Training Log Archive: Ari-o

Quick jog with Roscoe and the dog. Combination of Birkie and beers meant I wasn't going fast. Also there is 30m of elevation differential just getting down to Mississippi River Blvd, Saint Paul isn't that flat. Not Chicago! 45 and sunny. Beautiful.

Skiing around a bit. Found Jakob. Missed the women's start. Did not go and ski the World Cup trails. I would like to some time.

Wow. The Birkie did not disappoint.

I spent the past few days telling anyone who would listen—and given that multiple people commented on The Podcast during the race, this is a non-zero number—that the trail was in great shape, and not to worry about the temperatures, the snow was very cold and 35˚ was not going to warm it up. I wasn't wrong.

Easy ride up, grabbed my skis, and got into the back of the Elite Wave. The skis were quite fast at the start, and I was able to push up into the middle of the back of the Elite Wave. Jakob went off somewhere else and apparently skied fast, finishing 42nd or some such. I stayed relaxed through the hills, and kept my poles intact. Lots of broken poles today, it seemed, including one right in front of me. Tuesday Night Worlds are a good way to learn how to keep your poles near you.

At about 8k, my pole strap disintegrated across my right palm, so for the rest of the race, my right pole was attached just over the back of my hand. I don't think it affected really anything, but was kind of annoying. Heck, maybe I lost several minutes (unlikely).

I wound up near the front of a big group around Fire Tower Hill and skied near the front for a long while. Led across OO, and the snow, which was fast to this point, got faster. There were three miles I logged >5m pace, one <4. The rest were all in the 4:00 range. Which is fast, it turns out. Lots of hills at or close to 30 mph, with other people around. No one fell, but it wouldn't have been fun in the second half of the race, which was fast and in places almost icy. But I bet the course held up well for later skiers.

I led this group to the old 29k hill (now 23k to go hill) and decided to try an attack. Which I did, and no one came with me, so I put maybe 10m on the group and burned a bunch of matches and there was no way I was going to solo off the front. Everyone seemed content to pack ski. I guess I was, too, since I felt pretty good and was assuming that 150th was in the group, not 200th (and I was right, it turns out).

Took a caffeine gel at Mosquito Brook and choked it down (I'd had another before the start) and got ready for the late hills which are hard. And I didn't quite have enough gas in the tank. I'd been in solid L3 the whole way other than long downhills, peaking into L4 on some of the steeper climbs, and didn't have a late attack, but was happy I kept the HR up (the HRM is behaving better, but still lots of weird spikes, and didn't deal with climbs well).

So the group finally broke up on the hills, and while we had dropped people off the back, I mostly wound up at the back of the group by the time we were climbing the new hill to Highway 77. I was pretty gassed, but managed to keep it together up the hill past Highway 77 and down onto the lake. The lake was great, warm and fast and sunny, and I stayed with a couple of guys, one of whom I passed up the bridge. Then Main Street, sprinting to catch another guy and losing to him by 0.3s (but they gave everyone in the Elite Wave a gun time, which is kind of annoying, not that it would have mattered, since my sprint put me 0.8s in front of a Wave 2er, although since I started pretty far back I might have actually been on course for less time than the guy in front of me.

Anyway, 162nd, two places better than last year, three off my PR. Had I stayed with the front pack I was leading I would have been 140th or so. Something to strive for. 200th was another two minutes back. Strava says I spent the entire race within 20s of two other skiers, that's kind of cool. But a lot of people put 1-2m on me in the last 5k. Whoops.

Then, what a pleasure of a day in Hayward. My fingers worked. I wasn't freezing cold. I had a leisurely walk to the changing tent, and then didn't have to shiver myself warm for 10 minutes. Dry clothes, and then all sorts of walking around Hayward and definitely some drinking of the beer. Oh and a bloody mary, a brat, some aquavit from the Norwegians on the lake. The podcast started kind of slow but by the end I had 2:30 of content and will have to edit a lot. Which, thanks to not being in grad school, might happen before September.

All in all, a good Birkie.

