USCSA National Championships
After racing Pacos Valentine’s Race a week ago and the President’s Cup last weekend, I feel like getting more and more into race shape. The two local races were a great preparation for the upcoming competitions. Racing in a strong Junior and Senior field at the President’s Cup was a great experience and will certainly help me for the races at the USCSA National Championships in two weeks. Patrick and Jordan as our strongest Juniors were a real challenge on Monday and I had to use all extra gears to keep up =). Actually, all the juniors did an excellent job during that race and I’m confident that they will do great at JOs. They all made huge progress this season and it is always great to race and train with them.
On march 3rd I will travel to Sunday River, ME for the 2012 USCSA Championships with the UNR Winter Sports Club. I expect to have 4 races during a period of 5 days (Classic Sprint, 8.5k Freestyle, 15k Classic, and a team relay). I’m super excited for this trip and I’m glad August is coming with us as coach (great skis guaranteed =).
Now let’s go out there and ski!
Prez Day Skate
Wow. That was a fun race. It was great to mix it up today with juniors and masters alike for a little under 10k at Auburn Ski Club this morning. We actually had the entire Farm Team racing today. I’m glad I did it, even though I’m still getting over a cold. I figure either I can flush out the remaining sickness, or just get sick and then recover by the Birkie. Probably not the smartest Idea, but hey, I’ve gotta get all the racing I can in. The Birkie is in less than a week for Smokey (Michael) and me, and that’s a fever I’ve got for sure. Thanks to all the volunteers and race organizers; as usual, they did awesome job and were totally cheerful and friendly. Congrats to all the juniors on crushing the last qualifier and good luck to those off to SOHO for junior olympics.
Boulder Mountain Tour
Just got back from possibly one of the best ski marathons you can do anywhere: the Boulder Mountain Tour. Amazing scenery beneath the towering Boulders; consistently perfect snow; a competitive, national-caliber field; great cheering sections in one of the most active nordic ski communities in the country; hot Big Wood Bread and soup at the finish. Not to mention the race is a 32 K that skis more like a 22 K because it drops 1100 feet from start to finish. I’ll always have a soft spot for the Boulder because it was one of the first long races I did as a J4 way back in the day. Plus, I’m still an Idaho boy. Of course, I haven’t raced the Birkie yet – that’s coming up for me in three weeks. Maybe my perspective will change after that.
Gus, Me, and Elias at the finish
Allen Bard Classic
Michael Collins and Kara LaPoint start 20km race
With the 52km Birkie coming up in less than three weeks, it’s really important to get some longer distance races under my belt. That’s been a tricky thing this year with so many races postponed or canceled altogether. The Allen Bard Classic fit the bill and it completely wiped me out. I have done plenty of easy over distance workouts around 2.5 – 3 hours and about one specific strength (double pole) workout per week but somehow that didn’t prepare me for an hour of nearly continuous high tempo double poling. (Weird huh?) Result are up here.
The gym in which we stayed at Mammoth H.S. was a lot like the weight room where we stayed last year for the Mammoth Marathon . . . with one exception. The gym has virtually unlimited space for games, and comes with a full complement of basketballs, volleyballs, tennis balls, the big blue medicine ball for physical therapy, and maybe some other things I forgot about. This means that when ski training and bouldering are done with, there is still a nice space for just about any game you can think. So what did I learn on this trip? (1) Do more strength. (2) Juniors never, ever stop playing, no matter what the laws of physics would tell you.
BMT… it’s not just a sandwich at subway
Hey all,
I’m fresh off the Far West Farm Team trip to Sun Valley for the Boulder Mountain Tour. This was my first time doing the Boulder. I have to say that it lives up to its expectations as a really fun race. I won’t go as far to say that it is as good as The Great Race here in Tahoe, but it’s pretty good.
I saw so many TUNA people out on the trails, and it was fun to reunite with my friends from Utah.
I also wanted to take a minute to thank the Fereday family for hosting the Farmers and running race logistics. They did a top-notch job which was far above and beyond the call. I would have been more than happy with a spot on the floor for my sleeping bag, but they went out of their way to be superb and gracious hosts. I also wanted to thank Far West for their support on this trip. It wouldn’t have been possible for me to have made it to my first BMT without your generous support. It was a privilege to be out there representing FW.
