Training Log Archive: O Steve!

easy run/hike on the treadmill at Snap....ski racing at Sleeping Giant Saturday.....saving it....

tread mill at hotel....a few bouts of faster running....

Some Birkie odd and ends...:

-For all you performance minded Birkie skiers the best indicator of performance at the Birkie is overall % placement in the field. For the Birkie that is the best measurement for how you did. The overall quality fo the field had been consistent the last few years since the Classic Birkie now has settled in with consistent numbers.

-I am with JJ...soft conditions favor the small skier who can glide on top of soft stuff...fast glider consitions favors the big and powerful...

-I cant believe Swix made the call for a medium to firm camber ski saying the track would be firm. Who are they kidding? Maybe for the elite wave. I think Fast Wax was correct calling fo a soft camber ski.

-On the other hand I am guessing that Fast Wax call for a HF Green (that JJ and I used) was just a bit to cold...it wasnt bad but it wasnt great for glide.....HF 6 from Swix which is just a bit warmer might have been the better choice fo glide

-After 23 years of skiing at the Birkie I think its funny that the Birkie track is rarely like the firm track you ski on in training. After working my way from the last wave to Wave 2 in my Birkie years I am more convinced that from wave 2 on back most would be better off on a soft ski at the Birkie. especially on the soft uphills. VERY rarely has the track help up (I do remember about 2-3 years out of 20) for the wave 2 and back skier. But its rare. The elites wimming time turned out to be only 5 minute slower than last year but they ski on a different course. the rest of the field took the brunt of the soft conditions...

-As much as people hate having to ski through others from a back wave, its not near as crowded on the Bikie skate as it use to be. Why? People dont realize the rise of the Classic Birkie has aided the Skate course participants significantly. The Birkie Skate use to have about 4,500 finishers when I did it in the 90's and now it has about 3,800 or so because the Classic birkie went from a handful to 1,700 participants this year (convertingt some skaters over to classic). So if you feel like the lines on the powerlines are tough just know it used to be worse...



-Ned Zueloff, the out going RD, has been the best this race has ever seen. With an eye to the average skier he improved the race and participation numbers significantly. His major contribution, among others, was to establish the Birkie classic trail and grow the Classic Birkie from a red headed step child after thought to a majore event in its own right. Thereby bringing back/enhancing classic skiing in the region. As mentioned before this had a MAJOR impact on race day congestions.

-Who should take his place? Jerritt Johnston would be my first pick. Should we start a write in campaign?

C • Hear, hear 6

Treadmill at Hotel....alternated, 5 minutes of 12 min/mile with 5 minutes of 10 min/mile x 5....with 10 minute incline cool down walk....even with these mild paces and cool down walk I averaged 134 HR for the workout...pretty high for such a slow pace but that is where I am at right now....

I have one more ski race this weekend and then I am going to work hard on my 5k run speed....this workout is the first step.....its going to take alot of speed work to develop my pitiful run speed to mediocre but I am ready to ramp it up for the summer triathlon season...

on the plus side I don't have any injuries or pains to hold my running back and as long as I am thoughtful I can ramp it up carefully...

With Gma avialable, Kari and I skied the classic only loop at Brule After hours for a nice post Birkie ski.....we just beat major sticky snow in the warming temps, I had to stop once and scrape off my kick zone....

also did some unlogged old school roller skating at the rink in Superior as Syd spent her firs time on roller skates with her Cousin...

Event: American Birkebeiner
 

Kortie Classic....quick summary: not great... not bad. was hoping to be 4 or 5 minutes quicker. I have had enough years at the Kortie/Birkie to get a good sense of how I am doing by the flow of people around me and I could tell that I was having to work hard to gain an average result. Skiing out of Wave 2, I was really suprised how soft and broken down the course was already...the uphills on the shared Birkie trails were already herringboned out by Wave 1 and it got better once on the Kortie but still had sections that were softer than I would have expected.

My kick was good with one layer of toko red thrown at the start line over the Swix VR40 Blue layers as the temps were just a bit warmer than expected and I waxed cold based on Fast Wax recs with HF Green...if I had to do it all over again I would have gone with HF Tan to hopefullly get some really good glide. As it turned out the glide was ok.

I didnt really ski back and forth with anyone either. I hooked up on the back of a 3 person train for about 30 minutes and felt like I was going a bit better with this group but it all broke up at an aid station. felt Ok...not great as I felt I was working a bit to hard on the front half of the course (running abot 169-170) on the HR so I backed it off just a bit to make sure I did not fade at the end....I skied a very even race postions wise from start to finish. Had one really dumb fall when I switched tracks coming into the 2nd aid station on a down hill. I was thinking "this is dumb, I could fall doing this"...and I did....

