Wednesday Feb 28 |
 | xc skate skiing 34:31 [3] | |
| ahr:146 |
| ,,,skied and pushed a decent pace at French before the big storm.... |
| xc classic skiing 53:53 [3] | |
| ahr:127 |
| ...2nd round of skiing at French.... |
Monday Feb 26 |
| xc skate skiing 54:07 [3] | |
| ahr:137 weight:170.4lbs |
| wow...forgot what good conditions were like...a late night skate ski....fast conditions and my old RCS's were doing very well....skied at 10pm at night without lights but it was bright with overcast skies and all the white snow...French was great.....I will miss it after we move...but the City of Lakes Loppet trail will be the new home course...looks like I will be able to ski it in March in good conditions....I wish we would get this kind of snow in December..... |
Sunday Feb 25 |
| xc classic skiing 1:00:03 [2] | |
| weight:172lbs |
| ...after drving all the way to the Rock Lake trails looking forward to the magical single track ski trails there, we discovered an unplowed lot where I could not risk getting stuck...dang!....drove back to the Fish Hatchery trails in Hayward and enjoyed the 10" of new snow with an easy classic ski with Kari.... |
Saturday Feb 24 |
| xc classic skiing 3:16:20 [3] | |
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| ...since the Birkie turned into an untimed tour, Kari and I decided to take the rare opportunity to Classic ski the shortened Birkie course together on our waxless ski's (she had signed up for trhe shorter Korteloppet) I got a shout out by someone who recognized my 15 year old shortie waxless Revolutions skis....we had a good time and stopped taking pictures along the way....the course wasnt to bad...some places were great but there were 2 downhills were we removed ski's and walked down because they were icy...(someone broke a hip and was being attended to on the trails as we walked by...)....this was Kari's longest ski ever and my longest of the year....booked my 17th Birkie and I decided I am going to have to ski more distance next year to handle it better...that or just race shorter... forgot my HR monitor at home but I estimate a 130 avg effort... |
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| C • So this means 2 |
Thursday Feb 22 |
| Note | |
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| ...now they are saying if we dont get 3" of snow in Hayward that the race will not go off....they have pushed back the start times 2 hours to allow some snow to fall.....oh the drama!.....
Kari and I will be heading up anyway....regardless....if snow falls we will find some trails and ski somewhere......... |
Wednesday Feb 21 |
| Note | |
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| is it wrong that I am now hoping we dont get snow at the Birkie and the course gets shortened?....I might be able to skate a firm 42K.... |
| Note | |
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| 49F in Hayward right now at 12:30pm....amazing....I wonder what this will do to the already tenuous race track.... |
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| C • It's *&%&^%&% Raining 5 |
| Note | |
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| its a 23K Birkie.....now to decide if i will skate or classic... |
| Run 1:05:06 [3] | |
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| just had to get out and run on this sunny afternoon...did a bit more than I wanted to but it was just so nice...took some roads and bike trails on the west side of Medicine Lake...Kari pushed the hills a bit more than I wanted but we probably only averaged 11 minute miles... |
Tuesday Feb 20 |
| Note | |
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| ...well, I signed up for the classic Birkie and given the weather and reports on the south end of the trail I have decided against that....I just dont want to stride another race devoid of tracks....
....after considring my options I had decided to stride the 23K Korteloppet...given my lack of training and racing long this year and with the hope that the North end of the trail would have enough snow for a decent track this looked like a fun alternative....a call to the Birkie office revealed that it was to late to switch to the Korteloppet...
soooooooooooo....I will either switch to the skate Birkie (the website says you can switch technique up until Friday at 8pm) or I will classic stride the Korteloppet unofficially and time myself...
