Cold biking time

Winter is really sticking around this year. I stayed inside for most of the week, but by the weekend I finally had my new Time bike all built up and the roads finally were clear. The guys at Green Mt. Rehab (Andy and Eric) let me use the computrainer and I dialed in the fit and the cleat and shim setup on my new Time shoes. Everything feels pretty darn good.

I don't just keep the exact same setup every year and never try to change it. In the off season I always play around with things and try to improve things. I figure if you can make an equipment change that makes you more efficient then you'll stay less injured and it'll give you free speed. However tinkering and changes are for the off-season/early season. I generally try to have everything pretty much as is by early May. Then I leave it there until next off-season.

Monday: -Off

Tuesday: -40 minutes on computrainer

Wednesday: -80 minutes on computrainer w/ stretching and situps & pushups

Thursday: -60 minutes on trainer w/ streching and situps & pushups

Friday: -60 minutes on computrainer w/ stretching and situps & pushups
-20 minutes running w/ stretching and situps & pushups

Saturday: -150 minutes bicycle ride
(rode from Shelburne to the Bolton Valley baselodge)

Sunday: -150 minutes bicycle ride w/ stretching and situps & pushups
(rode with Dan, Will, Colin, and Chris - aka CCB North)

Here are the boys before the ride. The Brooks pharmacy that was downtown is now a Rite-Aid pharmacy. Rite-Aid sponsors a Pro bike team. Some of our good riding buddies ride for that team - Richard Geng, Robbie King, Bobby Lea, etc. So we kid. But, that downtown pharmacy was open 24h when it was a Brooks and its not anymore.
Snow covered fields, farms, thermal jackets, and good friends.

an off week and a trip to seattle

A pretty lame week training wise - but it was planned. It served as the break between ski season and bike race season. I am pretty excited about the bike season to come.

I took a trip out to Seattle to goto represent the Skirack at a symposium hosted by Brooks running shoes. Emily Steers, the fantastic shoe buyer at the store, and I flew out a day early as we both had friends in Seattle we wanted to visit. I'd been in touch with my friend Charlie Lozner, who I used to ride bikes with when her lived in Burlington, about getting together and hanging out. Charlie worked for Karhu when they were based in Burlington and when they got bought by the K2 copy he moved out to Seattle to work for them out there. Charlie's very good at what he does and so he is now helping guide the Karhu, Atlas (snowshoes), and Madshus brands for K2. I took a bus from the airport right to K2 and Charlie and I got some lunch before he gave me the tour of K2. K2 just moved into a new facility last September and it is impressive. They're one of the biggest sports companies in the world and you feel it when you tour their operation. They have a testing room next to their normal engineering department that is about the size of a trailer home and its a refrigerated testing laboratory. It was a really cool place and it was fantastic to visit with Charlie - he's good people. I then went downtown for a little while in the late afternoon and evening to tour around before taking a bus back out to West Seattle where Charlie lives to crash with him that night. He had some other friends in town already visiting but he and his wife Elizabeth made me a really comfortable spot to stay. Again - good people. Then the next morning I did a really enjoyable long run and took the bus into town to start getting my symposium on.

Brooks invited about 25 specialty running shoe retailers out to a 3 day event in Seattle to do everything from meetings with their footwear design team to group discussions about best practices in their stores. Brooks made sure we had fun too and took us to an NBA basketball game (Seattle vs. Minnesota) as well as including us in their Friday afternoon run (which everyone from secretaries, to CEOs, to sales people in their office does). I think the best part of the whole experience was just getting to talk to people from other shops from around the country. Almost all of the other stores were only running stores. A few did some business in casual shoes or team sports. There were no other stores there like the Skirack (running as well as bike, x-c ski, alpine ski, snowboard, casual, swim, rollerblade, etc) which really made me realize that there aren't many other stores like the Skirack. I found it a little hard to describe the store to other people without sound like I was bragging - a weird feeling. The other stores at the symposium had a real range of people working at them (3:56 milers to fitness walkers) and a range of what they focused on at the store. It was clear though that all the stores were very well run, put the customer's interests #1, and were innovative in some way. All the while during the whole symposium Brooks had us staying at a very cool downtown hotel called Hotel 1000. It was a place for hipsters and people with pointy Italian shoes. And for a couple of day - runners.

Monday: -off

Tuesday: -off

Wednesday: -off

Thursday: -80 minutes running w/ stretching and situps & pushups

Friday: -35 minutes running w/ stretching and situps & pushups

Saturday: -35 minutes running w/ stretching and situps & pushups

Sunday: -off

Last Ski Race

Monday: -20 minutes running w/ stretching and situps & pushups

                 -40 minutes on trainer w/ stretching and situps & pushups

Tuesday: -60 minutes skate skiing

                 -20 minutes running w/ stretching and situps & pushups

                 -1 Cycle of strength exercises

Wednesday: -75 minutes on trainer w/ stretching and situps & pushups

Thursday: -75 minutes skate skiing

                  -1 Cycle of strength exercises

Friday: -45 minutes on trainer w/ stretching and situps & pushups

Saturday: -120 minutes skate skiing

(Craftsbury Spring Fling 30k skate - 9th)

Sunday: -90 minutes on trainer w/ stretching and situps & pushups

Here comes bike season

Monday: -60 minutes on trainer w/ stretching and situps & pushups
-2 Cycles of Strength Exercises

Tuesday: -90 minutes skate skiing
-2 Cycles of Strength Exercises

Wednesday: -60 minutes skate skiing w/ stretching and situps & pushups
-30 minutes on trainer w/ streching and situps & pushups