Technique felt pretty good but the with the loose snow I wasnt able to skate step through the downhill turns with abandon like I like.

Kari skied a 2:15 (5th in age group) and really looked good coming into the finish. I thought to myself, I hope my technique looked as good climbing the last hill and striding the home stretch. First ski race we have actually been in together. She was happy it went as well as it has after limited training and a year with knee surgery on each knee and a major concussion and road rash face due to the mt bike accident.

Finish Time: 2:02:25.0
Overall Place: 193 out of 1042 in Kortelopet Classic.
Gender Overall Place: 127 out of 578 in Kortelopet Classic Men
Age Group Place: 17 out of 101 in Men 55 to 59
Overall Pace: 5:19 per K

C • Nice result 2

wax testing in front of telemark after getting off the bus....

10 " of new snow up at the Birkie before race day?....looks like it could be soft and slow especially for skating.....

C • Yep. 8

Kari and I skied the back at Wirth...race day grooming....and then did the front nine after seeing signs the back was closed....

used my race skis....Kari got her 4th ski in to complete her Kortie prep....

C • Kari ski 2

At Hyland before pickig up Syd....weird conditions....nicely groomed skate lane but tracks were filled with "sand paper" glide windblown snow...great kick!....but terrible glide....looped Hyland to get something done....

after "skiing" with Syd on her maiden voyage on skis (with Kari and G'ma) I decided to do a couple loops of LOI since I was out there already....

Syd seemed to do pretty well and she liked it....

S2B5....ended up with 17 participants of all abilities to make the ski to Uptown.....fun group that probably consumed more schnaaps than past years.....the long cut/short cut courses worked well again and I actually got in some burst of hard skiing that ended up being a good workout while making sure no one got left behind......unstructured intervals with schnaaps in the recovery period....my avg HR for the entire workout was decently high and I hit 170 in some race pace sections and a few of the long cuts or skiing to catch back up....

I must say I was impressed by the "a few times a year" skiers in our group that skied with good technique and moved along well...

my kick was awesome with a blue green combo...would have loved to have that kick for a race....

I think everyone made the Old Chicago portion of event....

C • Thank you 5

Day off of work for a Valentines day ski with Kari...went to Leb and wanted to use my race skis but the 32F temps forced waxless use....trails were in good shape with a skied in track in the new 2 inches over the old grooming ....but the snow was VERY sticky and slow....after a loop we decided to bag it due to the lack of glide and fun factor...we were planning a 2:00 to 2:15 ski.....Kari has skied twice this year and will do Ski to Beer 5 Saturday and compete her race prep for the Kortie....I doubt she will have any trouble....

hit the new Blue Door Pub after our ski...

Ski to Beer 5 Saturday....looks like great grooming and good temps....

Kari convinced me to run long with her to prep for her early spring half marathon....wasnt ready to go this long but got it done.....included 10 minutes of walk warm up and cool down.....over up and around Calhoun and Harriet to back home....

C • Which half are you planning... 2

Lakes to bog loop and back plus LOI....good grooming with tracks this time....

could not get going....tired from the race i guess but got in a recovery workout...

cut off workout early because I could not get going.....

good result at Mora as I cleared my goal of a top half finish by a good margin (finished top 44% of field)....after being sick and some holes in training I was very happy...

Due to low snow the course for the 35K skate was one lap of Knife Lake and then the last 13K on the trail to Mora. The wind was fierce on the lake and the first leg was straight into the wind. I lined up on the far right edge and started soble poling mildly in the track which was a good strategy for staying out of trouble.

The lake track broke down quickly and the promised snow started just as we rolled out and would come down hard the entire race adding to the soft track...The snow was eye stinging at times on the lake with the wind but I dont wear any glasses because they just fog up so I just squinted through it...

As I said before I find it funny that you end up skiing a track in races that is very different from the good conditions most of us train on which requires a bit of creativity. Add in the crowd of skiers and it takes some thinking and strategy as you ski along. I was glad that we started into the wind because that meant you could get some relief by skiing behind a pack. There were portions in the middle of the track where the snow was not totally adhered to the ice and made pole plants difficult (causing me to plant more straight up and down sometimes) and the soft conditions require me to pay attention every second to how I was transferring weight.

Fairly early on I decided to ski a very narrow strip on the edge of the track that was still firm and intact and used a modified marathon skate technique keeping one ski on the firm section and scootering the other into the softer track. This left me exposed to the wind so at times I would move to the middle to ski behind someone for a bit using a hanging V1 to power through the looser stuff returning to the edge after I passed. I continued to move up in the field after the start.

