Whitefish Whiteout 2013 - Skimo Season Kickoff

Yesterday was the Whitefish Whiteout, a ski mountaineering race on Big Mountain here in (well, 15 miles north) in Whitefish.  If you don't know, this is a race where you hike up on alpine skis with skins (sort of like carpets) on your skis and then remove the skins and ski downhill and repeat.  The races are typically in-bounds in ski areas but the rules nonetheless require that the racer carry a beacon, probe and shovel.  This race doesn't check, but I carried those things anyhow.  I used my sweet new running pack (thanks Bryon!)  since I knew I wouldn't have a bootpack section on the recreational course, which is my preferred course.  Technically the rules require a 20L backpack.  I was a scofflaw in that regard. 

blurry podium pic (me on right in red hat)

this is also blurry but for some reason makes me laugh 

Amber and I were pretty good about skinning up the mountain for practice and exercise in December, but we've both been battling busy-ness, sickness and just haven't been up there too much lately.  Nonetheless, we enthusiastically tackled the Whitefish Whiteout for the third time.  This year the course was different (for the recreational division, which is what I am still competing in) as, supposedly, people complained last year that the rec division was too "easy."  I am pretty sure that I have said that I wished the rec division was harder, as in LONGER, not steeper or more technical... so anyhow the downhill this year was a treed steeper downhill.  But more on that later.

The good part of Amber's race is that she boldly switched from the recreational division to the "race" division, which is at least three times harder.  She finished in a very respectable time, winning the womens' telemark division.  I am really proud of her and impressed by her bravery.  She reported that there were many moments where she thought to herself "Danni would NOT like this."  I am sure she's correct and am not very close to being ready to move up to that division.

Cole, Amber and me.  Cole did his first ever skimo race with leather boots and his three pin tele bindings and did awesome.  It was a little weird for him -- he's on the US Telemark team and is accustomed to a much different type of racing...

The good part of my race is that I PRed on the uphill by a little more than four minutes, which is a lot when you're talking about skinning up Toni Matt on the Big.  My prior fastest time was 53:02 and this year I made it up in 48:59.  I worked hard for this PR, especially since I'm fatter than I was last year.  I am always pleased with myself when I feel like I actually tried hard in a physical sport activity.  The deal I made with myself was that I could keep doing the recreational division as long as I give it my all on the uphill.  So I did, but it was extremely painful.  My HR was about as high as it gets, it sometimes seemed to get a little dark and I felt like I could puke.  I felt like, and still do, I seared my lungs.  I'm not sure if that's actually good for me but it seems like a good workout.

The transition was ok.  My skins wouldn't come off easily so I had to actually take my skis off to get them off, which probably added a minute or more to my transition time.  In these races, if you're serious about them, which I am not, the transitions are pretty important.  The fast people rip their skins off and go without removing their skis.  It's worth trying to do it this way, though the people with race skis have a different skin setup that makes it easier to remove the skins.  Anyhow, it just wasn't happening for me.  Whatever.  I got my skins off, stuck them on the strap of my pack (a little awkwardly, I'm lucky I didn't lose them) and headed to the downhill.

The downhill was a black diamond run in the trees that I've never skied but figured I'd be ok on.  It would have been fun with fresh snow (or more snow?)  The entrance to the run revealed that it was extremely skied out with defined narrow paths through the trees.  I am not a good tree skier to begin with but snowplowed my way down the top part of the trees.  No biggie.  I felt confident that I'd get down without much difficulty.  Except then it got much steeper.  I side-stepped through narrow skier-made gullies down the trees until I could see where it opened up.  I got myself into a spot that presented a problem in terms of how to get from where I was to where I wanted to be -- after much standing around and deliberation I invented a "sit down kick turn" -- I sat down in the snow (I was on a little flattish spot below a tree) and changed the direction of my skis, pointing them towards the open area.  Yeah!  Once I was in the open area I started linking turns and skied down to the bottom.  However, there can be no question that the downhill section took me a ridiculous amount of time.  People flew by me the whole time... oh if only I was a better downhill skier.  I guess it will come if I keep at it.  It's a little frustrating though...

My transition at the bottom was quick -- there was a girl in my division also transitioning and I felt uncharacteristically competitive.  I got out of there quickly and headed up the "skin track."  Skinning up a skied-out bowl is not easy, though it wasn't horrible.  The guy ahead of me struggled a little as he didn't seem to be doing kick turns -- I was pleased that the uphill seemed much easier for me than for the others around me.  It was a little encouraging moment of "I am getting better at some of this."  I could relate to the problems others were having completely but was pleased that I'm finally advancing a little with my technical skills.  Anyhow, the chica behind me didn't catch me though I did get passed by the winner of the race division, my friend Ben and the second place finisher, Stano.

I finally finished in about 1:30 in third place.  I got to stand on the podium again, which delights me to no end.  Totally ridiculous how much this makes me giddy (standing on a wooden podium).  Watching Amber finish also made me giddy.  She is so awesome.

On the ski down with Kent, Amber and Cole, as I basked in the sun and the buzz of my two IPAs, I felt so incredibly blissed out and reminded about how awfully lucky I am to be able to do this stuff and have such great and fun friends.

I Have New Year's Resolutions Too!

I won't do a year in review, except to say that I had a great year packed with fun and adventure.  This doesn't mean that I don't have resolutions (goals) for this year.  Unlike many others, I actually like the idea of a fresh new year/fresh new start that allows one to consider what changes need to be made.  A brand new year seems like a good time to actually put them into action.  I therefore hereby do for declare that I plan to:

1) Return to being mindful about my meat consumption.  For awhile I was vegetarian due to my disgust at factory farming and all that, but resumed eating meat upon moving to Montana and experiencing a bizarre blood lust while cooking elk for my parents who were visiting.  My return to carnivory involved promises to myself about only eating meat under X or Y conditions but that quickly devolved into just eating whatever (mostly in restaurants, I don't buy grocery store beef and such).  Well, I need to return to being mindful.  And, I have quite a bit of bison from my local ranch and friend at Spring Brook Ranch -- I know (or have access to) information about all the details of the life and death of my food and it's sourced about 5 miles from my house.  Jim, my rancher friend, is good to his animals and cares about the world a whole lot.  There's no reason why I should ever eat red meat other than this bison or game that my friends share with me (or maybe this fall I will obtain myself).  I want to totally cut out pork (again), just because I think pigs are smart and cool.  Chicken is easy to be less principled about because I think they're weird animals... Anyhow, you don't have to think any of this is rational but it will make me feel better.

2)  Keeping a training log again.  I'm basically already failing at this but always enjoy having a record to look back on and see what works for me and what doesn't.  I stopped because I was becoming so OCD about my running mileage that it was controlling my exercise life in a negative way.  I think I'm now past that and do so many other things that I can get back to it.  But I'm really quite out of the habit.

3) Drink less.  I'm not a raging alcoholic or anything but I probably don't ever *need* a third glass of wine.  It just seems like such a good idea after two.

4) Get the dogs out more.  With the addition of Rhino to our family it's tougher to take the dogs running since he doesn't do well on leash (it's the totally wrong pace for him and seems to make him gimpy).  So the dogs have been getting short shrift and it's probably why we have so many problems with them lately.  I've resolved to get them out at least three times per week (ideally every other day at least) when I'm in town and take Rhino to daycare on his "off" days so he can run and play with his friends.  So far this is going well but it gets tough when I'm just not home (I'm on the road a lot).

I think that's all.  Happy New Year blogosphere!