not sure what I am going to do yet and the weather and course may dictate that I may not decide until Friday the day before the race....either way I will sure we will have a good time.....Kari is in for the classic Korte and if temps are a little higher than predicted, and end up around 32F, her waxless RCS racing skis may be a good ski to have....... |
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| C • Birkie Fever 6 |
| Run 44:06 [3] | |
| weight:170.6lbs |
| night run in the neighborhoods with Kari... |
Monday Feb 19 |
| xc classic skiing 47:35 [3] | |
| ahr:120 |
| ...at French on a warm day and the trails are still doing pretty good considering...skied easy.... |
Sunday Feb 18 |
| xc classic skiing 53:08 [3] | |
| ahr:140 |
| ..back at French (where the grooming has been amazing this year given the 12" of snow total we have had)...turned up the speed just a bit...did our fastest tandem lap ever...obviously, Kari gets better on every outing and my HR averaged the highest it has for one of our outings....again she skated a bit and continues to learn..... |
Saturday Feb 17 |
| xc classic skiing 2:46:08 [3] | |
| ahr:132 |
| ...thought about doing the Snowflake 10k Skate race at Baker but opted not to race....went to French with Kari and did 2 loops....Kari threw in a bit of skating strokes on her waxless just to continue to try and learn...after a couple loops of all the trails Kari went in and I did a loop at slightly faster than marathon race pace....learned I am probably woefully undertrained for the Birkie but I doubt I am the only one..... |
Friday Feb 16 |
| xc skate skiing 31:08 [1] | |
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| Teaching Kari how to skate ski...her first attempt...she did very well but was suprised it was more difficult than it looks...after giving some basic instructions and some back and forth skating on a very slight uphill track she said "lets just ski the trails" ...she wore out quickly and had to herringbone the hills but I could tell it would just take a couple more times before she wouls start getting it....it was fun to share this new technique, brought me back to my first attempts at skate skiing 18 years ago when I wanted to learn it because those racers just "looked so cool..." |
| xc classic skiing 38:10 [3] | |
| ahr:110 |
| ...striding at French after the Skate skiing....HR avg is for both sessions... |
Thursday Feb 15 |
| uphill treadmill hike 20:00 [3] | |
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| Run 20:00 [3] | |
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| ..run on the tredmill....just to cold to go out in the morning so I decided to use the treadmill indoors... |
| Run 39:26 [3] | |
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| street run with Kari.... |
Wednesday Feb 14 |
| Note | |
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| ok...we were suppose to go for a run but punted to go see the Movie "Musics and Lyrics" with Hugh Grant and Drew Barrymore...Hugh was at his quippy best and Drew was fun. Yeah, it was a chick flick and I liked it..... |
Tuesday Feb 13 |
| xc classic skiing 55:06 [3] | |
| weight:172.8lbs |
| ...Kari and I skied French....they have done a great job grooming what they have...Kari is marching the learning curve and getting faster each time we go out.....last night we had a few double pole sprints to spice up the workout.....I plan to teach her the basics of skating this weekend.... |
Sunday Feb 11 |
| xc classic skiing race 1:47:55 [4] | |
| ahr:166 |
| ...North End Classic....really enjoyed the race...was able to ski hard and had a few moments where my skiing felt pretty decent...pretty good result....was closer to the middle of the field, 67th with 109 skier.....best result so far this year....they did a good job of laying down some shallow tracks with the limited snow....a good course that had a good balance of all techniques...as I drove home right after my finish I thought that this was a good reminder of why I ski race.... |
Saturday Feb 10 |
| xc classic skiing 1:44:44 [2] | |
| ahr:127 |
| Kari and I went to Elm Creek for a longer ski...thought there would be tracks...I was mistaken...only the manmade loop was tracked....still fun to stride the other trails in the park.... |
Friday Feb 9 |
| Run 32:19 [3] | |
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| ....another quick run around the neighborhood with Kari... |
Thursday Feb 8 |
| xc classic skiing 1:19:56 [3] | |
| ahr:136 |
| ....skied the back 9 at Wirth....went off trail on a few sections to add some adventure.....still debating doing a 30K skate race at Mora on the lake or driving to Cable Wi for the North End Classic 22 K ....I'm leaning towards the North End Classic and racing it hard..... |
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| C • From a Birkie prep 3 |
| Run 31:24 [3] | |
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| .....cold night run in New Hope with Kari...at least I am managing to maintian some run fitness this Winter.... |
Tuesday Feb 6 |
| xc classic skiing 1:21:09 [2] | |
| ahr:119 |
| ...skied at French in the new fallen snow with Kari....slow conditions perfect for classic skiing....the kick uphill was amazing...we also cut some trail on some singletrack ungroomed sections just for fun and a little adventure... |
Monday Feb 5 |
| xc skate skiing 59:22 [3] | |
| ahr:134 weight:172.2lbs |
| ....recovery ski at French...slow snow (or skier) but fantastic grooming....the skate lane was great and the entire course was nicely tracked...conditions should be good all week........ |
Sunday Feb 4 |
| xc classic skiing race 2:10:00 [4] | |
| ahr:164 max:176 |
| City of Lakes Loppet Classic Race....mediocre result. did not crack the top half of the field but it was great to get out and race classic....I commend all the organizers and volunteers that give us a chance to race...on the downside I was disappointed by the lack of tracks....80% of the course lacked tracks so it made it hard to push harder.....I found myself having to concentrate on balance when striding the untracked course instead of pushing....what is confusing to me is it looked like there was enough snow to set a shallow track but it did not look like they attempted to do so...press releases stated that they were going to do this on Saturday morning but I did not see any evidence of this....I dont think my placement would have been any better (everyone had the same conditions) but I think everyone in the field would have been faster...times were very slow for the classic race.....Kari did the 10K tour classic in her first ski event and managed to place in the top half and did very well.....after a shower at the YMCA next to the finish line we celebrated our efforts over a beer and food at Old Chicago before catching the bus back to the start...a great day overall... |
Thursday Feb 1 |
| Run 20:00 [3] | |
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| on the treadmill.....just a quickie..... |
| stair stepper 10:00 [2] | |
| weight:171.2lbs |
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