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#1
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Prepping for Races
As I've mentioned in other posts recently, I'm getting set to race the
City of Lakes Loppet on 2/3/08 in Minneapolis. It's my first race in a long time, and I'm wondering if any RSN readers could offer advice - either direct from experience or of other resources (books, training websites, etc.) - regarding good prep for the race (35km freestyle), especially regarding tapering my training to be sharp on race day (how to balance distance and intensity training as the race gets closer) and prerace diet (what we used to call "carbo loading"), etc. I'm not looking to scorch the race, just to finish decently. Any advice is appreciated. Thank you. Christopher |
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#2
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Prepping for Races
I'm a wave 1 Birkie skier, so no expert, but here's what works for me.
#1. Don't lift weights or do intervals in the 2-3 days before the race. When I ski, I definitely can notice if I've lifted weights the day before. My muscles are just drained. #2. I continue to ski up until the day before the race. Maybe not always the day before, but defintiely two days prior. If I take too much time off (three days or more) I don't feel energetic. Bottom line is; starting about 4 days prior to a big race, all I do is gentle, light, short workouts. #3. As far as nutrition, I don't really have any suggestions. I carbo load, but don't really know if it make a difference. #4. Don't kill yourself in the first few k's of the race. During last year's COLL, I started WAY too fast because I thought I was in better race shape than I was. I had a great summer and fall for training, and it was my first race of the season. Just was too overconfident. The first 5-7k of the COLL is pretty tough. It's quite hilly. #5. I think races are so much more mental than people realize. Some people train on their race wax, but I prefer not too. I want to be warming up for the Birkie/Vasaloppet/etc and realize I have the fastest wax job of the year. That alone is a HUGE confidence booster. Knowing I have great skis. Same thing with starting too fast. If I go too fast and start getting passed by people who are ultimately faster, it's a blow to my confidence. If I start out slower, and slowly build up my pace, I start passing people one after another. Mentally that's awesome for me, knowing I'm only passing people, and not getting passed. Whatever I can do to keep my mind thinking I'm doing well! #6. When I race, I keep telling myself three words. Technique, rhythm, and momentum. |
#3
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Prepping for Races
On Jan 13, 10:57 am, tassava wrote:
As I've mentioned in other posts recently, I'm getting set to race the City of Lakes Loppet on 2/3/08 in Minneapolis. It's my first race in a long time, and I'm wondering if any RSN readers could offer advice - either direct from experience or of other resources (books, training websites, etc.) - regarding good prep for the race (35km freestyle), especially regarding tapering my training to be sharp on race day (how to balance distance and intensity training as the race gets closer) and prerace diet (what we used to call "carbo loading"), etc. I'm not looking to scorch the race, just to finish decently. Any advice is appreciated. Thank you. Christopher I'm a "recreational" racer: I race in mostly long-ish races (~50k'ers) with the goal to finish, have fun and do as well as I can, given the time and interest I have in training, and my attitude that skiing is a reacreational, fun sport, not necessarily dedicated to competition. That's where I'm writing from. My principles: The week before a signifcant event, I tend to train a little less, and definitely don't do intensity within 4 or so days ahead of time. I ski up until the race, doing slow, easy workouts and use it as an opportunity to concentrate on things such as downhill technique, RELAXING, and balance and other technique minutae. I often take the day before off completely, but mainly because I don't train every day anyway. Carbo loading: the way I understand it, carbo loading the day or two before a race does virtually nothing. One should taper training effort (time and intensity) for several days and maintain the normal diet. The body will then tend to store as glycogen the carbs that would have been burned under the normal training, but aren't because of the taper. Really concentrate on hydration for at least a couple-three days ahead of time. Get the body totally soaked, and that takes a while, not just the morning of the race. The morning of the race, hydrate a lot up to an hour before the race, then quit. You'll pee a couple of times, but the bladder should be reasonably empty at race time. Then, just before starting drink and then make sure you drink enough during. I've never had a urination issue doing that, and I drink a lot during race. Eat a good balanced protein, carb, fat meal about 2-3 hours before race time. Nutrition during the race is your own call: I tend to eat a gu-type thing just before the race and then every 45 minutes during. My 50 k times are pretty slow (3 1/2 - 4 hours) and therefore I tend to eat more than the fast skiers - I'm out there longer! But to each his/her own. A 35 K race shouldn't be hugely taxing in terms of food and drink, but if you've ever bonked or cramped up, you'd tend to be very careful (and eat and drink a LOT), like me. Probably too much, but it works. Race pace: Like the other guy said, if you're goal is not to win the race, it's MUCH, MUCH more fun to finish strong, and pass people the last half of the race. This requires really going slow at first: if you think "hey, I'm really going too slow", it's probably about right. If you're thinking, "man, I'm feeling like I'm really going fast", chances are you're getting caught up in the excitement and starting too fast. Gauge yourself on the second half. I personally take a lot of pride in (1) not getting passed the last half of the race and (2) passing a few other people, especially within the last 2 K and (3) looking good coming in among the crowd at the end 8-). Good luck, have fun - please report back. I'd like to do COLL sometime and am curious how it is and how it goes. |