C • Broken poles 5

Went to volunteer for the Kortie, but they actually wound up with enough volunteers after they put a call out, so I interviewed volunteers which actually made for a really good podcast. Watched the starts, then grabbed my skis and skied around for a bit. Fell once crossing a plow row, whoops. But nice skiing. Course will be fast tomorrow, but not as fast as it would have been before the new snow, although the second half may transform well today. It was 30 but skiing like 10 because the snow pack is cold.

Then I spied a narrow trail! They have a fat bike trail which is groomed 1.2m wide and felt like a perfect ski-o trail. One of these years (maybe next year!) BirkieGuide.com should sponsor a ski orienteering event on Sunday at the on-snow demo day. And OO would make a very nice venue, with some narrow trails pre-cut (it would only take a couple cut throughs to make it a nice maze, and there is a wide trail network it intersects, too).

I have ideas and might be out here for a few days in September …

Easy trip BOS-MSP.

Met Lincoln and Jess and Kathryn (first time Korte skier from Wisconsin originally) at the airport. And other people I knew on the flight! Recorded a podcast of people on the plane going to the Birkie, and edited it while airborne.

I moved my seat one row forward to sit next to a couple of Birkie-bound friends. My original seat was taken by another Birkie skier. Also in that row: a November Project friend (not skiing the Birkie). The row behind, another Birkie skier. Across the aisle from me: another, very fast, Birkie skier (Ida).

Chatted with Ida for a while, edited my podcast, landed. Convinced Lincoln, Jess and Kathryn to stop by Timberland, and its trails were great. Greater yet: the heated changing area. Good easy ski to stretch out the legs, then expo, then pizza, then sleep. Without a thesis or research, this actually feels like vacation.

Kind of fun to ski these trails. Reactions from the car: "wait these trails are free? And they have a Pisten Bully?" We dropped some bills in the donation tube. Also, this would make an excellent ski-O venue.

Needed gels. Ran to REI. Could have taken the bus (still had a valid transfer) but realized this after the bus passed. 3 easy miles on Birkie week.

Tactical strike out to Weston this morning. I have an evening event which I was volunteered for (someone asked if I was available on this day, and made no mention that it was in the evening when I stupidly said yes) so I have an excuse to skip a rainy Weston, which makes me a bit less bitter. So out to Weston in the morning, which isn't too bad since it's school vacation week.

A little traffic out, then 45 minutes, with 4 4ish minute pickups around the loop. hard to go hard, because in places they'd made snow a little too long and it had bad pole plants and I didn't want to break a Triac and then in places it was super, duper, slow. Like, barely moving V1 slow. They had groomed, sort of, but there were guys working on something electrical, so near there the grooming was terrible. With a bit of snow and then rain coming today, tonight might be a mess.

Birkie, however, looks terrific. An inch or two of new snow to till into the base. I'm excited.

Then I got in the car, drove home, not too much traffic, and checked my calendar, and I had a meeting at 10. Fuck. Exceptionally quick shower, ate a bialy on the run to the train (nearly choked) and was about 5 minutes late.

C • morning 4

Here's what not being in grad school and falling and busting your face will do:

Feb 1-17, 2020:

21h of training, 5459m climb, 123 mi ski, 45 mi run.

Feb 1-28, 2019:

19h of training, 4490m climb, 136 mi ski, 22 mi run.

I'll add at absolute very least 31 miles to the ski total for this month. #BirkieFever

Up to Dublin with my parents. I suggested Green's or Oak Hill, they countered with Windblown, I said eff Windblown and we compromised with Dublin. Which is always a good decision.

Conditions were superb. Well-packed, fast except in a few sunny areas, full coverage. Also I forgot my poles. Which might be good for my hands, but was pretty dumb, but it was superhero skiing so pretty fast even no poles.

I told my parents they could probably ski down to the store and I would meet them there, but I'd check that it was groomed, so I set to cross the road and do so. Whee down the hill, and yup, ski to the store. Then back, also with no poles. Saw some Harvard skiers out enjoying the day. With poles.

Then back up, and then up the road to the view point, and down, and around the race course and the top bits and down, and then around the race course again. Caught one edge on one of the fun downhill turns and sort of slid down and skidded for a bit; like a speedskater crashing.

And these are basically the upcoming Birkie conditions and I am very okay with this!