Today was scheduled for a 10K/15K skate, but due to the cold weather, it was shortened to a 5K/10K. They also decreased the time interval between races, from 30s to 15s, in order to try to keep all athletes racing in the "warm" window. Well, that worked pretty well, except for those of us who started late (we were bibs 361, 390, and 394), we definitely missed the window, haha. There were people on the course watching for frostbite, so I had several volunteers yell "Cover your nose on the downhill!" When I finished I had a guy instantly cover my nose with his glove, as it was looking a little white. This was the same guy who pretty much boxed Johnny's ears when he crossed the line because they were white, and Zhenya's cheeks are both very red and almost blistered from the cold. But we got to race!! Woohoo! We had bought athletic tape to cover faces, but when we warmed up it was much warmer, and by the time the temp started dropping really fast (sun went down about when we started at 2:45) we didn't have time to go back to the car and get it, slight oversight on our part.
The race itself went so-so. Here are the full results. Johnny felt terrible, as you can see in his post below. Zhenya felt good, but had an APU guys step on his pole and rip it out of his hand, forcing him to go back and pick it up, and then ski the final kilometer with the pole not strapped to his hand, he ended up in 118th place, and was a little pissed.
I on the other hand, was rather pleased with my race. I ended up in 138th, my second best place in US nats competition, and about 40 seconds behind Zhenya. My roughly done USSA points say about 215pts which is a good start. My race a couple weeks ago was 240, and my goal for this week is 180-200, so I'm on the right track. I started smooth, and felt absolutely bulletproof in the first 4K, then started to tire a little. I caught John at about 6K, and thats when it started to get hard. About 7K in my back started to tire, and a little later I actually started get a cramp in my right butt cheek. I think that as my back and legs have gotten stronger I've changed my technique a little to use my legs, and my back still isn't quite ready for it yet, but it lasted pretty dang well today.
So, surprise, surprise, the schedule has changed for tomorrow. For some reason they decided to change the classic race from wednesday to tomorrow, and then have the classic sprint that was cancelled yesterday on wednesday. This is a little rough, especially with as tired as my back got today, a classic race on a really steep course tomorrow is going to be really hard. However, surprise surprise as well, it's supposed to be f-in cold tomorrow, so there's a good chance it'll get cancelled as well, and that means we would have 4 races in four days after that, ugg. I might have to get selective about what I race, this is n time to bury myself. But, that's a decision for another day. Time for more food, and bed.
'til tomorrow,
Joe
You need to get vaseline or dermatone to put on your faces. It's way better than tape and it doesn't bother you and come off so you can put it on regardless of temperature.
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