Tour of Anchorage (TOA) Sundee 4 March 2007

[Eilert Pilarm]

Tonight there's an NSAA monthly meeting

on the agenda:

NEXT MEETING: Thursday, March 1
Meetings start at 6:15 PM

TOA update and contingency plans for sever weather

Hmmmmm....

[APU User]

What can they possibly do at this late date? Maybe start the races later in the day so they'll have time to groom the trails. I don't know. They can't cancel. Too many people have flown into town for the event.

I only hope that the temps are around 8 or 10 F above at start time. And no wind.

If they make any changes, I'm sure they'll do a mass email.

[zzzz]

You guys are worry warts! You've probably just not been here long?

There's plenty of snow to groom. The NSAA grooming crew have as much experience as any, and have rescued much worse conditions - but I wouldn't even call the conditions close to being bad. I've skied in all the potential trouble spots in the past week and there's nothing I saw that they won't be able to fix. They DO know how long it will take to fix any issues and things will be ready. Some silt mixed in the snow at Pt. Woronzof, and twigs elsewhere do not make for an unskiable trail.

I'm not skiing the race this year, but good luck to all the racers!

[APU User]

ZZ

I went out and looked at part of the trail this AM. Just the part that comes into the APU area and catches the multi-use trail out across the bog. IMHO, it looks great. When the sun comes up, in a few minutes, it's 8:03, the temp will rise probably up to 7 or 8 F by race start time and that will be just fine.

[Eilert Pilarm]

I wasnt worried!!

okay maybe a little--especially when the high winds hit Thur and Fri. But I knew that if the weather guessers got it right, that the groomers would work their magic and the trails would be fine today

and they were


only thing I needed was a rope tow up that last climb into Kincaid. I knew it was there. I did the 50K last year. I did the 40K today, and that last hill slayed me worse than last year. I was on fumes on the run in to that last climb, and darnit i KNEW it was coming. And I consider myself a good climber. But when the lungs and legs are tapped out...

My fingers and toes stayed warm also. I dont know HOW these kids can do a race in these skinny gloves that they wear, and with no booties -- with the temps in single digits and low-mid teens. I was the dorkiest of the dorky with fleece-liner mittens over my swix gloves. And I used my cycling neoprene booties over my skate boots too (yeah, they fit. they're really oversized for cycling but work, so what the hell)

I went out too fast also, which accounts for the extra pain at the end. And being a marathoner in a previous life, I know that's not the way to do it.
It was nice seeding myself to where I could pass lots of people, unlike my mistake of last year.

Don't even know my time. I think it was in the area of 2:20 for the 40K

Glad I got off my arse today and did it.

[anchskier]

I would have to agree that the groomers did a great job preparing the trails. They sure had a few obstacles to deal with when you figure in C Street and the dirt along the Coastal Trail. It was amazing to see the white trail cut through the brown snow out near the point.

The snow was a little slower this year, but the conditions were great otherwise. I am fighting a small problem from the race since I managed to get a little too much sun on my eyes. It will go away in the next day or so though, so no big deal.

I ended up with a slightly faster time this year over last year in the 50k, mostly due to a smarter approach. I started really easy and picked up the pace throughout the race. Took a little over a minute off of my time despite being sick the whole week leading up to the race. Can't complain about that at all.

[Eilert Pilarm]

That's excellent anchskier--sometimes a 'forced' rest before a race can help.

I learned my lesson from last year--I overestimated my ability last year in the 50k so I was in an early wave. Got passed all over the place, and that especially wasn't fun up Spencer Loop.

So this year I signed up with a slower time, and ended up passing dozens of fellow 40k skiers and only got passed by a few in waves behind me.

I had to do tons of double-poling in the tracks to pass lots of skiers going two-abreast, so that really floored me, in that it really sapped my energy for the last 5k.

That last hill climb to Kincaid is not the toughest of the hills in the area, by far. But at the end of the race, it BECOMES the toughest

[anchskier]

I picked up the pace when I saw the 5km to go, but after seeing a couple of the coastal trail mile markers go by before seeing the 4km sign, I knew to back off a bit. It ended up being just over 8km from the 5km sign. I should have known better since I know the trails out there fairly well.

Regarding the hill, I was definitely happy they used the Sisson to get up rather than the Lekish like they used a couple of years ago. Now that was painfull.

There are always a few people who are "overly optimistic" about their estimated finishing times. One guy in particular seeded himself in the elite wave of the 50k and finished 250th, over 4 hours total time. There were others that were not quite as far back, but still along the same lines. I just estimate what I feel I can actually ski, so I feel a lot better when I am out there. I would much rather have a group of others to ski with who are my pace rather than trying to hang onto a group who are faster and end up putting me under 30km into the race.

