Not my slowest Birkie

Warning: Long and not super interesting post ahead. If you just want the recap without all the details and minutia, here it is. I raced the Finlandia Pursuit and won my first axe, so I can chop wood to keep my family warm this winter. I switched to the Birkie classic race this year, had a fun race, and finished 10th. I raced the Pepsi Challenge and finished 5th. Also, the olympics happened and they were great, although not exactly great for all the US skiers.

This post has been late going up, partially because post Birkie my motivation for doing most anything has been low (due to being sick mostly), and partially because I'm still processing the race. I think I set some overly ambitious goals for myself this year, and even when I have achieved those goals I've had this feeling of what more can I do, which leaves me excited for the next race, but not really sure what to make of my results. In retrospect I am pretty thrilled about what I have achieved this year, and the Birkie was no exception, I just don't have many good ways to gauge my effort against past races to put the day in context. So without further ado, here is the recap.

Getting to the Birkie was every bit as hard as racing it this year. My travel plans were pretty uncertain until the trip was about halfway over. I usually drive to my parents Thursday night and ride up Friday morning with the Johnson family, who are amazing fun people to stay with and who have a sweet connection with a cabin a couple minutes walk from the start line. I am very grateful that they are willing to take me into their extended family for the weekend, it makes the Birkie weekend much less stressful and much more celebratory. This year however they were planning to drive up a day early to spend a bit of extra family time together, which left me to find my own ride up. Not a problem except there really isn't room for another car where we stay, so I would have to find a place to stash mine nearby. This plan changed with the weather however. The Thursday before the race started out with a steady rain that turned to a heavy snow creating a layer of thick ice with up to 17" of snow on top of it. The high winds that followed the storm made for some of the worst driving conditions possible, glare ice with huge snowbanks extending onto the road and very low visibility. The first half of the drive to my parents I didn't see actual pavement anywhere, and never got over 30 mph. Slow and steady won this race though, and eventually I made it to my folks, met the Johnsons, who delayed their trip, and we got up to Hayward without incident.

The weather conditions were not pretty, but they did seem to be pretty predictable, so

I switched to the Birkie Classic race this year for several reasons.

• First, because nearly everyone I have talked to that has done the classic race has raved about how great the race is, how wonderful the classic trail is to ski, and very few of them have switched back to the skate race. The exceptions to this are Andy Brown who was denied a spot in the classic elite wave and had to ski by himself out of wave 1, and Elspeth who despite a laundry list of complaints about last years classic race and the Birkie in general was back doing the classic race again. 
• Second, I had promised myself as a naive Birkie skiing youth that I would ski the race classic on my 10th Birkie if I didn't make the elite wave before then (an unlikely event for a guy who was a consistent wave 2 skier at the time). Well, I did make the elite wave, but reneging on my promise always left me feeling a bit guilty, especially when they made the classic race longer. I usually like doing the longest race possible at an event.
• Third, my classic skiing had been improving slowly but steadily for a few years while my skating was seemingly plateauing. I had skated slower times 3 Birkies in a row and was getting a collection of bibs in the 90's. I knew I could place higher than this in the weaker classic field, so the chance to get one good finish before I passed my peak was tough to pass on. I ended up skiing my best placed Birkie soon after making this decision (but still a slower time than the year before), which caused me to waver, but then went on to win a very slow, snowy Pepsi Challenge classic race which reaffirmed my commitment to make the switch.
• Fourth, Peer pressure. Nearly everyone else in the cabin I was staying at was skiing the Classic race, so I was feeling a bit left out as a skater. In fact this year only one person in the cabin skied the skate race.

Race morning was cold, but all winter has been cold, so most racers were used to it. I had talked my way into the classic elite wave so got to try the mad dash to get a spot on the start line following the start of the women's elite wave. I didn't do well at this and ended up about 3 rows back. Things weren't crowded or crazy when the gun went off though, so I was easily able to make my way into about the top 20 by the time the trail narrowed. From there I moved up a couple spots through the lead pack as openings were available. About 3k in I was skiing with Travis Hinck and Bjorn Batdorf, two great friends who I met in college and have been on various great adventures with since. Travis has had multiple top 20 finishes in the Birkie classic, and Bjorn is all around a great skier with some big wins under his belt including City of Lakes loppet and Seeley Hills, so I knew I was in good company. We hung out in the middle of the lead pack, keeping an eye on the guys up front. I was having an absolute blast at this point in the race. The sun was out, the woods were gorgeous with everything covered in a fresh, heavy layer of snow, I was skiing comfortably with the lead pack of the race and right around some of my best friends. Every Birkie where I have skied with Bjorn has been a great Birkie for me, and this one was turning out to be no exception.