#4
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Prepping for Races
On Jan 13, 4:26 pm, Camilo wrote:
On Jan 13, 10:57 am, tassava wrote: As I've mentioned in other posts recently, I'm getting set to race the City of Lakes Loppet on 2/3/08 in Minneapolis. It's my first race in a long time, and I'm wondering if any RSN readers could offer advice - either direct from experience or of other resources (books, training websites, etc.) - regarding good prep for the race (35km freestyle), especially regarding tapering my training to be sharp on race day (how to balance distance and intensity training as the race gets closer) and prerace diet (what we used to call "carbo loading"), etc. I'm not looking to scorch the race, just to finish decently. Any advice is appreciated. Thank you. Christopher I'm a "recreational" racer: I race in mostly long-ish races (~50k'ers) with the goal to finish, have fun and do as well as I can, given the time and interest I have in training, and my attitude that skiing is a reacreational, fun sport, not necessarily dedicated to competition. That's where I'm writing from. My principles: The week before a signifcant event, I tend to train a little less, and definitely don't do intensity within 4 or so days ahead of time. I ski up until the race, doing slow, easy workouts and use it as an opportunity to concentrate on things such as downhill technique, RELAXING, and balance and other technique minutae. I often take the day before off completely, but mainly because I don't train every day anyway. Carbo loading: the way I understand it, carbo loading the day or two before a race does virtually nothing. One should taper training effort (time and intensity) for several days and maintain the normal diet. The body will then tend to store as glycogen the carbs that would have been burned under the normal training, but aren't because of the taper. Really concentrate on hydration for at least a couple-three days ahead of time. Get the body totally soaked, and that takes a while, not just the morning of the race. The morning of the race, hydrate a lot up to an hour before the race, then quit. You'll pee a couple of times, but the bladder should be reasonably empty at race time. Then, just before starting drink and then make sure you drink enough during. I've never had a urination issue doing that, and I drink a lot during race. Eat a good balanced protein, carb, fat meal about 2-3 hours before race time. Nutrition during the race is your own call: I tend to eat a gu-type thing just before the race and then every 45 minutes during. My 50 k times are pretty slow (3 1/2 - 4 hours) and therefore I tend to eat more than the fast skiers - I'm out there longer! But to each his/her own. A 35 K race shouldn't be hugely taxing in terms of food and drink, but if you've ever bonked or cramped up, you'd tend to be very careful (and eat and drink a LOT), like me. Probably too much, but it works. Race pace: Like the other guy said, if you're goal is not to win the race, it's MUCH, MUCH more fun to finish strong, and pass people the last half of the race. This requires really going slow at first: if you think "hey, I'm really going too slow", it's probably about right. If you're thinking, "man, I'm feeling like I'm really going fast", chances are you're getting caught up in the excitement and starting too fast. Gauge yourself on the second half. I personally take a lot of pride in (1) not getting passed the last half of the race and (2) passing a few other people, especially within the last 2 K and (3) looking good coming in among the crowd at the end 8-). Good luck, have fun - please report back. I'd like to do COLL sometime and am curious how it is and how it goes. PS: the start slow strategy. I want to add that, in my experience and opinion, starting slow more than pays off with speed at the end. I don't think my times are slower because of it, but rather faster. Again, the penalty for completely dying or bonking can be huge, while cruising along with plenty of reserves the last 1/2 to 1/3 can really gain time. |
#5
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Prepping for Races
In addition to the other advice, I'd suggest
- get there in plenty of time to allow a warm up. The race starts up the front hill and has decent climbs the first several K, which is not the way to warm up for most of us mortals. You can also keep warm in the chalet pretty much right up to your wave start time, along with everyone else - there will be feeds on the course; check the map - often the COLL is really cold, so prepare for that possibility well in advance - the uphills on the middle part of the course are mostly midwestern variety quick and steep, so you might want to practice some of those - the latter part of the course is on the lakes, so plan on a lot of V2 and open field tassava wrote: As I've mentioned in other posts recently, I'm getting set to race the City of Lakes Loppet on 2/3/08 in Minneapolis. It's my first race in a long time, and I'm wondering if any RSN readers could offer advice - either direct from experience or of other resources (books, training websites, etc.) - regarding good prep for the race (35km freestyle), especially regarding tapering my training to be sharp on race day (how to balance distance and intensity training as the race gets closer) and prerace diet (what we used to call "carbo loading"), etc. I'm not looking to scorch the race, just to finish decently. Any advice is appreciated. Thank you. Christopher |
