January Journal
January 1
No skiing today. It might not be the best way to start off the year, but today is scheduled day off
for a couple of reasons. 1) I have a race on Sunday and 2) There are six football games on today. To me,
that's what New Year's Day is all about - I sit in front of the TV and watch so much football that I
can't remember who played who or even who won. At the end of the day, my mind is a blur
of touchdowns, interceptions, and bad halftime shows and all I know is that I watched a lot of football.
January 2
After my lazy day yesterday, I was anxious to get back outside today. I couldn't ski that far, because
I have to race tomorrow. So I just went to White Mountains Regional High School's track and skied for
an hour and fifteen minutes, including six accelerations of about 30 seconds. Then went home and watched more football.
January 3
OLD TAVERN 10K FREESTYLE RACE
Wax of the Day: Solda F-30 Violet
The weather outside was frightful, but I went to Grafton, VT anyway for the race. The drive took almost
3 hours instead of the usual one and a half. As a result, I arrived fifteen minutes before the mass start.
I registered, did a five minute warm up and started the race. It was supposed to be a ten kilometer race, but
it was actually only about five. I felt really good and stayed in the top three for the entire race, letting
Kris and Justin Freeman set the pace. I thought I was in perfect position to make a move on the last lap,
but Justin held me off to take the victory. A bit disappointing, but I am encouraged by the fact that I
felt very good.
January 4
I have had a terrible time trying to find acceptable housing for Nationals in Rumford. The options are
extremely limited to begin with and most places I called were either too expensive or didn't have a kitchenette
(the dining options are limited also). So today I finally got fed up and drove to Rumford to find a place
myself. It took almost a whole day, but I found a place that will work alright. I also checked out the
trails. In case you are wondering about snow conditions, it looks to me like the recent storm was very
nice to Black Mountain and they should be able to use the whole course with some shoveling. On the way home, I stopped
to ski at White Mountains Regional High School, which has very good conditions on most of its 5k loop.
January 5
After a quick workout at Nautilus this afternoon, I packed up to travel to Quebec. Scott Loomis and I
got on the road tonight at 9:00. It was a late start, but we decided it would be better to get in a
little late and sleep in, rather than travel the day before the race. We arrived in Mont St. Anne
about 1:30 in the morning and collapsed into bed.
January 6
I didn't get up until almost 10 this morning and finally made it onto the tracks at noon. Because of
the poor snow conditions and lack of racing so far this year, I haven't had a chance to do much ski
testing. I took advantage of the beautiful snow here in Quebec to find out how my new skis measure up
to the proven race skis from last year. I waxed all my [sponsor plug] Atomic skate skis with Solda F-10 wax
and took them to a gradual downhill just outside the stadium. The temperature was about 10 degrees Fahrenheit
and the snow was cold and crunchy. I glided down the hill four times on each pair of skis, comparing
glide distance, speed and breakaway acceleration. All of which was very arbitrary since I was testing
by myself without a speed trap. After learning that all my skis were about the same, I skied for an hour,
including some speed.
January 7
Continental Cup 15K Freestyle Race
Wax of the Day: Solda S-30 Antistatic
Last night on the weather report they mentioned that we might get "en peu de la neige" (Or however they say "a little bit of snow". You must
forgive me, I only took seven years of French). Well, the French definition of "a little" must differ
from the English definition, because this morning when I woke up we had over a foot of new snow. I've never
skated well in soft new snow, but this morning's conditions didn't worry me because it is also extremely
cold and I hoped it would set up and harden well. No such luck. I started the race fairly well, but when
Pat Weaver, who started 30 seconds behind me, caught me at 5K, it took the wind out of my sails. The soft, powdery snow
just sapped my energy. I tried to hold on, but Pat left me a kilometer or two later. I
dragged myself around the loop two more times before packing it in. On paper, my 8th place finish doesn't look that bad, but I was over 3 minutes out and over a minute
behind people I know I can ski with. Today's race proves the value of a warm down.
It's all too easy to sit around the stadium after a bad race and analyze what went wrong, dwell on the negative, and
make radical changes to the training plan. It's very easy to get depressed and frustrated when you do this.
Instead, as a certain wise Dartmouth coach once told me, it's best to put on a dry shirt, have a bite to eat, and then go out for a
nice, easy warm down ski. After all, it's hard to be depressed when you are skiing. For me, it allows some time to decompress and pull some positive aspects
out of the situation. By the end of a good warm down, I am looking forward to racing well in the next race, not agonizing over that day's shortcomings. That's what happened today.
