September...

Well, on September first I ran the Nike 10k. Speed was decent and just about back to the land of the living -38.48. That put me in a good setup going into Valmiera on the 14th. I did one final tune up 2 mile xc run which I won 8 days before the marathon. It was actually more of a STEEPLE than and xc run since it had pissed rain all week and the course was underwater in spots.

                                                         A little dirt won't hurt :-)

So this brings us to Valmiera- I'm calling epic fail here on this one. I reallyneed NEED to FLY up to Riga to spare my legs and just take the train back, but yeah, I can never get deals to Riga under 300 euros or so, so it's not happening. I managed to sleep on my side on the train such that I bruised my left inner thigh above the knee- about a grapefruit sized bruise mind you. I am too boney to sleep on anything too hard and yeah usually it's my hip bone that grinds into the bunk but that always works itself out in a day or so before the race. This time I f#cked up my leg. My lower back was sore too but that was ok by Saturday-the day before. I could still feel the sroeness from that bruise on my shakeout run Saturday too. It hurt to touch it and massage wasn't helping much. I was going to have to run this marathon with an aching leg. SUCKTASTIC!  I wanted to try going out a little slower this yr than last yr to pack a better reserve in the second half. Well the problem was that I never was able to really pick it up after that. That damn thigh was sore as sh!t from the bruising. The field was stacked this year but, I figured I could at least get the 4th lady in the late kms- nope just sort of stuck not faster not slower just stuck. I ended up 5th time was worse than last year and, yeah I need to get a better line of work so I can afford to FLY next time and spare the legs.

Frustrating is not even the word. Sat out the 50k because I twisted the sh!t out of my ankle and then sucked at the marathon that was supposed to be on fresh legs this yr. By all indications before I bruised my leg on the train bunk, I was more than ready to run a solid race. If my barometer races had gone badly, I would have likely withdrawn from Valmiera and not gone, but everything was a go and I hadn't lost fitness in the 10 day time out a month prior. 

Six days later, I ran the Znamensky Memorial 6k in Chulkovo just south of Moscow. After having taken an easy week, my legs had more spunk in them than I thought. The masters cutoff here is at 36 and I just registered in my division and ran in the masters race. After about 3km I had passed most of the boys and was just chuking along in the mid 3.50s /km even steven in the POURING COLD RAIN.+5C and PISSING! I had no one to really chase down and was on my own just getting in a good workout. Had I known the main field was not as stacked as usual, I should have risked it and run with the young bucks and likely would have made top6 where they got better prize $. Who would have guessed? I got my ass kicked here in 09 when I was still in the young buck's division. So a masters win ti was.Ah well. No photos from the awards I was too wet and cold to fish out my camera:) Nevertheless, this race has always had good organization and I missed it in recent yrs as I was either in Valmiera or at 100k WC in the Netherlands at this time. 

WET!

cool medals though

On the 29th- I ran the 10 again in Gzhel. Just  missed cutting under 40 -last yr I made it under post Valmiera. BUT, last yr I was more motivated knowing I had to bust my ass for top 3. This yr I knew I wasn't going to make top 3 and just switched into 4min/km tempo run mode. 

I need to decide to do or no to do Chicago Marathon next week. Honestly, last year I believe I won the 50 and set the CR because instead of wasting my legs on a marathon I get nothing from, I ran a 3 hr long run that day instead. Sure, I can sandbag Chicago as a long run but it's pretty damn embarrassing to end up in the results with a snail slow time just 'cause. I think it's better to train on your own than to do that kind of thing. I'm eyeing possibly doing a half in Libertyville IL as a damn good workout instead .I need to really think. There are only 20 days between the marathon and the 50k and that's just not enough if I want to go eyeballs out in the 50. 6-8 weeks has always been ideal spacing for long races for me not 3. Plus running the marathon will kill my speed for those 5ks and 10ks I do as picker uppers before the 50k. Need to really think this through. In  2011 I did the marathon AND 50k and my 50k sucked. I would rather do smthg well or not do it at all.

