Mom Spectates From Heaven

Care For Breast Cancer 5k, Woodstock, Il USA

Third time is a charm. My brother told me about this race in 2009 and we did it together then. This is a huge event and it gets bigger every year. The proceeds go to fight breast cancer in the local area. These are the races I run for Mom. That year I finished 3rd.

In 2010 I missed this one because I had to get back to the other side of the pond for 100k Worlds in Gibraltar.

In 2011, I returned really wanting to win one for Mom, only to get out kicked in the final 400. I was carrying too much baggage coming off 100K Worlds and then Chicago all inside a month's time. My speed wasn't 100%.

                                              sunrise

                                                               off to warm up

                                                      GEESE

In 2012 I went to bed early and got up ready to get the job done. I got to the start early because I wanted to actually park the car! They had over 2300 runners this yr! I quickly got my number and immediately asked where the table was to get a back bib where you write who you are running in support and or in memory of. This one is always tough. I miss Mom more than anyone in the world and those who know me know that I still live with the guilt of missing her funeral even though it was a total no fault thing. Mom went to Heaven when I was in France and my roaming was a no go and I was impossible to reach. Missing Mom's funeral is by far the shittiest thing that has happened to me since going expat. Lots of other runners had Mom written on their backs too.

So off I was to warm up. Temps were near freezing , but I prefer that.  Just before the start, I noticed the girl who won last yr...Ok fine, I'll just run tactical-I'll sit on her butt and try and save myself for a late race surge. I have long recovered from my fall marathon and my speed is much better this yr anyways. The start was delayed 10 min because of record numbers of runners still coming in!

                                                  off to the start- Leonid ,me,Mindy ,Dylan,Parker, and "little" brother Brad

Off we were and off went last year's top lady. I let her go out fast-3.40 is first km...really? Sub 18.30 pace? I went out at 3.50 and just parked it the first k and by the mile mark, I had already crept up on her heels. She picked up a little and I just went with her to be a brat. Halfway-2.5k 9.31  jeez that's really pedestrian and slacking off for me based on my fitness level now but my goal was to go for the win and whatever time I run is whatever it is.  We hit 2 mile together then I knew I had to just gas it and go. I can't rely on some super finishing kick so I like to hammer over the 2nd half of my races when ppl begin to get tired. So I latched on to a guy not too far ahead and let him pull me along at 3.35-38 /km pace (high 5.40s mile) until he dropped back in the final 800. I held that pace finishing in 18.49 (coach was timing  and that's what the clock said too but somehow they got me in the results in 18.53 but I won:))) Leonid ran 17.56 and they gave him 18.03 which is strange as we both started up front too. I couldn't help thinking that Mom was watching from Upstairs.

"Little" Brother came in in 33 in change and Mindy just over 50 with the nephews in the double decker stroller:-) This race is always well organized. Sadly, I may miss it totally next yr because 100K Worlds in Korea are supposed to be roughly the same weekend.

Diamond Dash 5k- Mundelein,Il USA 13-October

I'm behind on my blogging because the Busy Monster has been kicking my ass since I got to the States a couple weeks ago. In my final prep for the 50k on the 27th, I am doing short races in between my long runs and final workouts to stay speed sharp and fine tuned. My first speed workout was the Diamond Dash 5k only 3 days after flying in. I'm not 100% til sometime between day 4and 5 typically and was till sleepytired when I ran this. My quads were still kind of heavy and as I warmed up on the course which was mostly pea gravel, I just figured I'd sandbag and try for under 20 min. I wasn't sure how my legs would respond. Last yr, I flew in too close to the Chicago Marathon and ran jet lagged on a hot day and probably still too soon after the 100kand had a craptastic performance. Pea gravel and I don't get along for races as it does slow things down quite a bit. I can't recall ever breaking 20 on that annoying loose pea gravel even when my road times were much much faster. Plus it had rained and the paved sections of the course were actually slick. To my surprise though I started out at 3.50/km (19.10pace) and picked it up after just over 2k to cruise in at 18.43! I was glad the first guy was not too far ahead and dressed brightly so I didn't mess up any turns. I had company for the first 2.5k or so but then she dropped back after I picked up the pace and I was all alone. She is a fast and talented lady who just had the same elite dev/A standard start in Chicago I sat out.    The goal here was just to have fun and get in a decent workout. The next day, I had my final loooong run on the menu and went out and ran just over 30k like nothing had happened the day before. I recover like a kid in the US and I am certain the lack of pollution and food that actually has nutritional value plays a big role.

