Training Log: Hammer

Haliburton Highlands with Etoile on the last day of our four day skiing holiday getaway. Lots of short steep hills. Tired on the uphills and absolutely loved the downhills. Was aiming for 5 more km but not much left in the tank. Great little area with great grooming and only $15!

Ski season distance total: 745km
Last year at this time: 550km

C • Tour de Ski 4

Skiing holiday cont’d. Kawartha Nordic

First time on these trails in four decades when I used to race the Kawartha Ski Tour each winter (and followed up the race at Mother’s Pizza).

I really enjoyed the variety of trails and the grooming was fantastic.

“yogility”

mobility - yoga fusion

Gats P7. soft track, 5-7cm of powder and the odd snow drift and a whole lotta hills.

Gats P2 with etoile.

Event: OOC WCP Ski-O/SS-O
 

warmup

Kanata ski orienteering race

Beat Tarno for first time ever in a ski orienteering race.

I’m now officially retired from skiO racing.

Race summary:
Felt good going into race with lots of skiing this winter.
Bit of panic at start given the size of the map and Sudden’s map holder lacking needed duct tape (my fault for not checking pre race).

Great routes and execution for the first three with a small miss on the trail downhill to #3.

Double poling slog to #4. map fell out of map holder en route to number 5 but i executed nav well with memory. mostly offsetting though having trouble getting into a one skate groove.
six went well but then number seven was a problem for multiple reasons. I had to retold the map and couldn’t get it back in the map tray then map fell on the ground. ugh. then I carried way to much speed coming into railway crossing and had an epic wipeout. fell again on north side of railway. 8 went well then lost 5s thinking i could ski on road to 9. AG! did the same thing. on the way to 10 i had to refold map again and had trouble once more . lost a good 10s standing still but took the time to do it right which i should have done earlier

I misread the tree as a ski trail at 11 so had to cut through from north trail which was frustrating. Finally got into a groove one skate wise for next few minutes and skied well on next few. looked for a cut through on 14 to avoid hairpin. saw a cut through trail and took it but it stopped early and so i broke trail and ended up with too much snow under boot. should have stopped and fixed it as it affected my ski technique for the next ten minutes.
these controls were straight forward so on the way to 16 i took the time to refold the map again and make sure it was in there properly. coming into 17 two dudes were standing right at the control and i came in too fast to get around them safely so ate it on the edge of the trail for another fall. climbing to 18 i had to double pole uphill around a family with a pulk and this seemed to be what kicked my ass as the wheels totally fell off here. one skate technique was crashing and the double pole snowshoe trail to 19 didn’t help. next two controls were straight forward but i was struggling. 22 and 23 had slight downhills and so i got a little new energy in my legs and then caught Alex on the way to 24 but i accidentally went to 25 first. just sat in behind Alex to the finish.

Super surprised to beat Tarno by 7 minutes. On splits that weren’t within <3s different i bet him on two thirds of the splits including some when i was struggling late in the course.

I had planned to ski in downtown Ottawa later in the evening but I was pooped and I was concerned the freedumbers were going to be messing up traffic and things again so skipped the ski.

C • Perfect! 7

cool down

Long - Splits

half workout.

Extended lunch ski. Conditions were spectacular so I stayed longer and made it back in time for the zoom meeting.

Winter wonderland with all the new snow, blue sky and sunny, great glide, etc. etc. Had my 2nd fall of the season and landed awkwardly. Left knee is sore following that and some right foot pain too (pf?).

Earned my 400km blizzard for January (or close enough).

Ran into Sofia Smith amongst a 100+ school kids at the Burrow learning to ski, snowshoe, etc. Given that Sofia won several silver medals at the skiing O-Cup races on the weekend I dont think she needed any lessons.