I am already itching for Saturday's 10K classic to get back on track.
January 8
Easy day today. Skied for an hour, walking all the hills, and then did six 20 second speeds. After that, I did a good half hour of stretching to loosen up
my sore muscles. Other than waxing my skis this afternoon, I did nothing but watch MuchMusic (Canada's improved version of MTV) for the rest of the day.
January 9
Continental Cup 10K Classic Race
Wax of the Day: Solda White
Kick waxing for classical races is always tricky when you don't have a coach to help. You essentially have an hour to test glide wax, wax a pair of test skis, ski on those test skis and evaluate the wax, re-wax and retest until you
find the ideal wax, then wax race skis, then ski a warm-up and stretch. Luckily, today the wax was easy to find (Toko Dibloc Bright Red) and I was able to get in a good warm-up and make it to my start on time. I felt like I was skiing well at the beginning. I
had good, quick tempo on the uphills and long double pole strides on the flats. That's why it was disappointing to realize that I was not gaining on Robin McKeever, who started 30 seconds in front of me, and Scott Loomis, who started 30 seconds behind me, was gaining
on me. At the top of the first hill, I got a split time from the UVM coaches telling me that I was in 3rd place, very close with a large of group of skiers. Not too bad, but with Scott yet to go by this check point, I knew I was no better than fourth. Then a funny thing happened.
I felt tired, like my technique was getting sloppy. Not good, except that I had put Scott out of sight and was starting to gain on Robin and another Canadian National Team skier whom he had caught up to. By the 8K mark, I was solidly in 3rd place and moving up. I passed Robin and dropped him quickly. Going up the final good
climb, I heard a Canadian coach say I was in second place. That was all the motivation I needed to hammer into the finish. I rebounded from Thursday' disappointment just as I had hoped. I now can go into Nationals next week with a good bit of confidence. Time to get rested up and ready to roll.
January 10
This morning I was still on a bit of a high from yesterday's race. I was itching to get going. I was out skiing on the impeccable trails at Mont St. Anne by 7:30. It was a perfect classic ski day. Ten degrees, the sun coming up over the St. Lawrence River,
perfectly groomed snow. I had to get home to New Hampshire this afternoon, otherwise I might have just skied all day. I skied for two and a half hours, not retracing my steps once the whole time. If everybody knew skiing could be like this, everybody would be a cross country skier. Fortunately, its our little secret.
January 11
Did nothing today. Hope your day was more productive.
January 12
Intervals today. Went to WMRHS to do 10 minutes at level III (kind of hard) followed by some very hard
sprints. 4x40 seconds, and 5x30 seconds. The main idea with this workout is to do something hard, to loosen up but not
so hard that I get tired out. After a total workout time of almost 1:30, I went home.
January 13
I had some school-related errands to run in Hanover today, so I took advantage of this opportunity to
ski at Oak Hill (the Dartmouth Ski Team trail system) for the first time in a couple years. They
have changed the trails around a bit in order to keep the visiting skiers out of the woods during Carnival,
and for the most part the new trails are excellent. I skied for an hour and a half, enjoying the trails,
the new snow, and meeting up with Ruff and the boys.
January 14
Traveled to Rumford today. Originally, I wasn't planning to go until Friday morning but a couple of
factors changed my mind. First, a nasty storm (snow, sleet, freezing rain, rain) is supposed to move
in tonight and the driving tomorrow could be a nightmare. Additionally, I need to get into race mode.
When I am at home, I really relax. I sleep in until nine or ten o'clock, do nothing except ski, and
enjoy my mom's cooking. No matter how hard I try to motivate, it just doesn't happen.
While this lifestyle is fantastic for resting up before a race, it's not very conducive
to getting psyched up. It's much easier to get excited and focused about a race once you arrive at the
race site and see the other competitors. So today I deemed my resting complete and headed to Rumford.
