Chad, Jason, Sam (Chad's college buddy) and I split the kitchenette unit at the Jack Rabbit (which apparently is now called "Tmax-n-Topo", but I refuse to call it anything other than the Jack Rabbit).
I went into it thinking that I would struggle in Friday's classic race and do better in the skate race. That's why you race I guess - my classic race ended up being pretty good (at least compared to other classic races I've done) and my skate race was kind of a disaster. The classic race was held at the ski jumps in Lake Placid and was essentially five laps of a 2km course that was uphill for 1km and downhill for 1km. I actually felt very strong on the striding sections of the course. I lost some time in the turnaround section at the bottom of the course and had a pretty weak final lap, but for the first time I felt like I skied strong in a classic race and felt spent at the end. So, that was a positive sign for sure, and somewhat of a relief that maybe I'm finally making some progress with my classic technique.
Picture couresty of FasterSkier.com - this was taken at the bottom of the course, we made a right at the end of the bleachers and started making our way back up to the top of the hill again.
On to the skate race - the race was 3 laps of a 5km loop on the biathlon side of Mt. Van Hovenberg. I didn't feel great warming up and it only seemed to get worse, not sure what was wrong, just didn't have any energy and felt like I was spinning my wheels a little, meaning I felt like I was working really hard, but not getting anywhere. I knew about 90 seconds into the race that I was in trouble and the tough part about XC skiing is that there is nowhere to hide when you're having a bad day, so I spent the next 47:30 thinking about being anywhere other than where I was. Not to get too statistical, but my average heart rate for the race was identical both days (178), but on Saturday, I basically only had one gear and couldn't recover at all. It seemed like I was pegged the whole time, but going nowhere. Definitely very frustrating as I'd had that race circled on my calendar since September. I left the race not knowing what to think, but it was definitely one of those days where I didn't need to see the results sheet to know that it wasn't a good one.
Hopefully this next part doesn't get too philosophical - I've had a couple similar races over the last couple years that just don't seem to make sense to me - one day I feel great, super strong and the next I just don't have anything in the tank - perhaps it's lack of recovery, or bad nutrition, or a flukey bad day, or not enough sleep, or maybe I just need to train harder or maybe I need to not train as hard or maybe I'm getting sick (more on that later)? So, based on all those possibilities, it could be anything, so what do I make of it? Anyways, this is one of the challenges that I think endurance athletes have that I never had playing baseball. In baseball, there are a lot less variables that you actually have control over (there are a LOT of variables, don't misunderstand me, but the amount that an individual baseball player actually controls are really pretty limited) and if you're struggling with one aspect, the solution is pretty simple - you need to work harder at it, more swings, more time in the weight room, more long toss, more groundballs, etc, it usually always boils down to MORE of something. With skiing (or biking) I've found that it could mean you need to train more, but it could just as easily mean that you need to rest more, or that you need to change something in your diet, or you just need more sleep....it's easy to see how this can mess with one's head...once again, I need to remind myself to stop thinking meat, it can only hurt the ballclub.
Given all these questions and frustrations running through my brain, I decided to chalk it up to the "flukey bad day" reason listed above and forget about it. So, with all the racing done, the four of us headed to the LP Brewpub for some dinner and UBU.
On Sunday we headed out for morning ski to do a little preview of the Porter Mtn Loop which we'll be racing on in two weeks at the Loppet. It was absolutely awesome out, any remnants of my bad race from the previous day were fully flushed from my brain following this morning ski.
Jason took this snapshot of Chad, Sam and I at the top of Hi-Notch, which is an extension of the Porter Mtn loop.
Once I got home, unpacked everything and pretty much went to sleep. Monday afternoon I got hit with some type of stomach bug and was out of commission until about 9am this morning and I mean totally out, couldn't get off couch for a full day, haven't been that sick since college. It's possible my body was trying to fight something during the race on Saturday and then finally lost that battle, or it's possible that pushing hard while having an off-day broke my immune system down to the point where I picked something up, or it's possible that I just had a bad race and it had nothing to do with me getting sick. But, taking the same approach that I explained above, analyzing all the possibilities may be a fruitless endeavor, so I'm just going to go with the old slogan "When it's your day to get sick, it's your day to get sick." Quite philosophical, isn't it?
No races this weekend coming up, so hopefully I can shake the rest of this bug and get out for some good skiing to prep for some NorAm Cup races and the LP Loppet.
Don't think, just hit haha. I'm bringing up a couple bottles of homebrew that are a clone of Ubu ale this weekend. Hope ya like it! :)
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