Get high, ski far

For Thanksgiving this year I joined Erik, Elspeth, and Emily in a quest to go find snow. We saw some good reports from West Yellowstone, but Elspeth in particular was not terribly excited to head back out to those trails, so she floated the idea of heading to the Winter Park/Granby area in Colorado instead. Even though it is further South, they are at a much higher elevation (9500+ ft) so there is fairly reliable early season snow.

As plans came together we decided to spend most of the week in Breckenridge where some of Emily's Uncle & Aunt own a condo they were willing to let us stay in. Even better they invited us to Thanksgiving and fed us and everything!

We made the trek out to Greeley, CO on Saturday. It had snowed heavily in Southern Minnesota and Iowa the night before (16 inches in some areas) and the roads were treacherous. We saw over a hundred cars in the ditch as we made our way south to I-80. After we hit the Nebraska border things cleared up though, and it was smooth sailing after that. A U of M ski team friend Graham Baird lives out in Greeley and put us up for the night. Then we only had a few hours of driving to Frisco where we were greeted by a bright and sunny day for our first ski. The trailhead was just over 9000' and it was apparent right away that this would take some getting used to. I've been at this high of elevation a couple times, but never for an extended period of time, and never with the goal of putting in many hours of endurance training. The snow cover was thin, but the trails were holding up well, and it was a wonderful day to ski in a t-shirt.

The Peninsula trails of Frisco Nordic

On the car trip there was some comment made about male bloggers posting pictures of half naked girls on their blogs (I don't remember why this was a topic of conversation, but it was a long car ride. We also read an entire used tractor catalog we found at a gas station in Nebraska) so I felt like I was pretty much required to put up this picture.

Snow, Mountains, partially clothed women, all the makings of a great ski trip

The town of Frisco with some mountains in the background

The Frisco Nordic Center with a nice backdrop

Skiing at Frisco

 The Frisco trails were fun and featured a long, sustained climb that was right on the edge between double pole and kick double pole range, so it was fun to try one of each and see how they compared.

The next day we went to check out the Breckenridge Nordic center. They had two areas of trail opened, but they weren't connected, so we skied the lower section in the morning and the upper section in the afternoon. The lower section only had about 3k of trails, which seems like a lot now that I've been making many loops of the 1.6k of snow available at Hyland.

The trails at Breckenridge Nordic, not a bad view

Breckenridge Nordic lower trails

The town of Breckenridge nestled in the valley

There were ridiculous houses right on the ski trails, and a steal at only $3 million!

The lower Breckenridge trails were pretty easy skiing and were well groomed. The upper trails, well they were a bit less friendly. The first day out there the grooming wasn't bad. The trail climbs rather steeply right from the parking area so I settled into a decent rhythm and climbed, and climbed, and climbed. Every time I thought I would get a break the trail would decide to start going up again. When I finally reached the top 30 minutes after starting I had climbed nearly 900', topping out at 10,890' of elevation. My legs were a bit shaky at this point, and the thin and somewhat icy snow made me a bit apprehensive to try the downhill with the small warning sign about very steep sections. I decided to ski around and climb it first to see what I would be getting myself into. When I got around to the bottom I decided that not trying that descent was an excellent decision. The hill drops 400' in a half mile, over 14% on average, and topping 30% for some sections near the bottom. Then there is a sharp right hand turn with no banking or warning at the bottom. Even in perfect snow conditions I would not want to try this descent, and I've tried some pretty crazy downhills. To put that 30% in perspective for midwest folks, the wall at the far end of the Hyland trail only hits 22%, so imagine going down that climb, but steeper, nearly 5x as long, and making a sharper turn at the bottom than what the Hyland hill has. Craziness!

All told in a 9 mile ski I climbed over 1500', about the same as a 30 mile rollerski at Afton.

The upper Breckenridge trails

Elevation Profile of an Upper Breckenridge ski

On Thanksgiving we got in a morning ski then headed to Conifer to join Emily's family for a Thanksgiving meal. After a little bit of trouble finding the house (which was actually cleverly disguised as a barn) we had a wonderful evening. It was snowing pretty heavily most of the evening and everything looked spectacular!