For music, I was inspired to share a blues song with you. On this trip, there was a lot of guitar playing and blues music filling the house. It made me want to become a better musician. I just wish I had time to work, workout, and practice music. Maybe it’ll be a summer project to play more.
-Gus
Full Throttle Nordic
As any Sierra Nevada resident knows, we actually got some snow . . . in the winter. Incredible. How long did it take for people to get out and start playing in it? By my count, about 32 hours. The snow was flying on Donner Summit at midnight Friday and I arrived at the Auburn Ski Club at around 9:45AM Sunday morning. The trails were already full of skiers. There was a traffic jam at every trail junction. It was great to see the ASC junior teams, Sugar Bowl Academy, UNR Winter Sports Club, school teams from Nevada Union and Colfax, the ASC masters group, Super Sliders, and maybe a few other groups that I forgot to mention. At any given time there were maybe 30 skiers on the trails for the entire morning.
It was fun to see how much pent-up energy is out there in the Nordic community. It seems like everyone is trying to make up for lost time. We have a base to work with now and future snow dumps should have some more staying power when falling on snow instead of earth.
Git after it!
Lost Highway
Yesterday I did 8×400 meter intervals on the track at UNR after getting off work. I spend a lot of time commuting these days, so lately my workouts have been around dusk. It was dark out, but suprisingly warm. I did the intervals without a shirt on (that was a first for late January).
Here is a picture from earlier this week at the view from the Swiss Hut at Northstar XC.
I’m listening to a bunch of modern country these days, but here’s a favorite oldie of mine. I memorized the lyrics to this song when I was 22 just in case I ever needed to sing something at karaoke.
see y’all at ASC for the 10k this weekend!
Gus
oh yeah, and I can’t wait to go out for the BMT next week.
From the Sea of Cortez to the base of Diamond Peak
Well, it turns out that this was not a bad year to miss two weeks of “winter.” I spent the Christmas and New Year break in Baja California Sur, Mexico (Cabo, La Paz, Loreto, and Todos los Santos). As someone who grew up in Los Angeles, I am embarrassed to say that I had not traveled to Mexico in my life until now. Baja strikes me sort of like the Tahoe of Mexico. The cultural offerings are a little limited compared to other travel destinations, but the outdoor recreation more than makes up for it.
Thus I found myself running, biking, kayaking, and ski bounding around Mexico. My favorite spot was without a doubt Loreto. These two pictures show Loreto from the Sea of Cortez. My next trip (hopefully camping-based) is already bouncing around my head. Of course, to do it right, one needs to go in March or April when the whales are calving.
When I came back to Tahoe lots of people were skiing on snow but it was the man made kind and always at the base of an alpine resort. Such is the way of Nordies. Nothing can stop us! From the afternoon twilight training at Diamond Peak to the CNISSF opener race at Sugar Bowl’s Nob Hill run, it’s been really fun to see how dedicated the Nordic community is to the sport.
I am really excited about the upcoming weather forecast. Oddly, I am wondering how to plan the training for Incline High School with snow on the ground. Probably it will look similar to last year. I feel like I have the dryland training sort of laid out so I could just keep going on dryland for the rest of the season. But for racing puposes, it’s pretty clear that we need snow. Epic races like the Tahoe Rim Tour, Great Ski Race, and Billy Dutton Uphill will need snow to run. And it’s not a moment too soon. Kara’s point that we can always make the best of our conditions and continue training hard resonates with me. Huge swathes of “snow country” are without snow and no one can get off of competition by complaining about training conditions at the home area. Nearly everyone is coping with a poor year!
Making the Most of What You’ve Got!
If you’ve ever been to the Sierra Nevadas in the winter — particularly Truckee — or even just heard of it, you know that it’s a region infamous for one thing in particular: snow. Lots of snow. As in, storms that last for days and dump dozens of feet of the white stuff.
But this year? Basically zilch… at least so far. January has become June-uary, as the typically frigid, snow-filled days of skiing and sledding are now instead the mild, clear, even sunny days of riding and running.
Our way of life in this small mountain town has essentially been turned upside down. There’s no Nordic skiing to be found, and the downhill resorts rely on their snow-making capabilities to keep the slopes functioning and occupied. In an ‘ordinary’ year, we’d be taking face shots of powder on the alpine slopes and logging dozens of kilometers on fresh, pristine Nordic tracks. We’d have completed several twistedly ‘painful but pleasurable’ Nordic races, pushing our limits further, and getting stronger, with each sound of the start gun.
