Ever notice that when you start something new, it just doesn't feel right? Not sure which way to go. Not sure if it's right. Waste of time? Someone's already done this, right? Confussion.
Mess.
What's interesting is that the mess of exploration looks/feels a lot like the mess of failure and maybe that's why we give up on new ideas. We get the two confussed. And that failure word, got to be careful with that one too.
Once watched a manager almost end the career of an employee because they were trying to do something new, take a new approach to a problem. Interesting how both people saw failure differently. One saw the need for punishment and the other walked away with lessons. Who succeeded here?
So the next time you feel 'mess', remember, it's not the path to bad stuff. Any way it works out, it'll be good!...
Friday, April 13, 2007
Wednesday, March 14, 2007
First Ride
I think it's time to prepare the skis for storage: the geese are flying, maple sap is running, heard a robin today, and it got up to 55 degrees. And it rained. Hard. This is death to snow and it was going fast.
So I did the only sensible thing I could do: go for a ride! Got the bike out, pumped up the tires and did 4+ miles. Nothing big, just one of those take a spin before dinner. It felt amazingly warm in fact I think I over dressed. The rain had stopped but I still got soaked with all the water on the roads.
Yup, season's are a chang'n
So I did the only sensible thing I could do: go for a ride! Got the bike out, pumped up the tires and did 4+ miles. Nothing big, just one of those take a spin before dinner. It felt amazingly warm in fact I think I over dressed. The rain had stopped but I still got soaked with all the water on the roads.
Yup, season's are a chang'n
Tuesday, March 13, 2007
Driving Lessons
Joshua, my number 2 kid, has just got his permit and today was the first time for me to take him for a drive. We get into the car and start to pull out of the driveway. Karyn (kid #5) is calling to me. Joshua rolls down his window and asks, "What do you want?!" in that way in which only a big brother can. "Where are you going?" she asks. Thinking he's going to give her a smart answer, he says, "to heaven!" I think it's time to get out of the car!
Sunday, March 11, 2007
3/10/07 Osceola Race
Wax. I was worried about the waxing. Waxing can be as easy or complicated as you want to make it, but it's basically read the thermometer and pick the wax. It's all about matching the snow type and temp with the right wax. But Saturday was going to be hard: Friday night 19 degrees, Saturday morning change from sunny at 30 degrees to cloudy with rain at 42 degrees. Frozen granular? Wet? Cold? Warm? What was it going to be? How the heck to you wax for that?!? I picked a Swix LF8 for around 32 degrees and hoped that would do it. Turns out this was going to be my biggest problem.
Kathy and I were able to distribute the kids around to various places and escape at around 7:15am to head for that town of Osceola - that if you blinked you'd miss it. We got on the the thruway and I had to do that terrible fearful thing: turn on the windshield wipers. It was raining. Rain and skiing just plain sucks. But after a while we seemed to have moved ahead of the weather front and got there under partially cloudy skies. Would the skis be sticking to the snow? Would I have to change the wax there? Would they be fast? That's all I could think about. Kathy went off the 'warming hut' (I never seem to get warm in this hut) to sign me in and promptly found out that Nick wasn't going to race because he was going to have to be chief timer. My gracious wife said that she'd do the timing and told him to go have fun.
I had packed pretty efficiently so it was a lot easier to get to the range to zero my rifle. The moment had come. I set my skis down on the snow and stepped into the bindings. They were very fast! My skis practically took off by themselves as I skied off to the range. We'll that was a relief! Took my zero shots and I didn't even have to adjust the sights. New ammo so I wasn't sure how that would work, but things seemed to be good.
With the temperature rising and the sky darkening I wanted to get this show on the road. Since I was to start second, I got my wish. Since this was a 10km sprint, we went off in 60 second intervals. Kathy sent people off with her clip board and stop watch. I took off skied up the little hill by the range, across the field and down into the woods. The racer ahead of me was coming out of the woods, the opposite direction! 'What's this about', I wondered. He asked which way was the right way! I told him to turn around and follow the orange flags.
I felt something was wrong - I kept sliding a lot, kind of like biking up hill in mud with lots of leaves - was getting no purchase. In skate skiing you roll the edges sideways and push off of the flat part. No doing here. The odd thing was that it didn't feel icy, but I was sliding all over the place. And my poles - I'd plant my poles and they slip out from under me! This was not going well. For the next 2.5km I felt like I'd never been skiing before with poles and skis sliding in all the wrong directions.
Finally reached the top of a hill and tucked down for a quick run. Now I've been working the hill thing. Got this fear of going too fast, but also realize this is a great way to take the pressure off my leg muscles for a few seconds, and a way to grab some time. I had been working on going faster at Lake Placid and it worked really well. I'd been down this hill before and knew what it was like at the bottom. Built up speed. Oh man this is fast. This is really really fast. Started to struggle to get things under control. The course started get some up and down motion. My left leg started to part with the rest of us and in slow motion I spread eagled off the trail into woods - WHAM! Face plant. Arms and legs buried under the softer snow. I spend what in race time seemed forever to get out - snow everywhere. Brush off, get the rifle back into position and head back out on the trail. So on top of feeling like a clutz on a slippery surface, I'm now shaken by the fall. I struggle over the next .5km to steady myself. Ahead I see one of the racers on the shorter loop come out of the woods and fall on flat ground! So it's bad for everyone.
Get to the range, whip off my rifle - today's goal is to shoot faster - and... the rifle is covered with snow. Can't see through the sights! Blow and blow and blow snow off. Finally, it's all off and I only knock down 2 out of 5. Not good.
Back out on the loop and continue to slid around. Come back to the hill. This time I've got a full blown snow plow going down. Half way down I decide to tuck in and pick up speed. WHAM-O! I go down again! This is not my day. The range goes better this time, hit 4 of 5 in the standing, so only 1 penalty loop. This was very good.
Would you believe that I fell AGAIN on that hill? This time I noticed all the body marks on the trail and knew I wasn't alone. This time when I fell I noticed someone's clip laying in the trail. These clips aren't cheap so I pick it up and slide it down my shirt.
Down the long flat stretch towards the finish, this kid passes me. I jumped into the double track lane for classic skiing and start double poling and I actually start to catch up to the kid! We hit a slight hill and I've got to go back to skating. Slip and slide across the field and into the finish. *Whew* glad THAT's over!
And that's the last race of the season! Would have been nice to get some more races in, but that's the way the snow falls. Overall I was pleased: did my longest race at 15km and survived, felt like I got a better handle on the mental aspect of the race, made some huge improvements in nutrition, skating technique is getting better. Areas to focus on are leg strength, need to run more this summer - like training for 10k runs.
Kathy and I were able to distribute the kids around to various places and escape at around 7:15am to head for that town of Osceola - that if you blinked you'd miss it. We got on the the thruway and I had to do that terrible fearful thing: turn on the windshield wipers. It was raining. Rain and skiing just plain sucks. But after a while we seemed to have moved ahead of the weather front and got there under partially cloudy skies. Would the skis be sticking to the snow? Would I have to change the wax there? Would they be fast? That's all I could think about. Kathy went off the 'warming hut' (I never seem to get warm in this hut) to sign me in and promptly found out that Nick wasn't going to race because he was going to have to be chief timer. My gracious wife said that she'd do the timing and told him to go have fun.
