Fast becoming Fall

No apologies for not writing in several months. The summer has been great. The ORN JRT really gelled over the summer with many skiers really getting in to their training. We had a terrific group of skiers right up in to September, where we ran in to the juggernauts that are Fall Sports and School. For the fall, we have cut it back to 1 day of week, knowing that everyone is getting ample cardio work with their teams. We are concentrating our efforts on upper body strength and technique. There is always room for improvement in these areas!

This week, we're going to do a pretty crazy workout. I have set up a number of "tow straps". The idea is that one skier will be towing a partner up a hill while double poling. Should be good fun. I think the stronger folks won't have a problem, but we may need to handicap it a bit for some.

The plan for the winter and later half of the fall has yet to be sussed out. I am toying with the idea of a "travel team" that will attend Eastern Cups, but I want to be sure to augment the existing programs, not conflict with them.

Hopefully I will be able to get some video or pictures up before too long.

New Beginnings

The spring is starting to come around. Despite frost advisories in June, we look to be getting some warmer weather soon. For someone that studied climate change in grad school, I can't tell you how funny it's been to hear all the discussions about "global warming". Hearing someone wax poetic about how New England is going to "benefit" from global warming, that is more snow with cooler summers, is especially hilarious. Fact is - there are many, many models out there that describe many, many ways that the earth will warm, but they all say -unless they are funded by Exxon/Mobil- that it will warm and warm substantially. But I rant...

Today is second practice of the Onion River Nordic Junior Race Team, or ORN JRT. I started this group up with the help of Nick Petterssen as a way to bring the junior skiers in the area to the next level. There is a ton of enthusiam out there for this program! I have put together training plans for each of the twelve skiers. We are meeting twice a week through the summer and in to the fall to work on ski specific movements and strength. This morning we will be doing a creative run. It's a pretty standard workout of mine that I picked up at a camp with Cory Swartz and Bob Fitzpatrick back when I was a junior. You basically run, then stop to do core strength, plyos, and other calistenics for a couple minutes, run again, then repeat for a total of about an hour. It all ends with the "circle of fun", which has come to be a bit of a hallmark of mine. It involves lots of tuck jumps, quick feet and silliness.

I will post pictures of the group once I remember to take some.

Long Way to Go

Yesterday was the Vermont Corporate Cup. A 5K that runs each year the week before Memorial Day in the streets of Montpelier. Due to some recent rule changes for the race, I didn't think I was going to be able to do it at all this year, since they outlawed strollers. I was planning on running with Heather and pushing the kiddos in the tandem stroller. Fortunately, or maybe not, I was bailed out by a co-worker who has a girl Meg's age. Unexpected play date = Dad gets to run a 5K.

The day was the hottest one of the year with highs for the day over 90. That, in combination with a lack of any real training yet resulted in a very poor race. Like 21:50. My worst 5K time in years and over 2 and a half minutes slower than my post kid PR. My only other time slower than that was when I just got out of grad school and was carrying about 20 more pounds.

So, if my training didn't already need a kick in the ass, there it is. I have a number of races targeted for the year, so I really need to get going. Today - I'm taking advantage of the weather and going to go for as long of a mountain bike ride as I can. Should be a great day for it - clear skies and 80.

First Run

Yesterday was my first run of the year, and it felt like it. It was fairly short at 45 minutes, but I was able to through some trails in to the mix, so it was fairly entertaining. There is still a fair amount of snow in the woods, and the trail that I was on has seen some winter traffic, so the footing was variable.

As most runners can attest, the beauty of running is its simplicity. The only gear you have to deal with is a pair of shoes: no pumping, lubing, waxing, scraping. You don't have to worry about the weather, you don't have to think about grooming, and no driving to the trail head. Over the year, however, running for me has become somewhat more complicated. In high school, getting ready to run involved throwing on some Umbros, some cheap Air Pegasuses and a cotton shirt then blasting down the road at 6:30 pace. Now it's orthotics in the shoes (which are Asics Kayano's at $150 a pair due to my GD foot problems), liner shorts, shorts (or tights if its less than 50 degrees), poly propylene top, hat, water bottle belt, and various anti chaffing acutrements before warming up slowly for 15 to 20 minutes at 8:30 to 9 minute miles before turning it up to maybe 7:30 or 7's (if I'm really feeling it).

