Training Log Archive: Relentless

Day 2 of the Canadian Ski Marathon. Morning was cold and difficult as usual, except this time it was even earlier than usual. Because Gold Camp is situated about 2km before the start line for Day 2, the organizers allowed us to leave at 5:00am (instead of the usual 5:30am) to allow us to get ahead of the Silver and Bronze skiers before they get on the trail. So that meant getting up at 3:30am. Fire was completely out, with only a few embers. We managed to get it going after a little while and finally got some warmth. Re-packing everything went fairly smoothly and we managed to get off right at 5:00am. Decided to ski with HubNukin' today and I was looking forward to having someone to ski with the whole day. And it was a very good thing too, as I felt like complete crap most of the day. Still not sure exactly why, but I would gander it was a combination of not having the right foods with me (stupid mistake!), being sick for the last week or so, and having a pretty stressful couple weeks leading up to the event. Oh yeah, and only classic skiing a handful of times before the CSM too! The trail was in great shape but EXTREMELY SLOW for glide due to the very cold temps. I told HubNukin' it felt like I was driving with the parking break on. But it was tough to complain with all of the fresh snow and such great trails/track setting. HubNikin' took off from the start like a bullet. We started near the back of the Gold skiers and quickly passed many of them. I finally asked HubNukin' if he was going so fast because he was a) cold, b) trying to get ahead of the pack, or c) just feeling really good. Apparently it was combination of a and c. So I hung on for a while longer until we finally settled into a steady pace. Conditions were slow most of the day, and so was I. Struggled through the first 3 sections and then finally started to feel a little better on section 4. Took about a 30 min rest before starting section 5 and HubNukin' and I left the CP at about the 1 minute cutoff time warning. The last section was a relatively easy 13km with one big hill in the middle and no cutoffs to worry about anymore, so it was a nice way to finish the weekend. As is the case every time I do this event, it was surprisingly more difficult than I remember - even with the good conditions. But it is certainly one of my favourite winter events and I'm always glad to have the chance to do it. And it's always great to see some familiar faces on the trail each day and to meet some new people.

C • Every time 7

Day 1 of the Canadian Ski Marathon. Conditions were excellent with the new snow Friday night and the grooming overnight. Felt good pretty much the whole day. Decided to take a 30 min break at the last CP to re-fuel and rest for a bit. Found a good spot at Gold Camp and was joined by a few of the CSM usual suspects. Camp was pretty decent once we got a good fire going (the wood was very damp!). Temps got down to about -23C overnight. I hopped into my 2 sleeping bags (as I don't own one that works in such cold weather) wearing all of the clothing I was wearing around the fire. Sealed myself in tight for the night and then about an hour later I began to boil. It was a mad scramble to untuck, unzip, remove a bunch of layers of clothing to cool myself down. Barely slept, but that's not unusual for me. Spent some quality time stargazing throughout various points in the night.