1999 Chevy Truck U.S. Cross Country Championships
Black Mountain - Rumford, Maine
January 15
Today was the day to get into race mode. Got up at 7:00, ate my oatmeal, and headed to Black Mountain
to meet up with Torbjorn at 9:00. It started snowing last night and was still coming down hard as I
drove to the trails. I found Torbjorn in the waxroom, and after discussing wax, snow conditions, diet,
and logistics for tomorrow's 30K race, headed out to test skis. By this time, the new snow had amounted to
about 4 inches or so. As I was out testing the glide on my skate skis, the snow changed to sleet. It was
pelting down pretty hard. After picking the two pairs of skis I will wax tonight for the race, I skied the
course. At this point, you had to cover your face on the downhills. The sleet felt like someone
was pointing a sandblaster directly at your face, just ripping the flesh away. The race will consist of
4 laps around a 7.5K course. Good for spectating, but a little repetitive for racing. I skied the loop
once, then did an eight minute pickup at level II-III (kind of fast, but not hard enough to tire me out).
I haven't skied much in the past week, so this pickup was designed to shake out the cobwebs. I finished
off the workout with half an hour of stretching. After doing a little grocery shopping and heading back to
the motel, the sleet changed to rain. Ordinarily, rain is a four-letter word to any skier, but today I was
excited to see it. I have a hard time skiing in deep, soft snow (see my Val Cartier race)
which is exactly what we had on the tracks
this morning. Hopefully a little rain will pack it down and make it firmer once it gets colder tonight. Having
said that, it's now been raining for four hours, so I hope it stops sometime soon. The rest of the day was
spent relaxing, waiting to see what the weather is going to do, and then going to bed early.
January 16
Start time today was 9:00. It is generally recommended that you get up at least 3 hours before start.
So when the alarm went off at 6:00 I got up, threw some clothes on and went for a brief 5 minute jog, just
to wake myself up. After that, I ate a huge bowl of oatmeal, scraped and brushed the final layer of fluorocarbons on my
skis, and headed to the race. Last night I waxed three pairs of skis, so the first order of business after
arriving at the trailhead was to test them. Since there were so many variables in the weather in the last twenty four hours (when would
the rain stop? Would it freeze afterwards? When would they groom the course? What would the race time temperature be? Etc.)
I waxed three pairs for three different conditions- (1) a stiff pair of skis for cold, hard, icy tracks (2) a medium pair for
frozen tracks that are starting to melt as it warms up (3) a soft pair for new snow. A quick glide for distance test told
me that pair (1) was the fastest. They were waxed with 2 layers of Solda F-30 Violet, covered with a layer of
Solda Fluor. They were significantly faster than the new snow pair (waxed with Cera-F). Having made the ski choice, I did a warm up loop
around the very demanding course, stretched out, and headed to the start. Right out of the start I could tell I was
out of sync. I was flailing on the uphills and stumbling on the downs. In fact, on the first major downhill, I got caught in a rut and
almost ended up in the woods. The course was hard and icy, but as more skiers traveled over it, it turned to sugar snow. The uphills were very soft,
which as you know is not good for me. I kept thinking to myself, "I have to figure out why I am struggling!" Over the first two laps I was passed by Rob Whitney,
Marc Gilbertson, and Carl Swenson - all of whom were in the top five at that point. I watched their technique and tried to imitate it. Carl was especially good
to watch, but it was too late to help me in this race. After the race, everybody wanted to analyze my technique. A few people said I didn't look like myself
out there. Torbjorn told me that I need more snap and need to get my hip further forward during push-off. It was a very frustrating day for me, but until I learn to
skate in soft snow, I will continue to finish in the middle of the pack in those races.
Men's 30K & Women's 15K Freestyle
Men's 30K Freestyle|
Women's 15K Freestyle
January 17
Ever since the race ended yesterday, people have been consoling me by telling me that I will do better
on Tuesday. I know that they are doing their best to put a positive spin on a terrible race, but by this
morning I was sick of hearing it. I know I will do better. End of story. Today I slept in and went skiing
at about 10:30. I haven't had a chance to ski on my new klister skis yet this year, so I took advantage of
the loose granular conditions to take them for a spin. I slapped on a little universal klister and headed
out on the 5K loop that we will race twice on Tuesday. The skis were beautiful- very fast and good kick. It usually
takes a bit of wax experimentation on a new pair of classic skis before you figure out the wax pocket, but
on these skis I nailed it the first time. I skied two laps and then did a lot of stretching to loosen my tight muscles.
After that, the day consisted of watching two football games and waxing a few skis.