Friday morning we headed up towards Granby to ski at Devil's Thumb Ranch. There was more snow here than in Breckenridge, but they were still dealing with the fresh snowfall, so not all of their trails were open or groomed. I skied many of the trails that had only been rolled however, because they were fine for classic skiing and the groomed trails were mostly flat along the valley floor, while the not as well groomed trails climbed up the edges of the valley and were far more interesting. It was easier for my ego to handle being out of breath and needing frequent breaks if I was climbing vs. skiing flat, well groomed trails. I got a picture of a barn that reminded me of the very photogenic barn on a gravel road around Northfield.

Another photogenic barn

 Knowing that Saturday was our last day of skiing I pushed myself pretty hard on Friday. Plus there was only the one day to see as many of the Devil's Thumb trails as possible, so I had to cover as many as I could. I ended up with over 45km, my longest single day. That night we stayed at the YMCA Snow Mountain Ranch. If you are planning a ski trip, this is definitely the place to go! The room was very reasonable, downright cheap even considering it included a ski pass and a free breakfast at the dining hall, and there is skiing right out of the patio door. It was a gorgeous full moon, and I could see the lighted trails from our room, so I eventually decided to sneak out for a night ski. I decided to classic ski and was absolutely thrilled that I did. The tracks were Pisten Bully groomed, rock hard and super consistent. Kick was effortless (at least as effortless as anything at 9500') and the tracks just felt FAST! I brought a head torch with, but had it turned off most of the time because the moon was so bright. It was cold and completely calm, absolutely perfect night skiing weather. Everything was just gorgeous black and white in the moonlight, bright enough to see the mountains looming in the distance, and the sky was a wonderful tapestry of stars. I skied for an hour before I thought to look at my watch, and decided I better head back before the other folks started to worry about me. This was without a doubt my favorite ski of the trip.

Snow Mountain Ranch

The next morning the beautiful hard tracks were covered in a couple inches of new snow, and the going was much slower than the night before. I got a nice leisurely skate ski in with some fun climbs and some descents that would have been quite exciting in faster conditions. The highlight of the day is when I skied through a section of trail that had obviously seen some four legged traffic. I saw where the tracks dipped off the trail, and sure enough, there were a pair of moose just chilling down in a marsh below the trail. They were a little ways away, but I got a decent picture, good enough to identify them by anyway. They were just hanging out, so I didn't stay to watch too long, but it was fun to come across some legit natural beasts (from a distance)

Moose, Moose Moose Moose!!

I ended up with about 24 hours of training, around 250 km of skiing, for the week. It was wonderful to be on natural snow with such beautiful scenery, and should serve as a good base for the rest of ski season.

A new season for Bemidji

Once in a while I get a rare weekend with no races or other athletic type distractions and get to go do more normal people kind of stuff. The weekend of November 7th may not exactly fit into that category, but it was at least something different. Since I'm quite delayed in my blogging but still want to get some of these fun events cataloged for future amusement and for my few readers I'll try my best to put dates on what is going on.

So anyway, Eva happened to have a free weekend with no school, on call, or clerk duty responsibilities so we decided to head North to Bemidji for some camping and to watch A Prairie Home Companion. I had heard snippets of the show from time to time in the past, but when Nate and I started carpooling up to Sunday rollerskis it would always be on the radio on our way home, so I've kind of taken a liking to the show. Plus Garrison Keillor is retiring at the end of the year, so it was too good of an opportunity to pass up.

This is Eva, for anyone who reads this and hasn't met her

The original plan was to head up to Bemidji Saturday for the show then camp and hang out Sunday before making the trek back down to the cities. I found out a few days before however that our last set of rollerski time trials would be on Sunday the 8th, and I wanted to be able to participate, so instead we headed up Friday, camped Friday night, and explored Bemidji on Saturday before going to the show and driving back Saturday night.

I have skied at Bemidji state park, and know there is camping there, but I had never been to nearby Itasca state park, which is the headwaters of the Mighty Mississippi river. When I floated the idea by Eva she seemed pretty pumped about it. Her Grandma had fun stories about crossing the Mississippi river up at the headwaters, and it is only a short detour from a long trip.

