Uffda, I am a bit behind schedule posting this one... and the next one. In real time, however, the most exciting part of my season is just beginning, so I want to revive this side project to a degree.
The start of the BMT thursday night town sprint relays. Given that I and my relay partner/former college teammate Ellie were the only ones not in Sun Valley suits, it seems to be more of a locals oriented part of the week. It was a really cool little event though, and I would encourage them to put more emphasis on it!
I spent early February back in the west for some sunny, beautiful, and painful altitude racing. First off was the Boulder Mountain Tour in Sun Valley, Idaho. This is the West's flagship race that some mountain people will claim is a comparable, if not better, experience to the Birkie. Ha! Not quite, but it was a beautiful tour through the mountains. In this "all downhill" race there is little opportunity to break away or catch up to skiers that get ahead. With that in mind, I spent everything I had in the first 5k chasing the lead. Altitudes above 4,500ft are already tough for me, so starting that hard at 7,500 with cold skis and cold wax on an unexpectedly warm day was just too much for me. I shot far beyond my anaerobic threshold and shut down hard. I could feel the strain this effort put on my heart for about a week after like the fatigue of any sore muscle. This was a new and slightly concerning experience, but clearly I survived. I spent the entire race in survival mode, drafting a pack of masters skiers, and rallied in the last 500m to at least beat all but one of them. The final result is not one I will be boasting about, but I am glad I went in 100% for the win from the beginning. Settling for less would feel like an admission of defeat to me. In year where great results have not shown, I am at least still going into these races following plans to make them happen.
Skiing in second in the pack. The course does descend a lot over 34k, but that doesn't mean it's easy!
Next I returned to Bozeman for a week, and jumped in the Sacagawea Classic. This was the first real race Crosscut has held since my final college race in the 2020 NCAA championship, and it was fun to race on my training grounds from last year. Fun defined the race more so than competition. I was tired from four weeks of long races, some of them with the added energy drain of the extreme cold. It was sunny, warm, and had a spring fun race atmosphere.
Post-race skiing in Bozeman. I'm glad I changed my schedule to include this stop instead of the Minnesotan Vasaloppet, which I still would have approached competitively despite clearly not having the energy to do well. Everyone there also frostbit some body part, while I meanwhile...
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