January 18
It's weird to be at a race series and have two days off in between races. Usually we race every other
day until all the races are over. I don't think I like having an extra day off. Since I had a bad race on
Saturday, I just want to get back out there as soon as possible. Additionally, it means that we have to
stay in Rumford even longer and pay for housing longer. Today when I went skiing, I used one klister ski from
last year and one from my new pair. I wanted to compare the two and select a race pair for tomorrow. My new skis performed
well again and I decided that they will be pair number one for tomorrow. This evening was a replay of the
evening before the 30K. It started raining at about 3 p.m. and continued to rain heavily until about midnight.
I was not nearly as excited to see rain this time. This time I had to prepare four pairs of skis, because the weather was again unpredictable.
You always need to glide wax two pairs of classic race skis, so you have a backup pair (just in case). But this time I also needed a pair of skis for
"hairies" (in case of new wet snow you rough up the kick zone with sandpaper to make hairies) and a pair of skis to test kick wax that I could race on in a pinch.
It took a while, but I got the skis all done and went to bed.
January 19
I was fired up today. When I woke up, I was ready to race. I arrived at the race about two hours before start time in order to figure out the klister of the day.
The waxing was not too difficult, but it required some testing and lots of prep time. I waxed with Torbjorn, Justin Wadsworth, Scott Loomis, and Erik Stange.
We decided to go with a thin layer of Rode Skare Blue, covered with a cushion layer of Rode Violet and Multigrade. We covered this with a layer of Rode Rossa
with Swix Silver Universal mixed in. Whew! It took a while to get this all on, so my warm up was less than ideal. I waxed, tried my skis for 30 seconds, and ran to the start.
Usually when I get to the start, my mind goes blank and I don't really think about anything until I get out on the course. Today, my mind was racing. I kept
telling myself that this was my race and I was going to go out and prove it. I was chomping at the bit. I was borderline psycho I think. After I started and
I heard cheers along the course, I got even more fired up. It was time to kick some ass. I was right around 5th place most of the race, even though I started 10th most of the top skiers started in front of me, so I knew that being in 5th or 6th would mean an eventually top 10 finish. I was dying on the second lap, because I went out
so hard, but I held on for a sixth place finish - my best yet at Nationals! I was very happy with the race, but it was also a bit frustrating being only 15 seconds from top 3 (but only a little bit).
It's going to be an exciting pursuit on Thursday!!
Men's 10K & Women's 5K Classic
Men's 10K Classic|
Women's 5K Classic
January 20
I am pretty sore from yesterday's race. I ran into Rob Whitney in our motel wax room this morning and he said the same thing. For such a short race, yesterday's
10K really took it out of us. I just hope everyone else is feeling it tomorrow as well. I only skied for about
half an hour this morning. I skied the 7.5K loop with Torbjorn. He gave me a few technique tips.
He told me to get my hip further forward as I step up the hill and to straighten my leg more as I shift my weight.
It's all stuff he's told me before, but I know that he's right and I continue to work on it. After skiing,
I stretched out for twenty minutes, trying to work specifically on the sore areas in my hips and back.
In the afternoon, I went for a twenty minute run to warm up and shake out my muscles and then did a good
half hour of stretching. It's more stretching that I hardly ever do, but its the best way to relieve sore muscles.
I should probably explain the format for tomorrow's race for those unfamiliar with pursuits. Tomorrow's start
times are determined by yesterday's results. So Marcus starts first, with Justin 23 seconds behind. Then Bauer and Weaver
27 seconds behind him, etc., etc., until every one has started. Whoever crosses the finish line first wins
the two-day event. Therefore I start 6th, 1:04 behind Marcus. My goal is to stay in the top seven. Rob Whitney usually starts fast,
so I am hoping to stay with him and Justin Freeman, and then see what happens from there.
January 21
I hate being passed. I decided that today as I was being passed by a train of three skiers - Marc Gilbertson, Kris Freeman, and Jesse Downs - at the
10K point of the race. From the start, I hammered as fast as I could to catch Justin Freeman. Rob Whitney passed me at
2K and Justin and I held on to him for a K or so. Justin then dropped me and I was left to fend off the pack 30 seconds behind.
No such luck, Marc et al. went by at 10K and I held on to them for 2K before dropping hard. From there to the finish, I was concerned
only with staying ahead of anyone else who might come into sight. No one did, and I struggled to the finish by myself.