TIME OUT

Well August was rather lame to say the least. Time out- yup just like the little kid who has misbehaved, I had to go sit in Time Out. :-(
Autumn Thunder Moscow Half
Me, who almost never gets sick had a sore throat for a couple days that started 5 days before the half. I was quick to get on the immune boosters to stop it from getting worse and it never turned into a full blown cold, but I was just feeling BLEH most of the rest of the week. When the half rolled around, the weather was perfect 16-18C and cloudy. It was a bit windy on the outbound portion of the 2 loop course so I spent the first 7k of said outbound tucking in behind some guys to cut wind and just kind of easy peasy-ing at 4.07-10. I was just sitting in 7th place. Top 8 place and get nice  gift certificates for about 300$ of gear from the Asics shop. OK once I hit the turnaround I decided to actually move my sweet ass. I picked up to 4 min pace and passed 2 ladies. Marina is new this season but pretty damn fast at races we have done up to a 10k. She went with me and we worked together. Just before 10k, I caught my friend Sasha and he rabbited me the rest of the way at about 4.4.02. He also pulled me away from Marina who ended up only a bit over a minute behind me at the finish. I couldnt' quite catch 3rd lady even though I was closing the gap in the 2nd half. Finish 1:26.58 (hell 1:27). Far from the 1:25 I was primed for. I honestly had doubts about breaking even a 1:30 because even the slightest bug in the days before a race will completely eff things up. I ended up 4th.

The half was supposed to be my key tempo workout pre 50k. The following weekend, I went out for my last looooooong run did a 3 hr long run on the 11th (7 days after the half and 2 weeks pre 50k World Cup). That was Sunday. Monday, I took a rest day and by Wednesday, I did my final looooong interval workout (10x1000m)before beginning The Taper. On Thursay, I f#cked up- TRAIL CRASH in the last 2km on my way home from an ez run. Muddy and bloody I was but I really pissed off my left ankle. It was swollen and nasty like an evil shin splint at the top of the foot creeping up the ankle. I basically twisted/ pulled the sh!t out of the tendon. Beating the crap out of it further could lead to a nice stress fracture which is the very last thing I need. I did something similar in 2009 after the Solnechnogorsk Marathon. The cure to that OWWWW was 10 days of easy soft surface running and it subsided. Well shit, I did this one TEN DAYS before I was supposed to run the 50 in Daugavpils. Friday all I could muster was a wimpy sloooo as molasses run in the woods. Saturday, I needed to know how or if the leg would respond to speed so I ran the Nike 7k. Might I add I ran that clenching my teeth- there was no way in hell I was going to risk that leg on a 50k on pavement :( 7k was a 27.20 which is not great but not bad on a really pissy ankle. I just ran even steven no pushing pace and it would have put me right at about the 39 flat +- for a 10k. Again, I was just parked out in the low 3.50s/km not feeling like wanting to risk anything harder.

 I had until Wednesday to decide WTF to do because my train tickets were booked for Thursday. The ankle was still stiff and sore on Tuesday early in the day but began to get better. Wednesday, it was better still, but I had to make a very difficult judgement call on Daugavpils. In Sub 3:40 shape- yes want to risk further f#cking up my leg and being out the rest of the season-no. Our team manager in Daugavpils said he'd rather see me rest the leg than screw it up too especially since 100k Worlds were just announced in DUBAI 20 DECEMBER! It's very unlikely I'll go because it will be hotass hell there and in December I really need to work as much as I can because I'm flat broke after my annual trip to the US for a month in October.Yeah our team manager would like me to go but going from snowpack to the desert is about as rude as it gets. If I sink $ into a race to go somewhere, I do it where I can out down a solid performance. I died a slow and miserable death in the Netherlands in 28C 100% in 2011 and just don't want to do that again if I don't have to. I was showing signs of heat stroke at 92k and it was just not a fun day. I think after 2 cancellations and moving the venue this yr, IAU /IAAF were getting desperate and this is what we got. The only way I see Dubai is reasonably doable is if they run us at NIGHT which I doubt will be the case.

As Luck would have it, as soon as I returned my train tickets, the ankle worked itself out by the weekend, but I couldn;t risk going to Daugavpils on a sore leg not knowing if it would be ok to race on only to DNS after getting there. So, at least this year I will run Valmiera fresh on September 15th and would like to try and kick some ass to make up for missing the 50k.