I had packed pretty efficiently so it was a lot easier to get to the range to zero my rifle. The moment had come. I set my skis down on the snow and stepped into the bindings. They were very fast! My skis practically took off by themselves as I skied off to the range. We'll that was a relief! Took my zero shots and I didn't even have to adjust the sights. New ammo so I wasn't sure how that would work, but things seemed to be good.
With the temperature rising and the sky darkening I wanted to get this show on the road. Since I was to start second, I got my wish. Since this was a 10km sprint, we went off in 60 second intervals. Kathy sent people off with her clip board and stop watch. I took off skied up the little hill by the range, across the field and down into the woods. The racer ahead of me was coming out of the woods, the opposite direction! 'What's this about', I wondered. He asked which way was the right way! I told him to turn around and follow the orange flags.
I felt something was wrong - I kept sliding a lot, kind of like biking up hill in mud with lots of leaves - was getting no purchase. In skate skiing you roll the edges sideways and push off of the flat part. No doing here. The odd thing was that it didn't feel icy, but I was sliding all over the place. And my poles - I'd plant my poles and they slip out from under me! This was not going well. For the next 2.5km I felt like I'd never been skiing before with poles and skis sliding in all the wrong directions.
Finally reached the top of a hill and tucked down for a quick run. Now I've been working the hill thing. Got this fear of going too fast, but also realize this is a great way to take the pressure off my leg muscles for a few seconds, and a way to grab some time. I had been working on going faster at Lake Placid and it worked really well. I'd been down this hill before and knew what it was like at the bottom. Built up speed. Oh man this is fast. This is really really fast. Started to struggle to get things under control. The course started get some up and down motion. My left leg started to part with the rest of us and in slow motion I spread eagled off the trail into woods - WHAM! Face plant. Arms and legs buried under the softer snow. I spend what in race time seemed forever to get out - snow everywhere. Brush off, get the rifle back into position and head back out on the trail. So on top of feeling like a clutz on a slippery surface, I'm now shaken by the fall. I struggle over the next .5km to steady myself. Ahead I see one of the racers on the shorter loop come out of the woods and fall on flat ground! So it's bad for everyone.
Get to the range, whip off my rifle - today's goal is to shoot faster - and... the rifle is covered with snow. Can't see through the sights! Blow and blow and blow snow off. Finally, it's all off and I only knock down 2 out of 5. Not good.
Back out on the loop and continue to slid around. Come back to the hill. This time I've got a full blown snow plow going down. Half way down I decide to tuck in and pick up speed. WHAM-O! I go down again! This is not my day. The range goes better this time, hit 4 of 5 in the standing, so only 1 penalty loop. This was very good.
Would you believe that I fell AGAIN on that hill? This time I noticed all the body marks on the trail and knew I wasn't alone. This time when I fell I noticed someone's clip laying in the trail. These clips aren't cheap so I pick it up and slide it down my shirt.
Down the long flat stretch towards the finish, this kid passes me. I jumped into the double track lane for classic skiing and start double poling and I actually start to catch up to the kid! We hit a slight hill and I've got to go back to skating. Slip and slide across the field and into the finish. *Whew* glad THAT's over!
And that's the last race of the season! Would have been nice to get some more races in, but that's the way the snow falls. Overall I was pleased: did my longest race at 15km and survived, felt like I got a better handle on the mental aspect of the race, made some huge improvements in nutrition, skating technique is getting better. Areas to focus on are leg strength, need to run more this summer - like training for 10k runs.
Sunday, February 25, 2007
ESG 2/23/2007
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| From 2007-02-23 Em... |
Pictures
Tuesday, February 13, 2007
Race: NorAm
So to get to the Empire State Games (ESG), I need a certain number of races. With all the races cancelled, it's grab any and all ESG qualifier races. The only next race between now and then is, *gulp*, the North American Cup/National Masters Champs! Let's be clear: I am not nationals material. I'm a guy having a mid-life crisis, trying to get in shape, fulfilling a childhood dream, yada, yada, yada. With this being the only option I figured I'd better go.
My brother said there's a line in the Hitch Hikers Guide to the Galaxy, 'Where the Guide is wrong, it strives to be definitively wrong'. So he said, 'if you're going to do this, be decisive about it'. Does that mean if I'm bad, I should be bad on a really grand scale?? Whatever the implication, being decisive is good advice.
Getting there was the trick. Normally I head north along Rt. 81, then take Rt 3 east from Watertown. The problem is that those towns between Syracuse to Watertown has received anywhere from 8 to 10 feet of snow. Yes, that’s feet. These poor folks don’t even have a place to shovel the stuff. So I’m not going that way. This time I’ll head East along the Thruway and head North along Rt 87 and come into Lake Placid the back way. This turned out to be a very good move. When I left Friday morning, it was really snowing hard in Syracuse. 30 minutes East and all was well. In fact, near Albany, the road were very dry. We’ll be taking this route in the future – can set the cruse control to 75 and not get the kids car sick weaving through the roads up north.
I stayed at the Northway motel right in Lake Placid - clean rooms, easy access to town, etc - good thing. Had to leave the wife home - bad thing. It sucks being alone in a strange land without someone to support and cheer.
The race was held at the 1980's Olympics course. This course has any positive attributes: very wide trails, steep hills with very good run offs (no sharp turns, narrow bridges, etc), very well groomed, great waxing rooms to prepare skis in. It does, however, have some tough hills. Three in fact. Three loops x Three hills = lactic acid. Lots of it.
This race was a 10Km sprint – three loops each at 3.3km, two shoots: prone and standing. The word 'sprint' is a little misleading. 'Sprinting' over 6 miles seems like a contradiction in terms. The race was very hard for me. First loop went well – kept a good pace and even the hills felt okay. Knocked down my first two targets in prone, but missed the next three – I think I was low. It was during the second hill on the second loop that my thighs didn’t think this was a good idea. It takes a lot of muscle power/strength to keep the rolling/springing gate of the V1 ski stride up hill. At the standing shoot I hit two and missed three. Out on the last loop I was ready to jump in the stream that flowed through the valley. “How’d he die?” they’d ask. Somehow that would work better than, say putting a ski pole through my gut to end the pain. It was the second hill that was the worst. This baby goes straight up, gives you hope by leveling off, then goes straight up again. Why DID those ski patrol guys look at me like that??
My time for 10K was 1:06, that’s one hour, six minutes. The winner was 30min! How do they do that? And get this, they do two warm down loops! The pain in my body said not to do that.
We’ll the good news: I’ve done what I need to do and am going to the Empire State Games. The bad news: same course and it’s a 15Km race! That will be five loops at 3km each. Hopefully they’ll take out one of the hills.
My brother said there's a line in the Hitch Hikers Guide to the Galaxy, 'Where the Guide is wrong, it strives to be definitively wrong'. So he said, 'if you're going to do this, be decisive about it'. Does that mean if I'm bad, I should be bad on a really grand scale?? Whatever the implication, being decisive is good advice.
