I must do this race!

Looks amazing!

Broke a 7-year-old PR on Afton's campground hill. 3:05 post-to-post baby!

Trail Series Coverage

My running races, the Salomon Autumn Trail Series, was recently featured by the Bloomington Crow.  The video and story are up on their website.

Really nice report by Gina Szafraniec

Intensity Block and Northshore Marathon

After returning very tired from nearly 30 hours of training at 8,000-9,0000 feet on the Haig Glacier, I took I full recovery week without any intensity and 8 hours of training.  I put on the first of my trail running races for the season, the Salomon Autumn Trail Series, which achieved over 100 registrants.

After a week of rest, it was time to get back at it, now with a two week intensity block in which I would aim for 8 intensity training or racing sessions in 12 days.

This is what I did:

Day 1: 2 sets of 3x4 min uphill skating intervals in the Brae Mawr neighborhood of Edina.  

Day 2: Mountain bike and Ashtanga yoga

Day 3: 4x10min Level 3 no pole skating intervals on rolling terrain

Day 4: Distance run
Day 5: Trail Loppet Half Marathon, 1st Place!

Day 6: Double pole intervals 4x:40 Level 5 single stick, 8x4min L3 uphill double pole

Day 7: off and Restorative Yoga

Day 8: Lactate testing, skate, 6 repetitions of West River Rd Hill going from L1 to L4, achieved my furthest right-shifted lactate vs. speed curve to date.  PM core and plyo workout

Day 9: Putting on Autumn Trail Series race #2, over 100 participants

Day 10: Classic L3 intervals 3x10 min double pole, 2x10 min all techniques classic, PM mountain bike

Day 11: working at Balance and the Hoigaards tent sale

Day 12: Northshore Rollerski Marathon, so fast and fun, weeeee!

Day 13: off!  sleeping in and Twins Game (Legends Club baby!)

So if you count, you'll notice I fell one session short of my goal of 8 intensity sessions, which was supposed to be L4 bounding intervals on Day 8, however, I was feeling quite drained by that point, and with the intention of making it all the way to the finish line on Day 12, I called it off.  But overall the block went very well and I am pleased with the result.  My two races during the block felt very good, despite feeeling fatigued, and I recovered pretty well from session to session.  Now a few days of rest before I turn up the volume again.

Skiing with J. Bender in the Northshore Rollerski Marathon.  SkinnySki.com photo

The Northshore Rollerski Marathon was a great experience.  I wanted to participate in this inaugural event because it is unique within the American ski scene, and because I think it could grow into something very cool indeed.  My day didn't start out the greatest, with feeling exhausted from training, being nervous about racing well, forgetting my boots when I got on the shuttle bus, and losing my drivers license  down a port-a-pottie, all before the race started.  I guess that's how marathons can go, so it was good to get in touch with those race-day experiences in September, rather than waiting for January.  Once we got rolling, though, everything fell into place.  Jennie Bender and I found ourselves alone at the front of the women's field.  The draft was huge!  I've never experienced anything quite like that in a ski race.  We decided to rotate the lead every mile so we would each do our fair share of pulling.  It was wicked fun to cruise along at such speeds.  I was feeling very comfortable at the half way point when I took a gel.  Around miles 16 to 18 I took some harder pulls to test the waters, and found that breaking away was going to take a very hard effort over several miles, and I wasn't sure that I could sustain such an effort at the end of an intensity block.  With three miles left in the race, the pavement turns to concrete with linear grooves on I-35, making a last-minute break away near impossible.  So Jennie and I just hung together, taking turns pulling the train.  As we rounded to cloverleaf exit off the highway and back onto asphalt we had 400 meters to go and we were neak-and-neck.  Jennie barely nipped me at the line by 0.3 seconds.  We finished in just over an hour and a half.  It was a very fun and fast time out there, and I will be back next year prepared with some tactics to overcome the draft.  Race Results here.


