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
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