#6
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Prepping for Races
Christopher,
I've come to the conclusion that tapering for skiing doesn't work for me. I just get flat. If you have not been racing, I wouldn't worry about tapering. You may just de-condition. I think tapering really depends on you having periods in your training, and taking the last periodization to a higher level, resting, and then racing. I would just try to feel good on race day. My normal "taper" for the Birkie is to take COLL weekend off. (A better weekend for my taper would be Mora, but I really like that race.) It seems it takes me a while to get rolling again after a break, so I usually race the weekend before the Birkie also and do intervals the week of the Birkie. This is not what people would normally call a taper (such as cutting all forms of training in half.) If you have not raced this year, probably the best thing you can do is race this weekend. Yeah, it'll be cold, but racing really improves speed and recovery from hard efforts. It seems you can't get that workout without strapping on a number. Even with intervals in my training, it seems my third race is about the time I start feeling good. All the stuff others have said makes sense, but I've broken most of those rules on race day and had a good race. The last COLL I raced, I got a bad start, went like hell for 5 km (chasing like a mad man), caught a good group, and was constantly yo-yo-ing off the back. Peter kept looking back thinking I was dropped and the chasing killed me, but beating me up seemed to hurt the other guys more. On the last lake, guys in the pack started dieing and I was able to easlier go by half the pack at the finish. -I like to do some skiing with a few pickups the day before a race so I'm loose on race day. Usually two days prior is my rest day. -Carbo loading works when you fast (I believe it's) because you're inducing the fat burning system. Without a fast, just make sure you're well fed starting a couple days before the race. If you pigout, you may gain weight. -Go ahead and carry a water bottle. When you hit the lake, you can drink on the golf course and lakes and won't have to stop at the food stations. -There's quite a few steep hills in the middle of the race. You may want to ski those before race day. Jay |
#7
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Prepping for Races
I"ve found my best marathons and long races come when I race a marathon the
weekend before, then during the week the only day I ski is Wednesday ( nice long easy 1.5-2 hours ) with the other days totally off !! JKal. "Bjorn A. Payne Diaz" wrote in message ... Christopher, I've come to the conclusion that tapering for skiing doesn't work for me. I just get flat. If you have not been racing, I wouldn't worry about tapering. You may just de-condition. I think tapering really depends on you having periods in your training, and taking the last periodization to a higher level, resting, and then racing. I would just try to feel good on race day. My normal "taper" for the Birkie is to take COLL weekend off. (A better weekend for my taper would be Mora, but I really like that race.) It seems it takes me a while to get rolling again after a break, so I usually race the weekend before the Birkie also and do intervals the week of the Birkie. This is not what people would normally call a taper (such as cutting all forms of training in half.) If you have not raced this year, probably the best thing you can do is race this weekend. Yeah, it'll be cold, but racing really improves speed and recovery from hard efforts. It seems you can't get that workout without strapping on a number. Even with intervals in my training, it seems my third race is about the time I start feeling good. All the stuff others have said makes sense, but I've broken most of those rules on race day and had a good race. The last COLL I raced, I got a bad start, went like hell for 5 km (chasing like a mad man), caught a good group, and was constantly yo-yo-ing off the back. Peter kept looking back thinking I was dropped and the chasing killed me, but beating me up seemed to hurt the other guys more. On the last lake, guys in the pack started dieing and I was able to easlier go by half the pack at the finish. -I like to do some skiing with a few pickups the day before a race so I'm loose on race day. Usually two days prior is my rest day. -Carbo loading works when you fast (I believe it's) because you're inducing the fat burning system. Without a fast, just make sure you're well fed starting a couple days before the race. If you pigout, you may gain weight. -Go ahead and carry a water bottle. When you hit the lake, you can drink on the golf course and lakes and won't have to stop at the food stations. -There's quite a few steep hills in the middle of the race. You may want to ski those before race day. Jay |
#8
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Prepping for Races
On Jan 14, 7:14*pm, "32 degrees" wrote:
