Posts Tagged ‘ramblings’

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Pre-race thoughts on the White Mountains 100

Friday, March 25th, 2011

Suddenly, the White Mountains 100 is upon us. It starts Sunday morning.

For my previous previous ultra ski races, I spent a lot of time preparing. This one, not so much. When you’ve got a three year old and an infant, things like the WM100 slide way down on the priority list. But now that it is go-time, I feel the need to release a lot of the thoughts about this race that have been swimming in my head for the past few months.

Back story

For a race that has only been run once, and that I’ve never done, I feel like I have a long history with it. About a year and a half ago, I got a mass email from Ed Plumb, who I knew from skiing to McGrath with/near him. He was putting out feelers to see if there was interest in having an ultra race in the White Mountains north of Fairbanks. Apparently the response was an definitive “yes” because within a few months the race was scheduled for late March. I desperately wanted to do it, but we had a baby due two weeks later, so it was a no-go for me. But my friend Bill signed up. And so did a ton of other people. Without yet even saying the word “Go!” Ed and Ann had already created the most interesting ultramarathon race around.

When race weekend rolled around, our baby was clearly not coming for a while yet. So I seriously considered flying to Fairbanks to stand at the start line, skis in hand, just in case one of the 50 racers didn’t show up. Glad I didn’t, because all 50 people started. Like I said, this race quickly became kind of a big deal.

I was determined to race this year, but I was away on vacation when registration opened. There were only 5 spots available for new racers, and despite getting up in the middle of the night to register, I ended up #10 on the wait list. I was really bummed, but Ed worked his magic over the next couple of months and was able to increase the field size from 50 to 65 racers. I was in!

So this is a long-winded way of saying that I am really excited to finally be in this race.

Training

My training for the WM100 was focused on one goal: beat myself up, little by little. I only had about 5 hours a week to train. I figured my cardiovascular base was probably still there (more or less). But since I haven’t been doing a lot of skiing, I was worried about my body holding up to the abuse. Skiing 45 minutes a day was not going to prepare my feet, hands, knees, and back for skiing 100 miles. So I figured the best way to prepare was to subject myself to long (4+ hour) skis once every week or two. And that is it. That is all I had time for. So, by my count, I’ve put in exactly eight quality training sessions for this race. Not ideal, but I feel strangely content with my preparation.

Goals

With that in mind, here are my goals for the WM100:

  1. Finish without getting injured
  2. Have fun exploring a new area
  3. Go as fast as I can while still accomplishing #1 & #2

I know it sounds lame…don’t get hurt, have fun, yada, yada. But I really think that is all I can expect from myself. However…here’s a little secret, just between you and me. There is a little voice in my head that won’t go away. It keeps telling me that, training be damned, I can still compete. I try to ignore that voice as much as possible. After all, I don’t want to be “that guy,” the over-the-hill, washed-up racer who is pathologically competitive and is a menace to himself and others out on the course. I may be over-the-hill and washed-up, but I don’t want to be a menace. All I am saying is that the little voice is still there, so if things are going well, I’m going to enjoy the ride while it lasts.

Gear

I am scrambling to decide on gear. As I began packing last night, I realized how many decisions I still have to make. Which skis? Which backpack? Reports from the trail have been varied, so that hasn’t helped. My strategy is to take a gigantic duffel bag of gear to Fairbanks with me, and decide at the last minute.

The Favorites

This article in the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner is a good preview of the race. So if you are planning to follow along (do so here), here are a few things I will add:

  • If the trail is in decent shape (and I think it is), a biker will win. In the past few years, I have sadly had to come to terms with the fact that today’s snowbikes are so fast that, unless the bikers have to push, there is no way a skier can compete in these types of races. Last year the fastest skier (Mike Kramer) was almost four hours slower than the fastest biker (Jeff Oatley). And those guys are both roughly equivalent endurance studs.
  • The News-Miner article glossed over Rachel Steer and didn’t even mention Kate Arduser, either of whom could easily be the top skier overall, never mind fastest woman. I am desperately concerned about getting girled.

