SLOW DOWN...50km as in 5-0km is a long way!!

Ok, so my 2nd try at the Lake Placid Loppet didn't go quite as well as the first go-around last year. Jason did a nice job summarizing everything from our team's perspective on the RNR website, so I won't repeat everything here. I will say that Jason had an amazing day to finish 3rd, which is the first podium result in a American Ski Marathon race for any of us, so congrats to him.

For me, I think a combination of things derailed my race. The first and foremost was that Ithink I skied the first 5km (which is almost all uphill) as fast as any 5km I've skied this year, I just kept telling myself to push, push, push, things will slow down. Well, they did slow down, the only problem was that it was I, who slowed down and the leaders who skied away. The middle 25km or so, were pretty brutal. It felt like I was skiing in slow motion, just trying to recover and get back into some type of rythym. I did manage to ski the last 10km relatively strong (emphasis on relative) and was able to pick up a few spots near the end, which was a solid way to end the race. When all was said and done, I finished 13th. I'd be lying if I said I would have been happy with that at the beginning of the race, but by the end, I was just happy it was over. I guess that's the thing about doing these marathons, when a day doesn't go great, it's still an accomplishment to gut it out and drag yourself to the line, or at least that's the rationalization I'm using. I do know that I had to dig deeper and be much tougher mentally this year than last year. I guess it's possible that I was simply in better shape last year (which is a harsh realization considering the amount of training I've put in). I would like to think that the effort over the first 10km put me into the red zone for too long to recover from while trying to still ski fast and simply bonked (whoever invented the word "bonk" was a genius by the way).

Just like last year, we had the full A-Team in the feed zones to help us out. One of the other problems I had was that I didn't follow my nutrition strategy at all. Here's a picture of Libby's hand-written notes before the race on what each of us wanted at various points during the race:
Please note that Jason's final Gel is "Jacked up with Caffeine" (with 2 underlines)!!

Since this isn't completely legible online - My initial plan was:

- take 1/2 an Odwalla bar and a new water bottle with GU sports drink at 17km (I only took the bottle)

- take a Gu gel and my last GU drink bottle at 25km (I only took the gel)

- take a final gel with 8km to go (I didn't take anything).

So the only things I put into my body while skiing 50km up two big mountains was two sports drink bottles (about 200 calories total) and one gel (about 100 calories if I had managed to take the whole thing, which I didn't, because - honestly, it's not that easy to ski and operate a gel at the same time)...that's about 300 calories, while my heart rate monitor said I burned about 3000 during the race...not my most intelligent maneuver, but it's really easy to not always use your brain when your heart is beating through your eyeballs and it feels like your entire body is about to cramp up...

anyways, I love ski racing, have I said that recently?!?

Oddly enough, I think that going out too hard also led to me refusing so much of my initial nutrition plan, I'm not sure my stomach could have handled anything more than what I put into it, but my body needed it.

So, now that I've completed my 4th ski marathon I've experienced all of the following:

- screwed up kick wax and had to double pole for 40km of a 50km race (Tug Hill Tourathon - 2008)
- made mistake of relying on gels and a water bottle in sub-zero temps AND learned the harsh necessity of doubling up on wind briefs during marathons in cold temps - (Fishcher Loppet 2009)
- went out too hard, refused too much food/drink and was seeing stars for about 20km while trying to ski - your basic bonk - (Lake Placid Loppet 2011)

I'm told by the elder-statesmen from the Rochester area that have done a lot of these marathons that these are all pretty common mistakes and not to worry.

Ok, here's the more interesting portion of this blog post, the pictures:

Here's the start, the RNR crew and the Jacked Up old man are all on the right side of the front row.

That's me going out for my final 8km, skiing past Nancy's outstretched right hand, holding "bottle #3".

Much like last year, we had a few others come up including Jane, George and Jane's boyfriend Matt. We stayed at the High Peaks Cyclery Guidehouse in town. Following the race on Saturday, we went out for some festivities that included the Brewpub, Lisa G's and some fooseball at Wise Guys.

This is Derrick and Chad taking on Matt and Jane. Never, ever take on anyone that went to Clarkson in fooseball...they didn't have much else to do up there in Potsdam!

Jane and her boyfriend. After the race, Nancy and these two when on a snowshoe that somehow led to them snowshoeing down an abandoned bobsled track. I'm not sure how that's possible, but I'd like to see some pictures.

This is George watching some speed skaters cruise around the 1980 Olympic Oval.

Overall, it was a very fun weekend. I would have liked to have a better race, but it was definitely still a rewarding race and I feel like I gained some additional experience. I'm definitely going to tweak a few parts of my strategy before my next marathon, which will be the Rendezvous Yellowstone Ski Marathon in West Yellowstone, MT in three and a half weeks.