Wednesday, June 06, 2007

Announce

Thank you guys so much for your help and support. I can not answer to everybody right away but will try to be with you guys.
Hurray !!!...
- to Jason – 5 k you did was decent running, we do not have any Duathlon competition here. Green with envy : )
- to Andrew – who completed 10k race with a time I can only dream about! You know what – I’m a truly lucky runner, not only for my work with Andrew who’s patient with me and my annoying disorganized messages and he doesn’t charge anything! Also I have a privilege to be in doubt about running issues or something and I always get a “feedback”. Thank you Coach.

Olga – not Hurray to you. Not yet. Your counter runs like crazy – 8 days to Go! “Well the Ukraine girls really knock me out, they leave the West behind…” Byelorussia is almost the Ukraine, right? Olga – nobody say it would be easy. You can do it. I’ll be proud of you. Question: Gde takie otvazhnye Divchiny rastyt?

Sunday, June 3rd.
After the shameful attempt to make Tempo on Sat I really didn’t feel like running. But Sunday means only one thing, at least in running life. It means Long (frightening for me) run. You have to be mentally prepared for it. I wasn’t. I tried but it didn’t work out. Came to the Stadium having one idea in mind: If you’re not doing the Twenty miler, can try to improve old Half result instead. Last time I did it was a sunny white (due to snow) day. That time I didn’t work with Andrew, though I knew about him, reading his diary. I’ve been thinking how to beat this PB for a long time, but never had a chance. Stage 1 with Andrew and I guess stage 2 do not “allow” to do it, also Andrew is pretty skeptical about those half races. Yes I do realize that “the half marathon and the marathon are not comparable. There are critical training issues involved with the marathon distance that the half marathon doesn't even begin to address.” – Andrew.
But I keep one competition in mind.
Almaty marathon / Half marathon on Sat, June 9th. I have intention race and PR in the Half. We do not have so many races in Central Asia. This is a good chance. Race is extremal, route is awkward. Half way uphill, half way down. Both parts would be difficult. If you ever read latest Dallen’s report on Robie Creek race, you could notice how hard was a down hill part.
“It is a strange feeling changing from 12% uphill to 12% downhill. The legs and lungs stop burning for a while and my untrained body tries to figure out how to run on this terrain.”
Another thing – I’m not quite sure I’ll be able to get there. Whatever, I’ll try to go to Almaty by train (15 hours to go or 8 hours on Spanish Express Train) on this Fri (plane? Only extremely rich people do it here).
Paul, you could be interested in this race and hope you read it in time. Seriously, I knew about the race 2 months ago but couldn’t get exact info – no web page, no telephone numbers! No I get it: Almaty, Central stadium. One of organizers: Mr. Alim Sharipov – cell 777 515 18 72. Also my # is 250 41 30 (BeeL). Mr. Alim asked to pass registration on Fri, I explained that it’s impossible for me due to work. He agreed on Sat AM registration, 500 tng for Half and 1000 for the Full. Opening ceremony at 4pm, start at 5pm.

So, in order to "feel the distance" I made attempt to improve my Half result, here’s what I got:

Mile 01: 07:14
Mile 02: 07:19
Mile 03: 07:26
Mile 04: 07:37
Mile 05: 07:42
Mile 06: 07:47
Mile 07: 07:49
Mile 08: 07:47
Mile 09: 07:49
Mile 10: 07:49
Mile 11: 07:48
Mile 12: 07:43
Mile 13: 07:33
0.10 mi: 00:43sec, pace 6:54

Half, training on Jun 3, 2007 - 1:40:13, avg. pace 07:38
(Half, training on Mar 14, 2007 - 1:44:28, avg. pace 07:58)

I wasn’t on the edge, didn’t push it real hard. Each mile had a feeling that I have about 5 sec “in the stock”. After mile 10 I decided to listen to pro Ultra runner's advice and make it faster than previous. 7:48 – 7:43 – 7:33 so I can do it. Next time I shall shave those 13 sec and jump into sub 1h 40min.
Can not promise anything but really want to run this Sat in Almaty.
P.S. Oh, yes, weather is something special now – we had a rain with hail and Snow(!) on Mon and for couple minutes on Tue. This week is a mess – I missed my Mon run. Do I have to taper? I don’t want but common sense tells me that I have to.

3 comments:

Unknown said...

Thanks for the info on Medeo. I had thought of combining it with a trip I have to make to Almaty this month, but I never could find any info. It is a real problem here in Kazakhstan - I have not found even a 5 or 10k race in Astana all spring! Although I can't run Medeo, I wish you the best on the half-marathon there. Go Ruslan!

Even though I'm only doing about half your mileage, I'm thinking of going to the Siberian International Marathon in Omsk in 2 months. I heard it's just a 12 hour train ride from Astana. Do you think you'd be interested in going?

Olga said...

Divchiny rastut na gryadke, politye slezami roditelei, potomu chto etim divchinam skuchno jit' kak vse i nado porvat' plat'e na dereve, prygnut' s zabora na razbituyu butylku, ubegat' iz doma v les nachinaya s 2 let (i byt' v poiske s rotoi soldat garnizona ya jila 8 let), potom s 10 let rabotat' libo na polyah kartoshki i l'na, a potom v sadah Rostova na yablokah, vishne, chereshne, klubnike i prochei yagode, a potom rvat'kajdoe leto v Sibir' na stroiki dorog v lesah, a tak je monogo pit' i vsegda nahodit' schast'e.
Whew, it was hard to type like that:) But, on another note, I keep thinking of your coach - hmm, if I am ever able to be obedient, can I contact him? Can you "zamolvit' slovechko"? I am having a minor surgery on June 21, and I'll be in recovery, so may be I could start from next week my build up for 12 hr race and a 100 in August? What da ya say? Andrew?

Ruslan said...

Paul - ok I go. The main reason here is a better time Gap I will have between Omsk and Shanghai in November. Moscow would give me less time to get ready. Shanghai is in priority for me. So let's think of Omsk. I put Omsk countdown on my sidebar. Time is ticking...

Olga - I Love your stories & posts. Just finished Medeo and need some time to get detail report done and published. Your Big Day is coming. Olga - you're a brave personality and you'll do it. About a coach I'll talk to you.