Lots of great stuff going on. This blog entry may not be the most eloquent ever, but a quick update.
-first skimo race was Dec 2 at Canada Olympic Park. Went good for me. Came in 2nd in the solo division. Hard fought battle, but mostly went hard, maybe not all out, but still race mode. Felt like my transitions were good. I think my de-skinning were around 10 secs. Maybe I pushed the rules a bit as I’d quickly rip the skins and while descending wrestle them into my suit. Was able to lap a tired Andrew (hanging Christmas lights all day) and make about ½ lap on Peter. Didn’t get "chicked" by Mel, but she’ll be strong as usual this year. I won a really nice MEC jacket. Cool. Oh, Reiner lapped me 2x. He’s amazing. Top skier in N. America.
-Immediately after this tough 3 hour race we had a 4 day training camp at the Asulkan glacier at Roger’s pass. A nice 3 hour ski in with pack followed by days of endless powder skiing. Due to the wind and constant snow all the turns were a treed run below the hut. It was a 300m vert run we’d do 5-8 times each day. The second day I cried "uncle" after only 5 laps as I hadn’t really recovered from the race and ski in.
-yesterday (Dec. 16) did a nice time trial up Sunshine ski area. It’s 14km with 1000m vert. I did it in 1:29:22. I would have gone faster, but the upper bowl was really windblown in. For a bit I tried bootpacking, but was just post-holing. I used my race gear as this was a prep for the vert race at worlds. I need to do more of these to prepare, but maybe not as long.
-This weekend doing an xc race at the nordic centre. It’ll be a 3x1 km sprint. I’ll need to get a long one in somehow, probably Sunday. Time’s counting down to Worlds in mid Feb.
Tuesday, December 18, 2012
Thursday, November 29, 2012
Ramp Up Time
The countdown has begun. My first skimo race is in 2 days. After months of training and 4 months with no significant races I can’t help but be just a tad anxious about my fitness and race readiness. Yet I do know that my fitness is good and possibly the best it’s ever been. It’s at times like these that you’ve got to trust in the plan.
Canada has a tremendous resource in sport physiologist, David Smith. Dr Smith states that one cannot have maximal performance without the long, long workouts. The shorter intense efforts simply bring out the best of your fitness base. Kind of like topping off the tank.
The long ones broaden the base of the pyramid and the hard ones make its pinnacle go higher.
In previous years I did well in the summer months with the long ones. Long days of sunlight coupled with an Ironman goal make the 3 hour runs, and 5 hour rides easy. However as winter approaches, days shorten and family weekend sport commitments increase it gets harder and harder for me to get those lengthy efforts done.
Short, hard interval sessions, while testing your drive, are easier time wise to fit in. Sometimes all it takes is an hour of hammering and you’re done.
Last year it seemed like my performance dived a little at the end of the season. After a great summer of Ironman training (& fastest Ironman for me), my long ones tailed off as winter approached. I had a good season with a couple podiums, but by the end of March I felt like a gear was missing.
So far, my interval intensity training has been steady, strength training still being maintained...I just need to keep at least one 4-5 hour ski per week.
Canada has a tremendous resource in sport physiologist, David Smith. Dr Smith states that one cannot have maximal performance without the long, long workouts. The shorter intense efforts simply bring out the best of your fitness base. Kind of like topping off the tank.
The long ones broaden the base of the pyramid and the hard ones make its pinnacle go higher.
In previous years I did well in the summer months with the long ones. Long days of sunlight coupled with an Ironman goal make the 3 hour runs, and 5 hour rides easy. However as winter approaches, days shorten and family weekend sport commitments increase it gets harder and harder for me to get those lengthy efforts done.
Short, hard interval sessions, while testing your drive, are easier time wise to fit in. Sometimes all it takes is an hour of hammering and you’re done.
Last year it seemed like my performance dived a little at the end of the season. After a great summer of Ironman training (& fastest Ironman for me), my long ones tailed off as winter approached. I had a good season with a couple podiums, but by the end of March I felt like a gear was missing.
So far, my interval intensity training has been steady, strength training still being maintained...I just need to keep at least one 4-5 hour ski per week.