So that is about it. Hopefully, I’ll have a full report for you when it is over.

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Posted in Alaska, Interior, Ski | No Comments »

Getting Antsy (Abridged Version)

Wednesday, August 5th, 2009

I’ve noticed a disturbing trend here in endurefunland.  Let’s tally up the last six posts, shall we?  Three posts about races I am not doing.  Two posts about other people’s bike rides.  And one post about wildfire smoke.

Did you notice the problem?  No adventures for me!

This was the intro to a  long post I wrote recently about my lack of adventure this summer.   It was therapeutic to write, but it was depressing to read.   It was full of  excuses and self-pity.  So I decided not to post it.

Each time I think I am about to turn the corner from Sedentary Lane onto the Adventure Expressway, I hit a dead-end or the car breaks down.    Before I wallow too much, let’s just say that I am going a bit stir-crazy and leave it at that.

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Posted in Asides | No Comments »

Alaska’s Better Half – My favorite months in Alaska

Monday, February 23rd, 2009

We just had an absolutely perfect winter weekend.  Sunny, temperatures in the twenties, and great skiing. Since I am in rest and recover mode prior to my race, Linda and I skied together with the kiddo at both Hillside and Kincaid.  It was one of those weekends that reminds me why I love living in Alaska.  

It got me thinking about the increasing daylight and my favorite times of the year in Alaska, and I felt compelled to make a list.  Here’s how I rank the months.

  1. July – Nothing beats summer in Alaska.  Packrafting, peakbagging, anything in the mountains.
  2. June – Summer ramps up.  Just like July except the vegetation hasn’t grown up (good) and there is still a lot of snow in the mountains (good for corn skiing, good and bad for hiking).  Orienteering season going strong.
  3. April – Crust skiing, crust skiing, crust skiing. And if we are really lucky, more crust skiing.  If crust ski conditions weren’t so hit-or miss, April would be an easy #1.
  4. March – The best month for skiing of the non-crust variety.  Usually mid-winter snow conditions, but with actual daylight and slightly warmer temperatures.
  5. August – Still lots of great summer options, but the weather starts to get wetter and cooler. Packrafting, hiking, biking as the weather allows.
  6. May – A little of everything.  Still some crust skiing to be had.  Orienteering, road biking and trail running get started.  A great time to go skiing or kayaking in Prince William Sound.
  7. February – Skiing is usually good and the days are getting noticably longer.
  8. September – Cool and often wet, with an occasional window of summer weather.  I focus on running and cyclocross races to stay motivated.
  9. January – Cold and dark, with an inevitable meltdown thrown in somewhere.  January would be at the bottom if I didn’t love skiing so much.
  10. November – Activities depend on whether the snow has come or not.  Ice skating can be fantastic, skiing, mountain biking, trail running are other options.
  11. December – The darkest part of winter.  Skiing improves as the base of snow accumulates.
  12. October – Cold and rainy, maybe with a bit of snow.  At least I’ve got cyclocross and Tuesday Night Runs, and skiing at Hatcher Pass.

You’ll notice that we are currently in the month ranked #7. And the next six months? They are all ranked in the top six!  Sweet spot here we come!  The stretch of time from March through August is clearly Alaska’s better half.  There is nowhere else in the world I’d rather be for this half of the year. 

I feel like a kid on the verge of summer vacation.  If only I could figure out a way to make summer vacation last six months.

 

 

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Posted in Alaska | No Comments »

Is It Too Late To Buy A Fatbike?

Friday, February 20th, 2009

Let’s say that for some god-forsaken reason you absolutely had to cross hundreds of miles of remote Alaskan wilderness, in the middle of winter, under your own power.  What mode of travel would you choose?  I am incredibly biased, but to me the logical answer is “I’d ski.”  After all, skis were invented specifically for this kind of thing.

But now look at these statistics for the Iditarod Invitational over the past four years..

88 people have finished:

51 on bikes
33 on foot
4 on skis

Umm, what?  Huh?  These numbers boggle my mind every time I look at them.   The main factor in these numbers is that a lot more bikers and runners enter the race than skiers.  And while that also confuses me, I’ve come up with some reasons why.

