Friday, December 24, 2010

Robert Johnson Ski Clinic

Dec. 24, 2010

Happy Christmas Eve to Everyone. For all those in the Soldotna area this christmas, there will be a ski clinic at the Tsalteshi trails behind Skyview high School on Sunday Dec. 26th from 12-3:30.
12:00-1:15 Classic ski clinic
1:30-2:45 Skate ski clinic
3:00 - 3:30 Wax clinic

Come and enjoy warm drink and goodies.

Merry Christmas!

Brent

Sunday, December 19, 2010

Final Day of the mini tour!

Dec. 19, 2010

     So we had a hunting start 15k classic race today to finish off the three day mini-tour and I am glad to be done.  I had a really rough time sleeping last night and was a little stressed this morning because of it. It took me about 13k to get my body to wake up and finally ski well, but by then I already had ten racers go by. Its a bit of a bummer, but those days are there. I ended up 24th for the weekend, which is not quite what i was hoping for, but the overall weekend of racing was a solid one for me. My body was responding a lot better to the training and was allowing me to get into some race gears. Its now time for some needed rest and relaxation. Perhaps some good Christmas cookies to warm the soul. I have US Nationals here in two weeks and I am looking forward to the battles. Merry Christmas everyone.

BK

Saturday, December 18, 2010

Holy Freaking Skate Race!!!

Dec. 18, 2010

     Talk about a high intensity 10k race. The distance course skis a lot like Kinkaid in Anchorage in that it has good uphills followed by rest sections. This is great for those with speed and capacity to recover fast. The second half of the course is the tougher half in that the rest is fairly minimal and work is high. We had rock hard grooming and 20 degrees Fahrenheit.
     Knowing that i really didn't have much to loose and the fact that the conditions were suited well for me, I decided to go out quite hard. I did. I was recovering well after the climbs and maintaining speed well. At 4k i was the leader for the lap so far and still skiing well. I later found out that after all skiers went by, I was tied for the lead with Lars Flora. I went into the second lap still feeling good and I hammered up the long drag out of the stadium. I was starting to feel the lactate buildup, but the rest sections were just enough to get me up the next climbs. The last 2.5k were the tough k's for me. I had caught the racers that had started 1 minute and 30 seconds in front of me, but at the point I caught them, I had lactic acid building up to my eyeballs. I could not for the life of me find the speed to get around them. The last kilometer felt like forever, but I was able to finish the last 400m fairly strong. Lars had about 20 seconds on me with 2k to go and I knew that he could finish strong, but the question was how strong. In the end, the race was extremely tight. Many racers went out with the same game plan to simply go really hard and see what happens. I finished 35 seconds behind Lars (the eventual winner) and although that is generally fairly close, I was 13 places back. I finished 14th (6th american). I was 5 seconds from top ten and 28 seconds from top 3. It was so freaking fun to throw down and feel fast again. Im excited that the body is stepping up each weekend and performing a little better. Nationals is going to be fun, especially that it is at sea level. Tomorrow is going to be awesome with a tight field going out at irregular intervals based on overall time back. Should be a great time!!


BK

Friday, December 17, 2010

Sprint day!!

Dec. 17, 2010

     So there are definitely some positives and negatives from the day for me. To begin i will briefly describe the course. From the start you shoot straight up a long drag uphill for about a minute. The course then drops about halfway down and takes a right throwing you right into the second and fairly short steep uphill (about 10 seconds max). From there you drop into a high speed downhill to culminates in a really tight left hand 180. A short 80 meter drag over the flats brings you to the final downhill that ends in a high speed finish. The finish stretch is shorter than what we typically see, but legal.
     My prelim qualifier went fairly well for me. The long first drag went a lot faster than i thought it would and I found myself with power to spare over the top. The second short uphill could have gone smoother as I struggled through the transition, but i came over the top and down the hill with speed. I made it through the high speed 180  with no problems and finished strong. I was happy to finish in twelfth (5th american) overall.
     The quarterfinal heat was a little less than stellar. We found out that we had three APU skiers (Mark, Reese) in the same heat supplemented by Garrott Kuzzy (former 9th in World Cup), Canadian national champ Graeme Killick and top Canadian sprinter Phil Widmer. I am still fairly new to sprinting in my career and have little experience in heats. I get better each time I roll through them, but I end up having more to learn every time.
     Out of the start I was sitting well behind the leader Phil Widmer, but soon realized the pace had come down quite noticeably, a tactic used by many sprinters to control the pace and save energy. I felt great and was chomping at the bit to try and get around, but the course was not quite wide enough for three. Reese had gotten out well and was skiing next to Widmer in front. For me, the way i get though heats is to ski all out from start to finish to kill some of the speed out of the sprinters in the finish. I was trapped. We got over the climb and I went into the downhill in third. My second mistake came when i took the right turn into the uphill wide and allowed Killick to ski inside of my line which allowed him to pinch me out on the hill. I went from third to last really quick, but we were all still together. I found my way back to the mid field through the drag past the 180 turn and went into the final downhill in fourth-ish. The high speed finish is not my strong suit, and was my eventual demise. I was feeling strong and fast in the finish, but even though i was less than a ski length back from the winner, I finished 6th in my heat. We had the tightest heat of the day. Nobody knew what place they finished until a few minutes later. Oh well, I still have some things to learn, but overall the heat went well and im excited to know my body is finally feeling strong again.

