If last weekend wasn't enough in the double department, then this weekend took the cake! What do you do when two races show up on the calendar on the same day that you simply can't miss? You do both and make it a damn good workout for 100K training. The final race in the winter xc series was already long since in place for March 3rd. I knew the snowshoe race would be soon too. Last year, it fell over the March 8th holiday. This year because of the elections, March 4th would be unlikely,but I had figured it would be again arounf the March 8th holiday weekend as we have 8-10March off. Nope- just over a week before the race, I got word it was going to be on March 3rd! CRAP! Now what do I do???I can't sit out the xc series, or I could drop to 2nd or 3rd place in the end. Sitting out the showshoe would be a sin. This is my longtime love from my Alaska days and I can't just not snowshoe! OK the xc race was at 10 and the snowshoe at noon. Aha...the xc race was on one end of the forest and the snowshoe on the other...hmmmmmmm OK the question was now not whether I'd try the double, but now how could I get from point A to point B. With a week to go, I tried finding a ride but to no avail. I figured someone could scoop me up on their way out of town to the snowshoe since the xc race was so close by. Transport was risky because I might not have enough time to make it for a noon start. The simplest way was to cut 4km through the forest from the xc loop to the ski trails where the snowshoe was. I was told it's about a 30-40min hike. Ok not a bad idea A. If you 100% know the way B. If you aren't carrying all your gear C. If you hadn't just run a race and were trying to save your legs for the next. Ok, forget hiking for fear of taking the wrong trail if anything else. So, a day before the race, I still have no ride and gave up and got the numbers of a few taxi firms. I was just going to order a cab since the drive from point A to B is about 15-20 min. and I would 100% not miss the noon race. Trying to get a gypsy cab from the xc site would be tough because there isn't much traffic in the area at that time of day on the weekend. So, just as i'm about to order a taxi, Coach's son savesthe day. It turned out he was planning a workout at 11:30 only 5 min from the xc race. Cool, the plan was to scoop me up about 10 30-40 ish and get me to the snowshoe site. Problem solved. DOH why didn't I ask him earlier? Ah well.
signup for the 2 mile
So, first race of the day was the 2 mile. Now, I had a 5 point lead in the standings and my plan was simple- if the 2nd place woman shows up, I actually have to run and make sure I don't let more then 4 ppl come between us. If she does not show, I sandbag and run nice and easy as a true warmup. Nope- 2nd place woman showed so that meant I couldn't get too lazy. If she won this stage it was no biggie, again I just couldn't get passed by 4 or more ppl. between us. So we were off and I just tucked in right behind her and that's pretty much how it ended up.
tucking right in...
The snow was well packed and fast. I felt good and could have chased down the snow PR I put down in December but decided I needed to be wise and ration my strength carefully because 12k on snowshoes is a holy hell of a lot harder than a 2mile xc run. Plus, last year I got 3rd by a super close finish and this year, I wanted to see if I could try and win the snowshoe. So Anna, the 2nd woman picked up just a little toward the end of the 2 mile and I just let her go but made damn sure there weren't a bunch of guys (or gals) close on my heels that could come between us. She took 2nd overall in the under 30 group in the indoor mile series which has become very competitive . When there is snow on the ground though, it comes down to which one of us is having a better day, though I doubt I could get her in a mile or 1500 on the track. Still a 13:11 finish on snow going not eyeballs out in the end netted me my 2nd best 2 mile snow time:). Going under 13 on the snow would have been so doable but the little voice in my head said save it for the snowshoe. It's amazing how much snow slows things down by A LOT. Anna and I are both 5 minute milers but snow times are a different story.
Well, I finished and did a short cooldown then quickly changed into my snowshoe gear-shoe switch and got my gaiters on so as not to fart around doing this in the cold before the snowshoe race. I didn't even have time to wait for the xc awards:( but I warned the oragnizers ahead of time of the situation and since they are also the ones who put on the winter indoor mile series, I agreed to pick up my 2 mile award when they have the awards banquet for the indoor series later this month since I'll pick up there for my 2nd in the mile series.