  1. Biking and running are WAY more popular than skiing.  Almost everyone knows how to bike and how to run.  These sports can be done in any season, anywhere in the world.  Thus, the racing communities are large.  Cross country skiing, because of weather and technique requirements, is tiny by comparison.
  2. Ultra-races are popular within a certain segment of the biking and running race communities.  There are a ton of biking and running ultra races all over the world.  There are very few ski ultras, and most of those only exist because they are combined with biking and running races.
  3. Fat bikes have become pretty amazing tools for soft terrain.  I mean, look at this beast.  Watching the Susitna 100 on Saturday, I was amazed at the number of people who own fat bikes.  
  4. The trail to McGrath is not all that good for skiing.

The first three reasons don’t worry me.  They have no effect on me as a skier in this race.  The fourth reason, however, is a major concern.  There are a lot of sections that could be tough to cover on skis.  The trail will be narrow, and in some places it might not exist because of new snow, windblown snow, or no snow.  Deep snow presents a problem to all the racers.  No snow is a problem only for the skiers.    I honestly don’t know what I am going to do when I encounter long stretches without snow.   Walk in my ski boots?  Bring a pair of shoes or winter boots just for walking?  I’m not sure.  An extra pair of boots adds a lot of weight to the sled.

I should also say that despite the grim numbers on skiers finishing,  it appears that the success rate for skiers isn’t much lower than for other competitors.  Its just that far fewer skiers enter the race.  Here are the overall numbers for each year:

  • 2008 – 45 starters - 28 finishers - 62 %
  • 2007 - 31 starters - 16 finishers - 51%
  • 2006 - 36 starters - 18 finishers - 50 %
  • 2005 - 41 starters - 29 finishers - 70%
  • 2004 - 27 starters - 18 finishers - 66%
  • 2003 - 33 starters - 16 finishers - 48%
  • 2002 - 25 starters - 18 finishers - 72%

(These numbers don’t completely jibe with the first set of numbers I posted, but they are close.  I am not sure where the discrepancy is.)

So the overall success rate is just above 50%.  With so many unknown factors in this race, I think a rookie like myself starts with about a 50/50 shot.    Any mistakes I’ve made with training, gear, or food will drag down that percentage even further.  But who knows.  I am trying not to think about this race in terms of my chances of finishing.  

If my objective was to win this race, maybe I would have chosen to use a bike.  But I am a skier.  And my objective is to explore some beautiful country the best way I know how – on skis. 

 

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Posted in Alaska | No Comments »

And now a word from our sponsors

Wednesday, February 18th, 2009

I’d like to thank our sponsors.  There were no f@%*ing sponsors.  

That’s an Eddie Vedder quote from an old concert tape.  I’ve always wanted to use that line.

Several people have asked if I have sponsors for this race, or if they can donate to my race fund, so I thought a quick post was in order.  The short answer is no and no.  I am very content not to have sponsors for this race.  

In my past life I was a ski racer who dreamed of making the Olympic team.  I set up a website to document my journey and I used the website to raise funds for my dream.  Many generous people supported me, and I am forever grateful to all of them.  I felt like we were all part of a team.  My donors enjoyed a vicarious experience in return for their money, and I was motivated by their support.  But at the same time,  I couldn’t shake the feeling that there were more worthy uses for that money.  I made mental notes that when I moved on from skiing to a career and a better paycheck, I would pay those donations forward.

I am now at that point.  Skiing is now something I do simply for fun.  Like millions of other Americans every winter, I am taking a week off from work so I can go skiing.  Most people go to Vail or Tahoe, I am going to McGrath.  I certainly don’t expect someone else to pay for my vacation.

[ As a side note, please don't read this to be a criticism of athletes who accept donations.  Most of them are at a different point in their lives.  For them, racing isn't a vacation, its the culmination of a lot of sacrifice and hard work.  If they've found people who want to support their dream, then good for them. ]

While I don’t have any sponsors per se, there are people without whose help, this race would not be possible for me.  I’m going to hold off on listing them until later, because the list is still growing.  

