2015 Done-On To 2016!

Wow! My last entry was in August! Well that doesn't mean I have not been training and racing, it just means I've been very busy and don't get around to posting in here as often as I used to. Between the job and my training, I have some time left over to eat and sleep then repeat the process. I hit the trails, track, road, etc after school every day and then head home for dinner, shower and off to bed. I did do (and win) a few local races in the Kenai Peninsula and in Homer. That was just to help maintain fitness as I was heading back to Moscow for 3+ weeks over winter break for some good racing  and quality training.
 2015 was the year I moved back to Alaska for the school year. I will probably revert to doing what I did before I moved to Moscow as an expat in 2005 in that I spent my off time from school there (summer break/winter break). It was a way for me to keep current in what I was teaching (Russian) and get cool new stuff to use in class so as to avoid doing the same boring stuff every year. That is exactly why I am still maintaining my flat there subletting from time to time. It's also a CYA in case state budget cuts affect my contract next year. Oil is at a record low now and Alaska is very much like Russia- oil dependent. I like the job and the kids are cool. Being able to teach the entire class in Russian is really awesome too :)
So, after being out of Moscow since mid July, I headed back to race and have fun. Yes, and only I could find a place COLDER than Alaska to spend my winter holidays. After the New Year, the bottom fell out and it felt more like Fairbanks, Alaska with double digit highs and lows below zero! It was fun getting to see friends again. I can't tell you how many people came up to me at races or even in the middle of the forest to ask if I was ok, what happened, if I had been ill or injured because I suddenly quit racing in Moscow :-( The truth is, I got offered the job in June and had about 3 weeks to get my shit in order because I had to get to Alaska to set up house and be ready for school. So, I never really got to say goodbye to much of anyone, but those who knew , knew I wasn't going away forever, just seasonally like I did when I taught in Fairbanks and in Wasilla years earlier. I have been living in Russia off and on for nearly 26 years.  For better or for worse it's always going to be a part of who I am and my world view of things.
The first race I did was on the 26th of December- just an indoor mile on the indoor track where I have trained since 2002. I ended up 4th overall (and oh dear was the oldest ladyout there). There were no runners over 30 much less 40! Ah well, I did this as a tune up for the race the next day in Orekhovo Zuevo.

This was fun and getting my legs moving again on the flat. There is definitely a transition after months of mountain running. Strength is there speed is also back but takes a little time. I now understand why people wait a week or 2 to race a flat after coming down from the mountains. I even notice this at times when I go down to sea level for flat intervals. Legs are strong but need to transition to being on flats.
Sooo, the next day, I went out to Orekhovo-Zuevo for the 3rd year in a row. It was chilly but not the -15 or so C we had last year. When I arrived it was not snowing (yet) and the ground was clean. On the train out however, it was snowing sideways and hard with zero visibility!

This race has always been well organized. Word gets out! There was a very deep field this year and a record number of runners. My age group- the 30-45group had the deepest field- go figure!
http://www.ozmo.ru/news/12634-2015-12-28-13-57-42
 The snow arrived just in time for the start! I warmed up in my Hoka Cliftons as the pavement was still clear but by 2km into the 4 km race, I was ready to reach for the icebugs it was coming down that hard! I really had to watch the turns. Last year there was slush in spots but I still had traction. This year, it was bust your ass on the turns if you were not careful! I ended up 3rd overall which was not bad considering the depth of the field. I actually sat back in 7th overall until the final incline in the last 500 or so. Some people call it a "hill". Funny thing is I used to notice this incline but after all my hellaciously hilly training in Alaska it didn't really get my attention. Father Frost and Snegurochka were at the awards :)

That sideways snow followed me out on the train!

pit stop for lunch before heading home!

It turned out to be a good double. My legs felt good to my surprise despite this being a day 2 race. 

The next adventure was on Jan 3- the Snowflake Half in Mitino on the far northwest end just outside Moscow. I had really hoped to do the Aktivizm New year Run again this year on Jan 1, but it had fallen victim to the economic downturn and was cancelled. The awesome trail races organized by River Trail Running Club have also been cancelled this year as well (Pioneer Camp, Sand dune races(where the spring marathon was) the mud run....the races on  kickass trails outside Moscow). This is  huge loss as these races were so fun and well organized. So I decided to head to Mitino to the park where I ran the 2.5k on Victory Day back in May. This time though the course was all on the brick road- no trails/dirt like in the spring. I needed a good tempo run to get my butt in shape for the Little SU 50k on Feb 13. I have not done this race since my last year in Alaska in 2005! 

After the New Year, the temps bottomed out and winter finally arrived. -20s C was the norm. it hadn't been this cold for quite a while and the last 3 winters were pretty wimpy. There was actually ice fog the morning of this run! This was a fun well organized half (and 10 and 5k). Coach was there keeping vitargo bottles from freezing. This turned out to be a nice workout and win too.

