slowdad

First Race, Gold Medal, Proud Dad

Today was the Fisher Loppet up at Hardwood Ski and Bike.

I did not race which is probably for the best. Perhaps I'll give the 40km a shot next year and see what happens.

But today it was nice to spectate and see my lovely wife take 3rd place in her category despite having the worst skis ever manufactured by Fisher.  They are truly terrible and and glide like bricks.  We have agreed that she gets to buy the next pair of skis.  This is tremendously generous on my part.  I have my eye on a nice pair of Fisher RCS carbonlites/

I have been told that she'll divorce me if I post her picture here.  So I'll go and post it on facebook...

But, the medal winning didn't stop there for Team Slowdad. No Sir!  My family ensures I learn my place by constantly putting up better results than I do.

My 4 and 6 year old lined up side by side for the 5 and 6 year old .5 km race.  Two skiers going off every 30 seconds.

It was warm out, at least +5 deg C, probably more, so it was getting a bit slushy, but our team had the secret advantage of having done all their training in snowpants, and now... the snowpants were off!  This is a big deal and it confers, I believe, as big an advantage as taking EPO.  Next year you'll see the entire Norwegian XC team training in snowpants.

I didn't hold out much hope for a successful ski prior to the race.  Everyone was in full on crank.  #1 was whining and complaining about pretty much everything, and # 2 was crying, yelling, and saying that he didn't want to ski AT ALL!

And of course nobody was listening to me.  Hell I even bought everyone their favorite milk beverage but that bribe only lasted about 2 minutes.

So, we managed to get the recently removed and abandoned skis back on the appropriate feet and made it to the start.  #2 was whining that Mom was going to have to help him and that he wasn't going to race.  

As they got released from the start, the magic kicked in.  I've seen this a number of times now and I think it's a good lesson for parents everywhere.  It's likely your kid won't want to race during the entire lead up.  It's also highly probable that they are going to love it while they are doing it.

So off they shot.  My oldest hammering away like an obsessed Ivan Babikov with a look in his eye that makes my heart melt.

 

My youngest after the first 10 feet started yelling at Mom that "You're not allowed to help me!"  He kept up that spirit for the rest of the 5 minute or so race and placed 5th, smiling the whole way.

My oldest took home gold.  A very proud moment for him, especially after seeing the recent Olympics and learning what it means to stand on a podium.  He is currently sleeping with a bunny rabbit and his medal.

My proudest moment?  Just as he was turning to climb a small climb to the finish he cheerfully announced as he skied by.  "Dad!  I'm doing my best!"

Given that he was having fun while doing it, it's all I can ask for.
 

YouTube - The Ultimate Skiing Showdown HD

via www.youtube.com

Not only is this one of my favorite "internet" songs, but it's got some excellent cross country skiing footage shot by the guys at xczOne It's a bit non-sequitur but fun.

Gatineau Loppet - 49 Km Course Profile

Here's the Gatineau Loppet 49 Km Course elevation profile as spit out from my Polar HRM.  Keep in mind that it's based on time, so the downhills take less time to complete than the uphills.

It's a total ascent of about 750m.

Gatineau Loppet - Freestyle Race Report

I woke up this morning fearful.  After 49 km ending in a sore back yesterday I was worried just how I would feel.

As the 5:30 wake up call rang I wiggled my toes, slowly moved my legs, and turned over, stretching my back. I was pain free!

But I was tired.  And my nose felt like a balloon.

Hacking up foul tasting green stuff didn't give me a lot of encouragement either.

As I sat at breakfast I was so tired that I could barely eat but I forced myself to eat as much as I could.  The fact that they Holiday Inn was serving those croissant type things filled with chocolate helped but not starting the race today entered my mind. Actually the thought seemed to just poke at me the whole time.

I had a lot of excuses lined up.  I am sick.  I am tired.  I have only skied once a week to get ready for this.  I have a blister on my foot.

But as I looked around the hotel restaurant I saw everyone else casually chatting, drinking coffee, and eating very little by my eye.  They all looked so ready.  If they could do it, then why not me.