The joints are a little sore today, but in past years, I have basically just run through the pain for the first couple of weeks. After that, the pain usally lessens as my ligaments, muscles etc get used to the running motion and the pounding. Just one other thing that differs from when I was a wee bit younger. (I can already see my older running and skiing buds' eyes rolling).

I can't lift my arms...

Tomorrow is not going to be pleasant.

For the past couple of weeks, I have been in rest mode; trying to catch up on work, hopefully getting out for some backcountry skiing and starting my lifting program. Each of the past two years, I have split the Vermont City Marathon with my brother. It's a great race, but, to race well, you pretty much have to completely switch gears from skiing to running immediately after completing the competitive ski season. Last season, that meant stopping skiing while there was still quite a bit of snow (folks were skiing well into April last year). This year, I thought I would try to extend the season as much as I could, but unfortunately, the ski season cut short by an onslaught of warm weather and some rain. Things rarely go as planned.

The other change to my plan for this year from last year is to hit the weights. When I was in high school and college, I had the uncanny ability of putting on muscle without much time in the weight room. Double poling was my strong suit. Last summer, I decided that my strength program would be limited to bodyweight resistance only. Looking back on my season, and at the advanced age of 33, I think weights will be in my training program for the offseason.

Rather than shell out $70+ a month for a gym membership, I found a weight bench and free weights on Craig's list for $150. Pretty sweet deal. However, like a typical jackass, despite not having lifted for at least 4 or 5 years, I didn't exactly go into the weights easy. I tried to warm up a bit by splitting some wood for a while, but it wasn't enough after only 10 minutes. I did a pretty basic routine: bench, triceps, curls, bent over rows... But, after only 2 hours after I stopped, I can really feel it in my ligaments. I would be willing to bet that by tomorrow, I'll have a hard time shampooing my hair.

A great morning with a local hero

This morning Onion River Nordic had the fortune of having our resident kick ass world cup skier and national champion Liz Stephen give a free ski clinic. Liz has generously donated her time for clinics for our club a couple of times in the past and they are always great. Her contagious energy gets everyone pumped to ski and she has proved to be an inspiration to area skiers of all ages.

Liz is skiing in the US Distance Nationals beginning on March 24 in Fairbanks. I know she is going to do great and I would not be surprised if she left Alaska with more than one national title.

Technical Difficulties

This past Saturday, I skied in the first ever Mount Washington Marathon at Bretton Woods. It was a 50k classic style race consisting of 2, 25 km laps. Being the first time for this event, and due to the timing compared to NCAA's, and two larger marathons straddling it (Rangeley and Sugarloaf), it was not particularly well attended by the faster skiers in the east. However, the course and day were near perfect: bluebird sky and hard, frozen granular tracks.

I pulled in to Bretton Woods with a little over an hour to race time. Being a classic day, this didn't leave a ton of time to figure out the wax, so I moseyed over to the Swix tent to talk with Mike Innis. One of the great things about cross country ski racing is the quality of the folks that make up its community. Mike Innis is one of the nicest guys you will meet and a super helpful technician. I have known Mike since he helped out with the Lenox (MA) ski team when I was in high school. He now is a wax rep for Swix traveling to many races throughout New England, in addition to teaching up at one of the schools nearby Bretton Woods. Mike offered to help me out with waxing, so I took him up on it. This enabled me to go register, change, use the restrooms etc. This was certainly a luxury that I don't often get!

Even with Mike helping me with the wax, I was cutting it close for the start of the race. This was exacerbated by the fact that the start was a few hundred meters away from the nordic center (I only realized this with about 5 minutes to go). My warm up consisted of running to and from my car to drop off my gear and skiing to the line. In fact, Mike finished my skis with maybe 6 or 7 minutes to spare, so I didn't even get to try the wax. Needless to say, I would have been screwed if I were waxing myself.

The race started out well. There were a number of young college bucks that spread things out pretty quickly. There were some familiar faces in the group I was skiing with, so I was feeling pretty comfortable. Somehow at km 4 I managed to break a pole. I think I may have whacked it against a tree, but regardless, I had to ski with one pole (or one normal pole and one stub) for what turned out to be 6 more km. I finally found a spectator willing to give up their pole, but this turned out to be about 20 cm too short and a circa 1991 T grip to boot. I quickly ditched this pole and found Marty Hall's wife with a decent pole. THis pole ended up having a wacky strap that I could not get tight without twisting my hand around the strap. I ended up switching poles with Mike Innis at the lap. Once again, Mike bailed me out.

