More than one way to skin a bear

Post Birkie is usually a good time to hang up the skis for a bit and relax before spring running season starts, but this year there was much more skiing to be done, and after a rainy January I was still itchy to get out and glide.  Since Seeley Hills was cancelled I signed up for the 50k classic race at the Pepsi challenge to get one solid classic race in on the season.  I had the perfect plan to get myself classic ready too, a week of skiing at Bearskin lodge up on the Gunflint Trail.
This is my second year winning a ski week at Bearskin lodge from the Hoigaards challenge, and I cannot say enough good things about the place.  The cabins are cozy, warm, and right on the ski trails.  The staff is out grooming pretty much every day and knows the snow conditions up there well.  The trails are fun and there is a great variety of terrain with beautiful forests and lakes everywhere.  The cabin was nice and cozy, and we had a good stockpile of food, ski magazines, and board games to fill the time when we weren't skiing.  I borrowed a game called Pandemic, and we played at least a game or two every night of the trip I think.
Last year I skied mostly on my own and put in a lot of km.  This year my friends Erik, Elspeth, and Emily all came up and stayed the whole week, so Erik and I skied together the whole week.  The first day we skied the whole Banadad trail, which cuts through the boundary waters and intersects the Gunflint trail at a couple points.  Erik and I started from the cabin, and the girls took a car to the far end and started skiing back towards us.  We met somewhere in the middle, stopped for a granola bar snack, and kept going our separate ways.  Over the course of the week we covered the entire trail system, with only a bit of planning required to make sure we caught everything.  There are moose in the area, but I didn't see any.  There was plenty of evidence of them on the trails though, the groomed ski trails also make for easy walking if you're a moose.  Over the course of the week I skied some 250km or so, a nice relaxing week before the last ski race of the season, the Pepsi Challenge.
Pepsi is a race I've had on my calendar to do for several years.  It always used to overlap with the Vinterfest race in Amery, but due to being cancelled a few years in a row due to bad weather in January they moved the race to March, where snow is much more reliable the last few years.  This year it seems like it was a good call.  Many January races got cancelled, but the March snow for Pepsi was plentiful and great skiing.  With temps hovering just below freezing and fresh snow falling as the race got ready to go there was a mix of hard wax and hairies in use.  The fresh snow made for a slow start.  Everyone realized this so there was nobody really anxious to get on the front line.  I lined up between Dave Nelson and Josh Doebbert, and the other competitors finally cajoled Jennie Bender into moving up to the front line.  I figured these three would be my main competition for the race, so I was happy to find out that Jennie was only in for the 25k.  This meant Molly Watkins would be the biggest threat to me finishing my season without getting beat by any women, a goal of mine ever since the first time I passed Sarah Hunter in a Birkie.  My first year skiing the Birkie from wave 2, also my first year skiing in the U of M bumblebee suit, Sarah passed me from wave 3 just before OO, and for many years after that I judged how well I did in a race by my finish in comparison to hers.  I remember the first time I beat her at Mora, and the year I qualified into the Elite wave I knew I was having a great race when I caught up the eight minute gap to Sarah.
Anyway, back to Pepsi.  I started the race at a reasonable pace to get a feel for things.  I ended up in the lead so stayed relaxed and tried to take the best line available since it was much faster to ski out of the tracks except on climbs where the tracks helped hold my technique together.  After a while Jennie took a pull.  She is much more liberal on taking skating steps around corners than I am, and much more smooth at it as well, so I tucked in behind and tried to mirror her technique.  When we hit the steeper hills of the Silver loop I did a bit of work to break things up just to get a feel for things.  Jennie followed me and a kid named Tamer Mische-Richter also came along.  The three of us traded off pulls, I tried to get them to do more of the work, but Tamer didn't have the most consistent pacing, and the pace slowed until a couple more 25k skiers caught back on, then Dave, Josh, and Erik caught back on as well.  I tried to keep a smooth tempo on my pulls and keep the pace high enough that things didn't come back together any more.  After the last food stop on the loop at 21k or so Jennie, Bjorn Adelsman, and Tamer started racing in earnest.  I tucked in behind them and tried to keep contact while doing as little work as possible.  They started to get away on a couple of the climbs, but being behind on the downhills let me ride in their tracks and catch back up.  They pulled me away from the rest of the group and when I came around the lap lane and they all went in to finish I was on my own.
I had maybe 25-30 seconds on Erik and Dave at that point, Josh was on a slow pair of hairies and didn't make the gap.  The snow had stopped a bit in to the first lap, so the track was well skied in for the second time around.  I put in some strong double poling and really worked to get the speed up on the striding climbs to get out of sight of the two guys following me.  I knew if I could get out of visual contact I would be a harder mark to chase down.  After parting ways with the 10k skiers I had been passing it was a lonely trek for me for quite a while.  This made it really easy to just focus on technique and skiing by feel.  I pushed hard without letting my heart rate get out of control and stayed relaxed on my recovery.  The first skaters, a pack of 3, passed me at about 18k into the second lap, far later than I expected.  The third guy was falling off the back when they went by me, and I reeled him in on the next up hill.  Striding actually looked more efficient than slogging up the hill in the soft skate lane, and on the flats he tucked in behind me and double poled, something many of the top skaters were doing on and off I later learned.  I was able to ski with him for several km before the trail flattened out and he got away from me.  At this point it was starting to snow again some and my hard wax was icing just a bit.  It was mostly downhill for me at this point though, so I focused on cleaning the snow off the ski bases over the tops of hills and forcing the double pole whenever possible to keep the bottoms of the skis clean.  I had a good run in to the finish where the top skaters were just exiting the finish area.  I had held off Nate, who was skating, and all the other classic skiers.  I ended up winning by a little 10 minutes.  Dave was 2nd skiing on hairies, and Erik 3rd.  Josh ended up dropping out due to his slow skis.  Molly won the womens race and was 4th overall, an impressive finish.
Byron Lubenkov was waiting at the finish line with a shot of peppermint schnapps, a welcome treat after a long race.  The post race food was good, although I did not partake in the Pepsi products.  It was fun hanging out in a warm building within sight of the finish line.  I had a good chat with Jennie Bender and Molly before getting back on the road to the rainy twin cities with Erik and Elspeth.  We got back to St. Paul, ate some of the leftover food from the bearskin trip, and played one last game of Pandemic before I headed back to Northfield.