And so I drove over to the race, around 7:30 and scored the best parking spot ever.  There's a lot to be said about getting a nice parking spot. It makes you feel good knowing that you have less of a trudge back, hauling your sorry self, limping along.

I sat down inside, letting the time pass, desperately hoping that my body would somehow feel less fatigued. I secretly hoped someone would offer me a free coffee.  No good Samaritans materialized.

Everyone else looked great.  The young guys with their A-Wave bibs, fit women with ripped abs, and old guys with forearms like ropes.  Italian, French, English greetings as old friends reconnected.  

Someday I am gonna be one of those old guys...

Anyway...

Snow was falling, and it was about -6.  I waxed a little warmer than that.  I expected slow, ground up, grinding snow.

Folks were out warming up.  The Swix guy was yelling at people he knew and was waxing, or at least polishing their skis. He did not point at me and make my skis super fast. Maybe I should switch over to Toko, not that I really have much of a full wax box.

I walked around and tried to get my legs loose as they were super tight, and not in a super hero like way. My spindly arms sore.

I lined up, as I did yesterday, in the back with the D wave.  Things were a little less cordial than yesterday and a few E wavers, and D wavers snuck under the tape to gain a few places in the C wave.  Others pushed to the front to fill empty gaps.  Standard stuff in any mass start race.

The start was more crowded and much more hectic than yesterday with people trying to skate over top of each others poles in the hope that it would cause the person in front of them to fall so they could leap over them and sprint to victory.

And then a small miracle, through the choke point, everyone lined up in two columns and orderly made their way forward to the parkway. The single individual who tried to pass everyone by double poling through the ungroomed snow did not succeed in his quest for glory.  He's probably now telling his mates that he totally could have caught Robin McEeever if only we would have let him through.

By the time I got to the parkway I figured I was in serious trouble.  A ligament on the outside of my right knee felt like it was being stabbed every time I put weight on the leg. Not good.  Bad even.

It was going to be a long day. A long day of stabbing.

So I did my best to keep up with those around me.  And we climbed.  And climbed.

The crowds were very polite up Penguin Hill.  Nice and orderly.  Nice Canadians.  Nice Canadian Penquins. Much better than I remember it being.  I hate that hill though.  The steep climbs just keep coming.

Around this time my knee was only throbbing and I could start to ski evenly and with something approaching proper technique.

And then I passed someone.

And then another person. 

My skis were not terribly fast, but slightly faster than those around me so I started to ever so slowly catch people, particularly on the rolling and downhill sections.

Km 10 to Km 30 was actually fairly uneventful.  Lots of climbing, where I held my own. And downhills where I picked up a bit of time. 

I skied along behind some older guy for a long time, trading places occasionally.  We had a nice chat. 

It may surprise many who know me that I actually like people. Especially old guys who cross country ski.

Just as an aside, to those people who think I am in good shape, especially people at the office, go hang out at a cross country ski race. 

At around 35 km I was surprised. I was very tired, but less tired than when I started.  I wanted it to be over, but could at least imagine myself getting through the last 10km. 

Slowly I passed people.  Bit by bit I cruised along, stealing a draft where I could. 

And soon I was at the turn off to the finish, about 1500m away from the finish. 

Fortunately for all those around me, I was not grunting and crying. 

Up ahead I saw a guy wearing a crazy looking, colour clashing, spandex suit and I made it my mission to pass him.  There was no way I was going to have him appear in my finish line picture.  And I pushed just a bit harder to catch him before the line. I did, and I hope that in doing so, he decided that he needs a more aerodynamic suit, and therefore will have to buy something less outrageous.

And so, I finished and got my double.  And ate my weight in chocolate covered raisins.

I came in at 3:14.  And met Saul Goldman, owner of Velotique. A very inspiring individual if there ever was one.

The Results?

Name                 Time        PaceKM    Category    CatPlace    GenPlace
Rob MacEwen    3:14:07.4    15.1    Men 35 - 39    28/40        181/348    

I'd put this one at pretty close to a personal best for me.  Mid Pack, not quite mid pack for my age.  A little slower than my fastest result.  When I was younger I finished a bit farther back.

In closing I'd like to thank Buckley's Cough Syrup.  A strong shot of that before a race does wonders.