Getting there was the trick. Normally I head north along Rt. 81, then take Rt 3 east from Watertown. The problem is that those towns between Syracuse to Watertown has received anywhere from 8 to 10 feet of snow. Yes, that’s feet. These poor folks don’t even have a place to shovel the stuff. So I’m not going that way. This time I’ll head East along the Thruway and head North along Rt 87 and come into Lake Placid the back way. This turned out to be a very good move. When I left Friday morning, it was really snowing hard in Syracuse. 30 minutes East and all was well. In fact, near Albany, the road were very dry. We’ll be taking this route in the future – can set the cruse control to 75 and not get the kids car sick weaving through the roads up north.
I stayed at the Northway motel right in Lake Placid - clean rooms, easy access to town, etc - good thing. Had to leave the wife home - bad thing. It sucks being alone in a strange land without someone to support and cheer.
The race was held at the 1980's Olympics course. This course has any positive attributes: very wide trails, steep hills with very good run offs (no sharp turns, narrow bridges, etc), very well groomed, great waxing rooms to prepare skis in. It does, however, have some tough hills. Three in fact. Three loops x Three hills = lactic acid. Lots of it.
This race was a 10Km sprint – three loops each at 3.3km, two shoots: prone and standing. The word 'sprint' is a little misleading. 'Sprinting' over 6 miles seems like a contradiction in terms. The race was very hard for me. First loop went well – kept a good pace and even the hills felt okay. Knocked down my first two targets in prone, but missed the next three – I think I was low. It was during the second hill on the second loop that my thighs didn’t think this was a good idea. It takes a lot of muscle power/strength to keep the rolling/springing gate of the V1 ski stride up hill. At the standing shoot I hit two and missed three. Out on the last loop I was ready to jump in the stream that flowed through the valley. “How’d he die?” they’d ask. Somehow that would work better than, say putting a ski pole through my gut to end the pain. It was the second hill that was the worst. This baby goes straight up, gives you hope by leveling off, then goes straight up again. Why DID those ski patrol guys look at me like that??
My time for 10K was 1:06, that’s one hour, six minutes. The winner was 30min! How do they do that? And get this, they do two warm down loops! The pain in my body said not to do that.
We’ll the good news: I’ve done what I need to do and am going to the Empire State Games. The bad news: same course and it’s a 15Km race! That will be five loops at 3km each. Hopefully they’ll take out one of the hills.
Friday, February 02, 2007
1st Race
We'll we finally got enough snow to race on. Having been on my back for 3 weeks in the middle of race season sucks. So when it came to the Jan 27th race at Osceola, I wasn't sure if that would be too much. But if I didn't go, that would mean no Empire State Games points. I don't think I'm going to make it this year because of the strickter qualification standards, but hey, if you don't try....
So I pack up all my stuff - biathlon can be a real pain: food, clothing for different weather conditions, rifle, spotting scope, couple pairs of skis - it's a lot of stuff to hustle around! So I get there late which means even more hustle. Register. Grab rifle and head to range to zero. Can't zero with out skis on. Back to car and grab ski cloths and head to lodge. Lodge is locked because Huge is out grooming. Back to car and change in car. Back to range and zero. Zero doesn't go so great because I can't see the hits on the target through the spotting scope - something about the target paper and what their mounted on. Back to lodge to get some food.
Now this race is a little different because I'm trying to be more careful about food. Been reading this book called The Paleo Diet for Athletes. The big take away is that carb load the day of the race is more important than carb loading the days leading up to the race. Also special attention to glycemic index/load of foods so blood sugar doesn't spike too soon. Overall I think it helped, but I'm not getting enough calories - something all have to work on.
Was I complaining about how I had been sick? Well, I run into Jim - great guy and a great athlete. I first noticed Jim when he blew past me in a summer biathlon race. He's 20 years older than me. Come to find out Jim had fallen off his mountain bike in November and landed his chest square on a stump - major ouch! Turns out he's been in and out of the hospital - feel'n pretty sour on race day.
Back to the hustle: go to the pre race meeting and realize that I'm #3 to start (this is a sprint so each skier starts at 60 sec increments) - so less time to get ready. That'll teach me to register early! Back to the car and grab skis and rifle and load my clips and hustle back. Realize I still have wind pants off. Skier #2 on the start line. Hustle, hustle!!
On the line and I'm off. Today I'm focusing on technique and heart rate. I'm keeping the heart rate down to 180 to 188 for pacing. The course today is longer than usual, 11.2km. This is a good course long gradual up hills, a few short steep hills and no killer down hills (steep hills with sharp turns and the bottom). One good thing: the wax on my skis is just right - good glide. First loop goes really well. First loop is always strange because of being late I didn't get a chance to ski it, so I don't know exactly what's coming around the next bend, so I tend to ski more conservatively. Finish the first loop and ski into the range. And miss all 5 shots. And that means 5 penelty loops. Second loop and I'm feeling pretty good - pace is good and technique is adequate. Skate skiing is still new to me, even after 3 years - biggest issue is just getting out and doing it more (snow being kind of key here...). Jim goes blowing by me! If only I can perform like that at his age... Come into the range and miss first three targets, but get last two - *whew*. Last loop is shorter than first two and catches me off guard - suddenly realize I'm more than half way through loop and have a lot left in the tank!
Got this book called The Triathlete's Guide to Mental Training- really interesting book. Breaks down the whole mental thing going on before and during races. Realize that I'm doing way too much negative talk to myself during races. Yeah I've got lots of stuff to work on and I'm in this for the long haul, but need to change the negative thing. During this race was able to control it a lot better.
So overall I felt really good about pace, technique is getting better. Shooting was really really bad - too slow, too many misses. Nutrionaly learned some stuff. So not bad for the first race of the season.
So I pack up all my stuff - biathlon can be a real pain: food, clothing for different weather conditions, rifle, spotting scope, couple pairs of skis - it's a lot of stuff to hustle around! So I get there late which means even more hustle. Register. Grab rifle and head to range to zero. Can't zero with out skis on. Back to car and grab ski cloths and head to lodge. Lodge is locked because Huge is out grooming. Back to car and change in car. Back to range and zero. Zero doesn't go so great because I can't see the hits on the target through the spotting scope - something about the target paper and what their mounted on. Back to lodge to get some food.
Now this race is a little different because I'm trying to be more careful about food. Been reading this book called The Paleo Diet for Athletes. The big take away is that carb load the day of the race is more important than carb loading the days leading up to the race. Also special attention to glycemic index/load of foods so blood sugar doesn't spike too soon. Overall I think it helped, but I'm not getting enough calories - something all have to work on.
Was I complaining about how I had been sick? Well, I run into Jim - great guy and a great athlete. I first noticed Jim when he blew past me in a summer biathlon race. He's 20 years older than me. Come to find out Jim had fallen off his mountain bike in November and landed his chest square on a stump - major ouch! Turns out he's been in and out of the hospital - feel'n pretty sour on race day.
Back to the hustle: go to the pre race meeting and realize that I'm #3 to start (this is a sprint so each skier starts at 60 sec increments) - so less time to get ready. That'll teach me to register early! Back to the car and grab skis and rifle and load my clips and hustle back. Realize I still have wind pants off. Skier #2 on the start line. Hustle, hustle!!
