This time it is for fun

I've started to race again.

This time I've taken a different focus, fun. I've been racing in the AMH Anchorage Cup Races. Last weekend I raced in Pia's Classic and this weekend I did the Hickok Pursuit. Pia's is a 30k mass start classic race and The Hickok is a 10k race where you race 5k classic and 5k skate. It was so much fun to get out there and mix it up with other skiers.

I found it was so much nicer to just go and not worry about anything. My last few seasons I ended up putting so much pressure on myself ski racing wasn't fun for me anymore. I would always say that I had fun, but in reality I really wasn't having fun. I was beating myself up mentally; I couldn't keep a positive out look on my racing or how I was feeling. I would usually finish a race second guessing my effort and wondering if I had gone hard enough. On my cool down I would systematically pick through my race and try to figure out what I could have done better. Not matter what I did, or where I placed I was never good enough in my own mind. I could never go hard enough, ski as technically well as I wanted or place where I could make my goals.

Last Sunday, when I finished my race I actually felt like I had fun. In three years I can remember two races where I finished and felt like that; the 2006 Tour of Anchorage and the 2007 New Mexico Invite. After my last ski race last year I didn't think that I would be out ski racing in the next couple years. I had finally beat myself far enough down that I couldn't stand it anymore. But after my trip to Guatemala, and getting some separation from the world of nordic ski racing, I had an epiphany. It didn't matter anymore where I placed, or how I did. I found that I like the feeling of racing, the blood pumping through my body and being in the zone.

So when I got back from Guatemala I started to ski again. This time for fun. There is a great local group of skiers where that is their goal. Some of them are more serious than others and want to show that you can still race competitively while maintaining a 40 hour work week. I'm done with that. Been there, done that. Count me in the fun group. My training plan is as follows. Stay active. When fun, adventurous activities don't present themselves, go out and ski. This has worked great so far. Between fun, adventurous activities and resting from those activities I usually get one or two days of skiing in a week. One of those sessions is usually intervals with the local group. Okay, so I still haven't completely broken myself from training completely (setting goals and doing intervals). It is a hard habit to break. At least this time it is healthy. I feel like I've got a healthy balance now.

Pia's classic was really fun. It was a blast to get out there and mix it up a little bit. But when it came down to it, it was really nice not to suffer and just ski. My goals were to ski with good technique and not worry about where I came in. Mission accomplished. I was able to get out there and mix it up with Adam and Rob for a while, but when it came to the punch I didn't feel that I had to puke my guts out to stay with them. I got what I wanted out of it; to ski in the zone for 30k and to feel my heart pump blood through my body.

Today I finished the Hickok. I'm not sure where I came in, perhaps top 15. Again it was really fun to get out there and do some ski racing. It was my first ski of the week. I've been staying fairly active though doing back country skiing, breaking trail up hill for a ways. I could definitely feel that I haven't been training like I used to in this shorter race. The whole race I felt like I was shaking off cob webs. But this time when I came to the last kilometer I did feel like pushing it a bit. I had really fast skis and was pulling away from the group I had been skiing with and gaining on the couple guys in front of me. With about 1k left to go I had just about caught up to Adam and gave it everything I had to catch up to him and get away before the final sprint, as Adam can easily out sprint me.

Its been nice to take this different approach to racing. I feel like if I really want to get back into it I can just start putting in the time and get it done. I know what it takes now, and for now I don't want to do that any more. I'm perfectly happy finishing off the tail end of the fast guys and having a ton more fun than they are. Well time to get a few chores done around the house before going out tele skiing tomorrow. :)

Rob skiing behind me on the first lap of Pias

Nordic Skiing and Mixed Climbing

Without a computer it has been really hard to get the blog updated. So now that I've got some down time and access to a computer here are a few updates. (Vista doesn’t' seem to work very well with Blogger; so the spacing on the captions is a little weird for these posts.)


Last Thursday I had the day off so I figured I would head out to Hatchers for my first cross country ski of the season. The conditions out there were perfect! Ed had just finished grooming, it was extra blue conditions and I had the place to myself.

After skiing around for an hour and a half I noticed that there was another red swix drinking belt. There had been one other person up there while I was skiing, and they didn't look like the type that would have had a drinking belt. There aren't too many kilometers of trails right now at Hatchers and I was stumped on who else could be up there that I wasn't running into that would have a red swix drinking belt. I decided to go in for a closer investigation. To my great sunrise it was Karl's drinking belt. Apparently he had forgot it up there after his ski the previous Saturday. Thankfully I was able to get to it before someone stole it.

That evening Cassi and I heard that the ice was coming in at Eklutna. So that Friday we headed out in that direction for some ice climbing. We weren't sure what the river situation was so we decided to hike up the Thunderbird Falls trail rather than up the creek. The first climb in Eklutna is Mad Dog. Upon seeing that it was somewhat in and that we could repel into from the trail we decided to go for it.

We couldn't see from the top that there wasn't much ice on the bottom half of the climb. It looked like it might be over my head with the first half of the climb being mixed. Karl was nice enough to let me borrow his ice gear which was really nice because it was nice and sharp so I didn't have to hack away at the little bit of ice that was clinging to the rock. It ended up being a lot easier than I thought it was. It was really fun to tap the tools in on little placements than to hack away at a wall of ice.

You have no idea how long it took to get his shot of myself.

