Recovery, Basics and Coming Clean

Recovery has been going simply magnificent this season. I run a race on Saturday, and I am back at the gym on Monday. I may drop some weight first day back (in terms of pounds lifting), but other than that, full swing. I was thinking about it yesterday as I finished up my hill repeats on strong legs, in quick times and wanting to do more (but pressed for time). Why is that, I wondered?

I call this a year of “back to basics”. After training “by the book” for my first marathon (well, may be racing way too much, but still, with basics outlined and long run progression), I jumped into ultras and continued my “basics” with a marathon or 50k each month as a long run, without goals. Then the era of trail ultrarunning came…and I combined it all: various interval training with long run doubles on the weekend and mileage hitting 100 a week easily and averaging at least 80. Those were good times…

But like all good times, they came to an end. First, I had to adjust my life emotionally, so quality dropped and I kept the miles (to steak away even a remote possibility of a depression). Then was a burst of speed work and hill work added to a mix to produce some temporary results, and back to simply maintaining the miles – between single-mommying and long-distance-dating, along with extra injuries, and need for a soulful half-walks on Wildwood, I just “put in the number”. Last Spring my short foray with Howard Nippert training program pointed me “back to basics” again: as someone who knows on almost instinctive level by now how to run long, I needed to re-learn how to get some leg turn-over and push myself beyond comfort. And this is where I am since December of last year…choosing a marathon as a first race of the season helped to venture into this mentality and transition easily.

Quality versus quantity. The battle as old as anything in this world. It’d be nice to have fitness as a full-time job/hobby and not have a single worry and combine both for best results, but most of us don’t. In fact, this year the time constrains are such that I hardly find time to breathe. Don’t take me wrong, I had put it onto myself, and I am loving it! But something had to give, and it was miles. Easy runs, those when you simply jog with pure joy, may be a few friends, without a watch on your wrist, were gone from my vocabulary. It was all – or nothing – every day, no off days, alternate for rest and sweat your butt off. My basic schedule with slight deviations? Mon-Wed-Fri 1 hr weight lifting in am. Tues - track workout. Thurs - hill repeats. Sat - longish run on trails. Sunday - medium run with tempo thrown inside. 1 Bikram yoga class, 1 Ashtanga yoga class. I may throw in an easy run on trails or another Bikram class if life permits. 2 massage clients a week. Work 8am-4pm. Cook dinner every night from scratch. Check homework. Spend time with Stephen and Larry - separately. Study for Personal Trainer's certificate. Read a book on a bus. Browse finance blogs. Help a few runners with their training via emails. Watch American Idol, Heavy and Intervention ( 3 shows we follow, say what you want). Sleep 6.5 hrs/night. Squeeze a date once a month. Repeat.

And to my relief, it works. I had probably averaged 40 miles per week since January (combining race weeks, taper weeks and training weeks), but seems that it doesn’t stand on my way to get fit. And it leaves me time to do other things I consider essential to my overall training, like lifting and yoga. Speaking of lifting, it is basics as well. I’ve been a gym rat longer than I’ve been a runner (this is how I got in shape when on the verge of New 2006 Year I woke up and found myself at 184 lbs), and I never stopped. Besides, I am blessed with a stocky figure from my father (who used to be a boxer) and stretchy ligaments from my mother (who used to be a gymnast). Nobody ran. And that’s fine with me.

Anyway, lifting. Oh, the articles and magazines with promises and new exercises and devices and combinations…never-ending stream. Do that for six-pack abs! Try that for dropping body fat! Burn more by switching here!..I read a funny book recently. “Never Let Go: A Philosophy of Lifting, Living and Learning” by Dan John. He is a funny guy indeed, I couldn’t stop laughing. Who would have thought? But it rang true, every word. Simple stuff is what works! Simple squats, simple push ups and pull ups, simple deadlifts! The only thing to worry about is to add more weight! No need to go from machine to another and try a bunch of complicated routines. Just stick with 4-5 basics and repeat till you’re dead. I’ve had personal trainers twice, and both were great advocates of simplicity and body weight exercise variety (before machine era). Both left me trembling and not able to put my hands on a steering wheel after an hour. This is the way to work out. This is the way I go about it.