On the line and I'm off. Today I'm focusing on technique and heart rate. I'm keeping the heart rate down to 180 to 188 for pacing. The course today is longer than usual, 11.2km. This is a good course long gradual up hills, a few short steep hills and no killer down hills (steep hills with sharp turns and the bottom). One good thing: the wax on my skis is just right - good glide. First loop goes really well. First loop is always strange because of being late I didn't get a chance to ski it, so I don't know exactly what's coming around the next bend, so I tend to ski more conservatively. Finish the first loop and ski into the range. And miss all 5 shots. And that means 5 penelty loops. Second loop and I'm feeling pretty good - pace is good and technique is adequate. Skate skiing is still new to me, even after 3 years - biggest issue is just getting out and doing it more (snow being kind of key here...). Jim goes blowing by me! If only I can perform like that at his age... Come into the range and miss first three targets, but get last two - *whew*. Last loop is shorter than first two and catches me off guard - suddenly realize I'm more than half way through loop and have a lot left in the tank!
Got this book called The Triathlete's Guide to Mental Training- really interesting book. Breaks down the whole mental thing going on before and during races. Realize that I'm doing way too much negative talk to myself during races. Yeah I've got lots of stuff to work on and I'm in this for the long haul, but need to change the negative thing. During this race was able to control it a lot better.
So overall I felt really good about pace, technique is getting better. Shooting was really really bad - too slow, too many misses. Nutrionaly learned some stuff. So not bad for the first race of the season.
Thursday, January 25, 2007
The good and the bad
The bad news: what a month of sickness. Wake up one day with a nasty fever and chills. Next day got this strange red spot on my ankle that starts to swell. Go to the Dr. and he gives me drugs, says it's Cellulitus - a deep skin infection. Next day it's worse and am told to go to the ER - get an IV and stronger drugs. Next day it's not going away and back to the ER. Get stronger drugs. Finally starts to heal. I spend the week resting and healing. Then comes the allergic reaction to one of the drugs: hives all over. Spend another couple days getting over that. When all is said and done three weeks have gone by. Right in the middle of race season!! It really stinks that all the races up to this point have been cancelled due to weather. So between being sick and no snow I don’t think I’m going to accumulate enough points to go to the Empire State Games.
The good news is - despite all the whining by some people down south ;-) - we got snow! Glorious snow! Went for a ski on Sunday - had to use the rock skis - twigs and stones showing here and there. First ski of the season is always tricky - trying to get the balance thing down. But it was skiing!! With three weeks of non-activity I'm struggling. Tuesday ran 1.5 mile and felt okay but not great. Yesterday did a 30min ski and that felt good. Got a race on Sat. at Osceola. I think this will be more of a training outing rather than a race.
The good news is - despite all the whining by some people down south ;-) - we got snow! Glorious snow! Went for a ski on Sunday - had to use the rock skis - twigs and stones showing here and there. First ski of the season is always tricky - trying to get the balance thing down. But it was skiing!! With three weeks of non-activity I'm struggling. Tuesday ran 1.5 mile and felt okay but not great. Yesterday did a 30min ski and that felt good. Got a race on Sat. at Osceola. I think this will be more of a training outing rather than a race.
Wednesday, December 13, 2006
Let It Snow
I walk down into the basement and I find three kids with all the downhill skill equipment on making swishing noises - I think that means their ready! Or how about this: David is looking out the window and sees a sunny day and he grumbles about the terrible weather we're having.
Part of the cure for this: I told the guys that waxing a downhill ski is just like waxing a cross country skate ski. In the classic style of cross country we wax the ski with a wax that will grip the snow on a kick. In skate skiing there's none of that - pushing off with the side of the ski is the grip. 'So you can wax your skis for the snow[1] conditions and that will make you go fast'. The word fast got their attention. A couple days later, my crummy little waxing area was transformed by David into a well organized room with cabinets, and ski storage space! Imagine a space the size of a small kitchen with about 15 to 20 pairs of cross country and down hill skis - so his work was a big improvement.
I showed them how to clean the skis, get a base on, and put on the wax for the coming weekend. Everyone from Joshua down to Isaac wants to now wax their skis. I like that. I worked on my downhill skis, getting the gunk off the bottoms and preparing the base. Not doing the skate skis yet, not enough base out there. But I'm getting excited - a new pair of Atomic RS-9's.
We'll things changed this past weekend - we got enough snow and cold that the slopes could make snow and Joshua and David went to Labrador Mountain. Joshua was participating in their ski instructor clinic program. People go through this two day program and Lab figures out if their instructor material. At the end of two days, Joshua was one of 11 out of 25 that were asked to come back to get some more training! On Monday is was touch and go, but there was snow - so the kids went that day too.
So, let it snow!
[1] For those of you down south, 'snow' is when rain freezes way up in the sky and crystalizes into small white things that pile up to cover the ground. When compressed people can have fun sliding on it, using things like sleds, skis, your butt or the car.
Part of the cure for this: I told the guys that waxing a downhill ski is just like waxing a cross country skate ski. In the classic style of cross country we wax the ski with a wax that will grip the snow on a kick. In skate skiing there's none of that - pushing off with the side of the ski is the grip. 'So you can wax your skis for the snow[1] conditions and that will make you go fast'. The word fast got their attention. A couple days later, my crummy little waxing area was transformed by David into a well organized room with cabinets, and ski storage space! Imagine a space the size of a small kitchen with about 15 to 20 pairs of cross country and down hill skis - so his work was a big improvement.
I showed them how to clean the skis, get a base on, and put on the wax for the coming weekend. Everyone from Joshua down to Isaac wants to now wax their skis. I like that. I worked on my downhill skis, getting the gunk off the bottoms and preparing the base. Not doing the skate skis yet, not enough base out there. But I'm getting excited - a new pair of Atomic RS-9's.
We'll things changed this past weekend - we got enough snow and cold that the slopes could make snow and Joshua and David went to Labrador Mountain. Joshua was participating in their ski instructor clinic program. People go through this two day program and Lab figures out if their instructor material. At the end of two days, Joshua was one of 11 out of 25 that were asked to come back to get some more training! On Monday is was touch and go, but there was snow - so the kids went that day too.
So, let it snow!
[1] For those of you down south, 'snow' is when rain freezes way up in the sky and crystalizes into small white things that pile up to cover the ground. When compressed people can have fun sliding on it, using things like sleds, skis, your butt or the car.
Tuesday, November 28, 2006
Real Mtn Bike #2
Today was even better than yesterday - 60 degrees and the sun was peeking out. I've got to go out again.
Go home. Clean the gutters. Grab the bike. No one wants to go with me this time. So it's solo time. This time I decide to do Morgan Hill - there's a lean to up there some place and I want to find it.
This place is not familiar. I'm going alone. Sun setting earlier. Not a good plan, but I gotta to do it. Find the trail, jump on the bike, down the bank, and promptly go right over my handle bars - WHAM! Heck of a way to start... Get up hoping no one saw that stunt, and brush myself off. Walk down the trail to make sure the legs are okay. Got no choice, this is steep and muddy. Walk down to the bottom and there's this beautiful creek running through the woods. It's pretty sizable, no real way to ride through it - a solid rock base with moss looking pretty slippery. There's an old bridge that's missing all it's planks. So I get on the bike and pull myself across. Up the other bank. Now where is the trail? Ah, that part going straight up a bank infested with roots. These biking shoes aren't that great for hiking so I slip my way up. Finally up to the top - ride maybe 30 ft and logs and roots. Push some more. In fact I do a whole lot of pushing. In fact I think: this ain't a good mtn bike place for me. So I push back to the car.