OFF to the snowshoe!!!! I was there by 11. YAY! This organization is really top notch and does a good job. I quickly got my number and headed to the warming tent to drop my stuff and get my snowshoes on. I warmed up a little bit to keep my legs from getting cold from the 2 mile and was ready to go. Now the snowshoe has 2 categories- sport and trekking. The sport category is for the serious/ professional athletes and they are generally good. Among us we had the European champion in the biathlon and several others who were strong many of which were climbers and multisport types and mountain runners. We do 12k. The trekkers were mostly the amateur division types and they do 7.5k. There were less people in the sport category this year, but that does not mean less competitive. So we were off at noon and the trekkers were off about 10 or so min after us.
ready to go and deliberately wore my DAISIES because the shoe was held in ROMASHKOVO- and the word comes from the word DAISY although it's a bit early for them to appear I think.
sport division
Now, I really liked this year's course! We did a big loop partly on the ski trails partly on single track in the woods. Last year's course had much more technical single track. There were some steep ups and downs and hairpin turns on the singletrack this yr, but it was not too bad. The ski trails were awesome. They rolled up and down the whole way so you could not get lazy. Up and down the hill we went and up and down some more. The course was very similar to what I did at US Nationals in Anchorage in 2005 difficulty wise or similar to our hilly ones in Fairbanks. I felt right at home on these hills and loved the trails. The course was super well marked with little flags every 50 or so meters along the trail. If there were any forks or confusing turns, there were signs with arrows clearly posted. Plus, well, just follow the snowshoe prints in the snow:)! I was glad things were clearly marked, because I was pretty much on my own the whole way. After the first 500m we headed onto the first of the singletrack sections. At that time I was already ahead of the women and a few guys. I do not like to take the lead early but I was just running my own pace and ended up ahead. It was probably for the best because getting bottlenecked up on singletrack sucks. It's nearly impossible to pass. So I just carried on my merry way up and down the hills. The KMs were marked on the trees again nice to know I wasn't lost! On the open secions, I could see a guy about 150-200m ahead and that's how he parked out the whole race. I could see no one behind. I had a lead but I had no idea by how much. The amount of uphill and down was pretty even. In fact, my 6k split was 36:30 and my finish just over 1:13-pretty even effort. My 10k split just over 60 min I am still looking up but is in PR territory. I have several races in Alaska including US NC's on courses of similar difficulty right at 60-61 min for 10k. Damn, I was hauling ass despite being alone. Still, I could not be lazy because I had no idea how much a lead I had. The ups and downs were pretty steep, but I just kept going.
2km to the finish sign was waiting in the snow...ok I thought, I might be able to win this because I still don't see a soul back there. I wanted to make sure I was out of sight of anyone back there because if they could see me then, they could try and catch me. Next marker was the 1k to go sign on the last of the singletrack. I picked up the pace when the singletrack opened onto the groomed trails and the final k came in at 4.58. That 2 mile didn't hurt me at all! It was just a nice warm up. The guy in front finished about 200m ahead and it was nice to have someone in my field of vision along the way to confirm I was indeed going the right way!
men's winner
little ol' me
hungry?
2nd woman
I finished and got some hot tea right away. I had wanted to drink from about 8k on. I then headed into the warming tent to change into my drys. That's when they announced 2nd woman coming in. Hmmm I'd guess about 10 min had passed since I finished. I came back out of the tent and drank some more and then i was ready to eat and eat I did. They had kasha again this year YUM and bread and candies at the finish. There was also a woman selling honey from the beekeeper-YESSSSSS good honey. I bought 2 jars of honey with propolis. The taste was good! I had planned to hit the honeyfest in the center on Sunday, but scrapped the plan because it may have been shut for the elections and being near Red Square where the honeyfest was, was not a good idea because of the protests. Need for heney-met! I'm glad the beekeeper had his number on the jars, as I might keep ordering from him in the future. This is good honey! They said this beekeeper had been selling at the ski races too at Romashkovo-where the snowshoe was held. There was a xc run or ski there in January I didn't do and later found out top 3 got HONEY! Damn, I'll run for HONEY!