Once we turned on the lake and had the back to the wind it speed increased significantly and I used mainly V2 to ride over uneven track allowing the glide ski to act like a shock absorber. Early on, with the loose track and flat profile, it was evident that you would need to do more finesse glide skiing than full on power skiing. A glance at my HR monitor confirmed that I was running about 3-4 lower than typical but trying to push harder through the deeper snow track would just cause more potential off balance moments. Better to concentrate on balance and floating over the snow.

As we hit the trail my skis seemed to do even better and was V2ing mostly punctuated by V1 on the short hills and skate turns through the turny sections. I concentrated on maintainig momentunm at every second. It felt very fast even though the track was slow but I think that was due to sensation of gliding the deepening snow....

I continued to pass people all the way to the finish and was having a ball as my 21 year old ancient skis seemed to be able to float the deeper stuff and climbed well in the soft snow. I kept up my pac man efforts in the full on snow storm and felt good the entire way as I climbed the last hill and V2ed the home stretch.

ended up 152 of 346 overall (lower attendance this year due to lack of snow and cancelling last year I guess)

I really enjoyed the day and love the Mora course because it is more a a gliders course as opposed to the hill after hill "chop wood" with a V1 course

C • Excellent 1

pre race warm up........

We will likely get some new snow before and during the Vasaloppet tomorrow which should make the track a bit soft...given he fact that I am a mid pack skier and the track can be loose I made a decision to pull out my 20 year old skate skis that have a very soft camber instead of my 2 year old skate race skis...

I have been ski racing for 25 years but I know nothing about ski camber and really what makes a ski fast.......and I guess I should, but I don't...what I do know is hat these ancient skis has served me well and have had good races on them without really knowing why....last Vasaloppet in 2011 I used them after I broke my new skis and skied a great result for me.....so I am putting them back in to service tomorrow.....I cant figure out why they seemed faster....

I decided to take the ancient skis out and ski the lakes and some of the land trails about them to simulate tomorrows race course which is a 50/50 lake, flatter trail course.......they felt good and really seemed to go well in the ungroomed section of the lake next to the groomed trail...so I confirmed that I will wax them up and use them...

I hope to crack the top half of the field tomorrow...always a worthy goal for me...

C • Good luck! 1

Snap

going easy by run/walk on the treadmill...keeping the effort down and prepping to race on Sunday......

C • Good luck. Hope you are he... 1

Snap

skate skied in the new fallen fluff....loose and soft but it skied well....I skied out to the Bog, looped, and back like yesterday but added distance on the lakes over to LOI....I am skate skiing the Vasaloppet and kinda glad it was reduced to a 27K race....I just haven't gotten as much distance in this year so I am fine with this....half will be on the lakes, and half on the trail to the downtown finish....since I am more of a glider, I kinda suck on hills, and have recently been sick I figure this will make the event more doable for me...

feeling decent but dont really have that feeling where I want to "charge!"...hopefully by Sunday I will be feeling even better...

and yes JJ, I am going to count today's outing as a long ski also....it just hasn't been the year for a lot of long skis for most people for various reasons....I'm glad that this Sunday will be my longest race of the year and I am still going to have to watch the pacing....

skied the lakes over to the bog and back with Kari....bummed that they had not bothered to set a track anywhere so we took a few "skied in" tracks and strided the rolled skate lane.....I did not go hard and felt ok....I continue to feel better but not quite 100% yet, but I am coming back quick....

I was on top of my ski training but the sickness and poor early season conditions have gotten in the way...I'm not quite where I want to be.....

I am still planning on skating the now 27K? Vasaloppet course on Sunday despite not really feeling really but I am sure this is the story for many people.......

The antibiotics are kicking in great...I already feel pretty decent...an unexpected fast recovery...

At snap on the bike going easy so I dont cause a set back...

:30/:30

curls
pull ups
Triceps
mil press
poles
single arms

Event: City of Lakes Freestyle Loppet
 

Event: City of Lakes Freestyle Loppet Marathon
 

bummed...the dr called back and said I have walking pneumonia.....and I am dragging....prescribed the z pak antibiotics....need to start them today...

this likely explains why last week ski race was so sub par for me....

now competing at the loppet is looking doubtful....if I thought I could suck it up and do it and get a decent result without causing more problems I might still consider it, but the way I am feeling (running at about 80%) I think the best I could hope for is to do it and get a very sub par result and delaying the process....and I am signed up for the Vasa, Kortie and Sleeping Giant loppet this year........ ....

I have had this before and know what it feels like (a hollow feeling in the chest) so I know it doesnt go away over night.....very bad timing for me in the heart of ski race season.......

C • sorry to hear about the wal... 5

the snow tonight should really help the Loppet classic course.....