Cross the road and make an attempt in the other direction. This is a long steady climb up a hill. I'll be darned if I can get on the bike and get moving: leaves slipping, mud, and everytime I pedal the front rears up and tries to dump me. This ain't work'n either. Dark is coming fast so it's time to head back. Trail 2, Kurt 0.
Disappointed I didn't get the ride like yesterday, but now I know where not to go!
Go home. Clean the gutters. Grab the bike. No one wants to go with me this time. So it's solo time. This time I decide to do Morgan Hill - there's a lean to up there some place and I want to find it.
This place is not familiar. I'm going alone. Sun setting earlier. Not a good plan, but I gotta to do it. Find the trail, jump on the bike, down the bank, and promptly go right over my handle bars - WHAM! Heck of a way to start... Get up hoping no one saw that stunt, and brush myself off. Walk down the trail to make sure the legs are okay. Got no choice, this is steep and muddy. Walk down to the bottom and there's this beautiful creek running through the woods. It's pretty sizable, no real way to ride through it - a solid rock base with moss looking pretty slippery. There's an old bridge that's missing all it's planks. So I get on the bike and pull myself across. Up the other bank. Now where is the trail? Ah, that part going straight up a bank infested with roots. These biking shoes aren't that great for hiking so I slip my way up. Finally up to the top - ride maybe 30 ft and logs and roots. Push some more. In fact I do a whole lot of pushing. In fact I think: this ain't a good mtn bike place for me. So I push back to the car.
Cross the road and make an attempt in the other direction. This is a long steady climb up a hill. I'll be darned if I can get on the bike and get moving: leaves slipping, mud, and everytime I pedal the front rears up and tries to dump me. This ain't work'n either. Dark is coming fast so it's time to head back. Trail 2, Kurt 0.
Disappointed I didn't get the ride like yesterday, but now I know where not to go!
Monday, November 27, 2006
Real Mtn Biking
Today we did our first real mtn bike run! Joshua and I drove down to Spruce Pond just south of where we live. This is a huge hunk of state land that has great woods, ponds, and hills. There's this trail called the Finger Lake Trail that goes from one end of NYS to the other. There's a 'spur' that goes from this trail up into Onondaga county, and it goes right through the Spruce Pond area. The last five miles or so starts at Spruce Pond and heads east, then north up on to Fellows Hill. I wanted to ride it. The first part is very steep, covered with leaves and muddy so we had to push for a while. About 3/4 the way up we rode. What an awesome trail! Nice and wide, through beautiful open woods that changed from evergreen to hardwoods.
Our particular problem was that (1) we didn't know where this trail went, and (2) dark was coming in. What the heck, we could always bushwhack west until we hit the main road. The trail gradually climbed then cut back to the east into a dense pine forest. We found a marker indicating the top of the hill. The pine forest was pretty dark and I switched on the head light. This didn't help Joshua too much since he didn't have one. Then it was down throught the woods - with me yelling out the various obsticles coming up. I'm sure this part of the woods was beautiful too, but I couldn't see it!
Trip took about 1.5 hrs and we had a fair amount of mud on the bikes. It was worth it
Our particular problem was that (1) we didn't know where this trail went, and (2) dark was coming in. What the heck, we could always bushwhack west until we hit the main road. The trail gradually climbed then cut back to the east into a dense pine forest. We found a marker indicating the top of the hill. The pine forest was pretty dark and I switched on the head light. This didn't help Joshua too much since he didn't have one. Then it was down throught the woods - with me yelling out the various obsticles coming up. I'm sure this part of the woods was beautiful too, but I couldn't see it!
Trip took about 1.5 hrs and we had a fair amount of mud on the bikes. It was worth it
Saturday, November 11, 2006
Bike + GPS = Fun!
Days for biking in CNY are growing short, so when Kathy asked me to take Jonathan to soccer, I jumped at the chance. Soccer is over in Pompey which has got some great biking options. I decided that this trip I'd see if I could find some geocaches. There are four in this area and I thought I'd see how many I could find by bike.
The first was within .25 miles of the soccer fields. In the Pompey cemetery, this cache has got an amazing view. I'd only been around that area at night.
The second was more of a hike. The challenge with starting at Pompey is that everything is *big* downhill! This cache was at the place called Old Fly Marsh. About a 2 mile ride. I was interested to go here since one of the Scouts in the Troop I'm in did a project there to re-do some of the marsh board walks. I got there and had to bike in on trails about .25mile - what a beautiful place! Open hardwood forest, old growth ceaders and the marsh. Got to come back here.
Turn around and head back. Get to the soccer fields. Hmmm, do I have time to ride to Pratt's Falls to find a cache? Sure I do. This is farther and more down hill than I remember. Get there and find the cache. It's supposed to have 'geocaching pins' in it, but this one is looking pretty run down with no pins. Time to head back. Now I'm getting worried: got to get Jonathan before 11:00, lots of up hill and it's starting to rain.
No problem! Get back just as Jonathan is finishing. We head off and I tell him to go find the cache in the cemetary. It's in an pretty cool spot. He found it, then we set off to find a cache at a rest area on Rt 20. We've driven by this spot a zillion times and I always wondered if the cache was there. Jonathan found it.
What a great time!
The first was within .25 miles of the soccer fields. In the Pompey cemetery, this cache has got an amazing view. I'd only been around that area at night.
The second was more of a hike. The challenge with starting at Pompey is that everything is *big* downhill! This cache was at the place called Old Fly Marsh. About a 2 mile ride. I was interested to go here since one of the Scouts in the Troop I'm in did a project there to re-do some of the marsh board walks. I got there and had to bike in on trails about .25mile - what a beautiful place! Open hardwood forest, old growth ceaders and the marsh. Got to come back here.
Turn around and head back. Get to the soccer fields. Hmmm, do I have time to ride to Pratt's Falls to find a cache? Sure I do. This is farther and more down hill than I remember. Get there and find the cache. It's supposed to have 'geocaching pins' in it, but this one is looking pretty run down with no pins. Time to head back. Now I'm getting worried: got to get Jonathan before 11:00, lots of up hill and it's starting to rain.
No problem! Get back just as Jonathan is finishing. We head off and I tell him to go find the cache in the cemetary. It's in an pretty cool spot. He found it, then we set off to find a cache at a rest area on Rt 20. We've driven by this spot a zillion times and I always wondered if the cache was there. Jonathan found it.
What a great time!
Friday, November 10, 2006
The Nutritionist: Part 2
Went to the nutrionist yesterday, and I must say I was pretty impressed! Bottom line: reduce the carb's, increase the protein, and increase the fat. Less pasta, bread, etc. More meat - I was surprised that I should be eating 4-6oz at lunch and dinner. Couple eggs each morning too.
Interesting discussion around One Step, this is the supplement that Eddie recommended. She was pretty impressed with the stuff in it. The one problem for me with it is the soy: I may have some kind of food allergy to soy.
Pretty funny at one point: Kathy thought she'd ambush me, "hey, you should see how much butter he puts on his toast!!" "That's okay" was the word back!