And I read another book. Another simple and “back to basics” solution. “The Paleo Solution: The Original Human Diet” by Robb Wolf. Was he funny too! I think I miss on an open sarcasm of European folks, without constantly thinking that whatever is that I say may hurt someone’s self-confidence. Shake up! Look in the mirror! Not everyone is a winner, not every kid gets a trophy! Not everybody needs one, but at least admit that you don’t work hard enough, and stop making excuses about cookies for mood enhancers, Facebooking for self-praise, TV remote control for getting unwounded after work. I am not saint, but I don’t sugar-coat when I fail to find some willpower in me. I say “Slacker, you get it this one time, but tomorrow you better kill yourself, and you know the consequences for missing a workout/eating this cake will be awaiting for you on the scale!”. You can only imagine how hard it is to be part of my family…

But about basic food…I am not Paleo per se. But I surely stopped eating any kind of grains for good. No bread, pasta, rice, cookies, flour, beer, whatevere...I can have a square of dark chocolate and an occasional glass of wine though. I eat chicken, eggs and tofu for protein, or seafood when splurge. And lots of veggies, 3 frutis a day. I do eat cheese at times (so not clean follower). And I don't count calories at all! Talking about simplicity. I always faded on that part and that's why my yo-yo with weight was always my problem. Switching up to half-Paleo wasn’t that difficult at all, come to think about it. Of course it helped that I found out I am gluten-sensitive last summer, when the picture of me looked something like that:

At first I substituted wheat with rice (from bread to pasta), then figured nothing tastes that good besides brown rice bread, but being unhappy with the way I look (it’s nice to come clean, isn’t it? This is me sometime shortly after my DNF at Tahoe Rim last year), I was willing to experiment more and get into easier life without overthinking. And it was working better and better with time. My trip to Russia shook things up a bit, but I was back on track in no time. Knowing that I’d like to take a planned break from running and racing for the months of July/August and possibly keep myself occupied with getting ready for Figure Competition (a la Ronda, my model for inspirations), I got serious. So, what’s the stats? The picture above is me at 142 lbs (I am 5’5”). January saw me at 137 (that’s where the Russian food played in, it was a bit better before we went there). Slowly but surely, pounds rolled off – and more importantly the body composition changed. This was the most amazing result. At this morning I am happy at my 127 lbs, and lost 4 cm off my waist and 7 cm off my rear (from January measurements, NOT last July's, which is about double that). I was goofing around at Larry's mom house 2 weeks ago, and as you can see, I am far from where my “shining star” is (that pouch in my lower tummy has got to find a way to go elsewhere!), but I am ok, it’s not summer yet, and I am in no hurry. I am simply changing my life style.

What are the other benefits? As you heard from last race report, I was able to race without my t-shirt! And I am able to post personal best on every workout comparing to last year simply due to be light on my feet (even if tired between races). I can also help my friends and lead by example (I am not naturally thing or fast, I just work at it every day). And I enjoy the feeling of being fit – and looking better after 40 than I did at 35 (haven't seen that number on the scale since Fall of 2004). And the downside? I need to go shopping!!! And I seriously hate this idea.

 Oh, and as for a quick recovery? How about abandoning a myth we need lots of carbs to pre-load and to replenish our used-up glycogen stores? May be re-building the muscle with lean protein and supplying lots of vitamins through fresh veggies is actually more important? Just a thought.

