Last weekend's races in Forni di Sopra, ITA were very indicative of the competitiveness of the fields in this year's OPA Cup series. World Cup athletes, U-23 and World Junior Champions, and other top national team members all showed up to compete in a 1.4K classic sprint, 5/10K classic race and 10/15K skate race. The weekend was scored in a Tour de Ski-style format, where you accumulate points and "bonus seconds" with each race, and a total is awarded at the end of the weekend.
I went into the weekend with a mixture of excitement and desperation; it's been a rough season, performance-wise and I really wanted to put down a solid finish. It didn't help that the organizers changed the sprint from skate to classic, because skate is definitely where my strength lies. But I went into the sprint day feeling strong and was pretty confident I could qualify well. We had a bit of a struggle with wax testing given that the wax rooms were a good distance away from the tracks and, with only Scott waxing (though he is superhuman in that regard) we had a hard time dialing in good kick with the rapidly changing conditions from hard and cold to glazed and warm. I ended up double-poling the race on my warm-up skis as they felt faster right before the start. I felt strong and was confident I'd moved on. As it turned out I finished 44th, 14sec out of 1st and 4sec out of the top-30. Needless to say, a terrifically strong field.
The next day was a different story. I don't know whether it was residual illness from the previous week's stomach flu, or fitness issues from the season, or mental flatness or a combination of the three, but my 10K classic race was a disaster. After falling twice, vomiting once and filling completely up with lactate, I dropped out at 5K. First time ever. Fortunately there was no entry fee so I don't owe Ruff anything. But certainly a very humbling experience and one I want to get past as soon as possible.
Oh yeah, and if you go to northern Italy (outside of the Sud Tirol) don't expect very delicious bread. For a whole week we ate delicious Italian food complemented by depressingly-airy and weak-crusted bread. It's a blessing to be back in the Sud Tirol, German-influenced regions where bread is hearty and heavy.
More later as we prep for this weekend's downtown night sprints in Monguelfo, ITA!