Soooo a couple days after this half there was a 3k in Kuzminki. Hmmm ok I'm going to be running these trails anyways at 11am....why not just do this for fun? Kuzminki is the park where I have trained since 2002. The trails are 600m from my doorstep. This was a Father Frost fun run on a very familiar loop around the ponds and base of the sled hill. So on the morning of the run it was a whopping -25C! This was making me feel more like running in Fairbanks, Alaska! BRRR!

So out the door I went and ran to the start. I ended up finishing 2nd behind Olga Tarantinova who is an elite mid D runner. This was fun and my legs weren't that bad off despite the half 2 days before. These pics with my frosty face definitely remind me of my Fairbanks days! This was the first time I have raced in my Apocalypse double layer fleece mitts (yup made in Fairbanks) since I can't remember. It's also the first time I have raced with bottom layer tights to my knees under my subzero ones in several years-yeh  brr. The course was actually 2 miles (ah well) anddespite being all layered up and wintery,I just missed cracking 13 which was actually better than some of my top winter  2 mile xc times at the easier Srichinmoy course I've been doing since they started in 2011. 

Yes, this race was also sponsored partly by the dog mushers in the park :) Their sign reads "From Kuzminki to Alaska" which I can quite relate to. I actually posted it as my banner on Facebook when I went back to Alaska in July. 

So what's on tap in 2016? I will head back to Moscow in the summer for some racing in Russia and hopefully Latvia. I am really disappointed that our 50k NCs and World Cup race in Daugavpils got moved to May 28th. I was going to make that one of my A races this year and it looks like I will miss it by literally a couple days since school is out the day before! This has always been a summer race. There has been no announcement about WC or EC 100k yet. That I would like to not miss next time around if I can get  to the venue. I am once again faced with many of the issues I had to deal with when I lived in Alaska years ago in that there are many races I'd like to do, and I do have limited personal leave I could use to get out, but the COST of getting out is what does me in. Now that I'm in the US, I could go out to Mad City 100k for Nationals or 50k NCs in NY, but a weekend trip to either would cost nearly what it does to go to Europe! This is why I had to pull out of 100k WC/EC in 2015- the airfare from Anchorage was 2500$! When I was living in Russia full time, getting to a race venue in Europe was easy peasy and could be done on the cheap over a weekend, now that's only possible if I happen to be in Russia over my summer and winter breaks from school and can just pop on out to a race. So, I will train and race in Alaska and get out primarily over summer break to Europe/Russia ,etc for the bulk of my racing season. It doesn't cost me an arm, leg , and kidney to stay in Russia since I am still mainatining my flat there. This is pretty much what I did prior to 2005 in that my meat and potatoes racing season was over the summer when I  was able to get out. I'm hoping that training on some challenging mountiain terrain during the school year will translate to good strength and speed during the racing season. 

I'm Baaaack!

So, it's been three months since I've posted in here. The last attempt was at the end of May after a come from behind win in the 26k trail mudder in Dmitrov. 3 Weeks later that was followed by a solid 15k XC at Sokolniki 17 June. That was supposed to have been a tune up for the Moscow Trail July 4th. I was signed up for the 30k. The course had a 1000m cumulative elevation gain and was at Sarochany aka the snowboard /ski hill near Dmitrov. I was just too busy that weekend ...packing and shipping and ran on the trails by home then. Two days after the 15k, I was offered a full time job just outside Homer, Alaska teaching full time Russian in the Old Believer school at Voznesenka. I also do two distance delivery classes of HS and middle schoolRussian to Nikolaevsk during the day. So, I shipped what I needed for now and flew out on July 15th. The move cost an arm,leg and kidney, but things in Moscow were going to just keep getting worse before they were ever going to get better if at all in my lifetime, so the decision to take this job was about as no brainer as it gets. The ruble is still plummeting as I write this. Because the Old Believer schools have tons of holy days off during the school year, we actually started work on Aug 3. So, between moving country, work, and running, I've been a bit busy. Anyhow, the kids are great and folks are very friendly. When I'm having days where I can't recall the word for X in English-no problem, all the kids speak Russian in school and at home. This is a win win for me as well. One of my biggest concerns with moving back to the USA was that I might lose my Russian. After over ten years in Russia, I would hate to see that happen(yeh and 15 off and on before those 10). it's nice to be a "real" teacher again and have a classroom and not spend more time commuting than actually teaching. I decided to keep my flat in Moscow for the time being-sublet when I'm away. I'll be going back on winter and summer holidays like I used to years ago. I'm teaching at a prek-12 school too (grades 6-12 Russian for me) and will need to get fresh stuff for class every year anyway since I'll have the same kids year after year as they move up in grade levels.