That’ll be all for coming clean, cleaning up my act and cleaning my body. The process never stops. This weekend I am off to Hells Hills, where I will lollygag through a 25k as my last training effort for Rumble 40M and volunteer afterwards (a shout out – come help out!!!), and I hope to say a few words before my trip to Portland. At this point I will leave you with a few pictures of our trip to Oklahoma and Larry and I’s fun day with helicopter ride and sphere roll (a purely puking device).

A Mountain Goat in Grasslands

Grasslands 50M was exactly what the name says: Grasslands. This land is grass, short shrubs, sand, sand, more sand, and heat in the open. It was a complete and utter suffer fest…


I was feeling flat all week. Whether I am burnt out with hard training, or just with hard life, I don’t know, but my workouts were lousy even for a taper week. Friday wasn’t a good day (between not finding a parking spot at work, getting new projects on top of all the old ones, not finding a hotel in Decatur, getting a smoking room, forgetting computer mouse and not having directions to the race…). I was not excited to go race at all. But when I showed up at the start to get my package, and everyone was so thrilled and happy, and even though I felt lonely, quite a few happen to say hello…well, you know, I felt guilty for my negative emotions and decided instead of going for a crappy race to put in a great training run. It’s all about attitude…

The race is 1 out-n-back correction trail and 4 various size loops. All I knew is that every loop is about a mile shorter than the previous. Yeah, I wasn’t into it…but I was ready to go. And since a handful of folks commented how much weight I lost and how good I look (does it mean I looked bad before?), I was in a pleasant frame of mind…until I got off course a mere mile and half into the run. Now, I have to admit, that those horse trails were perfectly marked and color-coded, but it was dark at the start, I was looking down and running in no-man’s land: 4 guys far in front, and everybody else quite far behind. So, I ran off to some lake, asked fishermen if they saw anyone, turned around and caught on a bunch of trains of runners mid-field. While I didn’t care much (common, it’s only took me 3-4 minutes!), the adrenaline still pumped and the heart was too fast. I told myself to calm down. Not the first time happened, not the last time for certain…

Before the race RD Kevin said it’s going to be upper-80’s and in the open will feel like a 100F. At 2M in I took my shirt off. I never – NEVER – raced with no shirt. Now, I learned to run on training runs in TX wearing only sports bra, but this is only when nobody I know would see me. It was a race! I could care less – I needed to let my body breathe and cool off. Speaking of breathing, thankfully first 3.5 hrs we had mostly clouds and a breeze!

But back to the course. Once on a first loop, the warning (I wish I knew before signing up) were sand, sand and more sand. Fine sand, dust, coarse sand, an inch high, a couple, ankle deep…into your shoes, can’t run, hard to walk…am I on California beach???

But, I was out for a training run, and although I knew I am running up front, I was calm and quite positive, asking names of guys around, taking out my map at various intersections to make sure I am on correct color-coded loop, looking for markers, opening and closing the horse gates (which were so high up, I either reached standing on my toes, or couldn’t no matter what and crawled under). And I kept plowing forward.

At 11:30am the sun burnt up the clouds, and the heat came full force. Soon after I reached an AS I figured was roughly soon after half-way, and a volunteer, commenting on my being first female said some name and “she may still catch you”. Now, I may not be in a race, but I surely hate the idea of being passed by anyone in second half. At that time, despite feeling every small muscle from my anatomy book due to sliding in the sand, I was feeling rather strong and moving well. Second big loop was done, and it turned out to be a whole mile further in a distance than I thought – 31.1M instead of 30! Amazing how little I was prepared – and how little can get you excited. I went on loop 3, more sand – and the running was over…couldn’t. Zapped. Done. But the powerwalking was still good…apparently, since I pulled up on a few guys. What meant even though I am falling apart, others are not fairing any better (I know, it sounds bad, but it does help to keep moving). Last 3 miles on that one-before-last loop a guy I caught up with took off, running on testosterone (well, he did look strong, he was just hanging out with his struggling buddy). He wasn’t getting chicked, my man Steve. That was ok. I came to loop’s end and saw him there, and exhaling “last 9M, 2 hrs” left ahead.