Rollerski Marathon Featured on Northland's News Center


Skinny Ski Video, check out another angle of the sprint finish

Haig Glacier Recap and Coming Home

The midwest contingent of skiers completed our 24-hour drive to Canmore on Sunday the 21st of August.  After a day and half in car, two busted tire rims, and a night sleeping meters away from a set of busy train tracks, we were happy to have arrived.  The nine of us piled out of the cars and took the opportunity to shake out the legs and check out the rollerski track at the Canmore Nordic Center.  Great ski trails also turn out to make great rollerski trails; you just have to make sure you ski the hills in the correct direction!  One more night of sleeping on the ground (or on top of a picnic table in my case) and we were up bright and early to rearrange our gear and meet up with the other groups with whom we'd be heading into camp.  After 50 minutes of Bear Training with diehard Ranger Josh (who managed to complement himself on his polyester uniform during his presentation), I now know the proper way to defend myself in a bear attack, be it grizzly or black bear.  We also learned that bears prefer to eat runners over hikers, especially if they are wearing one of those obnoxious nordie drink belts.  We then drove down a very dusty but scenic backcountry road to the helicopter gear drop.

From there we headed to the trailhead in Peter Lougheed Provincial Park in Kananaskis Country, Alberta to make the 18k "hike" (run when the ranger's not looking) up to our alpine camp.  Upon arrival we checked out the digs and were informed that due to high winds, the helicopter couldn't make the flight in with our packs and we'd have to hope for better weather tomorrow.  So no chance to enjoy the hot shower that was available, due to the complete lack of soap, towels, or clean clothes.  But we had an excellent dinner and then curled up on bare bunks in our running clothes.  

Dawn on the Glacier came like Christmas morning.  As we breakfasted we eagerly awaited the sound of an approaching helicopter.  Just after 7AM, as we finished eating, we heard the sound--like Santa's sleigh bells--of a helicopter coming over the ridge.  We congregated outside to greet it.  Clean clothes!  Sleeping bags!  Toothbrush!  Soap!  Finally we were able to settle into life on Haig and get down to business.

7AM Tuesday morning, the wind is down enough for the chopper to come in with our gear.

Our daily routine consisted of waking up just after dawn, breakfast at 7:00, and then beginning the hike to the snow at 7:45 or so.  The hike took 45 to 50 minutes of Level 1 climbing.  We'd arrive up top where our skis were waiting for us, change clothes and boots, and get on snow just before 9AM.  Most days the skiing started out boilerplate-hard and rocket-fast.  So we'd skate for at least the first hour.  As the shadow covering the Haig receded, the snow gradually softened until around 10:30 the whole snowfield was bathed in sunlight.  My new Atomic WorldCup Hard Track skate skis handled the changing conditions wonderfully.  Despite being a medium flex ski, I felt I had great control in the hard, rutted snow, and as the snow turned to mush, they continued to glide effortlessly and didn't get sucked down in the moisture--something I really appreciated training at 9,000 feet.   Classic skiing usually got good around 10:30 when I would switch to Atomic's new waxless Skintec skis, which use a magnetized mo-hair insert on the kick zone.  These skis offer great kick and superior glide to traditional waxless fishscale skis.  It was so nice not to have to mess around with klister and instead focus on my training.  After  2 to 2.5 hours of skiing we'd change gear again and make the trek back to camp for lunch, boot skiing as much of the way down as possible.

The afternoons were for recovery.  We'd eat, foam roll, stretch, soak in freezing-cold glacial water, nap and read.  One afternoon we ran back down below tree line to Lake Maude and then over to British Columbia where there was a beautiful green valley to view.  Another afternoon we just walked to the enormous waterfall at the edge of the plateau and chucked rocks off the top for a while.  

Life on the Glacier was pretty sweet.  Three hot meals a day were prepared by the camp staff, Haakon and Joel, who also did the daily grooming up on the snowfield.  There was a hot show, solar power, occasional internet access, and the lovely incinerator toilettes, which remained a subject of fascination for the whole group while we were there.  We also completely lucked out with the weather, not seeing a drop of rain our entire stay.  We had nothing but beautiful bluebird days all week.  But 3.5 to 5 hour training days at 8,000 and 9,000 feet wear on anybody, and by day seven I was sad but also relieved to leave such a beautiful and extreme place.  Can't wait to go back next year!

Striding it out on the Haig

Salomon Autumn Trail Series Volume III, issue 1.  112 registrants, my best turnout yet!

Nothing like a little mud on the tires (and in your face) to recover from a hard block of training