After hanging out for almost two hours and seeing Bill, Bryon and Matt go off to start thier races Sheila, Sara, Charlie and I made our way down to the start area for our start times. Sheila missed her start time by a couple minutes and started late. And Sara went out with the wave 9ers.
After our start Charlie and I were moving through the pack better than I had thought we would be able to. Our skis were really fast from their prep job at the shop, as we had the same wax set up, and the first few k's really flew by.
Unfortunately somewhere around 5k I was feeling the hills that litter the first 15k of the race and I told Charlie he had better keep going as I needed to slow down or I wasn't going to finish. I had been watching my heart rate and it was consitantly over 170 beats per minute, way over my threashhold of 160. So he was off to a remarkable first Birkie time.
I caught Sara around 10k and she yelled at me as I went by while she was stopped for a boot adjustment. The next 5k was brutle. I started "duck walking" the hills as I was too tired to ski them any more.
Here is the profile from my Polar, the 1, 2 and 3 across the bottom represent the first 30k.
I caught Sara around 10k and she yelled at me as I went by while she was stopped for a boot adjustment. The next 5k was brutle. I started "duck walking" the hills as I was too tired to ski them any more.
Here is the profile from my Polar, the 1, 2 and 3 across the bottom represent the first 30k.
It's easy to see now how the first 13k can kill you if you don't take it easy
15k through 21k were bearable I managed to get into a good rythem a few times. But at about 21k there was a nasty up-hill right before OO road, the 1/2 way point. Tami and Jen Schad were at OO (22k) and updated me on everyones times ahead of me as I switched my skis.
22k - 38k I was really wishing I was done. I hadn't seen any of my skiing compadres in 25k and was running out of steam. After OO I was spending more time at the rest stops taking in 3-4 energy drinks (4-6 oz each) and at least one banana or cookie each stop. I had also brought 6 gels and a bottle of energy drink with me and by the 38k rest stop all but 1 gel and a couple oz of my drink were left
Then I started to see the red and white colors of the Revolution cycle and ski jersey of Sheila ahead of me as I was going up the hills. As I got closer on a down hill someone crashed ahead of her forcing her into the woods tumbling just missing a tree and a rock. I slid to a stop and went back to check on her as she got up and gathered her yard sale items.
The next 9k was a blur. Sheila would attack the up-hills and I followed then I bombed the down-hills and tried to recover. Did I mention it was hilly. I should have spend less time skiing in preperation and more time duck walking and downhilling.
Once we hit the lake we tought we had it in the bag but that was a long 3.5k to town and 500m through town. We were happy to see Tami, Bryon, Matt, Charlie, Ruth and Jen hanging out at the end of the lake cheering us on for our final push to the finish
It was alot harder than I had expected it to be and right after the race I said I would never do it again but I sort of miss it already
Here are some numbers for those types out there:
15k through 21k were bearable I managed to get into a good rythem a few times. But at about 21k there was a nasty up-hill right before OO road, the 1/2 way point. Tami and Jen Schad were at OO (22k) and updated me on everyones times ahead of me as I switched my skis.
22k - 38k I was really wishing I was done. I hadn't seen any of my skiing compadres in 25k and was running out of steam. After OO I was spending more time at the rest stops taking in 3-4 energy drinks (4-6 oz each) and at least one banana or cookie each stop. I had also brought 6 gels and a bottle of energy drink with me and by the 38k rest stop all but 1 gel and a couple oz of my drink were left
Then I started to see the red and white colors of the Revolution cycle and ski jersey of Sheila ahead of me as I was going up the hills. As I got closer on a down hill someone crashed ahead of her forcing her into the woods tumbling just missing a tree and a rock. I slid to a stop and went back to check on her as she got up and gathered her yard sale items.
The next 9k was a blur. Sheila would attack the up-hills and I followed then I bombed the down-hills and tried to recover. Did I mention it was hilly. I should have spend less time skiing in preperation and more time duck walking and downhilling.
Once we hit the lake we tought we had it in the bag but that was a long 3.5k to town and 500m through town. We were happy to see Tami, Bryon, Matt, Charlie, Ruth and Jen hanging out at the end of the lake cheering us on for our final push to the finish
It was alot harder than I had expected it to be and right after the race I said I would never do it again but I sort of miss it already
Here are some numbers for those types out there:
10495 Bib # for Jeffro
6,957 calories burned
2,460 vertical feet ascended
186 bpm max heart rate
162 bpm average heart rate
100 oz (aprox) energy drink consumed
$80 entry fee
70 oz (aprox) water consumed
51 kilometers skied
7 pieces of pizza (after the race)
6 gels
5 beers (after the race)
4 hours 58 minutes of skiing
3 bowls of Matt's Chili (after the race)
2 tired legs
1 happy SOB to see the finish line