And – couldn’t run a step again. OK, I said, I powewalked whole Palo Duro, I can make it with 9 miles. I was baking, dehydrated, hot, with chills under my skin and goosbumps under my hair. When Steve passed me once again, I told him to go ahead. Mentally, I was still ok, but in true ultrarunning style things change in a second. I was walking and telling myself: 8 miles left, 7.5, 7, 6.5…I remember distinctly being happy when number 6.5M came up…and literally a few seconds later I repeated 6.5M left – and was horrified. It seemed like an eternity. That I will never ever be able to make it that far. Amazingly, I started to add running bursts, in 20 seconds or so at first, then a bit longer. But the mind was done. I came to the last AS to see Steve again and told him I hate him for being able to run so well so late. Refilled my bottles with ice and water – and left before him. Of course, he caught me in a minute, than we walked together through like a mile stretch of sand. And then I was jogging. Then he was. I was walking faster, he was running stronger. We played leap, and eventually with 3 miles left I let him go. As he disappeared, the dark clouds of dehydrated fried mind came over. I was an emotional ball on the verge of tears. I didn’t want to be passed. I was afraid to look back. I never asked at any of the AS if anybody of the ladies was close, because I was petrified I would have to race – and now was mad. Getting passed in the last 3 miles would squish me. I was vividly picturing if that happens, I would just curl up in a ball and not move. I wanted to cry and couldn’t – no water, no energy. I wanted a hug. I wanted to be home. I was telling myself, now that the last ultra here is done, I don’t ever, never have to run another ultra in TX. Heck, I may never run another ultra, period! Then I thought I might be looking like zombie. I felt like one. I had my mouth open, eyes with blank stare, face unmoved – a photographer would have been thrilled. Somehow I was still throwing in lots of shuffling runs. There was so much angst and pain in me, when I popped up, I hardly realized I am a bit off the other side where I had to be.

I finished about 40 seconds behind Steve. While I was congratulated and given something into my hands, I couldn’t speak, smile or react. It took me quite a few minutes to say I am ok. I am sorry I was such a wreck. I know you guys were happy for me. I wasn’t – that was, probably, a first for me. Not for the win, for the time (9:52), for the end of it…I think I am still not reacting properly. I think my neurons short-fused and fried. I need to go drink…

The male winner was in 7:46, and second guy in 7:52. I was told I was 5th overall. After hanging out for 30 minutes, no female came in, so that’s as much as I know. Wish I knew it, may be I would have pulled back on an effort…may be not. I drove 4 hrs home, and Larry had to wash my filth and dirt. I do have to give a shout-out to La Sportiva shoes and Drymax socks – with all the sand and dust and sand, no gaiters and no changes, I had not a single blister. The built-in protection in the shoes and technology of the sock was flawless.

I apologize for such a dry report. It's a first for me. And it doesn't do justice to a race and it's organizers. It was done perfect, the single track was great, the marking awesome, and volunteers are angels. I really, truly loved how it was done. I am just not a heat runner...I need a break now. I am surprisingly not sore at all, in any places. I am just fried in my brain. Kind of traumatized by the burning heat and sinking sand during a 50 miler:) One more thing to add. Racing in Texas at anything above 50k is all about surviving skills, not the speed. Being fast is all good when you go 3-4-5 hrs. Then it's about taking care of yourself, knowing your body, drinking and eating and taking salt...and in this part I did as good as possible. May be that's why I survived the quickest:)

I’ll get back later. May be I’ll talk about that weight loss for a change:))

Recap with photos by EnduranceBuzz

Walking my talk.

My biggest pet peeve is people who don't walk their talk. I don't usually use a word "hate" seriously, but I despise those who say lotsa things and do little to nothing of those. Put your money where your mouth is!
Having said that, my biggest fear is one day to not "walk my own talk". Nobody may even notice, and if they did, they'd come up with a hundred of excuses and explanations, but can I, my strongest judge, look in a mirror straight into my own eyes? This is always a question I strive to answer positive.