Thursday: -90 minutes on trainer w/ stretching and situps & pushups
-35 minutes running w/ stretching and situps & pushups
-1 Cycle of Strength Exercises

Friday: -30 minutes on trainer w/ stretching and situps & pushups

Saturday: -180 minutes stakte skiing
(Rangeley Lakes 50k skate - 14th)

Sunday: -20 minutes running w/ stretching and situps & pushups
-40 minutes on trainer w/ stretching and situps & pushups

It was a 3 Ski Race Week

I had been doing about 10-11 hours a week training, but this past week (Feb 18-24) was only 8-9 hours. Not much in the grand scheme of things. However, I did mix in 3 good races. I posted my fasted time ever at the Sleepy Hollow 6k (15:35) and then raced a solid 12th at the Eastern Cup Finals in a tight race (20 seconds out of 3rd) and then I capped the week off with a 4th place at the Stowe Derby. Eric Tremble was 3rd at the Derby - so it was a good race for the Northwest Vermont Nordic Club. He and I are teaming up in this coming weekends Rangeley Lakes 50k skate race to try and kick-ass and take names.

So, they start the Derby half-way up the Mountain at Stowe and you finish right in the center of town at the start of the bike path. The race starts at 10:00am and I had to be at work by 11:45am. I raced as fast as I could into town, caught my breath, ate a bag of Madhouse Munchies they were giving away, and then hopped into the car with Helen and jetted back to Burlington.On an exciting, cool note - I'm going to Seattle in a couple weeks for a Brooks running shoe symposium. Their headquarters are out there and they invited 2 people from the Skirack. So, Emily (the shoe buyer at the Skirack) is of course going and me too! I'm packing my bags and heading out to Seattle for a couple days. Yahoo. Coffee COFFEE.


Monday: -40 minutes on trainer w/ stretching and situps & pushups
-2 Cycles of Strength Exercises

Tuesday: -90 minutes skate skiing
-20 minutes running w/ stretching and situps & pushups

Wednesday: -70 minutes skate skiing w/ streching and situps & pushups
(Sleepy Hollow Practice Race - 1st place)
-30 minutes on trainer w/ streching and situps & pushups
-2 Cycles of Strength Exercises

Thursday: -60 minutes on trainer w/ stretching and situps & pushups
-35 minutes running w/ stretching and situps & pushups

Friday: -30 minutes on trainer w/ stretching and situps & pushups
-1 Cycle of Strength Exercises

Saturday: -90 minutes skate skiing
(Eastern Cup Finals - 12th place)

Sunday: -50 minutes skate skiing
(Stowe Derby - 4th place)

In a groove

So, I'm really happy with the way my winter training is going right now. This past week felt good. I'm having pretty good sensations while skiing and indoor biking is still chugging along with a little bit of jogging. I do need to start biking a little bit more soon. I'm not too worried about it though - it is going to be hard to keep myself off the new Time VXR I have (waiting to get built up) all spring and summer long. This is going to be one amazing bike.

Monday: -25 minute run w/ stretching and situps & pushups

Tuesday: -95 minutes skiing w/ stretching and situps & pushups

Wednesday: -60 minutes skiing w/ stretching and situps & pushups
(Sleepy Hollow Night Race - 1st place)
-30 minutes on trainer w/ stretching and situps & pushups

Thursday: -120 minutes skate skiing w/ streching
-30 minutes running w/ stretching and situps & pushups

Friday: -2 Cycles of Strength Exercises

Saturday: -120 minutes skate skiing
-60 minutes on trainer w/ stretching and situps & pushups

Sunday: -60 minutes on classic skis (teaching touring lesson)
-30 minutes on trainer w/ stretching and situps & pushups
-2 Cycles on Strength Exercises

Lake Placid Loppet

So, I managed to put together a pretty decent race and get 4th at the Lake Placid Loppet. For those not in the know - the Lake Placid Loppet is a 50k ski marathon on a very hilly course. Last year I did the half-loppet (25k) and the course definitely caught me off gaurd and ill-prepared. This year I've been doing some focused long hard skis (thanks for the company Dan!) since I got back from Egypt and it definitely paid off.

The course is 25k long and is a figure-8 shape. So, last year I did 1 lap in 1:30. This year I did 2 laps in 2:41. That's progress. Helen raced as well and she improved her time as well by 6 minutes for the 25k - even though she said she felt like she skied the race easier than the year before!

The start of the race gave me good confidence as the early pack in the first couple kilometers included Eli Enman and Eric Tremble - 2 guys who I sometimes train with on the skis. Eli went on to take his first victory in Lake Placid (hip-hip-hooray) and Eric ended up in 3rd spot. Eric and I both ski for the Northwest Vermont Nordic Ski Club.

Probably the best part about the Lake Placid race apart from the challenging course, is the banquet afterwards. The food is plentiful and actually really good (I think - its hard to tell though because a piece of wood could taste good after a 50k ski race). Its a fun atmosphere to just sit around with everybody and talk about the race that just happened.

In other news here are a few other things I've done lately:
-Went to the Banff Mountain Film Festival (at UVM put on by the Skirack)
-Taught a free Sunday morning skate ski lesson at Bolton Valley (10:00am every Sunday)
-Won a Wednesday night practice ski race at Sleepy Hollow (Its fun under the lights)
-Traveled to Boston for the CCB team mid-winter pow-wow dinner at Steve Pucci (my equipment is way too good for me!)
-Went to an on snow demo down at Stratton to try out next years x-c ski equipment (somethings I loved and somethings I just liked)
-Scheduled my late winter VO2Max Test up at UVM for biking (oh wait, I need to do that)

go Go GO - Jake