VT Dad’s fight vs. inertia & flab

Today’s ski marathon was my first cross country ski race ever, and I bit off more than I could chew.  The race was set up into 5 segments:  4k, 3k, 6K, 8K, and 5K segments.  The end of the first 4 segments brought you to the replenishment zone where they had water, sports drink, energy bars and goo.  There were probably 800 skiers, 1/3 of them going 25K, 1/3 going 50K, and 1/3 going 25K but not against the clock, and with heartier  and tastier options at the replenishment zone.

I had hopes of skiing ~8 minute kilometers, so my 25K would take ~3:20.  I breezed through the first 5K in ~35 minutes, only falling once, and having success on the course.    Things changed suddenly for me.  First I lost it on a downhill, then I faltered on an uphill.  I became like a tortoise who had been flipped over, I had fallen, and couldn’t get up.  All of my falling fogged up my glasses, and my visibility became next to nothing.  Now every downhill became an adventure.  I still managed to pass the 10K point in under 80 minutes.  When I reached the replenishment zone for the third time at 12K, my only thought was about quitting.  A corse official told me to wait, rehydrate, and reevaluate my situation.  He also told me that if I wanted to quit I could either ski the final 5K to the finish line, or take a shuttle from there back.

I thought that I could get injured if I tried to complete the entire 25K, so after taking a break, I decided to ski the final 5K.  I think I made the right choice, as I didn’t fare any better during my final 5K.  I completed the 17K in ~2:39.  I have plenty of things to work on and improve if I plan to enter this event again next year.

This entry was posted on Saturday, January 31st, 2009 at 5:12 pm and is filed under Training. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.