ROCKIN' OUT

Early season skiing is tough on ski bases. For skimo racing this is the time to get in as much base training and general skiing as possible, yet conditions can be rocky. I recently found myself on an abandoned ski out run at one of my local hills in the Canadian Rocky mountains. This particular very steep and very rocky section lived up to the Rocky Mountain moniker.

In order to get down the very narrow steep section (I wanted to go carefully b/c of all the unseen rocks beneath) I recalled seeing a youtube vid where this guy did a double pole jump turn. I tried it- a little clumsily at first-man did it work! By having both pole arms in front, your weight stays forward, mandatory in steep sections, and with both poles I could jettison myself up and out of the sketchy snow conditions.

I’ve been employing this new discovery on my "Steve0's Stealth run", a little backcountry course I’ve set up behind my house. One downhill section has mandatory jump turns down a mossy (underneath), steep descent between closely spaced trees. It’s worked awesomely.

I’ve also found that the technique is a great confidence builder at the top of a steep coulior. I’ll start w/ double pole jump turns to get going (helping me keep my weight forward), then as confidence builds I may then move into a more standard single pole plant turn.

Happy steep skiing (and hopefully not too rocky!).

　

PS an older pair of rock skis at this time of year are your most important quiver tools. I ski on my old K2 Sahales far more than any other ski Oct-Dec.

Asulkan training camp

Last weekend the Canadian nat’l skimo team ascended up to Asulkan hut in the Rogers Pass area for what has become our annual early winter training camp. With heavily laddened packs it’s about a 2.5 hour ski climbing 1000 vertical meters to the hut. Once there, one can ski so many wonderful lines. We stayed off the glaciers surrounding us though, as the recent storm cycle produced a lot of fractures and long crown lines. Additionally, the snow pack was enough to cover cravasses, but only thinly, so we left the glacier safety gear in the car.

morning beacon check at the hut (above); some nice powder pillows on Moraine Triangle

Really, the point was to rack up some long days, big total verts and slay some pow. We achieved all these objectives.

Canadian super skier Melanie, joined us a couple days into the camp, skiing up with her race gear. The rest of us were on fatter, heavier touring gear. Mel knows what she’s doing and displayed great skill in navigating powder on her short 160cm skinny skis. My USA friend Scott Simmons once shared he only owns 2 pair of race skis, so does all his skiing on the light sticks. It’s probably great training for moving the legs fast, plus Scott, like Mel, can really make those things work in all snow conditions.

After the camp, I needed a day of rest, but jumped back in on Tuesday with some skimo intervals. First race only a week away!

Great Times at Tent Ridge. Short & Fat?

As I awoke and peered out the window it looked as if the weatherman’s prediction of snow, high wind and blizzard conditions was coming true. Being very tempted to pull the plug and turn back into bed I made a call, but to double check the plan. It turned out one of our skiers had a 4 wheel F-150, so knowing we would at least not get stuck we decided to duck back into the mountains and hopefully avoid the storm. Sometimes these storms are on the prairies and don’t seep up into the mountains. That is exactly what happened to us.

Our destination turned out to be Tent Ridge. A first for all of us, but we’d previously scoped it out in the guidebooks. Tent Ridge is known for sliding and this week it stayed true to that depositing a sizable avalanche right down the middle. With this knowledge, and observing the already formed cornices all around (ridge top is quite exposed from every direction and had cornices from every direction), we made for the trees. On either side are nice stands of well spaced larch trees. We made about 6 runs on one side, then bolted for the other.

Unlike the previous week, we didn’t see a single other skier. They were either all slugging it out on Highwood (a.l.a. last week-see previous blog), or hunkered down fearing the weather report. By the end of the day the sun even poked out. So much for the predicted blizzard.

On this day I dug into my quiver and pulled out the 163cm Atomic Kailas skis. Their dimensions are 125-85-100. Short, fat, shapely, kinda like a Maryln Monroe of skis (well at least the shapely part). With the short length they turn so well. The sidecut gives them a nice carve and there’s enough width to float well over pow. I got to wondering if I should have ordered the 167cm Dynafit Huascarans instead of the 178's last year. I’ve often felt a short, fat ski would be a lot of fun. Many of my friends get longer skis so they can "charge hard" they say, but I sure like the turnability of a shorter ski and the reduced weight.


That elusive quiver of one is still out there somewhere, yet to be discovered.

Not a Whole Lotta Love at Highwood

Led Zepplin’s hard driving rock song "Whole lotta love" cranked from the car stereo as we pulled into the unbelievably full Highwood pass parking lot for some early season turns. Usually that last song is the one that sticks in your brain for the day, so I was glad the music matched the stoke my Skimo world’s teams race partner and I were feeling. Unfortunately I was soon to learn that there wasn’t a whole lotta love in the backcountry scene that day.