The weather was pretty spectacular, kind of like the weather we are having now in December, but even warmer! Neither of us has cold weather sleeping bags, but we made do quite nicely by bringing a down comforter to toss over our sleeping bags. One of the nice things about car camping I guess; heavy, bulky comfort items are no problem.

It was pretty late by the time we made the drive up and set up camp, so we pretty much went right to sleep. The next morning we were off on a quest to find the headwaters. There is a pretty cool placard carved into a tree trunk, some rocks marking the edge of the lake, and a small log bridge crossing the river.

One of the smaller bridges crossing the Mighty Mississip

We headed in to Bemidji for lunch at the Keg n' Cork and took a bit of time to go pay Paul and Babe a visit. I make a couple trips to Bemidji every year, for the Chippewa Triathlon in the summer and the Minnesota Finlandia ski race in February, so it was fun to see Bemidji in the fall.

Paul Bunyan and Babe

We picked up a couple snacks at the co-op in town and got snazzied up for the show. A Prairie Home Companion is even better live than on the radio. I had never been to a radio show live before and it was quite engaging. Before the show started Garrison wandered around the auditorium singing the national anthem, some patriotic songs, and various hymns. It was fun to see how few people play so many different characters on the show. I think my favorite part was seeing the musical guests. The music itself would not have been especially interesting to me if I were hearing it on the radio, but seeing the obvious skill of the musicians live gave me a much greater appreciation for it.

The next morning I headed to Afton for time trials and additional skiing. Nate managed to hold me off in both the classic and skate time trials, so I was a bit disappointed in myself there. My times were pretty close to where they were last fall however, so hopefully that bodes well for the ski season ahead, since I had a pretty good season last year.

Chicago Style

Jeff reminded me that I have to put up a Chicago post. Since it has been over a month since that trip it is probably past time to get that done. After finishing the Birkie marathon I was ready to take a break from racing, but there were still all kinds of exciting races going on, and I couldn't just sit back and watch.

So instead I donned my cow suit, hopped on a bike, and pedaled around to dance, yell, and ring cowbells at the passing racers. The first event was the Twin Cities Marathon. My friends Erik and Elspeth were running, as well as many others I knew including Claire, Beth Anne, Jake, and Kesha. So Nate, Eva, Jeff, Greta, and I all formed a bike posse to ride around and cheer. Our friends Dave and Emily found us along the way and joined in too. Elspeth had a great race and crushed her PR. Beth Anne got her Boston Qualifier, and Claire finished her first marathon in great form.

This served as a great warmup for the following weekend, when Nate, Nichole, and I made the trek down to Chicago to cheer for Jeff in the Chicago Marathon. I got in a nice run the day before the race, doing some exploring up and down the lakefront before heading to the expo.

 I ran through a cross country race that was going on in a park along the lake. It was fun to think back (way back) to my cross country days and where running has taken me to since then.

I met Jeff and the Poraths at the expo and we had fun wandering around and looking at all the running related paraphernalia on offer. Here are a few pictures I took.

After the Expo we headed back to the hotel then wandered out to find some food. We didn't wander too far, because we wanted to keep Jeff's legs as fresh as possible for the race the next day.

 Race morning weather was great. A bit windy perhaps, but that's kind of a thing in Chicago I hear. Jeff got off to a solid start and was looking relaxed cruising through the first few miles.

Things didn't remain so rosy however. He started to have some stomach issues and wasn't taking on fuel, which started to cause it's own issues later in the race. It ended up to be a pretty rough day for him, but he gutted out a 2:47 anyway, a perfectly decent performance. Here's a picture of him in a good pack around the halfway mark.

And off by himself a couple miles later.

Nate, Nichole, and I had a blast cycling around in our cow costumes and cheering. This is my 3rd time going down to Chicago to ride around and cheer for marathon runners, and every time the racer I've gone to watch has had a rough day. Maybe I'm just bad luck. I've had a blast every time though, it's a lot of fun to get to bike around on urban roads when there is little to no traffic because the race shuts down so many roads.