I"ve found my best marathons and long races come when I race a marathon the weekend before, then during the week the only day I ski is Wednesday ( nice long easy 1.5-2 hours ) with the other days totally off !! JKal. "Bjorn A. Payne Diaz" wrote in ... Christopher, I've come to the conclusion that tapering for skiing doesn't work for me. I just get flat. If you have not been racing, I wouldn't worry about tapering. You may just de-condition. I think tapering really depends on you having periods in your training, and taking the last periodization to a higher level, resting, and then racing. I would just try to feel good on race day. My normal "taper" for the Birkie is to take COLL weekend off. (A better weekend for my taper would be Mora, but I really like that race.) It seems it takes me a while to get rolling again after a break, so I usually race the weekend before the Birkie also and do intervals the week of the Birkie. This is not what people would normally call a taper (such as cutting all forms of training in half.) If you have not raced this year, probably the best thing you can do is race this weekend. Yeah, it'll be cold, but racing really improves speed and recovery from hard efforts. It seems you can't get that workout without strapping on a number. Even with intervals in my training, it seems my third race is about the time I start feeling good. All the stuff others have said makes sense, but I've broken most of those rules on race day and had a good race. The last COLL I raced, I got a bad start, went like hell for 5 km (chasing like a mad man), caught a good group, and was constantly yo-yo-ing off the back. Peter kept looking back thinking I was dropped and the chasing killed me, but beating me up seemed to hurt the other guys more. On the last lake, guys in the pack started dieing and I was able to easlier go by half the pack at the finish. -I like to do some skiing with a few pickups the day before a race so I'm loose on race day. Usually two days prior is my rest day. -Carbo loading works when you fast (I believe it's) because you're inducing the fat burning system. Without a fast, just make sure you're well fed starting a couple days before the race. If you pigout, you may gain weight. -Go ahead and carry a water bottle. When you hit the lake, you can drink on the golf course and lakes and won't have to stop at the food stations. -There's quite a few steep hills in the middle of the race. You may want to ski those before race day. Jay I'd add my voice to those who are encouraging you to get a race in before COLL. I love this race but as others have said it can be pretty intense and challenging early on. It is hard to stay under control with the initial climb, subsequent hills and the buzz of a big event. If you are a Twin Cities skier there are at least three good races the weekend before COLL that will have much smaller fields and be 8-13K shorter. You can get used a mass start again, try out your feeding plans and get a sense of the pace that you want or can sustain. On Saturday the 25th the 25K Governors Cup in Little Falls( about 2 hrs west). This is hilly course with a flat 2-3K at the start and finish. Also on Saturday there is a 10K/20K at the Balsam Branch Trails between St. Croix Falls and Amery, WI. about 10-15 minutes past Trollhaugen. This is one of my favorite trail systems, decent climbs and rolling trails, some great skiable S turns coming down. On Sunday The Marine on the St. Croix race at William O'Brien Sate Park is scheduled. I think this is a 12.5/25K classic or skate. While I have not been out there this year the grooming at this state park has been getting rave reviews. This course might provide a little more flat skiing than the other two but there are good hills in the park. Any of these three races would provide you with good preparation as would the Pepsi. John OC |
#9
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Prepping for Races
It's fun to read other people's pre-race rituals and race strategies.
Here are some of mine. I also tend to start too fast. Even when I know I'm going too fast, I have a hard time pulling myself back to a pace I can maintain. It's really problematic in long races, where it's advantageous to quickly find a group of people skiing at your pace. I have many stories of starting the 58K Vasaloppet too fast and having to drop back from my group at 15K. At that point I'm burned out and alone, destined to ski the bulk of the race with no company and no drafting, as people I can ski with zoom by me. To help rein in my itchy skis, I have learned to trust my heart rate monitor. If I'm more than 5bpm above my AT early in the race, skiing on flat terrain, then I need to slow down. Following this rule has made long races much less painful, much more enjoyable, and my times are better too. I read an article a while ago about race start strategies and the importance of getting all of your energy systems engaged, especially aerobic systems. If you start too fast, your body will jump into anerobic mode which cannot be sustained. At that point it's very hard to get your aerobic system functioning at capacity. Adequate race warm-up can help with this too. I try to have an oatmeal breakfast on race day, ideally a couple of hours before the race. In addition to having good nutritional value, this helps loosen things up so I'm carrying a load of **** up those hills. Take note of the importance of eating will before race start! The COLL is a fun race. I don't know of a hill profile posted anywhere, but it's probably out there in cyberspace. If not, it's hilly, then flat, then hilly, then flat. The second hilly portion is the real challenge. Once you get on the lakes, it's a long V2 to the finish. |
#10
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Prepping for Races
Let me second that and say "Thank you!" to everyone who's posted. I've
garnered a lot of knowledge about how to prep for the COLL (and other races), and pretty thoroughly revised my tapering plans for the race. I really appreciate the advice! If you see me at the race, I'll be the guy going really really slow for the first half. (As a matter of fact, I've lucked into a little, low-key race here in Northfield, MN, this weekend - a 3-person classical relay that should be good for some intensity work.) Christopher |
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