The remainder of the first lap was spent trying to make something of the race. I probably should have cooled it a bit after getting the pole back or tried to work up with someone, but I was impatient. This led to a pretty bad bonk at 30 km. I managed to recover and finish OK, but it was definitely not my best effort. Despite some rapidly warming temps, and softening tracks, the wax was superb. Really good glide and super kick all day. Thanks to Mike Innis!

College

Friday and Saturday were the EISA Middlebury Carnival held at Rikert Ski Touring Center in Ripton, VT (aka Breadloaf). This week at work was fairly trying; two days of a company-wide strategic planning meeting. Lot's of talk of proaction, synergy, et al. On Friday, I could not bring my self to go back to the office, so after about an hour of work, I took the day to head over to Breadloaf to take in the carnival. It had been several years since I have been able to see a carnival. They are a blast. I was able to catch up with my coach from Bates, Becky Woods, and former "boss" Cory Schwartz of UNH. The conditions were excellent. Fresh snow the night before and a broken piston bulley lead to an hour delay, but the skiing was fantastic. The racing was super exciting. Both men and women were pulling a 10K classic. The day was lead by lots of green. Dartmouth men put their 6 guys in the top 11. UVM went 1,2 in the mens, while Bates' Sylvan Ellefson came in 6th after leading the race for the first couple kilometers of the race. In the woman's race, Dartmouth proved their might again going 1,2, 5 and 9. The lady bobcats kicked in hard with little Natalie Ruppertsburger coming in 3rd followed by teamates at 13 and 14, giving them 2nd place on the day. My throat was sore for 2 days after the race. I get so jazzed up athat I end up cheering myself hoarse. It was awesome.

The highlight of the day, however, was getting a chance to catch up with Becky. We talked about the team, skiing in general, and the struggle of skiing fast in college. I wish I had the chance to talk for hours more. The perspective that I have gained since graduating through coaching at UNH, trying to ski train with a family and job, and finally understanding how to train have lead me to a place of near remorse for not taking better advantage of the opportunity that I had while skiing in college. Serendipity as it is, however, I could also argue that I would not be the person that I am today if I had followed a different path: married to the love of my life with a wonderful family. What this translates into is the realization of how much I love this sport. It pushes me out the door into sub zero temps at 8:30 at night, gets me out on the roller skis in the summer, and urges me to put in that extra effort on interval days.

So Good luck to the bobcats, wildcats, catamounts, big green, panthers, mules, polar bears, saints, and knights. For some, this next weekend will be your last collegiate race, enjoy it while you can!

Sleepy Hollow

Today was the Ichebod's Revenge 10 K classic ski race up at Sleepy Hollow. It was my first trip up to Sleepy Hollow, but it will not be my last. Despite the nasty rain we had this week, which transformed Morse to boilerplate, Sleepy Hollow was skiing pretty nicely.

The race course was pretty a-typical: three laps on a 3.5 Km loop that was essentially one half down and one half up. The up was very skiable, and the downhill, although starting out as a screamer, provided decent rest. Unfortunately, I was feeling pretty flat to start the day. I'm pretty confident that it was due to lack of sleep and a fairly hard workout yesterday rather than lack of fitness, but the effect was the same: I just didn't have it today. The race was pretty sparse, so even with feeling flat, I ended up fourth for the day, second in the 30-39 group. The guys that were in front of me put a pretty decent gap on me by the end of the first lap, and after that, I don't know that there was a lot of change in position.

All in all, it was a good workout and another start. One of my goals this year was to simply race more. So to that end, I am pleased that I did the race. I also ended up bringing home some LF wax for my second place finish. $20 entry fee for a nice, low-key race and a $24 dollar prize. Not bad.

Craftsbury

This past Saturday I competed in my fourth the Craftsbury Marathon (CM). The course, conditions, weather, and wax were awesome. This year, the CM organizers opted to base everything out of the Craftsbury Outdoor Center rather than a point to point race starting at Highland Lodge in Greensboro and ending at the Common, using the trails at the center for about half of the course. I had mixed feelings about the redesign. This model would be much easier logisitically, since a racer did not have to get bussed to the start with all of our gear (skis, wax, wax benches, clothing) only to return there afterwards to retrieve it all. Last year, this manifested in a particularly nasty way when I realized at the 10 Km mark that I had forgotten my keys at Highland and did not prepare a bag with my warm ups to be brought by volunteers to the finish. I ended up coming in from the race, shivering without dry clothes and had to search for a friend to bring me back to Highland to retrieve my gear, clothes, keys etc.