I would have made my transition from skinny-wheeled bike to skinny skis, and gotten past the initial awkward phase of lacking coordination and balance, and heaving at the tops of the hills from inefficiency. I would just be getting into my skiing ‘groove,’ and getting more and more fired up to get out there, go hard and see what I can do. As a coach, I’d be pumping with adrenaline from the days of watching as the kids made the transformation of their own into skiing form, and began to shine brightly on the race course, finding a whole new level of digging deep.
Normally, I’d have fully embraced the spirit of winter’s lazy days, cozying up by the fire, drinking hot chocolate, and baking up a storm. I’d be dressed in my warmest sweaters, down coats and hats, and Levi’s paws would be worn from the cold days of backcountry skiing. My shoveling and car scraping skills would be nearly perfected, and the muscles built up. My boots would be water-stained and wearing down from trudging through the elements. Heck, we’d probably already be complaining about how sick of the snow we are.
I have never known anything else during winter months, in my whole life. Until now.
But as it stands, none of those things can be done. It’s hard to even really acknowledge that it’s winter, as there’s no snow on the ground, a bright sun in the sky, and no Nordic skiing to speak of. But, by the calendar, it is. And with the lack of cooperation on Mother Nature’s part to sync up with the date, as we’re used to Her doing, frustration and disappointment are high. Sorrow and despair have even come in to play. And complaining has been ever-present.
I realize the implications of the lack of snow are significant in my mountain town, where entire livelihoods depend on this one season, and the snow itself. It is a total bummer that our winter has been non-existent, and undoubtedly not without consequence. As a ski coach, I am blatantly aware of this. However, as an athlete, I have learned the importance of being able to adapt.
Having no control over nature or the weather, there is literally nothing we can do about our snowless situation. Yes, we can spend thousands of dollars turning thousands of gallons of water into artificial snow where we have the capacity, but the buck stops there. As such, I’ve convinced myself that there is really no sense in complaining. Sure, we can waste away the day being stressed and disappointed and considering ourselves unlucky about what we don’t have. Or, we can make the choice to make the most of what we do have, right now. I choose the latter.
So I’m not Nordic skiing as I normally would be. But there is plenty more to do; activities I can never say I’ve done before in January. In fact, in many ways, this winter is a blessing for me as a triathlete, and I really out to be soaking up this second lease on fall training. I’ve gotten in some amazing trail runs without having to seek out lower elevation, and probably gotten in more time on my mountain bike in the last few weeks than I did in the same time period at any point last fall. The riding has been incredible, and my legs are getting strong! Yes, there are a few icy patches here and there that you have to watch out for, but who cares? We’re mountain biking in January, in Tahoe!
Not what we’d normally expect or desire, but come on, it’s pretty darn sweet nonetheless. Who knows when we’ll get to say that again. It sounds like snow is on the way this week, and all will be ‘back to normal’ here, but I for one am going to take full advantage of these last few days of snowlessness, as I’m happy to have done so far this “winter.” And I’m going to be thankful that I’m already two months ahead of where I’d normally be in terms of my riding and running, despite being behind in my skiing. I’m going to be thankful that I’ve gotten in so many fun days on the trail with good friends, and been able to be outside, loving what I do, regardless of whether or not the calendar says I should be doing it. Life is never certain, and you won’t always get what you want, so you might as well make the most of what you’ve got.
North American Biathlon Championships
Jericho, VT
It’s been a while, but I got another race start in. Wednesday Glenn and myself took a redeye to Jericho, VT for the North American Championships. Today was the first race of three. Ended up having a hard day on the range missing eight shots, but I felt good skiing. It was windy with strong gust so the majority of everyone had a challenge on the range so I’m still happy with my 7th place finish! Tomorrow is a 12.5K Pursuit race so I’ll focus on improving the range. His race went well as well but he did struggle a little on the range.
There is a little more snow here then home and it’s snowing! The roller ski loop was starting to show through the trail during the race so more snow is really going to help. The weather is going to be in the negative tomorrow. The east coast is the only place where you can experience sun, extreme cold, rain, snow, sleet, and slush! I hope a storm comes thru Tahoe get some racing this February.
Think Snow!
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