January 10, 2008 (Houghton, Michigan) – The week flew by too fast, and I am just now getting time to sit down and write while on the airplane to Canada. Thursday’s race was 10km Classic, ahh redemption! The spark came back to my body after Tuesday’s disappointing skate race, and I was able to attack over the second lap to take the victory (and the National Championship) by 22 seconds over Kristina Strandberg.

Next race was Saturday’s sprint, this year in the freestyle technique. I started off the day well with a two-second lead in the qualification round. Then I had quite the scare in my quarterfinal, when midway through the race my ski tip caught in the powder and I went down. I had to make up a big gap, but I was able to get back into the lead and advance to the next round. Close call! I won my semi-final as well. In the A final, I took the lead with 500m to go and powered up the long gradual climb to the finish to take my second victory of the week, and my eighth US title.

The final race was Sunday’s team sprint, classic style. I teamed up with my APU training partner Laura Valaas. We were being considered the team to beat. The race got off to a late start (2 hour delay) after some start list problems, but Laura and I were able to easily win our semi-final and move on to the final round. Things were looking good at the start, we both led our first laps, but then conditions changed and our skis slowed. Over the last laps, two other teams were able to out glide us enough on the flats and downhills to stay out of reach and we had to settle for third. A big upset! Congratulations to Lindsey Dehlin and Lindsay Williams for handing it to us!

And just as quick as it came, US Nationals are over. I say goodbye to Houghton and head back to the World Cup tour. I will spend the next 10 days training with my APU team in Silver Star, BC, and in two weeks, I will be racing two sprints at the World Cup in Canmore, Alberta. The Euro’s will be on “our turf” and it’s going to be fun!

The Full Story

10km Classic Race
While Tuesday’s skate race was frustrating, I knew the hard effort from that day was going to be a good kick start for my body, and I was confident that the next race would be a fresh start. There was a day off between the races and the lake effect snow continued to fall. It was snowing so hard at times that I had accumulation on my nose. Jeff and I tested classic skis and narrowed down the selection from ten pairs to two.

When I reached the venue on Thursday late morning, the snow had stopped and the boys were already on course racing their 15km. Despite over 250 men each racing two laps, the course remained in good shape. Wax testing came down to the wire, as the coaches tried multiple combinations before selecting the race wax. I actually didn’t even get to try the final layer on my race skis, I just had to hope the wax would work!

The first kilometer of the course was flat and downhill, so I had to wait a couple minutes before getting to stride and test my wax. As I charged up the first hill, I was a little slick still and my binding was clicking in and out. My arms started to burn as I climbed up and over the first two pitches, and for a moment I wondered if I was going to have another tough day. I quickly put those negative thoughts out of my mind and focused on settling into a quick and dynamic rhythm.

By the end of the first lap (the course was two laps of 5km), those negative thoughts were gone. Even though my kick wasn’t 100% and my binding was still clicking in and out, I was feeling strong and getting splits that I was leading the race by a few seconds. I had spark in my movements and I focused on attacking each section. When I felt myself getting tired, I would try to speed up my tempo for a few strides. Every second counted!

The last 500m of the course was an uphill grind to the finish. I charged with all I the energy and power I had left, and finally crossed the finish line feeling pretty spent. The scoreboard flashed my name in first place, twenty-two seconds in the lead over Kristina Strandberg. A satisfying race! I waited in the finish area until the last of the A seed racers came in, and my victory was confirmed.

There was a quick awards ceremony and then a trip to the USADA doping control station to provide a urine sample. It took a full water belt of sports drink, a 24 oz bottle of recovery drink, and two and a half 20 oz Gatorade bottles before I was ready to pee. While waiting for the urge to come, I chatted with Kristina and Lindsay Williams and jumped around to encourage my body to process the liquid.

Distance races done, on to the sprints!

Freestyle Sprint
The skate sprint is undoubtedly my best and most favorite event in cross-country ski racing, so I really was looking forward to Saturday’s race. Conditions had warmed up over night and it was shaping up to be a great day. I knew I was going to have a big target on my back after winning a World Cup race a few weeks earlier, but mostly I was excited to see what I could do on the Houghton course.

Jeff and Erik had tested my skis already, and picked the two fastest pairs. I took a spin around the course, with one ski from each pair and selected my favorite. While Jeff and Erik both thought 494 was the fastest, I liked my new pair 034 better and decided to go with it. The men’s qualification went first so I finished my warm-up around the warm-up track.

The qualification round went okay. I nearly caught the girl that started 15 seconds in front of me, but I didn’t feel super springy or fast. I had the fastest time by two seconds over my APU teammate Laura Valaas. There was a two hour break before the heats started. A bunch of my other teammates had made it into the top 30 and we all crammed into the team van until it was time to warm up again. For the heats, I retested my skis and decided to switch to the 494’s.