Six Months, a Birkie post

Ok, so a bit more has happened in the last six months than just the Birkie, but that is the reason I decided to dust this blog off, so here is a quick recap of everything leading up to the Birkie, then we'll get to the good stuff.

• DESNE Machine up and running.  This and other work issues are the reason the blog fell by the wayside, since I usually outlined the posts at work (I know, not really the best employee all the time).  Now between having a lot of actual work to do at work and making myself a resolution to work more at work blog posts will have to be laid out and written from home, competing with exercise, video games, cleaning, sleeping, and making delicious food.  Work is more fun though with a new machine to play with, at least when it works right.
• I ran a couple marathons last fall.  I paced Brooke Beskau at the twin cities marathon, her first marathon.  She ran an impressive 3:13:00 over ten minutes faster than my first marathon, also twin cities.  I also ran the rails to trails marathon in Norwalk, WI.  I set a new PR of 2:51:49, but could have run faster if I were more patient and didn't try to keep up with the race winner.
• I went up to Canmore to watch world cup racing and did some great skiing at Canmore, Banff, and Lake Louise.  Emily and I skied over the continental divide from Alberta into British Columbia, and it was great fun getting to see world cup racing up close and personal.
• The early ski season was a struggle with a lot of rain in January, so my first big race was City of Lakes.  I raced hard at the beginning, sat in a good pack for butler bog, and ended up with my highest place ever.  I then really struggled with the double pole heavy shortened Mora course and just barely held off Audrey Weber.  I tried the 50k at Finlandia and finished 3rd behind Wyn Roberts and John Munger.

On to the Birkie.  It was lucky number 13 for me.  Even after a good race at City I wasn't really sure where my fitness was after a rough January.  I got to the line a bit late and lined up next to Blake Hillerson near the back.  There was a lot of fresh snow so lanes formed quickly, making it pretty easy for me to move up in the first couple flat km.  I continued to push a bit to move up through the powerlines, I was feeling pretty relaxed still so I wasn't worried.  I passed Bjorn and gave him a wave as I went by.  After the big 7km climb I tucked into a pack and settled down.

I tried to stay near the front of the pack, but most of their skis were running a bit faster than mine, so I would lose a few spots each downhill.  On the gradual uphills though many of them broke into V1 pretty quickly so I could easily skip over, take a couple strong V2 strokes and move back up near the front.  I took a couple turns pulling but didn't push the pace, knowing I couldn't easily get away with my slower skis and not willing to try getting away on my own.  My running partner Nichole was at OO cheering, so it was great to see her, and my folks were working the gravel pit aid station at 31km, and I actually saw them this year and said hi as I went through.

