April....

Well, After losing most of the last week of March to some realllly nasty food poisoning that came on the day I left for Vilnius, I ran an indoor 5000 as my first speed workout since the Half in Riga the week before. Down almost 3kg I just decided to do it as a workout to get my legs moving again. I was the only lady that day so just chicked as many guys as I could a long the way :)

Next up a week later was the 5k season opener on April 6th. Well, the day before I ran the 2 mile xc albeit sandbagged it to hold my place in the winter standings, but this was nevertheless a day 2 race. My goal after the food poisioning incident was to just try and break 20. Yes, that sucks, but I just wasn't up to hammering 3.45km pace and still needed to gain weight back. So I took the first km close to 4 min but that felt way too easy and picked up to the 3.40s popped the 3rd one in 3.38....and kept going. I ended up just over 19 which was not bad at all for a day 2 race and seemed to finally be recovering from the nasty tummy issues of the previous week. 5th overall this yr.

Where in the Sam Hell Have I Been?

Good Grief, I don't even know where to begin with this one! Within hours of posting my last update here, all hell literally broke loose and the shit hit the fan from all directions! I have a private company handle my work visa each yr so that I can be self employed because as a teacher, that is the only way to survive financially since schools and language centers pay absolute shite and are nothing more than middlemen who literally steal half your earning potential. So, the spiffy thing is that a work visa renews inside Russia (no visa run necessary ) each year. Sure, it costs about 1000$, but simple math proves it's worth it since a single visa run can easily cost more.

 So, on Friday March, 14th my visa was due to be extended for another year....or so I thought. My visa guy is usually on top of things and he called me just after noon to let me know I had til MIDNIGHT to get the f#ck out! WTF? It turned out he had made the mistake of hiring an incompetent bitch who failed to file for my work permit on time! So nice to have a few hours' warning! Well trains were no longer an option since the one to Riga won't hit the border til 5AM the next day......Was I mad as hell? YES! Could all of this have been easily avoided- YES! So, if I couldn't catch a plane to ANYWHERE in time I would get myself a 5 yr ban because of this bitch's negligence! Not only did she not file the paperwork on time but instead of asking my visa guy (head of the company) for help, the bitch thought she could handle it herself and failed to inform him. So, I also very much insisted that since it was the company's F#CKUP that they REIMBURSE ME IN FULL for this nice long forced visa run and 2 weeks I was about to go do in the "time out box" in Riga while I  waited for a 3 month visa to be processed so I could come back. My guy agreed to that without question and I threw what I could into a bag and caught the LAST FLIGHT to Riga that evening because I have NOWHERE ELSE TO GO. As for this bitch or rather sorry sack of shit, being fired for this huge and expensive f#ckup isn't enough. I will never forgive nor forget the duress caused by her negligence and hope to God she and  hers have nothing but a life of misery for this. That's what she deserves. There is no excuse for what happened. My nearly getting BANNED for an involuntary visa overstay because of this is ridiculous! All of my stuff is here and I would have been totally screwed so may she forever rot.  I also lost THIRTEEN DAYS of work during busy season over this and am now going to be up shit creek come summer when I don't see in a month what I see in those 2 weeks during busy season. Paying for the trip and visa expenses is nice but the lost work just kicked my ass. How many ppl can afford to be paid half their monthly salary and not have a problem? I fortunately , at least have a place to stay in Riga- an old college mate is the owner of a budget hotel and I always stay at his place when in town. The actual visa gets processed in Vilnius (because it's the quickest option) but I had to wait for 2 weeks for the invite and then have it wired from Moscow to the consulate in Vilnius for one day pickup. I have nowhere to stay in Vilnius and at 50 euros a day for a hotel for 2 weeks, I'd be broke!So, I stayed in Riga til the very last day when my visa was ready for pickup in Vilnius. It's only a 31/2 hr bus ride Riga -Vilnius so that's what I did.

So here I am in Riga in the time out box for 2 weeks without salary. What to do......I thought the season opener was the Rezekne Half on April 6-turned out there was a half in Mezaparks on the 22nd of March. As the door was hitting me in the ass on the way out of Moscow, of course I grabbed my racing flats! I won the half and got comped entry to the Vandra Marathon near Tallinn May, 3rd. Hmmmm I will have to do ONE MORE VISA RUN before June 23rd.....kill2 birds with one stone! The half was on a flat course in the park really nice and well organized as races always are in Latvia. Soo looks like I will be doing a marathon for fun next month. This was my first masters race on the road too. They do things by birth yr not date and oh dear, yeah, it's the 40 yr old group. Eek! I'm really not in a hurry to turn 40!
Regarding marathons- I pretty much retired from doing them seriously after my last GOOD marathon in Riga in 2009. I have since focused on the 50 and 100k where I feel I can still improve before I get REALLY OLD! I did 10x800s for my Wednesday workout before the half and I did them right in the spot where in 2009 I broke away from the ladies at 25k to eventually creep up to 3rd. That's all I could think about during my workout and for a moment, I considered trying the Riga Marathon one last time. I would be nuts to do that at this point. Those kinds of decisions get made not 6-7 weeks before a major race but more like 3-4 months out! I had begun training for the 100k before we lost it in Daugavpils and IAU/IAAF moved it to Quatar. I've since had motivation issues but decided to focus on 50k Latvian Championships in July (not a good time for a 50k....) and very possibly the 100 in St Pete in September. Remembering Riga in 2009 just kind of depresses me because I'm not sure I could ever pull a marathon that fast out of this ass again but then again I have not bothered training for one almost since then.