The pace was very manageable as the front skiers were doing a bit of extra work to knock down the frost that had formed in the classic tracks when the windblown snow set up. I was surprised when we hit the highpoint of the race at about 16km and I looked back to find that I was now at the back of the lead pack. Over the next 10k the pack continued to thin a bit, and when our trail joined with the skate trail the pace picked up noticeably and more skiers, myself included, fell off the back. Bjorn and another skier went on ahead and tucked on to the back of the pack, and I was dangling off the back alone. I did a quick count as the leaders were getting away and figured I was in about 13th. I settled in to ski my own race after this point. My goal had been to stick with the leaders as long as I could then see where the race went from there. I had hoped to hold on a bit longer, but wasn't willing to dig myself into too deep of a hole with almost 20k of racing left. I got some great cheering from my parents and the other volunteers at the gravel pit aid station and soon after caught sight of another classic skier ahead of me.

My reach goal for this race was to hit the top 10, so when I fell off the pack I knew I would need to keep focused if I wanted to stay close enough to pick off stragglers. I tried to keep the pace just at a slightly uncomfortable effort, reminding myself that I had less than 20k to go, and steadily closed down the skier ahead of me. After I passed him he was unable to hang on for long, but he kept me in sight for a while. I used skate skiers as targets to help me keep looking forward and chasing, then at about 40k I caught sight of a blue CXC uniform up ahead. Bjorn was skiing by himself up ahead. I was gaining some ground on him on the climbs, but none at all on the flats. I cranked up the effort a bit, if I could just get within striking distance I could make a big charge on Bitch hill and hopefully reel him in. This is exactly what I did. He was tiring and was herringbone walking in a line of skaters so I was able to stride right up to him. I tailed him just until he noticed me then I took a pull to help us gain back some speed. He went by me on a downhill (coming out of my draft, his skis didn't seem any faster than mine) and I tucked on with him until the next feed station.

After the last feed stop there is are a nice long climb. Not steep, but it goes on for a while. When skating I can get a good feel for the snow speed and my remaining energy based on whether I can V2 this hill or need to switch to the V1 climbing technique. I got a small gap on Bjorn almost right away going up this hill, so I knew I had a bit more left in the tank than him. I cheered for him to hold on and tried to keep my pace steady, but it was clear that he wasn't going to tag right back on. I kept pushing up over the hill, then decided that since I had a gap I might as well make the most of it. I pushed pretty hard over the flat and caught fellow Vakava skier Bonnie as we were dropping down the last hill towards the lake. Eugene also went by about this time, so we had a little Vakava crew for a short bit of time, all of us coming from different start times but converging with only a few km to go in the race. I tried to keep pace with Eugene as best as possible to make sure my speed stayed high.

When I got onto the lake the full force of the wind and the magnitude of the task ahead of me sank in. It was a fierce, cold headwind and there were 3km of skiing left to get to the finish line. I was pretty evenly fatigued, so I kick double poled across most of the lake. I know many other classic skiers ended up striding, and I kind of doubt anyone double poled the whole thing. After my poor lake skiing at City of Lakes I resolved to keep the tempo high and put power into my poling. I was keeping pace with skaters pretty well, so that was reassuring. Bjorn is a stronger double poler than I am, so I fully expected him to be closing on me if he had any energy left. About halfway across the lake I spotted another classic skier ahead and briefly entertained the idea that I might catch him because he was striding, but I didn't appear to be closing on him quickly enough. The gap kept coming down however, and all of a sudden on the short little bump up from the lake to the road that would lead in to the finish I was going by him. The buildings in town also cut down the wind some, so I cranked it up, trying to gather a bit more momentum. The skier I passed (Jake Boyce) had no response and I easily got away with a mix of kick double pole and some fast striding.

I finished in 3:06:39, in 10th place. This met my placement goal and I was very pleased with my effort on the day and that I kept my technique together and managed my energy levels well. I wish I could have held on to the lead pack longer, but that is something to work on improving for next year. Bjorn came in about a minute behind me, and Travis another minute or so after that, so the three of us went in and changed then spent the rest of the day eating and chatting with every skier I recognized, which is quite a few after 14 years of skiing and racing around the Midwest and making this annual trip up to Hayward for the American Birkebiener. The general consensus was that this was one of the hardest, slowest Birkies on record. For me however it wasn't even close. Even though I was skiing in a slower technique and a 4km longer course I was still over 40 minutes faster than my first and slowest Birkie.