Monday, November 19, 2012
Marcialonga v. Adellamo Ski Raid
I had an interesting experience over the weekend. On Sunday I skied 3 hours with my daughter’s ski club up at Lake Louise on Moraine Lake road. It’s a gradual (sometimes not so gradual) 10km uphill, out and back. They’d received several cm’s of snow overnight and the groomer was just completing his duty when I hit the trail. The skiing was magical. Classic technique with perfect wax... a wonderful time.
After replenishing my bonked body once at home, I settled in for a relaxing afternoon before getting ready for our evening church service. Opening up my computer and dialing in on youtube, I decided to watch one of the classic ski marathons of the world, the Marcialonga in Italy. This is one of the few remaining xc races I’d still kinda like to do. It was really entertaining....mostly. The race is a 70km double pole derby in a pancake flat valley (until the last 2km, when they climb to the top).
Quickly a lead pack formed and it was fun to watch....for about 7 minutes. That’s when nothing but watching double poling got sort of boring. Hard for me to believe, being the ski nut that I am who for most of my life was tv starved of my sport.
But every once in awhile, the helicopter cam would turn away to the spectacular Dolomite mountains. The amazing rugged mountains loaded with snow were quite a site. I imagined myself skiing some of those slopes, which wasn’t that hard to do since I’ve raced skimo twice now in Italy on mountains exactly like those. That’s when I realized a transition had taken place.
I switched youtube channels over to a skimo race (also in Italy) and saw an amazing contrast. The skimo racers were hammering up the mountain using a variety of techniques, even boot packing...even boot packing that was so gnarly they had to be roped in. Then of course came the descent. After ripping off the skins they descended an incredibly steep powder bowl that would have demanded highly advance alpine skiing skills. After repeating this whole process a couple more times they finally reached the valley bottom where a ski skate to the finish awaited them. With all the variety of skiing techniques and challenges it was pretty entertaining to watch.
The Marcialonga was mildly entertaining, but I moved the cursor over to the final 6 minute of the race electing to skip over 3.5 hours of double poling. Even with names like Aukland (2 of them), Northug, Carrera... the drama of the double pole derby couldn’t compare to the skimo action.
I’ve loved my xc ski life. And now my kids are entering the same world at my leading. However, part of me is so glad that I discovered this unique ski mountaineering race sport. Also glad that I live in an environment that I can also introduce my children and their friends to the great skimo sport.
After replenishing my bonked body once at home, I settled in for a relaxing afternoon before getting ready for our evening church service. Opening up my computer and dialing in on youtube, I decided to watch one of the classic ski marathons of the world, the Marcialonga in Italy. This is one of the few remaining xc races I’d still kinda like to do. It was really entertaining....mostly. The race is a 70km double pole derby in a pancake flat valley (until the last 2km, when they climb to the top).
Quickly a lead pack formed and it was fun to watch....for about 7 minutes. That’s when nothing but watching double poling got sort of boring. Hard for me to believe, being the ski nut that I am who for most of my life was tv starved of my sport.
But every once in awhile, the helicopter cam would turn away to the spectacular Dolomite mountains. The amazing rugged mountains loaded with snow were quite a site. I imagined myself skiing some of those slopes, which wasn’t that hard to do since I’ve raced skimo twice now in Italy on mountains exactly like those. That’s when I realized a transition had taken place.
I switched youtube channels over to a skimo race (also in Italy) and saw an amazing contrast. The skimo racers were hammering up the mountain using a variety of techniques, even boot packing...even boot packing that was so gnarly they had to be roped in. Then of course came the descent. After ripping off the skins they descended an incredibly steep powder bowl that would have demanded highly advance alpine skiing skills. After repeating this whole process a couple more times they finally reached the valley bottom where a ski skate to the finish awaited them. With all the variety of skiing techniques and challenges it was pretty entertaining to watch.
The Marcialonga was mildly entertaining, but I moved the cursor over to the final 6 minute of the race electing to skip over 3.5 hours of double poling. Even with names like Aukland (2 of them), Northug, Carrera... the drama of the double pole derby couldn’t compare to the skimo action.
I’ve loved my xc ski life. And now my kids are entering the same world at my leading. However, part of me is so glad that I discovered this unique ski mountaineering race sport. Also glad that I live in an environment that I can also introduce my children and their friends to the great skimo sport.
