Sunday, February 28, 2010

The Short Story





Here are a few pictures and a short bit on how the birke went.

Over all went really well. my time was 4:15 that is 53 minutes faster than last year and 10% higher in the standings. I still have a long way to go but took a huge bite out of it this year.

Like last year the birke is unbelievable hard. There is nothing all year that is this hard. The loppet was hard but the birke was harder be a good share.

I had really fast skis up to 00 the half way point and then the race was on south facing slopes from then on and my ski's slowed in the warmer snow. But I had build a bit of a cushion in the first half which I needed with the slower ski's.

All in all though really good.

More later....

Thursday, February 25, 2010

t-36

It's less that 36 hours until the Birkebiener and the gitters are setting in nicely thank you very much. I will say however, this years nerves are nothing compained to the full on panik of 09. Honestly I feel ok, not great not bad, basic ok. Work and life has been stressful, and being on taper always goofs me up. I don't sleep well on taper and just about the time your settled you have to go ski a marathon. You don't realy get to bask in the glow of the taper. I do feel ready however, and I think that's a good sign.

A few changes for this year. I'm not drinking the provided energy drink. By the 40k marker last year my stomach was a mess and I couldn't get anything else down. Consequently the last 10k was a bonky wonderland. As far as I know I was pretty sure I skied with the care bears, rainbows and unicorns, for about 45 minutes. The Birke is a garanteed bonk. So you just have be ok with that I guess.

This year I'm and going to carry a water bottle with hammer perpetuem. I have used it on long rides and I find it is good at holding off the bonk and is easy on my stomach. I like gatorade endurance too but I think perpetuem is a little beefier. So water at the aid stations and gu every 45min or so. Then after doubleO ( roughly the half way point ) start drinking the perpetuem. I am hopeful this will give me a better final stretch. They have bananas too I may try a few bites of banana along the way too. We'll see if any of it makes a difference.

Perhaps being less crazy this year is a good omen. I wish I were superstitious. All have to do is sacrifice a goat and I'm good to go.

36 hour .... Tick tock.





Monday, February 8, 2010

City of lakes loppet 2010


City of Lakes Loppet 2010 is in the books. It was pretty good. I took a good spill that had me goofed up for a while but by the midpoint I settled back in and made up a lot of lost ground in the last 10k. It's funny, because it's on the network of trails I train on, and it's in my home town, you get the idea it's going to be relatively easy. Ummm no. There were long periods where I was just sure someone was driving a knife into my left calf muscle, maybe an hour or so of that, ouch. There were periods where I thought my lungs would explode.

I had to have several serious conversations in my head about not quitting. And On several occasions questioned if I get to the end at all. Crossing the finish line was such a relief. I thought I was doing terrible but as it turns out I dropped 25 minutes off my time from last year, and went up in the standings by 10%. I am still waaaay at the back but I am a little less waaay than last year. I went from 2:55 to 2:30.

For the life of me I don't know why I put myself through this. But for some reason a day or two after an event I can't wait to go do the next one. What is the matter with me? : ) Stupid or Crazy?

The birkebiner is in two weeks that is my second and last race for the year. the loppet is 32k and 3500 feet of climb. The birke is 52k and 9000 feet of climb. It will be my second birke and after the loppet and the suffering I must say it's got me a bit spooked. But if I can hold my loppet pace at the birke. I could finish in 4 hours. That would be 55 minutes faster than last year. That would be one hell of a trick if I could pull that off.

Ok time to go my advil is wearing off... talk to you soon.


Wednesday, February 3, 2010

Getting ready for the loppet

The City of Lakes loppet is this Sunday and so final preparations are underway. I have been reading the waxing recommendations for the last few days and starting today will look to ease off training. Give the body a few days to get really rested. At this point any new training would have no impact on outcome anyway so you would be unnecessarily tiring yourself.

I skied yesterday on the lovely new snow that fell throughout the day. The temperatures were perfect and the new snow was soft fluff. It didn't have a super fast glide to it but it was so wonderfully soft and cushioning it was pure joy to ski on.

So far my body feels pretty good. I am still having pain in my right shoulder from my rollerski tumble this summer but it doesn't bother me too much skiing and isn't getting worse from it. It has been several months since I've competed in an event and the pre-event gitters are starting to settle in. I am enjoying the excitement of an upcoming event meanwhile lamenting the pain and suffering to come.

What a joy it has been to be a part of a team this year with a coach and everything. The kick off year for the squad has been going really really well. It will be so satisfying to see my teammates at the finish line on sunday. I will post pictures after.

The coach we hired brought a video camera out to, practice a couple weeks ago to film our skiing to look at and talk about form and technique. Here is yours truly doing a bit of skiing.