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Today was the day. 3000m at Master's (35-39 age group) World Championship in Jyvaskyla, Finland. Everything was set, and even I was at the scene early enough to register myself and enjoy the international atmosphere. I even had my brand new national team outfit ready. I enjoyed the company of Kero brothers and T "the machine" S during the warmup. It was snowing heavily.
But after all the trouble I did not start the race. Not even if I was only half meter away from starting line at the right time. I just wasn't allowed to start... What happened was that the organizers registered me for Sunday's HM, not for today's 3000m. Even if I specifically asked them to do otherwise. This mistake was realized only 10 minutes before the start during the calling. Thereafter, I ran with one member of huge organizing team back to the registration desk. There they slowly made several phone calls in order to reach the head judge and explain the situation. Finally, they got me in the race and this happened only because the organizers made the mistake, not me. But I thank them for helping me here.
When I got "you are good to go", the start was in 3 minutes. After this unexpected cool down I ran pretty fast to the track, and for my surprise I was at the start at the right moment. It felt great. They started to yell competitors' name and put them in line. List ended without my name and since they didn't have updated starting list my first race in WMA Champs finished with DNF (even if it really was DNS).
Nice.
At least we had great pizzas in the evening...
I had to skip running yesterday and this morning due to icy conditions. Instead, I ran indoors 2x1k + 2k and then rowed for ten minutes. Thereafter, I got sucker punched by achilles. This road to back on the road takes a loooong time. Fortunately, I'm seeing the doc on Nov 25th. On that day I will get an understanding where I am.
After winning a 5 day long but uneven battle with sore throat and cold I returned to the more or less continuous streak of core training. In order to keep things interesting, I walked with Lil' D and sweetie for 45 minutes on Wed and on Thu I repeated that and added 15 minutes.
But today I walked to the indoor track, changed my shoes and gear and RAN. Well, I ran and walked, but still this is the start. I did 200, 400, 800, 400, 400 and 200 meters (@ extremely easy pace and smile on my face) with walking rest of 200 meters. Achilles is darn stiff but it's not hurting. In order to get some sweat going I spent 20 minutes on Concept2 (a rowing machine). Now I gotta remember the baby steps. Luckily, the stiffness will keep me alert (I hope). I'm still far from decent running streak, but it's a start.
What a fun morning!
Marathon, marathon, marathon, marathon, marathon, marathon, marathon, marathon, marathon, marathon, marathon, marathon, marathon, marathon, marathon, marathon, marathon, marathon, marathon, marathon, marathon, marathon, marathon, marathon, marathon, marathon, marathon, marathon, marathon, marathon, marathon, marathon, marathon, marathon, marathon, marathon, marathon, marathon, marathon, marathon and Grapevine!
Two easy days - sometimes a must. I have been hurting a lot since Tuesday's physical insult (race pace tempos + adjusted Indiana elite core workout). This morning I picked up the pieces and shortly thereafter I found myself watching the indoor track. Okay, time for some tempo repeats. The above being said, today tempo pace pretty much sucked, but I finished 3x2000m'2min (6.49, 6.55, 6.43). Then I was ready for some excellent hamburger buffet at the Kerttu with sweetie and couple work colleagues.
In addition, today was the first not-below-freezing day in 2.5 months. Even if roads are now melting into dangerous and annoying icy layer of depressive mass, it feels that Spring is just around the corner. Birds are already singing. And I'm just flippin' the bird at the weather. What a waste...
And good luck for everyone racing the Club Challenge tomorrow. Even if I'm on the HCS's side, Bmore's looks tough.
I'm exhausted, muscles are sore and I bet that moving my ass from this couch will be pain. I did my first faster tempo repeat workout since last summer and finished my energy reserves with adapted running core workout. The latter was adjusted/adapted from Indiana Elite's core workout (check out this Flotrack's WOW). The running part of today's demolition was 6x500m'200m (@5:05-4:52 pace) + 4x200m (33-32).
In all, today was the beginning of the preparing phase for the marathon training period waiting for me.
Friday's morning jaunt was an easy 6 miler with sweetie. In the afternoon I didn't have any time for running due to work/family/friends-related activities. I don't worry about that too much now. This is building time before I will start my preparation for XC Nats and Berlin Marathon.
Today I did again the same 3x2000m (6.55, 6.44, 6.36) in indoors. Today's feeling wasn't that good, and I think that the reason for this was Thursday morning's hill workout (8x500m). Tomorrow it's time for a long run. Now it is time for some serious candy eating.
Our previous hoods in Columbia, MD, seem to be stuffed with snow. Hang in there buddies!
Yesterday morning I was pretty tired after 5+ hours sleep. We had a fun night at Mattilas and got back home at 2:30 AM. So instead of heading to indoor track I ran 8+ miles at easy pace. Today I compensated this by running 3x2000m'2.5 mins (6:48, 6:42, 6:30). I felt quite ok. Weekly mileage: 56.
Gabooooom! That was the sound at the city center 2 hrs ago provided by the "district heating" system. Luckily, it is still warmer inside our apartment than outside but... Well, temp is only 14F, so that won't hurt so much.
Morning workout (8AM) included 3x2000m (6.50-6.40 ~ 5.30-5.20s per mile) and some snowy WU + CD. After that we have been driving back and forth (Turku - Lieto - Somerniemi - Helsinki -Turku). That equals with no running in the afternoon/evening. Tomorrow is time for a longer run.
Yesterday I met with Jukka at the indoor track. I did 3x2000m'2min rest jog while Jukka ran a steady tempo run. I joined him during his run, so in a way I had a personal pace maker... First one didn't feel so good (6.56) but rest of the workout was a joy (last one 6.38).
Today we ran a long run in a cold cold morning. I did 15+ miles which produced a weekly mileage of 72 miles.
Yesterday was a tough as listening to censored versions of any CMW's old tunes. Not so gansta that is. I felt like everything outside home is slowing falling down. Runningwise life's the same - good. Morning's 6 miler was ok, and due to work related involvements it was the only exercise.
Sunday I ran 13.1 miler pretty slow compared to the guys back in MD. But hey, we have freezing temps and snow. Hah. After that I hurried to another workout (skiing). I have two race-level skate skies to select, and I was trying them both. Week was only 55 miles.
Today I was adviced to run 5-6x1000m indoors, but I'll have to postpone that to Thursday. Probably. Or then I just do them before the core workout.
Today I had guts to meet guys at the indoor track. I ran with Jukka 3x2000m (6.43, 6.45, 6.36) and 3x200m (34.9, 34.5, 34.2). I'm happy with that. Running was way easier than I expected. It actually felt pretty "rendo". Maybe taking easy has helped???