That wraps up the big race of the year. I raced the Pepsi Challenge last weekend and finished 5th. I think it was the only time using blue kick wax for the whole season. Now it is on to running and biking season. I'm headed down to pace the speedy Sharon Snyder for a half marathon in a couple weeks, so I have to get my running legs back under me right quick. I also have less than a month until the Ragnarok 105 gravel race, which I won't be completing all of due to time constraints with a wedding that afternoon, but will see how far I can get in the time I allow myself. This was a pretty epic post, now I can see why most bloggers split up posts for their A races, and for their season transitions. Oh well, if you made it this far, go out and run or something, it will be a better use of your time, but thanks for hanging in there :) More posts coming on hopefully a more regular schedule.

Lonely Road

Last week was pretty quiet. Some frigid northern air continued to hold Minnesota in it's frosty grasp, and after the City of Lakes super loppet I was in full recovery mode. Vakava practice was my only speed for the week. The workout was classic team relay, which Bonnie and I won handily, mostly because it's easy to win when Bonnie is the "slow" skier on the team. My ski speed is improving this year, but I still have to figure out pacing and group skiing a bit better. Other than that I've been trying harder to get to bed at a reasonable hour and give my body the best chance possible to recover as I taper for the big races ahead. I am in the thick of race season now, and it's an extra exciting year for winter sport fans as the Olympics is going on.  Also, my friend Dave just turned 30, and his fiancee threw a great surprise party for him; it was a lot of fun.

It was a big weekend for racing, we'll cover the most important ones first. The women's skiathlon kicked off the cross country ski program at the Olympics. The US had 4 skiers entered, and while none of them was realistically a medal threat they were all primed to have great races. Sadie Bjornsen had a great classic leg, getting some good camera time for the super looking US Olympic race suits. At the front of the race the leaders were turning the screws, and by the ski exchange had whittled the pack down to about 7 skiers, this is where the camera focus was during the remainder of the event. Too bad really, because the US staged a huge comeback in the second half of the race with Jessie Diggins fighting up to 8th place, and Liz right on her heels in 12th, amazing performances to kick off the next couple weeks. Jumping ahead briefly Sophie Caldwell skied out of her gourd to raise the bar even higher by making it to the sprint finals and ultimately ending up in 6th place in a race where all 4 US starters qualified for the rounds. At the front of the skiathlon race Norway reminded the world it is the true cross country powerhouse by taking 1st, 3rd, and 4th. Props to Charlotte Kalla from Sweden though who put in an incredible burst up the last climb to make her bid for the gold. It takes some real guts to drop Therese Johaug on a steep climb, and even Marit Bjorgen looked like she might not bridge the gap for a while. On the mens' side "Super" Dario Cologna showed that he hasn't lost his edge, making a big move at the same place as Kalla that nobody could respond to. Eric Olson housed Nate and I the night before the Vasaloppet, so we were able to watch the end of the skiathlon right before we headed off to our own race, talk about motivation!

On the domestic racing side Caitlin Gregg picked up where she left off, winning a supertour 5k skate race by nearly 45 seconds. A bit closer to home was the Mora Vasaloppet. After several years of doing the classic race I decided to go back to the headline event, the 58k skate. A couple pre-race notes before I dive into my race report. I didn't put a top coat on my skis, but people who had been out testing skis were saying topcoats were much faster, so I did a bit of panic waxing and threw some Solda HP-05 fairy dust on top of the Fastwax White that I had on. I had never used fluoro powder before, only blocks or pastes, so it was a bit unnerving to have only a bit of dust between my ski base and an extremely hot iron, but things worked out ok. I don't know how the skis would have run without the topcoat, Fastwax has been spot on with their recommendations all season, but I know they were fast with it on race day. The other note is that I forgot to pack gels for the race, so my race fuel was a granola bar that we got in our race pack that I pinned in my race pants to keep it warm enough to eat. This worked surprisingly well. Granola bars are tougher to get down while skiing, but there was so much no pole skate during the race that it didn't matter if my hands were tied up fiddling with the granola bar for a bit.