So back to the time out. I took a 10 day time out of ez running on soft trail just easy stuff15-17k with ICING on the ankle and shin daily. After 10 days of screwing off, I did my first speed workout at our 1000m final at Moscow State on the 28th. I was not feeling particularly motivated  to be honest and just ran a lame 3.26. I ran in the Nike Zoom Streak-xc which is a featherweight multi use flat. I didn't want to risk re- f#king up my ankle running in my no support spikes and lane 1 was totally buried under cut grass anyways so spikes weren't going to help as they would just collect loose grass. Afterward, I ran a 5000 as a tempo run and by the time we ran it was totally DARK! I finished 2nd woman in the race and first overall in the 1000m summer cup.
Mostly I just went out to celebrate the TEN YEAR anniversary of our running club. Holy crap, has it been that long???? I joined them in mid 2004 when I was still in Anchorage and here in the summers for grad school.
Pix to come soon from the 1000

On another note, Scrapper, the little green sweetie, has been keeping me busy. I never go away long enough to warrant needing a birdsitter, but am worried about leaving this guy for a month when I'm in the US which is the only time I'm gone more than a few days. He is such a cutie and after being BIRDLESS since I left Alaska, I now have an awesome feathered friend again. He's so cuddly and loves his headscratches and treats.

   Mr Sticky Beak going for a raisin YUMMY!

mmmmmmmm RAISINS!

put your old socks to use as birdie toys

                                                           MY pretzel!

raisin diving

                                                               

PRETZEL!

Busy Busy Busy- Where Did July Go?

Training, racing, adopting a parrotlet, and everything in between was July. I did race less and train more as I do have 50k World Cup coming up on Aug 25th among other fall plans. I opened up July as planned running the 2 mile xc and finishing 2nd just over 12 on a still not dried out course like it was last year. We have been having a RAINY summer but I'll take rainy and cool and even MUDDY over hot hot hot anytime. My speed is finally where it should be (HA just in time to destroy it again with fall 50ks and maybe a marathon in between them).

At the outset, I had only planned to race the 2 mile and then do a 15k xc run as a tempo workout on the 24th. Well, Adidas announced a 10k on the 13th. The start was in the heat of the day and 27C and sunny so given that when I'm in 38-39 speed shape in cool weather I haven't got a hope in hell of going under 40 in hot I reasonably predicted I would be slow as molasses possibly as slow as some of my May 10ks were right after the 100k. I did have a little motivation though. top 13 get  a sweet pair of shoes:
http://www.roadrunnersports.com/rrs/products/ADI1674/
I love this model actually. I got a pair from the 10k in May and they worked out for me. They are nice and cushioned and lightweight. My feet are happy in well cushioned shoes. They do not like shoes with not enough cushioning and will let me know the next day. it must be old age setting in :-(  gotta have soft shoes.  Top 100 in this race get tickets to the Worlds here in Moscow 10-18 Aug. So, my goal was not to run for time but to try my damnest to make top 13. I went out close to 4 min/km  considering it was hot. I figured given that I can't remember ever pulling a sub 40 in high heat I'd better not be stupid and go out fast. I'm easily way under 40 in cold weather but lose on average a minute and a half sometimes up to THREE if it's too damn hot. I counted from the first turnaround and I was sitting in 15th just before the 5k. Lots of top ladies obviously showed up with the prizes being as good as they were. At the 5k I felt ok given the fact I'd not busted ass early and gone out too fast. I picked it up a little and passed 3 girls along the way. With about 2k to go there was another turnaround and I saw I was 12th but the chase pack was not far off maybe 15-20 sec so I needed to bust ass to not let anyone by. yes, I was boiling and with about 1500 to go I was feeling sick-that nauseous kind of sick I feel from the heat. I knew I was pushing my luck and kept going. I picked up the final km in 3.42 REALLY not wanting to get my butt kicked at the finish and ended up way the hell under 40 for 12th overall. 10 and 11 were just a few seconds ahead but my goal was top 13 and I was pushing the envelope as it was and did not want to risk blacking out from being overheated. I immediately found a patch of trees and bushes in the shade after the finish so I could proceed to keel over and try to breathe. So I got the shoes and a good ticket on the 18th for the finals and closing ceremony! YAY!