 It was WARM! About _10-12 and all the snow melted off the day before the race!

 It was nice seeing lots of familiar faces and many were surprised to see me so early in the season. This is what happens when you get "booted" from Russia on short notice!

 Valdis on the right is one of our FAST 100k guys!

 You get the 2nd slipper when you run the marathon :)

Well S#!T or Get off the Pot!

That's a pretty blunt title but, much has been happening regarding the upcoming season and decisions need to be made.
First off, I finished February with a win in my division in the Moscow Masters Champs in the 3000. That's the good news. The bad news is I didn't feel great that day and posted my worst time since 2010- CRAP! WTF.Fitness wise, I'm fine, just did not feel good that day.  Sorry, don't have any pix from that one. I have been way too busy to keep up with this blog lately. Eat, sleep,run. work, repeat.

March 2nd, I won another 2 mile what was supposed to be an xc race. Wellllll the forest was still an icy mess because we are having early early breakup and record warmth. Surprise- I arrived to see they had moved us to pavement! SHIT all I have are my ICEBUGS. I was not alone as I heard the clicking and clacking of other spikes out there too and saw others stuck in their trail shoes on the pavement. We were literally relegated to the narrow sidewalk. I noticed a lady about 15-16 sec ahead after the first km so I decided to pick it up in the midsection to catch and pass by the 2nd km. With 500m to go coming off the last turnaround, she was 13 seconds back.  Ok, I'll just hold pace to the finish. My strength is opening gaps along the way because I can't run the blazing fast 100m to the finish but I can switch gears along the way at any distance.I hear her coming up on me and picked it up over the final stretch. I wasn't sure who got the win so I asked and the official said it was me. We were a second apart. I need the points for the final standings. It turned out she was in the 19 and under group not the 20-39 where I dwell. Ah well, I just didn't want to give up a win after opening a nice big gap midway.

March 8th-Women's Day Run. This is how this one went from my post earlier in the week:

I almost skipped it,but it might be the last yr for this run since they keep killing all the good races that have been around for many many yrs. Wednesday- did workout was fine but just a bit tired. Wed evening after class-barely crawled my ass home feeling dead. Tired is normal after a hard track day but dead is not. Wed dropped dead upon arrival home slept almost 11 hours. Yeah smthg was up. That ain't normal. Thurs felt ok daytime/evening. Came home was ok. 3AM - wake up to sore throat from hell. Great. Finally getting in shape and I can forget about racing Sat worth dick. Friday- deliberately sleep til noon to try and sleep the worst of it off. Today- throat still scratchy early morning and still damn tired. Ok, I'll go I'm not coughing profusely (hey at least I cover my trap when I do wish to hell everyone else did) - no boogers ,so won't share the love with everyone else. Figured just go slow about 4 min/km pace slower if I feel exceptionally shitty. Last yr's pace was 3.50 according to my garmin log.(course a bit short but this yr 140 long) BUT it was super windy too. This yr- 3.46?! I was by no means pushing the pace either-went out not uber fast. Did cooldown in order to get in 35k for the day-yeah due for a long run. 

The virus is known as " careless parents who fail to cancel lessons when the whole damn house is SICK". The cure may be as simple as giving someone on my waiting list who really wants those slots sooner than later. Said person on the wait list is from a family that has already had the decency to cancel earlier in the winter when someone was ill. Common sense and courtesy go a long way. 



Now- for the shit or get off the pot part. As of this week, Worlds for the 100k have been moved to Quatar in November. First off, it will be hot even if they run us at night. Secondly, it's expensive for all of us. Thirdly, I do not feel comfortable in that part of the world because I am a WOMAN who believes WOMEN are PEOPLE!!! I am waiting for word from my manager as to whether or not the Euros will be a go this yr or not. If they are not going to happen say in the fall, then I am seriously looking to do the 100k in St Pete the first weekend in September. This is a fast course and USUALLY the weather is cool....USUALLY ....ha like USUALLY it is in Winschoten too.....save for 2011. I had eyed St Pete and Winschoten as 2 feasible 100k possibilities. I want to run FAST and go for a PR. I train too hard and put too much time and work into this to deliberately go and run in an oven ie Doha. I know recently some ppl have been running kickass times in St Pete and this may be the last yr for this race sadly. I will need my crew-hello coach :) Winschoten will be costly to go there on my own. St Pete doesn't even require a border crossing (which I am charged almost 100euros for each time I return to Russia to register my work visa so I only go out for a race when it's profitable to do so because it ain't cheap). St Pete is on a 4km flat loop too so getting my eats and drinks should be ez peasy. I would otherwise never consider doing anything over a half marathon seriously in Russia, but I have heard very good reviews over the past few yrs on this race. It's also the only 100k road race left in Russia too which is a damn shame.  This is actually a Russia Cup race too. Our 50k will be mid July in Daugavpils along with a 100k. I will do the 50 if it's not 30 degrees. Summer is not a time for a 100k. That needs to be spring or fall to minimize the heat risk and maximize chances for a good performance. 