Tuesday, November 13, 2012
Goodbye BackCountry (magazine)
My 3rd letter to the editor got published this month in BackCountry magazine. As usual, the editor took the liberty to comment on my letter after it. Leaving me looking kinda stupid. I hate it how they always get the last word, it seems so unfair. I'd commented (after making several positive comments on the magazine that would help their advertising for the gear issue) that their reviews were almost all on huge skis that almost no one would truly back country ski on, being quite heavy). I suggested that in the future they tested actually in the backcountry and make testers skin up thus weighing the factor of lightness into the test. They came back with some smarty pants answer that they’d do that when we start having rando races out of bounds (a true back country race).
Well, duh, just because in North America they have the races inbounds doesn’t mean that the sport is really this way. Pretty much every Euro race is held in the back country, with the possible exception of vertical races. American and Canadian races really don’t reflect the true nature of the sport. Euros would laugh hysterically if they saw our small fields with telemark skiers taking part. In one ad for the COSMIC series there was some dufus running at the start carrying a snowboard. Good Grief! What a joke! It’d be like Lance Armstrong not taking drugs!
"BackCountry" mag used to be "Couloir"..... a really classy journal for serious skiers. It profiled real heros of the sport and gave super good instructional tips on bc ski survival and skills. This new mag is becoming increasingly irrelevant to true, hardy, back country skiing. Their gear issue only reviewed gear you’d use for side country and the cover (the cover!)... profiled some fictional brandy swilling, cigar smoking non-skiing moron. I couldn’t imagine anyone appreciating their attempt at humor.
Add to that, I opened the cover looking for Adrew McClain’s column only to find that Biff had replaced him. Biff already had a column on the last page and I’d thought for years they needed to get rid of this self serving, self acclaimed slacker that’s afraid of Christians, conservatives, skimo racers and anyone else that reminded him how pathetic his life is.
I then began to reason that I need to replace my BC subscription with a real ski magazine. Realizing that this would be hard to find in N. America, so I dug out a copy of an Italian mag I picked up a couple years ago at skimo worlds in Italy. "SkiAlper" turns out is way more informative, instructional and motivational to me even if I can’t read a word of it. They had a great pictoral-instruction section on kick turns, several pictures of classic skimo races and racer profiles. They profiled a couple old skiing legends with pictures of their past and now present skiing. The magazine profiled a jr. skimo race club and thoroughly reviewed a new ski brand called "Lighter Ski". There was so much more too.... a review of ski boots Evo v. Alien, great places to tour in Italy and Europe, etc.,etc. There’s no way BackCountry, or probably any other N. American mag will give any coverage to skimo racing or true back country skiing. In it’s day Couloir was pretty good, but things have really degenerated. Unfortunately, magazines like BC have a pretty big influence on the sport. Hopefully, BC mag has just lost it’s way and really doesn’t represent the state of true back country skiing in the USA & Canada.
Well, duh, just because in North America they have the races inbounds doesn’t mean that the sport is really this way. Pretty much every Euro race is held in the back country, with the possible exception of vertical races. American and Canadian races really don’t reflect the true nature of the sport. Euros would laugh hysterically if they saw our small fields with telemark skiers taking part. In one ad for the COSMIC series there was some dufus running at the start carrying a snowboard. Good Grief! What a joke! It’d be like Lance Armstrong not taking drugs!
"BackCountry" mag used to be "Couloir"..... a really classy journal for serious skiers. It profiled real heros of the sport and gave super good instructional tips on bc ski survival and skills. This new mag is becoming increasingly irrelevant to true, hardy, back country skiing. Their gear issue only reviewed gear you’d use for side country and the cover (the cover!)... profiled some fictional brandy swilling, cigar smoking non-skiing moron. I couldn’t imagine anyone appreciating their attempt at humor.
Add to that, I opened the cover looking for Adrew McClain’s column only to find that Biff had replaced him. Biff already had a column on the last page and I’d thought for years they needed to get rid of this self serving, self acclaimed slacker that’s afraid of Christians, conservatives, skimo racers and anyone else that reminded him how pathetic his life is.
