Training Log Archive: Ari-o

Going to log SkiO soon. After a good first race I was disappointed with the second one (lots of small errors) and the last one (one huge mistake on the first control which left me out in the cold for the rest of the race). Oh, well.

Humbug.

I felt good going in to this race, but then goofed on the first control, lost 3+ minutes, and wound up way behind the rest of the way. Poo.

It was really cold at the start and somehow I didn't even read what I needed to read on my map in 15 seconds (lowest trail off the field) and went two higher, lost contact, then compounded that with two wrong turns and a lot of climb. I should have been at the control in a minute, instead it took me 4:15 and I had some extra climbing. And a lot of cursing. Plus, this put me behind a bunch of people I had to pass on several out-and-back legs to controls on narrow trails, necessitating stopping to let them by or going slowly as they stood off to the side.

Probably that alone was good for 5 minutes. If I had been 7 minutes back and not 12, I'd have been a much happier camper. As such, I just skied, pretty well and made some good route choices, actually, the rest of the way. Which makes the first huge goof sting even more. Unhappy with how I did. Harrumph.

Went skiing. Snow was good but my legs/arms/body was very tired.

Long Course 4XYAB - Splits

Quick warm-up before the middle.

Meh on the middle. I made a lot of little mistakes and forgot to ski fast for a while. The section up in the snowshoe trails was a bit rough, as were some of the out-and-back-on-a-narrow-trail segments where I just don't have the mad skillz (or confidence, or something) to make jaunts on narrow trails under sap lines. Or something.

Ran to get lunch, decided it would take too long, ran back and ate brownies. Best route choice of the weekend.

Middle Course 4 - Splits

Event: US Ski-O Championships
 

Warming up for Ski-O. So perfect conditions, sad we couldn't ski all the trails! I went back and forth a bit looking at controls in the model area which was basically not groomed, and then went and skied a short loop before my start.

Ski-O! I did pretty okay in the race today; 4th overall and 3rd US. I had a few bobbles but no big mistakes (or mispunches) and it's probably the most technical of the courses, so maybe I can throw down some skiing tomorrow. Really fun course to ski. I did not Strava it because that would not be okay, so here is what I think I did (subject to revision and seeing the map).

I did okay to 1 and 2, although I maybe should have stayed up on the hill for 1 and should have cut through fresh snow to 2. Took the big trail to 3, then across to 4 and 5. Good at looking at the map and saying the controls out loud so I didn't mispunch. Lost time in to 6 as I skidded in to the snow but decided there was way too much to go wading through the woods with skis off, and apparently lost time from 7 to 8 when it took me a while to figure out that I needed to duck through the woods.

I lost time to Adrian et al the rest of the way in, especially it seems on the more navigatey legs, so hopefully tomorrow I can ski a bit more but still navigate cleanly. Ski-o is fun!

Decided to ski more. Went down and did the non-embargoed loops again. Pretty perfect skiing. Fast and smooth and shiny and pretty. Hills, too; got hot.

Sprint Course 4 - Splits

All the way around the stadium. Not all the stairs, but still. Looking to get back to full stadia after ski season.

Shorter than anticipated; went to help my dad make brisket, so ran to Coolidge to eat pizza first. Turns out that this is a short run to Coolidge Corner—two miles flat. Okay then. Seems longer when you're driving.