Jeff's back on the training bandwagon already with his sights set on Grandma's marathon next summer. We will have a good crew up there with Jeff, Marco, and myself all aiming to go under that 2:40 barrier and my sister hoping to bring her PR down quite a bit too. Grandma's is a great marathon, and this is their 40th year, so it should be a great party up there come June.

On the Defensive

Last weekend I headed North for a variety of fun events. The first stop was at my parents house for supper and a short birthday celebration. I swapped cars with my mom and continued North toward the Porath's cabin. There was a detour along the way that added some extra time, since I didn't have a phone to tell me a good way to circumnavigate the detour I decided to wing it and after a couple wrong turns and some fun gravel road adventuring got back on course and made it to the cabin before it got too late. Rob, Nate, and Nichole where there when I arrived, and Nate's parents arrived soon after. They also brought birthday cake for me, so we celebrated and headed off to bed.

The next morning I was up bright and early to go defend my first ever marathon win, the Birkie trail marathon. Rob was running the 100k, so he was already racing by the time I woke up. It was a perfect day for running, cool and clear, and the Birkie trail was gorgeous as always. I knew there would be a couple of speedy fellows there, so I mentally prepared myself to go out in control.

Start of the race - Photo: Birkie.com

Of course when the gun went off that didn't exactly happen. There is a lot of climbing in the first few miles of the course, and while I did mostly keep things in control I still pushed harder than I probably should have. There was a young guy who got away almost right from the get go, and I settled in behind a bearded fellow completely decked out in Scott racing apparel. The 3 of us quickly distanced the rest of the field, so the podium seemed pretty much locked up by a mile or so into the race.

I lost sight of the leader pretty quickly, but kept the Scott runner in sight for quite a long time. We hit the first section of single track and it felt great to just let the trail dictate the pace and flow through the fun switchbacks. Back on the Birkie trail I caught the Scott runner at the OO turnaround, but he slowly opened up a gap on me again during the long push North on the classic trail. At mile 16 he had about 20 seconds on me, at mile 18 it was about 40 seconds, and I didn't see him again until the finish after that.

Once he was out of sight I tried to push myself just in case someone was coming up behind me, but I could tell that I was struggling. It was close enough to the end of the race though that I was willing to be in pain for a while.

Nate found me about 1/2 mile or so from the finish and cheered me in. He said he though I was in second, but I figured he missed the kid in the lead because he was quite far ahead of the other two of us.

I sprinted past a couple of kids running the 5k to finish strong. The Scott guy looked like he had been done for a while, and about a minute after I finished the kid who had been in first came in. He took a wrong turn and added almost 3 extra miles.

Finishing! - Photo: Birkie.com

I had found out just before the race that there was going to be prize money this year, so I got my first ever paycheck from running; $250, not too bad for a race that I got to run for free. I got to stand on a pretty sweet looking podium, and then I had to fill out tax forms. While they were processing the forms I was chatting with the winner. Apparently he is from Germany and just ran the Run Rabbit Run 100 miler the weekend before. He took 5th there despite getting quite lost. I could still feel my 50 miler from 2 weekends ago, so to double back from a 100 miler and take on the Birkie trail was impressive.

The Podium - Photo: Birkie.com

While we were waiting I also heard that runner #10 (Rob!) was in the lead and due to be at the Boedecker road aid station soon. Nate, Nichole, and I booked it out there to see if we could catch him. We were there well ahead of him and had some time to chat with the aid station workers and the 2 girls who were there crewing for their boyfriends.

Rob came through cool as a cucumber, although I could tell the miles were starting to get to his legs a bit. That is to be expected 40 miles into a race though I'm sure. He moved through in good time and didn't have any nagging issues. The second place runner was arriving just as Rob was leaving, but he took a good 10 minutes or more of chair time before walking out of the aid station, so I figured he wouldn't catch back up to Rob any time soon. That did prove to be the case, Rob won the race, his first race win, by over an hour, and was the only runner to finish in the daylight!