Kharkov Marathon April 12th- I have been kicking it around all winter to do it or not to do it. Side note- I hate politics and politicians no matter where they are from. They are all crooks and thieves, so I am distancing myself from all this political bullshit with Russia and Ukraine. I have friends in both places and we all tend to speak the language of running not politics. Anyhow,I'm not quite masters ....yet and not in a hurry to get there. I don't know maybe I could place in the 40+ division andhelp offset the travel costs. Actually, Ukraine is affordable and close.That's not so much the issue. I'm honestly not sure I can PR in the marathon anymore so not motivated to go run "just another marathon...ho hum", but I haven't given it a serious try since Riga in 2009.  My coach thinks I should do one, but the marathon has been the disappointment of my running career over the yrs (so what go run another marathon right at 3 hours ...borrring) so I'm focusing on what I CAN still do well and that's the ultras. The other issue is that there are two good halves here in Moscow immediately after that I'd be out of. Ahem...one of which is one of my favs where I got the smart TV last yr just before I did 100k Euros. I also have May plans that will require me not to go trashing my speed just yet. Yes, mentally, I guess I just can't arse myself to train balls out for another damn marathon only to have another disappointment time wise. I just got so sick of beating that dead horse and feel so much more in my element in the 50 and 100 and in the ultras. I know it makes no sense at all, but I can't do much for a marathon but 50, 100 and beyond, BRING IT ON :) Hell, even if it does end up being St Pete, at least I will be motivated to train for SOMETHING this season!

January Recap!

Work has been kicking my ass lately and I'm not complaining. I need the work. So, it's been eat, sleep, work, run, repeat and I am once again behind on blogging.
After a FAST 3000 on Jan1, I ran a VERY VERY icy 2 mile on Jan 4th. I won, but was not gunning for time. Even in the Icebugs, the course was a mess and I had to watch it. It was entirely on bare ice. They have a kiddie kilometer before our race and almost all the kids fell over at the start then got up to run! It was a tad wee bit slick!

                             Have an ICE Day!

Next up was the Christmas run -15k in Yegorevsk. This involved getting up long before the buttcrack of dawn and taking the train 2 hours out to the start. I almost rolled over and went back to bed when the alarm went off at 5:40!!! YUK! I rode the train out there in the darkness since it's dark in these parts til 10AM that time of year. When I got there, Polina was on the train but in the next car and we didn't even know because I had gotten on further up the line since the train stops not far from my house. Anyhow, the 15k was actually longer and the surface.....ooshy snow with ice underneath. It was just above freezing and we may as well have run on sand!!! Before the start, the priest gave us a Christmas blessing. Polina took off with Irina. Irina, is a top ranked skier and runner. I just sat back  and decided to play is smart since the surface today was killer. At about halfway, I moved up and passed both ladies for the lead. Soon after with about 3k to go, a new runner form Yegorevsk picked it up and caught me. Normally, I could respond, but I really couldn't drop the pace any further as the cumulative effects of having done FOUR races in NINE days had finally caught up with me. They do awards here strictly by category with the cutoff being 34 and under and 35+. I was 2nd overall and won the category.  Organization here was super. There was a hot shower and sauna after as well ad a nice banquet. I would do another race here if it fits my schedule this year. If not for the Moscow Masters Championships the 22-23rd Feb., I would do their marathon as a long run or their half as a tempo run that they have on the 22nd. I so wish it had been a week earlier. They have a 15k in May over the holidays that might be a possibility. Their summer marathon is late July, which HAD 100K WC NOT BEEN CANCELLED may have been my final long run before said 100k. Ah well, we will just have to play the schedule by ear again this year.
http://www.klb-meshera.ru/novosti/rozhdestenskij-probeg.html

On the 18th, I replaced my Friday short speed workout with a 3000. This was fun. The only kicker is that at the Bauman Institute, the banked turns are just a beyotch! I won just doing this one as a workout. I miss the track and need it to keep my speed sharp because it does carry over into the longer distances. I started out ok only to take a big freaking nap in the 2nd km to the tune of about 10-12 sec then bust out a 3.40 final km. The banked turns on this track really slow things down and just kill my lower legs. This is a place for a good workout but not to go for a blazing fast time. I was 18 sec off my NY time. Ugh.
rockin' the hearts :

 starting  out smart and controlled

                      awards

 and the chicking of guys begins

 ISO next victim up ahead

 ran the part of the 2nd km with Masha- didn't want to pass too soonbecause I know she's FAST

 still  pretty early on

On the 25th there was the indoor mile. I still have no pix from this one. In short, time was better, but finished a close second. I am still leading the series, but the final has been kicked all the way to March 16th because the track is booked busy til then. On the up side, I'll get to run the 3000 at the Moscow Masters Champs the 23rd of Feb. since the mile would typically have been that last weekend of the month. 

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!