Training Log Archive: Ari-o

This was a proper adventuring weeklend! Ski marathon, last-minute drive to Quebec, World Cup, 24 and 23 at Mont Ste Anne, lots of driving, lots of fun. Adventure! (Sorry you couldn't come with, Alex; this was Raid-level adventuring.)

Woke up and after some Jess mystery time (she has an excuse: everything takes longer with a broken thumb and a cast on) we went to MSA.

24 was open. 23 wasn't shown as being open but they got another 40cm of snow a few days ago. I really wanted to see what all the fuss was about.

We skied up St Hilaire and then out the 24. The 24 is great. The issue was that it hadn’t been groomed so there were some sun crust mashed potatoes on uphills and icy downhills (the section beyond the powerlines was fresh grooming and wonderful, not sure why they were out grooming during the day and not overnight). But I got to ski the 24 (also, quite the climb up to the top of it, and some stellar views).

Then we go to the 23, which was open. It was going to be tight timing to make the World Cup, but the 23 was open! Jess was lagging a bit because of her arm/hand, so I did the 23 on my own. Also great! Beautiful day, warming up some in the sun. Hills were really sketchy in a couple of places though but I powered through. And by sketchy I mean that I went skittering down an ice luge out of control at one point and still don't know how I stayed up.

Then the connector to 11 wasn’t groomed and I didn't see where it was and skied an extra 3k to get back to the parking lot (and the 23 would come in basically right at the top of the steep hill, it's maybe 7 minutes back and it took me 17 by the Auberge and I'm not bitter at all). Some Ari mystery time. (Still not sure why MSA doesn't groom connectors always and insists on making everything a "loop" tour, this is not how networks work!)

So we went to the World Cup. This was an excellent weekend. Great dinner last night, not too touristy, very French, then a cheap motel near MSA, ski, then a run to see the women’s race. We missed the first lap through but got to cheer All the US women sans Kikkan and Liz (sick) but cheering for Julia Kern (CSU!) and everyone else was great. We were at the top of a biggish hill and some of the women and later men were struggling, but they’re fast and strong. The crowd filled in for the men’s race (Alex Harvey!) and we watched with a US and Australian woman from the race (we got the US woman to take a picture with our flag). Then after the last time through we ran to try to watch the finish; Harvey lost in the sprint, which was too bad because I wanted to see 10,000 Canadians all singing the national anthem.

Then after wandering a while we got to ski the World Cup circuit! No huge climbs, but sneaky-steep climbs. Steep downhill through narrow trees was interesting, and skiing around the Citadel walls was pretty cool. Amazing views of the Saint Lawrence, too. Lots of fun. Let’s bring it to Boston Common. Then a long drive back to Maine.

Train up to Brunswick, up to Sugarloaf with Jess in the morning for the marathon. Went out to warm up and whoops, still wax on my skis from the non-Birkie. But soft, cold skis with a cold wax and it was maybe 10˚ out, so I spent my warm up scraping my skis. Oh well.

Small crowd at Sugarloaf this year, since it sounds like most of the college kids are up in Quebec watching the World Cup (more on that later). Jess, who broke her thumb, was doing the 25k with a pole taped to her hand. Anyway, headed out in the third pack and worked up in to the second pretty quickly as the third was slagging. No HRM (I really should get that battery replaced) and the chase pack pulled back together.

Coming in to the hairpin between the feeds where the race heads back out towards the 10 it wasn't marked, so someone ahead of me was coming back having been yelled back to the course. Helps to have skied this three times, four laps each, I know the course. In to the second lap I wound up on the front of a pack I led for a while which I think included John S from the announcements. That pack stayed together for 1.5 laps although I realized I had not eaten enough the last couple of days (yay, preparation!) and might be headed for a bonk, and couldn't shake the pack. On the hills on the 10, John passed me, and as I attempted to switch sides of V1 I put a pole in front of a ski and a knee in the ground. Someone I thought was Andy (but wasn't) passed too as did the two Colby skiers. We mostly stayed together through the rest of the lap with John a bit out ahead.

At the lap I grabbed a drink (but could have used more; I love this race and it's well run but the kids get a little ADD and abandon their posts as the race goes on, it seems) I stayed just behind John and the other guy (the Colby boys were cooked) and I was in visual range at the top of the hill feed (close to 100m climb from the low point). As I got there I yelled that I wanted a full feed (the optimist would have said the feeds were half-full) and they filled it but it was a little late arriving and I dropped it—all over myself. Oh, well, that was my last chance to get enough energy to catch John which probably wouldn't have happened anyway.

So I avoided a full-scale bonk by taking it pretty easy the rest of the way in.

After the race John said he could barely hang on the first three laps, that I was pushing hard. I didn't feel like I had been, but he manages long races well and goes out slow and negative splits. I should learn that. But felt pretty good. Too bad I didn't get to ski the Birkie.

Cooled down a bit with Hannah and then on my own, just tooling around. Getting a little sticky in full sun but mostly still powder. Definitely warmer though (that saved me during the race). Ate food, won age class award (chocolate! Jess won her race). Then we made a decision: since we were only 50 miles from Canada, let's drive to Canada for the World Cup! Found a $50 motel near MSA, plan to drive to Quebec City, get dinner, stay up near MSA, ski the 24 in the morning, head in to the city for the 11:20 start for the women's race. Grad school. I can even do some work in the car.

Piss poor training week this week. Ankle still has feels, so I haven't wanted to run on snow and ice, and mostly too busy with school work (and poor planning of personal things) to get to the Ski Track.

So I am throwing caution to the wind this weekend and heading up to the Sugarloaf Marathon! And maybe on to Quebec. We'll see.

Quick run at lunchtime. Ankle feeling okay. Not perfect, but okay. Executed a crash barrier jump on the Harvard Bridge to get around a big group of people fine. So that's good. A few icy sections still but mostly okay.

Skiing around some before the race. Weston conditions, some grooming issues, but nice to have snow mid-March. December would have been nice, too.

Race, 2 flat laps classic (DP, of course) 3 skate laps. Went out behind John (I think) and stuck with him for the first lap but my skis were pretty laggy (and my DP, too) and he and a couple others pulled away in the second lap so I was on my own in the wind. One of the Smiths (I think) was gaining on me but I went in to the changeover in 4th. Switched my skis and took my poles off and on as Judge John had told us at the start while Andy flew by (no idea how, not sure he switched his skis) so I went out to catch him. I did and led the second lap through the driving range before he pulled ahead for the third. Since the finish was in to the wind and up a hill, I figured I was fine with him taking that pull. Which he did, and on the flats by the river I slingshotted around him, and a couple people we were lapping, and put 20m on him in to the hill and the finish.

Feels good to go hard!

A couple more laps; cold and having to run home to do a problem set.