Mora is known for having a flat course that produces fast times, and this year was no exception. It was a cold morning, about 2F at race start, but the snow was rock hard and quite fast. I got out to a decent start and tagged on to the back of the lead pack. I was working to hold on, and in transitions around corners I was skiing stiff and would often lose a stride or two. After about 10km of this there was finally a bigger gap than I could close without a huge effort, so I resigned myself to skiing alone. A couple quick glances back didn't show anyone close behind me, but I tried to keep the mentality that I was sitting on the back of the pack to make sure my tempo stayed high on the climbs and I was squeezing all the speed I could out of my skis on the flats.

Start of Mora Vasaloppet - photo by Bruce Adelsman: Skinnyski.com

Once the race turned out of the headwind the conditions were gorgeous. The track was firm and fast, the kind of fast where even when you are skiing alone in the woods you can tell you are going FAST! I was surprised a couple times when I thought I had missed a km marker and suddenly find out that I had missed 4 or 5 km markers. Skiing alone for almost 40km gave me plenty of time to enjoy the scenery and just take in the day. There were not a lot of random thoughts as I tried to keep my focus on my technique and energy levels, and hoping to catch a glimpse of someone ahead while listening for skiers gaining from behind.

Almost to the Finish - photo by Bruce Adelsman: Skinnyski.com

 With about 11 km to go I caught sight of a pack of 3 or 4 skiers crossing a meadow behind me. I knew I was sitting in 8th and didn't want to have my chance at a top 10 come down to a sprint finish, so I decided to hit it hard for a few km to hopefully stay out of sight.  Chasing a skier down is much harder if you can't tell how far ahead of you they are.  Shortly after this our trail merged with the 35km skiers so I was able to lose myself in the crowd a bit and just focus on finding the fastest snow and moving through the skiers from the other race. I didn't catch sight of the guys behind me again, but kept pushing hard, since the end of the race was fast approaching. 

Ice beard, with extra blueberry soup coloring - photo by Bruce Adelsman: Skinnyski.com

When I got up the bell tower hill and turned onto the street into town I saw another 58km skier ahead of me. If I had known he was there a bit sooner I might have had time to chase him down, as it was I came in 5 seconds behind him. The next 3 guys came in about a minute after I finished, so I probably put some time on them in the last 10km. I was satisfied with 8th place, although kind of disappointed I didn't hold on to the lead pack longer. My best Mora finish, and probably one of my fastest paced races ever, but nothing special... until I finally got around to looking at the results sheet later in the day. That's when I noticed that I had taken 3rd in my age class, and was going to get a horse! This year was my 10th year skiing the Vasaloppet, and I had yet to win a horse, much to the amusement of pretty much every other skier I hang out with who all seem to have a stable full of the things. This really made my day, since I figured I would be way out of the running for a horse being in the most difficult age group in the most difficult race of the weekend. Here are full results from the weekend for anyone interested, and my Strava data for anyone really interested. Next up is the Minnesota Finlandia in Bemidji.

My first Dala Horse - Nikolai

Minne Tour

It's been a bit of dead air around here again lately, since my posts have been going up mostly on the Vakava Racing Blog. Now there are getting to be many Vakava skiers at all the races though, so I'll leave the super race stories to other folks and just bring my race reports back here for a bit.

This past weekend was the City of Lakes Loppet Ski Festival. All though several big ski races are working to rebrand themselves as "festivals" and are widening the scope of events they offer usually I'm just there for the headline event. This year at City that event was the Minne-Tour and it was a doosie. The tour is a three part series starting with sprint races Friday night, a classic marathon Saturday, and a skate marathon Sunday. The prize money for the this year was tied to the race, which meant that the very top skiers would all be in the tour. Until this year I would not have considered myself to be part of this group, and maybe my results from the weekend will confirm that I was correct in that assumption, but it was fun to pretend for a couple days anyway. I did finish 10th overall in the double marathon portion of the races though, so I feel that is good enough to justify my inclusion in this group. Here is a rundown of the three races.

At the start of the classic race - Picture By Bruce Adelsman, Skinnyski.com

I am a notoriously slow starter, and I don't have good form or power at top speed on skis, so I never figured sprint racing would be my forte, and it turns out I was right. It was a lot of fun however, and set the stage for the weekend to come. The course was a short out and back, about 800 meters total, and had one bump going up and over a pedestrian tunnel, a short steep uphill, the 180 degree turn, back down the steep hill and over the pedestrian tunnel, off the drop off they added on the downside of the ramp over the tunnel, and around the corner to the finish line. There were stadium lights set up at the finish line, but the far end of the course was rather dark. As predicted I was slow off the line, and as soon as the double pole section ended another skier cut over in front of me. We tangled a little bit and I ended up skiing over his pole and breaking it. Sorry Josh :(. After getting up to speed I got ahead of Josh and passed another skier on the steep climb, but the other 3 skiers in my heat were well away and my day ended with 4th in my heat since only the top 2 advance. Nate Porath and Andy Brown advanced out of my heat, and Nate ended up winning the B-Final to get 10 bonus seconds for the rest of the weekend.

