Tour of Anchorage XC ski race report

[chrisesposito]

March 7 turned out to be close to a perfect day, weather-wise, for the Tour of Anchorage. The original forecast was for warm, almost Seattle-like conditions - upper 20s , almost to freezing, which might have complicated life for the classic folks but made for a comfortable race. The forecast began to change late-week, and by Saturday night the winds were loudly howling outside the hotel window, with a predicted Sunday morning low of about 13 F. with 5-10 mph winds, just to make it cold :-). Problem was I had only brought wax for warm temps, so I made a trip to the local REI for some low and high fluoro wax, and rewaxed my and Maureen's skis; I wound up finding and using Swix HF6 over LF6, as I can easily use the rest of these on other trips. I declined to purchase the right temperature Cera-F (very fast, pure fluorocarbon wax) at $130, as that would have doubled my wax purchase cost.

This was my second year coaching the Washington Team in Training XC ski team, which when combined with the crappy Seattle snow conditions, limited my ski training to maybe a total of 10 days, almost all of it very low intensity and speed (for me), as my focus was on getting my skiers to the finish line. As a result, I decided that the 25K skate was about all my limited training would reasonably support. On the bright side, between the Seattle and Anchorage TnT teams they raised over $40,000 for cancer research, so great show there.

Once we got to the 25K start area at Russian Jack HS the sun came out, which took a bit of the chill off the air - the wind died down a bit so it almost felt as warm as the 13-14 degree air temperature. I warmed up at 9:35 for a 4th wave, 10:06 start; Maureen was about 5 waves and 10 minutes back. I wound up in the far left pair of tracks, behind some 12 year old kid I figured I'd blow by shortly. Have I mentioned that the junior skier program in Anchorage is really strong (it is, actually- 15 of the top 30 finishers in the 25K men's skate were 17 and under)? The kid led up and down the first hill, and into the woods. We ticked off the first mile in < 6 minutes, and the first 5K in just over 18 minutes. Both skis and snow were fast, the grooming impeccable, bright sunshine and clear blue skies - it just doesn't get much better skiing than that.

My 310XT had me averaging 6:15 or faster for mile after mile, and I hoped I would have enough left to gut out the one big hill I remembered at the end. I was on pace for about a 1:38-1:40 ski, which would have landed me an age-group podium spot. Shortly after my watch told me I had < 3K to go, I see a sign saying '5K to go'. From a competitive standpoint it was irrelevant since even if the course was 1.4 miles long (as my watch said), it was that long for all of us, and the age group placing was the only thing I really cared about. Still, it was a a bit of a rude shock.

The final climb up to Kincaid Stadium that I remembered from last year was not in this year's race, replaced with a much longer (or so it seemed) series of steep but shorter hills and rollers that painfully demonstrated that 10 days of skiing isn't nearly enough to push up all those hills and not lose minutes of time. I finally get up the final climb, enter the stadium, and out-sprint a challenger for 1:53 finish, good enough for 7th of 36 in my AG. At just before noon, the temperature was now a balmy 22, dropping to 18 if the sun went behind the clouds.

Maureen did very well, taking almost an hour off her time from last year (3:08 this year, 3:57 last year). By her own account she probably didn't eat enough, got crabby near the end, and as she went up the final climb said she was cursing everybody she knew that had any connection with the race. Other than that, it was a good day all around.

Today we're both very tired, but at least I'm awake enough to type

[annierl]

Thanks for the report. Good job for both of you. This sounds fun!

[andrew]

Great to read a race report from such a different event - great job on the PB time Maureen!
Did you catch the 12 year old Chris?

[maureenf]

Great report Chris. Pretty amazing wave start watching you guys take off like a bunch of wild ones and go flying up the hill and out of view! The end of the course was definitely different from last year and much longer Really it was! Locals agreed too and it turns out, the end of the race is a surprise every year and keeps one coming back just to see what it will be next. The day was beautiful and while skiing one hardly noticed how cold it was and high teens seemed just right. That is saying something coming from me who likes it warm! It's the most amazing and beautiful course that's worth repeating.

I had my nutrition planned well enough ahead, but since my watch wasn't reminding me (operator error) and I didn't have the VO2 PC clock right in front of my face reminding me, I forgot to eat/drink as planned. Chris's description of my disposition by the end as a result is pretty spot on. That piece of pizza at the end was heaven! What I am wondering now is, if I were to go again next year, can I take another 50 minutes off my time?

[benbiggles]

Great work both of you, would love to do this next year.....

[DanielT]

What kind of gear is this one on? Skate? Classic? Something else? Sounds great! Nice work, both of you!

Something else for the todo list!

[MikePritch]

Chris, Maureen, Way to hang tough and due battle!

[chrisesposito]

Originally Posted by DanielT

What kind of gear is this one on? Skate? Classic? Something else? Sounds great! Nice work, both of you!

Something else for the todo list!

There were both classic and skate races, and a variety of distances - 25, 40, and 50K. The 50K is a bear of a race, with a very tough 1st 10K. This year we both skated. Last year I did classic (as everybody on the team but Maureen was a new skier, and so they did classic) and Maureen did skate.

[Cindybigglestone]

Congrats on a great race to both of you! I would love to put this on the "to do" list as well!!!