Soon after they had the awards, and once again they had sweet prizes. The weather cooperated with temps about -2-3C. It was still cool for the xc race at 10. I left the house at 8 and it was -14C boo hiss but warmed up by the afternoon. So, this tough double went off well. I pulled off what I intended to do. I had no idea I'd win the snowshoe by over 9 min though. Holy crap! It's nice to know that I was able to attack a PR on a similar in difficulty course to where I often ran in Alaska and put down a time no worse than I did 7 years ago at US Nationals and having already raced earlier in the day. I guess I have not forgotten how to snowshoe. training wise this was awesome- first race was for speedwork the snowshoe was for strength and endurance. The high volume 100k training allowed me to tackle a tough double like it was no big deal becauseI'm used to doing long intervals and or tempo runs. I would most definitely not recommend this for the faint of heart.
More photos from risk.ru-
http://www.risk.ru/users/arkadi/192672/
finish
links to coverage-
http://www.risk.ru/tags/3685/
http://pulse-sports.ru/
signup for the 2 mile
So, first race of the day was the 2 mile. Now, I had a 5 point lead in the standings and my plan was simple- if the 2nd place woman shows up, I actually have to run and make sure I don't let more then 4 ppl come between us. If she does not show, I sandbag and run nice and easy as a true warmup. Nope- 2nd place woman showed so that meant I couldn't get too lazy. If she won this stage it was no biggie, again I just couldn't get passed by 4 or more ppl. between us. So we were off and I just tucked in right behind her and that's pretty much how it ended up.
The snow was well packed and fast. I felt good and could have chased down the snow PR I put down in December but decided I needed to be wise and ration my strength carefully because 12k on snowshoes is a holy hell of a lot harder than a 2mile xc run. Plus, last year I got 3rd by a super close finish and this year, I wanted to see if I could try and win the snowshoe. So Anna, the 2nd woman picked up just a little toward the end of the 2 mile and I just let her go but made damn sure there weren't a bunch of guys (or gals) close on my heels that could come between us. She took 2nd overall in the under 30 group in the indoor mile series which has become very competitive . When there is snow on the ground though, it comes down to which one of us is having a better day, though I doubt I could get her in a mile or 1500 on the track. Still a 13:11 finish on snow going not eyeballs out in the end netted me my 2nd best 2 mile snow time:). Going under 13 on the snow would have been so doable but the little voice in my head said save it for the snowshoe. It's amazing how much snow slows things down by A LOT. Anna and I are both 5 minute milers but snow times are a different story.
Well, I finished and did a short cooldown then quickly changed into my snowshoe gear-shoe switch and got my gaiters on so as not to fart around doing this in the cold before the snowshoe race. I didn't even have time to wait for the xc awards:( but I warned the oragnizers ahead of time of the situation and since they are also the ones who put on the winter indoor mile series, I agreed to pick up my 2 mile award when they have the awards banquet for the indoor series later this month since I'll pick up there for my 2nd in the mile series.
OFF to the snowshoe!!!! I was there by 11. YAY! This organization is really top notch and does a good job. I quickly got my number and headed to the warming tent to drop my stuff and get my snowshoes on. I warmed up a little bit to keep my legs from getting cold from the 2 mile and was ready to go. Now the snowshoe has 2 categories- sport and trekking. The sport category is for the serious/ professional athletes and they are generally good. Among us we had the European champion in the biathlon and several others who were strong many of which were climbers and multisport types and mountain runners. We do 12k. The trekkers were mostly the amateur division types and they do 7.5k. There were less people in the sport category this year, but that does not mean less competitive. So we were off at noon and the trekkers were off about 10 or so min after us.