First off, as we were staging our gear in the parking lot, a very slow moving large pickup truck proceeded to run over one of my skis. I quickly ran over, protesting loudly so the rear wheels wouldn’t find the same target. It was to no avail. The bandits seemed to uncaringly ignore me. I’m so glad K2's light paulonia wood core was up to the task as any foam core certainly would’ve been damaged for sure. I yelled at them, "you guys must be snowboarders. Did you know you just ran over my skis?" They didn’t care, no apology, nothing. Then when they got out I noticed they weren’t using split boards or snowshoes..hello post-holing on the skin track.

The next encounter featured 2 hikers. We saw them leave the parking lot and wondered why they’d travel all the way to the pass to hike in 3-4 feet of snow when the valley trails were still pretty usable. We quickly caught up to them. One glanced back when I was only 4-6' behind him. At that point he squarely positioned himself in the middle of the trail so I couldn’t pass. I didn’t feel like opening my mouth as I wasn’t sure I could resist chewing them out for walking/wrecking the skin track. As I attempted to pass he squeezed over to try to keep me from going around. I went anyway. As I did he sarcastically said, "excuse me". As if that’s what he was expecting me to say. I joined his game and sarcastically accepted his non apology and said, "ok".


Pter at the Pass



The next group was tailed by a snowboarder (he at least had a split-board and wasn’t screwing up the track). I politely asked to pass on the right. He didn’t budge. I patiently skinned behind him for a bit at a 1/4 of the speed I was previously travelling at. A 2^nd time I asked to go around. No budge. Finally with just a bit of space I busted a move and got around him. As we passed his other slightly more cooperative ski mates, they gave me a look that said, "how dare you pass me?".

On the zig-zag uphill to the start of the run we passed a couple other guys. They were obviously a little more experienced and we had a nice chat. As we shared our stories I had the thought that these newbies need to understand the ethics of the bc world a little better. I wondered aloud if they’d even bother to help in a possible rescue scenario...or if they’d even be able to.
                                                               

Once we got away from the masses though we got some great turns in. 10 runs in all. Stellar weather, great company (the more hardy that went a little deeper in the bc were great-even the snowboarders). Great to be in the back country and on the boards again!

Grizzly Ultra 50Km

So how do you define success? For athletes it’s often simply a comparison game. "Did I beat so & so?.. what place did I get? How many came in behind/front of me?" I feel this is setting ones self up for defeat. In 2 day’s ago Grizzly Ultra 50km at Canmore Nordic Centre I came in 28^th out of 400. To some it sounds good, but that’s a lot of people in front of me.

I’ve said before that you simply take what the day gives you. I’ll add to that though, after the day gives what it may, what you do with it, giving back determines whether or not the effort was a successful one.

5 weeks ago I had a similar race, Mt Robson Marathon. Weaker field, yet it’s own unique challenges. From that race I was hoping to go upward still in my fitness. The next weekend I had a pretty good ½ marathon trail race at the Nordic Centre, then the following weekend I tweaked a muscle in my groin/hop flexor area while on a spectacular 4 hour mountain run. That run was the apex of my running season. My fitness was at its zenith as also was my experience in my newly found summer training passion-mountain running. But with that tweaked muscle came a little more rest, a little more prudence, and generally reined in enthusiasm.

Part of the joy of mountain running is an uncluttered joy of exploring. A freedom to hike when the going gets tough and to fly when the downhill beckons. With the injury and my hoped for full recovery for a maximum effort in the Grizz 50km there was less joy and maybe even a little anxiety.

In the race the first half went off great. I learned from previous experience to reign in early enthusiasm and pace myself for the long day. Yet on the final descent into the stadium on loop 2 (of 5), the ½ point, I could start to feel that muscle go. From then on I had to really step gingerly down the descents. Then my other muscles started going as I compensated. I didn’t have major cramping issues as in the Robson race, but they really started hurting.

I held on though, even passing a few people. But the highlight came for me when my 14 year old daughter, who was anchoring her relay team, caught me on the final leg with only a couple km’s to go. She blew by me on a short steep uphill I was walking up, but then I resolved to finish with her, so dug down deep and reeled her back in on the flats. The comeback was short lived though as we then began the final descent into the stadium. That pesky groin injury was just too much even with me applying pressure to it with my hand as I ran. She gapped me be quite a bit feeling pretty smug. I had a lot of joy though seeing her fly so fast!

So was my day a success? I’d say yes. I know I can go faster, but under different circumstances. I raced that day as fast as I could. I maybe should have dropped at the ½ point to eliminate risk of further injury, but I don’t think I made things any worse. Ironically, I won my age group. At Robson I was 10^th male, but only 4^th in age group. In the Grizz the closest in my age group was 40 minutes behind. So certainly you can’t judge success by place. You just never know who’s going to show up. I have no control over that, but I do have control over whether or not all of me shows up on race day. I think I did in this case....bad groin and all. So yes, I took what the day gave me, gave back all I had and walked (actually hobbled) away feeling successful.

