Massage Therapy For Racers at Silver Star!

Do you ever get frustrated traveling on the race circuit, being so far away from your massage therapist and surefire recovery from hard efforts?

My fiance, Alison Hanks, LMP, is offering special rates on massage therapy to athletes for the upcoming races next weekend in Silver Star, B.C. Alison specializes in deep tissue and sports massage, and has the ability to give you the best and most effective massage you have ever had. Perfect for post-race recovery!

Rates:

15min: $20
30min: $35
60min: $60

Check out her website here: alisonhankslmp.wordpress.com
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Alison-Hanks-LMP/228921377161667?sk=wall

Massage will be available by appointment from Thursday, December 8th to Sunday, December 10th. You can either email Alison at alisonhanks@gmail.com, or call her at 509 341 9097

West Yellowstone: A Summary (part II)

It's been a long time since I've considered myself a distance skier. I've put my focus on the sprints and that has continued to be the emphasis of the training Scott has prescribed. But this dryland season we spent most of our training efforts on aerobic endurance, and on Saturday it showed its worth.

Traditionally, the distance course at West is a pretty mellow one with a gradual climb in the middle of the 5km lap. This year they spiced it up, adding a serpentine portion of the new trail Doug's Doodle, and sending us down and back up Telemark Hill, the one which ended and made painful the sprints on Wednesday.

(I got hooked up with a new race suit from Madshus, which apparently offered some confusion to my Mom during the second lap of the race, when she completely missed cheering for me as I climbed the hill)

Because my distance points aren't too hot I started in the seed after the A group. The good part of that situation was that I started just as those guys were lapping through. I managed to accelerate and catch a ride on Canadian Pate Neumann for his final two laps. I felt GREAT. Well, it helped that the skis were awesome. But I also felt great. Technique, energy, everything was there. I ended in 15th place, 45sec out of 7th. It's nice to know that with the right training I can start to hold my own in both distance and sprint racing. It's going to be a good year.

I'm in West for another few days before heading to Bozeman for more Super Tour action.

West Yellowstone: A Summary (part I)

After a short break in the Methow and some skiing at Klipchuck (thanks, Scott!), Alison, Mom, Dad and I jumped into a few trucks and headed east for West Yellowstone, MT and the opening Super Tour races. It's been two years since I was last in West and that time, I wasn't feeling too hot. This year training has been right on point and I got a good bit of acclimation at Silver Star. We've intentionally kept high intensity training to a minimum as a means to continue building until US Nationals in January, so this week's sprints weren't likely to be my finest.


The sprint course was damn tough - 1.6km point-to-point with the finish at a HIGHER elevation than the start. The course started and rolled along nicely for about one kilometer before descending a 150m long hill, wrapping around the bottom then climbing back up. The finish line was the very crest of the now-famous (at least among those who have raced it) Telemark Hill. Hell of a climb, that one. The sprints were a unique format: two qualifiers, the classic beginning at 9am and the skate beginning one hour later.

Scott and Ben (Husaby) did their usual amazing job with waxing and both MOD and Bend Nordic had great glide and better kick for the first qualifier. My new Madshus boards completed the package, and an Ultratune XC02 grind served to out-glide a lot of others out there. I finished the classic race in 17th. It was by no means my best sprint but there's still a lot of work to do before we reach that point. The skate race was similar in performance with a 15th; much is there but much work is left to be done. And once again, my skis were rockets. Thanks, guys!

Silver Star: Day 4

Today is the last day up here; I head back to the Methow early tomorrow morning to do several things. First, I need to drop off the now-tested Madshus skis to Mark at Nordic Ultratune to get some grinds on them in time for West Yellowstone. Second, Alison and I have a meeting with our wedding caterer. Third, I get to have a massage. Then I might do a workout. Or sleep.

Scott and I had mused last night on the prospect of intervals today. We have both been encouraged at how fresh I've felt every day here and how I'm seemingly acclimating quite quickly. However, he cautioned against doing too much too soon, given that the first races are in less than a week. Plus, there's always another shoe to drop. In the past I've gone through periods where I feel really good and try to take a bite out of the world, then a few days later I'm exhausted. So he left it to me, to see how I felt this morning before making a decision.

I woke up to sunshine and thought I felt pretty good. I put some new glide wax on the skate skis and started walking over to the trail when i knew it wouldn't be an interval day. Each step was just a *bit* more of an effort than usual and my HR was a bit higher than it should be. So that answered the question of the intervals, and I opted for a long easy ski.


They finally got the Piston Bully out on the trails, but given that there was so much air in the snow the tracks were really, really soft. Not the best day for hard intervals, anyway. So I took advantage of the sunshine and skied to the top of the mountain.

I also managed to capture the buck I keep seeing out on the trails. He's been lusting after a voluptuous doe also wandering about, and I think I inadvertently skied up on them during a tryst. I got a shot of him as he was running to the woods:


Returning from my ski I rallied a big ole' lunch and settled into some internet time. I'm going out for another ski in about a half hour, then it's time to pack up and get ready to leave tomorrow morning.