For now  I will simply thank sponsor #1, my wife Linda.  When I first proposed the idea of this race, she was understandably luke-warm about the idea of me skiing off into the middle of freezing nowhere for a week or so.  But since then, her support has been phenomenal.  None of this would have been possible without her.

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Posted in Alaska, Ski | No Comments »

The Mental Game

Thursday, February 12th, 2009

Last week’s training was decent.  I did two long skis (6 hours and 4.5 hours) pulling the sled.  I also did a night ski, then campout, then ski again in the morning at Hillside on Tuesday.  But I have to admit that I haven’t logged nearly as many hours of training as I had hoped.  This is mainly because I severely underestimated how much time it would take to get my gear together.  I have a garage full of ski gear and camping gear.  So how hard could it be to pull together the equipment for a week-long ski trip?  Pretty hard, apparently.  

My weekdays are scheduled down to the minute in order to get in a full day of work and a few hours of quality time with my son. This schedule includes one “free” hour that I typically use for exercise.  But recently, when I should have been ramping up my training, that free time was being increasingly monopolized by other race preparations: building a sled, experimenting with boots and socks, and shopping for long underwear, food, boot liners, dry bags, etc.

As I slowly cobbled my equipment together, I was amazed at how much gear I didn’t already have.  I think that’s when it dawned on me that this race is a completely different beast from anything else I’ve ever done.  It’s nothing like the Susitna 100, which was a one-day, one-shot deal.  For that race, I left home in the morning and was back in my own bed that night.  Skiing was the only skill required.  It’s nothing like the three-day adventure race I did.  That race was in the summer with a full support crew.   All I had to do was keep moving.  In the Iditarod Invitational, the ability to keep skiing/moving is only one of the many mandatory skills.

“Iditarod Trail racing is … strictly about self reliance, adaptability, sense of humor, and oh yeah, physical strength, to some degree.”

- Rocky Reifenstuhl, a veteran of many, many human-powered Iditarod races

The physical ability to ski 350 miles is only one small part of actually skiing 350 miles.   This might be the only ski race I’ve ever entered where my years of ski racing experience mean absolutely nothing.  The mental game is much more important.  And having the right gear goes a long way towards improving self reliance and adaptability, and thus improving your odds in the mental game.

Because my training has been less than ideal, it is reassuring to read a quote like Rocky’s (which I have heard many other Iditarod racers echo).  Maybe the training is not that important.  But then again, how strong are my self reliance skills?  My adaptability?  Or even my questionable-at-best sense of humor?  I don’t know the answers to these questions yet.  But I’ve tried to invest my time into both training and gear preparations, so that when the mental game starts, I’ll have the tools I need to play at my best.

 

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Posted in Camp, Interior, Ski, Susitna Valley | No Comments »

Umm, I think I’m doing it wrong…

Thursday, January 29th, 2009

My original idea was to post multiple blog updates about my training for the Iditarod Invitational.  Lots of the other racers do this, but few of them have both a full-time job and a full-time family.  My angle was to be: how to prepare for a week-long race on only ten hours a week.  It’s kind of the masochist’s version of 3 Minute Abs

Well, it turns out that there is a reason no one else has my angle.  Its not very successful.

When I signed up for the Iditarod Invitational in early December, I was optimistic.  My training had been on track for about two months, and I had already seen significant improvement in my fitness.  I had almost three months left before the race, plenty of time to ramp up the training even further.

So much for that.  Now, with only a month left until the race, I’ll be lucky just to get back to the shape I was in when I signed up.  This is not how I envisioned my training.  

Its been a series of unfortunate events over the past six weeks.  First, we got stuck enroute from Alaska to New Hampshire for the holidays.  A one-day flight turned into a week-long debacle, including five days holed up in a Portland, OR airport hotel.  Ugh. Then we had two great weeks with family  in NH and Vermont, but the training was less than ideal. Then  I got sick soon after we returned to Anchorage and only started feeling better this week.