Sooooo, how has all of this affected my racing? It's just all about time management at the end of the day. I'm back to running late afternoon right after school. It is hellaciously hilly where I live. I am up on a knob outside of Homer. From the house I can go UP,UP or UP! Yes, up a5-7%grade over 4km to get to the dirt road that rolls a bit up top for my "easy "days. After a lack of adequate hill training in Moscow, I'm making up for lost time. On speed days, if I need a flat, I have to drive almost all the way to town. Out of laziness (don't feel like hauling myself into town), I often relegate myself closer to home and yup, on the mountains, Weekly intervals do happen somewhere somewhat flat though and a week prior to the 49k in Anchorage, I took myself off the hills to rest up. I always wanted to get back to mountain and hill training. It made me damn strong back int he day but could never afford to take a month off to go to Kislovodsk or Kyrgystan to do so while I was in Moscow because my work was so unstable. Now, I just go out the door at no added cost :) Welcome to my world:

 the name says it all!

 view from the yard

 where I play

Soooo about that 49k,The first weekend in August I posted a season best and a win in a 5k in Soldotna done as a training run.The following weekend, I finished 3rd in a 10k (well I got beat by the Ossiander sisters who are low 9 min 3k runners). One is going to Worlds for jr mountain runing champs which is pretty cool.

After I got the job offer, I signed up for a race I have not done since 2003 back when it was still Humpy's Marathon. They have since added a 49k. Leonid told me to do the 49 instead of the marathon. He's tight, I am a better ultrarunner than marathoner. I have won 6 of the 6 times I have done this marathon 1997-2003. Every year, I'd peek online from Moscow and hope that just one day I 'd get to do it ONE MORE TIME before I got too old to do it well. This was always my favorite race I'd bust my tail in summers past to get back from my summers in Moscow in time for it. So, I dediced to go incognito. If I had a crap race, no one would know it was me. I'd rather be remembered as the fast lady who won 6 times not coming back as a slow old geezer:) I signed up under my middle name- Renee. If I had a good race, well then cat would be out of the bag.....I'm BAAAACK!

It was wet and rainy for the race. I loved this run because by this time of the summer, you are not going to get skunked with a hotass hell day in Anchorage. I started out conservatively as usual. After about 5k I was just doing my own thing. I knew the next lady was catchig up but wasn't going to get my underwear in a knot this early. About 8k in, she joined me and I decided to play tactical and just sit on her. I was prepared to so this til 35 or 40k or so if I had to. She was looking good on the flats and I needed to come up with a plan. Just before 18k, we hit Kincaid Hill. Ok, this is one of 5 -6 decent rollers. They even do awards to the top lady and guy to the top of the hill turnaround on Kincaid. I just sat on the leader to conserve energy. I continued my normal effort up the hill not pushing it. This is where I got a bit ahead of her and thought ...oops it's too soon to be doing this. I also figured out that she struggled a bit on climbs. Crap, this race is going to be won or lost on the hills. That meant I'd have to try and surge on each of the major hills along the way to open a gap and hopefully hold. That was not going to be easy, but after training on the hills around Homer for a month, Kincaid Hill seemed like nothing! So on the return, I worked the climbs each time pulling a little further away. She was gaining each time on the flats though. At 30k, I was only about a minute ahead. That grew to over 2 though by just before 40 because this is where there was a substantial sustained uphill going out to the other far turnaround near the University. With 10k to go she was just over 2 min behind. I knew I had to hold pace if not pick it up some more if I could. I was extremely blessed with crew this time- Carlos saved my ass out there as he biked from ait station to aid station with my bottles of Vitargo making sure I got calories to push through the tough stuff. He crewed me to my first win at this event back in 1997! This race was just too close for comfort, and I doubt i could have done what I did without crew to get me the Vitargo. So I just worked the final 10k the best i could not letting up on my pace. The final 3k is pretty evil with the last 2 going UP the steep hill back to downtown to the finish. I finally reached the final stretch on 6th Av for the win! The reporter recognized me....uh oh cat's out of the bag! After I finished, they told me I had broken the course record by TEN MINUTES! I wasn't even thinking much about time and to be honest, it was slow going today. The course was actually 49.8 but ah well. It's official....I'm baaaaack and now 7 for 7 at this race. Once again- big thanks to Vitargo for support to amke the win possible!

For those wondering- I opted out of 100k Worlds and Euros this year despite beinf more than fit for it. I simply can't afford thw 2500$price tag to get to the Netherlands in 4 weeks. I also didn't feel cool about asking for all my personal lv right away either. I will carry it over and have 2 weeks to play with next year and will go then. My coach said after a year of all this mountain training, I should do pretty well.

 pit stop on the drive to Anchorage  to pet the bear!