After that I headed back to my parents for the next event. My friend Adam is getting married next month, so we held his bachelors party out in the woods behind my parents. We headed into town to go mini golfing first. Cary and I had a good duel for a while before I finally got the edge in my group. I tried some pretty risky shots, and a few of them even paid off. I got a bit sloppy in the last few holes, but by that point my lead was insurmountable. Then we grilled some food and got the bonfire going. Rob stopped by to spend the night as well. We turned in a little after 1:00 AM. Most other folks were up until the fire died down a little after 3. I woke up early to check on breakfast and see Rob on his way. I had briefly considered going rollerskiing, but had more fun hanging out and watching some blurry eyed boys wolf down egg bake.

Sunday afternoon I headed to the cities to hang out with Eva. We got a little frisbee playing in and went out to watch the super blood moon eclipse. It was a really amazing event. We headed out to the ag fields at the U of M, the place with about the least amount of light pollution that we could walk to. It was a perfect evening for laying out and gazing upon the heavens.

October promises to be a busy month, but I have no more races on the schedule as of now. Next weekend is Twin Cities Marathon, a chance to dust off the cow suit and get a practice ride in before heading down to Chicago the weekend after.

Quick Fiddy

As summer comes to a close I am finally getting back to racing. Last summer I was really fit, raced a lot, and won quite a few small races. This summer by contrast I was pretty wiped out after two early spring marathons and haven't been as motivated to get out training. This has given me the chance to do a bit more adventuring, camping, and spending time with friends and family, which has been nice. My brilliant strategy to allow myself this freedom was to sign up for a 50 mile race in September so I wouldn't be tempted to sign up and train hard for a fall marathon. That race was the Superior 50, the little brother of the epic Sawtooth 100 race on the superior hiking trail. The tag line for the race is Rugged, Relentless, Remote, and it lives up to that.

Leading up to the race I was putting in moderate training weeks with big mileage on the weekend. I had a few weekends with 2-3 runs totally 30+ miles for the weekend. I kept the pace easy, knowing I would need to be efficient at a much slower speed than I'm used to running. I didn't race at all in July and only one little 10 miler in August. I got in a long weekend of hiking on the Pictured Rocks trails in Michigan and tried to spend a lot of time outside. When I first started racing long races like the Chippewa Triathlon I noticed that since I work indoors I was not used to being outside for large chunks of the day especially in the heat of the middle of the day, so I have focused on spending weekends outside as much as possible to not have that additional stress to adapt to on race day. This was a great excuse to get in a couple camping trips and some long bike rides.

The 50 mile race starts in Finland, MN at 5:30 on a Saturday morning. The 100 mile starts at 8:00 AM the day before, so I spent Friday evening cheering on my friends Rob and Eric. Rob ended up dropping out at mile 50, the very same place where I would be starting the next day. I was sad to see him drop, so when I started running the next day part of me felt like I was carrying on the torch for him.

Ready to Race!

The weather at the race start was absolutely spectacular. It was just under 40F, the sky was clear of clouds and awash with stars. Most of us runners stayed inside out of the cold until the race organizer herded us out to the start line. I wish I had a picture or video to match how amazing the race start was. The road ahead lit by the headlamps of all the runners around me, the almost complete darkness of the surrounding forest, and then the brilliant tableau of stars up above. The paved road quickly turned to gravel, and not long after that we dived into the darkness that is the superior national forest.

Runners getting ready to start.

The race climbed steadily for a couple miles, but it was when we turned downhill that I began to run into problems almost right away. Since I figured I would only be running in darkness for an hour at most I only packed a small light, and it was not enough to see the trail well. When I did more trail running and was a younger, more nimble fellow this may not have been a big concern, but my amount of technical trail running has not been that great this summer, so I was kind of in over my head. After passing a runner who suddenly pulled over to the side of the trail I considered that twisting an ankle was a serious concern. Sure enough, not even a quarter mile later I rolled my left ankle pretty good on the edge of a rock.

Course profile for the Superior Fall Races

I backed the pace off after this, because I couldn't really trust my weight on that foot for a while, but I still managed to roll the same ankle a couple more times before making it in to the first aid station 7.5 miles into the race. I made a quick stop to loosen up my shoe laces on my now swelling foot and was back underway. Throughout the day that was one thing I felt like I did very well, I came into aid stations with a plan and I moved through quickly and efficiently.