                                                             Warming up

                                                                     finish

                                                             top2 ladies:-)

Gzhel 10km 30 Sept

I'll make this quick because I fly to the US in 3 days and am again racing this weekend before I go. I typically go to Gzhel as a final tune up pre Chicago. Well Chicago is tomorrow and I'm still in Moscow....I never expect to place top 3 in this race as lots of fast ppl almost always show up and there is one age group:20 and up! So Up I got and off I was for a tempo run to get some speed back after the marathon. The week after the marathon I didn't feel like racing. I took a rest week and slept in on Staurday instead of running the 2k in Golyanovo. My body thanked me. 

I started out as I usually do- not barn burning fast and sensible and just set myself back about 5 sec from the top girls running my own pace which was just under 4min /km. Legs still feeling kind of sleepy hmmm. It wasn't til after the first 5k I figured out I was running 4th because the 5 and 10 run together. 10 does 2 loops. First 5k pedestrian 19.53. Shoot another year I will not break 40 because I'm running this race coming off a marathon or 100k....I have a bad habit of dying in the 2nd loop here for some reason. The course is a mix of flat and rollers. Just after the 1st loop the 2nd and 3rd ladies kept looking back to see where I was. hehe...I'll just sneak up on them. So I thought...WTH- they both simultaneously cut the turn and ran through the grass and cut quite lot off the course. That pissed me off. I know these girls and would not have expected that from them. Just past the 6k they took a slight cut again. OK that's it you guys are done. I took one of them on the uphill just before 7k. I ran with the next one til just past 8k and risked opening an 8-10 sec gap. She is really good at short stuff esp middle distance. I knew she could get me at the finish and I needed a gap closer to 20 sec but only opened to about10.She did get me with 300 to go :( and I finished 3rd. My time -39.45 was still quite a bit off of where I was pre Valmiera. This course does have some rollers but they seemed manageable to me and I did most of my passing on the uphills. Top 3 get very nice prizes and they are pretty:) Gzhel is famous for the porcelain factory which makes super some of the porcelain top 3 goptpretty stuff. This yr top 10 got additional prizes-also nice:) The goal here was just to work on a steady tempo run and get my speed back. Today was a "get stuck" race which means I got stuck running one even pace. I seem to either negative split or get stuck. My shorter races tend to be get stuckers. 

Valmiera Marathon 16-Sept-a Very Unexpected Outcome

  Valmiera is a scenic small town 2 hours out of Riga not far from the Estonian border. There is an old church from the 1280s that still stands in the center of town and also at the start/finish of the marathon. It and some of the old fortress remain intact as fortunately they were not destroyed in WWII. Oh, and yes, Valmiera is a HILLY town!
Here are some shots from around town and the course:

                                                                 one of many quad busters

                                                      13th c church at the center of town near start/finish

                                                   view from hilltop behind the church in old Valmiera

I first ran Valmiera in 2010 a month after the Daugavpils Marathon (before it became part of the World Cup 50k) as part of my buildup for 100k Worlds that yr in November in Gibraltar. I finished a paltry 5th on the hellaciously hilly course. I missed this one in 2011 because it was a week after 100k Worlds. This year, I had to fit it in my schedule. It is also the Latvian marathon NCs. This race is very well organized (unlike the pathetic event I did the week earlier as my final tune up going into this) and there are plenty of well manned aid stations roughly every3+k on the course.

Incidentally, thanks to the wanker who knocked me over the week before  my right side was badly bruised at the ribs and my right leg good and effed up where I obviously strained the outside lateral of my right achilles and the area at tbase of the calf. I had never had issues with this area before the fall.   Three days before the marathon, I had the area worked on in depth and still had a huge knot at the base of my calf my coach spent some serious time working out. It actually hurt to walk on for the first two days after the 10k. I wasn't pain free until about 36 hours before the marathon but who the hell knows to what degree this niggle that could have been avoided affected my performance.

