US Nationals 15km Pursuit

Yesterday was the 15km pursuit here at US Distance Nationals in Fairbanks, Alaska.  We race at night again, this time with women starting at 5pm in a mass start format- meaning we all go at the shot of the starter's gun.  We raced two laps of a 3.75km classic loop before switching to our skate skis in a "transition" area and heading out on a different 3.75km skate loop, which we skied twice.  

(Photo credit: Lance and Danny Parrish- as seen on Fasterskier.com)

After a winter of odd weather patterns, Alaska has continued to surprise us.  This week athletes have had to deal with delays in air traffic due to the eruption of Mount Redoubt.  A few of our APU University Team athletes had their flight from Anchorage delayed because of the continued volcanic eruption.  They were planning on racing yesterday, but their flight came in too late and they were unable to make their start.  Other athletes racing here arrived later than expected because they were rerouted and many had their ski bags temporarily lost in transit. On top of that the local weather threw us another curve ball.  We woke up yesterday morning to newly falling snow- a rarity for Fairbanks, especially this time of year.  Usually it snows in October or November making for decent season of skiing, since the frozen ground keeps the snow preserved until it melts in the spring.  Fairbanks isn't know for lots of snow, but for cold, well "refrigerated" snow.  

Despite the minor surprises, the pursuit went well.  Once again, I had solid skis- good kick and glide, and for the first time I had a decent transition from my classic to skate gear.  Just as both the classic and skate legs of the race are timed, so is the transition that takes place between.  In the past I've had some disastrous transitions, accidentally kicking a ski out of the transition box, grabbing the wrong pole, etc., etc.  Yesterday I had the 5th fastest transition time- a rank better even than my overall finish.  I went in calm and collected with a very well-thought out plan, and finally I was able to pull it off without giving up any extra time to my competitors.  

The race itself was another solid performance.  I got off to a slow start in the classic section, struggling somewhat to find my rhythm.  I got stuck behind people, boxed out and was generally a little frustrated.  I skied relaxed, but not as fast as I wish I had, so when it came time to skate, I put the hammer down.  I felt really strong in the second portion, dropping a few of the women who I had skied with in the classic and passing a few of the people ahead of me for a final place of 7th overall and 6th American.  Even with 15km of trails out there, I still feel that with a little more time I could have finished even higher.  At this point in my career, longer is better.  People ahead of me were dying, and I was just coming into better form as the race progressed.  

With the pursuit completed, we have one more race to go.  Tomorrow is a brutal 30km classic race.  The course is going to be incredibly hard, with lots of steep, challenging climbs, and I'm getting mentally prepared to suffer!  With 24 hours left in my season, I have mixed emotions. I'm finally feeling pretty good and really enjoying racing.  I'm also really excited for the spring and for some adventures.

Skiers in the shadow of Denali at the 2009 Oosik Classic Race in Talkeetna, Alaska (my backyard).

(Photo credit: Arthur Mannix)

Yesterday my dad sent me this great photo from the Oosik classic race, which makes me excited for an April filled with outdoor excursions.  I'll be sad to be done racing, but at the same time really happy to get out into my backyard for some crust skiing and backcountry adventures. 

Stay tuned for my last race update... less than 24 hours left in the 2008-2009 race season!  Man, time flies when you're having fun...

US Nationals 5km Classic

Yesterday was the US Nationals 5km classic, a race that had originally been scheduled for Short Distance Nationals in Anchorage but was reinstated here at Distance Nationals after cold weather forced its cancellation in January.  At my 6:18pm start time yesterday it certainly wasn't warm, despite the evening sun.  A biting wind whipped through the stadium, chilling the athletes waiting in the start pen.  Nonetheless the race was held and the organizers did an incredible job.  Volunteers covered athletes with blankets at the start and finish lines, had hot tea and sports drink ready post-race, and designed a challenging race course.

A volunteer helps cover me in a blanket as I wait for my start. 

