Sunny Skies

Okay, well they aren't really so much sunny as it is warmer. It's 55 degrees warmer than it was Thursday morning, so that's all good. It's amazing when it warms up, people start smiling and talking again as opposed to the militant way we get around in the subzero weather when stopping to chat can mean suffering. But enough of the cold.

The rest of my week went well, trainer (bike not human) Friday morning, dinner with my friend, Penny that nite. I did my first ultra with Penny and she has this zen-like calm that I try to channel in stressful times. While I was waiting for Penny, I started to wax my skis for the the Spud Chase the next day. I was undecided on wax and really kinda apathetic about it too, practically a sin in nordic world. I put some cold weather wax on one and went to dinner.

Too bad I waxed the other one with some warmer wax Saturday morning and really, I wish I knew which one was the velcro ski because one was working but the other one was clearly not. I rode over Teton Pass to the race start with my BMT crew which is next weekend. We registered, got the same t-shirt from two years ago and warmed up. Skis sucked but we had already determined that. I saw "no poles" and felt the rematch was on. Mark is really a great guy, from the UK, struggling to get citizenship (don't even get me started) and a heck of a skier with or without poles. I figured I would try to keep him in my sights.

During the warm-up, we figured out that anywhere but the middle of the track was going to be disaster, seriously soft snow made passing a haze and pole plants really deep. Powder snow is not a nordic skier's friend. I started the race in the back (normal) with Mark and the old Sheriff in town, who was a funny guy. I got stuck behind some kid, 11 years old and not afraid to block the pass. Finally got by him and a few others with polite "Could I pass on the left?". Passing the last person to catch up to Mark when I went down in some powder, damn and hard to get up! All those people I had passed went right on by and I had to pass all those people again, "scuse me, sorry, on your left". Energy level = low. Margaritas from last nite rearing their ugly head.

First lap was slow for me but the course was beautiful. Teton Springs is just on the other side of the Pass and is set on a golf course with the obligatory rolling hills and some warm springs towards the back of the property (not the "soak in them" kind, more like the "did someone just fart?" kind). We did two 10k loops and it really has a great mix of terrain. My friend, Dick was sponsoring the race through his store, Peaked Sports. Dick has been incredibly "retail kind" to me and gotten me bikes, skis and other goodies on pro deal. Proceeds of the race went to TVTAP, the Teton Valley Pathways, a great organization that promotes pathway use and grooms the trail for everyone at no cost.

First lap came in at 39 minutes and my goal for the day was to negative split (here's to you, Lisa), so I set out with a better pace on the second lap and also knew that I had time to spare without having people to pass and falls not to take. I felt pretty darn good on the second lap and even though Mark had gotten about 3 minutes (about 1/2 mile) ahead of me, I was chasing him down. Mark, for some euro reason, wears orange tights to races and now has the nickname of "tangerine dream". So he's easy spot even from far away (like space). Even though it was back of pack, people were not letting me get by so I was hanging back and waiting for a spot.

Finally I got by three people and there was 1000 meters (1k) to go and Mark was right there about 200 meters ahead. He's pantomiming using poles but I have real poles and they were going fast and hard. I don't know why it was vital that I catch him, but it was. I almost lost it before the end, using too much energy too fast (and having an odd fantasy about drinking a beer, love mini hallucinations). We all agreed that the last 1000 meters was not really measured out and felt more like 1500 meters. I caught him with 100 meters to go and told him to pick it up. I have a rule that I don't pass people at the very end of a race if they have been ahead of me the whole time. Ever since I saw that Hawaii Ironman where the woman who pooped her pants was crawling to the finish line and the other woman ran by her, I just don't think the karmic world smiles on that. I vowed not to do it. Maybe if the person had poked me with a pole or clotheslined me on the course, but otherwise, they can finish before me.

Big surprise, Erich Wilbrecht, olympian won overall and Barb Lingquist former world champ triathlon won by a boot over another girl (definitely not me). Both ladies have two kids and look like they could model bikinis. I won a euro styled front fanny pack that is available for stylish nordic outings or traipsing around Austria. Oh, second lap = 38 minutes. Negative split.

Tomorrow might find me on a run with my friend Julie and Kris. They are training for Moab's Red Hot 50k (they are doing the 33k) and want to run the entire distance so I might join them for some of the run but don't feel obligated to run all 18 miles. It will take a while because of all the snow here. Thank goodness, I never feel like I have to run the
distance I am training for. Before my 100, the longest run I did was 36 miles and the extra 4 was only because I got lost during a 50k.

Nordork

Sundays are a great time to blog. There's no hurry and I am not attempting the difficult stealthy blog during work. And it's a good time to reflect on the week and see what got done. I haven't written much about my workouts and to be honest those are mostly a mystery, even to me. You see, I don't have a log or a plan. I love to read about Olga and her annual log and even more impressive is Anton Krupicka and his 5000 mile 2007 (what?). I read his blog for shear shame's sake because everyone of his training runs is faster than I could ever complete in competition. And don't discount shame as a good motivator to get out there and train. I use the entire arsenal of emotions to motivate.