 One of the runners who knows me asked me why I chose Valmiera this yr and I very honestly said that a week ago in Moscow the weather was perfect 5C and rain, the course was flat and has now been confirmed 600m short (anyone who ran Moscow International got a free ride and a free 2-3 min cut from their time). Yes, this does not surprise me as another well known Moscow autumn marathon was 2KM short a few yrs ago!  But...yes BUT, organization at Moscow International is some of the worst in Russia. I would have had crew had I run Moscow, but even with crew to hand you drinks and gels etc, you still have to deal with the craptastic air quality in the center and will be hard pressed to do super well. In Valmiera, there is CLEAN air, super organization, but, no, not a course to try for a PR on though it is a scenic course all the well. So yeah, I would rather schelp myself on a 16 hr train to Riga then another 2 hours to Valmiera than run Moscow International ANY DAY! There are no free rides in Valmiera and  no short course(in fact in 2010 and 2012 my Garmin shows nearly 600m long and I wonder if it has to do with the hills).  The course is 4 even loops and you will run in 2 directions along the loops: UP and DOWN most all of the way!

As of 4 days before the race when I last checked the list before I left, on the ladies side I had a shot at a top 3. Anita who won in her debut in 2010 was back and Irina- my 100K teammate was running. Anita would likely go for the win leaving a very even battle for 2nd and 3rd to Irina and I. Irina's 5k and 10k have been only seconds slower than mine this season and our halves just about the same. She can kick my ass in anything under a 3000 though. I had a feeling it would be a very good and likely close race with her much as it was when we first met in Riga in 09. Plus she was definitely fresher as this was her first marathon of the season and I was carrying baggage in the form of 2 marathons, a 100K,50K, plus lots of races up to the half nearly every week, and high volume training. Well, the day befoe the race, I saw Irina at packet pickup and she and her husband Maris (he crewed for us in 2010 at the 100k in Gibraltar) let me know that Dace Lina had decided to run. Hmmm... We guessed she was coming in to try to break her 2:50 course record from 2010. Dace is a 2:38 marathoner who just got back from the Olympic marathon in London! Soooo it looked  like Irina and I would have to sort it out for 3rd and 4th.

Race Day- are you kidding me.....sunny and warm? This is usually a cold and rainy race aka perfect weather for me but I had no goosebumps at the start so it was warm- low 20s C. So off we were up and down the hills we went. I went out fairly sane not pushing the pace early because the hills would beat the crap out of my legs later on if I did. At the out and back turnaround between 6- 7k into the loopAnita was leading and Dace following with Irina in 3rd. I just let them go out fast. One lap later in the same spot Anita was far ahead and Dace and Irina were together. I was a good 2 min+ behind. Coming up on the end of loop 2 Andris, our 100k team manager and the guy who handles all the stuff realted to ultras told me I was 1:45 behind Dace and Irina. That's still quite a bit but it's way too early to push the pace and I AM FEELING the hills so I had better just focus on holding pace and not pushing yet.

At the end of each loop, we are treated to a nice climb in the final 500m on this gnarly, sandy/gravel/pothole HILL to boot. So I just got down to business and tried my darnest to make peace with the hills in lap 3. Midway through loop 3 it was time for the Vespa Jr in addition to the usual nutrition plan of Vitargo and Roctane with a salt stick every hour as it was warm. At the far touraround about 27-28k Dace and Irina were still ahead and I wasn't even thinking of catching up yet. Well just before 30k, I saw a familiar ponytail ahead-Irina? I passed her at right about 30k but figured she would catch me again in the final loop as she is quite good and my legs were beginning to get really tired of the ups and downs on the hills. Now just past 30k I saw another familiar ponytail ahead- Dace?! Ok I might try and stay with her for a bit I thought. Coming up on that gnarly hill at the end of loop 3 I caught her and we ran together for a bit. Going into loop 4 I was a little bit ahead but really didn't want to try and pass because I figured it would be futile. She would likely get me in the last lap anyway. I have major  respect for Dace. She hasn't been running seriously very long and as recently as 2008-2009, had halves over 1:30 when she was starting out. She progressed very quickly getting her marathon into the 2:50s then breaking 2:40 this spring to get the B standard for the Olympics. She is awesome!

