Extremely short XC season

In the US everybody is running XC in Fall. So I had to do it as well. A race called Run Through the Grapevine was on our schedule last year and that experience was so unique that there was no chance to skip it this year. Yesterday's race provided us a muddy, slippery and ridiciously hilly circumstances. And lots of eating. Again it's better for me to pay less attention in the time/pace and just enjoy the nice feeling of the shortest XC season ever. It lasted for one day. Week was 63 miles and October was only 174 miles.

Today I have time only for one run and luckily it's already done. And then the quote: “Americans are like everybody,” Robert K. Cheruiyot said. “It’s not like before. They are now very strong. So I knew that Meb and all the Americans out there, they are very strong.”

Course preview

I really did NOT remember the special nature of the Grapevine XC race which takes place next week. Today I had a chance to join Jason on his way to check out the course and run a little over there. Due to my scarce memory capacity I had totally forgotten what to expect, but a picture of challenge lives strong in the back of head the rest of the week. I'm sure that the course was sleeping today, and it will unleash itself next Sunday. At least that's what my hamstrings told me to expect. 9 miles at pedestrian pace.

XC Tempo

HCS organizes this summer a new series of XC Friday runs. Today we had an opportunity to try our luck on 5k course. I ran a little late so I had less suitable warm up for this tempo, but after all I made it to the start before the gun. Instead of using full steam I took it as moderate tempo run. But how you do moderate tempo run on a XC course??? I finished second about 30 seconds behind Carlos (18.20), and after all, it turned out to be fun in a really weird way. I was 2.5 minutes slower than the course record, but that forthcoming Runner is running for Stanford during the next years. I'm not.

Centennial XC course (map: Greg Schuler)

AC/DC!

When you sit yourself in the backseat, have your spikes in your bag, race singlet ready, and then driver (in this case Tom) switch on AC/DC, that's it. Just like in the old days. I'm not sure what's my relationship with AC/DC today (I will miss their show this evening in DC!!!), but I tell you that on almost every race trip in 90s we had that same thing going on. Some Whole Lotta Rosie and Let There Be Rock spiced up with TNT, Sin City, Highway to Hell, and of course finalizing the spirit with that "newer" piece Thunderstruck. Damn I sometimes miss those days... so big thanks to you Tom!

And then race. I did not have any specific goal for today, since I'm still coming back from that marathon disaster. But XC is anyway different thing compared to road race. My only option was to start easy with 5.30s, and that's what I did. Yet that pace was still a bit too rough for me, and that story has only one ending. But I was able to keep myself in a reasonable range to Tom, Carlos, and Izzy. I catched Izzy and Carlos, but Izzy taught me at the finishing straight. In all the race was the most fun. The course included rolling hills, grass, mud and windy back straight. Today was 8 miles (oh and that 8k took 29.34... while the winner timed 26.03).

XC

We did this morning only some easy shake-off. Maybe only 3 miles, but easier start won't hurt too much. Tomorrow is time for some XC. My last serious XC race is from 2001 or 2003...

After seeing and realizing the strong role of XC running here in the US, it's a real pity that in Finland XC is not a big thing. Even if we have had two XC World Champs, our XC season lasts nowadays for 1-1,5 weeks in the mid-May. For some it starts and ends on that one day in the Nationals. One would think "living close to the woods" would increase the populatiry of XC running but what do you know. Luckily we have been participating in the Nordic and European XC champs now and then. Hence, I hope that tomorrow Finnish team will kick some serious butt in the Nordic XC champs in Denmark.

Slow morning

Oh man I enjoyed running yesterday. No pain in sight. Only both ACs were hurting badly but I've been here before many times... Pace felt a bit ruff after five days of easy jogging in Florida, but it was not that bad.

This morning I ran 4*3 min. w/ 2 min. ez jog. On-pace was 5.35-5.28 while the off-pace was crawling at 7.45s. Hamstring were a bit tight. On Saturday I'm racing at the "XC Pre-Nationals" in Derwood. Dunno about the pace yet, but I'm just glad to be around.

Run Through the Grapevine

The buzz around this race is enormous. Words like brutal, fun, different, extreme and just tough have come up in the related discussions. And man, they were not wrong. I have had some tough races, but this one is really something. As an excuse I was carrying "oh well, it's only three weeks after 26.2" -badge on me, and so I did not expect any wonders to happen. But one did. I was almost getting beaten by Mr. Lang, but I was somehow able to gain same speed during the last 1/2 mile. Otherwise the race was all of those adjectives describing it, and it was after all really fun. I was silently hoping for 6.00 pace but I ended up with 30.35 (6.07/mile). Oh, and there was also one big, special moment to be witnessed during the awards ceremony...