Back to training and I was in for a couple of intense weeks with long runs up to 38km in there along with some bitchin' workouts like 5,3,2,1 followed by the 15k xc tempo run as a tune up before the half on Aug.4th.
This brought us to the 15k at Sokolniki Park on some nice trails. Luzhniki is shut now for Worlds  and so is the other decent track at the sports school where we trained last summer when Luzhniki was being renovated. Summer means work is slow and I happened to have Wednesday off. OK the plan was a 15k tempo run on the track at 4.10 km pacesooo we just moved it to the trails. I figured since my xc times are considerably slower I could run 4.15-20is for that 15k and that would be my 4.10 effort on the track. This race was super well organized and there were trail markers every 20m or so on the trees and they even painted some of the big roots yellow so you wouldn't miss them! They also had volunteers at every confusing turn so you couldn't get lost as some people had managed to do in the past.  I was sure this time it would be my turn to get lost but I didn't Marina ran the first 5km with me(she is really getting fast) and we tucked in behind some of the guys. She dropped back some and I just kept catching up to and passing boys along the way -a great way to avoid getting lost. The course was 2 loops and I ran the first one carefully so as to get familiar with the course in case I was on my own in the second loop. I had guys to follow most of the way until the final 2 km but the course was well marked so I was ok. First loop was just over 31 I picked up a little in the last 5k because Marina was only about 100m back and I had to open a gap if I wanted to win. I finished in 1:01!!! That's a decent ROAD time much less a mud time!  A 1:01 split in a half  yields me a time about 1:25-26 ish. Hell I was 1:03 at Zvezdniy Gorodok before the 100k just screwing around doing a tempo run and ended up 1:28.  I was shocked and had not planned to run that fast. I ran a pace that was a good effort but not totally busting my ass after all this was supposed to be a fun workout. It was muddy and puddly in some spots but I didn't think it was bad at all and not slippery. I was afraid it would be much worse because it had rained pretty much every day for the past week and the trails in the park near where I live had become downright un-runnable in spots!!! I really liked the course and the scenery around the ponds. I should have run this in June for fun- but didn't want to bother rescheduling a Wednesday lesson then. The next 15k is on the 21st just 4 days before the 50 for me so I probably will have to miss it. I would run it if it were up to 7 days out but not 4.  I really need to attack the half on the 4th!!!!

(still waiting on pix from the 15k)

I did the Nike Run Moscow 5k (more of a fun run thing) 3 days later as my secondary speed workout of the week not pushing the pace and came up with 18.58.  It was cool and rainy so that would explain why I ran a bit faster there than planned. Same thing, I was not going all out (they weren't posting results anyways so why bother?) just a nice workout effort 5k. Now, it's time to rest a little for the half. If it's not insanely hot I really want to run a good time.

Off the track, I've been working on a family addition- a sweet little parrotlet. My friend's pair discovered sex this spring and had 2 boys and a girl. As soon as he's weaned, I'll take a little boy. We are hoping he will be resdy to come home with me after the half. He will be 6 weeks by then. I have had birds from 5th grade up until I left Alaska and miss their company. I always had parakeets before, but have been warned that parrotlets are little birds with BIG BIRD smarts and behavior. I have had the opportunity to meet and handle this birdie from week 2 so he and his siblings are very people friendly.
Here are some pics- my next post will have more :)

                                          

Little Scrapper at about 5 weeks just 2 days ago helping himself to my dinner !

2 little boys mine is on the left

One big happy birdie  family Papa on the left, my little boy left of Papa,Momma facing the camera,little girl left of Momma and little boy on the end at 4weeks(they all hatched about 2 days apart)

Learning to CLIMB that ladder!

Lots of Racing

Well, It's been a busy month indeed. I pretty much spent it racing myself back into speed shape. After that 1000m run, I joined the parkrunners 2 days later on Saturday morning for a 5k xc run on my daily stomping grounds. I figured, why not? They are meeting up 1500m from my door so I don't have to go anywhere; I'll just run to the start and then take my handheld so I can refill after the run and finish my 25k that was on the menu. The parkrunners organize 5ks every Saturday in various parks in Moscow and Kuzminki (where I train daily) was the site for this run. These guys do a nice job of organizing the runs and it's a nice alternative to my secondary speed workout on weekends I'm not racing. 

http://parkrunmoscow.ru/

more pics here-

http://parkrunmoscow.ru/476

Pictures were taken on the only paved section of the course. :) Ducklings are swimming in the ponds.

...And then there was the Kremlin Mile four days later on the 12th. This year was very different from last. After about 300m, I was all alone and Lena didn't challenge me this year. She actually ended up 2nd and 18 seconds back much to my surprise. I never ever imagined I'd win this. I've been running the Kremlin Mile off and on since 2000 and ended up 2nd or 3rd a couple few times, but never won. It's not my distance after all. So this was really nice!

                                       Lena and Ana and I before the start (our winter mile crew)

                                              Pink ravens really DO FLY!

