24 Hours of Telemark
Another year of the 24 Hours of Telemark has come and gone. Once again I had so much fun and also suffered an appropriate amount.
This was my first time doing the 12 hour race instead of the 24 hour race and it was an interesting experience. Obviously doing the 24 hour race takes a toll because you don't get much sleep but with 6 people on the team you do get nice breaks throughout the day for recovery. Doing a 4-person 12-hour team you get to go to sleep at night which is sweet but you don't get much time to eat/recover.
So about the race . . . . I went last on the team so I had plenty of time to eat and pick out the appropriate ski clothes for the temperatures. It was -17 F when we woke up but thanks to the sun it warmed up really quickly and was quite nice during the daylight hours (maybe a high of 15 F). It got nice and cold again though as soon as the sun went down.
My first set of two laps went pretty well. The first lap was spent figuring out when I could V2 and when I could V2 alternate and then trying out jumping in the classic tracks for the downhills. I'm going to tell you now that the fastest downhill was scary fast in the tracks. The first time down them I was a little intimidated by how fast I got going but luckily it is a straight shot so I knew I would be fine. My first two laps I also had a little extra motivation because Jack Hirt started not too long after I did and I didn't want him to catch me since he has only skied a few times. (And I did hold him off!) The thing about the first two laps was I remembered just how tiring the course is as it is almost entirely climbing or descending in the tracks. The course just doesn't have that many flat sections and with fast tracks that beat skiing down the hills. Plus with the cold temperatures the snow is slow for skating (think skiing over sandpaper).
My second set of laps were much tougher actually. Part way through the 2nd 5k I realized that I hadn't eaten enough or maybe I just hadn't eaten the right things. I felt like I was really dragging and my energy wasn't where it should be. The 2nd part of the course (which comes after a long gradual climb up to where the volunteer station is) was really tough as the climbs were really sucking all my strength. One particularly steep hill had the slowest snow of the course as well which really adds to the second part of the course. I was really looking forward to getting in and making up a bottle of energy drink.
My third set of laps was a bit more laid back as I was under strict instructions to not come in before 8pm (I got in about 3 minutes early but I timed it fairly well). We had made a team decision to all do 7 laps instead of pushing it and making 1 or possibly 2 people do 8. It just seemed more fair especially given how cold it was. Plus it wasn't going to make a difference in our overall place. It was nice to take it easier and check out the scenery especially since the moon was unbelievably large and had a beautiful halo around it. You really couldn't ask for a more picteresque setting. The only downside was how painfully cold the downhills were now that the sun was down. Before flying down I would pull up my balaclava and try to minimize the amount of cold air on my face and in my lungs. As it was the cold air gave all of us a nice dry hacking cough for long after the race was over.
My last lap was just a 5k and I had 30 minutes to kill which was much more time than is needed to do the loop. I stopped in several spots to just take in the beauty of the moon and I never hustled to pass anyone. As it was I still finished a few minutes early and got to stop and chat with the teammates until I saw the clock show that 12 hours had passed.
At the conclusion I was craving pizza (which we didn't have with us) but I'm clearly a lucky person as the post-race party had pizza (even veggie pizza!). That was the perfect conclusion to the evening . . . well, that and the fact that I won a Horny Toad fleece jacket in the raffle (ironic since I race on the Horny Toad sponsored team).
That night after lots of chatting and giggling with the gals we got some very glorious sleep. In the morning we woke up and ate birthday cake in bed (it was my teammate Rebecca's bday), packed up the room, and headed to Rock Lake where we classic skied another 15k (which put us each at 50k for the weekend which was the same as we did when we raced the 24-hour category).
All in all a totally kick butt Girl's Weekend!!
This was my first time doing the 12 hour race instead of the 24 hour race and it was an interesting experience. Obviously doing the 24 hour race takes a toll because you don't get much sleep but with 6 people on the team you do get nice breaks throughout the day for recovery. Doing a 4-person 12-hour team you get to go to sleep at night which is sweet but you don't get much time to eat/recover.
So about the race . . . . I went last on the team so I had plenty of time to eat and pick out the appropriate ski clothes for the temperatures. It was -17 F when we woke up but thanks to the sun it warmed up really quickly and was quite nice during the daylight hours (maybe a high of 15 F). It got nice and cold again though as soon as the sun went down.
My first set of two laps went pretty well. The first lap was spent figuring out when I could V2 and when I could V2 alternate and then trying out jumping in the classic tracks for the downhills. I'm going to tell you now that the fastest downhill was scary fast in the tracks. The first time down them I was a little intimidated by how fast I got going but luckily it is a straight shot so I knew I would be fine. My first two laps I also had a little extra motivation because Jack Hirt started not too long after I did and I didn't want him to catch me since he has only skied a few times. (And I did hold him off!) The thing about the first two laps was I remembered just how tiring the course is as it is almost entirely climbing or descending in the tracks. The course just doesn't have that many flat sections and with fast tracks that beat skiing down the hills. Plus with the cold temperatures the snow is slow for skating (think skiing over sandpaper).
My second set of laps were much tougher actually. Part way through the 2nd 5k I realized that I hadn't eaten enough or maybe I just hadn't eaten the right things. I felt like I was really dragging and my energy wasn't where it should be. The 2nd part of the course (which comes after a long gradual climb up to where the volunteer station is) was really tough as the climbs were really sucking all my strength. One particularly steep hill had the slowest snow of the course as well which really adds to the second part of the course. I was really looking forward to getting in and making up a bottle of energy drink.
My third set of laps was a bit more laid back as I was under strict instructions to not come in before 8pm (I got in about 3 minutes early but I timed it fairly well). We had made a team decision to all do 7 laps instead of pushing it and making 1 or possibly 2 people do 8. It just seemed more fair especially given how cold it was. Plus it wasn't going to make a difference in our overall place. It was nice to take it easier and check out the scenery especially since the moon was unbelievably large and had a beautiful halo around it. You really couldn't ask for a more picteresque setting. The only downside was how painfully cold the downhills were now that the sun was down. Before flying down I would pull up my balaclava and try to minimize the amount of cold air on my face and in my lungs. As it was the cold air gave all of us a nice dry hacking cough for long after the race was over.
My last lap was just a 5k and I had 30 minutes to kill which was much more time than is needed to do the loop. I stopped in several spots to just take in the beauty of the moon and I never hustled to pass anyone. As it was I still finished a few minutes early and got to stop and chat with the teammates until I saw the clock show that 12 hours had passed.
At the conclusion I was craving pizza (which we didn't have with us) but I'm clearly a lucky person as the post-race party had pizza (even veggie pizza!). That was the perfect conclusion to the evening . . . well, that and the fact that I won a Horny Toad fleece jacket in the raffle (ironic since I race on the Horny Toad sponsored team).
That night after lots of chatting and giggling with the gals we got some very glorious sleep. In the morning we woke up and ate birthday cake in bed (it was my teammate Rebecca's bday), packed up the room, and headed to Rock Lake where we classic skied another 15k (which put us each at 50k for the weekend which was the same as we did when we raced the 24-hour category).
All in all a totally kick butt Girl's Weekend!!
posted by MadCross at 2:57 PM
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