Training Log Archive: VectorIn the 7 days ending Feb 6, 2023:
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Saturday Feb 4, 2023 #
Orienteering race (Ski-O) 2:11:42 [4]
US Ski-O Champs & Empire State Winter Games - Day 3 - Middle:
Watched some videos about skate skiing to try to figure this out. Sorta helped but I was still shuffling up hills while witnessing most others *skating* up the hill what looked like almost effortlessly. HOW THE HECK DOES UPHILL SKATING HAPPEN!!!?? lol. Clearly I need to invest in some lessons. That said a little better than yesterday. No frostbite issues, some moments when I actually was skating (but not often), and endured a pretty big physical challenge. Appreciated some more interesting navigation today although still not a whole lot of orienteering. Some really fun downhill legs. Wasn't sure I'd finish the course as I stated getting tired towards the end but pushed on. Almost DQ'd myself as I pulled into the finish chute almost skipping the last control before the finish but realized it right before I went to punch finish! Phew! Definitely not fast but just ) showing up and b) finishing counted for something today for a US Champs medal and more importantly getting all my money's worth haha! Gavin ventured out on white today with Becca and Elise in shadow. Elise didn't make it far before melting down so Becca took her back to lodge and went back out to join Gavin. Gavins had a really tough time fighting out the map and didn't make it to any of the controls...not sure how but I skiid past him really far away from where the white course probably was! But really proud of him for trying and in such difficult conditions. But he enjoyed the skiing part regardless as did Becca. Quite the 1st foray into Ski-O for our whole family and a great family vacation. Glad we came and really appreciated all those who organized it. What a great event!!
Watched some videos about skate skiing to try to figure this out. Sorta helped but I was still shuffling up hills while witnessing most others *skating* up the hill what looked like almost effortlessly. HOW THE HECK DOES UPHILL SKATING HAPPEN!!!?? lol. Clearly I need to invest in some lessons. That said a little better than yesterday. No frostbite issues, some moments when I actually was skating (but not often), and endured a pretty big physical challenge. Appreciated some more interesting navigation today although still not a whole lot of orienteering. Some really fun downhill legs. Wasn't sure I'd finish the course as I stated getting tired towards the end but pushed on. Almost DQ'd myself as I pulled into the finish chute almost skipping the last control before the finish but realized it right before I went to punch finish! Phew! Definitely not fast but just ) showing up and b) finishing counted for something today for a US Champs medal and more importantly getting all my money's worth haha! Gavin ventured out on white today with Becca and Elise in shadow. Elise didn't make it far before melting down so Becca took her back to lodge and went back out to join Gavin. Gavins had a really tough time fighting out the map and didn't make it to any of the controls...not sure how but I skiid past him really far away from where the white course probably was! But really proud of him for trying and in such difficult conditions. But he enjoyed the skiing part regardless as did Becca. Quite the 1st foray into Ski-O for our whole family and a great family vacation. Glad we came and really appreciated all those who organized it. What a great event!!
Friday Feb 3, 2023 #
Orienteering (Ski-O) 20:00 [3]
US Ski-O Champs & Empire State Winter Games - Day 2 - Model events at Mt Van Hoevenberg. 1st cross country ski of the year. Tried out the rental skis and get accustomed to Ski-O since this is only my 2nd time ever doing it. And also more accustomed to skate skiing since this is also only the 2nd time doing that too. Just visited a couple controls before it was time to head over to the rave venue. All my clothing and gear seemed to be keeping me plenty warm despite the -10 degree Temps and occasional wind.
