt out to this run. The mile was last weekend and I decided it was time to check this one out. I took Icebugs and flats and figured I'd decide on my warmup what to wear.

I got to the start and registration without problems and went to check out the course.There was about a 200m stretch of snicy slop on each of the 4 loops we would do, but otherwise the course was clean, so I decided to go spikeless. Now, Lena M was out there too and things have been getting too darn close in the mile again since I was not up to par. I figured, today would be close. So I decided to just go out hard from the beginning and try and open up a bigass gap. I sort of just went out hard and parked actually-ended up even 3.45/km pace soooo my speed evidentally isn't dead but was just on a bit of a hiatus over the last several weeks. For the win, I got a meat grinder- yup something I can actually use :) The goal here was to do someting new/ different and have fun. I might have a tough time chosing between this one and the 2nd mile in the indoor series next year!

 ending the year on a high note

                 u win it, u carry it! :-)

Jan 1- 3k

This one was nice. My only beef is that it was at 11AM OUCH! That required some serious use of caffeine ie Fein to get moving for this one! I just did easy runing over the last 2 days since these races were close together and my legs were pretty speedy today pacing at 3.43 this time. I lost time in the middle due to one icy turn and ice patches otherwise I was fine.  I finished 2nd to Yuliya who really pregressed over the summer at the short stuff. This was a fun event and the organization was good. Due to the horrible terrorist attacks over the weekend in Volgograd, they cancelled the costume run since the mood here is not so festive in the wake of it all, but I am glad they went on with the rest of the events. Cancelling things and hiding inside is exactly what the bastard terrorists want.There was also a kiddie run and a run with your dog which was kind of cool. Again, it's the offseason and I'm just out to have fun and maintain fitness. 

top men and women in the 3

video- look for the SKIRT at about :55
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Sn2ux5Ci6I&feature=youtu.be

Now, for those of you who actually read my posts and know me, every Jan 1 I run to Father Frost's house in the forest here in the park. This was the NINTH time I have done this ( holy crap)! Guess what I did for a cooldown this afternoon? My friend Sveta and I met up for this one.  I got in 20k or so today so kept busy. Sorry, I cannot provide those cool shots of snow covered trees and trails this year, we have no snow and a crapton of ICE at the moment. It has been above freezing during the day and icing up nasty at night. We have been having a very strange warms spell for the last week or so. 

Next up will be 2013 in review and this year's Bucket List-coming soon!