Striding it out - Picture By Bruce Adelsman, Skinnyski.com

Saturday morning was the classic marathon. My classic skiing has improved greatly this year I think, and I had a good race at Seeley last weekend, so I was excited to see how I would fare on the very different City of Lakes course. I got off to a decent start and tucked on to the back of the lead pack for the hilly first 8k. I didn't hold on very closely and kind of bobbed on and off the back of the pack, doing all I could not to use too much energy too early. Crossing over to the "front 9" section the leaders had gapped me and after a couple km I finally gave up chasing them and tried to drop in behind a couple skiers who had been following me. I wasn't able to hold on very well though and they got away too. I caught back up to Travis Hinck just leaving the front 9 and then chased another skier in a Hoigaard's uniform for all of the Eloise Butler and Quaking Bog sections before dropping him heading on to the lake. Looking back I could see Travis and Dave Nelson close behind me, but I tried to keep up a gap since I wasn't having much luck working in a group. Finally Dave passed me and I was not able to hang on to him at all. I skied pretty much by myself after that, seeing only one skier ahead who I was not gaining on, and keeping about a minute gap on Travis and a couple others behind. I ended up 17th on the day in 2:29:36, about 4 minutes behind Nate and 15 minutes behind the winner. I had hoped to be a bit closer, but was still satisfied with how I did.

Saturday evening Nate, Nichole, and I went out to participate in a candlelight ski at the Carleton Arb. that served as a nice shakeout to loosen up the muscles for the next morning. There were a lot of familiar faces out, at least as many as you could recognize in the low light.

Chilly skate race - - Picture By Bruce Adelsman, Skinnyski.com

Sunday morning was chilly, but calm and sunny, so it didn't feel cold compared to some of the weather we've been having in the past couple weeks. I got a good start and once again tucked on the back of the lead pack. This has been 3 races where I have really felt like I belong in this pack, now I just need to figure out how to stay there for a full race. It was obvious that many racers were tired, because the pace would amp up and quickly drop back down to what almost seemed like a leisurely pace at times. The first few km felt good, but I could tell that yesterdays racing would be catching up with me, so I let the leaders get away on the front 9 and skied with Derek, another Vakava skier, for a while before he finally got away on Cedar Lake. From there things kind of went downhill.  My energy reserves were getting pretty low, and my gels were frozen and I couldn't get anything out of them, so I finally gave up on that plan after a couple km. Note to self, chocolate gels are too thick for single digit days. The lakes offer no real rest, and chasers can see you from a long way off, not ideal for someone who is bonking. I was in 9th place going on to the lakes, but lost count of the number of people who went by me. I kept my technique together alright, but I just couldn't put any power into my skiing, and consequently wasn't getting much glide out of my skis. The golf course at the end was a welcome relief from the lakes, but my legs didn't like the idea of going around corners or up hills, so I'm glad there weren't many people back there cheering, because I looked pretty terrible. I made it to the finish though, and actually had a great time for most of the race once I realized that it wasn't going to be a great result for me. I maybe should have pushed a bit harder to stay with some of the packs that went by me, but too late for that now. I finished 32nd in 2:16:19, a little over 15 minutes behind the winner. I have a pattern going of a good year at City followed by a bad year, and I was due for the bad year after last year's good race. Both my good and bad years are getting better however, so I am improving. I also held off the lead women (by about a minute only) so at least my goal of not getting girled remains intact. Vakava skier Mary Beth Tuttle won the womens' race, great skiing by her!

I ended up 10th in the Loppet Challenge (2 marathon event) and 7th in the Minne-Tour. Not bad considering how rough Sunday's race was. I beat Dave Nelson on Sunday, but wasn't able to make up the gap that he put on me Saturday, so ended up 2 minutes behind him in the standings. My total time for the two races was 4:45:53, not a bad weekend's work. Now I just need to learn to better keep my focus and keep with the changes of pace when I start to get tired, to remind myself that things will settle back down if I can just hold on.

Next up is the Mora Vasaloppet 58k skate, where I'm sure Matt, Andy, and several other familiar faces will once again be leading the train I hope to ride as long as possible.