(Published in the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner, photo: Sam Harrel)

I was pleased with my performance, placing 7th overall in a tough women's field.  First place overall went to Swede Kristina Strandberg who won by a convincing 30+ seconds.  From second place on the race was tight.  This was reiterated over and over again to me throughout the race.  The intermediate split times showed that 5 seconds separated the top five.  In the end, I was 20 seconds out of 2nd, 5 seconds out of fifth, and 2 seconds out of sixth, and the field was stacked similarly behind me as well.  Since the National title goes to an American, my US teammate Morgan Smyth took the win for her first ever gold at a National Championships (Strandberg being Swedish could not win the National title).  Another notable result was my APU teammate Becca Rorabaugh, a Fairbanks native, who took third overall and was the second American.  On the men's side, APU teammate James Southam won the National title and overall, beating a tough field including many successful Canadian World Cup racers.  APU teammate Brent Knight also raced well, finishing as the third American and fifth overall.

It was a good start to a challenging week of racing.  I was happy that my body responded to the hard effort well and felt decent throughout the race- something I've struggled with this season. It is evident that I'm finally finding my racing form, and although it's a little late, it feels good to end the season on a high note.  With one race down, I have two more long ones to go, and I am feeling confident that I can log some solid performances.

Midway through the US Nationals 5km classic at Birch Hill, Fairbanks, Alaska.

(Photo credit: Lance Parrish, borrowed from Fasterskier.com)

This evening is the freestyle team sprint, which I'll be sitting out.  My teammates have patiently waited all day and are just leaving for the venue as I write this.  After a short ski this morning to shake out my legs, I returned to our hotel for lunch and a shower before going on a marathon grocery shopping trip.  Two cart-loads later, a teammate and I have filled all our different suite fridges with food.  I have two pots of beef stew on the stove and cornbread in the oven for my hungry teammates and coaches who likely won't get back from the venue until 9pm or so.

So I'm off for an afternoon run before I head out to the venue to cheer on my teammates in the final heats at 7pm and 7:30pm.  The sun is out, and I hear the temperature at Birch Hill is warmer than yesterday and perfect for evening racing.  

Stay tuned for more racing updates... tomorrow's race prep and Friday is the 15km pursuit. Can't wait!

Race Time!

Today is race day... but it doesn't feel like it.  Normally I get up early, hurry through breakfast, pack my bags full of extra clothes, make a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, and run out the door. I get to the race venue full of butterflies and waste no time getting out on the course to warm-up. I pick up my bib, select my race skis and test the race wax they've put on.  Then I check back in with my coach and tech, and they make any necessary changes to the wax on my race boards. Meanwhile I hop on my warm-up skis and continue my warm-up.  Everything is very systematic. It's lined out in detail the night before at the team meeting, and it works perfectly nearly every time.

I'll be going through this process today, but it'll all begin when I leave our hotel at 4:30pm rather than the typical 7am or 8am. The first race of the continuation of US Short Distance Nationals/US Distance Nationals is schedule to begin at 6pm tonight, slightly different than normal. It's just fine with me, but makes for a weird day. I skied this morning to wake up my body and shake out my legs, came home and had a snack, took a nap, and ate a late lunch. Meanwhile the temperature at Birch Hill, our race venue, is gradually climbing- good news for my more recently cold-sensitive lungs.  It was 17F at last report. Now I'm in relaxation mode until it's time to fire up the body...

On another note, there's been some good racing to be had lately.  Here are a few random race shots for some inspiration...

On Saturday my hometown of Talkeenta hosted the Oosik Classic Ski Race.  It started and finished on the village airstrip in downtown Talkeetna (as seen above).  My dad worked tirelessly organizing this fun, end-of-the-season event, and it was a huge success.  Unfortunately I always seem to be attending a conflicting race series and haven't been able to do the Oosik in Talkeetna, but racing in my hometown is on my list, so I'll be there for it someday!  (Photo credit: Arthur Mannix)

Two weeks ago I was in Canada racing at their National Championships in Duntroon, Ontario.  I sat out the sprint in preparation for the 30km skate and had some time to take some photos of the rounds.  Above, US teammate Morgan Smyth starts her quarterfinal.  Below, US teammate Laura Valaas and APU teammate Katie Ronsse begin their heat.

