Sunday was the last race in the local Alaska Mountaineering and Hiking Anchorage Cup, the Sven Johansson freestyle race at Kincaid Park here in Anchorage. The event features a 2.5km fun youth race and 10 km and 30km races. The 3okm is known as the "tour of Kincaid," as the course basically covers all of the trails within the park without repeating anything. It was my first shot at racing in nearly a month, since the World Cup, and I had no idea what to expect because my body has been a little "under" lately.
APU women in blue (Kate Arduser, Tazlina Mannix, Katie Ronsse).
Photo credit: Barry Johnson
But I couldn't have dreamt of a nicer day to get out and go long. At our noon start time it was about 20F, blue sky, and sunny. The course was perfectly groomed, and the turnout was great. The race organizers convinced me to start in the elite men's wave, rather than the elite women's, which went out after the second men's wave. The other ladies on my team joined me, as did a few other local women, and we had a great time mixing it up with the men! For such a long race it helps to ski in a pack, because people around you- especially teammates- help you along. Racers take turns leading and drafting, because so much more energy goes into skiing solo or leading a group.
I skied with two of my APU teammates the entire race (as seen in the above photo). We all have decided strengths, and we took turning leading when we were feeling good. For instance, it was noticeable that one of us had much faster skis on the downhills, making her a good person to jump in behind and draft. I felt particularly good on the climbs and would try to take the lead and charge on the hills. In the end, we all fought it out for the win. Having misread the small print on the map, I thought we had one climb to go before the finish, when all the sudden we were spit onto a shortcut and were nearly at the finish. I knew I hadn't started my final surge soon enough, being a distance skier I need to begin my final sprint in advance of many of my competitors. I put the hammer down as soon as I realized my mistake and managed to get a gap, but on the slight downhill grade towards the finish one of my teammates began creeping up, and she managed to get me by .6 seconds at the line.
In all honesty, it was anyone's race. The three of us worked hard and worked together all 30km. More importantly for me, it was good, both mentally and physically, to get back in the "game" again. This effort indicated that I'm climbing out of the rut I've been stuck in. I'm not out yet, but some training time has been exactly what I've needed!
After a wonderful afternoon on the trails, I came home and immersed myself in a little bread baking. I'd promised a loaf of cinnamon raisin bread to some good friends, grandparents of sorts, who I've missed seeing lately. After a brief visit last weekend, I was inspired to bring them a loaf of my favorite sweet corn raisin bread- a yeast-risen cornmeal loaf with plump raisins and a hint of honey. For the sake of experimentation, I made the larger loaf (shown above) with approximately 75% white whole wheat flour in place of the white flour, in an attempt to make a more hearty breakfast bread. The smaller, more golden loaf (shown below at right) was made solely of white flour and cornmeal. My afternoon of baking was enjoyable and rewarding as always (as was the nap between risings).
Today a loaf was delivered as promised to my Anchorage grandparents, and from what I hear, even toasted for a late breakfast. Apparently they enjoyed it just as much as I do every morning, which made my day!
I treated myself to a massage this morning, something I've done less of during racing season, despite the important role it plays in the recovery process. It felt good to make time for this. Even now, just a few hours later, my body is evidently quite appreciative. Today, a rest day, will be concluded with a nap and an easy run in the sunshine this afternoon... and then I'm back into another week of training!
Racing is now on the horizon, so I should have actual race and travel updates for you one of these weeks...
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