In my quarterfinal, I got off to a good start and managed the pace from the front. As we headed down, away from the stadium I was holding a tight line through some S-turns when suddenly my ski caught in the powder at the edge of the trail and I spun around and fell to my knees. The other girls went zinging by, narrowly missing me, while I staggered to get back up. My glasses were crooked and the skiers were already disappearing around the next bend as I madly scrambled after them. For a few moments, I wasn’t sure if I would be able to catch back up. But I charged as hard as I could, not willing to give up.

Midway up the climb I was able to get myself back into contact. I worked my way up through the group and regained the lead coming into the final stretch. I crossed the finish line in first and wiped my brow. “Whew, that was a close call! I had almost ended my day early!”

The fall had definitely woken me up. I was totally focused now. In the semi-final I took no chances, led from the front, and won my heat to advance to the A final.

While I jogged around, waiting for my final heat, I watched the men’s B and A finals. Andy Newell took the victory. Then the women’s B final was on course, and it was time to line up. Also in the A final: Laura, Caitlin Compton, Karin Camenisch, and Ida Sargent.

I chose a middle lane and got off the line quickly. I slowed up a bit entering the U-turn in an attempt to coax another racer to the take the lead. Caitlin took the front position as we headed down through the S-turns, and I tucked myself into second, carefully avoiding the edges of the trail. When we hit the climb, I pulled around Caitlin and started hammering. Laura followed. I kept accelerating all the way to the finish and made it to the line in front, winning my sixth US sprint title.

Individual events done, on to the team event!

Classic Team Sprint
In last year’s team sprint, Taz and I had teamed up to race against Laura and Caitlin. This year, Laura and I would be on the same team, representing APU. Since we had finished 1-2 in the individual sprint, we were being pegged as the team to beat.

The APU girls and I arrived at the race venue at 7:45am, ready to test skis for a 9:30am start. However, the race organizers were having some technical difficulties with the start lists, and the start had been postponed. This created a big problem for some teams which had travel plans to leave that afternoon. For us, it just meant more time crammed together in the van. I think I actually fell back asleep for a while. Finally it was announced that semi-finals would begin at 11:30am.

I was able to do a few laps around the sprint course on warm-up skis, but just like the other day, the coaches were testing wax right up until race time, and I didn’t get much of a chance to test my race wax. I was happy to find on my first lap (Laura started, I anchored) that the kick was indeed good. Laura and I took turns leading each of our laps and won our heat. While cooling down, we decided our strategy for the final would be to lead it out hard.

There was a three-hour break before the women’s final and I zipped off to Subway to grab some food. After downing my six inch turkey sub, I huddled up in Jeff’s Dad’s car and closed my eyes to relax. I dozed off for a while and found it hard to drag myself back out for warm-up #2. It took me a few hard spurts to get back going again. Piping hot, I headed over to the start.

The course was closed and there was no time to test race wax. The boys had good skis in their semi-final, so we were all confident we had the right wax picked. I jogged around in the start pen, until the gun went off. Laura took the lead as the train of skiers headed out of sight. I clicked into my skis and slid them back and forth to keep the wax free. Laura came up in the lead, it looked like our plan was working. I skied a hard lap and tagged back to Laura in the front position.

On the 2nd lap, I took the tag in the lead but got passed on the downhill. I skied my way back up onto the tails of the leading team and just cruised in second. Laura headed out on her last lap in a tight in a pack of three. As pack headed out of sight however, I started to realize we were in trouble. Over a flat section, Laura had been gapped by about 15m. Since Laura is a very strong double-poler, I knew it must be the skis. When the skiers came emerging out of the woods, the pack had been broken and Karin Camenisch had pulled several meters ahead of Lindsey Dehlin, who was several meters ahead of Laura. We were 16 seconds down.

I charged after the leaders on my last lap, but my skis were slow as well, and I lost more time on the downhill. I was closing strong on the uphill, pulling back seconds, but the gap was too large. We had to settle for third place. Lindsay Williams had passed the Rossingnol team to win.

I guess the snow conditions had changed quickly between the last men’s round and the women’s final and the wax that had been working really well didn’t respond to the change and got much slower. It’s too bad, because I was really looking forward to a fun final sprint on the hill. Oh well, that is classic sprint racing!

Now the 2008 US Championships in Houghton have concluded and it’s time to head back to the World Cup tour. I will first head to Silver Star, BC for an altitude camp before arriving in Canmore, Alberta for the World Cup races starting there on the 22nd of January. It will be fun to have the European athletes on our turf, dealing with long travel and time changes. There will be two sprint races and two distance races.

Until then!

Cheers,
Kikkan 🙂