Stay tuned for more racing updates from the last race series of the season here in Fairbanks. I'm pumped to race, but also really excited for some fun outside this spring after the season concludes.

The final countdown...

Sorry for the delay in posts... since the last few days in Canada life has been in high gear.  I raced the 30km skate at Canadian Nationals on March 15, left Duntroon, Ontario at 6:25am on March 16, drove to Detroit, flew home via Chicago and had just enough time to unwind, do my laundry, and ski a few times before I hit the road again.  With Canadian Nationals and US Distance Nationals only separated by a week and with all the travel involved in flying from Eastern Canada and driving to Fairbanks, I felt like I was barely home.  I can hardly complain, however, because things are going well.

It felt good to be in Canada and to be racing again.  I like getting into the schedule of racing and with these two Championships back-to-back, I certainly have and have had some solid competitions.  Each race in Canada proved to be a little better for me, like my body was waking up from the slumber of my mid-winter break from racing.  The 30km proved to be my best event at that series, as well as one of the best this winter.  I skied hard the entire way, led my pack most of the time and was able to "break" several of the women racing around me by keeping the hammer down and the pace high for the entire race.  Regrettably I got off to a slow start, likely a result of that aforementioned period of non-racing earlier in the season.  My body is a little slower to activate when it comes to jumping into racing mode, so I inadvertently put myself in the position to chase the leaders for the entire race.  It would have been nice to be in the pack working with them, because it would have been a good challenge.  Rather than dwell on it, I'll use this experience when planning my strategy for my next 30km, which, in fact, is coming up exactly one week from today!

So I ended up a solid 5th in the 30km.  I was happy with my result and fired up for more racing. Now I've relocated to Fairbanks and am beginning preparations for the last races of the season. Since US Short Distance Nationals (held in January in Anchorage) were partially cancelled due to cold, two of the events usually held then have been rescheduled for early in the week of Distance Nationals.  The schedule is as follows:

Tuesday, March 24- 5km classic*

Wednesday, March 25- team sprint skate

Friday, March 27- 15km pursuit*

Sunday, March 29- 30km classic*

*events where I'll be racing

Today was our first day up at Birch Hill, the site of our final races.  The temperature is gradually increasing, with the forecast showing a warming trend as the week goes on.  Today the temperature was in the teens with blue sky and sun.  The trails are in great condition and the volunteers already appear to be hard at work in preparation for the races.  I'm looking forward to some good racing.  My body appears to be firing again, and I can wait to test myself. The 3okm classic a week from today will be my first time skiing a 30km in the classic technique, a pretty significant milestone in my racing career!

More to come from Fairbanks...

30km Skate

Tomorrow's the 30km skate race- the last race of the Canadian National Championship- and I have a feeling it's going to be a good one!  This week I have learned a lot, posted some mediocre results, and am really ready for a race of the more outstanding nature.  Long distance races are what I love most, and tomorrow I get a chance to put everything out there for some 90 minutes. After a short cold spell, accompanied by some rain and then some snow, it looks like spring again around here.  Today it was 48F at the venue during our race prep workout at 1pm, and the snow was quickly transforming to slush.  The forecast for tomorrow is once again for super warm temperatures, and I see a need for serious sunscreen in my future!

Yesterday I took some pictures during the classic sprint where my APU teammates took first and third.  I'll post those, along with any other photos I get a chance to take, when I get to a faster internet connection.  I sat out the sprint in preparation for the 30km, but all the women on my team qualified for the heats (making the top 30), and both our men raced well, one making the rounds as well.

Hopefully in 24 hours I'll have completed a fast 30km and will have an exciting race report to post.  My fingers are crossed for fast skis and a fresh, peppy body... stay tuned!

One race down, two more coming up fast... PLUS weird weather and fun on the road!