Thanks to the Gatineau Loppet for renaming themselves again and putting on a solid event.  I'll be back.

Gatineau Loppet - Classic Race Report

1 down, 1 to go.

I've got to say that it's a good thing the race was shortened from 53km to 49.  Another 4 km would have killed me I think. 

Now, anyone who knows me understands that I'm a glass have empty kind of person, so I'll break the trend and start with the positive.  Strange but true.

My skis were killer fast.  Awesome.  In the tracks quite possibly the fastest skis I've ever had.  It was remarkable.

On the longer downhills, when I didn't get stuck behind someone less awesome than me, I would rocket away from those behind me.  I could easily make up 100 m on the downhills, on a couple of the longer ones it was closer to 200 m. 

Unfortunately I got caught behind people 3 or 4 times on long downhills. Trying to pass outside of the tracks was completely impossible and when I tried I lost massive amounts of momentum, but caught back up when I got back in the track.

The wax easily bought me 5 minutes over the last half...

But today wasn't about the glide wax.  It never is in classic races.

Last night was fine, the usual stuff.  Waxing skis, chatting with Norwegians. Trying to find some carbs to hammer down.  I went for Indian.  Lets just say not the best idea, but no disasters.

I popped into Peccos, the local ski shop, where the guy working the desk had little clue as to what the kick wax of the day would be.  So I bought a couple options.  Maybe that was his plan. 

The consensus, the day before, and the morning of, was Swix VR45.  So on it went 5-6 layers.

The start was as I remember it.  Limbs and skis flailing around, and a choke point 400m from the start.  Someday the organizers are going to fix that. Like maybe by 2017.  But, everyone was pretty civilized and sorted into 4 tracks, and then 2 tracks pretty quick.

I got super scared after the first km.  My skis had no grip what-so-ever.  I swear when I am scared.

Fortunately the groomed tracks up the first hills were made of more new snow and I managed to get some purchase. It didn't appear to be as good as those around me, but lets just blame my technique and move on.

I'll have to download my hr file and look at it in more detail but the first half played out pretty much as I had planned.

Km 0-10, I pushed a little to keep with the pace of everyone in my wave which was a bit faster than it should have been.

Km 10-20 I felt pretty good, skiing well within myself and backing off when the HR climbed to the high 160s.

Km 20-30 I started to pass a few people, particularly on the small downhills but also on the shallow uphills.  I had to do a lot of herringbone when others didn't but skied my own race and kept steady.

It was starting to get pretty lonely as the pack thinned out.

I knew something was wrong when a fairly fat guy passed me up a long uphill... And then another one.  I had to go find a less skied in track to get any grip. Mr Fat 1 and Mr Fat 2 skied away with apparent ease. I knew I was in trouble.

Trying to get grip really started to hurt my back, and all the slipping was hurting the hamstrings.  But the Refresh and the Carboom were doing their job and preventing any bonking.

Km 30-40 The uphills were brutal at this point.  I was alternating double poling and running in the soft snow. The downhills where fun however.  When I passed by 40km I checked my watch and saw it was going to be very close to get in under 4 hours.

Km 40-47 There were a few long gradual uphills.  I hate them. People were blowing by me.  I tried to run up the hills and then gave in, said, "Screw the Back" and put out the best double poling I could muster. Uphill, downhill, flats, and I managed to pass the bastards who had just passed me.  Well, most of them anyway.

Km 47-Finish Yay for flats.  My back, suffering.  My legs, sore.  Eyes, crossed.  I picked a guy about 100m ahead of me and let loose.  Sure I was mid pack, but I can't stand to cruise over the line.

I hammered as best I could, the bear unleashed.  I probably looked like a flailing idiot but I don't care.  I was making a lot of grunting noises, which my wife would strongly disapprove of.

I went by my target and shot for the line.  By this time I was actually in tears, and not just small ones.  But big OMFG this hurts tears.

And so it ended.