Silver Star: Day 3

Yesterday was a great day on the trails. It seems that after a summer of heavy aerobic training I can acclimate quite a bit quicker than in the past. I got out the door early because it looked a bit stormy, and headed up Paradise Trail to find a steep hill for some sprints. I was a bit curious to see how I'd feel after all the skiing so far, but once I found a good spot and started the sprints I felt GREAT. Here was the workout:

6x :20sec hill sprints: Steep hill, classic striding/running with 2min rest
6x :20sec flat sprints: Flat to rolling terrain, 3x striding, 3x double pole with 2min rest

I've come to find that the rest in between each effort is really key. These aren't about any kind of endurance or aerobic training, and the more explosive you can be in each one the more benefit you'll get. As a consequence, allowing your body to completely recover and those FT fibers to "reload" so to speak, is necessary.

I was more tired last evening; a blizzard moved in and made the evening ski a bit more of an adventure. I had wanted to get to the top of the mountain and ski some of the alpine runs but I actually lost the trail several times on the way up due to the mounting snow and massive wind which obliterated any form of tracks. I opted against the downhill idea and stuck to the lower trails. It was just as well, because I was exhausted last night and could barely keep my eyes open for some quality time with molecular orbitals and VSEPR theory.

Silver Star: Day 2

Ugh. Altitude gets to me on the second day. After a solid 4 hours of training yesterday I woke up this morning with the groggy head, dry throat and sore muscles which always compliment a trip to higher elevations. I opted to classic ski this morning and took the straight route to the top of the mountain where I got some great views of the surrounding hills/mountains.


Being up there also reminded me of what I can't wait to do after my final long ski at the end of this week - slice some pristine powder on the yet-unopened alpine runs.

This morning I met with Guy Paulsen, Silver Star's new Nordic Director. He was great to talk with and generously granted me privileges to the N.A.T.C. (National Altitude Training Center) gym facilities, and a reduced-rate trail pass. He was immediately understanding of the financial strain of traveling athletes and was quick to put his influence to work.

In the same socializing vein, tonight I had David Bonn, MOD benefactor and Methow local, up for a dinner of burritos. David's been up here since Friday getting first tracks so we caught up on happenings over huge piles of beans, rice and chicken. He's a tech guy so I got to find out about all the new sweet perks of the IPhone 4 and such. I still think I'd break one within a day.

Speedwork is scheduled for tomorrow morning - hill sprints and flat sprints. Then a distance workout in the afternoon, and harder aerobic intervals on Thursday. More photos as I get 'em, but here's a parting shot:

Silver Star Pre-Season Camp: Day 1

I arrived in Silver Star around 7pm last night and pulled into the Pinnacle Suites, my home for the week. Because the mountain isn't really open yet and there are very few travelers here, I got a SWEET deal on an 8-person condo here: $50/night. If anyone has any last minute desire to get up and ski, let me know - there's plenty of room.

Woke up this morning to a fresh layer of 2" of snow on my truck. I took the opportunity to test out some new skate skis this morning, a few of which are particularly suited to soft conditions.

The skis were GREAT - one pair, in particular. Mark at Nordic Ultratune had already ground that particular pair with an S1 grind, a good bet for new snow conditions such as these. With a solid two hours of testing already in the bag I've got strong confidence in my skate skis for the upcoming races in West.

Not many people on the tracks here right now and passes are discounted for the next few days: $11/day. As luck would have it I ran into MOD sponsor and intrepid adventurer David Bonn out on the trails - he's been here since last Friday snagging the early snow. It's nice to have more than one MOD jacket adorning these tracks!

Time to rest for a few hours and do some Chemistry homework. Workout number two out of three coming up in t-minus three hours. More later...

Opening Day in the Methow

Finally got first tracks today on Washington Pass - the weather has been teetering right on the brink of winter, with temps in the teens at night and 30s during the days, but little precipitation until now. The mountains got about 10" yesterday, enough for Scott to take the snowmobile and chain-link fence up to the Overlook road yesterday to groom our traditional first-of-the-year 1km loop.

It's a tremendously welcome change from rollerskiing, and very apt timing. Tomorrow I am leaving for Silver Star to train at altitude for a week before heading to West Yellowstone, so these few workouts that I get on snow will allow me to get the snow legs under me a bit. Also, it affords me the opportunity to test out my new Madshus gear.

I'm working in close concert with Peter Hale and Mark Waechter at Nordic Ultratune to put together a great quiver of Madshus skis, and this week I'll be testing different flexes and cambers to decide which pair gets a coveted spot in the ski bag. Working with Mark in these circumstances is the best an athlete can hope for; he's got a great stock of race-quality skis so between him and Peter's selections I'm confident I'll have some great boards!

I'll put up some more updates from my solo training camp in Silver Star. 11 days until the opening Super Tour races in West Yellowstone!