                                                    first 800

2nd 800 all alone

Four days later... It was the Zelenograd Half. This year, Boris Prokopiev was back in the driver's seat so I knew this would be well organized. Honestly, after last  year, I had no longer planned to run this race because since Boris had not been in the driver's seat the past few years, it had only gone downhill. Actually, had Boris not stepped up to the plate this year, it would have been cancelled since the new organizers refused to hold it simply because it was "not profitable"! This year's half was hot as holy hell with temps hitting 32C by the finish! Needless to say, just ran for place not time since top 6 got nice prizes from Saucony.

Here is a big shout out and thanks to Boris for not letting one of the top half marathons in Russia die off. Nice job! Oh and super nice job measuring the course accurately to the meter!!!YAY for good organizers!

                                           hotass hell and wishing for Alaska!

6 Days later on the 22nd- 11pm we had our Night Run 10k. Honestly, the weather was perfect- 15C and a little rain. It was cool during the day too. I really truly felt the strength in my legs at full throttle for the first time since the 100k during a set of 16x200repeats  three days earlier. I was nailing them mid upper 30s with ease for the first time since I did that workout before the half in Zvezdniy 2 months ago knowing it would be a while before I could again. I was ready to run a FAST half. There was a half 2 hours out of town and supposedly with a prize purse. So before planning to drag my ass up at 5:30 to travel over 2 hours by train to the start, Coach called to get info from the RD. Well, I've never been afraid to speak the truth and call a spade a spade, but they are just a bunch of sexist a-hole PIGS! Sorry, but seriously, WTF???Prize $ for MEN ONLY? Eff you and your sexist perspective. So, what for the same distance men get paid and women no????  I skipped that race just out of principle. They don't deserve to have ANY women race out there if that's the case. Screw the whole damn thing! I really didn't want to run the 10 to be honest. I recovered quickly off of Zelenograd and felt up to a FAST HALF! So, I got stuck doing the 10. I am a night owl so felt much better racing at 11pm. I started out a little slower in the first 5k then picked up to finish with an overall pace of 3.55/km or moreover my first decent speed sine April to be honest. 10k is more where it should be and 3 min faster than it was when I was still very much recovering in May. The  weather also helped big time. 

                                               Midnight Run anyone?

The next day I went out and eeked in 35k because the weather forecast was for hellhot heat to begin the day after that. Midweek I did a bitchin long workout that included a crapton of 800s (15). Saturday the 29th, I joined the parkrunners again for my secondary speedworkout of the week at the 5k. This time it was on the riverfront path. I needed to get in 25k with a 5-6k pickup in there and this would get me started by 9AM to avoid the low 30s temps by lunchtime. HA by 9AM it was already very HOT and HUMID! The humidity could kill a horse! Sooooooo I just did this as a nice tempo run. I had 3 guys just a little ahead of me to pull me along this time too. 

                                                 speedy skirts :=)

So what's on the table for July? How about getting back to training normally?! This time of year it's hot and I just need to maintain fitness so I can run FAST again when temperatures drop off again in the fall. I'll do the 2 mile xc run on the 6th then maybe a 10k the 13th (we shall see as a 1PM start in the heat of JULY is really not smart), and the last Wednesday of the month I might run the 15k xc run as a tempo run 10 days out from the half the first weekend in August where I'd like to run well it it's not 30C which it very well could be.

Oh and we have yet another monkey wrench again. I wasn't planning to run 100k Worlds in South Africa simply because the trip is way beyond my budget (or yes, I would go). Well, now it's in question again which is really getting ridiculous because athletes need to PLAN THEIR FALL SEASONS usually months out! If by chance Worlds get moved to Europe or even somewhere in North America though unlikely, I will go. Here is the latest from IAU:

IAU 100K World Championships South Africa October 2013.  Don’t buy cheap flights yet!

We announced on May 13^th that the IAU and the IAAF Road Running Commission had confirmed the IAU 100K World Championships would be held in South Africa on 26^th October 2013.   However, 

 since then some local actions  have led to issues being raised with Athletics South Africa (ASA).  ASA  have full IAAF support for dealing with these but it does mean that we might need to move the site for the IAU 100K World Championships either in South Africa or elsewhere. So we recommend to our Member Federations that they do not try to get extra cheap deals to South Africa until this is sorted.

Watch out for further news.

Hilary
Hilary Walker
IAU General Secretary