This one wasn't so hard.

The mystery drinking belt

Haha, look who's got Karl's drinking belt.

Mad Dog

Cassi

Intervals

When I woke up this morning I didn't think that I would end up doing intervals up the gas line. Today the UAA men's ski team was going to start an interval block with their up hill time trial. However, their plans quickly changed with the inch of fresh snow that Anchorage received last night. My plan was to meet them half way to chear them on and take pictures. Shortly after they ran by my position, just just before halfway, they stopped and started running back down the hill as if they were running intervals. It quickly occured to me that the time trial was cancelled and they were doing up hill running intervals. Karl was quick to ask if I wanted to jump in. My first thought was, "No way! I am not in nearly good enough shape to hang on with you guys.". But on second thought I figured, "Well, I've got my running shoes and tights on under my pants. Why not? I can just stop if they are destoying me." So next thing I knew I was chasing the boys up the hill.

Suprisingly enough it wasn't as hard as I thought to hang on with them. However, I did jump in halfway through completely fresh and up hill running was always my strong suit in fall training. It was really reassuring for me that if I really wanted to, with a little bit of work I could get back where I was. Here are the few pictures that I took thinking it was the time trial.

The team with the mascots

Raph

Max, all smiles despite flying up the hill

Lex (front) and Trond (back)

Trond


Karl, running out of the fog


Karl with Erick coming down the second to last step.


Karl

Fairbanks

It has been great to be back in Fairbanks. The days are longer and there is some great skiing to be had. The US Distance National Championships are going on right now. Yesterday they had the 15 and 30k Pursuit. Since it was such a nice day, the tracks were so nice, and I was feeling much better than I thought I would, I decided to sign up for the 50k Classic on Sunday. Since I have been sick and the course has so many large climbs, my goal is to take it out easy, focus on good technique and just have fun for the last race of the season. I have a feeling that if I can hold things together I'll be able to pick people off at the end as they are getting really tired. It will be especially nice to race a national championship at my home trails! Once again I filled my flash card taking pictures (my card can hold up to 300). So here are a few of the best.

Taz


Reese

Tyson (and Dylan in the corner, just getting into the depth of field)

Peter

Owen


Zach


Bart


Zach leading Owen


Brian


Zach getting some feed


Brian


The old roomies duking it out around the course. Dylan and Brian.


Bart leading Chambo and Tyson


Zach leading Owen


David out there taking names.


Colin


Tyson finishing hard

Dylan and Brian sprinting to the finish. Brian out lunged Dylan.

The Rest of the Story

Okay......












It's been a while....











to say the least.











So here's the rest of the story.











Regionals went pretty well. Not as well as we wanted but still pretty well. The alpine team kicked some ass! They won the alpine portion of the meet! Which is the first time they have done that since Trond has been on the team coaching (seven years). Sadly the nordic team didn't have a really good day the first day and we finished 4th, rather than 3rd as we had hoped.

I didn't race fast enough at Regionals to make it to NCAAs so the next weekend I raced the Tour of Anchorage, the local 50k race. That race didn't go so well. It wasn't my day. Enough said.

After the tour the plan was to focus and catch up on school. So, no adventures there. Spring break rolled around the corner as well as Junior Nationals at Kincaid. Junior Nationals were really fun to watch. It was a great opportunity to have fun with my camera and take a lot of photos. My folks were down and they sprung for a nice photo printer so I could print off pictures to get to people. I'll get a few of my best shots posted on here at the end.

The last weekend of spring break was the Oosik Classic 50k in Talkeetna. It was long and hard (the race that is). The oosik is always particularly fun because the course is out on narrow snow mobile trails and no one knows where the course goes, or exactly how long it is. The first year they had the Oosik it ended up being 60k or so. The next year they shorted it up to 40 to get people to come back. After the race there is a big banquette/party with a band out at "the hanger" in Talkeetna. The race didn't go so hot (I bonked so hard I couldn't get my eyes to focus, my teeth felt tingly, and I was having trouble staying warm), but I made up for it that evening! One of these years I'll have a good race at the Oosik.

After the Oosik I came down with a really bad cold and haven't been able to do anything for just over a week. I was loosing my voice Monday and Tuesday so I decided I wouldn't be able to race 100% this weekend in Fairbanks for US Distance National at Birch Hill. So my plan is to head up Friday morning and watch the race, and catch up with old team mates that are coming up for the races.

Next week should be a blast! A bunch of old team mates are coming down from Fairbanks, and one is flying over from Norway, to rally around in the mountains for a week or so.

I won't go as far as say, "Stay tuned". But there are most likely going to be updates coming shortly, as I am finally caught up on my school work, and the conditions are right for an adventure (the sun is high in the sky late in the evening, and there is still snow in the mountains).

Here are a few pictures from Junior Nationals.

Classic Sprint

Karl on his way to winning his quarter final heat and a 9th place overall!


Tyler

Erick having a great opening day of JO's. Erick finished 6th in the sprint.


David leading the AK J1 boys!


Erick and Karl charging up the last hill. Go UAA!


Hanna, grinding up the hill


Kalista


Becca


Becca and Laura


Amy


Becca


Individual Start Skate Race

Kye


Amy and Brian





Logan





Eric


Reese


Ryan


Jordan

Way to go Team Alaska for finally bringing back the Alaska Cup!