Canadian Nationals continues to be somewhat unpredictable, but a good time nonetheless! When we arrived on Thursday it looked like the sun and warm weather might melt the snow away before the first race even got underway.  Since then we've experienced downpours of rain, high winds, and fog, as well as colder weather and fresh new snow, and all these weather variations continue to frequent our forecast. On Sunday my teammates raced the team sprint, despite flooding in the stadium and start postponement.  I had anticipated racing, but sat out due to a head cold and sore throat that latched on following our two days of travel.  No points are awarded for that race, since it's a team event, and it seemed best to get over the worst of the symptoms before the distance races.

Monday was the 5km skate race.  The course was changed from a hilly, rolling one to a super fast course that felt like it was over before it even started.  It was decidedly a cleaning-out-the-cobwebs race.  My body was pretty shocked when I demanded it go fast, especially for a short 5km, which right now feels like a sprint.  It would have been nice to use the team sprint as a warm-up for the rest of the week, but instead the 5km served this purpose.  Considering the course profile- only two hills to speak of, the first and only major one being in the first 500 meters- it was a decent race for me.  My body finally started getting into the racing groove by 4km, and then there was the second, and final hill, and 200 meters later, the finish line! Finish times were in the realm of 15 minutes, a short effort for the long distance skier that I am.

So tomorrow is the 10km classic.  The course is supposed to be the one we were scheduled to do for the 5km free (hilly with technical downhills), plus we get to do it twice!  My head cold is still hanging on, but I think it shouldn't impact my performance much.  The biggest frustration is that it's hard to sleep at night.  Being horizontal doesn't do great things for my sinuses- and I don't feel super good in the morning.  But after going hard on Monday, I'm really looking forward to a longer, more challenging race.  Each race on the schedule for me is progressively longer, so good things are on the horizon.  If nothing else, this is a great warm-up for US Distance Nationals in Fairbanks later this month.  Plus, with the tricky conditions, I'm getting to test/race on skis I haven't had the opportunity to use this winter.

So the trip has been fun so far.  The team has had some great experiences, from dining in Detroit and getting slightly lost driving up here to skiing in 60F one day and 40F and pouring rain the next.  We're a pretty flexible, fun group, and we have incredible, hardworking coaches! In fact, my skis in the 5km freestyle yesterday were likely some of the fastest skis I have ever raced on in my life!  Mostly it's just fun being on the road again.  I love this lifestyle and really appreciate the hard work of the people that make this possible- the race organizers and hosts, my coaches, and my family, supporters, and sponsors.  

Thanks for your interest.  I'll do my best to keep frequent updates coming!

Back to racing... and spring has sprung!

So I'm jumping back into racing after a mid-winter training break.  I left Alaska on Wednesday bound for the Canadian National Championships in Duntroon, Ontario.  I've never raced this far east in Canada and also have never flown into Detroit on a ski trip.  (We drove from Detroit to Duntroon, rather than flying into Toronto, since the ticket was really expensive flying into Ontario).

We left temps in the 20s F in Alaska and found mud, puddles, and lots of melting snow/slush here in Ontario.  The course is deteriorating fast, but the organizers are hard at work and have backup plans ready in case our snow melts before we get to race on it.  Considering it was 60F at the top of the course today, and with 2.5 inches of rain in the forecast, it is a distinct possibility that backup plans might be utilized.  It's also quite likely that we'll be racing in t-shirts!  Spring is coming here fast.

The Championship kicks off on Sunday, March 8th with a freestyle team sprint, followed by a 5km freestyle race the next day.  On Wednesday we race 10km classic.  Friday is the classic sprint, although I'll sit that one out to prepare for the 30km freestyle race on Sunday, March 15th.  Then I'm back to Anchorage for a week before the season finale, US Distance Nationals in Fairbanks, Alaska at the end of March.

I'm glad to be back to racing!  I'll try to post consistent updates, but without internet at the house we're renting, it's a little more challenging.

Weekend Recap

Justyna Kowalczyk winning the 3okm freestyle event on Saturday at the World Championships.