[APU User]

I thought the trail conditions were great. I did the 25K, my first race ever. I came in 2 minutes slower than my estimated time and I am extremely happy with that.

About that last hill: Yeah, baby, that was something. Since this was my first Tour I was not prepared for that hill. I wasn't sure how we were going to get up to the stadium and I knew there was going to be a climb but I did not realize just how hard that climb was going to be. I had to pull over and catch my breath.

Oh, and I happen to like hills. Maybe not the hills themselves but the feeling I get once I've pulled one and done so a few seconds faster than the time before. Anyway, next year I'll plan and train for that hill.

And you people that did the 40 and 50 I just don't know how you do it. When I got home I told my wife, "I can tell you right now there is no 40K or 50K race in my future."

Another thing, I went to the wax clinic at AMH and I am so glad I did. My skis felt great. Before, even when I thought I had the right wax on, they always seemed a little grabby on the up hills. They did not feel that way on Sunday. I felt a little grabby on that last hill but my skis felt fine.

[Eilert Pilarm]

I do hills all the time at the Beach Lake trails and I even have done the upper Spencer Loop three times in a training session when I can get out to Hillside...and it definitely helps my motivation when I have some good tunes in the iPod. If a fast enough tempo tune is in my ears, I can easily go anaerobic up a hill.

but yesterday approaching that hill, with the legs dead and lungs still burning, even the music in my iPod couldnt help. If I'd had a straight shot up it, maybe. But there was a big crowd in front of me struggling up it as well, so I just saddled in behind and caught my breath.

p.s. I always try to give a trail condition report on our forum here in the ANC area, so if you see a report from the BLT-C trails by someone with initials 'B.C.' then that's me.

on the 40k freestyle results page (which is posted online now) I came in at 2:21 and change. only you'll find my initials on there as 'R.C.'
:wink:

[anchskier]

Hill training will help you earlier in the race, but endurance training will help you later. No matter how many hills you ski and train on, it won't mean much if you have no lungs to supply the muscles.

I also ran into a large group of people on the hill (seems to always be that way). Fortunately, I had just grouped up with about 3 other skiers going around my pace and we managed to forge a slot on the outer left side of the trail and we all followed through, so we didn't get too caught up in it. Still slowed us down a tad, but I think the rest helped just as much.

I also frequently post on the ski condition website (Jason Lamoreaux). That is a great resource to get out information as to the conditions of trails around the state. I hope it doesn't get abused too much and they are able to keep it up and running.

[APU User]

anchskier:

I've only been skate skiing for three seasons, this being the 3rd. Before this season I usually only got out once or twice a week and for short periods due to work schedules. This season I was able to get out 3 times a week and sometimes more. I finally built up to where I could do 4 laps at APU, which I figured was pretty close to 25K. When I did that, two days before the on-line reg deadline, I decided that I would enter the Tour.

But the problem I had with prepping for the Tour is that I usually would take a break, even if just for a few seconds, when doing APU laps. And I always took 5 min breaks when I skied from APU land up to Hillside. The first time I ever skied 25K without a break was Tour Sunday. Okay, so I did have to stop on that last hill but I think that was only for a minute.

Next season will be different and I will work hard on endurance. Next season I will also have a leg up because of the muscles I've acquired this season and I'll work on maintaining those through bike riding and little bit of weight work thrown in now and again this summer.

I don't know if I'm too optimistic, but I think, at least right now, that I could shave 15 minutes off this year's time. Of course that 15 minutes is from a very slow first-year time but still 15 minutes is 15 minutes.

[anchskier]

APU User:

We all have to start from somewhere. It's great to hear people excited about working to improve their times right after having a hard time with something. It is so easy to get down and say something like "I will never do that again". Its the stronger people mentally who turn that around to "ouch, that hurt....hmmm, I wonder how I can go faster next time?"

What you will find is that you want to vary your workouts a bit. Sometimes, just go for an easy tour around the park, taking breaks and getting drinks or a bite to eat from time to time. Other days, challenge yourself to go two or three laps at a little higher pace without taking a break. You don't want to go hard every time or you will never give your muscles a chance to recover and build. Mix in a longer easy pace ski once every week or two and you should be right on track. The biggest thing....KEEP IT FUN!!!

Keep at it and you may just completely blow that goal right out of the water....er....snow. I sort of miss those days when I could measure improvment in larger chunks of time. Right now, I am usually counting seconds rather than minutes.