                                                               32k

                                          starting loop4 (they say the race begins in the final 10k)

So, we headed down that quad busting downhill at the beginning of the last loop. The water stop was at the bottom of said hill just before 32 k. We were pretty much together there both grabbing our bottles and heading off. I could feel she was slowing just a little but really didnt want to try something stupid like try to pass and open a gap. I was pretty sure she could close even a decent gap over the last 10k anyways. There is a very short flat in the first km of each loop-I went. I just focused on the few guys ahead and picked them off. Now between 2 and 3k into each loop there is a long climb. This is about 34 k now and I continued working on this hill and picked off a couple more guys. Oddly enough most of the passing I had done all day was on the uphills where it's tough. I was running 2nd now thought it would be really cool to hold onto that but knew it was a longshot. Dace was about 100-150m behind now.

The thing is I used a lot of gas hauling up that last uphill and my quads were shredded and I was a hurting unit! I still had 7+k to go which isn't much from the mentality of a 100k runner, but it's not a picnic when it's all up and down and you are on shredded quads! At the last out and back turnaround with just over 3k to the finish Dace was about 45 sec behind and Irina about 2 min. Irina would probably not be able to make that up, but over the last 3 1/2 K or so Dace could. I really couldn't pick it up all I could do was tooth and nail hold onto my pace which was dropping to4.40km on the uphills. My quads were about to just go on strike.

 Between 40 and 41K I glanced back and saw the guy on the bike that had been crewing for Dace and she was picking off the guys that were between us that I had passed earlier. She was less than 200 back now and that gap was closing just as I'd turned down the final stretch at 41k and was approaching the final dreaded climb up that gnarly hill. God, I just wanted to crawl up that thing like everyone else was doing but knew this was going to be a pretty close finish. That last hill kicked my ass but once I got to the top I had just 200 to go and went with what I had left to finish 2nd. Dace finished 24 sec behind and Irina 3 min back.

That was defnintely NOT the outcome I would have predicted at all. After looking at lap splits we were all hurting apparently going into lap 4 I was just the one who did the least slowing down and tried my damnest to hold pace although the last 4k was just a sufferfest and all I could do was autopilot -no more picking up but thankfully not majorly slowing down much more either.

Andris has been trying to get Dace to try the 100k and we all talked about it after the race. She would be really good , but is intimidated by the distance. I told her she'd be fine because in the 100 the key is running one somewhat sane pace all day whereas in the marathon you have to pace much faster and hold on which for me is actually harder.

                                                 Team Latvia- Dace(middle) Irina (right)

After the finish, I headed off for a quick shower. When I got back, Andris invited me to the VIP tent where the race director and other top runners and national team members were hanging out having a beer and bite to eat while waiting for the awards.

So choice has been made- Valmiera it is Chicago Marathon it is not this yr despite having the A start again. I could have chased a PR in Chicago and I'm in shape to do it, but I chose Valmiera as it's an NC and well, there was also a nice paycheck for my efforts. Also, I really want to take a crack at the Chicago 50K course record. In order to do that I need to sit the marathon out and run the 50 on fresh legs which I can do six weeks off a marathon but not if I run another marathon three weeks off Valmiera and three weeks before the 50K which is where Chicago falls. Incidentally, my overall pace was just about the same in Valmiera (garmin showed 4.30-same as Daugavpils but Daugavpils was an even 50k whereas Valmiera showed an extra 600...hmmm). Plus the Valmiera course is much harder than Daugavpils. My legs were fine after the 50k but my quads hated me for a good three days after Valmiera! I prefer to space long races(marathons and longer) six to eight weeks apart if I'm going for a solid performance. After a month usually the best I can do is just repeat the performance I turned in a month earlier. With six to eight weeks between long races, I can take a recovery week, build back up and train, then have time to back down a bit before the next long race.