Shortly after the gravel pit I decided I was still feeling good and I should probably try to make something happen, so I went to the front and racheted up the pace with a strong V2 up a gradual climb.  I pushed on for a couple km.  This section of trail was somewhat fresh in my mind because Jeff and I skied this as our boxing day ski this year.  I was bonking that day, but I felt great today, so I kept pushing a bit even though I heard skiers behind me and assumed most of my pack was still there.  I finally hit a good downhill and went in to a tuck, when the guy behind me yelled "Mr. Craiggerton, hop in the tracks".  I recognized Bjorn's voice right away, and a quick glance back showed that he was the only one of the pack who had hung on with me.

I let Bjorn take a pull and tucked in behind him.  I asked him about his recent engagement and got a very enthusiastic affirmation, followed by an admonition not to distract him while he was racing.  We traded off pulls a few times over the next several km and passed a few solo skiers and small groups here and there.  We started passing some of the elite women, who had started 20 minutes ahead of the men this year.  Bjorn's skis were running a bit faster than mine, so I got a couple good pole pushes from him on a couple of the downhills, and when I gapped him a bit on a couple of the climbs he was able to get back in contact pretty easily.  He took over for a bit when we hit the lake, but I could see another skier up ahead that I though we could catch, so I made it my goal to get us up to him.  I took a good long pull, but when  I looked back Bjorn was out of contact.  I decided to push on and caught the skier ahead just as we were going by the torch on the finishing stretch.

It was a gorgeous day for being outside, so after we changed and I got a more detailed account of Bjorn's proposal and engagement we grabbed some food and headed out to cheer.  We went looking for Travis, but he had finished already, and when we were on our way back Jeffy was sitting by the bank with his stuff.  He was wearing jeans and just sitting around, and I thought there was no way he had finished the race already, so I was a bit worried something happened to him.  I asked him and he just gave a sigh and said "I skied fast, I'm really tired".  He had a great race and only missed making elite wave by 3 minutes or something.

One of the things I love about the Birkie is how many people I know there.  After the race it's just a matter of wandering around, eating as much as possible, and talking to everyone I recognize.  Mary Beth Liebsch said Matt was the first American in but just missed out on the money.  Molly Watkins was 4th in the classic race, just missing a podium in a sprint to the line.  Travis was top 20 in the classic race as well, good for him since he was skiing most of the race by himself.  I eventually got around to checking my results and found out I had finished 57th, my best ever finish, even if the time was slow because of the fresh snow.

I think next year I'm jumping ship to the Birkie classic race, so this was a very good way to go out with a bang on my skating run.  There is more ski season left to come, so another blog post will be along soon.

Long time no see

Saturday morning was a long run, 21 miles including my run over to meet the Poraths and their friend Brooke.  It actually went pretty well, although the last couple miles when I was carrying a jar of maple syrup did get a little long.  Still, with a long workout out of the way before noon and someone else cooking me waffles the day was off to a great start.  I loaded up the boat and headed to the cities to meet Krystal for some rollerski adventures, paddling, and nightlife.  We also stopped at the co-op a couple times for green juice (or peanut butter banana smoothie in my case) and salmon for supper, a meal I've been craving for a while.  We headed to the Finn so I could pick up some rollerski ferrules and Krystal could try out rollersking after reading about it in a book.  KJ was working and was gracious enough to lend us some boots and poles to go along with the rollerskis.  Krystal made some decent progress for a beginner to skating as we tooled around the parking lot.  Then we headed to the chain of lakes for some leisurely paddling, singing, and general discussion of life the world and everything.  Then it was back home to make some supper before biking downtown and hitting up the club (Crave) to meet up with Elizabeth and friends.

I haven't been to a club in years, so it was like coming into it with a fresh perspective.  The dancing wasn't half bad, far better than the music, and it was fun to hang out under the open air, even if it is in the middle of the city and everything smelled overpoweringly of cologne.  Afterwards it did take my hearing took a while to come back completely, since Elizabeth and friends like to be right by the speakers.

The next morning we went out for coffee, and by that I mean I biked along and hung out while Krystal drank coffee, then went to Brits to see if we could catch some of the Olympic marathon.  Unfortunately all that was on was wrestling and team rhythmic gymnastics.

Monday I went to the Twins game with Jeff, Gar, and David.  As Jeff and I were biking over to meet Gar someone started yelling our name, and low and behold it was Annie Bunio out to eat at Brits before heading to the game.  We sat down to have a drink with her and her dad.  So I ended up hanging out at Brits 2 days in a row when I have only been there maybe 2 times in my life before last weekend.  It was fun to catch up to Bunio a bit, any chance to see her before she heads back to Africa is good.  The game was fun, the Twins got a big win over Detroit, and I got back to my car to find a banana with my name on it hanging out the window.