The sun finally edged above the horizon before the next aid station, and my friend Emily was there to take my headlight and long sleeve shirt. I kept my arm warmers and buff since I still couldn't really use my fingers because of the cold most of the time. I wasn't going to complain about that though, knowing that chilly fingers are far better than the heat of the race a couple years ago the first time Rob ran it. The next stretch was the Crosby-Manitou segment, one of the most beautiful sections, but also one of the most difficult, and the longest stretch of the race between aid stations. Last year I paced my friend Jeff through this section in the middle of the night, and it was far more enjoyable in the daylight I have to say. My energy was good for this section and I felt like I was moving very well.

I kept those good feelings through the next aid station and past the marathon start. One marathon down, one to go (the actual race length is 52.4 miles, so just about exactly 2 full marathons). I was at 5:15 at this point, so a bit off of my goal of sub 10 hours, but I was happy with how things were going. That changed quickly on the long downhill to the Cross River however.

The lead woman caught me on the flat stretch along the Cross River and I picked up my pace to stay with her. Going up and over the next climb I actually put a good gap on her again, but lost all that ground and more on the descent to the Temperance aid station. She was just leaving that aid station when I arrived. It was a lonely slog up to Carleton Peak. I ran almost all the way to the top though, so I was pretty proud of that. Just as I was nearing the peak Emily showed up. It was nice to finally drop off my arm warmers and buff with her and start picking my way downhill to the next aid station. From this point on I had raced all of the rest of the course as part of a 50k a couple years ago, so I had a good idea of what to expect. In some ways that was reassuring, but in other ways it was rather frustrating, since I knew how much more quickly I had covered this section of trail last time I raced here.

The last 15 miles were a slog. I kept running by sheer force of will, but unfortunately not running quickly by this point since my legs were pretty stiff. I got passed by two more women and one more guy in the 50 mile race, moving me back to 14th, the place where I would ultimately finish. I was very happy to finally hit the road near Caribou highlands and be able to push the pace on the more stable surface. My final time was 11:14.

I learned a lot this race, but also did a lot of things right. Food and drink were right on, and I paced things pretty well for much of the race. I was not prepared adequately for the terrain however, and had very little left in the legs for the runnable sections late in the race, so those are some training issues that will need to be addressed before I try another one of these races. I may be back someday, but probably not next year, where I'm already looking at the Inspiration 100 gravel race on this weekend.

Bicycle Voyageur

Last year I went up to cheer for Jeff and Rob at the Voyageur 50 mile race near Duluth. I had a great time running around on the gorgeous trails cheering and watching the race unfold. The aid stations at ultramarathons are their own fun little community with friends, spouses, and children ferrying around watching a race and waiting for their runner to come through before quickly packing up shop and hustling off to the next point. It is many of the same faces throughout the day, although who is at a particular station changes depending on how the runner they are there to support is doing. Since Rob was headed back up to run this race again I though it would be a fun way to get away for the weekend and get a good workout in. It was also a great way to see a 50 mile race in action to give me some ideas of what to expect at my 50 mile debut in a few weeks. (Just a quick note, this race was in late July, I'm not exactly up to date on my blog posting).

Nate decided to accompany Rob and I and do some spectating as well, so on Friday afternoon we loaded up our bikes and headed North. We stopped at Tobie's for supper, the same place I stopped with Jeff and Rob last year, and the hostess seated us at the exact same table as we were at. Rob and I got a good chuckle out of this. Then we finished the trip up to Duluth where we camped at the Indian Point campground. The campground was basically a big open field, and we were a bit worried about all the noisy kids running around, but like magic right around 11:00 everyone quieted down and we had no trouble getting to sleep.

The next morning was cool, but the day promised to get hot, and the humidity was already high. The race is an out and back that starts in the town of Carlton, runs through Jay Cooke state park, works it's way up and over Spirit Mountain, and turns around at the Duluth Zoo. Last year I had no idea where I was going and was lucky enough to run into my friend T-1000 (o.k. her actual name is Kara) who was there crewing for her friend Emily and she had maps and directions for navigating. I hadn't done much spectating for long races before, and while the course is obviously marked for the runners, there are no course markings for spectators or crew. This year I started doing some research a couple weeks before the race so I would know where to go. Then Rob mentioned that the course often runs parallel to the Willard Munger bike trail, and the plan quickly switched from driving to biking. This plan worked amazingly well! It was a great way to get around quickly and to really get to experience the area in a way that driving in a car just doesn't allow. Also since it at times took a bit longer to get from aid station to aid station there was a bit less waiting around.