Now, I really liked this year's course! We did a big loop partly on the ski trails partly on single track in the woods. Last year's course had much more technical single track. There were some steep ups and downs and hairpin turns on the singletrack this yr, but it was not too bad. The ski trails were awesome. They rolled up and down the whole way so you could not get lazy. Up and down the hill we went and up and down some more. The course was very similar to what I did at US Nationals in Anchorage in 2005 difficulty wise or similar to our hilly ones in Fairbanks. I felt right at home on these hills and loved the trails. The course was super well marked with little flags every 50 or so meters along the trail. If there were any forks or confusing turns, there were signs with arrows clearly posted. Plus, well, just follow the snowshoe prints in the snow:)! I was glad things were clearly marked, because I was pretty much on my own the whole way. After the first 500m we headed onto the first of the singletrack sections. At that time I was already ahead of the women and a few guys. I do not like to take the lead early but I was just running my own pace and ended up ahead. It was probably for the best because getting bottlenecked up on singletrack sucks. It's nearly impossible to pass. So I just carried on my merry way up and down the hills. The KMs were marked on the trees again nice to know I wasn't lost! On the open secions, I could see a guy about 150-200m ahead and that's how he parked out the whole race. I could see no one behind. I had a lead but I had no idea by how much. The amount of uphill and down was pretty even. In fact, my 6k split was 36:30 and my finish just over 1:13-pretty even effort. My 10k split just over 60 min I am still looking up but is in PR territory. I have several races in Alaska including US NC's on courses of similar difficulty right at 60-61 min for 10k. Damn, I was hauling ass despite being alone. Still, I could not be lazy because I had no idea how much a lead I had. The ups and downs were pretty steep, but I just kept going.
2km to the finish sign was waiting in the snow...ok I thought, I might be able to win this because I still don't see a soul back there. I wanted to make sure I was out of sight of anyone back there because if they could see me then, they could try and catch me. Next marker was the 1k to go sign on the last of the singletrack. I picked up the pace when the singletrack opened onto the groomed trails and the final k came in at 4.58. That 2 mile didn't hurt me at all! It was just a nice warm up. The guy in front finished about 200m ahead and it was nice to have someone in my field of vision along the way to confirm I was indeed going the right way!
I finished and got some hot tea right away. I had wanted to drink from about 8k on. I then headed into the warming tent to change into my drys. That's when they announced 2nd woman coming in. Hmmm I'd guess about 10 min had passed since I finished. I came back out of the tent and drank some more and then i was ready to eat and eat I did. They had kasha again this year YUM and bread and candies at the finish. There was also a woman selling honey from the beekeeper-YESSSSSS good honey. I bought 2 jars of honey with propolis. The taste was good! I had planned to hit the honeyfest in the center on Sunday, but scrapped the plan because it may have been shut for the elections and being near Red Square where the honeyfest was, was not a good idea because of the protests. Need for heney-met! I'm glad the beekeeper had his number on the jars, as I might keep ordering from him in the future. This is good honey! They said this beekeeper had been selling at the ski races too at Romashkovo-where the snowshoe was held. There was a xc run or ski there in January I didn't do and later found out top 3 got HONEY! Damn, I'll run for HONEY!
Soon after they had the awards, and once again they had sweet prizes. The weather cooperated with temps about -2-3C. It was still cool for the xc race at 10. I left the house at 8 and it was -14C boo hiss but warmed up by the afternoon. So, this tough double went off well. I pulled off what I intended to do. I had no idea I'd win the snowshoe by over 9 min though. Holy crap! It's nice to know that I was able to attack a PR on a similar in difficulty course to where I often ran in Alaska and put down a time no worse than I did 7 years ago at US Nationals and having already raced earlier in the day. I guess I have not forgotten how to snowshoe. training wise this was awesome- first race was for speedwork the snowshoe was for strength and endurance. The high volume 100k training allowed me to tackle a tough double like it was no big deal becauseI'm used to doing long intervals and or tempo runs. I would most definitely not recommend this for the faint of heart.
More photos from risk.ru-
http://www.risk.ru/users/arkadi/192672/
links to coverage-
http://www.risk.ru/tags/3685/
http://pulse-sports.ru/
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