During the race I was very frustrated that I couldn't stay with the same skiers I had beaten two days earlier. But after the race, I was able
to put things in better perspective. I still finished in the top ten, my best pursuit yet. And my skate split was 13th for the day. Much better than my 30K skate
result. Don't get me wrong, I have a lot of work to do on my skating so I can stop getting passed. But I'm on my way.
Men's 15K & Women's 7.5K Freestyle - Pursuit Men's 15K Freestyle - Pursuit|
Women's 7.5K Freestyle - Pursuit
January 22
Today was a busy day at Black Mountain. This morning was the first College Carnival Race of the season, hosted by Bates College. This afternoon
was the National Sprint Championships (the first ever!). I headed up to the mountain at about 10:00 to catch the tail end of the carnival races before
getting ready for the sprints. I cheered on my former teammates, scrambling to see them 4 times on each 5K lap. Not the best warm up for a race, but well
worth it. Sometimes I think I make a better spectator than I do racer. The Dartmouth women placed second, beaten only by a UVM team powered by new Russian sensation, Ekaterina Ivanova.
The men managed a decent third place effort, overcoming the absence of two top skiers. UVM won the men as well, followed by Middlebury. Most of the top teams were without top skiers, due to the Nationals races, but it
was an exciting relay none the less.
National Sprint Championships
Next up was the sprints. In recent years, head-to-head elimination sprints have gained popularity due to their spectator-friendly
format. The races are fast paced, you can usually see most of the 1K course from the Start/Finish, area and the races almost always come down to a mad dash to the finish. Anything can happen.
This is the first time that sprint races have been included in the National Championships. This year there have also been World Cup sprint events in Europe as well.
Sprints will almost certainly be a medal event in Salt Lake City in 2002 and next year USSA will probably name a National Sprint Team to compete in World Cups.
For all these reasons, I decided that I should enter the sprints, against Torbjorn's recommendations, and gain some more experience. I was seeded in the second heat, along with John Bauer, Pat Casey, and three
other skiers. Originally, there were supposed to be seven people in each heat, with the top two moving on to the finals. But there were a lot of no-shows, people saving energy for Sunday's 50K Classic.
In the first heat, only Marcus Nash and Eli Brown showed up so they both advanced. In our heat, Pat Casey took the early lead. I jumped in behind him with John Bauer on my heels. On the first slight downhill, I found out that my skis were not so
fast (I didn't wax for this race - I used skis from yesterday's race). Pat put a couple ski lengths on me on the downhill. Going up the next hill, the biggest climb, Pat maintained his lead and Bauer was still hot on my heels. Coming down the next hill,
Bauer and Jeff Banks both glided by me. From here the only part of the course left was a short downhill followed by a sharp U-turn and uphill sprint to the finish. As we
entered the U-turn, Pat still had a lead with the train of Bauer, Banks, and me in pursuit. At this point I has resigned myself to a short day- I knew I could get by Jeff, but I didn't think I had enough distance left
to close on Bauer. Then it all changed. Bauer went into the woods around the U-turn and it was just me and Banks for second. Seeing that I had another chance, I pulled out and passed Jeff.
I couldn't quite get by Pat, but I was in the finals anyway. Sometimes it's better to be lucky than good. The other heats, went more according to expectation, with Scott Loomis, Mike White, Justin Wadsworth, and Justin Freeman moving on.
In the finals, Pat Casey took the early lead followed by Marcus Nash, Justin Wadsworth, Eli Brown, Scott Loomis, myself, Mike White, and Justin Freeman. Again, going down the first hill I lost time. Mike White glided past me and I lost touch with
the leaders. Going up the big climb, I worked like crazy and closed the gap. Coming down the hill into the U-turn, it was Marcus, Justin W, Pat, Eli, Scott, Mike, me, and Justin F. all right in a line. It was an all-out, lung burning sprint up the hill
to the finish. Marcus held off Justin W for the win, with Eli Brown moving up to third. I was able to
get by Mike, but ran out of room before I got to Pat and Scott. A good race, but I think that had I had faster skis, I could have been in position to do some damage at the end.
In the women's final, Nina Kemppel lead from the start. Coming down the big hill, Wendy Wagner made a move and took the lead, but Nina charged back and won convincingly.
Wendy held off Jen Douglas for second. Those three were followed by Christa Case, Sarah Conrad, and Hailey Wappet.
Men's 1.3K Sprints|
Women's 1.3K Sprints