Got two supplements: Natura Vital Adapt and a power called Pro-PNC. The later for the training. Bunch of solid advice, go do this for a month and check back in.
Can't wait to see how this works out.
Interesting discussion around One Step, this is the supplement that Eddie recommended. She was pretty impressed with the stuff in it. The one problem for me with it is the soy: I may have some kind of food allergy to soy.
Pretty funny at one point: Kathy thought she'd ambush me, "hey, you should see how much butter he puts on his toast!!" "That's okay" was the word back!
Got two supplements: Natura Vital Adapt and a power called Pro-PNC. The later for the training. Bunch of solid advice, go do this for a month and check back in.
Can't wait to see how this works out.
Tuesday, November 07, 2006
The Nutrionist
Tomorrow is the day. I get to have my food intake examined. I'm tired of being tired. And sick. I'm hoping this will really help. Of course there's my nose. I can't smell. So I'm driving in the car tonight with Kathy and she keeps rolling down the window. Why are you doing that? Because the smell of freon! Maybe that's why I feel so crapy!
Tuesday, October 17, 2006
Toe Clips
A guy mentioned a while back that a good way of training for XC is to get toe clips on a bike because it works those muscles in the front of the leg that hurt so bad when I first start sking. Eddie threw me some suggestions too so I'm thinking I need to try this. Was down at the Bikeloft getting my 30 day adjustment and asked and they said they had a bunch on sale. I'm figuring I want to do this as cheap as possible - two expensive sports: got to tread lightly on the home budget. And they had a cheap pair that fit. Also get a pair of peddles that have one side normal and the other a slip - perfect for me. Buy another tool to change peddles, so I'm ready to do this. Dave says to stand next to a wall and practice getting in and out of the clips - good advice.
Make the peddle changes, put the clip on the shoe and find a wall. Not too bad popping in and out, so I head for the hill. Meeker hill is about a mile of uphill that alternates between moderate and hard up hill. As I'm working my way up I'm loving these shoes and clips! Sure beats sneakers flexing all over the place. Hit one of the harder stretches and shift from 12 to 3 - bad idea - I'm still getting used to the shifter on the new bike. Suddenly my legs are spinning and I wonder if I have a chain anymore. Speed drops to zero and I start to go over. Some part of my brain say, 'oh, right, I've got clips'. Give the foot a twist and nothing. IN COMING. Another part of my brain says, 'this is really strang not being able to put a foot out.' By God's grace there's a patch of grass below me and I've got full gloves on due to the cold. Blam! Gotta laugh - this must have looked funny as heck - a guy going up hill, stops and falls over!
Get untangled, back in the saddle and up we go. On the easy section pratice some more. On the way down I undo one of the clips and flip the peddle over. No way I'm going over at 20mph!
All in all they great! Now where is that wall...
Make the peddle changes, put the clip on the shoe and find a wall. Not too bad popping in and out, so I head for the hill. Meeker hill is about a mile of uphill that alternates between moderate and hard up hill. As I'm working my way up I'm loving these shoes and clips! Sure beats sneakers flexing all over the place. Hit one of the harder stretches and shift from 12 to 3 - bad idea - I'm still getting used to the shifter on the new bike. Suddenly my legs are spinning and I wonder if I have a chain anymore. Speed drops to zero and I start to go over. Some part of my brain say, 'oh, right, I've got clips'. Give the foot a twist and nothing. IN COMING. Another part of my brain says, 'this is really strang not being able to put a foot out.' By God's grace there's a patch of grass below me and I've got full gloves on due to the cold. Blam! Gotta laugh - this must have looked funny as heck - a guy going up hill, stops and falls over!
Get untangled, back in the saddle and up we go. On the easy section pratice some more. On the way down I undo one of the clips and flip the peddle over. No way I'm going over at 20mph!
All in all they great! Now where is that wall...
Sunday, September 17, 2006
New bike, New bike!
Got a Specialized hardrock! Time to step up from the $50 special - what a treat! Got some extra cash from a work award and thought it's time. Gears are really smooth, love the front shock - all that stuff most other mtner's have known for years!
Thursday, March 30, 2006
Rollerskis
It was 65 degrees today - as long as I've lived in central NY (about 45 years) it will never cease to amaze me - that first day when it's sunny and warm. What could be better? A winter full of snow and skiing, then have a 65/sunny day! It's like Christmas every spring!
So I grabbed my rollerski stuff and went out. 'Grab' is probably the wrong word. Over the past week I've had to hunt down my stuff. Couldn't find the road ski pole tips. I had bought a pair of V2 roller skis with pneumatic tires (they have inner tubes). Found out that two wheels had flats and I had just one spare tube. Put that in. Ordered another set from High Peaks Cyclery. These guys rock - had new tubes the next day. Ordered the wrong size. Found the tips, but couldn't find my Toko poles. Turns out I left the poles at Osceola - *gasp*. Coordinated with a few folks and found out Russ was going up that way - *whew*. Tried putting tips on my Swix poles - too small. Found another pair ... and on it goes. Finally got my rollski’s, poles, helmet and boots into the car.
Yesterday during lunch went down to Onondaga Lake park and went for a spin. Not putting on a sweat shirt felt very strange. Could have even put on shorts, but just couldn't do that yet! I felt pretty shakey - haven't done much in the way of working out in the past month with being sick and all. But it felt good! I'll probably get more skiing this summer than I did this past winter!
Who knows that weather the next couple weeks will bring, but today, life is good.
So I grabbed my rollerski stuff and went out. 'Grab' is probably the wrong word. Over the past week I've had to hunt down my stuff. Couldn't find the road ski pole tips. I had bought a pair of V2 roller skis with pneumatic tires (they have inner tubes). Found out that two wheels had flats and I had just one spare tube. Put that in. Ordered another set from High Peaks Cyclery. These guys rock - had new tubes the next day. Ordered the wrong size. Found the tips, but couldn't find my Toko poles. Turns out I left the poles at Osceola - *gasp*. Coordinated with a few folks and found out Russ was going up that way - *whew*. Tried putting tips on my Swix poles - too small. Found another pair ... and on it goes. Finally got my rollski’s, poles, helmet and boots into the car.
Yesterday during lunch went down to Onondaga Lake park and went for a spin. Not putting on a sweat shirt felt very strange. Could have even put on shorts, but just couldn't do that yet! I felt pretty shakey - haven't done much in the way of working out in the past month with being sick and all. But it felt good! I'll probably get more skiing this summer than I did this past winter!
Who knows that weather the next couple weeks will bring, but today, life is good.
Friday, February 24, 2006
Empire State Games
The weather has not been kind to us biathlete's this year. God must have other plans. So as we headed into the Empire State Games (ESG) the news wasn't good: not enough snow on the range.
I picked up a U-Haul sport trailer (you gotta try one of these!), packed the family up and were on our way to Lake Placid. For trips of this length and this many kids in the car, it's critical to have a good book on tape. Before we left, I pickedup Eldest - not a sound out of the kids the whole way! We rolled into Lake Placid at about 8:00 and went in search of Steve's place. Steve was kind enough to let us stay at his house - huge place that he's been renting. A big old place right in the middle of town.