The end result:

           Cad.  Categ.  Gender           @    @         
Place   Temp   km/h  Plce/Tot Plce/Tot  Categorie    Huron  Gamelin 

165   3:55:49.5 12.5 3520  17/30  141/292 Men 35 - 39  2:10:10 3:25:43 

I'm just about mid pack, almost on target, and a smidge better than the last time I did the race back in 1998. Not bad for a 12 year break.

I must say the the volunteers were very good, and much friendlier than what I remember. I just think that the race packages are very weak.  All you get is your bib and your chip. Kinda lame.

Anyway, now it's time to rest, eat, wax the skate skis, rest, eat, sleep and then try and pull out a decent time tomorrow in the much more crowded Skate race where everyone tries to ski over each others skis.

The Night Before Loppet

Twas the night before Loppet and all through the place

Everyone was worrying about the wax...

I'd write a whole verse but I'm heading to bed. Tomorrow is going to be an interesting day.

49 Km Classic.

Nobody is really too certain about the kick wax.  But I've gone with VR40.

I've seen a fair number of people dumping Cera-F on their skis.  If you don't ski that's probably $20 in wax per pair of skis.

I have a mild cold.

I have a headache

I am not sure eating Indian food is the best idea. But I still ate so much, in the interests of carbo loading, that I feel the urge to puke.

Fun times.

Oh, and weirdly enough, my hamstrings are starting to hurt again.  Seems to happen when I taper and sit around a lot.

I am starting in the second last wave tomorrow.  The goal is to put up a decent time to get into a better wave next year.

And now to bed.

Aggressively Waiting

Well here I sit.

After skiing for about 6 hours this past weekend I am doing basically nothing this week prior to the Gatineau escapades this weekend.

We'll see how the strategy works out.  I keep having to tell myself that I'm not going to be able to hammer for 3 hours and put up a good placing.  Mid pack would be amazing I think.

The snow in Gatineau Park seems poor at best so I suspect that the race will be shortened somewhat.  I've never done a Gatineau Loppet that didn't have some kind of weather issue but not having much snow is a bit of a surprise.

The skiis are prepped, the gear is washed.  The only thing to do now is make sure I get to the start line.

And Sleep

And Watch the Olympics

Two mutually exclusive activities.

Balls of Steel - I wish I had some

The last couple of weeks have been fairly busy.  A few long rides on the trainer. Well, long by my standards.  And a few hours of skiing up at Hardwood hills.

Unfortunately my ski speed is pretty slow.  I'm about 30% slower than I was "back in the day" and it makes me a little bit sad, and a bit worried about my Gatineau experience 2 weekends from now.  Baring any miracles it's going to be a long weekend.

Today I was hoping to go for a 4 hour ski, to follow up on the 3 hours classic I did yesterday.

I woke up early, which means late to my lovely wife, grabbed a coffee and some Gatorade and headed for the snow belt north of Barrie.

With the ipod in I cruised along in a fairly uneventful manner, enjoying the scenery, which was easy at my speed.

All in all the day wouldn't be worth writing about but at 2 hours, 26 minutes, and 13 seconds, according to my handy dandy heart-rate monitor, I experienced a sensation that I won't forget for a very long time.

As I eased down a curving section of the trail, happy to be passing a few folks taking a quick break trail-side, I decided that it was time to take a drink.

Drinking fluids is a task that most humans can accomplish with ease. In fact, I believe that most people can accomplish the task while moving under their own power.  Even though I'd had almost a full bottle by that time I proved that I am a danger to my self.

As I grabbed for the bottle, strapped around my waist I decided to reach around with the opposite hand, my left.

Now, any experienced, or not experienced, skier will tell you, you should never put the tips of your poles in front of you.  They tend to get caught, and throw you off balance. Always keep them behind you and stop with your skis.

And so, it was with some nervousness that I saw my left pole swing around to my front.  But I was not worried, I have a fair number of miles of skiing under my belt and rarely fall, except for yesterday when I stepped on a leaf and that and a combination of my grip wax which seemed tuned perfectly for "Oak leaves stuck in trail" sent me onto my face.

So I kept reaching for the sweet syrup that is Gatorade.

And then I heard, and felt, an explosion so powerful I thought I had been shot.

My feet flew forward, my upper body snapped in the same direction.  And my groin stayed perfectly still.