This year was different in many, many ways. Our club (Onion River Nordic) had a large contingent this year. I don't know exactly how many raced or toured on Saturday from our club but it was over twenty. Friday night, we had a pot-luck waxing party at Morse Farm. It proved to be a great spot for such an event; thanks to Dave and Burr for hosting. As a result of the wax party, everyone came prepped with glide (moly covered with CH6/LF6) and binder with a layer of V30 iron in to help cement the day's kick to the binder. When we showed up Saturday, we set up the ORS tent, wax table with forms, and got to work putting a few layers of VF30 followed by 4 to 6 layers of VF40. This was a little draggy, so we ended up covering with a little VF30. All set, no panicking, everyone knew what to do. Compared to the panicked klister applicay that happened last year, it was a dream.

For me, I ended up with my new Madshus which had LF6 and Moly mixed covered with old-school Swix F16. The stiffer skis did not seem to be a hindrance and were both fast and kicking all day. In fact, I had two fellow racers tell me during the race that I had really fast skis.

The race went really well. I lined up about 5 rows back, having entered the coral pretty late. The course went along a series of fields that gradually dropped to Little Hosmer Lake. Without a warm up prior to the start except to test glide and kick, this first couple K's were much better than the usually blast up Barr Hill from Highland Lodge.

The pack settled into groups pretty quickly. I ended up skiing with a group of about 6 for the first half of the race. At which point, the course headed back towards the Center after going on Little and Big Hosmer and past Wind Ridge resort. Here I past Nick Petterssen who had pulled over and was having trouble with a pole strap. Our group kept on doing its thing for the next 10 K until Nick came back in to join us. He had crashed hard on a long, fast downhill where I had seen him and lost the wedge from his grip. He and I quickly moved to the front of the group and skied a solid pace up to the Common. The group sort of spread out at this point. By the time we got through the lap lane and down to Hosmer, we had caught a couple of other skiers. At this point, I was feeling pretty good. 30 K in to the race and feeling pretty strong. Despite holding in the reins, knowing full well that Elinors Hill and the climb to the Common were still lurking, I began to pull away from the group of skiers that I had been with. I ended up skiing with the couple of fellows that we had caught coming down to Hosmer. One of which was Ron Newbury, an M6 from Freedom Maine. I remember Ron from when I skied for Bates; he was always this soft-spoken Master skier that hammered. If you didn't have a good day, Ron would get you. This was back when he was an M4 and I was a S1 and had a lot more time to train. Ron and I skied with another skier up through Ruthie's Run, before he pulled away.

The end of the race is always hard. There gets to be a tipping point when you shift from "I can catch that guy that is up ahead of me" to "I can slow up this much before the guy behind me catches me". Everyone is deep in the pain cave, skiis that were working all day suddenly seem like they are going backwards, and the hills become steeper, longer, and covered with beach sand. I managed to hold on to my place and finish 35th in the open class; some 44 minutes behind Kris Freeman. I am pretty pleased. Next year, watch out Bird and Freebase, I'm coming....

OD on LSD

For those not tuned in to distance-type sports, the title of this post may take some explaining. OD is "Over Distance" which is synonymous with LSD or "long, slow distance". This is a type of work out where you go for a very long time at a very slow pace (keeping your heart rate in level I, for me this is 115 to 140). The point is to train your body to process fat to glycogen and working past the dreaded "bonk". These skis can be very, very boring as you really try very hard not to ski hard enough to raise your heart rate (and lactic acid levels) to the point where you get fatigued.

On Sunday, with thanks to my wonderful wife, I was able to get out for a 3.5 hours classic ski at Morse Farm. The other thing about these skis can be very, very boring as you really try very hard not to ski hard enough to raise your heart rate (and lactic acid levels) to the point where you get fatigued, so it helps to have a place with many, many kilometers of trails. As great as 'da Farm is, it is not blessed with many, km's of trails (total is ~24 k). This means that OD skis here can seem like a hampster in a wheel. The ski went decently. It was very cold to start the ski (o degrees), but I had lots of clothing and some new skis to try out. I only had to rewax once, and that was due more to warming temps than wax wearing off. I hooked up by serendipity with John McGill, a local bike racer turned Dad and XC skier. It helped spin the K's and the time having him around so that was great.

