November 28, 2011 (West Yellowstone, MT) – OUCH! I felt like I took a blowtorch to my lungs. Friday’s 10km skate (15km for the guys…sorry dudes…) was really hard. It was snowing on and off all morning, but the tough course with a lot of gradual climbs and no really good recovery spots in altitude was an even bigger challenge than the weather. That said, I wouldn’t want to be a wax tech on days like today!

The CXC women had a pretty good day, and although the guys didn’t have the day they’d hoped for, there’s still another race tomorrow! Results are linked HERE.

I took it out way to hard on the first lap despite my attempts to be smooth and smart with pacing. My technique really started falling apart on the second lap and for the last 6km of the race I could taste nothing but iron. Yuck! I just kept telling myself “you WANTED to race today…you signed on for this…and started too fast, so now you have to finish it!” I’m still really happy with the day because I learned more about how to pace longer races in altitude, so next year I’ll approach the 10 km with a more reserved pace.

 

After the race, my cool-down largely consisted of jogging up and down the race course sidelines, cheering. I love that part an aweful lot. I’ve been told it’s not the very smartest in terms of saving energy (multiple times…), but it’s still early season racing! So it’s still time to have fun and chill out in the woods in a snowstorm cheering on athletes in spandex.