There are two things I preach when it comes to ultrarunning. One is - give back to community that helps you become a better you and achieve your goals. Volunteer. Crew, pace, help out. Don't be a "taker", being a "giver" is much more fulfilling than any time in any race you ever do. And the second one - you can't get better unless you get uncomfortable. And you always - always! - want to get better. You do. If you don't strive for it, you are stagnating, not living. Way too many people around us are. Just because we joined the forces of ultrarunners, doesn't automatically mean we are better or striving. There are ways to improve. To try. To reach. And for that - you need to get out of your comfort zone...

I got to put quite some money into my mouth and walk my talk this weekend, and it was a very satisfying weekend, indeed.

Friday after work I grabbed Stephen (Larry had to take Harrison to some boy-scout event, and they, unfortunately, couldn't join us), and we headed out to the middle-of-nowhere to one of Tejas Trails and Prusaitis Co races, Nueces (10k, 25k, 50k and 50M). Out of those, 25k was a La Sportiva championship, and 50M was a USATF championship. Trail ultrarunning still struggles to find it's niche in a national field of running when it comes to official records and such, but it slowly we are getting there (on a side note, instead of trying to "make a new committee" blaming USATF not recognizing differences in road and trail racing, why not get more trail ultrarunners participate in USATF board as members and help them define those? But I promise to leave polictics and my personal opinions out of this particular post). Anyhow, this is only the second year Joe puts this particular race (I ran it last year), and it is already getting "bigger and better". The male field in 50M was rather tight, while nobody was to challenge Liza Howard on the girls side (I was told I need to take off my flip-flops, and go out there in my loose pants and cotton shirt to bring a (smaller) check home, but I really had other aspirations for this race day). We arrived at 9pm, and after chatting with few folks, went to our bunk beds around 11pm.

5am wake up came early, and Joyce grabbed me and Julienne to set up Texas AS, a first AS on the course. The wind was blowing and howling, and the traps were banging like crazy. This AS supported all races from 3 different directions, so had to be organized in a manner that would allow different races go their separate ways without getting tangled up. We put up first necessary items up, and an hour later I was relieved and driven back to my main work-place of the day - Pavillion (main) AS at start/finish, where 50k and 50M go through for their loops, and 10k and 25k finish. So, I hassled, and dragged stuff around, and set things up, and yelled at the starters, and kept everything in tight order, and later had Julienne and another man (who's name I never caught) help me while I put medals on finisher's necks and kept the banter going (and pushed the "future" ultrans to sign up for Joe's next race, Hells Hills). I spent 11 hours on my feet, and at 4pm cleaned it all up, loaded Stephen into my car - and off we went. Here is a blow for 50M results: Jason Schlarb from CO 1st in 6:28, Dave James (2nd from Bandera) was a bridesmaid (again, 6:43), Jason Bryant (La Sportiva guy and 3rd from Bandera) 3rd - again, Steve Moore (our local one and only) kicked ass in 7-flat, picking up Jack Pilla in the last mile. Liza in 8:09. First loop was run by Jim O'Brien (a collegiate miler from Chicago) in 2:00, and he did it without carrying a bottle. he pulled Dave along into the chase and dropped after 2nd loop (not surprisingly, but once he learns to fuel and run trails, he can be very good). Dave set himself up with this energy over-expenditure on 2 loop-chase and was passed just before end of 2nd loop by Jason Schlarb (a 2:20 marathoner on his only 2nd 50 miler). Dave tried hard, but Jason had a perfect - and smart - day. Jason Bryant and Steve Moore had very smart races as well. It was surely a fun day!!!

