Revenge of the Nerd
The little experiment with an N of 1 and just 1 rep was a success. I managed to finish 3.4 or 3.5K of skating in a race without blowing out the knee. In fact, I went out for a 3 mile run later Saturday afternoon, skied 2 hr classic on Sunday morning and against all better judgment went downhill skiing with the kids (well they tolerated me from a safe distance because they were with their friends) for a couple of hours on Sunday.
After all that abuse, my knee was hanging pretty solid Sunday night, and by Monday fine, almost as good as new.
But what about the race? I wish it had been 5K instead of 3.5K. The snow was good enough on Saturday, but I guess they had to make the call on the course by Friday when conditions were still uncertain. At 10 degrees with a few inches of fresh snow on top of that ice rink, things were fast yet there was no problem with sliding out or balancing. But imagine if all that rain earlier in the week had been snow! Oh well.
As if I needed any firing up--what with the first skate race in 20 months, and a return to the Turkey Day Relays, one of the better local races of the season--but I've been getting a moderate amount of flak and trash talking from a few individuals in town, saying "you're washed up, old and fat, ruined...." So on Friday a well known shall we say loudie, who won't be named (rhymes with bark!) burst in to the UAF ski hut boasting about his team for a few minutes and as he was leaving said, "Huh, Roger, we don't even think about you anymore, you're history!"
Dissed, dismissed, and even ditched. It all happened.
But I can take it. Give me some more. I like to be motivated.
The end result, I felt good, albeit very alone, until half way up the White Bear Hill (probably 2.2K in), when I saw my son Mikko up ahead about 20 seconds. I thought I'd catch him, but rig set in pretty soon after that, and I struggled in on Warm Up and into the stadium.
Bruce and Karl skied strong in their legs (11:10 and 11:02) and we held on to 13th place, 2nd in our division by about a minute, and all significantly faster than the guy who rhymes with bark. My split of 10:11, 2nd best for 50+ for the day.
And did I say it didn't hurt bad the next day?
It'll do just fine for now! Looking forward to the season, and yes, next year's TD Relays. A fun community event.
After all that abuse, my knee was hanging pretty solid Sunday night, and by Monday fine, almost as good as new.
But what about the race? I wish it had been 5K instead of 3.5K. The snow was good enough on Saturday, but I guess they had to make the call on the course by Friday when conditions were still uncertain. At 10 degrees with a few inches of fresh snow on top of that ice rink, things were fast yet there was no problem with sliding out or balancing. But imagine if all that rain earlier in the week had been snow! Oh well.
As if I needed any firing up--what with the first skate race in 20 months, and a return to the Turkey Day Relays, one of the better local races of the season--but I've been getting a moderate amount of flak and trash talking from a few individuals in town, saying "you're washed up, old and fat, ruined...." So on Friday a well known shall we say loudie, who won't be named (rhymes with bark!) burst in to the UAF ski hut boasting about his team for a few minutes and as he was leaving said, "Huh, Roger, we don't even think about you anymore, you're history!"
Dissed, dismissed, and even ditched. It all happened.
But I can take it. Give me some more. I like to be motivated.
The end result, I felt good, albeit very alone, until half way up the White Bear Hill (probably 2.2K in), when I saw my son Mikko up ahead about 20 seconds. I thought I'd catch him, but rig set in pretty soon after that, and I struggled in on Warm Up and into the stadium.
Bruce and Karl skied strong in their legs (11:10 and 11:02) and we held on to 13th place, 2nd in our division by about a minute, and all significantly faster than the guy who rhymes with bark. My split of 10:11, 2nd best for 50+ for the day.
And did I say it didn't hurt bad the next day?
It'll do just fine for now! Looking forward to the season, and yes, next year's TD Relays. A fun community event.
posted by Roger at
12:24 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]
<< Home