Pre-race - Mother Nature had a strange sense of humour this year so my ski training was not near the level I was at last year with swings from -20 to +10 weekly. Race day weather, temp +2 start and +5 for the high, so wax from the night before was really wrong. I took my skis to the pro's who were waxing & they cleaned off the stuff I had on and added a layer of klister, really gooey/stick gunk. Had to pee, but the line was too long so I decided I could likely hold it for a while.
Take my intended 5.5kg (12lb) pack to be checked and discover I was at 17 lbs. Did my best to remove some items but only got to 15lbs before race start (thinking what’s an extra 3lbs is over 55 km?) Set-up beside the 5-6 hour pace time, feeling ready to race, looking for Cindy in the crowd, finally catch her eye as the crowd starts to shuffle forward.
The Gun - My glide was smooth & long, felt like I was going overly easy at the start, also felt like I was significantly further back from last year, but no worries, HR in check, all is good. At about 8k mark the 55k and 31k races overlap for 16km, I only had a 30 minute head start on Cindy (who was in the 31k race) so I was worried that she would blow past me like I was standing still. Turns out she had passed that point of overlap well before I got there. Hit the 8k rest station, skipped my planned bottle refill as the crowd was a gong show, my fluid & fuel intake is good and my training has helped. Got water at the next station and added it to the running bottle I had in my jacket that had powdered Infinit already in it (a new blend I had not tried yet, small logistical issues making a month late in arrival, no issues from this other than pre-race stress).
My average pace was significantly faster than last year, at the start at least, with far less effort. About 15k mark I noticed my first wax issues of my ski’s starting to slip going up hills and that jarring impact to the body of having to instantly shift weight and stabilizers to my poles to avoid falling back down the hill and bowling down the dozen or so hot on my heals. By 30k any chance to get up the hill meant pure shoulder strength and duck walk/hop (I’d like to say run but if you saw if you would laugh at the relation of this to being a run). By this point I had made up and was holding about 9-10 minutes ahead of last years’ race. Hit 31k and thought I could be done if I were Cindy (little did I know that she was actually going to finish in a mere few minutes and I still had over 2 ½ hours to go (I’d ask who the smart one is but don’t think I’d like the answer)). 34k mark and I had all I could take & I could slip no more so I finally stopped to pee and try some wrong temperature wax on my ski’s (for those with sick minds this was two mutually exclusive steps one in private & one in public; you choose). From 35-50km the ski slippage decreased a bit and I had a skier decide to use me as a pacer. We started to chat and it was nice as it helped me keep pace a bit more regular and distract me a bit. He seemed to have no intention to pass and if we held that pace would have hit bang on a 5:30 race. Then I slipped and fell going up a hill (should have reapplied the wax 5k prior but didn’t want to stop). My follower seemed almost lost that I fell and reluctantly went pass me. He held the pace and even picked it up a bit once he left me; I lost a bit from that point on. It was then that I actually saw his face and more importantly his back when I realized he was not carrying a 12lb pack I gave myself permission to let him go. I did try to catch him again, saw him many times, but I had no kick wax left on my ski’s so my only propulsion was the very tired shoulders.
Passed the # caller, didn’t hear him this year because as I rounded the corner to the finish, a fellow skier pulled up beside me a challenged me to sprint to the finish. So 1 second doesn’t seem like much in a 5:37:59 55km race but this guy helped me to dig a bit deeper and beat his 5:38:00 time. Again, only after did I notice he also did not have a 12 lb pack either.
Post race - Sore legs, mostly hip flexors & really sore shoulders. Shaved only a few minutes off last year’s time so I call it a win even with adding 10lbs (+15lb pack -5lbs body weight). Cindy takes my pack for a few minutes and tells me its too heavy and doesn’t want to carry it, that’s what I was thinking for over 5 ½ hours, again who is the smarter one?
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