BRING ON THE SNOW

I’m ready to be done running. After 5 months, my body has had enough. Maybe my mind a bit too. My pesky metatarsalgia in my toe, which I’ve had on and off for 6 years, is starting to bug me a lot. And 2 weekends ago while running one of my favorite epic runs, my groin started acting up. I’d strained it mildly 2 days before the Robson marathon doing some fast strides with my daughter. It was a little sore during the marathon. But then I raced again the next weekend at the 5 Peaks ½ marathon trail race and it felt just fine. But then it acted up on last weekend’s long run too. I’m good for about 3 hours, then it starts tightening up. I guess most people would say, "3 hours! That’s good enough!!" Except in under 2 weeks I have the 50km Grizzly trail race at the Nordic Centre. If there was no race, I wouldn’t panic, just roller ski mostly with a little bike.

Instead I’m doing a couple long runs a week very easily and roller skiing and some mountain hiking.

Maybe mentally I’m ready to be done too. I got my new ski boots a few weeks ago, got renewed with my Dynafit sponsorship and there’s snow on all the mountain tops around my house.

We do have a long ski season. Starting w/ the summer stored Frozen Thunder xc trail at the Nordic centre in mid October all the way practically til June. That’s a lot of skiing and at this point in my life after 7 months of skiing, I’m ready for summer.

But now I truly am ready for winter. I was really enjoying the high altitude mountain runs, but now there’s starting to be snow up there. Just over a week ago I did the Gordon Pass run. The Tamaraks were in full color and it was a truly magical experience (until my groin started hurting). This past week has been cold. My garden is barely hanging on with some leaf lettuce still to be picked, but tonight the temp’s supposed to be -4C. So I’m going to harvest it all and shut ‘er down.

Bring on the snow!

Mt Robson Marathon

If you live in my area (Alberta), you’ve got to visit Mt Robson, Canada’s highest mountain. It absolutely towers over all. It’s an amazingly beautiful site. I was so stoked to do the 46km Mt Robson Marathon after one glimpse of that monolith (though when racing I rarely gaze upward). We made it a family affair with Deb and Anna doing the 12.5km and Kjirsti the 3km). All placed but me. But get this... 4 out of the top 10 were in my 50-59 age group. At first I thought it was a mistake, but realized those 2 places I surrendered in the final 1.5km cost me a travel mug. O well, as a family we got 2, that’s enough to clutter our cupboard.

The first half of the race for me was really enjoyable. Incredible location, wonderful trail, stellar weather. I felt really good. It was a pretty decent pace the entire first 23km, but felt extremely manageable. My h.r. monitor confirmed this. For much of that first ½ I was just behind a pack of 6 runners. Once we hit the 4km (500+m vert) uphill, I easily passed them all. Most of my trail running has been going up mountains and I crushed the pack with ease.

At the turn around I was in 10^th at 2:05. I didn’t go in w/ any goals, but at that point decided that a top 10 in under 4 hours would be a worthy goal to shoot for.

But very quickly things began to change. In the rocky section along Berg Lake I tripped and took a rolling tumble. This is where I noticed my first calf cramp. Soon after this, I took tumble #2- rolled again (gaining some applause) but really hurt my bad shoulder. On this tumble I felt several more leg cramps...not good.

At the 4km downhill, I wanted to rock, but every sideways motion of my legs initiated cramps, so I took this section real slow getting passed twice- my first "chicked"-the women’s winner and another guy that I later reeled in later as his cramping was worse than mine.

I was a bummer as my energy was good, legs felt fine except for these pesky cramps. I had some pickle juice waiting for me w/ 10km to go, but I needed it much earlier. It didn’t really work anyway, not like the last time it totally shut down all my cramping in the 2011 Ironman Canada. So the last 20km or so were mostly cramp management. I had to totally stop on 3 occaisions and mostly slowed way down.

My down time ended up being almost exactly the same as my up time. When you consider that we gained 850m you realize how slow I truly was coming down.

Surprisingly I didn’t get passed that much. I was waiting for a stream of people to get me. I actually passed a couple guys that died worse than me. Although w/ that 1.5 km to go I was "chicked" for the 2^nd time. On the final 2km road section I didn’t have to pick up my legs as far, so I could pick up my speed a bit without the dreaded cramps, but it wasn’t enough to hold off the 2 that went flying by.

So I ended up 12^th overall in 4:09. I guess it’s ok. I had no expectations. It was my first true trail marathon (not including the Footstock marathon-which I won- in 2006 that was mostly on dirt roads). The longer distance probably added a good :20 and the 4km hike section definitely slows one down.

As I write this 2 days later I realize how different a trail marathon is. I'm a little sore (especially my right foot from hitting a rock hard that caused crash #3), but not really that bad. A road marathon would have me hobbling around for several days. That's even considering I used a somewhat minimalist shoe (which may have been a mistake). Although my fatigue level is still pretty high. I'll go for easy bike rides the next couple days.

In contrast, my friend Reiner, 2 years ago came in 2nd in the marathon, then because the conditions offered a great window, climbed Robson that afternoon and skied down (normally a 2-3 day  adventure). Crazy.

Next up is the Grizzly ultra 50km in Canmore in a month. Plenty of time to recover and hopefully make some adjustments.