Tuesday morning was a workout with Nate, Nicole, and Brian.  A total of 50 minutes of tempo work with pretty short recovery.  We didn't quite hit our target paces, but all in all not a bad way to start a morning.  I seem to have more energy after these morning workouts, but I have to be careful to keep up on my sleep on other nights.

Friday I joined Nicole for 2x 4 miles MP (6:00) 1 mile tempo (5:40) that we nailed.  Not only that but it really just felt fantastic to be running, almost joyful even.  The legs, abs, and lungs hurt like they are supposed to on a hard run, not painful, just that growing fatigue that lets you know your body is having to work at this.  Despite that we just seemed to sail down the road.  I don't check my watch during workouts, I listen to my body and what I can make of of Nicole's effort level and just go with how things feel.  I have enough practice running at a variety of speeds that this frequently works.  We absolutely crushed this workout.  The pain point, where it turns from hard and fun to a struggle to hold things together never really came.  We finished our last tempo mile under 5:40, and then it felt really good to just walk for a little bit.  I wish every workout could go this way, but sadly that can't be the case.

Another action packed weekend followed, beginning with some swimming and a pizza party to welcome Emily back to the cities for the few days she'll be around before leaving on a camping trip with some girl scouts.  There was lots of tasty food and glow in the dark frisbee.  Then we went to Jeffy's and slept out on his mosquito free porch, although not a lot of sleeping was done on my part.

Saturday we did yoga, made waffles, and watched Dr. Horrible before biking down to Afton to ride more bikes in a day a bit fraught with trouble, both people and their machines.  David broke a spoke before we even took off, then when we got to Afton Gar made a sharp turn that I didn't see and I T-boned directly into his front wheel.  Luckily a bit of spoke work was able to compensate for both of these problems and keep us on our way.  There is a Cat. 4 climb in Afton that we hit pretty early in the ride, and that turned out to be nearly the end of Christina.  It certainly didn't help that while most of us were on road bikes she was on a hybrid with a loose front tire that was causing some significant brake rub.  Poor route planning on my part, to put the big hills at the beginning. This fractured the group a bit, with David and Krystal riding on ahead and me jumping up to join them after getting Christina's tire secured.  We hit a couple extra hills then met Gar and Jeff who said Christina was hurting pretty bad and they were heading back to the cars.  The three of us remaining decided to see a bit more of the route and also provided a chance for David and Krystal to try out some fixed gear fun times.  Neither fell or had trouble unclipping, so a great success overall.  Then we headed over to a nearby church for pulled pork, corn on the cob, and other goodness, along with singing by Fixie Paul and his troupe.  If it was a bit awkward being introduced to a new and loud singing style while being the only ones there wandering around in spandex the size of our group at least helped mitigate the awkwardness a bit.  Then some of us biked back to Jeffy's, and David got a flat a few miles from his house, shortly after re-entering South St. Paul actually, a frequent source of trouble for David's bike.

I drove Krystal home and slept on the floor at her place, then we made a trip to the co-op to find supplies for fruit pizza.  After a good breakfast I was on my way back to Jeffy's just in time for... Breakfast!  This time it was a good sized omlette at a nearby burger joint.  Then we did a bit of shopping and I was on my way home to crash and catch up on some sleeping.

Monday there was a going away party for Bunio at Elena's new house, including taco's and ice cream cake.  Jeffy and I ducked out for a bit of rollerskiing and then ate some pretty good food.  It was fun to catch up to some camp folks and hang out with Annie and Jallie a bit.

Tuesday morning was supposed to be a bit of an early morning, but it turned out to be a lot of an early morning.  I got a phone call at about 4:15 that there was machine trouble, so I went in to work and got the machine going just in time to run over to the middle school for 7x mile repeats.  No breakfast or preparation time makes for a rough workout, and I just wasn't feeling the pace.  We were not too slow, maybe 5-8 seconds off on most of the repeats, but it just didn't feel fluid.  Not the best last hard workout before racing this weekend, but I know it was just one data point, and the Ngede challenge on Saturday will be a chance to prove out my fitness.  I feel like I haven't been on the bike as much this year, so we'll see how well I hold my own, but I'm as ready as I'm going to get I guess.

Next post will come after Ngede challenge, and maybe after the weddings the next weekend, and maybe much later the way things have been going lately...