End of Season Blues?

Ok....season over. I’ll admit I’m a little bummed out. I think I get this way every year at this time. Always have for the last 30+ years of racing. The bummage mostly comes from not living up to pre-season race expectations and sadness that the excitement of racing is over. Mostly the first one though. Especially this year. This was going to be my last world cup skimo go round I wanted to finally prove to myself that I could perform respectably at that level. However, I didn’t live up to my dreams. I’ve got a blog post on my sportfaith blog that discusses this in detail: www.sportfaith.blogspot.ca

Yesterday I went for a little walk (& prayer) to mull over things. It took all of about 5 minutes to move from disappointment and disheartenment to hopeful expectation to the future. Shouldn’t be surprising if you take the time to read my sportfaith entry on "Dealing with Disappointment". I share how sport (& really all of life) is a challenging game....a puzzle. A chance to break an endeavour down into it’s micro pieces, find a way to improve each one and in the process get faster, and also grow in character. Ultimately, it’s not about results (though if you consistently chip away at each area you’ll certainly end up getting faster).

If you just focus on the end result, you’re fated to be disappointed continually as there’s always someone faster than you (especially for me now as I’m getting older, with new fresh blood coming into the sport....defiantly a good thing for the sport in Canada). The real challenge is improving yourself... making yourself better. If I can isolate areas of growth and measure them against myself, I can have satisfaction.

In my last race of the year, Lake Louise skimo race, there were about 6 national caliber guys. I finished 6^th. Was I disappointed? Nope. My main goal was to make some headway on the downhills. This race especially featured 4 challenging double black diamond downhills. For me, I rocked them. Went faster than any downhill I’ve done in a race so far. Probably slower than most of the guys in front of me, but good for me. For this, I came away from my race satisfied. I felt I skied consistently hard too, with good transitions. Overall a personally solid effort. Just not podium worthy (didn’t even get a door prize!).

The week before, I pre-skied the DogTooth Dash race course with eventual winner Scott Simmons. He really went fast on the downhills. Really, quite unbelievable on the skinny race sticks. There was deep, manky, cut up powder and he just rocketed through it. It was a bit of a revelation for me. I now saw what one has to do to compete at a high level in this sport. Scott told me he only owns 3 pair of skis. All skimo race skis. It’s all he skis on. He mentioned to really get good at skiing all one has to do is ski every day on race sticks exclusively. The conversation made me feel like I need to cull my quiver a bit.

With my XC background and primary weakness being fast downhill skiing, my springtime goal now is to work on this deficiency while I can. No time for emotional let downs, there’s (fun) work to do! Plus, my good friend Mike Norton, has asked me to be a part of his "Ski to Sea" team in May (a huge televised race in Oregon with over 500 teams). One more chance to rock those downhills!

Doggy Tooth Dash

How to tell if you’ve had a good race? That’s a common question in skimo racing where courses, competitors and conditions can vary so much race to race, year to year. My good friend Stano, on his blog, Skintrack, has some good insights. He suggests having a few specific goals within the race to shoot for. At this year’s Dogtooth Dash, I had 3. 1) ski consistently strong (aerobically) 2) solid downhills 3) fast transitions.

For goal #1 I felt I mostly achieved my target. I used a heart rate monitor during the race to gauge my effort. Early on I used the device to control my excitement and not go too hard (I stayed w/ the pack the first climb, but backed off on the second). I observed that I was able to keep it pretty high for the rest of the race. One of my strategies to keep the intensity high was to attend to my nutrition. Going over 2 hours especially mandates a plan. So often in the heat of racing you don’t want to take the seconds to feed, but you’ll always pay for it later....hence a strategy/plan. I’d planned out ahead of time exactly where I’d take my gels (2) and drinks. I stuck to the plan and was glad I did. One more thing.....my last feed was some Red Bull. I could feel it kick in. I’ll definitely do this again!

As for #2, conditions made the downhills especially challenging for me. It had snowed most days last week and with weekend downhill traffic the double black downhills were especially challenging with skied up powder and on one downhill, a cut up sun crust. This weekend, Scott Simmons (USA & race winner) travelled with me. He shared that he only owns 3 pair of skis, all race skis. It’s what he skis on exclusively. He mentioned that one really learns how to ski downhills well when you do all your skiing on our micro sticks. And boy can he rock on the downhills! When I think of where I’ve come in this mini skimo discipline (dh), I have satisfaction, as I’ve definitely improved the last 2 years; however, there’s a lot more ground to make up. But that’s what makes sport so fun... the challenge of applying yourself to improve. I’d say I really didn’t meet my goal for #2.

#3...transitions. Mostly ok. I was skiing with a taped up broken finger. This slowed me down a little as most technical stuff had to be done with just the one hand. Still I did ok. Except for the disaster. While ascending Terminator Peak boot pack the 2^nd time, there were some ultra slow and out of shape hill patrons that were so worn out from their little bootpack that they refused to move over an inch and give me any room. The second person actually bumped into me as I passed them, actually my skis, attached to my pack. It made one of them come off and it slid down the hill and came precipitously close to going over a several 100m drop. I had to duck under a safety rope to retrieve it. If my skins weren’t still on it would have shot over the cliff and my race would be over. I lost about 5 minutes retrieving it. I was so bummed.

I ended up 18-20 minutes off the podium (which I was on last year). I could have done a lot better with solid downhills and no boot pack disaster, but when I compare where I’ve come through the 5 years of Dogtooth Dashes it’s pretty satisfying. I’ve actually really improved a tonne. Kickturns, fitness, transitions...even downhills have come so far.