Thursday, December 16, 2010

Rossland, BC

Dec. 16, 2010

     So we made it to Rossland, BC on Monday night and arrived to lots of snow and warm temperatures.  Rossland is a beautiful alpine type resort with lots of cross country skiing trails to compliment it. We have had a lot of routine around here, a lot of it geared towards preparing us for US Nationals here in a couple weeks. We have a lot of training the past few weeks with some tough races thrown in. We are all feeling a bit tired, but excited to get the first mini-tour of the season under way. We have three days of racing ahead of us with the mini tour. We are starting with a skate sprint day where the top thirty get alloted bonus time towards the overall. We continue on Saturday with a 10k Skate race (individual start). The last day is a 15k classic race in pursuit format. So the first two days of time is added up plus whatever bonus time one might have received. A racer will then go out exactly the amount of time he/her is behind the overall leader. The first person across the finish line will then be the overall winner.
     I am currently working on a team intro video for APU so that for those of you not familiar with the team can put names to the faces. It should be up shortly, so keep a watchful eye out. I will post results from tomorrow as soon as they are available. Hope all is well with everybody.

Saturday, December 11, 2010

Sovereign Classic Sprint

Dec. 11, 2010

Classic Sprint day.

I was running a bit shy of bounce this morning, but I managed to qualify in 19th. We had a couple of good climbs on the course and during the prelim I found myself skiing more frantic and choppy. The quarterfinal heat felt much better. I was skiing much smoother and relaxed. Bart made a good sprint move and cut me off over a climb. I was frustrated, but thats racing. I made my way back up the next long climb and was back in the race through the downhill. at the bottom of the downhill, we make a hard swooping left turn. The guy skiing just to my inside swung a bit wider than he should have and that forced me off my line and I caught my tip on the side of the course. I didnt fall but came to an almost dead stop. At that point I had no chance of catching up as there was only 300m left and I had a good 25m to make up. I still managed to stay out of the caboose spot, but overall a slightly less than par day for me. APU as a whole though still performed great with 3 of 6 women in the final and 2 men in the B final. Heres my latest pathetic attempt at video making. Enjoy.

Wednesday, December 8, 2010

Another day, Another 2.5 hours of ski work

Dec. 8, 2010

Training: easy recovery ski. Total time 1.5hr

    After a very successful L3 workout yesterday, the relaxing day of an easy ski and some long overdue ski work was nice. Our sunshine left for the time being, giving us roughly 4 inches of fresh snow overnight. I was hoping for one of those nice powder days, but as Silverstar is, the trails were freshly groomed and set for some pristine skiing. Because it was an easy day, I also decided to take the ski lift back up the hill!


Believe me, I actually do need all these skis. They all have a different conditions that they are good in.


Here we have our ski tech Casey working hard and making sure we have the best skis possible for race day.

Sunday, December 5, 2010

Saturday, December 4, 2010

Another day in paradise

Dec. 4, 2010

Training: day off

      I made the best of a threshold workout the other day, but it was time for a bit of rest. I took the day to make a killer pot of chili that I let simmer all day and brew in the wonderful flavors. It was really busy down in the  village center. Silverstar is a popular destination!!! Although I have to say that I have conflicting feelings right now. We are about a half hour from the nearest REAL town and because we are into saving money, we cant take the vans out of Silverstar. Its like being trapped in your happy place. I need some reality from time to time though or I might just turn into some fairyland creature......which could be cool I guess.

A shot from inside the Fantasy Village:

I hope to get some good pictures from the top of the mountain tomorrow. Yes... we can ski to the very top of the alpine run on nordic trails.

Thursday, December 2, 2010

Silverstar Rocks!

Dec. 2, 2010

Training: Dec 1 - L2 skate, PM Strength and run: Total time: 4hr
              Dec 2 - L2 classic ski, PM L1 skate : Total time: 3hr

     So the past few days havent been entirely busy, but man have we been training. With 120km of groomed trails its hard to keep from putting your skis on and exploring. I've been wanting to take some pictures, but i keep forgetting to bring my iphone with me. I took a short video clip this evening and for sure i need practice, but i want to start expanding this blog.


I will post more here soon. Have a great day!