Saturday, February 27, 2010

Day 65, White Pine

Met up with Bart and Alex this morning at 7. Tim, Tom, and Mike were along for the ride too. White Pine was the start, with the destination unknown. The large crew kept the pace pretty pedestrian but the weather cooperated to a T, and we ended up with around 7,000 ft of prime touring.

Started by heading up to the ridge above Scottie's, to the top of No Name Bowl, and then along the ridge toward the Twins until we could drop into a Northwest facing tree shot for a couple thousand feet.

Big, beautiful slide paths for another day


First run


Next, we headed up to the shoulder of Lake Peak where an East facing chute beckoned. It looked like a fun scramble to the summit but the group conservatively ignored herd mentality and conservatively decided to enjoy a nice run down to the main drainage in spite of seeing a party of three high on the ridge, and for sure heading for the chute.

Potential scramble


Bart, investigating the chute


Lake Peak from across drainage


The group deciding where to go with Red Baldy in background


So Red Baldy was next. To the summit for lunch with warm temps, no wind, and sun all around. Stunning. Possibly my favorite views in the Wasatch so far.



The run down wasn't bad either. One of the group getting some.


One more short run opposite Red Baldy took us to the flats and then out to the cars.

Tuesday, February 16, 2010

Going Fast Part III: Skimo Training Principles and a Plan

Last night as I got in the car, soaking wet, just having spent the afternoon climbing and skiing 5600 vertical in dumping snow, I turned to Bart and said, "well, that's all I can do." He said, "yep, that's it; that's what you are." And that concluded a two week build period during which I put in about 36 hrs and 47k vertical.  Between now and the end of February when I go to Andorra, I will taper down so I can be all I can be at Worlds.

This season is the first season I have prepared (and I use that term loosely) and followed a structured training plan for skimo racing. Thanks to my world class endurance think tank, I have put together a structure that has been beneficial and has led to some improvement. My think tank and mentors include Bart "Apollo Creed" Gillespie, Billy "Olympic Gold Medalist" Demong (I see into the future -- trust me), and Bad A$$ Brian Harder. These guys are great athletes and more importantly have a good understanding of endurance training. They have reduced my learning curve dramatically.

Since skimo racing is a newer sport and a fringe sport, there really isn't a lot of written discussion on how to train. A lot is unknown and a lot of voodoo is required.  But given the demands of a skimo race,  for the most part, basic principles of endurance training apply.  Here are a few of my thoughts and theories on how to train for skimo racing.
  1. Periodization.  As with other disciplines like cycling, running and nordic skiing, a training plan should include a base period, build periods, rest periods, taper periods, and peak periods.  In addition to working physiologically, mentally, it's nice to break up your season into periods so that you can have short term goals, have something to look forward to, and see improvements as you continue to build up and peak.
  2. Volume.  In any period, whether it's base, build, taper, etc., there is always a volume component.  There is always the question of how much should I do?  This is a complex question for lots of reasons.  How much depends on who you are, how much you can handle (fitness), and what phase you are in.  Too much in any phase is bad.  Too little in any phase is bad.  More is not always better.  If you are in a base or build phase, as much as you can handle is, for the most part, good.  If you are in a taper or rest phase, doing as much as you can handle is bad.  Amidst this uncertain calculus, however, one principle remains true: volume -- lots of it -- is required.  As Mark Twight says, there is no such thing as a free lunch.  Having a job and a family makes it tough for me to get all the volume I need/can handle.  This season, I have generally tried to get 10-15 hrs per week.  Rest weeks and race weeks I might get less.  Build weeks like last week, I might get more.  For example, last week I logged nearly 20 hrs.  A few of those hrs were downhill hrs at the resort with my kids.  One of those days was a 10,541 foot day.      
  3. Intensity.  Like volume, intensity is always a component of each period.  There is always the question of how hard should I go?  It is well-proven that going as hard as you can all the time is not the proper way to train.  In fact, one thing Billy has taught me and one thing that I am learning to trust is that most volume should be at low intensity.  I have tried to incorporate this into my plan, but sometimes going easy is not possible, especially if you tour with Apollo Creed and Alex aka Ivan Drago.  On the other hand, it is important to do high intensity workouts.  Brian recently posted an interesting article about how sprint workouts benefit endurance athletes who don't sprint.  In my training, except for rest and race weeks, I try to do at least two sessions at high intensity.  I like doing 4 minute intervals, between 4 to 8.  I also like doing steady state 20 to 30 minute intervals.  The former builds speed and lactate tolerance.  The latter increases threshold and efficiency at threshold.
  4. Specificity.  In order to ski fast, whether up or down, you have to ski a lot. While it looks pedestrian, skinning requires a special technique and employs specific muscle groups.  It goes without saying that, there is a lot of technique in fast ski descending.  Putting in ski-specific hours is an indispensable component of training.  Those hours allow you to hone technique and ultimately become more efficient.  Bart is a great example of this.  Of course, he has a good engine, but very few are as efficient on a mountain bike or cross bike.  One tough aspect of ski training is the fact that you have to have snow to ski train, which means you have to live in the right place or you have to travel a lot. 
These principles may seem pretty basic to those of you who compete.  Of course, understanding them in theory and actually applying them in training are two different things.  I have found it difficult to apply and to trust them.  For Type A, obsessive-compulsive, psychopathic, masochistic, over-achievers (like most of you) it's hard to force yourself to take it easy.  It's hard to force yourself to cut your interval session short if you are not recovered.  There is a tendency to go as hard as you can as much as you can.  In the end, as Billy told me a few days ago before he left for Vancouver, "you have to learn to trust yourself; you have to trust your training."  That trust component may be the secret of his success.