Rob has a good formula for his races and he follows it well. He races nice and steady and doesn't often seem ruffled by anything. Nate and I cheered him along and gave him updates on how the rest of the race was playing out. We ran a couple short sections with him so we could get a few running miles in ourselves. Sure enough, as the day went on the weather got hot, into the upper 80's and quite muggy for a while. Luckily in the afternoon the humidity started to drop and conditions got a bit more bearable.

Rob hit the turn around in about 4 1/2 hours, looking good for hitting his goal of 10 hours. The way back was much hotter than the way out though, and the heat and mileage took it's toll. He ended up finishing in 10:18, still a pretty respectable time. Rob is running the 100 mile race at Superior, where I am running my 50, so this was a good tuneup day for him. I pushed Nate pretty hard on some of the biking sections of the day, so he was almost as tired as Rob by the end of the day I think.

A big weekend o' fun

I'm going to make a jump back up to the present with the blog now. I have a few posts started from the previous couple weeks and a trip earlier in the summer, but I find I'm better at keeping to a schedule if I just need to blog about what happened in the last week, so I'm just going to fill in those past posts randomly when I have time. So be on the lookout for that, and you know, be careful when someone loves you.

Blue Sky and Radar Love

Last weekend was the Tour De Save bike ride in Northfield. The ride was started as the Tour De Nick several years ago in memory of a Northfield rider who committed suicide, and in the last couple years has partnered with the SAVE foundation to help raise money for their organization. I joined a few other EMVC riders on the 100k gravel route.

TDS Gravel Crew

It was a wonderful morning for riding. It was sunny and calm, not too warm and not too humid. We were going at a pretty leisurely pace, which was good since I haven't put a lot of miles on the bike this year. Bruce Anderson joined us for the first few miles, but he was itching to go faster and couldn't find any companions in our group, so he ventured off alone. Paul also branched off partway through, so there were 5 of us that rode the whole route together.

Grinding out the miles

There was plenty of climbing, so once I had a good feel for my bike fitness I decided to make a run at a couple Strava segments along the way. When I did the gravel championships a couple years ago I didn't get credit for the Shady Lane segment, so I really wanted to take another run at that one in particular. It is a 2 mile segment with a good 19% gravel climb near the end. I managed to throw down a good enough time to tie Galen for 2nd place on the segment, but feel like I could be faster.

Gorgeous roads, fun hills, no cars

By the time we got back almost all the food was gone, but there were still some cookies and we had squirreled away a few beers that were waiting for us. I had one against my own better judgement. This was not my final workout of the day, and I knew that beer wouldn't sit all that well for the run I still had to do.

Workout #1 done

Turns out I was kind of right. By the time I got home, changed, and headed out running it was getting pretty hot and steamy out. My goal was to make 13 miles and get a good collection of hills in as well. I achieved both of those goals, and put my hydration vest through a good test run in the process. The pieces are starting to fall into place for my 50 miler next month, but I still feel like I need to get a couple hilly trail runs in to really feel prepared.

Out for some bonus Radar Love

Sunday morning it was back to Afton to join the SCAR training crew for a 50k rollerski (it was actually only 47k). It is a fun ski, meeting in downtown Afton and following a different route than our normal Sunday morning skis. There are also aid stations set up along the course with M&M's and water, both of which were very welcome since I was working on pretty low glycogen stores from the day before. There were a couple young guys on classic skis that set a good comfortable pace so we finished up in just under 3 hours. Afterwards I was actually feeling pretty decent for having put in a 10hr+ weekend.

Party Time

After a few busy weekends of racing it was time to take a weekend just to relax and catch up with some friends. Plus we are in to the heart of summer, so there are plenty of outdoor opportunities for relaxing and socializing (plus plenty of daylight for working out besides).