Night was short and sleep wasn't as good as I would have liked it, but I had a 4:30am wake up on Sunday - for - gasp - a half marathon! At the Nueces Big Chris came over and joked "Olga is doing everything backwards. Normal people build up slowly from short races to long ultras, Olga is prolific in 100's, and now decided to go opposite direction and will be running 5 k's soon". He wasn't far off truth:)) This year I am entertaining such a different approach to my training! Why, you'd ask? See "preach #2" above. I have gotten way too comfortable running trail ultras of 50 and 100M in the mountains. They take their toll, they challenge - but they don't throw too many surprises and I am rarely scared (or apprehensive for better word) before a race. I needed to shake it up! I needed to find an edge! If I teach you need to do intervals - you can always find me at the track on Tuesday at 5:30am! If I tell you everyone needs to do weights to balance muscle strength and to build that strength without getting injured while running too many miles - look for me 3 times a week at 5:30am sweatin' it with Big Guys! If I promote flexibility as a mean to make your stride longer and more efficient - join me in Yoga classes!

I ran over a dozen of half-marathons, all before my first marathon in 2002, with a PR in 1:42. This is not a fast time by no means, and just barely sub-1:50 was something of a "training tempo" for me back then. I reached 13M point in my January marathon in 2 hrs flat. Thus my goal was - sub-2:00, and I surely hoped to find extra 5 minutes somewhere on that hilly and windy course of Moe's Better Half in San Marcos. 1:50 was a star to wish upon...

I arrived with an hour to spare, and fell asleep in my car. A loud announcer's voice woke me up saying "Olga Varlamova needs to come to registration table". Holly, why? As I dragged my sleepy butt out of the car, a group of Austin ultrarunners was passing by laughing "They just want to give you a prize now, ahead of time". Right. Funny:) Apparently, I forgot to put my age down.

And we were off. 1st mile clicked in 7:30, and I was "Crap! That's my mile repeat pace!". Back off, girl. 3 miles went in 24-flat. Still too fast. Hills rolled, and I was struggling on the uphills. My weak spot is running up (I am good at power-hiking it for a long time, but not busting it in any type of running form). But I had gone through 6 miles in 48 min flat, still averaging 8 min/mile, and it rather scared me. So it should have. We entered a 3+ mile 2% grade incline (something I am horrible at even more than running short steep uphills), and my energy sagged. Like a train went over my legs. I had a full line-up of excuses: I just ran a 50 miler 2 weeks ago. I jumped back into training right away and had a full 2 weeks of it, no taper-shmaper. I spent 11 hrs volunteering yesterday. I am old and tired and lacking sleep. It went for almost all of those 3 miles, until I spotted a mile marker, calculated that my pace dipped to barely sub-9, and I got mad. No excuses allowed! Dig deep, you crazy girl! What the heck are you talking about? And I did...my right quad screaming, my legs feeling like cotton, my breathing so pathetic and loud, I was afraid the ambulance will get me off course. But I ran. And then I saw last AS and the hill looming at 12.5M. And that was all I needed for a push. Catching up (finally) to a guy we ran together with since the start (and who pulled away from me in that dark 6-9 mile stretch) worked wanders, and I exhaled "Don't you dare leave me alone". He smiled. We worked it together. I picked it up slightly, he fell a bit back - and then caught up right before the final turn into finishing chute, and we kicked it one last time. Together, elbowing, we crossed that finish line and hugged. That was hard!

I forgot to push the button, but he showed me his watch - 1:50. WTF! Yeah, baby!!! I am digging it!

A shout out to two of my clients - Eman ran her first 25k, on that crazy rugged course at Nueces, in 3:09! To think she ran her first road 5k a year ago, huh? Her son Hesham busted a 10k too, at the tender age of 7! And Jim finished Moe's half in 1:55 for a 15 min PR in only 4 months since last one! Way to go, guys!

Oh, and it's official - I am an LLC now. Healing Olga's Way. HOW. "A hands on approach to make your life better, one person at a time". A proper website is in order:)