I then began to reason that I need to replace my BC subscription with a real ski magazine. Realizing that this would be hard to find in N. America, so I dug out a copy of an Italian mag I picked up a couple years ago at skimo worlds in Italy. "SkiAlper" turns out is way more informative, instructional and motivational to me even if I can’t read a word of it. They had a great pictoral-instruction section on kick turns, several pictures of classic skimo races and racer profiles. They profiled a couple old skiing legends with pictures of their past and now present skiing. The magazine profiled a jr. skimo race club and thoroughly reviewed a new ski brand called "Lighter Ski". There was so much more too.... a review of ski boots Evo v. Alien, great places to tour in Italy and Europe, etc.,etc. There’s no way BackCountry, or probably any other N. American mag will give any coverage to skimo racing or true back country skiing. In it’s day Couloir was pretty good, but things have really degenerated. Unfortunately, magazines like BC have a pretty big influence on the sport. Hopefully, BC mag has just lost it’s way and really doesn’t represent the state of true back country skiing in the USA & Canada.
Sunday, October 28, 2012
6 DAYS ON SNOW IN OCTOBER
Seemingly eons ago, when I lived in MN, a good winter was measured by if we were skiing by Christmas. Here in Canmore a good winter is when we’re skiing by Halloween! This last week I was on snow 6 days. 3 on Frozen Thunder, a 2km loop utilizing stored snow from last season. The Nordic Centre puts all the guns on a massive dug out hole, then they bring a semi load of sawdust to cover it. They lose about 25-30% of the snow over the summer, but when they bust it out in October it’s enough for some decent skiing. National level skiers from across Canada and as far away as Vermont in the USA have descended upon our "training-central town".
In addition to my 3 days on the Thunder, I stopped 2x at Nakiska ski area on my way home from working in Calgary. They’re making snow like gangbusters, but I stayed off the runs anyway, electing to skimo ski up the access road (where my ski patrol friend told me to go). It’s mostly pretty low angle, but it’s a nice long sustained climb. Day 1 I did my 20x:30 intervals (w/ :30 rest); day 2 was 2 x 20 minutes at zone 4. Both excellent gut buster workouts.
When I look at the peaks around my house being so covered in snow it’s hard to believe I took my new MN friends to the top of one of the tallest (Grotto) just 1.5 weeks ago. Summer’s over and our (now) typical 7 month ski season has commenced.
In addition to my 3 days on the Thunder, I stopped 2x at Nakiska ski area on my way home from working in Calgary. They’re making snow like gangbusters, but I stayed off the runs anyway, electing to skimo ski up the access road (where my ski patrol friend told me to go). It’s mostly pretty low angle, but it’s a nice long sustained climb. Day 1 I did my 20x:30 intervals (w/ :30 rest); day 2 was 2 x 20 minutes at zone 4. Both excellent gut buster workouts.
Finally, today I skied three and a half hours at Lake Louise’s Moraine Lk road. It’s a 10km uphill out and back, great for classic nordic skiing especially. Since it’s a road, they don’t need a tonne of snow. When they get a foot of snow, it’s usually enough to at least roll the trail. Waxing was tough with near 100% humidity and new snow around freezing. My Atomic Multi-Grade waxless skis did the trick.
When I look at the peaks around my house being so covered in snow it’s hard to believe I took my new MN friends to the top of one of the tallest (Grotto) just 1.5 weeks ago. Summer’s over and our (now) typical 7 month ski season has commenced.
Wednesday, October 17, 2012
Some thoughts on Climbing Skins
As an ex-xc ski racer I'm always trying to find a faster skin combination for my skimo skis. I've got about a dozen pair of racing skins. I delight in the fact that unlike ski wax where once you put it on the ski it’s gone for good, skins, though initially expensive, only get faster with each repeated use. Among my collection are several SkiTrab/coltex skins, Amplatz blondies, Pomoca race mohair (race width and full coverage). This summer I purchased 2 new sets. First- Coltex specials (teammate Reiner swears by them for cold weather). I bought the carving ones as they were the only ones I could find. I may keep them "wall to wall" up front, then cut them off just behind the heel. My Pomoca "wall to wall-tip to tail’s" have been awesome. In N. America so many of our races are on steep climbing dh ski areas, where you really aren’t gliding, so you go with the big grip and relax. The other pair I purchased was the new Coltex racing skins. I think they’re the purple-PDG model (named for the race). They claim 20% weight reduction and faster glide....we’ll see.
