race (skating) 1:31:58 [4] 29.0 km (3:10 / km)
slept:5.0 shoes: Skate Boots
Today I was Sudden and skied the 29km Keski Skate race. Placed 6th in my cat, 30 overall, which I'm happy with starting from the C wave. Why Hans was placed in the D wave to start with, I have no idea. Next time he enters it, I'll tell him to put his parents Swedish address as they give Euros better seeding than guys from Hamilton.
See my note yesterday about my day of prep for this.
Temperature was about -17 but warming quickly and was pretty nice skiing, I went with my Zebra suit and 3 layers of clothing under it. I need a better race suit if I remain in Canada, although it might be good enough for Vancouver conditions.
I lead the C/D wave people for most of the start, 5 minutes back of the A/B start. Problems started exactly where I thought it would, on trail 15 where things turned into a big time conga line. It's one thing to pass a couple slow skaters, it's impossible to pass 10 at a time and it's too bad I got caught way back. After the end of 15 we were back on the parkways, past Pink and up to the trail 5 to MacKenzie King estate trail. In this section it was just 2 of us, only saw one other guy the entire trail. It was very very abrasive and tough. Probably my weakess section of the race as my quads started to cramp from too much offset on trail 15.
Back on the Parkway and headed for home. Last uphill on the parkway, past the field I always suffer, but at least this year, no Mont Bleu and Lampi to die infront of.
Placed 30 overall, might have medalled if not for the trains. My wax was totally gone by the end, I only had one layer of CH4, I needed 2-3, plus CH3 powder on top to toughen it up.
But, thanks to Hans for letting me race the Keski.
warm up/down (skating) 20:00 [1]
shoes: Skate Boots
Warming up before Keski, it was chilly and very very hard packed. Feel a bit over my head as it's my first race of the year. Only one layer of CH4 and it's mega abrasive out there. Decided to go with Ad-Rock's poles rather than my Swix's because of concerns over the strap.