I managed to squeeze in a few decent workouts during that time, but for the most part I have been unable to log the long workouts (6 hours +) necessary for a 350 mile race.  So I’ma  little scared.  My assumption has been that I have a decent base of fitness, so even without training I should be able to survive.  But I’d rather not test that theory.

So now I’ve got one month to go, which basically means two big weeks of training then starting to rest up. Not a lot of time.  Better make the most of it.

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Posted in Ski | No Comments »

2009 Iditarod Trail Invitational

Thursday, January 8th, 2009

“It’s a dream until you write it down.  Then it becomes a goal.” – source unknown

 

It’s a goal until you post it on the internet.  Then it becomes a commitment.  

I am going to attempt the 2009 Iditarod Trail Invitational race to McGrath.  This is a 350 mile race through remote, frozen Alaska that competitors can tackle on bike, ski or foot (I’ll ski, of course).  The race has also been known as the Iditasport, the Alaska Ultrasport, and many other names throughout its varied history.  

For those unfamiliar with this race, it follows the Iditarod Sled Dog race trail.  The entire course is in the middle of nowhere, far from any roads or towns.  There are some remote cabins and lodges along the way, but that’s about it.  Racers can go to McGrath (350 miles) or all the way to Nome (1100 miles).  I’m doing the ‘short’ option.    The race website claims that this is the “World’s Longest Winter Ultra Race.”  There are a few checkpoints along the way, but for the most part each racer must be self-sufficient as far as food, clothing, navigation, and safety.  For more on this race, go to the race website, or read this recent piece from the New York Times.

The race will take about a week, plus or minus a few days depending on conditions.  There will be a lot of darkness, sub-zero temperatures, wind, snow and many other obstacles.

Why am I doing this?  Here is the backstory.

As you probably know, I was a full-time ski racer until 2002, usually training in the neighborhood of 15-20 hours a week. When I gave up ski racing and moved to Alaska, I was happy to no longer keep a training log or go to the weight room twice a week. I kept in decent shape simply by doing what I wanted, when I wanted. Even with a pretty steep drop-off in training hours, I was still in good shape. I liked to joke that I had 90% of my fitness with 50% of the effort.

Then, in 2006 my job became more time consuming. In 2007, Linda and I had a baby.  My decline in fitness, which had been relatively slow, began to accelerate. My race results went from “slightly less than I hoped for” to “slightly embarrassing.” I was getting soft, but I wasn’t gaining weight. In fact I was losing a few pounds, which meant my muscle mass was decreasing. My fitness was on a slippery slope, in danger of going off a cliff.  I didn’t want to pass the point of no return, where getting back into shape would require a herculean effort.  I needed a goal to motivate me.  Run-of-the-mill ski races weren’t going to cut it.  The goal needed to be not only challenging, but intimidating.

So a year ago, I decided that I wanted to ski the 2008 Iditarod Invitational race to McGrath. It was a third priority, behind family and work, but I still thought I could get in decent shape for it. The race is expensive, so I had a “wait and see” approach. I would wait and see if I was able to get into shape, before I would plunk down the $800 entry fee.

Well, between work and a newborn baby, I did not get in shape and thus did not sign up for the race. But when race day came, I found myself wishing I was out there, even without the training.  I decided then that I would do the race in 2009.  No more wait and see.  I needed to get the ball rolling.

I started ski-specific training on September 1st. I’ve been getting my gear together. I’ve been planning overnight trips to practice my winter survival skills.  I’ve been experiementing with different foods in frozen environments.  And a month ago, I plunked down my $800.  I’m on the list.

Now that the race is less than two months away, my preparation has kicked into high gear.  Check back often for updates on training, gear, and other thoughts as I prepare for this challenge.

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Posted in Interior, Ski, Susitna Valley | 2 Comments »

Chinese Democracy

Wednesday, December 10th, 2008

Note: A few long-time friends contacted me a few weeks ago to get my thoughts on the new Guns N’ Roses album. Apparently they think I am a fanatic G N’ R fan. I have no idea where they got that notion. [Sheepish grin] So, in response I crafted a blog post. But after writing it, I decided that it didn’t really fit on my blog, so I didn’t post it. But I just got another inquiry from a friend, and since this blog has been quiet for a month now, I figure what the hell, an off-topic post is better than no post at all. And like the album, this post is way late and bears no resemblance to my previous work. Enjoy.

