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I’ve broken down and agreed to do the run leg for the Alpha Ski to Sea team.

Ski to Sea, for those that don’t know, is a seven-leg race from the Mt. Baker Ski Area to Marine Park in Bellingham. I did the Cross Country Ski leg last year. It was my rookie year, and I did pretty well for not having cross country skied in 25 years.

So I’m doing the running leg this year. It is eight miles down hill from the Ski Area to the Shuksan Department of Transportation station. It’ll be the fastest eight miles I ever run.

I’ve dreaded doing this leg of the race because running eight miles downhill is pretty hard on the body. Knees, shins, toe nails, etc. Also, there is an added factor this year. I won’t be able to devote as much time to training as previous years, because I’ve got a new baby boy that is interesting me a bit more than running 20-25 miles a week in the rain in preparation.

Adding to the time issue is the fact that the run starts at more than 3,500 feet above sea level, and the oxygen content is some 20% lower than at my house. So I’ll need to make a few trips up to the mountain to train and acclimate myself to dealing with less oxygen. There is a 2,000-foot drop in elevation over the length of the run, so I will get more and more oxygen, I just want to make sure I don’t wipe myself out in the first mile.

The good point: it is a good way to kick off my summer training and fitness. If I don’t do it, I will run way less, and not be in shape at all for swimsuit season.

Anyway, I’m doing it. Memorial day weekend, I’m going to wake up at 5 a.m., ride up to the Mountain with Ryan and Jonathan, stand around a ski lodge for a couple of hours in running shorts and a t-shirt, and then run with abandon down the mountain.

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Thursday I headed up after work for my first mid-week ski training. I got to the ski area just after six p.m. All of the midweek rain in Bellingham meant more than a foot of new snow at Baker. I was the only person at the ski area. Understandably, the ski area is closed, but the place was totally abandoned. And it was foggy as hell.

Since I don’t know the ski area all that well, there was absolutely no one else around, and I don’t want to get stuck in a tree well or under an avalanche, I was a little uncomfortable. So I did a half hour of hill training in view of my car and headed back home.

But Saturday. Now Saturday was perfect. Sunshine. It was almost 40 degrees when I arrived at the ski area at 9 a.m. There were about a dozen cars, and a few people heading out for snow hikes or some late season snow boarding.

I geared up and headed into the ski area. I’m not sure of the race route, but there were several cat tracks looping around. I stuck to those and had a great time.

I had two epiphanies.

1. I was out of breath. Way faster than I should have been. And then it occurred to me. This is frickin’ mountain air! I normally go running at 68 feet above sea level in Bellingham. But Mt. Baker is more than 3500 feet above sea level. If I lose 5 percent of my oxygen for every 1000 feet in elevation, than I’m up here dealing with 15-20 percent less oxygen. No wonder. The solution: the more I head up and train, the better I’ll feel.
2. Downhill on XC skis is not like downhill with downhill skis. Turning is not the same. Stopping is not the same. The key is how I shift my weight. Something clicked in my head, and I started shifting my weight. It was almost like… I knew Kung Fu.

I think I have three more trips to the mountain. And Bart is going to lend me some XC skates, so I can check out the difference. I’m rolling with touring skis right now.

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Another weekend, another drive to Baker. I went a little further this week to the White Salmon trail. It is after mile marker 51, and about 1300 feet higher than the Salmon Ridge trail. What does this mean? Snow. Actual snow.

This trip was great. Again a crisp, crystal clear day. I only fell twice, and those were really intentional (I don’t have stopping skills, yet. But really that’s rather unimportant in a race atmosphere, right?). I’ve been working on technique, and just getting comfortable managing my XC skis and boots. This trip was huge for that.

The White Salmon trail is essentially an out and back route, with a drop into a valley and a climb back out. So the first half on the way out, I was working on my downhill acceleration, tucks and turning. The second half was climbing at varying degrees. Steep upgrade to slight rises. It was pretty tough at times. And some of the toughness can be attributed to the fact that I got roped into participating in my teammates’ Cross Fit workout the day before. Not a great idea.

The trail ends on a plateau where I snapped this picture with my phone. I really have to remind myself that these trails generally actually take you somewhere to see something. They aren’t just meandering routes for the sake of meandering.

On the trip back, I got going a little too fast for my taste, with a hairpin turn quickly approaching, I bailed out and let myself fall. Sharp turns are pretty awkward still, and if I missed the turn there is nothing to stop me from tumbling down the mountain at the edge of the trail. And the fall on snow hurts way less than the fall on ice. Nice.

Here’s the tentative schedule up to race day:

• May 7: To celebrate my Sister, Beth’s birthday, White Salmon Trail after work
• May 9: White Salmon Trail
• May 14: Mt Baker Ski Area after work (maybe)
• May 17: Mt Baker Ski Area
• May 21: Mt. Baker Ski Area (maybe)
• May 24: Race Day!

So if you’re up at the mountain on any of these days and see a guy stripping down to his underwear in the parking lot, there’s a good chance it is me.

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The Alpha Dogs Ski to Sea website has gone live.

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• Ice Sucks. Snow rocks.
• Last week, ratio of bad to good was about 80/20. This week it was 40/60. That’s a pretty healthy swing in the right direction, in my humble opinion.
• That being said, I think I’m going to have some bruising from this time.
• Everything was more this week: more fun, more speed, more length, more pain. This is except for the falling. I fell less, but they were harder falls.
• I drove a little further than last time, and actually found the Salmon Ridge Snow Park. The Nooksack Nordic Ski Club website says the parking area is just past milepost 46. Yeah, it’s like a half-mile past milepost 46, and among about six different parking lots, pull-offs or trail heads.  I’m sorry, NNSC, I appreciate the trails and stuff. But please improve your website. I’ll help. Unless of course, you want to purposefully be nebulous to minimize the number of people who discover and use the trails. If that’s the case I understand.
• The XC Skiing Paradox: My feet didn’t get any heavier, yet they just got six-feet longer. Awkward.
• I have a long history of ice skating and rollerblading. In those motions, you do a lot of foot cross over to turn and gather speed and such. That motion doesn’t translate at all to XC skiing, and I am having a hard time adjusting to that.
• You don’t get this kind of view just anywhere. I have to stop and remember that.
• XC Ski poles are rather unsubstantial. In one of my leg cross over foibles, a pole got stuck between my legs. When I pulled it out, there was a nice 30-degree bend in what had been a stick straight pole. I bent it back near straight, but now I feel like it’s a ticking time bomb. Granted I paid $14 for the poles. An extra pair is in order.
• I borrowed some skis and shoes from Greg. They didn’t fit, so I bought a clearance set of gear from REI. I had a gift card burning a hole in my pocket.
• I need to learn to wear fewer clothes. Man, I was hot. But taking the gloves off was a bad, bad idea. Blisters on the inside, and scraps from falling on the ice on the outside. From now on, I wear gloves at all times. The North Face shell might stay in the car.
• I have a strong suspicion that my left leg is longer than my right. I always fall to my right side. Given the choice, if one of my skis is going to be in a lower rut, I put my left leg there. When gaining speed going down hill, it is my right leg that catches weird edges and topples me over.
• Another hour and a half, hitting it harder and more consistently than last time.
• Four more trips before race day. And since today is the last day the Baker Ski area is open, I’ll head all the way up and hopefully experience less frickin’ ice.

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