Well, I got my wish

SNNNOOOW! Gobs of it. Late winter snow finally arrived in Minnesota and xc skiing should be good...now. Last weekend's snow storm was 24 hours too late for a full 50K Birkebeiner. Oh well, fickle weather is the order of the day (this is the view from the company office window right now). The Birke trail was very severe. The first 3-5K was "truck load snow" brought in from whoknowswhere and it was very dirty so most of my wax was left there. Once the trail narrowed in the woods, it was very hard packed and icy with many bare spots of grass, dirt, leaves, twigs and human carnage. Most of the downhill sections had safety patrol warning skiers to slow down and space out. I managed to stay upright through all the descents (thanks to my teenage years of alpine skiing) and finished the 25K unscathed. The bottoms of my skis? What bottoms? I left most of the cintered base material ($$ the most expensive part of the ski $$) out on the course as ground cover for the rest of the skiers. Good thing I used my B skis but still made me cringe when I took a close look at the bases after the race. Thick and thin will race again...next year.

Happy March first. Daylight savings begins in 11 days and the Spring Equinox is in 21 days. There are snowflakes the size of paper plates falling right now and my coach has a 2 hour aerobic ski slated for me this Sunday. Yeah! I just love it when coach lets me cross train. It really breaks up the monotony of my past 3 months of indoor ironman training. Hey! I'd better go home and wax. Later skaters.

Resurrection of Rosa

It's been nearly 3 months of indoor cycling on my trainer and I'm really jones'n for a change of pace. Hey! Wait a minute! I've got another bike I could use for at least a change of posture. There she is. Blow off the dust, check the components, re-grease the barrings, lube the drive train, polish her and pump up the tires. Wow, what a figure, tweeet tweeew (audio of wolf-whistle). Any guess as to what vintage she is? Hints: One of the first carbon monocore frames put out by Kestrel. Shimano 600 groupo (pre Shimano Ultegra). Pre Kestrel Talon. Pre, pre Kestrel Airfoil Pro. Single piece stem. And...drum roll please...only an 8 gear cassette! I remember the first year we dated. I was mountain bike racing every other weekend and we still rolled over 3000 miles throughout the Midwest. Look close and you can see a few chips in her paint but this pure vixen of the road was my first-true-love-roadie. Rosa is a 1996 Kestrel 200sc, all carbon frame and fork. I recall the pure and simple pleasures of riding many miles of back roads through Wisconsin, Minnesota, North Dakota, Texas and Montana. Her all carbon frame dampened the rough roads and she sounded like silk in the wind on smooth pave`. Ahh, I do love to cycle. Wow, I'm getting all misty and emotional now. I can't wait for the snow to melt so I can take her out on a real date again.

Team THICK and THIN will race again!

After 2 days of hem'n and haw'n from the race organizers, a press release came out this morning for tomorrow's xc ski race:

Birkie 2007: The Race Is ON. 23K Competitive Race for Elites & Non-Competitive for Other Skiers.
Birkie 2007 will be a 23-kilometer [it's supposed to be 50K] competitive race for the top 200 elite men and 50 elite women and an untimed, non-competitive, 'open-track' event for the rest of field.The timed race for elite Birkie skiers will launch at 10:20 a.m. at the Cable Union Airport Start Line and finish at Highway OO in Seeley with prize money awarded to the top 6 men and women. The untimed, non-competitive,[this is where I fall in now] 'open-track' event for remaining Birkie, Kortelopet and Prince Haakon skiers will start at Cable Union Airport between 10:45 - 11:45 a.m.An 'open-track' event is new to the American Birkebeiner but is common in European cross country ski races. In the Birkie 'open track' event, skiers can leave the start line at any time within a half-hour window for specified waves as follows:Waves 1-3 [me again] - 10:45 a.m.Waves 4-6 - 11:15 a.m.Waves 7-10 and Prince Haakon skiers- 11:45 a.m."Skiers can show up with their friends in this window and leave together," said Ned Zuelsdorff, Executive Director for the American Birkebeiner Ski Foundation. "This is the best option given the course conditions. We think the course will hold up to a small number of competitive racers and it is adequate for thousands of skiers participating in a low-key, non-competitive, 'open-track' event. We will be advising caution on some downhills with the use of Ski Patrol members."In the 'open-track', non-competitive event, skiers will wear a transponder timing chip to confirm completion of their race, but no awards will be given. Credit will be given for completing the Birkie, Kortelopet and Prince Haakon. The non-competitive event will not affect wave placement, and future seeding will be based on Birkebeiner and Kortelopet times from 2004-2006.Transponder timing chips will be handed out at Telemark Lodge on Saturday beginning at 6 a.m.