Adam and Audrey were having a get together, and my friend Sarah's parents are selling their amazing house and were having a party to say goodbye to it. Both events gave me a chance to catch up to people I hadn't seen in quite a while, some since I was in highschool.

Saying goodbye to Sarah's family house was a great nostalgic experience, just getting to wander around and remember all the fun I had there, all the cookies baked, study sessions for various classes, many games of Foosball, movie watching, time hanging out and talking, and lots more fun besides.

Goodbye House!

Aside from the walk down memory lane it was really interesting to look at the layout and architecture of the house now that I am also a home owner. Everything in the house is gorgeous and designed just the way the family wanted, but there are definitely things I would do differently if I were designing my own house, mostly because I have different hobbies and interests than this family. Some things, like the hidden door behind the bookcase leading to the master bath, the greenhouse built as part of the south side of the house, the multiple patios, and the fire pole between their sons office and bedroom are really, really cool!

Tri Tri again

The weekend after Grandma's was the Tri-loppet. There were some big changes to the race this year, with prize money being added and racing canoes disqualified from the prize money category. This meant all the fast racers would be in stock boats, which I have always done this race in. I end up with a huge time deficit coming out of the water every year and then see how much I can make up on the bike and run. I've only been beat by one person in the run in the 7 or so years I've been doing this race, so my goal is always to throw down the fastest run time. When the rule about stock boats was announced I debated finding a fast paddle partner and trying to contest for the win, but I have always had my most fun in this race running up from behind and not worrying about finishing place.

When spring came around focus went to marathons and I didn't get out paddling at all. This continued through most of the spring; for whatever reason I really wasn't looking forward to paddling. Erik finally lit a fire under me to get some boat time in so I would be ready for the Chippewa Triathlon. My first paddle of the year was out on the Mississippi with my friend Emily, and she gave me some good technique pointers that have made my paddling feel much more solid this year. That and even from the first time on the water I felt like I had some amount of technique and muscle memory in place, which is encouraging. Because of the late start to paddling though, my scheme of racing for the win at Tri-loppet kind of evaporated. Instead I decided to paddle with one of the Loppet kids and then see what I could do from there. My partner was a high school Sophomore named Quinlan. He had at least been in a boat several times and actually didn't have too bad of a paddle stroke. My steering is slowly improving, so we also ran a somewhat straighter line than I have in years past, so I was only a couple minutes slower out of the water than I have been the last few years.

Working on my steering

A group of EMVC folks decided to put together a relay team, so my goal was to give them a run for their money. Paul and his daughter Kathryn did the paddle leg. I figured if I were near them coming out of the boat I would have a chance to beat their relay team. I ended up beating them out of the water by 1:30 or so, and hammered the run to build up as big of a gap over Mike "The Moose" knowing Galen would be faster than me on the bike leg. Alex Reich also got out of the water a bit before me and I wanted to chase him down. I passed many people for it only being a 5k. I was 62nd out of the water, and by the end of the run I was probably in the top 25. My streak of posting the fastest run time was ended however, with a young fella named Patrick crushing the rest of the field on the run leg.

Finishing up the bike leg

I didn't catch Alex on the run leg, but I did catch him on the bike leg and moved into the top 20. At one point I saw Galen at another point of the course behind me and figured I was safe from getting caught by the EMVC team. I managed to work my way up to 17th place, just under 15 minutes behind the winner. Quinlan went on to win his age group, he was a hard worker, and I really enjoyed paddling with him. My run time was my fastest ever, by a good margin too, and my overall finishing time was 1 second slower than last year. Pretty good consistency for a nearly 2 hour race under varying conditions.

EMVC Triloppet Crew, great racing everyone!

After the race I stuck around to visit with folks and help tear down the course, drinking over a liter of Gatorade in the process I'm sure. I was feeling pretty tired, but Caitlin and Brian Gregg were talking about heading out for a rollerski that afternoon, so I would have felt lazy just calling it a day. Instead I met up with Jeff and Rob for a couple hours of running on the Mendota river bottom trails. It is nice and shaded down there, but I still went through an entire water bottle in the 2 hours we were out running.