(Photo credit: fasterskier.com)

Yesterday was the last women's event at World Championships in Liberec, CZE, the 30km freestyle race.  At this time in my career it is likely my favorite event- skating has historically been my stronger technique and longer distances are my forte. World Champs was a goal of mine this season, one which I, sadly, did not achieve.  While I've moved passed that disappointment and am looking forward, being absent from that 30km was still a little agonizing. I woke up early Saturday morning, checking the FIS website to see how the race had played out. Justyna Kowalczyk of Poland won (shown above), ending the championships with an impressive two golds and one bronze medal.  The photo above really made an impression on me. I was fortunate enough to get to race with (or against, I supposed) Kowalczyk in the World Cups in Whistler, and her grit and determination is inspiring.  She comes from a small ski nation, not one of the Nordic "powerhouses" and is pretty much a one person team, yet she's become a force.  I'll undoubtedly be watching the race in its entirety online on universalsports.com, and you should too if you want to know exactly how it played out (note: for the first time this season you can watch all world cup races for free at that website). 

On Saturday I logged a hard effort of my own, though it was thousands of miles from Czech. Normally it almost wouldn't be worth noting, but considering how few races I've done in the past few weeks, it felt like a big deal.  It was a low-key APU team time trial at the Hillside Trails in Anchorage...mass start of both men and women on a two lap course (5km/lap for a total of 10km).  It was a hard course, pretty much either up or down (as the trails are built into the hill right next to our mini local alpine area).  Because of the number and length of the climbs relative to the amount of moderate/flat sections it would have barely been a legal course by International Ski Federation (FIS) standards.  Meaning, it was basically a good hard course, a definite indicator of fitness. To make things just a little more challenging, it snowed all day Saturday, and we didn't start until 4pm, so we had a good six inches of fresh powder to plow through (and it continued to come down as we raced).

As is the case with almost any endeavor, when you don't do something frequently you get rusty. Whether it's just that you think you're rusty or you actually are, there can be some nervousness involved when you jump back in.  Well, I was admittedly a little jittery.  Racing becomes automatic when you do it every week, back-to-back days, weekend after weekend.  Since it's just what you do, you just do it.  But I had all day on Saturday to think about our little, insignificant time trial, and I realized how nice it is when racing is just so normal that you don't even think about being nervous.  Nonetheless, 4PM finally came around, and feelingly slightly like a dog let off a chain, I went!

The good news is, the nerves were for nothing.  Pushing the "reset" button was a good idea after all.  My body felt good at race pace for the first time in months, and on a few of the long climbs I had glimpses of the amazing effortless floating feeling that I get when I race well. More than anything being out there was a great confidence booster.  I'd decided just the night before to race at the upcoming Canadian National Championships in Ontario (coming up in less than two weeks), and this time trial indicated that getting on that plane will be a good decision.

Teammate Kate Fitzgerald on a snowy ski...no it wasn't the day of the time trial (the trail pictured here is way too "groomed" for it to have been our TT course, but it was just as snowy on Saturday).

By this morning the snow had stopped, and Anchorage was covered in a beautiful coat of powder.  Sunday is my overdistance day (OD)- a long distance ski, measured in time rather than kilometers.  It's also probably my favorite day of the week to train because, no matter the time of year, the mornings are always quiet and sleepy.  In the summer the roads are less crowded, making rollerskiing and biking much more peaceful, and in the winter, the trails are often vacant.  This morning I didn't see a soul until nearly 1.5 hours into my 2.5 hour ski.  Kincaid Park was empty and still, the sun was rising, the snow crystals were glimmering in the early rays of light, and the trees were laden with snow.

For the second time this weekend I broke trail through newly fallen snow- this time on my overdistance ski this morning at Kincaid Park.

This long ski was the cap of a nearly perfect weekend (perhaps a nearly perfect week, in fact). I skied almost every trail at Kincaid during my OD and none of them twice.  These kinds of workouts make me feel so lucky to have such incredible training opportunities where I live, and on top of that, I get to enjoy incredible views while I ski the endless kilometers of ski trails in our vast parks.  I took the Coastal Trail for a portion of my ski this morning, enjoying the gorgeous scenery of Turnagain Arm, the mud flats and sea ice right next to the trail, and Fire Island in the distance (photo above taken from the Coastal Trail).