The last report in this “training and racing†series featuring my friend Gordon Lange and I was posted in November, following a great 50 kilometer ski tour into the West Yellowstone Park with Olympic Champion Thomas Alsgaard.
Here is a little report on mostly my training and preparation from that November workout up until the recent Masters Nationals in Marquette, Michigan.
The skiing in Utah has been stable and pretty good from November, however relatively short training -loops at each Nordic area has prevented us from (mentally) getting into doing long workouts. Our workout length is for that reason usually around 15 kilometer or roughly 1 hour depending upon whether we do intervals or distance. The average total for the week has dropped a little from this fall and is down to 8-9 hour per week. I have done only one workout longer than 1.45.
Gordon and my own work schedules are usually conflicting so the number of workouts together has been very limited. I usually get my workout in before lunch while Gordon is training sometime around 4 pm, when his Nordic combined team that he is coaching is out of school. I have for that reason done more training with John Aalberg than Gordon.
We have at the moment the most snow and the best skiing I have seen in Utah in more than 15 years. The length of the loops are now a little longer and the motivation a bit better — it also helps that “the bigger†races are soon coming up.
By the way we knew this fall that the skiing was going to be great at some point this winter — an old ancient saying tells the following tale:
“It’s going to be a very tough winter when your neighbor’s dog climbs to the top of the roof in Septemberâ€.
. I then raced a 15 kilometer skate race (the next day) in the slush at the Super Tour and discovered (big time) that I had not at all recovered from yesterdays race — the result was; SLOW.</p>
<p>I then jumped into the classic part of the 15 + 15 kilometer pursuit race at the Super Tour again at Soldier Hollow the following weekend. I started in the 5th row and had the Nations best and upcoming aspiring Olympic skiers in front of me and was wondering what I at age 47 was doing in a race with them. It turned out to be a very positive experience despite 34 degrees, warm new snow and klister conditions. I hit the wax (both glide and kick) and enjoyed being able to ski at the same pace as some (young) skiers that had raced well earlier in the week. My time in the classic race was roughly 3.30 behind the overall winner of the race, National Team skier Andrew Johnson (he had to ski 15 k more) in a tough course.</p>
<p>After this we celebrated Christmas – I got a nasty cold and didn’t race until January 3rd. The cold was still there on the race day but I didn’t prevent or affect me in this 15-kilometer skate race. I ended up in 6th overall and 2nd in my age group beaten at the very end to another friend, Dave Knoop. Dave is on our coaching program and it feels better to be beaten by someone you coach (good advertising) compared to someone like Gordon (have to hear about it all week since we work together).</p>
<p>I then made a last minute decision to go to Masters’ Nationals despite not having been able to do my regular peak plan to get in shape — I still had a slight cold. I had to rely on having done my quality training this fall instead. On a scale from 1-10, where 1 was feeling terrible and 10 was feeling great I was at a 6 five days before the first race at Masters. I hoped to reach 8-9 by next Saturday’s 30 kilometer in Marquette, the day of the 30 kilometer skate race. My travel plan called for traveling the day before and arriving at the hotel in the evening. Ideally I would have liked to get to Marquette two days prior to the race but other commitments prevented this. I relied on other team member to give me a wax report and waxed based upon their recommendations.<br />
The good thing about that race was that it was a mass-start and I could try to hang on.</p>
<p>My expectation for the championship was somewhat cautious. The long races are usually my weakest event while the shorter, especially classic races are my strength. I was looking forward to the races, to see old friends, meet new skier and share some stories. I was cautiously optimistic.</p>
<p>At this point my friend Dave looked strong in skating in my age group (45-49) and from reading race results from the mid-west there were plenty of fit guys and gals ready for the event in every age category. </p>
<p>I had observed that Sten Fjelheim, the NMU coach had started the 50 kilometer in Rumford the prior weekend and took that as sign that he might show up and compete in the same age group. He would be the guy to beat if he showed. </p>
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