We were supposed to do a 10K sprint on Friday, then relay on Saturday. The range didn't have snow, but the cross country course by the ski jumps, about 5 miles away did have snow - they have snow making equipment there. The plan was to shoot at paper targets - 10 shots prone, 10 shots standing, 5 minutes for each. Take the total possible score of 200 pts and for every point less we get a 3 second penalty. That will determine the start order for the next day. First one across the finish wins. So basically your chasing the person in front of you.
Friday dawns and we head down to the range for zeroing at 12:00. It's nasty out: wind is gusting at what feels like 25mph and it's cold. Wind is coming from what seems like every direction. It seems strang to have every piece of winter jacket on I own vs. the thin spandex! One competitor looks like she just walked out of a mall: full lenght down jacket with fasionable boots! We're given the go and everyone gets down for the prone shoot. As the wind rages, everyone pauses waiting for a brief calm. When it comes there's lots of shooting. I get about 58 out of 100 - not good. Standing isn't looking good - how can someone stand still in 25mph winds?!? We're given the go and we start. I feel all wrong - tense, big jacket feels bulky, I start to rush things, ... final score is a dismal 15 out of 100. After talking with some of the other guys, it sounds like the way to go was to break the stance while waiting for the wind to calm down.
Saturday comes very cold, no wind and a light snow. We load up the car and rush down to the course. By the time Caleb, Joshua and I pick up our numbers, get our equipment on and get down to the course, the course is closed. The place is pretty chaotic because we're racing with the nordic guys. Normally all the biathlon guys go off at 30 second intervals - all age groups and genders racing together, so today's format is confusing me. Did I say it was cold? One of the guys who drove in that morning from the west said that a lake effect snow band was coming and we are going to get dumped on. It's really cold. We talk to a couple guys to find out what the course is like: it's a 2k loop - 1st k is up and 2nd is down - don't kill yourself on the first one, cause it's a big hill! Caleb and Joshua do 4k, I get to do 8. It's an awesome location - the start is right under the ski jumps. Both jumps tower above the start/finish. Caleb starts first - this is his first ESG race. I'm really proud he's doing this - not an easy race for someone who just started this skiing thing. Joshua starts about 30min later. He puts in a really good, consistent time for each loop. When asked about the hill he says it's really big. Really big. He gestures up towards the ski jumps, 'up behind those.' That's a big hill. I get out there to warm up and start peeling off layers. Did I say it was really cold? I think I'm going to miss shooting - at least then I get to stop twice to take a short break! They call us down and we start in the order of our score. Curse that standing shoot... My turn comes and off I go thinking about the big hill in front of me. This time, I have my heart rate monitor. After having blown a gasket at the Saratoga race, I figure I'm going to ski my own race no matter what. I come up on a woman get ready to pass, check the HRM and decide, not now. Up the hill we go. The trails are groomed really well, they're wide and the hill is step but not bad. I'm feeling good. Up, up and up we go. I catch up to Mr. blue and settle in behind him. At last we reach the top and I know it's all down hill. And it's a great down hill, long, fast and with a good run off at the bottom. Mr. Blue blows by me. I realize I've got the wrong wax on - too soft. This is not good when I have 1k of down hill - and Mr. Blue is leaving me in the dust. Down through the stadium area and back up the hill. Catch Mr. Blue again and stay in behind him. It's at this point I wish I had followed some advice: get wind proof briefs. The 'wide' stance of the V1 going up hill and 1k of down hill - well, you get the idea. We repeat this catch up and fall back for two more loops. On the fourth loop I catch up and decide to push it some more. Half way up the hill I pass Mr. Blue and try and develop some extra speed going down the hill by double poling and skating. When it's all over I'm happy with the effort: consistent times for each loop and racing with the HRM helped a lot. Talked with some folks about wax and they said it was definately a green day. In fact they said to get as much wax as possible off, let the skis sit outside so that the cold will force more wax out, then brush again. While the shooting and ski times weren't great, I learned a lot at this race.
That night the kids and I get totally bundled up and go out on to the frozen lake to watch fire works. After that we take a hike across the lake. What a beautiful night! Did I tell you it was cold?
I picked up a U-Haul sport trailer (you gotta try one of these!), packed the family up and were on our way to Lake Placid. For trips of this length and this many kids in the car, it's critical to have a good book on tape. Before we left, I pickedup Eldest - not a sound out of the kids the whole way! We rolled into Lake Placid at about 8:00 and went in search of Steve's place. Steve was kind enough to let us stay at his house - huge place that he's been renting. A big old place right in the middle of town.
We were supposed to do a 10K sprint on Friday, then relay on Saturday. The range didn't have snow, but the cross country course by the ski jumps, about 5 miles away did have snow - they have snow making equipment there. The plan was to shoot at paper targets - 10 shots prone, 10 shots standing, 5 minutes for each. Take the total possible score of 200 pts and for every point less we get a 3 second penalty. That will determine the start order for the next day. First one across the finish wins. So basically your chasing the person in front of you.
Friday dawns and we head down to the range for zeroing at 12:00. It's nasty out: wind is gusting at what feels like 25mph and it's cold. Wind is coming from what seems like every direction. It seems strang to have every piece of winter jacket on I own vs. the thin spandex! One competitor looks like she just walked out of a mall: full lenght down jacket with fasionable boots! We're given the go and everyone gets down for the prone shoot. As the wind rages, everyone pauses waiting for a brief calm. When it comes there's lots of shooting. I get about 58 out of 100 - not good. Standing isn't looking good - how can someone stand still in 25mph winds?!? We're given the go and we start. I feel all wrong - tense, big jacket feels bulky, I start to rush things, ... final score is a dismal 15 out of 100. After talking with some of the other guys, it sounds like the way to go was to break the stance while waiting for the wind to calm down.
Saturday comes very cold, no wind and a light snow. We load up the car and rush down to the course. By the time Caleb, Joshua and I pick up our numbers, get our equipment on and get down to the course, the course is closed. The place is pretty chaotic because we're racing with the nordic guys. Normally all the biathlon guys go off at 30 second intervals - all age groups and genders racing together, so today's format is confusing me. Did I say it was cold? One of the guys who drove in that morning from the west said that a lake effect snow band was coming and we are going to get dumped on. It's really cold. We talk to a couple guys to find out what the course is like: it's a 2k loop - 1st k is up and 2nd is down - don't kill yourself on the first one, cause it's a big hill! Caleb and Joshua do 4k, I get to do 8. It's an awesome location - the start is right under the ski jumps. Both jumps tower above the start/finish. Caleb starts first - this is his first ESG race. I'm really proud he's doing this - not an easy race for someone who just started this skiing thing. Joshua starts about 30min later. He puts in a really good, consistent time for each loop. When asked about the hill he says it's really big. Really big. He gestures up towards the ski jumps, 'up behind those.' That's a big hill. I get out there to warm up and start peeling off layers. Did I say it was really cold? I think I'm going to miss shooting - at least then I get to stop twice to take a short break! They call us down and we start in the order of our score. Curse that standing shoot... My turn comes and off I go thinking about the big hill in front of me. This time, I have my heart rate monitor. After having blown a gasket at the Saratoga race, I figure I'm going to ski my own race no matter what. I come up on a woman get ready to pass, check the HRM and decide, not now. Up the hill we go. The trails are groomed really well, they're wide and the hill is step but not bad. I'm feeling good. Up, up and up we go. I catch up to Mr. blue and settle in behind him. At last we reach the top and I know it's all down hill. And it's a great down hill, long, fast and with a good run off at the bottom. Mr. Blue blows by me. I realize I've got the wrong wax on - too soft. This is not good when I have 1k of down hill - and Mr. Blue is leaving me in the dust. Down through the stadium area and back up the hill. Catch Mr. Blue again and stay in behind him. It's at this point I wish I had followed some advice: get wind proof briefs. The 'wide' stance of the V1 going up hill and 1k of down hill - well, you get the idea. We repeat this catch up and fall back for two more loops. On the fourth loop I catch up and decide to push it some more. Half way up the hill I pass Mr. Blue and try and develop some extra speed going down the hill by double poling and skating. When it's all over I'm happy with the effort: consistent times for each loop and racing with the HRM helped a lot. Talked with some folks about wax and they said it was definately a green day. In fact they said to get as much wax as possible off, let the skis sit outside so that the cold will force more wax out, then brush again. While the shooting and ski times weren't great, I learned a lot at this race.