So I called my teammate, THICK, and told him the news. THICK paused for a moment, cleared his throat, and replied in a thick booming voice "let's do it!, we'll have a good training ski and then go drink some beers at the Sawmill!" Now that's the kinda teammate anyone would want on their squad. Nothing stops this guy. THICK was an all conference football player in his past life and now has a family and a real life. I told THICK I'm using my old skis cuz the trail is in rough shape (see photo) and advised THICK to do the same. THICK said he'd pick me up at 5:30 AM and we'd get breakfast on the way. Race review and comments later...skater.

wax me

I ski too. I've got a lot of Scandinavian and alpine blood coursing through my veins and the smell of hot waxing my skis puts my mind in a good place...outside. I've been known to risk frostbite just for a good session on the tracks. XC skiing is such good cross-training and the no-impact fluid motion is almost hypnotic...except when I'm working so hard my lungs are searing and my heart is beating in my ears. Why do I still love that feeling of pushing myself to aerobic threshold and the point where my vision gets blurry? Because all that stops at the finish line and that overpowering feeling of accomplishment takes possession of my body like the sensation of rolling in snow after a sauna...all tingly and profoundly refreshing. God I love human powered sports!

Simple inspiration from canus domesticus

I can only remember a few times that I've been asked the question "what inspires you"? Well...I pause to think for a moment...and reply to myself "everything inspires me." I am most often inspired by subtle things. As an adult with ADD (ADHD as a child. probably the same thing). I notice way too much about my surroundings and because of that constant stimulus, I'm inspired to act, to do, to...something, just do it. I quickly scanned a few blogs from the members at Trigeek dreams and got quite inspired by so many of the athletes telling their tales of triumphs and woes. In spite of a poor night's sleep and stiff legs from running and strength training, I gave myself a metal kick in the butt and went to the pool to crank out 3,000 yards of intervals. My shoulders protested during the warmup but gradually began to move smoothly like a freshly oiled chain. I hit my 100's a little better than race pace and the rest of my main set was fluid like quicksilver. Now that inspired me! I'm still months away from my first ironman but I know already that my swim will rock. Now for the bike and run. My legs still feel a bit stiff like my shoulders did this morning but I'm confident that my spin and run tonight will be good. I have a feeling I'll get inspired by something like the way my dog acts when I begin to dress in my biking or running clothes. How do they know it's go time?

I work to make a living, I don't live to work.

I think I'm pretty dang lucky to have a flexible work schedule and fit my training in where I want. Sure I miss a workout now and then but in my big picture of training for my first ironman, I'm still feeling good and staying on track. My boss is pretty cool and supports my tri-life with even a mild interest. Imagine that. I had one of those swim sessions last night that really cheered me up and made me forget the winter blahs for at least an hour or so. I did my prescribed 3,000 yards in less time than my coach had slated for me. Wooo hooo! It was supposed to take me about 60 minutes to complete but I blasted through it in 52 minutes. I felt like the biggest fish in a small pond (or at the local pool anyway) when I touched the wall after my last 100 yard sprint and saw that I had knocked about 9 seconds off my times from last year. I grinned so wide the lifeguard noticed me. Imagine that. While driving home from the pool, I thought about what things I did in the last 24 hours that effected the great swim I just had. First, I got 8 solid hours of sleep. That was awesome. I also had a good supper the night before and breakfast and lunch were balanced as well. I remember also going into the pool with a sense of purpose and focus. Besides those immediately tangible things, I got to thinking about the past several months and realized that I didn't have any major derailments and pretty much got to do whatever the heck I wanted to do. My off season last fall was about 9 weeks of just playing around and enjoying the outdoors. The holidays were fun with family and friends and then I began my training program. Work never entered the equation. What? How can that be? Of all the things I could think of that I did over the past few months, not once did a thought of work come to mind. I know I went to work cuz my paychecks all arrived on time so I must have spent some time at the office. I suddenly had a nice feeling of accomplishment and gratitude. Grateful for being able to only have to work to make a living and not living just to work. I hope I have many more days like this.