Orienteering race (Ski-O) 1:04:07 [5]
US Ski-O Champs & Empire State Winter Games - Day 2 - Sprint:
My 1st Ski-O race other than a local one in Colorado I tried a few years ago on classic skis. Never been so cold and so hot at the same time in my life! :D Temp was -15F and occasional wind. First time using a map holder and doing the air SI punch etc so it was a lot of figuring things out. But apparently the thing I really need to figure out is this skate skiing thing. Took 1 lesson a couple year ago but still not getting the feel for it. Can skate super easy on downhill skis but whatever I'm doing on these skate skis isn't working so I was moving pretty slow except the downhill portions. But given the extreme cold and my newness to this format of orienteering my main goal was simply to finish and survive and I did! I also had had contend with my fingers starting to get frostbite as I felt it setting in. It was so bad on my way to #1 that I almost had to turn back. I packed hand warmers just in case and had already opened them before starting so after fumbling around with getting those into my gloves and getting fingers warmed back up I was able to continue and finish. Had to one hand pole and no hand pole for a while to get my fingers warm again. In the morning practice I had no problems so I'm guessing the wind is what did it. Really enjoyed trying this out and definitely a heck of a good workout. The orienteering skill is super basic since it's all trails so my initial impression is it's more of a cross country ski race than a navigation race but I also saw how one wrong turn can really mess you up big time and of course this was just a sprint. I was pretty spent and feel like I was wasting s lot of energy not skate skiing properly so hopefully after watching so videos tonight I can improve my skate technique a little tomorrow to limit how much time and energy I'm expending. Family and I enjoyed checking out the Lake Placid Olympics Museum and seeing some figuring skating in the 1932 rink and hockey in the 1980 rink where USA defeated USSR and Finland for a gold medal. Had to move hotels because the one we were staying at didn't have adequate heat or hot water!
My 1st Ski-O race other than a local one in Colorado I tried a few years ago on classic skis. Never been so cold and so hot at the same time in my life! :D Temp was -15F and occasional wind. First time using a map holder and doing the air SI punch etc so it was a lot of figuring things out. But apparently the thing I really need to figure out is this skate skiing thing. Took 1 lesson a couple year ago but still not getting the feel for it. Can skate super easy on downhill skis but whatever I'm doing on these skate skis isn't working so I was moving pretty slow except the downhill portions. But given the extreme cold and my newness to this format of orienteering my main goal was simply to finish and survive and I did! I also had had contend with my fingers starting to get frostbite as I felt it setting in. It was so bad on my way to #1 that I almost had to turn back. I packed hand warmers just in case and had already opened them before starting so after fumbling around with getting those into my gloves and getting fingers warmed back up I was able to continue and finish. Had to one hand pole and no hand pole for a while to get my fingers warm again. In the morning practice I had no problems so I'm guessing the wind is what did it. Really enjoyed trying this out and definitely a heck of a good workout. The orienteering skill is super basic since it's all trails so my initial impression is it's more of a cross country ski race than a navigation race but I also saw how one wrong turn can really mess you up big time and of course this was just a sprint. I was pretty spent and feel like I was wasting s lot of energy not skate skiing properly so hopefully after watching so videos tonight I can improve my skate technique a little tomorrow to limit how much time and energy I'm expending. Family and I enjoyed checking out the Lake Placid Olympics Museum and seeing some figuring skating in the 1932 rink and hockey in the 1980 rink where USA defeated USSR and Finland for a gold medal. Had to move hotels because the one we were staying at didn't have adequate heat or hot water!
Thursday Feb 2, 2023 #
Legs and/or sprints (Downhill skiing) 3:00:00 [2]
Whiteface, Lake Placid, NY
Note
Empire State Winter Games / US Ski Orienteering Champs - Day 1: Drove through Canada, kids' 1st time in Canada. Nice visit at Canada's National Air Force museum on the way. Today my son Gavin and I were the only 2 ski orienteers in the opening ceremony athletes march. Hoping this isn't indicative of the actual showing! We were one of the only sports that didn't have at least a sizeable group of athletes... and wow the figure skaters and hockey had tons!! Gavin was excited to have the honor to carry the Ski-O logo sign for the ceremony. It was a nice warm mid-20s evening, about 40 degrees warmer than it will be tomorrow! Volunteers that checked us in were very interested in hearing about Ski-O and orienteering itself. We downhill skiid Whiteface today and the weather was perfect! Quiet before the storm. Wife and kids will have to bail tomorrow due to the extreme cold but I will still give it a try. This will be my first Ski-O Champs and only my 2nd Ski-O attempt ever, and my son's 1st attempt. As I type the winds are just now really staying to pick up and get strong and the temperature is starting to plummet. Good luck to all who will take on tomorrow's newest Ski-O format: a biathlon of Ski-O and winter survival!!