Unfortunately, the last 30 minutes of the day were total bonk ville. I must not have had enough to eat nor gone slow enough; it was everything I could do to get back to the car. The only thing that kept me going was thoughts of having lots of food when I got home.

This week should be pretty mellow with a taper for Cratsbury. A big storm is forecasted for tomorrow (Wednesday), so I doubt that the Wednesday night sprints will happen. A little fresh snow would be welcome, but I really want to use my new klister skis for the marathon. With my luck, I'll be on my Atomics from circa 1991.

Night Skiing

Work has been particularly busy lately. Long hours with little pause in the day for skiing. Tie that to two kids that need to be fed and in bed by 7 and it leads to only one option for skiing mid-week: at night by headlamp. For the uninitiated, skiing at night, or snow shoeing, mountain biking, running, or much of anything else for that matter, is awesome. It brings a whole new level of awareness to the experience. Last night, prior to beginning a set of intervals on Frog Run at Morse Farm, I stood among a grove of hemlock listening only to very far off traffic and snow flakes hitting the ground. Pretty soon, that quiet was blown out by very heavy breathing and a rapidly beating heart, but more on that later.

The goal for the evening was originally to do some double pole intervals: 4 to 6 X 4 minutes with equal rest. I have been working on modifying my technique such that my hands are much higher and closer to my chest. This has been shown by lots of skiers that it produces a lot more power during the poling motion. The photo here is of Andy Newell, US Ski Team member and world class sprinter. Andy puts so much force into is body getting ready to pole again that he lifts himself several inches off the ground. I can't imagine that this is how a marathon skier will ski, but it definitely illustrates the point of high hands.
When I got to the farm last night, I was sporting VR 40 over binder. This worked great on Sunday, but at 4 degrees F, way too warm. I tried to cover this with a couple layers of VR30, but still had a ton of drag. Double pole intervals were out.

Instead, I thought I would do a repeat of a workout I had done last week during the nasty cold snap. 12 by 1:00 at best effort. I picked out a section of Frog Run that has a gradual climb into a nasty steep section, followed by more gradual climbing. These ended up being real hard. The first few went well, but by number 6 and 7, I was falling shorter and shorter of where I had started. It was pretty apparent that I just didn't have it, so I ended up doing 8. Not too bad, particularly considering that I was still pretty wiped from Sunday's race. I think it goes to show that following a race, it's really important to have a day of active rest before starting up on soem intervals.

The rest of the ski was awesome: no wind, nice nighttime views of the Worcester Range, and really great snow.

Time Trial #1 15K? classic

Yesterday 6 of our local Master Blasters convened at Morse Farm to compete in club time trial. The course was either a very slow 15 k or way more than that. None of us are exactly world caliber, but the fastest time for the course by a classic skier was 1:08:56 seconds by Nick Petterssen. As any racers can attest, that is damn slow for a 15K. The course turned out to be really nice with some good, kickable climbs, lots of transitions and double poling. Conditions were soft, having just received about 3 to 5 inches of snow in the morning. For me, the race was just about getting out and hammering. My start was strong, maybe too much so, as I was pretty tight going into the 2nd of 4 laps. I had very good kick and decent glide, so I don't really know why I wasn't psyched with the results. There were times on the course when I felt like an egg beater, but other times, I felt super solid. I'm not sure where this leaves me; at this point in the season with Craftsbury just two weeks away, I was hoping for a rocking race. Unfortunately those usually don't just happen, so I guess its time to amp up the intervals for this week before beginning tapering on Monday.

Times for the race:
Nick P: 1:08:56
Brent E: 1:10:11
Dan V: 1:11:42
Joel P: DNF

Two guys came out for the race and skated (Jamie Biggham and Andrew Trip), but I missed their times. Jamie is skiing super fast, I would not be surprised if he broke 1 hour.

Next up, Wednesday Night Sprints at U32! Under the lights. My skate boots are currently heading back to Fischer for a warranty issue, but hopefully I'll scare some up for this event. Should be fun.

In other news, local hot shot skier Liz Stephen rocked at the World Cup race in Whistler. She placed 24th in the pursuit and teamed up with Kikkan Randall for a 4th place team sprint result. Considering this is her second World Cup event, it's awesome. Congrats to Liz.