Bang. 

I felt like I had been shot back in time.  Or hit by a cannon as in some twisted road-runner cartoon.

As I fell to the ground I remember seeing a piece of the pole flying, making it's escape.

And I stopped my watch, writhing on the ground, begging for death.  I have not felt anywhere near that much pain since having a vasectomy, which is rather ironic. 

I heard voices.  Men squeamishly asking if I was ok. I was proud I did not vomit.

I got up after a few minutes and managed to ski back, fortunately mainly downhill.

The good news is that I got a new pair of poles out of the deal. The bad news is that my wife isn't happy that I got new pair of poles out of the deal, despite the fact that they aren't nearly top of the line, but more mid-grade. 

So here's the damage. You'll notice it broke into 3 pieces which is probably a good thing as it meant I didn't skewer myself in the process.

I'm going to miss these poles.  I don't know what they say.  All I know is that they came out of Russia for a couple years in the '90's and they were a very affordable pair of carbon poles that carried me through many loppets and biathlon races.

I managed to ski another 12 km loop with my new poles, putting me up around 45 km for the day.  Not what I wanted but a worthy effort.

Lessons Learned Today

Some things I learned today.  Some of them relearned.

Today the family went of it's usual cross country ski outing. The kids were off with Jackrabbits, and mom and dad went off for some quiet time amongst the trees.

It was fairly standard but I picked up a few tidbits.

1. Eating tofu curry prior to a long ski is a bad idea.

2. Kids always say they don't want to do whatever is coming up.

3. Kids don't want to leave whatever it was they just said they didn't want to do.

4. Trying to catch people ahead of you on the trail in the first 15 minutes of a 2.5 hour ski is a bad idea.

5. Having the people you just caught leave you behind because you're knackered is kind of embarrassing.

6. You don't win points with the wife by saying you're going to ski alone.

7. 2.5 hours is a long time on roughly one bottle of water and a mouthful of carboom.

8. I can drink a carton of chocolate milk in about 1.5 seconds. I can eat a chocolate cookie in half that time.

9. Bring a spare change of clothes next time.

After today's ski I realize that the Gatineau Loppet is going to be a tough go as my legs started to give by about 2 hours.  Fortunately the last half is net downhill but I think it's going to be wobbly.

Gimme some Sugar

Well at the very least I feel like I am back on the wagon, or, if not on the actual wagon, I am back, chasing it and trying to get back on.  Forward progress.

This past weekend was pretty good, with some cross country skiing, and a bike ride through the crazy streets of the big smoke.

Skiing at zero degrees C is fun, although my wife was rather embarrassed that I wore the one piece race suit.  Middle aged men should not normally wear one piece purpleish spandex even if it is made by Sugoi.  The 5 pounds I want to lose is being carried in a donut shape that surrounds my belly button.  The kids find it amusing which is some kind of consolation.

Cycling at zero degrees is not normally super fun, but the 2 hour ride on Sunday was nice.  The main problem was the drivers.  I am fairly certain that there was a competition in town that involved cell phones, right hand turns, and stopping in the bike lane. Unfortunately for their game, they failed to run us off the road and no points were scored.

It was nice to be out riding in January, and managing to keep up with my fatigued riding partner was even better.  I even put in a short burst up a hill at the end that let me get at least 15 meters ahead at the expense of my heart turning into a vibrator.  It was very sexy.

I've managed to go to the gym and put in a couple of hours on the trainer.  And my legs feel like driftwood.

Today's spin on the trainer, an hour easy, felt like a 3 hour ride.  I've been trying to cut out sugar during the past few days.  Exactly 27 minutes into my ride I gave up, ate some chocolate chips, and drank a ginger-ale.  I figure I expended just about the same amount of energy that I consumed. 

Getting a handle on this eating thing is tough.

But, I watched a video of the Kona Ironman Triathlon.  Watching people finish that race was very motivating.  People with no legs, people with transplanted hearts, people who are 80.  It makes you keep turning the pedals when you see someone at mile 100 with no legs at a higher cadence.

I'm not special, I'm just some guy who gave up exercise for 10 years and decided that wasn't a strategy for success.