I have an XC ski friend that was doing his first skimo race. He’s really fit and previously firmly booted me out of my local master’s xc ruling spot years ago. Yet in skimo he’s starting out where I once was. It was fun to recall the excitement of discovering a new, cool sport, yet one that is really hard. The challenge of mastering a new discipline and the frustration of making so many mistakes and having your result come nowhere near what your fitness level would dictate.


The adventure continues!
                                                                                                                    (photo: Malcolm Taylor)

The Magic of the Shirt....Ski Mountaineering World Championships

I have a Nike base layer shirt. It either brings me incredible luck or disaster. I first took notice of this shirt’s magical powers after I wore it while winning the Footstock running marathon in 2006. I’d entered simply for a quality training race leading up to an Ironman Canada berth. Long story short, I ended up winning. In the ensuing years I’ve tried to somehow relive the magic of that special day, yet as far as I recall it hasn’t happened. Apparently, there was only one good race in that Nike shirt’s luck arsenal.

The shirt’s last chance was the Ski Mountaineering World Championships teams race in Pelvoux France. I even told my race partner and roommate, Peter Knight about the shirt’s history. Unfortunately, the black Nike once again didn’t deliver, so never again will I wear it in a race.

The day started out a bit dubious as I barely made it to the race venue. My teammates had been there a full week in advance to fully scope out the course, country and ski treasures. I on the other hand was stuck in Torino, Italy. I’d been in Schladming, Austria to support my good friend Jan Hudec at his world championships-Alpine skiing (a slightly larger affair with over 100,000 spectators and a world wide audience. Jan did his country proud, finishing both his races as the top Canadian, yet was disappointed when he didn’t achieve a podium finish). After stressing out for 12 hours waiting in the Torino airport, I had to go back to my hotel room after the plane my ride FINALLY got on, had a mechanical-cancelling the long awaited flight. Incredible bad luck all around. Fortunately, the next day, he did arrive so we could make the short 2 hour drive to our remote ski venue.

Reaching the destination the next afternoon I skipped the opening ceremonies to get a short ski in on the course just hours before I had to start the race which I’d been labouriously preparing for the past several months.

It was a tough course with the first climb sending us roughly 1600 vertical metres upward (4000+ ft.). Being a world championship I didn’t hold back. I had a heart rate monitor on and was trying to race steadily, but it’s hard to hold back, especially when it doesn’t seem that hard. However, about halfway into the climb my engine started crashing. I don’t know if it was the pace, the stress of the last couple of days, the diet that wasn’t super good in the week leading up to the race or the aura of that black Nike shirt, but in any case, my day was done. Unfortunately, we still had a lot of real estate to cover before the finish.

I still owe my race partner a steak dinner. He pulled out the tow cord and helped me through the rough parts. I owe him a big debt. There was a lot of disappointment, especially when you start counting up all the hard hammer workouts that were done especially for this particular race. However, I summed it up at lunch that day to our team leader. I told him that "you take what the day gives you." For every great race, there’s usually about 5 or so you wish you could forget. Of course you want that good one to come on the big days. And maybe that’s what makes great competitors so good. They’re able to put it together on those big days when it really counts.

I had 2 other races during the championships-the sprint and the vertical race. The sprint I’d like to get back. For some reason I didn’t push hard enough. All I’m going to say about that. The vert was a 600m climb that took about ½ hour. I was 4 minutes back of our best Canadian (and top North American). A decent result for me. I was satisfied. I didn’t beat a lot of country’s skiers, but I wasn’t last either.

So I figure my international ski career is over.... at least on the world cup level. However, we did go to a small town in France where they hold the "Super Bowl" of skimo, the Pierra-Menta, a 4 day skimo stage race. Looks pretty intriguing. I`ll keep ya posted.

Race #2

2^nd race of the year. 2^nd podium. Granted, there wasn’t a very stacked field, but I still took the cash and nice MEC backpack. It was at Castle mountain. First race ever for them. At the start I let Peter and Stano get away just a bit, but past races I’d been able to reel both in so I wasn’t too concerned. We quickly got on to some very steep, rough switchbacks. About 50 of them. I was losing time...big time. I used some new skins I got over the summer. Wide up front, but I cut them off just below the heel. Thinking I’d have a nice compromise between edge to edge up front, but not all the way to the tail to speed things up a bit. In the end, it didn’t turn out so well as they didn’t give me enough grip in the loose snow and steep skin track. I lost a lot of time to the duo ahead of me.

As we approached the peak we had a boot pack. I later learned that Stano had to pack it in himself. Not a great move on the part of the organizers as the ridge line had some potential avi terrain to one side and some cliffy stuff on the other. Made it through ok, with a bit of postholing.

Then came descent #1. I’d always wanted to ski these steeper chutes at Castle, but the 2 times I’d previously visited the mountain there wasn’t enough snow. After the week’s dump of around 40cm’s there was plenty. Although the cut up pow on our short, skinny skis wasn’t the stuff dreams were made of, it wasn’t that hard and I don’t think I’d have given that run a dble back status.

We had another climb over to the cat skiing terrain. By now the 2 places were so far ahead I couldn’t see either. It was hard to push w/ no one behind or in front, so I maintained a fast, but relaxed pace. The second and final dh featured a fair bit of untracked. They’d asked us the night before not to take the pow runs from the paying customers, but hey, my skis just automatically went there....what could I do?

Both downhills turned into real leg burners. At one point on the second one I took a 2 second sit down break....not very competitive of me, but if you could have felt that lactic acid burn.... This second run was also supposedly a double black, going through trees and hitting some steep powder, but it didn’t seem that hard.

We finished down a nice and easy cat track descent into the finish. As much as I love the race, it’s always nice to cruise and be done. My days on the podium are certainly numbered as more young studs discover our cool sport, but I’m going to soak it while I can (2 last year, 2 so far this year).

December Update

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 2^nd 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.

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.

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.