Racing ahead

Ski racing season didn't wait long into 2015 before getting back going. On new years day I mad emy way up to Theodore Wirth park for the Ahvo Klassic. Since the race was only a 12k I figured it wouldn't hurt to work out a couple more times along the way, so I went and joined the Band of Ten Thousand Aches, Northfield's most prestigious running group, for their annual new years day run and brunch. I have been to a couple of events put on by the band and knew many of the runners, but this was the first time I had actually joined the group for a run. It was a great way to start out the morning. Nate and I took turns pushing Greta during the run.

After the run I headed up to Hyland to meet Jeff for a ski. Unfortunately he decided to sleep in and didn't make it out, but when I had finished up my first lap I ran into Craig Stolen. He pulled me over to give me a case of Fulton "Worthy Adversary" and some hats to distribute to the Vakava skiers who were part of the winning team at the Fulton team relay race earlier in the week. I skied with him for a bit before continuing North to the race.

This beer is true to it's name. Nate and I shared a bottle and it almost got the better of us both.

There is only a 1.5km loop of man made snow at Theodore Wirth, but the race organizers decided to use a few km of natural snow trails as well. They warned racers to use B skis, which for me meant skis that I hadn't waxed since ?? and that had a pretty heavy accumulation of kick wax as well. They weren't fast, but I threw a little VR50 on and they kicked quite well. Andy Brown and Tyler Gilbert got away right from the gun and I settled into 3rd all by myself. I could hear a pack of about 4 skiers not too far behind me, but decided I would rather ski by myself so I could pick my line through the thin natural snow sections.

I paced things well, but was tracked down and passed by a hard charging U of M skier in the last km or so. I didn't quite have the herringbone speed to keep with him over the last couple steep hills, so I ended up in 4th. One advantage of being an old fella though is that I still handily won my age class. I won a pair of U of M ski pants, that were unfortunately too small for me, so they will be a late Christmas present for Jeff instead.

This week has been quite cold, and I've been taking things pretty easy so I'm at least a little rested up for my first ski marathon of the season this weekend. I'm racing the classic race at the Sisu Ski Fest, a race I haven't tried before, so I'm excited to see how the course is. There has been enough snow for the groomers to get out in the Arb; it has been really convenient to have skiing right in town, especially just to get out for easy skis. Otherwise I've mostly been running during the week still, trying to keep the weekly mileage up for as long as I can. Last year once I started ski racing regularly I wasn't recovering well if I ran during the week, but this year I have a much bigger running base, so I'm hoping to keep some miles up all the way through the winter.