But I digress. Monday was an early morning run on the treadmill while watching our local (not Jackson) Today show. I have grown to love those early morning kids and their stories about the mall walking, getting your blood pressure checked and the local can-a-thon. So I probably put in 45 minutes at 10-8 minute per mile pace. Tuesday, I did a skate up Cache (more on that later). Three lung busting miles up followed by three gleeful miles down with my new adopted stray, Sophie whose nickname is Scoobie's sister in pursuit. She's a lumbering thing but does her best to keep up. Wednesday saw an after work run on the treadmill with some mile repeats on the hill option (bout an hour) watching a fascinating medical show on lymphoedema (love medical mysteries) and I followed by alternating push ups and crunches on the Bosu until I couldn't roll over anymore. Thursday was nite skating at the only flat place in Jackson, the high school track. Great option for getting some exercise, getting your dog out and having some social time with others. The weather was less than desirable with needle-like snow to the eyeballs but everyone out was in great spirits. Friday was rest day.

Saturday I had great intentions of a long skate (20 miles maybe) in the park (GTNP)which is about 30 minutes from my house. I saw a friend at the start of the supposed groomed section of the road but she said they didn't groom which is disaster for skating. So I slogged through 5 inches of powder for a little over 2 miles and then turned around. I got Scoobie's sister out on the skijoring leash and she had some fun. She tires easily and that's what I like about her.

Today is a 10k skate race at the Jackson Hole Nordic Center. The race starts at 11, love late starts. Now, if you have never nordic skied, I will fill you in on a few of the finer points of it (IMO). First, it's hard, really, really hard. The technique is hard, like chess, seems that you never really get it, there's always fine tuning and adjustments to do. When you think you got it, they change it. The potential to fall is high (esp. me), one pole in between your skis and you're down. When you see someone good do it, it's beautiful. When you see someone new to the sport do it, you want turn away. The second hard part about it is you reach your lactic threshold in about the first 14 seconds of starting and you stay there (okay, I stay there). It's the mouth opened, snot hanging, chin whiskers frosty (ladies be aware of this coming into the finish line photo or else you will look like your Greek grandmother in snowstorm) exhaustion that allows none of your body parts to rest at any point. I equated the fatigue to swimming, you can't not use your arms or legs. They say to "rest on the downhills" and so okay I pose this to you. When you are trying to find a resting position, is it ever a squat?

I love reading about people saying how graceful and simpatico it is when you are out there skating and I think "Am I doing it all wrong?". Me, I am making deals with the devil out there. I am thinking that if I go a little further, I can have one more beer at dinner. Not to mention that the perfect wax job on skate ski is only accomplished by the brightest scientist-type people dedicated to the glide. Get your wax wrong and you, my friend, are on velcro for the day. BUT with that said, it has to be one of the perfect counter-sport to running. It keeps up the aerobic level and let's your poor legs rest from the pounding running gives us (minus the shins). AND there are times when I have met with nirvana during skates. It usually happens in the spring with an amazing phenomenon called crust cruising. In the Spring, the snow melts during the day and freezes at nite, so if you head out in the morning, you can ski on top of the snow and it's great. You can get going about 15 miles an hour and feel like you are flying. That's effortless and in tuned.

So....back from the race. It wasn't a 10k, but a 15k. You could do an optional 7.5k but what's the point? I have a rule that my race time has to be longer than the travel time, so I opted for the 15k, two loops. As always with any Jackson race, there was at least one olympian there, this time Erich Wilbrecht, a wicked nice guy who was in the 92 Olympics in biathalon. I looked over the girls there and seeing they were all in racing suits and I was wearing my normal loose fitting, mismatched, entirely overdressed uniform, I knew exactly where I was going to fall in the mix. I hung back with Heinz Walter, a 70 year old guy who regularly kicks my ass in nordic.

The first lap was good but I felt fatigued. The track was in good shape. I hit the moraines (hills) and did fairly well getting up them, counting my strides and trying to ignore the lactic acid build-up in both my legs and my arms. No sign of Heinz sneaking up on me like he does, he's got a hell of finishing kick for someone collecting Social Security. I have never been an alpine skier (such a good secret living in Jackson) so my downhill ability is probably at the level of a 4 year old with strap-on clown skis. I bleed all my speed trying not to fall possibly taking some guy with me. The guy behind me was skiing without poles (extra credit) and I could only get some distance from him on the uphill but he passed me starting the second lap and I never saw him again. I tried to not make that the crushing ego blow that it could have been. It's kinda like getting passed by the 8 year old in the local 10k. First lap - 31:10.

I was a bit worried about the second lap seeing the first one drained me. I started out trying to smooth things out and just take my time. After "no-poles" passed me, I was alone (and possibly in last place, another point to ignore). So I just worked on form and got through the moraines in better shape. The stride counting became a bit louder to overwhelm the sound of blood flood in my head, tasting pennies. But I came up and over the last hill, Little Thunder and was done. No idea of the second lap time but i would be pleased with something around 36 mintes.

The BMTis February 2nd in Sun Valley. Last year, I improved my time so I think I will move up a wave. That race is 32k and that's a bit daunting seeing today's race was 15k and whipped me, but isn't that always the case? You get humbled one day and do better than you think the next. Glad I did the local race, it is a beautiful blue bird day, warm in the sun and everyone is smiling.

Now it's time to walk Scoobie's sister (real name Sophie) and then there might be some quality couch time in my future, something I live for.