In conclusion, I think a weekly training plan for the weekend warrior should look something like this:

Monday - rest
Tuesday - 1-2 hrs, intensity
Wednesday - 1-2 hrs, endurance/recovery
Thursday - 1-2 hrs, intensity
Friday - rest or endurance/recovery
Saturday/Sunday - 8 hrs mixed endurance and intensity or race


Sunday, February 14, 2010

Day 56, 10K, Skinny Skis and Happy V-Day

Met Jared at the bottom of Big today at 6:15. Little was closed for control work so the plan was to start at Brighton and head over to Little via Twin Lakes Pass. Hiking into Solitude from Brighton on the way to the pass, we felt like we were in a war zone. Multiple shots were fired about 200 hundred feet over our heads and snow was sloughing over our intended path. Not wanting to piss off the patrollers, or die, we turned around to see if we go get there from the base of Millicent.

These guys (Brighton patrollers just out of bounds) blocked the way.

They more or less ordered us out of there so we went down and across the way towards Peak 10420 from Brighton. On the way down that run, Jared hit a rock and compressed the edge on his $30,000 race skis. Big Bummer. By this time, the shooting had slowed so we tried to make a run through Brighton and Solitude again and found ourselves at the top of a nice powder run down toward the lake. Had to ski it. Then had to break trail back up to the pass where it was turning out to be a pretty nice day.

Jared led the way across the top of the slope pictured above and found a little wind loading but crossed without incident. I walked pretty lightly since I weigh more and would have been pissed to have my day ruined there.

Looking down into Wolverine Cirque. Best saved for another day.


Down into Alta, there seemed to be two feet of powder, untouched, down Patsy Marley. Would have been even better except I was all over the place on Jared's skinny skis and floppy boots. It's all about the up. It's all about the up. It's all about the up.

We headed over to Flagstaff to get in a couple laps but the Samurai was not immune to...

By this time it was HOT. Sweating balls hot. I was in a T-shirt, gloveless, and beginning to work. We had some food on top of Flagstaff and then on the way down, the Avy magnet triggered this:

Actually, he intentionally ski cut the slope above the gully, and was rewarded with a crack and a slide while he stood and watched from above.

Out of water and feeling feeble, I was starting to lag behind on the second Flagstaff lap. Jared gave me his water and I ate some Powergels and ended up coming back to life. We refilled water at the Goldminer's Daughter and then headed back over the pass, into Brighton, and down to the car. Good day. First day over 10K.

I guess 10,541 to be exact.

Friday, February 12, 2010

Day 54, Tanner's with Tanner, Almost

Set the alarm for 5:30 PM and woke up at 6:07 AM, already 7 minutes late to get Zack. Realized I forgot to switch the wash and pulled my dripping gloves and socks out of the dryer. Got ZF, then picked up Casey and his 210 cm skis that don't fit in my box and met Tanner at the BCC park and ride. Made an emergency dump at Seven Eleven and off we went. Rolling up the canyon it was snowing and Zack's Iphone told us the danger rating was moderate on the South aspects. There was also zero visibility. We didn't care. We were going anyway.

Heading up the biggest slide path in LCC

Once in the chute, we found a ton of avy debris covered in 6-10 inches of really low density powder. We skinned up the about 1000 feet, booted the next 1000, then skinned again another 600 across the upper bowl, trying to find the entrance to the upper couloir in the soupy fog. Entering the couloir Casey ruined our day as he dropped about 4 inches and we all heard a big WHOOMPH. If he wasn't such a fat ass we might have gotten first tracks from the top. Sufficiently spooked, we turned around as spindrift was pouring over the cliffs into the chute above Tanner puckering his already tight little butt hole.

On the way out, we were cutting through the spindrift loaded pillows when Zack made this happen:

It was 12" deep, 10 feet across, and ran about 20-30 feet, resulting in a partial burial of Zack's leg, chest, and arm. He had his pole raised high in the air thinking it would help us find him if completely buried. Probably another good sign that we made the right decision. Likely, we would have been fine but since we are respecters of the Lanche, we played it safe.

The way home:

Thursday, February 11, 2010

Day 53, White Pine to Red Pine

Went out with Casey and Mar Dash this AM with intentions on skiing some lines in the Maybird Drainage viewed from the chute yesterday. Woke up though with snow in the Aves and a white out in the canyon. There was drifting along the ridges and not really knowing where we where going we stopped at the top of the trees below the Pheifferhorn. The descent mostly followed a stream gully that had a bunch of pillow-like features. I seemed really drawn to the stream itself and found myself on my back, hearing the water running under me. Not my best skiing performance. We skied the drainage out to the main creek, crossed without mishap, and Casey caught a ride from the toe of Tanner's back to the White Pine lot. Which gave us the idea of Tanner's...tomorrow?

Again no pics, not that today was worthy of pics other than me with my skis in the air, sticking out of the stream potholes. But once again, a classic:

A viking or a grench? You decide.

Wednesday, February 10, 2010

Day 52, Little Pine

Another nice morning in the Wasatch. Picked up Casey at 6:15, stopped at Seven Eleven to take an emergency dump, and started skinning up the chute around 6:50. We pulled into the chute and found the nice booter the Samurai's crew had left amongst the frozen roller balls/avy debris.

Casey starting to warm up:

Booted about 3000 feet then found a short section of skin track then booted another couple hundred to the ridge and over to the top of the chute.




Contemplating the route through the frozen bowling balls below:


Beautiful chute, straight fall line, sustained pitch and width, but the South facing snow...D-. But as today was about the adventure and the UP...I'll give it a B 8.5