————————————

November 19, 2008 – Back when I was a full-time ski racer living in Park City, Utah, I organized a little race series called the International Rollerski Series, ‘cleverly’ referred to as the IRS. I organized (and I use that term loosely) the IRS in 1999, 2000, and 2001. The purpose of the series was two-fold. First it provided a few racing opportunities for me and my training buddies throughout the summer. Second, it was an outlet for me to play around on the web. And while the racing was serious (we even had a future Olympic gold medallist in one race), the race reports and website were rather absurd. To that end, the series had “sponsors,” which basically meant that I would post ridiculous things on the sponsors page. Sponsors over the years included tartar sauce, RollerJam, LobsterMan from Mars, Marshmellow Peeps, the Finnish ski team’s doping program, and Spongebob Squarepants.

Why do I bring this up now? Well, in 2001, one of the IRS sponsors was Guns N’ Roses “Chinese Democracy”. Yes, seven years ago, we were already making jokes about this album. And yet this week, as you may have heard if you are a Dr. Pepper fan, the album is finally coming out this Sunday.

I’m speechless. And torn.

I wrote off G N’ R (the band, not their existing catalog of music) long ago . The band ceased to exist when Slash left. Slash and Axl were the heart and mind of G N’ R. The band needed both to survive. Aside from a morbid curiosity, I’ve had no interest in Chinese Democracy since about 1998. I’d also like to think that my musical tastes have evolved from junior high (though I know many people who will tell me otherwise). And yet, now that Chinese Democracy is finally coming out, I find myself having the urge to buy it.

I try to tell myself that it’s not the same band. And that I’m not the same seventeen-year-old who sprinted directly from school to the Littleton Bookstore on the day Use Your Illusion was released.

But its been hard to let go. After all, I’m pretty sure that Axl named one song “I.R.S.” just to thank me for the sponsorship. So while I know logically that there is no way the album could possibly live up to the G N’ R legend, I still find myself being drawn to it. Will I resist? Or will old habits refuse to die? I am still not
sure.

UPDATE, November 20: Well, I just listened to the album on MySpace (twice). That made the decision a lot easier. I’m not buying it. I was right – Guns N’ Roses died about ten years ago.

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Posted in Alaska | 1 Comment »

Dude, You are out of control.

Tuesday, July 22nd, 2008

I like to bike to work as often as possible.  Today when I woke up, it was raining and the temperature was a cool 46 degrees at our house.  I wanted to bike, but I was not looking forward to having my butt get sprayed with cold, grimy water for an hour or so.  So I decided to rollerski instead.  It was just as wet as biking, but at least I was working harder, so I was warm.

So there I was striding uphill on Arctic Boulevard at 7:30 AM, soaking wet and preparing myself mentally to do battle with the midtown traffic on slick roads.  From the sidewalk next to me I hear a man’s voice.

“Dude, you are out of control.”

I look up just in time to see the guy give me a quick nod and a smile.  I like to think he was saying something along the lines of “You’re crazy to be doing that, on a day like today, in a place like this.  But I like your style.”

It made my day.  I broke out in a huge smile.  The comment was perfect for two reasons:

1) It was in almost the exact same spot where recently I was biking, when a waste-of-flesh teenager in a pickup truck coming the other direction cut me off by taking a left-hand turn in front of me.  As I slammed on my brakes to avoid a collision, he swerved towards me, gave me the finger, and then yelled “get off the fucking road” for good measure as he sped away.  So now maybe I won’t think of that experience every time I pass through that intersection.

2)  These days I feel like I am under control a lot.  Not much craziness happening in my life as a family man.  And I believe that being out of control every now and then is good for me.

So if rollersking through midtown Anchorage on a rainy day brings me back a little bit of craziness, well, I guess I’ll take it.

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Posted in Anchorage, Bike, Rollerski | No Comments »

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