Yesterday I was talking to my old Atomic rep (I was sponsored back in the day), and he was explaining their new waxless ski. They’ve gone back to 70's technology and put a mohair insert onto an xc race ski. He says that skin company Kohla developed a teflon coated skin hair that is impervious to water. I’ve tried doing some websearch, but haven’t come up with much. It could be a pretty cool (and fast) development though for us in the skimo world.
Yesterday I was talking to my old Atomic rep (I was sponsored back in the day), and he was explaining their new waxless ski. They’ve gone back to 70's technology and put a mohair insert onto an xc race ski. He says that skin company Kohla developed a teflon coated skin hair that is impervious to water. I’ve tried doing some websearch, but haven’t come up with much. It could be a pretty cool (and fast) development though for us in the skimo world.
Pre-Competition Training Phase
I’m now entering into the pre-competition phase of training. This means less hours (slightly), but more intensity. I’m now doing 2 hard quality workouts each week. I stumbled onto French physiologist, Monique Billatt’s research. She came up w/ an interval protocol that increased VO2 max by 6-8% and running time improvement also at the 6-8% level. Her recommendations have found their way into the track running world and cycling world (& maybe now skimo!).
Her workout (for 8 weeks to bring improvement, then continuing) consists of ~20 x :30 sec effort at a 1 mile race pace. Each interval has only :30 sec rest between. Do this for as many as you can before your performance significantly drops...typically around 20.
I find that the first few intervals aren’t that hard, but it doesn’t take long until that :30 rest seems waaaay too short. When I go, I monitor my heart rate. I also count out loud so the quality interval isn’t interrupted in any way by constantly checking the watch.
I also perform them on a long uphill. I was going to Nakiska ski area and running up the access road, but then discovered a great trail at the Canmore Nordic Centre. I go up the World Cup ski trails, then a trail up the ridge leading to Rundle mountain. The further you go up, the steeper it gets.
Last night the last few steps on interval #20 brought me to total exhaustion. I think my last step was the last possible one I could have done. Lactic acid piled up and there was no strength at all in my legs to take me another step further. It might have helped that I did leg strength that morning.
Small victory there too as I accomplished my goal for squats (I do ½ squats). My body weight (150) x 50 x3. There were a couple pauses in there to achieve the goal, but w/ continued work I think I can do the 50 straight. It really feels like a downhill ski run as lactic acid and fatigue really build up. I imagine myself going down a mogul filled skimo race course and try to push through the pain.
Oh, by the way, they’ve fired up the Frozen Thunder ski track at the nordic centre. 2km loop of summer stored snow. It’s been great to be sliding again. I’ve been skiing there on my easy days. Won’t be long ‘til winter is here in full force. I’m ready.
Her workout (for 8 weeks to bring improvement, then continuing) consists of ~20 x :30 sec effort at a 1 mile race pace. Each interval has only :30 sec rest between. Do this for as many as you can before your performance significantly drops...typically around 20.
I find that the first few intervals aren’t that hard, but it doesn’t take long until that :30 rest seems waaaay too short. When I go, I monitor my heart rate. I also count out loud so the quality interval isn’t interrupted in any way by constantly checking the watch.
I also perform them on a long uphill. I was going to Nakiska ski area and running up the access road, but then discovered a great trail at the Canmore Nordic Centre. I go up the World Cup ski trails, then a trail up the ridge leading to Rundle mountain. The further you go up, the steeper it gets.
Last night the last few steps on interval #20 brought me to total exhaustion. I think my last step was the last possible one I could have done. Lactic acid piled up and there was no strength at all in my legs to take me another step further. It might have helped that I did leg strength that morning.
Small victory there too as I accomplished my goal for squats (I do ½ squats). My body weight (150) x 50 x3. There were a couple pauses in there to achieve the goal, but w/ continued work I think I can do the 50 straight. It really feels like a downhill ski run as lactic acid and fatigue really build up. I imagine myself going down a mogul filled skimo race course and try to push through the pain.
Oh, by the way, they’ve fired up the Frozen Thunder ski track at the nordic centre. 2km loop of summer stored snow. It’s been great to be sliding again. I’ve been skiing there on my easy days. Won’t be long ‘til winter is here in full force. I’m ready.
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