“I believe it’s jogging or yogging. It might be a soft j. I’m not sure but apparently you just run for an extended period of time. It’s supposed to be wild”. Thank you, Ron Burgandy.
Today during the skate sprint, I tried something a little bit new. Gus and Cork suggested after the qualifier that since the city sprints I will be doing later this season in Milan, Italy won’t really have a warm-up loop, I should try running for a warmup and cooldown before the heats instead of skiing. Sure, why not? Here’s what I found out: running in ski boots on mushy snow for a couple hours is not as easy as I’d thought. So I had to shorten my pickups and walk a little when my legs felt like they’d had enough. I think that, given the choice, I’d rather ski…however, running does pound your body more, which I think helps to clear my muscles out. Either way, it was an interesting experiment.
- CXC girls representing in Canada (me, Sara, Jennie)…JB photo
As usual, our Salomon boards were lightning fast today (thank you Gus and Cork for waxing)! Results are up on Zone4 and linked HERE. The course was pretty cool but very technical. There weren’t many great places to pass because of the corners, so I wanted to try and get out front in the first 100 meters. This is something the CXC team has been working on all summer, so it’s been good to try it in the heats! I also tried to push hard over the first hill, because I didn’t want to be drafted on the gradual down. It’s no good getting out in front if you’re going to get used.
- Photo from Angus Cockney
I don’t have any super good blood n’ guts race stories from today…but spectating was crazy. It was super funny (for me at least) watching the false starts. The starter had quite pause between “set” and the gun, and you could see people start leaning forward, probably thinking “oh gosh just PULL THE DARN TRIGGER ALREADY”….and then it was too late. There were also a few crashes out there, one of them involving 4 guys on a sharp corner. I really hope they’re all ok, because the part of the crash I could see looked pretty gnarly. And then the volunteers had to rip a chainsaw to life and cut some brush out of the way because apparantly some guys slid into logs that weren’t far enough off the course. Ouch!
- Women’s podium (Gus photo)
Rossland in general has been super fun the last few days. Our first day here we went on an adventure ski! We didn’t actually mean to, but once we’d gotten out on the wrong trails and then realized they were backcountry and snowshoe-packed trails winding up a mountain….well, Jennie and I thought we really had no choice but to stay. Did we ski with good technique? Nope. Did we stay in level 1? Absolutely not. Did we have a great time? You betcha.
- Almost took out the snowman…(JB photo)
We got up in the woods and then realized it’d be a really fast downhill with little room to check speed or snowplow, so we turned it around. As we came out of the woods I nearly had a heart attack as Gus had followed us up, taken off his bright hat and hidden behind some bushes. As I rounded the corner he jumped out. I’m sure you’re not suprised to hear that this happens to me all the time…and I FREAK OUT every single time it does.
- Took him a while to get out of that one… (JB photo)
Turns out Gus and Cork thought a little adventure would be fun, so after dropping Sara and Karl off on the real trails, they came back. We tromped up and down the mountain for a while, and every single one of us face-planted into the powder at least 4 times. It was awesome. Although next time, I probably won’t be on cross-country skis, because if Salomon reads this I may never get another pair ;)
- We got a great view over the mountains! (JB photo)
I’d say the only bad thing that’s happened here…happens every morning. It’s been nearly impossible to get the van out of the driveway – not that we don’t try anyways! It’s actually pretty funny to watch. We usually end up putting on chains so we can go 100 meters, and then taking them back off. Sometime you slip, sometimes you get stuck, and you keep trying anyways. C’est la vie.
Soooo….hopefully tomorrow we’ll be firing on all cylinders! (sorry, bad pun, couldn’t resist. You CHOSE to read this, remember?)
- (photo from Angus Cockney)
The first race of US Nationals in Rumford, Maine is one week away and final race preparations are underway. Fitness was established over the summer and fall and now provides a foundation for racing. Early season races provided a great opportunity to develop race speed, practice pacing, and get use to going hard. Now it is simply a matter of resting up and maintaining enough intensity so race day I feel fresh and snappy. That means this week will have low total volume complimented with short explosive speeds. With racing right up to the week before Christmas this year I was unable to execute a long peaking plan but I think the racing paired with rest and a bit of intensity leading up to Nationals should be perfect.
With no natural snow on the ground in Minnesota Elm Creek has been my best option for training. The loop is only 2.5 k but the conditions are solid and the skiing is really good. By late morning the trails get a bit congested and the snow starts to soften a bit on the hills but it sure beats rollerskiing. In all likelihood conditions will be very similar in Rumford so it is great practice for Nationals.
John Brown 3:04 am on December 29, 2011 Permalink |
Thanks for the help Waylon!