That night the kids and I get totally bundled up and go out on to the frozen lake to watch fire works. After that we take a hike across the lake. What a beautiful night! Did I tell you it was cold?
Saturday, January 28, 2006
Saratoga Sprint 1/28
Weren't sure this was going to happen. The weather has not been good for skiing, with virtually no snow in Syracuse. We kept checking the Saratoga web site and sure enough, a day before the race they determined they had enough snow. Just enough. During the race there were patches of grass!
Caleb and I went over to Saratoga Friday night and stayed at the Flip (Feels Like I'm in Paradise) Inn. The place was an early 70's style with textured walls, basket chairs, etc. Very comfortable! It sure beat waking up at 4:30am on Saturday, race along the thru way and running around when we get there. This time, much more relaxed. We had a good night sleep - except for the radio/alarm that went off at 5:30. Caleb couldn't figure out how to turn it off so he turned it to am and tuned to a 'blank' channel. I didn't hear a thing - I wear ear plugs when on the road.
Next morning we headed to the Saratoga biathlon club. And a very nice day it was: sunny at climbing through the 40's. The Schreiner's were everywhere as usual. One was doing registration, Jim Sr. the mayor of Schreiner town was greeting, Jim Jr. setting up the range, another one directing traffic in the parking lot, and so on. We got registered, equipment out - there's one thing about biathlon, there's a LOT of equipment to move around. We did our zero and did some skiing. This time I hesitantly decided to wear a heart monitor. I'm not sure I wanted to know.
Race started with Curt Schriner, three time Olympian, followed by each person at 30 sec intervals. I took off 35th. Felt pretty good and was chugging along - trying to avoid dirt spots - and soon found that I had come up behind King. I had actually caught someone! I tucked in behind King and let him set the pace. We reached the range and both missed 2. He was done much quicker than I and soon lost contact. I looked at the heart rate: 195! So, based on my tests, my AT (Anaerobic Threshold) is 177! So I knew I was in trouble - could almost feel the lactic acid pouring into my system. Half way through loop two I really felt it. Got into the range to shoot standing and was hopeful. Last race I had gone clean and thought I could do something here and maybe catch King. First shot missed and I pulled the trigger too soon on the second and it didn't event hit the target. I then missed the next three. Zip. Five penalty loops is a depressing thought. I slogged through the loops then went out on the course. I was dying. Heart rate settled down to 187.
All in all it was a fun day. Learned something about heart rate, my hill climbing is getting better, and had a good time with Caleb.
Saturday, January 07, 2006
Biathlon 10K Sprint Osceola
January 7th turned out to be a sunny day, starting at about 3 degrees and soaring to 25 degrees. Eight peoples worth of ski equipment, biathlon rifles, food piled into the car at 7:45 - 15min behind schedule and raced north to Osceola. I was worried about the snow - in Syracuse there was only a few inches and that didn't look good for racing. Once we got north of Camden, my worries were gone - there must have been at least 2 ft of snow on the ground! Also north of Camden are hilly, bumpy, twisty roads. I'm thinking were late and so I'm pushing it. The result was Isaac got sick and threwup. We got to the ski center and Kathy raced off to get us registered, while Caleb, Joshua and I grabbed rifles and headed to the range to zero. I thought we were going to be late, turned out the range opened just as we got there. Sorry Isaac. It was really perfect weather: sunny, no wind and new snow. Temperature started out at about 3 degrees, but climbed to about 25. Zeroing was strange. I took 10 shots and was low center, brought it up 5 clicks and was still low. Brought it up another 6 clicks and was still low - just below the prone ring. At that point the lines started to form to zero so I gave up my position and popped it up another 4 clicks and hoped things worked okay.Went back to collect ski equipment and check to see how the rest of the family was doing. I heard this call and saw Isaac out in a field with his snow shoes! He'd asked and received these for Christmas and had been talking about them ever since - so today was the big day!
There were tracks all over the field! Grabbed skis and went out to warm up. I was pretty nervious about the skiing today. I had done the Osceola 10K three weeks ago and it wasn't pretty. Skate skiing is still new to me - wasn't looking forward to looking like a clutz. Last year I did the novice division which was 7.5K. Since I can only do that one season, this year I moved to the open division at 10K. Skied around for a while and before I knew it there were Donath's everywhere: David was out taking pictures, Jonathan was out on his new skate skis, Kathy was handing out number bibs to the racers, Karyn was skiing with her backpack and Isaac making snow shoe tracks!
Race time was 11:00 and with number 127, I had 27 minutes to wait with racers going off at 1 minute intervals. Chug some more water, ski around some more, then it was time. Got the count down then off we go! Quickly found out that under the pines, things were pretty icy under the powder - clutz time. This course was actually pretty easy with one big, long hill. Easy compared with Saratoga that has three or four hills of the same size. I took the hill slow, concentrating on technique.Down rocket run through the woods and out on to the range. I felt like I'd never done this before: not sure where to put my poles, clipped into the cuff in the wrong order, etc. Down in prone position and got the breathing under control. Finally got settled down and squeezed off a shot. Clink, down went the target - I love that sound. Missed the next one, got the next, missed the next and got the next. Three for five - not bad for a zero session that didn't go well.
About half way through the next loop I started to get a terrible pain in my right hip. While coming down rocket run, I couldn't hold the snow plow because of the pain and went flying down. David was at the bottom with the camera - not good. Zoomed past him then wipped out. Back to the range for - gulp - standing. At this point I'm pretty tired so I'm moving around a lot. Hit the first one, hit the second - this is looking good! The range offical yells out, 'Number 127 clear' I say, "please say that again!" Off to the course and by pass the penalty loop.
Last loop my calf muscles are no longer as tight and I'm able to get through the loop in faster than the last loop. Not a bad race overall. I place 10 out of 11 in my group. Shooting went very well and I'm starting to feel better about the technique, but still got a long way to go.
Joshua did very well: 80% shooting and took second place in his age group.
He did the 7.5K in 29:27. He's looking better everytime he gets out on the skis.Next week we do Lake Placide - 10K mass start, sprint format.
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